This is going on my amazon wish list for sure.

Life In Hell

You can't have rights.
Well okay, you can have some, but not all the rights we have.
WAIT! I take that back.



The Portland Mercury | Blogtown, PDX | Breaking: Judge Halts Domestic Partnerships

Breaking: Judge Halts Domestic Partnerships
Posted by Amy J. Ruiz on Fri, Dec 28 at 4:07 PM

A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction delaying domestic partnerships until at least after a February 1 hearing. More—lots more—as soon as I find a wifi signal.
***

And we’re back! I would have been liveblogging the hearing, had there been wifi in the damn federal courthouse. Oh, and had modern technology been allowed—I was told to put my laptop away about half an hour into the hearing (!?!?), and had to resort to scribbling.

Background: The plaintiffs—the anti-gay activists who claimed several signatures had been erroneously tossed off the referendum petition, and unfairly disqualified their bid to put domestic partnerships to a vote this fall—had to make the case that they had a good shot at proving the merits of their case, and that they’d be “irreparably harmed” if domestic partnerships got underway as planned on January 2, before their case is resolved.

Here’s the breakdown: Going into the hearing, which was delayed to 2 pm today, Judge Michael Mosman laid out his preliminary thoughts—and they sounded really good for the state and Basic Rights Oregon, who’d joined the case as a friend of the court.

He said the first part—the merits of the case—largely came down to the plaintiffs showing that the act of signing a referendum petition is “a fundamental right,” akin to voting being a fundamental right. “If I viewed signing the referendum as a fundamental right, its likely that plaintiff will prevail on their equal protection clause argument,” that claims the plaintiffs didn’t get due process when their signatures were tossed, Judge Mosman said. However, he added that in the briefs, and in the case law he’d researched, he didn’t see a precedent for equating signing an initiative or referendum petition with voting. “I’m tentatively inclined not to find a fundamental right here where none has been found before,” he said.

But, the plaintiffs had a secret weapon up their sleeve: A Ninth Circuit case out of Idaho that did equate petition signing with voting (that case was about geographic disenfranchisement, not the disqualification of signatures based on the state’s established criteria, Oregon deputy attorney general Katherine Georges argued, to no avail). With that case, the plaintiffs showed the judge that they could probably prove that signing a referendum is a fundamental right.

Which brought them to the irreparable harm: If same-sex couples start enjoying benefits on January 2—benefits outlined in a brief filed by Basic Rights Oregon—would the plaintiffs be screwed?

Yep, argued Alliance Defense Fund attorney Austin Nimocks. On this point, I took plenty of notes—but I can’t make heads or tails of what he argued. He made a point that any time a fundamental right is violated, there’s an irreparable harm. There was also confusion as to whether a referral could even happen if the law goes into effect—since a referral is supposed to temporarily stall the implementation of a law until the voters have a say. In other words, a referral is not suppose to act as a repeal.

Georges argued that the plaintiffs can always put a measure on the ballot seeking to repeal the law, if the referendum thing ultimately doesn’t work out. In response, Nimocks made a disingenuous point that it’d be unfair to same-sex couples to register as domestic partners, only to have it put on hold and/or ultimately have it yanked away if they get the referral on the ballot and voters opt to take away the law. (So nice of you to think of our feelings and needs, Nimocks!)

The judge asked both sides if they could get their acts together for a hearing ASAP—a situation that would limit the actual harm to couples hoping to partner on January 2, while also preventing harm to the plaintiffs. By only putting off domestic partnerships “for a short period of time, the harm in the Basic Rights Oregon brief is greatly mitigated,” Judge Mosman said.

The hearing on the case itself is set for February 1, and it seems like it’ll be a showdown on what, exactly (or if any) is the relationship between voting and signing a petition. As Basic Rights Oregon’s attorney explained to reporters after the hearing, people who legitimately sign a petition aren’t ever guaranteed that their signature will count, as is expected with votes. The chief petition doesn’t even always turn in your signature, she pointed out.

Afterwards in the hallway, Basic Rights Oregon’s brand new executive director Jeana Frazzini said she knows of several couples who are expecting babies in early January, and were looking forward to the parental rights domestic partnerships would afford. Others have medical procedures scheduled, and now their partner won’t have the right to make medical decisions should something go wrong. Those folks, she explains, are facing irreparable harm due to the delay—a fact that was argued in BRO’s amicus brief. Celebrations that BRO has slated for January 2 around the state will still happen, however—including the one at the Armory in Portland. She pointed out that we still should celebrate the non-discrimination law taking effect on January 1.

