novambflf 7.2003
Memories
milestones
and
At 20, Just Out is old enough to know fear,
but young enough to be queer
by Pat Young
ince its founding in 1983, Just
Out has played a prominent role
in Portlands queer community.
The newspaper provides vital
news and information that con­
nects our gay, lesbian, hi and trans communi­
ties. But Just Out also serves as a way to docu­
ment our lives, a personal chronicle of queer
life in the Rose City.
Rustling through the archives, we see how
A l l « dominates the paper through most of the
1980s. Many articles explain legal issues around
Inside Out
ust Out founders
Renee LaChance
and Jay Brown
originally
thought aFxjut
starring their own newspaper
while working for Cascade
Voice reporting on tumultuous
planning sessions for 1983s
Gay Pride celebration. Som e
women wanted “lesbian” in
the title, while some men
thought "gay" was inclusive.
The Cascade Voice publisher
also thought “gay" was just
fine, but LaChance and
Brown felt otherwise.
“We just kept feeling a con­
flict of values with the publish­
er,” remcmFiers LaChance,
recalling how she and Brown
thought they could produce a
different kind of paper— one
with good writing and integrity
that would recognize lesbians
as well as gays.
Having an idea for a news­
paper was one thing; giving it a
name would bring it to life.
“We were looking at some
Renee ^ C h a n c e (left) and
different words in the thesaurus
and thought, let’s look at ‘out,’ " says LaChance. “It said
something like ‘out of your mind,’ and we would laugh, and
then ‘out of something else,’ and then it said ‘just out’— and
we went, ‘Whoa, that’s it.’ ”
The pair sold Brown's antique couch for seed money, and
Just Out was in Fxisiness.
“We started the paper with basically $300 and all the
go-get-’em and gumption in the world," laughs LaChance.
At the time, gay media typically relied on advertising from
bars. Most local establishments, however, remained loyal to
Cascade Voice. That led Just Out to do something unthinkable
at the time: look to nongay businesses fix advertising.
The process started to jell wFten they hired Roger Hall, a
straight man, as advertising director. LaChance describes the
former Business Journal salesman as having “no fear and no
internalized homophobia,” and Fie felt strongly tftat the gay
market was a niche that advertisers slmuid utilize. Hall also
knew that Just Out’s selling
point would he its readers’
loyalty to advertisers. With
that in mind, Just Out Fscgan
reader surveys, which showed
about 80 percent of the read­
ers were loyal to advertisers.
[EdiUrr's note: Just Our contin -
ucs to solicit reader fcedhick
today. Look for the survey
inserted into this issue or com -
trlete the questionnaire online at
www.justout. com. I
Selling ads to nongay busi­
ness was a big deal. But Hall
and LaChance didn’t know
how big until they went to a
national gay and lesbian press
convention early on and
spoke with other publishers
and ad directors. T hat’s when
they discovered how radical
their advertising practice was.
Other publishers “just hadn’t
even thought of it," continues
LaChance, “or thought tliat it
was possible."
Although many point to
Stonewall in 1969 as the
Jay Brown
birth °^
8aY movement,
LaChance says it wasn’t until
the 1980s that things started to come together in Port­
land. “A nd I think Just Out really helped with that by giv­
ing people a forum to come together in a nontraditiona!
way,” says LaChance, noting the “traditional" way usually
was linked to Fiars.
Brown used to tell LaCFiance that when The Oregimum
and other mainstream press Fiegan to cover sexual minority
news, there wouldn’t Fie a need for Just Out anymore.
“But after 20 years of watching the community grow and
watching how much more mainstream media does cover our
news and our events,” comments LaChance, “there is still as
much need for gay press and gay media t»ecause those main­
stream publications still don’t cover all of our news or cover
it the way that we do.”
Today, LaChance owns and operates the See Vue Motel
on the central Oregon coast near Yachats. Brown passed '
away in 1990.
j l FIV, such as health care coverage and discrimi­
nation in housing or employment. Then, in the
early 1990s, the Oregon Citizens Alliance and its
anti-gay ballot measures steal the headlines (see
sideFw on Page 26). From the late 1990s through
200), domestic partner benefits, same-sex mar­
riages and trans rights Fx'gin to get lots of ink.
So find a comfortable place to sit, fix your­
self a cup of tea, and let’s lixik hack together
at some of the significant local events covered,
in Just Out that have shaped our community
during the past 20 years.
he first issue of Just Out is published in Oc toiler featuring a
cover story on the Dyketones, a group of Portland lesbians
decked out in politically incorrect hutch/femme attire and
singing 1950s music. Just Out
settles into a format that
includes cover story, profiles of
community leaders, national
news, local news, calendar of events, a list of queer organizations and
movie reviews. In 1984, Billy Russo adds his column about gay life in
Roseburg. The follow­
ing year, Lee Lynch
brings her column
filled with adven­
tures about lesbian
life in southern
Oregon.
Cascade A l l «
Project forms after
a group of Port­
land residents,
dixtors and peo­
ple with A l l «
realize a need to
educate the
public about
this new dis­
ease. In 1983,
only a few
people in
Oregon have
died from AIDS,
more people are
Fiecoming infect­
ed and readers are
desperate for infor
mation akxit
HIV/AIDS.
1983
Continued
on Page 24
We’ve come a long
way since our third
issue, in which Ju st
Out tackles the issue of
gay men and lesbians
who are married— but
not in today’s sense of
domestic partnerships, commitment ceremonies,
civil unions or same-sex weddings in Canada