Celebrating 41 Years! Issue 35 Volume 42
FRIDAY August 29, 2014 FREE!
25¢ in bookstores & newsstands
Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
The woman who found the HIV virus
Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi at Fred Hutchinson repeatingislands.com
by Doug Hamilton SGN Contributing Writer How soon will it be before we have a cure for HIV/AIDS? It is the 31 year-old question hounding viral researcher Dr. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, who isolated the HIV virus in France in 1983, and went on to win a Nobel Prize for that in 2008. Here in her capacity as global ambassador and President of the International AIDS Society (IAS) (since 2012), that question followed her once again on her first visit to Seattle, where she took center stage August 27 at a public forum hosted by Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center. The small auditorium of around 200 seats could not contain the spillover audience. It was understandable that they would be willing to watch from a monitor in the next room, because she is a rock star as far as epidemiologists, virologists, and AIDS activists go. “AIDS Hysteria” was the title of TIME magazine’s July 4, 1983 cover story that came out shortly after Barré-Sinoussi published her findings on the AIDS virus. The article idealistically told readers that the U.S. medical establishment would find a cure in the near future. During the
time that followed, five years was tossed about as a possibility. “Then five years passed. And another five,” as Dr. BarréSinoussi says about that prediction. This helps explain why, once again tonight, Françoise will not offer any definite timeline for a cure. But still, there must be hope, right? “If you are a scientist, and you do not have hope anymore, you should quit,” she says in her charming French accent. And there is a lot of hopeful work going on in HIV research at Fred Hutchinson, which is why she is here, to help shepherd international collaboration for a cure. Except she won’t call it a cure. Fred Hutchinson is using cell gene therapy on the AIDS virus so it can’t replicate and becomes undetectable in the bloodstream. Dr. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi is optimistic such advances may bring the virus into remission. But she does not see a “silver bullet” coming any time soon. The most realistic goal may be a socalled “functional cure” that eliminates the need to take daily pills. And she’s not convinced the virus won’t be there within a reservoir hidden in the human body. see Francoise page 5
www.galespollock.com
www.seahawks.com
Seahawks team up Prominent retired generals with Free2Luv for anti- say military is ready for bullying campaign Transgender service
Billboard of Seahawks Free2Luv.org campaign
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor The Seahawks announced this week their support of the Free2Luv™Friends Don’t Let Friends Bully™ campaign that empowers fans and especially youth to celebrate individuality and stand-up to bullying. Fans are encouraged to visit Free2Luv.orgto learn more about the campaign and #TakeThePledge. “The Seahawks family of 12s is inclusive and compassionate,” said Seahawks VP of Community Out-
reach Mike Flood. “We are proud to support Free2Luv in their mission to stop bullying and help spread the message of respect to empower change within our community.” According to Free2Luv officials, billboards will be displayed featuring Seahawks images along with the campaign slogan “Friends Don’t Let Friends Bully.” The first billboard is located at 4th Avenue South and South Industrial Way. With the rise in teen suicides and see Seahawks page 15
Major General Gale S. Pollock
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor The former chief medical officer of the U.S. Army and two other retired U.S. military General Officers issued a joint statement August 26 concluding that the military’s ban on Transgender service could be eliminated in a straightforward manner that is consistent with military readiness and core values.
Their statement accompanies the release of a new study, “Report of the Planning Commission on Transgender Military Service,” which finds that allowing Transgender personnel to serve in the military “is administratively feasible and will not be burdensome or complicated,” and provides a detailed roadmap for the policy change. According to the Generals’ statement, the report “shows that implementation could proceed im-
mediately and will be successful in its execution.” The full statement of the retired General Officers is as follows: “We spent three months serving on a research commission that investigated administrative aspects of transgender military service, with a view toward maintaining readiness and alignment with core military values of dignity and respect. Today, our commission releases a report, which focuses on how to implement inclusive policy in allowing transgender Americans to serve their country. Our conclusion is that allowing transgender personnel to serve openly is administratively feasible and will not be burdensome or complicated. Three months have passed since Defense Secretary Hagel announced a willingness to review the military’s ban on transgender service, an effort the White House indicated it supports. Our new report shows that implementation could proceed immediately and will be successful in its execution.” The retired Generals who issued see Generals page 9
2 Seattle Gay News
August 29, 2014
Celebrating 41 Years!
There are LGBT allies, and then there was Rita
by Mark Segal Philadelphia Gay News My friend Rita passed away recently. But her passing is not what this column will dwell on. It’s about friendship and our straight allies – and if there ever was a straight ally, it was Rita. Good friends encourage and support us, and they are also there in times of sorrow. And of course they can always be counted on. In that respect, Rita was the truest of friends.
Visit us online www.sgn.org
We met decades ago, before it was chic for non-LGBT people to support LGBT equality. But, like a true friend, Rita was unconditional with her encouragement and support; she was way in front of the crowd. In fact, she was doing work for LGBT and HIV/AIDS causes in the dark days of those battles. And she wasn’t afraid to show her support publicly. Rita was a proud South Philadelphia Italian mother and grandmother who had no problem going to the owner of the most blue-collar of South Philly businesses and asking them for support for an LGBT or AIDS organization. The best way to memorialize someone is not to grieve them but to celebrate them, and in that regard we’ll be smiling with Rita’s stories for years. While fundraising for The Elton John AIDS Awareness Concert, held on the Parkway in 2005, Rita told us that she was going to get a meeting with the chief of the Mashantucket Pequot Native American tribe to see if they’d support the event. No one thought anything would come of it, but somewhere in the middle of the press conference in City Hall to announce the concert, I see Rita in the back waving at me and I allowed the mayor to speak as I went over to find out what Rita needed. When I reached her, she said, “Don’t forget to introduce our new sponsor here, the chief of the Mashantucket Pequot
Indians,” who was standing next to her with a large check in hand. Before I met Jason, she was concerned that I wasn’t eating, so she cooked and brought me what I termed “care packages.” I will miss her meatballs and sauce. I’d be remiss if I don’t mention the love she gave her family. Watching that love made me, after the break-up of a long-term relationship, believe that love was still possible. And when she and her daughter met Jason for the first time 10 years ago, and I wasn’t sure if I should pursue a relationship, they simply said, “He’s a keeper.” I’m so happy I listened to you! At parties or fundraisers at my home, she’d take over the catering if it wasn’t up to her standards. The point is, that is what a friend is, an integral part of your life. And I’m sure at times of decision in the future, I’ll think, How would Rita suggest we do this? And I will smile, since working and being with Rita was always heartfelt.
August 29, 2014
Seattle Gay News 3
Mark Segal, PGN publisher, is the nation’s most-award-winning commentator in LGBT media. You can follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MarkSegalPGN or Twitter at https://twitter.com/PhilaGayNews. www.epgn.com. Reprinted with permission.
