Doug Keller—a retired naval officer and Republican seeking the party’s nomination during May’s primary election for Congressman David Wu’s District 1 seat—has based his campaign mostly along established party lines. But one stance has effectively ostracized him from being supported by one of the country’s biggest Christian conservative organizations, the Faith Coalition of America.

Keller’s platform clearly states that he believes marriage is defined as being between a man and a woman, but he is also in favor of civil unions and “and basic rights that allow for people of alternate orientation to be protected under the law similarly to married couples.”

“It’s not because I feel one way morally about it,” Keller told Just Out. “It’s just that I feel like everybody should be treated equally. When you’re in a relationship with somebody, or even if you’re just a roommate with somebody for a long period of time, you deserve some legal protections.”

According to Keller, the Faith Coalition—a nonprofit organization that intends to protect Christian heritage and freedoms—led him to believe that their initial support was being rescinded due to his support of civil unions. Keller does not favor the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

“They had one of the [other] candidates come in and talk to them, and then they offered for me to speak after the ballots had already been delivered to the voters,” explained Keller. “I didn’t feel like that was a very equitable situation.

“[Republicans] don’t formally support civil unions with what they put out. So I know that I’m a little bit away from the mainstream there. Every time you choose to be a certain position on something, you’re going to end up alienating somebody.

“What I try to do is just look at it from an independent perspective and say, ‘Okay, what’s right?’ And to me, the right thing to do is you’ve got to have protected civil unions.”

Just Out contacted Faith Coalition Candidate Support and Assistance Committee member Marcos Higgins for comment, with no reply.

On Thursday, April 1, the Multnomah County Health Department held a presentation at Q Center to reveal the results of the Speak Out 2009 survey, which last summer gathered data from 843 adult respondents in the Portland metropolitan area. The survey aimed to educate health providers and policy makers about factors related to health and well-being across sexual orientation and gender identity, focusing on broader community responsibility for promoting wellness. The survey data will be used to develop a comprehensive agenda for wellness in the LGBTQ community.

Existing data purported that members of the LGBTQ community had significantly poorer health outcomes than heterosexual or cisgender peers. Factors included family support or lack thereof; positive or negative experiences in school, having mentors, or knowing other out LGBTQ people; having role models; and that these issues would give a greater sense of feeling good about those who otherwise would become afflicted with poorer health.

Key findings of the Speak Out 2009 survey concluded that respondents who experienced full support from their family related to sexual orientation, and who had stronger community connections as adults, reported better overall physical health, and that people who received more social support growing up reported less depression. Speak Out respondents also reported consumption of fewer fruits and vegetables, and more alcohol and tobacco than recommended—a cornerstone of the survey. Past studies had mainly tapped into individual behavioral causes for poorer health outcomes in the gay community, rather than further examining the social determinates that allowed or fostered individual behavior to an uncontrollable state.

“This new LGBTQI health information will help address health inequity and gives us a roadmap for structural, community and individual-level changes,” said MCHD Director Lillian Shirley via press release.

A panel discussion on the survey results is scheduled from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 6 at the Portland State Office Building (800 NE Oregon St., Room 1E). The event will feature several of MCHD’s key contributors to the findings as part of the Oregon Public Health Week Speakers’ Series.

On April 21, MCHD will host an HIV and Hepatitis C Prevention Networking Breakfast from 9 to 10:30 a.m., facilitated by Multnomah County Public Health Educator Molly Franks, at the Southeast Health Center’s Basement Conference Room (3653 SE 34th Ave.). The event will again discuss the results of the survey.

For the full results of the Speak Out 2009 Survey, visit mchealth.org. For more information on the April 21 Networking Breakfast, contact Katy Pranian at kathryn.l.pranian@co.multnomah.or.us.

It’s not uncommon to see a group of queers sitting at a bar with their noses firmly planted in their books, so it should come as no surprise that a book by and about these very folks, Portland Queer: Tales of the Rose City, was recently nominated for the 22nd Annual Lambda Literary “Lammy” Awards.

