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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 5, 2007)
page 3 lustout by Marty Davis J Eater's Rights Now! VOL. 24 NO. 5 ^NEWSMAGAZINE JANUARY 5, 2007 What's with smokers' sense of entitlement? s often happens, this new year starts with unfamiliar rules and regu 1’11 pretend not to notice. Eater’s rights. lations coming into enforcement. These changes are frequently If smokers are concerned about losing their rights, it’s because public accompanied by wailing protests coming from the masses. 2007 starts smoking is rude, messy and inconsiderate. Through inconsideration, smokers as no exception. The most vocal pissing and moaning seems to come have abdicated their rights, not lost them. from those being highly offended by the new smoking ban in Portland’s Pioneer Square. With great indignation, smokers are protesting that everal Just Out staff members, myself included, attended opening night of their rights are being taken from them. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. It was a fairly enjoyable Tough shit. evening of largely bland and harmless humor and song. It’s not as gixxl as some, This smoking ban in an outdoor public place is not only appropriate, it also not as bad as many. In discussions afterward, one staffer expressed dismay over FEATURE warrants immediate and further expansion. It should extend to all the farmers the handling of the “two dads” characters. As portrayed on stage, the gay dads 22 A MAN OF MANY COLORS markets and any and all outdoor events where people are closely gathered were just as competitive and flawed as the other parents and displayed equally As Chameleon Restaurant and Bar together. Specifically, I encourage organizers of Portland Saturday Market to exaggerated bad behavior. prepares to celebrate its 10th birthday, ban smoking when they reopen in March. Why? Because Christmas shopping Yup, there were gays acting badly on stage. Quick, someone call GLAAD. meet the wizard behind the curtain at this normally delightful venue turned into an adventure into hazardous This would never happen in real life. In real life, of course, all gay people are waste management as shoppers found themselves forced to duck, stand back, perfect. Perfect parents, perfect partners, perfect neighbors, perfect employees. NEWS fend off flames and gasp from the noxious fumes. Woe to those unfortunate And all with perfect haircuts. Perfect, perfect, perfect. As such, it is only fitting 6-16 NORTHWEST enough to become trapped in the narrow, crowded aisles behind someone who that we always be cast in such a light in movies, TV and theater. Possible gravestone for Touchstone; follow felt the need to light up as he or she slowly ambled through the vendors, Reality check, folks. In real life, we gays are no better, no worse, no more the adventure lawyer; promoter among us; leaving behind a trail of wretched smoke and ash. Worse yet, because many special than the nongays, other than the fact that we demand to be treated as what’s in a name?; find your type; Maya smokers seem to not even want the nasty things near their own bodies, they such. So congratulations to The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for Angelou, living history; Basic Rights Oregon transitions; granting a radical hold the pungent burning objects away from themselves—and directly into the setting aside concerns of political correctness and putting gays right where they platform; PABA closes year; arts boost; faces, hair and clothing of anyone who happened to be nearby. Dogs, babies, belong—center stage, as flawed and human as the rest of the characters. drunken-driving victim grateful; Dragon any and all are at risk. Paddling, anyone?; SHARE poised for Stepping indoors for a minute, what’s with dancing and smoking? Why on ongratulations to Rebekah On, who will be leaving Basic Rights Oregon to action; gay Orthixlox rabbi arrives; earth do people need a cigarette in their hand as they flail and writhe on a take a position with the Oregon House Democrats. Details of her new hospitals under the microscope; defeated civil unions bill resurrected? crowded dance floor? Gtxxl grief, didn’t your mother ever tell you that you’d position are available on Page 8 of this issue. Rebekah has been a standout leader 18-19 NATIONAL put out someone’s eye with that thing? at BRO. Her departure is going to widen the gap of leadership at this organiza Military comfortable serving with gays; tion. The executive director position has been vacant for half a year now. What ’ s In addition to the hazards of secondhand smoke, why on earth is it accept California bills boost rights; Nevada able for smokers to fling their cigarettes onto the ground or out the window up with this? BRO looks to our community for funding and support. Our com Subway settles; trans nondiscrimination bill when they are finished? What’s with the sense of entitlement that compels munity kxiks to BRO for leadership. Is it there? passes in