Excessive Force –
Public order and justice require police who reflect and respect those they serve Creative Commons
Day 6 of Ferguson protests
by Richard J. Rosendall SGN Contributing Writer When civil disorder followed the fatal shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, it was fueled by police aggression that exacerbated existing community mistrust. Ferguson police, overwhelmingly white in a community two-thirds black, offered a case study in how not to handle lawful protests. While failing to release a proper incident report and initially withholding Wilson’s name, they put out information to imply Brown deserved his fate. Never mind the double standard whereby (say) gun-waving white radicals like Cliven Bundy in Nevada are spared deadly force. As police innovated daily escalations (infringing First Amendment freedoms, firing tear gas and rubber bullets at reporters and peaceful protesters), community leaders including Alderman Antonio French urged restraint, blocked looters, and transmitted events on social media. Capt. Ron Johnson of the state highway patrol showed maturity by replacing riot gear with respectful community engagement, though events (and some headstrong officers) outflanked him. Live tweets and subsequent reports reveal belligerent officers with a history of abuse. While demonstrators chanted “Hands up, don’t shoot,” outsiders instigated violence that gave police an excuse to “drop the hammer,” as SiriusXM radio host Mark Thompson put it. A Missouri GOP official called onscene voter registration efforts “disgusting.” So pointing guns at protesters is not a provocation, but registering voters is? A campaign on GoFundMe.com raised nearly $250,000 for Officer Wilson. Donor comments included: “I am so sick of the blacks using every excuse in the book to loot and riot,” and references to “protecting normal Americans from aggressive and entitled primitive savages” and rejecting “the failed experiment called diversity.” Hatred aside, no criticism of lawlessness is sincere that excuses police brutality and overreaction. No criticism of entitlement is coherent that ignores white privilege. Diversity is no experimentbutasocialfactthatcannotbedispelled withmilitaryequipmentandbountypayments. Despite crime being down, fear mongering inflates police budgets. A week after the unarmed, mentally ill Ezell Ford was killed by LAPD officers, their colleague Sunil Dutta, writing in The Washington Post, essentially blamed excessive force on victims’ failure to grovel sufficiently. Staring at Dutta’s words, I see the faces of Ford, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant,
4 Seattle Gay News
Sean Bell, Amadou Diallo, Patrick Dorismond, and many other unarmed black men who died before they could hire a lawyer. In the 1990s, as president of the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, I worked with the NAACP, ACLU, and others to establish independent review of police in the District of Columbia. Civilian oversight is essential to hold accountable those we entrust with badges and guns. Public safety is not served by routine use of methods and equipment designed to confront terrorists. And something is awry when police call a video “exculpatory” that shows them emptying their clips on Kajieme Powell, a mentally ill man with a knife, as if deadly force were their only option. Those who deny the role of racial bias are confronted not only by data (including a racial profiling report from the Missouri attorney general), but the indelible photo of a young man with braided hair, hands up, facing a phalanx of officers pointing high-powered guns. On August 15, Mark Thompson got choked up on the air when a 7-year-old who was protesting with his father said he was there because Michael Brown had been shot. The sacrifices of the generation before ours were supposed to keep such ugliness from clouding our children’s spirits. More work lies ahead. Only by participating in the political process, building trust and cooperation with people unlike us, and using our smartphone cameras to expose official misconduct, can we make America, in Dr. King’s words, be true to what we said on paper. ###
“Ezell Ford Family Attorney Calls LAPD “Everything That Went Wrong in Fergu- Shooting ‘An Execution,’” Matt Ferner, The son,” Josh Voorhees, Slate, August 21, 2014, Huffington Post, August 20, 2014, http://tihttp://tinyurl.com/lxpm4u4 nyurl.com/qfc2uyk “ACLU: Ferguson police report on Mi“I’m a cop. If you don’t want to get hurt, chael Brown’s death violates law,” Jason Sick- don’t challenge me.” Sunil Dutta, The Washles, Yahoo News, August 22, 2014, http://ti- ington Post, August 19, 2014, http://tinyurl. nyurl.com/m4q3x2h com/nde93eu “Ferguson Cops Busted? New Video “NYPD Kills Man For Selling Untaxed Seems To Show Brown Paying For Cigaril- Cigarettes,” video, The Young Turks, July 18, los,” Crooks And Liars, August 18, 2014, 2014, http://youtu.be/s3ZOu__nVHg http://tinyurl.com/m94oud4 BART police shoot Oscar Grant, video, “Cliven Bundy vs. Ferguson’s peaceful January 1, 2009, Los Angeles Times, http:// demonstrators: A tale of two protests,” Brad youtu.be/Q2LDw5l_yMI Friedman, Salon, August 18, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/k9sd78l “New York on edge as police kill unarmed man in hail of 50 bullets on his wedding “First Amendment,” Legal Information day,” Julian Borger, The Guardian, NovemInstitute, Cornell University Law School, ber 26, 2006, http://tinyurl.com/kt56xtj http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/ first_amendment “Officers in Bronx Fire 41 Shots, And an Unarmed Man Is Killed,” Michael CooTweet, Antonio French, August 16, 2014, per, The New York Times, February 5, 1999, https://twitter.com/AntonioFrench/status- http://tinyurl.com/lb32avs es/500637106813689858 “The Patrick Dorismond Case,” Editorial, “Ferguson Residents Gather to Stop Loot- The New York Times, March 21, 2000, http:// ers,” video, The Washington Post, August 16, tinyurl.com/pg2z86v 2014, http://tinyurl.com/pdok23j “Beyond Trayvon: Black and Unarmed,” “In pictures: Ferguson protests calm as Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson takes Jenée Desmond-Harris, The Root, June 8, over security,” Reuters, August 15, 2014, 2013, http://tinyurl.com/oqrdeoa http://tinyurl.com/mackdtw Testimony on Citizen Complaint Review “Officer in Ferguson Calls Ron Johnson Board, Rick Rosendall, Gay and Lesbian AcStrategy “Hug a Thug,” Says He Wants to tivists Alliance, February 24, 1998, http:// Punch Eric Holder,” Ben Mathis-Lilley, Slate, glaa.org/archive/1998/ccrb0224.shtml August 21, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/p8h7t9b “Did the St. Louis police have to shoot Ka“Get the fuck out of here or you’re get- jieme Powell?” Ezra Klein, Vox, August 20, ting shot with this,” video, Argus Radio 2014, http://tinyurl.com/q2myeds livestream, August 17, 2014, http://youtu. “Ruth Bader Ginsburg Skewers High be/6lOuMQ-apd0 Court For Forsaking Fight Against ‘Real “Ferguson Police Officer Justin Cosma Racial Problem,’” Shadee Ashtari, The HuffHog-Tied And Injured A Young Child, Law- ington Post, August 22, 2014, http://tinyurl. suit Alleges,” Ryan J. Reilly and Ashley Al- com/ktno532 man, The Huffington Post, August 24, 2014, http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5705409 “Turmoil in Ferguson, Mo.: What you need to know,” Lauren Rabb, Los Angeles “Hands up, don’t shoot,” Lauren Williams, Times, August 21, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/ Vox, August 13, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/ nnw69gt neamb6k “Racial Disparity in Police Contacts,” “Highway Patrol: Outsiders are destroy- Robert D. Crutchfield et al., Race and Justice, ing Ferguson,” KMOV.com, August 17, 2014, July 2012, vol. 2 no. 3 pp. 179-202, http://tihttp://tinyurl.com/q4xvvmo nyurl.com/nfnrjhe
