SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2017
LGBTQ
from 1A
Some of it is due to organiza-
tional issues, she said, but some
of it has to do with the national
shift toward LGBTQ accept-
ance.
Ever since the 2015 Supreme
Court ruling of Obergefell v.
Hodges, which granted marriage
rights to same-sex couples,
along with an influx of positive
LGBTQ role models in media
and President Obama’s accept-
ance of transgender soldiers in
the military, the role of organiza-
tions like PFLAG have been put
into question: Is the day of
LGBTQ activism over?
Hudson doesn’t believe that
Florence is a hotbed of outward
anti-LGBTQ attitudes, a feeling
shared by all who were inter-
viewed for this article.
“When I’ve marched with
PFLAG in the Rhody Day
parade, there have been a few
people on the parade route that
made disparaging remarks,” she
said. “Everyone else was either
quiet or supportive. There were
actually several groups that were
yelling, ‘Yay, PFLAG.”
But with no visibly active
community centers or major
organizations in the community,
aside from PFLAG, a high
school gay/straight alliance, and
small groups of meetups with
friends, it seems that the old bat-
tle cry has come to fruition;
LGBTQ is here, they’re queer
and people have pretty much
gotten used to it.
Hudson said that although the
days of rights marches that
defined the movement in the
1990s and 2000s has come to an
end, organizations like PFLAG
are important because education
surrounding issues needed to
continue.
“We educate,” she said.
“We’re still educating. We’re
out there letting people know
that there were a lot of great
laws passed and things got bet-
ter, but as we can see things are
going the other direction again.”
Hudson pointed out to current
reversals in transgender policies
in the military and national anti-
discrimination protections for
LGBTQ.
“It’s one of those things
where people need to stay vigi-
lant because there’s always
going to be some politician com-
ing around trying to mess with
people’s rights, or their dignity
or who knows. This isn’t com-
pletely over. It looks good, but
it’s not finished, I’m sure,” she
said.
What the education consists
of, and how it is done, has
become a national discussion in
the LGBTQ community.
The Siuslaw News inter-
viewed multiple members of the
community — from lesbians to
bisexuals, gay men and Hudson
to see where the Florence
LGBTQ community is at when
it comes to the state of their
rights in the region, and found a
diversity of opinions.
“What’s the big deal?”
“You know, there’s at least
300 gays and lesbians in this
town, at least,” Jennifer French
said. “It’s a big community.”
It’s a community that French,
along with her wife Sally Wantz,
have been a part of since 2003.
The couple, who met in 2001,
fell in love with the Florence
area the moment they arrived.
“It just felt natural,” Wantz
said. “It felt like eating peanut
butter off the spoon.”
When asked if they had fears
about moving to a small town as
an open lesbian couple, French
said, “It never entered my mind.
Some people might be afraid,
because small towns are sup-
posed to be conservative, but
you’ll find our town pretty pro-
gressive.”
Wantz agreed, saying, “I think
this is the best witness protec-
tion agency in the world.”
It’s that attitude that informed
how they would approach
revealing who they were to the
community. It wasn’t a slow,
hushed process. They just “came
out” right out of the gate.
When Wantz joined Rotary
International when she first
arrived, she was immediately
open about her relationship with
French.
“I see some of the divisions
and I think to myself, ‘Okay, I’m
sitting next to someone at
Rotary and I’m doing good for
my community,” she said. “Can
I let go of the thoughts that this
is a far right, Republican
Evangelical? Yes. Can he or she
let go of the fact that I might be
sexually different than her? Yes.
And that’s how we win. That we
show we’re just as normal as
everyone else.”
Wantz stated that everyone in
Rotary, including those she
thought may have had objec-
tions, welcomed the couple with
open arms.
“I think we’ve done a lot for
the community because people
see us as normal,” French said.
“They don’t think of us as les-
bians or gay or whatever, they
just love us for who we are. So
that kind of has pushed the walls
a little bit.”
LGBTQ is normalized in
society, they believe, by just
being normal.
But what about a greater
LGBTQ community, one that is
organized to give each other
support, and help those who are
still hesitant to come out? Wantz
and French engaged in a lively
back and forth about the topic.
“I came into this lifestyle late
in life,” Wantz said. “I lived as a
heterosexual for 50 years. And
then, I didn’t. And I guess I just
feel like, what’s the big deal?