Basic Rights Oregon also issued a statement:


Our attorney believes that the judge demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding of Oregon’s initiative and referendum law. Basic Rights Oregon is appalled by this outrageous ruling, and we will continue to aggressively find opportunities to participate in the case as it moves forward, doing everything in our power to get caring and committed Oregon couples and their families the legal rights and protections they need.

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Jon Waters Material

Man in lingerie leotard breaks into Beaverton home | Neighborhood News - Westside | kgw.com | News for Oregon and SW Washington

Man in lingerie leotard breaks into Beaverton home

10:35 AM PST on Wednesday, December 12, 2007

By DAVID KROUGH, kgw.com Staff

BEAVERTON -- DNA from lingerie and a methamphetamine pipe led investigators to a man suspected of a Beaverton home invasion last winter.

On Monday, Beaverton detectives arrested 29-year-old Eric Triton Kincaid during a search of his home.

Police said in March of this year, a woman said she was in her bedroom at the apartment in south Beaverton when she saw a man in the closet. She screamed and ran for help, calling police.

Beaverton Police

She said the man was wearing a wig and lace lingerie similar to a leotard.

Detectives found a meth pipe and clothing left behind. Oregon State Crime Lab detectives recently matched DNA from those items to Kincaid. He was charged with burglary.

Anyone with information on Kincaid was asked to call police.

Gives "Finding Myself" New meaning

I Googled myself today out of boredom, while experiencing a feeling like "Do I Really Matter? " Then I came across this story. I guess I do matter.

Synopsis:
By Jesse Archer, appeared in OUT
magazine, OCT-2007.

On Stark Street in Portland, I come face-to-face with my own personal Jesus. It's Jeffrey Patterson. He made it out alive?

I was once a Beaverton High School Beaver. I felt isolated, for several reasons. At pep rallies we gleefully sang the alma mater "Hats off to Beavers, here they come!" Imagine the trauma. When I ran track, friends and family chanted "Go, Beavers!" meaning to encourage me.

Then there was health class. "This lesion is a chancre," Mr. Bubala explained, pointing to the syphilitic penis on the STD slide show. "It weeps a highly contagious mucus." Other students groaned in disgust, but not me. I got an erection.

STDs warranted discussion in class because (heaven forbid) they might affect us. Homosexuality, however, was prohibited by the school district. It wasn't taught as right or wrong – it just wasn't taught. As if it didn't exist. As if I didn't exist. Pubic lice can exist, but not me?

There was one ray of hope, and it had an aquiline nose, wore earrings, and kept to itself. It was Jeffrey Patterson: misfit beaver. The only gay in the village. Before gays on TV, before MySpace or Manhunt or the World Wide Web, it was just Jeffrey.

We weren't friends. I didn't want the guilt by association. Besides, I didn't want his friendship. I wanted to jump his bones. Really bad. I dreamed the penis I saw in health class was Jeffrey's. As a refresher, I'd hit the library medical reference book, turn to the photo of a penis oozing with the clap, and fantasize about him.

Mostly, though, I tried not to think about it. I bled my libido by running long-distance (the great Oregonian pastime), but when I chanced to see Jeffrey in the hall, my heart pounded and all bets were off. I raced to the nearest restroom and anxiously waited for him to bust down the stall door and molest me. But he never did.

Jeffrey was relentlessly tortured for being gay. They accused me too, but how dare they? I hid behind a smoke screen of varsity sports and girlfriends. Go, Beavers! The bullets were deflected onto Jeffrey. He shielded me and took the hits because – phew! – he never denied.

Once, Jeffrey penned a letter to the school paper. In it he wrote how teachers would blithely watch him being gay-bashed and do nothing to stop it. He wondered why. He asked the student body to take a look inward; he asked them to stop hurting him. I know they never did.

I read that letter again and again. Jeffrey existed; so did I, so did others. It was proof in print. Here was the sign of life on Mars. Jeffrey represented. Because of him, I wasn't alone. But who showed him he wasn't alone? Where was I while Jeffrey ran frontline interference for team 10%? Jacking off to syphilis.

The only thing I represented was the silence of the school district. I played the game of the pop singer prancing around his sexuality, of the married man covertly meeting men for sex on the down low. I represented those people, the ones who trivialize the courage of people like Jeffrey.

At BHS, I was an all-state athlete, class vice president, and valedictorian. I'm not certain Jeffrey even graduated, but he reduces me to a fawning acolyte. I see him now in Portland and throw a ticker-tape parade of gratitude. Then, lowly, I try to atone for what I could've, should've, didn't do for him. I come very close to singing that song from Beaches.

Jeffrey listens, gracious and sweet. Shy, like he always was. My heart pounds, like it used to. I'm still in awe of him, still starstruck. For all the right reasons I still want to jump his bones, and for the exact same reasons it's all too clear I'll never be worthy.

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