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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 1991)
j«Mf o u t ? C ucum ber I M I ▼ • national news CA LIFO RN IA : The Rev. Jerry Falwell, televangelist and founder o f the now-defunct Moral Majority, reports in a fundraising letter that ah angry mob of 2,000 Los Angeles “homosexu als” recently planned to kill him. Falwell claims he was forced to hide behind a partition when members of Queer Nation and Fighting Fairies stormed the restaurant where he was eating. He said a waiter stood by his side and prayed for his safety. f? f An attempt by the Seventh Day Adventist Church to bar use o f its name by a group of gay and lesbian church members has been halted by a U.S. District Court decision. The church had filed suit to stop Seventh Day Adventist Kinship Inter national, Inc., from using the term Seventh Day Adventists. However, a judge ruled that the term is generic and is therefore not entitled to trademark protection. Kinship, a Los Angeles-based group for gay and lesbian Seventh Day Adventists in the U.S. and abroad, praised the decision and chal lenged the church to belter educate its members about gay and lesbian issues. WWW The obscenity indictments against Los Ange les director James Wasson and video distribution Vivid Video Inc. (VVI) are the latest in a growing number or prosecutions that are part of a federal crackdown on sexually explicit videos, civil lib ertarians say. G EO R G IA : Statistics released by the Cen ters for Disease Control in Atlanta indicate that less than one percent o f persons with AIDS in the U.S. have been infected with HIV the way Magic Johnson says he was infected, from intercourse with a woman. These statistics have fueled widespread speculation that Johnson may have had gay sex, which the former L.A. Lakers super- star vehemently denies. IL LIN O IS: The U. S. Supreme Court has declined to review the case o f a Chicago lesbian fighting for custody o f her five-year-old son. The action let stand two Illinois appellate court deci sions that included Sharon Brown’s openness about being lesbian in a list of reasons why she should not have custody o f her son, who was conceived in a rape. YYY Members of Queer Nation distributed leaflets to about 1,000 Chicago school children outside a Bill of Rights 200th anniversary exhibit. The leaflets proposed a 27th amendment to the U.S. Constitution protecting “queer rights.” M ost o f the children, age 8-15, readily took the flyers, while teachers expressed a variety o f emotions, from anger to full support ?▼ ? The Illinois Gay and Lesbian Task Force has reversed its decision to destroy $3,000worth of its new anti-hate crime posters because a note in the comer acknowledges that the Playboy Foundation paid for them. Task force members had earlier voted to destroy the posters, contending that Playboy magazine exploits women and is there fore anti-lesbian. It reversed its decision after an editorial in the Windy City Times accused them o f “kowtowing to misdirected and misunderstood feminist theory.” M ASSACHUSETTS: The city of Cambridge has amended its bereavement provisions to make it clear that an employee can take paid leave for the death of a same-sex domestic partner, as well as for the death o f an immediate family member of a same-sex domestic partner. The issue surfaced when a city employee was denied paid leave when the mother of her same-sex partner of seven years died in April. NEW Y O RK : Over 70 design professionals gathered in New York City for the first meeting of the Organization of Lesbian and Gay Architects and Designers. Organizers said the group was needed to provide members with potential profes sional and social contacts and to “raise conscious ness within a conservative and repressive pro fession.” ▼▼▼ Gay activists are decrying a statement by President Bush that he opposes the new condom distribution program in New York City public schools. The president said the matter is "best handled by family, by consultation about values.” The program is designed to slow the spread of AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases among teenagers. ... celebrating rhe spirit of Woman in O H IO : Marc Conte, president of the Ohio State University Lesbian and Bisexual Alliance, was elected to the 1991 homecoming court, as was the group’s vice president, Mike Scarce. The other three male members of the court were two African-Americans and one Asian-American. The reality of no WASP male on the court and the possibility that a gay man might be chosen homecoming king caused quite a stir on the O.S.U. campus and in the city of Columbus. Unfortu nately, neither Conte nor Scarce was elected king. sculpture, photography and fine jewelry V IRG IN IA : More than 1,100 gay rights activists from 41 states and several foreign coun tries gathered Nov. 7-11 for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Forces’s Fourth annual Creating Change Conference in Alexandria. Attendance was the largest ever for the networking and skills- building weekend designed for leaders in the gay rights movement. Foreign delegates were from the Soviet Union, England, Mexico, and Nicara gua. Gays and lesbians won a long-sought victory when a federal judge in Alexandria overturned part o f a 1934 liquor law prohibiting sale of alcohol to “homosexuals." While the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board had not en forced the anti-gay provision for more than a decade, gay activists regarded it as a form of legalized homophobia. W ASH IN G TO N , D.C.: The Interim Coor dinating Committee for the National March on Washington announced a 17-region structure for organizing the event, which is expected to draw more than one million gays, lesbians, and sup porters to Washington D.C. on April 25, 1993. Oregon is included in Region 1, along with Washington«. Montana, Hawaii, Alaska, Idaho, Guam and Samoa. More information can be obtained by writing to the National March on Washington, PO Box 34607, Washington, D.C. 20043, or by calling (401) 831-5522. ▼▼▼ Openly gay Congressman G a ry E. Studds (D.-Mass.) has joined other members of Congress in sponsoring a resolution to end the Pentagon’s discriminatory policy against gay men and les bians. The resolution woulddirect President Bush to rescind the Department o f Defense directive which currently prevents gay men and lesbians from service in any branch of the military. DAVID ROLIN DESIGN By appoinrm enr ▼ 233-1383 More "W O W for your buck. YOUR SOURCE FOR THOUSANDS OF STERLING SILVER CHARMS SET WITH BEAUTIFUL CUT AND POLISHED STONES FROM AROUND THE WORLD. dancing bead PENDANTS START AT $8 INCLUDING SILVER CHAIN AND GIFT BOX. JUST ARRIVED, HUNDREDS OF SPECTACULAR AMETHYST GIFT PRICED GEODES. 627 N.W23rd AVENUE N.W. PORTLAND 226-1229 WHITE CRYSTAL (CART/KIOSK) \ CLACKAMAS TOWN CENTER ' OUTSIDE IMAGINARIUM BOTH LOCATIONS OPEN 7 DAYS-----------GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE -y Jjnpulse^ /.V IDEO ▼TT Mariposa Gallery, Inc., believed to be the First commercial art gallery dedicated exclusively to gay and lesbian artists, has opened in Washing ton, D.C. For more information write to the gallery at 2116 18th Street NW, Washington, D.D., 20009, or by telephoning (202) 332-9629. WWW The U.S. Senate stunned Sen. Jesse Helms with a 73-25 vote to table a motion he sponsored that would have prevented the use of National Endowment for the Arts funds for gay Film fes tivals, gay and lesbian artists, and sexually-oriented material in general. It was the ninth time in two years that Helms has tried to restrict the use of NEA funding for homoerotic works. R en ta ls M o v ie s • G and S a les am es • VCRs Bring in this ad and get one free movie rental when one is rented at regular price One coupon per month Lowest prices on new and used videos 10120 SW Hall, Suite 202 • Located near Washington Square Portland, OR 97223 • 246-8328 Large S electio n o f N ew R eleases, C lassic Film s and Gay and Non-Gay A dult M ovies