Just out., June 17, 2005, Page 39, Image 39

39
Christine Bennett. Relatively new to town, she enjoys
the pace that the community offers. She has a support
system here, and she identifies an undercurrent of pro­
gressive community in the city. She facilitates Rainbow
Youth with Matt Haines, who grew up in Salem.
Haines, 29, had been involved in a Catholic youth
group when he was young, but when he came out, that
all ended. He liked the structure and camaraderie,
though, and decided to get
involved with Rainbow Youth
about four years ago. He has
since become a mainstay of
the group, helping it transi­
tion from a loose affiliation
into to a regular nonprofit
organization. He introduces
me to a group of kids standing
Ryan Woodward now serves on the
board of the organization he helped
found 10 years ago.
even the ones from smaller towns outside Salem, like
Independence, say they want to either stay or go to school
and then return to Salem. Many cite the fact that their
families are here and that all their friends are as well.
One of the founders of Rainbow Youth, Ryan
Woodward, was at the picnic, too. He had helped start it
as a very young queer kid from Aumsville, which is out­
side Salem.
“It was nothing like this,” he says, gesturing
to rhe relaxed, happy kids lounging on
blankets.
“It was like a therapy session. Totally
clinical.”
Woodward is pleased with the longevity
of the organization and now serves on its
board of directors.
He loves Salem and lives in Aumsville,
where he works at his family’s business. He
travels, but he always comes home. He is
even in the process of buying a house.
Christine Bennett helps coordinate
Also central to the board of Rainbow
Salem Rainbow Youth.
Youth is Ross Stout, who attended the picnic
with his partner, Dan Craig. They like the pace of
around eating hot dogs
Salem—Craig is a fourth-generation Oregonian—and
and hamburgers, and I
have been able to find community and the opportunity
talk for a while with
to do gcxxl work here.
them about their plans.
“I just want what everyone else wants—to be appre­
Do they like Salem?
ciated for who I am and to be treated with respect,”
Do they want to leave?
says Craig.
Every kid I talk to,
It does not seem like such a tall order, but in the
i
political climate of the state and of the country, that
respect must increasingly be demanded, not simply
expected.
"I Just (jlW (jükot Eumene Qôe
(JÜ oíi Í ó *
1 have logged just over 1,000 miles as I come through
the Terwilliger Curves and see the familiar bridgescape
of my city.
1 get back to my desk and look at the stack of testi­
mony letters in favor of SB 1000, each stating in differ­
ent ways the sentiment that Dan Craig expressed as we
stood on the banks of the wide Willamette.
In the country, in the small towns, in the woods of
Oregon, you have to fight harder for this, and it tempers
you like an ax head that keeps getting melted and hit
with a hammer: Your edges get sharper, your integrity is
forged.
The people I met on my trip have reignited my spirit
with their courage and tenacity. They take up leadership
where before there was none; they refuse and fight
hatred and discrimination for themselves and for their
neighbors, friends and families.
All the parades and pageants, the block parties and
warehouse parties, the happy hours and dance floors are
not going to show me the pride that these people have
shown. jrn
Be the future.
( OSI II l)l(
Sizes io In 4 26
I >I)» il u< < < J) 1111*4
< n\ 11 oniiii ni loi all
\ i >poi 111 h it ni s 11 o J > J > i riv­
also a \. 111 a I > I <
National College of Naturopathic Medicine
72« \( )H I IIWI S I »HD
l’( )l? I I A\ I ) ( )R
SO
>««S