Richard J. Rosendall is a writer and activist. He can be reached at rrosendall@starpower.net. Copyright © 2014 by Richard J. Rosendall. “Missouri GOP official: Ferguson voter “Missouri Vehicle Stops Report,” Years All rights reserved. registration efforts ‘disgusting,’” Alex Stuck- 2000-2013, Missouri Attorney General ey, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 19, 2014, Chris Koster, http://ago.mo.gov/VehicleREFERENCES: http://tinyurl.com/p3oga9j Stops/Reports.php?lea=161 Mike Brown Eyewitness Crime Scene “Crowdfunding Campaign for Officer Video, August 9, 2014, http://youtu.be/ Darren Wilson Has Raised Nearly $250K,” VdL9dqkyjhM Matt Wilstein, Mediaite, August 22, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/plv475d “Holder says he understands mistrust of police as Ferguson protests dwindle,” “’Thunderstruck?’: Missouri GoverFoxnews.com, August 21, 2014, http://ti- nor Helped Ferguson Get Surplus Military nyurl.com/mrgwr86 Equipment,” Melissa Quinn, The Daily Signal, August 18, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/pse83q2 “Anatomy of Ferguson’s Police Riot,” Purvi Shah, The Nation, August 21, 2014, http://ti“Violent crime is lowest in more than 40 nyurl.com/lcnpttv years, so how did we become the United States of SWAT? NY Times explains,” Mark “5 things to know about Ferguson Police J. Perry, American Enterprise Institute, AuDepartment,” Paulina Firozi, USA Today, Au- gust 16, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/oncqlez gust 19, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/kvoghge
August 29, 2014
News photo of man facing police, Whitney Curtis, The New York Times, August 12, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/msr9yyz “Bullets and Ballots,” Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker, September 1, 2014, http://tinyurl.com/okd87zg “Cop Watch,” Reeves Wiedeman, The New Yorker, September 1, 2014, http://tinyurl. com/mtrd5dt “The Mountaintop,” video excerpt, Martin Luther King, Jr., April 3, 1968, http://youtu. be/_l7cKzld5oo
Celebrating 41 Years!
continued from cover Which may seem close enough to a cure for you and me, but not for her. Work is still underway for a vaccine, which would prevent infection for a lifetime, but Françoise is not holding her breath for that just yet. While not a cure, per se, Dr. Barré-Sinoussi’s sees it to be entirely feasible that treatments and medications for HIV can be improved to extend the time between doses. A tantalizing prospect would be a monthly injection of PreP. This would free many of a one-pill-a-day regimen. Still, the audience brings forth examples of patients who have seemingly been cured. Seattle’s own Timothy Ray Brown, for instance, the so-called “Berlin Patient” whose cell transplants via bone marrow transplant for acute leukemia seemingly wiped out his HIV. Dr. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi is not convinced that the virus might not be hiding somewhere in him. And, “Not everyone can have bone marrow transplants,” she points out. Bone marrow donors that match are few and far between. And what about the Mississippi Baby? July 2014 news reports told us the baby scientists thought was “functionally cured” of HIV now has detectable levels of the virus in her blood. So Françoise is being found correct not to offer false hope for a quick cure. You have to remember, she is a scientist used to working with electron microscopes, and has lived with this epidemic from the inside out for over 30 years. Françoise is elated that HIV infected people are living long full lives using currently available medicines, but fears the time’s attitude toward sexually transmitted diseases have become “too lax.” She considers using available medications such as PreP on a daily basis to prevent HIV infection as one tool for HIV prevention, but reminds us that condoms are still a good tool, and prevent other STDs as well. Françoise tells the story of visiting San Francisco General emergency room in 1984 and talking to a man who was in the advanced stages of AIDS. “Thank you,” he said. “Not for me. For the others.” He died the next day. She also tells the story of befriending many in the Gay community at that time who were AIDS activists, and seeing them die within five years. She became both a researcher and an advocate. “I felt that at one point, because of what
I realized in the early 80s, that as a human being, it was also part of my life to be an advocate for others that were affected by this disease I was working on as a scientist. I became involved with the first NGO involved with working on AIDS formed in France in 1984. “I was involved immediately with them because they were starting an NGO, it was a Gay community, and they, of course, needed to have information. And they asked me if I would accept to come from time to time and give them some report on progress in science and so on. So we started to work together quite rapidly. It was probably through this close relationship with the Gay community in France, I started also to work with ACT UP. “For me it was obvious that even though I was a scientist, trying like all scientists to do my best to make progress delivering tools for the people living with this disease, it was obvious at the time, it was not enough. We had to become activists,” she told the SGN. “That is why I became President of the IAS. Because as a scientist, and as a member of the community, I always feel that it is not acceptable to deliver tools needed for HIV, and being told the tools are not very important to everyone. I mean, we have to become activists. Because why to spend so much money on research? Why to spend all the time for trying to give tools to the population, wherever they are in the world. And the tools that we have to offer are not available? I can not accept that, myself,” she explains. Dr. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi felt a huge pressure to educate the community after she, with team member Luc Montagnier, discovered the HIV virus in 1983. “First thing was certainly to convince others in the scientific community, convince also the decision makers that the virus we isolated was the cause of it. That was probably the main pressure. To try also to speak also with the hemophiliacs, giving conferences to try to say to the hemophiliacs in 1983 be careful, do not be treated by blood derivatives as much as you are, because you are taking a risk to be infected by the virus. And I remember that they were answering, ‘You want to kill us.’ And I was trying to explain to them that ‘No, I would like to save your life.’ And they did not understand at that time.” After she published her findings, the scientific community was not convinced that the virus isolated was the right virus, perThe Nobel Foundation / Hans Mehlin
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi receiving her Nobel Prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
Visit us online www.sgn.org
The Nobel Foundation / Torbjörn Zadig
Francoise
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi
