Via The NY Transfer News Service * All the News that Doesn't Fit

OREGONIANS SAY NO TO ANTI-GAY REFERENDUM

By Lyn Neeley

The election-day defeat of Oregon's anti-gay Measure 9 by 54% of
the voters shows the right wing can be beaten back when lesbians
and gay men rise up, joined by other progressives, workers and
oppressed people in a unified struggle.

Many leaders of the campaign against Measure 9 felt its defeat
was a victory but expressed the need to step up the fight. A
similar anti-gay referendum passed in Colorado, where lesbian and
gay activists say they'll intensify the struggle.

Scott Seibert, No on Nine steering committee member and
chairperson of Oregonians United Together Political Action
Committee, said at a victory party: "What we've seen is an
attempt by fundamentalist groups to force this agenda on our
citizens. But average Oregonians have bonded together to form one
powerful grassroots response against government-enforced
oppression."

Sandy Shirly, a leader in Eugene's lesbian community, told
Workers World, "The people of Oregon have affirmed that gay men
and lesbians are human beings and deserve to be fully included in
our society and families."

But Peggy Norman, chairperson of No on Nine, pointed out:
"Continued efforts are needed to protect homosexuals against
discrimination. Across most of Oregon, gays and lesbians still
can be fired from their jobs and denied housing solely because of
their sexual orientation."

NATIONAL BATTLEGROUND

Measure 9 would have gone further. It would have amended the
state constitution to define lesbians and gays as "abnormal,
wrong, unnatural ... and perverse," and linked homosexuality to
sadomasochism and child molestation.

If passed the referendum would also have banned measures
outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation. All
government agencies and public schools would have been required
to discriminate against lesbians and gays.

Placed on the ballot by the Oregon Citizens Alliance, Measure 9
threw Oregon into the national spotlight as a battleground
between neo-fascism and civil rights. OCA is supported by the
ultra-right around the country. The group gets large
contributions from  religious fundamentalists like Pat Robertson,
who donated $20,000, and from right-wing figures like William
Bennet and Senators Phil Gramm, Orrin Hatch and John McCain.

Since OCA went on the offensive a year ago, incidents of anti-gay
violence have escalated. A racist, anti-gay climate emboldened
neo-Nazi skinheads, who murdered a Black lesbian and white gay
man living near Portland. An Asian man was murdered in Seattle.

Measure 9 was defeated in the heavily populated urban areas of
Portland and Eugene by margins of three to one and three to two
respectively. This accounted for the victory, since Measure 9 won
in the state's rural areas.

That was where OCA focused its campaign of lies like "homosexuals
have special rights, take all our jobs and recruit our children."
OCA's anti-gay rhetoric played on the fears of impoverished,
unemployed timber workers and farmers in rural white communities
who are desperate to find an enemy to blame.

Donna Redwing from Portland's Lesbian Community Project told
Workers World: "Almost half the state voted yes on 9. It's a
scary thought. We're glad it was defeated but we have to keep
working.

"We need a pro-action coalition to build a campaign with a
lesbian and gay face. Part of our work has been outreach around
the state to show them we have a human face and personality, that
we are less scary than the OCA, and show them our work is on
economic equality, rights for children and women, our work is
helpful to the unemployed lumber worker."

Suzanne Pharr of No on Nine said: "We have groups who have pulled
together people of color, women and lesbians and gays--diverse
groups of people to work against bigotry. This is not a single
issue. The religious right is trying to dismantle all the gains
that were won in civil rights movement."

                          -30-

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted
if source is cited. For more info contact Workers World, 46 W. 21
St., New York, NY 10010; "workers" on PeaceNet; on Internet:
"workers@mcimail.com".)


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