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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 6, 1978)
Greene: gay law denies human rights By KEVIN HACKETT Of the Emerald The existing Eugene gay rights ordi nance guarantees homosexuals “privileges beyond what other people enjoy,” according to Lynn Greene, a leader of a movement to repeal the ordinance pas sed by the Eugene City Council last November. Greene is director of VOICE of the Peo ple, which succeeded in getting measure 51 placed on the May 23 ballot. If the meas ure passes, the city council’s action to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual pre ference would be repealed. Greene told Eugene’s Active 20-30 Club Wednesday that the Eugene ordinance de nies people freedom of thought and con science: She said the ordinance violates these “guaranteed human rights. She hypothesized that an employer whose employees objected to working with a homosexual because of their conduct would be backed into a comer. “Under the ordinance you are faced with either having all of your employees quit or fire the homosexual and thereby violating the law,” she said, adding that under the ordinance an employer firing a gay person would result in a possible fine and jail sen tence. “Under the ordinance, homosexuals are protected against discrimination for any conduct that would lead you to believe they are a homosexual in jobs and public ac comodations,” Greene said. As a result straights could be thrown out of public places for certain actions while gays couldn’t be legally ejected for similar ac tions she said. Greene charged that other cities, that have passed resolutions weaker than Euqene's, have experienced a rise in the occurences of boy prostitution and ven ereal disease. ... .. t "Statistics for Oregon and Washington show that from 66 to 80 percent of all syphilis cases involve homosexuals. Greene refuted the claim that the ordi nance would provide for greater integration for qays in the straight community. She cited Great Britain, which passed pro-gay legislation ten years ago, as an example of what could happen in Eugene^ She said that integration hasn’t resulted and the opposite has occured, with Bntish society being fragmented into two polarized groups. “The ordinance couia create a heterosexual culture and a homosexual cul ture. I don't think that would be good for Eugene.” VOICE of the People is a locally funded group of 1,000 volunteers and has received no financial or other forms of support from national anti-gay rights groups, such as Anita Bryant’s, according to Greene. Greene said VOICE’S campaign differs from Bryant’s in that VOICE isn’t appealing to people’s moral and religious conviction. “We are trying to reach people who feel uneasy about voting against something to do with human rights," Greene said. “Peo ple should vote yes on measure 51 be cause the ordinance gives homosexuals privileges at the expense of guaranteed human rights for other individuals." Appraisal starts on Oregon s soil, waier By KATHLEEN MONJE Of the Emerald A formidable analysis of Oregon’s natural resources and their future is underway, in re sponse to the federal Resources Conservation Act of 1977. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service (SCS), the State Soil and Water Conservation Commission (SSWCC) and the state’s 47 Soil and Water Conservation Districts are working together to develop Oregon’s share of a five-year na tional conservation program. “Primarily, there are still an awful lot of problems nationwide with respect to land usage and water management,” said Doug las Bishop of the Portland SCS office. The act calls for SCS appraisal of the nation’s soil, water, and re lated resources; development of a comprehensive five-year program to guide conservation efforts; and F evaluation of the effectiveness oi existing conservation programs. “Each Soil and Water Conser vation District will examine its problems and end up with differ ent priorities,” Bishop said. In Lane County, there are three SWCD’s—the Upper Willamette, North Lane and Siuslaw. The five elected SWCD board members will identify severe district prob lems, and then hold public meet ings for citizen input, according to Bishop. 1 The 47 district appraisals will then be coordinated at the state level. “Each state will identify its major problems — this will tell us what specialists to hire and what the state's budget needs are,” Bishop said. "This appraisal part of the five year process is to be completed by the end of 1978, with a nation wide inventory of conservation problems ana opportunities, ne said. The three county districts are scheduled to complete their natural resource appraisals by June, 1978. Groups or individuals interested in participating in the conservation appraisals can contact the Eugene office of the Lane Soil and Water Conservation District, at 687-6436. erv. Dfrf cRent Rubyfruit RITA MAE BROWN EMU Cultural Forum in conjunction with the Women’s Symposium Presents RITA MAE BROWN Author, poet and activist speakitfon 'Revolution, Women and The Arts’ Monday April 10 8 p.m. EMUBallroom Open to the public Free EMU CRAFT CENTER SPRING WORKSHOPS Ceramics/Framdoom weaving/Basketry/Batik/ Quilting/Woodshop/Woodcarving/ Calligraphy/ Drawing/ Silkscrecn/Photography/jewelry/ Stained glass/Bicycle repair/Ukramun caster eggs/ Matting and framing Registration begins Wednesday April 5 at noon for these non-credit workshops. We offer studio space and equipment in ceramics, woodworking, jewelry, lapidary, graphics, photography and textiles. We also sell materials for many crafts. Hours: 9:30-9:30 M-Th, 9:30-6 Fri, noon-6 Sat & Sun. Come check us out: Ground floor of the new EMU, 686-4361 Assembly (Continued from Page 1A) Standards Committee's recom mendations regarding the award ing of academic credit for tutoring “We cannot accept the notion that every worthwhile activity should be granted academic cre dit," Struble said. The committee recommended that credit for tutor ing be offered only through the Learning Resources Center, Center for Self-Development and the ESCAPE field program. Marshall Wattles, vice-provost, gave a progress report on the Graduate Teaching Fellows Fed eration (GTFF) bargaining ses sions. “I’m sure you’ve seen in the paper or heard the news that the negotiations have reached an im passe,” he said. “We failed to reach an agreement on an issue and the Union took the position that the University is stalling." Wattles said the issue had to do with relationships which the Uni versity collective bargaining team believes involve a conflict be tween the graduate students' separate roles as student and employee. “We have never attempted to take from the GTFs any rights or benefits they have, but we do not believe it is appropriate to put in a contract privileges that attach to graduate students as students, Wattles explained. Wattles said the next step in negotiations is to have a State Conciliation Service mediator at tempt to resolve the differences on the points in contention. "We are not sure when the mediator will be here, but we as sume that it will be within the next two or three weeks,” he said. "Fol lowing that, the law establishes other procedures which will be fol lowed if negotiations do not make appropriate headway.'' Wattles said the University wishes to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. "We are ap preciative of the role of graduate students on our campus." he said. "We stand ready to continue these negotiations at any time that they wish to come back to the bar gaining table. If they do not come back we shall follow the proce dures mandated by law in the hope that we can arrive at solu tions beneficial to the University and to the GTFs." SLEEPING BAGS We have 45 top brand name sleeping bags left of our 1977 stock. All Polarguard summer weight models are clearance priced at $38.95. All Polarguard winter weight models are clearance priced at $46.95. SAVE NOW— WE EXPECT THEM ALL TO BE GONE IN 2 DAYS! At the comer of 11th & Mill; phone 343-0013 FINAL CLEARANCE OF
