apriLia.W J « t —>[27
Lowe was discouraged to discover discrim
ination affected retirement benefits as well as
by Heather Hybarger
the rights, responsibilities and protections of
a legal marriage.
“That really awakened me
to the existing injustices,” she
llen Lowe received death
threats and nearly was run says. “It seemed so unfair to me.
off the road while serving Things I took for granted, to
as the spokeswoman for deny people who had the same
kind of commitment that my
1992s No on 9 Campaign.
husband and I had. It went
She knew she was doing the right
thing, though, and continued to be against my sense of fairness.”
Lowe took a lot of flak from
the voice of reason in the struggle for
the faith community for her
human equality that year. She
donated her time again when the stance on the issues. “People
Oregon Citizens Alliance pushed questioned how 1 could call
myself a Christian and still believe in basic
1994’s Measure 13.
Lowe, 71, is now a public policy human rights for everybody,” she says.
She learned from her parents and passed on
consultant. She chooses her con
tracts carefully, always striving for to her children the importance of human equal
ways to make her vision of Ore
gon a reality.
She has been an advocate for
the poor and for the environ
ment. She also has worked for
the faith community as an Ecu
menical Ministries of Oregon
board member.
When she joined No on 9 in
’92, Lowe says she just was
beginning to understand the
weight of the issues against the
queer community.
“ I had some knowledge of the §
difficulty that the sexual minorities were g
faced with when it came to inheritance, cus- |
tody of children— the legal impediments,” &
she says. “I was just beginning to understand 2
what it really meant in terms of stability.”
i
E llen L owe
"I think once you
begin to erode rights
of any particular
group you endanger
the rights of
everyone"
— Ellen Lowe
PHOTO BY MARTY DAVIS
E
Lowe attends the Oregonians Against
Discrimination Luncheon on April 10
ity. She saw her mother and father being politi
cally active in their community, and in turn her
kids saw her being a force for change in Oregon.
Lowe says she always had the
support of her family. But people
made assumptions about them
when she became vocal on queer
issues.
“1 remember during the first
[Measure 9], the assumption of
many people was that 1 had a child
that was [gay] or a brother or sis
ter,” she says. “They kept saying,
‘You must have someone in your
family,’ and I would answer, ‘Not
that I’m aware of.’ They had a
hard time transferring what 1 was doing as promot
ing the equality of basic human rights."
Her philosophy rests on the principle of
the slippery slope.
“I think once you begin
to erode rights of any par
ticular group you endanger
the rights of everyone,” says
Lowe, who sits on the Basic
Rights Oregon board of
directors. “ It is my firm
conviction that once you
peel back the Bill of Rights
you establish a dangerous
precedent.”
Despite her influence
and impressive resume in
Salem, Lowe remains mod
est about her own impor
tance. “I’m just an ordinary
person who’s been at the
right place in the right
time.” j n
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