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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 2004)
Continued from Page 5 What do I regret? in tim es o f other crises, regardless o f what they are— we, as a society, are still nowhere near to living by the golden rule o f “do unto oth ers.” It sends a m essage that even though we are per ceived to be a forward-thinking nation, we are still ju st as backw ard an d bigo ted as in th e ...h m m m , I guess we’ve probably always been this way. But, the passage o f M easure 36 d id n ’t sur prise me as much as everything I am reading and hearing about now. I d o n ’t understand how we’ve lost the right to benefits. We never had them to lose— not the way 1 am interpreting it. We are just back at where we started. O n the bright side, and I like to think there is one, we have more and more employers who know the value o f dom estic partner benefits. If enough o f them— along with city, county and state agencies— are willing to step up to the plate, there would com e a time when the rest would hopefully fall into place. We have legal avenues for both medical and financial power o f attorney. We still have the m eans to create trusts to protect and ensure proper distribution of assets. 1 am not saying we should just be grateful for what we have and rem ain silent about the rest. I am just asking everyone to not forget about the progress that has been m ade. W e certainly aren’t giving up or going away, but neither are “ they.” A t som e point there will be a com m on ground upon which we all will stand, and there won’t be “us” and “ them .” In the m eantim e, what do we have to do to get that dam ned am endm ent repealed? To the E ditor : D ebbie W ingate Gresham am writing in response to an article, or rather the headline to an article, that asked, “ Will you wake up Nov. 3 and wish you’d done more?” l“ N o Regrets,” O ct. 15] I read this after I had previously stayed awake the duration o f the night with two hours o f sleep working from 9 a.m. Nov. 1 until 9 p.m. Nov. 2. 1 was knocking on doors and telephoning young A m ericans making sure their voices were heard. 1 mistakenly thought the new generation o f A m er ica wouldn’t be as naive as the general populace. I understand Oregon was primarily John Kerry voters, which is great. A lthough, in talk ing with many o f my straight friends, I found out they had voted yes on M easure 36. W hy? I am an extremely gotxJ friend to these individuals. 1 have shown them that homosexuality, to me, is about falling in love with the soul, not the gender. Being gay is not a lim itation in any way. S o why would they deprive me o f som ething so m any A m erican s take for gran ted? I explained that voting no on 36 wouldn’t change anything. T h e constitution would stay the sam e, and marriage would still be unobtain able by those wanting to live a life without dis crim ination or segregation. I am appalled at O regon voters, those who pride them selves as caring about their country and the people who live in it. G ay people are not going to disappear or becom e any more elu sive, no matter how much the religious right tries to chant it into existence. So, back to the question. Do I wish I had done more? Do 1 regret anything? Yes, I do have a regret. I regret I put trust in the people o f Oregon to have the capability to understand, to feel and to not treat us like we are second-class citizens. I Are we a nation o f hate, o f not learning from our past? Let me ask you this: Will you wake up tomorrow and see an A m erica full o f discrim i nation? Did you help create it? O r did you sit idly by and willingly watch, like so many over weight A m ericans sitting in front o f their T V s waiting for Bush’s re-election? E ric E rcanbrack Beaverton “ HIV Stops with Me” seeks to dispel myths, not demonize To the E ditor : n the letter to the editor titled “Bush’s A nal Sex Lies" [Oct. 15], the reader states, “Many HIV-positive men feel demonized by the ‘H IV Stops with M e’ crusade.” Although demonized is the strongest term I’ve heard used, I have heard people tell me that they feel the cam paign blames HIV-positive people for spreading the virus. It is true that most HIV-positive people are acting responsibly. It is the people who don ’t know their status who are causing most o f the new infections. A ccording to the C en ters for Disease C on trol and Prevention, it is estim ated that 25 percent o f the positive individuals in the U nited States do not know their status. A n d it is estim ated that those 25 percent account for as many as two-thirds o f the new cases. W hat keeps people from getting tested? It is my opinion that the stigm a o f being positive plays a large role in people not wanting to test. M any people in our society still feel that the per son with the disease is responsible for getting it. M any people still feel that we, as positive indi viduals, have done som ething wrong or bad in order to have contracted the virus. T h e only I way to elim inate this perception is by working to dispel the myths surrounding it. I ask that those people who feel the cam paign blam es positive people to spend som e time on the W eb site. Take the tim e to write a letter to any one o f the 27 spokesm odels, and ask them if they are blam ing people for their status. You would have 27 different responses, but I can guarantee that not a single one o f them would say they are trying to lay blam e on positive indi viduals for infecting others. Take som e time to read the biographies. Read the letters and articles. View the videos. Each spokesm odel speaks from his or her heart about various issues. Each one o f us reacts differently to rejection for being positive. Each one o f us dis closes in a different way. So m e o f us battle with substance abuse issues. But, most importantly, all o f us attem pt to live our lives responsibly. T he campaign does not attempt to preach to anyone. T h e campaign does not' give one “right” answer. T he campaign does not prescribe any polit ical agenda. A ll the campaign does is give a platform for individuals to tell how they handle their life. T h e cam paign is m ale, fem ale and trans gender. T h e cam paign is straight and gay. T h e cam paign is A frican A m erican, A sian/Pacific Islander, L atin a(o ) and white. T h e cam paign is young and older. T h e cam paign is even mother and daughter. T h e cam paign is the face o f H IV /A ID S here in the U nited States. O nly by talking openly about our status will we be able to break down the barriers that stigm a erects. I am proud to know that I have the courage to openly state that I’m positive. I wasn’t always able to do so. A n d , when I couldn’t do so is when I d id n ’t take care o f my body. J ohn M otter Portland Celebrate your independence at Kuni Saab. 2004 9-5 Sedan 2004 9-3 Sport Sedan Visit kunisaab.com for current lease and model year closeout specials. All-Wheel Drive 2005 9-2X The Best of Sweden, Right Here in Beaverton. m 1.877.279.9194 3725 SW Cedar Hills Boulevard • Beaverton i in i ill ¥ i f f' •w’w - Tjr mmm 24 hours a day kunisaab.com Open Weekdays 8 to 7:30 • Saturday 9 to 6 • Sunday I I to 5
