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Postcard cam paign
successful
To the Editor:
Radical Women would like to extend a
public thank you to all those abortion rights
supporters who participated in our postcard
campaign to the (J.S. Supreme Court urging
them to uphold
In their ruling of
June 11, 1986 on the Pennsylvania Abortion
Control Act, the Justices rejected the Reagan
Administration's bid to overturn legalized
abortion in this country.
Over 10,000 postcards calling for reaffir
mation of
were distributed na
tionally to be sent to the Supreme Court. This
certainly forced the Court to sit up and take
notice of the strong public sentiment for legal
abortion, despite the continued escalation of
anti-abortion attacks at the clinics and in the
legislative and legal arenas.
Of course the fight to protect and extend
reproductive rights is far from over. Abortion,
childcare, contraception and restrictions
against forced sterilization are part of a long
list of civil rights gains for women, people of
color, lesbians and gays, and working people
which the rightwing seeks to overturn. The
recent Supreme Court ruling sanctioning
laws which criminalize homosexual activity
and continued assaults on abortion clinics
are only two examples.
The tremendous response to the abortion
postcard campaign shows the power of mass
public protest We can defeat the right-wing
— the
terorrists of the ’80s — if we
organize in mutual self-defense to protect all
our hard-won gains.
Roe u. Wade.
Roe o. Wade
real
Contance Scott
National Organizers
Radical Women
Support
Plaid Pantry
pickets
To the Editor:
Plaid Pantry is in the news again. In case
you forgot, they carry Alpenrose milk, the
makers of which objected to an advertise
ment placed in
by Food Front
featuring their product. The gay community
was asked to boycott Alpenrose. But, how
much milk do we drink anyway?
We may not be big milk drinkers, but I
know lots of us are beer drinkers, cigarette
smokers, and Haagen-Dasz eaters (for the
health minded, substitute apple juice and
Just Out
granola bars). Many of us indulge courtesy of
our nearby Plaid Pantry. The purchasing
power of lesbian and gay customers is
significant.
Plaid Pantry employees are attempting to
organize themselves as part of the United Food
and Commercial Workers Union Local 555.
The grievances include low wages, lack of
benefits, and inadequate security. Two
hundred employees attended a meeting and
overwhelmingly (98%) voted to join the union
and call a strike. John Piacentini has
responded by hiring replacements for the
striking workers and refusing to meet with the
negotiators.
To counter Piacentini's union busting at
tempts, strikers are calling on Portland citi
zens to boycott all Plaid Pantry stores. You
can let Piacentini know you're supporting the
strike by calling 288-9216.
As a former Plaid Pantry employee, I can
attest to the low pay, the lack of benefits, and
inadequate security. I strongly support the
workers in their attempts to fight for a decent
wage, health coverage, and safe working
conditions. I hope you will, too. Support the
Boycott!
Cathy Siemens
Lesbian Community Project
Selling out?
To the Editor,
Last month a local TV news program aired
an interview with some young Black men
who had been hired to fight forest fires. The
reporter announced that the pay was very
good and challenged the men about their
feelings about the high pay. Each one stam
mered and shuffled. Clearly, they were em
barrassed to be making so much money
helping people who were desperate. I was
shocked and appalled. When was the last
time you heard a TV reporter ask a white man
to justify his right to a high-paying job?
Now you’ve committed the same blunder.
In your September issue, your interviewer
suggests Rita Mae Brown has “ sold out,"
since she enjoys antiques, a mansion and
expensive cars.
How can she have sold out? She made a lot
of money on her popular book. Moreover, her
work brought lesbian issues once again into
the mainstream. Just what does a person
have to do to earn their money for it to be all
right to spend it as they please?
In my years of operating a business, I have
worked with a lot of women volunteers and
HYPNOTHERAPY
. -
Black volunteers on non-profit projects. I've
noticed a lot of similarities between these two
groups. These people feel it is wrong to make
a profit. If you suggest something they can do
to make some easy money, or to brazenly
further their cause, they are apt to dismiss it
as, "too commercial."
