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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 18, 2001)
may IB. 2001 Ulu :«i; ivi 19 mews Be well and stay healthy naturally! with traditional Chinese m edicine M eet O C O M Acupuncture & Herbal Clinic ^ the teaching clinic o f the O regon College o f O riental M edicine www.ocom.edu the P ress Appointments: 503-253-3343 ext. 550 10541 SE Cherry Blossom Dr., Portland (by Mall 205) Beautiful fa e £ s Small newspaper has been making permanent Cosmetics lips, eyeliner, areolas eyebrows, traditional tattoo free consultation headlines for almost 25 years by Pat Young Shawna Holder 503/408-7779 he Community News might not be a glossy, pgr 503/301-7777 10140 SE Pine, Ste. B ______________________________________________________________ colorful pub- What started out as a social group has evolved into a strong lication, hut business, C om m unity N ew s publisher Chuck Simpson says it’s packed with rainbow scoops. The Salem-based paper has been around in Besides helping with editing, layout and get various formats and names since 1977. ting the publication to the printer, Jackson and Publisher Chuck Sim pson says it couldn’t A lbert also were involved in distribution. “Tak have come at a better time. “There wasn’t much ing the papers to Portland was a trip o f experi of a sense o f community in Salem until a bar ence,” she explains. “We distributed to 23 bars opened in 1976.” and bathhouses. Mary drove. I delivered. It took However, not everyone was into the bar two hours in Portland alone, besides driving scene. “A lot o f older people— well, those in there, most often at night. I went to places I their late 30s,” Sim pson adds with a laugh, would never go to intentionally.” “started having volleyball games and doing During the dawn o f the Reagan era, the Capi things outside of the bar.” tal Forum News decided that although the organi Som e o f them knew each other from the zation was “not basically political, we have been W oodbum area, where they once had a group. working strongly towards gay rights and will move O ne night, they had a potluck at Sim pson’s even more in that direction during the 1980s.” apartment. About 15 people showed up for good “T he Capital Forum split over that,” Sim p food, stimulating conversation and a desire to son notes. “Som e o f the newspaper people and form a group in Salem , where they could lobby the political people left and formed Lambda for gay rights and have social gatherings. T hat Horizons because others wanted the Capital night, they launched the Capital Forum Forum to be a social organization.” and its accompanying newsletter. The split lasted just a few years. Accord It might have seemed easy to start ing to Sim pson, everyone the organization, but this was 1977. It becam e more was a time when singer A nita Bryant, political, so the groups merged best known for her orange juice com along with their respective mercials, successfully led the fight to newsletters. “We called the defeat a gay rights ordinance in Dade new publication Community County, Fla. Sim ilar efforts were News because we were commu defeated in Minnesota and Kansas. nity again,” he says. Despite some setbacks on the The newspaper has been going national scene, several gay groups strong ever since, with just a few already had formed throughout bumps in the road. Simpson remem Oregon: the Portland Town Coun bers a time about 15 years ago when the Community News almost had to cil and Second Foundation in Port land, the G ay People’s Alliance in Eugene and the fold because all of its expenses came Klamath Gay Union in Klamath Falls. Session up at once, plus the printing cost increased. after session, they lobbied the Oregon Legislature He and a few others headed to Portland to get more advertisers. “We ran into John Adams for gay rights. The bills didn’t pass, hut the activists didn’t give up. Sr. o f C .C . Slaughters, and he said, ‘Why don’t you have another fund-raiser?’ ” In 1977, the Eugene City Council amended the city’s human rights ordinance to prohibit discrimi A dam s donated items and called around for more support. “We came back with a carload nation against homosexuals in employment, hous and had to go back the next day to get the rest,” ing and public accommodations. But it had a short says Sim pson, who still is grateful for the support life once Bryant’s message spread across the nation. from C .C . Slaughters, Darcelle XV, Embers Eugene voters repealed the ordinance the next year. Avenue, Scandals and Old W ives’ Tales. Against this backdrop, members o f the C a p ital Forum built their organization to serve the Volunteers continue to put the paper togeth needs of Marion, Polk and Linn counties. “ In a er, but technology has changed the operation. “We don’t need as many now," Simpson explains. matter o f days we had over 400 members; 25 o f them were straight,” Sim pson remembers. “We never see the writers, because they send in their stories through e-mail. It seems like it is A s the organization grew, so did the newsletter. more o f a business now instead of a social group." At first it covered local and group events. When it According to Simpson, the distribution list began including news from a wider area, the pub reaches well into the thousands, and the paper lication shifted from a newsletter to a newspaper. goes out to people in Corvallis, Eugene and Patricia Jackson remembers the early days Albany and up and down the Oregon coast. J H before they had computers when she and Mary Albert gathered at the president’s apartment to lay P at Y o u n g , a Portland-based free-lance writer out the paper. They’d spread exit the articles on the and gay and lesbian historian, is writing a book floor and move them around until they fit. Not about /9 9 2 s Ballot Measure 9. exactly high-tech, but lots of fun, and it worked. eventual*y The IRS has forgiven an incredible 8 7 % of tax owed by my clients. f me SA M E FO R YO U II CALL NOW! For Your FREE Confidential Special Report. can d o DANIEL W. ANDERSON, CPA 1 ¿3* »1 * (503) 295-7744 T imes C hange . T he N eed F or A S olid F inancial P lan D oesn ’ t . 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