13
nrrnTTTWnTJnews briefs
Continued from Page 11
W here I s S he N ow ?
D
onna Red Wing, who served as executive
director of the Lesbian Community Project
from 1989 to 1993, announced March 18 that
she is running for the Colorado General Assem
bly. The Democrat most recently served as queer
outreach director for former Vermont Gov.
Howard Dean’s presidential campaign.
•
“Howard Dean taught us that it was time that
we take back America, and we are beginning
with Colorado House District 25,” Red Wing
said. “Coloradoans are tired of the status quo.”
For rrurre information e-mail
VoteFinRedWmgSaol.arm or visit
wuw. dimnaredwing. com.
L esbian M inister
F ound N ot G uilty
P roject W ill B oost
V oter R egistratio n
A
he Basic Rights Education Fund has joined
more than 30 nonprofit organizations in
kicking off a project that seeks to register new vot
ers in traditionally underrepresented communities.
The Voter Expansion Project involves tribes,
low-income service groups and organizations
representing different people of color con
stituencies. It is committed to registering 30,000
new or lapsed voters by October.
“There was a time when people got on buses,
marched and rallied for the right to vote,” Ore
gon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury said in a
statement. “We must ensure that every genera
tion and every community values and exercises
this most precious right.”
T
Other participating community groups
include the Rural Organizing Project, Urban
League and Oregon Food Bank. Oregon
Action— which has worked for more than 25
years to address issues of economic and social jus
tice, living wages, health care and affordable
housing— is providing coordination and support.
“Pm really excited about the opportunity to
build long-term relations with community-
based organizations that are doing incredible
work,” said Rose Spears, president of Oregon
A ctions Portland chapter. “This is a historic
moment with all these groups coming together.
There has always been a push for voter registra
tion, but 1 have never seen this type of early
cooperation.”
fter deliberating for a day and a half, a
United Methodist jury found a lesbian
minister not guilty March 20 of charges that she
violated church law by coming out of the closet
in 2001. The trial took place in the Seattle sub
urb of Bothell.
“While sustaining the specification that Rev.
Karen Dammann is a self-avowed practicing
homosexual, we, the trial court, do not find the
evidence presented.. .to be clear and convincing
that [she] has engaged in any ‘practices declared
by the United Methodist Church to be in
compatible with Christian teachings,’ ” said the
jury chairwoman, the Rev. Judy Schultz. “We
cannot sustain the charge.”
As the verdict was read, Dammann quietly
bowed her head. The woman she married last
month in Portland, Meredith Savage, placed an
BA C K Y ARD SPAS
THE P L E A S U R E IS ALL YOURS
I have found I
can no longer
live the life of a
closeted lesbian
clergy person."
According to
Larry Fox of the
Reconciling Min
istries Network,
church doctrine is
in conflict with
itself. With the
exception of two
sentences
that
ban the appoint
ment of gay men
and lesbians as
clergy, the Book
of Discipline calls
for inclusivity and
equal rights for
sexual minorities.
Dammann is
The Rev. Karen Dammann awaits the jury’s verdict March 2 0 in Bothell, Wash.
only the second
arm around her shoulders. An audible sigh rip United Methodist clergyperson ever to face a
pled around the courtroom, but no verbal re church trial on the charge of being a “self-
actions were heard.
avowed practicing homosexual.” The Rev. Rose
O f the 13-member jury, 11 voted not guilty
Mary Denmam of New Hampshire lost her 1988
and two were undecided. A majority of nine was
case and subsequently transferred to another
necessary to render a verdict.
denomination.
Dammann, pastor of Ellensburg United
Although the church cannot appeal the ver
Methodist Church, was charged with violating a
dict, the trial will not settle the larger issue of
rule prohibiting the ordination or appointment
homosexuality for the denomination. That will
of pastors who acknowledge homosexual prac continue to be debated at its worldwide law and
tice. Her saga began Feb. 14, 2001, when she
policymaking body, the 1,000-member General
informed her bishop, “ I am living in a partnered,
Conference, which will meet from April 27 to
covenanted, homosexual relationship.”
May 7 in Pittsburgh. J H
Dammann then acknowledged in a letter
I to her clergy colleagues: “I have ‘come out__ ’
Compiled by J im R a d o sta
w
illamette Financial Group, LLC
♦ Retirement
♦ Life Insurance
♦ College Planning
♦ Long - Term Care
♦ Sustainable Investing
Floreid W alker
3529 N E Broadwayf™
Portland, OR 97232
503 445 9390 ext.101
f It ) reid @ wfgad vLsors.com
G reg Look
3550 Liberty Rd.S*™
Salem, OR 97302
503.566.7266 ext.114
greg@wfgadvisors.com
Call one of us today
for more information!
www.wfgadusors.com
A.
OPEN!
STOP BY FOR A TOUR
MON-FRI
OPEN HOUSE & WINE
TUESDAYS:
APRIL 6 AND 20 • 5-7pm
CAT HOSPITAL OF PORTLAND
SALEM
CLACKAMAS
VANCOUVER
(503)363-4000
(503)650-8242
(360)892-5905
BEND
BEAVERTON
(541)388-0905
(503)643-5002
Oregon
Full service hospital • Laser Surgery • Boarding A Grooming
Compassionate Health Care Exclusively for Cats
W W W .ORH O TSPRIN GSPAS.CO M
503-235-7005
portlandcats.net