Dear Editor:

In 1988, as the sole owner of Ad Ink Advertising Agency I was happy to help the (now former) owners of the San Diego Gay Times with their new publication. The cover photo of the AIDS quilt on their inaugural edition was taken by me and donated. Over the years, I’ve continued to allow the GLT to use my photographs at no cost with the inclusion of a “Photo courtesy HillQuest.com” caption.

My advertising agency has placed at least one ad in every GLT issue for over 20 years. I’ve even trusted your publication with my credit card number for accounting purposes. Imagine my surprise to read the current editorial which was published without an opportunity for me to comment or correct your errors.

The “HillQuest, Urban Guide” proposal, accepted by the full board with my abstention, included an exclusive chapter on the Hillcrest Business Association (HBA) along with a full page ad on the back cover — a value of over $22,000 for the $4,800 the cost of the ad. This would have promoted the local business community for over a year.

Who knows why a disgruntled board member with a burr up her butt chose to do what she did. Perhaps this makes sense to a small-minded banker...but it doesn’t to this small business owner who has served on the HBA board since 1983.

It’s time for everyone to work on community building. HillQuest has proudly done this for seven years, and we plan to continue.

Nancy and I love Hillcrest, and our readers can be assured that the passion we feel for our neighborhood will continue to show through our actions.

Ann M. Garwood, Owner, Ad Ink Advertising, home of HillQuest

www.HillQuest.com

Dear Editor:

I am writing concerning your editorial from GLT issue 4/30/09, issue 1114, where you stated Mr. Perez Hilton was not helping matters and should have let the issue go quietly into the night. Moreover, suggesting Mr. Hilton was clearly out of line when he ranted on his blog and owes Prejean an apology, is the exact rational that has kept the GLBT community from owning its equal place amongst our heterosexual brothers and sisters, and has allowed the GLBT community to be discriminated against for so long. Not only does your response demonstrate a lack of leadership, but also, the willingness to standby hoping that time will cure all, or worse, politicians will someday swoop-in and save us.

Instead, we should be applauding Mr. Hilton for seizing this opportunity as a means of revealing how insidious discrimination is, even today, and providing a platform to do so. Miss. Prejean’s statements not only offend the GLBT community, they expose a mindset that is a direct violation of our civil rights, far more serious then qualifying as uninformed or ignorant, and therefore deserve the candid response made on Mr. Hilton’s website.

In your column, you state for Perez, this was the cultural equivalent of World War III, and why not, after all, his civil rights are being trampled on and he’s being classified as a second-class citizen. I applaud him for being able to keep his composure and not call Miss. Prejean a bitch during the pageant. This is not an issue of opposing opinions, but rather an assault on or communities’ civil rights. Furthermore, to suggest this is anything less is a slap in the face to the GLBT community, and every other minority group in America.

It is time for the GLBT community to stop hoping others will do the right thing, and instead, start demanding equal treatment under the law. It is time for the GLBT community to stand-up to people like Carrie Prejean, and no longer allow them to excuse their hateful behavior as religious doctrine, or accept the absurd notion that because one was raised to be a bigot, somehow that makes it okay. In my country, in my bible, we are all equal, and therefore must be treated as such.

Regards, Sonny Jaramillo

San Diego

Dear John,

For a man over 60, it’s a shame you know so little of gay history.

Before you write letters bad mouthing someone you have never seen nor met, you should have done your homework.

Scour the internet and you will not find one place that lists Gore Vidal as the “first openly gay candidate to run for public office in the US.” But you will find 43 listings with Jose Sarria’s name.

These include every GLBT reference web site as well as Wikipedia and other mainstream historical repositories.

Gore Vidal, who to this day refuses to call himself ‘gay’, surely didn’t run for office in 1960 as ‘openly gay’, in fact, he used the name Eugene Gore. Not exactly easy for the public to connect him as Gore Vidal. His ‘gayness’ may have been known to many, but certainly not to the general public at that time.

Yes, Eleanor Roosevelt was at his side campaigning, but mostly because the Democratic Party saw a chance to win a seat in a long held Republican district. As the founder of Americans for Democratic Action, it was part of her duties to campaign for democratic candidates.

Technically, Gore Vidal is not related to the Kennedy’s. He shared a step-father (at different times) with Jacqueline Bouvier. His mothers’ (Nina Gore) second marriage (1935 – 1941) was to Hugh D. Auchincloss. In 1942, Auchincloss third marriage was to Janet Lee Bouvier, the divorced mother of then 12 year old Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. At that time Gore Vidal was living in New Hampshire attending the Phillips Exeter Academy, and after he graduated in 1943, he joined the U. S. Army reserve and served in the Aleutian Islands.

Jose Sarria may have finished 9th, (not 11th as you stated) but in 1961, even in San Francisco, the fact that an openly gay man could get over 5,600 votes, changed political history forever. From that Election Day forward, candidates had to begin to consider what effect the gay voting bloc might have on their election.

Mr. Sarria is not a transvestite. As a Militant Drag Queen in 1961, Sarria was years ahead of the Drag Queens who were in the front lines of the gay rights movement. Stonewall was still 8 years away. He was involved in the creation of the Tavern Guild in 1962, SIR (Society of Individuals Rights) in 1963 and The Imperial Court in 1964. His leadership and presence gave strength to the many who risked their jobs, families and even their lives for the advancement of GLBT rights.

Since you say you have never seen Sarria, obviously you were not helping to advance GLBT rights, but rather only reaped the benefits of what Jose, Harvey Milk, Brad Truax and many others accomplished both publically and politically.

I believe you owe Mr. Murray-Ramirez an apology, as he neither invented nor concocted the firsts accomplished by Jose Sarria, Brad Truax and Harvey Milk.

J. Wilpolt

Editor:

The recent article in the UT describing Papa Doug’s outreach to the Gay community on his financial support of Proposition 8 makes his own marriage fair game in the public arena.

It is an open secret in the San Diego press that Papa, that good Catholic boy, has been screwing around outside his marriage between a man and a woman he so sanctifies. The only fact I am unclear on was whether it is his secretary/administrative assistant, his daughter’s bridesmaid or his wife’s friend

He is a hypocrite beyond belief!

Ian Trowbridge

Dear Editor:

Yikes!

We at Special Delivery San Diego suffered an existential moment when we read about our sister organization, Mama’s Kitchen, in the GLT article last week that stated that it is “the only non profit organization that prepares and delivers three free meals a day for people with illnesses such as AIDS, cancer, and diabetes.”

Please don’t forget us – in June, we are about to celebrate our 18th year of providing just such services to the community! And we experience many of the same triumphs and challenges as Mama’s Kitchen. But, no sibling rivalry here – we sincerely hope that Mama’s Day was a great success because we share a mission in which we both deeply believe.

The Volunteers of Special Delivery San Diego

Dear Editor:

I urge all Gay Lesbian Times readers to support Prop 1-C, the Lottery Modernization Act, in the Special Election this coming Tuesday, May 19th. Prop 1-C would use best practices from other states to reform the lottery, so it would generate more money to help our state budget. Most importantly, if passed, Prop 1-C would borrow $5 billion from this additional future revenue and contribute it to the current state budget, which would help our kids by preventing thousands of teachers from being laid off as well as preventing huge cuts in health and human services. Protect vital state services by voting YES on Prop 1-C on Tuesday, May 19th.

Brian Polejes