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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 2009)
O R EG O N S GAY/LESBIAN/BI/TRANS NEWSMAGAZINE AUGUST 7. 2009 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Mayor Sam Adams Sam Adams is an honorable man. He’s a lousy liar. He’s had no practice. I don’t know why Sam said what he said. Maybe he was sick or just “bone tired.” He was obviously caught off guard. I do know he is a human being. Every one has an “Achilles’ heel.” Maybe he knew the bullies were about to have a heyday. Maybe he had a “flashback” to his childhood &. just “reacted” to all the tor ments, gut punches, accusations 8c public humiliation little “gay” boys face every day at school. I do know he felt the threat of being removed from the one position where he has the power to get PDX out of the trouble it’s in. I think Portlanders are smart enough to see through what is really going on. P at W agner Linnton In a 1998 Letter to the Editor, I publicly called for the impeachment of President Clinton, not because he lied about sex, but because he violated the law against perjury in a court of law. I hold Mayor Sam Adams to the same standard. Adams broke no law and therefore should not be recalled. Yes, Adams cunningly manipu lated public opinion. But so is President Obama manipulating voters by duplici- tously claiming to be a fierce advocate for gays while zealously defending antigay laws against same-sex marriage and military service. Also, Adams is not a hypocrite like Republican Senator Larry Craig who was secretly cruising for sex in tearooms while self-righteously opposing gay rights. Adams has never tried to outlaw male intergenerational intimacy. Submit your letters to the editor, commitment announcements, transitions or list your events online at www.justout com. CLICK ON THE READER SUBMISSIONS BUTTON Adams had no obligation to disclose his brief affair with Beau Breedlove. But Adams had every right to vigorously deny the false insinuation that he was a pedophile. T homas K raemer Corvallis As an aspiring state-wide public office holder and a longtime activist for the LGBT community, I find it impossible not to comment on the tragic story of the first openly gay mayor of a large metropolitan city, his sexual malfeasance and the ensuing consequences to an entire movement. Sam Adams’ lack of awareness, discipline and responsibility for his actions and the far-reaching ramifications thus resulting show just what kind of a politi cian he truly is. I’ve met the Mayor several times and each time, he has not only been utterly condescending, but he gave the impression that if I wasn’t going to provide him with something (before I thought it was just information), that I should “move on.” Much like many others of his time, he thinks not of those he represents, rather, what and/or who can satisfy his needs at the current moment. Mr. Breedlove isn’t the only victim here. Nor is the entire city of Portland. The LGBT community, as a whole, has suffered yet another slap-in-the-face based on the actions of yet another self-serving politician who happens to be gay. Suffice it to say, I actually was pulling for Sam when he was campaigning for mayor. Admit tedly, it was for the wrong reason. Just as I was happy that Barack Obama became this country’s first African-American President, I wanted Adams only for his minority status. While I’m admitting it, others are cowering in their own guilt be cause most of us just wanted the underdog to pull through and allow us to believe REMEMBER TO BREATHE LIVING OUT LOUD NICK MATTOS KATHRYN . MARTINI Chiropractic Acupuncture Naturopathy Massage Portland, (. )K 07232 Portland “This isn't really a letter to the editor so much as a rant." I’ve lived in Portland for three years and never have I experienced the butch/ femme expectation so clearly as here. It is extremely frustrating... Back in the 1960s, in her book The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan argued against the idea that women could only find fulfillment through child rearing and homemaking. Such a system, she argued, causes [women] to lose their own identity in that of their family identity. In the years since Betty Friedan’s theory shocked or inspired women in America, equal rights and respect for women have come a long way.... But gender roles within the lesbian community seem to push a subset of women back again into that patriarchal role ©f server, homemaker, and “little woman.” ...Somehow central is the idea or expectation that the butch is the sexual partner who is active, leader, “top.” Maybe I came out too late to subscribe to this. Perhaps I feel a certain deja vu by having fought this battle once before with the patriarchy. But I don’t want a daddy, I don’t need a leader, I don’t want a top.... I want an equal partner, who isn’t threatened by stepping over some precon ceived gender boundary, and who is not threatened if I do as well. I’m a feminine looking feminist, still fighting for my equal rights within the lesbian community. G retchen T aylor Beaverton Cigarette Smokers at Gay Pride That was a really pathetic letter from Jaime La Fleur (Vol. 26, No. 17) claiming discrimination because cigarette smokers aren’t allowed to poison other people at Gay Pride.... Riding in the back of the bus, self- righteous addictive posturing, oh give me a break. La Fleur is perfectly free to go someplace totally away from decent people to take care of his addiction. We don’t al low people to set off smoke bombs in close quarters, and that’s not discrimination. We don’t have shooting galleries, and that’s not discrimination against heroin addicts. We don’t have to be codependent with other people’s addictions. The problem with cigarette drug addicts isn’t just the offensive stink and health hazards of secondhand smoke, it’s the behavioral dysfunctions of screwed-up drug addicts. Drug addicts are incapable of courtesy to others. No wonder we need rules against them. La Fleur’s letter is proof that drug addicts are incapable of rational thinking. M arvin M oore Portland THE SASSY GARDENER OUT GOING LEANN LOCHER FLOYD SKLAVER ONLY IN JUST OUT Established 1993 D avid W. O wens P. C. & A S S O C I A T E S serving the community since 1 975 A tto r n e y s a t L aw Athena Zahn, DC #3505 Ani McManus, LAC #61781 Sharon Griffin, ND # 35459 Jann Adcock, LMT #10928 Shanta Prescott, LMT # 12363 Krissy Lindquist, LMT #16154 Brittany McDonald, LMT #11205 Acute Injury ; Chronic Pain and Wellness Care 2 16 I N T Broadway M arc D elphine Dynamic Voices by Our Community, for Our Community T he B odhi T ree a healing place that we, too, can become what we want if we see another with whom we identify do it first. It’s not that I agreed with anything that Adams—or Obama, for that matter —said or necessarily did politically (I’m a Libertarian; Adams 8c Obama are near- Socialists). But because I’m gay, I wanted Sam to pave the way for people like me who do have ambitions of becoming a leader in the world in which we live. With this recent tragedy hitting yet another low in the wake of former Mayor Potter’s comments, I see Adams’ stint as the mayor of the state’s largest city not only a failed one, but one that has pushed the move ment of the LGBT community back an incalculable number of years. Thanks, Sam! IV 503.331.IS00 IV 5O3.331.20S0 S e r v in g O r e g o n & W a s h i n g t o n 503.224.3100 DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENTS ADOPTIONS • ESTATE PLANNING WILLS • TRUSTS • ADVANCE DIRECTIVES POWER OF ATTORNEY GUARDIANSHIPS AND CONSERVATORSHIPS w w w .ow en i-law .com • 4380 S W M acadam , S uite S90 * Portland, O reg o n 97239 * Parking V alidated ^
