SGN Aug 2, 2019 - Part 1

Seattle Gay News

Mayor Pete Buttigieg brings his campaign for U.S. President to Seattle

by Gregory L. Evans Special to the SGN

On July 23rd, Seattle was graced by the kind, inspirational, heartwarming, and eloquent words of Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Ind. Buttigieg is a progressive,

openly Gay mayor in the heart of the Rust Belt. An elected official holding office in the home state of our current vice president, Buttigieg has fought against the poisonous momentum Pence represents and has been a beacon of light his entire career.

see BUTTIGIEG page 4

Merck debuts PrEP implants

Pin-sized implant could block HIV for a full year

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

Pharmaceutical giant Merck has announced the results of a clinical trial of a PrEP prototype that could revolutionize HIV prevention.

The device is pin-sized and designed to be implanted in the patient’s upper arm. According to Merck, the implant can deliver “meaningful doses” of an experimental anti-HIV drug called islatravir, for up to one year.

Laurie Jinkins elected first woman and first Lesbian Speaker of the House in WA state history

Alabama civil rights groups and Montgomery Pride United seek public records on Pride weekend police raids of bars

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (August 1, 2019) –

Three Alabama civil rights groups and Montgomery Pride United filed a public records request with three government agencies yesterday, seeking to determine why bars and restaurants in the city were shut down during Pride month and on the weekend of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the ACLU of Alabama, Hometown Action, and Montgomery Pride United filed the request to determine whether LGBTQ people were unfairly targeted or harassed when they were celebrating Pride events in

On Pete Buttigieg

Following Pete Buttigieg’s appearance at The Showbox Pike Place Market in Seattle on July 23, the SGN solicited comments from readers who had attended the event to describe their experience at the event.

We received the following three comments:

Comment by Wes Edwards

A few months ago, I had never heard of Pete Buttigieg. When I did hear of him, I was skeptical: He was too young, just a mayor and his only experience was leading a medium-sized city.

Three months later, though, I was at the Showbox in Seattle with over 1,000 other people: Like all of them, I was hanging on his every word, screaming like a kid at a concert and feeling the jolts of energy in the room.

He’s still young. He’s still “just” a mayor from a place I drove through once.

He didn’t change. I did.

I listened to him and I began to think differently. I began to let my love of this country exceed my weariness and despair about it.

He stirred some hope. That’s what got us all cheering last Tuesday.

He stirred some rethinking, too.

Maybe it takes a mayor to see both problems and potential. If Washington is where good ideas go to die, maybe our cities are

where we will find the innovation and progressive spirit to lead the country forward.

Maybe a mayor, who lives where he works and answers to his constituents every day, has exactly the right experience for the presidency in 2020.

I didn’t expect to like this guy. But I cannot stop cheering for him.

– Wes Edwards Crown Hill Seattle

Comment by Louise Chernin

Another first (that we know of), but what an experience to gather with over 1,000 Seattleites to witness a member of the LGBTQ community running as a serious candidate for President of the United States. For me, it harkens back to the thrill of witnessing Shirley Chisholm, first African American woman elected to Congress in 1968, declare her run for President in 1972. Every first gets us one step closer to transforming the narrative of who gets to lead.

–

Louise

Chernin GSBA President & CEO

Comment by Sixtine Trocheris

My name is Sixtine, I’m a French citizen, and I came to the event in Seattle to hear Mayor Pete speak last week.

I’ve been following his campaign for a few weeks now. I’ll never be able to vote for him but i still support him.

As a full time traveler, I’ve been homeless for the last 9 months. I’ve seen inspiration that this country commends from other nations and populations, and its influence on them. At the end of the day, we are all neighbors and we all live on the same planet, a dying planet.

I got curious about American politics because the decisions and actions of this government have consequences on the rest of the world, on the European Union, on my country, on my life.

I can’t get involved in Mr. Buttigieg’s campaign, but I can go to his meetings (my ticket was not bought by myself, but gifted to me by someone who could no longer attend the event), hear him speak and spread the word about his ideas: real actions against climate change, his respect and willingness to fight for human rights (for trans American to immigrants).

I went to hear Pete Buttigieg speak in Seattle because he is the kind of leader that this world needs right now.

– Sixtine Trocheris

BUTTIGIEG

continued from cover

Mayor Pete, 37, is the author of Shortest Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Model for America’s Future, husband to Chasten Buttigieg, and a hopeful for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential election cycle.

We all know how important this upcoming election will be for us as citizens of conscience and moral principle, and we need to start working TODAY to build those up who can help dig us out of this crazy black hole we find ourselves in under this current administration.

We encourage you to take a moment to enjoy some of the words that Pete shared with the audience at his fundraising event at The Showbox at the Market. We’re not asking you to go out and support him, but perhaps these excerpts will help you understand that he’s supporting you.

“I’m here by way of the 2020 presidential campaign, but we’ve got to make sure that we never treat the presidency like it’s the only office that matters. There is such energy for reclaiming the idea of values, like freedom, security, and democracy, and we need to be insistent that these are not conservative values. They are American values and they have progressive implications when we take them seriously.

