Street roots., April 29, 2011, Page 14, Image 14

Street roots
14
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April 29, 2011
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Communities of color, LGBTQ communities share values
BY A M Y LAM
In 2010, CAUSA joined the
groundbreaking Uniting Communities, a
lmost a decade ago, Christian Baeff
project that supported organizations of color
arrived in Oregon unable to speak the to hâve meaningful conversations about
most basic English. He was 21 years
LGBTQ issues and to begin taking a stand
old, struggling to stay in college and to find
on LGBTQ equality.
work in his native Buenos Aires, Argentina.
“When I was asked to volunteer for
His mother had an even tougher time
CAUSA to make the inclusion of the
finding a job. Together, they decided to
LGBTQ community a reality, I said yes right
search for new
away,” said Christian. “I cared about the
opportunities in
Uniting Communities project because it
P
WESTERN
the U.S. They
I? STATES
recognizes my multiple identities and the
CENTER « .d
borrowed money
daily problems that I face.” Christian
from a family
became the core volunteer for CAUSA and
friend for plane
helped CAUSA to identify and address the
tickets and ended
connections between Latino and LGBTQ
æ
communities up
in Salem,
issues.
Am y L a m is the
Oregon.
Uniting Communities, a project of
Development &
It wasn’t easy settling into a new home in
Communications
Western States Center, provided the space
a new country. And for Christian, he
Associate a t the
and support for CAUSA to examine how
Western States
struggled with his sexual identity on top of
they could fully integrate and engage
Center, which aim s to
all the stresses that comes with building a
LGBTQ issues into every aspect of their
build a progressive
new life in a foreign place. He came out as
work and community. The Center provided
movement by
gay four years later and was lucky to have
supporting grassroots
training to help CAUSA become more
organizations. The
support from his family and friends in
inclusive and to connect immigration rights
Center’s Uniting
Oregon and Argentina.
work to struggles faced by LGBTQ people
Communities project
Christian was fortunate that he could be
in their community.
works with
his whole self in the communities he
“Participating in the Uniting
organizations based
belonged to and he felt a desire to give back
in communities o f
Communities project has really been about
color to advance
when the opportunity arose with CAUSA.
owning this work as part of who we are as
L G B TQ equality.
CAUSA is Oregon’s statewide Latino
an organization and community;. It is our
immigrant rights coalition that works
organizational values and who our
towards progressive policy changes by
leadership is,” said Aeryca. “This has been a
rallying their members all the way to the
really transformative process.”
legislature.
In 2010, Uniting Communities supported
CAUSA has a history of standing in
six organizations based in communities of
solidarity with the lesbian, gay, bisexual,
color to advance LGBTQ equality. These
trans and queer (LGBTQ) community as an
organizations had the opportunity to learn
ally to organizations fighting anti-gay ballot
about and encourage each others’ work;
measures. But CAUSA felt like they could
“We were able to connect with other groups
do more.
to exchange ideas,” said Christian. “We all
“While that was really powerful work to
have the same passion and having a main
do,” said CAUSA organizer Aeryca
organization like the Center to go to for
~Stem6auer, “it created a sens^ of ’we're the ““ support is crucial.*
straight Latino organization supporting
The impact of Uniting Communities
white gay folks’ which wasn’t how it was.”
found its way through all of the work that
C ON TR IB UTIN G C O L U M N IS T
A
E
UH
ÆK
UNITING
CAUSA does, including the Leadership
Development Program that trains Latinos to
become leaders. Because of Uniting
Communities CAUSA created an
environment where their members felt safe
to came out as LGBTQ and be their whole
selves.
An informal group
of Latino LBGTQ
folks have started to
«■■■■■■■■■■■■
come together.
The May Day March and Rally will
Christian attends the
celebrate International Worker’s day.
LGBTQ Latinos and
CAUSA’s members, partners and allies will
Friends group and
get together to rally for driver’s license
said, “I have LGBTQ
access, tuition equity and quality
friends who are in
education, safer communities, healthcare
need of support and
equity, affordable housing, family unity,
that’s why we need a
jobs and economic recovery.
space to open
ourselves and address There will be opportunities for LGBTQ
our issues.”
community members to express
Organizations like
themselves through testimonials to share
CAUSA offer the
their experiences.
