------ • gay&grey
OREGON-S LGBTO NEWSMAGAZINE
Eric Marcoux, 80, and Eugene Woodworth,
82, are somewhat oflocal celebrities in the Port
land gay community.
They were featured in recent television ads by
Basic Rights Oregon as a part of the nonprofits
campaign for marriage equality. But that’s not
the first time the two have been in the media
spotlight for their relationship.
The couple have been in a previous incarna
tion of the BRO ad, as well as featured in several
local newspapers. They were even featured in a
2006 documentary about gay relationships called
MAY 6, 2011
►
A Pair to Remember
Senior focus on Eric Marcoux and Eugene Woodworth
BY AARON SPENCER
-
The M an You H a d in M ind.
In the most recent BRO ad, which includes
straight, lesbian and gay couples talking about
why everyone should be allowed to get married,
Marcoux and Woodworth sit side by side. M ar
coux says, “Next month, we celebrate our 57th
anniversary together.”
By now, Marcoux and Woodworth are ap
proaching their 58th anniversary, and the two
have become poster children for long-term gay
relationships. The BRO ad is only the latest rea
son for people to stop them on the street—or
more commonly, in the gym.
“Eugene and I go three days a week to a gym,”
Marcoux says, “and you know how you know a
lot of people by sight but never talk to them? A
lot of those people have mentioned the ad.”
Even in the locker room, a place where being
gay can at times be a touchy subject—especially
when Marcoux and Woodworth were younger—
the two find camaraderie.
“There have been a lot of naked men standing
around me saying, ‘That is a great commercial,m
Marcoux says. “And, of course, a lot of women said
the same thing, but they weren’t naked,” he quips.
The two find attitudes toward same-sex mar
riage to be fairly positive in Portland. That isn’t
much of a surprise to them. W hat is unexpected is
the enthusiasm they find around the topic as they
run into people during their daily routines. This
happens at least five or six times a day, they say.
“People every day at the Starbucks have come
up to us,” Marcoux says. “They don’t just say that
the ad was nice, but they engage us in conversa
tion. We have a lot of allies out there.”
Marcoux and Woodworth say they’re doing
what they think every gay couple should do: Be
out and open about who they are. But they say
people they know, even longtime couples like
them, are reluctant.
“W hen we talk to especially older men, they
don’t want to do it. They don’t want to do it, pe
riod,” Woodworth says.
Marcoux and Woodworth don’t necessarily
want to be famous, but they do welcome the
media attention and the public attention that
follows. If other couples like them would do the
same, though, they say they wouldn’t be such a
novelty in the public eye.
“People keep asking us over and over again to
be public in some way,” Woodworth says. “We
wish we weren’t the only ones.”
The two aren’t afraid to set an example for gay
relationships because they believe marriage is
important, especially as they approach their twi
light years.
“The end of life is not likely to be the most
t
luxurious and easiest thing for any of us,” Mar
coux says, but growing old can pose additional
challenges for LGBTQseniors, he adds.
Without being legally married, couples like
Marcoux and Woodworth aren’t automatically
entitled to the same Social Security benefits that
straight couples are. And for some LGBTQ_se
niors, the death of a partner means the surviving
partner must enter a senior home, where some feel
discrimination because of their sexual orientation.
Marcoux and Woodworth do not personally
feel that will happen to them— they have a
strong network of family and friends, they say.
And they have a strong network with the people
they’ve met at the Gay &, Grey program.
So while they admit aging won’t be easy, they
embrace it, because over the years, they have
grown Gloser.
“There are things about living and working
with another human,” Marcoux says, “being
bored with them, being tired with them and yet
being committed with them, being passionately
in love-with them ... moving through those
things. There are times that we go through as
people that when I was 20 I couldn’t have
understood.”
CONTINUED ON PG. 22 >
i--------------------------------------------------------------
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