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O R C H IS
NURSERY
Just O ut is on summer vacation.
O u r next issue will be in
three weeks, Sept. 6, 2 0 0 2 .
Have a good
Labor Day weekend!
P la n ts
fo r y o u r
P a r a d is e
7 5 1 1 S E H a r o ld
S t., P o rtla n d
( b e tw e e n
S E W o o d s to c k
& F o s te r R o a d )
;ve rvWv’s Garden
Words as weapons
To t h e
E d it o r :
ver since I was a child, I have loved words—
JLv their sounds, their meaning, their power. So
your Aug. 2 commentary struck a chord with
me, although probably not in the way you
intended [‘‘Communication Breakdown”].
I applaud your desire for more “we-ness” but
was saddened by your call to lump everyone into
“LGBT.” That’s kind of like saying, “OK, you
can tag along with our basic human rights
movement, just don’t make a fuss, and for GixJ’s
sake would you stop calling so much attention
to yourselves.”
And yeah, lots of us still do have issues, and
intolerance from the nonhetero “community” is
not going to heal them. Have gays and lesbians
become so assimilated that we do not remember
being pressured to shut up and fit in?
For example: "Ugh, you mean 1 have to add
another box to the questionnaire for ‘partnered’ ?
Why can’t you just check ‘married’ ? It’s the same
thing.”
Your suggestion to quit “me-meing" reminds
me of the rift in the women’s movement of the
’70s, when some white women didn’t see lesbian
rights or civil rights as integral to women’s
rights. We need to acknowledge that our own
oppression does not automatically prevent us
from oppressing others.
Right now we are at a very important point
in time. We can decide we’ve “arrived” and let
everyone else fend for themselves, or we can
transform our experience with discrimination,
oppression and intolerance to sensitize ourselves
to others’ suffering.
I’ve chosen to use my experience of sexism
and homophobia to tap into a well of compas
sion and commitment to increasing my toler
ance for not just queers hut all people. It’s
opened my eyes to all the different ways humans
try to impose their superiority and oppress each
other.
1 don’t claim to speak for or fully understand
n o t a b le s
Center
the oppression of trans and intersex folks or
even all queer people for that matter, but I do
know 1 can extend them basic human dignity,
inclusion and visibility. Sure, it’s a bit of a
mouthful to say “gay, lesbian, hi, trans, queer,
intersex, questioning, genderqueer, gendervari-
ant and pansexual community,” but if we can’t
he bothered to acknowledge each other’s identi
ties and creatively address the issue, what hope
is there for “U S ” ?
You wrote: “Words create feelings. Words
touch people.” Doesn’t it follow that we take
more care and time with them?
Consider using the word and concept of
“dialogue” as opposed to your choice, “battle.”
They are not just words, they represent a shift
in consciousness.
I encourage you to use your leadership role as
publisher of this paper, to use your words care
fully, even lovingly. If you do, they can become
powerfully unifying.
J e s s ic a S c h u r t m a n
Portland
Ignore ignorance
To
the
E d it o r :
arty,.l can see how this is going to go.
I You’re going to keep writing stuff like
“obesity kills,” and I’m going to keep writing
letters.
1 doubt if 1 ever will change your mind. How
ever, for every fat person whose day got a little
crappier when they read that line, this is for you.
As we all know, obesity is a medical term. It
means your doctor wants you to go on a diet.
Probably an expensive diet. A diet that almost
certainly will fail within two years— and we all
know yo-yo dieting is unhealthy. For every study
that says fat is bad, I can quote you one that says
dieting is worse.
Why not just eat nutritious food, exercise
regularly and ignore ignorant comments like
“obesity kills” ? That kind of prejudice and mis
information just isn’t worth your valuable time.
Especially when you could be reading Fat! Sot
by Marilyn Wann instead, or snowboarding, or
having great sex. Or perhaps listening to Myra
Grey’s Fat Woman on Fire on KBOO.
But I bet you’re doing that already, and I’m
glad. ’Cause I’m tired of reading stuff like this.
K
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A
nne L. Seelye (left) and Melissa G. Arnold
celebrated their civil union May 21 in Ver
mont. Their honeyrruxin was in New Hampshire
and Provincetown, Mass. The Portland couple,
who have been together since Thanksgiving
2000, registered their domestic partnership
Jan. 22 with Multnomah County. Seelye works
as an electrician, and Arnold is a zookeeper.
E d it o r :
\ \ 7 ith great disappointment 1 read the
W
“About Town” section from the July 29
Oregonian. The small article basically states that
I am not serious about my campaign for Portland
City Council. Without ever being interviewed
by the Oregonian, how did they come to this
conclusion?
Because of my full-time job schedule, I was
unable to attend the first forum July 11. But I did
pick up the informatkyi packet given out to the
other candidates and have answered the ques
tions requested by the Portland Business
Alliance. And with regret, there will he other
forums I will have to miss because of my job.
By my own choice, 1 did not file a statement
for the voters’ pamphlet. Because I am running
a grassroots campaign, I had to look closely at
where the $300 filing fee could be best spent—
an extremely difficult decision hut one that does
not make me less serious about my chances to
fill the City Council seat being vacated by
Charlie Hales.
Except for my dt>g, Saddi, who wears the sign
“Ric Berrong for City Council” while we take
our walks through the city, I am running this
campaign completely on my own. I do not have