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I grok, I’m yours, let’s go!
To the Editor
This, my first response letter to Just Out, is to
celebrate the thoughts and words of Lee Lynch and
Spike Livermore (“A Gentle Angry People,” April
1). I ’ve been stirred, provoked, delighted and out
raged by the parade of data and ideas within your
pages...but I’ve never before been enveloped in
such a pervasive flow of strength, of total resource
capability, as I was in reading these words. I ’ve
been ready and waiting for just this kind of move
ment within the gay community: a return to origi
nal nature, a do-ing that comes out of be-ing.
I don’t look or act the part of this thing that I
seek: I ’m passionate, blunt, a loner, and occasion
ally perceived as spoiling for a fight. I weep daily
at the patriarchal insanity that passes for normal
living on this planet. At the same time, I resonate
with an underlying awareness that we are indeed
one; I know the ineffable truth of this re-mem-
bered way of being. This is the compass with
which I want to find my way in the world, and the
rock on which I want to stand.
Thanks, Lee and Spike, for speaking it. I grok.
I’m yours. Let’s go.
Marky Kelly
Portland
Thank you Howard
To the Editor:
Thank you to Howard Dana for the article, “Out
of denial.” To take it one step farther, we also need
to use caution in the gay bars on Stark Street. That
is for the people who still choose to enter them.
Now that they have been a main attraction for the
very “straight” clientele, verbal bashing is rampant
inside. Outside, it’s run for your life to the car.
I had enjoyed the integration of women to
Stark Street, and welcomed it, but in marketing
the bars to a hetero clientele it has brought some
very abusive people to our little haven. Never
before have so many 4-wheel-drive pickups been
down that street, and they’re not your usual dyke
trucks. When these “straight” males have a few
drinks they are ready to bash. It is very sad that I
can’t hold my lover’s hand in a queer atmosphere
without it being a political action—or unsafe.
On a lighter note, if you’re looking for a
comfortable place to be queer, there is always
Monday night at La Luna, where you can join
other queers, male and female, with a sprinkling
of diverse hets, celebrating freedom together.
Also, part of the money they bring in goes to the
queer community.
Just Out makes for excellent reading lately,
thanks for showing diversity within our com
munity.
James Tompkins
Portland
A lesson for the community
To the Editor:
I have known Ben Merrill from his work on
various boards and committees within the lesbian
and gay community. While I am appalled by his
alleged conduct of stealing funds from a client,
there is a lesson for the community in Ben’s fall.
For many years, Ben was one of a small
handful of people in Portland, and across the
nation, who fought for the rights of the gay and
lesbian community. Ben spent thousands of hours
working with federal and state governments and
courts to advance the cause of individual rights
and freedoms, and to deal with the HIV epidemic.
His reward is that he was apparently unable to
financially take care of himself or his law prac
tice— a set of circumstances that must have con
tributed to his recent alleged conduct.
I do not blame the community for Ben’s mis
takes. However, as a community, we must look at
what we can do to help those who help us, and
hopefully prevent situations like this in the future.
We need to patronize gay-owned and gay-sup
portive businesses as much as possible; donate
our time and money to local gay and lesbian
charities without being begged to do so; actively
participate in the community by joining (and
paying dues to) lesbian and gay organizations;
volunteer time to those organizations; and serve
on their boards of directors as strong and vocal
advocates for our community.
We cannot expect or demand that a few people
carry the torch for the rest of us. If we all join in
the struggle for our rights, dignity and health, we
will make a greater difference and lift the burden
from the shoulders of the few who have taken us
this far. No person in this community has too
small a contribution to give. But as a community,
we cannot afford not to give.
Bridgetown Realty
Kathy Tysinger
Member, Portland
Million Dollar Club
Jennifer F. Kimble
Portland
T ravel A gents
W I nternational
Every choice involves some
kind of trade-off
To the Editor:
In your recent issue on lesbians and gay men
coping with disabilities (April 1,1994) you were
critical of In Other Words: Women’s Books and
Resources for the fact that our entire space is not
accessible. Your story implied that in renovating
our store we paid no attention to the needs of
mobility impaired people, and you stated that the
reason we built a small platform at the back of the
store was to be able to fit in more books. We wish
that your reporter had come to talk to those of us
involved in planning the renovations so that we
could have explained our decision-making pro
cess and the reasons for our choices. Of course,
your reporter and everyone else is' free to draw
their own conclusions about these choices. But a
more complete presentation of the complexities
we (and organizations like us) face in trying to
accommodate the diverse needs of our community
would have been useful to Just Out readers.
In Other Words was established by a non
profit, grass-roots organization called the Women’s
Community Education Project. We wanted our
store to be a community gathering space, a place
for meetings and forums, debate and dialogue, as
well as readings and other educational activities.
We wanted a large space with room for lots of low
bookshelves and an open area for meetings.
The space we ended up with is quite small. Our
interior design allows us to open up a large percent
of the floor space for events, accommodating
wheelchairs and folding chairs, making room for
the maximum number of people to attend. We feel
this is every bit as important an accessibility need
as the need to have books reachable. To make the
books on the platform available to people who
can’t go up the stairs we have a print-out listing
author, title and price. We will bring a customer
any book that interests them— including books in
shelves not on the platform, that are too high to
reach.
In making decisions about our renovation, we
did talk to people involved with disability issues
(e.g.. Access Oregon), including people who use
wheelchairs. Everyone, including us, agrees that
there are no really good choices here. Every choice
involves some kind of trade-off. We were faced
with having a space that is mostly, but not totally,
accessible or not having a viable feminist book
store at all. There is room for honest disagreement
about the choices we made. But we did not take
these decisions lightly or without consultation.
Johanna Brenner
Irene Fischcr-Davidson
Jan Haakcn
Catherine Samch
Catherine Fctrick
Board o f Directors, In Other Words
Women's Community Education Project
®
917 S.W. Washington St.
Portland, OR
503 223-1100 800-357-3194
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