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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 7, 2004)
-4 r r m io u t The Dyke March needs your help m i To the E ditor : b Spring Cleaning? Consider donating your gently used items to University Park United Methodists Church, a welcoming congregation open to all persons. We will come to you. pick up your donation and leave you with a tax receipt. What could be easier than that? To schedule your free pick up call 503.220.8242 Queer. * 5 very year, the Dyke March becomes a lit tle more expensive to prrxiuce. Rising permit fees, the cost o f insuring the parade and the price of renting three accessibility vehicles is making us scramble a little hit this year to raise funds. We also need a hunch of folks in the dyke community (various genders) to volunteer to make the event happen. Would you like to vol unteer to make signs for or he a marshal at the Dyke March? Do you have money to donate or a convert ible car we can use for an accessibility vehicle? If you are in an organization/club that will he renting a convertible during Pride weekend and you would like to split the cost with the Lesbian Avengers (so that we can use it Satur day and then you can use it Sunday for the big parade), let us know. Its a great way to save money for all of us. The Dyke March will he June 19. Details to fol low. Gintact info to get involved/donate money: tra n sition See St**' ELagle Elye O p tic a l PRESCRIPTION EYEWEAR GLASSES & CONTACTS 2808 NEMLKJr Blvd, Suite C Phone: 503.335.7173 OUR PLANTS ARE 6 ON THE KINSEY SCALE Dennis Gartner, 1949-2004 D C IS T U S N U R SER Y 22711 N W GILLIHAN ROAD SAUVIE ISLAND wed - sijn 10-5 For all your lingerie needs Just breathe. We can help. • LG BT Friendly • Appointments available, but not required J U S T LI KE A oman specialty lingerie 6333 SW Macadam Ste. 102 (503) 246 7000 www iiwtlikeawoman.ciMn ennis Gartner died April 19. He was 54- He was Kim April 21, 1949, in Bis marck, N.D. He moved to Portland in the early 1970s. He first established himself as a hair stylist at Charles F. Berg’s on Broadway. He owned and operated several salons, including Hair Direc tor’s and the Vista. He worked at the Little Shop of Beauty on Burnside until his death. Gartner was a tireless fund-raiser for many charities, including Our House of Portland, Tod’s G im e r and Cam p Starlight. He was also a known perfonnance artist and theater patron. He traveled extensively, including an in famous trip to London with friends Marne, Dar- celle and Roc. He regularly visited Mardi Gras, New York, Provincetown, Boston, Houston and Palm Springs. Friends say that Gartner was a charmer to everyone he met and that his winning smile will be greatly missed. He is survived by his mother, Claudine; brothers, Lee and Lyle; Lee’s partner, Vance; and Lyle’s son, Leif. A gathering of friends will be held from 3 to 6 p.m. May 22 at Embers, 110 N.W. Broadway. Remembrances may be made to Esther’s Panty or the Friends of People with A ID S Foundation. 503-460-FIRE or carohhtimo@yaKxi.com. We are also planning a fund-raiser for early June, so ltxik for it in the papers. Thank you for your support over the years! S a r a h B a r n a r d Lesbian Avengers A voice for hope To the E ditor : t’s easy to be discouraged aKiut electoral pol itics, especially this year. But Dennis Kucinich provides a voice for hope. By sup porting him in the primaries and at the con vention, we can still support the Democratic Party to win in NovemK'r A N D ask it to stand for something. Although he may not emerge as the nomi nee, Dennis needs our votes now. He is a win ner in our eyes because he is willing to keep talking aKiut peace, universal health care and even same-sex marriage in spite of the corpo rate and political powers amassed against him— and against us. Our votes for Kucinich matter in Oregon. With Kucinich delegates at the Democratic National Ginvention, at least we have a voice. Dennis will talk aKiut same-sex marriage and the importance of keeping discrimination out of the federal Ginstitution. Other candidates may tell us that they don’t support discrimina tion, but they won’t put their name on the dot ted line when it comes to full equality— full access to the rights provided by legal recogni tion of our marriages. Dennis put his name on the line when he signed our marriage certificate, and he was there to sign it because this issue is, as he says, a “no-brainer.” Equality is equality. S ep arate is not equal. Dennis didn’t need to study this issue. A s he told The Boston Globe a year ago, lesbians and gays should be allowed to marry as a matter o f “equality and justice and fairness.” Kucinich goes beyond sexual orientation in his definition of fairness. He also promises that