Why do we need an LGBT com-
munity? If we’re all just getting
along and doing what we need to
do, we shouldn’t have to have
our own little club.”
“But what about the people
who need our support?” French
asked.
“It sounds harsh, and it feels
harsh when I say it,” Wantz
replied.
“The labels and the divisions,
we don’t need any more of
those, that’s for sure,” French
said. “If we could all just get
along. But I think some people
do need support. I know women
who are afraid to come out in
this town.
Wantz agreed.
“A lot of them are still
afraid,” she said. “They haven’t
told their parents.”
Wantz has unique views about
the community and LGBTQ
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groups.
“In Denver, you could only go
so many places. You didn’t feel
comfortable going anywhere,
except two gay and lesbian bars.
I’m not of that. I don’t want to
go to a gay and lesbian bar, I’m
sorry. I don’t want that restric-
tive community. I didn’t even
want to be associated as a les-
bian. I’m Sally. And I happen to
be married to Jennifer. And it
happens to be a good life. I don’t
think we need a separate gay and
lesbian community in Florence.
I think we all have our friends,
we gravitate toward our particu-
lar faith, these people of a par-
ticular sexual persuasion and
these people of different com-
munity mindedness. And we all
cross pollinate. It just is.”
For French, those bars helped
her become more comfortable in
life.
“In Denver, I was interested
in going to bars and meeting
women. That’s where I got com-
fortable. Here I’m comfortable
with people. I have many, many
lesbian friends. And gay guy
friends. We did a talk this last
Sunday on what the purpose of
life is. And my whole purpose in
life was an activist for the LGBT
community for what seems like
forever,” she said,
But as far as French’s
involvement in the community
now, she stated, “I go out with a
lot of straight people, so I don’t
cling to that at all.”
In fact, Wantz stated that the
majority of their friends were
straight.
“I do think some gays and les-
bians do need that support, and
they look for that in our commu-
nity,” French said.
The discussion Wantz and
French had regarding the issue is
somewhat indicative of what’s
going on in America right now.
Wantz certainly doesn’t bemoan
the LGBTQ movement, and is
supportive of programs like
PFLAG, particularly if they help
those in need.
“Go on, have fun, send us an
invitation and we’ll come if we
can,” she said.
And both have spoken out at
community organizations about
their sexuality. French was
involved with a community
forum held at the Siuslaw Public
Library about the subject, and
Wantz and French have both
spoken about the issue at their
church.
“I think one avenue for the
LGBTQ in Florence is to seek
out faith communities that are
accepting,” Wantz said “You’ll
meet people and get connected
with a group of people who are
like-minded and will accept you
automatically. I talked to one
person and asked, ‘What do you
do after work?’ She said,
‘Nothing.’ I told her to get
involved with the theater, follow
her passion. That’s where you
build. Get involved in the place
where you’re most comfortable,
be yourself without freaking
everybody out, and just be
accepted gradually.”
French agreed.
“That is how you get out. You
network, you find your pas-
sions,” she said. “That gets us
outside of ourselves. Get out
there, be yourself, and good
things will happen.”
“Erasure”
Jacqueline Guy doesn’t want
to be a representative for the
entire bisexual community in the
Siuslaw region, though it can be
difficult not to feel like a repre-
sentative.
It’s not that there aren’t bisex-
uals in the area. In fact, statisti-
cally, people who identify as
“bi” are the majority of LGBTQ
people. A 2014 government
national survey of family growth
found that five percent of
women and two percent of men
identified as bisexual, compared
to one percent of women identi-
fying as lesbian and two percent
of men identifying as gay.
But coming out as bisexual
can be more of a challenge. In a
2013 Pew Research study, only
28 percent of bisexuals had
come out to important people in
their lives, compared to 77 per-
cent of gay men and 71 percent
of lesbians.
The reasons for these num-
bers are varied, but much of it
has to do with the concept of
“erasure.” Because of that, being
vocal about bisexuality is impor-
tant for Guy.
She and her girlfriend have
lived in Florence for the past
year. Guy strongly identifies as
bisexual and considers herself
firmly within the LGBTQ com-
munity. She’s also seen why it
can be difficult for those who
identify that way.
