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?