A measure on the Nov. 7 ballot in Oregon aims to ban all Oregon public schools — including universities — from encouraging or condoning gay and lesbian lifestyles.
Ballot Measure 9 would prohibit counseling for gay students, sympathetic course content and the inclusion of gay and lesbian issues in diversity training. The measure would let gay and lesbian student groups exist, but they no longer would be affiliated with the school.
Proponents of the measure said it would allow for multiple views of homosexuality to be expressed, while opponents said it would create a homophobic attitude on campuses.
High school teachers in Oregon came up with the idea for the measure in 1997, said Jose Solano, a Portland-area high school teacher who supports Ballot Measure 9. He said teachers complained that information in workshops justified gay and lesbian lifestyles.
Solano said most of the education about the topic is one-sided, and viewpoints that don’t support gays and lesbians are censored. For example, he said that when he and other teachers asked to put books in the school library that stated homosexuality is not related to science or genetics, they were denied.
Lon Mabon, founder and director of the Oregon Citizens Alliance, a group supporting the measure, said if students learn only that gay and lesbian lifestyles are acceptable, they will view it as a civil rights issue — a viewpoint he said he disagrees with.
Because biology and religion view homosexuality as “not normal,” Mabon said, it is not a civil rights issue such as race or gender.
“It’s a behavior that should be judged as good or bad,” he said.
Mabon said the measure would not prohibit students from forming their own opinions.
“It’s simply a prohibition on what the institution can do,” he said. “The institution cannot validate that homosexuality is good and acceptable and healthy.”
There would be room for opposing viewpoints in the classroom, Mabon said.
“A psychology instructor could bring in opposing viewpoints and have a lively discussion,” he said.
Opposition to the measure is springing up in several places. No On 9, an organization working against the measure, is an offshoot of Basic Rights Oregon, a group that fights for equal rights.
Jennifer Webber, communications director for the group’s Portland office, said the measure could be dangerous. For example, she said, the measure would not allow medical students to learn how to treat gay patients.
Opponents to the measure also have noted other potential effects on college campuses.
Bob Bruce, assistant vice chancellor for communication for the Oregon University System, said if the measure passed, the government would have trouble enforcing it at state universities because of immediate opposition.
“Our teachers would be very concerned about that,” he said. “It’s a breach to academic freedom.”
Susan Matthews, multicultural adviser for Lane Community College near Portland, said the measure already is producing a homophobic attitude on the campus.
Students have come to her in the past few weeks in distress over the measure, Matthews said. She has taken them to the counseling department, something she said she no longer will be able to do if the measure passes.
In fact, her being a lesbian role model for gay and lesbian students might be interpreted as the school condoning her lifestyle, she said.
“I would have to go back in the closet,” she said. “Any staff member who has been out would be in jeopardy.”
Similar measures have been tried in California, New York, Missouri and other states, said Matthew Barbour, president of Northwestern’s Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Alliance. These measures dealt specifically with employing gay educators, gay course content and gay student groups. None were passed.
Barbour, a Weinberg junior, said he did not know if a similar measure had ever been tried in Illinois. He said it’s always a possibility, though.
“People have spent 30 to 40 years campaigning for equality,” he said. “The fact that one bill can wipe that away shows what an important election year this is.”
