ayor Bud Clark's Community Policing
plan acknowledges the need to hire
more women and minority police officers.
the Mayor’s office is a little wishy-washy
when it comes to explaining what process will
bring that about in a fair and equitable
manner.
Now that the city is hiring new cops it’s
about time the gay community demanded that
the city openly recruit gay and lesbian police
officers.
It is no secret that Portland has one of the
largest gay populations on the west coast.
Some of our neighborhoods and business
districts have large gay orientations and it
would make sense to hire minority police
officers in tune with the individual problems
unique to those areas.
If the idea of Community Policing is to
decentralize the police force and get officers
out of their cars and out from behind their
desks and back into the streets where they can
get to better know individual areas of the city,
then hiring some openly gay cops makes good
sense.
Mayor, do you hear us?
M
Studio apartments: home for
only one?
and R Realty, Inc., which controls num­
erous apartment rentals in the Portland
area, has notified some of its tenants that its
policy forbids studio apartments to be
occupied by more than one person.
It’s a damned good thing they don’t
manage apartments in New York City.
Such policies have the negative effect of
discriminating against low income gay
couples and working mothers with children.
C
They want to “blow” this bill to
smithereens
trip back home in the dark. Here s some
seasonal advice:
_ Don’t walk home alone, even if you
don’t think you’ve had too much to drink.
Call a taxi, and ask the driver to wait until you
get inside your door before he leaves.
Real Community Policing
demands hiring gay cops
pponents o f Massachusetts’s landmark
gay rights law are wasting no time
pushing for a repeal. One day after Gov.
Michael Dukakis signed the measure (which
bans discrimination against homosexuals in
housing, employment and credit) into law,
opponents filed petitions with the secretary of
state’s office seeking a referendum.
“We intend to blow this bill to
smithereens,” said the Rev. Earl’Jackson, a
coalition leader who fought the bill and now is
fighting the new law. “We intend to defeat
this...and bury it so deep no one will ever find
it again.”
The coalition against the new law argues
that “when this question (gay rights) has been
taken to the people for a vote anywhere in the
nation, people clearly reject it.”
O
__If you have had too much to drink,
But
• • • Between the Lines. . .
NMMMMNK
B
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J
A C K
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I
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Y
Certainly an apartment owner needs to protect
against renting out crash pads, but that should
be a situation best handled by resident
managers, not a blanket company policy.
In many major cities, it’s very common for
two people to share a studio apartment,
especially when a 500 square foot studio can
fetch over $1,000 a month in rental alone.
Some small studios in New York cooperatives
are selling for over $100,000. It makes good
economic sense to share a studio, even in
Portland.
C and R Realty may not be uniformly
enforcing its written policy, but it should be
noted that since a policy exists, there is room
for its discriminatory use.
don’t even think about getting home on a bus.
The Transit Mall is not safe late at night,
despite what Tri-Met tells you. Many bus
lines to the North, Northeast and Southeast
sectors of the city are not secure either. If you
are intoxicated, you are asking for trouble.
— If you must walk home, pick a well-lit,
well-traveled route long before the bars close.
Do not let anyone follow you home.
— Do not pick up strangers in the bar.
Stupid as it sounds, I see guys doing this
every day of the week. If you have doubts
about someone, ask your bartender.
— Don’t expect 911 to save you. If you
are attacked, in all likelihood the cops won’t
show up unless a gun or knife was used in the
assault. If an attack takes place outside a bar,
get back in the bar and warn management so
they can contact the police. Do not let any
incident go unreported. Try to remember
anything distinctive about your assailant(s)
and then cooperate with the authorities when
and if they arrive.
Watch your step during the
holidays
Reported hate crimes triple in
Northwest
o far this fall, there have been one report­
ed abduction and disappearance and one
reported murder involving patrons of the Stark
Street gay bar strip in Portland. Both are
unsolved. God knows how many unreported
acts of violence have taken place, including
beatings by gay bashers and hate groups.
Since it’s getting darker earlier these days,
any after-work visit to the bar strip involves a
rimes motivated by prejudice increased
338 percent in a five-state area during
the past year, according to a recent study
released by the Northwest Coalition Against
Malicious Harassment in Coeur d ’Alene,
Idaho.
The figures show 263 hate crimes (Oregon
topped the list with 135 incidents) in the year
ending September 30,203 more crimes than
reported just a year ago.
For the first time this year, the Coalition
kept track of attacks reported against
homosexuals, with 25 crimes reported. Many
crimes go unreported for obvious reasons.
The escalation of reported hate crimes
probably reflects better reporting techniques
rather than a serious increase in such crimes.
A spokesperson for the Coalition, Tony
Stewart, said the largest number of crimes
took place in Portland, Seattle, Tacoma and
Spokane where organized elements, such as
Skinheads, are known to operate.
S
E ST H E R S PANTRY
NEEDS FOOD
for
t Thanksgiving
(
and
Christinas
Only when there’s a will, there’s
a way
he guy looked “thirtysomething” and
definitely not a bar regular. He danced
with everyone who would take him up on his
offer, but he had a little too much to drink and
his dancing was getting a little irregular.
After an hour or so he slumped on a stool
at our table and asked for a cigarette. After
three years o f Alcoholics Anonymous and
sobriety, he had fallen off the wagon for the
first time. And then he asked for a hug.
Finally, the guy admitted that he had just
lost his lover o f eight years to AIDS, and what
really bothered him was that his lover’s
family had taken all o f the possessions they
had shared, not even leaving him a momenta
of their eight years together. Worse yet, the
family asked him not to attend the funeral.
The lesson here is obvious. The family of
the deceased man acted on its own wishes,
rather than the supposed wishes of their dead
son. And it happens all too often in families
that do not accept their offspring’s homosexu­
ality or relationships.
The answer is a will prepared with the help
of an attorney. Some o f that grief could have
been avoided with a simple court document
set up in advance. D on’t wait until it’s too
late.
Let’s enjoy the holidays and remember our
loved ones!
f
T
C
Circle Clinic
ES P E C IA LLY TU R K EYS & HAMS
,- - 5
also play
BINGO
to benefit the pantry
at
The Embers
110 N.W Broadway
Tpm.every Monday night
Food items may be dropped off at the Embers
from 11:00 a.m. til closing
for further information call :
Corey, 245-7428
fl
Enchanted Blue W ave, Ltd.
j \
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i(A Magical Oceanfront Retreat”
A Bed and Breakfast For Women
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«ip M. Hard, D.C.
1 CHIR O PRACT IC PHYSICIAN
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Fitness and Game Rooms
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Three nights for two, holidays excluded
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Suzanne Scopes, N.D.
N A T U R O P A T H IC PH YSICIAN
/
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P.O. Box 147
(206) 642-4900
Seaview, WA 98644
423 S.E. 15th Ave.
Portland, O R 97214
(503)230-0812
CHAPPY HARVESTS
R
O
C
VEGETARIAN EATS featuring
ORGANICALLY GROWN FOOD
Hip Foods for H ealthy People
2348 S.E. Ankeny Street 235-5358
One block South of Burnside
Just out ▼ 6 ▼ December 1989
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