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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1987)
0 . i'tpl- Sexual politics regon’s legislators will consider passage of a bill which adds “ sexual orientation” to existing anti- discrimination laws in the Oregon Revised Statutes again this year. Passage of the proposed legislation will provide tenuous security to people disenfranchised under current law as long as the ORS contains articles which define sodomy as criminal activity. While the ORS contains no prohibitions against sexual activity between consenting adults (except “ in, or in view of, a public place” [ORS 163.465]) it does contain statutes (e.g. 163.385, 163.395, and 163.405) which O that Oregonians join the battle and aggressively address the state sanctioned homophobia in the laws of this state. Jumping In with both feet veteran gay rights activist of our acquaintance will file for a seat on a rural school district board of educa tion early next year. His candidacy will focus on the need to better equip children to deal wth issues o f sexuality. Our friend is a homeowner and has lived in his district for about ten years. He is a man of integrity and is very much aware of the environ ment in which he lives. He has been involved in progressive politics since coming out shortly after the Stonewall rebellion in the late 1960s. Informed sources give our friend just about an even chance of bringing off the election. H e’s going to need a lot of support to make sure that his campaign is successful and as soon as he has filed for the position he will reveal his identity. • A Neighborhood? W hat neighborhood? he following items appeared in the December 5,1986, issue o f Your Columbia County Shopper’s News Today (St. Helens, OR) in the order printed here. T There Goes the Neighborhood provide penalties for sodomy; defined as fol lows: (ORS163.305[18]) “ ‘Deviate sexual intercourse’ means sexual conduct between persons consisting of contact between the sex organs of one person and the mouth or anus of another.” A recent example of the bias inherent in de fining cunnilingus and fellatio as “ deviate” and separate from sexual intercourse is a ruling by the Oregon Court of Appeals. The ruling stated that a person cannot be convicted for compel ling other people to have sexual intercourse but can be held criminally responsible for compel ling people to engage in deviate acts. The case involved a Jackson County man who was convicted of rape for forcing two minors to engage in intercourse. He was also convicted of sodomy for forcing them to engage in deviate acts. The appeals court upheld the sodomy convictions because the pertinent laws state that a person is guilty of sodomy for caus ing other people to do deviate acts. The rape laws contain no such language but say that a person must have sexual intercoure to commit rape. (Curiously, there is no law against rape of males, only of females. See 163.355,163.365, 163.375.) Another, also odious, statute frequently used against gay men in particular is: 161.275 Entrapm ent. (1) The commission o f acts which would otherwise contitute an offense is not criminal if the actor engaged in the proscribed conduct because the actor was induced to do so by a law enforcement official, or by a person acting in cooperation with a law enforcement official, for the purpose of obtain ing evidence to be used against the actor in a criminal prosecution. (2) As used in this section, “ induced” means that the actor did not contemplate and would not otherwise have engaged in the proscribed con duct. Merely affording the actor an oppor tunity to commit an offense does not constitute entrapment. [1971 c.743§35] Since the US Supreme Court’s homophobic ruling upholding Georgia’s sodomy statute last summer, the gay/lesbian rights agenda has made repeal of similar laws a priority i^em. We hope Because o f its large homosexual population and its proximity to California, Alaska and Idaho, Portland has been selected as the West Coast’s first — and the nation’s second — al coholism and drug addiction treatment center exclusively for homosexuals. Located in the former Holbrook School, northwest of Portland, Right Step Recovery Center, owned by Republic Health C orp., has a 21-day, inpatient program based upon the 12 steps initiated by Alcholics Anonymous. Residents and property owners in the vicinity probably rate this dubious honor about on par with that o f being chosen as an atomic-waste disposal site. seen steadily declining sales in the western United States. (Coors, originally marketed only in the west, went nationwide about two years ago.) Not long ago, Coors attempted to buy the good graces of the San Francisco gay and les bian community by giving a substantial amount o f money to San Francisco’s oldest gay busi ness organization. The organization refused to accept C oors’ offer citing Coors’ history of discrimination against lesbians and gays. Coors isn’t calling it quits, though, and it A place for us n cities with large gay and lesbian popu lations all across the country one is apt to find a building which functions as a com munity center; a place where our community can always feel welcome. In Portland, the building located on the southeast comer of NE 24th and Broadway has been the site of hundreds o f meetings, gatherings and rendezvous during the past ten years. The building is the home o f Metropolitan Community Church, Portland. In the next nine months the membership of MCC, Portland must raise $50,000 to make the final balloon payment on its mortgage ($30,000) and to make much needed repairs and renovations. Repairs are sorely needed on the roof and in the lava tories. The kitchen needs upgrading to handle increased demand on the Church’s feeding program. The building, at present, is not fully wheelchair accessible. Metropolitan Community Church, founded about eighteen years ago in Southern California I looks like their money is acceptable to at least one business aggressively aimed at a gay audi ence. A full page advertisement, worth $500, appears on page 14 of the December, 1986 (Vol. 1, No. 9) Guide Magazine (Seattle). Guide Magazine, former Cite Guide, which has edi tions in six metropolitan areas with large gay populations, is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The Adolph Coors Brewery is located in Golden, Colorado. • by the Rev. Troy Perry, has maintained a con gregation in Portland for about thirteen years. The current congregation is the third and longest lived; it was chartered eleven years ago and has been at its present site since 1976. A religious body evolving from the gay and lesbian community has little chance of survival unless it espouses democratic principles. MCC congregations are democratic and all members are ministers of the Gospel. 4 ‘The only thing we have in common is our belief in Jesus Christ as the Messiah,” says Rev. Gary Wilson, Pastor, MCC, Portland. “ We make no moral judge ments. Our beliefs are a matter of individual conscience.” The congregation is forging something diffe rent. They open their church to all who need spiritual support. “ We are a way station, a part of the process that makes people whole .” MCC, Portland will accept donations in the form o f cash, pledges and labor and materials. MCC is a place for all of us, so let’s all help pay for it. MCC Balloon Payment Fund, 1644 NE 24th Ave., Portland, OR 97232 Phone (503) 281-8868. • Trojan Reports The Trojan Nuclear Plant operated at or near full power throughout the week. A team of nine Nuclear Regulatory Commis sion (NCR) inspectors spent two weeks in August performing a Safety System Functional Inspection at Trojan. Trojan was the fourth U.S. nuclear plant to be inspected under this new NCR program. As a result of the inspection, the NCR found four violations dealt with battery service test ing, in-service testing o f various valves, updat ing o f plant procedures, and lack of documenta tion relating to a battery test conducted in 1985. None of the problems posed a threat to public health or safety. St. Helens is about 20 mile south o f the Trojan plant. • Coors boycott breached espite efforts to overcome a decade of organized boycotting, Coors Beer is still unable to capture a market for its product among people of color, gays and lesbians and workers. The boycott, based on the C oors’ family’s involvement with rightwing causes and the company’s discriminatory practices, continues to gain widespread support, according to the Gay Community News. Gay labor activist Howard Wallace of the San Francisco Coors Boycott Committee, speaking at a community organizing forum in Boston recently, said that Coors has been forced to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in dona- . tions and advertising to improve its image with people of color and lesbians and gays but has D 20%OFF STORE W IDE JAN. 5th-JAN. 24th ’ (Magazines. Pantone Books and Yellow Tag items not included in sale ) A 3 ART MEDIA 902 S W Yamhill 223-3724 Hours 9-fl Mon Thurs 9-5 30 Fri & Sat Just Out 5 January. 1987