haps it was a contamination of the blood sample. The decision makers were not entirely convinced because the scientific community was not convinced. “Nobody wanted to believe it,” Françoise puts it bluntly. Even before Barré-Sinoussi and Montagnier started their search to isolate and identify the virus, AIDS was attached to a stigma. “The data from the epidemiologist were already telling us it’s an infectious agent transmitted by blood, blood derivative, by sexual roots, and by mother-to-child. Because it was already in reports by the end of 1982 of people with AIDS among the hemophiliac, among the Gay population, among Haitians,” she tells us. The term “AIDS” wasn’t used. It was call the 4H Disease – hemophiliacs, homosexual, hypodermic needle users, and Haitians. “It was also called the Gay Syndrome,” she recalls. “I remember when, I think it was a little later on, when the virus was also isolated in the United States after that in 1984. I think there was a scientific article saying ‘The virus of homosexuality isolated by the French.’ So it was unbelievable. ‘The virus of homosexuality.’” One of the most surprising things to Françoise, as she watched this epidemic unfold over the last three decades, is the lack of tolerance by the public “for people, for the Gay population, for the drug users – everywhere in the world ... It was something really I could not imagine before working on HIV. That people were not tolerant to the other’s sexual behavior and that everybody is free to live their own life as they like. The lack of respect for human rights. That is something that is hard to believe, even today. In my country of France, last year, when
they allowed Gay marriage, I was shocked to discover, that even in my country where we’d had the Revolution, where we’d had the identification of AIDS. I thought that when the President François Hollande signed the legislation that would allow the Gays to be married, it would be okay, it would be easy.” Instead, as those who have followed the international news on same-sex marriage know, there was a backlash in France, with demonstrations against marriage equality in Paris in 2013. “It was unbelievable! I was shocked! I said, ‘My God!’” Dr. Barré-Sinoussi’s appearance in Seattle was part of a three-day symposium organized by a consortium called the Collaboratories. It is supported by the NIH, as part of the “Cure Agenda in the United States” to explore Fred Hutchinson’s work on cell gene therapy. Françoise felt, even before becoming President of the IAS, that now was the time to accelerate research for an HIV cure; and that due the progress being made on an international level, it would be good to coordinate international research. “So I think that is the reason why they invited me here,” she says modestly. “And I was really interested myself to see what are they doing now. Is there progress in their research? Of course, it will take time. One of the approaches that I am personally interested in is what are we learning in time from success and failure. I like very much the fact that there are researchers who were not involved in HIV at all, that are working together with HIV experts. I think this is very good because it can bring new ideas. The fact that cancer researchers are working together with HIV researchers is a good approach.”
August 29, 2014
Seattle Gay News 5
LGBT Americans report lower well-being than straights straight people’s 62. Gay men, however, were only two points short of their straight counterparts, while LBT women fell six points short of straight women. LBT women also reported lower levels of well-being than Gay men, scoring 57 to 59 for Gay men. “These disparities associated with sexual orientation and gender identity highlight the ongoing need for the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity measures in data collection focused on health and socio-economic outcomes,” Gallup-Healthways concluded. “Availability of better data that identify the LGBT population will help researchers, healthcare policymakers, and healthcare providers craft better strategies to understand and prevent well-being disparities associated with sexual orientation and gender identity.” The survey broke general well-being into five subcategories that were surveyed individually. Again, LGBT respondents reported significantly lower levels of wellbeing than straight respondents.
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer LGBT Americans report lower levels of well-being than straight Americans, according to a new survey by Gallup-Healthways. The disparities hold true over all the categories of well-being tested by the survey. Lesbian, Bi, and Trans women report the lowest levels of well-being, even lower than Gay men, and definitely lower than straight men. These differences persist even after adjusting for the effects of other demographic factors like age, gender, race, ethnicity, education,
Financial Well-Being “The financial element is where the LGBT community falls furthest behind the nonLGBT population,” Gallup’s report says. Financial well-being was calculated from questions about standard of living, ability to afford basic necessities, and financial worry. LGBT Americans are 10 points below straight Americans in “thriving financially,” the study shows. Gay men are eight points below their straight counterparts, but LBT women fall 12 points below straight women. “These findings are consistent with research from UCLA’s Williams Institute,” the study notes, “which shows that the LGBT population is at a disproportionate risk for poverty and food insecurity.”
state of residence, and population density. The survey was conducted by landline and cell phone interviews between January 1 and June 23, with a random sample of 2,964 LGBT adults and 81,134 straight adults in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Based on the survey responses, GallupHealthways calculated “Well-Being Index Physical Well-Being Scores” that represent respondents’ level Physical well-being is another area in of well-being with a numerical value. According to Gallup, LGBT adults fell which there are stark differences between four points below straight adults in their LGBT and non-LGBT Americans, particuWell-Being Index Scores, averaging 58 to larly among women.
Physical well-being includes questions related to alcohol, drug, and tobacco use; current disease burden and past diagnoses; exercise; and eating habits. LGBT Americans fall seven points behind our straight neighbors in physical well-being, with LBT women 12 points behind straight women. A recent analysis by the 2013 National Health Interview Survey reported higher levels of smoking and alcohol consumption among Lesbian and Bi women than among straight women, as well as elevated weight and psychological distress among bisexual women. Social Well-Being LGBT Americans are less likely than their straight counterparts to be thriving in their social lives. Social well-being includes questions about relationships with friends and family, personal time, and received encouragement and support. Thirty-five percent of LGBT adults are thriving socially, compared with 41% of non-LGBT adults. The disparities for Gay men and LBT women were equal. Community Well-Being LGBT Americans are less likely than their straight counterparts to be thriving in community well-being, with LGBT respondents falling six points below straight ones. Community well-being includes questions about community pride, involvement, and safety and security. The statistical difference for LGBT respondents is largely driven by women. Gay men reported being somewhat less connected to their communities, but LBT women fell nine points behind their straight counterparts. Purpose Well-Being Gay men feel they have a strong sense of purpose in their lives at the same rate that straight men do, but LBT women fall eight points behind straight women in this category. Purpose well-being is calculated from questions about having an inspiring leader, daily activity, goals, and strengths.
