Letters

28

Oct

0 Comments

Columns, Opinion

Don’t Turn Your Backs on People

LISTEN! More suffering is being caused in our community by local officials than by the Whitehouse. Lacey bans RVs, the Port of Olympia (biggest property owner in town) arrests campers at the behest of millionaires, State DES has the budget to pristinely manicure campus lawns and build a multimillion dollar new office, but refuses to stop locking vital public bathrooms during a pandemic. Thurston County has the biggest budget and does almost nothing. And Mayor Selby's Olympia will tow a pregnant woman's only home before waiting one week for a disability check to come in. ENOUGH!!! THERES NOWHERE TO GO!!…

Russ Lehman

Russ is an attorney who has worked for the legislature, a governor, and has served as a board member of the WA State Public Disclosure Commission. He created and ran three different nonprofits and teaches public administration at the graduate level. He currently consults with the Billy Frank Jr Salmon Coalition.

New Labels Same Bias

Our society is starting to commonly use a wider variety of labels for sexual and gender identities. It is wonderful. Yet, sometimes we hear a new label, and we want to show we are cool and inclusive, so we assume someone uses a label without asking. Unfortunately, this can lead to stereotyping based on sexist, racist, or classist bias. I will be speaking about my own life; my views don't represent anyone else's experience. A fair number of people assume that I use the labels gender non conforming (GNC) and masc (masculine) to describe myself. When I ask why they…