Celebrating 42 Years! Issue 18 Volume 44
Rihanna gives memorable, superstar performance
Patti LuPone puts on a damn fine concert
SEC 2 PG 1
SEC 2 PG 1
Seattle Gay News
FRIDAY April 29, 2016 FREE!
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Seattle Hate Crimes Conference
SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Washington Won’t Discriminate
Officer Jim Ritter – keepingabluelighton.com
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor The first-ever Seattle Police Department Seattle hate crimes conference, Understanding, Investigating and Responding to Hate Crimes, held at the Washington State Criminal Justice Train-
ing Commission (WSCJTC) in Burien, April 27-28, brought together some of the nation’s most knowledgeable prosecutors, judges and other representatives from the Washington state judicial system and police officers from in and outside the State of Washington.
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor
see SPD CONFERENCE page 4
Seattle supports a national park for Stonewall
On Thursday, a broad-based coalition of law enforcement officers, clergy, sexual assault prevention groups, businesses and see NO ON I-1515 page 8
Senator Murray teams up with Cory Booker against “conversion therapy” by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
Stonewall Inn – stonewall.org
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Despite the rich history and cultural impact the LGBT community has made in
the United States, there does not yet exist a national LGBTQ park that recognizes that. The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) is doing all it can to change that, and Seattle – from its many LGBTQ see STONEWALL page 6
Washington’s senior U.S. senator, Patty Murray, joined with her New Jersey colleague Cory Booker to introduce a new bill against socalled “conversion therapy.” The Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act would define “conversion therapy” as a fraudulent practice and empower the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to crack down on therapists who claim to change people’s sexual orientation or gender identity. State attorneys general would also be given authority to enforce claims against conversion therapists in federal courts. “So-called ‘conversion therapy’ is fraud, and it has no place in our country,” Sen.
U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) – senate.gov
see PATTY MURRAY page 7
The Architecture of Family and the art of self-discovery
A transformative story of coming out, rebuilding family, and celebrating life together An evening of documentary-style film alternating with stunning, original, live choral music featuring the voices of reSound, a Northwest Chamber Ensemble, and Dave Beck, cellist
Conceived, written, and directed by Stephen Marshall-Ward
May 6, 7, 13 & 14, 2016, at 7:30 pm Two Weekends Only! Limited Seating!
Presented at All Pilgrims Christian Church
Tickets are $20, available online at architectureoffamily.bpt.me
500 Broadway E, Seattle, 98102, on Capitol Hill www.allpilgrims.org/contact/
Families. Celebrating. Freedom. www.ArchitectureofFamily.com
facebook.com/ArchitectureofFamily
@ArchOfFam #ArchOfFam
A project of the Institute for Social Change through the Arts (ISCA), a ministry of All Pilgrims Christian Church
2 Seattle Gay News
April 29, 2016
Celebrating 41 Years!
Cruz mocks Trans people while attacking Trump
Ted Cruz – breitbart.com
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz mocked Transgender people while attacking rival Donald Trump in an April 25 speech in Indiana. Referring to Trump’s April 21 interview with NBC’s Today Show, in which Trump criticized the new North Carolina law barring Trans people from gender-appropriate restrooms, Cruz labeled his rival’s position
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as “political correctness on steroids.” He then proceeded to insult Transgender people and misrepresent gender identity. “Earlier this week Donald Trump went on the Today Show and he decided to agree with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama that we need to allow grown men to use the little girls’ bathrooms,” Cruz said. “This is a matter of basic common sense. For Donald to agree with Hillary and Obama, that is political correctness on steroids. “Let me make things real simple: Even if
April 29, 2016
Donald Trump dresses up as Hillary Clinton, he shouldn’t be using the girls’ restroom. “By the way I apologize for that image, it is going to haunt you at night, Donald in a bright blue pantsuit. “Let me just say to Jimmy Fallon and the Tonight Show. Please give us that image.” Cruz backs laws like the one passed recently in North Carolina and has claimed that he fears Trans folks present a threat to his daughters. He also supports so-called “religious freedom” legislation that would make religious beliefs a legal excuse for discrimination against LGBT people. Fortunately, the chances that Cruz will ever be president seem to be evaporating right before his eyes. Trump crushed him in the April 26 Republican primaries, sweeping all five states that were up for grabs. In four of the five states – Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and Rhode Island – Cruz finished third in a field of three, with even John Kasich beating him. Political pundits now believe that Indiana, which votes May 3, is a must-win for Cruz.
Seattle Gay News 3
tries, such as Israel, are doing regarding hate crimes laws. Lastly, Bernstein addressed the rise of anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States. She discussed the types of groups the ADL tracks and why, as well as the types of people drawn to these groups and the challenges the ADL has in tracking the groups and their activities. Bernstein offered her opinions on how the criminal justice system can better prepare in dealing with the various hate groups throughout the U.S. and beyond our borders. In the segment How Hate Groups Foster Fear, guest speaker, Heidi Beirich, Intelligence Project Director-Southern Poverty Law Center spoke, in detail, about how hate groups such as the KKK, ISIS, White Supremacy, Anarchists and others, thrive on public fear. Dually as important, attendees discussed cyber-hate and social media and how it’s speed, strength, and agility is a rising threat to peace. Officer Jim Ritter – Shaun Knittel
SPD CONFERENCE continued from cover
According to SPD LGBTQ Community Liaison Officer Jim Ritter, who organized the conference, “This training is designed to educate members of the criminal justice community as to the current state of hate crimes within the Pacific Northwest and nation and how to properly identify, legislate, investigate and prosecute hate crimes.” Ritter said the training would also “give instruction on collaborating with the communities impacted by these incidents and to assist repairing the societal damage caused by these acts.” Ritter is the mastermind behind the SPD Safe Place program, a public education and visibility program aimed at preventing and responding to anti-LGBTQ bias crimes. The program is widely successful with thousands of businesses participating and, just last week, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, along with Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole and Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Larry Nyland, announced that SPD Safe Place will expand to all 98 Seattle Public Schools. Ritter put together the conference because Seattle’s LGBTQ community saw a rise in antiLGBTQ bias, or hate crimes, last year, and there have already been several attacks this year. In fact, Seattle’s LGBTQ community remains one of worst in the nation when it comes to anti-LGBTQ attacks. In 2015, there were more than 40 crimes and incidents reported to the Seattle Police Department where the victim reported being attacked because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. The previous year, in 2014, the number was only 28. Due to the sensitive nature of the material presented at these hate crimes study events, attendance at the conference was not open to the public and was restricted to law enforcement officers (federal, state, local, tribal and out-of-state) and other criminal justice employees (judges, prosecutors, corrections, etc.) only. However, Ritter relaxed the rules so that select community leaders that work with SPD could attend the event as well. Photography and recording was not authorized. Over the two-day conference attendees received an abundance of information.