“You are simply not free if you don’t

have access to health care. Health care is an American freedom. You are not free in this country as a woman if your access to abortion care is being denied by men. And men, you have to be up there standing alongside the women who are leading the charge in the fight for reproductive health care.

“Now is our chance to break the spell. We’re going to put an end to the spell that has people thinking that freedom is a conservative value. … You’re also not free if you don’t have access to education. That’s why we need a Secretary of Education who actually cares about education. … Freedom means being able to choose your own spouse instead of a county clerk doing it for you.”

Buttigieg gestures to the side of the stage where Chasten is waiting in the wings:

“I chose him. He’s right over there.”

The pure and genuine smile on Pete’s face and the pride that he has in is husband is contagious.

Speaking to one of his foundational principles, Pete leans into his philosophy on political parties and his goal to disambiguate the idea that we need to continue living in a system that doesn’t represent a spectrum of thought beyond the constraints of left and right:

“So we’re going to break the spell about

freedom and we’re going to, while we’re at it, break the spell that has people thinking that patriotism belongs to a political party; especially because we have a political party that gladly benefited from the intervention of a hostile foreign adversary in our elections. Even if it weren’t for that, national security requires us to think toward the future. 21st-century national security is going to be different and it’s not going to respond to 17th-century solutions like ‘put up a wall.’ … We’ve got to have a whole new vision for national security that includes ending endless wars and not starting ones that can be avoided in the first place.”

Touching gracefully on the issues of domestic terrorism, hate crime, bigotry, racism, and gun control, in a single phrase he eloquently states:

“If we want to be keeping America safe, then we’ve got to name and confront violent white nationalism that’s claiming lives here at home and throughout the world. If we want to be serious about keeping Americans safe, then we have to demand that there will be a way to honor the Second Amendment without it becoming a death sentence for thousands of Americans every year.”

And in a bold moment of clarity and concision, he comes to what we consider a profound and revolutionary thought we should all consider. Please let this sink in:

“… And if we’re going to get real about national security, then the time has come

to face climate disruption as the security threat that it is.”

“Thanks to everybody here who served,” Pete says genuinely amongst other comments.

Buttigieg served active duty in Afghanistan in 2014 as a U.S. Navy Reserve intelligence officer (his total reserve duties were from 2009 until 2017). Take a moment to think about his aptitude here: While serving in political office as mayor of South Bend, he uprooted his life during an election cycle to serve active duty in the military. Then he came out publicly, also during an election in a conservative state, and still managed to win the election and remain in office with 80 percent of the vote.

Buttigieg stands on a platform rooted in a deeply refreshing truth. He reinforces the concept that dissent is patriotic while referencing our Commander in Chief’s recent attack on minority members of Congress.

“I’m pretty sure that the flag that was attached to my shoulder stood up for the idea that you can criticize your leaders without anybody telling you to go back where you came from. Speaking out against the failures of your leaders under that flag is part of how you demonstrate your loyalty ‘to the Republic for which it stands.’”

In closing his speech, along with wellcrafted criticism about the slogan touted by the current administration, Mayor Pete leans in with a barrage of progressive policy and pathways leading to the betterment of ourselves as well as some serious words about society:

“We can deliver freedom, security, democracy in our time, and we’re going to have to. One of the reasons I’m running for president is because I believe America is running out of time. People are saying ‘Why now?’, and it’s because time’s up and we are going to be held to account for the decisions we make right now. I want to be able to tell my kids and my grandkids that

the choices we made in 2020 are the reasons that they can live without us looking over our shoulder. Climate change is going to make it impossible for our way of life to continue, but the decisions we make right now are the reasons that the next generation gets to grow up in a world where your race is no predictor of your life expectancy, or your health or experience with the criminal justice system. That’s up to us right now; that’s a consequence of the choices we make right now. And what’s not going to work is promising a return to normal. We only got here because something was very, very wrong with normal. You don’t get a guy like this within cheating distance of the Oval Office unless the ground is shifting

beneath your feet and there are problems in our economy, our democracy, and our society. That is why we recognize that there is no such thing as honest politics grounded in the word ‘again.’ And Democrats shouldn’t try to come up with our own version of that. There is only the future in our determination to make sure that the future is better than the past. That’s what I need you to be part of with me. Spread the word.”

“You got it, baby!” is shouted proudly from the crowd, rousing an audience-wide cheer.

We encourage you all to listen to this man as he changes the course of politics in America and throughout the world. He may not make it to the point of nomination and we shouldn’t be attached to that outcome. We should be focused on how we can be more like Mayor Pete in our everyday lives: showing growth through compassion, wisdom, intelligence, and the desire for a better society.

LGBTQ+ Affirming Senior Housing Project A community update to be held August 7

Generations Aging with Pride (GenPRIDE) and Capitol Hill Housing, alongside our community partners, will host a Community Update on the status of the LGBTQ+-affirming senior affordable housing project as we prepare to apply to the Seattle Office of Housing for funding.

