_Ufi! v ember 5.
by
2004 » | - « t « » 3
M artv D avis
The IN publication for the OUT population
Empty nest syndrome
Vol. 22 N o. 1
N o on 36 campaign closes up shop after a valiant effort
FEATURE
t’s starting to lixik and feel very empty around the Just ('ha offices.
For the last many weeks we have shared building space with the
No on 36 campaign. Their hustling energy, their crowds of volun
teers, the constant stream of visitors and a continual flow of familiar
faces became warm and comfortable. The day after the election, the
elixir was closed, the rooms dark. Emptiness seeped from beneath the dtxir-
way. Now volunteers are dismantling and cleaning out, throwing away the
remnants of hundreds and thousands of hours of hard work.
We all have our own memories, thoughts, worries and recollections of
this election. Some are big and painful, tixi big to wrap thoughts around.
Here’s a few smaller pieces of mine that I’d like to pass on. I look forward
to hearing from you in return with your shared thoughts and memories.
1 was touched by sincere words from Basic Rights Oregon executive
director Roey Thorpe as she addressed a crowd of enthusiastic supporters
the night after the election. She admitted to concern about how she’d be
greeted and thanked the crowd for not throwing blame and disdain on
herself and the campaign. There is validity to her concerns. There is his
tory here. Talk to some of the Portlanders who worked in leadership roles
on the early campaigns against Ballot Measures 8, 9 and 13. Talk to
them if you can find them, that is. It is nor uncommon for us to turn on
our own. But we’re not going to do that this time. Right?
This is not to suggest that the campaign is not to be fodder for debate.
Clearly this will be happening. Strategies are to be questioned, concerns
are to be voiced. This will happen with BRO and the campaign staff
internally, and it should also occur externally. There Is a need for a forum
for our community to come together, ask questions, hear answers and use
this info to gather resources and energy for what comes next.
T he fact of the matter is, every now and then, ya just gotta sit down
and process. It’s a requirement of forward movement.
Questioning is not akin to attacking. Questioning, done respectfully,
does not imply blame. W hile there might he questions as to the hows
and whys, there can he no doubt of the campaign’s integrity, the dedica
tion of the staff and volunteers and their deep desire to have defeated
Measure 36. Anyone who might have had doubt needed only to have
looked at the faces of the staff Nov. 2.
A nd already there Y brightness in the gloom of defeat. As I’m writing
this column, an e-mail comes in from Eugene announcing that students
at Spencer Butte Middle School are planing a rally to protest the passage
of Measure 36. Middle school? Isn’t that 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds? As
stated in the e-mail, ‘T h e younger generation will he our salvation.”
Middle school students are rallying to our side. Don’t for one minute
think that hope is lost.
F ounded 1983 • J ay B rown
t wasn’t all bad news on election night. In Portland, openly gay
Sam Adams won a fiercely contested seat on the City Council.
Now I don’t want to he pushy or premature, but here’s my plan for
Adams. I see two terms on the council and then it’s Sam Adams, Port
land’s first openly gay mayor. By then we’ll dispense with the label;
office seekers will no longer be straight or gay, they’ll simply be candi
dates.
But wait, there’s more— after two terms as mayor, the now distin
guished, hard-bodied, silver-haired Adams heads for W ashington, D.C.
To the House? N ah, I think not. It’s Sam Adams, two-term U.S. sena
tor from Oregon. A nd after a long, successful career in public life, he
and his partner and their seven cats retire to their beachfront home,
where they while away the hours with entertaining and organic gar
dening. T he only uncertainty in this prediction: W hen exactly will
Adams find time to seek out a partner? Hey, Sam, don’t forget the Just
Friends Voice Personal Ads. They work— really, they do.
I
he night that Tom Potter was elected mayor, he had the city at
his beck and call. He could have gone anywhere, he could have
met with anyone. W hat did he do? He came to the No on 36 cam
paign gathering and took a place among sadness when he could well
have been celebrating his own achievement. The next night, where’s
the mayor-elect? Back with us, at our gathering, again tempering his
celebration with our pain. O ur mayor, as was his predecessor, is on our
side. It’s good to be blue.
T
and
R enée L a C hance
N ovem ber 5, 2004
WHIM OF A MAJORITY; A major blow to marriage
equality in Oregon
p 18
NEWS
NORTHWEST . Queer teen empowerment
workshop offered; police roundtable will discuss
queer youth suicide; Cascade AIDS Project
elects new board officers and members; Human
Rights Cam paign scorecard downgrades U.S.
