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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 5, 1994)
4 ▼ augu st S. 1 9 0 4 ▼ Just o u t letters Not sympathetic Cards • Gifts Balloons • Gift wrap Journals • Pens • ETC. Presents of Mind 3633 SE Hawthorne 230-7740 Spend a weekend making music with Motherlode N.W. Women's Music Celebration presents Find the Music Within Sept. 9 - 1 1 , 1994 YM CA Camp Collins 7 mi. e. of Gresham on the Sandy River RSVP Vacations O liv ia Cruises Brazil '94 1939 SE Hawthorne Blvd 232-5944 * Guitar * Drumming *Song circles #Line dancing *Country 2-step * Saturday night open mic concert/dance $130 includes all workshops/events and food/lodging Reg. forms at It's My Pleasure, Cup & Saucer - or call1-(503)-266-3148 Your Mortgage Professional Committed to meet all your mortgage needs I’ll make your mortgage my priority MORTGÂGEI R E S O U R C E S To the Editor: C o n gratu latio n s and thanks to A riel Waterwoman for coming forward and denouncing NAM BLA for the pedophiles they are [Just Out, July 1, 1994]. As the nephew of such a man, now deceased, I feel the gay community has an urgent need to come down on these people for the exploit ers they are, and maybe help dispose of the myth concerning gay men and children. These men are not gay, they are simply different from what soci ety accepts and, thus, have found the gay commu nity sympathetic to their “ struggle.” I will not identify with this group simply due to their being different. Maybe at times in history, society has accepted exploitation o f children, whether sexual, as labor, or what have you. Even if this was true in the past, this does not make it acceptable for today’ s soci ety. What is needed is an unemotional (right) discussion o f the true age o f consent. How a 22- year-old having sex with a 17-year-old is different from a 40-year-old purchasing a 15-year-old for sex. Simply, there is no moral, relevant argument for letting a 40-year-old use a 10-year-old for his sexual pleasure. Richard Knittle Jr. Portland Ringing bells To the Editor: For a brief moment I thought that the editorial in the July 1 issue was written by an OCA member. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I agree with Ariel Waterwoman that sex with children is exploitation and evil and illegal. I also agree that N AM BLA is an organization that is not part o f my militant agenda for liberation. However, to say that, and I quote, “ I don’t recall that pedophiles have any right to civil liberties,” is wrong and dangerous. Civil liberties are nonnegotiable fundamental rights and not contingent on behavior. Does any of this ring a bell? Linda Shirley Portland Editor’s note: The editorial in question was refer ring to convicted pedophiles in prison. This wasn ’t made clear. Incarcerated individuals do have re stricted civil liberties. In defense of NAMBLA KAREN OBLUCK Pager 423-6587 • (503) 235-6789 700 NE Multnomah, Suite 1050 • Portland, OR 97232 Your Real Estate Professional Buying or selling your home is an important choice ... Let me guide you through the process To the Editor: I am writing about your editorial on NAM BLA. I disagree totally with what you say and doubt your facts stated in this tirade. Pedophiles do have rights even though they are criminals. For you to state that civil liberties do not cover someone is totally off-base. You need to get a good education about pedophiles and what they do. They are not exclu sively male, their behavior is not for sexual grati fication generally, but for power trips. Protection from abuse is one thing, punishing and name calling for those searching out their sexual identi ties and activities with consenting, knowledgeable others, without hanging up on the age difference, is something else. I do not know your sexual history, but I knew 1 was gay by the third grade and am thankful for the older gentlemen who taught me not only the facts o f life, but about life itself. The age o f consent has differed throughout time. Marriages were common between pre-teens and teen-agers, don’t you remember Romeo and Juliet? To believe that someone becomes an “ adult” at a certain age is stupid. I know some who were adults at 10 and others who never made it and are in their 60s. For you to jum p on the Christian paranoid bandwagon is to defeat our fight for civil rights. Splitting up into little groups destroys our ability to fight the true battle. The only one who can say “ I am ready for sex” is the person himself. Telling that person it has to be after a certain age, and only with an “acceptable” partner, is discriminatory. The only re-examination that needs to be done is your own bias and lack o f knowledge. Have you not young gays and lesbians to talk to? Did you wait until 21 to have a relationship? Come on, please do a better jo b o f investigating your facts and rewrite your editorial. ] hope that you do re-evaluate your position and see that you are doing no one except the religious right any good with editorials like this one. Jam es Dean Poynor Eugene Pride is for everyone To the Editor: I missed working at Lesbian and Gay Pride this year. I really wanted to do sound for our commu nity again on this special day, as I have for the last eight years. In fact, I had been hired by Pride Northwest to do so, but they reneged on my con tract at the last minute. The organizers chose to take a last-minute offer from someone to do sound for free. They didn’t even approach me about the possibility o f my doing sound for free this year, to help them out. This, after they were already obligated to me, and two weeks out from the event, making it impossible for me to find substitute employment, thus putting a huge hole in my summer income. To make matters worse, Pride Northwest, Inc., flip- flopped— I was hired, I wasn’t hired, I was hired, I wasn’ t hired. It was clear they didn’t have a clue what they were doing. Secondly, it disappointed me greatly. Doing sound for our community, and for this event in particular, is the highlight o f my year, making all the sore muscles, and sweaty work for others, somehow bearable. I love my work and am good at it. What I am not good at is being treated unfairly or dishonestly. I am.saddened and angered about the treatment REPORT HOMOPHOBIC VIOLENCE SEE US FO R ALL YOUR C O L L ISIO N REPA IR NEEDS Q CELIA J. LYON R ofessionals •wnr«am M % (503) 786-4959 • 653-9720 x284 • Pager 833-8314 ■too mm ««ro N »’ 2454 E. B U R N S ID E • P O R T L A N D , O R 97214 Family Owned & Operated Since 1952 l-QR GOLD CLASS P R O F E S S IO N A L S