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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (March 10, 2004)
C ommentary 4 • T he C lackamas P rint M arch 10, 2004 Gay marriage issue strikes home / Same-sex marriages in Oregon allow longtime partners same legal benefits around marriage ... they just happened to know of someone that could perform the ceremony on Sunday. And the rest is history. Or is it? Last weekend two of my best friends were mar Sure, at sometime in the future, we’ll all have a ried after living together for 24 years. It was a whirl big party so all of their friends, gay and straight, can wind affair with very little planning involved celebrate the event. There wasn’t time last weekend because it was the first time in the state of Oregon .for a big wedding. There are a bunch of indignant, that they were allowed to do so, and they couldn’t be mortified people in the state that want to make sure sure exactly how long this opportunity would exist. that two women who love each other and have lived As Sue told me over the phone, “It just galls me to together for a considerable amount of time don’t think 1 could be lying unconscious in the hospital, have the same legal benefits that a man and woman with my sister-in-law having more say in what hap who are married in this state have less than one sec pens to me than my partner.” ond after their ceremony. Sue and Judy wanted to Sue has more than one sister-in-law, but I know go on record while it was still allowed. No matter she is referring to the librarian that once lamented what happens, we’ll still have thé party. that it was too bad that the poor kids in her district A lot has been said about protecting the sanctity had privileges to check out books because they of marriage and how allowing homosexuals to always got the books so dirty. 1 could see where Sue marry will weaken the institution of marriage. How certainly had a point. anyone could offer this as an argument beats the So on Friday, they stood in line for four hours to hell out of me with the divorce rates what they are. get the license. Finally, license in hand, they .pro It’s even possible that homosexual marriages, espe ceeded to Keller Auditorium for the wedding. cially those of couples that have been together in Because a large number of people were getting mar long-term commitments without? legal benefits, ried that day, they were unable to have it done might have a positive influence on the statistics. before closing. Luckily, a legally married couple of a President Bush has called for an amendment to more traditional nature had been invited to dinner the federal Constitution denying homosexuals the at their house on the following Saturday evening. rights to not only marriage but also civil unions. Leave it to the heterosexuals ..... Would they just attach it to the XIV Amendment, to know their which goes on about equal rights and just add “BUT way NOT THESE PEOPLE?” Then in the future they could just pencil in whatever group they wanted to exclude, which could be based on whomever hap pened to be President at the time. I’m sure there are people out there wondering why all of a sudden this is such an issue. The answer is that this has been an issue for a long time, even longer than Sue and Judy have been together. The answer is that there arc people both gay and straight that aré tired of the discrimination. Sometimes it is because your feet hurt, and you are tired of being directed, 'to the back of the bus. Sometimes it is because .you,can no longer sit still and allow others to bel shoved to the back of the bus. It is just about time..« -Taw Oliver is affermer C.C.C. student and former section INTERNET PHOTO editor of The Clackamas Print Tam Oliver C ontributing W riter Feminine hygeine conspiracy unearthed? fad that every hygiene product has the number one tampon industry to be white. Dioxin has been is Tambrands (which produces linked to endometriosis and lower Tampax) and denies all accusa Ladies, it’s time we address sperm counts. It is toxic to the tions that their tampons contain something a little on the edge, immune and respiratory system as asbestos. something that is killing us. well as the reproductive system. It seems logical that asbestos They’re called tampons, and they And here’s the scary part: it is car could be used in tampons—for commonly contain a cancer-caus cinogenic. the benefit Of the manufacturer. ing agent known as asbestos. But They say that a little of any Asbestos causes additional bleed before everyone runs for hand thing doesn’t hurt. Wrong again. ing; therefore more tampons towels and safety pins, the facts The Environmental Protection would be necessary. This is just must be laid out. Agency reported that there is no another circulating, capitalist trap Said to be an urban legend by acceptable level of exposure to set to the unaware, non-research many, there are enough truths to it dioxin and that repeated