Personally and professionally, I am well-known to be a longtime proponent of the “Shop Local” movement. I believe the key to the well-being of our city lies in the development and maintenance of strong, vibrant neighborhoods, all linked to a vital downtown core area. Commerce, schools, transportation and housing all stand to be at their best when neighborhoods are clean, safe, respected and respectful.

The advantages of shopping local are many and well-known. Local money stays local. Jobs stay in the neighborhood. People who own their own businesses tend to keep them clean and tidy. People who own their own businesses understand the value of keeping a customer happy. Many small business owners realize that they may not be price competitive with the giant box stores so they have to step up and give you greater value with increased customer service, product knowledge and overall shopping experience. You may be able to find cheaper candles at Safeway or Fred Meyer but you will never find a candle shopping experience like you will at Orleans Candle Co. on N. Lombard.

In stressing the concept of “Shop Local,” it’s important to note that not every business owner shares these same values. While it’s crucial to acknowledge and thank those who work hard to create economic community, it’s also necessary to let you know when there’s a negative experience with a local business owner.

And thus begins my tale of the Twilight Room, a popular North Portland eatery and tavern.

I have lived down the street from the Twilight Room for a seriously long time. For 30 years I’ve eaten meals there, drank beers, played some video poker and listened to more bad karaoke than ever thought possible. It is my neighborhood tavern. I’ve always felt comfortable there. For many of these years, I’ve picked up copies of the other free newspapers in town on my way out. There’s a long counter inside the front door where these papers are prominently displayed. A few months ago, about the time that the Portsmouth Pub, right across the street, started hosting a queer night, I decided that it was probably time for me to ask if Just Out could be added to the table of free papers. I made a call, asked for the owner/manager, made my request and got the okay. I added the Twilight Room to the distribution route and off we went. All was well.

Or so I thought.

The thing is I never once saw Just Out on that counter. It simply was never there. I questioned my driver. I was assured that it was delivered. I pondered that perhaps we were so popular that all copies went out the first few days. I kept checking. Nothing. No papers. I lowered the count so that this would become a less expensive sleuthing process. Finally last delivery day, August 20, I got there just in time to see what was happening. The papers had been delivered and immediately dumped into the recycling bin. Willamette Week and The Mercury on the counter top, Just Out in the recycling box.

Over the course of the following week I made three phone calls, each three days apart, to the owner, asking for a statement on why the papers were removed. I did not receive one return phone call. And yes, I asked nicely—at least the first two times.

The Twilight Room has the right to distribute any paper it wants on its counter. I have no right to demand space—I don’t question that. But I do have the right to question why, in 2010, a business owner is tossing the gay newspaper. If the paper isn’t welcome, are LGBT customers? If the paper isn’t welcome, are LGBT dollars? What’s up with not even returning a phone call? If you don’t want the paper in your business, how about standing up to your convictions and saying so? What’s with the hiding and being chickenshit? If you’re going to be a bigot, be a bigot boldly.

North Portland is not lacking in gay-friendly drinking establishments. Next time you’re thirsty or hungry, may I suggest Mock Crest Tavern, Leisure, Portsmouth Pub—25 feet away from the Twilight Room—McMenamins in St. Johns or the newly remodeled Foggy Notion, formerly the Blue Parrot. I’d love to add the North End Pub, former home of LumberJocks to this list, but sadly it closed recently. A few blocks further to the east you’ll come to the Eagle, home pub of the Oregon Bears. It doesn’t get much gay-friendlier than that.

North Portland is crawling with gays. Apparently the Twilight Room doesn’t care. They’ve got all the business they need with University of Portland students. Lord knows none of them are gay.

Speaking of which, let me share a tale of the University of Portland. Recently we were called and told to remove our paper and our rack from the student activities room. From now on only “approved publications” would be allowed to be distributed on campus. Just Out had been allowed on the UP campus for many years now. For several of those we were hidden away in a small chapel on the back of campus. The thought seemed to be that anyone troubled by homosexual thoughts would come to pray away their sins and what the heck, toss them a bone, they’re going to hell anyway. We remained a dirty little secret back in that chapel for many years and then one day, out of the blue, we were invited into the bookstore. We were movin’ on up! This upgrade came about because the space had been franchised to a national chain and the store was theirs to do whatever dirty thing they wanted with it. Just Out was free! Years passed, the book store left, we were moved into the common area and left to quietly sit there, saying a friendly “hello” to anyone who looked our way. As luck would have it, the wrong person looked. Then came the phone call, “Please come get your rack.” Out went Just Out.

Many more phone calls later we have found no one, nary a soul on the University of Portland campus who can tell us what the guidelines are for becoming an “approved publication.” Just Out is not headed back to school anytime soon.

So here we are again, 2010 and a major Oregon university is deciding for its students what is approved and what isn’t. This is their plan for creating the great leaders of tomorrow? By telling them what they can and cannot read? What’s next, internet filters and book burnings?

I live mere blocks from the university and only houses away from off-campus students. If the university was as concerned with alcohol consumption and rowdy, obnoxious behavior as it was with unapproved publications, then that school really would be turning out world-class leaders.

Let’s move away from North Portland and head downstate to Klamath Falls, a Southern Oregon farming town never labeled the home of liberal political and social values. From Klamath Falls comes a story far different than that of the Twilight Room.

I mail a handful of copies of Just Out to the Klamath Falls library each issue. Here they are treasured and cared for. The librarian reports via a newsletter:

“Four copies of Just Out are currently available for free at the library. Simply ask the reference librarian for a copy. As we are storing them under the desk to keep small-minded people from taking and discarding them. Just Out is published every 1st and 3rd Fridays and is mailed down to us, usually arriving mid-week following publication. As I receive them I will post that the four freebie copies are available.”

Thank you, Christy Davis, for showing your small town open-mindedness and support of free speech. Thank you, Twilight Room and University of Portland, for showing us the exceptional value of people like Christy Davis and the Klamath Falls Library.

Never take for granted your freedoms. Every day, in some small way, someone is working to take one away from you. Be ever diligent and, always, read. Reading is knowledge, knowledge is power.