1988
The NAMES Project Quilt comes
to Portland as the final stop on a
national ttxir. The project began in
California in 1987, and each piece of the 9,000-panel quilt commem
orates someone who died of AIDS. One person comments to Just
Out, “I felt such ¿is powerful sense of loss, for all the lives, the tal
ent.” Next year, a PortLind chapter of the NAMES Project opens.
The first ¿»ctivity is a panel-making workshop. Insufficient funding
and public apathy forces the chapter to close in 2003.
Voters pass the
Oregon Citizens Alliances anti-gay
Ballot Measure 8 by 53 percent. It repeals Gov. Neil
Goldschmidts executive order banning discrimination
against gays in state employment. The passage of Measure 8
remains a defining moment in Oregon’s gay history since so
many people thought it wouldn’t pass and then were
shocked when it did.
In other happenings,
For months and years
Portland s chapter of the afterward, Measure 8 is the
National Leather A sso source of anger, tension
Portland welcomes the N A M ES Project
and division within the
ciation holds its first
Q uilt national tour in 1988 and
gay community. Many crit
meeting and 36 people
subsequently opens a hometown chapter
icize what Oregon for Fair
attend. After two years
in 1989. Fourteen years later, however,
ness (later the No on 8
o f rejection, the
the Portland chapter cannot afford to
Campaign) did wrong.
continue
and shuts down.
Phoenix Rising counsel
Measure 8, along with the
ing service finally
AIDS crisis, ushers in a new “in your face’’ kind of activism as the AIDS
becomes the first gay
Coalition to Unleash Power (A C T UP) opens a chapter in Oregon.
and lesbian organization
Measure 8 also sparks a big push for people to come out of the
closet. In a Just Out commentary, Carol Steinel writes: “In a sense, the
in Oregon to join the
passage of Measure 8 has been a great gift for me. The sense of dis
U nited Way, receiving
enfranchisement
I have had since Nov. 8 has put a sharp light on my
$16,000 the following
year. A nd a first for gay own homophobia and the fallacy that I could remain partly hidden
until the coast was clear for gay rights. A m onth ago, 1 would have
newspapers: Just Out
followed all this with a disclaimer stating that I don’t expect or recom
receives press credentials mend that everyone come out as far as I plan to. Today, I firmly
to the Democratic
believe such a disclaimer would be a disservice to my community.
National C onvention.
Measure 8 passed because we did."
Cascade AIDS Project
strongly advises early testing
for people who might be at risk
for HIV. Executive director
Paul Starr says: “AIDS is becoming less a short-temi fatal illness
and more of a long-term chronic yet manageable condition.
People still die, but it is clear that the earlier we intervene, the
better our chances of halting the progression of HIV disease.”
C A P continues to stress that HIV testing should be “volun
tary, anonymous or otherwise confidential.”
1989
A new state statute
requires law enforcement
agencies to track crimes
motivated by hate, includ
ing crimes against homo
sexuals. Another law adds
sexual orientation to
categories protected by
Oregon's “Intimidation
Law.” The Oregon Citizens
Alliance targets legislators
who voted in favor of these
bills and vows to throw
them out of office. Attor
ney Bradley Woodworth
writes in Just Out , “Now
that we finally have some
concrete legal protection, it
seems important that we
use them; otherwise we risk
losing them.” He is con
cerned that the O C A may
get enough support to
repeal the laws.
■ ;
J & M Cafe
Equity Foundation forms and during
the next 14 years distributes more than $1.5 million in
grants and scholarships throughout the state.
The first queer float appears in Portland’s Starlight Parade.
The Lesbian Community Project launches its Media Project,
in which ¿ids appear in mainstream newspapers to Kx*>t lesbian
visibility. T he ad, which receives mixed reviews in the commu
nity, depicts seven women wearing G roucho Marx m;isks with
the caption “W e’re more like you than you thought.”
ElwcxxJ Johnson,
aka Lady Elaine
Peacock, is a
drag queen and
performer at
Darcelle XV. During
Pride week, Lidy
Peacock hosts
Peacock in the Park,
a drag show that
takes place in Port
land’s Rose Garden
Lady Elaine Peacock (right, with sister
amphitheater. The
Misty W aters and their mom Audria M.
event started in
Edwards),
founds the annual charity drag
1987 and offers a
show “ Peacock in the P ark” in 1987
chance to see drag
outside the bar scene while raising money for the Audria M.
Edwards Youth Scholarship, named after Lidy Peacock’s mother.
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