EDITORIAL
Gay Pride Week
I'd like In clarify some things
.ilxnit 1 .■■sin,111. (‘.ay and Biscxu
al Pride Weak III the hope of
sparing ns the usual torrent of
liati'fiil, defensive letters
I irsl. wr celebrate Lesbian,
(’.ay and Bisexual Pride Week
lint not a heterosexual pride
week Ian ause Amerii an i ulture
supports straights Lvery time
Mill gn III a piltilli plait' nr see
am aspect of mass media you
see heterosexuality being exalt
ed
In contrast, most of us have
been raised bearing that homo
sexuality and bisexuality arc
evil and shameful That hateful
lie has hurt us all
Queers are at risk every time
yye don't lie about who we are
If you doubt how serious or
widespread this is. get a copy
ol the report by the President's
I ask f orce on (">ay and Lesbian
( oni erns It s available for free
.it johnsnn I fall
If you think Pride Week is
somehow Haunting'’ our sex
i!.Mils ((insider how oult.i
genus public ItetlTOSeXUdlitV is
Whim was ihr hist time uni
s.iw .1 l\ show or movie with
out ,i str,light i oupli' hi it ' I low
about lids?
I i ouhin l count the number
of straight ( (tuples I mm* on
i ampus kissing uiiil holding
ha lids Str.iights I'U'ii .in
iioum e their , oiurintinent in
the newspaper
Lesbian. (..i\ .mil ISisexual
I’ride Week, is ,i time lor tjuccrs
to i elehr.lte It s our e\ell! hut
sir.light people (.in ( elehr.lte
with us .mil learn II vou
( house to attend the events do
so to lealll. not to argue and de
bate
I i list me \\ e have heard
more excuses lor homophobia
than any individual imild
i min' up w ilh
Irenp Hislop
Imirnnlism
Campus tree-t
Foremost among (hr glories
ol the t'niversity i nmpus an
tin' hundreds and hundreds ol
different spei ies ol trees
1 hiiversiU .in Invest Keith
Ku hard in his letter (()!)l\.
April r>| disi loses that the i am
pus area was a treeless plain
when the I hliversitv first
opened in !H7t> ex< epl for the
two Oregon white oaks inline
diatelv north of Villard I fall
I keeper apprer lation for the
rich variety of trees on the i am
pus prei ise lot nitons, and the
Ixitanu al and < inninon names
were laid out with maps in
"Trees of the (Jregon ( ampus"
In Kenneth U Knapp second
edition 1'IHtl
vpprer taiion ot these trees
could be greatly enhanced d
vandal proof cement anchored
brun/e plaques could bo m
stalled .it cm li tree w itli the bo
tonii id .tod common name of
the tree and nanii's of the dm tot
and the person in whose honor
the tree was planted as well as
the date of the planting
I lie c ost estimates per plaque
come to about $1111) Priorities
to handle the most sigtlifir ant
trees fust could be established
( onlriblltlOlrs t mild be request
ed toi finam mg and alter all
trees have always had a unique
l\ pret ions role in ( begun
(harlesO Porter
lugene
Bush country
We wish to respond In (lerrv
Kempel {()!)! Apr ltl| saving
i Fifr.VH Rr-5PotJ5 3LI "
\ FofL THIS HE i nous /
i r
vy,
r
thill we disagree with his opin
inns about Hush
It is limr th.it Hush ret i>ivi*ii
i red it fur being .1 gn-.il pri-si
diMit Rumpel's remarks tvpif\
tin- typi- uf .ittiluiii- m.imt.iini-d
In mam uf tin- tong haired
pi .ii i' loving Ifirhi-nstiH h
wearing lilM-rals uf Kugene
It is eas\ to sin- that must lib
orals hurt? .ire anti Hush lb- is
our president. tin- leader uf our
gru.it tountrv If vuu liberals
lived in Russia you would
pruli.ihK Ih- shut .is conspira
tors iig.iinst thu guvi-rnmunt
'ion havu thu freedom to do
iinvthing von please bui ausu
wu havu .1 strong Iradur in Htis.ii
and wu livu in perhaps thu
greatest nation in thu world
I lots i an you disagree
Rumpt-I seems to havu a big
problem with Bush .is our pres
ident He states m Ins letter
tlr.it "we consider it meddling
in internal affairs to take out
helicopter guiiships wreaking
genoc idal havoc upon i iti
/ens meaning that we should
he helping the innoc ent lraip
citizens in their struggle
against Ilussein
I lid Hush not ( learly state
that otu purpose was simply to
expel Iraq from Kuwait'’ Suc.h
trivia' shows the people of
America that our leader sinks
to his words
Wo arc tired of this unwritten
mlr on campus that Hush i .111
not be trusted or liked. If peo
ple would open their minds we
could have an even more pro
due live Americ a
We feel that Hush is perhaps
one of the greatest presidents ol
.ill time and we are proud of
him
limathun Bernstein
|im Bridge
Students
i i;rn ks policy
I lif Orruon llnl\ I iih'i.iIJ will .itlempt to pi ml .ill
U llrts i out.lining i ominmls on t»>pt> of mli'icst to 1 In*
I invfrsiU roiimumitv I lie l.mrr.ild lOMiivrs the light
to mill ,iu\ Ii'tlfl lor length ill style
FORUM
Chemical dependency class propaaates reliaion
By Kevin A Hornbuckle
Students enrolled in Chemical Dependencv 1111 )| A
III)) .in- Ireing deceived thill it is .in introduction In
ethicallv .a catplable methods ot treating drug add it
lion In truth, the class is a parade ot immselors prop
agatiug a religious appm.u h to addii lion treatment
l lle approai h is i ailed slepism .Old was made la
moils h\ Alcoholics \nonvmous Fwelv e stepism is
founded on Protestant revivalism wherein one i onfesx
es one's sins to the public and avows penitent e I'he
modern expression ol this is the 1.1 step ritual ot pro
nounc ing to a group ot addicts AH name is (so and
so) and I'm an ah oholit
I he c untent ot the c lass offends ac ademii integntv
not because it is religious hut because it is and the
speakers trv to sa\ it's not They do not admit its true
character when ipiestioned bv observant students (or
clients in the treatment centers) who observe what is
induhitahlv obvious
Most ot the time the ideology is disguised in what is
c nmniunlv c ailed psvc hohabble pervasive sounding
hu// words usuallv riddled with tone by feelv verbiage
implving tin- speaker knows what he is talking about
According to 12 stepism's own literature it has
maintained from the start a polic y of (inception tie
iau.se early A \ advocates knew it we appear to tie a
new religious se< t we would i ertamK tie in trouble
so we liegan to emphasize that AA was .1 wav of life
that ( onflii ted w ith no one's religious beliefs
Hut faith and fact are always at odds and therefore
the i lass is always offensive to students who .ire not
religious and frequently offensive to students of reh
gions other than ('hristianilv W hen I’hil Xm kermaii.
