march 21.2003 •
EJ 33?!3 out
5
drive with Pride
just hH III iM
A s M ultnomah County
acknowledges National
LQ BT Health Awareness Week, w hat do you feel
is the greatest health risk facing the sexual
minorities community? HTV/AIDS? Smoking?
O besity? Compulsive behaviors?
Breast cancer? O thers?
feel the greatest health risk right now is a
lack of accurate information about STDs.
There’s lots of constantly changing, contra
dictory information about things such as her
pes I and II, HPV, syphilis, chlamydia, etc.
that are not in all cases as deadly as HIV but
are much more easily spread and can compro
mise one’s immune systems so it’s easier to
compound health problems and be suscepti
ble to things like HIV, pneumonia, mono,
PID and so on.
It can be difficult to get clinics to test for,
or even talk about, all of these health risks. It
can be prohibitively expensive to test for her
pes, for example, which the CDC is saying is
now at epidemic levels. How are we to stay
safe in our dating lives when it is so difficult
to get the information we need for safer sex to
really be practiced effectively?
I
S erena B lossom A ppel
Portland
• • •
his problem is not just an issue of sexual
minorities but of all people. There was a
time when we paid more attention to health
concerns, but with improvements in medi
cine has come apathy and indifference in the
way we handle our lives. I hope the trend
changes, but not until awareness returns.
T
M icheil M ac C utcheon
• • •
s a physician and a member of the gay
community, the greatest health risk l see
is the misuse of alcohol. Alcohol abuse leads
to every health risk mentioned: breast can
cer, insulin resistance and obesity, OCD,
increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases
due to poor choices made while under the
influence and, although alcohol use doesn’t
A
just weren’t choosing to be straight, that all it
took was some will power? The truth is you
can he fat and fit and thin and unhealthy, but
everyone is different and everyone has a dif
ferent way that works for them.
The fact that Davis felt the need to push her
plan—actually, she gave little advice; it was
more like a little bragging and some scolding—
and try to “save” her readers makes me question
her whole publication and where it is coming
from. I will choose not to pick up another copy
of Just Out.
*
K rissy D urden
Portland
Reality bites
the
E ditor :
s an admitted reality TV junkie, I tuned in
to watch Married by America with the
same anticipation of guilty pleasure that I felt
when watching The Bachelor and Joe Million
aire. But by the end of the first episode, despite
my usual irreverence when it comes to popular
culture, I was beside myself with anger.
A
i n r l __
h o r ly
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lead to smok
ing, they often
go hand in
hand.
Historically,
gay bars have
our com m unity, our health.
been a safe
place for queers
.■ f s£
/.C
to meet and
socialize in the
evening.
In
small
and/or
c o n se rv a tiv e s
towns, bars are
National LGBT Health Awareness Week
often the only
March 16-22, 2003
place to explore
on e’s sexuality
Find out more at www.lgbthealth.netl
and come out.
Many gays and
«>*41
lesbians misuse
Cancer ■ Domestic Violence ■ Smoking
alcohol while
struggling with
Mental Health ■ HPV ■ Hepatitis Immunization
acceptance of
Nutrition and Weight ■ Sexual Health
their sexuality,
and often later
A Project of
it just becomes
i*0 *
a habit.
N a tio n a l C o a litio n f o r I.GBT H e a lth
I see this as a
prevalent prob
with additional support from
lem in our com
munity
that
■A-A
many don’t care
to discuss. It is
difficult to bring
the topic up without being perceived as self-
As the
righteous or biased.
I hear stories of gays and lesbians deciding first bombs fall onto Iraq, what steps
to “cut down” on their drinking to improve will you be taking to show either your
their health and find they lack support from
protest of, or support for, this war?
friends or lovers. I won’t pretend to have any
answers, and although I have many sugges How do you see the conflict affecting
tions, today 1 merely want to raise awareness you directly? Respond at
of this issue. Thank you.
www.justout.com. (Don't forget to
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M a r ia n n e M a r c h e s e
Portland
For those who have managed to miss this
latest addition to the reality canon, Married by
America features people who have agreed to
allow the viewing audience to select the person
they will marry. Unlike other popular dating
shows, this series culminates with actual mar
riages and wedding gifts (including $100K and
a half-million-dollar home).
Now don’t get me wrong—1 have nothing
against arranged marriages. My problem is this:
Marrying couples who’ve never even met is a
spectator sport that attracts millions of viewers,
when marriage is a privilege that is denied to so
many couples who deserve it, just because they
are two women or two men.
Same-gender couples are denied the right to
marry in every state in this country and in
almost every country in the world. We can reg
ister as domestic partners in a few municipali
ties and receive a civil union certificate in Ver
mont, but these relationships are not recog
nized outside their place of origin.
As a result, custody of our children and our
right to hospital visitation and survivor’s rights
are in jeopardy or outright denied. Those who
will be Married by America will instantly receive
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more legal rights than the longest-term gay
couples, even those who have raised children
together.
When we point out this injustice, we are
told marriage is a sacred institution reserved for
a man and a woman. I have been an elected
official empowered to perform weddings, and as
such, I had the opportunity to get to know
many engaged couples.
Most of the couples I met were committed
and in love, but others were marrying because
they were going to have a baby or for health
insurance or even, I suspected more than once,
for a green card. I have some funny stories
about some of these couples—funny, that is,
until you consider that no two men or two
women can marry, regardless of the depth of
their love or the length of their commitment.
As a Married by America viewer, I am enti
tled to vote for my choice of spouse for the con
testants. Instead, I’ll vote this way: for the right
to marry for any couple who have demonstrat
ed their love and commitment to each other,
regardless of their gender. For individuals who
Continued
on
Page
7
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