Hacker warns Grindr users about security flaw Like the old saying goes – “It takes one to know one”, a hacker, who wishes to remain anonymous, claims to have contacted Grindr to alert them that a security flaw in the app has allowed for other hackers – maybe the kind who like to lure Gay men to a hookup and then beat them or worse – can login to the Gay hookup app without any problem at all. The tipster claims to have contacted thousands of Grindr users worldwide to alert them to the possibility that who they are talking to might not be who they say they are. In Seattle, on June 1, Ali Muhammad Brown, a convicted sex offender and Muslim extremist, lured Ahmed Said, 27, and Dwone Anderson-Young, 27, to their deaths on Grindr by posing as Gay on the mobile hookup app. In what has been described by King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Wyman Yip as two “extremely violent, senseless and seemingly unprovoked” murders, Brown shot the two men
in the 500 block of 29th Ave. S., just steps away from Anderson-Young’s house. Anderson-Young’s mother heard the gunshots, but did not immediately know that her son had been shot a few yards from where she lay in bed. Grindr’s app only shows the amount of distance between two users. The security breach, however, allegedly allows location-based data to be extrapolated by querying Grindr’s servers from three different places and triangulating the information received. This data then can be presented on a map with flags indicating where each user within a certain area is located. This is possible because anyone can query Grindr’s servers without being authenticated. Grindr claims this isn’t a flaw, but a feature. The company told Pink News UK, “We don’t view this as a security flaw. As part of the Grindr service, users rely on sharing location information with other users as core functionality of the application and Grindr users can control how this information is displayed.” “For Grindr users concerned about showing their proximity, we make it very easy for them
6 Seattle Gay News
August 29, 2014
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor
to remove this option and we encourage them to disable ‘show distance’ in their privacy settings,” they continued. “As always, our user security is our top priority and we do our best to keep our Grindr community secure.”
There’s a video after the break of the hacker using the information to demonstrate how easy it is to find the real location of app users. To watch the video go to: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=5PU1oK-LsCk.
Celebrating 41 Years!
Most liberal cities: Seattle tied for #3 whatsnewbuffalo.com
Graph lists most liberal cities from the survey starting at the bottom
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Seattle is tied with Oakland, California, for third most liberal city in the country, according to a study published in the American Political Science Review and summarized in The Economist magazine. The most liberal city should be no surprise – San Francisco, a minority-majority city historically open to multiple cultures and diverse kinks, and the unofficial capital of LGBT America. Washington, DC came in second, a fact which surprised The Economist, but DC is also minority-majority, and because it is home to the federal government, the city is also home to many federal workers who tend to favor government-sponsored social programs, economic planning, public sector unions, and other trademark “liberal” views. Oakland is just across the Bay from San Francisco and just south of Berkeley, home of the University of California. It too is minority-majority, and many UC students opt to live in Oakland rather than in more expensive housing in Berkeley itself. Rounding out the top ten are Boston, Minneapolis, Detroit, New York, Buffalo, Baltimore, and Chicago. Seattle is perhaps the whitest of the country’s most liberal cities, with whites ac-
counting for nearly 70% of the population. On the other hand, Seattle has the country’s second highest per capita concentration of LGBT residents with almost 13% – just behind San Francisco. The most conservative city is Mesa, Arizona, in Maricopa County, the jurisdiction of notoriously anti-immigrant Sheriff Joe Arpaio. For the study, cities with more than 250,000 people were rated on their residents’ response to polling on key issues like affordable housing and access to preschool. Researchers then analyzed how closely city polices mirrored the preferences of the residents. “’Liberal’ cities seem to get ‘liberal’ policies, and ‘conservative’ cities seem to get ‘conservative’ policies ....” study authors Chris Tausanovitch (UCLA) and Christopher Warshaw (MIT) wrote. They also found that liberal cities tend to spend up to twice as much on services than conservative cities, and have higher taxes and less regressive tax systems. Seattle, in a state with the most regressive tax structure in the country, is an exception in that regard. PEW Research Center noted that cities identified as “liberal” tend to be far more liberal than the ones identified as “conservative” are conservative. Of the 62 cities surveyed for the study, only 11 fell on the conservative side of a statistical “mean line.” In other words, big cities tend to be pretty liberal, period.
Marriage bonanza for many states, Williams Institute predicts by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Legal same-sex marriage could generate an economic bonanza for state economies, according to new studies released by the Williams Institute. The institute, attached to UCLA Law School, has been studying the economic effects of marriage equality for several years, and has released 12 state-by-state analyses this year. Nearly 89,701 same-sex couples would likely marry in the first three years after marriage is legalized, the institute said, injecting more than $464 million into state economies in the first year alone, and $723.5 million over the first three-year period. Florida and Texas stand to gain the most from legalizing same-sex marriage, Williams Institute estimated. In Florida, one-half of the state’s 48,496 same-sex couples would likely marry in the first three years after that was legally possible, generating an estimated $182.2 million in additional spending in the state economy. The estimate includes only short-term economic benefit from in-state couples getting married, and not income that might be derived if Florida were seen as a marriage venue for couples from other parts of the country. In Texas, the institute estimates that 23,200 couples might marry in the first three years of legal same-sex marriage, with an economic benefit to the state of $181.6 million. In addition, there would be $14.8 million in state revenue generated from sales and excise taxes. To generate their numbers Williams Institute researchers used Massachusetts as a
baseline. There about one-half of same-sex couples identified in census data got married in the first three years after same-sex marriage was legalized. They also used data from Massachusetts to estimate the number of outof-state guests who might attend a wedding. The estimated cost of food and lodging for guests is based on federal government allowances for their employees, which are adjusted by state to account for local price differences. The number of same-sex couples in each state is derived from 2010 U.S. Census data. To calculate wedding expenses, the institute relies on state-by-state estimates from a market research company, The Wedding Report. Those numbers were then adjusted downward to account for unique problems faced by same-sex couples. Social bias against same-sex marriage may mean that samesex couples fail to get the same level of family financial support for their weddings as opposite-sex couples do. Same-sex couples, therefore, may simply reallocate money that they would have spent in the state anyway toward their weddings. While Williams Institute ultimately estimated that spending for same-sex weddings would only amount to 25% of what is spent by opposite-sex couples, their research still predicted huge economic benefits for state economies. Besides Florida and Texas, Williams Institute released the following studies: • Pennsylvania: $92.1 million in economic benefit from spending and $5.8 million in state revenue. • Ohio: $70.8 million in economic benefit plus $5 million in new state revenue. • Arizona: $61.9 million in economic benefit and $5.1 million in revenue.
Visit us online www.sgn.org
• Virginia: Between $46 million and $60 million in economic benefit, and between $2.5 million and $3.2 million in state revenue. • Michigan: $53.2 million in economic benefit and $3.2 million in new revenue. • Nevada: Between $23 million and $52 million in economic benefit, and between $1.8 million and $4.2 million in state revenue. Again, these numbers reflect only short-term benefits from in-state couples, and not benefits that could be derived if
Las Vegas were seen as a marriage venue for couples from other states. • Oregon: $47.3 million in economic benefits. This study did not include an estimate of tax revenue that might be collected by the state. • Indiana: $39.1 million in economic benefit, plus $2.7 million in state revenue. • Tennessee: $36.7 million in economic benefit, and $23.5 million in revenue. • Utah: $15.5 million in economic benefit, and $1 million in revenue for the state.