Jersey; Ohio governor appoints smokers to believe that someone will always come along and clean up after first gay Cabinet member; employment discrimination lawsuit in Texas them? The doorways around my office building are littered with smokers’ debris. an. 15 will mark the first anniversary of Just Out’s Gay Skate Night at Oaks Smoke it, fling it. It’s all a pile of crap. Park. This monthly event has been very successful, and the proceeds have 20-21 WORLD Swedish church to bless gay unions; As a nonsmoker, I’m more than aware that 1 have my own bad habits and been a great contribution toward the success of the Just Out Scholarship Fund. Scotland OKs gay adoption; Italy to addictions also. I’m fat. I eat too much. But 1 don’t go around spewing ftxxl into Pretty cool, huh? You get a evening of fun and gixxJ exercise and in doing so introduce civil union legislation; Far<x? people’s faces, and I don’t leave a trail of litter behind me. Trust me, though, are helping fund the college education of others. The canned and nonperish Islands ban discrimination; Colombian I’m sorely tempted on occasion. In fact, I’m thinking of carrying a snack bar in able food items that you bring benefit Esther’s Pantry, assisting families living civil union bill dies; Canada will not revisit my pocket at all times and responding to the next barrage of foul smoke in my with HIV/AIDS. Join us Jan. 15 for birthday cake and lots of dixir prizes. It’s same-sex marriage; Nigeria set to ban gay life; Iraqi gay activists abducted; Thai face with a hastily chewed granola bar right back at the offending smokers. As a birthday party! If you joined us anytime last year, we hope to see you back. military reclassifies gays, trans people; the fantasy continues, I set the wrapper on fire and wave it in the smokers’ faces If you’ve not come before, we hope to see you start off the new year with us. Australian state passes partnership law For directions to Oaks Park, visit www.justout.com. © as they glare, push off the smoke and attempt to flee. A S C J ARTS AND CULTURE reflections 39 PEOPLE Year in Review 15 Years Ago in Just Out... volume 9 number 3, January 1992 • The National Association of Black and White Men Together has issued a manual to help the gay and lesbian community explore the issue of racism. It is available at most gay and lesbian bookstores. ♦ just out • In the first encounter of its kind in the nation's capital, representatives of the gay and lesbian leather and S/M community met with top National Endowment of the Arts officials to discuss attacks on freedom of expression. • The U.S. military's ban on gays is proper because gays get AIDS and because gay and lesbian soldiers would view straight soldiers as "sexual objects," a federal judge ruled Dec. 9. The odd ruling came in the widely publicized case of Midshipman Joseph Steffan, who was forced to resign from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1987 after he acknowledged that he is gay. • Oregonians for Human Dignity, the statewide coalition formed to defeat the statewide petition and possible ballot measure filed by the Oregon Citizens Alliance, has changed its name. The committee is now titled Campaign for a Hate Free Oregon. • Queer Nation members held a Dec. 15 protest during Sunday morning services at Portland's Foursquare Church. Nearly 20 demonstrators wore pink gags around their mouths and donned pro gay and anti-Oregon Citizens Alliance stickers as they sat in the front rows during the worship services. They were protesting the church's connections to the OCA. • Lesbian and gay rights activists are considering legal action following their unsuccessful efforts to obtain marriage licenses during a recent protest at the Multnomah County Marriage License Bureau. • Tonko Laaksonen, known as homoerotic artist Tom of Finland, died of an emphysema-induced stroke Nov. 7, 1991, in Helsinki. In the course of his career, he saw his artwork go from being unpublishable in the world to receiving worldwide recognition. In recent years, Tom of Finland drawings have been collected by celebrities such as Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Robert Mapplethorpe. • Following last May's sold-out, critically acclaimed appearance in Portland, gay performance artist Tim Miller returns to Echo Theatre in Stretch Mark, a weird journey through war, the AIDS crisis, growing up, love and trying to make sense of the world. 40-41 FILM Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds serves up some tasty eye candy; Cate Blanchett and Dame Judi [Tench face ott in Notes on a Scandal; odd couple connect in A Soap 42 BOOKS Longtime lesbian activist reflects on her rich life 44-45 THEATER Wedding bells herald the opening of Portland’s new gay theater company; William S. Gregory returns to the stage to banter about our family circle, circa 1947 COLUMNS 17 DEAR ETHEL Happy New Year! 35 MS. BEHAVIOR XXX-Ray Vision 36 OUT GOING That Small Town Feeling 37 EPIQUEEREAN Gentrific-Asian 46 JIM'S CLOSET Out Rage
