Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 2, 2004)
! 6 j U S t O U t - aprii 2.2004 rTîTiTTTTTR^lneius Serving Mid-County Since 1968 International Collision Repair 30 Years olSatistied Customers M eet P laintiffs the Couples say they are just regular people, not superheroes by M eg D aly F », ; J Lu A ll M ukes • A ll M o d els Recom mended By A ll Ma/or Insurance Companies Insurance Claim Assistance ■ |P||w WB Sk gg ' a 1» y*; í The Rev. Glenna Shepherd of Metropolitan Community Church of Portland weds Dolores Doyle (center) and Kelly Burke as their 2 1/2-year-old son, Avery, looks on March 3 at Keller Auditorium 602 SE 38th Ave. Portland, OR 97214 503.231.3922 Wed - Sat PFIUL M ITCHELL BIG P A T I E N T S , S MA L L I N C I S I O N S A re you : 100 lbs. o verw eig h t? Prepare for a new lease on life through outpatient laparoscopic obesity surgery. Incisions are the size o f a penny. Register for a free patient seminar. Learn about these laparoscopic procedures: • Roux-en-V Gastric Bypass • Adjustable Gastric Banding • Biliopancreatic Diversion Call 503-227-5050 ' « here’s a certain uniformity to the lives of parents of young children. Play time, bath time, meal time, nap time (blessed nap time!). N ot surprisingly, two of the interviews for this article were conducted during children’s nap time, the rare moment the par ents had to chat about the impact of changing marriage laws on their own families. Kelly Burke, m other of a 2 1/2-year-old, says she doesn’t feel heroic being a part of the lawsuit for marriage equality. “Maybe one day I’ll look back on it as making history.” In fact, none of the couples Just Out spoke with were trying to be heroes. W hat they share is the desire to do the right thing for their com munities and families. defending m arriage...they’ve done more to degrade marriage by overlooking the love part and the parts that are exactly the same.” We want the option open ouglas Dewitt and Dominick Vetri live on a farm just outside Eugene with a small flock of sheep, several baby lambs, two cats, one dog and a blue heron that fishes in their pond. They have been together 27 years and cele brate their anniversary on Halloween because it is “easier to remember and more fun," says Vetri. Vetri, a law professor at University of Oregon, has a teen-age son who lives with his two mothers. Though Vetri, 65, and Dewitt, 53, are not sure if they will decide to get married, they are elated by the changes that have taken place in In defense of love Oregon this past month. “It’s a grand way of cel ebrating the loving and caring that couples have ulie Williams and Coleen Belisle have been for each other, and protesting the discrimination together five years. Instead of celebrating an against our families,” says Vetri. anniversary, every morning the two make a daily W hat opponents to marriage equality need commitment to one another. “We’re here for the to recognize, Vetri adds, is that “committed rela duration,” they say. tionships are what’s important.” Now that Benton G iu n ty seems intent on “We live on your blcx:k,” says Vetri, “we pay marriage equality, Williams and Belisle may just taxes, our children go to school and play soccer have an official anniversary. W hen the county and baseball with your children, we work side by announced it would issue marriage licenses to side with you, we are in the armed services in same-sex couples, Williams said, “We realized Iraq, and we contribute immensely to our com we wanted to.” munities and to the nation.” Williams, 41, was borp and raised in Corvallis and teaches at the local high school. Belisle, 52, Married, no matter the definition has lived in Corvallis for 30 years. They say toler ance rules in their hometown. “For people in ne fateful day in 1987, Eugene activist Girvallis, being discriminatory is more distasteful Sally Sheklow was scheduled to be inter than their feelings about queers,” says Williams. viewed by her friend Enid Lefton, the host of a Since the lawsuit was filed, Williams has had local women’s music radio program. “W atching a few disparaging remarks lobbed at her from stu Enid behind the console.. .1 suddenly saw her in dents driving by while she was coaching track. a whole different light,” says Sheklow. However, she says she has far more encouraging The rest, we might say, is history. Well, actu and supportive comments coming her way from ally, Sheklow had to w (X ) Lefton for about a colleagues, students and friends. m onth before she began to reciprocate the “spe “We’re doing this for the whole, for all of our cial attention,” as Sheklow called it. friends,” says Belisle. Though they don’t yet have a marriage The couple feel they are defending love. license, they did celebrate a wedding at their Williams says, “T he people that feel they’re synagogue. It was “a nice Jewish wedding under D J O \ PHOTOS BY MARTY DAVIS “No Shop Tries Harder To Make The Repair Process Easier For Its Custom ers"
