northwest
Ending Isolation
Queer youth gather to educate, celebrate
by Suzi Steffen
ou found OQYC!” cheered a smiling
SpongeBob poster. Pointing the way
to a room with coffee and pastries,
Carlin Gabel School teacher Deirdre
Atkinson said, “There’s food in
Narnia!”
Teens crammed into the lobby, snagging name
tags and folders in all the colors of the rainbow.
Jhe third annual Oregon Queer Youth
Conference was held Feb. 25 in the middle school
building at Catlin Gabel. This year’s conference
attracted twice as many kids as 2005—more than
200 queer youth and their straight peers. Catlin
Gabel, KBOO-FM and Grand Central Bakery
sponsored the conference, with support from many
queer-friendly organizations, especially the Sexual
Minority Youth Resource Center.
University of Oregon students Cree Gordon and
Minh Quan oriented themselves to the layout of the
rooms so they wouldn’t miss popular workshops.
Scattered groupings sprawled on the amphitheater
seating that fills the middle school lobby.
Brenda Smith, a health care presenter and for­
mer dean of Linfield College’s nursing program,
widened her eyes at the numbers. During her 2005
workshops, she said, “They mostly asked questions
about sex.” She didn’t expect anything different in
2006.
Openly gay Portland City Commissioner Sam
Adams welcomed the sexual minority teens.
“Growing up in Newport was a very lonely exis­
tence,” he said. Adams noted that Lincoln City
recently passed a human rights ordinance covering
sexual orientation. “That’s 11 cities and counties in
Oregon," he said, “so only about 229 cities to go!”
The workshops began with a bang. During “Dry
Humping Saves Lives,” run by Cascade AIDS
Project’s Teen 2 Teen program, everyone wanted to
talk about sex. “What does sex make you think of?”
asked CAP presenter Shelagh Johnson.
“Orgasms!” yelled one boy. Another boy said,
“Penetration!” and some girls squealed, “Ouch!”
Junior Melanie Altaras, West Salem High
School's Gay Straight Alliance president, repeated­
ly bellowed “Humping!” until she was co-opted to
roll a purple condom on a realistic dildo. “I’ve nev­
er done this with a penis that looks like a penis,”
she said, to general laughter.
On a more serious note, Johnson told her work­
shop participants, “When you have your own
boundaries and know where you want to go, then
you have a chance of getting what you need.”
Next door, SMYRC’s Bridge 13 members worked
to identify systems of privilege and oppression. After
playing games about gender and privilege, the
packed-in youth began to tell their stories. “I would
feel comfortable talking to
my parents,” said one par­
ticipant, “but I wouldn’t
feel comfortable walking
in downtown Tigard hold­
ing my partner’s hand.”
Participants called out
ways they are oppressed:
family, school curriculum,
name-calling, physical or
sexual violence, gender
oppression against trans­
identified people. Later,
Astoria High Schcxil soph­
omore Sarah Johnson said,
“I thought it was just
The crowd gathers for the third annual Oregon Queer Youth Conference
at Catlin Gabel School.
straight and gay people,
but there are a lot of other
minorities, too.”
wouldn’t have to get up at 3:30 a.m. the day of the
Tempers started to rise at lunch when vegetari­ conference. “I just came out, so this conference
an and vegan meals ran out. “We bought 160
is...well...I’m, like, whoa!” Taylor said.
lunches,” said Catlin Gabel upper school librarian
South Albany High junior Courtney Miller
Sue Phillips, “but it wasn’t enough.”
came to the conference in 2005 and was relieved to
Still, said Madras High junior Shantelle
return. Her school doesn’t have a GSA. “It’s just
Randall, who identifies as a lesbian: “The confer­ me and another boy—we’re the only out gay kids.
1 feel like a lot of people think I’m weird, and 1 feel
ence is awesome! It’s not every day you get togeth­
er with other kids like you.”
alienated,” she said.
Between workshop sessions, Tim Thoren, an
Madras, a town near Bend, doesn’t have a GSA
yet; Randall is working on it. She wanted to go to
adult SMYRC supporter, smiled. “I met a young
adult today who’s never hung out with trans or gay
the SMYRC-sponsored winter formal that night
youth before,” he said. “Now they can feel like
but said, “I came with my 60-year-old foster mom,
they’re not alone.” ©
and she wants to get home.”
Colt Taylor, a Bend High School senior,
Suzi S teffen is a Eugene free-lance water with a
browsed brochures and buttons at SMYRC’s table.
master's degree in literary nonfiction uniting.
He hopped a Greyhound bus the night before so he
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