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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 12, 1995)
EDITORIAL States must allow Indian sovereignty Responding la the economic stagnation taking place on many of th«*Ir reservations. Native Americans and their allies have begun taking an increasingly common road to 'economic prosperity." By taking advantage of their reservations' sovereignty, which allows thorn significant independence from the laws of the federal and state governments, many reser vations have chosen to make certain activities, illegal or unpopular in most of the country, legal within their borders. The activities range from the sale of exotic, danger ous fireworks, to the running of hazardous waste sites, to the sponsoring of massive bingo halls with $2,000 prizes. As these operations have grown, gambling, in partis ular, has become a mainstay source of revenue for many tribes throughout the United States It used to be that the only people who got upset about these operations were the big casino owners of Nevada and Atlantic City. Hut now. with so many state govern ments filling their coffers with money from state lotter ies, opposition to Indian gaming halls is growing. The Coeur d'Alene tribe of Idaho complicated the mat ter last month when it announced plans to provide a nationwide lottery to be played over the phono by cred it card. Although parts of the operation would undoubt edly take place on the reservation, the vast majority of callers would be dialing up from places elsewhere, where such credit-card gambling is commonly against the law. It would be fairly easy for the states to make legal argu ments against the phone lottery on the sovereignty issue Even if it could be legal on the reservation, they would say, it should not lx* permitted elsewhere. But the real basis of the states’ opposition is not legal; it is financial. The states want to run the same kind of operations, when it comes right down to it. If anyone is going to profit from gambling, they say. it might to be us. Of course, there’s some legitimacy to that. State-run gambling can be better monitored, and therefore pre sumably less corrupt, than private gambling And state governments have plenty of programs deserv ing of the funds that could be raised. But so do the tribes that reside on these reservations. With economic competition and dwindling natural resources continuing to damage their economies, they need some sort of income to keep afloat. It is unfortunate that gambling, fireworks and waste dumping appear to bo the only options available for some tribes. But if they are. the government should resist the temptation to clamp down, so long as the clamping is intended merely to safeguard state revenues. Perhaps the phone lottery should fall; it could lie an infringement of state sovereignty to put it in place. But the law should continue to allow Indian sovereignty to prevail within reservation boundaries in other cases The government should not use its muscle to placate greedy states, eager to kill competition for gambling dollars. Oregon Doily >0 601 }t*% liX.fN* 0*«GO*9?«&5 Th« O0f l mm*kH >* &»*> Mkvx4*> f ?%0»y f*\« tcftoo< V** «<vl 1 u#*d»y »*1 Thuffday fry tf* OrtQori 0*a> t ™«r«d Co , an ff* UniM§rt*y <jl 0«gc*\ t u^ono. Oo^ , * ' • " - ■. r ..-' •' r i: *V M*mt,w*ai U*van amd « a mam*** ot *** Aasw.v-»?«*! !**•** Tho f: *i pr<v»!*» property TH# ur&»«<ui <* uM o* {****» * pro*ecxAabite |(8tor-*i»-CW#<: R«ty Sold Mariano Editor Editork*4 Editor N«w« AH Editor Frootaru* Editor U#v*J Thor« ftoCOO iWv« Jo* Pafci*} tort Hoftywa*-. *♦ w» Editor Sport* Editor Supp**rrMK»t» Editor High! Editor N«*WX%M M»r»*t C?V« Mot* T n»ta Nooi Amy GoAjm&o •IWCWt tqilWI *rny u>vmQO, UOt«w Acbvtf **■#. MAr<C4h'«KS« t <1w*t<h> Community; Co*««n PoW*g, A-fcj/w £duca<»c*vAaH>**i<r»ioo H0m% SUrff Siw» A|tx*fy ftfOurr ( <w -•» Amy l DMflpCrt ^■’-•0 f ttnkT'.a G*yte Forman Matt Gflfton Jw rvarwood. Kn» Martry. Tr**or Shjrrwsn tUAi«. Ad* Kjfx fw Sarr.v>e*M» Mart -• Mafl M IV«a». Mw% McT*r© Ptfric* M *okJ 8«r> Moabtufc. Mon*tfom#r>. Ann# Mraw Ko nt#u Shorty Rar*y NfltMftA Shephard, P»J Van Sc** Sn<r* Smd> Mass** SifAnr. Mara 5it«na» Jaremy Sfcrvaon. K.m Wanna, ftrtan WomacA. In 7next* Q*r#r*4 Manama* July Rot* Adv*<1**mg Director M*ffc Production Manager MkChant ftc*.* Advertising Anna Amador. AseAa Borgae*. Marco Chung Tony *o*. hk:o*a l««rxm*v M£y lj#n Janam* Maay\ Sarah MfehaA Tom Mttwtitaarf K«*•«? W#r« Cta*a*ttad: Baa** M*k ha-t Kia \tg«r K*4e ()•«*» >■* Sot*.-* Distribution: John t ong. f arorv Raa.oc.ji Graham Sampson Business Kamy Carton#. S<*#rv*:*sV Jt>d» Gonrv* * Production D«Ma UCvtO ProdUr^v* CcxvdMa-'iV Shaw--a Ab**« Tara G*u*n«y Brad Joss, KA>-?