Queer Heroes Northwest 2017:
Tessa James Scheller
Jerralyn Dee O'Brien
GLAPN is always happy to get news of LGBTQ organizing outside of the Portland metro area.
It means that people feel better about being out in their hometowns, and are becoming better able to organize and take care of one another.
The drift of LGBTQ people to urban areas has been a fact of the queer experience, but it has never been the whole story. There have always been folks who, due to demands of home, work or family, through love of smaller towns or dislike of the city, or out of plain old stubbornness, stay in their hometowns and flourish. That means there is a portion of the LGBTQ population that is seldom noticed or documented in the historical record.
Our Queer heroes’ criteria of risk, sacrifice, service, example, and inspiration apply exponentially in those environments. LGBTQ folks – and their allies – tend to be both visible and vulnerable in smaller towns, and the pool of resources is smaller.
We were happy to receive a Queer Hero nomination from Astoria. When we checked online, we realized that one board member of the Lower Columbia Q Center had nominated another LCQC board member for the honor.
GLAPN sees no reason not to recognize them both.
Tessa James Scheller and Jeralyn Dee O’Brien are board members of the Lower Columbia Gender Alliance and the Lower Columbia Q Center in Astoria, Oregon. Both of them work to support all queer and gender non-conforming people in their community. Both are involved in day-to-day operations of the LCQC, at 1636 Exchange Street in Astoria, and both are working like crazy on the Lower Columbia Region’s Second Annual Pride Celebration, which happens June 9-11, 2017.
We hope to hear a lot more from LCQC in the future.
We begin announcing a hero per day on June 1, and the heroes' posters are unveiled in a reception at Q Center on June 15, 2017, 5-7PM. The public is invited. Queer Heroes' posters are displayed all year at Q Center.
P.O. Box 3646 • Portland, OR 97208-3646 • info@glapn.org
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