“I liked boys when I was
young. And all the information I
had from the media was that
‘lesbians hate men.’ And I didn’t
hate men, so I thought I couldn’t
be a lesbian. But I was attracted
to girls too, so I couldn’t be
straight. I’d never seen that it
was okay to like both,” she said.
“There are people who don’t
identify (as bi) because they
don’t know that they can, and
they don’t know they can feel
comfortable, just like the rest of
the LGBT community.”
But even when Guy was able
to come out as a vocal bisexual,
she was still met with doubt.
“People think we’re lying,”
she said. “Or that we’re not
totally out of the closet yet. ‘Oh,
don’t worry, you’ll be gay in a
couple of years.’ Well, I don’t
think I will be.
“I think that a lot of people
see it a kind of being one foot in
both camps. You get to be a part
of the heterosexual community,
as well as the gay community,
but it can often be the opposite. I
feel like some of the most disbe-
lief I’ve gotten is from the
homosexual community. There’s
a lot of misinformation about
bisexuality in general and it
leads to a lot of erasure.”
In Guy’s case, people see her
with her girlfriend and just
assume she’s a lesbian, therefore
erasing her bisexual identity.
Another issue she constantly
faces is when people automati-
cally assume she cheats on her
partners.
“There are common misun-
derstandings that a bisexual per-
son can’t be faithful because
they can’t be satisfied by one
partner, which is completely
untrue,” Guy said. “It doesn’t
matter how many genders
you’re attracted to. Your ability
to be faithful is not about that.
Your ability to be faithful is who
you are.”
Guy believed too much
emphasis is put on the pure sex-
ual aspects of LGBTQ.
Attraction goes beyond just the
physical, but that can often be
7 A
dismissed, particularly when
women are involved. She men-
tioned the commoditization of
women’s bodies in the media,
and that women’s sexuality has
been fetishized.
“It’s what we use to sell
everything,” she said.
For many who identify as
bisexual, one of the biggest hur-
dles they face is about sexuality
in human nature as a whole.
“Sexuality is a spectrum and
will change throughout your
life. People will decide late in
life to start identifying in a dif-
ferent way. It doesn’t mean they
weren’t one way at a different
time, it doesn’t mean that they
were. There’s more fluidity in
it,” she said.
She said she currently identi-
fies as bisexual, but that could
change.
“Who I’m attracted to and my
sexual identity is fluid. It’s hard
for people to understand that.
America is just now accepting
that people are born gay. But the
idea that later on in life you
might decide that you also like
the same gender, it’s like ‘Wait a
second, so you’re gay now?’ No,
not necessarily.”
While the idea of being les-
bian or gay has been more or
less accepted in society, bisexu-
ality, along with transgenderism,
still needs to be fought for.
“It’s important for me to be a
member of the community
because I feel safe with my sex-
uality. To me, it’s very important
that I’m a bisexual. When I’m
mislabeled, I’ll say ‘Oh, actual-
ly, I’m bi.’ I don’t make a big
production out of it. It’s just
about being in the community
and sharing who I am and what I
know and sharing that when I
can. It’s hugely important. It’s
important for me to share lots of
myself.”
Educating those within and
outside her community goes
beyond just being vocal herself,
Guy said. She does believe there
needs to be a vocal community
in the region.
“We need those things,” she
said. “I don’t know why it’s not
happening.”
One reason it isn’t happening,
Guy believes, is because we’ve
become an age of internet
activism.
“I’ll share an article on
Facebook, but what is that doing
beyond my bubble of friends?”
she asked. She said she’s
stopped sharing online articles
and started calling congressmen
about issues she passionate
about, but even then she could
not be sure of what ultimate
change it provided.
“To have this social change
and be a social warrior, it means
putting something above so
many other things in your life.
Of course it’s worth it, but it’s
hard to find those people who
are able to have the natural abil-
ity and the means to focus 100
percent on it. And I think, ‘What
am I doing? I’m a part of this
community and I’m not doing
anything.’ Just ‘being’ is enough
sometimes. The more visible
you can be, the better, and the
more comfortable you can be,
the better, but I think everybody
could do a little bit more,” Guy
said.
In Saturday’s edition, learn
about other LGBTQ perspec-
tives on the idea of community
and living in the Siuslaw region.
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