Until women and Blacks get busy on ac
cepting that financial success must, of neces
sity, be "commercial," and accept that as a
change they must make, nothing will improve
for them in our present socio-political
structure. We must get help for these two
groups so they can build their negotiating
skills on the individual level. They must be
able to wholeheartedly negotiate for pay in
creases and job promotions, in a system
which is stacked against them.
Equality in the job market is taking longer
to attain than it should, as it is largely being
fought one transaction at a time, by persons
not expecting success, who may be reviled by
their peers if they get it Until we, as massive
sub-groups, can wholeheartedly condone a
seemingly tacky grubbing for money, nothing
will happen. And last but not least, as long as
the media can make us feel guilty about our
success, fewer individuals will work for it.
White males are not going to give up their
supremacy. We, the disadvantaged, must
fight to achieve equality, one battle at a time.
Sincerely,
Eleanor Malin
Quick eye
sees the germ
To the Editor:
Did anyone else, glancing too quickly over
the August issue, turn the two cinema head
lines on page 18 into a single line that asserts
a deeper truth than either? “Your government
loves you, and wishes you well" plus “You
take the high road, and I’ll take you r wallet”
makes "Your government loves you, and
wishes your wallet"
Sincerely,
Gordon Chamberlain
Temple Madness
debacle: two views
To the Editor:
I was sorry to hear that the City Nights
group lost money on their recent Temple
Madness/Claudja Barry AIDS benefit There
was speculation as to why the concert didn't
succeed: people were out of town for Labor
Day; replacing Eartha Kitt with Claudja Barry,
etc.
_____ i----------
The bottom line, however, is that gay men
didn't support City Nights in their fight against
AIDS.
I feel that since AIDS is not a "gay disease,"
why should gay men ghettoize themselves by
presenting gay entertainment for gay men (I
can safely assume few lesbians and straights
showed up)? How about presenting enter
tainment for a (gasp!) general audience.
By drawing upon a potentially larger crowd
of people, more money could be raised, and
isn’t money the main reason these events are
thrown?
I raise these issues simply because City
Nights' benefits have been generating less
and less money with each concert
Perhaps getting away from obscure disco
divas (who sing to taped background music)
could be a step in the right direction, both
politically and financially.
Howie Baggadonutz
Queersville, OR
To the Editor:
The Temple Madness fundraiser for the
Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) was a wonderful
idea. But it could have been even more
effective.
While the promotional materials for the
event were well-packaged and distributed
throughout the gay community, apparently
Portland’s lesbian population chose to ignore
the benefits of supporting and participating
in the fundraiser. Our guess is that 300
people attended and probably 10 were women.
Tragically, this symbolizes the huge gap
between gay men’s and gay women’s com
munities. When will we realize that every issue
(i.e. AIDS or a gay female physical education
teacher losing her job because she’s gay)
affects each of us — male or female? It’s time
not apart
we accept this and
We urge the lesbian com m unity to support
CAP, if not through volunteering time to the
organization then at least through supporting
one fundraiser per year.
Similarly, the gay men of Portland must
solicit the support of the gay women’s com
munity who make an effort to support them.
For example, no signs were made at the
Masonic Temple indicating a path to the wo
men's restroom, as was true for the men’s
room. We ended up using the men's room
because no one seemed to really care after
being asked for directions.
Let’s quit segregating ourselves and unite.
We need each other’s support in these dif
ficult times. We have no other choice.
pull together,
Names Withheld
(Two professional gay women)
FILMA: PORTLAND WOMEN'S FILM FORUM
& THE IRVINGTON THEATER PRESENT
50% off
with this coupon 50% off first session
Stop Smoking
Stress Control
Memory Improvement
Alcohol Control
Weight Control
Motivation
Study Habits
Fears & Phobias
The Winning Edge
Self Improvement Center
1326 N.W. 23rd
228-8411
offer expires N ovem ber 1, 1986
4
AND ABOUT WOMEN
October 30-November 25
Tuesday & Thursday evening,
starting at 7 p.m.
D iscount series tickets available at:
A W om an s Place Bookstore, C atbird Seat Books, and A rtich oke M usic.
To receive a complete festival schedule, write
P.O. Box 15143, Portland, OR 97215.
The Irvington Theatre
133 NE Broadway
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282*0682
Just Out October