just out
s in c e 1 9 8 3
ed ito ria l
contents
PUBLISHER
Renee LaChancc
EDITOR
VOL 9 NO. 10 AUG. 1992
Ariel Waterwoman
We literally cannot afford
CALENDAR EDITOR
Meg Grace
FREELANCE REPORTERS
Jeff Williamson
Jim Hunger
Howard N. Dana
to lose this battle
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS
Linda Kliewer
Linda Carter
Our community will be spending hundreds of thousands of
dollars and hundreds of thousands of hours to
defeat Ballot Measure 9.
COVER
Surprising ally
There seems to be no room in
the Billy Graham crusade fo r
hatred and bigotry
ip. u )
%
ADVERTISING
Amanda Colorado
Meg Grace
E. Ann Hinds
E. Ann Hinds
Mary Catherine Lamb
TYPESETTER
Amanda Colorado
FORMATTER
Meg Grace
DISTRIBUTION
Up Front Distribution
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Carol Steinel
Chloe De Segonzac
CONTRIBUTORS
Lee Lynch
Dr. Tantalus
Rex Wockncr
Sandra dc Helen
Matthew Nelson
Barbara Bernstein
Rachel Timoner
Susan Baker
Kris Shaw
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Breast cancer
Interviews with cancer
survivors, activists and
health-care professionals
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
PROOFREADER
FEATURE
(p. 18)
n the midst of gearing up our resources and creativity to
fight this war with the Oregon Citizens Alliance, a
man’s voice rang clearly, asking, “Is it too late to get an
obituary in?” The man’s lover had died of complica
tions of AIDS just days before. It was the kind of bone
jarring reality check that we needed to bring about
perspective.
This struggle against the OCA’s attempt to legislate dis
crimination at the state level isn’t going to bring back our loved
ones who have died from complications of AIDS. It is not going
to generate funds for health care and hospices. It is not going to
generate funds for lesbian and gay community service pro
grams. But it will be taking hundreds of thousands of dollars
and hundreds of thousands of hours from our community
merely to maintain the status quo.
Losing this ballot measure will leave our community bank
rupt. No money, no energy, no time. We literally cannot afford
to lose this battle.
We have to fight this initiative with everything we’ve got.
We cannot rely on any one strategy to win. We all have to use
our creativity and energy to do whatever we can to convince
voters to vote no on 9 and eliminate the need to have to fight this
level of discrimination ever again.
There have been many civil-rights victories throughout
history. We need to look at the successful strategics, see what
worked, see what we can do, then do them.
During the civil-rights struggles of the ’60s, bus loads of
African-American people risked their lives traveling to various
cities in the South going door-to-door registering voters, get
ting people organized and informing them of the issues. They
attended church services, town meetings, public forums, sat in
restaurants and were present any where that helped the cause.
We need to take our show on the road. Our show of
solidarity and committment. Gay and lesbian communities in
southern, central and eastern Oregon need bus loads of lesbians
some
and gay men traveling to their communities to bolster their
strength and numbers and show the community-at-large our
commitment to defeat the OCA and its hate-filled initiative.
There are plenty of buses and lesbian and gay bus drivers in
Portland. Call Just Out if you are willing to participate in this
project and we’ll try to help facilitate it. Call especially if you
can access a bus.
Another idea we are implementing is to mail Just Out to
non-gay community newspapers throughout the state so the
editors of those papers will know about our struggles and
victories and, hopefully, report them. This is going to cost us an
additional $200 per month. If you can make a contribution to
this project, please do. We are willing to shoulder the expense
alone, but we could use your help.
What are you doing to fight the OCAlJust Out invites you
to send us a couple of lines about how you are fighting the OCA.
Weare committed to printing all responses and your names. We
all need to get our creative juices flowing to win this fight in
November. With a strong popular win, we will never have to
fight this level of discrimination in Oregon again. We can go
back to the business of living, playing and healing in our
community. We are going to win this battle with the OCA, and
then we are going to win our battle with HIV. We are just that
kind of people.
In the August paper every columnist and re
porter answers the question, “What am I doing
to fight the OCA?” Our hope is that these
statements will inspire you and give you ideas
and the courage to take steps of your own.
Here are the statements of our core staff:
Amanda Colorado, Advertising Representative
I get to talk about the OCA with a wide variety of people
because I am openly lesbian at board meetings and 12-step
meetings, I wear lesbian T-shirts and buttons everywhere,
have queer stickers on my truck and stamp “Queer Money” on
my checks. I write and phone thanks or feedback to businesses
and groups, spend money in my community and take good care
of myself.
[Congratulations to Amanda for winning a blue ribbon at
the Multnomah County Fair for her hand-woven towels. An
other way she is fighting the OCA.]
I
W hat we are doing to Fight the OCA:
Renee LaChance, Publisher
Besides everything I do at Just Out, I am talking to all my
non-gay friends about the OCA and what a threat it is to me
personally and to my livelihood and how I need them to register
to vote, and vote against this measure in November. By far the
most difficult thing I am doing is keeping the defeat of Ballot
Measure 8 out of my heart.
Ariel Waterwoman, Editor
I recently contacted my parents in Bend and am encouraging
them to organize against the OCA in their community. My
mother says, “The OCA makes me so mad I could spit!" My
father is equally concerned, throwing his whole-hearted sup
port into “the fight against white-supremacy.”
E. Ann Hinds, Creative Director
The most important thing I do to combat the hate of the OCA
is to support and facilitate creativity and original thinking in all
its forms, encouraging cooperation and empathy where fear and
bias might otherwise take root.
DEPARTMENTS
Letters
Suzanne Pharr sends
"sort o f a love letter”
(pp. 3-4)
World briefs
British Columbia bans gay
and lesbian discrimination
province wide
(p. 5)
National news
A born-again gay man comes
out as a born-again gay
(pp. 6-10)
OCA watch
A camera’ s-eye view catches
skinheads assaulting Tommy
Strong o f Queer Nation at an
OCA table
(p. 12)
Meg Grace, Advertising Representative, Calendar Editor
I try to be an out lesbian wherever I go and engage people
m discussions about the OCA and Ballot Measure 9. I encour-
age my new friends to vote against the measure and to talk
about this with their friends.
Jim Hunger, Staff Reporter
Whenever the subject of the OCA comes up, I don’t back
away from it. I address it in the general context of hatred and
bigotry
J e ff Williamson, S ta ff Reporter
My personal effort to combat the OCA really rests
information-sharing, here at Just Out and with personal c
tacts, at work and beyond. A lot of that relies on being e-
tK °n r<AUt th! n r" thf P“ 1- Whcn stra'8ht People know w
die OCA stands for, they want to fight them; when they r a
know lesbians and gays, they usually want to stand by th<
Getting the word out is key.
J
Local news
A lawsuit alleges that the
Portland Foursquare Church
knew that a volunteer was
sexually molesting 4- to 8-
year-old parishioners
(p. 14)
Sports
A weekend-long sports festival
will attract hundreds to
the Rose City
(p. 27)
COLUMNS
Amazon Trail
(p. 32)
ARTS
Cinema
A League o f Their Own gives
vicarious sports thrills
(p. 28)