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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1989)
lust out • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Steppin’ Out P H O TO BY IAY BROWN • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • , C O N T E N T S Co-Publishers Renee LaChance and Jay Brown What's going on here . 4 Between the lines . . . 5 AIDS 101 6 just Briefs .................. 7 just News .................. 9 Letters ............... 12, 13 just Youth .....................14 Profile ..........................15 Out About Town . . . . 18 M u s ic ....................... 24 Cinema . . .....................25 Amazon Trail ............... 26 Counsel .......................27 Classifieds .................... 29 Editor Jay Brown Calendar Editor Littlejohn Keogh Entertainment Editor Sandra De Helen Staff Reporters Anndee Hochman Advertising Representatives J eff F ritz, Chris Maier. Littlejohn Keogh Production Director Renée LaChance Creative Director E. Ann Hinds Typesetting Etn Space Impat 7 Presentations Proofreading Cheryl Welch Graphic Inspiration Distribution The usual suspects after Gov. Neil Goldschmidt signed HB2487 Rupert Kinnard Diana Cohen Contributors Bruce Amshary Lee Lynch Murakay Rogers Allen Smalling Michael A. Lombardi Paul J . Nash Steve Warren Dr. Tantalus EJ Westlake Chris Perry Rich Knittle Tom Geil Sandra de Helen Kathy Bamheck Brad Woodworth Jack Riley Jeffrey Zurlinden Lj Keogh Revolution and community There are many obstacles facing the gay and lesbian community in Nicaragua of which the most apparent is the machismo within the Nicaraguan culture B Y W E S T L A K E tanding in Linden’s garden and hearing her say “It’s what you’re capable of and not what you associate with that is important to them,” was mystifying without the concrete experience for context. I could only chew on my carrot and wonder how anything could be so different. Here in Portland in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave there was community. In Nicaragua, a tiny and ex tremely poor country celebrating the tenth year of Revolution, there was reported to be none. I was to be the only gay person in the Fourth Contingent of the Ben Linder Con struction Brigade to Portland’s sister city of Corinto. Already it was an issue to me — should I come out to my host family or should I avoid the eternal question, “Are you married?” For many years I have not even given a second thought to being totally open about my sexuality. When I arrived in Nicaragua I saw no signs of lesbian and gay community. There are no gay bars, no gay or lesbian organiza tions, no lesbian or gay couples holding hands in the streets of Managua. An even closer look showed signs of blatant homophobia. Millie Thayer, a heterosexual reporter living in Managua, recounted incidents that civil rights organizations in the U.S. would be up in arms about. The bylaws of the Juventud Sandinista (the revolutionary youth group of the Sandinista Party) specifically exclude gays and lesbians from the organizations. Millie told me about a lesbian who was really active in the Frente (Sandinista Front) who had risen in the party although some knew of her lesbianism. When S Just Out is published on the first day of each month. Copyright 1989 No part of Just Out may be reproduced without written pemiission of the publishers. The submission of written and graphic mate rials is welcomed. Written material should be typed and double-spaced. Graphic material should be in black ink on white paper. Deadline for submissions is the 15th of the month preceding publication. Out About Town is compiled as a courtesy to our readers. Performers, clubs, individuals or groups wishing to list events in the calendar should mail notices to Just Out by the 15th of the month preceding publication. Listings will not be taken over the telephone. Display Advertising will be accepted up to the 17th of each month. Classified ads must be received at the office of Just Out by the 17th of each month, along with payment Ads will not be taken over the telephone. Kditorial policies allow the rejection or the editing of an article or advertisement that is offensive, demeaning or may result in legal action Just Out consults the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual on editorial decisions. Views expressed in letters to the editor, columns and features are not necessarily those of the publishers. Subscriptions to Just Out are available for $ 12.50 for 12 issues. First class (in an envelope) is $20 for 12 issues. A free copy of Just Out and/or advertising rates are available upon request. The mailing address and telephone number for Just Out are: POBox 15117 Portland. OR 97215 (503)236-1252 E J she came out publicly she was fired from her job and blacklisted because she had made her sexuality an “issue.” There are many obstacles facing gays and lesbians of Nicaragua in the formation of their community, the most apparent of which is the machismo within Nicaraguan culture. Mach ismo sets the roles of the sexes in stone. Women are supposed to stay at home, care for the men, have babies, and not form too many opinions. Men must have a wife and a girlfriend, have many babies, work or not work, and be able to drink their friends under the table. Women loving women is denying subservience to men and men loving men is denying machismo because a man can’t prove his manhood by getting his partner pregnant. Another obstacle facing Nicaraguan gays and lesbians, surprisingly, is Cuba. The Revolution in Cuba has had a strong influence on the revolutionaries in Nicaragua. (Pictures of Che Guevara can be found hanging in many offices and homes.) Cuba’s line on homosexuality is that it is a symptom of the decadence of the pre-Revolution times. Cuba has taken many strong measures to oppress lesbians and gays and Nicaragua, in policy, has followed Cuba’s example. In Nicaragua, during Somoza s regime, gay male prostitutes interacted with the oppressive aristocracy and the Nicaraguans still make that association today. On the other hand, there are signs that something positive is happening. The Ministry of Health, in one of its many right-on campaigns, went to a park that is a known cruising spot for both gay men and prostitutes to promote the use of condoms for safe sex A duality also exists in Nicaragua over the abortion issue. While abortion is illegal safe abortions are performed and are available to the poor. There is an attitude in Nicara gua that “W e’ll say we don’t like it, and we’ll write policies to that effect, but under the table we’ll do what we can to help out.” And there are signs of a growing gay and lesbian community. I heard of people meeting in other people’s homes. I heard conservatives say that since the Revolution homosexuality has been running rampant. As a gringa outsider, I did not have the op portunity to observe any of this, but my sense is that a sleeping community is emerging. This infant community has some advan tages in Free Nicaragua that we don’t have here in the States. It has a government that is dedicated to and run by the people. The humanist policies regarding literacy, health and land for all are indications of how car ing the Sandinista government is. The San- dinistas are good parents, giving their child all the love and attention she needs to grow up into a healthy, well-adjusted adult Unfortunately, with our government giving aid to the Contras, certain important issues, like feminism and the gay and lesbian community, have been put on the back burner. The doors in Nicaragua are always open. The Nicaraguans welcome people from all over the world to come and share their solidarity. I hope this means that minds are also open in this rapidly growing society which has advanced at lightning speed since the 1979 Insurrection. I felt so at home and so accepted, and I did get the sense that people looked at me in terms of what I was capable of. There was support for me every time I learned a new word in Spanish, every time I made an effort to spend time with my family, and especially every time I opened up about something. I felt that it might be okay to tell the truth instead of saying that the reason I don’t have a boyfriend is because I study too much. I could be a lesbian on a personal level, but homosexuality has not yet come into its own as a political entity. ▼