January 21.2005 ’
PfïWiSI out
Timing is everything
To the
E ditor :
ur idealistic zeal for goals like gay mar
riage—which are hound to appear revolu
tionary, if not bizarre, to people outside the
movement—should never be an excuse to avoid
thinking in concrete, practical terms of strategy
and tactics. Long-standing walls of prejudice
and belief are not going to fall simply because we
march around them blowing our trumpets.
Some times are better for revolutions than
others—and it is necessary to know the differ
ence. Having gay marriage on the agenda during
this past election campaign made things easier
for our enemies and more difficult for our
friends—that is the reality we have to deal with.
Vladimir Lenin, no mean revolutionary tac
tician himself, knew the importance of distin
guishing between times “ripe” for revolution and
times when one had to make honorable and
necessary compromises. To quote from his nice
ly titled 1920 pamphlet “ ‘Left-Wing’ Commu
nism—An Infantile Disorder”:
“To throw only the vanguard into the deci
sive battle, before the entire class, the broad
masses, have taken up a position either of direct
support for the vanguard, or at least of sympa
thetic neutrality towards it and of precluded sup
port for the enemy, would be, not merely foolish
but criminal..,. It is necessary to link the
strictest devotion to the ideas of communism
with the ability to effect all the rtecessary practi
cal compromises, tacks, conciliatory maneuvers,
zigzags, retreats and so on...to select the proper
moment.
“The art of politics (and the Communist’s
correct understanding of his tasks) consists in
correctly gauging the conditions and the
moment when the vanguard of the proletariat
can successfully assume power, when it is able—
during and after the seizure of power—to win
adequate support from sufficiently broad strata
of the working class and of the nonproletarian
working masses, and when it is able thereafter to
maintain, consolidate and extend its rule by
educating, training and attracting ever broader
masses of the working people.”
O
E d S egel
Portland
Tear down all the walls
To the
E ditor :
’m writing because here it is, 2005, and noth
ing has changed.
I am a trans woman, post-op since 2002, and
am outgoing and make friends easily. As a les
bian I’ve experienced both inclusion and exclu
I
Peg Schuette,
1951 -2005
urrounded by her family and friends, Peg
Schuette died Jan. 9 at home in Molalla. She
was 53. The service was held on an icy Jan. 15 at
Molalla United Methixlist Church.
Schuette was bom Feb. 27, 1951, in
Alliance, Ohio.
She dedicated her life to helping others
through search and rescue. She worked with
dogs while living in Los Angeles and in various
Oregon counties. Her proudest accomplishment
was founding Oregon K-9 Search Teams based
in Yamhill County.
Schuette was an avid outdoors person and
handymam. She loved to dance to country
music and snowshoe every New Year’s Day.
Schuette was a loving daughter, sister, doggy-
S
sion from women’s spaces, lesbian spaces, and
feminist spaces—and exclusion still seems to be
the prevailing wind.
1 knew as a very small child—long before the
influence of socialization, or my ability on the
gay
most basic level to even make a choice
emerged—that 1 was innately female. I knew
this at my core. Though I was raised and social
ized as a girl until age 8, that came after my self-
awareness that I was a girl.
At age 56, it amazes me that trans women are
still, in this enlightened age, excluded and not
considered “real” women by most women’s
groups. Because long ago some trans woman did
something in this or that group, all trans women
are labeled problem children. What happened
to letting a person prove herself and earn a
group’s trust—judging that individual on her
actions alone?
I find it very sad that lesbian and feminist
women who have fought bias, discrimination
and exclusion now routinely practice the same.
Was nothing learned in their struggle? The once
excluded now practicing exclusion? We all
know about the Michigan Womyn’s Music Fes
tival and its hate-based exclusionary tactics, but
I thought vVomen in general have grown past
that and realized the power of sisterhixxl, which
should include all women.
