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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1981)
Challenge homophobia, panel says By LESLIE FARRIS Of the Emerald The first rule in combating homo phobia is to never let an anti-gay statement go unchallenged, said two panel members Wednesday as a part of Gay Pride Week. Rev. Doug Huneke of the Campus Interfaith Ministry said he challenges people to explain their motives when they make derogatory statements about homosexuals. "I’ll ask them directly what their pur pose was in making that statement,” Huneke said. “Most of the time that stops them cold, and it indicates those kinds of remarks are not welcome.” Another effective challenge to a per son’s homophobia is to parrot that person’s prejudices, Huneke said. “I will say to the person in sort of a quizzical manner, ‘I really don’t under stand how someone who’s as educated and as sensitive as you could make such a statement.’ ” Rabbi Myron Kinberg, also on the “Non-gays dealing with homophobia” panel, said he perceives homophobia as a human rights issue. “If a person said something anti-gay, I would ask them, ‘You mean because of this person’s lifestyle, he doesn’t deserve the same rights as anyone else?’ ” Kinberg said he and most other Jewish people support gay rights. However, a homosexual lifestyle con flicts with the nuclear-family lifestyle that is so revered within the Jewish community, he said. “I firmly believe in the rights of the individual,” Kinberg said. “But when it comes into conflict with the survival of the community, the community takes precedence.” That means a gay person generally would not be allowed to lead the con gregation in prayer because that per son wouldn’t represent the Jewish community and how that community sees its means of survival, Kinberg said. "Judaism has survived because of the family, not because of the syn agogue.” Huneke, a Presbyterian minister, said the United Presbyterian Church in Oregon has mandated that it’s clergy do whatever possible to combat homo phobia. He says they've been working for gay rights through legislative, judicial and educational channels. Huneke says he lost his recent bid for election to the Eugene School Board because of homophobic reactions to Rev. Doug Huneke (left) and Rabbi Myron Kinberg his gay rights activism. In 1978, the Eugene City Council passed a gay rights ordinance that later was repealed at the polls. Huneke campaigned to save the ordinance And during his campaign for a school board seat, a number of powerful peo ple who are “rabidly homophobic” supported an anti-gay candidate and spent “mega-bucks” to defeat him, Huneke said. “I had the support of the news papers, the unions and the civil rights groups," he said "But (my opponent) had a lot of support from anti-gays. "There’s a great willingness in this town to support rights, as long as they're not on the book. Homophobia in this town is under the surface, covered up by liberalism — to a point.” Natural birth control touted By MARIAN GREEN Ol the Emerald Women who want to avoid the potentially harmful side effects of birth control drugs or devices may find an answer in the ovulation method of natural family planning. Eugene ovulation method teacher Katrina Dean gave a natural family planning work shop Wednesday as part of the University health department’s Health Fair, which will end today. The method, which was developed by Australian doc tors John and Evelyn Billings, teaches women to detect their fertile phases during each men strual cycle. According to Dean, women learn to identify and chart a fertile type of mucus that is secreted from the uterus’ cer vical crypts just prior to ovula tion. The mucus indicates the fertile period, and the woman and her partner abstain from intercourse when the mucus is fertile. While that period is different for each woman, it is approx imately 14 days. Fertile mucus characteris tically is transparent, lubricative and stretchy (like the white of an egg), Dean said. Infertile mucus is opaque, creamy and often dry, she added. If any one of three ingredients — mucus, sperm or fertile egg — are not present, then concep tion cannot occur, Dean said. Sperm need mucus to survive because bacteria in the uterus provides a hostile environment for sperm, Dean said. Without the mucus, sperm die within six to 12 hours, she said. The fertile mucus protects the sperm and channels it to the egg. In the fertile mucus, sperm last three to five days, Dean said. Complete ejaculation into the vagina doesn’t have to occur for fertilization to take place, she said. “In fact, most of the healthy sperm are in the first three or four drops,” Dean said Because the ovulation meth od involves abstinence, its suc cess depends on “mutual mo tivation" by the couple. “If one wants to use the method and the other doesn't, it’s probably going to result in a pregnancy or the end of the relationship," she said. Dean said studies show that the amount of sexual activity for couples using the ovulation method is the same as for cou ples using birth control methods that do not require abstinence. This is because ovulation method couples learn to chan nel their sexual activity to the woman's non-fertile period, Dean said, adding it took her husband three months to adapt. Although she said the method is 99 percent effective, she stressed that women should take a course from a teacher certified by the Portland-based Natural Family Planning Teachers before trying it out. In Eugene, NFPT offers four session classes to women and couples for $25. Anyone inter ested can call Dean at 689-4339. .Backstage Dancewear & Theatrical Supplies' V)^ce r\c'^ \ \ S*VP — { Only 2 Days Remaining in Backstage s $1 Sale Buy a Leotard • CAPEZIO • DANSKIN - • FLEXATARD . (Excluding Discount Items) At Our Regular Low Price SELECT A PAIR OF SEAMLESS TIGHTS (A $5.75 Value) FOR JUST $1 r \ l \ Special $1.99 good old-fashioned hickory smoked Bar-B-Q Pork Sandwich, Fries and a glass of Beer or Wine. 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