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L ively and K icking
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Lon Mabon's right-hand man returns to Oregon
as the OCA's legal director by Jo n a th a n Kipp
s
•„te B ro teT
AssocUlt
regonians who en­
dured the Oregon
Citizens
A lli­
ance’s anti-gay
efforts during the
early ’90s— Ballot Measures 9
and 13— know well the name
Lon Mabon.
To many people, he is the
O C A . Some say it wouldn’t
stand without him.
But Mahon did not lead
his conservative Christian
organization to two defeats
alone. Sco tt Lively was
almost always at his side.
But he has kept a low
profile since Measure
13’s defeat in 1994; in
fact, he soon headed to California to get
his law degree. But despite moving south, Live­
ly recently made his return to the Pacific
Northwest more widely known when he
penned a guest commentary in the Aug. 14 edi­
tion of The Oregonian.
Why the sudden resurgence of his interest in
Oregon politics? The man so many remember
from numerous television interviews and cut­
ting sound bites is serving as the O C A ’s legal
director.
Lively says the fight now is between parents
and the “gay and pro-gay activists within O re­
gon’s educational system.” He and the O C A
think public school personnel are promoting
homosexuality to students.
Measure 9, scheduled for the Nov. 7 general
election, would prohibit “instructing on behav­
ior relating to homosexuality and bisexuality in
a manner that encourages, promotes or sanc­
tions such behaviors.” T he initiative, if passed,
would amend state statutory law.
“They’re organizing to fabricate a condition
out there that just isn’t true,” says Jim Sager,
Oregon Educational A ssociation president.
“W h at’s going on in schools is the promotion of
respect and of diversity to meet the needs of
every child.”
Thomas O ’Brian, an administrator at a sub­
urban Portland middle school and a gay man,
agrees with Sager. He requested that his name
be changed to protect his identity because he
thinks being out in his district is not safe.
O ’Brian says gay teachers and administrators
are particularly cautious about what they say—
and don’t say— in their classrooms. “I’ve worked
with a lot of gay teachers. I’ve never met one
that wasn’t cautious and conservative with the
issue.”
Lively says his opponents implicitly
acknowledge the weakness of their position by
arguing that homosexuality is not being promot­
ed in schools. “They know very well that it is,
but they also know that to admit it would be to
start a statewide parents’ revolt,” he writes.
Sexuality is a huge issue for teen-agers, Sager
admits. Schools, he says, want to be able to pro­
vide students factual information.
Sager says the O C A ’s assertion that teachers
are promoting homosexuality is akin to saying
schools promote marriage over single life. He
also worries because the measure is aimed at all
schools— colleges and universities included.
Sager says his organization and schools in
general have not received complaints about the
promotion of homosexuality. He says that issues
are raised periodically in specific schools and
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that they are addressed and settled. But wide­
spread concern and criticism haven’t occurred,
he says.
O ’Brian says that he has heard only two
complaints during his seven years in education
and that they were investigated quickly. He says
in both cases students made allegations about
teachers’ comments that ultimately proved to be
untrue.
Even the highly publicized Cleveland High
School case— in which a group of teachers com­
plained to administrators about the absence of
“balanced” resources condemning homosexuali­
ty and supporting reversion therapy— was an
isolated incident, Sager says. He thinks the issue
might have been set up as a type of springboard
for Measure 9.
W ith the new school year nearing, Sager has
been traveling around the state, meeting with
teachers and administrators. “The vast majority
of our members are opposed to this,” he says.
Even individuals who are “on the fence” and
leaning toward the O C A ’s side come to the con­
clusion that Measure 9 is bad for kids once they
get the facts, Sager says. He explains the poten­
tial impact when he speaks to school personnel
and shows them some of the hateful literature
that exists.
Sager thinks once voters start to see the
hatred associated with anti-gay efforts, they
won’t hesitate to do the right thing. He says that
he is a “bom and bred Oregonian” and that it is
up to the people to say “not again” to the O C A .
O ther school organizations are coming out
against the measure as well. The Oregon School
Board Association and the Confederation of
Oregon School Administrators both have stated
their opposition to Measure 9 and are working
with the O EA to defeat it. The Oregon PTA
also recently announced its opposition to the
initiative.
O ’Brian thinks most individual school dis­
tricts will make a big case against Measure 9. But
he fears they will not devote much energy to
defeat the initiative because they will be dis­
tracted by other concerns.
“People are worried about (Bill) Sizemore’s
measures,” O ’Brian says. If Measures 88, 91 and
93 pass, he thinks schools will be destroyed. Dis­
trict offices are panicked, he says, which is why
Measure 9 has not generated the same amount
of concern thus far.
One With Heart
Martial Arts Institute
SE 43rd & Hawthorne
231-1999