From: rjwill6@pbsdts.sdcrc.PacBell.COM (Rod Williams)
Subject: "Behind the Hate in Oregon"
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Francisco
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 19:31:01 GMT

Today's (9/3/92) New York Times has a piece by Michelangelo
Signorile (a columnist at the Advocate) on the Op-Ed page,
entitled "Behind the Hate in Oregon."  Here it is:

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Springfield, Ore.

In Oregon, something similar to an "ethnic cleansing" is under
way.  It has transformed a once tolerant, progressive state
into a repressive, frightful place.

Because of an anti-gay ordinance, the library shelves in
Springfield are about to be purged of all books that "promote
homosexuality."  If voters approve a similar statewide measure
in November, the same purification is likely to happen across
Oregon.  And libraries are just the beginning.

This energetic campaign is the work of the Oregon Citizens'
Alliance, whose mass mailings make clear the caliber of its
propaganda and its intended target: "Homosexual men, on
average, ingest the fecal material of 23 different men per
year."  The accusations vary in content, but not in virulence:
"Homosexuals are 15 times more likely to commit murder than
heterosexuals."

While those assertions play well to the ignorant, the
alliance's most effective rallying cry to the rest of the
populace -- one that plays especially well in a depressed
economy -- is its distorted claim that gays are seeking
preferential treatment: "Homosexuals *already* have the same
basic rights as everyone else...however homosexuals want
'special rights' to be granted to their behavior."

Mail is not the alliance's only channel.  It has set up tables
in shopping malls.  Spokesmen regularly pop up on radio and
television interviews.  The group runs ads on cable TV
exploiting footage from gay pride parades.

In the name of preserving "family values," Lon Mabon, the
group's leader, often quotes Patrick Henry: "We must fight!
I repeat it, sir, we must fight!  An appeal to the God of Hosts
is all that is left us!"

The twisting of patriotic oratory, among other tactics, seems
to be working.  The alliance placed a measure on the statewide
ballot in 1988 to rescind then Gov. Neil Goldschmidt's order
barring discrimination against lesbians and gays in state jobs.
It passed.  In May, the alliance lobbied in Springfield for a
measure to prevent the town from "promoting" homosexuality.
That also passed.

Mr. Mabon's organization is now pushing an amendment to the
Oregon Constitution declaring that homosexuality is "abnormal,
wrong, unnatural and perverse" and that "state monies shall not
be used to promote, facilitate or encourage" homosexuality.
Political analysts expect the measure to pass.  "I think it has
a good shot," said Tim Hibbitts, a pollster in Portland.

What is the organization's larger agenda?  To end "reverse
discrimination," "the dismembering of the unborn child,"
"redistributionist welfare" and "atheistic humanistic
liberalism" in Oregon.  Joined by similar organizations in
California, Maine and Colorado, the alliance plans to take its
show on the road.

In such an atmosphere of hatred, many lesbians and gays have
decided to sell their homes and leave the state.  After the
alliance's victory in Springfield, local gay leaders had the
windows of their cars and homes shattered in the middle of the
night.

In the weeks that followed, a lesbian activist was run off the
road by thugs who screamed, "Queer!"  In Portland, the windows
of a hair salon with anti-alliance stickers were smashed by a
gang yelling anti-gay epithets.  The owner of a women's erotica
shop had her car vandalized by people holding signs that read,
"Homosexuality is a Perversion."

In June, the offices of Campaign for a Hate Free Oregon, an
organization that opposes the alliance, were burglarized.  The
intruders took only computers, lists of supporters and
Rolodexes.  Soon thereafter, people whose names were on the
lists started to receive anonymous, threatening telephone calls.
Portland's two gay newspapers also had their files stolen.

The alliance has waged war on government as well.  It is a
driving force behind an effort to recall Gov. Barbara Roberts,
who supports gay rights.  The group has also demanded that Tom
Potter, Portland's police chief, resign because his daughter is
a lesbian.

Neo-Nazi groups have picked up the scent of fascism and are
moving into Oregon, recruiting youths and turning out at
alliance rallies.  In recent days, a black woman and a white
woman who live together in Portland had crosses and swastikas
burned on their lawn.  Officials of the Homophobic Violence
Reporting Line point to a surge of "firebombings and attempted
homicides."  Portland police confirm an increase in the
severity of violent crimes against gays.

Last month, Mr. Mabon was feted in Washington by Housing
Secretary Jack Kemp and Republican Senators Orrin Hatch and
Phil Gramm, who were trying to deter him from an independent
campaign against Senator Bob Packwood of Oregon this fall.

Who knows what was promised behind closed doors, but Mr. Mabon
backed down.  And the Republican Party, whose convention he
likened to an alliance rally, has been shockingly silent.
Meanwhile, the campaign of terror in Oregon continues.

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rod williams -=- pacific bell -=- san francisco -=- rjwill6@pacbell.com
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