R
Mother Molotov
To the editor:
In the July issue o f Just Out, a very well
written letter, “ Fingering Priscilla,“ stir
red up a lot of emotion in me.
I was quite surprised to see, in pnnt, an
accurate description of a woman seen re
moving a large stack o(Just Outs from the
Downtown YWCA The woman, described
in your editor’s note as an anti-gay, anti
choice terrorist, is my mother [Priscilla
Martini; and she’s been called worse
The owner of the vehicle described in
the letter is my grandfather. He is an el
derly man who does not necessarily con
done, understand, or approve of the use of
his automobile.
You can understand my indignation at
seeing my grandfather’s name, address,
and phone number printed in your paper
implying that he is involved in these ac
tivities. As a retired member of the di
plomatic corps (vice-consul from Great
Britain), he would find a display of this
nature highly distasteful. I find it repre
hensible that your paper would print this
erroneous implication without the slightest
consideration of its consequences to an
87-year-old man.
As you can imagine, the fact that I am
gay has not set well with members of my
family. Since childhood, I have been very
close to my grandparents and I know they
had a hard time dealing with the “ news”
that I am gay. My grandmother was the
sweetest, most loving person I’ve ever
known. After the initial shock, I don’t
believe she had a problem with that any
longer; if she did, it never showed.
My grandfather’s feelings appeared to
be similar until my grandmother passed on
a few years ago. Around that time, my
mother became involved in anti-gay ac
tivities. She felt this “ mission of God”
included pitting my family against me,
which caused my relationship with my
grandfather to become strained; but,
thankfully it has improved.
Now, because of the sophomoric jour
nalism practices exhibited in your paper,
my grandfather has received bomb threats.
These threats are from people who. under
standably, want to strike back at my
mother. I know how they feel, but I’m sure
my grandfather does not. What he does
know is that I am gay and people like me
are threatening to blow up his house.
Maybe he thinks I do that, too. All of this
tension, mixed feelings and tension
because the editors at Just Out haven’t
sense enough to check out the personal
information that they print.
As for my mother, 1 understand the out
rage at seeing her make off with a large
stack of papers. Perhaps she feels that by
doing this often enough. Just Out may give
up and cease publication. She would like
that. If she had her way, her own personal
beliefs of right and wrong would be im
posed on the rest of the world with no
regard for anyone’s inalienable personal
rights. For example: Author of the letter,
“ I’ve got your license number” and her
response, “ It’s not my car, anyway,”
shows her blatant disregard for the welfare
of even her own father. All she thought
about was getting away with it, not the
consequences.
She is also fully aware that her inten
tions would have a profound effect on my
livelihood as well; but that’s not as im
portant as what she wants for herself.
She has testified against us at the state
capitol, and most recently she felt the need
to picket a square dance at the Hilton. She
thinks we choose our sexual orientation as
we would choose a pair of shoes, whereas
straight people just happen that way natur
ally. She feels homosexuality can be caused
by a female hormone shot during preg
nancy. She is obsessed with AIDS; she
feels it's “ God's punishment for our sins.”
She does not answer the question, “ What
about the AIDS crisis in Africa?”
Her crusades against gays and abortions,
in addition to her ongoing battle with the
bottle, make for a highly volatile Molotov
cocktail.
It seems that I’ve written more than I
intended, but I felt compelled to respond to
these bomb threats against my grandfather.
These actions are no more honorable than
the ones which prompted the letter “ Fin
gering Priscilla.”
G.N. Martin
Portland
Ed. Note: Just Out does not condone ter
rorism . We are chagrined to learn that Just
Out readers w ould stoop to actions which
have heretofore been the province o f those
who oppose its. We extend our apology and
sympathy to your grandfather and your
self. And we thank you. Mr. Martin, for
your forthright and heartfelt letter.
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disturbs visitors
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To the editor.
Recently, we were driving through the
southern portion of Washington state, on
Interstate 5, whence we came upon a most
disturbing billboard. The billboard was
located approximately 75-80 miles north
of the Oregon border, perhaps near Che-
halis, on the southbound portion of the
highway. It pictured Uncle Sam pointing
to the following message: “ AREN'T
HOMOS WITH AIDS MORE
CRIMINALS THAN THEY ARE
VICTIMS.’ . . . ’ The sign had no identifi
able sponsor.
We were very disturbed by the billboard,
and wanted to make sure you knew about
it. We are not from Washington state or
from the West Coast, and thus hope that
your organization will be able to do some
thing about it. We wish you luck and hope
you enjoyed an exciting Gay Pnde Week.
Rob Luginbuhl
Michael North
Washington. D C.
S
j Fascism is fascism
is fascism
To the Editor:
I read in the July '87 issue of Just Out
that Prissy Martin likes Gay freebies,
newspapers in particular. As your publica
tion date nears, I can see her clearing out
the back seat of her car, making ready for
multiple copies of this issue (because it’s
free, of course). There are other things that
are free, too: the press and access to it. Do
her actions constitute a culable censorship
of the press, in depriving your patrons who
can’t find a copy to read because Prissy has
them all? What of depriving patrons of
access to a free press? No doubt she would
say hers was not a terrorist/fascist act,
because, ‘‘It’s only those people.” How
ever, a fascist act by any other name is not
a rose. Read on.
However, Prissy Martin needs to collect
something besides Gay newspapers. Ru
mor has it that she is trying to use them to
build herself some free stairsteps to
heaven. She will find out how hot those
papers can make the fires of hell for bigoted
thieves, before they ever get her to heaven.
If she wants to be a Christian, she should
drop the charade and collect good will.
That is a step toward heaven!
Franklin Jenkins
Portland
An open letter
to the gay/lesbian
community
To the editor,
In June I wrote a letter to the community
entitled “ Right Step Recovery Program Is
Alive and Well.” It was a six month report
on the progress we had made in opening
the first inpatient chemical dependency
program for gay men and lesbians on the |
West Coast.
Well. Right Step is still alive, but
Republic Health Corporation, which is our
parent corporation, is moving the program
from Portland to a larger medical/surgical
hospital in Dallas, Texas.
I support the reasons that went into this
decision, but am personally very sad to see
it moved. I have chosen not to go to Dallas.
I wish to thank the gay/lesbian com
munity for the support we received during
our ten months of operation. We created
magic at Right Step. We saw men and
women from all over the country come to
Portland for help w ith their chemical abuse
issues, and we saw them leave treatment
i three weeks later with a gift they had not
known before, hope. Hope that they could
live a proud, gay, clean and sober, healthy,
happy life. Seeing this magic happen in the
lives of these brothers and sisters has been
the reward of each one of us on the staff.
Our hope is that soon there will be
another facility in the Pacific Northwest
that will treat the often complex health
concerns of our community. I hope and
pray that in the grand scheme of things,
that I be allowed the honor of playing some
small role in developing this center.
Christopher Eskeli, Ph D.
Administrator