Stonewall Tweets
Posted by admin on 30th May 2010
Events run from June 2nd through June 6th.
Click HERE for details and schedule.
(you can also try clicking on the post title for more information)
Posted in Events, Multnomah County, Washington County, gay lesbian bisexual transgender | No Comments »
Posted by Laura Calvo on 30th May 2010
Info about Portland Pride at PrideNW
(you can also try clicking on the post title for more information)
We’ll be at the Pride festival!
Come visit our booth or better yet volunteer at our booth. Its easy and fun. Hang out with some great folks. Have a place to call home while you’re having fun at Pride!
Our booth is located near the north entrance to the festival (booth A8)
Our parade position this year is #66 72. Step-off time is 11:30am. If you’re marching with us, we’ll be gathering in the staging area at 10:00am. Check out parade staging and this year’s route HERE. For just the staging area where to meet us at Glisan and 12th HERE
Thank to everyone who came to the Parade and worked in the booth!
Posted in Events, Multnomah County, Oregon Democrats, Washington County, gay lesbian bisexual transgender | No Comments »
Posted by jkerns on 13th March 2009
An influential GLBT caucus depends on you.
As our number of active members grows, so does our influence in the Democratic Party and in our GLBT community. The more influence we have, the more likely it is that we can influence legislators and other elected officials so the needs of the GLBT community cannot be overlooked.
Please join us in this important task.
The Multnomah Democrats’ GLBT Caucus will meet Tuesday, March 17 at 7:00p.m. at the Donkey Stable (232 NE 9th AVE, Portland).
We need to begin planning for Pride as well as other fun activities.
Mark your calendars: our meetings will commence every third Tuesday of each month.
There is a possibility that Portland City Commissioner Amanda Fritz will be in attendance… as always, we may have a surprise guest. Last time Secretary of State Kate Brown was a welcome surprise, which allowed caucus members to have a question and answer session.
Tags: meeting, Multnomah, Pride
Posted in Events, Multnomah County, gay lesbian bisexual transgender | No Comments »
Posted by Laura Calvo on 13th March 2009
The following article was published in the Multnomah County Democrats Newsletter and Just Out. Photo from Just Out.
Dick Levy was my friend, a mentor to many, and an inspiration to all. Every so often you meet a person whose combination of sincere warmth, humor, and character touches the lives of many, including your own. As dark a day Dick’s passing brings, the light he leaves behind will always be there for so many.” – Laura Calvo
Photo by Just Out
Richard C. Levy died February 24 of complications due to cancer surgery. He was at age 64.
Levy had been out since 1967 when he was a graduate student. He moved to Oregon to teach at the University of Portland.
Levy was one of the founding members of the Portland Town Council, an early gay rights organization here.
Levy once went to work as an aide to conservative Multnomah County Commissioner Gordon Shadburn. Levy’s gay friends were aghast, but he responded that it was an attempt to “work from inside.” But Shadburn’s conservative supporters eventually pressured the commissioner to oust the homosexual. Later Shadburn lost his political career after it was revealed that he had relations with young gay men.
Levy helped raise funds for numerous gay causes, including Basic Rights Oregon and the Sexual Minority Youth Resource Center.
Levy and his partner of 39 years, Larry Hobnet, were among the first gay couples to marry and to register as domestic partners in Multnomah County. Mayor Vera Katz and county chair Beverly Stein were their witnesses.
Levy was a college professor, a Multnomah County Commissioner in 1984 and real estate broker during his more than 40 years in Portland.
Beyond his leadership in the gay community, Levy was active in business and neighborhood issues and was honored by the city with the 1998 Spirit of Portland award.
Mayor Sam Adams recalled Levy as “tough and funny and tireless in his work to improve Portland for all Portlanders.”
Born in the Bronx and raised in a retail environment where both parents worked in a fabric store for more than 30 years in New York, Levy also was a former retail store manager. Levy received a bachelor’s degree from Harpur College/SUNY at Binghamton and masters degree from Michigan State University.
