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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1985)
i |LJ Vol. 2 L_ “ • v " 3 rio. 6 A p ril. 1985 STEPPIN’ OUT STAFF Just O ut is published the fourth Friday of each month. Copyright 1984 Mo part of Just O ut may be reproduced without the written permission of the publishers. Co-publishers Jay Brown Renee LaChance Written and graphic materials are welcomed for submission. All written material should be typed and double-spaced. All graphic material should be black ink on white paper. Editor Jay Brown Deadline for submissions is 14 days prior to publication date. C ontributors Rosanne King Jim Hunger B illy Russo Patrick Caplis Lee Lynch Brown M cDonald Eleanor Malin O ut About Town is a courtesy to our readers. Items must be received 14 days prior to publica tion date. Display advertising will be accepted up to five days before publication date, if camera ready, if not then seven days prior. Classified ads must be received at the office of Just O ut seven days prior to publication date, along with payment Graphic A rts D irector Rupert Kinnard Editorial policies allow the rejection or the edit ing of an article or advertisement that is offensive, demeaning or may result in legal action. Just Out consults the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual on editorial decisions. A dvertising D irector Roger Hall A dvertising Associate Eve Sicular Views expressed in letters to the editor, columns, and features may not necessarily be those of the editorial staff of Just Out. P roduction D irectors Bev LaBelle Dustin Dickenson Proofreader Anita Q uiton Subscriptions to Just O ut are available for $7.50 for 12 issues • A free copy of Just Out and or advertising rates are available upon reguest p h o to by Helen lo ftrid g e The mailing address and telephone number for Just O ut are P.O. Box 15117 Portland. OR 97215 236-1252 E D I T O R I A L H om ophobia wins again by Jay Brown The confusing dram a over gay rights, slowly playing itself out in the chambers of the M ultnom ah C ounty Com m issioners, can end in only one way - another defeat for gays and lesbians everywhere. The tragedy o f the situation, though, is that the villain o f the piece, Drew Davis, w ill be the only winner. Drew Davis, self-styled “ concerned citizen o f Portland,” is yet another demagogue riling up the rubes fo r his own political gain. Davis, by the way, is neither a citizen o f Portland nor of M ultnom ah County; he lives in Lake Oswego, and is registered to vote in Clackamas County. By way o f background, last Decem ber outgoing com m issioner Arnold Biskar introduced an am endm ent adding the words sexual orientation to M ultnom ah County’s existing human rights ordinance. The am endm ent was passed during the last session of 1984. At that last session, Drew Davis, arch-hom ophobe, vowed "to take it to the voters.” So Davis wrote his petition, circulated it along with the standard hom ophobic lies and came up w ith m ore than 12,000 signatures. In the m eantim e, gay rights advocates and sym pathetic politicians, in an attem pt to thw art Davis' hom ophobic actions, com prom ised by repealing the am endm ent and replacing it with a resolution which reaffirm ed the concept o f prohibiting discrim ination against gays and lesbians in county em ploym ent This com prom ise gives protections to gays and lesbians w ithout "condoning homosexuality," according to a county spokesperson. Davis, determ ined to “take it to the voters,” has threatened to sue M ultnom ah County to force an election, w hich w ould probably be held during Lesbian and Gay Pride Week. (Oh, irony o f ironies.) M ost gay rights advocates firm ly believe that "it w on’t com e to a vote." (They seem to have m ore faith in the system than I do.) W hat they really mean is that they fervently hope it won t com e to a vote, because we all know that there are m illions more hom ophobes than there are gay rights advocates. H om ophobes, like Drew Davis, are not afraid to com e out of the closet. Homophobes, like Drew Davis, can make political hay at the expense o f a vulnerable, frightened m inority; so no m atter what lies they spout they always seem to have the upper hand. The only way to fig h t hom ophobes like Drew Davis is for lesbians, gays and sympathetic straights to conquer their own hom ophobia and com bat the ignorance which keeps us in the clo se t Further depressing note Just Out has lost one o f its m ost popular distribution points due to the ever-present hom ophobia around us. J u s t O u t, A pril 1985 Patrons o f the Lloyd Center Tradewell store have regularly gone through 500 to 600 Just Outs each m onth. In January the rack which held Just Out disappeared. Upon investigation, we learned that the m anager had had som e com plaints about Just Out's subject matter. The m anager said about 8-10 eldelry people had com e in one day and objected to the store distrib u tin g the paper, so he took away what papers remained and the rack. He did not notify Just Out o f his action nor o f the objections he had received. How m any gays and lesbians have objected to the m anager’s actions? We would like to know. Call o r write us if you routinely picked up your copy o f Just Out there, and call or write the m anager o f the store telling him you would like to see its return. Let's represent our diversity To the Editor, I was disturbed to read in the last edition o f the Eagle that a new Lesbian and Gay Pride C om m ittee had been form ed with prim arily m ale m em bers. One wom an, who works w ithin the Gay Bar com m unity, was included on the board. As a lesbian, and fem inist, and a non-bar goer, I resent the im plication that one w om an on the Lesbian and Gay Pride com m itte e will be able to be the spokes person fo r all o f the Lesbians in our co m m unity. I write this not to discredit Susie, for I'm sure she is as supportive and as in ter ested in Lesbian and Gay rights as we all are. B ut to say that one wom an, o r one man, can speak fo r hundreds o f diverse peoples in our co m m u n ity frightens me. Phyllis Schlafly doesn’t represent all w om en in the United States, and neither does G loria Steinem . Let’s see m ore diversity on the board, and get som e in put fro m all facets o f the Lesbian and Gay com m unity, m inorities, as well as w o m en. And not ju st one fo r "token." Perhaps if they had advertised the board m em ber positions outside o f the bar co m m u n ity we could have had a m ore represen tative com m ittee. I want to see us really Proud in term s o f “ Gay Pride" when it com es to accepting all peoples in our ranks, not just the ones we m ight be friends with, or w ork w ith, bu t EVERYONE. W ith Hope for the Future. Sarah K oehl 3