Is Oregon falling behind in civil liberties?

A Gresham bakery, Sweet Cakes, denied a lesbian couple an order for a wedding cake. A 16-year-old sophomore, apparently struggling with bullies due to his sexual orientation, hung himself outside the elementary school adjacent to his La Grande High School. Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire signed a same-sex marriage bill a year ago on Feb. 13, 2012; the law took effect on Dec. 6, and the first marriages were celebrated on Dec. 9.

As a state that has a reputation for being progressive concerning our environment and conservation efforts, Oregon seems to lag behind on the civil rights of all residents of our state.

Being homosexual in high school is a well-known hardship that the gay community recognizes as one of the most challenging in a young person’s life. The “It Gets Better Project” is a movement that specifically was put together in response to the problem of gays being harassed in high school. The movement started when Dan Savage and his husband, Terry Miller, posted a video on Youtube on Sept. 21, 2010, in response to the suicides of teenagers bullied because they were gay or peers suspected them of being gay.

Discrimination is nothing new to the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender community. Whenever a celebrity is openly gay, it is something they carry with them through their career and ultimately they become icons for the gay community. Ellen DeGeneres’ career was significantly affected when she came out as a lesbian. Her rising career was stalled, but her ability to take controversial issues and poke fun of them has made her one of the most beloved morning talk-show hosts. Her sexual orientation is something that viewers accept and understand as part of her personality when she delivers a performance.

Uploaded onto the “Ellen” show’s Youtube channel on Feb. 7, Ellen delivered a monologue on the postponing of the Boy Scouts of America’s reversal of a long-held ban of gay members. In her conclusion, she made a powerful point saying that what the boy and girl scouts are teaching young people is leadership and that, “The more we teach people how to accept people for who they are, the more self-confident they will be and the better leaders they will become.”

The Advocate thinks Oregon should be more progressive and that any form of discrimination is wrong.

Although the owners of Sweet Cakes may have denied service based on prejudice or could just have likely been exercising their rights to bring or not bring forth a specific product, the incident has raised the discussions of discrimination against gays to the forefront.

Supporters have come out to support both sides of the issue. So where can we draw the line when it comes to what services/products one group can deny from another? As mentioned before, Oregon has a history of making progressive advancements when dealing with environment and land conservation, but has fallen short when it comes to human rights advocacy. How can we respect the religious beliefs that some may have, while still being tolerant of the personal lifestyle choices of others?

Respecting people and their beliefs seems to be the answer. There is no right or wrong when it comes to this specific argument over religion and gay rights. And does there really need to be? Can’t we have our cake and eat it, too? The couple who wanted a cake wound up getting two of them, one from a Southeast Portland bakery and from the bakers that star in the popular reality television show “Ace of Cakes.” And Sweet Cakes is, according to OregonLive.com news reports, benefiting from supporters in their decisions.

No attitude, no matter how positive or compassionate, can bring back Jadin Bell, the La Grande student whose suicide is suspected to have been in response to bullying and harassment. All we can do is continue to support positive movements and projects like the “It Gets Better Project” and states that have decided to legalize gay marriage.

Whatever your feelings may be on civil liberties, discrimination or what cakes are being baked for, we all still live in Oregon and the things we do and say reflect on us as a whole. “Portlandia,” the feud between the Ducks and the Beavers, Nike, trees and lots and lots of rain are what the rest of America thinks of when they think of Oregon. Let’s keep the list at that.