Since 1988 he was a commercial real estate sales and leasing broker. He started with Bluestone Realty and helped form North Rim Realty in 1999. He acquired a Windermere franchise in 2004 and with Craig Gilbert formed PDX Metro Commercial LLC / Windermere Community Commercial Realty. He was active in the Commercial Association of Realtors, Northeast Business Boosters, and Hollywood Business Association and CCIM.
He had served several stints as president of the Irvington Community Association – most recently from 2006 to 2008.
Among his civic activities were being a founding member of the Alliance of Portland Neighborhood Business Associations; chair of the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods; member of the Martin Luther King Blvd. Advisory Committee; vice chair of the Oregon Convention Center Urban Renewal Advisory Committee; and vice chair of Ethos Music Academy.
Levy also was active in numerous political campaigns and had been a delegate to the Oregon Democratic Central Committee and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2000.
An open house celebrating Dick Levy’s life will be held March 14th 2009 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Ethos Music Project, 10 N. Killingsworth St.
Memorial donations in Dick Levy’s name to support the Sexual Minority Youth Resource Center’s programs for gay youth support, recreation and counseling may be sent to:
SMYRC, 2100 SE Belmont St., Portland, OR 97214. E-mail: info@smyrc.org
Posted in Multnomah County, News, Oregon Democrats, gay lesbian bisexual transgender | No Comments »
Posted by jkerns on 25th January 2009
I invite all members of the Multnomah County Democratic Party GLBT Caucus to join our ad hoc Strategic Planning Committee. Our first meeting is Tuesday, January 27 at 6:30 p.m. at the Donkey Stable (232 NE 9th AVE, Portland). We need your help in discussing our future plans as a caucus. Do you have opinions regarding how we should do outreach, what we should focus on in the coming year, or any other opinions about increasing our influence in the Democratic Party and beyond? Then, this is the perfect meeting for you to attend.
If you plan on attending, please email me at multnomah.chair@stonewalloregon.org.
In solidarity,
Joey Kerns
Chair, Multnomah County Democratic Party GLBT Caucus
Tags: Multnomah, planning, strategy
Posted in Events, Multnomah County, gay lesbian bisexual transgender | No Comments »
Posted by Laura Calvo on 16th September 2008
Jeff Merkley, Oregon’s U.S. Senate democratic candidate, earned the endorsement of National Stonewall Democrats.
National Stonewall Democrats is a grassroots network connecting LGBT Democratic activists from Seattle, Washington to Austin, Texas to Little Rock, Arkansas to Atlanta, Georgia. With more than 90 chapters across the country, Stonewall is a grassroots force for social change within our movement and within our party. Our members do the hard work of calling voters, putting together campaign mailings, going door-to-door for our fair-minded candidates and having tough conversations with Democratic party officials about why our families need and deserve more support from our party and its elected officials.
Laura Calvo, a member of National Stonewall Democrats board of directors and interim President of the Democratic Party of Oregon GLBT Caucus, said it was her honor to announce the endorsement of Jeff Merkley. Calvo said, “Jeff Merkley has been unequivocal in his support of equality for our entire community and every American family. I think it’s very important to acknowledge Jeff’s significant contributions and leadership in regards to the issues of fair employment opportunities, having the equal right to provide for our families as every other American family has the right to do without question and for all Americans to be treated with dignity. In addition, Jeff Merkley has been an effective voice in the legislature in many other areas. From improving the Oregon economy, to ending predatory pay-day loan practices, to being one of the most effective advocates for public safety and protecting the rights of victims of crime, Jeff Merkley has been an effective leader. ”
Continuing, Calvo also said, ” Jeff Merkely’s record on the issues of what really matters to working Oregoninans is exemplary. To attempt to discredit that record with gutter generated attack ads is a mixture of twisted ethics and desparation unbecoming any sitting elected representative of the people of Oregon, especially a U.S. Senator. All too often GLBT Americans are the victims of violent crime or subjected to abusive slurs and vulgar rumors simply for being who we are. We are pretty good at recognizing smears and twisted outright lies for what they represent. We’ve spent too many years of our lives fighting those kinds of vulgar attacks. When confronted with sleazy attacks and lies we only go to work and fight that much harder to expose the truth. Oregon voters resent lies and aren’t fooled by sleezy campaign smears.”