ence and Seattle. More than 300 people filled the main auditorium inside the Cascade Center on the WSCJTC campus. Immediately following, Jasper County, Texas Sheriff Billy Rowles (Ret.) and Jasper County, Texas Prosecutor Guy James Gray (Ret.) addressed the conference about the James Byrd, Jr. murder. In a segment called, The Crime, The Investigation & Lessons Learned, Rowles and Gray spoke about their position at the time of the murder, the incident, the culture within that community regarding race relations, the prosecutorial challenges, public sentiment, political concerns, investigative challenges, and more. On June 7, 1998, James Byrd, Jr., an African-American, accepted a ride from three white men, who beat him, chained him to the back of a truck and dragged him to his death in Jasper, Texas. His brutal murder made national headlines, with two of the assailants drawing the death penalty. In 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law. Next attendees heard from the AntiDefamation League’s Hilary Bernstein, in a segment called Wired to See Differences: Reacting to Prejudice and Why Hate Crimes Laws Matter. Bernstein, a senior analyst at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, spoke about the history of the ADL’s effort to introduce hate crimes laws on a national level. In addition, she discussed what some other coun-
Day 2 U.S. Attorney, Western District of Washington, Annette Hayes and Sue Rahr, Executive Director, WSCJTC, welcomed attendees to the second and final day of the first ever SPD Hate Crimes Conference. The first presentation of the day was delivered by Albany County, Wyoming Sheriff, David O’Malley. The Albany County Sheriff’s Office is comprised of 39 sworn law enforcement officers and 6 civilian support personnel serving a county that encompasses approximately 4500 square miles that includes the City of Laramie, where Matthew Shepard suffered one of the most brutal and publicized hate crimes in U.S. history. Shepard, 21, died in October 1998, four days after he had been found tied to a fence in a rural area near Laramie, where two men beat him and left him to die. The anti-Gay hate crime led to calls for reform and was a major factor in the enactment of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. O’Malley, who investigated the crime, said that before the Shepard case he was homophobic. But in working the case and working with people within the Gay community he changed that attitude. He is now an outspoken advocate on civil rights. O’Malley shared his roughly two and a half hours of presentation time with Shepard’s parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, who spoke about the impact hate crimes have on the family of the victim and the community they are a part of. Dennis and Judy Shepard spoke about how they became co-founders of the Mat-
thew Shepard Foundation (www.matthewshepard.org) and advocates for LGBT rights. The Shepard’s have been advocates for parental support of LGBT children, very publicly, since Matthew’s death. The Matthew Shepard Foundation is an online resource whose mission is to erase hate by replacing it with understanding, compassion and acceptance. Through local, regional and national outreach, the Matthew Shepard Foundation empowers individuals to find their voice to create change and challenge communities to identify and address hate that lives within their schools, neighborhoods and homes. Since its formation, the Foundation has centered its efforts on providing a voice and support for LGBT youth with our online resource center Matthew’s Place, helped pioneer the country’s first federal hate crimes legislation with the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and create dialogue about hate and acceptance within communities with special support for Tectonic Theater Project’s The Laramie Project and The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later. Returning guest speaker, Hilary Bernstein, from the Anti-Defamation League was joined by Equal Rights Washington’s Monisha Harrell to talk about the importance and challenges of proposing and enacting hate crimes legislation. It took a lot of work to get Congress to pass the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The Act of Congress was signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009, as a rider to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2010 (H.R. 2647). The measure expands the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. Supporters of the expansion of hate crime laws argued that hate crimes are worse than regular crimes without a prejudiced motivation from a psychological perspective. The time it takes to mentally recover from a hate crime is almost twice as long as it is for a regular crime and LGBTQ people often feel as if they are being punished for their sexuality, which leads to higher incidence of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Prosecuting a crime under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Act makes it a federal offense and carries with it a stronger punishment. To put it into perspective, attendees were reminded that, in reference to Matthew Shepard’s murder, Wyoming hate crime laws at the time did not recognize
Day 1 Seattle Police Deputy Chief Carmen Best welcomed attendees to the confer-
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April 29, 2016
Celebrating 41 Years!
LGBTQ as a suspect class, whereas Texas, when James Byrd, Jr. was murdered, had no hate crime laws at all. Next, King County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Mike Hogan addressed the tools for effective investigation and prosecution of hate crimes. Assisting Hogan, Bruce Miyake, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Western District of Washington and Agent Frank Montoya, FBI Special-Agent-in-Charge (Seattle) spoke about national trends and what does or does not constitute malicious harassment. In Seattle, according to SPD, malicious harassment laws deal primarily with behaviors which have already been designated as crimes in other laws. Malicious harassment is the reason the suspect targeted that particular person based on their belief about the victims’ race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, mental, physical, or sensory handicap, homelessness, marital status, age, parental status, gender or political ideology. Also, according to SPD, is still considered malicious harassment even if the suspect is mistaken about the victim’s status, but selected them because of the suspect’s belief about the victim’s status. However, it is not malicious harassment, says SPD, if the suspect in the process of committing another crime, calls the victim a derogatory name (such as Faggot) or if the suspect uses insulting or derogatory words but does not place another person in a reasonable fear of harm to their person or property.
Either way, SPD recommends that you report all details of an attack, whether you believe it is malicious harassment or not, to the reporting officer so an investigator can help determine if a hate crime was committed. Next, Officer Jim Ritter educated attendees about the SPD Safe Place program. The program, said Ritter, is designed to further enhance the relationship between the Seattle Police Department (SPD), the LGBTQ community and local businesses by providing SPD SAFE PLACE decals and signage to local businesses and organizations and encouraging those entities to clearly post them at the entrances to their premise as a symbol of safety for the victims of LGBTQ crime and a warning to those who commit those crimes. SPD SAFE PLACE also provides an instant and easy link to SPD and other LGBTQ resources at www.seattle.gov/ spd-safe-place. In addition, Ritter says that SPD recognizes Intersectionality, meaning that social categories such as race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, mental, physical, or sensory handicap, homelessness, marital status, age, parental status, gender, class or political ideology and the associated discrimination and disadvantage that may occur to an individual and/or group is all interconnected and must be addressed collectively instead of separately. In other words, the SPD Safe Place decals are recognizable by the LGBTQ
Rainbow Pride colors, but the program is for all victims – LGBTQ and Allied. Members of the LGBTQ community belong to every ethnic, racial, religious, etc. groups that exist. The SPD Safe Place program is all-inclusive. Following Ritter, Conciliation Specialist with the Department of Justice, Knight Sor, spoke to attendees about the DOJ’s involvement in combating hate groups. The Community Relations Service (CRS) is an agency created within the U.S. Department of Justice by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. At the time of its inception, CRS worked with Dr. Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders to address tensions arising from differences of race, color and national origin. CRS continues that work today, and pursuant to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, supports local efforts to prevent and respond to violent hate crimes committed on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion or disability. I spoke at the conference representing the Seattle Gay News and my organization, Social Outreach Seattle (SOSea). I reminded attendees that the LGBTQ community is a close knit community and that pushing information by way of press release or editorial content to LGBTQ newspapers and blogs is a great way to reach the community directly whenever information about public safety or crime trends data is released. Yes, like any communi-
ty, we get information from other media sources, such as mainstream network and cable news, entertainment blogs, etc., but the fact still remains that LGBTQ media is a direct line to the community. Through SOSea (www.socialoutreachseattle.com), as President and Founder, I oversee the once monthly self-defense classes that are open to all ages and experience levels, sexual orientations and gender expressions or gender non-conforming members of the community. Additionally, SOSea ran the Neighborhood Safety Shuttle, in response to the uptick in antiLGBTQ attacks and muggings that took place in 2015. In June, SOSea will produce a safety guide, which will be available in print and online outlining important information about calling 911, what happens to a police report once it reaches the precinct, how a case is assigned a detective, and more. I also serve as the chair of the LGBTQ Advisory Council to SPD and was able to share knowledge I’ve gained from working closely with SPD to help victims of anti-LGBTQ attacks seek justice. Ending the two-day conference, Allen Mosely from Amor Spiritual Center, whose Beacon Hill church was vandalized with a four-foot by four-foot swastika and hate language last October, talked about gaining strength through intelligent and productive community solutions and governmental collaboration.
