OUT OF THE ASHES RISES A PHOENIX

Two Club Queer founders--there's about a dozen of us--took advantage of a State-funded pilot program at the Harm Reduction Center in Roseburg earlier this year to try to launch CQ. Our goal is to find a vehicle to bring the homophile community together regularly. Geoff and Billy have volunteered to attempt to revitalize the contriversial youth group.

We're trying to rise out of the ashes of half a dozen similar--now defunct--organizations in the community: The Roseburg Court, Gay And Lesbian Alliance, Metropolitan Community Church, Douglas County Gay Archives and the Gay & Lesbian Community Center. Two others groups still exist, but have been inactive: the Coalition for Sexual Minority Youth and the Gay & Lesbian Helpline.

All in all, we have lots of ashes to rise up from. Club Queer stands out because it happened in the 21st Century and, the community's response to a group of high school kids getting together, was so harsh. One arrogant minister bragged that he was thinking about sending his Church's youth group to CQ activities to save the homosexuals. We would have welcomed the opportunity to educate those youth. Today, we would like to raise the Club Queer banner again to bring the homophile community together. We're planning our first activity....