Watching my past and present labors bang into each other forced me to realize something I've ignored for too long: Being a gay journalist is a lot like being a hotel maid.
It's not just because both of these jobs force you to deal with other people's crap. It's that when word is out you're a queer at a journalism conference, some of your peers will go out of their way to ignore you--just like rich folks do to maids. While I knew my place as a houseman (stay quiet, or at least out of the way), I didn't realize being a gay writer makes you just as invisible.
It's a feeling that's hard to shake. Perhaps that's because at this writer's convention, presented at the Portland Marriott by the Poynter Institute and The Oregonian, I felt like I was stuck in a closet full of 500 straight people.
The sessions didn't help much, either. I went to several focused on diversity, and here's what I learned from them: At newspapers, at least, diversity is still measured by your skin tone, and not much else.
Even though The Oregonian newsroom has made strides in minority employment (an April report from the American Society of Newspaper Editors ranks the Big O seventh of the largest 100 papers on a diversity index), it still doesn't have a lot of gay people on staff. I can count them all on my fingers.
Wondering if this were an important issue to such a distinguished group as Poynter, I contacted its diversity program director, Aly Colón, and asked how it deals with sexual orientation and journalism.
"We have had faculty and participants who are gay and lesbian who touched on this as part of our discussion and exercises," said Colón. He added, "We have not had a specific session about being a gay journalist. But then, we haven't held a specific session about being a journalist who is black, Latino, Asian, Native American, disabled, conservative, etc."
This philosophy of diversity without bias was evident in the session I went to featuring Oregonian Metro columnist S. Renee Mitchell. The daily's only African-American columnist took issue with the notion that she was hired because she might be a voice for an underserved community. When asked how she responds to readers who tell her she's "too black or not black enough," all Mitchell could say was that she doesn't write about African-American issues as much as people might think.
I respect that Mitchell may not want to be tagged as a "black columnist." But one of the first lessons a writer, especially a columnist, must learn is to "write what you know." The reality is, everything that I write is filtered through the fact that I am gay, whether I realize it or not. What's so wrong with that?
While one-third of the conference speakers were racial minorities, The Miami Herald's Leonard Pitts Jr. was the only journalist who took the issue of diversity head-on. And he also hinted that it might had something to do with more than just color. I was moved by this remark: "Our job is to introduce America to itself, to remind us that we are many people from many houses come by many paths to this one place." Pitts said this was impossible until we, as journalists, get our own house in order. Somehow, I think that means more than just cleaning bathrooms, don't you?
Find out more about the Poynter Institute at www.poynter.org .
Madonna CD Release Party
Get a "Life." Both Boxxes and the Red Cap Garage will celebrate 20 years of the queen of pop with the release of her new American Life. Win CDs, DVDs, posters and more. Hosted by DJ Alex. 1025 SW Stark St., 221-7262. 9 pm Monday, April 21. 21+.
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