September JA20Q4.r
by
M a r t y D avis
The IN publication for the OUT population
Value judgment
V ol. 21 N o . 22
Those against gay marriage should look inward
FEATURE
F ounded 1983 • J ay B rown and R enee L a C hance
September 17, 2 0 0 4
BAND ON H i RUN: The acoustic genius o f
y column today is written for those who will never read
it. It is for those who are beyond my reach; it is meant
for others and not tor yourself. But I will share these
thoughts with you, and with them comes the hope that
with or without the others, we’ll continue to strive to
do our very best in a world that seems to have lost her way.
Blame should not be assigned to the city, the mayor or the cops when
your children shoot their neighbors in the streets in the darkness of the
night. Government doesn’t exist to raise your children for you. T he role
of government is not to teach your children right from wrong. Govern
ment builds sch<xds and prisons, paves streets, administers the law and
provides services. The government is not to be kx)ked to for moral or
spiritual leadership. Parents rear children. Parents instill values. T h at’s
e live in a world of terrorist atrocities. We live in a world of fear and
their job, their right, their privilege.
loathing. We live in a world of hunger and famine and drought and
W ho is to blame for society’s shortcomings? Again and again we
thirst. We live in a world of absurd overabundance, and we live in a world
hear the question. Yet where are the answers? W ho steps up and
of deprivation. We live in a world (if terror; we Jive in an Orwellian nation
accepts responsibility? W ho says: “ 1 was absent when 1 should have
at war and, ever so sadly, we live in a city where people throw kittens from
been present. I was impaired when should have been sober, I failed
the windows of cars speeding along the Fremont Bridge.
where I should have succeeded. I gave up when 1 should have tried
O f all the attacks, tragedies and horrors that
harder. I did not do my job. T his burden is mine.
pummel us daily, this one sad, sick and perhaps
T his is my fault.” W ho will step up and speak
Who
to blame these words?
seemingly less important incident has come to
greatly disturb and hauntingly hang over me. This
Sadder yet, in a world, a nation, a state, a city
for society's shortcomings?
cruelty symbolizes and links together all that is
where our values have fallen to such lowly levels,
wrong with a world where people are so morally dis
Again and again
citizens and institutions are spending millions o f dol
solute that they neither comprehend nor care about
lars to fight gay marriage. In a world where terrorists
we
hear
the
question.
murder hundreds of Russian children, in a world of
the utter wrongness of their actions. Animal abusers
are often victims of abuse. Animal abusers often
suicide
bombers, in a world of public beheadings, our
Yet where are the answers?
continue to abuse family and strangers. Who might
churches, our neighbors, our citizens take stands and
Who
steps
up
be the next victim of this cycle o f abuse? This inci
positions setting up roadblocks to providing structure
and foundation for all families and children. In the
dent speaks so much about the decay of values and
and
accepts
responsibility?
morality in our culture. How does a person come to
name of family values, people turn a blind eye to
such behavior? What were they taught? How were
what’s happening on their own watch. Parents sue
they raised? Who is responsible for watching over them? Where are the
state agencies for their own failures to love, protect and guide their chil
parents? Where is the church, the family, the leaders, the teachings, the
dren. Parents are absent while their children are abused, some tragically
elders? Who steps up and takes responsibility when kittens are tossed on
murdered. But it always seems others are held to blame. What a waste of
time and energy and money. What a waste o f young lives. Wake up,
roadways, dogs are dragged behind cars and blind men become the vic
Americans. Wake up, Oregonians. Your children are killing themselves
tim of hit-and-run cowards? All these sad events have taken place
in 100 mph car wrecks. They’re throwing kittens from cars. They’re run
recently right here in our own City of Roses. Who takes responsibility
ning from you in the company of sex offenders. And all while you’re
for these acts?
worried about the impact of gay marriage on the structure of traditional
There will be those who say that the schixils and the teachers are to
values?
blame. This, however, is misplaced blame. Teachers are to impart
To those who fear or would deny gay marriage, I say Ux>k to your
knowledge, to teach life skills. Teachers are not to be held responsible
own house first. Your walls are decaying, and the rtxif is falling in. J H
for molding and shaping the core of the person your child becomes.