Latino, immigrant and
LGBTQ communities
CAUSA May Day March and Rally
hope that the multiple
When: May 01,2011
identities of their
Time: 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
members will always
Where: Oregon State Capitol Front Steps,
be recognized — and
that they are all in the Salem, 900. Court Street NE.
struggle and fight for
justice and equality.
For more information:
In the next few
English: 503.488.0263
months, stories about Spanish: 503.984.4823
Uniting Communities
groups such as
Portland’s Black
PFLAG and
Indigenous Ways of Knowing will feature
their journey in incorporating LGBTQ work
in their communities of color. Stay tuned to
learn about how your community groups are
working to create social justice for all.
To fin d out more about Uniting
Communities and Western States Center go
to: www.WestemStatesCenter.org
Sidewalk use and musicians part of the larger code of courtesy
RV A
A M
M A
a C
D IT 7
BY
A I N U D n A
FRITZ
Commissioner
A m anda Fritz is a
member o f the
Portland City
Council.
Bucket drums, violins, trumpets, and
keyboards: the sounds of a typical, vibrant
day on the streets of Downtown Portland.
Beautiful. Yet imagine you are a worker in a
nearby store or office, or a retired resident
on the lower floors of an apartment
building, listening to the same performer
playing the same sets over and over, all day
every day. Not so much fun, perhaps. Back
in 1994, musicians, community members,
business leaders and government agencies
sat down together and created the Street
Musician Agreement, seeking to maintain
Downtown’s unique musical culture while
respecting that Downtown is home to
residents, businesses and office jobs. It
achieved a workable understanding between
street musicians and other Downtown
interests, so each would have their needs
m et
The Street Musician Agreement
recognizes the needs of musicians and
importance of music to Portland. To give
access to each performer, the agreement
asks musicians to: space themselves one
block apart; rotate their location every 60
minutes to allow for everyone to enjoy
prime locations; and to return to a location
only twice in one day after a 60 minute
break. Musicians should comply with
Portland’s Noise Control ordinance, which
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1
u
j - v i
'
states that noise
should
not be audible
more
than 100 feet away in any direction
(including vertical). Community members
are asked to treat musicians with respect
and not interrupt a musician in the middle
of a number.
Downtown sidewalk use was a highl>
contentious issue when I took office. In
2009, my first year, I led the dialogue and
hosted public meetings to discuss the
former “Sit-Lie” ordinance, seeking common
ground on how everyone can share
Portland’s sidewalks. While finding
consensus is still difficult, the animosity in
the debate significantly diminished after
Portlanders had the opportunity to share
ideas and life experiences with one another.
Through the course of public involvement
and information exchange, my city
colleagues and I formulated a Sidewalk
Management Plan addressing multiple uses
of Downtown’s sidewalks. The ordinance
includes an exclusion allowing street
musicians to play on any part of any
sidewalk, when they comply with the Street
Musician Agreement The Sidewalk Use
process paved the way for other successful
public policy and strategy discussions,
including the Street Musician Agreement
forum.
I hosted the forum on February in
response to concerns I heard, from
,
I
S '
S b SB
community members and street musicians
that the Agreement is no longer working as
intended. Some residents and workers
experience musicians playing in the same
location for hours. Bucket drummers often
exceed the Noise Ordinance limits.
Musicians report being harassed. As a
result, musicians, business owners,
residents and government employees
attended the forum to discuss how to
improve the Street Musician Agreement
Most participants concluded the Agreement
was written in good spirit and improvement
efforts should be focused on educating*1
everyone about its provisions. This column
is part of that effort.
The Street Musician Agreement is not
law. It is an agreement reached by members
of the community working together:
musicians, businesses, residents, law
enforcement and public servants. It trusts
people to use good judgment, kindness and
courtesy towards one another. The more we
as Portlanders treat one another with
respect and compassion, the better our City
works.
This column was co-authored by Sara
Hussein, who staffs the Sharing Public
Sidewalks Advisory Group and the Street
Musician Agreement review process. For
more information, contact Sara a t 503-823-
3994 or sara.hussein@portlandoregon.gov
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