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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 16, 2004)
tuly 16.2004 Guide Dog Gift Annuities In c re a se y o u r in com e AN D m a k e a m ea n in g fu l g i ß to o u r d o g s a n d p u p p ie s 1ÉLJL • Lock in a guaranteed lifetime income • Save capital gains and income taxes • Support our canine heroes! B en efits when yo u donate $ 1 0 , 0 0 0 FOR A GIFT ANNUITY Age 70 80 90 Annual Income* Tax Deduction $ 670 $ 830 $ 1,150 $ 3,397 $ 4,497 $ 5,537 ’ Plus, a portion o f this is tax-free Contact Judy Lawrence at Guide Dogs for the Blind: 32901 SE Kelso Rd, Boring, OR 979009 (503) 668-2100 • jlawrence@guidedogs.com Visit us for one of our monthly public graduation ceremonies! Find the dates online at www.guidedogs.com H ie last battle To the E ditor : hen conservatives took over the GOP in * the early ’90s, they declared a cultural war in name of Judeo-Christian tradition and values. They admitted losing many battles, hut they are now poised to fight what they call the last battle of this war: gay marriage. They are willing to force an amendment to our Constitu tion to prevent it, and they will do anything to win this battle. Unfortunately, it has been hard to tell these people apart from our “friends” the Democrats. In 1994 Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act because he believed in the sanctity of mar riage. In 2000 A1 Gore agreed with presidential candidate George W. Bush that marriage should he for straight people only because it was sacred. In 2004 John Kerry, John Edwards, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Howard Dean and others said marriage shouldn’t he a civil right available to gays and lesbians because of its sanctity. (Do the top Democratic leaders really believe we are impure, evil entities?) Kerry criticized Bush’s call for the Federal Marriage Amendment because he says it should he a state issue, hut Kerry has also supported an amendment to his state’s con stitution banning gays from civil marriage. It’s really hard to tell the difference. Democrats are outraged because Republicans are forcing them to go on the record about gay marriage. Ten years ago Republicans did the exact same thing with DOMA and many Democrats voted for it. (Kerry voted against it.) We already know Republicans hate us (or, as they say, our “sin”) and want us hack (and kx:ked) in the closet. We don’t know, however, if Democrats don’t want to go on the record because they don’t want to lose the votes of “moderates” or because they agree with Republi cans that we are entitled to fewer rights than n o ta b le s ' i 4"'- ' . ' • warn Vv / When an ordinary Realtor simply won’t do... dimbatree.com _ H © 3144 SE Belmont Portland, OR 97214 office: 503-238-7617 M I .s- a M i i. After 10 years of commitment, Terry Clarke (left) and Ryan Duncan were married March 5 at a friend’s home in Portland. After a two-hour wait in line with their closest friends, they rushed off to the Rev. Eric Tor- rell’s home and were wed within 15 minutes. Clarke manages two contemporary furni ture showrooms, P.H. Reed and P.H. Reed Bedroom. Duncan works as a special educa tion instructional assistant for the Beaverton School District. “We were so happy and proud to be a part of this moment in history,” the couple told Ju st Out. “ It was a moment that none of us will forget anytime soon. Thanks to all that made this possible for us.” D id you know Just Out publishes free wedding announcem ents ? Subm it your story and photo at www.justout.com! straight people because the Bible says so. Person ally, I’d like to get their vote, on record, again. The Democratic Party does have a better record on gay issues than the GOP. But we have been reminded that they are not our natural electoral choice. Still, let’s consider the alterna tive: four more years of hkxxJy Crusades abroad and greedy feudalism and ruthless Inquisition within. (Yes, we have regressed a few centuries.) Marriage is a basic civil right issue supported by the notion of equality of the Constitution; civil rights shouldn’t he up for debate. However, gay marriage might he just the first civil and con stitutional right to go if this regime continues. Many of us have been t(X ) indifferent to the electoral pnx:ess. This has to change. We can not afford extreme liberal positions, we cannot afford Ralph Nader, and we cannot afford in difference. We have to ensure that this adminis tration and its counterparts in Congress are crushed in November. And our vote is not enough. We need to he active and get all votes we can get. And for that we need to work together. We must join the campaign to rid us of Bush. And we need Just Out to work toward this goal. F rank O ’N eill Portland An open letter to Gordon Smith To the E ditor : s an openly gay, GcxJ-fearing man, I’d like you to tell the rest of the Senate that 1 