STRAIGHT BASHING
TO THE EDITOR: This letter is in reference to your recent article
“Queer Club Guide” [Adrian Ryan, March 25]. I was astonished by the amount of
straight bashing that was scattered about this work of homosexual favoritism.
It made me sick to see such rude comments as “don’t breed anywhere,” and “do it
in a quiet corner where you won’t offend anyone.” What makes you guys think you
can get away with making offensive comments about straight people? Even homosexual
friends of mine felt that this article was outrageously offensive. The amount
of straight bashing and gay favoritism in your magazine is the reason why myself
and many others will never read your paper again.
Fuck Off and Die
WHO READS YOU, BABY?
TO THE EDITOR: The Stranger is well written, informative,
and entertaining, but I’ve got a secret for you (sshhh): most of your readers
are straight! I’m not trying to tell you guys to jump into the closet or anything,
and gay life is definitely a part of Seattle, but there are other things happening
in town. The only other weekly in town is a joke read only by ailing yuppies,
but we don’t read The Stranger for its writers’ personal lives. The first
step in the downfall of a publication is self-indulgence.
JoMamma
THE TWINKIE FROM HELL
TO THE EDITOR: Your offensive “Queer Club Guide” was penned by the
Twinkie from Hell! I hope you have an excellent P.R. Dept., because they’re
going to be working overtime to compensate for the alienation your bash article
has caused between you and the gay community. As for Ms. Ryan, how DARE you
critique a bar based on one visit of “not more than five minutes,” according
to the bartender on shift at the time! I know several people who would gladly
pay for a one-way ticket back to Montana for you, as the last thing Seattle
needs is one more shallow, self-obsessed, pissy little queen.
Ryan Harvey
One of the geriatric 33-year-olds who frequents Changes
WORSE THAN WYOMING
TO THE EDITOR: Geriatric fellas? Fossilized crowd? Old drag
queens who’ve seen better days? Adrian Ryan’s nasty and mean comments about
older gays (i.e., any queer older than 25) is typical of the ageism of the queer
community. Older queers don’t need to visit rural Wyoming to experience hate
and fag bashing, they can experience it in Seattle’s queer community!
David Gray
WHAT DOES “QUEER” MEAN?
TO THE EDITOR: Where has Adrian Ryan been for the last 10 years?
His “Queer Club Guide” makes it painfully obvious that he missed the fact that
the word “queer” was reclaimed from the bigots, and brought into general usage
in the queer community, because it is inclusive of men and women, gay, bi, and
transgendered. From his opening tale of accidentally wandering into “Wimmin’s
Night” on his first attempt to find gay men, to his gynophobic description of
the Wild Rose’s clientele, to his nearly criminal omission of Re-bar’s weekly
girl night, Mr. Ryan makes it clear that when he says “queer” he’s talking about
gay MEN. As his editor, it was your job to wake him up and clue him in: the
’80s are over, and queer means all of us.
Raven Gildea Queer Girl
OFF TO THE CUFF
TO THE EDITOR: Adrian Ryan’s “Queer Club Guide” is the funniest,
most right-on, craziest thing I’ve read in The Stranger in months! What
a talent. Good thing I live alone so I didn’t have to explain the hoots and
hollers. Thanks again. I’m off to The Cuff (for the first time!).
Bud
UNION VALUES
TO THE EDITOR: I read the article “Union Don’ts: Bus Drivers
Take On the Union” [Ben Jacklet, March 25], and was surprised by the misleading
viewpoint expressed. The Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) is one of the most
democratic organizations in the labor movement. Every one of our officers, from
the International President on down, is voted into office. They come from the
rank and file. Our Local, #587, has over 3,400 members, and while our goal is
to try and meet the needs of everyone, there will always be a few members who
are dissatisfied with some of the decisions that are made. Jamie and Johnny,
those profiled in the article, are two of them. I take exception to their statement
that when people are asked to join a union, they [respond], “What for? All you
do is take my money and you don’t do anything for me. I don’t even have a vote.”