Washington’s Democratic House members call for hearing on Equality Act by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Washington state’s six Democratic House members have called for a hearing on the Equality Act. Suzan DelBene, Denny Heck, Derek Kilmer, Rick Larsen, Jim McDermott, and Adam Smith all signed on to a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), calling on him to hold hearings on the bill. The Equality Act (HR 3185) would write protections for the country’s LGBT residents into federal civil rights laws. In addition to all of Washington’s Democratic House members, some 100 other members signed the letter, including civil rights icon John Lewis and Democratic Minority Whip Steny Hoyer. “While many states have adopted numerous LGBT civil rights laws, there is currently no uniform federal standard that protects all LGBT Americans from discrimination,” the letter notes. “The current patchwork of LGBT state
laws has not only created an enormous amount of confusion and uncertainty but it has impacted the safety and lives of LGBT Americans. Under the current system, LGBT Americans are forced to choose where to live and work based on the legal protections available in a particular jurisdiction. “The Equality Act amends existing federal statutes to provide explicit, consistent protections for sexual orientation and gender identity in the areas of credit, education, employment, federal funding, housing, jury service, and public accommodations. By amending existing code, we extend the exact same protections to LGBT people, no more and no less, that exist for the protected classes of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.” The Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), the previous attempt at federal legislation protecting LGBT Americans, only dealt with workplace issues. In its earliest versions, it lacked protections for Transgender people and it also included a broad exemption for faith-based em-
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House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), speaks while flanked by House Democrats during a news conference to discuss H.R.3185, April 28th, 2016 – Photo by Mark Wilson
ployers like church-owned hospitals and schools. The Equality Act is intended to provide comprehensive protection for sexual orientation and gender identity. A version of ENDA that excluded Trans people passed the U.S. House in
2007, but it did not get a vote in the Senate. A Trans-inclusive version passed the Senate in 2013, but Republican House leaders prevented it from even getting a hearing in that chamber.
April 29, 2016
Seattle Gay News 5
STONEWALL continued from cover
and Allied organizations to the City Council and Mayor’s office – is showing support in a big way. On April 25, the Seattle City Council passed with unanimous consent a resolution expressing the City of Seattle’s fervent support for the designation of a National Park for Stonewall, in New York City. The resolution supports the nationwide campaign to designate the first national park site to honor LGBTQ civil rights and equality. Seattle Mayor Ed Murray is scheduled to sign Resolution 31660 during a ceremony April 29, at 2 p.m., in the Norman B. Rice room at City Hall. “The struggle for LGBTQ civil rights is a crucial part of our national history, and germane to Seattle’s community culture,” said Councilmember Lorena González (Position 9 – Citywide). “My role as chair of the Safe Communities committee is inspired by the work of civil rights pioneers in our city, which includes (but isn’t limited to) members of the LGBT Commission, Equal Rights Washington, the Pride Foundation, GSBA and many others who also work on issues which support safety and tolerance in Seattle.” “Our city has long been a leader on local civil rights issues with national significance,” she said. “Today, Seattle invites other municipalities to follow our lead once again and express support for memorialization of the struggle for LGBTQ civil rights nationwide.” Rob Smith, Northwest Director for National Parks Conservation Association, said, “National Parks Conservation Association commends the Seattle City Council for passing a resolution today in support of designating a National Park for Stonewall.” “Some places are so strongly associated with a historical event that their name alone triggers their story. Independence Hall. Selma. Little Rock High School. Seneca Falls. Minidoka, including the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial,” he said. “Stonewall is one of those places, but unlike those others, Stonewall is not yet recognized in the National Park System.” “A National Park for Stonewall would begin to close a gap of our National Park System as the first national park site to honor LGBT equality and the long fight that many have waged for civil rights,” said Smith. “Today, Seattle adds its voice to demonstrate support from coast to coast for this national park proposal.” “We must continue to protect and preserve these places, urban and rural, natural and historic, that speak to and represent who we are as a nation,” concluded Smith. Additionally, The National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) hosted a speaker series event: “Telling America’s Story, Creating Equality in the National Park System,” April 26, from 7-8:30 p.m., inside the Campion Ballroom located in Campion Tower at Seattle University (914 E. Jefferson Street). NPCA teamed up with renowned African American Lesbian feminist, Boston Public Radio’s “All Revved Up” commentator and syndicated columnist Rev. Irene Monroe to convene the discussion about a need to celebrate and recognize the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in the national park system. Rev. Monroe shared her Stonewall story to give voice to the riots that inspired LGBT communities throughout the coun-
6 Seattle Gay News
try to organize in support of their civil rights. The following is from an essay that appears in a new collection of LGBT writings about New York City, Love, Christopher Street: Reflections of New York City, edited by Thomas Keith, with an introduction by Christopher Bram, and published by Vantage Point Books. The names in the story has been changed to protect identities: Dis-membering Stonewall By Rev. Irene Monroe Friday, June 27th, was the last day of school that year. And with school out, my middle-school cronies and I looked forward to a summer reprieve from rioting against Italian, Irish and Jewish public school kids for being bussed into their neighborhoods. However, the summer months in Brooklyn’s African American enclaves only escalated rioting between New York’s finest—the New York Police Department—and us. During this tumultuous decade of Black rage and white police raids, knee-jerk responses to each other’s slights easily set the stage for a conflagration, creating both instantaneous and momentary fighting alliances in these Black communities—across gangs, class, age, ethnicity and sexual orientations—against police brutality. That night of June 27th started out no differently than any hot and humid summer Friday night in my neighborhood. Past midnight, folks with no AC or working fans in their homes were just hanging out. Some lounged on the fire escapes while others were on the stoops of their brownstones laughing and shooting the breeze. Some were in heated discussion of Black revolutionary politics, while the Holy Rollers were competing with each other over Scripture. The Jenkins boys were drumming softly on their congas to the hot breezy mood of the night air. And directly under the street lamp was an old beat-up folding card table where the Fletchers and the Andersons, lifelong friends and neighbors, were shouting over a game of bid whist. The sight of Dupree galloping up the block toward us abruptly interrupted the calm of the first hour of Saturday, June 28th. Dupree stopped in front of the gaming table and yelled out, “The pigs across the bridge are beating up on Black fa**ots—right now!” Cissy Anderson, who
April 29, 2016
Stonewall March – stonewall.org
was just moments from throwing in her hand to go to bed, let out a bloodcurdling scream that shook us and brought a momentary halt to everything. Nate Anderson grabbed his wife to comfort her and said, “Cissy, calm down.” Greenwich Village in the 1800s had housed the largest population for former slaves in the country. But gentrification forced racial relocation and led to Harlem becoming the Mecca of Black America. When Dupree stopped in front of Mr. Fletcher’s game table, he was signaling to his aunt and uncle that their son Birdie, who sang like a beautiful songbird, was more than likely in the melee across the bridge. Everyone knew Birdie was gay, and we wondered where he and his “brother-girls,” as he dubbed them, had gone on the weekends when they laughed and spoke in code on Sundays about their exploits while robing-up for choir. Cissy detested that her eldest, Nate Turner “Birdie” Anderson, Jr., went outside the community to a white neighborhood to be himself. Nate, Sr., too, worried about his eldest son. When Birdie told his dad he was gay, his father asked him if he understood that he didn’t know how to keep him safe, especially if his son wandered out of his purview. When his voice rose above Dupree’s and the crowd, we were as shocked to silence as we were by Cissy’s bloodcurdling scream. “My son is somewhere there and I need you all to help me find him and bring him home safely to his mother and me.” Coming out of the subway station at Christopher Street we could hear the commotion. The shoving and pushing by both protestors and police yanked three of us away from the core group; we were left to fend for ourselves. As the momentum of the crowd pushed my small group to Waverly Place, a block away from the Stonewall, we witnessed two white cops pummeling a Black drag queen. “I should shove this stick up your ass,” said one of the cops as he pulled up her dress with a nightstick in his hand. The taller of the two cops yanked off her wig and laughingly tossed it to the other cop. In spotting us, the cop who caught the wig threw it at us yelling, “You ni**er fa*s get away!” The wig missed and landed about a foot away from us, but the cop’s words hit, striking fear. When I look back at the first night of the Stonewall Inn riots, I could have never
