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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1989)
Just out • • • • • • Decade in review: protesting the Oregonian. Steppin' O ut Renee LaChance and Jay Brown Editor Jay Brown Calendar Editor Littlejohn Keogh Entertainment Editor Sandra De Helen StafT Reporters Anadee Hochman Advertising Representatives Jeff Fritz. Chris Maier, Littlejohn Keogh ■m i Production Director Renée LaChance Creative Director E Ann Hinds Typesetting Em Spate Impact Presentations Proofreading Cheryl Welch G raphic Inspiration Rupert Kinnard Distribution P Diana Cohen Contributors Lee Lynch Robert Bernstein Steve Warren Dr. Tantalus Savannah Donovan Dell Richards Jeffrey Zurlinden Rex Wockner Sandra De Helen Melissa Kilby Chai Feldblum iMura Markowitz Jack Riley Bradley J. Woodworth A T W G O A vote in favor of child abuse Printed on recycled paper. The United States Senate voted 85-13 to discourage school programs that are supportive of gay and lesbian youngsters Bobby did pray, and even willingly submitted to psychological treatment designed to “change” his orientation. In his diary, he sychiatrist Erik Erikson said that “the wrote: “Gays are bad, and God sends bad most deadly of all possible sins is the mutilation of a child’s spirit.” But the United people to Hell.” States Senate, it seems, pays more heed to the By nature, Mary Griffith says, Bobby had words of another sage, Henry Adams, who always been “kind and gentle, with a fun- wrote that “practical politics consists of loving spirit” ignoring facts.” "There were many times I wanted to reach The Senate recently voted 85 to 13 to out and hold him,” she says, “and tell him, adopt an anti-gay appropriations amendment ‘You’re fine just the way you are.’ ” that would bar the use of federal funds in But she held back, she says, because “at connection with any school materials that the church they told me that feelings like that might suggest that being gay is “normal, must be the work of Satan.” natural or healthy.” Its purpose was to So Bobby grew despairing. discourage school programs — such as the “I guess I ’m no good to anyone, not even ground-breaking Project 10 in Los Angeles — God,” he wrote in his diary. “Sometimes I that are supportive of gay youngsters. feel like disappearing from the face of this The measure has now been killed in a earth.” conference committee; but the size of the At the age of 20, Bobby did just that, by Senate majority stands as a shocking tribute to throwing himself from a freeway overpass and political hypocrisy. Many if not most of those into the path of an 18-wheel truck. 85 senators — who included numerous Bobby Griffith could have been saved by putative “liberal” members — must have accurate information and intelligent known they were voting in effect to counseling. His mother still feels personal perpetuate a deadly form of emotional child blame. abuse. “His death was the result of my own The story of Mary A. Griffith makes the ignorance and fear of the word ‘gay,’ ” she point that the Senators cruelly chose to ignore. says. As a member of a traditional mainline Now, Mary Griffith is president of the church in Northern California, Griffith bought Diablo Valley, California, chapter of Parents into the popular notion that gays are sick and and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. She is, in perverted. So when her teenage son, Bobby, short, a crusader to save other desperate told her he was gay, she told him he should youngsters from the fate of her son. “cure” himself by prayer and diligent effort. Her tragedy is unusual only because she BY Just Out is published on the first day of each month. Copyright 1989. No part of Just Out may be reproduced without written permission 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. Editorial 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 SI 7.50 for 12 issues First class (in an envelope) is $30 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 just out ▼ 2 ▼ December 1989 P R OB E R T O N T E L e tte rs .................... What's going on here AIDS 101 ............. Between the lines . . Just Youth ............. just Briefs ............. Just News ............. O b itu a rie s ............. Just News ............. P r o f ile .................... Decade in Review . Out About Town . . Just Entertainment M u s i c .................... B o o k s .................... C o u n s e l................. Amazon Trail . . . . C la s s ifie d s ............. Co-Publishers I C B E R N S T E I N N T S • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 4 5 6 7 8 11 14 15 19 20 22 26 28 29 32 33 35 E has had the insight and courage to face up to its cause. Up to 30 percent of all youth suicides are probably traceable to similar societal and family indifference to the emotional needs o f gay adolescents. A report recently issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, for example, says that gay youngsters are two to three times more likely than their non-gay peers to attempt suicide. And it lays the cause largely to what it describes as “a society that stigma tizes and discriminates against gays and lesbians.” Professional educators are beginning to hear the message. The National Education Association has adopted a resolution urging schools to “provide counseling for students who are struggling with their sexual gender orientation.” The American Federation of Teachers is on record opposing “discrimina tion on the basis o f sexual preference.’ So while there are reasons — blatantly political reasons — for the Senate’s recent action, there is no acceptable excuse. The amendment was one of an ongoing series introduced by a cadre of mean-spirited fundamentalist legislators who have no purpose other than to appeal to their own bigoted and ignorant constituents and to embarrass their more moderate colleagues. And the latter capitulate for reasons that arc perhaps understandable but nevertheless highly unpalatable. They quake, that is, at the vision of fuwre re-election television spots, announcing that they voted in favor of “teaching sodomy in high school,” or some other propaganda rot. And so they end up instead paying homage to Henry Adams — perhaps, one would hope, with a silent apology to millions of paine youngsters — and voting for death and despair in our high schools. ^