Edited by local wordsmith Ariel Gore, Portland Queer is one of five finalists in the LGBT Anthology category. But Portland Queer isn’t the only project earning Gore recognition these days. Hip Mama, the zine she founded and edits, has been nominated for an Utne Independent Press Award for Best Writing.

“It’s been so delicious, as so many folks are asking ‘Is print dead?’ ... to see old-school beautiful print literature recognized,” Gore wrote in a message to Just Out. “Both Hip Mama and Portland Queer started out with social goals—to offer a platform for marginalized voices—but it is the writing that ultimately sets them apart. Some of the contributors are experienced and award-winning authors, but a lot of the writers were published for the first time in these pages—so that’s particularly exciting.”

Filled with first-person narratives of queer life in the margins, Portland Queer features the work of local writers Dexter Flowers, sts, Kathleen Bryson, Colleen Siviter, David Ciminello, Tony Longshanks LeTigre, Michael Sage Ricci, Annie Murphy, Sarah Gottesdiener, Jacob Anderson-Minshall, Gabrielle Rivera, David Oates, Donal Mosher, J.T. Neel, Marc Acito, Christa Orth, Sarah Dougher, Nicole Vaicunas, Jacqueline Raphael, Lois Leveen, Megan Kruse, Stevie Anntonym, Wayne Gregory, and Tom Spanbauer.

Daphne Gottlieb, author of Kissing Dead Girls, described the anthology: “As rough-hewn and gorgeous as the city that inspired it, this anthology breaks queer ground as it shows us that everywhere is Portland—but Portland is its own special place, home to queers seeking and finding home, from the city itself to each others’ arms.”

Gore is also the author of works including How to Become a Famous Writer Before You’re Dead, The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show and Atlas of the Human Heart. She contributes to Ms. magazine and the Utne Reader, and teaches writing workshops at The Attic.

A full list of Lambda Award finalists, along with a selection of reviews, can be found on Lambda’s Literary Web site. Lammy winners will be announced May 27. Nominees for the 21st Annual Utne Independent Press Awards are listed at the Utne Reader’s Web site. Winners of the Utne award will be announced April 25.

– Erin Rook

This year, Oregon Public Health Week, April 5-9, features a diverse range of programming inclusive of the LGBTQ community.

Organizers will be screening Debra Chasnoff’s documentary Straightlaced: How Gender’s Got Us All Tied Up, a film featuring youth perspectives on gender and sexuality. The documentary explores the experiences of 50 California high-school students as they grapple with peer pressure and homophobia. Straightlaced offers a window into teen rituals as seemingly insignificant as getting ready for the day or shopping for clothes, and carries the impact of these routine decisions to their sometimes tragic conclusions—including harassment and suicide.

The film will be showing at Hollywood Theatre throughout the week and will be followed by a panel discussion on Tuesday, April 6. Doors open at 6 p.m. for an awards ceremony, film screening and discussion.

“This powerful film by Groundspark Media features youth speaking about the pressures they face about gender and sexuality,” said Emilee Coulter-Thompson, MSW, a women’s health educator for the Oregon Office of Family Health. “This is the first time that Oregon Public Health Week has had an event about gender and sexual orientation as it relates to youth.”

In addition to the documentary, the week’s lineup includes a talk called “Measuring Determinants of LGBTQ Wellness” with panelists Molly Franks, MPH, MCHD; Linda Drach, MPH, OPHD/MCHD; and Tyler Smith, ND, OPHD/MCHD presenting the results of the 2009 Speak Out survey.

Queer disability rights activist Stacy Milbern will give a lecture entitled “Supercrips, Welfare Lovers, and Charity Cases: Re-evaluating Our Understanding of Disability in a Public Health Context.” Milbern is the community outreach director for the National Youth Leadership Network of The National Voice for Young Leaders with Disabilities in Bethesda, Md.

In other queer health news, Positive Support Association and Cascade AIDS Project are co-sponsoring the first HIV/AIDS Awareness Oregon Zoo Day on Sunday, April 11, thanks to a grant that will allow individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS free admission on that day.

