■profile’
OREG O N S LGBTQ N EW SM A G A ZIN E
Northwest because it’s never been managed
as a nonprofit organization, which is what it
is. And that means that we have obligations,
mandates, things that we operate under that
haven’t necessarily received as much atten
tion in the past as they should have, so th a t’s
what we’ve been working on to solidify the
organization itself so that we can continue,
which is our number one responsibility—
ensuring that the organization continues. So
in that area, we have a lot o f work. I’d give us
probably a B or a C.
In terms of the festival, I think we actually
do a good festival. Are there always logistical
issues that we’re working out, figuring out, all
o f that sort of stuff? Always. An event that
large, it’s always going to be there. But in
terms of what we’re able to accomplish with
what we have, I’d give us an A.
JO: Tlie Pride Parade went on for about
three hours. D o you think that’s too long?
Porta: Honestly, I don’t know. M ost o f the
reason that the parade was so long is because
we had more entries than in a long time. It
was pretty close to last year, actually. We had
more people marching in the parade, which
just made it huge. It was big. There are stops in
the parade that we have no control over—
TriM et. Buses will stop. Trains don’t stop. But
we deal with that every year. So the size o f the
parade this year really had an impact on how
long the parade is. No one has come to me
with concerns about the fact that it was three
hours, but I don’t think anyone was expecting
it to be that long. But it’s obviously a discus
sion that we will have to undertake, particu
larly if someone wants us to undertake that
discussion.
JO: Did you receive any complaints this
year about indecency during the parade like
you did last year [involving a sex sling]?
Porta: No.
JO: Is Pride Northwest making an effort
to bring the parade route back downtown?
Some feel attendance has been sparser since
it moved to the new route.
Porta: We explained this in a letter that was
published in Just Out. We moved it for two
reasons. The parade originally used to follow
3LJPS
from the community— to respect those areas
and respect the fact that there’s a large portion
o f the community that doesn’t want smoke
going up and down the aisles. We do not wish
to be the smoke police at the festival, although
we will respectfully ask people to move to
those areas. And if there are suggestions on
how to better handle it, bring them along.
JO: The Pride Northwest website lists
three members on the Pride Northwest
board, but your bylaws stipulate you should
have four. How many do you have?
Porta: We have three board members at
this point in time. We are aware o f the fact
that the bylaws say four. W e’re also aware o f
the fact that we have the ability to amend or
suspend portions o f the by
laws if absolutely needed and
then get to the state where
we’re in line with them again
as soon as possible.
JO: But you are planning
to elect a vice president?
Porta: Yes, very much so.
“We have a responsibility to run a
budget, and the parade gets more
and more expensive every year, as
does the festival.”
-DEBRA PORTA, P R E S ID E N T , P R ID E N W
this route, or at least close to it up until 2005,
2004. The decision at that time, before any of
us were on the board, was to move the route to
where it went, and the community was very
vocal about not being happy with that move.
They were still vocal about that when I joined
the board a couple o f years after it happened.
There were relationships that were broken;
there were partnerships that had been built in
the community that were severed because of
that original move. We made the decision to
move the parade because the overwhelming
feedback that we consistently got from the
community was not being happy that we had
abandoned our business area.
JO: W hen you refer to relationships that
were broken, you’re referring to relation
ships with the businesses in O ld Town?
Porta: Right, for the most part, yes. The
other reason— and this is why I’m going to
harp on the nonprofit part of things— is that
we have a responsibility to run a budget, and
the parade gets more and more expensive every
year, as does the festival. Three things: listening
to the community feedback we had gotten
AUGUST 19, 2011
JO: la there anything else
you’d like to »ay?
since the original change, listening to commu
nity feedback about people who could no lon
ger walk the route, so to speak, because they
were physically unable— and that’s a significant
population— and the increase in the cost o f the
parade to be able to put it on were the three
factors we took into account in looking at mak
ing the change that we did last year.
JO: Pride Northwest has a non-smoking
policy for its events, right? Namely at the
festival on the waterfront.
Porta: We have a designated smoking area
policy.
JO: H ow is that enforced?
Porta: I t’s only a couple o f years old. I t’s
still something that we’re working the logis
tics out on. At this point, most o f the enforce
ment, so to speak, we really expect it to come
Porta: I came across an
interview by the board presi
dent in 1999 [Tobin Britton]
in Just Out, and it was a full-
page interview, and her m an
tra throughout the interview was getting the
community to understand that Pride happens
because the community’s involved. And at
that time they had 10 people on the board,
and she felt that it was not enough. And given
what we deal with, I can see that. So now we
have three, and we had fantastic volunteers
this year— people who have come on board to
help out, and th at’s what we need. We need
partners who will help facilitate and make
sure that things happen, because this is a large
undertaking. I t ’s not separate from the com
munity although it may only happen three
days out o f the year. The planning for it, the
success o f it takes the entire year, and th at’s
really my big message. This is the community’s
festival and it takes the community to make it
happen. JW
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