GUE STCOMMEN TÄ RY
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by
R otv T uoR i’t
The IN publication for the OUT population
No regrets
V o l. 21 N o . 2 4
Will you wake up Nov. 3 and wish you’d done more?
FEATURE
A
V0IEU4: Just O ut's queer-friendJy election guide
A
F ounded 1983 • J ay B rown and R enée L a C hance
i A f i f n c r\T n / / \ r L ‘ m r r t ' / M u a r i I f n i c r r A / A f Y X r t r x f
l n / 'f i
I V iu
fter m months
of working toward this moment, »-* Election
Day
is here!
rfp r
You may he kx)king at your calendar and thinking
I’m off a few weeks— or perhaps off my rocker— hut it is
true. Ballots began to he mailed out across Oregon start
ing just after midnight today, and people will start voting as early as
today or tomorrow.
Ask yourself if you have done everything you can to make sure we
win the No on Constitutional Amendment 36 campaign.
Will you wake up Nov. 3 with the knowledge that you were a part of
this victory— that you have been a part of this historic moment, doing
everything you could to help the campaign? Or will you wake up Nov. 3
and wish you’d done more?
During the past several weeks, the proponents of Constitutional
Amendment 36 have spent close to a million dollars running one mis
leading, hurtful commercial after another— yet they have not gained
any ground. They have sent out misleading mail pieces, and still they
have not gained any ground. They have lied to voters by saying this
amendment will not change the constitution. And still they have not
gained any ground.
But this week, we are turning the tide. Just as undecided and per
suadable voters— the ones we need to reach most— began paying the
most attention to this race, we are reaching them with a flurry of televi
sion commercials, radio ads, mail pieces and direct voter contacts from
volunteers across Oregon.
On their televisions and radios, in their mailboxes, in their voters’
pamphlet and from friends and family like you, voters across Oregon are
hearing how this amendment will change our constitution to hurt gays
and lesbians. And the more they hear, the more they reject it.
The tide has turned in this race, and we are more certain than ever
that we will win.
But we still need your help. In these final few weeks before Nov. 2, we
each need to he doing everything in our power to defeat this amendment.
Make no mistake— this election will come down to very few votes.
We need to make sure that every N O voter we know is returning his
or her ballot. We need to help walk door to door and phone voters who
still haven’t made up their minds. We need to tell everyone we know—
our families, friends, neighbors and co-workers— how this amendment
will personally affect us and ask them to please vote against placing
unequal treatment into our constitution.
The rest of this campaign will be tough. There will he more hurtful
ads from the other side as they become more fearful of losing. But we will
he tougher. They will throw everything they have at us. But we know
from experience that telling the truth about our lives, and how unequal
treatment is hurtful to our families, will 2 move
0 our fellow Oregonians.
REFLECTIONS
There will he moments when everything seems to he going our
way— and times when we feel like everyone is against us. But we will
never lose faith. We will never stop working for victory.
We’ve been down this path too many times before. But I hope you’ll
he heartened by the knowledge that even though all those past ballot
measures took so much out of our community, the truth is that they
changed our culture in Oregon to bring us to this moment. Those strug
gles mattered, and it mattered that we won, and that happened because
so many people stood up and came out and took tremendous risks. Our
polling shows us as starting at least 20 percent ahead of every other one
of the 11 states facing an anti-marriage amendment this fall. T h at’s
because so many people in this state have sacrificed so much, hut look
at the difference it made.
You don’t get civil rights by sitting around waiting for them to fall in
your lap. You don’t get them without sacrifice and risk and pain. We are
paying that price now. 1 know what it feels like to drive down a street
with “Yes on 36” signs on all sides, or to find out that a close friend “just
can’t go there” on this issue.
But you know what? Those feelings were there all along— they aren’t
being created, they’re just being given the light of day. And as painful as
it is to see and experience, prejudice is like a vampire— daylight kills it
pretty fast. And without that daylight and discussion and, frankly, some
pretty offensive and hurtful things being said, we don’t have the oppor
tunity to educate people about the truth of our lives.
This fight is worth it. And when the dust settles on Election Day, we
will have defeated this amendment.
We are at a defining moment, not only in this campaign, but in the
long-term struggle for equality for G L B T people. This is one of those
points that we will kx)k hack on and remember for the rest of our lives.
You will he an important part of this victory. Please go to
www.noon36.com today to make a contribution, sign up for a volunteer
shift and to learn how to answer difficult questions from undecided vot
ers. We cannot defeat this amendment without the efforts of each and
every one of us.