imagined its future importance. The first night played out no differently from previous riots with Black Americans and white policemen. And so, too, it being underreported. But I was there. On the first night of the Stonewall Inn riots, African Americans and Latinos were the largest percentage of the protestors because we heavily frequented the bar. For Black and Latino homeless youth and young adults, who slept in nearby Christopher Park, the Stonewall Inn was their stable domicile. The Stonewall Inn being raided was nothing new. In the 1960s gay bars in the Village were routinely raided, but, “Race is said to have been another factor. The decision by the police to raid the bar in the manner they did may have been influenced by the fact that most of the ‘homosexuals’ they would encounter were of color, and therefore even more objectionable.” The Stonewall Riot of June 27-29, 1969 in Greenwich Village started on the backs of working class African American and Latino queers who patronized that bar. Those brown and Black LGBTQ people are not only absent from the photos of that night, but have been bleached from its written history. Many LGBTQ Blacks and Latinos argue that one of the reasons for the gulf between whites and themselves is about how the dominant queer community rewrote and continues to control the narrative of Stonewall. At the April 26 event, NPCA, along with Seattle entertainer The Lady B, Pride Foundation Executive Director Kris Hermanns, NPCA’s Graham Taylor, and many partner organizations, echoed the call for a national park at Stonewall. Community members had the opportunity to participate in a Q&A session designed for a broader community discussion that included multiple perspectives. The event was made possible by Ellen Ferguson, Seattle University, Carter Subaru, Pride Foundation, Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA), Entre Hermanos, Out for Sustainability, The Wildrose Tavern, Equal Rights Washington and Rebar. Learn more at: www.npca.org/natlparkforstonewall. Join the conversation online with #NatlParkForStonewall.
Celebrating 41 Years!
PATTY MURRAY continued from cover
Murray said in a statement. “This bill would make it abundantly clear that the FTC can take swift action to put a stop to this deceptive and damaging practice. I will continue to push for ways to make sure all people, regardless of who they are or who they love, are treated equally and with respect.” “This so-called therapy is harmful, especially to children,” said Sen. Booker, who last year introduced a Senate resolution condemning the use of conversion therapy. “Our legislation will remove any question that the FTC and state attorneys general have the tools they need to classify conversion therapy as what it is – fraud – and ban its use. Conversion therapy is a discredited, harmful practice that has been rejected by countless medical and mental health organizations for years. It has no
place in our society.” Sen. Murray is the senior Democratic member on the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee. She and Booker were joined by 16 other Democratic senators who co-sponsored the measure, including Bernie Sanders and Washington’s junior senator, Maria Cantwell. Other co-sponsors were Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Richard Blumenthal (DConn.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). “The practice of so-called conversion therapy has been widely discredited by medical professionals, and evidence shows that it not only doesn’t work but also can have life-threatening consequences. It is
nothing short of child abuse,” HRC President Chad Griffin said in response to the introduction of the new bill. “It is past time this quackery is banned from coast to coast, and we applaud Sens. Patty Murray and Cory Booker for legislation that gets us one step closer to that day.” Earlier this year, Murray and Booker, along with Reps. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) and Ted W. Lieu (D-Calif.) sent a letter to FTC head Edith Ramirez, calling on the agency to take action to stop conversion therapy. Under the Federal Trade Commission Act, the FTC has the responsibility to prevent business practices that are deceptive or unfair to consumers, the letter said. California, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, and the District of Columbia have enacted laws to protect young people from these harmful practices by prohibiting licensed mental health practitioners from conducting conversion therapy on minors. More than 20 states, including Washington state, have introduced similar legislation. New
York has an administrative policy against the practice. In 2009, the American Psychological Association studied what are called “sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE),” “conversion therapy,” “reparative therapy,” or “sexual orientation therapy.” Its report concluded that “efforts to change sexual orientation are unlikely to be successful and involve some risk of harm, contrary to the claims of SOCE practitioners and advocates.” In 2015, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration published a report, which summarized the work of an expert panel. The DHHS report found “that variations in sexual orientation and gender identity are normal, and that conversion therapies or other efforts to change sexual orientation or gender identity are not effective, are harmful, and are not appropriate therapeutic practices.”
Even zombies boycott North Carolina
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The walking dead will join the boycott of North Carolina, they said in a statement released on April 25. The Walker Stalker Convention, a threeday festival for zombies and zombie enthusiasts, was scheduled to take place in July at the Charlotte, N.C., Convention Center. However, convention organizers said they would join the nationwide boycott of North Carolina following passage of a sweeping anti-LGBT law. “The Walker Stalker Convention has always been a place for ALL fans, regardless of who they are, or who they love,” the zombies said. “As such, we must add our voice to those opposing the injustice of North Carolina House Bill 2 and postpone our June 2526, 2016, Charlotte event. “We have faith in the people of North Carolina, and have moved our event to December 17-18, 2016, in the hope that by that time this unfair law will have been repealed. “We will continue to evaluate the situation in the coming months, but for the moment, if you are able to attend the new date, you do NOT need a new ticket. Simply bring your CURRENT ticket to the event printed or on your phone, and it will be honored. You do NOT need to email us, or make any changes to your account for your ticket to be
“Walking Dead” cast – screenrant.com
honored during the December dates. “If you unable to attend, refunds will be given in the same method in which payment was made.” The Center for American Progress estimates that North Carolina stands to lose $500 million in corporate investment and tourism and as many as 1,000 high-paying jobs as the boycott campaign targeting the state grows. The New York Times estimates that North Carolina schools could lose billions of dollars in federal funds because HB 2 is not compliant with Title IX’s nondiscrimination provisions. Meanwhile, TurnOUT! NC, a project of HRC, delivered a petition signed by 100,000 people demanding repeal of the anti-LGBT measure. “For more than a month, Gov. McCrory, Sen. Berger, and Speaker Moore have sat idly by as HB 2 has cost North Carolina millions, badly damaged their state’s reputation, and inflicted irreparable harm on the people they were elected to serve,” HRC President Chad Griffin said. “The catastrophe these leaders have created and the damage they have caused can only begin to be reversed by repealing HB 2 in its entirety and replacing it with commonsense nondiscrimination protections for LGBT people. To do anything less would be
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to continue their streak of gross negligence. The time for leadership is now.” The ACLU and Lambda Legal have already filed suit to overturn the new law on behalf of six LGBT plaintiffs. “It’s time the legislature gets to work repairing the damage it has caused with the passage of HB 2,” said Sarah Preston, acting executive director of the ACLU of North Carolina.
