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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 2015)
February 25, 2015 The Portland Observer Black INSIDE The Week in Review page 2 C ALENDAR page 6 J EROME K ERSEY page 7 M ETRO page 11 History Month This page Sponsored by: L OCAL N EWS PHOTO BY O LIVIA O LIVIA /T HE P ORTLAND O BSERVER The Ambridge Event Center, located next door to the Oregon Convention Center in northeast Port- land, has apologized and offered to host Portland’s Black PFLAG chapter for free after first turning away the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender support group’s rental application. Making Amends Gay organization welcomed back BY O LIVIA O LIVIA T HE P ORTLAND O BSERVER The Ambridge Event Center, a popular event space in northeast Portland, has apologized to Portland’s Black PFLAG chapter and offered to provide free meeting space for an upcoming anniversary party after first turning away the group in an action that may have violated Oregon’s public accommodation laws. Alan Peters, Ambridge manager, released a statement last week af- firming that the Ambridge Center does not discriminate against po- pages 10-16 C LASSIFIEDS O PINION pages 18-19 Page 3 page 17 tential customers because of gen- der expression, sexual orientation, or race, among other things. The statement was a dramatic turnaround from two weeks ago when an Ambridge Center employee wrote to PFLAG saying that be- cause Holy Rosary Catholic Church down the street owned the event space, they would not be welcome because they are an LGBT organiza- tion. The employee, Elizabeth Gutierrez is now on leave, Peters said. Church officials, while initially saying they needed to review their contract with Ambridge manage- ment to determine the grounds for renting space to various organiza- tions, now say there is nothing to prevent the rental. “The Ambridge is an indepen- dent, private business that man- ages events in a building owned by our parish,” said Father Vincent M. Kelber of the Holy Rosary Catholic Church. “I have reviewed our con- tract with Ambridge and see no rea- son why, under the terms of our contract, this event could not be held there. Had Ambridge asked, this is what we would have said.” Multnomah County property tax records show the Ambridge Center is a church facility and has received an exception from property taxes for the past decade. Khalil Edwards, director of Portland’s black PFLAG chapter, confirmed that the group would be holding their April anniversary party at the Ambridge, and would with- continued on page 4 Portland Rejoins Terrorism Task Force A divided Portland City Council on Thursday voted 3-2 to assign two officers to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, despite objections from The Center for Intercul- tural Organizing, the Japanese American Citizens League, Jewish Voices for Peace, the American Civil Liberties Union, and notable African American leader Avel Gordly. The decision reverses Portland’s outlier status nationally as the only big city that doesn’t assign officers to participate on a full-time basis. Mayor Charlie Hales provided the decisive vote for the city’s involvement in the task force, joining commissioners Dan Saltzman and Nick Fish. Com- missioners Amanda Fritz and Steve Novick voted against having Portland re-joining the anti-terror- ism enforcement group, which the city left nearly 10 years ago. Hales voted against involvement in the task force when he was a city commissioner in 2001. But “given events in the world, including the Boston Marathon bombing, Hales said he now supports having Portland re-join the force.
