AT PRESS TIME, the polls indicate that Lon and Bonnie Mabon’s Ballot Measure 9 will be defeated by a narrow margin. Regardless, another defeat won’t make them, or their perverse dreams for anti-gay legislation, go away. After two previous defeats at Oregon’s ballot box, the Mabons think God Himself ordered them to try once more. […]
Katia Dunn
Posted inNews
High School Athletes Stripped
The ACLU Takes Mandatory Drug Testing to the Mat
LAST TUESDAY, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit that accuses the Oakridge School District of violating the Fourth Amendment; the district regularly orders high school athletes to participate in mandatory drug testing. The issue was raised after 15-year-old Ginelle Weber, a sophomore volleyball player, refused to sign the consent form. “Ginelle is […]
Posted inMusic
MIKE THRASHER
MUSIC BIO
WHO: Portland live music promoter The best thing about your job? I think lookin’ out over a full house, when everything has gone wrong and we’ve overcome it anyway. I imagine you must see a lot of shit in your business. Just recently we had the woman who was previously operating Paradigm, and on her […]
Posted inNews
Homophobic Dough
Yes on 9 Campaign Potentially Screwed
WHAT STARTED late this summer as a straightforward effort to compensate Catherine Stauffer–who sustained injuries nine years ago at the hands of an OCA member–has turned into a potentially full-scale dismantling of the OCA’s financial machinery. On Monday, Lon and Bonnie Mabon–leaders of the OCA–took the stand in a Multnomah County courtroom to defend themselves […]
Posted inUncategorized
OTTO’S SAUSAGE KITCHEN & MEAT MARKET
4138 SE Woodstock Blvd, 771-6714 How many restaurants offer both internationally refined food and extreme unpretentiousness? Too often these rare flowers sprout from their proper ethnic origins and bloom momentarily, only to quickly devolve into glossy boredom. Luckily, Otto’s Sausage Kitchen has been thriving in its Sellwood neighborhood for more than 75 years, a position […]
Posted inMusic
Miss Murgatroid
Music Bio
WHO: Accordionatrix to upcoming avant rock opera Lady M, in which a combination of dance, theater, and music expose the Bard’s most famous maiden–Lady Macbeth–for the contemporary diva she always was. What would the traditional Lady Macbeth say to your Lady M? The first thing she would say is, “Girl, what are you up to?” […]
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Honor Thy Debts
Prying Open the OCA’s Wallet
NINE YEARS AGO, while working on a photodocumentary of the OCA’s (Oregon Citizens Alliance) promotion of their anti-homosexual legislation, Catherine Stauffer was thrown against a wall and dragged across the floor of a local church by Scott Lively, a spokesperson for the OCA at the time. Though the court awarded Stauffer $31,000 in punitive damages, […]
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Fatal Secrets
HIV/AIDS Activists Demand Anonymity
ON TUESDAY, a purple and black, 15-foot papier-mâché man loomed in front of the Northeast State Office Building; around his neck was a hand-painted sign that read, “Dr. HIV.” He and roughly 35 flesh-and-blood people stood chanting, “no names, no nombres,” for an hour, while confused businessmen navigated their way through the crowd. Triggered by […]
Posted inNews
WHAT IF GOD WERE GAY?
Out-of-State Bigots Enter the Fray Over Measure 9
LAST FRIDAY at Grant High School, a young girl–not old enough to attend school herself–stood behind a roped-off section at Grant High School. From there, she recited a Bible verse that her father taught her, to a group of approximately 100 queer protestors. Her adult-sized T-shirt dragged on the ground as she walked; it read, […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Pimpin’ and Hoein’
American Pimp Passes Out Before It’s Over
THE HUGHES BROTHERS‘ latest documentary, American Pimp, introduces the men who sell women on the street with a series of quick clips that show your average middle Americans saying things like, “Pimps? Aren’t they those horrible junkies who disrespect women?” It’s a cheap trick, really–but one that sets the stage for the rest of the […]
Posted inNews
On My Soapbox
Bigotry Badge
Two months ago, the Boy Scouts of America fought James Dale, a gay assistant Scoutmaster who sued the organization for firing him when they found out he is gay. They took their gripe–that having a homo hanging around runs counter to their Godly mission–all the way to the Supreme Court. In Dale v. Boy Scouts […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Mercury Video Picks
Social Saviors
Movies exist to satiate those desires that we can’t fill ourselves. Like it or not, we watch them to be voyeurs. Lately, there is a certain desire reflected in films that deviates from the usual. Nope, it’s not sex, violence, or sci-fi fantasy–it’s the desire to Fuck The System. Luckily, no one has to cheat […]