BACK IN THE CLOSET
On August 4, those cuddly conservatives at Focus on the Family—the Colorado Springs-based fundamentalist Christian mammoth—will descend to Portland from on high to deliver a message: Get Thee Back in the Closet!
The group's "Love Won Out" program, designed to turn homos into heteros with a dash of prayer and a sprinkle of faith, will be holding a conference at City Bible Church, at NE 92nd and Fremont.
But have no fear, progressive Portland—the event won't pass without a response from queer and allied activists. PFLAG, along with groups like Community of Welcoming Congregations, with help from Basic Rights Oregon and GLAAD, are putting together the planning process for a response. The details aren't yet hammered out, but PFLAG is planning to host an event that will offer a perspective opposite of Love Won Out's.
"Nobody should be asked to change the essence of who they are just to be accepted by somebody else," says PFLAG's Teri Noble. "Our organization and our event will be a place where they don't have to." SCOTT MOORE
OFF THE HOOK
The district attorney's office has dropped its case against Richard Prentice, the 33-year-old Portland State University senior arrested and allegedly intimidated for taping an anti-cop poster to the wall of the federal courthouse ["Thought Police," News, June 28].
Prentice went to community court on Monday, July 9, planning to contest the charges against him for "advertising on the street"—instead, he was given a slip of paper telling him the DA's office had decided not to pursue his case, but that it reserves the right to change its mind for a year. "But I don't think they're going to do that," Prentice says. "It would look pretty obviously retaliatory if they pressed charges against me after filing a complaint." Prentice plans to sue the police bureau for breach of his First and Fourth Amendment rights to free speech and protection from unreasonable seizure.
"I hope they don't change their minds when Mr. Prentice files a lawsuit against the Portland Police Bureau for violating his right to free speech," says Ben Haile, Prentice's attorney. MATT DAVIS
