Dear Editor:

I am a former San Diego resident who now lives in Portland, OR. You can not imagine how this controversy has not only rocked the GLBT community but the entire city as well. There is a divide in the city of not Gay vs. Straight, but supporters vs. non-supporters. I am one who did not vote for Sam Adams. However, at this time I feel that he should not step down. He was a single man who had relations with another single man. Of whom was not his intern, but a legislative assistant at the state capitol.

If the day comes that Sam Adams is actually charged with a crime, I would then agree that he should step down. We as a country are too quick to rush to judgment. Remember, innocent until proven guilty? There are lots of facts that have yet to make their way out. Believe me, Beau is not as innocent as he seems. I can assure you, there is much more to this story. In response to your article, there are several facts that are untrue. Please take some time to square away your facts before publication and also, please take some time to let the story unfold before you rush to crucify someone. We could rush to ask the person that wrote the article to resign since so many of the facts are completely wrong. I guess reporting the news correctly isn’t really important to the person

Jimmy Parchment

Dear Editor:

I was surprised and disappointed to read the open letter from Steve Salis which called for the resignation of Dr. Delores Jacobs at the Center.

I find such a knee-jerk suggestion to be uncalled for at this critical time. I’ve spent countless hours as a volunteer at the Center and have seen first-hand the incredible work the Center does to help those who are literally counting on the services offered under the leadership of Dr. Jacobs.

As every non-profit struggles to make very tough decisions about funding critical programs and staffing I think we need to take a big step back here and remember that such a short-sighted reaction is not the answer to what we face. Instead, we need to help find the financial resources so that we don’t loose more of the dedicated and professional staff that have lead our Center to be one of the top service providers in the City of San Diego.

Greg Evans

Dear Editor:

This is really a difficult time for a variety of reasons. The uncertainties surrounding jobs and finances, the loss ot the Prop 8 struggle, the general messages of fear and impending doom, all contribute to the stress levels of community members. However, this is not the time to go after one another; it is a time to help, support and encourage one another. It is a time to work together and relish the wonderful, creative people in our community.

We can have legitimate differences from time to time. Let’s deal with those differences in appropriate ways. We are not the enemy. The LGBT community has come a very long way. Not everyone has journed with us nor do they see us as equals. Homophobia is the enemy. External forces that affect our well being while not being of our making are the enemy.

If we stand together in our personal and communal integrity the journey is easier and a lot more fun. Find ways to collaborate. Use the goods and services of community businesses. Make a commitment to our nonprofit organizations. Offer time, energy and goodwill. We can redefine these times and stamp them with the mark of LGBT pride.

Joyce Marieb

Dear Editor:

Thank you for your recent editorial, “A Time to Rally for The Center.” As the current and past Chairs of The Center’s Board of Directors, we are grateful for the community’s support – particularly at this time. As the stock market has plunged and employment declined, non-profit organizations across the country are feeling the pain. As a result, The Center has continued to cut staff and other expenses and redoubled our fundraising efforts to meet the current economic climate.

Under the leadership of Dr. Delores Jacobs, our chief executive officer, The Center has achieved incredible things. Over the past eight years, The Center has responded to community input, doubling the number of people served and improving the ways we serve them through new targeted programs for our most vulnerable and underserved – Youth Services, Latino Services, Senior Services, the Women’s Resource Center and more.

Dr. Jacobs has also led The Center through the renovation of the Center’s main building, led the effort to make the Youth Housing Project a reality and helped direct or provided support for efforts for the men’s community, those living with HIV/AIDS, the transgender community and more. She has overseen the growth of our Public Policy department, and the development of The Center Advocacy Project. She helped stabilize AIDS Walk San Diego, ensured a smooth transition for Family Matters into The Center’s programs and helped to fund the nation’s only counseling services specializing in LGBT cancer survivors.

As was noted in your editorial, the Center did miss a CDBG grant application deadline. This sends an unfortunate signal to the community at a critical time, but is a rare exception to otherwise exemplary staff performance. Our board leaders were made aware of the error the day it occurred. After extensive review by our Executive Committee and discussions with our full board, we believe the problem has been addressed in a systematic way that prevents future occurrences.

The fact is that missing the application deadline does not affect either current programs or current income. It was primarily for 2010 construction funds and cannot be used for ongoing operational expenses. The grant, if awarded, would require us to advance the funds and be reimbursed after the fact. It is unlikely that we would have chosen to prioritize our cash outlays in this way, given our other ongoing needs. Our current challenges are the result of a depressed economy, not this one human error, and the reduced income we are experiencing is unfortunately shared by community service organizations, individuals, families and businesses all across the country.

As the current and former chairs of the Center Board of Directors, we are grateful to have Dr. Jacobs and her staff leading the way as we move forward and join them with full commitment to maintaining these valued programs and services. We will continue in our efforts to help support The Center. We know that it won’t be easy, but we also know that our community has a stellar track record of standing together in times like this.

