.
¡ufyX 1398 J u t « r i 3
just out
The
IN publication for the OUT population
V o l . 15 N o .
17 J u l y
3,
1998
FEATURE
WEAVE THE ROSE— FRIENDSHIP SET TO MOSIC:
Queer square dancers from near and far kick
up their heels in the City of Roses
up 1 7 - 2 1
DEPARTMENTS
LOCAL NEWS • Lesbian Avengers national
gathering; Portland pride retrospective;
Dyke March on television news for first time
pp 5 - 0
NATIONAL NEWS • A look at pride events
across the nation; Supreme Court says ADA
protects HIV-positive people; Alaska governor
vetoes criminalization of HIV transmission,
while New York enacts statewide names
reporting
pp 1 1 - 1 4
WORLD NEWS • Two members of Britain’s
Parliament come out publicly; pope blasts non-
traditional families
p 15
COLUMNS
EDITORIAL
by
C h r is t o p h e r D . C u t t o n e
AMAZON TRAIL • Joining the lesbian literary
canon
p 33
I went to Lilith Fair. . .
ARTS
And all I got was this lousy rash. W hy bathroom equality should be a top priority
was
hen I first moved to the Pacific Northwest,
impressed by the prevalance of unisex bathrooms.
Here in Portland, I’ve found places with more than
one unisex bathroom side by side, suggesting that the
forced sharing is intentional.
W hat are the benefits of unisex bathrooms and why would a business
owner choose to have two mixed-gender facilities rather than one of
each? Well, first there’s the urine. I’ve been a man all my life, and I’ve
been publicly gay long enough to know the way men behave in places
women don’t go. Two of the top three most disgusting bathrooms I’ve ever
had the misfortune to visit were in gay bars, and nine of the top 10 most
disgusting bathrooms I’ve seen were exclusively male. Despite the mil
lions of years of evolution that went into designing the flexible hose men
use to expel liquid waste, it’s apparently rather difficult to aim accurately.
Unless the bathroom is unisex, that is.
W hile I whole-heartedly support the theory and practice of unisex
bathrooms, I am frankly amazed when I see a woman who dares to use the
men’s room. It’s not the transgression of social norms that leaves me non
plussed, though; it’s the unimaginable courage and/or desperation I sense
behind her willingness to enter such a disgusting, stench-filled place.
Even I don’t want to go in there sometimes!
There is, of course, the hover method. But is it fair that women are
forced to urinate in an awkward position while men are provided with
facilities uniquely suited to their body’s form and function? Is it acceptable
that a few Portland gay bars I could name don’t even have a women’s
bathroom? And is it reasonable that so many public accommodations sup
STONEWALL RADY • The astrological
significance of Stonewall’s— and the
author’s— 29th year
P 32
ply twice as many options for men (including urinals and toilets) as for
women (who have only toilets, and not, as one might suppose, twice as
many toilets as in the men’s room)?
I was recently at the first day of the Lilith Fair tour, which took place
in Portland’s Civic Stadium. Although some men’s rooms had been
turned temporarily into women’s rooms, and in mockery of the feeble
assembly of port-a-potties, it didn’t take long for the crowd of women to
figure out there were plenty of unoccupied toilets in the men’s room. I
thought it was pretty cool to see men and women sharing the same bath
room, and during one trip 1 said so.
Later, once the lines of women waiting for the men’s room had grown
long too, I had the singular privilege of seeing a girl pee into a urinal. I
applauded and I thanked her for her courage. Not only did she have to
touch her skin to piss-splattered porcelain— aye, there’s the rash— she had
to deal with a few macho buttheads who couldn’t see the larger social sig
nificance of her action: She was fed up with a culture that doesn’t place
as much importance on her need to relieve her bladder as on men’s
analagous need. Why the hell should she have had to wait 45 minutes to
cop a squat while men didn’t have to wait at all?
It’s not uncommon for women to take a little longer in the restroom
than men do on an average trip, but that’s not why the women’s bathroom
always has a line. The point remains that there is not a level playing field.
If women need more time, there should be more facilities per capita for
them, because there will never be true gender equality until women can
pee at will, without waiting, without straining not to touch anything, and
with a feeling that their needs are equally valued by our culture.
PUBLISHER • Renée LaChance
REPORTERS • Patrick Collins, Rex Wockner
CREATIVE DIRECTOR • E. Ann Hinds
ASSISTANT PUBLISHER • Marty Davis
GRAPHIC DESIGN • Rupert Kinnard
NEW S BUTOR • Inga Sorensen
CALENDAR BUTOR • Debby Morgan
CONTRIBUTORS • Lee Lynch, Flora Sussely
ARTS AND BYTHTOUNM ENT BUTOR • Will O ’Bryan
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR • Meg Grace
OFFICE M ANA6BI • Michelle R. Knox
COPY EDITORS • Christopher D. Cuttone,
ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE • Marty Davis
DISTRIBUTION • Kathy Bethel, Michelle R. Knox,
Will O ’Bryan
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR • Christopher D. Cuttone
Marie Price, Renée Skrzypchak
PHOTOGRAPHER • Linda Kliewer
CINEMA • The Hanging Garden is clearly
Canadian; The Opposite o f Sex offers off-color
humor; The Delta gets down and dirty
pp 2 8 -2 B
MOSIC • Harvey Milk opera is good and good
for you
p 30
ENTERTAINMENT • Lea DeLaria steps on stage
in the musical C hicago ; Star Trek character not
coming out, for now
P 31
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