“Celebrate spring, the great outdoors, and an opportunity to relax alongside other folks living with HIV,” said Marc Peterson, executive director of Positive Support Association via press release.” Go with a friend or your familys—enjoy on your own—or stick with a group—however you want—we just hope you’ll enjoy.”

Passes are limited, however, so an RSVP is required. If there are extra passes, they will be available on a first come, first served basis at 1 p.m. the day of the event.

For more information on Oregon Public Health Week, including screenings of the documentary Straightlaced and the speakers’ series, visit oregon.gov/DHS/ph/spotlight/ph/2010a.shtml.

– Erin Rook

What only last summer was being hailed as an exciting, grassroots alternative to bigger civil rights organizations like Basic Rights Oregon, the Portland Equal Rights Coalition is reportedly in indefinite stasis.

Having planned and facilitated last October’s Oregon Equality March in Downtown Portland, Camille White-Avian and Delé Balogun—the coalition’s co-founders—took a big step back from PERC for personal reasons, leaving PERC member and activist Robert Moore to ponder the next steps.

“I have tried for months to keep PERC together but I have been unsuccessful,” explained Moore. “The last organizing meeting in January, only two other people showed up.”

The PERC-organized Oregon Equality March was billed as an extension of the National Equality March, and was designed to galvanize the local community into action. The group had hoped for 1,500-3,000 participants in the march and subsequent speak-out and rally. However, approximately 400 people attended in loose shifts throughout the event at its peak.

Moore is continuing his activism in several other areas, and holds out hope that through his organization of a rally at Salem’s Capitol building on May 22—Harvey Milk’s birthday—he can influence a reformation of PERC.

Though the main Web site no longer exists, PERC’s Facebook group is still active, as is PERC’s Google group.

Activist Sherry Wolf will be appearing at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 8 at Portland State University’s Memorial Student Union Building, room 294, as part of her touring presentation, “The Case for Socialism.”

As a leading member of both the International Socialist Organization and the new Equality Across America network, associate editor of the International Socialist Review, as well as having served on the executive committee for last October’s National Equality March in Washington, D.C., Wolf ought to be a familiar name. The March 2009 release of her book Sexuality and Socialism: History, Politics, and Theory of LGBT Liberation garnered praise by civil rights activists for its analysis of challenging questions about full equality for the LGBTQ community.

Following President Barack Obama’s announcement during January’s State of the Union address that his administration would work to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the first efforts have been made to begin the full processes of repeal.

On March 25, the Pentagon—backed by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates—took the biggest step thus far toward easing discriminatory practices involved in or before discharge proceedings for gay servicemembers.

First and foremost, anonymous tips and biased hearsay have now been deemed inadmissible within the policy, and third-party testimony regarding a soldier’s sexual orientation is now required to be given under oath. This was also designed to assist with increased scrutiny toward servicemembers who may have motivation to harm the servicemember going through proceedings.

Additionally, only generals and naval flag officers will be authorized to commence with fact-finding inquiries.

Gates also erased the practice of allowing service members’ confidential conversations with lawyers, clergy, physicians and therapists to be used against them. These measures, among other tighter rules on evidence, will be implemented later this month.

With less than three weeks to collect over 32,000 valid signatures from registered Portland voters, the second bid to recall Mayor Sam Adams rallied at City Hall the morning of April 1.

“We are here because we believe that integrity and character are leadership principles that matter, and we are here to reject the politics in practice of winning an election by any means necessary,” said chief petitioner and spokesperson Avel Gordly, flanked by a crowd of 15-20 volunteers and campaign workers, including Beau Breedlove. “There must be accountability for lying to get elected, asking a young person to lie, and slandering an opponent. These are abuses of power.”

Gordly also acknowledged that individuals feared retaliation for signing the petition and for funding the campaign to recall the mayor, should their support become known. “What we’re hearing directly from some business people is that they are afraid...,” Gordly related. “That is a poor statement about the political climate that exists in this city.”

