FTmiout
teach the next generation that hate-motivat
ed behavior is destructive not only to the per
son being harassed but to all of society. Please
support House Bill 3247 by contacting your
legislator today.
N urella D oumitt
National Conference for Community
and Justice Pacific Northwest Region
Executive Director
Conversion aversion
hounds need to be adopted, and we have talked
personally about the racing industry.
Why would you support an industry that rou
tinely abuses and kills animals in the name of
profit? If your reason is the same, the almighty
dollar, then you are just as bad as them. Not to
mention the promotion of gambling.
I don’t see ads for fur coats or cock fighting
in your paper, so why this? I don’t see ads for
casinos, either.
Is it really worth the money to help them
stay open and kill and abuse more defenseless
greyhounds? Ask yourself that.
To the E ditor :
N
ational television coverage, including
interviews with a Portland Fellowship
ex-gay and a May 9 Associated Press story,
about Dr. Robert Spitzer’s survey of “well-
adjusted ex-gays,” stated he spearheaded the
decision to declassify homosexuality as a
mental disorder. This is misleading, because
he successfully advocated keeping a classifica
tion for those who were troubled by their sex
ual orientation.
Spitzer views homosexuality as “an irregu
lar form o f sexual behavior” sim ilar to
“celibacy” and not a mental disorder unless it
causes marked distress. Today’s psychiatric
manual still defines “persistent and marked
distress about sexual orientation” as a “sexual
disorder.”
The controversy is not, as reported, whether
people can change from gay to straight. The
controversy is whether conversion via religious
coercion and “reparative therapy” is worth the
potential harm.
Spitzer’s identification of some ex-gays,
apparently unharmed by conversion, doesn’t
prove it is harmless for everyone. Heterosexuals
who think they safely can change sexual orien
tation should prove it by converting themselves
to gay for a year and then back again.
Analogously, it wouldn’t be safe for people
distressed by being white to convert to black
using drugs, as John Howard Griffin described in
his 1961 book Black Like Me. Psychological
counseling would be safer.
Homosexuals are being singled out and
pursued for elimination by theocrats who
simultaneously whine about being persecuted
for their religious beliefs. I guess they assume
others are treating them as they are treating
homosexuals.
Eugene television news anchor Tim Joyce
comically, but professionally, transitioned from
this ex-gay story by introducing the next story
as: “It’s magic! And I’m not talking about the
previous story!”
T homas K raemer
Corvallis
Grey matter
To the E ditor :
I
was most disappointed to see advertising in
Just Out for Multnomah Greyhound Park.
(I’m writing to you as a greyhound advocate, not
representing any organization.)
You have been very kind to me personally
and to the greyhound adoption effort in the
past. You have helped raise awareness that grey
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Think off Laura
To the E ditor :
O
n Page 6 of the April 6 issue of Just Out,
Laura Schlessinger was referred to as a
“radio shrink” (“Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s Talk
Show Canceled”].
Laura Schlessinger is not a psychiatrist. She
is not a psychologist. She isn’t an M.D.
Laura Schlessinger has a Ph.D. in physiol
ogy, which makes her no more qualified to
advise on mental health issues than if she
were a chemical engineer or a patent lawyer.
N ot that you’d know that by listening to her
on the radio.
She doesn’t lie about her credentials. Not
exactly.
But she also never comes right out and says,
“I’m not qualified as any kind of counselor.” She
says, “This isn’t a psychiatry show” or “I’m not
your therapist,” implying she would be some
one’s therapist if she weren’t so busy on the
radio.
Actually, if she hadn’t figured out a new
application for Don Rickies’ insult comedy
schtick, she’d be teaching Anatomy 101 at a
junior college. Calling Laura Schlessinger a
“shrink” is to give her more legitimacy than she
deserves.
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Corvallis
Young at heart
To the E ditor :
e are 20 and 24 (almost 25). We moved
out here from South Dakota a year and a
half ago, but we still have not met any other gay
couples around our age.
We have come to the conclusion that if you
get into a long-term relationship at a young age,
your chances of staying together improve; oth
erwise, you’d have to change your ways. And
changing your ways at an older age is harder
than at a younger age.
That is our friendly advice. Hope some take
it to heart.
We also want to point out that people out
here are so hard to make friends with. And
we’re hoping that an outsider’s point of view
will help.
W
J im and J amie C hristopher
Portland
Justl
Welcomes letters to the editor
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