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Email: editor@dailyemerald.com
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Friday, May 23,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Commentary
Editor in Chief:
Michael J. Kleckner
Managing Editor
Jessica Richelderfer
Editorial Page Assistant
Salena De La Cruz
Editorials
Southern outdoes
UO with blood
donation policy
How’s this for out-doing the oh-so-liberal University of
Oregon? Southern Oregon University students an
nounced earlier this week that they will cancel this
term’s blood drive because the donor screening process
discriminates against gay men.
The editorial board brought this issue up in November,
when the University of Oregon and Oregon State Univer
sity were engaged in a Civil War Blood Drive, set up to see
which school could raise the most blood. At the time, we
pointed out that the blood donation regulations were dis
criminatory — any male who has engaged in a homosexual
sex act since 1977 is ineligible to give blood — because
they unreasonably suggest that all gay men are diseased.
Some college students practice unsafe sex. Straight
students do this just as much as gay students, but no one
is prohibiting straight students from donating simply be
cause they are straight.
What’s interesting about this is that the SOU students
cite their campus anti-discrimination policy as a reason
for ending the institutional prejudice.
But hold on a minute: In November, the University of
Oregon’s Bias Response Team received a student com
plaint about the University’s sponsorship of the Civil War
Blood Drive. The BRT was supportive of the student’s
claims, but despite the University having a nearly identi
cal anti-discrimination policy as SOU, the administra
tion wasn’t interested in the issue.
It’s also interesting to note that members of the com
munity recently criticized the Emerald for publishing a
opinion piece that expressed disgust at homosexuality,
but these same people allowed a discriminatory policy
violation to occur without comment. What’s the mes
sage: Speech hurts, but actions don’t?
So what will it take for the University to stop sponsor
ing discrimination?
Legislators should
fix Oregon’s budget!
During the past 11 months, the editorial board has re
peatedly expressed the need for state legislators to address
Oregon’s revenue problems. The current revenue model is
neither stable nor balanced, and the most important task
our elected officials have is to fix the budget. Frankly, so far
this session, the work of Oregon senators and representa
tives has been unimpressive.
Instead of devising a variety of different budget plans
and presenting them to the public and stakeholders for
discussion and debate, the people haunting the halls of
the capitol have been hard at work on a variety of issues
that have nothing to do with the state’s most pressing is
sue. Here’s a sample:
• The Legislature argued about funding a new baseball
stadium for Portland
• In April, the House passed a bill allowing adult motor
cycle riders to choose to ride without a helmet
• After much arguing, the House killed a bill to allow
self-service pumps at gas stations
• On May 2, the Senate passed a bill that would define
pro wrestling as entertainment, not sport
• Late last week, the House attacked the state’s land
mark bottle bill, passing a bill allowing glass to go into
landfills if it proves too difficult for companies to recycle it
Some of these issues may be useful and important, but
none of them matter if the state has to continue slashing
services that cost people their lives. The state’s tax system
has been unstable for too long, the tax burden has been
unfair for too long, and it’s destroying Oregon.
Legislators need to introduce a graduated sales tax and
shift the overall tax burden back to an equal split between
businesses and individuals. And they need to stop quib
bling over pro wrestling and do it now.
Editorial policy '
This editorial represents the opinion of the
Emerald editorial board. Responses can be sent
to letters #dai!yemerald.com.
WHCT HAKES W TH1HK YOlfH Q1WJFED?)
11 LOVE VftSTE~
Peter Utsey Emerald
BUSH AND CHENEY BEGIN THE LONG PROCESS OF FINDING A NEW
_ EPA ADMINISTRATOR.
EXCELLENT, YOU'RE HIRED.
Letters to the editor
Club team provides
baseball outlet
After reading Hank Hager’s column
(“Oregon provides no outlet for love of
the game,”ODE, May 16), I found myself
shaking my head.
Any true baseball fan would make the
effort to find out if there was really no
baseball at the University. The truth is
the University provides an excellent out
let through the Club baseball program.
The University Club team offers a taste
of all there is to love about baseball. It
has power pitchers, junk pitchers,
homerun hitters, contact guys; there is
even a foreign (Japanese) athlete who is
the star of the team — everything a fan
could ask for.
And if that wasn’t enough, the team is
very competitive, with a smallball style
of play that has helped team members
finish second in their league and led
them to the regional tournament in
Bellingham, Wash. Though the Universi
ty doesn’t offer a sanctioned Pac-10
team, there is a place for baseball fans at
the University.
Although the season will be over for
the Ducks Club team this week, I look
forward to seeing more of the Emerald’s
readers (and Hank Hager, if he is the
baseball fan he professes to be) at more
games next year. Go Ducks!
Gabriel Judah
graduate
English
Ex-gays deserve respect,
freedom from harassment
Your editorial (“Rick Santomm goes
beyond gay slurs,”ODE, April 29) did not
mention that the same groups that be
rate others for discriminating against
gays themselves actively discriminate —
against ex-gays.
Each year, thousands of men and
women with same-sex attractions make
the personal decision to leave homosex
uality. However, some refuse to respect
that choice. As a result, ex-gays are sub
ject to an increasingly hostile environ
ment where we are reviled simply be
cause we dare to exist.
For example, the Gay, Lesbian and
Straight Educational Network widely
distributed a school booklet labeling ex
gay participation in public schools as
“harassment.” The gay Human Rights
Campaign publicly demanded that a
contributor (AOL’s Mrs. Steve Case) re
consider her sizable donation to a chil
dren’s school merely because it had in
direct ties to an ex-gay ministry.
The list is endless because every day
brings new hostile acts against the ex
gay community. The harassment of ex
gays by gays themselves is a sad end to
the long struggle for tolerance by the gay
community. That ex-gays are now op
pressed by the same people who until re
cently were victimized themselves
demonstrates how far the gay rights
movement has come. We now need to
face the other side of sexual orientation
— intolerance of ex-gays.
Please remember that former homo
sexuals are also worthy of respect.
Regina Griggs
executive director
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays
People Have right to
express unpopular views
Although I do not agree with Vincent
Martorano (“Homosexual men should
hide their disgusting acts” ODE, May 9),
I believe he has a right to express his
opinion on paper.
We want to make our world accept
minorities and give them more voice,
but we must not exclude anyone dur
ing the process. The “Homosexuality
isn’t the illness — bigotry is” (ODE,
May 14) guest commentary brings up a
good point that “hate, not homosexu
ality, is an illness.” The author, Daisy
Perkins, also told us “Homosexuals
have as much of a right to this planet
and this country” as does Martorano.
What about Martorano?
Does Perkins think that Martorano
has too much of the majority privilege to
even express his opinions — his freedom
of speech? If you accept one view, you
must accept the other. Life does not al
ways have to be unfair.
Another guest commentary (“Mar
torano’s opinions don’t represent true
conservatism,” ODE, May 14), written
by Oregon Commentator managing edi
tor Timothy Dreier, denies that the views
of Martorano represent conservative val
ues. Dreier states that Martorano “man
ages to call himself a conservative while
completely ignoring what are truly con
servative principles.”
Dreier then corrects our views on the
conservative way of life, while also stat
ing that he would not “begrudge” Mar
torano because he is entitled to his
rights. I would like it if even a few of us
would follow his example. Of course,
who am I to talk? I’m only a minority.
Jennifer Tran
junior
Chinese and Asian studies
CORRECTION
In Thursday's story "'Smoker' fights
good fight forYMCA," Sophanna Kuch
should have been listed as winner erf
The Emerald regrets the error.