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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 20, 2004)
fpWWout Keeping it real Licking Bush in 2004 Serving Women's Hemp Needs & More Since 2002 « Fatr Trad« • Local • nemp * uryanic uruirwiy fm- UL mmaa M am — — Twr minwn, iwwi, untiurwi 4 Pet» too MASTER PEACE 4314 SE Hawthorne (503) 493-2366 See St<*x Eagle Eye Optical PRESCRIPTION EYEWEAR GLASSES & CONTACTS 2808 NEMLKJr Blvd. Suite C Phone: 503.335.7173 To the E ditor : y credentials are limited (I am an actor and the owner of Biddy McGraw’s Irish Puh in Portland), hut I have an idea that may have some merit in the hattie to prevent the passage of the Oregon Defense of Marriage Act. It is a grassrixits idea that requires little con solidated financing hut a much larger voice and greater organization than I could possibly muster on my own. 1 am not so deluded as to believe that this shall be an easy battle, but if this issue cannot be personalized, if those of us with a con crete stake in its outcome cannot or will not express our concerns, our hopes, our desires in the most human and intimate—thus univer sal—language, then we are doomed to near- term failure. Earlier this year, as you are all acutely aware, more than 6,000 people who had previously been forbidden this option entered one of life’s most profound commitments. That’s 6,000 indi viduals, 3,000 couples—1 don’t doubt that you have, but let’s think about those numbers. If these people, at least, cannot be persuaded to take some action, aside from the obvious action of voting, then the bravery of our Multnomah County commissioners is for naught, and the long road from Stonewall is not prologue, hut simply past. All right, enough rhetoric, what is this mea ger proposal? The first part of the idea is so absurdly simple that it almost shouldn’t have to be stated. The 3,000 couples should write letters to the editor to every daily, weekly and semi weekly newspaper in this state, from the boule vards of Portland to the lanes of Lakeview and Bums. Everyone in every square inch of this state, not merely the urban centers, must realize that this issue is ultimately about people, not some ancient sacrosanct institution, and only real stories from real people can accomplish that. The 3,000 couples, most of whom have yet to spend $10,000 on some elaborate ceremony, also cixild surely spare the nominal fee to place an argument in the voters’ pamphlet. Yes, the propo nents of DOM A gathered 100,000 more signa tures than they needed, hut imagine for one moment a voters’ pamphlet where only half or one-third of the newlywed gay and lesbian couples in this state placed arguments against DOM A. Imagine a voters’ pamphlet the size of the Portland white pages, filled with the personal stories of fel low Oregonians, neighbors, co-workers, siblings urww.shopitsme.com Trans Friendly television screens and encouraging people to send messages to each other Sept. 17 and Oct. 8 at Boxxes/Brig. 2. Help with bar outreach. Donate two hours to help the Queer Love Action Network for Discovery and the No on Constitutional Amendment 36 campaign hand out safer-sex kits and voter registration reminders in gay bars any Thursday, Friday or Saturday evening in August or September. The deadline for all voter registrations and updates is Oct. 10, so we’re really trying to consistently remind everyone I an P aul S ieren how important voter registration and HIV/STD Portland testing are. To find out more about volunteering contact Q-LAND outreach coordinator Michael Linder at 503-223-8822, ext. 3, or Revolutionizing sex linder@hei.net. and power this summer 3. Talk about testing and voting. Talk to three To the E ditor : friends about why you think testing and voting are magine that you and I, as gay men, could so important this summer, and ask them how they actually do some simple things in the next feel. Voter apathy and safer-sex apathy are caused two months that could bring about regime by our not talking about sex and power and what change in our state and nation, and defeat HIV we want and don’t want. Talking about sex and and STDs in our community. power as gay/bi men is important; believing we If a few thousand gay men who haven’t voted can make a huge difference in both realms is cru in the past decided to vote and get their friends cial to our survival as a community. to vote, that could make a difference in our Thanks for imagining how we can make a swing state (and in defeating Ballot Mea difference together—and acting to make our sure 36). If a few hundred high-risk men decid