To Dr. Jacobs and her staff, our donors and our more than 400 fellow volunteers, we sincerely thank you for all you do to help us serve more than 25,000 LGBTQ San Diegans each year and carry forward the mission of one of our community’s most enduring and most valuable service organizations.

Bob Nelson, Board Chair 2008-2009

Richard Valdez, Board Chair 2004-2006, 2007-2008

Todd Gloria, Board Chair 2006-2007

Robert Gleason, Board Chair 2003-2004

Kevin Tilden, Board Chair 2002-2003

Jennifer LeSar, Board Chair 2000-2001

Dear Editor:

The legend goes that John Adams chastised Benjamin Franklin by asking him how he thought history would judge the scandalous actions of his personal life. Mr. Franklin is said to have countered, “Don’t worry, John. The history books will take care of everything.” If future history books are written by the Matthew Tsien’s of the world, then indeed, George Bush has nothing to worry about. His manifold crimes and stupendous incompetence will be expunged. Mr. Tsien conveniently overlooks the 99% of Bush’s actions that contributed to the nightmare we call the last eight years and focuses on the 1% good that Bush did. Look, no one person is totally evil. Hey, even Hitler was kind to dogs.

But if the history books are written by honest people who are able to look reality in the eye, then Mr. Bush is in deep trouble. Let’s see, where shall we start? Will it be the incompetence or the crimes? Let’s start with the incompetence. Does anyone remember Hurricane Katrina? How about an energy policy that concentrated on encouraging consumption and ignored everything else other than asking for, “a new power plant a week for the next twenty years”? Mr. Tsien hailed the Bush Administration’s handling of the economy. The Ponzi scheme that was Wall Street under Bush would have worked for Bush if the house of cards would have only waited until after January 20th, 2009 to have failed. And shall we conveniently forget that the Bush Administration was warned several times that al Qaeda was preparing for a major attack on the United States in the summer of 2001?

Now, how about those crimes?! There are too many to enumerate in detail. But let’s start with the worst: Torture. For decades, the United States has been a beacon of decency and liberty around the world. All that went out the window when, under directions from Bush and his highest operatives, our country encouraged torture as a means of gathering information. Never mind that it is an international crime, outlawed by treaties that we not only signed but sponsored. Torture is also an ineffective method for gathering information. Persons who are tortured will tell you anything that they think you, the torturer, will want to hear. They will tell you anything just to stop the torture. After the torture was discovered, the cowards at the top, including Bush, blamed the poor slobs ordered to perform the torture and allowed them to rot in jail.

Briefly listed, the rest of the crimes included lying about not illegally spying on American citizens while they were illegally spying on American citizens and then after being discovered illegally spying on American citizens, denying that illegally spying on American citizens was not illegal after all. Cheney, Rove, and others illegally outed a CIA operative as revenge on her husband for exposing one of the lies about weapons of mass destruction, let Scooter Libby take the fall, and then Bush commuted his jail sentence. The Justice Department routinely hired and fired prosecutors for their political preferences, not for their competence as a lawyer, yet another crime, by the way. And shocking to the rest of the world and those of us here in the United States without our 9/11 blinders on, the Bush Administration turned its back on 800 years of jurisprudence and reversed the centuries-old practice of habeas corpus, locking up person after person on secret, tissue-thin evidence without any means of defending themselves or facing their accuser. One person was apprehended and held for seven years, locked up because someone who wanted his automobile told the soldiers he fought for the Taliban. It turned out he fought against the Taliban. Good goin’, guys!

But the one thing that the Bush Administration will be remembered for more than anything else will be the lies and deception leading up to the Iraq War. Forget about the weapons of mass destruction for a moment. Throughout 2002 and into early 2003, Bush kept repeating that a final decision had not been made. As of March 2002, he had already decided to invade Iraq. In the March 31st, 2002, edition of Time, he is quoted as saying, “F*** Saddam. We’re taking him out.” After that decision, it was merely a matter of selling the war to the American public. “Regime change.” “He gassed his own people.” “He tried to kill my Daddy.” None of these worked until they hit upon, “Weapons of Mass Destruction.” The result? Hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi’s dead. Over four thousand of our brave men and women in uniform dead. Two or three trillion dollars down the drain. And one dictator removed. To be replaced with yet another dictator as soon as we leave. Stay tuned for further developments.

Oh, yeah. This is The Gay and Lesbians Times, right? Don’t forget that George Bush consistently referred to homosexuals as sinners and did whatever he could to set back any gains in civil or marriage rights for gays and lesbians.

Yes, Mr. Tsien, the jury is still out on George Bush. However, the only remaining question they need to resolve is, “Is Bush the worst president the United States has ever had, or only just one of the worst?” My vote is for the worst.

Frank Paiano