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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 18, 2008)
iustiout page 3 by Marty Davis J I NEWSMAGAZINE VOL. 25 NO. 18 Like a Good Neighbor Portlanders should invite South Idahoans to march with us next year JULY 18, 2008 FEATURE 20 DEATH OF A MOVEMENT Five ways anti-gay Oregonians are failing NEWS lar, went on record as saying the group could come back next year—if it followed the same requirements. I’d like to throw out the suggestion that for Portland Pride 2009, our community invites the South Idaho GLBT Community Center to march as special guests in our Pride parade. Let’s show them what it feels like to be welcomed and cheered for who you are and what you represent. After the parade we’ll take them on a grand tour of our Q Center. If all has gone according to plan, at that time we’ll be showing them our brand new facility. What brand new facility? Is Q Center moving? Is there a new building in the works? There will be a new Q Center, yes, if we all kick in and work together to make it happen. All we need to do is show the same determination and grit as our Idaho neighbors. You can read complete details of Q Center’s fund raising on Page 13 of this issue. The $200,000 goal needed is not random; once reached, there will be available a matching donation of an additional $200,000, bringing the total fund to a healthy $400,000. All money raised is earmarked for the building fund. Now $200,000 is a good-sized chunk of change to raise. Furthermore, there are time stipulations and deadlines in place. We all know that it’s going to take some gtxxJ old-fashioned hard work and initiative to raise this amount. But you know what? With everyone’s help, we’re going to get it done. I’ve assigned myself the job of working with our community businesses on a special project. As a small-business owner, 1 am well aware of the pressures and stresses of trying to keep a business afloat in our choppy economy. There are very few of us who have a lot of extra to spare. But I’m confident that there are a lot of us who can spare a little. My incentive plan for business owners is this: For every business owner who writes a check for $150 or more to Q Center, Just Out will provide, as a thank-you and an incentive, a free 30-day placement of your banner ad on the Just Out Web site. All your checks will be written directly to Q Center, where your dona tion might be eligible for tax benefits. The value of the free Web site ad is $300. The Just Out site is visited by thousands of readers daily. Each visitor to our site could be a potential new customer for your business. You could easily earn back the amount of your donation and more. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. Q Center gets needed funds, the business owner receives a valuable benefit for the donation, and Just Out banks on finding satisfied new paying customers. Yes, at the end of the 30 days you will be politely asked if you’d like to continue the advertising at regular rates. That’s all there is to it. Contact me at marty@justout.com to get your donation in the bank and your ad on the Web. Seriously, what’s not to like about this offer? s posted on “Blog Out,” our daily publication found at JustOut.com, I had a recent frustrating experience with a downtown Portland building management firm. The management of Essex House, a large retail/condo building located at 1330 S.W. Third. Ave., recently decided it had the right to remove all independent paper boxes from the sidewalk in front of its building. Just Out received a phone call telling us that our box had been removed. We were given until July 15 to come pick up the box, or it would be thrown out. Who owns the sidewalks is an oft-asked question. Interpre tations vary widely and indi vidually. To my way of thinking, it’s not Essex House, and it’s not Starbucks, the corner tenant of the building. Starbucks manage ment, in other locations around Portland, has previously demanded removal of paper boxes from near its outlets. This creates a clash of interest with print media that rely on street locations for distribution of their product. Alternative media has a vital and valuable role in our community. We have as much right to the sidewalks as Starbucks. Retrieving my purloined box required a trip into the deep caverns of the building, where, piled in a dark comer, there were paper boxes from nearly every publication in Portland. With July 15 being the deadline for removal, quite a few publications appeared likely to lose money. All distribution boxes are costly, even the cheapest ones. The pile of racks did not include any for The Wall Street Journal or The Oregonian. These two publications, it seems, were allowed to remain on the sidewalk in front of Starbucks. In fact, The Oregonian has two racks there. Why are some publications allowed to stay while the rest are not? Who does have control of the sidewalks? Who should be the decision-maker about what is allowed where? Is it the city or the property owner whose building borders the sidewalk? 1 think 1 am not yet done with Essex House. We all have to pick our battles carefully. I think I might pick this one. In closing, a final note on Pride parades and events. Folks, it’s appropriate to stand when the color guard presents the flags. It’s appropriate to stand for the playing of the national anthem. America is a flawed country, yes. But she is our country still. Honor your flag, honor yourself. Show respect, and please, teach your children the same. Gay Skate returns to Oaks Park on July 21. Bring your friends and your f(xxl donations, and join us there. © 6-13 NORTHWEST Men’s Wellness Center coordinator changes hats; Bitch launches new site; small-business workshop offered; learn self-defense; “pregnant man” gives birth; McMenamins buys former Club Portland; Our House dinner series returns; Oregon senators support $50 billion AIDS bill; La Femme Magnifique crowned; In Other Words holds Literary Feast; summer sports launch for kids; Hermiston holds first Pride; Salem celebrates 30th Pride; Q Center accepts $200,000 fund-raising challenge 16-17 NATIONAL Retired generals support repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell”; Michigan man sues Bible publishers; priest beaten in New York hate crime; expanded domestic violence law includes same-sex couples in New York; Wisconsin law criminalizes out-of-state same-sex marriages 18-19 WORLD Police stop first Cuban Gay Pride march; Boy George banned from the U.S.; extremists attack Sofia Pride; Budapest gay bar torched ARTS & CULTURE 39-40 FILM Ghost of Heath Ledger haunts The Dark Knight; twin experimental film legends come to Portland 41 THEATER Gender-bending characters contain multitudes 42 NIGHTLIFE Come on down for Gaym Show Bingo Night at Crush COLUMNS 15 SASSY GARDENER Humor in the Garden 34 CORNER VIEW Just Shut It! 35 EPIQUEEREAN King for a Day 37 OUT GOING Pride and Joy 44 JIM'S CLOSET Curious George 54 MS. BEHAVIOR Circular Processing ON THE COVER This illustration was created by recent trans plant Laura Terry of Bravesailor Press (www. bravesailor.com), who explains: “Back in rural Texas, where 1 grew up, the anti-gay movement is strong, and I dearly love some people involved. I’ve seen that the motiva tion behind this intoler ance is largely fear of the unknown and an igno rance of what gays and lesbians are really like. I’m just hoping that, in the end, acceptance and love can conquer all.” PAGE 40 f you were to enter Interstate 5 at its Portland point of origination, and drive directly east for about 10 hours, you would arrive in Twin Falls, Idaho, population 45,000. Upon arrival you would have traveled 556 miles, entered a different time zone and gone back in time about 40 years. . Since 1983, Twin Falls has hosted an annual summer celebration, West ern Days. According to the event’s Web site, Western Days is a “family- oriented event featuring a carnival, two days of music, arts and craft show, food booths and a parade.” In 2007 the South Idaho GLBT Community Center applied and was denied permission to participate in the Western Days parade. Diligent center members teturned in 2008 and this year were begrudgingly given permission to march in the parade. The permission, however, came with several conditions: • The group’s parade entry could not display any rainbow colors. • The float participants could not identify themselves as gay, lesbian, bi or trans. • Community center members could not hand out information pertain ing to HIV/AIDS awareness or prevention. As reported in Diversity, Idaho’s monthly newspaper: “The float was very generic, decked out in black and white, with a large ques tion mark rising above the participants’ heads. On the back of the float was a large sign that read, ‘We support human rights.’ ” From all available news sources, it appears that the parade, with its censored and constrained entry, passed through the streets of Twin Falls without incident. The chairwoman of the Western Days board, one Lisa Cuel- Who has control of the sidewalks?
