Just out., June 16, 2000, Page 33, Image 33

1
Continued from Page 31
clearly capable of seeing and celebrating all the
difference and all the connection, all at the
same time.
Visibly warming to the subject, Treat con­
tinues explaining how she feels proud of the
women who came before her, proud of the radi­
enjoyed the support of his adoptive family
when, at age 33, he was finally ready to search
for his roots. It only took his partner 30 min­
utes on the Internet to locate Stauffer’s birth
mother’s death certificate and determine she
had lived in southern Oregon.
Minutes later Stauffer was calling names
that matched his mother’s, and he hit pay dirt
almost immediately.
“I’m happy to tell you you’re talking to your
brother,” said the voice on the other end of the
line.
Now here’s where gay pride really gets put
to the test. Before any “Hallmark moment”
family reunion could be planned, Stauffer was
determined to let his family know exactly who
he is.
“I came out over the phone— I wasn’t going
down there and not have them accept me,” he
says with clear self-confidence and conviction.
And despite some family members who lean
pretty dam far toward the conservative right,
Stauffer and his partner were welcomed into
his long-lost family at their first meeting.
It was a great relief to finally understand his
background. “I’ve always had a great connec­
tion to Native American things, to nature, but
I didn’t know why,” Stauffer explains. Learning
his father was Irish and his mother was Seneca-
Cayuga fit together the puzzle of his life.
I may have to sit between the men and the
women in the lodge,” he says quietly, adding
that many indigenous people are afraid of gay-
men and lesbians, because of the Christian
overlay of negativity.
“Many of them have lost the old ways,” he
says sadly.
But Doug Stauffer is ready to do something
about all that. He is starting a group for gay
and lesbian indigenous people. (See the
announcement in the Bulletin Board section
on Page 39.)
“I want to bring us together, to be more vis­
ible in native culture,” he says enthusiastically.
Referring to the two-spirit tradition, in
which gay Native Americans were revered and
often became the shamans of the tribe, he
adds: “I want to revive the old ways and the
reverence for gays that the culture originally
held.”
His voice softens as he speaks again of his
land, the place where he grew up, the place
that is once again his home: “I feel blessed to
be able to look out my living room window
and see all these old trees. Nature brought my
two worlds together.”
—OG
"
F Am IA
PRIDE
The Class of 2000
Jisl till sinns Ihr mii fairs ni nais if lifr ii nr imi i •■■miv
'woo
"Pride to me is
I remember hanging out in Dupont
L ori P atterson
Circle with a bunch o f half-naked
people," she says. "It felt like such
L
cals, proud of the feminists, proud of their
efforts and how they labored so that Terri Treat
can be out and proud today. She is proud to be
continuing that work so the women of tomor­
row can be proud of the efforts and lives of the
women of today.
Treat ends our conversation with: “1 love
being queer. It’s so easy for me; it’s all about the
love— love for each other, no matter who we
are.
—M D
D oug S tauffer
D
oug Stauffer is filled with pride. He’s
proud of the life he’s made on his 150-
year-old farm near Woodbum, Ore.,
with Jeff Clark, his partner of 11 years.
Proving that two young guys who met in a
bar can indeed live happily ever after, Stauffer
and his mate have been on quite an adventure.
In 1994 they held a commitment ceremony in
Oregon before moving to Hawaii for two years,
where they officially registered to be married,
should that ever become a possibility there.
Stauffer is also proud of his newfound her­
itage. He always knew he was adopted, and he
Since learning of his native blood, Stauffer
has become a registered member of his tribe
and begun attending a sweat lodge. He has also
bought a tepee to set up on his farm.
“1 want to learn my culture, I want to pass it
on to my nephews and nieces,” he says.
He is also trying to figure out where he fits
into his culture as a gay man. “As a twin spirit,
ONE
GOOD
FRAME
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kind of person who
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one in the world has an
interesting story to tell.
T he 33-year-old, 6-
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for the Lesbian Commu­
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raised in Boston, and
though her speech has
assimilated
to
West
Coast style over the
years, Patterson says she
still thinks with a
Bostonian accent.
She moved to Port­
land in 1993 because of
the easygoing lifestyle
and the bookstores.
“It seemed like where
all the hippies came to
retire,” she says. “Also,
there were a lot of good
bookstores. I’m a total
book person; I’m one of those nutty people who
smells books when they’re just published.”
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— Lori Patterson
Continued on Page 35
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