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A U T O M O T 1 V E
M echanics
w ith a conscience
O regon certified DEQ repair facility .
5934 NE H alsey • P o r t l a n d . OR 97213 • G erard L illie
TWENTY-THIRD AVENUE
1015 NW 23rd Avenue, Portland, O regon 97210, (503) 224-5097
Monday-Friday 9:30 - 9 pm O Saturday 10 am - 9 pm O Sunday 11 am - 7 pm
Promoting parks
and salmon
To
the
E ditor :
As the population of Oregon continues to
grow, the importance of m aintaining and
improving the pristine Northwest environment
and quality of life is also growing. Most of us
choose to live in Oregon, at least in part,
because of the state’s natural heritage, vast green
spaces and remaining frontier.
Ballot Measure 66 (Measure for Parks and
Salmon) will make a great impact on the future
of our state parks and wild salmon runs.
This measure will provide crucial funding to
take some initial steps to restore the habitats
and facilities that have been degrading over the
past 30 years.
As an outdoor enthusiast and a scientist, I
realize not only the importance of parks and
recreation to our society, but also the enormous
expense of fixing environmental and social
problems after they have become crises, rather
than taking proactive steps to prevent them in
the first place. I cannot stress enough the need
to improve our water and air quality, as well as
the stream habitats in the Northwest for salmon
and the people who choose to make this region
home.
Oregon has been and should continue to be
the leader in the Northwest for environmental
quality and creative problem solving. Let’s take
action now to preserve the streams and rivers so
that future generations will enjoy the same
beauty and quality of life that we have all come
to expect.
S ybil M errels
Portland
W ENTW O RTH
Wu is his man
To
107 S. Grand • East End of the Burnside Bridge •
232-2000
the
E ditor :
Oregon lesbians and gay men have a direct
and urgent interest in electing David Wu to
Congress because he opposes the extreme reli
gious-right-wing agenda of today’s Republican
Party. The outcome of this race in Oregon’s 1st
District promises to be very close and may deter
mine whether House Speaker Newt Gingrich
will hold on to his power.
Wu, winner of the Democratic primary,
came forward with a political booth at Pride ’98
in Waterfront Park. He is skilled as an attorney
and experienced in serving on local boards and
commissions. As a congressman, Wu will be a
politically effective advocate for justice.
Opposition to the extreme religious right
wing is evidenced in the political positions Wu
has taken. With courage and integrity he states
clearly that he would have voted against the
anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act.
If elected this November, he will become a
co-sponsor of the Employment Non-
Discrimination Act, seeking equality in the
workplace for lesbians and gay men, as for all
Americans. And in support of the struggles of
people living with HIV and A ID S, he will fight
any attempts to cut funding for the Ryan White
C A R E Act.
A close contest is always assured in the 1st
District, which includes Portland west of the
Willamette River, Washington County and
northwestern Oregon to the coast, because
voter registration is about evenly split between
Democratic and Republican. Our retiring
incumbent, Rep. Elizabeth Furse, a Democrat,
has always had to campaign very hard and has
always been able to win only by close margins.
In this year’s election, the Republican Party
and conservative political groups have chosen
to pour large amounts of campaign money into
Oregon’s 1st District in pursuit of a national
strategy to hold or increase their currently nar-
row majority in the U .S. House of Repre
sentatives. Eager for victory, they are attempting
to mask their candidate’s offensive right-wing,
anti-gay and anti-choice ideology.
Nationally pivotal and closely contested, the
1st District congressional race involves major
differences on issues that are very important to
each of us and to our community. With the
power of Newt Gingrich and the religious right
wing in the U .S. House hanging in the balance,
Oregon lesbians and gay men should do every
thing they can to help elect David Wu.
T om R uckman
Portland
Fed up
To
the
E ditor :
I am sick of you rewriting history to erase
transsexual voices and define us out of exis
tence. Your story on the passage of the Benton
County anti-discrimination ordinance [“Benton
County Leads the Way,” Just Out, Aug. 7] is a
particularly disgusting example of this.
In this story, you quote After 8 members as
saying that passage of this ordinance was “pain
less” and happened with “no controversy.” It was
not painless to me, nor to the other transsexuals
who had to fight very hard to get the specific
coverage of transsexuals into the ordinance. It’s
not painless to me to watch you write us out of
history because of your ridiculous, narcissistic
need to gloss over the abuse we constantly get
from lesbians.
The public record clearly shows that it was
the work of transsexuals, including myself, that
got the specific coverage in the ordinance.
From now on, Just Out is the last place I’ll
ever look for news on issues of importance to
transsexuals.
A shley S inclaire
Portland
Editor’s note: A key source quoted in the story u>as
Corvallis resident Derrick Travers, who identifies as
a transsexual and transgendered activist. Travers
was also among those who worked toward the ordi
nances passage.
OPB deserves kudos
To
the
E ditor :
If letter writer Kelley Begley [“Speak Out,”
Just Out, Aug. 7] were a contributing member of
Oregon Public Broadcasting, she would have
received in late May a copy of the June issue of
Oregon Focus, in which there was a half-page
feature on O PB’s gay pride month programs. As
far as 1 know, this was a first for OPB's monthly
publication. (I have been a volunteer for O PB’s
audience services since October 1993, respond
ing to comments and questions of listeners and
viewers, so I am quite well acquainted with the
contents of Focus.)
Personally, I was quite delighted to see this
space devoted to programs of special interest to
Oregon’s gay community.
Before I began my work at OPB, I too wrote
to complain about the lack of programs for our
community, but over the years I have seen quite
a change— from no gay-related programs to the
current regular appearance of the bimonthly In
the Life, the fabulous series Tales of the City, and,
occasionally, other gay and lesbian shows.
Aside from the attempt to drop music from
O PB radio, the most difficult thing I have had to
deal with as a volunteer has been complaints
about anything perceived by some listeners or
viewers as “promoting homosexuality.”
Whenever I have finished listening to one of
these anti-gay diatribes (having held back my
anger to avoid further upsetting a dissatisfied