“HB 2 was a reckless attempt to malign and marginalize transgender people, and it is bringing immense harm to our state’s people, economy, and reputation. The General Assembly must work as expeditiously as possible to repeal this terrible law as it worked to pass it.” Democratic lawmakers have introduced a repeal measure, but its future is still uncertain.
“Walking Dead” zombies – screenrant.com
April 29, 2016
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The Ultimate Harm I travel a lot for my work, so I spend a good bit of time in airports. While most people worry about long security lines or their luggage fitting in the overhead bin, I spend my time calculating whether to use the airport bathroom before getting on the plane. For more than 30 years, nearly every time I walk into an airport bathroom (or any public bathroom, for that matter), people stop, sometimes abruptly, look at me, Bathroom signs – pridefoundation.org look at the sign on the bathroom door, glance by Kris Hermanns around at everyone else, and then say with Executive Director a phrase or a look: “I think you must be Pride Foundation in the wrong place – this is the women’s bathroom.” I’ve spent as long as I can remember I don’t know about you, but lately I’ve just wishing this reality away – hoping talked a lot about bathrooms – actually that if I look down long enough, people about bad “bathroom bills,” as I call them. won’t take notice and make assumptions But let’s be clear: the laws being about me based on my short hair, my colpassed and the ballot initiatives prolared shirt, and cuff links. Most times, posed across the country, including however, I say, “Don’t worry, I’m not mishere in Washington State, aren’t really taken – I’m in the right bathroom.” about bathrooms. And they’re certainly Yet, that feeling – of people being not about protecting anyone, as many afraid of or disgusted by me – stays with claim. me long after I leave the bathroom. On their surface, these laws aim to A stranger scrutinizing my gender is, exclude transgender people from pubunfortunately, an ordinary experience for lic spaces. But that’s not all they do. The me, and has been since I was young. sentiment behind these laws points to a Like many LGBTQ people, I didn’t feel much deeper issue that impacts all of us like I belonged in middle school after I – and one we must address directly.
realized I was gay. While I never shared those thoughts with anyone, I assumed people could sense it, and I attributed my being treated differently to my sexual orientation. But it wasn’t until I was in high school and college when it finally dawned on me – I wasn’t an outsider because of my sexual orientation (or at least not primarily). I was an outsider because I didn’t look like, dress like, or act like a girl was supposed to. I mostly escaped hateful actions and words since being a tomboy at that time was more easily accepted for girls, especially growing up in a farming community. However, my more feminine gay brethren usually did not have it as easy. I know far too many gay men who suffered painfully in their youth at the hands of classmates who made clear that anything but a traditional expression of masculinity was profoundly wrong. For me, the deeper issue at stake behind these bad “bathroom” laws and initiatives is really about policing and controlling how each of us expresses our gender. The intention is to ensure that everyone continues to follow the gender norms dictated by our conventional culture. The reality is, denying people the right to use public restrooms is systematically forcing many within our community back into the closet – into the shadows – where we are more isolated and our sense of dignity and full humanity are worn away. The target of these laws are our friends and our neighbors. Many have been fully participating in society for years – using the restrooms that correspond with the gender they live as every day – and now are being forced to threaten their own
safety and, in some places, even break the law in order to go to work, go to school, and live their lives. For everyone in our community to be safe, we must challenge these pre-determined expectations about the way people can look, act, and dress that are at the heart of these discriminatory laws and initiatives. Thankfully, organizations across our region are actively working to expand our understanding of gender and gender expression – grantee organizations such as Gender Expansion Project in Montana, Gender Justice League in Washington, Lotus Rising Project in Oregon, Identity, Inc. in Alaska, and Trans Latinas in Idaho. For all LGBTQ and allied people, we have to understand the deeper impacts these laws have on our whole community and identify ways to resist the implicit assumptions and restrictive stereotypes that are imposed on all of us – no matter how we express our gender. Rethinking and undoing this harmful and prescriptive understanding of gender that underlies so much homophobia and transphobia is a big task, and is certainly the long game we will need to continue to play if we are to ever achieve true lived equality. No one deserves to risk harm in the process of living their lives, and it’s up to us to work together to actively resist these laws and initiatives that are hurting and excluding so many people in our community.
NO ON I-1515
vacy’s argument that they are not out to discriminate against anybody; instead, they say, they just want to protect children against sexual assault. In other words, Just Want Privacy says that Transgender people using bathrooms with “little girls,” means they are a threat to children somehow. Of course, there is absolutely no evidence to back up this claim. There has not, in the last 10 years, been one reported case in Washington state or anywhere, of an actual Transgender person attacking a cis person – youth or adult – in a public restroom facility. Not to mention that crime statistics prove that Transgender people are overwhelmingly more at risk of attack when using any public restroom facility than to be a person perpetuating an attack. At the Washington Won’t Discriminate campaign kickoff, Andrea Piper-Wentland, executive director of the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs, said, “Discriminating against Transgender people does nothing to reduce the risk of sexual assault.” Piper-Wentland’s direct comment, combatting the notion that to use sexual assault to discriminate against people because of their gender has nothing to do with actu-
ally keeping anybody safe from sexual assault in a locker-room or public restroom facility, was echoed by a number of sexual assault victim organizations when the issue was taken up by the Washington state legislature last session. The fact is Transgender people face some of the highest rates of sexual violence in the country. Members of the LGBTQ community fear that I-1515 could put Transgender folks at even greater risk. “We’ve got to mobilize a groundswell of grassroots supporters – and fast – to keep discrimination off of Washington’s ballot,” Washington Won’t Discriminate Campaign Chair Seth Kirby said in an email message asking folks to join the campaign April 28. Kirby said Washington Won’t Discriminate will be tracking I-1515 closely and keeping supporters of Transgender nondiscrimination updated at every step of the way. For now, supporters of No On I-1515 are asked to LIKE Washington Won’t Discriminate on Facebook at https://www. facebook.com/WAWontDiscriminate/ and follow @NoDiscrimWA on Twitter to get live updates on the fight.
