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teve Witte certainly does not want to
sound cliché. Yet in his heart, he has
a strong belief that no person is free as
long as others are held in bondage.
That is why he calling for gay, les Gay priest helps farmworkers in their struggle for justice
bian, hi and trans people to help stand up for the
by Tom Steven son
rights of farmworkers— who, he says, have much
more in common with sexual minorities
many might think.
The openly gay man brings a unique under
standing of the common bond between the two
groups. “Both communities are seen as dispos
able, not deserving of equal rights, by the
community,” he says.
Witte recently was named executive director
o'f the Oregon Farm Worker Ministry, which
links people of faith with farmworkers’
for justice. This is a message he thinks everyone
needs to hear.
“My job is connecting with people of vari
ous religious traditions and practices, helping
them to understand the plight of farmworkers
in the Willamette Valley,” he says. “ 1 share the
physical conditions they labor under. I want
people to understand the constant exposure to
toxic chemicals by both the workers and their
families. 1 hope to educate others to under
stand the socioeconomic conditions that force
them to leave their homes in Mexico and
other countries to be willing to work in such
inhumane conditions.”
Witte is not the most likely person one
would expect to serve as a farmworker advo
cate. First, he serves in a field in which most Steve Witte’s mission is to make people of faith aware of farmworker oppression
people are not accustomed to seeing gay men.
Additionally, he is a white man representing a
leave of absence from his diocese. Although
ing he was influenced by nuns who were arrest
community predominantly composed of peo the role is important to him, he is hesitant
ed in civil rights actions. In addition, he says
ple of color.
to talk about it because he does not want
that serving as a priest in inner-city parishes
Still, Witte insists the support he has
people to "pigeonhole
helped prepare him
received from colleagues has been incredible.
me or think they
for this job and that
"I hope to educate others to
“1 have encountered many who work in
know where I stand
other experiences,
social justice areas as having a sexual minority
because of that piece
including accepting
understand
the
socioeconomic
o f inform ation.”
connection either in their immediate families
his homosexuality,
or extended families,” he says. “Some of the
“I believe God con conditions that force them to leave
made him understand
mainstream religious folks might balk at my
tinues to reveal divine
“the need for reform
their homes in Mexico and other and liberation for
sexual orientation. I really don’t allow that to
wisdom to us individual-
interfere. Should it raise its head, well, 1 would
iv and communally,"
countries to be all.” to
in
reminder them of Jesus’ reaching out to those
Witte thinks sexu
Witte says. 1 believe
I . i
•
//
who were outside the mainstream of society—
that i am on this path
such inhumane conditions.
al minorities can do
for a reason, and that
to use the Hebrew word for them, the anawim,
many things to sup
reason is continually
meaning the poor and outcast.”
port the farmworker
Witte thinks the color issue doesn’t present
being revealed to me. I
cause. T h e most
any harriers, either.
am certain that working for liberation and social
important, he says, is to become aware.
“ Before I was even aware of my being gay, I justice are an important part of the ministry. I
He also is promoting the farmworker
was curious as to how others lived,” he says.
see that my position with Oregon Farm Worker unions’ boycott of offending companies.
Ministry is both a call to minister to people on
“As a child, my favorite sitter was a black
“Become aware of the dangers of imported
teen-ager named Gloria. She taught us how to
the edges of society and to be a prophetic voice
foods that are putting local growers out of
dance, to listen to Motown, to open our world
to make folks aware of injustice and transgres business— [for] example, fruit from China that
beyond life in our neighborhood. To this day,
sion of G od’s law of love.”
is being sold at local markets for less than
Gloria and her family are [my] friends.”
Witte credits his Catholic high school edu locally grown fruit.”
W itte is a C ath olic priest who is on a cation for inspiring him to fight injustice, not-
Witte adds the terrorist attacks on New
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York and Washington, D.C., also have affect
ed the farmworker community, along with
most progressive causes.
“Certainly, Sept. 11 has reinforced the con
servative right wing in America, and political
forces are making it more difficult for ‘out there’
social causes,” he says. “However, I believe it is
even more crucial to work locally to fight dis
crimination and prejudice whether that is in the
sexual minority community, people of color or
farmworkers.”
In this “new era” Witte sees a pressure on
minorities to be quiet, to “not upset the apple
cart, so to speak, for to do so is [seen as] anti-
American. 1 see a return to the so-called comfort
values of the earlier Republican administrations,
i.e., the happy ’50s.”
Witte notes those who are passionately
opposed to the farmworker movement— and
many people are— simply are not recognizing
the dire situation. “They absolutely are ignoring
the health risks to the workers and their fami
lies,” he says.
According to Witte, kids bathe in the same
areas where their parents work, which results in
“a greater concentration of chemicals in their
blood.” In addition, those children live in camps
with no place to play.
Many kids end up working themselves. “In
some cases, children as young as 5 are picking
berries in the fields among plants covered in
chemicals,” Witte says.
He doesn’t want people to think all growers
“are evil or bad people. They are not,” he
maintains.
“Some are just as trapped as the farmworkers
in an oppressive situation, and economically
they cannot be severed from this system,” Witte
says. "Some of the larger growers and growers’
co-ops maintain this system. Some growers can
not at this time break away from status quo for
fear of losing their family farms. Until more peo
ple in the Willamette Valley rise up and make it
quite clear that such injustice is not acceptable,
it will continue.”
Witte’s hope, above all else, is that sexual
minorities, who understand oppression, will be
among those to raise their voices in support of
farmworkers. “There are horrible, slavelike con
ditions at our doorsteps," he says.
And his goal is to convince others that
something has to be said— and done— to allevi
ate those conditions. j n
For more information about the OREGON F arm
W o r k e r M in ist r y visit the Internet site
home. earthlink. net / -ofw m j.
T om STEVENSON is a Portland free-lance writer
and a full-time Portland State University student
who can be reached at ruraltom@yahoo.com.