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.”
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