2 ▼ n o v e m b e r 7, 1 9 9 7 ▼ ju s t o u t
just out
s in c e 1 9 8 3
steppin* out
PUBLISHER AND EDITOR
Renée LaChance
V O L. 15 N O . I NOVEM BER 7,1997
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Kelly M. Bryan
FEATURES
N EW S EDITOR
Inga Sorensen
Getting the word out
REPORTERS
Bob Roehr
Rex Wockner
The rocky road to
Just Out’s success
(P- 22)
EDITORIAL ASSOCIATES
Christopher D. Cuttone
Will O ’Bryan
Black and white and
lavender all over
CALENDAR EDITOR
Kristine Chatwood
PHOTOGRAPHER
Linda Kliewer
A brief history of Oregon’s
queer oress
(p. 23)
DEPARTMENTS
OFFICE MANAGER
Will O ’Bryan
World news
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Meg Grace
Japanese lesbians (and a few
drag queens) stage the
country’s first dyke march
(P- 4)
ADVERTISING REP
Marty Davis
National news
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
E. Ann Hinds
They held ENDA hearings in
the U.S. Senate but the
opposition didn 7 show
(pp. 5-11)
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Rupert Kinnard
PRODUCTION
Christopher D. Cuttone
Local news
ed ito rial
DISTRIBUTION
Kathy Bethel
Marcia Cook
James Galluzzo
Clancy Johnston
Valerie Lutz
Retta Offinga
Jeminie Shell
Robert Acremant
gets death sentence
(pp. 15-21)
COLUM NS
Reasons for hope
Le a v e s of crass
CONTRIBUTORS
The AIDS Writers Group
Tom Cook
Lee Lynch
Lisa McCormack
Suzanne Sigmund
Flora Sussely
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contents
I
Access HIV/AIDS information
on the Internet
(p. 13)
Stonewall baby
’Tis the season of catalogs, whose glossy pages
make promises that won yt deliver
▼
Be thankful you ’re not home
for the holiday
(p. 37)
by Bob R oeh r
Amazon trail
t’s that time of year again, when catalogs fall through the
mail slot even faster than leaves from the trees. They
dazzle and seduce, photos gleaming from their shiny
pages. Spend money, they whisper. With us, they im
plore with faux friendliness. You will be sexy and have
washboard abs if you just wear our underwear, they
People will love you if you give them our products, they
intimate.
It all began quite simply. A friend once sent me a thank-you
gift of English muffins for hosting him and his lover over the
weekend. Mom indulged me with a particular sweater. And I
subscribe to several gay magazines. From those small mail
order seeds has grown an effluence that multiplies like gerbils
in heat.
Now l can deck the halls from L.L. Bean to Land’s End,
selecting tasteful wreaths, button-down shirts and duck boots.
The big news this year is in turtlenecks. There’s a new color—
persimmon—to add to the rainbow of existing hues. But I’ll
probably stick to my traditional anguish: choosing between
white and oatmeal.
“Uncut.” Yes, that italicized headline caught my eye. I’m
being offered The Complete Arabian Nights, “Uncut, uncen
sored.” And in leather too. Not “bonded” leather, but “genuine
leather,” accented with 22kt gold. Each of the 17 monthly
installments is only $49.75. Now that’s a fantasy.
Perhaps my favorite catalog is the one schlepping a Christ
mas tree ornament. It’s purported to be of Dorothy and Toto,
in scintillating brown and beige. The bauble is only $44. Such
a deal. And $5 is donated to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance
Against Discrimination. Now that’s the spirit of Christmas,
forced philanthropy. I love it when people make decisions for
me so that they can feel good about themselves.
These products are made in a number of countries, including
China. That’s a place where the leaders don’t believe they have
coo.
gay people. And they don’t allow the deluded ones who think
they are lesbian or gay to meet in public. And they are likely to
ship many such poor souls off for “re-education.”
Maybe “Dorothy” was produced by child laborers making
sub-minimum wages, or maybe in one of those Red Army prison
camps. You know, the ones where people who are about to be
executed have their organs “harvested” for sale on the interna
tional transplant market. No, we aren’t in Kansas anymore,
though a kidney or a cornea may well be.
Personally, I can’t think of a token more expressive of the
season or more representative of ending anti-gay discrimination
and violence than this ornament.
Because I’m a reporter somebody thinks I want a T-shirt
saying, “Will write for food.” Silly direct marketer, that’s poets
and novelists. Journalists write for beer or booze, and in the old
days, cigarettes.
Then there is the fruit-of-the-month club. Being a single gay
man I have another type of fruit in mind, and judging from my
recent sex life, once a month would be a vast improvement from
the status quo. But alas, what I’m craving does not seem to be
among the mass of dead printed and stapled trees before me.
And if such a catalog should appear I probably couldn’t afford
the shipping and handling, let alone the purchase price.
I think I’ll go rake leaves.
The coast is clear. For now.
(P- 38)
ARTS
Books
The legendary Quentin Crisp
brings us his wilting wit; After
Nirvana gets on your nerves
(pp. 29, 36)
Cinema
A kinder, gentler trip
to the movies
(P- 31)
Theater
Say I do to Tony ’n’ Tina’s
Wedding; brush up
your Shakespeare at
Theater! Theatre!
(pp. 33-34)
Entertainment
PICA casts Pearls for Pigs
before Portland audiences
(p. 35)