Just out ▼ oommlxr IS. 1902 ▼ IS
Ireue K. Hislop, reporter
It’s pronounced his-lop; his like the male
possessive pronoun and lop like rabbit ears, and
it’s Irish. I am a proud, queer, first-generation
Irish-Catholic, third-generation Swedish, Italian,
feminist, working-class, 25-year-old, socialist,
lacto-ovo-vegetarian. I
generally find it easier
to be out as a lesbian
than as a Catholic. A sa
child, I spent time in both
homeless shelters and
riding academies. As a
college student, I was
active with the Lesbian,
Gay and Bisexual Alli
ance speakers’ bureau.
The Student Insurgent,
the Women ’ s Center and
the Student Campaign
for Disarmament. I re
cently returned to Portland from Eugene where I
earned a bachelor of arts degree in journalism
from the University of Oregon in June 1991. I
also worked as reporter, volunteer coordinator
and editor for The Lavender Network until I
moved away. My inimitable partner and I will be
celebrating our fourth anniversary in November.
We own a small but ferocious dog. I don’t give a
damn what size anyone’s hypothalamus is; no
force on Earth could make me drink green beer,
and I hate writing about myself.
M eg 6race, formatter, ad representative
I am the second of six children bom 34 years
ago to an Irish dad and German mom. I ’ve made
Portland my home since 1987. I live with my
spouse, Anita Lacy, and two cats, Sappho, 11, and
Minka, 13, in a Mount
Tabor neighborhood.
When not selling ad
space for Just Out, I
teach the art of sax play
ing to students, aged 10
to 51. Teaching never
fails to cheer me up after
a bad day. You can also
find me jamming with
other jazz lovers when
ever the chance arises.
Jim Hunger, reporter
When Ariel asked me to write this profile, it
was the first time I ’d ever thought of myself as a
retread. I started writing for Just Out many years
ago, and returned this summer after a hiatus of
five or six years. Words have always been impor
tant to me. When I was growing up, books were
my friends and solace when there were no others,
as my dysfunctional, alcoholic, German Catholic
family moved around, following my dad’s job
changes. I was considered the family candidate
for the priesthood, developing an overweening
sense of morality and justice, with enough sexual
energy and penchant for buffoonery to render the
priesthood untenable. I was a flower child and a
radical activist in a vaguely artistic way. Halfway
through college I de
railed for a decade, com
ing to terms with my
sexuality and starting to
recognize a problem
with alcoholism before
becoming an English
teacher, and then a frus
trated fiction writer.
Nowadays I earn my
primary sustenance as a
newspaper distributor,
leaving precious little
time for more compelling pursuits, including writ
ing, working as a Personal Active Listener volun
teer with the Cascade AIDS Project, weight lift
ing, fixing up my house and entertaining my dog
Guinevere.
Matthew Nelsen, religion contributor
It has been two years
and two months since I
began compiling and
writing for Just Out. As
an ordained minister in
the United Church of
Christ, my work focuses
on ed u catio n o f the
churches on gay and les
bian issues and encour
aging the church to make
stronger statements of
justice.
L m Lynch, writer of “The Amazon Trail”
I write about dykes who reflect my own back
ground: one foot in the white working class, one
in the middle class. Like some of my characters,
my family is from Ire
land, France and En
gland and settled in the
Northeast and Northern
California. Although it
was bom in Just Out in
1986, “The A m azon
Trail” is now nationally
syndicated. My most
recent fiction is the novel
Morton River Valley, a
geographic sequel to
Dusty’ sQ ueenofH earts
Diner. I work in the
social services and live
happily ever after with singer and songwriter
Akia Woods in the large, vibrant and defiantly
progressive southern Oregon rural community.
Marilyn Davis, feature writer
Amanda Colorado, typesetter, ad representative
I am a queer-as-a-three-dollar-bill dyke les
bian who was raised in a dirt-poor alcoholic
household with eight siblings by a French-Cana-
dian Cherokee fundamentalist and a Scotch-Irish
Catholic. Spiritually I
am pagan, politically I
am radical as hell, ac
tively working for our
full civil rights and I
vote! I am the 44-year-
old mother o f a 24-year-
old son. My spouse of
five years is Pat Bates;
we share a house near
the ocean with five cats.
I have good self-es
teem and celebrate the
integrity, honesty and
courage that cause me
to live my personal credo every day: “I live each
day as cleanly, clearly and joyously as I know
Photct by Linde Carter: Ranée LaChence. Ariel Weterwomai. Irene M a p . Jbn rtngw . Mertyn Dente. Lindi O te r. linde Klewer
how. I walk the pentacle and act out of respect and
love for myself and for others. I do as I will and
I harm none.”
My next personal challenge is to focus aware
ness on the danger o f using words like "pedophile.”
Pedo means children andphile means love; this is
the word we use to describe those who sexually
abuse children! Yet queers are called homo-
sexuol, which denies that our unions are moti
vated by love. Please join me in challenging the
use of these words so that more accurate words
will become common.
I am the white, Anglo-Saxon daughter of a
Methodist minister, bom and raised in northeast
Ohio. A couple of years ago I moved West to
consummate a 12-year, passionate friendship with
m y lo v e r, w ho is a
metalsmith and painter.
I have a 19-year-old son
who visits summers and
holidays. H e’s one of
my favorite people.
I first appeared pub
licly as a writer when I
was 14. John F. Kennedy
had just been assassi
nated, and I read a poem
in his honor at the me
morial assembly in my
junior high school gym. The audience was rest
less. They passed notes and chewed gum.
But I kept on writing and making speeches.
Throughout the ’60s and ’70s I wrote anti-war
leaflets and made speeches at SDS rallies. The
Ohio National Guard shot at me in a parking lot at
Kent State. By the m id-’70s, inspired by the
W omen’s Movement and my Saturn return. I
came out as a lesbian and a poet. I write and
publish poetry, essays and feature articles for Just
Out. 1 read at poetry readings and teach college
English classes. Now that my hair is turning gray,
I find that the audience is more respectful.
Jim Van Dyke, aka Dr. Tantalus, music reviews
Occupation: attorney
Favorite comic book as
a kid: Superman
Last book read: Sex by
Madonna
Philosophical influence:
Prince
Spiritual advisor: J & B
H ousehold m em bers:
Faithful Companion and
Tasha, Countess d ’Stark
Age: between 30 and
death
Quote: "Louder. Faster. Pass out."
Linda Kliewer, photographer
I grew up in Virginia with a family attached to
the television industry and a country club. My life
was full of swimming and golf.
I was supposed to be
a debutante. My coming
out was, in fact, the cul
mination o f my white,
privileged. Republican
upbringing. I ’d known I
was different since I was
five. I do believe com
ing out is the most pow
erfu l actio n in any
queer’s life.
I am an artist and
documentari an-whether
behind a still camera, a
video camera or a film
camera. I believe in visibility.
Linda Carter, photographer
I am one o f the lucky
ones-raised in a “nor
mal” (what’s normal?),
white, caring, healthy,
loving Christian (the real
kind, not the religious
right) family. And it re
mained that way even
after I came o u t It’s for
the not-so-lucky that I
take pictures. I “speak”
better through my art and
photographs, hoping to
convey that “If you re
ally knew me (u s),
maybe you wouldn’t hate my (our) guts.”
Amante Caèorado. Photo by Unte Klewer: E Am Unita Photo by A riti Lacy Meg Grace. Photo by Q vtelopto Briecoe Lee Lynrfi ffiotoe ot Jte> Ven Dyke end Matiew Nteecn unknown.