24
♦ tul» 19.2002
Q ood N eighbors
Gay and lesbian Oregonians are laying the foundation
to build a stronger community
his month Just Out tracked down four gay men and lesbians who are doing their part to
make the world a better place for everyone— queer or straight.
Three of them— Dan Beck and Rick Brissette of Lincoln City and Phyllis McBride of
St. Johns— are making their presence known in places where the sexual minorities com
munity isn’t too visible. And while they are working hard to open improve people’s quaL
ity of life, activist Cathryn Cushing is busy trying to save those lives by fighting tobacco use and
breast cancer.
Oregonians are lucky to have so many strong role models out there representing our community.
T he C oast I s C lear
Meet Dan Beck and Rick Brissette,
Lincoln City’s Couple of the Year
by Sarah Leimert
omething shocking
happened
in the
small coastal town of
Lincoln
City on
April 13: The local
weekly newspaper named two gay
men as Couple of the Year.
Dan Beck and Rick Brissette
were honored for their work with
Coastal A ID S Network, the
Democratic Party and the antique
shop they built from the ground
up. Partners in business and in
life, they have had an immeasur
able impact on their tightly knit
community and have made them
selves indispensable in the fight
against AIDS.
The two met in 1989 in Lin
coln City and formed a partner-
ship that seems to grow stronger by Beck (,eft) and Brissette have frjends m hy , laces
the year. Upon arrival in Oregon,
Beck founded the Coastal A ID S Network with events and organizes the World AIDS Day
Laurie Ammerman. As executive director, he Candlelight Vigil.
publishes a monthly newsletter for the sexual
Beck also does HIV counseling and testing,
minorities community, holds weekly social
operates a needle exchange program utilizing
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two employees and does advocacy work.
C A N soon will he starting a group for
queer youth in the Lincoln City and
Tillamook areas. Additionally, Beck
acts as program chairman for the Lin
coln County Democratic Central
Committee.
Brissettes involvement in and
dedication to his town are equally
astounding. He serves as a C A N
advisory
hoard member, a
Lincoln City planning
commissioner, Lincoln
City Chamber of Com-
merce president and
Lincoln County Demo
cratic Central Commit
tee chairman.
“In the ’90s, we were
losing everyone in our
lives, and a lot of our
early involvement in
C A N was not entirely
altruistic,” Brissette says.
“It began because we,
too, needed the support,
and we just kept going
forward
with
our
dream.”
With
seemingly
boundless energy, Beck
and Brissette also own and operate a business.
With the help of many volunteers, the Little
Antique Mall was opened in 1993 and contin
ues to flourish, bringing avid “antiquers” from
throughout the state to do business with them.
The mall has been successful amid numerous
personal challenges, including the death of Bris
sette s mother in 1998 and Beck’s hospitalization
with pneumonia shortly thereafter.
“The whole process of opening the mall was
a very spiritual and gratifying experience,” Bris
sette says. “Dan and I both know that to those
whom much is given, much is expected.”
The Couple of the Year award was a shock
hut could not have been given to more deserv
ing recipients. The Lincoln City
News Guard declared:
“Together Rick and
Dan have poured
their hearts and
resources into help
ing those at risk or
suffering with HIV
|a n d AIDS, they were
instrumental in the
formation
of the
Coastal A ID S N et
work in an area where
services are scarce. At
the same time, [they]
have built one of the
most successful and nationally recognized busi
nesses in the community.”
The reaction to Beck and Brissettes
victory was widely supportive during the 2002
Community Days Banquet.
“I was overcome by the reaction of the audi
ence," Brissette remembers. “Some people were
standing on their seats screaming and applaud
ing, some individuals were crying, it was truly
overwhelming. I think that many in the crowd
were not only cheering [Dan and I] but were
applauding all the gays and lesbians that have
been in their lives.”
Beck praised Lincoln City at the ceremony,
revealing that they came there “to heal and
found not only each other but a community that
just said no to the hate being promulgated in our
beautiful state.”
Friend and co-worker Ken Hull admires
Beck and Brissette for their willingness to give
so selflessly and considers them his mentors. “I
strive to be half the men that they both are pro
fessionally and personally. They have made it
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