Join us on August 7 from 6-8pm at The Summit (420 E. Pike St.) to see the new drawings of the building, learn about how affirmative marketing works, and hear how to be the first to know about how to apply. We’ll also be asking for community input on the kinds of services and amenities that

would be most important to you.

This project is led by a community advisory team of LGBTQ organizations: Ingersoll Gender Center, Seattle Counseling Services, UW Aging with Pride, Gay City: Seattle’s LGBTQ Center, GSBA, LGBTQ Allyship, POCAAN, and County Doctor Community Clinic. These organizations will be present for the event – come learn more about the great work they do in and for our community.

More information can be found at www. gapseattle.org/community-update

About GenPRIDE

Generations Aging with Pride (GenPRIDE) is creating Seattle’s first LGBTQ+ Senior Center. In addition to various workshops, fitness classes, and social events focusing on the interests of LGBTQ+ seniors, GenPRIDE also provides training to housing and healthcare service providers about the history and experience of our community. More info: www.gapseattle.org

About Capitol Hill Housing

Since 1976, Capitol Hill Housing has worked alongside communities to build and

Mayumi Tsutakawa reads from Washington’s Undiscovered Feminists at the Seattle Public Library August 8

Remember some of the remarkable, but often unsung, women of the Pacific Northwest as writer and curator Mayumi Tsutakawa discusses her book Washing-

ton’s Undiscovered Feminists from 6pm to 7:30pm Thursday, August 8 at the Southwest Branch, 9010 35th Ave. SW, 206-684-7455.

In this presentation, Tsutakawa will talk about five “women warriors” in the arts and journalism fields who were trailblazers of their time. This list includes the pioneering photographer Imogen Cunningham, the jazz musician Ruby Bishop, artist Priscilla Chong Jue, Leftist journalist Anna Louise Strong and linguist Vi Hilbert. Drawing on her own experiences as an activist and writer, Tsutakawa explores how these women inspired others and changed our state and our society.

Tsutakawa is an independent writer

and curator who has focused on Asian/ Pacific American history and arts. She coedited The Forbidden Stitch: Asian American Women’s Literary Anthology, which received the Before Columbus Foundation’s American Book Award.

More Information Library programs are free and everyone is welcome. Registration is not required. Free parking is available.

This program is part of the “Words, Writers & Southwest Stories” series which features writers connected to the Duwamish Peninsula and Puget Sound. It is presented in partnership with the South-

preserve apartments affordable to working families and promote the qualities that make Seattle a vibrant and engaged city. Today, we provide safe, affordable homes to over 2,200 of our neighbors in almost 50 buildings across the city, while working to make our neighborhoods safer, healthier, and more equitable through the Capitol Hill EcoDistrict. Learn more at capitolhillhousing.org.

Courtesy of GenPRIDE and Capitol Hill Housing

west Seattle Historical Society and cosponsored by Humanities Washington. The Seattle Public Library brings people, information and ideas together to enrich lives and build community. We support universal access to information and ideas, and present the “Words, Writers & Southwest Stories: program so that local history and authors are accessible to all.

For more information, call 206-3864636 or visit www.spl.org. For ADA accommodations, please contact: leap@spl.org.

Courtesy of Seattle Public Library

Seattle Center seeks your input to help design the future of Dupen Fountain

Seattle Center seeks public input to help design the future of The Fountain of Creation, aka Dupen Fountain, nestled in the lower Northwest Courtyard between SIFF Film Center and the New Arena at Seattle Center. The opportunity to undertake some much-needed fountain updates arose in conjunction with Arena redevelopment, and the goal is to complete the work by the time the Arena opens. The Survey remains online through August 31.

Recent Seattle Center visitors may have noticed that the fountain is temporarily closed due to Arena construction. The City of Seattle is using the down time to reimagine how the fountain might serve future generations as it restores and updates the site. Survey responses will help planners respond to what fountain users love about it – and what they don’t! The survey asks questions like: what’s your favorite way to experience the fountain; and what do you think would make it even better?

Everett Dupen’s bronze and stone water garden was created for the 1962 World’s Fair with direction from Seattle modernist architect Paul Thiry. The fountain references the evolution of life and water’s critical role in that process as it celebrates humans, plants and animals on land, sea and in the air. The City of Seattle remodeled the fountain in the early 1990s, adding some 45 stones and boulders to the piece and installing equipment to improve water quality. It’s a popular spot for wading toddlers and their moms in the summer and a pleasant place for quiet contemplation during the cool months.

The survey can be accessed at: bit. ly/2ZaUwpG. For more information on the what’s happening at Seattle Center, click on seattlecenter.com or call 206-684-7200.

About Seattle Center

Connect to the extraordinary at Seattle Center, an active civic, arts and family gathering place in the core of our region. More

than 30 cultural, educational, sports and entertainment organizations that reside on the grounds, together with a broad range of public and community programs, create thousands of events on the 74-acre campus and attract over 12 million visitors each year. At Seattle Center, part of Uptown Arts & Cultural District, our purpose is to create exceptional events, experiences and envi-

ronments that delight and inspire the human spirit to build stronger communities. Activities at the Center generate $1.864 billion in area business activity, 18,621 jobs and $631 million in labor income in King County.

