-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