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GAYS IN POLITICS: UNCOMMON CLOUT

April 11, 1994 | Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) Author: SURA RUBENSTEIN - of The Oregonian staff | Page: A01 | Section: LOCAL STORIES 1889 Words | Readability: Lexile: 1140, grade level(s): 9 10 11-12

Summary: Oregon's gay and lesbian activists have forged one of the country's strongest political alliances

Oregon House Speaker Larry Campbell warmed up the crowd with anecdotes about pastors and collection plates. Rep. Beverly Clarno offered folksy stories about her Deschutes County ranch.

Both Republican leaders praised Chuck Carpenter, Republican candidate for state representative in Washington County's District 7, to the hilt.

And then Carpenter, an international trade analyst and former U.S. Navy officer, stepped up to the podium in Prefontaine Hall at Nike's World Headquarters in Beaverton.

``I am proud to be with you,'' Carpenter told the crowd of 130 friends, family and fans who had paid $25 apiece to launch his shot at the Oregon statehouse.

It was campaign kickoff time, a bit of pure Americana -- complete with lapel stickers, balloons, brochures and flags. The only thing at all unusual is that Carpenter is gay and is making no secret of it in his campaign.

``My being gay wasn't an issue,'' he said. ``It wasn't something to hold me back.''

Campbell and Clarno, the House majority leader, agreed.

``This is the kind of candidate Oregon needs,'' said Campbell.

Whoa! -- Is this Oregon? The same state whose Oregon Citizens Alliance has helped fuel a nationwide assault on gay rights? The state where Lon T. Mabon, OCA chairman, convinced 44 percent of those voting to agree with a 1992 ballot measure defining homosexuality as ``abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse?'' Where 20 cities and counties have passed local measures saying laws can't specifically protect gays and lesbians from discrimination?

Indeed it is. And that's the paradox. Even as the OCA wages its high-profile war against gay rights, Oregon's gay and lesbian community is enjoying a growing political prominence that makes it a national standout.

https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&t=pubname%3AORGB%21Oregonian%252C%2BThe%2B%2528Portland%252C%2BOR%2529&sort=YMD_ 10/11/2018 Document View | Access World News | NewsBank Republicans and Democrats alike court money and support from gay-rights groups. An annual gay-rights dinner in Portland is the most successful political fund-raiser in the state -- and a must-have ticket for liberal politicians.

Oregon already has four openly gay legislators -- more than any other state in the nation -- and outgoing Gov. Barbara Roberts has become a prominent national spokeswoman for gay rights.

Many gay activists say their advances are due in part to the OCA's ongoing campaign against homosexuality.

``I always thank Lon Mabon,'' said state Rep. George V. Eighmey, an openly gay Democrat from Portland. ``We have finally come out and we have organized.''

Eighmey and Carpenter are among at least eight other openly gay or lesbian candidates on Oregon's primary ballot -- a list that includes Reps. Gail Shibley, D-Portland, Cynthia Wooten, D-Eugene, and Jerry Keene, a Portland Republican; Portland City Council candidate Fred Neal; and Multnomah County judges David Gernant and Janice R. Wilson. Another legislator up for election, Rep. Kate Brown, D-Portland, is bisexual.

``This has to be a national record,'' said William W. Waybourn, director of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund in Washington, D.C., which raises money for gay candidates. ``It's changing the way people think of gays and lesbians.''

The increasing number of openly gay candidates is just the latest stage in the growth of gay political clout that has been building over the past several decades. It began after the Stonewall Riots in 1969 sparked the modern gay- rights movement, was catapulted by the AIDS crisis and moved into the national mainstream in Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign.

``We have emerged from being a fringe sideshow on the social and political scale to being recognized as a major civil rights issue and a major political power,'' said David Mixner, a gay Los Angeles businessman and key Clinton adviser.

Mixner helped raise more than $3 million for Clinton's campaign from the gay community, which exit polls showed accounted for about 12 percent of the president's vote.

Clinton showed his support for gay rights by naming an openly gay man to his campaign staff, a lesbian as assistant housing secretary and pushing -- albeit unsuccessfully -- for a clear end to the ban on military service by homosexuals.

In Oregon, candidates are vying for part of the $100,000 campaign chest amassed by the Right to Privacy political action committee, one of the nation's oldest and largest local gay-rights PACs.

``No one is ever given clout,'' said Waybourn. ``You have to take it. You have to build it from a strong foundation.''

https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&t=pubname%3AORGB%21Oregonian%252C%2BThe%2B%2528Portland%252C%2BOR%2529&sort=YMD_ 10/11/2018 Document View | Access World News | NewsBank That's what he's doing with the victory fund, which was founded in 1991 and last year raised more than $202,000 for 13 openly gay candidates across the country. So far this year, the fund's raised nearly that much for the 17 candidates currently on its recommended list, which includes Eighmey.

The fund encourages its 4,000 members to contribute directly to candidates in much the same way as Emily's List, which supports women candidates. Eighmey has received about $6,000, roughly a third of his total contributions to date.

Eighmey, a 52-year-old lawyer, was appointed to the Oregon House last year after Rep. Beverly Stein resigned to run for Multnomah County chairwoman. His inner Southeast Portland district is strongly Democratic and known for its political activism and tolerance.

He's been going door to door, so far hitting more than 1,000 homes to promote his priorities: education; liveability; and such human resources issues as women's health programs and drug rehabilitation.

``I want my little corner of the world to be a safe, wonderful place to live in,'' said Eighmey, the divorced father of two grown children. ``It's important to me to have a voice in it.''

- Coming out at some risk

Rep. Cynthia Wooten says she was only being honest when she came out as a lesbian last fall at a Portland gay- rights dinner sponsored by the Right to Privacy PAC.