August 29, 2014
Seattle Gay News 7
Marriage rights on trial: Action in several cases Uanews.org
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Virginia and North Carolina AFER (the American Foundation for Equal Rights) filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court on August 27, asking the justices to hear the Virginia marriage rights case Bostic v. Schaefer. Similar briefs have already been filed by Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring and by the anti-equality group Alliance Defending Freedom. A federal district judge ruled on January 14 that Virginia laws banning same-sex marriage were unconstitutional, and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals concurred on July 28. Marriages were scheduled to begin on August 21, but the Supreme Court stayed the Fourth Circuit ruling. “Forty-seven years ago, Mildred and Richard Loving passionately argued that the
Supreme Court must end the unjust laws that dare to tell us who we can and cannot love,” AFER attorney Ted Olson said, referring to Loving v. Virginia, in which the Supreme Court struck down state laws against interracial marriage. “Today, almost half a century later, it is time thousands of gay and lesbian couples across America are extended that same promise of equality and freedom that the Supreme Court granted to the Lovings. Our plaintiffs have already fought for, in two separate courts, a constitutional promise they have been denied. Now, the Supreme Court must take up the Bostic case, answer once and for all the surpassingly important constitutional question of marriage equality, and rule decisively in favor of the fundamental right to marry for every same-sex couple.” In a related development, also on August 27, a federal court stayed any further ac-
tion on North Carolina’s same-sex marriage battle until the Supreme Court rules on Virginia’s Bostic case. According to the order, if the high court declines to hear Bostic, the stay will be lifted and action on the North Carolina suits will proceed. Marriage rights activists delivered 12,000 petition signatures to North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, asking him to stop defending his state’s marriage ban. McCrory, however, insisted that only the Supreme Court could decide on the question. “We’re going to let the process work. During that process we ought to have a stay to allow the current law to remain in place, but this is going to the Supreme Court for all the states,” the governor said. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said he would no longer support the ban in court after the Fourth Circuit, which also has jurisdiction over North Carolina, ruled Virginia’s ban unconstitutional in Bostic v. Schaefer. Florida In other marriage actions, a Florida state appeals court declined to rule in a marriage case, and asked the Florida Supreme Court to decide whether the state’s same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional. Local court judges in five Florida counties have declared state law invalid. Equality Florida, the state’s leading LGBT rights group, was pleased by the appellate court’s action. “This is what we’ve been asking for all along,” the group said in a statement. “We’re thrilled that the 2nd DCA [District Court of Appeals] agrees that marriage equality is an issue of such urgency and importance that it should be elevated directly to the Florida Supreme Court. We hope that the 3rd DCA in Miami will follow suit and request that the marriage cases pending before them also be moved directly to the Florida Supreme Court. We
need a final resolution, not another appeal, because every day this discriminatory ban remains in place causes significant and irreparable harm to our families.” A federal judge has also ruled Florida’s marriage law unconstitutional, but he stayed his ruling pending appeal. Ninth Circuit The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a petition from NOM (National Organization for Marriage) to halt same-sex marriages in Oregon. The August 27 ruling means that NOM must now appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, if it wants to stop Oregon marriages. A federal district judge struck down the Oregon ban on May 19, and Oregon’s Governor and Attorney General declined to file an appeal. “We’re thrilled by the news but not surprised at all,” said Jeana Frazzini, executive director of Basic Rights Oregon. “There was never any merit to their proposal and they’ve been denied now at every turn.” The Ninth Circuit Court also said it would hear marriage cases from three states – Hawaii, Idaho, and Nevada – on September 8. The Hawaii suit is interesting because it has been overtaken by legislative action. Several Gay and Lesbian couples sued to overturn that state’s ban on same-sex marriage in 2011. A federal district judge ruled against them, saying the law had a rational basis. They appealed to the Ninth Circuit. However, Hawaii’s legislature legalized same-sex marriage in 2013, so the point of the court decision would be that the new equal marriage law cannot legally be repealed. The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) are teamed with local attorneys to represent four same-sex couples challenging Idaho laws banning marriage equality. Lambda Legal and local attorneys will represent eight same-sex couples challenging Nevada laws banning marriage.
Obamacare helps LGBT community, but we still lag behind in healthcare – Report discrimination, WA Insurance Commissioner says
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), popularly known as Obamacare, has benefited LGBT Americans more than our straight neighbors, but we are still more likely than straight people to lack health insurance, a new study shows. The study, done by Williams Institute Distinguished Scholar Gary J. Gates based on data collected by Gallup, was released August 26. The data was collected from June 2013 through June 2014, so it includes periods before and after Obamacare went into ef-
fect. According to the study, the number of uninsured LGBT Americans dropped 4.4 points after the law took effect, compared to 3.5 points for straight people. “These data suggest that LGBT adults benefited from the increased access to health care insurance created by the ACA,” Gates said in a statement. “But gaps in coverage between LGBT and non-LGBT adults persist.” For example, 17.6% of LGBT Americans still lack health insurance, compared to only 13.2% of straight people. “The findings in this study are consistent with several recent studies showing that economic disadvantages are common in an LGBT community that too often experiences stigma and discrimination,” Gates added. “These disadvantages are likely an important factor in explaining why LGBT Americans report less access to health care and many negative health and wellbeing outcomes compared to their nonLGBT counterparts.” Gates also found that more than a quarter of LGBT adults (25%) reported that they had a time in the last year when they did not have enough money to pay for healthcare or medicines for themselves or their families. This compares to 17%
8 Seattle Gay News
August 29, 2014
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
of non-LGBT adults. LGBT adults, particularly LGBT women, are also more likely than straight individuals to report that they do not have a personal doctor. Among all adults, 29% of LGBT individuals did not have doctor compared to 21% of non-LGBT individuals. Among women, the gap was 29% for LGBT women compared to 16% for straight women. The difference in men was not statistically significant. The research was based on more than 6,000 interviews with LGBT adults 18 or older, and more than 166,000 interviews with straight adults. “These Gallup data represent the largest survey of health and well-being that allows for identification of LGBT respondents,” according to Gallup’s media release. Report discrimination, WA Insurance Commissioner says Washington residents who experience discrimination in healthcare coverage should contact the state’s Insurance Commissioner, his spokesperson told SGN. “If there’s an insurance company that’s discriminating, that’s against the law,” spokesperson Stephanie Marquis told SGN.
“If it’s an employer that’s refusing to cover you under a company policy, we would share that information with the Attorney General and the state Human Rights Commission. “If you’re being denied treatment, we also want to know,” she added. “Basically, if there’s any problem you can feel free to call us, and we’ll steer you to the right agency.” Washington residents with complaints or questions about their rights to healthcare insurance can call 1-800-562-6900 or email askmike@oic.wa.gov. Discrimination in insurance coverage on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity was outlawed in 2006 in Washington State’s Law Against Discrimination (RCW 49.60), and both Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler and Attorney General Bob Ferguson have issued recent rulings to combat anti-LGBT bias. In June, Kreidler informed insurance companies doing business in Washington that they must offer coverage for medically necessary procedures related to gender reassignment. The same month, Ferguson ruled that companies must provide the same spousal benefits, like health insurance, to same-sex spouses that they offer to opposite-sex spouses.