per sonally welcome any heterosexual married cou ple or family “that is without sin” to cast the first constitutional amendment. Then please tell the noisy hyp<x:rites to shut up and stop pointing their hyfnxritical fingers at everyone else and work a hit harder on their own families and relationships. Why did 1 choose “terrorism" as the topic for this e-mail? Because that’s exactly what this so- called Federal Marriage Amendment is: terror ism from religious fanatics against another group of people— attacks from a group of people trying to “terrorize" a group of people who they don’t even know and have never met. That is supposedly only one of the absurd reasons the United States of America went to war with two countries— to combat religious fanatics who were imposing unjust and unfounded demands on people. Why is it acceptable to “liberate” some people suffering from religious tyranny, when you and others are so quick and willing to impose religious tyranny on your own people? We don’t need to worry about non-Ameri can terrorists trying to destroy our country— not when hyp<x:risy and arrogance from within America is doing such a gcxxJ job of it already. The rest of the world just needs to he patient a little longer and watch us self-destruct by turn ing against ourselves. A voted for a Republican by voting for Sen. Smith. I feel bamboozled and made a fool of. I can only say that 1 would try anything once, and as far as voting Republican, once and once only is more than enough. F rank M arshall Portland Control the population To the E ditor : or this year’s World Population Day on July 11, it is imperative that we recognize the critical connection between population and family planning. As our world population soars beyond 6.4 billion people, many women around the world are faced with few choices regarding their repro ductive lives. A Mother’s Promise campaign, along with one of its co-sponsors, Population Connection, works to strengthen the connec tion between population and family planning. A decade ago, the nations of the world— including the United States— gathered in Cairo, Egypt, to make a promise to mothers around the world: that they would find solutions to problems faced by millions in ptxir countries trying to make a better life for their children. They drafted the Cairo Program of Action, a road map to help nations address a broad range of issues, from women’s health and girls’ educa tion to environmental protection and economic security— issues cmcial to safeguarding the lives of people everywhere. As stated in the activist kit for A Mother’s Promise: “The ultimate shape of global popula tion will depend on the availability of informa tion, access to family planning services and the individual decisions of every person on earth. Those cho es will depend in part on whether nations fulfill their commitments to the Inter national Conference on Population and Devel opment Program of Action.” Ten years later, the problems addressed in the Program of Action are still crucial, hut we have not met our promise to face them. I am writing in honor of World Population Day to urge con tinued support of A Mother’s Promise campaign. Joining the campaign is easy. Visit www.amoth- erspromise.org and sign the petition. And then tell someone else to do the same. Most impor tantly, tell your congressperson that you believe in the promise of Cairo and that if women and girls and families are going to be healthy and strong, we as a nation must keep our promise to help them have a better life. Show the world that we know we are part ners in the care of all people and our planet. A great nation keeps its promises. F A lbert K aufman Portland Legal eagles To the E ditor : K urt D onald K oester Portland Fool me once... To t h e E d it o r : t was just announced on the evening news how our two senators will he voting on the so-called defense of marriage initiative. Ron Wyden, Democrat, will vote no. Gordon Smith, Republican, will vote yes. Sen. Smith reached out to the gay commu nity during his last re-election campaign in what can now be seen as a carefully contrived play for the gay vote. When it came right down to it, he voted the party line. It particularly hurts as I for the first time ever I ast fall, we turned to the Just Out pages to t. find an attorney. We found David W. Owens, P.C. & AsstKiates, Attorneys at Law. We want your readers to know that Mr. Owens and his staff are super. They are friendly, respectful, highly competent and sensitive to our special needs and provide the highest- quality service. They provided various legal ser vices for us— some quite complicated— expedi tiously as we were pressed to move to the Unit ed Kingdom for a while. We enthusiastically endorse your readers to consider contacting this firm when legal issues arise. M ichael F armiloe P hillip C lifford Henstead, Suffolk, United Kingdom