Tags: Merkley, NSD
Posted in Benton County, Central Oregon, Gordon Smith, Jeff Merkley, Lane County, Marion County, Multnomah County, National Stonewall Democrats, News, Oregon Democrats, Oregon Senate 2008, Statewide, Washington County | 4 Comments »
Posted by jkerns on 7th September 2008
The Multnomah Democrats’ GLBT Caucus adopted a tagline that exemplifies the purpose of the caucus: 
Over the past few months we have strived to accomplish these goals. Many candidates and/or their campaign staff have addressed the caucus meetings including Democratic US Senate Candidate Jeff Merkley, Portland City Commissioner Candidate Amanda Fritz (non-partisan), and Democratic House District Candidates Nick Kahl (49) and Greg Matthews (50). These successful meetings (especially when Jeff Merkley attended the meeting) gave the GLBT community direct access to the candidates to ask them questions pertaining to GLBT issues. In so doing, the candidates were educated about GLBT issues and the GLBT community became informed about Democratic issues.
During the three months leading to the general election, the Multnomah Democrats’ GLBT Caucus has used its meeting time to directly volunteer for targeted campaigns. Michael Bidwell, Treasurer for the Multnomah Democrats’ GLBT Caucus said, “Volunteering for campaigns as a caucus serves not only to help progressive candidates get into office, but reminds candidates of the issues the GLBT community faces every day”. So far, the Caucus has volunteered as a group for Nick Kahl and Jeff Merkley. We will volunteer for Greg Matthews on October 7 from 7:30-9:00 pm. There will be something for everyone: envelope stuffing, phoning, etc.
To become involved and/or to attend the October 7 meeting with Greg Matthews, please contact Joey Kerns at Multnomah.chair(at)stonewalloregon(dot)org.
Tags: fritz, kahl, matthews, Merkley
Posted in Events, Jeff Merkley, Multnomah County, Oregon Democrats | No Comments »
Posted by Laura Calvo on 23rd July 2008
The Democratic Party of Oregon is filming a new video in Portland OR.
The video is titled “WE THE PEOPLE”
We need as many people as can possibly be there!
Sunday, August 27, 2008
2:45pm
2223 NE Oregon
Portland OR
Contact: Alex (at) dpo.org or call (503) 224 – 8200
Tags: DPO, Events, video
Posted in Events, Multnomah County, Oregon Democrats | No Comments »
Posted by Laura Calvo on 15th July 2008
From the Jeff Merkley campaign:
In a desperate move, Gordon Smith is misleading voters about Senator Barack Obama. Obama, who has endorsed Jeff Merkley for U.S. Senate, has criticized Smith for supporting George Bush and the Republican agenda that has caused this country great damage.
Smith serves as John McCain’s Campaign Chairman.
KGW News has the story.
Tags: George Bush, Gordon Smith, Jeff Merkley, John McCain, Republican, U.S. Senate
Posted in Events, Gordon Smith, Jeff Merkley, Multnomah County, News, Oregon Democrats, Oregon Senate 2008 | 1 Comment »
Posted by Laura Calvo on 14th July 2008
The Multnomah and Washington County Democrats join forces for an All-American evening of baseball and
politics. Ok, not a lot of politics, but you do get a super-cool “Multnomah Democrat” t-shirt with your ticket and a couple of bumper stickers. And you’ll be in the middle of dozens of local Dems. Mostly, we’ll enjoy watching the Portland Beavers take on the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, raise some money for the party and enjoy being with other Democrats.
Friday, July 18 – 7:05 pm first pitch
Get your tickets while we’ve got them. Buy online right now.
Posted in Events, Multnomah County, News, Oregon Democrats, Washington County | No Comments »