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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 2003)
4 Ju s t mat » January 17.2003 out Jew el A . Robinson B ’Z illio n $ $ $ P ro d u c e r Bringing up the rear To th e E ditor : VOICE MAIL (503) 3 0 1 -4 2 8 3 e - mail Je w e l2U @ te le p o rt.c o m V isit me now at: http://www.jewelrobinson.com ara 1730 N.E. 10th Avenue â ü Portland, OR 97212 Do oes it ever occur to a harehacker to think of anyone hut himself? If he wants to make his own sexual choices, fine. But what about my choice not to pay for his selfish arrogance? What the harehacking article failed to point out is the real cost that all of us pay for this type of behavior (“Risky Business,” Jan. 3]. We pay with higher insurance premi ums, overextended use of limited H1V/AIDS funds and negative press, which creates apa thy in those who have tried to advance the rights of the gay community. And these costs are just the beginning. If barehackers really want to be left alone, I suggest they cancel their health insurance and decline financial or emotional support as they dwindle down to death. Grow up. Get some therapy. Face the fact that you never are going to be alone in this. Our individual actions do affect the whole. Love and respect yourself and your commu nity enough to behave in a conscious and mature manner. Anyone acting out of love and awareness never would put themselves or their community in such a pathetic and dangerous ; position. D o f f ic e (503) 2 8 1 -4 0 4 0 (üfo Prudential Northwest Properties you ^Ad % Custom 'Designer d\cCs \ ancC'Photography by 1 ControC fa c t o r Studios D avid L angton Portland ( 503 ) 251-8844 Talk dirty to me -V, » I I m La *Roa JeweCers !Diamonds on ‘B roadway n ow offers you th e biggest selection of commitment rings in Portland. Stop b y our d o w n to w n store, open 7 days a w eek. T H E M A R K OF RESPECT. The D ignity M em orial™ mark sym bolizes respect. But th en again, it s y m b o liz e s so m uch m o re. It's a sig n o f trust, superior quality standards, and attentive care in the funeral, crem ation, and cem etery profession. W ith m em bership by invitation only, D ignity M em orial is th e world's largest netw ork of funeral and crem ation providers and signifies a higher level of funeral care. Service Beyond Expectation Funeral & Cremation Services Caldw ell's Colonial Chapel To th e E ditor : hank you very much for running the article on the practice of barebacking. I especially appreciated that you allowed the “street” language. It makes for a more under standable read, instead of clinical language. Personally, I am vehemently opposed to this very unsafe practice in our community and would support any efforts to head it off. It’s stu pid for those who engage in it. T D ave D ishman Portland Net w orth To th e E ditor : ’m amazed Marty Davis can ask with a straight— er, lesbian— face if the Internet has made life better (“Year In, Year Out,” Jan. 3]. If only I’d had the Internet available when I was coming out. I did have CompuServe, but not until I was in college, and the only people I could talk to were far away. At that point, I never knowingly had met a real-life gay person. And that’s just the first of many advantages it brings. Like all tixils, it has gixxJ uses and bad uses, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. I A lan B atie Portland 20 NE 14th Ave. • Portland, OR 97232 503-232-4111 Ross Hollywood Chapel 4733 NE Thompson • Portland, OR 97213 503-281-1800 Cemetery Sunnyside Chimes Memorial Gardens Oregon's Family Business of the Year (503) 223-5051 539 SW Broadway www.Larog.com 11667 SE Stevens Rd. • Portland, OR 97266 503-659-1184 www.dignitymemorial.com Use your im agination To th e E ditor .- ’m writing regarding Marty Davis’ recent commentary on the new year and the moral crisis we are undergoing as a nation with regard to economic leadership. Let’s assume for purposes of argument that everyone wants to do the right thing. We still would have a crisis in economic leadership because of our poverty of analysis and lack of imagination regarding solutioas to our econom ic problems. In other words, if the problems in economic leadership were primarily moral, we would want to replace the capitalistic system itself with I something that is more moral, less selfish. But if the capitalistic system is correct in assuming the validity of individual and group selfishness as a necessary motivating factor in economic progress, through the free market mechanism, then we might want to consider a program such as minimum incomes, floated back in the ’60s by both parties, so that the poor would be given the means to choose what services are best for them and the marketplace would provide the means by which such services are delivered an eco nomical and effective way. Tix) had such a program is seen by most opin ion makers as somewhat to the left of Marx when it actually has nothing to do with such 19th century intellectual constructs. I say, if we are bent on capitalism, then give it a try. A lan W ood Portland The co st of savin gs To th e E ditor : regon voters will face a difficult decision Jan. 28: temporarily raise income taxes, or allow schools and social services to he drastical ly defunded. As an organization of crime sur vivors dedicated to reducing future victimiza tion, Survivors Advocating for an Effective Sys tem is gravely concerned about the potential creation of thousands of new victims as a result of slashing funding to siKial services. It is unrealistic to think that gutting social programs equates with a solution to the state’s budget w(x?s. And it’s patently ridiculous to assume such misplaced priorities engender com passionate, humanistic and effective fiscal policy. The newly homeless, the thousands of addicts denied treatment, the jobless and the hopeless could well find themselves swept up into the last stop on the desperation express: the corrections system. While the amount of money allocated to keeping people healthy, safe, educated and out of jail continues to dwindle, we note with dismay that the corrections budget remains quite sub stantial (the primary cuts to which arc, ironical ly, to programs and treatment). As criminal justice reform advcx:ates, we are frustrated by a system that continues to cut serv ices to people living in poverty and people of color— the people who make up the majority of crime survivors. These cuts, coupled with cuts in programs aimed at reducing crime, provide a recipe for disaster. It is a long-established fact that people with lower incomes are more likely to be victimized by crime. As a state, do we wish to actively cre ate more victimization by creating more pover ty? Cutting services to the people who need them most will generate precisely that result. Consider, too, the cost of cuts to outpatient alcohol and drug treatment. Legislators might feel gixxJ that they’ve saved about $350,000 until they realize that, according to the Oregon Department of Human Services, every dollar cut from treatment will result in as much as $7 spent on a variety of other publicly funded s<x:iai serv ices. Lack of access to treatment means addicts will continue with the progress of their disease and very likely will end up in medical clinics, the court system, corrections, hospitals, detox centers or child welfare agencies. So the $350,000 legislators saved this year actually translates into a cost of about $2.5 milium to taxpayers down the road. Is the alter native— that is, keeping programs funded at their current levels and Kxiking for progressive ways to sustain that funding— really that costly? W hen one considers the very real potential for creating thousands of new crime victims, the answer is quite evident. Titanic as the current crisis is, it is not unfix- able. But the answer is not found in political O