Courtesy of Seattle Center

Take PrEP to stop the spread of HIV

by Colin Fields, MD Kaiser Permanente

Washington state doesn’t have a law that requires adults to wear life jackets when boating. Yet, depending on what kind of boating it is, what the water conditions are, and whether a person can swim, it’s sometimes critical that we choose to wear one. If the boating creates drowning risk, why wouldn’t you wear a PFD? Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is like that. Depending on our behaviors, each of us has a different level of risk for coming into contact with HIV. PrEP is not for everyone, but it is an excellent medicine to reduce the risk of infection in people who may come into contact with HIV.

PrEP has revolutionized HIV prevention and given us the tool we need to keep ourselves safe and healthy. It’s a combination pill of emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (AKA Truvada). When taken daily, this combination medicine can block the cellular machinery HIV needs to make copies of itself and, therefore, prevent HIV seroconversion. Studies show that if you take it every day as directed it can reduce the risk of contracting HIV by 92%. Right now, only 38% of Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) who report behaviors which may put them at risk for HIV are taking PrEP. That means nearly 2/3 of MSM who report behaviors which could expose them to HIV could be at risk of contracting the virus. Though we have done a lot of great education around PrEP we still have a long way to go.

In June, 2019, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) updated the recommendation for HIV prevention giving pre-exposure prophylaxis a Grade A recommendation. “The USPSTF recommends

that clinicians offer preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with effective antiretroviral therapy to persons who are at high risk of HIV acquisition.” USPSTF gives very few grade A recommendations, which mean, “The USPSTF recommends the service. There is high certainty that the net benefit is substantial.” This is a very interesting turn of events because the Affordable Care Act mandates that health plans must cover certain preventive services without copayment or coinsurance. There is precedent already for coverage of certain medicines as preventative services since statin medicines are covered for adults 40-75 who are at high risk of cardiovascular disease. Will PrEP need to be covered by health plans with this new USPSTF recommendation? I don’t know. PrEP is mostly being marketed to the MSM community. However, 24% of King County’s people living with HIV are not men who have sex with men. Right now very few

women are taking PrEP – and equally few education efforts target these women. Yet to prevent new HIV infections we need to ensure at-risk women are considering PrEP. USPSTF acknowledges that there are a number of groups who would benefit from PrEP:

1) Men who have sex with men, are sexually active, and have 1 of the following characteristics:

• In a sexual relationship with a partner living with HIV

• Inconsistent use of condoms during receptive or insertive anal sex

• A sexually transmitted infection (STI) with syphilis, gonorrhea, or chlamydia within the past 6 months

2) Heterosexually active women and men who have 1 of the following characteristics:

• In a sexual relationship with a partner living with HIV

• Inconsistent use of condoms during sex with a partner whose HIV status is unknown and who is at high risk (e.g., a person who injects drugs or a man who has sex with men and women)

• An STI with syphilis or gonorrhea within the past 6 months

3) Persons who inject drugs and have 1 of the following characteristics:

• Shared use of drug injection equipment

• Risk of sexual acquisition of HIV

USPSTF does not specifically explicitly mention our gender diverse community, which is both biased and sad. Transgender women and men are also at increased risk for HIV transmission, yet the cisgender biases in our health care system often mean transgender individuals are less likely to seek medical care or preventative services. Because PrEP is by prescription only, it means patients have to feel comfortable not only going to a doctor but also discussing their sexual behavior. For the transgender community, this can be prohibitive. There are, of course, medical providers in our area who are welcoming and affirming and want to make sure transgender patients are protected from HIV transmission.

We know that PrEP works to protect our community; now, we just need to make sure everyone knows about it and everyone has access to a medical provider who can prescribe it. And the best way to spread the word is by talking to the people you know, sharing this information, and advocating on their behalf.

“Medical Angels” community discussion on gene

therapy as a cure for HIV at the Seattle Public Library August 21

Hear about the experiences of Matt Chappell and Matt Sharp, two HIV activists who took part in early gene therapy trials to cure or control HIV, and the scientist who led that research, Carl June, on Wednesday, August 21, from 7pm to 8:30pm at the Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave., Level 4, Washington Mutual Foundation Meeting Room 1, 206-386-4636.

“Medical Angels” is a community forum about gene therapy and its potential to cure HIV, led by people living with the virus. Chappell, Sharp and June will talk about the gene-editing experiments they participated in to cure or control HIV, and will answer audience questions about their unique results.

The defeatHIV’s Community Advisory Board (CAB) recently conducted focus groups on local people living with HIV. The group learned that a majority of people expressed reluctance to take part in geneediting research, yet they wanted to talk

to individuals who had undergone cell and gene therapy and hear about their experiences directly. This community discussion is a direct result of the defeatHIV CAB’s community listening.

Presenter Bios

Matt Chappell and Matt Sharp were part of a trial to have their immune cells edited to make them resistant to HIV.

