Oral History Interview with Vicki Silvers: Video, Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project

Title: Oral History Interview with Vicki Silvers: Video, Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project
LC Subject: Lesbianism Lesbian community
Local Collection ID: Coll 520
Repository: University of Oregon. Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Interviewee: Silvers, Vicki
Interviewer: Long, Linda, 1956- Raiskin, Judith L.
Description: The Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project collection consists of interviews of 83 people for the Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project, conducted by Professor Judith Raiskin and Curator Linda Long at the University of Oregon starting in the summer of 2018.
Abstract: Vicki was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1962. When she was five, her family moved to the Northwest. She grew up in a dysfunctional household. She discusses the culture of the rural area where she grew up near Medford. Vicki was an athlete and a good student. She came out to herself when she was fifteen, but was closeted. She graduated from high school at age seventeen in 1980. She talks about building her feminist identity while in college. She moved around to different places in the West, but wanted to finish her college degree at the University of Oregon, because she was still an Oregon resident. She relates that Eugene seemed small and backcountry compared to other urban places she’d lived. Nevertheless, there was a lesbian focus, rather than a gay male focus, which Vicki liked. At UO, she studied Fine Arts. With her partner at that time, Vicki wanted to establish social connections in the community. They started One Common Thread with a group of like-minded women, a coffeehouse that offered women a monthly gathering. She and her partner and a friend also started IMRU, a women’s production company that brought women’s music and comedy to Eugene. Vicki describes the Eugene Celebration and the Slug Queen, the Eugene Celebration “ambassador,” elected through a pageant process. She discusses the controversies surrounding the Eugene Celebration. She talks about the Oregon Citizens Alliance and the anti-gay ballot measures. Vicki describes being a part of the lesbian improvisation group WYMPROV! Vicki discusses having children with her partner, Sue. She discusses the help they received from the community. She talks about being pregnant with their second baby, and the trauma of experiencing a miscarriage. She discusses the challenges of parenting as a lesbian couple lacking typical civic safety nets that heterosexual couples have, such as spousal health benefits. Vicki describes the lesbian parenting group she and others started, LMNOP (“Lesbian Mothers Networking on Parenting”). Vicki ends her interview by discussing the younger LGBTQ community, the current conservative political times, women’s rights, and aging issues.
Subject: Adams, Margie; AIDS (disease); Alcoholism; Artificial insemination, Human; Assimilation (Sociology); Ballot Measure 48; Ballot Measure 50; Bars (Drinking establishments); Butch and femme (Lesbian culture); Closeted gays -- United States; Drag queens; Drug use; Eugene Celebration; Feminist bookstores; Happy Lesbian Couples; Hult Center for the Performing Arts (Eugene, Or.); Landforce, Debora; Lefton, Enid; Lesbian community; Lesbian identity; Lesbians -- California -- San Francisco; Martin, Debby; Mother Kali’s Books; Nomenus, Inc.; Olivia Records; Radical Faeries; Riviera Room; Self-insemination; Sheklow, Sally; Student athletes; Sweet Honey in the Rock (musical group); Williamson, Cris.
Location: University of Oregon >> Lane County >> Oregon >> United States
Date: 2018-08-03
Identifier: Coll520_do056
Rights: In Copyright
Dc Rights Holder: University of Oregon Libraries
Local Collection Name: Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project
Type: Moving Image
Format: video/mp4
Set: Eugene Lesbian Oral History Project
Institution: University of Oregon