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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1982)
Portland Observer, April 29, 1982 Page 3 METROPOLITAN Street Beat This week's Street Beat question is: “ D o you think that prostitution should be legalized?" H a rry Bailey, telephone rep air man— '“ Yes, I think it should be le g alized. I ’ m a ll fo r the w orking girls. There is a need for prostitu tion— it deters rape and that sort o f thing.” C ynthia Robinson, unemployed — “ I think that it should be legal ized. Th ey have to live too. They don’t bother me— I d o n ’t have any problem with it.” Steve Buel alte out School Board m eeting he considera s violation of Open Meeting Law. (Photo: Richard Brown) June Webb, ra n c h e r— “ W e ll, why not? I f it wasn’t so hard to get because o f being illegal, the tempta tion o f some o f the men involved would narrow. Legalization is fine with me.” Legal blunder postpones decision D r. Matthew Prophet was forced, at a special School Board meeting Saturday, to w ithdraw his recom mendations on a mediation process, because of poor advice from School District attorney Don Jeffery. The Oregon Open M eeting Law requires that ail meetings o f the School Board, including sub-com mittees o f the Board and com m it tees advisory to the Board, that lead to decisions, be held in public except in specific cases that are exempted, for example, personnel matters and litigation. Jeffery had advised that School Board members could serve on the mediation committee as p ri vate citizens. They would report to the Superintendent who would then pass (he recommendation on to the School Board. W hen this circuitous route around the law was challenged by Oregon Journal editor Don Sterling, who is chairm an o f the O regon Newspaper Publisher's Association freedom o f information committee, Prophet was forced to withdraw his recom m endation and postpone making a new recommendation un til Monday night in order to seek ad ditional legal interpretation o f (he law. Bob Lam b, director o f the C om munity Relations Service of the U.S. Justice Department, Region X , has o ffered to provide m ediation and has assigned Bob Hughes to the task. Hughes explained to the Board that the D ep a rtm en t’ s policy is to mediate in private. Mediation hopes to result in a signed agreement which is not legally binding but is a moral com m itm ent by the signers. In most cases from three to five per sons represent each side o f the dis pute. Anyone can withdraw at any time. On M o n d ay night Prophet o f fered a new plan, based on the opinion o f the District’s legal coun sel, M ark McClanahan. Oregon law says that any meeting o f the School Board, Board com mittee or sub-committee, or adviso ry com m ittee must be open to the public. A “ meeting” is defined as the convening of a quorum to make a decision or to “ deliberate toward a decision on any matter.” McClanahan advised that if three or fewer Board members serve on the m ediation group and they are not selected by the B oard, in his opinion this would not be a commit tee o f the Board. Prophet said he had sought the le gal o p inion o f A tto rn e y G eneral Dave Frohnmayer but had been re ferred by Assistant Attorneys Gen eral back to the District’s own legal counsel. In this opinion he said he had a “ reasonably high level o f con fidence.” Larry Robinson, student— “ No, I don’ t think it should be legalized. H a lf o f them on the streets arc out there trying to m ake a liv in g for some man— not for themselves.” by Harris Lavon McRae and Richard Brown k Act noia The original Gold Medal director’s chair, with the price that made it famous and the qual ities that made it a star, is back. By popular demand. In natural varnish or white enameled hard woods, with 16 colors o f canvas seats and backs. Take one: $39 Take two: $69 Ready? Action! The life of the male prostitute Part VI by Harris l evon McRae Lee’s long black hair is in a straight French perm . Eyes arc made larger by a fine tipped eye liner. A burgundy c h iffo n blouse with sparkles o f silver is pushed down into tig h t-fittin g designer jeans that cover brand new cowboy boots. Lee is a male prostitute. “ I don’t get into sex just for the money, although that is a part of it. I have made a couple o f good friends that came out o f relatio n ships started purely for sex,” he re lated. “ Seventy-five per cent o f the evening traffic that comes through here has to do w ith male prostitu tio n ,” one w orker in a downtown adult bookstore estimated. The life o f a male prostitute can assume various and very different forms. There are heterosexual pros titutes that sell sex to female buyers, there are the gay “ hustlers” who hang out in gay bars, adult book stores and other places which some gays frequent, and there arc men who dress in women’s clothing and solicit customers on the street just as many female prostitutes do. Men providing sex to women for pay usually meet them under very