Ashland, Oregon Leads State In Tolerance Towards Same-Sex Couples
Oregon Law Catches Up With Ashland's Anti-Discrimination Ordinance
by Charles Carreon
Ashland, Oregon is a small town of less than 20,000 people, right on Interstate 5, about twenty miles north of the California border. About 300,000 people visit Ashland every year, so as a tourist attraction, it's been well known for a long time. What's less well known is that in Ashland, it’s been illegal since 1993 to discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation in the provision of housing or City employment. On May 9, 2007, the rest of Oregon caught up with Ashland and went a step further when Governor Ted Kulongoski signed the Oregon Equality Act, that outlaws sexual-orientation discrimination statewide, and the Family Fairness Act, that grants same-sex partners who form “domestic partnerships” most of the key associational rights previously reserved to married couples. By availing themselves of the new law, Oregon gays and lesbians can get joint insurance, enter joint rental agreements and get an equitable division of property in a partnership dissolution. They can use sick leave to care for their partner, and have the right to visit with their partner while in medical care, a right often infringed by family and medical personnel. They can take bereavement leave, and have the right to bury their partner’s body where they choose. In other words, in Oregon, gays and lesbians can be full members of society, instead of second-class citizens.
Governor Calls Oregon “A Land of Equal Opportunity”
The new laws are not only important for people who have same-sex relationships, but for anyone who wants to live in a state that is truly trying to be fair in all of its legal policies. As Gov. Kulongoski said when he signed the bills, these laws show “that Oregon is a land of equal opportunity for all our citizens.” John Hummel, Executive Director of Basic Rights Oregon, put things more urgently: “Our hope … is for the day when … no Oregonian will be fired from their job, denied housing or denied an education--simply because of who they are or who they love. Today marks a moment in time when Oregonians proudly made hope a reality, and created a fairer, more equal Oregon.”
Ashland’s Unique Satellite Profile
If you were dreaming about moving to Oregon, you might start with Google Earth, which would show you that half the state is a high, cold desert. You probably wanted to live in the green part anyway, but switching to a demographic filter will give you additional reasons — all of the arid counties are extremely conservative. Looking back at the state as a whole, you would see that politically, it is pretty much red, but spread thin, with intense blue concentrations in and around Portland, Salem, Eugene, and Ashland. Zooming in on Ashland’s politics, you would see that 80.60% of Ashlanders voted for Kerry, beating out every other American city besides Seattle, that pulled in 80.61% for the swift-boated one. The blue-red balance in Oregon is basically a metropolitan-rural split – with one exception – Ashland, which can hardly qualify as metropolitan with its current population of less than 20,000. Zooming in on the politics of Ashland itself requires a seasoned observer.
Ashland’s Volunteer City Council
Ashland’s often contentious local politics revolve around the doings of its five-member City Council and the tie-breaking Mayor, who traditionally exercises dominating influence over City policies. One of the first anomalies of City Council government is that the councilors and mayor serve without pay. Nevertheless, in 2006, the City Council magnanimously gave the Chamber of Commerce a $247,645 grant to develop tourism, and another $113,300 to the independently-profitable Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF). Contemplate those dynamics, and you’ll understand Ashland city politics a little better. When you realize that Ashland City councilors do not get paid, you’ll understand why they tend to “study” issues forever, hire “consultants” to advise on every hot issue, make a great show of listening to citizens, and ultimately defer to the advice of salaried City executives.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival & Lithia Park
As the substantial subsidy provided to OSF suggests, the City Council and local boosters consider the Festival to be a talisman that will keep Ashland connected to the fountain of good fortune, while neglecting to realize that the real resource of the town is its populace, which is in constant need of new infusions of liberal blood. Ashland is the bluest spot between Eugene and San Francisco not only because it hosts the works of an English playwright often rumored to be gay. It’s the deep roots of humane conduct that predate the decision of Angus Bowmer, in 1935, to start staging Shakespeare plays in Ashland. Those roots are most concretely expressed in the presence of Lithia Park, dedicated to public use in 1908 at the urging of the Women’s Civic Improvement Club, that raised enough money to engage John McLaren, the renowned designer of Golden Gate Park, to design Ashland’s own central civic monument. Lithia Park is the true central attraction of the City, providing a place where young and old enjoy the gifts of nature displayed with the skill of human design and care. The love of nature and respect for human values lie at the heart of Ashland’s traditional ways.
