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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 2, 2002)
august 2. 2002 » COM M ENTARY by M art y D ams The IN publication for the OUT population F ounded 1983 • J ay B rown Vol. 19 No. 19 and R enee L a C hance A ugust 2 , 2 0 0 2 FEAT URE M IM 6E OR OASIST: Halfway between Portland and San Francisco appears welcome relief in Ashland » 24 NEWS NORTHWEST • New Orleans bistro keeps it all in the family; queer parents come together for fun and support pp 7-17 NATIONAL • Will AIDS czar shakeup lead to a renewed commitment in Fighting the disease? pp 19-21 WORLD • Historic marriage ruling in Ontario pp 22-23 ARTS AND CU LT U R E CULTURE • Lock up your daughters (and your boyz and your daddies): Oregon Leather Pride Week is here p 35 BOONS • Queer movie books aplenty p 37 MUSIC • Tamaras hangs out with Just Out I P 39 DIVERSIONS • More softball than you can swing a bat at; Gay Games update; queer Kow earns top dollar; another step on Georgena’s Journey; Roman hermaphrodites at the Guild p 40 WHAT'S POPPIN T • Check out Signs and Lovely & Amazing P 41 FILM • Margaret Cho brings it down a notch; Larry Kramer kisses video p 42 COLUMNS MS. BEHAVIOR • Don’t screw straight friends p 33 OUT LOUD • One Portlander Finds relevance and joy in the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival »43 LIVING OUT • When should you stay naked and not answer the door? P 44 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARC • Columnist Communication breakdown You took the words right out of my mouth ords. C an ’t live with them. C an ’t live without them. And with this perplexing quandary comes annoy ance, confusion and sincere good intentions about which words are the best to use for sensitive situa tions. Situations that all too often can result in unexpected bruised feel ings and quick sparks of anger and animosity. Two examples come to mind. First, the word “queer.” Embraced by many, reviled hy others, this “reclaimed” word is easy to use as a catchall phrase when describing events, activities, people, whatever, within our community. Problem is, there are probably as many people who hate “queer” as there are who glorify in its empowerment. 1 tend to fall in the former category; to me, the word is still a hateful taunt, and the associations it brings are far more likely to make me cringe than make me proud. However, to my staff— younger, educated, diverse— it’s perfectly fine, the ideal one-size-fits-all adjective. They toss it about like feta on a salad— spicy, complimentary and the perfect accompaniment to all nouns. Some months hack we queried our readers on this topic, hoping to receive some sense of direction. T he responses were the most heartfelt, well-thought and touching of any we ever have received in “Just Asking.” Unfortunately, the opinions and feelings expressed were divided right down the middle. It’s a word that you either hate or love, with lit tle middle ground. I tried to take the easy way out and let readers decide the appropriate application of “queer.” It didn’t work. So here I sit, faced with the same dilemma-—a cross-generational word vise, with my head firmly clamped in the grips. No doubt the best solution is for us to he prudent and thoughtful with the word “queer” and not use it indiscriminately. Let’s think of it as a potent spice or herb that is best used in gentle application and quantity. Self-descrihed queers always shall be such. For other situations I’ll be challenging my staff and myself continually to sharpen our skills as wordsmiths and grow to meet the challenge of questionable words. My second example of frustrating word usage comes from our com munity’s increasing obsession with “inclusion.” Long gone are the days when “gay” was accepted as a unifying descriptive. Now, at minimum it’s “gay, lesbian, hi and trans.” Add to that the move by some to add “questioning” and “intersex,” and we arrive at a community totally fractionalized by a “me too, me too” characteristic. This is driving me crazy. Does everyone who reads this paper suffer from abandonment issues? C an ’t we try to be a W E rather than hordes of individual MEs? We have far more powerful potential as one united community. I’m all for bringing hack “gay” as an all-inclusive word. Like it used to be in Gay Pride. Remember that? Well, it’s starting to look like you’ve seen the last o f that, also. Unless you care enough to do something about it. Do you? REFLECTIONS T ords create feelings. Words touch people. During a visit last month at the home of Gary Colem an I was moved deeply by the power of a few somber words. A longtime member of the Portland Gay M en’s Chorus, he showed me a photo from the early years. As he paused over each of the hand some, sturdy fellows, the moment sobered with the words “h e’s gone, and he’s gone, and him, and him, and him, and he’s gone, too.” Nearly everyone in the photo had died from A ID S. Powerful photo, powerful words. T h at photo was 20 years old, and 20 years later A ID S still kills. So does smoking. So does obesity. W e know these things to he true. If only our behaviors were as easy to change as are the words used to write about them. W "* inally, sad words mark the loss July 31 of Hank Stack. I never met this kind and gentle man, but like many o f you I was deeply touched by scenes of his life as presented by the Portland Gay M en’s Chorus in its recent Vintage Voices concerts. We must honor and learn from our “senior heroes” while they are still with us— for soon they, too, will be gone. Ju st O ut offers words of condolence to the friends, family and co-workers o f Hank Stack. JT1 F 10 years ago in • A ID S activists from across the nation will converge Aug. 17 on Houston in a direct challenge to Presi dent Bush a id the Republican Party. M em bers o f A C T U P and other organizations will can y out a w eek o f protests designed to expose the com plete inadequacy o f the past three G O P administrations in dealing with the crisis. has boil lanced on perineum. Details inside, p 45 •Mt la p u U liM on the first and third Fri day of each month. Copyright © 2002 by Just Out. N o part of Just Out may he reproduced without written permission from the publisher. The submiasion o f w ritten and graphic m ateri als ia welcomed. W ritten material should he typed and dou ble-spaced. Just O i l reserves the nyhr to edit for grammar, punc tuation, style, liability concerns and length. We will reject or edit articles or advertisements that are offensive, demeaning or may result in legal action. Letters to the editor should be limited to 500 words. A n nouncements regarding life transitions (births, deaths, unions, etc.) should be limited to 200 words; photos are welcome. Dead line Car subm issions to the editorial department and for the Calendar is the Thursday 15 days before the next publication date. Views expressed in letters to the editor, columns and features an- not necessanly those o f the publisher. T h e display advertising deadline is the Monday 12 days before the next publication date Classified ads must be received at the Just Out office by 4 p.m. on the Thurxlay eight days before the next publication date, along with piyment. Ads may be placed by telephone or via the Internet with Visa or MasterCard payment. Ad policy: Just Out reserves the right to reject or edit any advertisement. Com pensation for errors in, or cancellation of, advertising will be made with credit toward future advertising. Advertising rates are available upon request. Distribution policy: Just Out is available free of charge, one copy per person. Just Out is delivered only to authorized distribu tors. No person may, without prior written permission from Just Out, take more than one copy. Any person who takes more than one copy may be held liable for theft, including but not limited to civil damages and/or criminal pnwecution. lllbsrriptinns are $ 2 2 .5 0 for 12 issues. First Claw (in an envelope) is $ 4 0 for 12 issues. C o n ta ct Ju st O u t at P.O. Box 14400, Portland, O R 9 7 2 9 ) 0 4 0 0 ; 503-2 36-1252, advertising 5 0 3 -2 )6 -1 2 5 3 , fax 503-236-1257; e-mail funourDjumotit.com. Visit our Internet site at www.jumout.com. he war of words on the subject o f weight loss continues in our letters section. Marc A cito is taking the heat for his recent columns on the topic, hut it was only a few weeks back that the shots were aimed at me as I wrote about having goals for a healthier lifestyle. T h e most significant o f these goals being a need to lose a whole lot of weight. I’m happily leaving Marc to fight his own battles, as shall I mine. While I do not perceive our weight-loss goals or motivations to be similar, I’m more convinced now than ever that excessive weight in our community is a serious health issue and that discussions on the topic are far from over. Thus said, I also would like to acknowledge that 1 realize there are those friends and family of ours for whom weight loss indeed would be a luxury of a problem. For a brief moment of clarity and perspective on the topic, let’s revisit the story of Georgena Moran and her struggle with multiple sclerosis. I bet she would be pretty dam happy if all she had to wake up to each morning was the knowledge that she was overweight. Instead, she wakes up to a rapidly deteriorating disease and the grim fact that a very expensive and very experimental stem cell transplant is probably her only hope for survival. As noted in earlier stories, friends of Georgena have rallied and organized in an amazing way as they strive to raise funds for her treat ment. Sadly, donations and attendance at fund-raisers have stalled. Your help is needed. Please visit www.georgenasjoumey.org for an update and the address for your donation. After all, what’s the biggest problem that you woke up to this morning? • A t iong last a gay journalist has convinced the established press that there is a receptive audi ence fo r a colum n devoted exclusively to gay and lesbian issues. D eb Price, a new s edito r for the W ashington. D .C .. bureau o f the D e tro it N ew s, began w riting her colum n in M ay. It now is transm itted by G annett N ew s S ervice to 8 0 new spapers. • W ith the Oregon Citizens Alliance's initiative officially on the Novem ber baflot. Campaign for a H ate Free Oregon has changed its name and wB be accelerating its activities. The organization has some benefits and projects planned for August under its new name, “N o on 9 .” • The O regon Pet Hall o f Fam e is open to nom inations to eith er the household p et o r w orking anim al category. • C lo set Cleaning G roup is an ongoing com ing-out group with w eekly m eetings sponsored by Phoenix Rising. • Krazy Dykes Unite, a peer support group for wom en with mental health issues, m eets twice a month. • Pink Panthers street patrol conducts training seminars • the second Saturday o f every month. • Boldly going w here no soap has gone before. O ne Life to Live introduced a major plot line in June with a gay teen-ager. • M ore than 3 0 0 gay men and lesbians are expected to participate in seven different sports at S p o rtsfest ’92. Sponsored by the Pride o f Portland A thletic Association, the sports festival will take place during Labor D ay w eek end S ept. 5 and 6. You need not be a professional ath lete; the emphasis o f Sportsfest is on participation. • N tghtScene, a Portland C ab le A ccess program , won the first-place aw ard in the publicity and com m ercial category during the H om etow n U S A V id e o Festival. NEWS a m i • Jim Radosta Tom Stevenson, Rex Wockner AOVERIW NG BMECTM • Larry Lewis P M N K T M N A U lllA R fT t • Melissa Sayler, Zanne dejanvier ART« AND CM JORI EBfTM • Lisa Bradshaw ARVERTMNG R R P H M M I • Markie Acevedo OFFICE MANAGER • Erin Sexton C M tT IM fT M » • Marc Acito, Meryl Cohn, Susan Detroy, Timothy Krause, Rachel Lane, Laura Martin, Christopher McQuain, Bob Roehr, Sally Sheklow, Kim Stephenson, NATIONAL AB VHTM NB H H H • Rivendeli Marketing Company Inc., 212-242-6863 M T EM • Nadia Cannon P O M .« » AND MANAGING B I T « • Marty Davis B U N K BMECTM • Kevin Moore RM TRMM MN • Ed Carder, Ian Drake, Ron Geer, Mary Hauer, Kelly Keigwin, Merid Schwartz, Jen Spires, Melissa Weigand
