COLUMN: Coffee Talk

From Jodi Bromberg's "Red Fish, Blue Fish," Fall '94 After all, what's it to me if Border's Bookshop stops using New Harmony Roasters, a Philadelphia-based coffee, at their espresso bars? Does it really matter if they switch to Allegro Roasters? In the larger and more important scheme of things on this planet, the answer is no, it doesn't. There are other things to worry about. World peace. AIDS. Poverty. Who's gonna win the playoffs. But I can't help but be a bit concerned about the switch that the Border's Bookshop corporation wants to make. Because Allegro Roasters works out of Colorado, which passed Amendment 2 last November. If you're not up on Colorado politics, Amendment 2 is a clause to their state constitution that both prohibits "protected status based on homosexual, lesbian or bisexual orientation" and rescinds existing non-discrimination statutes in the cities of Aspen, Boulder and Denver. The amendment also says sexual orientation cannot be used as the basis for a discrimination claim in Colorado. That means fags, dykes, bulldaggers, flamers, queens and butches can be fired, refused housing, refused insurance, refused benefits, refused custody, refused the tenets of basic livelihood in this country. The list grows higher and higher like a pile of snow at Aspen. Or manure on a farm. In short, according to Amendment 2, gay men, lesbians and bisexuals have no rights. None. Zero. Nada. Zippo. Get the picture? Let me spell it out for you. Life sucks if you're queer in Colorado under Amendment 2. Fortunately, the Amendment is currently being held in limbo by the state Supreme Court, because it might be unconstitutional. Eventually, insiders say the matter will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Gay and lesbian activists all over the country have called for a boycott of the state. Don't spend money that will go to businesses in Colorado. Don't send people there for conferences. Don't vacation there. The idea is that if enough businesses pull out their money, the people in the state will see the error of their ways and rebuke the clause in the next amendment. Enter Border's. The corporation headquarters in Michigan wants all of the espresso bars to use the same coffee roaster company. More cost-efficient, they say. Allegro's sounds like the best deal. Hence, the proposed change. But Allegro's is based in Colorado. See what I'm getting at? I don't really care what coffee Border's serves. In fact, I don't even drink coffee at Border's. I like Beanie's better. But I do buy books there. And I refuse to support a company which is deliberately lending its monies to a company which, inadvertently or not, is bashing me in the head. Or at least when I'm skiing. Which I don't do that often. But the point of the matter is, the little things really do matter. Amendment 2 was passed one vote at a time. A Virginia mother lost custody of her 2-year old son last month. She "admitted" she was lesbian. The boy is now being raised by his grandmother – ripped away from his biological mother and her longtime companion – because the judge viewed "the mother's conduct.. illegal... immoral... (and) renders her an unfit parent." Concurrently, a Massachusetts state Supreme Court ruling made a breast cancer surgeon and her lesbian lover the first same-sex couple to win approval in the state to adopt a child. Former "As the World Turns" soap star Keith Douglas Pruitt was beat up this past August for being gay. He and a (male) friend were holding hands when they were attacked by three men, who shouted anti-gay comments as they beat the two with golf clubs. One year ago next week, gay sailor Allen Schindler was beaten to death by two drunk shipmates. According to the New York Times Magazine, the pathologist who examined Schindler's body compared the damage to that of a "high-speed auto accident or a low-speed aircraft accident" and said it was the most severe trauma he'd ever witnessed -– even worse than a case he'd seen of a man trampled to death by a horse. He was identified only by a tattoo on his arm. Next month, Sam Nunn's policy for gays and lesbians will probably become law. It calls Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell, don't pursue" policy "an unacceptable risk" and allows reinstatement of the practice of asking recruits their sexual orientation. In essence, the policy is the same as it was a year ago. How does the old cliche go? Oh yes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. All of these events, taken separately, can be construed as minor in the greater context of one's life. They're just about the events of one person's life, at one point in time. Taken together, though, they mostly show an increasingly frightening backlash towards gays and lesbians in American society. Which is why I'll be calling Border's tomorrow to tell them how I feel. I like New Harmony coffee, and I think they should refuse to stock Allegro. Because even though I don't like coffee, I like my rights. With cream. Jodi Bromberg is a senior History and Communications major from Springfield, New Jersey. Red Fish, Blue Fish appears alternate Thursdays.