Thank you for standing with us through thick and thin. Together,
we can and will win! jm
NORTHWEST • B asic Rights Oregon soiree fights
for truth, justice and the American way
PP
7-17
NATIONAL • M arriage vote exposes
irreconcilable differences; group announces new
legal challenge to “don’t ask, don’t tell”
pp 19-23
WORLD • N ova Scotia becomes latest Canadian
province to legalize sam e-sex marriage
pp 2 4 -2 5
ARTS AND CULTURE
Straight talk from gay scribe Augusten
Burroughs
pp 3 8 -3 9
CULTURE • DIY meets high art at the monthlong
Enteractive Language Festival
P 43
DIVERSIONS • Coronation 2004; Intersex Film
Night; Playing Tom ; Pure G old Baby
p45
FILM • Queer fest reflects evolving society
PP 4 6 -4 7
WHAT'S PO PPIN 'T • Sex and gender ambiguity
abounds in Stage Beauty
p48
CULTURE • Just O ut presents your guide to queer
Halloween fun
p49
THEATER • Anthony Rapp brings refreshing
candor to stage and screen; Boston Marriage
On the c o v e r: Clockwise from top right: Portland City Council hopeful
M U SIC • Queer sisters are doin’ it for themselves;
Swizzle Chicks: One part lesbian, three-part
harmony
Sam Adams on the campaign trail; Howard Dean (left) stumps for m a y-
oral candidate Tom Potter; the N o on Ginstitutional Amendment 36
campaign’s African American Action Team visits a local barbershop
ADAMS AND POTTER PHOTOS BY BRYAN GRIMES; NO ON 30 PHOTO BY MOOF MAYEDA
p 53
COLUMNS
BEHAVIOR • Between a rock and a hard place
te fjs a
s g « H K |g
....... M
":
VOL. 1 No. 24, S ept . 28-O ct . 26,
• Phoenix R ising re ce n tly announced th e a p pointm ent o f P atricia
J. C hance and R obert W em reich as c o -d ire cto rs o f its co u nsel
ing service.
The A m erican vo te r is facing an extrem ely
d iffic u lt challenge in the ele ctio n s o f 1984.
D oes one ca st a b a llo t in fa vo r o f co n
science o r greed? If you are a m em ber o f a
m inority, if yo u are black, gay o r lesbian,
O rien ta l o r anything o th e r than a W ASP, you
are in fo r tro u b le . A vo te fo r Reagan is an
a ct o f tre a so n.
37
EPIQUEEREAN • Northwest Industrial eating
P
• The P ortland C ity C o u n cil w ill have hearings O ct. 3 on
m aking P ortland a N u cle a r Free Zone.
• The Lesbian Forum m eets O ct. 16 to discuss “ Lesbian
P ro sp e rity ” W here's the m oney in P ortland’s lesbian
com m unity?
• Jam m in’ a t th e G ender G ap— a fe stiva l o f w om en‘s m usic
fe atu ring Loose W im m in ', W e Three, Jo y fu l S ound. B an
shee. Jane H ow ard, M o th e rio d e and Jazz C o n tn b u tio n —
w ill be held O ct. 21 a t S ta rry N ight. H o sts fo r th e evening
include R uth M cFariand, M a rga re t S trachan, M a rgie Hen-
dnckson, R ebecca W ebb. B arbara R oberts and M argie
Boulé. Tickets are sliding scale, $ 5 -$ 1 0 .
• The d ire c to r o f the U .S . P ublic H ealth S ervice
said la st w eek th a t a blood te s t w ould soon be
available to determ ine w h e the r a person had been
exposed to A ID S b u t th a t p o sitive te s t re s u lt^ “ w ill
n o t n e cessarily m ean you have" the disease
Christopher McQuain, Gary Morris, J.B. Rahin,
Boh Roehr, Floyd Sklaver, Cori Taratcxrt, Roey
Thorpe, Rex W<x:kner
I • Larry Lewis
I • Kari Tate,
Ashley Austin, Cshea Walker
ART RIRECTM • Bonnie Barrett
PM N C T1IN ASStSlANT • Zanne dejanvier
DISTRIBUTION • Kristine Ashton, Allison Benn,
Lisa Benson, Brian Boucher, Boh Terry
41
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARC • Incurious
George
P
• S ta te Rep. V era Katz. D -P ortland. w ill be h o lding tw o tow n
h a ll/co m m u n ity m eetings dunng the m onth o f O cto b er. S ince
1973, w hen she w as firs t e le cte d to the H ouse o f R epresenta
tive s, she has sponsored and w o rked fo r le g isla tio n to p ro h ib it
discrim ination on the basts o f "sexual o rie n ta tio n in housing,
em ploym ent, c re d it and p ublic services. "
• A to ta l o f 13 candidates have file d so fa r fo r
th e P ortland C ity C ouncil seat to be vacated
b y C harles Jordan. O ne candidate em erges
above the re st as the cle a r choice fo r the p o si
tio n . S chool board mem ber, com m unity a ctivist
and e d u ca to r H erb C aw thom e is the m ost p ro
g re ssive candidate in the race. He fu lly supports
the n g hts o f gays and lesbians to have p rotec
tio n a gainst discnm ination in housing, em ploy
m ent and public accom m odations
Cohn, Jodi Helmet, Patricia L. MacAodha,
NEWS
p 51
•
MTS AM D USK BIIM • Jim Radosta
SWT WMTB • Meg Daly
C8NT1UMTMS • Marc Acito, Stephen Blair, Meryl
p 26
ROEY THORPE is the executive director o f Basic Rights Oregon.
years ago in
Marty Davis
O c to b e r 1 5 , 2 0 0 4
54
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