ju st o u t ▼ docom bor 2 0 , 1 0 0 6 ▼ 3
Vetters
A decade of thanks
To the Editor and community:
Thank you for the last decade you have shared
with me. A little over a decade ago I moved to
Portland, started coming out and began growing.
Like many of you, I have suffered the loss of my
closest friends, participated in some of the intense
political fights faced by our state, and survived
the emotional battles within my blood family. I
have volunteered with many of the existing orga
nizations, as well as those that no longer exist.
While it hasn’t always been a peaceful road in this
community, it has stretched my abilities to love,
accept and invest in others.
Many of you have watched me grow physi
cally, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. Many
of you had a part in my growth process. I have had
the privilege of volunteering with you, working
with you, grieving with you and growing with
you. I want you to know how much I have appre
ciated your time given, our thoughts shared, your
love shown and your honor bestowed.
1 have enjoyed most of the last 10 years within
our gay and lesbian community. From leading
Lesbian and Gay Pride to swimming in Gay
Games ’90. From serving on No on Hate to
founding Log Cabin Oregon. From worshipping
at Potter’s House Ministries to addressing the
financial planning needs of many of you through
Waddell & Reed. From developing programs for
gay youth, to pursuing my humorous 10-year
search for someone special through dating.
I love our community and pray the next 10
years will be easier and brighter for all of us. May
we all have the energy in 1997 and beyond to
grow, expanding our patience, love and accep
tance as others grow with us. As the end of my
10th year in Portland comes to a close, I simply
want to say to Just Out and all of my friends of this
community, thank you.
Eric Brown
Portland
GID diagnosis at risk
To the Editor:
Trans youth and adults in Oregon, Washing
ton and across the country face the loss of their
health care and civil rights—and this time the
threat isn’t the Oregon Citizens Alliance or other
right-wing groups, but national gay and lesbian
organizations such as the National Gay and Les
bian Task Force and the National Center for
Lesbian Rights.
These organizations have called for the elimi
nation of one of the two diagnoses through which
transsexuals receive health care and legal recog
nition of their new gender. Elimination of child
hood gender identity disorder is sought on the
basis of claims that gay and lesbian youth are
hospitalized under a diagnosis appropriate only to
trans youth, in order to change their sexual orien
tation. There is, in fact, no documentation to
substantiate these claims.
Elimination of childhood GID will prevent
supportive parents of trans youth from obtaining
treatment for their children, or from registering
their children in school in the gender of their
choice.
Efforts to totally eliminate all diagnoses for
transsexuals are being made by individuals work
ing with and within NGLTF and NCLR. Loss of
all diagnoses will end sex-reassignment surgery
in the United States, end the legal availability of
hormones for transsexuals, and eliminate existing
legal protection from discrimination in the states
of Washington and Oregon.
Health care and legal protection for the dis
abled shouldn’t be a matter of politics. If you
agree, here’s what you can do: Write the listed
organizations and tell them to stop the attack on
the diagnoses of GID.
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By Appoimcnem
Your Trust And
Support Is The
Greatest Gift.
Vilien I reflect on my past nine years as a
Waddell & Reed Financial Services
Representative, I must say, I’m very grate
ful. So many of you have relied on my
knowledge and experience to fulfill your
goals for the future. Thanks to your trust
and your support. I've been recognized
John D’Emilio
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
2320 17th St. NW
Washington, DC 20009
as the top representative in the
Portland office for the fourth
year in a row\ I couldn't have
done it without you. I sincerely
Julie Dorf, Executive Director
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights
Commission
1360 Mission St., Suite 200
San Francisco, CA 94103
Kate Kendell, Executive Director
National Center for Lesbian Rights
870 Market St., Suite 570
San Francisco, CA 94102
Don Romesburg
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
1360 Mission St., Suite 200
San Francisco, CA 94103
Jericho Knight
Portland
I don’t think so
To the Editor:
“It has always been a dream of mine to be a
part of the lesbian community,” Lori Buckwalter
is quoted as saying in the Dec. 6, 1996, Just Out.
Somehow I don’t think my lesbian friends are
going to feel like they are part of any “commu
nity” with an individual who uses his hetero
sexual male privilege to obtain what they are
denied by law because they were bom female.
Margaret Deirdre O’Haitigan
Portland
Disgusted with trick
To the Editor:
I’d like to thank you for your article “Here
come the brides”; it was hilarious. I would like to
know if anyone else saw the irony of a legal
heterosexual marriage being pawned off as a
same-sex marriage in a queer paper?
I identified as lesbian at the age of 21—and
never would have considered legitimizing my rela
tionships using my legal male status. I don’t see
how Buckwalter can enter into such a legal contract
that so invalidates “her” self-proclaimed image.
I will believe same-sex marriage is at hand
when the government accepts two people who are
both members of the same sex—not the bureau
cratic sleight-of-hand Buckwalter is perpetrating.
Rachel S. Koteles
Portland
WHEEL ALIGNMENTS & TIRES
thank you and wish you joy and
prosperity this new year.
EID WALKER
|5()3) 238-6036
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