My socialization, my life experiences, the
• sexual abuse I suffered as a child, my part in the
women’s movement—they aren’t that much dif
ferent from most girls. I was woman enough in
2001,2002 and 2003 to be a committee member
and founding member of the Orange County
Dyke March, yet in Orlando, Fla., and now here
in Eugene, I’m not woman enough to join sev
eral local groups. What, do 1 have horns? As a
feminist and a lesbian, my past volunteer efforts
in and for women’s causes apparently mean
nothing.
Trans women are clearly an issue that Ore
gon women and the GLBT community need to
deal with. Aside from the kindness and inclu
sion I’ve received at Mother Kali’s Btxiks and
from a few PFLAG people, it’s been a very chilly
reception here in Eugene.
Imagine if all the walls that separate people
in the community came down—the political
power, the voting power and the voice we as sis
ters could have. Instead of one very loud voice,
our voices are silenced by our own lack of abili
ty to understand one another. Society doesn’t
have to hold us back, as we do a very gocxl job
of that ourselves.
We limit ourselves to one-issue battles. We
decide who is a woman, and isn’t woman
enough, and we wallow in our convictions
instead of looking for common ground as sisters.
Exclusion will be around as long as people
mom, kitty-mom
and true friend.
All those who
were touched by
her short life will
greatly miss her.
She is survived by
her sister Cather
ine
Williams,
nephews, nieces
and cousins.
Remembrances
can be made to
Oregon K-9 Search Teams or the Providence
Medical Center Foundation/Thoracic Oncology
Program.
Schuette will be honored during a country
dance Feb. 5 at the Portland Police Athletic
Association, 618 S.E. Alder St. A portion of the
proceeds will go to Providence.
practice it, and those excluded remain silent.
I’m both a lesbian and a woman, and 1 fight for
the same things that those who exclude me fight
for.
It is my hope for 2005 that lesbians and fem
inists, and those who fill the pockets of the
Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival of Exclusion,
will open their eyes to the possibilities and
embrace those of us who have suffered so much
to take up their cause as sisters, and to share
their lot in life. I’m proud to be a woman, and I'll
do whatever it takes to give all women a voice.
If we can’t come together, what’s to become
of the women and girls who follow in our foot
steps? What message does exclusion send them?
Just out 5
©
MuseArt+Design
R oberta B oyce
Eugene
You are welcome here
To the E ditor :
lmost 400 years ago, a group of people we
call the Pilgrims came to a new land so
they could enjoy freedoms they longed for.
These people were some of the early ancestors of
United Church of Christ, and they were the first
to speak out against slavery.
Txlay, we are very proud of the fact that we
still think for ourselves, work for social justice
and welcome all people. One of our UCC
national offices, the Still Speaking Initiative
Ministry, prcxluced an advertisement to inform
people that we are accepting of all people and
that there is not a strict set of “rules” to follow to
be an “accepted person.”.NBC and CBS, how
ever, were not quite so welcoming of our ad and
refused to air it, saying it was “too controversial.”
Other denominations pay for and ger their
advertisement aired, so in fairness we should have
our advertisements aired also. The UCC was not
trying to belittle anyone. We simply wanted
those people who think we should treat others as
we wish to be treated to realize that there is a
church doing just that without leaving anyone
out because they happened to be bom into a cer
tain position in our sixziety. There are wonderful
people in this world, and they fit into every cate
gory that humankind has pigeonholed them into,
but as Martin Luther King Jr. preached, what real
ly matters is a person’s character.
If you want to see those ads are for real and
we are for real, check us out instead of relying on
gossip. We are the green and yellow church
across Hogan Road (242nd) from Red Sunset
Park in Gresham. As our ads say, “Wh<x?ver you
are, wherever you are on life’s journey, you are
welcome here.”
A
D on J ohnson
J ohn S elmar
C lifford D aron
S usan D aron
C asandra Y eoman
B ecky W elch
J ean D oane
artists materials +
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vour inspiration
4224 SE Hawthorne Blvd
503.231.8704
museartanddesigii.com
open seven days
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