“OBAMA! OBAMA! Let mama marry mama!” chanted over 200 protesters as
they marched down SW Broadway on Saturday afternoon, October 24. The
march and its organizers, fledgling LGBT group Portland Equal Rights
Coalition, reveal a split between activists who want same-sex marriage
equality now and bigger queer-advocacy groups who are telling their
supporters to hold tight until at least 2012.
Basic Rights Oregon (BRO) knocked on 17,000 doors over the summer,
starting conversations the state’s largest LGBT group hopes will spark
major change three years from now [“Eyes on 2012,” News, Aug 20].
Thanks to Measure 36, allowing same-sex marriage in Oregon means
passing a constitutional amendment in a statewide vote. Winning that
kind of campaign takes enormous resources and BRO thinks pushing too
quickly for marriage equality in Oregon will lead only to defeat and a
backlash.
But not everyone agrees. “This is a civil rights issue. No one would
look at a black person now and say, ‘Hey, you should have waited,'”
says Chani Geigle-Teller, a local social worker who helped organize the
march. “I want to believe in the public. People are ready, both gay and
straight.”
Geigle-Teller is no stranger to direct action—she was arrested
recently after splattering the lobby of city hall with red paint in
protest of the death in custody of James Chasse [“Painting the Town
Red,” News, Sept 24].
In addition to Saturday’s protest, a group of Pacific University
students brought big name gay activist Cleve Jones, a friend of Harvey
Milk’s, to speak at their school in Forest Grove on Monday, October 26.
Jones is one of the leaders of the marriage equality now camp, fresh
off organizing a giant march in Washington, DC, where he urged the
crowd, “Do not accept delays. And when we see leaders and those who
represent us saying, ‘You must wait again.’ We say, ‘No! No! No longer
will we wait!'”
Student co-director of Pacific University’s Center for Gender Equity
Kayla Johnston was at the DC march and is part of the group that felt
it was urgent to bring Jones to the Northwest. “A lot of us on our
staff agreed that the [Human Rights Campaign] approach of, ‘Let’s go
slow, see what they give us’ wasn’t enough. We’re tired of
waiting.”
BRO spokesman Thomas Wheatley says a march is a great way to
capitalize on Portlanders’ energy but his group is focused right now on
opposing campaigns to revoke same-sex couples’ civil rights in
Washington and Maine. “We’re putting our energy into the things people
can do right now that will actually make a difference,” says
Wheatley.