2 ▼ a u g u s t 1 0 . 1 9 9 6 ▼ ju s t o u t
just out
since 1 983
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PUBLISHER AND EDITOR
contents
VOL. 13 NO. 20 AUGUST 16,1996
Renée LaChance
ASSISTANT PUBUSHER
Ten Ventura
FEATURE
COPY EDITOR
Kelly M. Bryan
The dog days of
summer
REPORTERS
Inga Sorensen
Bob Roehr
Rex Wockner
Human and canine friends of
people with AIDS turn out
for a benefit event at
Laurelhurst Park
(p. 19)
CALENDAR EDITOR
Kristine Chatwood
PHOTOGRAPHER
Linda Kliewer
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Meg Grace
ADVERTISING REPS
DEPARTMENTS
C. Jay Wilson Jr.
Marty Davis
World news
South African Airways tells
gays: When your husband
flies, you fly for free
(P- 5)
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
E. Ann Hinds
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Rupert Kinnard
FORMATTER
Christopher Cuttone
TYPESETTER
Christopher Cuttone
DISTRIBUTION
Kathy Bethel
Rachel Ebora
Darla Meyer-Sims
Donald Rogers
Megan Weber
CONTRIBUTORS
Bonnie Ruth Beebe
Kristine Chatwood
Cathay Che
Richard Shumate
Daniel Vaillancourt
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The Lesbian Community Project’s 11th annual softball competition, Tournament o f Choice, held Aug. 3-4, had winners
in four divisions. "Northend Madness "from Olympia, Wash., took the Blue Division; "Jo M ama’s Girls "from Seattle took
the Green Division; "Thirteen Nice Girls” from Olympia won the Red Division; and the "Just Out-Circle Healthcare
Adjusters" from Portland took the Purple Division. "The Furies” are shown here playing fo r second place in the Red
Division. Terry Gruvelle o f Portland’s "CHAOS" won the Barbara Martin Sports Award.
guest editorial
The politics of outing
We as a country are obsessed with the either/or, the starkness o f a dichotomy
that admits no gray continuum between polarities
by Bob Roehr
he current flurry of “outing” activities raises anew
that perennial question of who is gay and who is
not. Is it biology? Is it acts? Is it a social construct?
Is it the opinion of others? Or is it self-identity and
affirmation?
U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) was recently pressed out of
the closet, and now Republican vice presidential nominee Jack
Kemp is being reported in mainstream and gay media as
“rumored” to be gay.
Adolph Hitler believed that having a Jewish maternal grand
mother made a peson Jewish, even if he or she never practiced
that faith. It was enough to get a person sent to the gas chamber.
A single assertion of same-sex activity can erase decades of
marriage and the presence of children—which logically would
suggest, at most, the label of bisexual. We as a country are
obsessed with the either/or, the starkness of a dichotomy that
admits no gray continuum between polarities.
The recent spate of outing of members of Congress asserts
a number of things. First that the person has committed homo
sexual acts, second that he or she is a member of the gay
community, and third that he or she must therefore adhere to a
specific dogma on particular legislation.
I may be titillated by accusations of acts, but that is grist for
entertainment, not public policy. Nor is it identity. And acts
certainly are not the definition of community. That is a lie of
small-minded opponents who slander our community in an
attempt to reduce it to nothing more than acts—and then outlaw
those acts. Community is based upon free association, not the
labeling of another.
The third leap is the longest: that all members of the gay
community must categorically believe certain things. In this
T
case, they must oppose the Defense of Marriage Act regardless
of other views or perceived obligations. To do anything less is
deemed hypocritical and worthy of the sanction of outing.
That belies one of the most prevalent mantras of the gay and
lesbian community, our claim of diversity. It also ignores the
debatable question of whether elected officials represent and
vote their consciences or their constituencies.
It seems ironic, but perhaps the Pentagon got it right with
“don’t ask, don’t tell” when it said that people who utter the
words “I am gay” are gay, and all others are subject to some
element of suspicion. Under the policy people can go to gay
clubs, march in gay parades, even engage in homosexual sex
and still not be gay.
But people who say “I am gay” are held to be so, even if they
are virgins bereft of a single homosexual act. Perhaps that is the
right standard to hold. Perhaps what matters most is how people
think of themselves.
I hold no desire to publicly expose elected officials who are
carnal homosexuals but who run from the community. What I
dearly do want is more openly gay public officials, ones who
acknowledge the community, draw strength from it and give
back to it. Such relationships do not grow out of abuse and
disrespect, they are built over time, through positive effort.
Gay is a word of pride, not of shame. It can be claimed and
proclaimed but not imposed. To force the label upon another is
to besmirch the word and its namer; it says little about the one
to whom it is attached.
Bob Roehr is a freelance journalist based in Washington,
D C. He contributes to many lesbian and gay newsmagazines
including Just Out.
National news
The gay and lesbian visitors
center got a 9.9 at the
Olympics, but the organizers
are left will a big tab; another
Republican congressman is
out; new federal laws bring
cheers and fears
(PP- 6-11)
Local news
Judge orders the state and
OHSU to offer health benefits
to gay and lesbian domestic
partners; the Oregonian will
now print same-sex wedding
announcements; do feminist
and gay-rights supporters
in Lane County share
common ground with
Promise Keepers?
(PP- 12-17)
ARTS
Media
Actor-playwright David
Drake talks about his new
role as editor o f POZ
(p. 27)
Cinema
Jenny Shimizu stokes the
blaze of Foxfire
(p. 28)
Books
Emma Donoghue 's second
novel, Hood, proves that
lesbian literature is alive
(p- 29)