november 5.2004 »jM S t M t 5
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A* Coronation 2004 approaches, the Im perial Sovereign R ose Court has one candi >
date for Em peror and no candidates for Em press. W hat’s going on h ere? Does this
signal the end o f an era?
hile there was just the one candidate for
Rose Emperor and none for Rose
Empress this year, the situation is not limited
to Portland’s court. For the past decade, many
of the U .S. and Canadian courts have had no
contests, or just One candidate for the posi
tions. We were one of the few left that had not
had a monarch take a second reign in the same
title. Many courts have sat “regents’’ in the
vacancies, or just left them unfilled.
A poor economy and outside time com m it
ments and interests are a few reasons for the
decline. There’s simply so much more to do
within our communities and beyond, it takes
an extremely dedicated and financially stable
person to take on these positions, and basical
ly put their life on hold for a year.
MSSSW l
W
K evin C ook /R ose E mpress XLIV P oison
M arie W aters
Portland
• • •
(w 4' .s I
MMM I I
n
••
hat’s going on here? Portland as well as
other neighboring courts are running
out of individuals to run for these positions.
It’s expensive. Just look at the week of
Coronation: Awards Dinner, $15; Out-of-
Town Show, $15; Coronation, $35; Victory
Brunch, $20— not to mention if you plan on
staying the weekend at a downtown hotel,
which could run $200 or more for the week
end, plus other miscellaneous expenses. All
totaled, it could run you $400 for the weekend.
T h e courts in some parts aren’t doing
enough to get new members into their organi
zations to groom them for future Emperors and
Empresses or other court titles. By bringing in
new blood they can revitalize the organization.
Does this signal the end of an era ? NO. But
what I do know is the courts themselves are
pricing themselves out of business. T he courts
do a FA N TA ST IC job of raising funds for
local charities, and they are to be applauded.
Each year it seems there are more functions to
W
H i
e
cn c
t in
go to, and they keep getting more expensive to
attend.
No matter what happens, the court system
will live on. I think, like with all organiza
tions, they need to reflect, rethink and rebuild
their base to ensure their future.
D avid W. H artsook
Portland
n
e
x t IT T T H T 1
How do you feel about the 2004
election results? Should we be
grateful for local victories, or should
we be alarm ed about national
setbacks? (Please see related item
on Page 18,) Respond at
www.justout.com, (Don’t forget to
include your name, city and daytime
telephone number.)
Aromatherapy as art form.
Cleans the air of odors as it gently
scents your home.
é
L A M P E $
BERGER:
Available’exclusively at
made. You bring great shame to the state by
your presence as our senator.
Tlte family way
To the E ditor :
S cott S eibert
Portland
I want to feel safe again
To the E ditor :
oday 1 called the DMV and Multnomah
County. I wanted to ask questions like: 1
went in and paid $60 to get a marriage license
this year. Is it essentially invalid? Does it mean
anything? How come I can’t get my name
changed at the DMV with a marriage license
that claims it is an official document?
Basically, I was told that everyone at the
DMV had received a memo not to recognize
the marriage licenses and not to let anyone
change their names using this document. The
person at Multnomah County told me that the
licenses are “in limbo” because of recent court
issues and Measure 36. How can Measure 36
already affect me before it has even been
passed?
Basically, I’m understanding that as long as
some homophobic right-wing group can muster
up a homophobic measure or file a lawsuit, our
marriages will remain in limbo. Is there an end
to this?
I asked the guy at Multnomah County if we
were all going to get our $60 back if the licens
es end up being labeled void. He said no. Do 1
foresee a legal battle on that in the future?
It feels so intrusive to have my life essential
ly on hold as long as a few extremists have a
problem with it. How can this even be allowed?
There were Yes on 36 people at my school,
and I felt so threatened by it. I was sick to my
stomach all day. There were these skinny, white
jock boys handing out Yes on 36 stickers, and I
was having anxiety that they would approach me.
I had a flashback to high school with the skinny,
white jock boys calling me a freak in the halls.
I feel so violated by all of this, and I want to
feel safe again. I want to feel like my life has
some autonomy to it and that my personal life
decisions aren’t being judged by an extremist
minority. It is a nightmare come true.
T
J ess B runelle
Portland
n a July 9 op-ed for USA Txlay, Sen. Rick
Santorum wrote, “There is an ocean of empir
ical data showing that the union between a man
and a woman has unique benefits for children
and society.”
One thing that Santorum seems to miss is
that, when it comes to having children, gay and
lesbian couples will never have an accidental
pregnancy like straight couples do. Precisely
because they can’t have children “the tradition
al way,” gay and lesbian couples who want chil
dren have to make the choice deliberately. And
then, in the vast majority of cases, they go
through an extremely difficult adoption process.
AnybtxJy who has adopted a child can tell
you it’s expensive, massively bureaucratic and
emotionally draining. The paperwork alone is
mind-boggling. Clearly, this is not for anybody
who isn’t 100 percent committed to having a
child.
And according to IVF-Fertility.com, success
rates for artificial insemination are only 5 per
cent to 30 percent. So lesbian couples who
choose that route face an uphill battle, too.
W hich all gets back to the main point: Gay
and lesbian couples who have children do so
deliberately, never by accident. And because the
process is so difficult, you know they’re commit
ted to being parents because nobody would go
through that process lightly. To put it another
way, the children of gay and lesbian couples are
not only “wanted” but “really, really, really
wanted.”
As a newly married 35-year-old straight man
looking to start a family of his own, I think a lot
I
about what it takes to be a gixxl parent. And I
keep coming back to this one idea: First and
foremost, you have to really want parenthood
and all the challenges that come with it.
So when you consider how this one factor
alone impacts families all across our country, the
irony is a little overwhelming. If I was to make a
sweeping generalization here— and opponents
to gay marriage seem to have no problem mak
ing sweeping generalizations— I would conclude
that gay and lesbian parents as a whole popula
tion might actually end up being better suited to
parenthood precisely because they have to
choose it, fight for it and really, really want it.
And that’s probably the best thing any child
could hope for.
M att T riplett
Portland
Hie Gospel untruth
To the E ditor :
s a straight former newspaper reporter, I
enjoy reading Just Out, especially Marc
Acito’s column, which I find to consistently be
funny and clever. I do take issue, however, with
one aspect in the Oct. 15 column: his reference
to John Kerry’s alleged “W ho among us doesn’t
like Nascar?” quote [“Incurious George”].
Kerry never said it. If you want to see how
this myth repeatedly got into The New York
Times, I would suggest reading the Oct. 2 edition
of DailyHowler.com, a wonderful watchdog of
the major media.
A
A l W asser
Portland
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