under a Kucinich administration transgendered people will have the full protection of all legal rights, including the right to obtain a passport, and will have full access to comprehensive health coverage. Kucinich will have our votes in the Oregon primary because he makes a place for our fami ly and a place for hope in the dismal world of politics. He sends the message that the pre sumptive Democratic nominee does not repre sent our views on many important issues. Please join us in supporting Dennis Kucinich in the primary. B onnie T inker S ara G raham Portland Kerryed away To the E ditor : 1 am a native Oregonian, an out and proud iesbian-identified bisexual and equally proud to have worked for John Kerry for president for the past 11 months. I have always been primarily a single-issue voter, and the issue that I care the most about is gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equali ty. In fact, my previous gig was working as the development director at Basic Rights Oregon. I have lobbied for my own equality for nearly 10 years (N o on 13, No on 9 as well) and have worked for gay rights on a national level and in other states facing anti-gay measures. 1 am by occupation and orientation a political gay girl. So it was an EASY decision for me to join Kerry’s campaign. Every day I work to inform gay and gay-friendly Oregonians that there is one clear champion of G LB T equality in this race and that this candidate’s name is John Kerry. I first paid attention to who Kerry was in 1996, when I went to work in Iowa tor the Derruv cratic Party. 1 knew Kerry was my guy in Septem- ber, when (along with Sen. Ron Wyden) he was one of the 14 senators who cast courageous votes against the so-called Detense of Marriage Act— at the same time he was in a tough re-election race. Since then I have seen Kerry’s impeccable record become all the more distinguishes.!. 1 am working for Kerry because, when first elected as senator, he sponsored a bill that would have prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing, public accommodations and employment; because he has sponsored the Permanent Partners Immigration Act and the hate crimes bill; because he testified against “don’t ask, don’t tell”; because he has consis tently scored a 100 percent voting record with the Human Rights Campaign; and because he sees my right to be equal in the eyes of the law. Every day that I work for John Kerry for President, 1 dedicate my long hours and sleep- deprived days to my lesbian, gay, bi and trans friends and to my straight allies who live with the thought that each day moves us closer to true equality. I want to live in a world where being gay and being open and honest and showing commitment and affection is reward ed, not persecuted or prosecuted. This election for me is aK)ut a vision of America where people can be who they are and love who they love and work where they work and not he penalized for something inherent. There’s no choice involved, there’s no decision to love someone of the same gender vs. the opposite gender. Sexual orientation does not get to be up for public opinion, for judgment. It simply is normal, and I want a president who gets that. Who’s been fighting valiantly for fair ness and equality longer than I’ve been alive. Plain and simple: That candidate is John Kerry. Please send in your ballot with Kerry pride by May 18. C M H all Portland Go Fish! To the T E ditor : hanks to Just Out for noting my long involvement in civil rights for sexual minorities in your Portland City Council endorsement editorial (“Vote Potter, Adams, Leonard,” April 16). I’ve been a strong support er of Basic Rights Oregon and am proud to have been “green-lighted” by them. * As chairman of Manhattan Gxnmunity Board 5,1 stixxJ with gay and lesbian activists to force Mayor Rudy Giuliani to revise his regula tions on “adult-use establishments” so they didn’t unfairly impact gay and lesbian Kx>k shops. In New York, and here through the Housing Authority of Portland, I have worked to provide affordable housing to residents with AIDS. I won a landmark discrimination case, representing a health care worker fired for opposing the dis criminatory treatment of an HIV patient. A nd I clearly and unambiguously support same-sex marriage rights. Like my opponent, I disagree with the route our Multnomah County commissioners took to get there. He called it an act o f “civil disobedience”; I would have favored a public conversation before M ultnom ah G u in ty t(x>k action, not after. But we K)th absolutely agree that gov ernment should not discriminate. Earlier this year, Byron Beck called me a “queer ally who would be gtxxl for business.” 1 am proud to carry that tagline. I know that Byron, like Just Out, is supporting my opponent
