Columns

Letters to the Editor

COMFORTABLE SEATTLE QUEERS DECLARE GAY RIGHTS STRUGGLE OVER. [The Queer Issue, June 22.] Whew--that is a relief. I, too, have enjoyed the benefits of increasing societal acceptance, but I was worried about folks who may not be able to assimilate, such as (a) people in rural areas, (b) teens in any public school, (c) transgendered people, (d) people whose cultures resist the trend toward tolerance, (e) people in the military, churches, and other homophobic institutions... and others who continue to be silenced, beaten up, and even killed. Those in Seattle working hard on these issues are wasting their time, and should just move to the San Juans and watch Will and Grace with their cool neighbors.

Thanks, Dan, for your continuing complex and profound insights on behalf of the queer community.

Megan McLemore, Seattle

DEAR EDITOR: So what's all this talk about assimilation? Have you seen how many Abercrombie and Fitch shirts are at the Cuff? That's assimilation. Have you heard the poorly spun generic house music at Neighbours that queers still feel each other up to just because it's a gay bar? That's assimilation. Have you been accused of being straight just because Star 101.5 music bores the crap outta you? That's assimilation. That's individuality and character being washed out all in the name of being gay. But what if you believe in life after Cher? I saw plenty of gay guys at the EMP opening on Sunday who skipped out on the Volunteer Park festivities. What you call assimilation is actually disintegration; it's not the washed-out, black-and-white rainbow your cover suggests. It is true diversity. I'm watching it happen, and it's better than Kool-Aid.

Mike Harrison, Seattle

EDITOR: I am baffled that your publication would invite a gay neoconservative to write an obituary of the gay Left in the city that was the site of this past spring's very successful, very left, and even kinda queer WTO demonstrations ["Gay Left," Rich Tafel, June 22]. I am the director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Creating Change Conference, referred to by Rich Tafel as the gay Left's "annual get-together." Tafel can only wish that GLBT progressivism is history. If it were, attendees at our 1997 conference wouldn't have given a whit about our embarrassing gaffe with Nike; attendees at our 1998 conference wouldn't have batted an eyelash over Human Rights Campaign's Elizabeth Birch referring to progressive GLBTs as "maggots"; and attendees at our 1999 conference wouldn't have bothered to march 1,500 strong to the Oakland Police Department to protest police abuse of a transwoman. History? Hardly, babe.

Sue Hyde, Cambridge, Massachusetts

EDITORS: "I got this thing that I consider my only art of fucking people over" is an unforgettable, insightful lyric? ["To Hell and Back," June 15.] Bet you wouldn't think so if Sleater-Kinney wrote it. But it's Modest Mouse, everyone's favorite boy band, featuring the abusive Isaac Brock--who was chased out of the "cold, cold world of Seattle" because some people felt he shouldn't be able to force women to sleep with him without a slap on the wrist. [Editor's note: Brock was accused of, but never charged with, date raping a young woman last year. He denies committing the crime.]

Anyway, my point in writing this is not only to say that it was pointless having Kathleen Wilson write the review--why not let Isaac's mom write it?--but to note that since Kathleen and Erin Franzman have become co-editors, the music section has seen a remarkable decrease in female musicians and a sickening amount of young and cute boy bands. It also seems to have taken on a really negative/dismissive attitude toward female musicians and women in general. Take Kathleen's comment about Sleater-Kinney's new album sounding like '70s AM radio girl rock ["All Hands on the (Blank) One," May 4]. While the album isn't great, I could not figure out what '70s bands she could possibly be referring to, and since she didn't name any, I was unconvinced that she knew what she was talking about. Part of what makes the new album so good is that it seemed like Sleater-Kinney had fun, rather than obsessing over every detail the way they had in the past. That's how you want your boy bands to sound. Why expect more from women?

And wasn't anyone else confused and pissed at Erin's praise of Eminem ["The Best White Rapper," June 8] for honestly voicing fantasies such as killing his cheating girlfriend when others only dare to think things like this? Um, have you ever heard of a song called "Hey, Joe?" How 'bout the blues? Or the Beatles? "I'd rather see her dead than be with another man"? In the immortal words of Roseanne Barr, "Great, just what those wife-beaters need--an anthem."

Regardless of what people thought of Everett True, he went out of his way to listen to different types of music, and gave equal attention to female bands.

Elizabeth Gay, Seattle

EDITORS: I have been reading The Stranger for many years and have found your reporting accurate and interesting. Unfortunately, after reading your article regarding the proposed parking lot in West Seattle ["West Seattle Whipped," Bill LaBorde, June 22], I'm concerned that my faith in The Stranger was misguided.

The actual history of the Admiral District's parking situation is as follows: For many years the neighborhood enjoyed free parking in a nice lot. In 1998 the lot became a paid lot. In 1999 the majority of the parking lot disappeared when construction began on an assisted living facility. Now a drugstore is set to be built where the few remaining parking spaces are left. The owner of this property has graciously consented to allow an underground parking facility to be built in the new structure as long as funding for building the lot is provided. Hence, LaBorde missed the crux of the issue: ADPARK looks to replace recently lost parking so that businesses in the neighborhood remain viable.

LaBorde refers to the Admiral Theater as "new." In fact, the Admiral Theater is a registered landmark that could be torn down if it stops being financially viable. Many of the restaurants and taverns in the Admiral district are also old and established, but are already experiencing financial difficulties due to the parking lost in 1999. Knee-jerk liberals seem to think that if parking disappears, customers will simply use public transit, walk, or hop on their bicycles. We do not live in that utopia. Most of the customers who were driving and parking in the Admiral District will simply get in their cars and drive elsewhere. This is especially true in West Seattle, where a high percentage of our residents are senior citizens.

I'm a West Seattleite who doesn't own a car and relies completely on rapid transit. I support the proposed parking lot because I want to continue to have access to the amenities in the Admiral District.

Helen Nicolopoulos, West Seattle

TO THE EDITOR: I was very disappointed to see an otherwise intelligent and well-written newspaper get a story so incredibly wrong. In your most recent In Other News [June 22], Josh Feit wrote about King County Superintendent of Elections Julie Anne Kempf at the State Democratic Convention in Spokane. Several errors appeared in this piece. First, Ms. Kempf was not a delegate to the convention; she attended with her boyfriend and delegate Mr. James Apa. Second, Ms. Kempf spent the day of the convention, Saturday, elsewhere. Never once did she set foot in the convention hall, not only because it would have aroused suspicions, but also because she didn't have a credential to do so. Please review the convention broadcast, as seen on TVW, carefully, and you will not see Ms. Kempf in any of the five-plus hours of the show.

It also seems to me that The Stranger needs to be reminded that the Superintendent of Elections of our state, better known as the Secretary of State, is a 30-plus-year incumbent Republican, Hon. Ralph Munro. Yet The Stranger didn't make any noise when Munro decided to chair Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign in Washington state. Please make sure that your facts are correct, and that both sides of the political spectrum get fair and equal treatment.

Reid Wilson

King County Young Democrats

JOSH FEIT RESPONDS: Sorry for the gaffe, but you might want to speak to King County Democrats Executive Director Jack Ravens, who is certainly under the impression that Julie Anne Kempf is a district delegate. We would have rather spoken to Kempf, but she did not return our phone call. As for missing the Ralph Munro story: We like to pick on Julie Anne Kempf exclusively.