june 3.2005 » JllSt OUt<5
SU
Pride, after all, is not about caving to organi
zational and governmental wishes, wants or
pressures. It’s about celebration and supporting
the gay community, including our business own
ers. Put Pride back where it belongs—on South
west Stark and Northwest Davis.
R ory G erard
Portland
Love Makes a Family
is still effective
To the E ditor :
irst, to answer the question in your headline,
“Is Love Makes a Family Still Effective?” To
me ancfrto the hundreds of GLBTQ families in
Oregon who have received guidance and sup
port from Bonnie Tinker’s organization, the
answer is clearly yes. It is more important than
ever that we have organizations like Love
Makes a Family to address the specific needs and
rights of sexual minorities.
Love Makes a Family is an important player
among the organizations that support the
GLBTQ community. That is because while
more prominent organizations like Basic Rights
Oregon focus on political rights, there continues
to be a need for family support, counseling and
public education.
Ms. Tinker has provided these important
services for 15 years. Her intelligence, experi
ence and integrity are truly extraordinary. Con
sidering what she has accomplished with rela
tively little funding, we should be singing her
praises, not criticizing her because she missed a
reporting deadline. Ballot measures come and
go, but the struggle to strengthen and dignify
gay relationships never ends. Ms. Tinker is a part
of that struggle, and I salute her.
being such a bully at time when this communi
ty is trying to heal.
keting their wares towards us, even putting rain
bow flags on the shirts they give to the bars to
hand out. But have you seen any national com
M ickey L ee
mercials that have the rainbow flag represented?
Portland
I surely haven’t.
I myself am going to continue supporting the
companies that have supported us, not only
Aiming at Bonnie Tinker
with logos, but with dollars, and the companies
is a cheap shot
that provide domestic partner benefits to their
To the E ditor :
employees. If you didn’t go to the annual Ore
gonians Against Discrimination Luncheon, call
arely do I write to Just Out to criticize, but
Basic Rights Oregon and find out who spon
your feature article on Love Makes a Fami
sored
tables. Check which companies support
ly is flawed in its focus. You’ve put the wrong
the Fair Workplace Project, and do business
thing in the center of your investigative bull’s-
with
them.
eye ami in so doing have used your big guns on
Everyone in our community needs to be
a small problem.
proactive in boycotting the businesses that talk
The real issue is that the lesbian community
about diversity, yet they don’t offer their
(and probably the GLBT community) has been
changing during the past 15 years, and some of employees domestic partnership benefits, like
Fred Meyer. Then you have the businesses like
the older ways are no longer applicable/appro-
Olive Garden and Red Lobster that downright
priate. 1 could cite endless examples: Our world,
discriminate against the GLBT community, as
our economy, our society is changing, and some
well as the U.S. military. If we hit these busi
of us are less effective or needed.
nesses’ bottom line, where they will actually feel
To single out one small organization to scru
it, then we might get closer to equal rights.
tinize and reveal your findings is short-sighted.
With the billions of dollars that we have in
Why not an article on what’s wrong with me
the GLBT community, we can certainly make a
and It’s My Pleasure? Why not search out criti
dent in the right wing’s efforts to take away our
cism on Tara Wilkins or Jack Danger? I venture
rights that our forefathers, and ourselves, have
to say that none of us would fare as well as Bon
fought
so hard to get and keep. Far too many
nie Tinker and that the article would reveal
people just take these rights for granted and fig
more unsavory discoveries. Who among us
ure someone else will fight the battle, so they do
could withstand a cover story like this one?
nothing.
All in all, I think it was a cheap shot.
We all can make a difference, so please do?
R
Portland
Love Makes a Family
article plays into
religious right's hands
To the E ditor :
t was easy to see by the end of the article
about Bonnie Tinker and Love Makes a Fam
ily that we have done exactly what the religious
right wanted: We’re imploding from the inside
out.
First off, 1 want to say that Bonnie has done
more for this community in the decades that she
has been active than other queer organizations
will ever be able to in the Portland area. She
and her partner fought for our rights before we
believed it was possible to even dream about
having rights. She has fought tirelessly nation
wide for the rights of families when others chose
sexier causes. She has worked with and support
ed other groups to help bind this community
together in our toughest moments of history.
She has made it possible for many queer couples
to be parents. So it came as a complete surprise
that her organization was attacked in such a
manner in your recent article.
Without going into depth about the article,
1 simply want to say that Bonnie and her family
deserve more respect than what was portrayed
in that article. If you believe Love Makes a Fam
ily could do a better job, then join in with Bon
nie and help make a difference instead of slan
dering her to the community at large.
I admit that I don’t know all the facts of this
situation. However, I think any organization
that has been around as long as Live Makes a
Family and has done so much for our communi
ty deserves more respect than this. They deserve
our support, and any changes that need to be
kxiked at can be shared in a more effective man
ner than this.
Shame on you, Basic Rights Oregon, for
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H olly M ulcahey
It’s My Pleasure
R oger S teffani
Beaverton
Libertarian view
on gay marriage
To the
G eorge E ighmey
PORTLAND'S ORIGINAL
PULL SERVICE COI'I’EE HOUSE
AND YARN SHOR_ _ _ _ _ _
E ditor :
hen it comes to gay marriage, the Repub
licans want to demonize me, the Democ
rats want to marginalize me into a class less wor
thy than heterosexuals, and the Greens are no
longer relevant as a national political party. So
who does that leave as the only principled polit
ical party gays and lesbians can rally behind on
this issue?
The Libertarian Party has a simple and per
fectly reasoned position on the matter. The Lib
ertarian Party says that the government should
get out of the business of deciding who can get
married and should eliminate all laws that pro
hibit same-sex marriages. Marriage should be a
private contract between two consenting adults,
and the government has no business whatsoever
interfering in what should be a purely religious
or civil ceremony. If two adults want to legally
say “I do,” the government shouldn’t have the
right to say, “No, you don’t.”
Libertarians believe the government should
stay out of personal romantic, religious and legal
decisions of adults. Gays and lesbians should
stop begging for table scraps from the Democrats
and join the Libertarian Party.
R obert H ansen
Beaverton
Support the businesses
that have supported us
To the
E ditor :
have been commenting for years on how
businesses started advertising toward the
GLBT population once the surveys showed we
supposedly have more disposable income.
The fact is we probably do have more disposable
income to spend on vacations and other
luxuries than the heterosexual population, and
we need to use this income wisely and to our
advantage.
Lx)k at the alcohol distilleries, cruise lines
and many other companies that are now mar
I
Looking for an LTR
To the E ditor :
hy does it seem that everyone is only
seeking sex? It’s like courtship and love
are about as important as a penny.
My only wish is that people who do seek lov
ing relationships at a young age (18 to 25)
should be more active so those also seeking
long-tenn relationships at a young age can find
one. Or am I completely wrong and am just not
looking hard enough?
K en S chram
Eugene
coant to ¿east
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attiene. tettoia
to die Sditosi
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