LGBTQ rights advocates and allies hit the Oregon capital

Several hundred people coming to Salem from all around the state of Oregon crowded into the Micah building near the State Capitol building for a day of action organized by Basic Rights Oregon. The focus of the day was to lobby and rally for two bills being introduced into the 2009 Oregon Legislative session.

The first bill (Oregon HB 2599) sensibly beefs up Oregon's school anti-bullying law which is currently not sufficient and is not implemented state-wide. Current law encourages school districts to adopt anti-bullying policies, but does not specify what they should contain, and has other limitations that flaw the protections needed. The new legislation would provide for a point person in each school district to handle bullying complaints, recognizes emotional and psychological as well as physical bullying, requires that districts ensure student rights and the policy are known, and provides for investigations and grievances. Strengthened laws are needed because so many students, those of color, immigrants, rural students, students with disabilities, students who are targeted because of their religion, as well as gay and transgender students suffer from bullying. During my group's visit to Rep. Betty Komp (who as an educator especially understands and backs this bill), a Latino student from Woodburn shared (with difficulty) how he often did not want to go to school (and often didn't) because of being bullied and that he was not taken seriously enough when he asked for help. A legislative hearing on this bill is scheduled for Monday, March 9, 2009 at the Capitol.

The second bill simply cleans up Oregon's 2007 domestic partnership statute by removing red tape from name changes and removing the requirement that applicants for Oregon domestic partnership must dissolve their partnership in another jurisdiction first. These were unintended consequences of the 2007 law and hopefully this bill will pass with no further ado.

This lobby day was the first for many, and it was encouraging so many young people attending. During the rally outside the Capitol at noon, several young people took the mike and spoke movingly to their experiences. One, a young Jewish person from a rural place in Oregon, recognized that not only LGBTQ kids need to be protected from bullying, but also students who are immigrants, of color, or of minority religions.

Also speaking were several elected officials (Gelser, Kotek, Shields, Nolan, and Secretary of State Kate Brown). Ramon Ramirez, from the farm workers union, PCUN, also spoke, emphasizing the natural and strengthening alliance between the LGBTQ community and PCUN. Ramirez stated PCUN is educating the Latino community about the need for mutual support, to build a society based on respect and solidarity, and recognized that he knows how it feels to be vulnerable, to be a target.

The overt alliance between Latino organizations and gay rights organizations seems to be fairly new; obviously much work has been done and is ongoing, to strengthen this alliance.