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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 5, 2002)
aprii 5.2002 ' Ju st out 3 ju s t m m COMMENTARY by M arty D a v is Wm The IN publication for the OUT population F ounded 1983 • J ay B rown Vol. 19 N o. 11 and R enee L a C hance April 5, 2002 FEATURE WORKING OUT: Just Out evaluates the area’s 10 largest private employers P 24 N E WS NORTHWEST • Corvallis resource center opening pp 7 - 1 9 NATIONAL • Catholic Church scapegoating? PP 2 0 - 2 1 WORLD • U .K. pop idol comes out of the closet pp 2 2 - 2 3 CULTURE BOOKS • Cute high school boys and gay icons top the reviews p 36 CULTURE . A maze of gays: the Gay Men's Labyrinth Walk p 37 FILM • Trembling Before G-d and Pinero p 39 THEATER - Mae West was a Dirty Blonde P « PEOPLE • Emily Huffman promotes the next generation o f womyn’s music p 43 DIVERSIONS • Tret Fure is here; Ellen is coming!; an amazing month of events to honor human dignity; Bridges choir sings at a venue near you; the Lesbian Ball of the Year; damali ayo gets ontological; Southern Comfort on HBO pp 4 0 - 4 1 COLUMNS MS. BEHAVIOR • Old enough to be his father P 34 LIVING OUT • Just Out introduces columnist Sally Sheklow P 35 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARC • Marc helps you choose a gift for Liza! p 45 SPECIAL EATING OUT • Let someone else cook tonight Choose life Big is beautiful, but being is better friends, your partners, your children? Does size acceptance show respect for the person who will take care of you when you no longer can care for your l was 18.1 had naively applied for a job with the San self? Does not every life deserve to be long, rich and lived to its fullest? Diego Parks, and I was first jarred into awareness of the We look at lists like the one above and often brush them aside. After virulence of this word when, unfortunately for me, the all, these are the lists that always apply to everyone else. application process required a brief physical examination. If you A few days later the mailman brought the letter: My application for can manage to ignore the message, can you also ignore your high blood pressure? Can you ignore not being able to run, walk, romp employment had been denied. The reason for denial was scrawled across and frolic with your children, your dogs, your friends? the page.. .circled.. .attacking.. .one word.. .Obesity. On a beautiful spring day or evening can you ride your bike, can you It was the ugliest word I had ever seen. walk the Esplanade, can you play tennis, can you hike the Wildwood It’s many years later now and I’ve since learned life is full of many Trail? Can you climb steps, can you bend over, can you be free? such ugly words— indeed, many horrid words more hateful and brutal Is the size-acceptance mantra merely an excuse, a facade to hide the and dangerous than the medically approved hate word “obesity.” How pain of a true lack of self-acceptance? Can you honestly accept the ever, this gained new knowledge does not have the power to erase above risks and still hide behind the debatable concept of size accep entrenched and painful old memories. tance? These are the questions I ask myself. Obesity. Fat acceptance. Cancer. Fatphobia. Diabetes. Size accep tance. Heart disease. Love. Hate. Tortuous pain. Pain in the knees, pain hich brings me to the point of all this. For most lesbians obesity in the soul, pain in the artery-clogged heart. is, I believe, a question of choice. Obesity. Pain. Death. No, not the kind of choice where a woman sits down one day and says, “I choose to be obese.” That’s certainly not what 1 have done with my life. t the recent Cris Williamson and Holly Near concert I was in awe Yet the results of the choices and decisions, choices of diet, choices of the energy at the women-packed theater. Young, old, beautiful, of activity levels, choices of partners and choices of lifestyle have con powerful, each and every one. tributed to a lifetime of weight problems. Throw in the complications of But another truth was impossible to ignore. We are strong women, lack of control over addiction, lack of understanding of we are beautiful lesbians. We are powerful individually, behaviors, and you arrive at your end result. Obesity. and we are powerful together. I choose not to die Why do we make choices that cause us to hurt our While these are wondrous things, the clearly evident fact from complications selves? These are complex questions with no simple remains that far too many of us are jeopardizing our health by being too fat. We are obese, and we are killing ourselves. because o f obesity answers. Nothing about obesity is simple. Not the reasons for it, We’ve all heard the facts, but Portland naturopath not the excuses for it, and certainly not the means to control it. But hid Karen Frangos helpfully reiterates the following health risks associated ing under a