continued from cover
many others working to block discriminatory I-1515 and protect freedom, equality, and respect for everyone, launched Washington Won’t Discriminate. The campaign kickoff took place at 11 a.m. inside the First United Methodist Church in Renton. The packed house included parents of Transgender kids, religious leaders, current and former elected officials, and more. Washington Won’t Discriminate Campaign Chair Seth Kirby, told supporters via email, “Discrimination is not a Washington value. That’s why, for more than 10 years, our state laws have prohibited discrimination, including on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.” “But now, there’s an effort underway to gather voter signatures on I-1515, a ballot initiative aimed at rolling back legal protections for our transgender neighbors, family and friends,” Kirby said. “Under no circumstances can we let a discriminatory, anti-LGBT initiative like I-1515 undermine the values that make Washington
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such a great place to live, work, and raise a family.” Last month, anti-LGBTQ group, Just Want Privacy, filed proposed legislation that would force Transgender Washingtonians to use the bathroom of the gender listed on their birth certificate – regardless of how they identify. So, even if a Transgender man, who is let’s say, 45-years-old and has been living as a man for 20 years, wants to use the men’s public restroom in Washington state, the bigoted I-1515 dictates he should use the women’s restroom because he was physically born with female genitalia. In order for I-1515 to qualify for public vote, the bigots will have to get 246,372 qualified signatures before July 8. Washingtonians who oppose the discriminatory initiative are encouraged to sign a pledge to show support for the No On I-1515 campaign at http://action.wawont.org/page/s/pledge. “Opponents of LGBTQ rights are telling the same tales that have been pushed elsewhere – from North Carolina to Mississippi – that non-discrimination laws threaten privacy and safety,” said Kirby. Kirby is referring to Just Want Pri-
April 29, 2016
Kris Hermanns commentary first appeared in the Pride Foundation’s April 27, 2016 blog. Reprinted with permission.
Celebrating 41 Years!
Letter to the Community from the Pride Foundation Washington’s Anti-Discrimination Law Under Attack
Discrimination is not a Washington value, Robert. Last Friday, a Thurston County Superior Court Judge approved language for a ballot initiative to repeal Washington’s legal protections for our transgender neighbors, family, and friends. For more than 10 years, our laws have prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression without incident. But now, volunteers with “Just Want Privacy” have deployed across the state to gather voter signatures on I-1515. But the truth is I-1515 will do nothing to make us safer. We’ve protected gay and transgender people from discrimination in Washington for 10 years, with no increase in public safety incidents as a result. Under no circumstances can we let a discriminatory, anti-LGBT initiative like I-1515 undermine the values that make Washington such a great place to live safely, openly, and genuinely. That’s why, today, we’re proud to help launch Washington Won’t Discriminate—a broad-based coalition of families, law enforcement officers, clergy, sexual assault prevention groups, businesses and many others in opposing I-1515. Visit us online www.sgn.org
If you agree that discrimination has no place in Washington, add your name now to stand with the No On I-1515 campaign at action.wawont.org/page/s/sign Opponents of equality are using the same, tired lies that have been peddled elsewhere—from North Carolina to Mississippi—that non-discrimination laws threaten privacy and safety. While their claims may be baseless, if opponents of transgender rights can collect 246,372 valid petition signatures by July 8th, then the discriminatory I-1515 will be sent to the November ballot for a public vote. In order to quickly mobilize the groundswell of grassroots supporters that we need to keep discrimination off of Washington’s ballot, we must stand together and say No—Washington Won’t Discriminate.
Kris Hermanns Executive Director Supplied to SGN via e-mail presumptively part of a large community outreach.
April 29, 2016
Seattle Gay News 9
10 Seattle Gay News
April 29, 2016
Celebrating 41 Years!
Visit us online www.sgn.org
April 29, 2016
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Celebrating 41 Years!
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Who is Carly Fiorina and why does Ted Cruz want her as his running mate? “Ted Cruz cannot possibly beat Hillary Clinton” Despite their newfound alliance, there was no love lost between Cruz and Fiorina while she was an active candidate. In December, Cruz surrogate Steve Deace, an Iowa talk-show host, tweeted that Fiorina went “full vagina” during a GOP debate. Cruz referred to Deace as “a truth-teller, a courageous conservative, and a powerful voice for liberty,” featured him in a campaign ad, and added him to his Iowa leadership team. While Deace eventually apologized, Fiorina refused to accept. Interviewed by Fox anchor Megyn Kelly, Fiorina charged that Deace “is more than a radio talk host, he is a major surrogate of Ted Cruz and a major endorser.” “And this is why Ted Cruz cannot possibly beat Hillary Clinton,” Fiorina added.
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz and former candidate Carly Fiorina – Photo by Gerardo Mora
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz took a desperate gamble to revive his failing campaign for the GOP nomination, naming Carly Fiorina as his vice presidential pick on April 27. Fiorina is not a stranger to electoral politics, although her record does not necessarily inspire confidence in her political skills. In 2008, she was an advisor to Republican candidate John McCain’s unsuccessful presidential campaign, and in 2010 she ran for the U.S. Senate, losing to incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer by double
digits. Her one memorable contribution to American politics came during the GOP primary in the 2010 Senate race, when her campaign produced the now-infamous “Demon Sheep” TV spot slandering her opponent as a wolf in sheep’s clothing who was misleading the Republican flock. In the general election campaign that followed, Boxer used a tongue-in-cheek ad that featured Fiorina herself as a “Demon Sheep.” Fiorina continued her losing ways in 2015, jumping into the Republican presidential race, then backing out after losing badly in Iowa and New Hampshire.
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“Carly was Mitt before Mitt was Mitt” Fiorina was no more successful in her private business career than in politics, getting herself fired from her job as Hewlett Packard CEO in 2005 after a disastrous five and a half years in leadership. Critics said her plan to dismantle HP’s collegial culture and substitute a top-down corporate model alienated employees and fostered a climate of mistrust. Fiorina was frequently booed at company meetings and attacked on the employees’ electronic bulletin board. Even worse for employee morale, Fiorina made employees submit to “voluntary” pay cuts allegedly to stave off layoffs, then announced layoffs of some 30,000 HP employees as a result of corporate mergers.
April 29, 2016
As Hewlett Packard CEO, Fiorina acquired such a negative reputation that Democratic Party pollster Mark Mellman once remarked that “Carly was Mitt before Mitt was Mitt.” In other words, Fiorina’s Senate opponent Barbara Boxer was able to portray her as a heartless corporate raider, in the same way the Obama campaign was able to portray Mitt Romney two years later.
Anti-Gay, anti-choice While Fiorina disagrees with Cruz on the crucial issue of immigration – she supported the DREAM Act, which would protect undocumented children and young adults from deportation, and Cruz does not – her views mesh well with Cruz’s on a host of other issues. Fiorina voted for Prop 8, to re-ban same-sex marriages in California, for example. Fiorina also favored keeping DOMA in place, and supported a proposed federal constitutional amendment to ban Lesbian and Gay marriages nationwide. Last April she defended Indiana’s socalled “Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” the first in a long series of measures that would legalize discrimination against LGBT people under cover of religious beliefs. Fiorina also opposes reproductive choice and Planned Parenthood, going so far as to claim in a Republican debate that she had seen videos of Planned Parenthood employees killing living newborns so they could sell their tissue. This charge was never substantiated with any evidence.
