july 7 . 2Q Q Q • J l l S t O H L 3
by
R
upert
K
innard
The IN publication for the OUT population
F ounded
V o 1.
1983 •
17
J ay B rown
No.
17
and
R enée L a C hance
July
7,
2000
FEATURES
DIAGNOSING DR. LAURA: Gay activists’
campaign to end Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s
access to the airwaves
P 21
M ICHIGAN ON M Y M IN D : In praise of the
Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival
p 25
NEWS
NORTHW EST • Pride pictorial; Sen. Gordon
Smith helps hate crimes legislation; school
safety considered by Salemites; Pride Northwest
board shuffle; the Edge closes
pp 7 -1 3
NATIONAL • Supreme Court OKs Boy Scouts’
gay ban; Big Three automakers announce same-
sex partner benefits
pp 1 5 -1 6
WORLD • Brazil decrees spousal rights for
same-sex partners; reports from pride
celebrations around the globe
p 18
ENTERTAINMENT
& CULTU RE
CULTURE • Hanging out with peacocks
and dragons
p 35
Queer summer fun
P
39
THEATER • On Broadway with Jon Kretzu
p 36
GR0UP8 • Babes with rods
p 41
FILM S • DVDs enhance the Q quotient
p 42
A R T - Paul Arensmeyer speaks out
P 45
DIVERSIONS • Looking proud in Vancouver;
getting blue in Portland
Tolerating intolerance?
Our protests aren’t much different than the conservative right wing
boycotting Disney World over annual Gay Days or the protest against
advertisers on the television show Ellen a couple of years ago. Potential
television advertisers have the right to know the ideology within a show
An open letter to Oregonian columnist
to which they coasider offering financial support. We are exercising our
right to inform companies such as Procter (Si Gamble and United Airlines
David Reinhard
that, as citizens who choose to use their products and services, we might
not continue to do so if they support a television program that in any way
promotes intolerance for the way we love each other. And these potential
D e a r M r . R e in h a r d :
advertisers, in turn, have the right to decide to spend their money else
where.
strongly resent your cavalier comments in a recent column that
Are these tactics new to you? Is it incomprehensible to you that com
states: “Dr. Laura Schlessinger has said a few things about homosex
ments we’ve experienced as “hate speech” have actually resulted in
uality that gay rights activists don’t cotton to,” and “You might find
vicious beatings and religious zealots disrupting the funerals and memori
such intolerance odd from a community that relentlessly preaches
al
services attended by grieving families and friends of those who have
tolerance. But our would-be-muzzlers’ inability to abide, much less
died horrible deaths? How can you, in your right mind, imagine that we
celebrate, Dr. Laura’s diversity is not the most worrisome or harmful form
could “celebrate Dr. Laura’s diversity”— given that we truly feel the con
of intolerance on this issue these days.”
nection between her implied suggestion that gays are less than human and
Then you proceed to explain how the gay community is also intoler
occurrences of hate crimes that declare open season for gay bashers, as
ant of the so-called “reorientation or reparative therapies for homosexu
well as language that seriously affects the morale of queer
als— therapies to change a person’s sexual orientation that
youth to the point of suicide? Are you mad?
Schlessinger supports.”
How
can
you,
The benefits that homophobes think they
I have long accepted the fact that there will always
gain when they promote the idea that our
be some people who are so self-absorbed within
in yo u r right m ind, im agine that
sexual orientation is different because we
their own heterosexuality that they are not able
choose to be the way we are, as opposed to
we could "celebrate Dr. Laura's
to accept the extent to which others can be in
those hets who are bom that way, are
love with a person of the same sex. It is quite a
diversity"—
given
that
we
truly
feel
obvious. We understand that the push
different thing, however, to accept that people
to label our sexuality as “deviant behav
like you are not capable of realizing the dire
the connection between her im plied
ior" (that we have chosen) allows the
ramifications of Schlessinger’s assertions,
suggestion
that
gays
are
less
than
hum
an
less
secure heteros to demonize us and
which you seem to take so lightly.
goes so far as to imply that gay men are
Schlessinger has been quoted as saying, “I
and occurrences o f hate crimes that
more likely than hetero men to molest
call homosexual practices deviant.” What does
children.
To believe these things opens the
that mean? Kissing? Holding hands? Oral sex? Anal
declare open season fo r g a y
door to groups such as the Portland Fellowship
sex? Are these practices deviant when heterosexuals
bashers?
and their reported ability to transform gays into
indulge in them?
straights.
I can only conclude that belief in the possibility
Are you totally incapable of understanding that lesbians, gay
of such a change supports that great fear straight men have of losing their
men, bisexuals and trans people consider it worth protesting when a
tentative grip on heterosexuality and being being pulled into a world of
major part of ourselves is considered a “biological error”— which, in turn,
homosexuality.
has led some to believe that they have a license to brutally attack and
I hope you, Mr. Reinhard, can find it in your life to move beyond such
murder us?
a fear.. .at least enough to be able to think a little more clearly about what
The goal has never been to deny Schlessinger her freedom of speech.
should
or should not be tolerated by those who feel the profoundly painful
We all know (or should know) that such a freedom is not a simple con
injustice of being falsely vilified in the media.
cept and it does not mean that anything goes— hence the idea that, while
one might feel one has the right to yell “fire!” in a crowded theater when
there is no fire, that person damn well better be prepared to accept the
■ See Page 2 1 fo r coverage o f the ongoing battle between Eh. Laura Schles-
repercussions of such a dangerous deed. Schlessinger may have the right
singer and the activist organization StopD rLaura.com , as well as Portland'based
to say whatever she pleases, but her whining about the results is quite
KGW 'TV's plans to broadcast Schlessinger’s show in the fall.
unbecoming.
I
—
—
- —
p 46
____
COLUMNS
• The House of Light Villa Rose Residential
Care Facility officially opened June 18, but con
troversy and concern surrounded the care center
for people with AIDS.
M S . BEHAVIOR • Counseling the bi-curious
p 33
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• In the 1990 Portland Rose Festival
Association Starlight Parade, the float entered
by the Lesbian and Gay Coalition of Oregon
won the Queen’s Award, for the best illuminat
ed float in the noncommercial category. The
coalition’s float was reported to be the only
gay-identified float in a mainstream parade in
the United States. It was the second year the
coalition had an entry in the Starlight
Parade.
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• The lending library from A Woman’s
Place bookstore was acquired by Ladd’s
Editions bookstore, which continued to pro-
vide the lending service and the community bul
letin board.
• Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, co-founders of
Daughters of Bilitis and authors of
Lesbian/Woman, registered with the Human
Rights Campaign Fund’s National Family
Registry. The registry was intended to provide an
alternative “institution” to conventional mar
riage and an affirmation of the love, commitment
and support of lesbian and gay realtionships.
• “Homo-Genized,” billed as a lesbian and gay
performance festival, was presented by circa
NOW and Howie Baggadonutz at the Echo
Theatre during gay pride week. The results of les
bians and gay men working together to create an
evening of entertainment truly unified the audi
ence and iflade us all laugh, cry and think.
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