In 2014, scientists removed some of Chappell’s blood cells, disabled a gene to help them resist HIV, and returned these edited cells to him. While this procedure did not cure Chappell, it did allow his body to suppress the virus without medications.

Sharp, a veteran of ACT-UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), was diagnosed with HIV in 1988. While taking HIV medicines, Sharp never saw his T cell count rise, despite fully suppressing the virus in his blood. But after a single infusion of his own edited cells during the trial, Sharp saw his count jump to normal, healthy levels. Gene therapy brought long-term improvements to his immune-system health. Sharp thinks participation in the study was worth it, but he still takes daily pills to keep the virus under control.

The researcher involved with this work towards a cure, Carl June, MD, is a cancer and HIV gene therapy pioneer. His work led to the development and commercialization of tisagenlecleucel, the first FDAapproved gene therapy. TIME named him one of the 100 Most Influential People in 2018. June is currently the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory

Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania.

About defeatHIV

This event is presented in partnership with the defeatHIV CAB (Community Advisory Board). The defeatHIV CAB’s mission is to mobilize HIV cure researchers, their institutions and our communities to work together to cure HIV, ensuring that input from people living with HIV is accounted for in defeatHIV’s cure-related research. The group uses their research findings to educate people about cell and gene therapy approaches to cure HIV.

defeatHIV, the Delaney Cell and Genome Engineering Initiative, is a consortium of committed investigators found in both academic and private sector research institutions, working together for a common pur-

PREP IMPLANT

continued from cover

Similar implants are already being used to deliver some kinds of contraceptives.

“We are encouraged by the results of this proof-of-concept study exploring the potential of delivering meaningful doses of islatravir over a 12-week period,” said Dr. Roy Baynes, senior vice president and chief medical officer at Merck Research Laboratories in a statement.

Doctors would load the drug onto the implant and administer it to patients. The implant would provide enough of the drug to the body so that there are appropriate amounts of the drug in the patient’s blood-

pose – to eradicate HIV. As a part of Fred Hutch, defeatHIV is an NIH-funded Martin Delaney Collaboratory working at the forefront of cell and gene therapy research to develop curative therapies for HIV.

More information

Library events and programs are free and everyone is welcome. Registration is not required. The Library’s dynamic approach to building community that enriches lives includes programming that brings people, information and ideas together to respect and embrace the wellbeing of the people we serve.

For more information, call 206-386-4636 or visit www.spl.org. For ADA accommodations, please contact: leap@spl.org.

Courtesy of Seattle Public Library

stream, Dr. George Hanna, vice president of Global Clinical Development at Merck Research Laboratories, told USA Today

“Right now we are focusing the implant on prevention of HIV, but the same implant can theoretically be explored for treatment as well in the future,” Hanna said.

Merck is planning future studies for HIV prevention and treatment with islatravir. Islatravir is very potent, Hanna, explained, and has already performed well in animal testing.

The Merck study included 16 healthy adults who did not have HIV. Six received a low-dose implant, six received a higher dose implant, and four received a placebo, according to Hanna.

BAD RELIGION I:

Secret Catholic group shelters pedophile priests

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

A secret Catholic group operating out of Dryden, Michigan – a tiny town of less than 1,000 residents near Detroit – has been sheltering pedophile priests since 2002, according to a July 29 story published by the Associated Press (AP).

The conservative group, known as Opus Bono Sacerdotii (The Good of the Priesthood, or OBS), “established itself as a counterpoint to the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and other groups that have accused the church of trying to cover up the scandal and failing to support victims of clergy misconduct,” AP says.

Priests who are helped by Opus Bono get legal counsel, safe houses where they can live, and money and support in prison if they are convicted of child abuse.

Opus Bono was created by Fr. Eduard Perrone of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Detroit. Perrone established a reputation as a stern, conservative Catholic, who once refused to marry a couple because he found the bride’s dress “too revealing.”

Even before he founded Opus Bono, Perrone sheltered a West African priest, Komlan Dem Houndjame, who was accused of sexual misconduct in Detroit and on an earlier assignment in Florida. Houndjame was later charged with rape by Detroit authorities.

After 25 years, as the pastor at the Assumption church, Perrone was abruptly removed from his duties after the AP began investigating reports that he had sexually abused a child more than a decade ago.

Two other co-founders of the group were forced out after Michigan’s new Democratic attorney general charged them with misleading donors and misusing Opus Bono funds.

The Assumption church still features glossy Opus Bono brochures touting Perrone’s role as the Opus Bono co-founder and spiritual leader.

The group finances its activities mainly through donations from wealthy Catholic conservatives, the AP says, although volunteers in its Dryden headquarters send out

BAD RELIGION II:

regular fundraising pitches to rank-and-file Catholics. Financial records show donations increased from $73,000 in 2002 to $1.3 million in 2016.

A radio network founded by Tom Monaghan, the billionaire Domino’s Pizza founder who later advised President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, interviewed Maher and Perrone and promoted Opus Bono’s work, according to archived Ave Maria Radio recordings.

From the very beginning, the group won backing from conservative members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy who wanted to advocate for the rights of accused priests.

