15.2000
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T aking
the
No on 9 Campaign launches into fu
t is a perfect early September day in Port
land. The sidewalk cafes are filled, and
dogs on leashes are being walked.
It is the kind of day people dream of
when the winters rain is unrelenting. It is
a day when nobody wants to be inside, much
less at work.
But tucked away in a small basement in one
of Portlands tree-lined neighborhoods works a
group of political strategists and their helpers.
For them, there is something more luring than
the sunshine— victory.
They know their goal will require tunnel
vision, extreme energy, commitment and even
good doses of laughter. Laughter?
Despite the serious nature of the No on 9
Campaign, its headquarters is filled with jocu
larity. The office is thick with intensity and pur
pose, but the dozen or so temporary staffers and
volunteers who are giving up the good weather
on this particular afternoon seem lighthearted
and optimistic.
It is a mix of gay and straight people, of
activists and pragmatists, of newcomers and
old-timers. It is the soulful face of the No on 9
Campaign.
easure 9, sponsored by the Oregon Citi
zens Alliance, seeks to prohibit public
schools from encouraging, promoting or sanc
tioning homosexual or bisexual behavior. Crit
ics say it would lead to the elimination of crucial
HIV/AIDS education efforts, to gay teachers
being fired and to the loss of support services for
sexual minority students— only a few of the
expected consequences should it pass.
It is a scenario with which Oregonians are
Communication director Jennifer Webber
says fund-raising efforts are going well
The Human Rights
Campaign dispatched
21-year-old Jonathan Bean
to Portland as part of its
Youth College Program
familiar. Earlier in the 1990s, voters faced two
similar anti-gay ballot measures.
Both were defeated, but some of these strate
gists don’t remember a thing about those days.
In part, this is a new generation of No on 9ers.
Some are too young to remember Lon
Mabon and 1992 s Measure 9. Others didn’t live
in Oregon back then.
^
But today, they know the issue and speak
articulately about why voters should turn down
Mabon’s plea to save students from being
exposed to homosexuality. The No on 9 Cam
paign officially kicked off during a “Back to
School” event Sept. 6.
A
lan Hodges is taking a month off from his
management job and devoting at least 20
hours a week to the campaign. He says being
around the staff and volunteers at the No on 9
headquarters led him to the decision to devote
so much time to the effort.
Seeing the level of enthusiasm and commit
ment of the people working on the campaign
inspired Hodges. “It’s pretty infectious,” he says.
Hodges, a transplant from Texas, never has
been involved in a campaign. He says he wants
to stretch himself and learn things he doesn’t
know about. He also wants to have a good
time— which happens to be a requirement of
the campaign’s mission statement.
Despite sitting on the Basic Rights Oregon
board of directors, this is Hodges’ first day as a
volunteer “floater.” He says he doesn’t have a
specific role in the campaign; he is there to do
whatever is needed.
On this day, he sits at a long table answering
the telephone and working on a merchandising
campaign. His job is to figure out how to raise
$50,000 by selling No on 9 lawn signs, bumper
stickers and buttons.
Although the 42-year-old professional might
not have a well-defined role, he is absolutely
certain when describing his own mission. “Mea
sure 9 will be unsuccessful,” he says confidently.
The father of two, who shares his life in
T he C ommerce
of P olitics
S
upport the N o on 9 Campaign by purchasing bumper stickers, but
tons, lawn signs and other materials from authorized retailers.
Fund-raising coordinator Erin Anderson is working with merchants
itatewide to obtain outlets for these materials. Contact her at
Portland with his partner and 18-year-old
daughter, says the initiative will fail for two rea
sons. He says Oregonians soon will realize the
measure violates basic principles of fairness.
More importantly, the initiative will put stu
dents in harm’s way, he says, citing the risks
adolescents
face
without
appropriate
HIV/AIDS education.
he walls of the office are strewn with
charts, graphs, posters and lists. Snack food
rests on tabletops for the taking.
The phone rings at an even cadence, and
sometimes it is a race to see who gets to it first.
