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just out ▼ august 2, 1906 ▼ 3
letters
No affirmative action
for queers
To the Editor:
An ad that recently ran in Just Out with the
headline “The City of Portland and Multnomah
County are hiring,” contained information about
affirmative action that is very misleading to the
GLBT community.
I decided to visit that office in City Hall after
seeing the ad, in which it states: “The City/County
Affirmative Action Recruitment Unit actively
recruits individuals that reflect the diversity of the
City/County workforce for enrollment in the Tal
ent Bank.”
If, like me, you [take that to mean ] there is
affirmative action in city/county hiring for gay
men and lesbians, you would be mistaken. I found
out otherwise when I went to fill out the affirma
tive action paper work, which only has boxes to
check for ethnic minorities like African Ameri
can, Hispanic, Native American, Asian, etc. There
is no place to indicate you are gay, lesbian, bi
sexual or transgender.
When I asked a person in the office about this,
they said while the city and county do not dis
criminate in hiring, on the other hand, they could
not legally even ask if one is gay or lesbian.
Therefore, there is no affirmative action hiring for
our community, the person said.
Since this is the case, I think the ad needs to be
rewritten to reflect this policy. Maybe Just Out
could also look into this matter, as the ad misrep
resents the facts of city/county hiring policies.
David Batterson
Beaverton
Garvey’s predicament
is his own making
To the Editor:
In response to the guest editorial by the Rev.
Roy A. Cole [Just Out, July 5, 1996], I do not
agree that the “deafening silence” of the gay
community regarding the plight of police com
mander Mike Garvey indicates a lack of support
and compassion for Garvey.
I personally like Mike, who is one of my
former students. I hear many gay men and lesbi
ans expressing sincere concern for Garvey. How
ever, if he is guilty, his predicament is his own
making.
I believe that most of us sympathize with
Mike, but we do not feel a need to defend him
just because he is gay. Although many of us do
not see the alleged hiring of a prostitute as
something so serious that it should destroy Mike’s
long and distinguished career, heterosexual as
Medical Malpractice
&
well as homosexual police officers are disci
plined and fired for this offense because they
have broken a law, while their role is to enforce
laws. (Didn’t this just happen to a heterosexual
Gresham police officer a few weeks ago?) It
would be different if Garvey were a plumber
instead of a policeman!
This is not about “sexual ethics for gay men,”
“anxiety about appropriate sexual activity,” or
“cultural confusion.” It is not merely a matter of
support and comfort of one of our own. It is about
police department regulations and the law. We
are not accusing or abandoning Mike Garvey. We
are simply waiting to see if he is found guilty of
inappropriate behavior and if he will be subjected
to the appropriate disciplinary action which would
be administered regardless of the sexual orienta
tion of the officer involved. If Mike is treated
unfairly because he is gay, then we should come
to his defense.
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To the Editor:
I believe in giving credit where credit is due.
I’ve been complaining to you about your lack of
coverage of the local gay and lesbian community
for years. I complained that you had ignored my
achievements in the field of video production,
events such as “Peacock in the Park,” and out
standing members and institutions of our local
community, while focusing a sharp eye on na
tional and international news of interest to our
community.
Over the last few months I ’ ve noticed a marked
shift in Just Out, in that you are now mobilizing a
lot more of your resources here at home in this
community. Your coverage of “Peacock in the
Park” was wonderful, as was your feature story
last month about the embattled City Nightclub.
Your support for Rupert Kinnard was heartwarm
ing. You even shared my latest achievement in
video production by announcing that I had won
the Award of Excellence from the Alliance for
Community Media in the Music Video category.
I imagine that must have been hard, given how
I’ve treated you over the years.
For the record, I stand corrected in my doubts
about your dedication to this community. Your
performance over the last several months has
dramatically changed my viewpoint about Just
Out. I wanted you to know that I noticed the
changes you have made and the efforts you con
tinue to make toward being the finest document of
our community’s life in the great Northwest.
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