Just out., July 18, 2003, Page 15, Image 15

15
h'itMi; ivi Sinews
tive to possible concerns about trans
women “acting like men.”
“If I step on you, you can kick me out,”
she told them in an e-mail. But the group
welcomed her with open arms. “It’s been
great joining forces with all kinds of
with pink silk flowers. Emma Goldman’s
women," Mitchell says.
proud face was emblazoned across her head­
The main steering committee of Qxle
turning shirt, challenging “What Would
Pink Portland is composed only of women,
Emma Do.’"
but the group welcomes men to participate in
What, indeed.’ The famous activist of
outreach. Recent actions include an informa­
the early 20th century agitated for freedom
tional appearance at the “Last Thursday” art
on many fronts, including speech, sexuality,
From left, Code Pinkers protest war April 12, media monopoly May 29 and the Rose Festival fleet June 7
walk
June 26 on Northeast Alberta Street.
women’s rights, anarchism, birth control
The group also joins the Portland Peaceful
and union organization. In 1917 Francis Caffey,
Response rallies at 5 p.m. Fridays in Pioneer
a U.S. attorney in New York, called her “an
Courthouse Square.
exceedingly dangerous woman.”
Code Pink Portland T-shirts are sold at In
Goldman is now the patron saint of Portland’s
Other Words Women’s Btxiks and Resources,
chapter of Code Pink, a national movement of
which donates half of the proceeds back to the
female peace and justice activists founded last fall
group. According to store manager Sue Bums,
in Washington, D.C. The group's name subverts
the shirts have met with “an amazing response”
traditional notions of femininity while making a
Code Pink lets peace and justice activists show their true colors
from customers.
dig at the Homeland Security Department’s color
by Meg Daly
“They inspire excellent conversation,” she says.
alert system. It is also a reference to the term used
“They are a wild, wonderful bunch of women.”
in hospitals to alert staff of a child abduction in
In Other Words played host to an informa­
progress, “since the children of the world are
Federal Communications
tional event on the life of Goldman this spring.
Commission niling to weak­
being abducted—symbolically and often literal­
“It was incredibly well attended,” says Bums,
en media regulation laws.
ly—by the global corporate culture and war
noting that interest in Qxle Pink crosses gener­
According to Grayum,
machine,” says the national Code Pink Web site.
ations and sexual orientations.
when the tête-à-tête with
For Grayum, a 52-year-old lesbyn, musician
Mitchell admires Goldman for her civil dis­
and longtime Portland resident, Code Pink has
the sales manager was wind­
obedience. Her “stint in jail for opposing U.S.
been a lifeline. “I’ve never found a group where
ing down, one Pink slowly
imperial designs was an admirable act,” she says.
I felt so safe and where it’s so easy to go out and
and delicately lifted her skirt
For Mitchell, concern about going to jail for
to reveal a “Pink Slip”—lit­
be political,” she says.
her
beliefs is one way her gender identity has
Plus, Qxle Pink’s politics are right in line
erally a pink item of lingerie
affected her activism. “I’m skittish about getting
with her own. “1 have huge concerns about the
with “You’re fired!" printed
arrested,” she says. She fears that if she were
boldly in black across the
direction this country is going," Grayum says.
arrested for civil disobedience, she would be
satiny fabric. (Other “Pink
“Globalization is so hurtful to human rights."
“thrown in with men and possibly raped.”
Grayum joined the group in March during
Slip" recipients include pro­
“Being a transsexual has made me an out­
war U.S. Sen. Hillary Rod­
the waning days of the war on Iraq. She had read
sider," says Mitchell, who believes misogyny,
ham Clinton, D-N.Y., and
about the organization in several progressive
homophobia and imperialism are linked. “My
FCC Chairman Michael
media sources and was elated to hear that a Port­
existence as a trans woman threatens the
land chapter had sprung up. “I knew it would be
Powell.)
smooth fabric of imperialism.”
Media conglomeration Theresa Mitchell (left) and Terri Grayum are two of the queers who
the place for me,” Grayum says.
The bright, ironic fabric of Code Pink dress­
is an issue of concern for have joined the national movement of female peace and justice activists
Nationwide, Qxle Pink has sparked enthusi­
es,
hats, shirts and even fishnet stockings cer­
Code Pink member There­
asm from a broad array of women for its hard­
tainly clashed with the battleship gray of the
stuff the black bloc anarchists can’t,” she says.
sa Mitchell, a trans woman who has been the
hitting anti-war, anti-globalization, pro-human
Navy
ships on view at the Rose Festival, during
"People
think
we
are
a
bunch
of
old
ladies
in
pink."
host of Press Watch on KBOO-FM for 12 years.
rights and pro-environment messages, including
which Cxxle Pink distributed more “thorn mes­
Until they listen to Code Pinks messages,
The 30-minute show is “unapologetically left,”
high-profile agitators Alice Walker and Michelle
sages
” and chanted: “We are Portland’s Peace
says
the
45-year-old,
who
provides
her
listeners
that
is.
Shtxked. In addition to eye-catching pink posters
Fleet! We say war is obsolete!"
At a recent infiltration of the Western States
“news you are not supposed to know.”
and banners, the grtxip uses stealth, humor and
“People don’t know what to do with us,”
Republican
Leadership
Conference,
Code
Mitchell
joined
Code
Pink
last
spring.
She
in-your-face tactics to deliver its missives.
Grayum told Just Out at the end of her inter­
Pinkers left dozens of paper roses behind with
wanted to take action because of what she calls
During a May 29 protest, pink-clad Port­
view. She then turned to climb on her bike,
“thorn" messages attached. One read, “While the
“the heinousness of attacking a nation on the
landers waved signs and banners outside Clear
revealing on the back of her T-shirt Emma
government increases military spending, over 41
basis of lies.”
Channel’s headquarters on Southwest Macadam
Goldman’s famous saying: “If I can’t dance, I
million Americans have no health insurance."
She was drawn to the group in part because
Avenue. It was a national day of protesting media
don’t want to be part of your revolution." JM
For Mitchell, a seasoned anti-imperialism
she admires the work of two national Code Pink
monopoly, organized in part by Qxle Pink.
activist, Code Pink has been gratifying both per­
founders: Medea Benjamin of Global Exchange
But pink poster board was not all the grtxip had
For more information about CODE P1NK visit
sonally and politically. When she first
and author and activist Starhawk. Mitchell, like
up its sleeve. Two days earlier, several Portland
www.codepinkportland.org.
approached the group about joining, she came
Grayum, appreciates the group’s trademark
Qxle Pink members had arranged a meeting with
out
as
"a
trannie"
right
away.
She
wanted
to
a Clear Channel sales manager. They confronted
humor and creativity.
M eg D aly is a Portland free-lance writer.
make sure she would be accepted and was sensi-
“It’s amusing to us that we can get away with
the official with their concerns ahxit the pending
.... erri Grayum could be seen from
a quarter-mile away as she
approached a Portland coffee
shop sporting a bright rose
JL.
T-shirt and riding a bike adorned
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