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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 2004)
20 1ZJ2QQ1 vVe Jjook Back 2004 shook us in ways we could not have predicted: with the joy of marrying long-loved partners, the bitterness of election defeats and ongoing bigotry in Just Out has collected images and reflections on the year to assess our midst. where we have been, and to make a hopeful stab into the unknown future. ITo on C o n s t it u t io n a l amendment 36 Campaign James Dobson, whose Focus on the Family organization contributed at least $60,000 to the Yes on 36 campaign.) by ¿¡e£ D aly The other chief petitioner for Measure 36 , was Dennis Truri, a pastor at Oregon City’s Reformation Covenant Church, which asks The Defense of Marriage Coalition sur its members to “oppose the disgraceful and prised marriage equality advocates June 30 by abhorrent sins of adultery, abortion and submitting more than 244,000 signaturesto ! homosexuality.” place an initiative on the fall ballot that would When the unfortunate news came in that amend the Oregon Constitution to ban the measure had gotten on the ballot with sig same-sex marriage. natures to spare, Basic Rights Oregon jumped But that’s not where this story starts. into action. Within days, the No on Constitu It starts four months earlier, on Feb. 27, tional Amendment 36 was launched. At its when key members of the coalition filed four helm was Aisling Coghlin, an experienced ballot measures to ban gay marriage, which • campaign manager with a track record of they mysteriously withdrew four days later, on defeating Bill Sizemore initiatives. She was March 2, when news leaked that gay marriage joined by a team of seasoned queer rights was coming to Portland. activists including Beckie Lee, who had been a That’s right. The push to ban same-sex mar fund-raiser for 2000’s No on 9, and consultant riage preceded any actual granting of marriage Liz Kaufman, who had helped defeat anti-gay licenses to same-sex couples in the state. While measures in the state since 1988. attorney Kelly Clark claims the coalition cdme* “You could not go anywhere on planet and together in response to Multnomah County’s get more experience than we had [fighting issuance of marriage licenses to queer couples, anti-gay measures],” says Maura Roche, a gov it had, in fact, already laid its groundwork. H ie ernment relations consultant with BRO. initiative filed March 12 fit the coalition’s con According to a July poll commissioned by tention that it was on the defensive against the No on 36 campaign, 46 percent opposed gay marriage. the amendment, with 49 percent in support. Pre-emptive might be the more operative The mood and message of the campaign was, word, given the fact that all five ballot mea “We can win.” sures share a chief petitioner: Kent Walton, a But when the election results came in four pastor with the Church of God and member of months later, the amendment passed 57 per the Promise Keepers. (The national Christian cent to 43 percent, and the mood changed. men’s group was bankrolled in its early days by Many queers were shocked to wake up Nov. 3 and find that their fellow Oregonians had ads and direct mail pieces as well as grassroots organizing. voted against them, despite the fact that No on 36 had mobilized more than 9,000 vol The Rev. Tara L. Wilkins, director of the unteers and talked to 250,000 voters statewide Community of Welcoming Congregations, about same-sex marriage. says that lack of time was a significant factor Bob Mensel was not surprised, however. in the defeat. “We needed more time in The Portland Gay Men’s Chorus artistic direc engaging people on issues of sexuality and tor says that as much as he supported the cam spirituality.” paign, he knew the stakes were too high. “I But she notes the faith community came don’t think there was any winning this ballot together like never before on this issue. initiative.” “This time, support from faith community Mensel, like other community leaders, , was much more unified,” she says. “There were notes a significant difference between the cam more congregations endorsing the No [on 36] paign to defeat Measure 36 and previous cam campaign and more clergy involved paigns: the opponent. in canvassing.” Portland City Commissioner-elect Sam Scot Nakagawa, a field organizer with Adams says that, unlike Lon Mahon and the 1992’s No on 9 campaign, says queers have Oregon Citizens Alliance, the Defense of Mar made great strides in the past decade. riage Coalition knew how to run an effective “If we had been faced with a measure about campaign. marriage equality in 1992, we would have lost “The Yes on 36 people ran a professional by much larger margin,” he says. “I think [the campaign that kept their extremists off TV and No on 36 campaign] should be commended for out of mailboxes,” he said. “They ran a cam the great job that they did.” paign that appealed to Oregonians who would At the same time that queers have made consider themselves tolerant and even support progress, Nakagawa notes, the right has ive of gay folks.” i become more powerful and mainstream. “I Roche agrees. “The No. 1 obvious major don’t think that any of us would have imagined difference between this campaign and all previ that they would have gotten so much better ous campaigns was that the opposition was organized so quickly.” organized and well-funded.” He says that is scary news. But he also In a campaign finance statement filed sees opportunity for large-scale progressive Dec. 2 with the Oregon Elections Division, the i organizing. coalition reports raising more than $2 million. “Many people have been pushed against the That money allowed it to use traditional cam wall by the right, and we can reach people we paign mechanisms such as television and radio haven’t been able to reach before.” “H ow is my m arriage under attack if two gays or lesbians down the street w ant to m ake a lifelong commitment to them selves.... G overnm ent should not have the right to tell you who you fall in love with and who you w ant to spend your life with. ...W e are not ix>