Political Upheavals Test the Status Quo
Ashland’s legacy is hotly contested, however. During the 2006 election, while questions of voter fraud raged once again nationwide, Ashland had its own crisis, as the Jackson County election authority insisted on repeatedly recounting the votes for one Ashland City Council, apparently stymied by the results derived from the usually-reliable mail-in paper ballots. The problem? No matter how many times the ballots were counted, the environmentalist candidate who had actually sued the Mt. Ashland Association to block snowboard and ski resort development, kept winning a seat on the City Council! Ultimately, the vote-counters gave up, and Eric Navickas, a local activist who favors hiking to endangered locales with interested citizens over making speeches, took his seat on the City Council. During the same election, a homeless man, Randy Dolinger, pulled 28% of the vote in his drive to obtain a councilor’s seat. While he failed in his first bid, Dolinger, who spent under $2,000 for his campaign, certainly took the prize for dollars-spent-per-vote-gained.
The City’s Riches Give Rise to Contention
A crucial factor driving Ashland politics is the City’s penchant for operating secondary businesses, such as its own water and electrical services, its own municipal broadband network and, through a nonprofit spinoff, the Mt. Ashland snowboard and ski resort. As a result, water and electricity are expensive, citizens have a choice among numerous ISPs to obtain Internet connectivity, and lift tickets for the ever-shorter snowboard season are relatively cheap. Historically and recently, many battles have been fought over how to manage these various interests. The Mt. Ashland Association’s (MAA) efforts to expand the Mt. Ashland ski resort, in the teeth of environmental objections to cutting old growth in the City’s watershed, has occupied both the local federal court and the City Council for years. In late 2006, the City revoked MAA’s authority to act unilaterally on tree-falling and other irreversible changes, sparking threats by MAA to sue the City. This year, on May 15, 2007, a 76.57% majority of Ashland voters rejected amendments to the City Charter that would have allowed the City Council to sell Ashland’s water supply and hallowed Lithia Park to private entities.
Municipal Internet A Focus of Political Battles
A multi-year battle has been fought over the City’s decision to build a broadband/television network, the Ashland Fiber Net (AFN), which went live in 1994. The venture got off to an impractical start when AFN decided not to sell Internet service directly to its citizens, but rather to license that privilege to a slate of local ISPs who were, not surprisingly, driving forces behind the project.
Building AFN was supposed to cost $4 Million, but an extended rollout ballooned construction costs, and a competitor, Charter Communications, squeezed AFN’s revenues with its own aggressive pricing. In 2005, a coalition of conservative citizens urged getting rid of AFN by any means necessary, including just unplugging the damn thing or selling out to Charter. In 2006, the City Council hired consultants to advise it on what to do, and forwarded the recommendations to AFN staff, who ignored them. The crisis mentality did not abate, so the City Council empowered a volunteer citizen’s committee, staffed by impressive names, to advise it. The volunteers recommended selling out to somebody, but the City Council rejected that idea.
It might seem like so much gridlock, but as the issues were joined, broad citizen support for AFN emerged, even as citizens began pointedly questioning the financial astuteness of City management. Ultimately, the City Council did nothing radical, spinning off the television unit, which had been hemorrhaging cash for years, and hiring a new director for AFN. On the way to its mild bureaucratic solution, numerous City Councils, comprised of a shifting cast of unpaid public servants, held innumerable public meetings and study sessions, making a great sound and fury, that might appear to be indeed a tale told by an idiot, “signifying nothing.” But an astute observer of the action would know that the broad expression of public opinion on the topic was heeded, and the town maintained its unique position as the nation’s smallest town with a municipal broadband network.
