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Keeping it real
Licking Bush
in 2004
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Since 2002
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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.