In spite of this covert support from Catholic officials, Opus Bono kept the Catholic Church at arm’s length, largely to avoid the scrutiny that would come with an official relationship.

“The church benefits from what we’re doing, but it doesn’t give it the support,” Perrone told an interviewer in 2013. “The whole point of this is to be a counterpoint to a movement which is also outside the church, a movement of dissent and against the priesthood.”

However, the group also presented itself as closely aligned with the conservative Catholic movement that dissented from

post-Vatican II modernization of Catholic ritual.

“Use of the Latin, which is the official language of the Church, helps to identify OBS with the Catholic Church in Rome and the papacy,” the group’s founding documents note.

Opus Bono’s client list is confidential, but its promotional materials say it has sheltered more than 8,000 accused pedophile priests. The Michigan attorney general estimates the real number is closer to 1,000.

Greek Orthodox Bishop discusses anal sex, and what could go wrong there?

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

Neophytos, Greek Orthodox Bishop of Morphou, in Cyprus, made himself and his church a laughingstock recently, by commenting on how people become gay.

According to the Bishop, “It happens during the parent’s intercourse or pregnancy. It follows an abnormal sexual act between the parents. To be more clear, anal sex. [Saint Porfyrios] says that when the woman likes that, a desire is born, and then the desire is passed on to the child.”

The Saint Porfyrios cited by the bishop was a 20th century monk reputed to be clairvoyant. He was canonized by the Church of Cyprus in 2013. The bishop did not explain how the saint came by his knowledge of anal sex.

According to Accept LGBTI Cyprus – a Greek Cypriot human rights group – Neophytos made his remarks during a public meeting in June that was open to the public. During the meeting, the floor was open for people to ask the bishop any questions they

had on their minds.

As soon as Neophytos’s remarks went public, he faced an international social media backlash, with some people asking what happens in the fetus to make a priest abuse children.

The bishop defended himself, saying he was merely transmitting the teachings of the Orthodox Church.

“I expressed the position of the Church and the position of the saints,” he explained.

The Cypriot government had other ideas, however. It is “greatly troubled and dismayed” by the bishop’s remarks, a spokesperson said.

According to Cypriot spokesperson Prodromos Prodromou, the bishop’s views contradict Cypriot civil rights laws protecting the rights of all citizens. They “insult the dignity and injure the reputation” of Cypriot citizens and should be retracted, he said.

Meanwhile, Cyprus’s Human Rights Commissioner said the bishop’s remarks were “discriminatory.”

Over 137,000 LGBT people in South Carolina lack statewide protections from discrimination

LOS ANGELES (July 31, 2019) – An estimated 137,000 LGBT adults in South Carolina are vulnerable to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, according to a new report by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.

South Carolina’s statewide nondiscrimination law, the South Carolina Human Affairs Law, does not include sexual orientation or gender identity. Researchers estimate that local ordinances protect only about 1% of South Carolina’s workforce from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Local ordinances also protect only about 8% of adults from discrimination in housing and about 12% of adults from discrimination in public accommodations.

Absent a statewide law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, LGBT people in South Carolina are vulnerable to discrimination and are disadvantaged economically.

Findings

• 28% of LGBT adults in South Carolina reported having a household income below $24,000 compared to 23% of non-LGBT adults.

• 23% of LGBT adults in South Carolina reported that they do not have health insurance compared to 13% of non-LGBT adults.

• 36% of LGBT adults in South Carolina reported not having enough money for food compared to 18% of non-LGBT adults.

• 11% of LGBT adults in South Carolina reported being unemployed compared to 5% of non-LGBT adults.

“Adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the South Carolina Human Affairs Law would protect tens of thousands of LGBT people in the state from discrimination, which can contribute to improved economic stability,” said state and local policy director Christy Mallory. “These new protections wouldn’t burden the courts or state agencies. Our research indicates that there would be only about 55 new complaints each year, and the existing enforcement system could absorb these complaints without the need for additional staff or resources.”

A 2018 poll found that 58% of South

Carolina residents support laws that would protect LGBT people from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations.

Read the report [at https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/ South-Carolina-ND-July-2019.pdf].

The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, a think tank on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, is dedicated to conducting rigorous, independent research with real-world relevance.

Courtesy of the Williams Institute

Victory Fund endorses Ritchie Torres for US Congress; faces anti-LGBTQ opponent in effort to become first LGBTQ Afro-Latinx congressperson

WASHINGTON, DC (July 29, 2019) –

Today, the LGBTQ Victory Fund, the only national organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ leaders to public office, endorsed New York City Councilmember Ritchie Torres in his 2020 race for New York’s 15th Congressional District. In the primary, Torres will face one of the most anti-LGBTQ Democrats in the entire nation – fellow Councilmember Ruben Diaz, Sr. – and the primary winner will almost certainly win the general election in this heavily Democratic district. Torres will become the first openly LGBTQ Afro-Latinx person ever elected to Congress if he is victorious in November 2020.

In the second quarter, Torres raised $522,000 compared to Diaz’s $80,766, making Torres the clear frontrunner in the race.

