il
rTTTTTTTn^lnetusbrie/s
L ake O swego
B ans D iscrimination
he Like Oswego City Council unanimously
passed an ordinance Oct. 21 banning dis­
crimination based on sexual ori­
entation and gender identity in
housing, hiring and public
accommodations.
The move makes it the first
suburban community in Oregon
to ban bias against queers. Port­
land, Eugene, Salem and Corval­
lis have adopted similar policies.
The effort was launched by
gay City Councilor Karl Rohde, who became con­
fident that it would pass after the U.S. Supreme
Court overturned state stxlomy laws in June. As it
turns out, nobody testified against the proposal.
“1 had...always maintained that this would
not be a big issue for Like Oswego,” Rohde told
Just Out. “Like Oswego is actually a pretty pro­
gressive community.... It confirmed what 1 had
been espousing about the community to my
friends and colleagues, and that was very nice.”
Rohde hopes the ordinance’s easy passage
will encourage other smaller communities to fol­
low suit. He said he already has been
approached for advice by a member of the West
Linn City Council.
A dams
S
on the
R un A gain
hortly after the Oct. 24 announcement that
Multnomah County Commissioner Maria
Rojo de Steffey was dropping out of the 2004
Portland City Council race, Sam Adams says
he’s going to run.
The gay man, who served as chief of staff for
Mayor Vera Katz, originally considered and
then wrote off a run for the mayor’s seat on
the council in favor of a bid for Congress,
provided that incumbent U.S. Rep. Earl
Blumenauer, D-Ore., chose to run for mayor.
Rojo, meanwhile, expressed interest in
the City Council seat to be vacated due to
Jim Francesconi’s bid for mayor. Because
Adams and Rojo had agreed not to compete
against each other, Blumeruiuer’s decision to
run for re-election left Adams without a race.
“My commitment was not to run against
Maria,” Adams told The Oregonian. “Now
Basic Rights Oregon’s Trans Advisory Group takes to the stage Oct. 24 at the Oregon Convention Center
that Maria’s out, I’m going to run."
Already Adams has the support of numerous
He adds, “I also would use my bully
political and business leaders as well as civil rights pulpit to share statewide Portland’s very
activists, including Katz, Rojo, Multnomah
positive experience with our civil rights
County Commissioner Serena Cruz, former state ordinance that protects lesbian, gay, bisex­
Rep. Gail Shibley, gay philanthropist Terry Bean
ual and transgendered Portlanders against
and real estate developer Robert Ball, a gay man
discrimination in housing and employ­
who is considering entering the mayoral race.
ment, and lobby for statewide legislation
Adams says his campaign will focus on jobs,
to do the same for all Oregonians."
education, families, community policing, afford­
able housing, basic legal rights for all and neigh-
borhcxxl quality-of-life issues.
BRO H onors
“If elected, I would continue my work to
improve basic rights for every Portlander and
V an S a n t , R o jo ,
each Oregonian,” Adams told Just Out. “I also
would continue my volunteer work of building T rans A dvisers
up the LG BT community. Working with the
asic Rights Oregon honored support­
county and local nonprofits to better serve the
ers and raised more than $80,000 dur­
needs of LG BTQ youth, seniors and those
ing a dinner Oct. 24 at the Oregon Con­
impacted by HIV and AIDS; confronting big­ vention Center. In keeping with this year’s
otry and homophobia in all forms; establishing a theme, “Our Big Fat Gay Wedding,” the
successful LG B T community center that better
host was Liinie Kazan, who appeared in
pulls together our own sense of community and
the film My Big Fat Greek Weddmg.
“This year’s theme was chosen to rep- From left, Gus Van Sant accepts BR O ’s Justice for All
strengthens existing LG BT organizations—
Award from board co-chairwoman Jeana Frazzini, host
[these) would all be at the top of my to-do list as
Continued on Page 13 Lainie Kazan and board co-chairman Frank Dixon
a city commissioner.”
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