discreet circumstances— in "h ig h class” bars, airp o rt lounges, through escort services and classi fied ads. Also there is the "gigolo” — a man paid for acting as a com panion to wealthy women. The m ajo rity o f males currently involved in prostitution identify with the gay p o p ulation. M any o f these males arc exploring their ho m osexuality and coming to terms w ith their place in the gay male world. Most o f them arc between 16 and 22 years old and work indepen dent of pimps. Most male "hustlers” can be seen w orking in tw o distinct enviro n ments. One is the “ sex shop area,” like the section o f downtown P o rt land around 3rd and Taylor, charac terized by adult bookstores, hotels with low rates, and bars. The area is inhabited mostly by street people, including drug dealers, prostitutes, and wine drinkers. In many ways this role is similar to the stereotyped “ hooker” who solicits customers by walking the streets and who accepts almost all paying customers. This group includes the teenage male prostitutes. The other area male prostitutes work is the “ gay social scene” char acterized by night clubs, discos, res taurants and bars catering to people who arc openly gay. One person in such a bar stated: “ A lot o f guys that come here arc bisexual and trying to sort out where they are sexually. A lot o f the so- called “ straight” men go home with a little d iffe re n t idea when they come here. I can please any m an— I'm all he’ll ever need, honey.” There is another kind of gay male p ro stitu tio n , where men dress in women's clothing and*solicit cus tomers on the street, in bars, and in other public places. They d iffe r from other gay male prostitutes in two m ajo r ways. F irst, many o f them are "tra n se xu a ls ” who feel like a woman trapped in a man's body. Some o f them have opera tions to have their penises removed and replaced by vaginas. The second way transexuals differ is that although they engage in ho mosexual relations with their cus tom ers, most o f the tim e the cus tomers do no, realize they are men. So, the other gay male prostitutes cater to customers who arc gay or at least consciously looking for sex with another male, and the transsex ual prostitute attracts customers who are looking for and think they have found a female p ro stitu te— thus confusing the transaction. “ M an, some o f those punks (gay males] are fin er than any woman you have ever seen. You have to watch yourself. I had a partner that got hooked up with one and at the last m inute he found out what the real deal was," one man stated. “ People always tell me I ’ m a beautiful lady, and I know I am. I work at it hard— I can show most of these women walking around how to really look good in clothes and how to pu, on their make-up so that they arc really attractive to a man,” Lee said. Most customers o f male prostitu tes. called “ johns” or "tric k s ,” are probably men who are checking out their feelings for people o f the same sex. Many o f them are just coming to terms w ith their homosexual identities and want to find reward ing gay male relationships. “ I don't see anything wrong with spending money and maybe passing on a few dollars to someone for sex and a little companionship. I f a nice looking guy approached me with some money, I would check it out further,” one gay man said. If problems occur between prosti tutes and customers it is likely that they will involve the type o f hustler who includes petty theft and minor assault as part o f his street lifestyle. Customers are " ro lle d ,” that is, in stead o f sex they ge, beaten up a lit tle and their money taken. This kind o f thing often takes place in the “ sex shop areas." “ All kinds o f things go on in back. This is a well-known area for things like oral sex and tons o f people go through here,” an adult bookstore worker related. W hat about the police and male prostitutes? According to C aptain T o b in , head o f Drugs and Vice in the Portland Police D epartm ent, “ M ale prostitutes are harder to ar rest than female prostitutes because vice officers have to go undercover. It is easier for undercover agents to solicit female prostitutes than to so licit male prostitutes because they become known so quickly in the gay community. It is a tight community, and when someone enters it, he is quickly identified. Should they have their cover blown by making an ar rest, they arc ineffective again.” We often think o f prostitution as involving men and women, in which women provide the sex to men for money. Although this type o f pros titution happens more often, male prostitution is indeed going strong. O .F . Thorsen, a ir con d itio n in g re p a irm a n — “ Yes. I t goes on al over. I f it was legalized, it could be controlled a little b etter— make it safer for everyone involved.” Additional $10o ff on purchase o f two chairs when you present this ad. LLOYD'S INTERIORS r i 4 Northeast Broadw ay, Portland. Oregon 9 ' i u 284-085. 5‘ - discount for cash