Last year [their] Local was contacted by drivers who work for Laidlaw, asking
that we represent them. In the subsequent election, the drivers voted two-to-one
in favor of being represented by ATU. They saw the value in having a union.
In Jamie and Johnny’s initiative, they call for direct and open elections–which we already have. I do not want some vaguely written statewide initiative with out-of-state backers telling us how our Local should work; it should be left up to the members–those who pay the dues.
Barry Samet
President/Business Representative
ATU Local 587
WE ARE ALL RAPISTS NOW
TO THE EDITOR: Although you’ve probably received a thousand letters
regarding the Isaac Brock controversy [“Immodest Mouse,” Samantha M. Shapiro,
March 18], I think it is important to remember some things. Whether or not Isaac
Brock raped this woman should be left up to a court of law, where all sides
have the right to present their case. It is the job of the judge/jury to decide
the guilt or innocence of a person. The issue of Mr. Brock’s guilt or innocence
aside, it is very important to remember that rape allegations are rarely false.
Most women (and men) do not just simply make up a story of rape. It is disheartening
to read letters from persons like Mr. Sean Hurley accusing the alleged victim
of being a sociopath [Suite 1225, March 25]. He may have been in the next room,
but only two people know if this alleged rape took place. It is because of attitudes
like Mr. Hurley’s that so many rape victims do not come forward to accuse their
attackers. And contrary to popular and misinformed belief, rape is rarely the
act of a stranger. The victim usually knows his/her attacker. This is called
date rape, Mr. Hurley, and date rape accounts for most of the rapes in this
country.
It is because of attitudes like Mr. Hurley’s that so many women and men are victimized without knowing it. When a woman/man gives in to a sexual act they did not want to engage in, this is rape. How many people have had sex with someone just to “get it over with” or get the person “off his/her back?” How many of these people know that they were/are a victim of rape? In a society where male violence is glorified through the media, on television and in films, it should be no wonder that even the victims of date rape don’t always know that they are victims, and the attackers do not always realize that they are rapists. Educate yourself.
Sandra Meccia-Rabago
READERS’ $10 GIVE-AWAY
TO THE EDITOR: We will match your Publisher’s $10 Give-Away. Every
week, we’ll put an envelope with $10 cash in it into a random copy of The
Stranger somewhere in Seattle. We just ask whomever gets it to call us and
let us know. Our number will be in with the $10. Good work, Stranger,
for getting the ball rolling. Come on, Seattle–pitch in!
Richard Garella
Elena Garella
HUMP CAN WRITE. CAN YOU READ?
TO THE EDITOR: I read Steven Humphrey’s piece on the Academy Awards,
and can only wonder how such a delinquent smart-ass can have his own column
in a Seattle newspaper [I Love Television, April 1]. By encouraging readers
to “rat on your commie workmates,” he sounds like an adolescent J. Edgar Hoover.Ignoramuses
like Humphrey reveal the flip, self-promoting “progressives” at The Stranger
for what they are: trashers of radicals whose idea of hipness is to denigrate
those they disagree with in order to sell advertising space. Behind the smug,
white, male faces of your most prominent writers are the discredited politics
of the establishment.
Bernadette Logue
Editor’s note: In his column on the Academy Awards, Wm. Steven Humphrey wrote,
“…unlike Elia Kazan, I would NEVER rat out a co-worker who had a case of the
Trotskies. I might yank their pants down at a staff meeting, but I would never
rat them out!”
HEBREW? I DON’T EVEN KNOW YOU!
TO THE EDITOR: Loved the way this week’s edition opens like a book written
in Hebrew [April 1]. It’s kind of you to take note of Passover, the festival
of deliverance (from slavery, not Burt Reynolds) in this creative way. Thanks,
and have a nice Easter.
Steve Sitcov
MORE ANNOYING THAN EVER!
TO THE EDITOR: As if your paper weren’t annoying enough in the first
place, the backwards shit this week just made it all that much more so. Is this
the best you could come up with for April 1st?
An Annoyed Reader