> McCarta. Janr «OM»^d. Dayton Vao mwrvoom ***->311 MfS5l2 Advertising 346-J712 J46-434J X I jj you mistake mi/sea - fOU krKC TlON ■ OPINION Portland nightclub shows intolerance Primp A. J. Fontana L—a Before thii Saturday night. I was wornwl about finding a subject for this week's column But lucky for me. soroe thing happened that was more interesting than anything that 1 c ould have dreamed up. That evening, my girlfriend and two friends of ours (who. incidentally, are gay) went to Hie City, which is a nightclub in Portland. It has a reputation for being a mainly homosexual establishment, hut many hetero sexuals go there as well It plays good music and. as far as clubs go. is relatively safe Well, my story After dancing for a while, we went and sat down near the bar While the four of us were chatting, l gave my girlfriend a kiss Now. it wasn't a gross one. and we weren't making out. it was just a kiss A millisecond later I heard a loud rapping sound against the bur The bartender was smack ing an ashtray against the counter and he motioned for me to come to him. I walked over toward him and the moment that I was within earshot he said, “This is a gay club. No overtly heterosexual acts are allowed. This is a warn ing. If it happens again, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Now, in a way this is under standable. Similar things, and much worse, have been done to gays for years. During tough times, an establishment which c atered only to them would have been an oasis in a harsh world. However, this club was happy to take ray hard-earned money and it's not as if our affection was outlandish and out of place in the atmosphere. Many guy males kissed their female friends without comment or rep rimand from the employees and ours was in no way beyond that level Also, there were a few ’'Goth ic" straight couples who were all over each other. Did the bar tender make spectacles of them? None Due to the fact that they looked '‘alternative," their affec tion must have been more acceptable than our "main stream breeder" version. For the sake of argument, i think that we should change the situation a bit Let's say that a man, we'll call him Newt, a straight Euro-Americ an out to make a buck, opened up a club of his own. Now. at New tie's Place, as he would probably call it, let's say that things are jumpin'. Good tunes, good beer, a big crowd, all of the trimmings On one partic ularly busy night, as Newt him self is serving drinks, two men give each other a kiss at the bar Due to the fact that our buddy Newt has his mmd stuck in the Jurassic Era. he doesn't appreci ate this showing of affection So. he smac ks an ashtray against the bar to get their attention When one of them walks over to him. Newt says, “This is a straight club. No homosexual acts are allowed This is a want ing One more time and I'm going to have to ask you to leave." In most civilized parts of the nation, the public, gay and straight alike, would be quite angry and rightly so. This is the nineties. The homosexual com munity has been stifled in the closet for long enough and although our friend Newt should have the right to operate his business as he wishes, many people would probably take their money, which could have been his money, elsewhere That is how democracy works, al least in theory. The people ami their uish speak and we get social progress. This is being stifled by The City. Their "gay club" policy holds progress back, rather than encouraging it. for three main reasons. First, it singles out a group and stifles that group's expres sion If homosexuals should lie sensitive to anything, it should lie this They have had to strug gle for years, and continue to do so, to escape the closet. There is no reason that, as they leave it. they should attempt to push straights in. Secondly, it encourages sepa ration rather than integration. Those of us who support gay rights (as I have done on this page) should look forward to the day when homosexuals and het erosexuals can live together without anybody being stigma tized for his or her sexual pref erence The City has forgotten the rallying cry of "Honor (fiver sity which was so central dur ing the No on 9 anti 1 ;t cam paigns This is what we should !«■ shooting for. not more segre gation. Finally, it attempts to c reate an artificial environment at the expense of straight patrons Just as social conservatives attempt to build themselves a moated existence apart from the real world, those at The City are doing the same thing. Rather than creating a plat e of freedom, they are building one of artificial conformity. It s tint# to end the titles and the compartmentalizing. People are people In the age of multi culturalisrn identities have become more important than those who lie behind them We don't need new laws, new cur riculums or a new culture. All that we need is common cour tesy and the ability to let people do as they please. Primo A ) Fontana is a colum nist for the Emerald.