W
is
REFLECTIONS
10 years ago in
S
E
^ K
1 9 9 4 |
Sneakin’ Out
p 24
NEWS
NORTHWEST • Washington judge mies for same-
sex marriage
pp
7-17
NATIONAL . Gay Republican group refuses to
endorse President Bush
19-21
WORLD • Seven out gay and lesbian athletes win
Olympic medals
pp 22-23
pp
ARTS AND CULTURE
PEOPLE • Margaret Cho’s new act evolves with
every political twist and turn
p
35
THEATER • Stark Raving kisses Portland
p 37
M U S IC • Scissor Sisters strive to rescue radio
with fun pop; The Butchies lose momentum
pp 38-39
FILM • Mean Creek's Jacob Estes has two
daddies, plus John Waters’ latest and Stephen
Fry's directorial debut
p 40
WHAT'S POPPIN ? • Donnie Darker worth a
second look
p41
DIVERSIONS • John Cameron Mitchell; Portland
Taiko’s Curly Ncxxiles
p 43
CULTURE • Morrissey times two
p 44
COLUMNS
M S . BEHAVIOR • Into thin air
p 33
• Twenty-five years after the birth of the gay and lesbian movement at Stonewall, our
community faces a mortal clanger from a swiftly growing and powerful enemy— the
self-styled "Christian“ right— who would like to see us erased from the face of the
earth, literally.
• On Sept. 11 Republican Gov. Pete W ilson vetoed
California’s domestic partner legislation, Assembly
Bill 2810, which had cleared the state Assembly and
the Senate. The measure would have allowed same-sex
and unmarried heterosexual couples to register with the
secretary of state. Registered partners would have been
granted hospital visitation rights, the right to will each
other property and the nght to act on the behalf o f a
partner Who became incapacitated. It wouid have been
the first such legislation in the country.
• O pponents o f B allot M easure 13, a proposed state constitutional am endment
barring governm ental “ prom otion o f hom osexuality.“ are m aking a last-m inute
push to raise funds and a ttra ct volunteers to defeat the initiative. W ith only 50
days before the Nov. 8 election, the N o on 13 C om m it
tee, form erly known as S upport O ur C om m unities PAC,
hopes to raise m ore than $1.5 m illion to fund a media
blitz urging voters to reject the O regon C itizens
A lliance's latest discrim inatory initiative.
M aintaining Hope Under S iege,” a w orkshop w ith
Holly Near, who has more than 25 years o f experience
working fo r social change, w ill be held Sept 18.
Through music and the sharing o f her own experi
ences, Near w ill teach you how to avoid burnout, how
to stay effective and how to keep hope alive.
♦ Come to a candlelight* march, vigil and rally Sept 25
in Salem in memory o f Hattie Mae Cohens and Brian
M ock, who were murdered tw o years ago by skin
heads Sponsored by the Lesbian Avengers, the
march begins at the C apitol and ends at the fire-
bombed building where the pair died.
• Vermont is the first state in the union to offer "domestic
partner" benefits to its employees, according to The Baltimore
Gay Paper The policy, which wet into effect in August, came
about as a settlement to a grievance filed by a state worker.
• Six openly transsexual women were allowed to enter the
Michigan W omyn’s M usic Festival this year, despite the festi
val’s exclusionary policy o f allowing only “womyn-bom wom yn." The event followed
a weeklong protest by 13 transsexual women and their friends and supporters.
The Lavender Menace airs live on Cable Access Produced and
hosted by Satya Riversong, the program features a diversity o f lesbian, fem inist,
queer and general interest guests- call-ins, entertainm ent and general truth-
revealing and rabble-rousing.
GRAPHIC DIRECTOR • Kevin Moore
ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR • Lisa Bradshaw
Madison, Andy Mangels, Christopher McQuain,
Christa-Margaret Nelson, J.B. Rahin, Boh Rix.*hr,
Floyd Sklaver, G iri Taratoot, Rex Wixkner
FEATURES EDITOR • Meg Daly
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR • Larry Lewis
Lisa FWnson, Brian Boucher, Boh Terry
CONTRIBUTORS • Marc Acito, Michael Burdick,
ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES • Kari Tate,
Meryl Cohn, Els F)ehhaut, Evan James, M L.
Ashley Austin
NEWS EDITOR « Jim Radosta
From the mouths o f babes
34
EPIQUEEREAN • Hail Mississippi Mary!
36
OUT W ITH IT! • The way things (xight to be
43
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO M ARC • In praise of
• Family, Friends and Neighbors, a unique collection o f
photos and personal stories focusing on 50 gay and les
bian Oregonians, is on exhibit at the Salem Public Library
through Sept. 30,
• The Alliance for Progress, a Dallas-based nonprofit or
ganization. has filmed what it calls "the nation's first gay
rights television commercial.“ The commercial, titled "Sun
day Morning," is intended to present the daily lives of gay
men. lesbians and bisexuals through a chronological series
of scenes.
*
PUBLISHER AND MANAGING EDITOR • Marry Davis
OUT LOUD
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT • Zanne dejanvier
DISTRIBUTION • Krist ine Ashton, Allison Renn,
outing
p 45
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