October 1. 2004 - j U S t O U t 5
Big City Produce
Legalize same-sex
marriage
To t h e
E d it o r :
I
n November, we are facing several issues. H ie
state is short in funds. Everything is being cut
hack or cut out.
Look at the schools. In all my life, I have
never seen a student who had to pay for hand or
sports.
Also, there are thousands of homeless people
because they lost their jobs. If the politicians
would quit arguing about what party is right, and
think about solving the budget problems, we
would be better off.
As a minister, I had not registered to vote in
years, until this year. As a lesbian, I have a rea
son to vote.
I want to ask a question of our state politi
cians. Why don’t you go ahead and open the
state to same-sex marriage?
Take half of the license fee for the state to be
put toward schcxils, increase jobs and help the
disabled and the elderly. Look how much Mult
nomah County took in before it was forced to
stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses.
All we want are the same rights as any mar
ried couple. Whatever I can do to help get peo
ple to vote no on Measure 36, I will.
Also, we need a new president.
I have been in a relationship for five years.
We would like to have the right to be legally
married.
They had an article about us in the Newport
paper. I stated that we would like to be the first
in line to get a marriage license in Newport.
Then 1 would be there to perform weddings free
of charge.
An open letter
to KOIN-TV
I
n a society that seems to focus on the many
negative aspects that surround the news,
why must satisfying sexual experiences be
near the center? There are more important
issues to fight against, because we are ignoring
what matters most in a world that desperately
needs to be reminded of what is truly impor
tant. N ot money, not war; instead, love and
safe sex.
Still, society is so screwed up that we can
not step beyond our comfort zones to recog
nize what we do not understand. Why should
individuals ignore what is inside their heart
and their body to conform to what the world
believes is the only acceptable way to live?
In the end, love is defined individually, if
you dare, and after all, it’s about who we fall
in love with and what we decide that truly
makes us feel alive.
N icole R obbins
S teve A. E ngel
Anchorage, Alaska
Portland
Lincoln City
Love, safe sex
are important
To t h e
E d it o r :
I
Food, Music, Entertainment
and Fun, Fun, Fun!
D ea r N ew s M a n a g e r :
continue to enjoy KOIN very much, and my
loyalty for local news remains with your sta
tion, as I watch it every night at 11.
I found it interesting watching the little seg
ment on the bookstore Fat Cobra that was pre
sented early in the newscast. I feel the attempt
was made to be fair, by having a protesting
neighbor and the owner, and it was mentioned
that the store is meeting legal requirements. But
there is still a piece missing.
The neighborhood guy stated that it is well-
documented that such places of business attract
drugs and other undesirable activities. May I
suggest that in the future, you ask what the doc
umentation is?
I walk past an adult bookstore on Northeast
Sandy Boulevard all the time, and 1 don’t see
any of the alleged activities one hears about.
I have attended some 60-plus neighborhood
meetings in the Kerns neighborhood, and I can
assure you honesty and accuracy are not a prior
ity, nor is fairness. People and neighbors tend to
carry their own bias.
My neighbor to the east mentioned just last
month the numerous drug dealings going on right
on this comer of Northeast 29th and Couch.
And we have no adult bcxikstore in this area.
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transitions
Hwy 101 & 7th St - Yachats, OR 97498
Kaelin Bowers,
1 9 6 5 -2 0 0 4
K
aelin Bowers, a member of Basic Rights
Oregon’s Traas Advocacy Group, died of
natural causes sometime between Sept. 21 and
23 at home. He was 39.
“Kaelin was a tireless leader on a wide range
of progressive issues,” said BRO executive direc
tor Rixiy Thorpe. “Not only trans issues, but [he
was also] incredibly outspoken on civil liberties
and his opposition to the Patriot Act and the
war.”
Bowers was bom in Virginia in 1965. He
held a graduate degree in geophysics and was
employed most recently at Intel, where he
worked full time as a project manager. He
planned to attend law school next year.