“This is among the most important Democratic congressional primaries of 2020, with voters choosing between one of the most homophobic Democrats in the nation and an openly gay man who champions equality,” said Mayor Annise Parker, president and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund. “Ritchie will become the first openly LGBTQ Afro-Latinx person ever elected to Congress when he wins in 2020 – adding a crucial voice to a Congress where people of color and LGBTQ people are severely underrepresented. The South Bronx deserves a leader who uses their position to champion the urban poor and other underserved communities, not a man who uses his platform to denigrate his own constituents because they are women or LGBTQ.”

“This primary presents a stark choice: between a progressive new guard and a reactionary old guard; between an LGBTQ trailblazer and a vicious homophobe; between a new generation of leadership and more of the same,” said Torres. “This endorsement makes clear that this race is of upmost importance to the LGBTQ community and will have a profound impact on the types of policies that are pushed in Washington, DC to impact LGBTQ people. I’m proud to have the endorsement of the Victory Fund.”

Torres is the Victory Fund’s fifth federal endorsement for the 2020 election cycle, having endorsed Mayor Pete Buttigieg for President of the United States, Dan Baer for US Senate, and Gina Ortiz Jones and Jon Hoadley for US House. In 2018, the Vic-

tory Fund endorsed a historic number of LGBTQ candidates for Congress, and eight US House candidates and two US Senate candidates won their elections – the most ever.

More information about the candidates is available at victoryfund.org/ourcandidates. Since 1991, the Victory Fund has helped thousands of openly LGBTQ candidates win local, state and federal elections.

The LGBTQ Victory Fund works to change the face and voice of America’s politics and achieve equality for LGBTQ Americans by increasing the number of openly LGBTQ elected officials at all levels of government. victoryfund.org

Courtesy of the LGBTQ Victory Fund

Court approves settlement in HB 2 replacement case

WINSTON-SALEM, NC (July 23, 2019) – The State of North Carolina cannot use HB 142, the law that replaced HB 2, to prevent transgender individuals from using public restrooms and other facilities in state government buildings that match their gender, under an agreement approved today by a federal court.

US Judge Thomas Schroeder signed a consent decree order that was jointly submitted by Gov. Cooper and civil rights groups representing LGBTQ North Carolinians in the three-year legal challenge to North Carolina’s notorious 2016 antiLGBTQ law, House Bill 2, and the 2017 anti-LGBTQ law that replaced it, House Bill 142. The North Carolina General Assembly, which intervened in the lawsuit, opposed the consent decree.

The American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal represent six LGBTQ North Carolinians in the lawsuit.

“After so many years of managing the anxiety of HB 2 and fighting so hard, I am relieved that we finally have a court order to protect transgender people from being punished under these laws,” said Joaquin Carcaño, the lead plaintiff in the case. “This is a tremendous victory but not a complete one. While I am glad that Gov. Cooper agreed to this settlement, it remains devastating to know that local protections for LGBTQ people are still banned under state law while so many members of our community continue to face violence, harassment, and discrimination simply because of who we are. The fight for full justice will continue.”

“We are thrilled to obtain some clarity and relief for transgender North Carolinians who have been suffering under HB 2 and HB 142 for years. While this part of the court fight may be ending, so much urgent work remains as long as people who are LGBTQ are denied basic protections from violence and discrimination simply because of who they are,” said Irena Como, acting legal director of the ACLU of North Carolina. “The shameful stain of House Bill 2 and the pain and harm it caused to so many people will always be part of North Carolina’s history. LGBTQ North Carolinians still lack comprehensive, statewide nondiscrimination protections while on the job, patronizing a business open to the public, or simply going about their daily lives.”

“Using facilities that match one’s gender identity is a basic necessity for full participation in society, and this order’s confirmation that transgender people can do so is an important victory. Being able to safely navigate everyday life when you set foot outside your home is not a luxury. It is a basic foundation for being treated and accepted as co-equal members of society, like everyone else,” said Tara Borelli, Lambda Legal counsel.

ALABAMA

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locations around the city and law enforcement forced LGBTQ patrons out of establishments under distress and with little explanation.

The records request, which is addressed to the Alabama Alcohol Beverage Control Board, Montgomery Police Department, and Montgomery Fire/Rescue, asks the three agencies to produce materials that show the planning, execution, and followup on the raids at A Touch of Soul Cafe, Club Reset, and Club Ciroc, so that the organizations can evaluate the records and share them with the public.

“The fear that was triggered and the pain that was caused the night of the raids cannot be undone,” said Meta Ellis, direc-

Background

Passed in 2016, House Bill 2 removed local legal protections for LGBTQ people, among others, and prohibited transgender people from using public facilities matching their gender identity. The ACLU and Lambda Legal challenged the law on behalf of LGBTQ North Carolinians days after its passage.

Later that year, the court granted a preliminary injunction to stop the University of North Carolina from enforcing the law against three plaintiffs in the case who are transgender. The lawsuit was amended to

tor of Montgomery Pride United. “But if the city of Montgomery and its LGBTQ residents and allies are to heal and move forward together, there must be a full accounting of the raids by all government agencies involved.”

