KPAM slam
"People need to ask
themselves, 'What do I
want my life to be like
20 years from now?'
They need to set a goal.
They need to determine
how to gel there. They
need to talk to those who
can help them get there."
— Bill Findlay
To the E ditor :
his is a letter l wrote to KPAM-AM’s Victor
Boc, who was slamming Kay marriaKe:
Historically, marriage has been used as a
contractual commitment regarding a joining of
families and property or monetary acquisi
tion— and hopefully the parties involved
would either love each other or grow to love
each other. Heterosexual marriage through the
years has declined to he virtually a flight of
fancy, rarely lasting because of the lack of self-
knowledge prior to the marriage, baggage car
ried into it and lack of true commitment— and
often a lack of spirituality, whatever the belief.
In contrast, within the sexual minorities
community, the average couples who tmly
l U S t hW If lib I Whkh
M
gay or
lesb ian leader — locally, nationally,
globally or som eone of person al
prom inence to you— h as h ad an
im pact on your life?
B
William S. Findlay
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ack in 1995,1 had been out just over a year.
I had already been politically active and for
a political science class in college decided to
interview the five openly lesbian, gay and bisex
ual elected officials in the state Legislature at the
time. 1 wanted their perspective on being out
and what it meant to each of them as lawmakers.
Those interviews were incredibly meaningful to
me in shaping my early political aspirations and
activities.
O n a statewide level, no one has had more
o f an impact than Basic Rights Oregon’s
executive director, Roey Thorpe. Her clever,
measured responses as well as her political
and media savvy have brought G L B T equali
ty and visibility in Oregon back to the com
mon denom inator o f basic fairness and
humanity.
O n a national level, I have always been
and will always be impressed by Elizabeth
Birch, executive director of the Human Rights
Campaign. She has an amazing clarity of mes
sage and is able to create a dialogue with law
makers that we need to win with on both sides
o f the aisle.
I will always be proud to be an Oregonian and
an American because these leaders truly live out
the meaning of “liberty and justice for ALL.”
To the E ditor :
Des Moines, Iowa
N
o one stands out. In the “Me” G enera
tion people do what they do to get some
kind of recognition. Until our “family” can at
least be inclusive of all our factions as well as
straights, we are just reflecting how straight
society treats us.
B’Zillion $$$ Producer
W es D. B evans
Scappoose
OFFICE (503) 281-4040
v o ic e m ail (503) 301-4283
e - mail Jew e l2 U @ tele port com
waaamzmgz
V isit me now at:
http://www.jewelrobinson.com
©H
1730 N.E. 10th Avenue
Portland, OR 97212
Prudential
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n o m tw tn r i upern e i
H arriet C arpenter
Beaverton
Buyer beware
CM H all
• • •
Je w e l A . Robinson
wish to marry are doing so with the intent of
remaining committed. Those who actually
make the effort of unions are caring enough to
put a sacredness of marriage before the casual
ness found in so many heterosexual marriages.
How does a gay marriage affect anyone
else? Simple. It doesn’t. A sacred act between
people and their divine doesn’t keep hetero
sexuals from marrying or make any statements
about anyone else. It doesn’t interfere with
another’s religious practices. It doesn’t con
done nor promote any sexual behavior for
someone else to follow.
The myth that this community wishes to
recruit and espouse behavior patterns and has
little if no morals is absolutely ludicrous and
does more harm to the straight community hy
focusing drastically on sex— in a s<Kiety that
needs less attention in that area— and on a
fear-based insecurity of “what if ‘X ’ person hits
on me? What will others think? Will they
think I’m that?” Who cares?! Just be happy
people are recognizing your light, for it is a
reflection of their own.
In a society with which we wish success, a base
should be built upon love, lifting one another up
and supporting each other so we all may shine. To
tell people they can’t do something (barring phys
ical hann) because it isn’t right for yourself is pure
arrogance— as if anyone is superior to anyone
else. We are all divine manifestations and need to
start acting like it— treating each other with the
love and respect that we want from others.
I ask you, Mr. Boc, to please put yourself in
your gay neighbor’s shoes and love your neigh
bor as yourself!
Society will continue as it has. Gay marriage
can’t tear away a woman or man’s desire to have
kids, for it is irrelevant to the desire of parent
hood. Gay marriage will not instruct children
how they should live or behave— that is a
parental job regardless of the relationship.
Gay marriage would, yes, give positive and
negative equal rights to the community, which
would promote a stronger sense of morals
among a society that overall has lost much of
them. If you wish to uphold the sacredness of
marriage, then help encourage the commit
ment, communication, love and tmst that keep
a relationship strong and long rather than
demeaning that relationship by focusing solely
on the sexual aspect of it.
appointment of the first openly gay
Episcopalian bishop, the Rev. V.
Qene Robinson, will cause a schism
in the church ? Why or why not 7
(P lease see related item on Page 2 1 .)
Respond at www.iustout.com. (Don't
forget to include your nam e, city and
daytime telephone number.)
want to let the community know about an
experience I had by phone with the manager
of Piccolo Mondo in Portland. The restaurant is
a sponsor of the Victor Boc radio show on
KPAM-AM.
A s those who caught his show Aug. 1
already know, Mr. Boc dedicated his show to
attacking gay marriage as well as demeaning
and defaming gay people. The key points he
reiterated over and over were that gay marriage
would weaken marriage, lower the birthrate,
demean motherhood and increase pedophilia.
His tirade was no different from the anti-
Semitic propaganda of the Nazi party, except
for the object o f the attack.
Knowing that reason and facts would he irrel
evant, 1 chose not to call in. Instead, I decided to
call Piccolo Mondo and speak to the manager.
When 1 told her that I was distressed that her
restaurant was sponsoring this kind of hate radio,
and that I could not patronize a place that sup
ported these views, she responded by calling me
intolerant and then hanging up on me.
Clearly, she is not interested in my business,
and I will not reciprocate. I hope others will
I