Wooten, 47, who introduced her partner ``at some risk and with great love,'' said she made the announcement because she wanted her constituents to have time to absorb it before her 1994 re-election campaign.

``I wanted them to have time to observe me and to know that there is no difference between who I was before and who I am now,'' she said.

Chuck Carpenter sounded a similar theme.

Being gay wasn't a reason to run for office, he said. It's simply one of the facts of his life -- along with his service as a U.S. Naval officer, his job analyzing international operations for Nike, his work as co-chairman of the Oregon coalition supporting the North American Free Trade Agreement and his membership in St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church.

``I'm running on my honesty and integrity,'' said Carpenter, 34. ``I'm not going to campaign on my sexual orientation, but I had to be honest about it.''

Rep. Hedy Rijken, D-Newport, said she has never hidden her sexual orientation but has felt no need to announce it.

https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&t=pubname%3AORGB%21Oregonian%252C%2BThe%2B%2528Portland%252C%2BOR%2529&sort=YMD_ 10/11/2018 Document View | Access World News | NewsBank ``Oregon is very accepting of all peoples and all kinds of cultures,'' said Rijken, who decided not to seek re-election after three terms in the Legislature. ``There is no one way that's right for each of us to live and have an attitude about how we work.''

For Jerry Keene, an attorney who in 1992 became the first openly gay Republican to run for the Legislature, being open about sexual orientation builds trust -- and can be a boon for politicians.

``It takes courage to come out,'' said Keene, who is considering another run against Rep. Tom Mason, a Portland Democrat. ``It builds credibility with voters.''

``If you can tell someone you're gay,'' he said, ``why would you lie to them about anything else?''

- Legislation becomes a national trend

Whether there's a gay agenda or not, Oregon and the nation are embroiled in a political and cultural war over homosexuality.

Eight states -- California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Vermont and Wisconsin -- have gay rights laws on the books. Meanwhile, as many as 10 other states may vote on anti-gay-rights initiatives this fall.

``They are trying to change the consensus,'' Mabon says of gay-rights advocates. ``And they are going about it the right way. They stand right up and defend what they believe in to the hilt.''

And Mabon admits he and his allies are trying to do the same -- on behalf of what they view as traditional moral values. ``If I end in defeat,'' he says, ``our country is going the way of Sodom and Gomorrah.''

He sees plenty of signs that homosexuality is moving into the cultural mainstream -- from Roseanne Arnold going to a gay bar on her TV sitcom to a national Ikea furniture ad showing a gay couple looking at dining room tables.

Mabon opposes anti-discrimination protections for gay men and lesbians, which he believes would give governmental sanction to homosexuality.

Gay advocates, however, say such laws are necessary to guarantee them full civil rights.

``People do lose jobs because they are gay and lesbian, they do lose their homes and they face other forms of discrimination,'' said Leila Wrathall, co-chairwoman of Right to Privacy. ``Legislation alone isn't enough, but it can begin to create social change. You have to keep organizing, keep coming out and keep making it an issue.''

What difference has gay political clout made in Oregon?

In terms of concrete legislation, small steps. In terms of political dynamics, new opportunities for coalitions and https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&t=pubname%3AORGB%21Oregonian%252C%2BThe%2B%2528Portland%252C%2BOR%2529&sort=YMD_ 10/11/2018 Document View | Access World News | NewsBank consciousness-raising.

One of the gay community's biggest disappointments is that a gay-rights bill has never made it through the Oregon Legislature, even though one has been introduced in every session since 1973.

Some say part of the reason is because there's not enough bipartisan support.

``One of the major things we need is a member of the Republican caucus,'' said Jerry Keene. ``The debate would have come out differently if I'd been in the caucus room. I'm positive we could have changed the outcome.''

Shibley, Eighmey, Wooten and Rijken all supported legislation last session that would have protected gay men and lesbians from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. It passed the Senate but never got a floor vote in the Republican-controlled House.

They had more success with House Bill 3500, which sought to put an end to the OCA's string of local anti-gay- rights elections. The bill, which became law last August, bars enforcement of local OCA measures -- and has drawn national notice.

``It showed the art of compromise, the ability to build coalitions and that they could work a piece of legislation through the House,'' Waybourn said of HB 3500. ``It's very significant.''

David S. Barrows, a Republican lobbyist from Portland, believes Shibley and Eighmey helped advance gay rights simply by being in the Legislature.

``They put a pleasant, upbeat, engaged face on a segment of society that a lot of downstate legislators don't know much about,'' he said. ``The fact that they are well-liked and well-regarded is very helpful to their cause.''

Shibley and others say being out made all the difference.

``The most compelling way for people to support basic civil rights for gays and lesbians is by knowing someone who is gay or lesbian,'' said Shibley. ``By knowing a real, live human being.''

Sura Rubenstein covers the political debate in Oregon over such issues as gay rights and abortion. She can be reached at 221-8385 or by mail at 1320 S.W. Broadway, Portland 97201. Readers also may comment on political issues by calling The Oregonian's Inside Line at 225-5555 and entering 4761.

Caption: 3 Color Photos -- REP. GEORGE V. EIGHMEY -- CHUCK CARPENTER -- REP. GAIL SHIBLEY Photo by BRENT WOJAHN of The Oregonian staff Graphic -- Text -- RESULTS - Political clout, civil rights, domestic partnership, hate crimes Memo: GAY RIGHTS OREGON'S GREAT DIVIDE

© Copyright (c) 1994 Oregonian Publishing Co. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&t=pubname%3AORGB%21Oregonian%252C%2BThe%2B%2528Portland%252C%2BOR%2529&sort=YMD_ 10/11/2018 Document View | Access World News | NewsBank

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