Celebrating 41 Years!
Visit us online www.sgn.org
August 29, 2014
Seattle Gay News 9
10
Seattle Gay News
August 29, 2014
Celebrating 41 Years!
MoSS Alley MotorS, Inc. SpecialiStS in VolVo, Honda, toyota and Subaru
932 12th ave. Seattle, Wa 98122 (206).325--.3992 www.mossalley.com Seattle’s most progressive auto shop!
Visit us online www.sgn.org
August 29, 2014
Seattle Gay News 11
12
Seattle Gay News
August 29, 2014
Celebrating 41 Years!
Generals
continued from cover the statement are Major General Gale S. Pollock, former acting Surgeon General of the U.S. Army; Brigadier General Clara AdamsEnder, former Chief of the U.S. Army Nurse Corps; and Brigadier General Thomas A. Kolditz, a Yale University professor and Professor Emeritus at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he led the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership. The Commission’s report points out that, unlike “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the ban on openly Gay service that was repealed by Congress in 2010, the Transgender service ban is not a statutory bar, but falls “under the authority and jurisdiction of the President and Secretary of Defense.” In an accompanying statement, Commission Co-Chair Shannon Minter, Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, called on the White House and Pentagon to follow through on implementing a fully inclusive policy: “The three distinguished retired Generals continue to serve their country with the release of today’s report, which confirms what we learned from NATO allies and the repeal of DADT here at home: that discriminatory policy is unnecessary and inconsistent with the military’s core values. In an earlier study, the former U.S. Surgeon General, along with retired General and Flag Officers, concluded that transgender personnel are as fit to serve and as ready for deployment to austere environments as anyone else. It is essential for the Department of Defense to begin to review its ban on transgender military service now, and to replace it with fully inclusive policy. Today’s report provides a comprehensive roadmap of the steps that are needed for the full implementation of an
inclusive approach, and further establishes to the Administration that a new policy will be successfully executed,” said Minter. The new report, co-authored by a ninemember expert Commission, is the second in a series on Transgender military service released this year by the Palm Center. The first report, released in March by a former U.S. Surgeon General and a Commission including retired General and Flag Officers, concluded that Transgender personnel are as medically ready for deployment to austere environments and as fit to serve as non-Transgender personnel, and that the ban on Transgender military service is not based on sound medical reasoning. As well, the first report called for military experts to “formulate administrative guidance” to address all implementation aspects of creating a new, inclusive policy. The new report responds to the call for administrative guidance, providing a roadmap that identifies 14 aspects of policy formulation for a non-discriminatory rule on Transgender service. The report is based on research into the 18 foreign nations that currently allow Transgender service, as well as lessons learned from U.S. military integration of previously excluded populations, including Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual personnel. It notes that approximately 15,500 currently-serving troops are Transgender but must lie about it and cannot access medically-necessary health care as a result. In addition to finding that the ban could be lifted without harming readiness, the new report notes that the current policy undermines “core military values and principles” including that “all military personnel should serve with honor and integrity, which means that they should not have to lie about who they are; all members of the military should be treated with respect; all persons capable of serving their country should be allowed to do so; and the military should not needlessly separate personnel who are willing and able to serve.” www.shepherd.edu
www.bigspeak.com
Brigadier General Thomas A. Kolditz
Brigadier General Clara Adams-Ender
Legal Services MARTIN SJOLIE Over 20 Years Experience
Last Will, Power of Attorney & Health Care Directive (Living Will)
$500.00/Person or $750.00/Couple for complete, personalized services.
(206) 841–1373 www.sjolielaw.com
Auto accidents, DUI, Small business needs.
Visit us online www.sgn.org
August 29, 2014
Seattle Gay News 13
Mariela Castro defied party line and voted against exclusion of HIV-positive and Trans workers Eric Risberg / Associated Press
Mariela Castro
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Mariela Castro, daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro and niece of Fidel, cast an unprecedented No vote last December, when Cuba’s parliament adopted a new labor code establishing protections for sexual orientation and other characteristics. Hers was not only the sole No vote on
the bill, but reportedly the only No vote ever cast in the one-party Cuban parliament since Fidel Castro ousted the previous U.S.-backed regime in 1959. Since then, the Cuban government has been dominated by the Castro brothers’ Communist Party, and party discipline led lawmakers to approve all legislation proposed by the leadership. Mariela Castro’s complaint about the new
law was that it did not offer protections to HIV-positive or Transgender workers, even though it did cover sexual orientation for the first time in Cuba’s history. “I really wanted to vote for it, because I think the law is advanced and reflects major elements that reflect the feelings of our people, especially in the way we consulted the people,” Mariela Castro told the Spanishlanguage Paquito el de Cuba blog.
“But I cannot be part of passing a law which contradicts the fundamental principles of law that I am defending. “I could not vote in favor without the certainty that the labor rights of people with different gender identity would be explicitly recognized.” She also wanted the employment rights of people with HIV to be included in the bill, but that too was excluded. Although she identifies as straight and is married to a man, Mariela Castro is President of Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX), and has long been an advocate for LGBT rights and for integration of HIV-positive people into Cuban society. News of her unusual No vote only broke last week in English-language media, although Spanish-language news sources had reported it earlier this year. Although the Cuban government was initially hostile to the country’s LGBT population after the 1959 revolution, restrictions have eased substantially in the past 30 years. Same-sex sexual relations were legalized in 1979, and in 1981 the Ministry of Culture issued a statement saying that homosexuality was a natural variant of human sexuality. Fidel Castro publicly apologized for his government’s previous criminalization of Gay sex in a 2010 newspaper interview. HIV-positive people were also subject to repression, and were forcibly quarantined in “treatment centers” isolated from HIV-negative friends and relatives. That system was discontinued in 1993, although treatment centers are still available for patients who are unable to live in their homes. Cuba currently manufactures generic versions of the most common antiretroviral medications, and all HIV-positive Cubans have access to free treatment as part of their national healthcare. Trans Cubans have been able to get free sex reassignment surgery since 2008.
Neo-Nazis attack Gay couple in Athens
14
August 29, 2014
Seattle Gay News
AP
A Gay couple was attacked in central Athens on August 23 by a neo-Nazi mob of 10 to 15 men. According to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini, the attackers “had shaved heads and were wearing black t-shirts,” the typical attire of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Party. Kathimerini said the couple was attacked in the upscale Pangrati neighborhood, east of the city’s main soccer stadium. Both men were injured, with one needing surgery on his ankle. The August 23 incident is only the latest in a series of anti-Gay assaults. Last month another Gay couple was attacked by a group of police officers who observed them holding hands. Greece is generally considered a safe destination for LGBT tourists, and the main cities have significant and increasingly visible LGBT communities, with annual Pride Parades in Athens and Thessaloniki.