wtio is |ew Isti look the (lass he found ttial there
was a religious ben! to it that put a lot of people off
for them to sav that the person (who is addicted! is
helpless is mtrinsK ally unproductive
(truss-cultural research shows that Jewash people are
generally much less likely to bei ome addit led to drugs
t»-i ause their families highly value and instill ii sense
id personal responsibility Dan helsay of Serenity Linn
told one < lass "the thing that makes people adtiii ted
to drugs is tilt* drug itsidl 1 his idea is based op pel ■
sonal irresponsibility |i e The devil made me do
it ). prei isely what ol)je< live data show to play a i as
mil role in drug addii lion
1 hose two observations readily demonstrate 1J
stepisin's reps lion of empirii al observation si ieni e
itself in favor of an approai h that in mam i ases is
anti thei.ipeutu Drinkers who believe the\ are power
less fulfill the prophet y and tend to develop strong .id
dictions.
Lit king one shred ot obiective support the idea of
personal pmverlessness is preached simply because
stdl responsibility is inimit al to the utmost determinis
tit notion that there is a deity that causes all things
anil events int hiding addiction Thus A,Vs seminal
Itig Hook exhorts readers to "Remember we deal
with alcohol (tinning battling powerful Without
help it is too mm h tor us Hut there is One w ho has all
power that l )ne is (iod May you lind him now ' '
Walt Hvrd M I) who works for the state .inti Seren
it\ Line tolil the class List quarter that a symptom of
alcoholism is agnostit ism Another Serenity Line em
plovee put it diret tly 'll you’re atheist or agnostit
then that is part of your denial of your alcoholism "
I allied \A founder Hill Wilson wrote "laid'' t .iilses
alt oholism in disbelievers as a means ol punishment
In la it h trust'd systems reason must Ire i ,ist In the
wind Sinn' evident*' is no longer the bottom line,
drug .lbuse counselors must devise perfidious ways to
sell the faith of 11! slepism lest some critical student
s.i\ s Wait ,i minute 1 Ins |usl doesn’t make sense
So the lei hirers s,i\ the most i urious things To
v\ lilt Us! quarter llarvev Bond, a i ounselor at Une
( ommtiniU (nrllege who desi nlies himself ,is a ret uv
ering addict, sought to illustrate the unwillingness of
state legislators to lurid addii turn prevention programs
In explaining that. Legislators don't want to talk
about spirituutit\ and that's a real problem They get
unc omtoitable when vou say lh.it word You know
the 1 list Amendment is in trouble whim someone says
tin- separation of i hurt li mid stale should he ignored
tor tlie people's own good By the way, Bond i urrently
t.n es felony drug i lunges lor allegedly t.nnpermg u ith
drug records and possessing a controlled substance
As one might guess lie's pleading poyyerlessness
l ast quarter when students rightly told the SHARI'
i ounselor that the IJ steps are religious, he responded
hy saying i kind of think ol something outside my
sell as (aid I hen he tried to explain that turning
one s hie and yy ill oyer to t aid .is step three requires
is not an ai t of religion Similar t.u tics are used on ch
cuts ivho must lie mentally loosened up before un
leashing the ey angel ism that fills IJ step literature
My requests to address the ( lass on a rational ap
proach to addiction treatment was rebuffed with
groundless excuses The true believers ol IJ -stepism
present themselves as concerned individuals out to
help drug addicts But if you question the faith, as I
unabashedly do they have no problem violating the
basil tenets ol academii integrity or even the 11 S
I '(institution to protei t their s.u red i ow
I m referring here to people with drug < unvii lions
being required In the ( units to go to \.\ meetings w ith
their ritu.il opening and (losing prayers and "Higher
bower" in between In cast's where individuals have
legally contested sm h senteiu mg on t n il rights
grounds, the courts have found the 12 step defense of
"spiritual, not religious” to he meaningless
In order to preserve at adetnii integrity, the i hemic al
dependent \ ( lass lecturers should he made to tease
their proselyt i/at ions of "God, Higher Cower and
"spiritually ” Or the I’niversity should move the class
to the department of religious studies
I liese notions have no place in a course purporting
a foundation in the behavioral sciences The quae ken
of faith healing was exposed long ago
Kevin Hurnltut k/e is the founder at the Oregon Insti
lute fur Rational Recoven