They might be straight, but these allies
always have been on our side
o
“My mom was an immi
grant with very little formal
education, and she never
learned to speak English,” she
says. “But she convinced her
friends to ignore Anita Bryant
and her minions because of
her love for Jose.”
Today, Alarcón-Gaddie
manages the Metropolitan
Human Rights Center, a pro
gram of the city of Portland’s
Office of Neighborhood
Involvement and Multnom
ah County. She is involved in
collaborations and public pol
icy issues pertaining to under
represented communities.
She also is active in the
Coalition Against Hate
Crimes and the Oregon
Council for Human and Civil
Rights. She was involved in a
number of public policy issues
that are of special signifi
cance to the queer communi
ty, including the domestic
partnership registry and the
expansion of the city’s civil
rights ordinance to include
gender identity.
Previously, she was a
multicultural health educator
with state programs involving early detection of
A m a lia A l a r c O n - G a d d ie
breast and cervical cancer as well as HIV. Before
by T om Stev en so n
coming to Portland she worked on HIV issues in
New York, where she had gone to try her hand
verybody needs a best friend, and when at acting after graduating from college.
Alarcón-Gaddie believes her life has been
Amalia Alarcdn-Gaddie was 12 years
nurtured by the sexual minorities community. In
old— having just arrived in Miami
Beach, Fla., after living in Puerto Rico fact, she says she never felt like an “outsider.”
“This community was often the place where I
for years— she lucked out and found
somebody who would stick by her as her found
career the most comfort and acceptance,” she says.
“Some of my closest colleagues, people who inspire
took her to nearly every point in the country.
me and people I profoundly respect also happen to
His name is Jose. He is the one who become
be members of the GLBTQ community.”
her confidante for life, the one who was the
Even though Alarcón-Gaddie is married and
“man of honor” in her wedding and the one who
the mother of a growing son, there is no ques
her son refers to as his uncle.
He is also the one who, during their junior year tioning her dedication to sexual minorities. She
of high school, dared tell his friend he was gay. simply cannot understand how anyone could
feel any differently.
Mind you, that was during the time when Anita
“How can one not carer’ she says. “I am the
Bryant and the Moral Majority were causing havoc
mom of an amazing little boy, and I want him to
for the sexual minorities community in Florida.
Just a few years later while attending Universi have a future where we as a society value,
ty of Miami, Alarc6n-Gaddie’s cousin Isabel, who respect and cherish all our members. I’m fierce
she refers to as “more of a sister than a cousin,” ly loyal to and protective of my family, so I feel
it is my job to work with others toward creating
arrived on a student visa to attend the same
the kind of community that offers a safe and
school. A short time later, Isabel also came out.
The fact that two of the three people closest to welcoming space to all.
“Besides, Dr. Martin Luther King said, ‘Injus
her were gay might explain why Alarcdn-Gaddie
tice
anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,’
has spent the bulk of her professional career work
ing with members of the sexual minorities com and I firmly believe that. These aren’t about
munity. But digging deeper reveals another key G L B T Q rights— they’re human rights— and
factor: her mother. When her mother discovered depriving anyone of their human rights dimin
ishes us all. ” i n
Jose was gay, she immediately went to work.
E
O
bviously, you don’t need to be gay, lesbian, bi or trans
in order to understand the concept of equality.
But for a number of straight people in Oregon,
empathy isn’t enough. They have taken on our cause
as their own.
Why are they so passionate about gay rights even though they are
straight? Has it been difficult to come in from the outside, or have
they found acceptance from the sexual minorities community?
Just E g Out
our numerous
attorney straight allies to find the
J im
a n spoke with six of Conservative
Jim Egan is working
answers
by
H e ath e r to
H y these
barger questions.
for change from within
the Republican Party
im Egan says he gets strange
looks sometimes at queer
events. It starts when he is
introduced to someone as the
conservative
Republican,
Mormon, Marine, straight guy.
The Albany attorney stands by his
political and religious beliefs but is „
always there to lend his support to the g
campaigns against anti-gay measures
that pop up on the ballot. He is an
active volunteer and supporter of Basic
Rights Oregon and makes an effort to
combat the Oregon Citizens Alliance
on its own turf—from within the Republican Party. Democrat'Herald He says the homophobic let
“Anytime some anti-human rights initiative is ters he read in the paper incensed him.
‘T h ey weren’t just talking about gays and
on the ballot I’m going to do something,” he says.
lesbians,” he says. ‘T h ey were talking about my
His reason is simple. “If I don’t work for somebody
else’s civil rights, who is going to work for mine?”
uncle Ed.”
A s a lieutenant in the U.S. Marines, Egan was
Egan grew up in Tangent, and as a high
schooler in the 70s he began to
asked to oust a woman in his com
see the injustices that sexual
mand because the Naval Inves
n
i
l
don't
work
for
minorities were faced with daily.
tigative Service produced a pic
After reading an article in somebody else's civil ture “proving" she was a lesbian.
When he confronted her, she
Newsweek describing a new homo
sexual recovery program, he pro- rights, who is going cried and denied the charge,
posed to his sex education teacher fg
fo f
chiming her colleagues assumed
a panel discussion featuring a gay
she wasn’t straight because die
played on a softball team. He took
man, a doctor and a religious offi
cial. The instructor was excited
a stand and told his commanding
about the idea, but the principal wouldn’t allow officer that die evidence was insufficient.
even a report on the topic.
A graduate of University of Oregon School of
Egan later learned these prejudices affected Law, Egan entered die political realm through
him more personally when he went to New York positions within the Republican Party in Linn
City for a weeklong stay with his uncle Ed. He County and as president of the Linn County Bar
was introduced to Ed’s roommate, Russell, who Association. He truly believes changes in an
institution start from the inside and move out. It’s
he remembers as “die most gentle, kindest,
something he sees happening slowly but surely.
sweetest guy.”
Egan was proud of Ed when he came out in
However, Ed was a seminary student and a
Methodist minister with a small congregation in
1977. His uncle presented his doctoral thesis,
Greenwich Village and was not out to anyone.
which advocated for die church to start an
“We would talk about the issue in only the most organization similar to Parents of Gays, an early
passing way,” Egan says, adding that Ed found ways incarnation of Parents, Families and Friends of
to approach the subject with his nephew, like stop Lesbians and Gays. The diesis cost Ed his career.
ping by Stonewall on a tour of the city’s highlights.
A relationship can be the force of change
Egan remembers Anita Bryant and the polit in society, Egan says. “ People will stop hating
ical and religious movements that attacked gay gays and lesbians when they realize gays and
rights. Moreover, he spoke out against them,
lesbians are their neighbors and the people
writing letters to the editor of the Albany they love.” j n
J
MAM a I
AA« «AA« AM
M AK.M MA
«
A AM««
A B
A
—Jim Egan
A
W
*AM
%
ll ♦
»
AA A
Ali% ^
Kl A rlfll ■
<
~
1
A
i
A
A