PHOTO: (click on photo to enlarge) Oregon State University is mentioned in an article by Trudy Ring, "LGBTQQIA -- After 15 years of copy editing The Advocate, you learn -- and unlearn -- a lot," The Advocate, 45th Anniversary print edition, Sept. 2012, p. 17 published on Advocate.com August 22 2012. The article describes the changing journalistic standards over the years for referring to people with a minority sexual orientation or gender identity. As an example of the pursuit for inclusiveness it references the Web page Oregon State University Office of LGBTQ Outreach & Services, that "serves to meet the needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, and Allied communities, as well as those who identify as Same Gender Loving, Two Spirit, Asexual, Pansexual, and Poly-Amorous (Quoted from oregonstate.edu/lgbtqqia/ last accessed Aug. 18, 2012)". After repeating this long list in the magazine article, the article's author Trudy Ring adds the comment, "Phew."
Similar to "The Advocate" writer Trudy Ring, I have also loved this very inclusive OSU list, but I do not know who wrote it originally and I would love to credit them.
UPDATE Aug. 21, 2012 - I got a reply from Steven Leider, Graduate Teaching Assistant, Oregon State University Women Studies Department School of Language, Culture, and Society Waldo Hall who said: "I think this is a joint effort between Christian Matheis, who wrote the original blurb for the LGBT Outreach & Services web site, I remember adding at least the "Same Gender Loving, Two Spirit," part of the longer quote that includes "Asexual, Pansexual, and Poly-Amorous," when I arrived at OSU in 2005. And it seems that Jeff cleaned up and consolidated the language recently so the quote reads much better." END OF UPDATE Aug. 21, 2012
I don't know how "The Advocate" writer learned about OSU, but I have previously mentioned this long list in my local history, leading up to the Oregon State University Pride Center by Thomas Kraemer, "Corvallis, Oregon State University gay activism 1969-2004," posted April 30, 2010 that is available on the Web site OutHistory.org produced by The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS), located at the City University of New York Graduate Center and now hosted at the University of Chicago. The shortened URL goo.gl/BQhv2 will also go to it more easily if you are text messaging or hand typing the link.
PHOTO: Thomas Kraemer wearing the new slogan t-shirt "touching your lifestyle" in 1976, which was given to subscribers of "The Advocate" by the new publisher. This t-shirt was part of a marketing campaign by the new Wall Street millionaire owner David B. Goodstein who had bought it in 1975. This was the first instance of gay activism being co-opted for profit. Note that journalist stylebooks today discourage referring to the gay lifestyle. John Preston, who was the newly appointed editor, later became a famous author. Goodstein's strategy was to upgrade the quality of the gay press by hiring journalism professionals. One such hire was University of Oregon journalism graduate Randy Shilts who started his career at The Advocate before moving on to be a reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle where he became world famous for his reporting on the AIDS crisis. (See Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney, "Out for Good: the struggle to build a gay rights movement in America," Simon & Schuster, 1999, Chp. 18 and p. 251) See previous posts Advocate Touching Your Lifestyle 1976 (9/16/06) and Wall Street Journal 1975 Advocate Story (7/8/06).