Ultra right-wing groups are growing in numbers, however, as the country’s economy languishes in a seemingly permanent recession. Unemployment is now around 30% overall, and over 60% for workers under 30. Golden Dawn took almost 10% of the vote in May elections for the European Parliament, becoming Greece’s third-largest party. They ran on a nationalist, anti-immigrant, anti-Gay platform. Many police officers are said to be Golden Dawn supporters. Police have repeatedly been accused of assaulting immigrants, just as they are accused of beating boyfriends George Kounanis and Harry Vasilakis in July. The Greek Orthodox Church is also antiGay, although less stridently so than their Russian Orthodox colleagues. In January, LGBT activists staged a kiss-in in Piraeus, the seaport of Athens, to protest anti-Gay statements by Bishop Seraphim. The Archbishop of Athens has taken a more moderate approach, urging church officials to be willing to “change with the times.”
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
Members of Greece’s ‘Golden Dawn’ Party shout slogans outside their headquarters
Celebrating 41 Years!
13-year-old girl’s science project IDs fungus threat to HIV patients A 13-year-old girl’s summer science project helped identify the source of fungal infections that have affected HIV patients in Southern California for decades. Elan Filler, the daughter of UCLA infectious disease specialist Dr. Scott Filler, was looking for a summer science project. Her father contacted an old friend and research colleague, Dr. Joseph Heitmen, Chair of Duke University’s Molecular Genetics and Microbiology Department. The two friends recommended that Elan research a fungus native to the Los Angeles area. She then collected 109 swabs from more than 30 tree species and 58 soil samples, grew and isolated the fungus in question, Cryptococcus, and then sent those specimens to Heitman. He, in turn, had Dr. Deborah Springer sequence the fungus’s DNA and compare her findings to those obtained from HIV/AIDS patients’ fungal infections. Springer was surprised to find that specimens from three of the tree species were almost identical genetically with the patient specimens.
One variety of Cryptococcus – Cryptococcus gatii – causes lung and brain infections to which HIV patients are especially susceptible. In fact, C. gatii is reportedly responsible for one-third of all AIDS-related deaths. Springer’s study, which appears in the August 21 issue of PLOS Pathogens, found strong genetic evidence that three tree species – Canary Island pine, Pohutukawa, and American sweetgum – can serve as environmental hosts for C. gatii and become sources for human infections. “Just as people who travel to South America are told to be careful about drinking the water, people who visit other areas like California, the Pacific Northwest, and Oregon need to be aware that they are at risk for developing a fungal infection, especially if their immune system is compromised,” Springer said. The researchers also found that the C. gattii isolated from the environment were fertile, reproducing either by sexual or asexual reproduction. “That finding is important for long-term prevalence in the environment, because this fungal pathogen will be able to grow, reproduce, disperse spores, and serve as a source of ongoing infections,” Springer added.
Anne Maben / Courtesy of LA County Science & Engineering Fair
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
Elan Filler at the LA County Science and Engineering Fair
NIH finds possible substitute for antiretrovirals by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer A new NIH (National Institutes of Health) study suggests that HIV-specific antibodies can be effective at blocking HIV from entering human T cells, including HIV derived from so-called “reservoirs” in HIV-undetectable patients. The technique, called “passive immunotherapy,” may prove to be an effective substitute for the antiretroviral medications now used to control HIV, lead researcher Dr. TaeWook Chun said. Chun is a scientist at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, under the umbrella of the NIH. Finding a way to control HIV without antiretrovirals would be an advantage because of their cost, the potential for cumulative toxicities from lifelong antiretroviral therapy, and the difficulties some patients have adhering to drug regimens and tolerating certain drugs. In the study, NIH researchers obtained HIV from the latent reservoirs of 29 HIVpositive patients whose antiretroviral therapy completely inhibited viral replication. One of the ongoing challenges in finding
SEahawks
continued from cover one out of every three children experiencing some form of bullying, it is Free2Luv’s mission to reach as many communities and children as possible to spread the word “Friends Don’t Let Friends Bully.” “We are thrilled to work with the Seahawks for our ‘Friends Don’t Let Friends Bully’ campaign that encourages youth to stand up and make a difference together, using their voices for good,” says
Free2Luv President and Co-Founder, Tonya Sandis. “We are passionate about creating a safer and kinder place for our youth, raising self-esteem and re-instilling hope. We are excited to hold hands with Clear Channel to spread this important message and take one more step towards ending the bullying epidemic.” “Free2Luv’s mission perfectly aligns with our goal to make a positive impact in our community. We are honored to be teaming up with this organization to help spread their anti-bullying message
Visit us online www.sgn.org
a cure for HIV is dealing with these latent reservoirs of the virus in otherwise healthy HIV-undetectable people. Absent life-long antiretroviral therapy, the latent HIV may begin to replicate itself again, launching a new HIV infection. But in the laboratory, researchers found that several types of “neutralizing HIVspecific antibodies,” also called “bNAbs,” effectively blocked HIV from entering T cells obtained from HIV-negative donors. In addition, the study demonstrated in the laboratory that these antibodies could completely block HIV replication in T cells obtained from HIV-positive individuals receiving antiretroviral therapy. Researchers concluded that passive immunotherapy involving bNAbs individually or in combination with other techniques may control HIV even without antiretroviral therapy. Clinical trials are already underway, and more are planned to test the hypothesis, NIH said in a statement. NIH is a federally funded medical research agency, including 27 Institutes and Centers under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting basic, clinical, and translational medical research.
via the ‘Friends Don’t Let Friends Bully’ campaign. Clear Channel recognizes the gravity of the bullying epidemic and as community leaders, we want to help raise awareness and create change in our community,” said Clear Channel OutdoorSeattle President Pam Guinn. Free2Luv is an anti-bullying nonprofit dedicated to celebrating individuality, spreading kindness and standing up to bullying through arts and entertainment. Visit Free2Luv.org to #TakeThePledge and learn how to be an agent for change.
August 29, 2014
Seattle Gay News 15
Health and Personal Services
www.sgn.org
16
Seattle Gay News
August 29, 2014
Celebrating 41 Years!
Religion & Spirituality
HOME & SPECIALIZED SERVICES
Gary D. TorGerson Co. Expert Painting and Repairs Rot Repair: siding, doors, windows, porches and decks.
www.sgn.org
Lead-Safe Certified
See photographs of our work at www.TorgersonCompany.com Email: info@torgersoncompany.com Contractor Registration #: GARYDTC134CJ Phone: 206-781-0999
Visit us online www.sgn.org
August 29, 2014
Seattle Gay News 17
18
Seattle Gay News
August 29, 2014
Celebrating 41 Years!
Visit us online www.sgn.org
August 29, 2014
Seattle Gay News 19