Gay Education

[March 23rd, 2005] The Zone 4 race is already shaping up to be the most interesting matchup in this May's Portland School Board election. Candidates include a gay fundraiser, a PTA mom, a college freshman, a former middle-school teacher, a food-plant supervisor and a Metro security officer.

Now, I'm generally not interested in what our school boards are up to. I've watched their meetings on television, and they're incredibly boring (except for the whole Derry Jackson Show). And as a queer with no kids, school-board members have little bearing on my life-except when they hit me in the wallet.

But I am curious about why a queer dude with no kids would give up his free time to fight for one of the most thankless jobs this city has to offer. I can't think of anything more painful than the upcoming budget cuts this school board will make.

That's why I wanted to talk to the new candidate, Dan Ryan, a 42-year-old North Portland native who works as Portland State University's director of development.

Over lunch in the South Park Blocks, Ryan talked about his qualifications (he's been a school volunteer for eight years) and his key priorities (which include stable funding and implementation of a districtwide full-day kindergarten).

But what I really wanted to know was whether he thought his sexuality should matter in a school-board race.

"My life experiences have led me to this," says Ryan, who, in between salad bites, answers questions like he's already a public figure. "You have to have a passion for this work. Nothing is more important for a city than our public schools."

"But you didn't answer my question, Dan," I say.

"I'm gay," he says. "Next question."

Did he realize, going into this, that he's going to have to deal with all those so-called "well-intentioned" parents who think he, and all other gays, are potential child molesters? Or recruiters for the gay lifestyle?

"I'm an optimist who loves my hometown," says Ryan, again showing his prowess for the roundabout in candidate interviews. "For 18 years [in the nonprofit sector], I've been getting people to do what they don't know they want to do-and their life is better for that. I think of myself as a promotions person for philanthropy."

He also believes he's more like the voters in this town than some might think. "The vast majority of people in Portland, something like 82 percent, don't have kids in public schools," Ryan says. "We are in this together, and we need to keep those people engaged."

Ryan, who has been dating his current partner for just over a year, is the youngest of eight kids from a large Catholic family, and he can claim almost as many nieces and nephews as he has fingers and toes.

"I'm the perpetual Uncle Danny," Ryan says. "But I guess my biggest weakness for this job is that I'm not married and I don't have kids. Instead of one kid, I guess I want 47,000."

But let's get back to the big gorilla sitting in the middle of this campaign-that old stereotype that a gay man horning in on the kiddie scene must have something else in mind.

Press him on that, and again, like an already skilled politician, Ryan turns the question around. "How someone could run, serve and raise a family is beyond me," he says. "I don't know how you could do that without a really supportive partner. I'm already guilty of boyfriend neglect."