pnout
Auto, Home, Life & Business
“Your Independent Insurance Agency”
3UEB3
Elliott, Powell, Baden & Baker, Inc.
Marc Baker • Mary Miller
Downtown Portland
c
A -
.
5 A r t
r
- ,
C O
(503) 227-1771
www.epbb.com
i
I IT'S A HAPPENIN' THING!
I
|
COOL GARDEN * ART * GIFTS
FOR THE FAMILY
OPEN MON - SAT IO TIL 7 SON IO 'TIL S
1305 NE FREMONT
(JOSI DOWN PROM NATURE'S)
D ignified P et S ervices
Cremation A Memorials For Your Companion
QnecU Qiji Odea
Som eone y o u jßooe l i t Ito «Mai
J lo it A P et
On-line
Companion Memorial
@
www.DignifiedPetServices.com
(check'us out)
8976 SW Tualatin Sherwood Road
Tualatin OR 97062
Phone (503) 885-2211
www.DignifiedPetServices.com
W here is the outrage?
To
the
E ditor :
A special thanks to Just Out and its publish
er, Marty Davis, for coordinating the forum with
Portland Police Chief Mark Kroeker and mem
bers of the sexual minorities community
Dec. 11.
That there is not enough public outrage to
force his resignation underscores the marginal
ization of sexual minorities in our society. The
truth is, we do not yet enjoy the same status of
other oppressed groups, such as ethnic and reli
gious minorities.
Had Kroeker made equally disparaging
remarks about Jews or blacks, his termination
likely would have preceded any thought of res
ignation. It is not yet politically incorrect to
defame, discriminate against or even bash gays.
That is why the general public allows Kroek
er to stand behind the cloak of religious freedom
when we ask him to retract his comments of
years ago. That is why he will remain our chief.
W hat disturbs me even more than this bla
tant reminder of our second-class status from the
heterosexual majority is the complacency
among many in the sexual minority. Before, dur
ing and after the Dec. 11 chat with Kroeker, I
heard support for the chief from some of my gay
brethren based on his right to hold personal reli
gious beliefs.
You are degrading yourself and the rest of the
gay community if this is what you believe. The
chief of police is a leader and role model; there
fore, any visible display of prejudice or intoler
ance on his part gives license to his officers to
exploit their own prejudices on the job when
dealing with gay citizens.
As a civic leader, Kroeker also validates homo-
phobic sentiments in the community at large. By
failing to retract his comments of a decade ago, he
unwittingly has declared himself an unjust leader,
and it is our duty to point that out to the world if
we value our rights and our dignity.
It is also unfortunate that Mayor Vera Katz
did not have the courage to stand by us in our
time of need. Despite lingering calls for his res
ignation, Kroeker, with her full support, will
remain on the job.
Our community must base further action on
an acceptance of that reality if we expect to
make constructive progress. The best tactic is to
maintain an active dialogue with Kroeker, con
tinually demonstrating the negative impact of
his beliefs on our community. This dialogue
should be consistent, positive and remain
focused on how he can assure the population
that he is fit for the job.
M ic h a e l
Portland
MASSAGE
For anyone having an
auto or work injury
during the past 12 months.
RTHER SERVICES AVAILABLE:
C H IR O P R A C T IC • P H Y S IC A L T H E R A P Y
S P O R T S M E D IC IN E • R E H A B IL IT A T IO N
,
f
)
4
p o p u a / vp
SP/MP
& PAPAS
J ohn ’ s L anding & T ualatin
503 - 226-0950
the
risk of earning the enmity of the self-appointed
Thought Police— be their “judgment from on
high” from one self-appointed siren or the
group— I would suggest two things. Look up and
write down 100 times the definition of the word
“democracy,” and— assuming the howling
crowd can read more than TV Guide — read or
reread George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
J o h n B o y n to n
Portland
Forefront or back burner?
To
the
E ditor :
In the interests of correcting the record, in
my Dec. 13 testimony to the Portland-City
Council, I condemned the gender identity ordi
nance as “a vile attack,” not “a violent attack”—
a perfectly understandable mistake given the
acoustics of the council chambers [“Trans
Action,” Dec. 15].
As for the assertion made by It’s Time, Ore
gon! in a letter to the editor that employers’
“legal right to gender-specific dress codes.. .have
been upheld by the courts,” remember that
courts also routinely upheld the obscene doc
trine of “separate but equal,” most notably in the
U.S. Supreme Court’s 19th century decision
Plessey v. Ferguson.
E. B a r r e t t
Progress takes
To
been, relatively speaking, pretty damn fast.
Compare the legal rights of the nonstraight
world to just women, who spent centuries liter
ally under the control of men and in many
Third World countries still are just chattel.
Portland has taken steps to enhance the polit
ical, economic, social and physical safety of pre-
and post-op transsexuals and the politically cor
rect “transpeople”— whatever that means. We
are living in a state that damn near passed Mea
sure 9. We are living in a state where two lesbians
were murdered a few years ago because they were
lesbians. We are living in a state where, outside
Portland, the vast majority of the citizens are very
conservative. Instead of whining, carping, pout
ing and having another snit fit, we should be glad
at what progress has been made.
The other issue is our new police chief. The
Political Correctness Police— as expected of any
knee-jerk liberals— are screaming for his head.
Which is worse: a politician such as President
Clinton, who said all the right things and then
ignored the nonstraight world once in office, or
a police chief who regardless of his personal
views—and voicing his views is his constitution
al right—shows by his actions he will treat all
members of society with protection and respect?
There is not much difference between the
screaming hyenas of the far left and the blood
thirsty roars of the jackals of the far right. At the
tiR ite
E ditor :
In the interest of rationality, I have two
counterpoints on two separate issues.
First of all, I have been a member of both
Transport (now seeming defunct) and North-
West Gender Alliance for about six years. Sec
ondly, 1 have been studying the field and the
people of the entire nonstraight world including
pre- and post-op transsexuals since the early ’60s.
Despite the radicals with their “our way or
nothing” approach and despite certain individu
als’ fits or tantrums, in real life things can take
time, and difficult compromises are more often
the rule than the exception.
If people actually know the history of various
minorities— the Irish in the 1840s, the Jews, the
Hispanics, the Orientals, natural-bom women
in general, the various Slavic ethnic groups and
the many other minority groups— the advance
ment of protection of the nonstraight world has
Joe Pennington, 1961 -2000
mest Jo “Joe” Pennington died of HIV com-
plications Dec. 26. He was 39.
He was bom Nov. 30, 1961, in Cottage
Grove. He served in the U.S. Navy and worked
as a self-employed computer technician.
He moved to Portland about 1990. He raised
birds and miniature pinschers.
His friends say he will he remembered for his
caring and helpful soul and his way of seeing and
feeling things not everyone saw or felt. They
hope his passing will serve as a reminder that
AIDS is not dead; it’s just hiding around the cor
ner waiting to surprise and scare us all again.
May we all take notice and fight this deadly dis
ease and let the gay community start living
again.
He is survived by his mother, Joan Pierce;
brother, Barry; and sisters, Debbie Gaudette and
Sherri Cotant.
A memorial circle was held Dec. 28 at Our
House of Portland. Final disposition was by cre
mation. Omega Funeral & Cremation Service
handled the arrangements.
Remembrances may be made to Our House
of Portland.