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Missouri House committee kills “Freedom to Discriminate” bill by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer A committee of the Missouri House of Representatives has killed that state’s socalled “religious freedom” bill. The House Emerging Issues Committee deadlocked 6-6 on SJR 39, a measure that would have allowed religious beliefs to be used as a legal excuse for discrimination against LGBT residents of Missouri. The bill will not advance to the floor of the House. The committee held a four-hour hearing on the legislation April 12, with business leaders adding their voices to those of human rights advocates in opposition to the bill. Among the groups testifying against SJR 39 were the Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, the Kansas City Sporting Commission, the St. Louis Sporting Commission, Monsanto, the St. Louis Regional Chamber, and the Visit KC tourist bureau. The St. Louis Regional Chamber said the proposal is “counter to Missouri values and will have negative economic consequences.” In addition, more than 60 leading CEOs and business executives signed onto an open letter urging lawmakers to stop the proposal,
saying it would have extreme negative consequences for Missouri’s economy. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon also opposed the measure. PROMO Missouri, an LGBT rights group, said it was “grateful to the Emerging Issues Committee for searching their hearts, listening to both sides of this issue, and doing the right thing today by opposing SJR 39.” HRC applauded the committee vote while warning that the measure might still advance through another legislative channel. “We thank the House committee for listening to the overwhelming chorus of fairminded Missourians, business leaders, and civil rights advocates who demanded they oppose this radical legislation that threatens severe harm to the entire state,” said JoDee Winterhof, HRC Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs. “However, even with this vote today, we must remain diligent to ensure this discriminatory legislation does not move in any other way during the final two weeks of the legislative session.” In the year since Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed his state’s “religious freedom” bill, similar measures have been introduced
SJR 39 – pathways.com
in at least 16 states. Twenty states already had laws on the books prior to 2015, but almost all of them were modeled on a federal law that restricted government actions impinging on religious
beliefs. The more recent measures have been designed to entitle individuals to refuse accommodations and services to LGBT people.
Alabama town wants to send Trans folks to jail, ACLU may sue by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The ACLU says it is considering filing a lawsuit against Oxford, Ala., after Oxford’s city council passed an ordinance banning Transgender residents from using genderappropriate restrooms. The Oxford ordinance makes it a crime “for a person to utilize a multiple occupancy or changing facility” in facilities “designated for use by the opposite biological sex.” It defines “biological sex” as “the physical condition of being male or female, which is stated on a person’s birth certificate.” Violators could be fined $500 or jailed for up to six months. Randall Marshal, legal director of the ACLU of Alabama, said the affiliate is “looking at the ordinance and is interested in any potential challenge.” He added that criminal penalties prescribed by the ordinance passed Tuesday night “increase the chances of a constitutional challenge.” Chase Strangio, a staff attorney for the ACLU’s national office, said the ordinance is apparently the first of its kind in the United States. “It seems that this kind of law comes pretty close to just criminalizing the status of being transgender, which simply cannot be squared with the Constitution or, I would hope, our basic moral decency as human beings,” Strangio told BuzzFeed News. “It is plainly sex discrimination when
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Gender signs – Illustrator Sudowoodo
the government acts to expel transgender people from engaging in public life solely because trans people by definition don’t conform to expectations of gender norms,” he added. According to the Anniston Star newspaper, the Oxford City Council was reacting
April 29, 2016
to an announcement from the retail giant Target that its customers were welcome to use restrooms corresponding with their gender identity. Target has a store in an Oxford mall. The Oxford City Council unanimously passed the ban on April 26. The measure
applies to “any business or location open for utilization by members of the general public.” Restrooms in such locations are places where people risk molestation and assault, councilmembers said. Oxford City Council President Steven Waits said he was acting “not out of concerns for the 0.3 percent of the population who identify as transgender” but “to protect our women and children.” Currently 17 states and more than 200 cities have laws on the books protecting Transgender people in public facilities, with no documented cases of nondiscrimination laws being used to promote or defend predatory behavior in restrooms. Oxford police chief Bill Partridge said the new law would be enforced like any other city ordinance, such as noise violations or public indecency. “If somebody sees something that makes them uncomfortable, they would call the police,” he said. “If the person is still there when the officer arrives, the officer has to witness the crime. Then we take down the person’s information, and the person who reported it has to sign out a warrant.” The ACLU has launched several legal battles over Transgender restroom access, most recently filing a lawsuit in March charging that a North Carolina law violates the 14th Amendment and civil rights laws that ban sex discrimination. Unlike the Oxford ordinance, however, the North Carolina statute applies only to government buildings.
Celebrating 41 Years!
Target vs. Walmart Bigots endorse Walton family megastores
logos – flightunit.com
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The super-rich Walton family got an endorsement from the anti-Gay, anti-Trans Faith Driven Consumer website on April 26, when the haters launched their #BUYcottWalmart campaign. Not that the Waltons – who own a controlling interest in Walmart and a family fortune of more than $150 billion – need the help, but anti-Trans activists wanted to strike at one of their discount retail rivals.
Target has publicly announced that all its stores “have single-stall, family restrooms for those who may be more comfortable with that option” in a post on the company’s blog. Target welcomes “transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity,” the company added. In response, the American Family Association launched a #BoycottTarget campaign, and Faith Driven Consumer tried to do the AFA one better by promoting alterna-
tives to the unacceptably accepting Target. “[H]undreds of thousands of consumers around the country are expressing frustration because they specifically feel excluded by Target’s actions and, more importantly, unprotected and unsafe in Target stores,” Faith Driven Consumer said on its website. “They have reacted by signing up to boycott the retailer. Our question to consumers is: So, you’ve decided to #BoycottTarget, now what? “We believe a BUYcott offers consumers what they actually need and want. If you are unsatisfied with Target, the most effective way forward is a BUYcott – actively doing business with another brand that is a better fit for you. “We are calling on our community today to #BUYcottWalmart…” In addition to Walmart, the anti-Trans website says, there are 10 retail chains that score higher than Target on the so-called “Faith Equality Index,” or FEI. The FEI is a kind of bizarro-world HRC Corporate Equality Index, measuring how much a company excludes LGBT employees and consumers instead of how welcoming they are. Target only scores 39 points out of a
possible 100 on the FEI, while Hobby Lobby scores 57 and Walmart comes in at 51. Rounding out the top 10 stores for bigots are: Aldi (47 points out of 100), Academy Sports (46), Cabela’s (46), Toys “R” Us (45), Bed Bath & Beyond (44), Dick’s Sporting Goods (42), Publix (40), and Trader Joe’s (40). Target itself has not always been on the side of the LGBT community. In 2010, the company found itself at the center of controversy when it became known it had donated $150,000 to a group called Minnesota Forward, which in turn helped finance the gubernatorial campaign of anti-LGBT candidate Tom Emmer. While Target CEO Greg Steinhafel apologized for the donation, the company was in trouble again three years later, when it donated $50,000 to the Republican Governors Association to help elect GOP – and anti-LGBT – candidates like Ken Cuccinelli of Virginia. Target replied that it had also donated an equal amount to the Democratic Governors Association, whose candidate, Terry McAuliffe, ultimately beat Cuccinelli for governor of Virginia.
