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was repealed at the polls.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.
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