inside
School board reaches
compromise on military
recruiters !»«*< i >
P ortland, O r e g o n
V o l u m e 18 ♦ N u m b e r 15 ♦ J u n e 1 , 2001
FR EE
Eugene woman is a
late but prolific bloomer
by
H eron
I
happy,” Fanchon Blake tells me when
we meet. “ 1 want to court her. I want
to love and be loved.”
I am meeting Blake one day after her 80th
birthday. She is sitting at my kitchen table,
her posture military straight, wearing a crisp
white shirt and red necktie. O n her lapel is a
badge that reads, “ Kiss me, it’s my birthday.”
Blake came to our attention when she
placed a Just Out V oice Personals A d recent
ly, and there seemed to be a story there.
Yes, indeed, Fanchon Blake has quite a
story. She drove to my house in Portland
from her place in Eugene to tell me about
her life.
“In those days,
by Richard Bray
so
ts one thing to be out am ong familiar surroundings
■
but it's something else to be out traveling through
f
Topeka— although why anyone would want
M
j|
i
to go to Kansas is a m ystery.
the military was not
worried that women
were homosexual.
Their big problem
was that women
might be
prostitutes .”
So Just Out offers this guide to som e travel
■Fanchon Blake
destinations both near and far that are decidedly
_
queer-friendly. T hey are either gay-ow ned
establishments or thoroughly
w
hom o-welcom ing spots.
O f course, there are many
Mountains o f California. She was a real
tomboy, following her dad around fixing cars
m ore than w e possibly could
list here, but w e also have
Blake grew up in the Pehachape
and smoking cigars. She wanted nothing to
jp r
d o with domesticity— she hated nylons, high
T
heels and makeup.
S 3
recom m ended som e resources
J
to help you uncover those, too.
MMl
Start packing!
“ I was a wallflower,” she begins, and “did
not really feel attracted to any men. A t the
age o f 2 1 , 1 joined the Army.”
That was in 1942, when the United States
was fully engaged in W orld War II and
Continued on Page 25
H
. ■ Sal
wom en were just being allowed to serve. “ In
those days, the military was not so worried
that wom en were homosexual. Their big
problem was that wom en might be prosti
tutes,” Blake tells me.
She spent the war years as com pany com
mander in charge o f a barracks o f female
recruits. In 1947, she quit the Arm y to get
married.
“ M y husband wanted me at hom e,” she
says. But the marriage didn’t work out.
Continued on Page 5 1