“Will you get that.7” is not heard in this office.
Jonathan Bean excuses himself midsentence
and reaches for a ringing phone. He is not from
Oregon; in fact, he arrived just days ago.
Sent here by the Human Rights Campaign’s
Youth College Program, the 21-year-old is
smart, articulate and eager to talk about the
foibles of Measure 9. “I was ready when 1 walked
in here to do just about anything,” he says.
Bean came from the University of California
at Berkeley and is heading to graduate school
after the campaign. But for now he serves as
Washington County field coordinator for
No on 9.
His job: to help get the campaign’s message
out and to recruit volunteers in this suburban
and rural area. He’ll orchestrate outreach pro
grams in the coming days at the county’s col
leges and universities, helping educate those
students about why Measure 9 is so dangerous
for them.
Part of what motivates Bean is his goal of
keeping duplicate initiatives from popping up
around the country if Measure 9 should pass. “I’d
like to do good for the people,” he says about his
short stay in Oregon. “I’d like to defeat the mea
sure in this state so the rest of the states don’t
have to fight it.”
T
ortland’s field manager, Colin Durrant, is
young and hip. But he is no newcomer to
(503) 232-7176 for additional sites that are pending at this time.
The following Portland stores are confirmed:
• It’s My Pleasure: 3106 N.E. 64th Ave.
• In Other Words: 3734 S .E Hawthorne Blvd.
• Rainbows: 1136 S.W. Alder St.
• 23rd Avenue Books: 1015 N.W. 23rd Ave.
• Gai-Pied: 2544 N.E. Broadway.
• Balloons on Broadway: 531 S.W. Broadway.
• Presents of Mind: 3633 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd.
• Laughing H one Books: 3652 S .E Division St. *
• M atisse: 1411 N .E Broadway.
campaigns. He helped get Mary Nolan elected
to the Oregon Legislature before coming to the
No on 9 Campaign.
Durrant, 24, goes out into the community,
recruits volunteers and makes sure they are
happy. “Educate, motivate and activate” are his
duties, he says.
Although the campaign is utilizing many
volunteers, Durrant says more still must get
involved. He needs people who can call voters
and even visit them for a face-to-face conversa
tion at their homes.
Phone banking is important, Durrant says,
but “door-to-door contact means more than
people talking on the phone or mailings. We are
telling people Lon is back and why it is bad.”
One of the challenges, Durrant says, is to
bring attention to Measure 9 in the sea of ini
tiatives slated for November’s ballot. “We need
to go into every neighborhood to give them a
reason to vote no on 9.”
N
o on 9 confirms it has raised its “seed
money” of $100,000 but will not comment
about where the campaign stands financially in
its efforts to raise $1 million. “Fund-raising
efforts continue to go fairly well,” communica
tion director Jennifer Webber says.
Surprisingly, she adds, No on 9’s 3,000 or so
contributors are from throughout the state.
Fund raising is expected to continue throughout
most of the campaign.
One of those efforts is coming up Sept. 28.
“Dine Against 9" first was conceived in 1992,
when it raised $10,000 for the campaign.
Diners will enjoy good food at almost 50 par
ticipating restaurants, and No on 9 will receive
between 15 percent and 30 percent of the
evening’s gross sales. Although most of the par
ticipating eateries are in the Portland area,
restaurants in Eugene, Salem and as far away as
Ashland and Bend also are expected to join in.
Co-coordinator Susan Drew says “Dine
Against 9” is a fund-raising event that has the
ability to bring the entire state together. She
says diners throughout Oregon will be saying
Measure 9 is something they aren’t accepting.
Although food and good conversation are
the goal, Drew says the evening will provide a
good opportunity for people all over the state to
talk about the initiative. “There’s a solidarity to
that,” she says.
in
For more information about N o ON 9
CAMPAIGN volunteer opportunities or Dine
Against 9, send e-mail to votenoon9@aol.com,
visit the Internet site uww.noon9.org or call
(503) 232-7176. Send contributions to
P.O. Box 40625, Portland, OR 97240.
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