major and smaller papers across the country. I
hope to reach you there!
L ee L ynch
Waldport, Ore.
Spousal support
To t h e
E d it o r :
1 was in Salt Lake City when your March 17
feature article, “Getting Down and Dirty,"
appeared, but I heard about it from my grum
bling little spouse before I ever made it back to
Portland!
I was of course more than happy to offer up
our yard for a photograph for the story, but “his
partner” (as indicated in the caption on Page
24) has a name: It’s Dale Boss. I thought it only
fair to mention him, especially since he is on the
mortgage!
B ob M ensel
Portland
Heartfelt pledge
To t h e
E d it o r :
I’m writing in response to the letter written
by Mitch Gould in the March 17 issue of Just
Out.
I am saddened that someone from our own
community is fighting to make our very own
pride parades conservative, censored and void of
diversity.
Would this guy, if he was in charge, start
making up rules for what was to be deemed
immoral behavior, or start a committee to screen
participants to make sure that he approved of
their attire or the content of their entertain
ment? I think that we would be the first city in
the United States to have a politically correct
pride parade! Queer people everywhere would
feel sorry for us. And what would happen to the
people who violated his rules?
Thank God that there are tons of flamboyant
drag queens and people who flaunt their sexual
ity out loud! I’m the type who always admires
these folks and hopes that one day I’ll have the
courage and character to do the same.
This man reminds me of all the closeted
queer people I’ve met who seem to think that if
they protect the bigots and homophobes from
the truth, they will receive more privileges than
all the “other” gay people who live their lives
more bravely and honestly.
I know in my soul that once we start making
decisions to censor or discriminate against cer
tain kinds of people based on what we believe is
acceptable for them, we will lose all chance at
gaining the freedom or rights we deserve. Isn’t
this what we are all fighting for anyway?
Com e on, guy, this is one day a year! One
day!
I know that this world that he envisions will
never come about, at least not in our communi
ty, and I pledge my most sincere commitment to
making sure that it never will!
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Proud of diversity
To t h e
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E d it o r :
I wanted to write a letter in response to the
comments that Mitch Gould wrote in the
March 17 issue of Just Out’s letters to the editor.
I don’t understand how someone could feel
this way about other gays and have any sense of
pride in themselves.
Diversity is something I find very valuable,
not just race or sexual orientation, but within
race and sexual orientation. All people are very
different, which is great! How fun would our
pride celebration be if we only had 40-year-old,
middle-class, family-type people attending and
parading? Or how about only the gay youth? We
need the diversity among ourselves, because we
are not all the same.
The gay pride celebration is a place where I
personally feel safe and free to be exactly who I
am out in the open. More often than not, peo
ple I meet or work with assume I am straight, but
not at pride. I feel very comfortable to snuggle
my girlfriend in public at pride, where I know
I’m not in any danger of harassment or worse.
I’ve seen the dramatic outfits and the dra
matic drag queens. I’ve seen the shirtless dykes,
I’ve seen the asses of the queers into leather and
S& M . They must feel safe at pride too, to be out
in the daylight celebrating with pride, instead of
the bars and homes where they might normally
find acceptance.
Pride events allow all kinds of queers to
come together. I embrace this, and encourage
the diversity at pride.
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NORTHEAST PORTLAND
PEARL. DISTRICT
EUGENE
1444 NE BROADWAY
536 NW 14TH AT HOYT
FIFTH STREET PUBLIC MARKET
282-8200
223-3879
54 1 - 3 4 3 - 8 9 0 4
{ p l e a s e e x p l o r e o u r c a t a l o g at w w w . e u r o l i n e n s . c o m }
D ori H inamon
Portland
n o ta b les
Michael Byerley,
1 9 5 5 -2 0 0 0
On Wednesday, March 29,
2000, Michael Byerley died of
complications from severe coli
tis.
Byerley, who was bom in
Oregon, served in the U .S.
Navy as an electrician.
A longtime community
activist, Byerley worked for
more livable and safer neigh
borhoods. He was instrumental
in closing several drug houses,
helped to start Block Watch in
his neighborhood and played a
crucial role in re-establishing a
neighborhood foot patrol in
the Sabin community, among many other civic
contributions.
In 19% , Byerley won a Charles Bengel
Award from the Crime Prevention Association
of Oregon. The award was presented to Byerley
for outstanding leadership in the area of com-
munity policing in
Northeast Portland.
Three years ago,
Byerley became a foster
parent for the state of
Oregon with his part
ner of over 10 years,
Daniel Dale. He also
worked as a foster par
ent advocate.
“M ichael’s hobby
was helping people and
being anywhere people
needed him,” Dale
says.
Byerley was sur
rounded by numerous
friends during his last
hours. Also standing
vigil were his three foster sons. Byerley and Dale
were in the midst of adopting two of their chil
dren at the time of Byerley’s death. Dale plans to
proceed with the adoptions.
and he can't believe Itl
...
I financed his new car loan at G & L Internet Bank.
I was able to get the best rate going, plus great friendly service. No frowning, skeptical loan
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us than he was the day he met my ex-wifel
G A L Internet Bank ... We re not only gay friendly, we're your ONLY ga y bank!
G & L Internet Bank is committed to investing and reinvesting its deposits in the gay community.
What other bank can commit to that?
mm *
« n xc • Equal mous * * Lena*
Copyright C 2000 6 4 L Internet Ban*.
■ Contributed by JOHATHAN KlPP