The June 28, 1969, police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York City was one of several ongoing raids used to detain and humiliate LGBTQ people. But that night, the crowd grew angry, and a tense standoff led to several nights of violent uprising. The Stonewall riots served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement in the US and around the world.

“LGBTQ people exist and deserve dignity everywhere,” said David Dinielli, deputy legal director at the Southern Poverty Law Center. “Especially in Montgomery, Alabama – whose history in the struggle for civil rights is renowned – we cannot permit

challenge HB 142 when the replacement law was passed in 2017. Last year, Judge Schroeder ruled that the replacement law does not bar transgender people from using public restrooms and other facilities that match their gender. That law still prevents cities from passing any prohibitions on discrimination in places of public accommodation or by employers until December 2020.

The approved consent decree resolves the portion of the case challenging the 2017 law that replaced HB 2. It does not resolve the portion of the case challenging the lawfulness of HB 2 for the period when it was

the use of state power to quash peaceful Pride celebrations to go unexamined and unchallenged.”

“Significant progress for the LGBTQ community has occurred since the Stonewall Inn riots 50 years ago,” said Justin Vest, executive director of Hometown Action, “but throughout the nation, and the Deep South in particular, the community faces ongoing discrimination permitted by law or enabled by law enforcement agencies. Law enforcement intimidation was wrong in 1969, and – intentional or not – it’s wrong in 2019.”

“Organizations like the ACLU of Alabama and our partners in this public records request will continue to be a watchdog in Montgomery and throughout Alabama,” said Dillon Nettles, policy analyst at ACLU of Alabama, “so that LGBTQ communities are protected and able to come together in

in effect, which has been stayed pending the Supreme Court’s resolution of several employment discrimination cases involving LGBT employees.

The final consent decree is available at https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/carcano-et-al-v-cooper-et-al-consent-decree. For more background on the case, go to https://www.aclu.org/cases/carcano-etal-v-cooper-et-al and https://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/cases/nc_carcano-vmccrory.

Courtesy of the ACLU

solidarity and in celebration during Pride Month and every day.”

The open records request is available at www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/ora_ request_re_touch_of_soul_cafe_raid_to_ mpd_mfr_signed.pdf.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Alabama with offices in Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi, is a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate and bigotry, and to seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of society. For more information, visit www. splcenter.org.

Courtesy of the SPLC

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

AHF alarmed at reports of Border Patrol separating families based on HIV status

WASHINGTON, DC (July 26, 2019) –The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today decried statements from the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) that it is using HIV status as a basis to separate families attempting to enter the US at its southern border. According to the Washington Blade, CBP Chief of Law Enforcement Operations Brian Hastings said at a July 25 US House Judiciary Committee hearing in an exchange with US Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) that the CBP is using HIV

as a rationale to separate families.

However, since January 4, 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has determined that HIV isn’t a communicable disease of public health significance.

The AHF calls on US Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan, who oversees the CBP, to clarify the department’s own policy, which states that “… having HIV infection will no longer make a foreign national inad-

missible to the United States.”

“HIV stigma is deadly,” said Michael Weinstein, president of AHF. “Separating children from their families is outrageous enough. But to use HIV as a basis for separation further stigmatizes and traumatizes people living with HIV who need to stay in care and get access to life-saving medicines. We call on the US government to immediately halt family separations based on HIV status.”

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation

Spain welcomes more than 30 refugees

I am pleased and excited to let you know that [on July 31, 2019], more than 30 LGBT refugees living in Turkey left for the start of a new life and beginning in Madrid, Spain.

A few months ago, Spain asked the UNHCR [UN High Commissioner for Refugees] office in Ankara for refugee referrals. Many refugees who were already referred to the USA or Canada for resettlement were contacted by the UNHCR to see if they were interested [in going] to Spain.

The first group of refugees were interviewed by immigration officers at the Embassy of Spain in Ankara in the last few weeks. They were in Istanbul [the] last three days to receive required orientations by the International Migration Organization (IOM) and receive their visas and travel documents. Today they start a new chapter of their lives.

Currently, more than 2,000 LGBT refugees from 17 nationalities are residing in Turkey awaiting resettlement. Due to President Trump’s travel ban, the majority

of those refugees cannot be referred to the USA for resettlement, and the immigration pipeline for Canada is overwhelmed.

European countries have not accepted many conventional refugees from the UNHCR office in Ankara in the last several years due to [the] number of inland refugee claimants in Europe. In the last several years, we have encouraged European members of parliament to pay attention to the plight of LGBT refugees and protect those individuals who had to escape on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. We are happy that Spain took action to grant those refugees a new chance at life. We hope other European governments will follow Spain and provide support and protection since Turkey is not a safe country for LGBT refugees.

Muchas gracias, España, Arsham Parsi

Executive Director of IRQR, Toronto

(AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/ or services to over 1.2 million people in 43 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific region,, and Eastern Europe. To learn more about the AHF, please visit www. aidshealth.org or www.facebook.com/ aidshealth; also Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare.

Courtesy of the AHF