juna
R357IS out
Black Qay Pride celebrations are growing in popularity this year. Are they a positive
sign of healthy autonomy or a distress call of increased segregation within the sexual
minorities community?
large. A Black Gay Pride activity is the same as
any Gay Pride activity— a celebration! Let’s
embrace and celebrate all Gay Pride activities.
I
s there segregation within the sexual
minorities community? My partner is Afri
can American, and we have been together for
three years.
I have gone to black “gay” events and parties
such as Chocolate City and others. We never
have sensed any animosity or discrimination.
Her family accepts me, and mine does, too.
Am I living in the dark?
J erry W alker
Brother to Brother
• • •
O
rdinarily I would be completely against any
thing of an exclusive nature, but when 1 saw
an ad in one of the gay chat rooms for a Black
Gay Pride event, I took appreciation to the fact
that it was targeted toward the black gay commu
nity but that the invitation was an open one,
directed toward all. And I just realized that all of
the black people I know in same-sex relationships
are in interracial relationships, so if they were to
attend any event that was race-exclusive, they
would be forced to exclude their lovers as well.
E va H offman
Milivaukic
• • •
I
believe the question has many implications.
Pride is important to all people. Color is not
the important issue here.
Perhaps we all should look at how we reach
out to diverse communities and groups. Are we
inclusive with all people, or are we exclusive
and simply seeking our own ways?
M icheil M ac C utcheon
Dover, N.H.
• • •
S
hould African Americans stop identifying as
black in order to unify all Americans? 1 don’t
think anyone would say that.
So why should people who are black and gay
stop being part of their particular group in order
to unify all sexual minorities? N o one should
have to choose between the two.
E llen W eigant
Portland
gay people. Just slightly.
But in my 26 years of living in Texas, 1 never
was harassed or confronted based on another per
son’s judgment of my sexuality. No, that didn’t hap
pen until I moved to “forward-thinking” Portland.
On two different occasions in the Pearl Dis
trict, 1 have been verbally attacked— called var
ious names and shouted at with anti-gay slurs—
all while 1 did nothing but walk up the street. I
don’t consider myself feminine nor was I dressed
in what could be considered a very “gay” man
ner— shorts, baseball cap, tennis shoes.
But what a shock for this Texas boy to be
walking down the street in a city 1 had been told
was very forward-thinking, only to find out that
anti-gay attitudes are alive and well at home.
For all the work and gains we have made in
Portland and around the nation, homophobia
and bigotry are still alive.
1 challenge the community to look at what
they are doing on an individual level to combat
this hate and ask themselves: Are we getting too
comfortable when there is much of the game left
to play? Just a point of view.
P hilip K nowlton
Portland
Belly ache
To the E ditor :
t’s so unfortunate that Marc Acito chose the
Pride issue in which to parade his stereotypes
about what is and is not attractive to gay men
(“Bulk Male,” June 7].
I’m glad he finds himself more attractive as a
thinner person. But attraction is not limited to
the thin.
The assumption that fat people are that way
because they eat too much is not only ignorant
J eff T readway
• • •
he increase in Black Pride celebrations re
inforces the diversity of the sexual minorities
community. As a gay black man, I am very pleased
to celebrate proudly who I am in any context.
I am also very pleased that the black queer
communities in this country feel empowered to
plan, coordinate and sponsor activities that
specifically celebrate our Pride to be gay. Our
nonblack friends, lovers and supporters tend to
embrace the growing popularity of these events.
Black Gay Pride celebrations are no more of
a distress call of increased segregation within the
sexual minorities community than the “regular”
Gay Pride events are within the community at
T
but unscientific. Losing and gaining and losing
weight again is far more dangerous to one’s
health than being fat.
Studies show that many people who are fat
are as healthy as their specific bodies ever will
get. Genetics play as big a part in being fat as
diet and exercise. And even if losing weight
was as simple as Marc’s friend says (and a bil-
lion-dollar weight-loss industry would seem to
indicate otherwise), many people find mind
ing their waist less important than living a
healthy, happy life.
But beyond all this is the notion that those
who accept their bodies as they are somehow are
less proud of themselves. This is rubbish.
It’s a damn hard shipwreck of a world we live
in, and every bit of self-esteem counts. H ie last
thing we need is more judgment. Don’t we get
enough of that without putting up with it from our
own community? And during Pride Week, no less!
Marc’s gibe at “those Hispanic guys who roll
their T-shirts up over their bellies on hot days”
is not only demeaning in its judgment, it smells
a bit of racism.
I’m a big guy. I’m happy with who I am. I get
laid all I want. Men and women find me attrac
tive and I find them attractive no matter what
their size, color, shape or dick length.
It’s time for gay, lesbian, bi and trans folk to
stand up against the Madison Avenue, Aber
crombie & Fitch, thin-or-nothing, supermodel
bullshit that corporate America wants to sell
them. It’s time we stop telling each other what
to look like and act like and be like. To me,
Pride Week is about being whoever the fuck you
are and celebrating a country that (at least in
theory) allows you just that.
G lenn W illiams
Portland
Vancouver, Wash.
next
how
do
you feel about Nickelodeon’s decu
sion to air a special on gay families
despite widespread opposition ? Do
you admire its bravery, or do you
think the country simply isn’t ready
for a children’s network to be tack'
ling such a contentious issue?
Respond at www.justout.com.
(Don’t forget to include your name,
city and daytime telephone number.)
The white stuff
To the E ditor :
F
or those readers who have more of a literary
bent as opposed to spending too much time
in various clubs, a brand new book will open a
lot of eyes.
Michael M oore’s Stupid White Men is not
the usual P.C. diatribe. It is well written.
Moore has a sly and dry sense of humor, and
this book will help illuminate to many exact
ly what is going on and if things work at all—
and why they always seem to work for the
Establishment.
In my som ew hat-less-than-“hum ljle”
opinion, having studied human nature for 40
years, there are three ways to get things
changed: wealth, violence and knowledge.
Stupid White Men, while hardly news to peo
ple such as myself, is both fun and shocking
to those who have little or no real knowledge
of just what the Establishment really consists
of and how it stays in power.
The Establishment is like having a great
white shark in your swimming pool; you can
ignore it, but if you “go in the water” you have
to deal with it, and its nature is to survive.
N ot nice, but it is reality.
“Knowledge is power.” And so it is.
J ohn B oynton
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correction
I n the June 7 article “On a Queer Day...” Jack
I Keegan was misidentified as Pride Northwest
president. He is the festival chairman.
Just Out regrets the error.
H o m e & C a s t le
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Tigard 1 1 9 6 0 S W Pacific Hwy
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