dreams reality. ed to get tested for STDs, we might he able to stop the new epidemics of syphilis, gonorrhea B art C hurch and even HIV among gay/bi men in Portland. Portland (New cases of syphilis and gonorrhea have increased alarmingly for the past four years in Role reversal Portland’s gay male population.) So here are three ways you could, in less than To the E ditor : two hours, help make a profound difference in was taken aback by D. Timothy Beater’s letter defeating HIV and STDs and promoting gay to the editor concerning my article “The Joy of Switch Hitting” (“Blowing My Top,” Aug. 6]. voter participation: Even a cursory reading reveals a desire to 1. Get tested and register with your friends. Ask your friends to come with you to one of the expkxJe the stereotypes of what a bottom or a top following parties and get a free HIV, syphilis are. At no time did I or the article “indicate that bottoms are equated somehow with the feminine and/or hepatitis C test (if you are sexually active and haven’t been tested in the past three role." In fact, the exact opposite was the point: that we no longer have to cling to hetero stereo months) and register to vote or update your reg istration (if you’ve moved since you last voted or types. Remember when I put Henry Rollins in a haven’t voted in several years): moment’s fantasy as a bottom ? But two points of Mr. Bealer’s letter actually • Manhunt Party: Scavenger hunt for inter esting guys with prizes Aug. 27 at Scandals. disturbed me. I found it txld that he equates a • All-Ages Dance Party’: Aug. 28 at Club - “feminine role” with something unequal—that Escape. what is feminine is somehow inferior to some • Dancing/Find-a-Guy Party: Sept. 3 and thing masculine. A progressive community Oct. 1 at C.C. Slaughters. respects all roles played as equal and healthy. • 1984 Dance Party: '80s music and Big What is feminine is never “less than”—no mat Brother volunteers videotaping guys to put on i ter if it’s a feminine top or a feminine bottom. I I trernsitions Sara Gogol, 1948-2004 uthor and Portland Community College instructor Sara Gogol died Aug. 5 after a two-month struggle with ovarian cancer. She was 56. She was born June 4, 1948, in Chicago. She received a bachelor’s degree from Univer sity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She moved to Portland in the early 1970s, received master’s degrees from Portland State University and taught English and women’s studies at PCC’s Sylvania Campus for more than 20 years. A longtime member of the Portland women’s community, Gogol authored several books, including Hard-Fought Victories: Women Coaches Making a Difference and Play ing in New League: The Women of the American Basketball League’s First Season. She often said that writing about women athletes gave her Title IX days, there were no organized team the opportunity to experience athletics vicar sports for girls. iously; when she was young, in the pre She previously taught English as a second A 1041 NE Bumside St, Gresham 503-491-51 io and parents who have longed for years for an opportunity they never thought they'd see. Imag ine that tome in every mailbox across the state. Imagine you are not in favor of same-sex marriage but faced with the humanity of the situation as you sit down to vote. Could y<xj possibly, in gixx] con science, check the yes box? I know this is a modest idea, but I truly feel that this has the potential to touch people and show them the true impact of their votes this November. language, writing several Fxxiks for young adults about the experiences of immigrants. She also lived for a while at WHO Farm (now Wc’Mixm Lind), where she built a small house for herself. An avid hiker, Gogol founded The FOREST group in the early 1980s, coining the acronym: Feminists of Oregon Really Excited about See ing Trees, an example of her puckish humor. More recently, she had taken up kayaking and found hours of happiness gliding down kcal rivers. Her family included her beloved dogs. She was devoted to Rosie, her Labrador retriever. Katie, a golden retriever, and Yarrow, a border terrier, shared her life before Rosie. Gogol is survived by her partner of 17 1/2 years, Elaine Carter, to whom she was married March 8; brother, Edward; sister-in-law, Mari lyn Adams; and parents, Rose and Sam. Remembrances may be made to the Ovari an Cancer National Alliance. For more infor mation visit www.ovariancancer.org. A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Aug. 22 at First Unitarian Church, 1011 S.W. 12th Ave. Holman’s Funeral Service is han dling the arrangements.
