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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2004)
ŒfSBtL 1 o u t Country isn't free To the E ditor : he United States, 1 think, has turned sour. The Constitution has become meaningless. There's a song that says, “We are living in wartime," and this is too true. We have the war on Iraq, and we have the war on freeing gay rights. I am no longer proud to he an American because the country is no longer free. Being gay, as 1 am, it is very difficult to walk down the street and wonder who’s going to make an offending comment about gays. Do 1 not have the freedom to love who 1 care to love? There's a question that 1 am going to ask the community: What are the differences between straight people and gay people? There is only one difference that separates homosexuals and heterosexuals: who we partner with. That is the only difference. Gays take showers and pay bills and shop just L orelei M ackenzie like the rest of the community. Shouldn’t the Manalapan, N .J. gay community have the same rights as every one else in this “free” country? No one in this country is free anymore. It is not just the presi dent who has taken my freedom away. It’s the Now that conservative Christians, the police, it’s your President neighbor next dtx>r who has that Yes on 36 sign | Bush has lost the support of Log in his or her yard. When it comes to the gay issue, what is the first Cabin Republicans, do you feel he thing that comes to mind? AIDS? Here’s some will learn a valuable lesson about thing that might surprise you: AIDS expkxied in Africa. And guess what? It started with heterosex remaining loyal to his queer support- uals, not gays. So that would he an invalid excuse. ers, or will this give the QOP license It’s simply because of the sex issue. to become even more anti-gay? I don’t criticize my straight friends when they go to the bedr(x>m. So don’t criticize me when I here’s a lesson to be learned, hut it’s not go to bed with whomever I care about. All I am Bush’s to leam. Gay Republicans need to saying to the community and the country is this: wise up and rethink their loyalty to a party that America is no longer safe for the people to live is actively hostile to our civil equality. The peacefully. If we the people don’t stop the hate, wealthy upper-crust queens need to trade their our country is going to slowly destroy itself one tax-cutting stinginess for a more evolved social issue at a time. consciousness. Don’t hate us because we give and receive love from those of the same sex. Get to know us, D a v i d D e y o and then make your judgments. Beaverton T ; Herzog-Meier It’s a you parade. D. Fulps/George Kettner _ . „ . , 5 0 3 -6 4 4 -9 12 1 »cars @ herzogmeier.com iH a d d m e b o u ffa n t custom mb cieations 6 lepdiis { foi all seasons} 971 . 409.2189 madame-bouffant.com TBLG friendly || private studio call for appointment H a M o w - w e e n , n. 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Tel 5 0 3 .2 8 1 .8 6 8 8 • Fax 5 0 3 .2 4 9 .1 4 4 0 • www.impress-usa.com • • • R yan L aine B urch McMinnville Self-Employed ♦ Complkoted Borrowers Bankruptcies & Foreclosures ♦ Credit Problems level as everyone else, as have many states. I propose it’s high rime that something is done, besides protest, to show America how important we truly are to the economy. I frequent the America Online same-sex marriage debate hoards, and what some people on there have sug gested could really prove something to the presi dent and America. If all gay people, before using their money, put a pink slash in the comer of every hill they own, it would prove how much w’e truly matter, not just as people, hut to the econo my (which seems to matter most around here, anyway). This may sound idealistic to some, but if we put the message out that this is happening, it would he realized that we are not just a mean ingless 10 percent of the population like so many claim us to he. 1 hope you print this as soon as possible, so this could start being done on a national level. HRC should take a stand To the E ditor : he Sept. 5 issue and the Sept. 19 I“Stand Up for America”] issue had items about Margaret Cho being “uninvited” to the Democ- ratic National Convention by the Human Rights Campaign, in order to avoid a “potential media firestorm.” I think it is high time there was a media firestorm. I, for one, am sick to death of “turning the other cheek” to not upset the opposition. They don’t think twice about upsetting any of us with their constant anti-gay attacks. It is time we stop cowering in the comer and let ourselves he heard loudly and clearly. The terminally politi cally correct Human Rights Campaign will never receive another dime from me until it starts to take bold stands about the issues that are paramount to this community. T J im G ianakis Portland Queers contribute to economy To the E ditor : i n the recent months (or maybe not so recent) our “president,” George “Dubya” Bush, has acted like everyone from the queer community is of no importance to him, or to America. He has repeatedly smashed our attempts to try and gain equal rights and he citizens on the same eorge Bash couldn’t care less about the loss of support of Log Cabin Republicans. He may, in fact, be relieved not to have any queer supporters. (How could he become more anti gay???) I think their decision is commendable, although I always thought that a gay Republican was an oxymoron. I hope that Log Cabin will throw its support behind Kerry/Edwards and bring an end to this disgraceful, illegitimate Bush regime. G C arol M eyer Minneapolis ■ e x tlP H T r a E S r Swaggart said during a worship service that he’d kill any gay man who looked at him uand tell Qod he died. ” He apologized after getting complaints from several queer groups, saying the remark wasn’t meant to harm anyone. Did the mainstream media do a thorough job covering these events, or were they downplayed? (Please see relat ed item on Page 20.) Respond at wwiv.justout.com. (Don’t forget to include your name, city and day time telephone number.)
