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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1987)
S E Praise for Shepherd story Be real, Ronnie To the Editor: JU ST OUT has a following of readers. Ad mittedly, I am not one of them. Last night at the Dirty Duck I picked up a copy of the December issue. Your cover story featured two of my most favorite people in Portland. Your cover story “ Bill & Ann Shepherd, Pro Family/Pro Gay” by Rodger Larson & Andy Simon was superb. It was very professionally written and re searched. The fact that one can be “ pro family” and “ pm gay” was made beautifully. My compliments to you and to Larson & Simon. You did good! Real good! Sincerely, Paula Neilsen P.S.: The overall layout of JUST OUT was excellent, except for the small print of the articles. Older people would have to strain to read it. However, I am sure that you find that necessary for economic reasons, which is understandable. Just Out received a copy of the following letter. It is addressed to Ronald Reagan. I am writing to you concerning your speeches and your subsequent remarks and writings on the subject of abortion. You have compared abortion rights to the evil institution of slavery, and you have said that we cannot survive as a free nation unless the con stitutional right to abortion is overturned. While we believe that you have every right to your personal beliefs, these opinions do not reflect the beliefs of the majority of Americans. Poll after poll has consistently shown that most o f our citizens support a woman’s right to make a private decision about abortion. Further, you have called for a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion. This is just the kind o f governmental interference in the private lives o f Americans which you have deplored so often. The constitutional history of our nation makes clear that our founding fathers intended that amendments to the Constitution should en large the rights of our citizens — not restrict fisa and Mastercard accepted, too. THE A ^ PROMPT COURTEOUS SAFE 50 YEARS Z / NUMBER YOU CAN'T ~ /A A > 4 - • Parcel Pick-up & Delivery • Jumper Cable Service • Station Wagons Available • W h e e lc h a ir/ Handicapped Transportation • Sightseeing Tours by Taxi or 15-Person Luxury Van METROPOLITAN PORTLAND'S OLDEST Vans F0RGET & LARGEST TOOZE h i TABOR FL0RI5T Contemporary and Distinctive Designs Created Specifically for You and Your Lifestyle • Delivered Anywhere their rights or impose federal intervention in the most personal aspects of their lives. I respectfully ask you, Mr. President, to sup port the majority opinion of American citizens who favor the constituional right to make deci sions about their child-bearing without govern ment interference. Faye Wattleton, President Planned Parenthood Federation of America New York, N.Y. Roseburg PWA seeks pen pals To the Editor: I have been waiting for some great inspira tion to write something down that would convey how I feel. I was stricken in July with this disease called AIDS. I say stricken because it happened so fast, and because it cut me down so completely. I woke up in the hospital with my head shaved, a hole in the side of it, down to 135 from 155 pounds, and everyone telling me how great I looked. But what else could they say? I won’t go into all the details of my hospital stay and recovery, but without my friends and relatives to support me, I doubt if I would have made it. So now I am back home in Roseburg with my lover, Jeff; my hair has all grown back and I’m feeling stronger all the time. My lover is great; my friends are all still there to support me. Everything is just peachy, right? Wrong. Since all this has happened, except for a short conversation with a man from the Cascade AIDS Project, I have not spoken to another person with AIDS. I feel like I am on an island here in Roseburg. I just wish I had some one to write to, or better yet, to talk to, who really understands what is happening to me. No matter what medical terms you use, you can ’t know what this disease is like until you experience it. So if anyone with AIDS will drop me a line. I’ll do my best to answer and say, “ Hi.” I’m 35 and have had toxoplasmosis and pneumocystis. Love to all, J. Smirl 1243 NE Klamath Roseburg, OR 97470 'Sexism" clarified I am writing in response to your item about Barbara Wilson’s reading at A Woman’s Place, headed "W hen is sexism OK?” Since I was present, I would like to correct your report that, “ Wilson stopped reading and asked a man in the audience to leave.” I am disturbed that you apparently made no attempt to verify the facts. Wilson read at the scheduled time of 7 p.m. • Parties/ Special Occasions YEcS! WE GIVE YOU THE N WHAT WE KNOW • Plants/Silks • Cut Flowers - 7819 SE Stark 256-2920 Just O m 4 January, 1987 'S l Of — Wardrobe Color Analysis and Comultarion Half & Full Hour Therapeutic Massage Sessions A Full Range of Natural 6>> Ckcrmcal Hair Design Possibilities For an Appointment Call 236-1607 8707 SE 17th Open Tuesday-Saturday G ift Certificates Available to an audience o f about fifteen women. After the reading was over, she invited discussion on some o f the issues raised by her book. A smaller group talked about prostitution, which eventu ally led to informal discussion of female sexual ity, during which some women began to express quite personal feelings. At this point — about 8:30 p.m. — a man wandered up to the small circle o f women (which was clearly not a reading) and sat down. Wilson very politely explained that she did not feel comfortable continuing the discussion with him joining the group at that stage. He left without comment and the discussion continued. This man clearly had no intention of attend ing W ilson’s public reading, since he arrived an hour and a half late. The request that he not join a sensitive discussion which was well under way, was entirely reasonable: it in no conceiv able way “ denied him access to feminist books,” as you reported. There is a bookstore full o f feminist books at his disposal; there are public readings by feminist authors he can at tend, the times o f which are clearly advertised. He would have been welcome at W ilson’s read ing and could also have participated in discus sion afterwards. Nearly every week I read a newspaper article by some white man about “ reverse discrimina tion,” accusing women and people o f color of discriminating against him. “ Sexism” and “ racism,” in this context, of couse, lose their true meaning. This public whining is a part of the current backlash against feminism which seems so absurd as to hardly bear comment. Yet it is eagerly perpetuated by the media — including Just Out it seems, judging by your headline: “ sexism” is not the polite request by a woman that a man respect and support us — sometimes by taking a back seat. Sexism is, rather, the anger or other complaints with which some men (and even sometimes some women, acting on m en’s “ b e h a lf’) respond to such requests. Sincerely, Judith Barrington Lesbian and G ay Pride '87 planning begins To the Editor: This is an open letter to the lesbian, gay and gay-supportive community of Portland con cerning Lesbian and Gay Pride ’87. In this com munity we have come to expect bigger and better Lesbian and Gay Pride celebrations each year. So far, this expectation has been recog nized and met. LGP is at a turning point as currently there are three committed participants in the process o f incorporation and planning for LGP in ’87. Obviously, there is a great need for organizations and individuals to participate. Your energy, input and expertise is crucial in the goal o f a satisfying Lesbian and Gay Pride ’87. Please plan to attend the LGP Community Forum on Wednesday, January 14. See this issue’s calendar for time and place. For more information, call 236-4386. Sincerely, Lesbian and Gay Pride, Inc. Barbie Research continues Dear Just Out Readers: Thank you for responding to my request for feedback on Barbie and other fashion dolls as part of a photographic/writing project I have undertaken. Although your letters have been helpful, I can always use additional comment on the effect fashion dolls have had on the lives o f children and adults (yourself included). Please feel free to write to me at P. O. Box 1774, Pawtucket, R I 02862. Once again, thank you for your help and I hope to keep hearing from you. Sincerely, Linda R. Collette
