32 T august 1002 ▼ just out
tv
Lesbianville
Wedding Rings
Gay men have their Castro, and we’ve claimed
our little New England valley
Custom Designing
by Lee Lynch
▼
n April, the National Enquirer ran a piece
called “Strange Town Where Men Aren’t
Wanted.” Many of us have been aware of
Northampton, Mass., for years. The
Enquirer editors dubbed it “Lesbianville,
U.S.A.” and bashed it as a lesbian bastion.
nastiness clearly demonstrates the level of primi
tive terror we dykes strike in the hearts of male
bigots. The tone of the article is that of a blurb for
a ’50s pulp novel
that might have
been called 5«/fry
Greenwich Vil
lage Vixens in
One A nother's
Arm s-A True
Story o f Rabid
Lust and Helpless
Illicit Surrender.
Northampton is called “bizarre.” Gay women
live a “sicko lifestyle,” and “you can even find
them kissing and cuddling on Main Street!” (ex
clamation point the Enquirer's). Kissing and
cuddling? Sounds like truly dangerous behavior
to me. I can’t wait till they discover our music
festivals. We do even more radical stuff at those.
Like stand in line for meals and go to workshops.
What’s the big fuss? Why the threatened
feelings? The idea of lesbians settling an area in
vast numbers is a fantastic one! Gay men have
their Castro, and we’ve claimed our little New
England valley.
The approximately 10,000 dykes who live in
the whole of the Pioneer Valley, as Northampton
and its environs are called, (1) are visible, and (2)
live without men. This isn’t cricket. There are
rules, you know. The random acts of violence that
rocked Northampton a few years ago didn’t work-
maybe exposure will. Or maybe, 10,000 strong,
nothing will drive them out. Maybe, in the face of
this patriarchy that just lives on and on, getting
more and more boring, we’re triumphing!
A local resident tells me that the first article
about Northampton was syndicated from the Los
Angeles Times. It was left to the Enquirer to
sensationalize the issue. That the male-domi
nated media created a mini-furor in the brains of
good family men isn’t such bad news. On the
upside, local women-loving women are pleased
that a new flood of dykes has been checking out
the area as a place to settle.
Even individually we scare people. When I
was younger I had frequent encounters of the third
kind. Though not limited to ladies' rooms, it was
in those bastions of femininity that my butch
mannerisms and bearing most often incited hor
ror. Can it be true that stray little dykes like I was-
dressed all wrong, acting all wrong, with our
hands firmly in other women’s-will never have to
suffer again? Just think of all the baby-dyke
grocery baggers stuffing Enquirers in with
someone’s groceries, who’ll stop in mid-act and
read that headline. Then quit and climb in their
little red dyke trucks with their cats, dogs and
signs: “Lesbianville or Bust!”
Horrified by a Northampton book shop that
sells “Just Say No to Men” buttons, the Enquirer
revealed, with sinister implications, that the store
I
Experience the simple elegance
of contemporary design.
Select from our collection of jewelry
by award-winning designers
or create a special piece
with our designer, *Jan Gordon.
The Real Mother Goose
Eastside_____
Portland Aimort
(503) 284-9929
A Shop ami Gallery
*Downtown
90l S.W. Yamhill
(503) 223-9510
n
0
Westside_______
Washington Square
i.™
(503) M 620-2243
D eni S tarr |
P S / A T T O R N E Y AT LAW
J u s t it ia V i
1 I
e t A rm is
Accidents and Injuries
Fam ily Law
Tenant rights
Em ploym ent Rights
Real Estate
W ills
Debt Collections
Nam e change/gender reassignm ent
Suite 521
408 SW Second
Portland, OR 97204
Accepts Visa & Mastercard
(503) 274-7006
High Level
Performance
In today's hot market, you
need a Realtor who is ex
perienced, efficient, and quick.
Whether buying or selling — 1
promise to put on my tennis
shoes for you.
I*
Scott
Scott Bottdro■ (503) 2) 4 1887a(5031287 9370
Bridgetown Realty
AMAZON
TRAIL
has a lesbian fiction section. How gratifying to
think that my books might be found there along
with all the other stories of gentle love between
women. The 28 Enquirer editors may not have
intended to pass the glad word through a defam
ing broadside that preys on its readers’ fears and
Their
weaknesses, but Lesbian Nation owes them one
standing ovulation for their work.
Even that cutesy appellation “Lesbianville”
tickles me. Doesn’t it sound like a great board
game from your youth? Candy Land was one of
my favorites. It was decorated with gumdrops
and candy canes-Lesbianville will be adorned
with strong-looking women and the symbols of
our culture: labrys, potluck paraphernalia, two-
steppin’, booted dyke couples.
When non-gay men spot women who are
obviously dykes, the reaction can escalate to
name-calling, violence or vilification in print. As
for women claiming space to live without men?
Dlegal! Isn’t it? Not yet. And the political power
of a community as large as this one unearthed by
the media ought to be scary. Peacefully, and in
great numbers, we are claiming our power.
My Pioneer Valley contact told me that what
she’s hearing from lesbians is a complaint that all
the journalists are approaching the story of
Lesbianville as bad news, as if the very mention of
women who live without men is akin to reporting
that Uzi-wielding terrorists are loose in America.
One Northampton man, the resident said, wrote a
letter to the editor complaining that the media
weren’t concentrating on the more positive as
pects of the city. Looks like he’s either going to
have to move-or open his eyes to see that we’re no
blight on the land.
The key to the unease of traditional straight
males seems to be the perceived unavailability of
women. I mean, we are created to be their
property, aren’t we? Other than the sight of gay
men, nothing scares these guys so much as the
sight of women enjoying one another. That must
be why the Enquirer finds it such an affront that
the lesbian fiction section of that book shop has “a
sign telling men to browse elsewhere.” What if all
those 10,000 sultry village vixens actually started
living what their “Just Say No to Men” buttons
preach?
Pioneer Valley is not an anomaly. Practically
every city has its lesbian neighborhood now.
Whole ZIP codes are coming to be known as good
places for us to live. This is no militant homo
sexual agenda, either. If we are claiming our
space, it’s simply because that space has been
denied us way too long.
What I’m doing to fight the OCA:
Paul Revere, with his simple act of mounting
a horse and spreading an alarm, contributed to
the defense of the foundations of our country. /
have a computer, not a horse, but I use my words
as warning shouts. Gay publications are the lan
terns during this new assault on our basic free
doms.
As often as I feel strong enough, I wear an anti-
OCA button on the streets o f Southern Oregon.
People ask what it means. I tell them. Join me.
Simple communication is powerful!
SEE US FOR ALL YOUR CO LLISIO N REPAIR NEEDS
AUTOBODY & PAINT INC.
(503) 232-3600
2454 E. BURNSIDE • PORTLAND, OR 97214
Family Owned & Operated Since 1952
■ GOLD
-G»
CLASS