O R .CO LL.
KEEPING
+HE
FAI+H
I
T
he acoustic environment has changed. Like
Quasimodo, thousands of queer Oregonians are
plagued by the bells. According to the Portland
Salvation Army’s public relations office, there are 420
Salvation Army kettles in the Portland metropolitan
region.
We’re charitable people, we give a lot. But this seasonal
tradition understandably leaves us hedging. “Is the
Salvation Army anti-queer P* we ask ourselves. They say
they don’t discriminate, but they lost their contract with
the city of San Francisco over queer issues.
It’s like a million other debates that illustrate the pre­
carious position of queers and spirituality. Some use it to
attack us, some of us use it to attack ourselves, and some of
us escape persecution via spirituality. Whether you have a
spiritual faith or not, there’s no denying that spirituality
influences the queer community mightily, for better or
worse.
Just Out has profiled some of the people in our commu­
nity with strong feelings about their own spirituality.
There’s a long list of queer supportive spirituality groups in
the area, so it wasn’t difficult to find people to talk to.
Kudos to the Court
The Oregon Court of Appeals gives gay
folks plenty of cheer
by I nga
F
S orensen
our-year-old Jacob Chickadonz rested on his par­
ent’s lap serenely noshing a cookie, while his sis­
ter Katie, 7, roosted in a seat of her very own,
entranced in her reading material.
The siblings gave scant notice to the television
cameras that soaked in their little images, nor did
they seem moved by the slew of reporters poised
before them tossing questions at their mothers and
their moms’ attorney.
“You mean all those (same-sex couples) who are
getting married don’t get the same rights?" inquired
one television reporter.
“Are you now going to mount an assault on the
private sector?" asked another.
What was difficult was finding non-Christians. In some
ways, organized queer spirituality is still new. For example,
queer Muslims reportedly held their first international
gathering just this year with an expected crowd of only 60
people. And what of Hindus? We don’t know of any queer
Hindu groups. At least not in Oregon.
Accordingly, the following profiles reflect the general
makeup of queer spirituality in our back yard. There are, of
course, infinite variations and possibilities. Here are just a
few.
Continued on page 1 7
From left: attorney C arl K iss; Christine Tanner;
Barbara Limandri; L isa, Jacob and Katie Chickadonz
“What about same-sex roommates, will this apply
to them?”
The tenor and content of the questions highlight­
ed the widespread ignorance in the mainstream
media when it comes to the issue of rights for gay
men and lesbians.
Still, while the queries were jolting to the more
well-versed in queer life, it really didn’t seem to mat­
ter much at this particular— and beautifully his­
toric— moment.
On Dec. 9, the Oregon Court of Appeals issued a
ruling stipulating that all state and local governments
in Oregon must offer spousal benefits to the same-sex
domestic partners of their employees.
The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit by three les­
bian employees at Oregon Health Sciences
University who claimed their domestic partners were
entitled to benefits. The unanimous three-judge
panel said denying the benefits violated the equal
protection provisions of the Oregon Constitution.
C o n tin u ed on page 4