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Founded 1983 • Jay Brown and Renée LaChance
PUBLISHER & MANAGING EDITOR
Marty Davis
NEWS EDITOR
Jaymee R. Cuti
ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR
Jim Radosta
STAFF WRITER
Julie Sabatier
ART DIRECTOR
Anabel Ramirez
to a film screening of
PRODUCTION & AD DESIGNER
JACK SMITH
AND THE DESTRUCTION
OF ATLANTIS
Friday, Sept. 14,7 PM
Barb McClendon
Sponsored by Just Out Newspaper
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Larry Lewis
ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES
Roger Curtis, Ben Nystrom, Lynda Wilkinson
ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER
Jedidiah Chavez
CONTRIBUTORS
Yvonne P. Behrens, Stephen Blair, Meryl
Cohn, West Duncan, John Esther, Chelsea
Fine, Malka Geffen, Jemiah Jefferson,
Timothy Krause, Jon Kretzu, Tony LeTigre,
Patricia L. MacAodha, Andy Mangels, Jenny
Nguyen, Rebecca Ragain, Floyd Sklaver, Dan
Young
EDITORIAL INTERNS
Alex Baldino, Julius Calasicas,
Neethu Ramchandar
DISTRIBUTION
Harry Bonfill, Youme Inhofe, Pat Kilmer-
Cramer, Chance Schwartz
Just Out is published on the first and third Friday
of each month. Copyright © 2007 by Just Out.
No part of Just Out may be reproduced without
written permission from the publisher.
SCREENED AT THE
QUEER DOC FESTIVAL!
Jack Smith (1932-1989) was an
intensely charismatic, sometimes
exasperating fixture of the New York art
scene. The patron saint of the queer
avant-garde and the whole genre of
performance art, his Atlantis was both
the idea of a fantastical utopia and the
reality of the Lower East Side apartment
in which he staged improvisational
one-man theatrical productions, often
with a cast of stuffed animals and dolls.
(Directed by Mary Jordan, US 2006)
CONTACT:
jacksmithtickets@nwfilm.org
WITH YOUR NAME, EMAIL & PHONE
NUMBER, & WIN 2TICKETS!
More information at www.nwfilm.org
Editorial guidelines: Letters to the editor
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letters
Religious War
To the E ditor :
I commend Parents, Families and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays for countering the anti-gay
conference promoting the falsehood that one can
cure homosexuality through prayer. [“PFLAG
Addresses Anti-Gay Conference,” July 20].
However, the uncritical “fair and balanced" report
ing by Just Out should have mentioned the
immense medical harm to gay people caused by
faith-based “ex-gay” programs.
Religious ex-gay “d<x:tors” often whine that their
“freedom of speech” is being abridged because main
stream medical journals refuse to publish their treat
ments for homosexuality. They are not published
because their “cures” are harmful and don’t work.
Although 1 support the right of anybody, such as
Catholic priests, to choose celibacy for religious rea
sons, 1 strongly oppose charlatan medical treatments
for homosexuality done under the guise of religion.
All of the current leaders of the ex-gay movement
admit to retaining their homosexual feelings. In fact,
all ex-gays eventually give up on finding a cure for
being gay. A few chixjse same-sex celibacy, but most
eventually accept their own sexual orientation.
Anybody aspiring to be a “former homosexual”
should read the Ixxik Anything But Straight (www.any
thingbutstraight.com) by Wayne Besen (www.wayne
besen.com), who also runs www.truthwinsout.org and
www.respectmyresearch.org. Besen’s cover photo
shows Fixzus on the Family’s ex-gay leader John Paulk
leaving a gay bar, which led to his resignation. Also,
the www.exgaywatch.com blog is a good source of
news about the evildoings of ex-gay organizations.
This is not an innocuous debate between two
equally strong positions.
This is a one-sided religious war against gay
people. Beware!
T homas K raemer
Corvallis
A More Perfect Union
To the E ditor :
1 came out a decade ago and was excited to go
to my first Gay Pride parade. I felt—freshly out of
the closet—that there was a part of me that need
ed further exploration, research and understanding.
That first year, my personal reading almost
exclusively dealt with gay rights issues, spirituality,
sexuality and history. 1 volunteered at the local
center and other organizations and fostered queer
friendships over straight ones. (My straight friends
were supportive, knowing it was a complete time of
exploration.) How could I not know this intrinsic,
inborn part of myself?
My 22nd birthday came and, soon thereafter,
the following year’s Pride. I had fallen in love, come
out to my friends and family, but never again found
myself in another Pride parade. It was not that
I had turned anti-gay or that I had experienced
discrimination or shame—the explorations had
marked the beginning of a continued«- conscious
engagement in achieving a totality of “being,” and
that intrinsically included my queer self.
I simply felt that Gay Pride celebrations did not
most accurately portray who I was or who my com
munity was. During the next decade, 1 walked away
from defending Pride celebrations as a need in our
world, particularly for those first coming out of the
closet.
I feel disappointed and saddened that the queer
movement has not rattled this last “cage” and
brought enlightenment within it.
It was pride in who we are that inspired
Stonewall. Its ultimate aim was socio-political:
securing basic human rights for all, regardless of sex
ual orientation. So why, in the truest spirit of pride,
have we not followed the original intent of those
who first risked their freedom for peace, justice and
equality? Why, instead of becoming a celebration
remembered for sexual proclivity, did Pride not
evolve to that original pursuit of its founders, work
ing to forge a more perfect union?
1 propose we make June Queer History
Month—that instead of parades, there be signature
gathering, speeches, rallies, forums, memorial
celebrations, job fairs, educational lectures and
invitations to legislators to engage the queer and
nonqueer public. 1 propose that all block parties be
fund-raisers for nonprofits. Last, I propose that all
nonprofits serving queer communities show true
leadership and come together once a year within
each city to help achieve this.
My parade would work to not just guarantee the
rights that I have now but to further them. It would
work to secure a safe place for my queer brethren
and our posterity. My parade would work to fund
programs to decrease youth suicides, encourage
dialogue in schools, educate employers on how to
foster and build a diverse workplace and penetrate
all comers of our nation with a message of accept
ance in an embrace that will chip away and perhaps
vanquish all shame.
1 challenge you who read this to put it on the
desk of your executive director every week until
you have answers. I challenge you to begin a dia
logue on what a true Pride celebration can achieve.
1 want to be proud of Pride for once, since I was not
there with Sylvia Rivera and countless of other
drag queens, transgender people and ethnic minori
ties marching into history for my benefit one fate
ful night in June, long ago.
A drian D ole
Portland
Back Off, Outsider
To the E ditor :
If you must accept advertising from creepy
porno “gentlemen’s club” owners who project what
they think lesbians want, at least don’t give them
the back cover. Putting it inside in the back section
makes it so those who don't want to see women in
demeaning porno shots don’t have to,
There is a distinct difference between this ad and
the ads placed by gay clubs directed to gay men.
While I know there has been debate about these
men’s ads, 1 don’t find them so offensive because it
does represent a part of our community. It is gay to
gay. In contrast, this ad is placed by someone from
the outside, a hetero porno guy trying to get a mar
ket in our community. He doesn’t know us and
shouldn’t be accepted in our newspaper—or at least
not in such a prominent position.
C arolyn R oos
Portland
P.S. After sending this letter, I found out the
event is sponsored by a women’s organization,
Girls on Gay. I still think such ads should be
located inside Just Out, rather than on a cover.
I also still wonder what Just Out’s decision would
be regarding an ad placed by an outside “gentle
men’s club," hypothetically.