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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1987)
Yr:.s! wr: give yov the beat oe WHAT WE KNOW TWENTY-THIRD A V E N Œ BOOKS Wardrobe Color Analysis and Consultation — Half Full Hour Therapeutic Massage Sessions - A Full Range of R aturai & Chemical Hair Design Possibilities — Wide Selection o f:. • Lesbian/Gay • Best Sellers, • H ard co v er an d • P ap erb ack B ooks. • Special O rders •G ift W rapping • G ift C ertificates For an Appointment Call 2 J6-1607 8707 SE 17th Open Tuesday-Saturday Gift Certificates Available 1015 N W 2*rd Avenue. Portland, Oregon 224-5097 mm Zen ond N ouj Inspired ULIood Products A ll we need now is fo r the Supreme Court further sanctioning government manipulation o f individual lives. It could be one helluva carny ride, complete with gestapo lights andfunhouses. Apparently we must control our sexual urges, but our violent urges are of little consequence. It is at this juncture that most organized religions eaves are turning. Summer has definitely depart from the teachings of the man they passed. The air grows colder, the nights longer, and a burning smell is in the air. Already purport to be the final word on any topic. Very ironic, laughable if only it weren’t so sad. people discuss Halloween. Pumpkins, perhaps Current events: Robert Bork. Do we want apples, get softer, more rotten every day. him on the Supreme Court? I have encountered Autumn. Decay. All those bodies in Molalla. several attromeys who say, "H ell, no.” Bork's Someone very sick out there. A portion of a own writings suggest that his appointment woman's leg found floating in the river. People would signal the undoing of several years of playing Rambo on the California freeways — social progress. The way the tide is turning in "forgot your turn signal, neighbor, you lose" this country shows that Bork's appointment could give the right wing moralists the tool they need to dismantle any progress the gay rights movement has made. His appointment could very well insure that publications, such as the one you're reading now, could be considered "obscene” and. therefore, unlawful. His re cord o f decision making shows that he favors government and business over individuals. All we need now is to have the Supreme Court further sanctioning government manipulation o f individual lives. The next thing you know we're in for one helluva carny ride, complete with flashing gestapo lights and funhouses. the likes o f which no one here has seen before. Everybody got their passports ready? Yet. would running away be a viable option? Wouldn't it be better to stick it out and see what — BLAM! Just blow th e ........-* away. Simple. And so American. If you don't like it. if it happens? Nothing keeps the blood pumping messes up your life in any way. get rid of it. better than a good fight. The only trouble with Welcome to the disposable age in the home of the idea of fighting is that we are an awfully the brave. Styrofoam McDonald's shells. Big passive community. Perhaps we are passive be Gulp cups and human beings. At least human cause to he outspoken and angry would mean beings are biodegradable. The wanton cruelty giving up a relatively affluent lifestyle (after all. in this country is astounding, even more as how long w ould we keep our jobs in the tounding is violence for the thrill of entertain "straig h t” world if we came off as screaming ment Look at all the slash movies. Watch TV terrorists?). In any event, we hold our passivity for a few minutes and someone is bound to be as if we truly believe it is a weapon. “ Do what shot, punched, tripped, smashed in a car wreck you like to us." we tell the world, "w e do not or fall prey to some other form of violence. Ah. care. You have spat in our faces, you have well, just a part o f our pioneering spirit. burned us, incarcerated us, castrated us, What is ironic is that Americans find it possi electrocuted us — and still we turn our face this ble to stomach violence, yet can become re way and that just so your fist can find it.” markably squeamish about sex. We have diffi Larry Kramer, the author o f Faggots and culty talking about it. Right wing fundamenta playwright of The Normal Heart wonders why lists prefer that we pretend it doesn't exist more of us aren't angry. He proposes that we should "tie up whole cities; throw bombs; stop traffic; surround the White House.” Kramer defines a real and important prob S a y you saw it in lem. O urpassivity. he maintains, is “ contribut ing to our own genocide.” It is a time for action, but forget the violence. Violence will only convince the homophobes that we are a dangerous entity to be exterminated. We are not. however, dangerous. At this point we are so harmless and weak that we could be herded up like sheep. Even more unsettling, there would be no one to speak out in our defense. What Mr. Kramer forgets here is that acts of terrorism would basically be shitting in our own nest. If we are to shape our world into the place o f peace that it must be, we must approach difficulties in a more reasoned manner than those who have gone before. Now is certainly not the time for violent, murderous acts. Not enough is at stake. Yet. Leaving open Mr. Kramer's proposals is tine. To dismiss Mr. Kramer lightly would, at this point, be quite foolish. He may be a loudmouth and an extremist, but someone must be if we are to generate the energy we need. A place to begin: we may ask ourselves if we are doing enough for our people, our commun ity. and the world. It is possible to be active without being destructive. There is too much destruction and waste in this country as it is. 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