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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 16, 2001)
g jMMt M t ' noven Der 16, 2001 h '[i];o ;iv i4 ^ J n e w s PHOTO BY Jew el A . Robinson Continued from Page 7 B’Zillion $ $ $ P rod u cer P ortlanders H el p H o usto n C a m p a ig n o f f ic e (5 0 3 ) 2 8 1 - 4 0 4 0 v o ic e m a il ( 5 0 3 ) 3 0 1 - 4 2 8 3 e - m a il J e w e l 2 U @ t e l e p o r t . c o m hree Portland activists traveled to Houston to assist in a campaign oppos ing a measure that would prohibit the city from offer ing health benefits to part ners of gay and lesbian municipal employees. The measure narrowly passed Nov. 6. Kathleen Sullivan, who managed the successful campaign against Mea sure 9 last year, spent three weeks in Texas working to defeat the anti-gay ballot measure. O ther activists Roey Thorpe, Basic Rights Oregon executive director, just returned came to Houston from from Houston, where an anti'gay measure narrowly passed despite Washington, D.C.; Boston; diligent campaign efforts New York City; Louisville and Lexington, Ky.; and Santa Fe, N.M. W o r k s h o p D is c u s s e s Sullivan later asked Basic Rights Oregon S c h o o l S afety executive director Roey Thorpe and develop Safe Schools and Community Training ment director CM Hall to join her. They were in Project workshop will be held from Texas from Nov. 1 to 6. “The campaign needed some assistance 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 30 at First Presbyterian Church, 227 N.E. 12th St. from people with experience in this kind of work,” Thorpe knew that it would in Newport. The meeting will pro says. “We knew that it would vide education about the be a close race in which we be a close race in which important health and safety might he able to make a we might be able to needs of sexual minority difference.” and questioning youth. The Because the campaign got make a difference" cost is $25 a person, which off to a fairly late start, Thor — Roey Thorpe includes lunch, beverages pe and Hall focused all of and a participant notebook. their efforts on reaching vot The workshop is part of a statewide project ers on Election Day. They assisted in voter identification training and organized volun involving the Oregon Department of Educa teers at polling places designated as most like tion; Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians ly to have a high percentage of pro-gay voters. and Gays Oregon State Council; and the Gay, The measures language made the campaign Lesbian and Straight Education Network. Local even more difficult, Thorpe says. Asking for peo sponsors are the Coastal AIDS Network and the ple’s support with a “no” vote often leads to con Lincoln County HIV Prevention Planning fusion at the ballot box, she explains. Committee. Thorpe adds that voter turnout was a major disappointment. Of 1.9 million eligible voters in For more information call Lynn Kauffman at Houston, fewer than 50 percent are registered, 541'336-3770, Claudia Webster at and only about 27 percent actually bothered to 541 '867-6135 or Nancy Bohlman at cast a ballot this year. 541-265-66/1, ext. 2408. “What progressive activists are facing in Houston is profound apathy,” Thorpe says. “The gay -'ommunity there needs to mobilize S u p r e m e C o u r t F a v o r s themselves as well as their supporters if they P u y a l l u p S e n i o r C it iz e n want to win.” But Thorpe says many lessons were learned he Washington Supreme Court ruled during the campaign. She thinks an earlier, Nov. 1 that the state’s equitable doc more aggressive voter identification program trine, which has provided protection to is key to achieving victory the next time unmarried heterosexual partners for years, around. also protects lesbian and gay families. “Clearly, there’s been progress made,” Thor The rule protects those who have been in pe says. “Not only have times changed, hut the long-term, unmarried relationships if they work that activists have been doing has been separate or if one partner dies. Attorneys paying off.” argued that the law should apply equally to The narrow margin— 51.5 percent to 48.5 lesbians and gay men, so they can use it to percent—represented more than a twofold seek fair distribution of the couple’s property increase in support for gay rights since 1985, the in the same way heterosexuals can. last time a similar measure was considered. The case went to the Supreme Court after Grant Martin, People for a Fair Houston cam an appellate court ruling stripped Frank paign manager, thinks this fact should not go Vasquez of his home and business following the ignored. death of Robert Schwerzler, his partner of “No matter the final result, we made histo almost 30 years. The case has been watched ry today and should be proud,” he says. “We’ve closely by civil rights organizations who assert had an unprecedented coalition of leaders from that denying lesbian and gay couples access to the business, religious, African American and equity, while they also do not have the freedom civil rights communities—all standing up for to marry, puts these, families in a doubly unfair Catch-22. GLBT equality.” T Visit me now at: http://www.jewelrobinson.com Ô Î3 1730 N.E. 10th Avenue (Sfc Prudential Portland, OR 97212 W Northwest Properties D o n ’ t b e A DUNCE... Submit to our Personal Ads! 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