Congressional committee approves attack on LGBT civil rights protections by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The powerful House Armed Services Committee has approved a measure to strip away federal civil rights protections from the LGBT community. The proposal, which passed on a party-line vote of 33-29, would invalidate President Obama’s 2014 executive order barring workplace discrimination against LGBT employees by companies that do business with the federal government. The measure’s author, Republican Rep. Steve Russell of Oklahoma, attached it to the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, an omnibus bill that would fund the U.S. military. Attaching amendments to must-pass legislation like defense spending bills is a common tactic in Congress. It enables members of Congress to put through measures that might not pass as stand-alone bills. While the amendment is now attached to the defense authorization bill, it can still be separated at some time during future debate. If the defense authorization bill passes with the amendment still in place, President Obama would be compelled to veto the
In addition to the 2014 executive order, the administration has also issued new interpretations of the federal Title VII and Title IX rules that say prohibitions against discrimination on account of sex also apply to sexual orientation and gender identity. HRC was quick to condemn the Armed Services Committee action in an April 28
statement on its website. “The Russell amendment was approved by a vote of 33-29 early this morning,” HRC said. “It would allow sweeping, taxpayer-funded discrimination in an attempt to promote anti-LGBT religious-based discrimination in the Department of Defense and other federal agencies. “With far-reaching intended and unintended consequences, the vague amendment could even undermine existing nondiscrimination provisions that protect workers, and perhaps even beneficiaries, against discrimination on the basis of race, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, and more.” HRC’s Government Affairs Director David Stacy added that “Rep. Russell’s harmful amendment would strip away existing protections for LGBT workers by undermining President Obama’s executive order on LGBT nondiscrimination protections in federal contracting. “Evidently some House Republicans want to emulate their state legislative colleagues in undermining legal protections for LGBT Americans. The House Republican leadership must get this language out of the bill.”
April 29, 2016
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White house – hrc.com
whole defense spending package in order to rescue his executive order. Republicans who control Congress have blocked consideration of legislation to affirm LGBT civil rights by statute, so the Obama administration has used administrative rules and executive orders to offer civil rights protections to LGBT Americans.
Visit us online www.sgn.org
AHF calls on CDC for National STD Prevention Campaign to address rising STD rates As syphilis hits pre-AIDS rates among gay men – with numbers not seen since the early 1980s – and an antibiotic-resistant strain of “super-gonorrhea” is emerging among a similar population in the UK, AHF is calling on the CDC to develop and roll out a new national STD prevention campaign. As STD rates rise, CDC requests less overall prevention funding for its 2017 budget. LOS ANGELES – As STD Awareness Month winds down, recent announcements from domestic and international health agencies reveal that rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) have continued to rise annually, particularly among gay men, where syphilis is now hitting rates not seen since before the start of the HIV epidemic. In addition, the spread of drug-resistant strains of infections including gonorrhea and syphilis threatens the efficacy of medicines commonly used for treatment. With young people aged 15–24 and gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) continuing to be at greatest risk for infection, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop and roll out a new national STD prevention campaign. While AHF acknowledges the efforts of the CDC’s “Get Yourself Tested Campaign,” its funding and scope has failed to match the severity of the growing STD epidemic. “Among young people, women, and gay men, sexually transmitted diseases are spreading at alarmingly high rates,” said Dr. Michael Wohlfeiler, Chief of Medicine/ US for AHF. “These infections can not only cause pain and discomfort in the short term but, if left untreated, can lead to more serious complications including internal organ damage and infertility. Regular STD screenings with a trusted medical provider must be a key component of maintaining one’s sexual health. It is more important now than ever for people to take the necessary steps to protect themselves and their partners from potentially harmful diseases.” According to CDC estimates, there are 20 million new STD infections each year in the United States, costing the healthcare system nearly $16 billion in direct medical costs. The agency also reports there are more than 110 million total sexually transmitted infections in U.S. men and women. However, the CDC requested less overall funding for 2017 for HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and tuberculosis (TB) than it did for 2016. For STIs, the CDC’s funding request has remained stagnant, while the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Research funding request is $10 million lower than the previous year. While the CDC did request more funding for 2017 than the agency actually received in 2016, enacted funding has consistently fallen short of requested funding. “In many ways, we are a victim of our own success: in our fight against HIV, rates dropped over the past decade and fewer
16 Seattle Gay News
Super-gonorrhea – mic.com
people are now advancing to AIDS-defining illnesses thanks to improvements in antiretroviral therapies, which is great news. However, it appears that individual and organizational complacency has set in regarding condoms, which remain the best way to prevent most STDs,” said AHF President Michael Weinstein. “Given the CDC’s shift away from promoting condom usage and cuts in STD prevention funding, it is no real surprise that STDs are skyrocketing here, particularly among young people. We call on the CDC to step up and develop an innovative, aggressive national STD prevention campaign.” Syphilis: Back from the brink of oblivion In July 2000, Malcolm Gladwell wrote a piece for The New Yorker that explored the U.S. government’s missed opportunity to eradicate syphilis, which at the time was at its lowest level in U.S. history. Gladwell observed that, “…syphilis is very close to that critical point faced by many epidemics, when even the slightest push could tip them into oblivion.” He also noted, “…the Centers for Disease Control asked Congress, if, for an extra fifteen million dollars in C.D.C funding, it would like to wipe out syphilis from the United States by 2005. And Congress said no.” Sadly, since that article was published, syphilis has rebounded and steadily increased almost every year, with gay and bisexual men accounting for the majority of new syphilis infections. Gail Bolan, director of the CDC’s Division of STD Prevention, recently declared on Capitol Hill, “We’re concerned about our high levels of syphilis … – really we’re back to the level of disease – burden of disease – in gay men that we were seeing before HIV in this country.”
April 29, 2016
w“Super-gonorrhea” and the threat of drug-resistant bacterial strains Physicians and public health officials in the UK have also expressed “huge concern” over emerging strains of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea known as super-gonorrhea, as reported by the BBC last week. The sexually transmitted infection, which can lead to infertility and pelvic inflammatory disease in women, is feared to soon become untreatable. While gonorrhea is typically treated with a combination of the antibiotics azithromycin and ceftriaxone, new strains have proved resistant to azithromycin – and doctors believe that ceftriaxone is likely to become ineffective as well. Although the outbreak in the UK that prompted a national alert last year originated with straight couples, antibiotic-resistant strains have since surfaced among communities of gay men, where it may spread more quickly and increase the risk of HIV infection. “With drug-resistant strains of STDs on the rise and sexually active young people being at particular risk for exposure, how many people will have to be infected before our elected officials and health agencies make confronting the STD epidemic a national priority?” added Whitney Engeran Cordova, Senior Director of Public Health for AHF. “Creating a hashtag or talking about this issue for 30 days is simply not enough to address the magnitude of the problem at hand.” AHF: CDC should prioritize condom use, place STDs at forefront of national public health agenda Regarding the abandonment of the condom culture in the U.S.: advocates from AHF note that in just a one month period between December 2013 and January 2014 – and with little public review – the CDC changed its longstanding prevention wording regarding condom use from using the
phrase “unprotected sex” to describe sex without a condom or some form of barrier protection to now using the phrase, “condomless sex,” – a move that may suggest to some that condomless sex is protected. A further indication of the erosion of the condom culture came in February of this year, when the CDC released a plan to prevent 185,000 new HIV infections – and failed to even mention condoms as a potential tool in that effort. AHF advises sexually active individuals to reduce the risk of contracting and spreading STDs by engaging in safer sex practices such as regular condom use and participating in frequent STD screenings. Knowing your STD or HIV status is essential to your health and the health of your sexual partners. AHF’s Wellness Centers provide free testing for sexually transmitted diseases, including chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and HIV. To find the nearest location for STD screening and treatment, visit http://www. freestdcheck.org. In Seattle AHF’s Wellness Center is located at 1016 E Pike St. – 206568-2486. AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 609,000 individuals in 36 countries worldwide in the U.S., Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www. aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www. facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare Courtesy of AIDS Healthcare Foundation
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