4 J u t M it . may 2. 2003
gpffllout
Get a grip
To
th e
E d it o r :
n response to Jackie Petrase’s letter: The line
is drawn by expenses [“Ad It Up,” April 4J.
Do you pay the annual fee to have Just Out
delivered to your house? It’s $22.50 yearly or, in
an enclosed envelope, $40. I don’t. I choose to
pick it up at the comer store for free. Since I
chix>se that option, I pay by putting up with
the ads. Get a grip: Pay for your paper, or put up
with the ads and support the paper!
I also kx)k at the ads, and if 1 need a prcxJ-
uct or service, 1 at least will inquire about the
price. 1 still go by the best price. But, bottom
line is, I check out the ads.
T he daily paper has numerous ads; the
weekly has numerous ads also. If you count the
Oregonian ads, they are numerous; I don’t find
fault in the ads. If you don’t want to see or read
them, pass them over! I leave the nxim when a
television ad comes on; do you?
I’m in support of Just Out because it does a
service to the community, regardless of the ads.
But then again, I like the ads in Just Out,
because I know who to support.
I
John 10: 14-16
Metropolitan
Community
Church
of the
Gentle
Shepherd
Rev. Harriet Barshofsky
Bible Study 9- 10am
1st, 2nd, 3rd & 5th Sundays
Sunday Services
10:30am-6:30pm
Located just minutes from
the Interstate Bridge
2200 Broadway Suite F
Vancouver, WA • (360) 695-1480
an
SUV
.
D iane M c A llister
Portland
Cruising for a bruising
To t h e
E d it o r :
hy should I go to a bathhouse for sex
when straight couples can make out any
where from parks to lovers lanes? [“The Oppo
site Sex," Feb. 21]
Sex outdoors is beautiful and natural. And
sex in a bathroom is hot and exciting.
To most men frequenting these venues, dis
cretion is a high priority. The public or the
police would have to go out of their way to find
men having “public sex.”
Here in Vancouver, there has not been a pub
lic sex charge for almost 20 years. Police Inspec
tor L>ave Jones, the top cop in the gay West End,
was quoted April 17 in the gay paper Xtra! West
as urging people having sex in public washrcxtms
and Stanley Park simply to "use discretion.”
Your comments sound anti-sex and anti
men. Perhaps this is a topic beyond the under
standing of a woman.
D oug M c C lelland
Vancouver, British Columbia
Fish out of water
To
th e
E d it o r :
enjoyed reading Marty Davis’ opinions about
the behaviors of gay men. It’s all true; some
one had to say it.
I used to visit Provincetown in the hope of
meeting other guys. I grew up in a Portuguese
fishing village, so it was natural for me to bring
a caster. The gay guys looked at me as if I were
from another planet.
I ended up fishing on a pier with the les
bians. I really liked them. Some of them even
made their own fishing lures in their welding
shops. It was quite impressive.
I really enjoyed their company. I was quite
impressed at their relationships and, dare I say
it, FAMILIES.
I ventured into the drug and sex pits, hop
ing to find at least one normal guy. All I found
were drugs and sex.
I think gay men are their own worst enemy.
I
They easily could win equality if they peaceful
ly united against oppression. Instead, they
chcxise to do drugs and have sex with many,
many, many different men.
M ichael J ohnson
N ew Bedford, Mass.
Shock and awe
To
the
E d it o r :
T
hirty years ago I was terrorized by electrical
and chemical shcx:k aversion therapies and
was coerced by religious and psychological meth
ods to become ex-gay (“Leading a Crusade,”
April 18). Such treatments may he harmless to
bisexuals, hut many legal scholars consider them
to he child abuse because they traumatize chil
dren whose inborn gender behavior is different.
T he core of ex-gay ideology shuns butch
females and sissy males. Ex-gay therapy
attempts to change these inborn gender behav
iors. This is why even nonsexual children are
subject to ex-gay abuse.
T he popular ex-gay book A Parent’s Guide to
Preventing Homosexuality is aimed at children
and pretends to he medically scientific. My
5,000-word review of the book’s pseudoscientif
ic claims was published by G ay. Today
( www.gaytoday.com/reviews/122 302re.asp),
which is edited hy the famous pre-Stonewall
gay activist Jack Nichols.
U .S. Sen. Ron Wyden’s Jewish father, Peter
Wyden, in 1968 wrote the popular ex-gay Kxik
Growing Up Straight: What Every Thoughtful
Parent Should Know A bout Homosexuality,
where he shared how he prevented his sons
from becoming homosexuals. Ron’s brother
was committed to a mental institution around
n o t a b le s
w
ith a conscience
2004s arrive in May
fKjpp
Simone Streeter
J m T kher
503 295-5571
VOLVO
at 2 1 at & w iiurnaido sstreeter("volvojimfisher.com
FOR GAY & LESBIAN
MEMBERS ONLY.
Located one hour
north of Seattle
on a National Scenic
Byway in the beautiful
Cascade Mountains
Limitad mambarthip
$15 pet mgtit
Regular membership
$150 par year
I)
Joy Broussard and Erin Lamb are happy to announce the adoption of their son, Sam Isaac Broussard Lamb, bom Dec. 8 in their North Portland
home and adopted April 3 at the Multnomah County Courthouse.
t r a n s it io n
L a u rie G ard en er, 1 9 5 1 -2 0 0 3
few weeks before Laurie (Foster) Garden
er died of cancer April 20, she said she
wanted her obituary to read: “Laurie Louise
Gardener, bom Sept. 2, 1 9 5 1 . 1 was here, I was
queer, and it was important to me, my dear."
Others remember her as “a wise woman”
and “a moral compass.”
“She taught me how to be a grandmother,"
said one member of her Millionth Circle group,
for Gardener showed her love in action. She
and Jami Hart, her spouse of 26 years, had their
combined four grandchildren stay over every
A
Friday night. She called her daughter, Felicia
Nelson, her “heart’s delight.”
She also showed in action her com m it
ment to social change. Instrumental in set
ting up Feminist W om en’s Health Centers in
both Redding, Calif., and Portland, she was a
founding member of the original W om en’s
Bookstore collective here. Along with an
enduring com m itm ent to ending racism, she
was a lifelong union member and shop stew
ard and a member of Portland’s gay com m u
nity since 1976.
Gardener, who considered herself “a generalist,"
greatly valued the two book clubs she belonged to.
Her fine mind evinced itself in her dry wit, in her
class analysis and in the wide range of her constant
reading. Her influence on her extended family is
indelible, and to her four siblings she will remain
“their rock and their Bible.”
Remembrances may be made to Compassion
of Dying in Oregon, 6312 S.W. Capitol Highway
♦ 4 1 0 , Portland, O R 9 7 2 3 9 ; Hambleton Project,
1112 N .E. 21st Ave., Portland, O R 972 3 2 ; or any
hospice.