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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 17, 2011)
OREGON’S LGBTO NEWSMAGAZINE 4 northwestnews JUNE 17, 2011 Pivot Brings Back Billboard Campaign Following Haw thorne Bridge Assault the state’s largest newspaper.” Bhatia posted a comment on the organiza tion’s blog in an attempt to “set the record straight.” “It was a mistake on the part o f staffers in charge o f weekend coverage that there was not coverage o f the rally in The Oregonian ,” Bhatia wrote. “It was human error, pure and simple. We should have covered the event.” But he contested the idea that the omission reflected a conservative political or moral perspective. “Please be clear: There is no ideology involved in our coverage decisions, from the left or the right. Suggestions that The Oregonian has moved rightward in its coverage is nonsense, just as are the more common assertions from the right that we have a left bias,” Bhatia wrote. “News coverage decisions are made by the newsroom. In this case, we made a bad one.” Whatever the reason for ignoring the ral ly—which was covered by nearly every major media outlet, include Fox 12 News— the sto ry’s absence was felt. “This rally was a significant and newswor thy event. It was covered by almost every ma jor media organization in the region and even national outlets,” said Debra Porta, president o f Pride Northwest and chair o f the Multno mah County Democratic G L B T Caucus. “To be ignored as nonexistent by Oregon’s largest newspaper and self-proclaimed voice for the region is not only offensive, but demonstrates poor journalistic standards.” Progressive Oregon had called The Oregonian out for failing to report on the rally, which had an estimated attendance o f more than 4,000 people, while covering 15-person Tea Party demonstrations. The organization delivered a petition on June 7 signed by more than 1,400 people to the newspaper’s publisher. — E r in R o o k In successive June weekends, Cascade A ID S Project has set up photo shoots— one at the Rainbow Room, one at Scandals— for male couples to be part of portraits, and pose in affectionate embrace. Not surprisingly, the project was conjured just a week or so follow ing the assault o f Pivot coordinator Brad Forkner and his boyfriend Christopher Rose- vear, who were reportedly attacked for holding hands while crossing the Hawthorne Bridge May 22. Those who took part in the photo shoots could do so only by agreeing that CAP and Pivot could use the images for their out reach campaigns— including on brochures, the website and beyond. That also includes billboards— a marketing campaign you may recall put Pivot’s rebrand ing efforts in the local spotlight last June. But in defiance o f the kind o f violence that con tinues to take place in Portland around Pride season, CAP and Pivot are engaging in yet another billboard campaign, with the first to go up around the end of June. “After the Hawthorne incident, where we saw one o f our staff attacked for holding hands with another guy, it made us realize we’ve still got a long way to go in normalizing images of gay affection,” explains CAP executive direc tor Michael Kaplan. Cascade A ID S Project’s Men’s Wellness 7 Center underwent a rebranding campaign last June to become Pivot. Billboards promoting the change featured the image o f two men kissing, sending some commuters— and syn dicated political radio DJ Lars Larson— into hysterics about the exposure o f a gay kiss in the public eye. “When I saw the billboards, I thought they were pretty innocuous,” Kaplan said at the time. “They did some racier images and some things that we ended up not using, but I thought [those] were pretty tame.” The new billboard campaign will feature 17 10-foot-by-22-foot boards and one extra large one. Ih e images taken from the photo shoots are to be finalized for the campaign by Friday, June 17. Once the billboards are up, they will remain for a month. Fittingly, the end o f June marks the 30th anniversary o f the first documented cases of what would later become known as AIDS. Today, 33 million people worldwide live with the disease, o f which 1.2 million are in the United States. “There are dozens o f reasons to take notice o f this important milestone,” Kaplan said in a statement. “CAP has been fighting HIV and A ID S for 25 o f the last 30 years, and the inci dence o f new H IV infections has not gone down in over a decade. 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