A Blue Media Center
During the battles over AFN, it became apparent that the Internet has become the nerve center of the progressive, green, and arts communities, the lifeline between Southern Oregon and liberal bastions such as San Francisco and Portland. Ashland culture also nourishes myriads of rural progressive outposts in the Southern Oregon and Northern California region. Ashland is home to Southern Oregon University, that evolved from a teacher’s college in 1872. Demographically, the student body of SOU is comprised of relatively conservative young people from the cow counties of Oregon, and older students from everywhere, career-building or retooling their skills. The conservative cut of the younger students is most apparent, which the presence of a large Mormon student center on the main street adjacent the university may explain. Despite the conservative composition of its student body, Southern Oregon University also sponsors Jefferson Public Radio, an NPR affiliate that blankets much of southwest Oregon and northwest California with non-commercial radio.
Ashland Housing Still Reasonable by Big City Standards
Ashland’s centrality as a media center is responsible for a bluing effect radiating into surrounding areas of bright red Jackson County. The bluing is notable in the rash of art studios, vineyards, green businesses, and wireless-access coffeehouses breaking out in the nearby towns of Talent and Phoenix, and the arrival of certain cultural refinements in Medford, such as the Ginger Rogers Theater, that hosts many acts appealing to boomers. These developments are driven by a steady flow of new arrivals to the Ashland scene, exploring nearby areas after coming to grips with the home prices and rents typical of Ashland proper. It’s not everyone who will find a lasting home in the hills of Southern Oregon, but for those who do, a beautiful home may be their reward. While housing prices in Ashland exceed those of nearby communities, there is a great deal of relatively new, stylish construction available at what are still bargain prices for people selling out of the big cities. For those able to telecommute or better yet, retire, Ashland becomes more of a find each year that passes.
by Charles Carreon
Ashland, Oregon is a small town of less than 20,000 people, right on Interstate 5, about twenty miles north of the California border. About 300,000 people visit Ashland every year, so as a tourist attraction, it's been well known for a long time. What's less well known is that in Ashland, it’s been illegal since 1993 to discriminate on grounds of sexual orientation in the provision of housing or City employment. On May 9, 2007, the rest of Oregon caught up with Ashland and went a step further when Governor Ted Kulongoski signed the Oregon Equality Act, that outlaws sexual-orientation discrimination statewide, and the Family Fairness Act, that grants same-sex partners who form “domestic partnerships” most of the key associational rights previously reserved to married couples. By availing themselves of the new law, Oregon gays and lesbians can get joint insurance, enter joint rental agreements and get an equitable division of property in a partnership dissolution. They can use sick leave to care for their partner, and have the right to visit with their partner while in medical care, a right often infringed by family and medical personnel. They can take bereavement leave, and have the right to bury their partner’s body where they choose. In other words, in Oregon, gays and lesbians can be full members of society, instead of second-class citizens.
Governor Calls Oregon “A Land of Equal Opportunity”
The new laws are not only important for people who have same-sex relationships, but for anyone who wants to live in a state that is truly trying to be fair in all of its legal policies. As Gov. Kulongoski said when he signed the bills, these laws show “that Oregon is a land of equal opportunity for all our citizens.” John Hummel, Executive Director of Basic Rights Oregon, put things more urgently: “Our hope … is for the day when … no Oregonian will be fired from their job, denied housing or denied an education--simply because of who they are or who they love. Today marks a moment in time when Oregonians proudly made hope a reality, and created a fairer, more equal Oregon.”
