2 ▼ m a rch 7. 1 9 9 7 ▼ ju s t o u t
just out
s in c e 1 9 83
PUBLISHER AND EDITOR
Renée LaChance
contents
step pin’ out
VOL 14 NO. 9 MARCH 7,1997
COPY EDITOR
FEATURES
Kelly M. Bryan
REPORTERS
Inga Sorensen
Boh Roehr
Rex Wockner
Power =
Empowerment
CALENDAR EDITOR
The first season o f the first
national women’s basketball
league is a triumph—even if a
certain team did place last
Kristine Chatwood
PHOTOGRAPHER
Linda Kliewer
■
H
im
(p. 20)
■■■■■
OFFICE MANAGER
Profile
Cory Murphy
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Holly Mulcahey spreads the
gospel o f sexual self-
acceptance
Meg Grace
(p 31)
ADVERTISING REPS
C. Jay Wilson Jr.
Marty Davis
DEPARTMENTS
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
World news
E. Ann Hinds
Gay contingent marches in
Colombian Carnival parade
GRAPHIC DESIGN
(p
Rupert Kinnard
FORMATTER
National news
Christopher D. Cuttone
NIH panels conclude that
medical marijuana merits further
research and that politicians are
impeding HIV prevention efforts;
five are hurt in bombing o f
lesbian bar in Atlanta
(PP- 7-13)
TYPESETTER
Christopher D. Cuttone
DISTRIBUTION
Kathy Bethel
Rachel Ehora
Darla Moyer-Sims
Donald Rogers
Megan Weber
CONTRIBUTORS
Christopher D. Cuttone
Anndee Hochman
Lee Lynch
Will O’Bryan
Dale Reynolds
Richard Shumate
Hastings Wyman Jr.
Local news
Sexual minority rights issues
swirl around Washington
Legislature; journalist Sandy
Nelson loses court battle
guest editorial
(pp. 14-19)
I can't hear you
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6)
Queer activist voices in Portland are being silenced
have we let homophobia and the mainstream get us down?
—
▼
by D iana Courvant
COLUMNS
View from here
What could a ‘ post-AIDS ’’
era look like?
(P- 4)
Eye hard right
A cavalcade o f far-right cutups
(p- 5)
s a queer woman in Portland, I have been involved
in many direct actions. But when I joined the
Lesbian Avengers a few years ago, I seem to have
gotten in on the tail end of a glorious streak. At one
point the Avengers were working on so many
actions simultaneously that it was impossible for one woman to
be involved in them all. Lately, actions have been scarce, and
the number of people going to meetings has been small. A co
worker who was kicked out of an apartment after her mother
outed her to the manager thought that the Avengers were only
in Corvallis. Friends from the Corvallis Avengers have com
plained more than once that they can’t seem to get hold of the
Portland Avengers through their hot line.
The Avengers aren’t the only activists who seem to be
slowing down. Margaret O ’ Hartigan. who never seemed to shy
away from a good fight before, has recently taken the position
that she would prefer that the Oregon Legislature remain
ignorant of the state of civil rights protections for transsexuals
lest it decide to remove the few protections transsexuals do have
(which cover only on-the-job discrimination, not housing or
public accommodations). ACT UP is planning a national 10th
anniversary action in New York City, but seems to be silent
here. The only Portland direct action that I have heard of
recently was the protest of Willamette Week's biphobic per
sonal ads policies by Portland Bisexual Alliance and LABIA.
The state Legislature is considering legislation to invalidate
queer marriages at the same time it is considering workplace
A
protections lor sexual orientation. The Oregonian continues to
report male-male sexual abuse as front-page news, but buries
male-female abuse in the Metro pages. Queers are still being
harassed and stalked in Northeast Portland and elsewhere.
There is no shortage of topics to be angry about, but our
community seems to have lost its ability to voice anger. Is this
an illusion? Are we simply giving our own activism less press
or public acknowledgment? Are we simply tired after years of
fighting the Oregon Citizen’s Alliance? Or is mainstream
society now treating queers so well that we’d rather take what
we get than rock the boat?
More and more often, I hear our public figures speaking of
political reality as a reason to silence ourselves. Are protease
inhibitors, the death of the OCA and same-sex marriage in
Hawaii enough? Have we decided that it is counter-productive
to ask for what we deserve: full equality, an end to harassment,
and media free of heterosexism? Will our allies refuse to work
with us if we let the world know that we want more than Newt
Gingrich or Brady Adams are willing to give?
Portland’s queer community will always grow and change.
These days it’s more Cascade AIDS Project, less ACT UP;
more Lesbian Community Project, less Lesbian Avengers. Is
this what we want? Is it time for direct action's street death?
Now is the time to ask the question. LCP’s loss of executive
director LaVeme Lewis and Phoenix Rising's funding crunch
mean that Portland may find its institutional voice quieted at the
same time that its activist voice is growing hoarse.
Stonewall baby
Buy here! Queer-friendly for a price
(P- 33)
Amazon trail
She s a hat kinda woman
(p. 34)
ARTS
Cinema
Substance of Fire packs a pithy
punch; johns looks at the lives o f
young male street prostitutes
(pp. 27-29)
Entertainment
John Trudell writes his
"SpokenWord” in your heart;
the Rosebud and Thorn
Pageant turns 21
(P 31)