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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1986)
Burning books in Britain A book about a five-year-old who lives with her father and his lover has become the center o f controversy in the London, England school system. Jenny Hues w ith E ric and M a rtin is one o f alm ost 30 books cited by Tory Education Secretary Kenneth Baker as evidence that sex education is taking an approach which lacks m oral foundations. The book has even been burned by parents at one school, according to Associated Press. Jenny Hues w ith E ric and M artin, first published in Denmark, and published in an E nglish edition by Gay M en’s Press in London three years ago, was written by Susanne Bosche and illustrated by Andreas Hansen. A fter reading Jenny L iv e s . . . . I found it hard to believe that a person who called him self an educator would say the book is im m oral. It is a w onderfully perceptive visit with a fam ily group w hich is a not infrequent phenom enon. In the first section o f the book M artin and Jenny (and Jenny’s m other who lives down the street) give E ric a surprise birthday party. The rem ainder o f the book continues in the same way. In the final section they have a run-in (lite r ally) w ith a hom ophobic neighbor. Maybe th a t’s the part Education Secretary Baker found to be im m oral. (It m ust be pretty d if ficu lt explaining to a five-year-old why a neighbor would be nasty to her obviously loving father.) My interest piqued by the controversy, I consulted m y favorite bookperson (Sarah Koehl at A W oman s Place Bookstore) who picked ou t a sm all num ber o f children s books with sim ilar insights and which address less than orthodox subjects. Two of the books are published by Lollipop Power, a fem inist press in N orth Carolina, and are particularly delightful; Jesse's Dream S kirt by B ruce Mack and Lots o f M om m ies by Jane Severance. Jesse 's Dream S k irt is about a little boy w ho wears a skirt to day care and the recep tio n he gets there; Lots o f M om m ies tells about E m ily who lives with her m other and three other women. Both books are light years away from the run o f the m ill Daddy, M om m y and 1.5 kids. (N either book is avail able in the M ultnom ah County Library System ; Jenny Lives w ith E ric and M artin isn't, either.) These books make w onderful gifts for any occasion. And if anyone is into it, your local library could use a couple o f copies. "Straights" worth more, says Delta If you're “ queer" what's your life worth? In m oney term s, that is? Delta Airlines says it’s w orth far less than the life o f a ‘‘straight’’ person. Delta also says that if you are a sur vivor o f a crash victim and if you have any skeletons in y o u r closet the crash victim ’s life is w orth less. In what could only be described as a bizarre Full service dentistry for adults and children Clarice Johnston, DMD 233-3622 230 N.E. 20th (Two blocks North of Burnside) Treatment explained and discussed Nitrous oxide Flexible payment plans New patients welcome VISA new n u f tf l vilUff 6 • 54 iw 2nd • 2 2 8 -1 6 9 Î » open djily 10 jm b Open days, evenings and Saturdays set o f circum stances surrounding the crash o f a Delta Airlines jet at the D a lls /F t W orth a irp o rt in August, 1985, the airline and its insurer attem pted to use inform ation about the sexual orientation o f a m an killed in the crash to coerce his survivors into acepting less in damages. They also oontended, ac cording to the Wall Street Journal, that the possibility o f AIDS lessened the value o f the m an’s life. They said that even if there was no evidence o f AIDS in the m an’s background (and they offered none), his sexual orienta tio n “ in the present environm ent o f 100$ fatal AIDS, becom es a critical, relevant subject” First, a couple o f words about being a sur vivor w ith skeletons in the closet. A woman, whose husband died in the crash, and her tw o childre n were awarded by a federal jury alm ost twice the am ount offered them after the w om an endured trial testim ony about her own background. And the same day a page dne headlne in a F t W orth newspaper an nounced "Crew faulted in Delta crash" a story on page two recounted a Delta lawyer’s statem ent to the ju ry that the w om an had "sle pt w ith another m an w ithin ten weeks o f her husband’s death.” The actions o f Delta and U nited States Avaiation Underwriters Inc., w hich manages claim s and litigation for a group o f com panies that insure Delta, in this and other cases clearly indicate that the insurance com pany’s interest extends beyond the m orals o f the victim to those o f the survivors. In the gay m an’s case, a federal cou rt judge ruled that lawyers fo r Delta and U.S Avaiation were not allowed to m ention the victim ’s sex ual preference nor AIDS in the then-pending trial. Last m onth a ju ry awarded the victim ’s fam ily $ 1 m illion , but Delta has asked fo r a new trial on the ground that the award is excessive. Delta has offered the fam ily $400,000. A lawyer friend o f ours, w ho is gay, agrees w ith Delta and its insurer. He says that when it com es to money, everything has its value and that insurance com panies already practice such tactics: charging sm okers higher pre m ium s than non-sm okers, fo r example. A lawyer fo r U.S. Aviation said that sifting th ro u g h victim s’ lives is "a search fo r the truth.” The strength o f marriage, relationships w ith children and parents, drinking, w ork habits, even sexual conduct can all have bearing on what a life was w orth in dollars. When is sexism OK? Seattle-based w riter Barbara W ilson made a w hirlw ind to u r o f bookstores in Portland late last m onth. W ilson visited C atbird Seat dow ntow n, M urder By the B ook on Haw thorne, and A W om an’s Place near Lloyd Center. N one o f W ilson’s appearances was desig- pm J u s t O u t. D e ce m b e r, 1986