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It was a sunny afternoon near Mount Tabor on July 2. The light dappled the bright pink petition sheets held by activists who seek to change the Oregon Constitution.
Around 100 people had gathered on the lawn of the nonprofit organization Black & Beyond the Binary Collective, joined by a multitude of other groups with a simple proposition—reproductive and gender rights are human rights.
If passed, IP 33 will guarantee access for Oregonians to reproductive and gender-affirming health care and keep marriage equality intact no matter what happens on the federal level. The rally was coincidentally held on the same day as late transgender rights organizer Sylvia Rivera’s birthday, as well as next summer’s deadline to collect the nearly 200,000 signatures needed to get IP 33 on the ballot in next November’s election. ACLU of Oregon litigation manager Eri Andriola felt energized by the show of community support.
“I come back to the fact that there are so many ways we fight back, and legal tools to fight back,” Andriola says. “We show up for each other and we care for each other.”
More than 20 organizations like 3BC and the nonpartisan League of Women Voters have lent their efforts to BRO, garnering roughly 20,000 signatures since the petition’s launch in January. More than 200 trained volunteers will work on ERA efforts over the summer.
“People are excited when they hear about this ballot measure,” Blair Stenvick, BRO’s communications manager, tells WW. “They’re wanting to do something to resist this administration right now.”
IP 33 was inspired in 2022 when the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision struck down Roe v. Wade, ending federally guaranteed access to reproductive health care, including abortion. Work on the initiative began last year when executive members of BRO and the ACLU joined forces to form the ERA petition committee. While Oregon has strong statutory laws protecting reproductive health care—including abortion, in vitro fertilization, and use of contraceptives—bills threatening such medical protections have been introduced in the state Legislature. And since the Oregon Constitution still defines marriage as being between a man and woman, the legal status of thousands of unions across the state would suddenly be up for debate if the ruling that protects them, Obergefell v. Hodges, were to be struck down.
“As the federal government has tried to attack us explicitly, it’s more important now than ever to get out, get active,” says Nick G, a signature gatherer and transgender man who moved to Portland from Tennessee for safety.
Oregon state Rep. Zach Hudson (D-Troutdale) began his political career as a student in 2004 campaigning against Measure 36—the measure enshrining marriage discrimination in the state constitution, which was only deemed unconstitutional in 2014. Hudson now backs IP 33 as the proud parent of a transgender child.
“I think it’s a basic question of human rights,” Hudson says. “I think we would all be better off if we could affirm everyone’s right to be who they are and express their identity.”
Organizers and activists have a lot of work ahead of them, but they also have a lot of cross-coalition support behind them. Rev. Lazarus Jameson, an Oregon-based chaplain, roused the TYP crowd with a call-and-response-style speech.
“When the government institutions and social acceptability exclude us or push us out, what they got is us,” Jameson told rally attendees. “And us in community is incredibly powerful.”