exposure ing citizens of the U.S. that the investigation of whether is the most dangerous. So, when But, maybe this topic is too or not there is asbestos in tam did the tampon industry assume word-sensitive. Maybe dioxin and pons, is necessary. that customers weren’t, repeatedly asbestos cannot be used inter First and foremost, there is no '"using their products? Women changeably. Maybe tampons are such thing as a safe tampon. Read don’t have just one period in their not full of asbestos. the instructions. lifetime! The fact is that tampons do Secondly, according to urban ■ Since 1-989, activists have have dioxin in them. So, what are legends, which are addressed - at changed' the way things work all the alternatives? One hundred per www.snopes.com, most tampons over .the- world ... except 'the cent cotton. There is nothing safer contain rayon (for absorbency) United States. Everywhere else, than 100 percent cotton, which and dioxin (which is used in the rarely will bleached hygiene prod 'can be found at health food stores bleaching process). The bleaching ucts be found. Here, according to such as Wild Oats or Trader Joe’s. process originated because of the www.libawai4i.economads.com, Users should also make sure that they time the use of each tam pon. Not going over the time limit (found in the instructions) can make a significant difference in bacteria levels and exposure to chemicals in either case. Whether the entire idea of harmful chemicals in tampons is true or not, it is so much easier to err on the side of caution. Buy cotton tampons even if it all seems like a fluke. Don’t use a tampon for too long a period of time, even if it is the safest 100 percent cotton kind that can be found. Nobody should be suing McDonald’s for what they had, a INTERNET PHOTO choice of eating every day of their Many “myths” have claimed that Tampax and other pop> life. And nobody should be harmed as a result of neglecting to ular brands of feminine hygiene products put the car research important health infor cinogen asbestos in their products—The question mation that is passed on. becomes, is there any truth to the rumor? Somebody had to say it. Faye Dodds T he C lackamas P rint P hoto I llustration by JESSE LAMOND C lackamas P rint The limited tradition of marriage to one man and one woman clouds omnipresent civil rights issues; Letters to the Editor Grafitti not best solution to settle differences in students' beliefs Jesus, in one of his simplest and wisest statements, said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” His followers among the campus community should obey this com mand. Presumably, Christians on campus .would be annoyed if someone defaced a poster they had created, submitted to ASG for posting approval, and taped to a wall somewhere. Even if the defacement were done with good intentions— if, say, it said, “Christians! Leave your faith! It’s making you ill!”—Christians would be at best annoyed and -at worst angry. Since I’m not associated with the Rainbow Club, I don’t know how its members feel about the defacement of one of its posters by a Christian or Christians. (I suppose they feel at best annoyed and at worst angry.) But whoever wrote, “John 3:16” and “God [loves] all of us. He may not like what we do but he does love us” on the Rainbow Club’s poster oh the Pauling Hall wall, despite their good intentions, has not done unto the Rainbow Club as they would have the Rainbow Club do unto them. And that is this: leave posters and flyers alone. If you have something to say—if, for example, you want to tell homosexu als that God loves them but will nonetheless pitch them into a lake of eternal fire for whacking off to fantasies involving their own gender—then create your own flyer, submit it to ASG for posting approval, and tape it to a wall. Don’t write on other people’s posters, because you don’t want them writing on yours. James Bryant-Trerise English Instructor Student congratulates peer's article I applaud Shannon Armstead’s article defending the institu,- tion of marriage from homosexuals. It is important to note that 82 percent of Americans consider themselves Christian and that America was established on Christian values. As a democ racy, America should not allow the will, of the minority to over power that of the majority concerning morality issues. Traditional Christian values believe homosexuality is a perver sion to the natural order of life and is revealed as such in observing nature. These same Christian values have kept America more civilized than the rest of the world. Homosexual marriage is contributing to the destruction of our society and morals. Johnny Pike CCC Student E----; d(8) ]—k---- ' " <3 b '----- h-----— on a floppy disk to RR135 by this Friday at 1 p.m. Please include your name and Emit all letters to no more than 200 words. Submissions become property of T&e Clackamas Print and are subject to editing on die grounds of length, clarity, content and grammar.
