4 just <Hrt • june 112001
BJW!3out
It is, without a doubt, the poorest of traits a
human being can have. Included in man’s mis
treatment and injustice toward animals is the
To the E ditor :
industry of professional greyhound racing.
attended the Rose Festival Grand Floral
As a gay man who reads Just Out on a regu
Parade this year for the first time since I’ve
been living in Portland. Not that I had any lar basis, I am proud you and your publication
thing against it. It just worked out that way. I have drawn this one small line in the sand and
My partner and I had a good time altogether taken a stand against animal mistreatment and
with only one exception...and Misha was her cruelty. As a token of my support, I have
enclosed a check for $30 for a subscription to be
name-o.
I had heard that for a gay old time we should sent to our workplace.
I hope we will continue to see your publi
stand near the gay comer and listen to her com
mentary. We did, and some of it was as we’d cation address the issues important to animals
and those of us humans who love them.
expected—i.e., playful and irreverent humor.
Before I come off as prude or, worse, unhip, Thanks again for taking this stand and for
let me say I love satire and dark humor. David bringing it to your readers for them to think
Sedaris and Bruce Vilanch are two of my about.
favorite gay practitioners of the art.
But to attack people in the parade as Misha B radley H. W oodall
did for being too hefty is nothing but mean-spir Animal Legal Defense Fund Anti-Cruelty Division
ited intolerance. You know...that despicable
thing gay people always are fighting against?
Don’t ask, don’t testify
That’s not my only complaint nor, in my
opinion, the worst of this self-dubbed “Dragon To the E ditor :
am concerned that the Portland Public
Queen’s” bitter patter.
When I was a teen—too many years ago to
Schools policy on military recruitment, as
modified at the May 21 board meeting, will
admit to—I would’ve been crushed to have
been singled out as “family” the way Misha did exacerbate the usual sense of second-class sta
tus of gay and lesbian students and add to con
the young and indeed nellie boy who marched
and twirled with the high school band. Now fusion about the discriminatory “don’t ask,
maybe there’s more to this story than I saw, don’t tell” policy.
The new policy—or “clarification,” as the
but it looked to my partner and I like this poor
kid was being outed in front of his fellow stu resolution refers to itself—requires teachers and
dents and the hundreds of other spectators on counselors who inform students of military
“opportunities” (whether requested by the stu
that comer.
I was embarrassed for the boy and for dent or initiated by the staffer) to “advise the
student about the military’s policy regarding sex
myself for being a part of the jeering section.
I work in a crisis center for mental health, ual minorities.” Thus, school staff now are man
and I’ve seen my share of confused, suicidal dated to initiate the discussion of homosexuali
youths coming to terms with their sexuality ty when speaking to students about military
and hope to God this kid is not so adversely enlistment.
Amazingly, however, the policy provides
affected by this inconsiderate and feeble
no guidelines on how to approach the topic.
attempt to get a laugh.
For what it’s worth, my vote is against repre It does not even suggest informing the stu
sentation of our community by anyone so dent that the district officially objects to such
nonexemplary of the values that make for an discrimination.
Regardless of my opinion about the policy as
accepting and accepted community. I’m not
now
written, 1 have to admire the board’s abili
advocating censorship. Misha is entitled to her
opinion—and so am I.
ty to take a divisive issue and put together a
Doesn’t Portland’s gay community deserve to compromise position that each of its members
be more graciously represented? We pride our could vote for! But its relationship to the public
selves on being a progressive city, and this type at the meeting was dismal.
Before the board voted on the new policy, it
of representation is anything but!
took testimony from the public. But the limited
P aul G regory
time allotted was filled by phone sign-ups sever
Portland
al days before the meeting.
So those who spoke addressed the estab
lished policy or the original proposal (by Derry
Dog gone!
Jackson and Ron Saxton) to modify it; none
To the E ditor :
even mentioned the compromise that had
wanted to take a few moments from my day to been developed by Sue Hagmeier since the
thank you for your commentary regarding previous meeting. Then, the board discussion
greyhound racing and your decision not to sup and vote that followed the public comments
port the industry through advertisements in
made no formal acknowledgment of the origi
your paper {“Lord, Help Me Be the Person My
nal proposal for change (not even to table or
Dog Thinks I Am," June 1|.
withdraw it).
As an animal lover with two dogs of my own
The board’s process resulted in the time
at home, I fully understand the ability of our spent on testimony essentially being wasted.
canine friends to give love and experience a
And the public has had no public input on the
number of thoughts, feelings and emotions. As modification.
much time and money as I have spent on the
Observing the public testimony and subse
well-being of my two, nothing comes close to quent adoption of the compromise proposal
what I have gotten from them in return. So for was rather like being in a station as two trains
me to see a dog bred, raised and kept at a facili simultaneously stop at two different platforms
ty where its only value is placed on its last per only a few feet apart, with no interaction—
formance in the quarter-mile is, to say the least,
nor acknowledgment—between the passen
heartwrenching.
gers of each.
As a cruelty caseworker for the Animal
Under this policy, I fear a student will be
Legal Defense Fund, I am exposed to the pain able to walk away from an advisory session
and suffering our canine friends are capable of thinking, “I’m not good enough for the mili
feeling as well. It never ceases to amaze me how tary,” without so much as hearing an
inventive and resourceful people can be when it acknowledgment from school personnel that
comes to exploiting animals or even cruelly the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is discrimina
tory. And there’s certainly no assurance that
treating them.
Every rose has its thorn
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