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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 2002)
4 J u s t o u t ? decombei 6. 2002 ü| 55 »!fll o u t Anti-Aging “ From the Outside In & Inside Out” Gay sheep, gender, ex-gays and choice To th e E d it o r : A Skin Care, Color & Nutrition Sazanami Co. When an ordinary Realtor simply 503-869-4329 < J -nvnUuee (ZensiqnMe.nl w on’t do... www.dimbafree.com ^ ÍS 3144 SE Belmont Portland, OR 97214 office: 503-238-7617 Do Something Unforgettable... Becom e a Foster Parent 3 6 3 0 Dlol sl en • 5 0 3 2 3 0 -2 5 2 2 Mechanics ■that fix ll everything I Including I I yourjB consM The Boys & Girls Aid Society offers ways you can help by becoming a foster parent including: shorter term (I to 30 days) to longer term (up to 9 months) depending on your availability. Foster parenting helps create new beginnings for hundreds o f young children and teen boys and girls. Foster parents receive 24-hour support and tax-free reimbursement for care. To learn about how you can make a postive difference call (503) 542-2371 or visit www.boysandgirlssaid.org T he B o y s 8 t G i r l s Am S o c ie t y o f O r e g o n 4 * S m I MB ll of the Nov. 15 Just Out pieces about transgender rights {“Now Is the Time”), ex- gays (“Lies Won Out”] and the gay sheep being raised in Corvallis at Oregon State University I“The Pink Sheep of the Family") discussed the issue of choice in sexual and gender preferences. Choice should not he an issue. Religion is a choice, hut religious discrimina tion is wrong. Criminal behavior might he genetic, but it harms society and should he dis criminated against. The issue is that coercive discrimination against harmless sexual and gender behavior preferences is unjust and morally wrong. This human right is not debatable. In 1988 the gay sheep research was federally funded with a long-term goal of lowering breed ing costs to benefit society by preventing the birth of gay sheep. Chillingly, a slim majority of voters could decide to benefit society by pre venting queer human “biological errors.” I often wonder if religiosity and homophobia are a choice or if they are because of biological errors. In either case, religious bigots and homo phobes deserve compassionate help to overcome their harmful disgust of homosexuals. Ex-gay religious crusaders also claim to pro vide “compassionate help” to “prevent homo sexual development” in children and to "elimi nate atypical gender behavior” in adults. Forcing children into traditional male or female roles is child abuse, according to legal scholars. Ex-gays describe homosexuality as being a gender identity disorder, which still is listed as a psychiatric mental disorder. They falsely claim that sex is dictated by biology. Currently, sex is medically determined by the presence of a penis or vagina, testes or ovaries, and XY or XX chromosomes. However, intersex babies are naturally bom with other chromosome varia tions and with a mixture of male and female parts. In addition, new medical tests for gender, such as brain scans, are being discovered daily that show even more overlap between males and females. For example, portions of some gay men’s brains appear to be female. Despite this mounting evidence, the editor in chief of the widely read magazine Psychology Today recently defended publishing an ex-gay therapists ad for Preventing Homosexuality by citing a June 2002 article from the American Psychological Associations Professional Psychology: Research and Practice that claimed gays have a right to ex-gay therapy. Gays certainly have a right to change their sexual behavior, as do celibate priests, but this doesn’t justify promoting harmful ex-gay therapy. Ex-gay activists, posing as scholars, bullied Clearly Not Just a Patio Cover PD X Automotive Is a certified Eco-Logical Business. (5 0 3 ) 282-3315 PDX Machantes With A Consdanca IMO i Gerard Lillie *5934 N E. Halsey the APA into publishing ex-gay propaganda under the specious guise of providing alternate viewpoints. N o professional journal would use this excuse to publish, without denouncing it, neo-Nazi viewpoints on ex-Jew therapy for those who choose to be Christian. Nearly all ex-gays are motivated by religion, according to the APA’s professional journal. Ex gay therapy done under coercion is considered unethical under a 1997 APA resolution. Using gay sheep to understand homosexuali ty in nature is useful, but it will not change hard ened religious beliefs against homosexuality. Only a religious war can do that. T homas K raemer Corvallis American bi To t h e E d it o r : I wanted to thank Tamara Swan for her letter discouraging bisexual bashing J“Separate But Equal,” Nov. 15]. Remember those studies that showed that the most homophobic men, when hooked up to devices that measured arousal, were more turned on by gay pom than nonhomophobic men? It is not that much of a leap to imagine a similar out come for the anti-bi. Whitman said, “l resist anything better than my own diversity.” The political purists of het erosexuality and homosexuality insist they have something better for me. Thanks, but no thanks. Monogamy yes, dishonesty, no. On a related topic, I don’t understand all the arguing about ex-gays. Anything is possible, I guess, but again, they just might be “ BBBs”— Bible-bclieving bisexuals. Finally, l want to thank Just Out for publish ing. It probably would be impossible to count all the people you’ve helped in large ways and small. I felt bad to hear about your financial diffi culties and am sending you a check for $ 10. It’s not much, but I hope others will do the same. Liz M eyer Portland Haynes his way To t h e E d it o r : C Christopher McQuain smacks The Oregrmian for not mentioning the “gay content" of Tcxld Haynes’ new film, Far from Heaven {“Cinephile. Queer. Portlander.” Nov. 15]. Though I presume I would have taken more notice of the gay issues were I queer myself, or the racial issues if I were African American, you’d have to he lying comatose under the seat to miss them. But Haynes explores more than just sexuality