In addition to his work with BRO, Bowers
served on the Lane County Bill of Rights
Defense Com mittee and the board of the
LG BTQ Community Center Fund. He deliv
ered Meals on Wheels, volunteered for the Sam
Adams and James Posey campaigns, participated
in a Buddhist prayer group, organized and coor
dinated the Oregon delegation of the National
Center for Transgender Equality’s summer lobby
effort and was a member of the Intel queer
employee group as well as the Trans Health C o l
lective.
According to friend Christa-Margaret N el
son, Bowers came out as trans and started physi
cally transitioning in the fall of 2001. Previously
he identified as a bi woman and had been
involved in the Portland bi community.
“One of the most defining characteristics of
Kaelin’s transition was his staunch bodily iden
tification with maleness,” Nelson said. “For
Kaelin, he was not a female-bodied person with
a masculine identity, rather he was physically
male, maintaining this in the face of all the
world that read him physically as female....
Before Kaelin transitioned, he was somewhat of
a feminine being, yet he completely grew into
and manifested the vision of himself that was
always contained within him. This vision was of
the magnanimous, ponytailed, self-identified
gay man that took me out to lunch for my birth
day several weeks ago, someone with the kind of
radiant masculine energy that only comes from
a man."
Thorpe added: "In the time I knew Kaelin,
he went from being a shy, introverted, timid per
son to being the life of the party— funny, social,
smiling and gregarious. His courage should
inspire us all, and his journey should remind us
of how much human potential can be released
when a person’s true heart and soul and essential
being are allowed to flourish.”
Bowers was known not only locally but also
nationally as an important activist in the trans
community.
Mara Kiesling, executive director of the
National Center for Transgender Equality,
commented, “As a movement, we are greatly
diminished that we will no longer have
[Bowers’] dedication, drive, intelligence and
aggressive advocacy, which have added so much
to our movement and would have meant even
more in the future."
A community twilight memorial service to
honor Bowers’ life and work will be held 5 p.m.
Oct. 10 at the concert pad in Laurelhurst Park.
All are welcome. The service will be led by
Reid Vanderburgh and will feature speakers rep
resenting the different spheres of Bowers’ life, a
space for individuals to share personal memo
ries and reflections, a cellist and a group song.
Donations to cover the costs of the memorial
service can be made to the Kaelin Bowers
Memorial Trust Fund at Washington Mutual
Bank. Flowers or other expressions of memorial
can be placed on Bowers’ porch at 3937 N.E.
Sixth Ave. For more information contact
Christa-Margaret Nelson at christamargaret®
hotmail.com.
Carol Nale,
1 9 5 2 -2 0 0 4
arol Marie Nale died Aug. 13 after a seven-
year struggle with ovarian cancer. She was 51.
She was bom Sept. 30, 1952, in Madison,
Wis. She received a full basketball scholarship
to University of Wisconsin, graduating with a
degree in recreational education in 1979.
Nale taught and coached at a girl’s high
school in Wisconsin before moving to Portland.
She received a master’s degree in kinesiology in
1981 from Portland State University and subse
quently opened a sports massage business in
Northwest Portland.
Nale then returned to school and received a
master’s degree and license in Oriental medicine
in 1983. She later traveled to China twice, to
study under Chinese physicians.
An outdoor sports enthusiast, Nale enjoyed
kayaking, bicycling, hiking, camping and skiing.
She also taught athletics, including kayaking, to
people living with disabilities.
She was also an active member of the Forest
Group and Lesbians Enjoying Nature and Sci
ence. Nale was a member of Women’s Circle of
First Unitarian Church and donated her time
and expertise to the Rose Haven shelter for
women and children.
Survivors include her parents, Ernest and
Gwen; brother, Larry; and sister, Loretta Kay
Thompson.
Remembrances may be sent to Rose Haven
in her name.
C
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