This riveting documentary brings the whole unsettling time to visceral life, focusing on several activists both on the "no" side (Donna Red Wing, Kathleen Saadat) and the "yes" side (the really scary Lon Mabon, an unassuming, small man who founded the Oregon Citizens Alliance, about as radical right a chapter of citizens as you will find anywhere in the country). Mabon, who resembles a blonde Adolf Hitler (down to the Chaplin-esque mustache), oozes a lowkey smarmy charm that some will find revolting, but which others obviously found hugely appealing for some reason. My wife, who was a well-known news anchor in those days and who interviewed Mabon repeatedly during the Measure 9 campaign, states that while he was always very friendly in interviews, she always felt like disinfecting the phone after speaking with him. Director Heather Lyn McDonald does an admirable job of presenting both sides of the issues (such as they are), refraining from any ostensible editioralizing, though it is hard not to feel a certain level of disdain as the OCA patently lies in order to attempt to win the election, including such disgusting and absurd claims that gays like to "bathe" in fecal material.

It's actually hard not to feel sorry for some of these mostly elderly folk who are so subsumed in their prejudice that they buy into the hate-mongering that the OCA spread so widely in 1992. The viral effect of the OCA's efforts becomes more and more alarming as the election date nears, with attacks and actual deaths resulting.

Though Measure 9 went down to a fairly resounding defeat (57% to 43%), its "sister" bill in Colorado passed that year, and the OCA followed up with several locally based anti-gay initiatives that are still on Oregon's books today. This film, which was originally released in 1995, should be a potent wake-up call to activists everywhere who are working to guarantee equal rights (not special rights) for everyone; as the film rightly points out, this particular skirmish may have been won, but the battle still looms large in American consciousness.

The DVD

Video:
The full frame, shot on video image accurately represents its original source elements. You're not hear for the visuals.

Sound:
Likewise, the soundtrack is perfectly fine. All dialogue is crisp and the occasional underscoring is reproduced with excellent fidelity.

Extras:
A host of excellent extras beef up this already superb release, starting with a great update video, which starts with a dinner party bringing back many of the "stars" of the documentary (on the no side, as you may imagine), and then moving on to a more in-depth chat/interview between Saadat and Red Wing. It's interesting to note that this campaign did not go down easily with any of the participants, several of whom were either physically or verbally attacked, and who still bear their scars, psychological or otherwise, to this day. Also included is a nice commentary with director MacDonald, Red Wing and Saadat, which deals both with informative background on various anti-gay initiatives and the filmmaking process itself. There are also some brief deleted scenes (including an unbelievably contorted statement by the Colorado version of Lon Mabon, where in attempting to deny gays "special rights" he makes an excellent argument that all people are due equal rights), the text of Measure 9 itself (some really frightening reading), and bios of the major players on both the pro- and anti-9 campaigns.

Final Thoughts:
Though the issue of gay rights has moved off the national frontpages with the advent of the new bugaboos national security and immigration, it's still there just beneath the surface, waiting to burst forth again once a new demagogue rises to the challenge, so to speak. Ballot Measure 9 should be a cautionary tale for anyone concerned about the curtailment of civil rights, whether it affects straights, gays, blacks, whites or any other "ilk" you can name.

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"G-d made stars galore" & "Hey, what kind of a crappy fortune is this?" ZMK, modern prophet