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
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