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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 2008)
co-founder of the region’s first official Latino Gay Pride festival. His leadership might be trailblazing, but he’s quick to shake off any air of grandiosity. “There’s always been people of color involved in the LGBTQ movement—like Stonewall,” he says. “People forget that there were Puerto Rican drag queens!” Drag may be the one thing Martinez doesn’t do. Instead, after long days as Commissioner Ma ria Rojo de Steffey’s policy manager, he’s usually hutching it up on the softball field with the Bella Boys team or planning a new event in the ever expanding Latino Pride fest. Come December, with Rojo’s term as county commissioner ending, Martinez will find himself facing yet another first: what step to take next in his career. “Now,” he says, “I’m at a crossroads.” PAULA HIELSEN Claim to Fame: Host of her own low-budget, high-religion cable access show, Let’s Have Church, for 13 years. So They Say: “I believe that God loves all people and that Jesus never mentioned homo sexuality in his teaching. I know from my own experience that God accepts me for exactly what I am. I believe this is true of all gay people.” (January 1988) Gay activists can tend to have tenuous rela tionships with rhe religious right. Evangelicals generally shy from embracing the transgender community. Which makes the case of Sister Paula Nielsen that much more notable. For the uninitiated, her video and podcast shows present a curious challenge: Is that really a trans woman preaching the “good word of the Lord” in a rolling baritone voice? It is, and from the late '80s until 2002, Sister Paula ruled the Portland cable access airwaves with a preach-and-chat talk show so singular that it attracted the likes of comedian Fred Willard among her special guests. She wrote columns on gays and religion for every queer publication in town except Just Out and launched an entertain ment career on the stage of Darcelle’s, emulating one of her most beloved entertainers, Sophie Tucker. “Someone told me one time, ‘You can’t be a preacher and entertainer both,’ ” she says. “And 1 said, ‘Oh yeah, watch me!’ ” Paula was showered with national media atten tion throughout the 1990s, landing in the pages of People and on The Joan Rivers Show and the BBC. A heart attack in 2005 laid her low for a few months, but, never one content with sitting still, she’s bounced back with a weekly podcast on her Web site, SisterPaula.org, tying evangelical Christian themes and Scripture passages to current events. “I’ve had more people say to me, and it’s the best compliment 1 get: I’m an atheist or I’m an agnostic,” she says, “and you’re the only religious show that I watch.” DONNA REDWIHG Claim to Fame: Lesbian hero and political junkie So They Say: “We have to go beyond rhe rhetoric to bring people of color into our organizations, to address their concerns in a serious manner.” (August 1991) Who’s Next: Kendall Claw son. Aside from Clawson, Redwing says, “I’m worried. 1 see a movement run by lawyers—or lawyer types.” Donna Redwing was given a button. Not the type you sew on a shirt, or one you’d pin to your lapel. Redwing’s “special button” came Continued on Page 30 STRAIGHT BUT NOT NARROW ivil rights leaders will tell you that gains toward equality would F /Q not have been possible without sup- N—port from the community at large— near her home. She asked people not to sign the petition until the store owner asked her to leave. She called Bigot Busters, and within 10 minutes, a crowd of supporters of equal rights formed. hetero folks who vote and talk to their Sweet continues to support gay rights causes. colleagues, faith leaders and neighbors about why “1 learn about who folks are. I show up. 1 learn they despise discrimination and judge people what it means to be an ally. 1 vote. I talk to my only by the content of their character. neighbors. I interrupt when 1 need to because ho Dan Gardner, former commissioner of the Or mophobia is socially entwined within the black egon Bureau of Labor and Industries, who is now community. I look at my own biases and how I a lobbyist for the Washington, D.C.-based Inter can change my own actions," said Sweet, who is national Brotherhrxxl of Electrical Workers, views African American. himself as an adv<x:ate for working people. His gay Tom Ranieri, operator of Cinema 21, was brother helped him understand that people are awakened to the gay rights movement as a college born gay and deserve equal treatment. student in the 1960s in Prairie City, 111. His movie As labor commissioner, Gardner was charged theater hosted a queer film series in the ’80s that with enforcing Oregon’s nondiscrimination law. evolved into the Portland Lesbian &. Gay Film He has shown his support by joining in rallies Festival. He also dispels myths about what it is to and appearing in the Portland Pride parade with be gay and the challenges gay people face. Secretary of State Bill Bradbury. Gardner testi Portland has enjoyed leadership from a slew of fied in favor of gay rights ordinances and held a pro-gay mayors. Before PFLAG dad Tom Potter press conference in 2004 to speak in opposition tixik office, Mayor Vera Katz took many leader of Measure 36. ship roles fighting for gay rights. In 1973, as a Anne Sweet, a work force development freshman state representative, she sponsored and specialist, was moved to join the cause in 1992 worked for legislation to prohibit discrimination when the Oregon Citizens Alliance collected based on sexual orientation. She was responsible signatures for Ballot Measure 9 in a parking lot for the only vote ever to reach the House or Sen ate floor at the time that would have prohibited discrimination. Much of supporting the move ment is showing up, a policy proven by former Oregon Gov. Barbara Roberts. She focused on legal pro tections for gays and lesbians and became the first elected official in office to join the Gay Rights National Lobby in 1984- In 1993, Roberts intnxJuced a bill to create a Human Rights Commission. On May 9, 2007, she stcxxl with Gov. Ted Kulongoski and other allies in the Legislature as he signed the state’s nondiscrimination and do mestic partnership bills into law. Gay Oregonians have been fortunate to find allies in —Jaymee R. Cuti political leaders such as former Gov. Barbara Roberts. «16522 3 Massages Package ($30 savings) 1 hour massages - Regularly priced $195.00 We are one of Portland’s- Finest Spa Services, offering Massage Acupuncture Skin Care Spa Services Private treatment rooms with jacuzzi and saunas at our Downtown location! 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