Ashland’s Unique Satellite Profile
If you were dreaming about moving to Oregon, you might start with Google Earth, which would show you that half the state is a high, cold desert. You probably wanted to live in the green part anyway, but switching to a demographic filter will give you additional reasons — all of the arid counties are extremely conservative. Looking back at the state as a whole, you would see that politically, it is pretty much red, but spread thin, with intense blue concentrations in and around Portland, Salem, Eugene, and Ashland. Zooming in on Ashland’s politics, you would see that 80.60% of Ashlanders voted for Kerry, beating out every other American city besides Seattle, that pulled in 80.61% for the swift-boated one. The blue-red balance in Oregon is basically a metropolitan-rural split – with one exception – Ashland, which can hardly qualify as metropolitan with its current population of less than 20,000. Zooming in on the politics of Ashland itself requires a seasoned observer.
Ashland’s Volunteer City Council
Ashland’s often contentious local politics revolve around the doings of its five-member City Council and the tie-breaking Mayor, who traditionally exercises dominating influence over City policies. One of the first anomalies of City Council government is that the councilors and mayor serve without pay. Nevertheless, in 2006, the City Council magnanimously gave the Chamber of Commerce a $247,645 grant to develop tourism, and another $113,300 to the independently-profitable Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF). Contemplate those dynamics, and you’ll understand Ashland city politics a little better. When you realize that Ashland City councilors do not get paid, you’ll understand why they tend to “study” issues forever, hire “consultants” to advise on every hot issue, make a great show of listening to citizens, and ultimately defer to the advice of salaried City executives.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival & Lithia Park
As the substantial subsidy provided to OSF suggests, the City Council and local boosters consider the Festival to be a talisman that will keep Ashland connected to the fountain of good fortune, while neglecting to realize that the real resource of the town is its populace, which is in constant need of new infusions of liberal blood. Ashland is the bluest spot between Eugene and San Francisco not only because it hosts the works of an English playwright often rumored to be gay. It’s the deep roots of humane conduct that predate the decision of Angus Bowmer, in 1935, to start staging Shakespeare plays in Ashland. Those roots are most concretely expressed in the presence of Lithia Park, dedicated to public use in 1908 at the urging of the Women’s Civic Improvement Club, that raised enough money to engage John McLaren, the renowned designer of Golden Gate Park, to design Ashland’s own central civic monument. Lithia Park is the true central attraction of the City, providing a place where young and old enjoy the gifts of nature displayed with the skill of human design and care. The love of nature and respect for human values lie at the heart of Ashland’s traditional ways.
Political Upheavals Test the Status Quo
Ashland’s legacy is hotly contested, however. During the 2006 election, while questions of voter fraud raged once again nationwide, Ashland had its own crisis, as the Jackson County election authority insisted on repeatedly recounting the votes for one Ashland City Council, apparently stymied by the results derived from the usually-reliable mail-in paper ballots. The problem? No matter how many times the ballots were counted, the environmentalist candidate who had actually sued the Mt. Ashland Association to block snowboard and ski resort development, kept winning a seat on the City Council! Ultimately, the vote-counters gave up, and Eric Navickas, a local activist who favors hiking to endangered locales with interested citizens over making speeches, took his seat on the City Council. During the same election, a homeless man, Randy Dolinger, pulled 28% of the vote in his drive to obtain a councilor’s seat. While he failed in his first bid, Dolinger, who spent under $2,000 for his campaign, certainly took the prize for dollars-spent-per-vote-gained.
The City’s Riches Give Rise to Contention
A crucial factor driving Ashland politics is the City’s penchant for operating secondary businesses, such as its own water and electrical services, its own municipal broadband network and, through a nonprofit spinoff, the Mt. Ashland snowboard and ski resort. As a result, water and electricity are expensive, citizens have a choice among numerous ISPs to obtain Internet connectivity, and lift tickets for the ever-shorter snowboard season are relatively cheap. Historically and recently, many battles have been fought over how to manage these various interests. The Mt. Ashland Association’s (MAA) efforts to expand the Mt. Ashland ski resort, in the teeth of environmental objections to cutting old growth in the City’s watershed, has occupied both the local federal court and the City Council for years. In late 2006, the City revoked MAA’s authority to act unilaterally on tree-falling and other irreversible changes, sparking threats by MAA to sue the City. This year, on May 15, 2007, a 76.57% majority of Ashland voters rejected amendments to the City Charter that would have allowed the City Council to sell Ashland’s water supply and hallowed Lithia Park to private entities.
