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EJIEÆÏS out
’ may 3.2002
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Silence is pathetic
To the E ditor :
Elliott, Powell, Baden & Baker, Inc.
Marc Baker
Downtown Portland
(503) 227-1771
www.epbb.com
1985
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Office: 503-233-9226
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Thurs 12-6 • Frt 12-6 • Sat 12-7 • Sun 12-5
he Day of Silence Project, a national
protest of anti-gay harassment in schools,
was held April 10.
I first heard about this on a talk radio show
where the hosts were sympathetic hut not very
understanding to the idea of silence for the
issue. And many of the callers to the show were
concerned about how a day of silence in our
schools would affect the education that the stu
dents go to receive.
Some callers even saw this protest as yet
another attempt for our community to seek “spe
cial rights.” To a degree, I respectfully must agree
with those against this idea of a Day of Silence.
Silence seems like a pathetic way of getting
the point across to an important issue— just as
violence against violence shows no meaning for
what you are trying to express. In our schools,
we have many educated people, faculty and stu
dents who are more than capable of expressing
an idea or opinion about many important issues
that face us every day.
Even for just one day, why should we silence
them? If someone tells a lie about me, should 1 he
silent and allow that lie to live and gain credence?
Or do I stand up proudly for the truth? For
what I believe in, which is me. H ie Day of
Silence protest might have been a gcxxl idea for
a publicity stunt, hut what true effect did it have
on such an important issue as sexual minority
harassment and violence?
In the 1980s, one of A C T UP’s mottoes was
“silence = death.” In this day, where the gay
youth have no clue what the beginning of
HIV/AIDS was truly like, except through what
they are able to read, it is more important than
ever to he vocal and stand proudly for who we are
and what we believe in. To educate and inform.
The rate of sexually transmitted diseases is
on the rise in men between 18 and 29, at a high
er level today than at the height of the AIDS
crisis. Should we be silent about this?
The news media seem to be distant from this
issue now, even with the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention warnings. Would it not
be better for us to be vocal and educate people
than to stand silent, even for one day, for noth
ing more than a media event?
We all have a topic or issue we feel passion
ately about. We can do more by sharing and edu
cating others with the truth from within our heart
than allowing only the lies of fears to be heard.
Silence is pathetic and only holds us hack from
our journey in this life. A voice of truth may be
muffled under the fears of the unknown. But with
courage, confidence and faith in what you believe
in, the truth always shall prevail. By speaking up
and being heard, we can silence the lies and fears.
T
R ic B errong
Portland
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would like to commend Marty Davis for her
decision to change her life and to work
toward being healthy [“Choose Life,” April 5].
However, 1 am compelled to share a startling
epiphany I had while reading the commentary.
I’m fat. I was a chubby kid and an obese teen
ager, and now I’m a fat adult. I have been bul
lied, chided and teased for an eternity.
I used to cry and diet and freak out until I
was nearly suicidal. I made the nearly fatal mis
take of listening to people, government stan
dards for fat, fashion magazines and the media.
Then one day the tension just kind of disap
peared, ironically around the same time I got
fairly comfortable with my sexuality. I realized
those voices didn’t matter so much.
In fact, my best friend, Rebecca, is a former
fatty, a triathlete who is healthier than anyone I
know and never once has put me down or told
me I was anything less than gorgeous. She gets
it. Size acceptance does not negate the fact that
we all should try to care for our bodies, be
healthy and feel good.
Ideally, we all should eat well and exercise. It
does, however, speak to the fundamental belief
that no one’s human rights should he trampled on.
Lesbian, trans, gay, hi, straight, black, Jewish,
white, Latino, fat, thin, foreign, Christian, Mus
lim, differently ahled, etc., etc. No person
should he disrespected and discriminated against
because of the way he or she looks.
Our society shoves size down our throats in
the exact way it shoves white down our throats.
Apparently, skinny and white equals perfection.
It’s about human rights, civil rights, love and
acceptance. How dare you imply it’s as simple as
a choice?
I shuddered when I read that and when I
read: “Nothing about obesity is simple. Not the
reasons for it, not the excuses for it, and certain
ly not the means to control it.”
I urge you, take out the word “obesity” and
insert “homosexuality.” Wow, sounds like Ore
gon Citizens Alliance rhetoric.
Size acceptance is not about the blatant and
intentional ignorance of health concerns; it is
about loving yourself and those around you
despite appearance. Many people who are
taught that same self-deprecating bullshit get
fatter and fatter because they feel unloved and
unworthy of love. It’s a downward spiral.