Compared with last summer’s unsuccessful first bid, led by Portland State University poli sci student Jasun Wurster, the second effort has been a low-key affair. Aside from email updates distributed by volunteer coordinator Teresa McGuire, the recall campaign, launched with a January 20 filing, has quietly solicited financial and time donations from supporters.

Recently, the campaign relocated to a new office space on North Broadway. The move was prompted after the Portland Development Commission, which owned the recall bid’s previous downtown headquarters, ended the lease in early March. Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle, real estate developer Peter Stott and other area business figures have donated $20,000 to help hire petition gatherers, in addition to unpaid volunteers in the field.

Though a March 2 email update from McGuire reported that “we are seeing a totally different ‘climate’ out there,” claiming the effort was “well ahead in numbers at this same point last time (at least 40 percent),” approximately 10,000 signatures have been reported as collected thus far. A minimum of 32,183 signatures is required to the City Auditor’s office by 5 p.m. April 20 to put a recall election on the ballot.

From 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday, April 3, there will be two drop-off locations for recall supporters to turn in petitions—one at Wilshire Park on NE Skidmore and NE 33rd Avenue, and one at Montavilla Park on NE 82nd Avenue and Glisan Street.

Additionally, the recall campaign will hold an open house from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Monday, April 12 at the North Broadway office to kick off the final week of signature gathering.

“It’s going be tough, but we can get there. We still have time to get there,” said Gordly. “There’s lots of energy and momentum working for us.”

As Just Out went to print, details still had not been released regarding a new route for this year’s Pride parade. News of a second change broke just weeks after an early March announcement by Pride Northwest organizers that the 2010 parade would all but bypass Downtown Portland—including high-profile Pioneer Courthouse Square—in favor of Stark Street and Old Town.

Word of the first change prompted criticism over what would essentially redirect Pride weekend’s main event from more mainstream visibility to an LGBTQ-centric route that would showcase mainstays like Hobo’s and Embers.

When contacted about the initial decision, Pride NW Parade Chair Pat Olson was adamant that it boiled down to the financial bottom line: new city procedure would cost the nonprofit almost four times what it used to in fees. “Originally, we paid $650 for our permit,” Olson explained. “With the new law the city has to recoup a percentage of the cost. So [with] the barricades, the street closure, everything ... our cost would have been roughly about $2,300 dollars.”

Olson wouldn’t comment on the specifics of the second change, but said the cause was a matter of practicality, not politics. Allison Madsen, who handles the Pride parade permitting for the City of Portland, confirmed that the latest revision was due to “logistics and a conflict with existing events.”

As of press time, Pride Northwest had not responded to repeated requests to obtain the newest parade route. Just Out will continue to follow this story in print and at blogout.justout.com. This year’s Pride parade is planned for Sunday, June 20.

– Amanda Schurr

After failing to find a community of lesbians interested in the same laid-back approach to socializing, Ana Orozco decided to form one. And so, on March 29, queerPDXGRLconnection was born.

“I was discovering that a lot of my lesbian friends were having a hard time finding things to do outside the bar,” Orozco said. The newly established group—headed up by Orozco, her partner Chrys Barklow and friend Michelle Colangelo—plans to host a variety of “crazy, ridiculous and off-the-wall” activities ranging from tricycle racing to speed dating.

While Orozco said she’s heard of other lesbian activities networks, she wanted to create a group that was “more open and more free” and encouraged a mix of singles and couples, and of older and younger women.

She hopes queerPDXGRLconnection will attract lesbians who can dedicate one day every month or so to activities, and who are willing to share their enthusiasm with others.

Being so new, the group is also open to suggestions and input from potential members. No events will be scheduled until more people join.

“It’s going to be changing a lot,” Orozco said. “I had a bunch of ideas but I’m taking suggestions as far as what people want.”

The best way to get involved is to join the queerPDXGRLconnection page on Facebook. Orozco said the non-Facebook crowd can contact her via her personal email address: ana.orozco@hotmail.com.

– Erin Rook