Reps. Peter DeFazio and Darlene Hooley,
D-Ore.; grants aim to further voter participation;
restaurateur raises awareness about abuse;
Lawrence attorney speaks in Portland; City
Club hosts “Now W hat?” forum
pp 7 - 1 1
NATIONAL • New report estimates 65,000 gays
and lesbians are serving in the military; Log
Cabin Republicans sue U.S. governm ent to
overturn “don’t ask, d o n ’t tell”
pp 1 3 - 1 5
WORLD • Sierra Leone activist raped, murdered
pp 1 6 - 1 7
ARTS AND C U L T U R E
MUSIC • The Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt
chooses his words carefully
o, looking ahead, what n ex t?T h e Legislature, the Oregon
Supreme Court, the U.S. Supreme Court— all this and more lies
in our future. We elect a new president in 2008, and it’s time to get
started now. I’m thinking Hillary Rodham C linton. And here at
home, we must plan now to select and groom a viable candidate to
replace U.S. Sen. G ordon Smith. It’s time to get the red out.
THEATER • Portland O pera’s 40th season begins
on a high note
F
P 37
S
inally, Oregonians and Americans blinded to the simple truth of
civil rights should look to Massachusetts for vision and guidance.
Has gay marriage there brought society to an end? Nope, quite the
opposite. Gay marriage in Massachusetts should rightfully he credited
with breaking the 87-year-old curse of the Bambino and finally allow
ing the Boston Red Sox to w'in the World Series. So, Oregonians, if
you want to see that lousy basketball team of yours in the playoffs any
time soon, you’d better start digging us all out from under the enor
mous pile of crap th at got dumped on this state Nov. 2. |(7J
p 33
p 35
DIVERSIONS • Cornered in the Dark ; the Dresden
Dolls; Everybody Says Don't
FILM • Enduring Love ; Tarnation ; Broadway:
The Golden Age\ My Mother Likes Women
pp 3 8 - 3 9
WHAT'S POPPIN'T • Sideways director just keeps
getting better with age
p
41
COLUMNS
REFLECTIONS
'
"•
*
V
10 years ago in
• “While a slim majority of Americans actually support gays m the
military, polls consistently show that the vast majority of Americans,
even those who normally support cjay nghts, vehemently oppose
gay mamage." gay columnist Gabriel Rotello wrote in New York
Newsday “No senator or govemot from any state openly favors
it President Clinton openly opposes it.... Groups like the Human
Rights Gimoaign Fund and the National Gay and Lesbian Task
Force have never taken official positions on marriage or even
bothered to poll the community about i t "
MS. BEHAVIOR • Straight woman seeks advice for
üül
it has been nearly a year since the state Court of Appeals upheld a $31,000 jury
award against the Oregon Citizens Alliance and its
spokesman Scott Lively, and the plaintiff in
that case, free-lance photographer Cather
ine Stauffer, has yet to see a penny. Accord
ing to her lawyer she probably never will
• Former Portland Police Chief Tom Potter withdrew from being
considered to head a federal community policing program after
a Justice Department official called his advocacy for gay and
lesbian rights a "problem" for the Clinton administration.
• The battle ¡s heating up among iong-distance telephone carriers
to attract gay arid lesbian customers. Working Assets Long
Distance company recently handed Oregon’s No on 13
Committee a check for $24,000 to help defeat Bailot Mea
sure T3. a proposed disenminatory initiative to be decided on
by voters Nov. 8.
• Cmdr. Mike Garvey of the Portland Police Bureau's central
precinct says cops have increased their presence in the Stark
Street area during the past four months, in the fixm of more
foot and biking patrols. “We want the gay community to feel
comfortable and are doing wfiat we can to ensure that.
P0BLISNER AND MANAGING EDITOR • Marty Davis
;
* Mexican/Mexican American gathering:
lesbians, dykes, queere, hutches, femmes,
diesel dykes! You are invited to a gathering
Nov. ) 9 to meet each other, to know each
other and to support each other as Chicana,
Tejana, Chola and Mexican American lesbians.
• A gay bashing hot tine has been set up by
the Department of Justice. Call 800-347-HATE
if you have witnessed or been the victim of
homophobic violence
• The Multnomah County Health Department
ic conducting paid, confidential interviews of
African American gay and bisexual men. The
surveys are informal and address frequency of
condom use, level of communication with sexual
partners and methods of obtaining information.
Participants will receive a $15 gift certificate to
Fred Meyer
Ashley Austin, Cshea Walker
ART DIRECTOR • Bonnie Barrett
S W T WRITER • Meg Daly
Christopher McQuain, Kevin Mix ire, Gary
Morris, Boh Roehr, Aaron Scott, Hoyd Sklaver,
Cori Taratoot, Rex Wockner
CONmiRUTORS • Marc Acito, Michael E Barrett,
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR • Larry Lewis
DISTRIBUTION • Kristine Ashton, Allison Benn,
Stephen Blair, Meryl Cohn, Bryan Grimes,
ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES • Kari Tire,
Lisa Benson, Brian Boucher, Boh Terry
ARTSANO CULTURE EDITOR «Jim Radosta
PROONCTIRN ASSISIANT • Zanne dejanvier
her jaded cousin
p 31
EPIQUEEREAN • Feeling saucy?
p
36
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARC . Waist
management
P 42
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