Only now that I have soul-friends like
Rebecca who love me just the way I am and
know I am a beautiful creature can I gain the
self-worth to move forward and care about my
health. I’ll never make excuses for being fat; I
don’t have to. I also never will let other people’s
judgments get in the way of my life.
D enise R enfrow
Troutdale
Pick on someone
your own size
To the E ditor :
i
am both disgusted and disappointed with
Marty Davis’ commentary “Choose Life,”
which spread stereotypes and hate. Sounds like
something we should speak out against, but I guess
you used the most accepted form of discrimina
tion and abused your platform to speak “facts."
If you choose to exercise more and eat more
healthy, great! You will become more healthy no
matter your size.
But that does not mean your size will change.
Obesity is simply a medical word.
The truth is, obesity does not alone cause
death or illness. H ie ridiculous cycle of dieting
is what causes these health problems.
Studies have shown that, on average, fat
people don’t eat more than their thin counter
parts. Many fat people believe that if they never
were forced to diet with pressure and misinfor
mation, they’d he a different weight.
1 am medically considered an obese person,
yet I am vegan, hike everywhere and am in bet
ter health than the average person. When I talk
about fatphobia in our society I talk about gen
eralizations that I am just an exception to the
rule and that fat is unhealthy.
Because I am not an exception to the rule, I
do not choose to he fat, and fat does not equal
unhealthy. O f course, there are unhealthy fat
people, just like there are unhealthy thin people.
I am sick and tired of people using health as an
excuse for stereotypes and discrimination.
And trying to say size acceptance is an
excuse? How dare you even think that question!
It takes a lot more courage to accept yourself
as a fat person than to do anything else. I choose
size acceptance as my form of survival.
Size acceptance shows regard to yourself,
accepting yourself as who you are without the
mental abuse of society’s lies. Size acceptance
allows you to live your life without limitations.
Size acceptance shows respect for your loved
ones, for when you accept yourself, then others
can as well. Size acceptance is re-educating the
public about what multimillion-dollar industries
don’t want you to know.
Does not every life deserve respect and under
standing without all the stereotypes, misinforma
tion and hate? And as for your job you didn’t get in
San Diego, if that was San Francisco this day and
age, it would be considered discrimination legally.
There is so much information on this topic I
could go on forever. That is why I write a ’zine
called Take It — It’s My Body! To receive a copy,
please send $1 (copy and postage costs) to
P.O. Box 4926, Portland,'OR 97208.
C helsea L incoln
Portland
Heaven help us
To the E ditor :
1
am addressing an article by Charles Colson in
the April 10 issue of the South County Spot -
light on the need for us to see the Catholic scan
dal as an issue of homosexuality that the media
have whitewashed. He cites a “lavender mafia"
in the church that perpetuates a gay subculture
that needs to he rooted out.
Perhaps a better way to solve part of this
issue is for the church to accept homosexuality
openly rather than rooting it out. What needs to
he rooted out is any child molester, gay or
straight (statistics show 89 percent of all
pedophiles are married men), and any church
hierarchy that is organized to deny and perpetu
ate abuse in its ranks.
Pedophiles in the priesthood are gay and
straight. Priests often choose their vocation as
teen-agers and get “stuck" in adolescent sexual
development, which would explain those who
have gay or straight urges for kids.
None of these people should be in the priest
hood, even though they might he seeking celiba
cy for impulse control. But their sexual orienta
tion isn’t the problem; it’s their uncontrollable
compulsion for underage sex objects. The gay
community, just like the straight community, is
appalled by the church’s cover-up of pedophilia.
The church abhors homosexuality and does
a lot to prevent this normal behavior among
members. The church abhors pedophilia hut
doesn’t do enough to prevent this abnormal
behavior among priests.
Why would the acceptance of homosexuali
ty benefit all people? The current prohibition
results in denial, sexual suppression, secrecy and
lies. This occurs among members of the church
and within the church hierarchy.
Denial is the cornerstone to dysfunction, and
the church is clearly dysfunctional. With
acknowledgment and acceptance, gays could
stay within their faith and make appropriate
sexual choices within their orientation.
Several of my gay friends who arc priests
have closeted, age-appropriate same-sex rela
tionships. They might not he celibate, hut they
are certainly not pedophiles!
They tried to suppress acting on their sexual
urges by joining the priesthood, to no avail. Had
they been accepted as homosexuals within the
church as adolescents, they would have been
able to stay in the church as members, and they
might not have chosen a celibate priesthood as
a way of denying their needs.
P am R ahn
Columbia County Citizens for Human Dignity