Just out., July 15, 2011, Page 5, Image 5

• letters&transitions
OREGON'S LGBTO NEWSMAGAZINE
“I Belong, You Are Family”
To the E ditor :
There has been a lot about transgender
health care and other trans issues in the
media recently. I find the evidence o f change
hopeful, but many o f the comments written
in response ... are painful to read. The com­
m ent that was most painful to me personally
was not one o f the hate-filled ones found
by the hundreds in The Oregonian. Instead,
it was left by a Just Out reader [“BREA K ­
IN G : Mayor Adams PushingTrans-Inclusive
H ealth Care Benefits for City Employees,”
posted May 31].
“W hy are we (the larger LG BQ _com ­
munity) stuck with these (trans) people?
Somebody else take them .”
I guess this particular comment hurt the
most because it came from “family.” I would ask
for an opportunity to address it here.
As a transgender man, I am part o f the
L G B T Q I family. I do belong.
If you know what it feels like to grow up
hiding an integral part of yourself because you
knew it was not safe to express your sexual/
gender identity, you are part of my family. If
you knew, often from the time you were a small
child ... that you were “different,” and wondered,
often for years, if you were the only one like this,
then you are part of my family. If you grew up
in a culture that taught you that how you walk,
how you dressed, spoke and moved through the
world were wrong, and it needed to be changed,
suppressed or hidden for you to be accepted, or
even safe, you are family.
If your family’s and/or community’s faith
taught that you, just by being who you are ...
were bad, sinful, depraved, unredeemable, you
are family. If when "you finally came out and
knew the freedom and relief o f being honest
about who you are ... you lost people who you
thought loved you, you are family. And if when
you came out, some of those you love responded
by telling you tearfully they still loved you ... in
spite of this terrible thing that you had become,
and that they continue to hope you will turn
away from, you are family. If you can’t get mar­
ried to the person you love, you are family. And
if this part of you that is integral to your identity,
found in nature and throughout human culture
and human history, is seen by the religious right
and some mental health professionals ... as a
mental illness, you are family.
I belong, because like many o f you, I know
what it is like to be closeted and to have to
hide an integral part o f who I am to be ac­
cepted in a hom ophobic/transphobic world. I
am learning how to live out in that same ho­
m ophobic/transphobic world. It seems like
there are enough people willing to hate and
discriminate against all of us without any of
us in the queer community hating on each
other. As we all work toward change where
we can, please remember that we are family.
Sincerely,
Walker Malone
Clackamas
JULY is. 2011
5
^ f j g j]
Jean Harris
Mayor Frank Jordan in 1992. Along the way
she held many prominent posts in California
1944-2011
politics, including chief o f staff to San Francisco
Passionate. Confrontational. Tough as nails. Supervisor Harry Britt, who succeeded Harvey
Focused.
Milk after his assassination in 1978.
These are the words that people use to
Harris came to Oregon in 1994 to serve as
describe Jean Harris, a longtime LGBT activ­ campaign director for the “No on 13” effort
ist who passed away this month in her Palm against Lon Mabon and the Oregon Citizens
Springs home.
Alliance and stayed in Oregon to work on Ron
“W hat I most remember about Jean is her Wyden’s successful U.S. Senate bid in 1996.
tenacity,” said Laura Dellinger, who served as
“Jean had an intensity and passion that made
board chair of Basic Rights Oregon when Har­ you want her on your team,” said Josh Kardon,
ris was hired there. “W hen she set her mind to former chief of staff to Sen. Wyden. “After the
something, it was impossible to shake her.”
drain o f campaign life and accompanying cyni­
Friends will tell you Harris was
cism wore down the mere mortals
not always easy to get along with.
on a campaign, Jean would carry
But everyone respected her.
people across the line with that
“She was a force to be reckoned
fierce, competitive spirit of hers.”
with,” recalls Cathy Abrruzzese, who
She was recruited to serve as
worked with Harris at Basic Rights.
Basic Rights Oregon’s second ex­
“Jean was ‘in your face’ all the
ecutive director, succeeding found­
Je a n Harris (right)
time— especially if you weren’t
er Julie R. Davis. Harris is credited
a n d her p artner
stepping up to help or doing all
for growing Basic Rights into a
D enise P e n n
you could to advance the cause,”
strong, ongoing organization.
Dellinger recalls. “But she was also vulnerable
Harris eventually returned to Califor­
and compassionate— and sharp as a tack. We nia to serve as the executive director o f the
were fortunate to have her working on behalf of California Alliance for Pride and Equality
the movement in Oregon. I will miss her.”
(now Equality California) and later for other
Harris worked her way through college political causes, including Howard Dean’s
climbing telephone poles for G TE, and she presidential campaign.
climbed her way through California politics as
She is survived by her partner, Denise Penn,
ably. Her first political job was as a field orga­ their four children and one grandchild, her sib­
nizer for the McGovern presidential campaign lings Ray and Linda, and her mother, who just
in 1971, and she went bn to serve as deputy to celebrated her 90th birthday.
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