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
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■ 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.