4 Ju st M it » October 18.2002
corepilates
Authentic Pilâtes™
Definitely
not for sissies.
503 • 222.7011
1500 nw 18th ave n° 107
opening October 28th
now booking appointments
Anti-Aging
“ From the Outside In & Inside Out”
Skin Care, Color & Nutrition
Sazanami Co.
503-869-4329
Lower maintenance
than your last date.
Lisa Costello 503-372-3129
Personal VW Consultant
vdublisa@ hotmail.com
Herzog-Meier
W ithout a travel agent
yo u’re on your own.®
Call us fo r expert guidance
<§ personalized seivice
Specializing in:
•Mexico
• Hawaii
• Europe
• South Pacific
LLOYII TRAVEL
1026 NE Multnomah
503 288-5145
-
Judy
T o the E ditor :
want to thank Marty Davis for her Oct. 4
commentary, “Truth in Advertising.” It was
thought-provoking and right on the mark.
As the G L B T civil rights movement pro
gresses in Oregon, we must start thinking in an
offensive and strategic mode. We have for far to
long been defensive in our thinking and
rhetoric— mainly, I believe, because we have
been under constant attack.
Many think the next step in achieving our
rights is to have a statewide employment
nondiscrimination law. This process will he
hard-fought, and we will need many allies—
Democrats, Republicans, Independents, liberals,
moderates and conservatives— to achieve this
goal.
It will he very hard to find members of the
state Legislature who agree to join a coalition, or
to vote an employment nondiscrimination hill
into law, if they might come under attack
because of not being progressive to the point of
agreeing on partnership, marriage rights or other
desired rights or have taken stances against us in
the past hut are changing their minds. Let’s not
kid ourselves: We have achieved a lot, hut we
still have a long way to go.
If we want to progress, it will he important to
accept and even praise the movement of people
who once disagreed with us and who now
believe we have been wronged by society. For it
will he many of these people who will help us
attain our goals.
Yes, we might doubt their sincerity, hut the
truth will lie in their voting record. Sen. Gordon
Smith has made such movement; by being a
lead sponsor on hate crimes legislation he has
alienated members of his party and members of
his faith and alienated the conservative right
wing, including receiving diatribes from Lon
Mahon.
He also has co-sponsored a national hill
called the Employment Nondiscrimination Act
and helped get Jim Hormel appointed to he the
first openly gay ambassador. At some point we
must believe he is helping us.
So why are we attacking him? Vote for Brad
bury, hut don’t bite the hand that is helping us.
And why are we attacking Judy Shepard?
W hat has she done wrong?
One of the most anfortunate aspects of this
senatorial race is that we gay men and lesbians
have verbally and in writing attacked Judy. I
have seen an extremist e-mail sent by an Ore
gonian to her, comparing her endorsement as
equal to endorsing Adolf Hitler.
When did we become that thing we are
fighting to end? It’s time we cool down the
rhetoric and keep our eyes on the prize of our
civil rights.
R on G lanville
Portland
Support Smith
T o the E ditor :
e-election of Gordon Smith is in the strate
gic interests of the cause of equality for gay
men and lesbians in the United States.
He has taken a courageous stand, in public,
for protection of gay men and lesbians from dis
crimination in employment and housing since
before his election in 1996. He also has taken
repeated public stands— courageous and princi
pled stands— for a hate crimes hill that protects
gay men and lesbians.
In a political model where there are two
dominant and virtually equal political pahies,
we lose if we fail to have the kind of represen
tation that only Smith can give us in the
Republican Party. Electing a Democrat to the
Senate automatically deprives us of representa
R
tion on these vital issues in the Senate Repub
lican Caucus.
Smith is one of the appallingly few politi
cians I know of who is genuinely compassionate
and caring about controlling discrimination
against gay men and lesbians. As the organizer
and fonner president of the now-defunct Log
Cabin Republicans of Oregon, I join with the
Human Rights Campaign in supporting him for
re-election for these reasons and a second hut
even more important reason.
The basic fact is that Oregon’s gay and les
bian population needs to have a compassionate
and principled friend inside the Republican
Caucus in Congress! The basic fact is that
Smith is the go-to person for Republicans in
Congress who are disposed toward fairness for
gay men and lesbians.
In addition, we need to have him inside Pres
ident Bush’s group of legislative advisers. N o
Democra*:— none— can do what he can for us in
Washington, D.C., or Oregon for that matter.
Smith’s current television ad campaign is the
first example of any politician ever being as
open in support for compassion toward gay men
and lesbians. He is to he congratulated by all of
us nationwide— nor just in Oregon— for his
courage, compassion and commitment. Gordon
Smith is a politician we can trust on the impor
tant issues of discrimination and hate crimes.
