just rm
newsmagazine
the in publication for the out population
Founded 1983 • Jay Brown and Renée LaChance
Quite an ordeal
Vol. 22 No. 11
FEATURE
Can schools provide the needed safety net of emotional support and guidance?
n Florida, Terri Schiavo loses her feeding tube and her life. At the
empowered to carry out our wishes for health care and financial
Vatican, Pope John Paul 11 gains a similar tube, and hopes that the
responsibility. In Oregon, as in most states, the order of authority,
Catholic Church might seize the opportunity to bring in vital and
should one become incapable of making decisions, is spouse, adult
enlightened leadership fade. The Boy Scouts of America see their
children and then parents.
leader resign in a child porn-related disgrace, and a Minnesota teen-ager
It you don’t have a legal partner/spouse, if you don’t have children
turns a gun on relatives and students.
and should you be estranged from your parents—a not-unlikely sce
In Oregon, Portland schixils are closed, funding disappears, and sub
nario—isn’t that thought enough reason to prompt a call to a lawyer or
stantial teacher layoffs are predicted. In this environment, how do trou
a visit to a Web site? The American Bar Association at www.abanet.org
bled students find solutions, strength and guidance? How many ques
can provide starting steps to a pnxzess that might one day lessen a bur
tioning, bullied, troubled and scared kids slip through the cracks
den during tough times. Best do it now; each day brings the unexpected.
unseen? If, and when, parents and families fail in their duties and obli
Today you could run your car off the side of the Morrison Bridge. It
gations, can schools provide the needed safety net of emotional support
could happen.
and guidance? Will the next troubled student bullied to the breaking
point by cruel and predatory children and teens give in to utter hope
s noted in “Reflections” below, 10 years ago Oregonians were
lessness and turn his wrath and pain upon a Portland schtxil yard?
locked in debate concerning minimum wage increases and guaran
Why should you, as a gay, lesbian, bi or trans adult, care about fund
teed wages to employees whose earnings included tips. Fast-forward to
ing problems in Portland schools? Because that troubled child might
March 29, 2005. House Bill 2409, backed by the restaurant industry,
have once been you. And now it’s some other child who’s not yet been I would override planned wage increases for those who earn tips. On a
able to accept the harsh reality of being “different” and the too-often
federal level, Congress has rejected an increase in the minimum hourly
brutal treatment that accompanies being different. Hopefully someone
wage. Ten years of dancing about—one step forward, one step backward.
was there to help you if and when you encountered hard times. And if
While the president and his administration work to convince Ameri
not, it’s now our chance, our opportunity, to give back to the school sys
cans that Stx:ial Security needs reform, I (with no economic expertise
tem with financial and leadership support. And if a schixil system failed
whatsoever) humbly suggest that our nation might be better served by
you, now you can give someone else that needed chance.
closer examination of the institutions by which we pay working Ameri
cans and less to those retiring.
ortland’s Fox 12 News, KPTV, covers an anti-logging demonstration
I suggest that the concept of minimum wage is broken. Minimum
March 30 in downtown Portland and describes it as an “ordeal.”
wage has come to be equated with minimum effort, minimum initiative
Come on, Channel 12, skip the drama and exaggeration. This small act and minimum reward. This outdated component of the economic sys
of civil disobedience was far from an ordeal. It was an annoyance, a dis
tem is not serving Americans. We need to consider reforms that offer
turbance, an illegal activity, a pain in the ass to those who were caught
instead a “living wage,” a standard starting and training wage rather
in traffic or had their shopping affected. It wasn’t even close to being an
than a perceived dead-end minimum wage. We must develop tiered pro
ordeal for anyone concerned.
grams of wage increases based on performance and production.
An ordeal is what we’ve witnessed the past few weeks in Florida. An
Naive concept, ripe for abuse by unethical business owners? Yes, but
ordeal is parents'being denied access to their daughter’s deathbed. An
no more, no less than what we have in place now. Change must start
ordeal is watching your same-sex partner lying in a hospital room and
somewhere. Initiative and integrity, on the parts of workers and employ
you’re also denied access because the state that you live in doesn’t rec
ers alike, need to he returned as cornerstones of the American work
ognize your relationship. An ordeal is when your partner’s family steps
ethic. Gays and lesbians are small-business owners, employers and
in and overrides your wishes and your plans and destroys all that you
employees. We are all affected by an outdated compensation system.
had together because you hadn’t yet gotten around to completing the
paperwork that is required to, at best, closely approximate the right and
ongratulations to Wade McCollum, who recently earned three of
privileges afforded “traditional” marriage. This, KPTV, is someone’s true
Southern California’s top theater awards for his stellar performances
ordeal, not an 18-year-old kid blocking traffic in downtown Portland.
last year in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Included in the awards was the
And if the sad story of Terri Schiavo—again, a true ordeal—teach
Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Lead Performance.
es us anything, it’s the fact that we must protect ourselves. As gays
McCollum has several projects under way in Portland, all of which are
and lesbians in nonlegally recognized relationships, it’s imperative to
greatly anticipated by a loyal and growing audience and fan club, for
take the extra steps necessary to ensure that family and friends are
which I nominate myself as president! J71
T
A
P
C
r
• Sexual orientation has finally been added to the nondiscrimination
statement of the U.S. Department of Education. This now brings
to 23 the number of federal agencies that include sexual onentation
in their nondiscrimination statements.
• Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, had 150 gay and
lesbian activists over to their house March 3.
• Portland police officials say reports of cnmes motivated by sexual
orientation bias increased from 1993 to 1994, making it the only
major category to see a jump during the period. “All the other
categories—race, color, religion and national origin—were down,"
says Portland Police Bureau spokesman Lt. CW Jensen.
• Veterans for Human Rights, a nonprofit military veterans group
that advocates for gay and lesbian veterans and military personnel,
says the state Department of Motor Vehicles has approved its request
for recognition license plates.
April 1. 2005
/ 0 years ago in
just out...
Vol. 12 No. 11, April 7, 1995
• Robert E. Leverenz has been named the new executive
director of Our House of Portland, a residential care facility
for people in the latter stages of AIDS.
• Portland's Rose City Softball Association recently became
a charter member of the North American Gay Amateur
Athletic Alliance, a national umbrella organization with 28
member groups. As a result of the membership, teams will
be able to compete in the annual Gay Softball World Series
•
• Why are women oppressed? Are you interested in
understanding the root of women's second-class status?
Join a weekly study group to discuss Evelyn Reed's
Woman s Evolution.
• Join the “Stop the 2.38 Minimum Wage!" Campaign to
prevent the Oregon Restaurant Association from legalizing
lower wages for all tipped workers
.
Just Out is published on the first and third Friday of each month. Copyright © 2005 by Just Out No part of Just Out may be reproduced without wntten permission from the publisher Editorial
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22 DOUBLE EXPOSURE
Focus on winners of Amateur Photo Contest
NEWS
6-15 NORTHWEST
Teresa Robinson and Smallthings Designs;
southern Oregon report; Multnomah County
Wedding Album Project; tobacco prevention
grant awarded to SMYRC; Day of Silence/Night
of Noise set for April 13; Central Washington
University to host tri-state queer leadership con
ference; Portland PFLAG chapter sets April
meeting; PSU convenes Queer Career Confer
ence; Guerrilla Girls on Tour in Portland
17-19 NATIONAL
New Federal Marriage Amendment introduced;
denial of marriage rights costs same-sex couples
hundreds; Alabama bill would forbid gay adop
tions; American Legacy Foundation provides
anti-smoking resources
20-21 WORLD
Gays march against Iraq war; lesbians demand
U.K. recognize Canadian marriage; Scottish
Episcopal Church OKs sexually active gay
priests; Hungarian politician comes out
ARTS AND CULTURE
35 MUSIC
Ani and Tori’s mood swings
37 ART
Forsaking life as a Jehovah’s Witness minister,
Serena Davidson turned to photography for
salvation
38-39 PEOPLE
After flying off the handle with airport security,
Broadway chanteuse descends on Portland
40-41 DIVERSIONS
Triangle Productions’ Sordid Lives; BodyVox’s
First Impressions; philosophy professor analyzes
The Long Arc of Justice; Melissa Ferrick
43 BOOKS
Fiction about young queers
44 FILM
German drama traces Hitler’s Downfall; Lili's
Apron: Argentina’s Mrs. Douhtfire
COLUMNS
33 MS. BEHAVIOR
Dykes on dicks
34 EPIQUEEREAN
Feng sushi
45 JIM’S CLOSET
I’m No. 1!
PUBLISHER & MANAGING EDITOR
Marty Davis
NEWS EDITOR
Sarah Dougher
ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR
Jim Radosta
STAFF WRITER
Jaymee R. Cuti
ART DIRECTOR
Bonnie Barrett
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT
Katy Maehl
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Larry Lewis
ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES
Ashley Austin, Kari Tate, Cshea Walker
CONTRIBUTORS
Yvonne P. Behrens, Kathy Beige, Stephen
Blair, Meryl Cohn, Jodi Darby, Timothy
Krause, Gary Morris, Jenny Nguyen,
Rebecca Ragain, Bob Roehr, Floyd
Sklaver, Jim Thompson. Rex Wockner
DISTRIBUTION
Kristine Ashton, Allison Benn, Lisa
Benson, Pat Kilmer-Cramer