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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 5, 1995)
I 22 ▼ may 9. 1999 ▼ juat out M ore T han a L esson Great Gifts for Mother’s Day and Graduation Great gifts of glass, jewelry, wood, fiber, and clay by America’s best A rt glass vase and perfume vials by Thames St. Studio The Real Mother Goose A Shop and Gallery in Portland, Oregon lust side D o n in o m i Westside O ur m arket is hot Alameda a Ridge English $ ; 259,000 4111 NE Alameda my properties SOLD FAST. are thinking SELLING G, me first! -1115 Don’t know much about (gay and lesbian) history? Neil Miller has the remedy . ▼ by Andrea L.T. Peterson way of stating them. n his new book, Out o f the Past: Gay and Out o f the Past is concrete evidence of the Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present, benefits of a fresh perspective. Although Miller is author Neil Miller illustrates how “Within a short period of time, a stigmatized iden not really saying anything new, his work is not redundant. He has organized the history of gay tity and sexuality— condemned by most men and lesbians— even before they comprised established religions, declared ‘sick’ by psychia an actual movement, not only in this country, but try, ridiculed by popular culture— has become around the world— in such a way that readers may ‘gay,’ taken on a positive, even celebratory as gain new insights and find previously held no pect, and emerged as the basis of a community tions challenged. and culture.” It is incredible to find, in the words of early gay rights advocates, the same arguments used today to impress upon the world the need for not just tolerance of gay men and lesbians, but for accep tance and equality. The bottom line is that, in the big picture, the Miller previously authored In Search o f Gay gay and lesbian movement has made enormous America (winner of the 1990 American Library strides in a relatively short period of time— Association prize for lesbian and gay nonfiction especially in the United States. As Miller states, and the Lambda Literary Award) and Out in the “[I]n any historical survey of lesbians and gay World: Gay and Lesbian Life from Buenos Aires to Bangkok. With his new book, Miller has taken men, it is hard not to be optimistic.” In the 1870s there was no on an immense challenge, “gay,” there was no “homo in a decade when literally dozens of volumes have sexual” identity. Homosexu als were either sick, criminal been published in an at or incorrigible sinners. While tempt to create— from the notions of homosexuality as various oral histories of a sickness prevail among a the gay and lesbian past— few, while the law still seeks a written chronicle of a people who seem to have to prosecute some who vio nothing more in common late surviving sodomy laws, than their sexual orienta and while Judeo-Christian- tion. ity—in almost all of its mani festations—retains the belief Out o f the Past is ab that homosexuality is sinful, solutely loaded: covering everything from law, psy the American Psychology chiatry and “the church” Association considers homo to the media, the publish sexuality an illness, most ing and film industries and states and countries world sports. wide consider consensual sex M iller’s book is so among same-gender adults a crammed with details that matter of personal privacy, it makes for a fairly slow and most denominations read. Plans to read Out o f have subgroups that support the Past should include lesbian and gay rights. plenty of time—to read As M iller illustrates, and to process. In spite of it’s being exhaustive, though swift in historical terms, change is slow on the book is not exhausting. In fact, because it is so a human scale— too slow for those who want to thorough— and because Miller has included ex serve in the military and far too slow for those cerpts from dozens of legal documents and politi infected with HIV. cal statements, great works of literature, and state Out o f the Past will, without a doubt, serve as ments on freedom and sexuality from some of the the perfect introduction to gay and lesbian his greatest minds of the last 125 years— his book is tory— or as a great supplement for those who have riveting. read everything in print to date. In her recent address at OutWrite ’95, Essence magazine senior editor Linda Villarosa reminded Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from her audience that anything they might want to 1869 to the Present by Neil Miller. Vintage Books, write had already been written. She admonished 1995; $16 paperback. Miller will read from his them, however, to write anyway. Regardless of book at 7 pm Saturday, May 13, at Broadway how often the same notions had been voiced, she Books, 1714 NE Broadway in Portland. Call said, any individual present would have a unique 284-1726fo r more information. I G uest C horeographers O ffer B road S pectrum of D ance as L ife Crvmn&Capian RgahyGroup ronin & Caplan Realty Group, Inc. • 225-1115 • VM 497-5211 2078 N W Everett St. • Portland, O R 97209 The Oregon Ballet Theatre is bringing five of the nation’s most creative and innovative chore ographers to Portland for its fifth annual Ameri can Choreographers Showcase to be held May 12 through 21 in the Intermediate Theatre of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. Those choreographers are Lynn Cote, resident choreographer for The Washington Ballet, who combines classical and contemporary elements in her works; Fabrice Lemire, who most recently choreographed the Portland Opera’s Tales o f Hoffman; John Selya, who dances and choreo graphs for New York’s American Ballet Theater; and Josie Moseley, who has been nominated for San Francisco’s prestigious Isadora Duncan Dance Award. Tickets for the American Choreographers Showcase can be obtained by calling the OBT ticket office at 222-5538 and all Ticketmaster outlets at 224-4400. Prices range from $8 to $60. Several other OBT events related to this show will be held throughout May. For further information, call OBT at 241-8316. Compiled by Inga Sorensen
