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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 2005)
6 jUSt OUt • aprii 1.2QÛ5 s D avid W. O wens SMYRC R eceives Q ueer T obacco P. C. & ASSOCIATES P revention G rant serving the community since 1975 A ttorneys at L aw Serving Oregon & Washington 503 224A100 ❖ FAMILY LAW • • • • ❖ WILLS & TRUSTS Domestic Partnerships Formation & Dissolution Adoptions Divorce & Visitation • Probate & Trusts • Conservatorships & Guardianships • Advance Directives ❖ SOCIAL SECURITY ❖ BUSINESS FORMATION & LITIGATION • Corporations, Partnerships, LLCs & LLPs • Commercial Collections of large accounts ❖ BANKRUPTCY ❖ REAL ESTATE • Home Purchase Reviews • Advising Businesses & Individuals ❖ TAX ISSUES & APPEALS www.owens-law com • 101 SW MAIN, SUITE 700 • Portland, Oregon 97204 • Parking Validated .*■ MILGARD MYMAJ REPLACEMENT Clearly the best WINDOWS Milgard Windows MILGARD HAS WINDOWS AND DOORS FOR EVERY HOMEOWNER VINYL is the perfect choice for those who never want to paint windows ever again. 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Additionally, results of a recent survey con ducted by the Portland LGBTQ Commu nity Center Fund, which was responded to by 1,500 queers, indicate SMYRC is perceived as the most effective queer organization in Oregon. A few months ago, Just Out announced a grant opportunity through the Oregon Department of Human Services to provide smoking education and ces sation services to our community. The project M rs . O regon G ets S nub objectives were from P ortland M ayor to increase the Portland Mayor Tom Potter is capacity of Ore walking his talk by choosing not to gon’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans endorse an event that he considers gender communities exclusive and discriminatory. to develop and imple He declined to write a letter supporting the ment effective strategies Mrs. Oregon America pageant because the that are designed to reduce the use rules specify that contestants must be bom by queers of tobacco and exposure to second females and married to males. These specifica hand smoke and to develop such programs so tions are new to the pageant, written after mar that they are appropriate for the social and cul riage licenses were granted to same-sex couples tural perspectives, views and experiences of in Multnomah County. queer populations. Pageant director Libby Crawford said open These goals were set out to be accomplished ing the event to lesbians and trans people would through the development, establishment and convert the stage into a political arena. In a facilitation of a queer-specific tobacco preven statement, Potter said the pageant rule “fails to tion and education network; the implementa recognize the other loving relationships in our tion of a regional tobacco prevention project; community.” the provision of technical assistance to commu Potter has a history of supporting queers, nity-based programs and other Tobacco Preven dating back to 1990, when he was Port tion and Education Program partners; and land’s first police chief to march participation in a Multicultural in uniform at Portland Tobacco Prevention Council. Pride. He was pres The Sexual Minority Youth ent for his daughter Resource Center has been award Katie’s marriage to her ed the grant and will house and lesbian partner in Mult coordinate the Oregon. LGBT nomah County last year, Tobacco Prevention and Education describing it as a “proud papa” moment. Network. SMYRC was founded in The Mrs. Oregon 1998 because community members came together to address the unmet America pageant is June 25 at Clackamas High need for a safe place for queer kids. SMYRC School. originated under the auspices of Phoenix Rising Foundation and today is a freestanding program D ay of S ilence /N ight of Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare. of N oise S et for A pril 13 Preliminary data from the Oregon Depart The Day of Silence, a project of the Gay, ment of Human Services regarding tobacco use Lesbian and Straight Education Network in col demonstrate that smoking rates among queer laboration with the United States Student adults are disproportionately higher. The state Association, is a student-led day of action where has no data specific to tobacco use among youth those who support making anti-gay bias un because the primary risk behavior data collec acceptable in schools take a daylong vow of tion tool, the Oregon Healthy Teens Survey, silence to recognize and protest the discrimina excludes questions about sexual orientation, tion and harassment—in effect, the silencing— making it impossible to correlate the data to the experienced by queer students and their allies. queer population subset. The Day of Silence was founded in 1996 by stu- According to SMYRC staff, as well as - dents at University of Virginia and in years reports of adult queer smokers and youth service since has become a landmark national event. providers, queer youth smoke at a dispropor In Portland, the Day of Silence will be held tionately high rate. Employees estimate that 30 April 13 followed by a Night of Noise, a tradi- percent of SMYRC youth use tobacco and that 40 percent smoke socially. . The purpose of the initiative is to raise awareness of the disproportionate impact of tobacco on the sexual minorities community and to develop a response. The first six months will focus on outreach to community leaders in the tri-county area and along the Interstate 5 corridor. SMYRC will leverage its advisory board to take a leadership role in getting the network started and intends to conduct prelim inary outreach and education at Portland Pride 2005. The networks role will be to conduct projects that institute best practices and moni tor outcomes—affecting policy around tobacco, countering pro-tobacco media and promoting quitting. SMYRC provides a safe, harassment- and drug-free space for more than 1,000 queer youth to gather and participate in constmctive activi ties like art, music, community organizing, edu cation, peer support, mental health groups, case management, counseling and job readiness preparation. Because of SMYRC’s success as the
