jank@tekgvs.UUCP (Jan Kuderna) (09/25/86)
In case you haven't seen this yet, I'm reprinting this from
the Letters section of "Just Out" a Portland, Or. Lesbian and
Gay newspaper.
To the Editor:
In response to recent attacks on gay people by the Justice
Department and Supreme Court we have decided to allocate all
of our charitable resources to victims of AIDS and the legal
struggle for gay rights.
Enclosed is a copy of a letter we are sending to all those
charitable organizations which we have supported in the past,
explaining why we can no longer finance their work.
Charity begins at home. We would hope that other individuals
and social organizations in your community might consider
similar actions. It certainly would be a significant way
of helping ourselves while educating others.
Richard Sacher, Bill Dailey,
Kenneth Kohn, Mark Rice
New Orleans, Louisiana
August 15, 1986
(This is being sent to all gay publications in the U.S.)
Dear Friend:
I have been pleased to support your worthy cause in
the past, but
BECAUSE the Supreme Court ruled that States may continue
to make criminals of gay people for engaging in
consensual, private sexual relations, and
BECAUSE the Department of Justice ruled that employers
may fire AIDS victims (or anyone who may have been
exposed to AIDS) from their jobs, and
BECAUSE the Reagan Administration has consistently
refused adequate funding for AIDS education,
treatment and research,
I am no longer able, in conscience, to use my limited
resources for anything except to support people with AIDS,
and to fund the legal strggle to secure basic human rights
for gay men and women.
Here in Oregon its "United Way Time". I recently sent a
copy of this letter to the director of our local United
Way and am redirecting my donations to the Cascade AIDS
Project (a Portland, Or. support and education group)
and to the No On Larouche fund in Ca. I hope others of
you will consider taking this action.
Jan Kuderna
jank@tekgvs.UUCP
tektronix!tekgvs!jank
These are most definitely my own opinions, my employer would
never think anything like this.
"The purpose of life, after all, is to live it. To taste
experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear
for newer and richer experience"
Eleanor Roosevelt