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
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