EIZER times
$1.00/ ISSUE
Volume 42 • No. 50
OCTOBER 1, 2021
Ruby becomes lone active openly gay pro baseball player
LGBTQ+
Bryan Ruby rounds third base
after hitting a home run
n in a
game from this summer.
mer.
MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes
times
Maverick
By MATT RAWLINGS | Of the Keizertimes
B
ryan Ruby told his family and close
friends his secret four years ago. He
then told his teammates this summer. But
last month, the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes
fi rst baseman wanted to share his true
self with the world.
Ruby, 25, publicly announced in
September that he is gay, making him
the lone active professional baseball
player to be openly a part of the LGBTQ+
community.
“It has defi nitely been a weight off
my shoulders. I just feel more free,” Ruby
said.
After completing a successful colle-
giate career in 2019 with Vassar College
in New York, Ruby played profession-
ally in Germany and Guatemala before
See RUBY, page A2
NEWSTAND PRICE: $1.00/ ISSUE
Keizer’s next decade
of representation 6
drastically altered
Congressional
DISTRICT
SUBSCRIBER ADDRESS :
By JOEY CAPPELLETTI
Of the Keizertimes
In a rush to beat an end of day dead-
line, Oregon lawmakers passed new con-
gressional and legislative maps Monday
afternoon that Gov. Kate Brown subse-
quently signed into law later that day.
The new maps, which are expected to
be challenged by Republicans in court,
place Keizer in diff erent congressio-
nal and legislative districts for the next
decade.
It was unclear early Monday if lawmak-
ers would even make the deadline after
House Republicans boycotted Saturday’s
House session, denying Democrats the
quorum needed to pass the redistricted
maps. If lawmakers hadn’t passed new
maps Monday, Secretary of State Shemia
Fagan, who is a Democrat, would have
been given sole power to draw the maps.
“Many of us (Republicans) are only
here because we don’t trust the secretary
of state to draw these maps,” said Rep.
Suzanne Weber, R-Tillamook.
The congressional maps passed
Monday place Keizer in the new 6th
Congressional District, which Oregon
gained after a population increase in this
year’s census. Keizer’s new congressional
district is expected to have a much larger
Democratic lean than their previous 5th
Congressional District, according to
PlanScore, a website that measures par-
tisan gerrymandering.
It is unclear if Keizer’s current
See DECADE, page A3
Keizer
State House
DISTRICT
21
Keizer
State Senate
DISTRICT
11
Keizer