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