false— albeit comfortable— security blanket of self-acceptance with obesity. She starts by emphasizing the undeniable fact that being and/or self-denial is not going to keep anyone hale, healthy and hearty. overweight can shorten one’s life because of complications from: And, yes, you can be big and beautiful and be healthy, and • Coronary artery disease— atherosclerosis leads to increased risk of kudos to those who accomplish this. While not downplaying the heart attack and stroke. problems of job discrimination and our fat-oppressive culture nor • Diabetes mellitus— leads to life-threatening diseases of the cardio condoning societal judgments that burden the already burdened, vascular system and kidneys. the truth is that most of us who are weighed down by obesity are • Hypertension— high blood pressure increases risk for heart attack not physically healthy. and stroke. But we do have the power to make changes and improvements in • Gall bladder disease. our lives. We do. • Intestinal disorders. Bad choices have led to a life of obesity for me. Now, new choices • Respiratory disease. are going to have to be made. • Thrombophlebitis. The first choice is easy. I choose not to die from complications • Back and joint pains, especially lower extremities. because of obesity. • Cancers— especially breast and colorectal. Is it too late? Maybe. Maybe not.’But not as late as it will be if I Did you catch the sadness and finality of the phrase “shortens one’s make no new choices at all. life” ? When we speak of size acceptance and fatphohia, where is the Will new choices and new paths be easy? No. Will I falter and need honor for the value of the life of the obese person? Do you honor and help? Yes. respect yourself by choosing to shorten your life? Am I going to make it? Yes, watch and see. jH Does size acceptance show regard for the people who love you, your O W A pp 1 6 , 1 8 JUST FRIENDS • Free voice personal ads p 46 Ju st ou t U p ublish ed on the first an d th ird F ri d ay o f each m onth. O ^y righ t © 2002 by Just Our. N o p.irt ol Just O ik m.iy he reproduced without written permission Irotn the publisher. The su b m issio n o f w ritten an d g rap h ic m ateri a ls is w elcom ed. Written m utem l should he typed ;ind dou- hle-spuced. Just < )ut reserves the rieht to edit tor grmun.ir, punc- liMtion, style, li.ihility concerns and length. We will reject or edit articles or advertisement* that are offensive, demeaning or may result in lcg.il action. Letters to the ed itor should he limited to SCO words. A n nouncements regarding life transitions (births, deaths, unions, etc.) should be limited to 200 word»; photos are welcome Dead line for su b m issio n s to the editorial department and lor the C alen dar is the Thursday 15 days helore the next publication date. Views expressed in letters to the editor, columns anil features are not necessarily those ol the publisher. The d isp la y ad v e rtisin g d ead lin e is the Monday 12 days before the next publication date. C lassified ad s must be received at the Just ( )ut office by 4 p in. on the Thursday eight days before the next publication date, alonu with payment. Ads may be placed by telephone or via the Internet with Visa or MastetOtrd payment. Ad policy: lust C hit reserves the right to reject or edit any advertisement. Compensation lor errors in, or cancellation of, advertising will he made with credit toward future advertising. Advertising rates are available upon request. D istribution policy: lust ( hit is available free of charge, one copy per person. Just Chit is delivered only to authorized distribu tors. N o person may, without prior written permission from Just ( )ut, take more than one copy. Any person who takes more than orw copy may he held liable tor thelt, including Nit not limited to civil damages and/or criminal prosecution. Su b scriptio n s ire $22.50 lor 12 issues. First Class (in an envelope) is $40 lor 12 issues. C ontact Just (h it at P.O. Box 14400, Portland, O R 972‘H-0400; 501-2)6-1252, advertising 501-2)6-125). fax 501-2)6-1257; e-mail iustotitftjustout.com. Visit our Internet site at www.justout.com. PUBLISHER ANO MANAGING BIITOR Marty Davis NEW S EDITOR • Jim RaJosta CULTURE BIITOR • Lisa Bradshaw CONTRIBUTORS • Marc Acito, Kronda Adair, Mary Boehme, Meryl Cohn, Heather Hybarger, Timothy Krause, Christopher McQuain, Sally Sheklow, Floyd Sklaver, Jack Turteltaub, Rex Wockner ADVERTISING DIRECTOR • Meg Grace ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Markie Acevedo, Larry Lewis, René Serenil NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE * Rivendell Marketing Company Inc., 212-242-6863 GRAPHIC DIRECTOR • Kevin Moore PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Melissa Sayler OFFICE MANAGER • Melissa Sayler DISTRIBUTION • Ian Drake, Ron Geer, Rick Geiger, Kelly Keigwin, Becky Sawyer, Merid Schwartz, Melissa Weigand, Carla Wright