Municipal Internet A Focus of Political Battles
A multi-year battle has been fought over the City’s decision to build a broadband/television network, the Ashland Fiber Net (AFN), which went live in 1994. The venture got off to an impractical start when AFN decided not to sell Internet service directly to its citizens, but rather to license that privilege to a slate of local ISPs who were, not surprisingly, driving forces behind the project.
Building AFN was supposed to cost $4 Million, but an extended rollout ballooned construction costs, and a competitor, Charter Communications, squeezed AFN’s revenues with its own aggressive pricing. In 2005, a coalition of conservative citizens urged getting rid of AFN by any means necessary, including just unplugging the damn thing or selling out to Charter. In 2006, the City Council hired consultants to advise it on what to do, and forwarded the recommendations to AFN staff, who ignored them. The crisis mentality did not abate, so the City Council empowered a volunteer citizen’s committee, staffed by impressive names, to advise it. The volunteers recommended selling out to somebody, but the City Council rejected that idea.
It might seem like so much gridlock, but as the issues were joined, broad citizen support for AFN emerged, even as citizens began pointedly questioning the financial astuteness of City management. Ultimately, the City Council did nothing radical, spinning off the television unit, which had been hemorrhaging cash for years, and hiring a new director for AFN. On the way to its mild bureaucratic solution, numerous City Councils, comprised of a shifting cast of unpaid public servants, held innumerable public meetings and study sessions, making a great sound and fury, that might appear to be indeed a tale told by an idiot, “signifying nothing.” But an astute observer of the action would know that the broad expression of public opinion on the topic was heeded, and the town maintained its unique position as the nation’s smallest town with a municipal broadband network.
A Blue Media Center
During the battles over AFN, it became apparent that the Internet has become the nerve center of the progressive, green, and arts communities, the lifeline between Southern Oregon and liberal bastions such as San Francisco and Portland. Ashland culture also nourishes myriads of rural progressive outposts in the Southern Oregon and Northern California region. Ashland is home to Southern Oregon University, that evolved from a teacher’s college in 1872. Demographically, the student body of SOU is comprised of relatively conservative young people from the cow counties of Oregon, and older students from everywhere, career-building or retooling their skills. The conservative cut of the younger students is most apparent, which the presence of a large Mormon student center on the main street adjacent the university may explain. Despite the conservative composition of its student body, Southern Oregon University also sponsors Jefferson Public Radio, an NPR affiliate that blankets much of southwest Oregon and northwest California with non-commercial radio.
Ashland Housing Still Reasonable by Big City Standards
Ashland’s centrality as a media center is responsible for a bluing effect radiating into surrounding areas of bright red Jackson County. The bluing is notable in the rash of art studios, vineyards, green businesses, and wireless-access coffeehouses breaking out in the nearby towns of Talent and Phoenix, and the arrival of certain cultural refinements in Medford, such as the Ginger Rogers Theater, that hosts many acts appealing to boomers. These developments are driven by a steady flow of new arrivals to the Ashland scene, exploring nearby areas after coming to grips with the home prices and rents typical of Ashland proper. It’s not everyone who will find a lasting home in the hills of Southern Oregon, but for those who do, a beautiful home may be their reward. While housing prices in Ashland exceed those of nearby communities, there is a great deal of relatively new, stylish construction available at what are still bargain prices for people selling out of the big cities. For those able to telecommute or better yet, retire, Ashland becomes more of a find each year that passes.