Just out., March 19, 2004, Page 26, Image 26

t i 2004
26
Five queer
rabble-rousers
on our recent past
by Pat Young
Chuck C arpenter
Cindy Cum fer
Openly gay Republican legislator;
Fought for Employment
Nondiscrimination Act
Lesbian Community Project
Community Law Project,
Lesbian/gay adoption rights
Are
Scot Nakagawa
Coalition for Human Dignity;
No on 9 Campaign;
Nat'l Gay & Lesbian Task Force
Now?
Fred Neal
No on 8 Campaign:
Right to Privacy board.
Openly HIV+ candidate
for Portland City Council
Barry Pack
Barry Pack
Theater major;
No on 9 press team,
Executive director.
Right to Pride
on his hands and wasn’t sure what he
wanted to do with his life, so he vol­
unteered
for the N o on 9 Campaign.
ii I [ was a theater major at
He began as a grunt for the press
Lewis & Clark, and I
team, clipping and photocopying
think that was great
newspaper articles. Soon he was •
preparation for poli
helping write press releases and talk­
tics,” says Barry Pack as he
ing points. He refers to his time
reflects on his political
there as getting his feet wet and
activism in Oregon. “You
learning the business.
learn in acting training to be
Three years later, after doing
astute observers of human
fund raising, lobbying and public
relationships. You have to
policy work for the YWCA, Pack
understand motivations and
landed a job as executive director for
leam to read between the
Right to Privacy (later renamed
lines, and th at’s very impor­
o
D
.
•
i,
.
Right
to Pride). U nder his leader-
tant in politics.”
Barry Pack is a consultant . ?
.
. .
,
,
. ship, R IP played a key role in get-
Pack graduated from col­
on strategic development
.
,
i.
ting the Oregon House to pass
lege in 1992— right in the
in
pu
ic
po
icy
1997’s Employment Nondiscrimina­
middle of the emotional cam ­
tion A ct, which banned bias in the workplace
paign to defeat the Oregon Citizens A lliance’s
based on sexual orientation.
anti-gay Ballot Measure 9. He had some time
I
hey represented us in the Leg­
islature, they paved the way for
adoption rights, they defeated
the infamous Measure 9.
Where did the queer leaders on the
street, in the courtroom and at the
state Capitol in the 1980s and ’90s go
after their successes? We talked to five *
prominent figures from the N o on 9
era and before to learn where their
activism has taken them.
One of the people we spoke to, former
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
representative Scot Nakagawa, said our
interview caused him “to remember that
my work has never been about one
organization or issue but instead about
my interest in helping to build a broad
movement addressing a wide array of
related issues.” He sees himself not as “a
guy with a job” but rather as “a person
with a vocation— a calling.”
Nakagawa’s path mirrors those of the
other leaders interviewed here. Each
has made a significant contribution to
queer rights in Oregon. Though their
areas of interest may have widened,
they continue to show the importance
of queers being involved in local, state
ahd regional communities at large.
Activists had been trying to get a gay rights
bill passed in Oregon since the early 1970s, so
this was a major victory. Getting the legislation
approved required quite a hit of behind-the-
scenes work. Pack is quick to point out that it
was a major team effort, and he’s grateful for the
work that state Reps. Chuck Carpenter and
George Eighmey did to shore up votes in their
areas—especially Carpenter, who was the only
openly gay Republican in the Legislature.
In those days, 31 representatives were
Republicans and 29 were Dem<x:rats. “We got
all 29 Democrats and 11 Republicans, which is
just astounding to me because, at that time, the
Republican Party was moving so far to the
right,” Pack says.
Standing in the gallery of the House of Rep­
resentatives l<x)king down at politicians on the
floor and watching them vote was a proud
moment for Pack. It had been a long haul to get
that far. “I thought we would get 36 or 37 votes,
and then when we got to 40, it was just so excit­
ing. I felt so very proud of the work that every­
one did, and I can’t possibly claim a lot of credit
for it,” Pack says. “There were just so many sup­
porters around me, it was wonderful.”
Unfortunately, the hill died in the Senate.
Pack helped make sure that the senator who
kept the hill in committee until it died was not
re-elected. “I made it my business to fire her for
her opposition,” he says.
W hen Right to Pride merged with Basic
Rights Oregon, it was time for Pack to move
on. Even though he enjoyed working for RTP,
he was getting tired of a single issue. “We
weren’t talking about marriage. We weren’t
talking about adoption. We were focused on
employment,” Pack recalls. “And you can only
spend so much time talking about one thing."
Pack began work with the state Democratic
Party and later at the Senate. He was field direc­
tor for the Democratic G xxdinated Campaign,