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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2002)
4 jM t M t ! tabruary U 2002 out Le Meitour Gallery Supreme indignity To t h e E d it o r : F The only museum where you get to take the treasures home. 7814 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland • 503/246-3631 Beyond Borden Fairly Traded Handcraft and Organic Coffee 7780-B SW Capitol Hwy. In Multnomah Village 50j.244.1752 OPftl TUESDAY 5UMDAT Iryina Mnlm. thr (nth wrtttwj dmi« i Thf Pindttr W ay httnutiml, I k . n 1 n nbo if tht far Irak ftdtnhM la and O at o f the Carden Urns • Pots • Arbors Trellises • Bird Baths & Lots More (503) 603-0411 11935 SW Greenburg Rd T ig a rd (1 B lk O fT 9 9 W on G re e n h u rg ) • O p en 7 Days r\f ibal <ß assassinated, he would have stood by us. G ina D aggett Portland Jesse’s boy To t h e E d it o r : A n award for the Most Blatant Act of Denial should he awarded to the Human Rights Campaign for endorsing U .S. Sen. G or don Smith. Just a few months ago he voted* for the Helms Amendment to the Bush education reform act, which stated that no school that denies public access to the Boy Scouts of Amer ica for recruiting or other events because of anti-discrimination policies shall receive feder al money. Smith has shown repeatedly he is part of the religious right wing and has more in com mon with Jesse Helms than he would like the gay community to perceive. R ick C rittenden Portland In defense of HRC To t h e E d it o r : Î |espite my position as a fierce liberal, 1 * wanted to take a moment to write a few words in support of the Human Rights Cam paign’s much-contested endorsement of U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith. It is important to remember H R C is not aligned with any particular party. Its mission is to operate above and beyond party lines in order to defeat anti-gay legislation and to help protect our rights in general. For all of his objectionable views, Sm ith repeatedly has voted in favor o f gay rights and has done everything H R C has asked of him. For better or worse, the way the political machine works is that if someone does what you ask, in return you give your support. Failing to endorse Smith seriously would have under mined H RC’s credibility Kith at a state and national level. Let's stop had-mouthing a difficult political n o t a b le s PHOTO BY MAHTY DAVIS UNUSUAL GARDEN ART j? rrst Monday is a new television show about a cadre of imaginary U.S. Supreme Court jus tices whose major talent seems to he ideological infighting and overt bigotry. The pilot episode dealt, ostensibly, with sanctuary for trans people from regimes even more culturally draconian than our own. The segment was a poorly padded heating by a blunt intellectual instrument. One was left to wonder in which universe an individ ual would he placed for interrogation before an opening public session of the high court, hut that was the fate o f the trans person who was appealing an apparent Immigration and Naturalization Service ruling against granting sanctuary. She was humiliated repeatedly by the phony justices, who suggested she easily could go “hack home” if she just would “put your pants back on.” Not that they actually gave this person the benefit of pronoun choice. Other lines that drew purported laughter from those in chambers were: “So do you intend to he castrated like a bull?” and the always-funny “So what bathroom do you use?” We never did find out the disposition of her appeal but were left to infer from the echoing guffaws and camivalesque background music what it might be. But wait, were you thinking this was all? The gorgeous babe who was Angel’s attorney was— what else?—a transsexual woman herself. Not until the “busy litigator” tore herself away to romp in a salsa club with a conservative clerk of the court, and not until the camera dwelt long ingly on her well-rounded bottom in rampant frottage on the unsuspecting man’s groin did she turn and announce her real incentive in repre senting this client had come from her being “a transsexual, too!” I understand the debate on whether gender identity is a compelling internal characteristic or a social construct; that’s not the point. C B S and the producers of First Monday created the trans segment of this episode solely to amplify existing pejorative stereotypes and to use the tit- illation for ratings. When my partner and I walk down the street, borderline bigots encouraged by this show and others might feel it’s OK to abuse, threaten or attack us. They might do the same to our friends and fellows, knowing there is to he no sanctuary, no rights for us here, even if we take it to the Supreme Court. We are, after all, objects of ridicule or perverted temptresses. And this for the serv ice o f bad television, had values and the abysmal general ignorance of our aspirations and problems. Where are the voices of trans people who should he outraged by the ease with which we are shamed and dismissed? Our silence is the sound of the death of our dignity. them about a dream that would mark the beginning to the end of an era of blasphe mous discrimination, handing minorities the opportunity for liberty. He wasn’t just speak ing about the oppression of African Am eri cans, he was talking about all people who ever had felt the singe of segregation. He was talking about me. This was the genesis of a fundamental shift in the way society treated people who were unlike themselves— a collective movement toward equality. We undoubtedly still have a long way to go, hut we are moving closer. I gradually have felt the difference between tol erance and acceptance. 1 also had a dream. 1 had a dream when 1 was 7 that I would feel like everybody else one day and that people would stop chastising me for being a tomboy. I had a dream when 1 was 20 that I would stop falling in love with my best friend. I had a dream when I was 25 while lying in my parents’ arms that they still would love me after I told them 1 was gay. I have a dream today— that one day we will reclaim those lives that would he lost to suicide for fear of living a gay lifestyle. I have a dream of hope for the next generation. King gave me the courage to stand in the truth of who 1 am. He afforded me the luxury of living in safety with my partner—apathetic to the dwindling occasions of discrimination. He has affected my happiness; he has helped rejuvenate many relationships that had been choked by the weeds of shame before 1 came out of the closet. If he hadn’t been horn, I would have stayed in the “chains of discrimination” that kept me in my usual, stale place. 1 am not a poster child, and most people wouldn’t guess I am gay, hut 1 am familiar with the feeling of isolation associated with being perceived as a pariah. 1 am fortunate, though; 1 was bom in a time that is on the cusp of change. 1 wish 1 had been able to stand up with my brothers and sisters in the repulsive face of ignorance that day in 1963, fighting for civil rights— something that was ours to begin with. I wish I could have stood with Dr. King, because I am quite certain if he had not been L ori B uckwalter It’s Time, Oregon! Executive Director Handmade Silks & Runners Natural Area Rugs Floor Coverings Collectible & War Rugs Wall Hangings How has MLK Jr. affected my life? To t h e I Made in Afghanistan, Persia & Kazakhstan East West Oriental Rugs (503) 293-4330 7642 S.W. Capitol Hwy., Portland 97219 E d it o r : This essay was written for a contest at Pacific University m Forest Grove. f you know me, you might he asking your self, “How could this lily-white privileged girl possible he affected by the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr.?” A s he gave his speech in front of the mar ble forefather o f freedom that hot August day, he stood before 200,000 supporters and told elissa Arnold (left) and Anne Seelye be came the 10th couple to register as domestic partners in Multnomah County this year. The Jan. 26 certification was witnessed by close friends Mary Schutten, Catherine Cush- M ing and Marty Davis. Fun and frivolity followed. For a $60 registration fee couples may doc ument their partnership with Multnomah County at 501 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd. For more information call 503-988-3027.