L ee C oleman
Aloha
Don’t be misled
T o the E ditor :
’d like to think Judy Shepard was just gullible
because of the positive things said about Gor
don Smith by, among others, some members of
the G LBT community and the Human Rights
Campaign. 1 don’t really much care what HRC
says and does with its awards and honors; that’s
up to them.
But as for Smith being supportive of the
G LBT community, I think we’re being misled.
His personal religious beliefs are stronger than
any allegiance to our community.
A larger factor than our community’s con
cerns in the upcoming election, though, is the
overall state of our nation under a Bush/Repub-
lican administration, Congress and Senate. By
presidential order, many civil rights already have
been summarily abridged in the name of the
“war on terrorism.”
If we look, speak, think or act differently
from the majority, we are subject to arrest and
secret trial by a military tribunal, with no legal
counsel or constitutional protections. If we dis
agree with the president and speak out in any
public way, we can he pegged as traitors, with
the same military tribunal determining our guilt
or innocence.
D>es this sound anything like the prelude to
World War 11 and the Nazi regime? Remember
the words of pastor Reinhold Niebuhr that end
with “when they came for me, there was no one
left to speak out for me.” He died in a concen
tration camp.
Women’s right to reproductive choices, U.S.
Supreme Court and federal court bench vacan
cies, Oregon’s death with dignity legislation, the
environment, conservation and a whole host of
economic issues are all subject to Bush’s admin
istrative fiat. His decisions will have long-lasting
negative effects on us all.
We need to have the Senate be a brake on
Bush’s overreaching and overreaction. The Sen
ate’s abilities to confirm appointments and to
block legislation originating in the House are
powerful tools that should not he in the hands of
Republicans.
To have a president and both the House and
Senate in the hands of one party makes for a
dangerous combination. We need to be sure
there are some brakes that can he applied when
necessary.
At the very least, we have to maintain a
majority of non-Republicans in the Senate. As
of today, the Senate has a non-Republican
majority of just one seat.
Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N .J., will forfeit
his seat at the end o f this term and is not run
ning for re-election. T hat will leave his seat
vulnerable.
Smith is a Republican who is obviously well
thought of by the party, because the president
has made campaign stops here and probably will
make more in the future. W hen the Republican
Party Senate whip says “jump," Smith will ask,
“How high?" and do whatever he’s told.
Remember to vote your conscience, not just
party affiliation, especially this time around. A
lot depends on each one of our votes.
C hristopher J . A rmstrong -S tevenson
St. Helens
Elect the right president
T o the E ditor :
\ I
hat would you say if a candidate for dog
¥ catcher made it a point to talk about how
she was anti-equal rights, anti-woman and anti-
choice? If you’re like us, you might ask yourself,
“W hat do your opinions about reproductive
rights and sexuality have to do with being dog
catcher?”
For years, the extreme religious right wing
has used low-profile offices and small elections
as a training ground for their political leader
ship, and they’re trying to do it again. Sexual
minorities and women in our region are under
attack from an unlikely place: the race for Metro
Council president.
Few people know that Metro is the only
directly elected regional government in the
country. Even fewer know that it runs our zoo,
convention center, parks and recycling pro
grams. Perhaps most important to our quality of
life, the Metro Council decides where and when
to expand our urban growth boundary, where to
build new trains and roads, and how to preserve
the livability of our region for all its citizens.
This year, for the first time, citizens will he
able to elect a president for the Metro Coun
cil. This race is the second-largest in the
state— only the governor is directly elected by
more Oregonians than the Portland region’s
president.
David Bragdon, a Metro councilor with a
proven track record, is a candidate for the posi
tion. You might have met him at the Basic
Rights Oregon dinner this year. He’s a nice guy,
he’s smart, and he has a great track record.
Although Metro does not deal directly with
issues involving reproductive rights and sexual
minorities, David has been a staunch supporter
of giving equal benefits to domestic partners of
Metro employees. He also has overseen the
acquisition of hundreds of acres of greenspace
for our region’s residents and has worked hard to
provide choices in housing, transportation and
jobs for all of us.
David has proven he can protect farmland
and open space and preserve what is so special
about our region. As Metro Council president,
he will continue his legacy of preserving the
region’s livability for all of its residents, includ
ing sexual minorities.
David’s opponent, however, is a far-right reli
gious candidate who has publicly taken extreme
anti-woman, anti-choice and anti-equality
stances. She was Bill Sizemore’s press secretary.
She was funded and supported hy the
extremist, far-right group Oregonians in Action.
She has earned the endorsement of land specu
lators, special interests and the Oregon Family
Council for being pro-sprawl and against envi-
V