SGN Aug 3, 2018 - Part 1

Seattle Gay News

Jeff Sessions launches “Religious Liberty Task Force”

Alliance Defending Freedom asks SCOTUS to review

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

At the so-called “Religious Liberty

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), an inappropriately named anti-

group,

filed a petition

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

Seattle Gay News

A farewell note from Purr “Letting go is never easy…”

Dear Friends,

These past 13 years have brought many blessings to my life. Purr was a place to call home. It was this home that brought many of you into my life. I’ve made many friendships over the years and have created many wonderful memories, which I will never forget. As we all go through life, some of us go our separate ways. It’s always hard letting go, but just know, you’ve impacted my life for the better.

I’d like to thank each of my amazing

Employees whom I’ve had a pleasure to work with over the years. You made me very proud every single day. You brought something truly special to this home. We were a family. For this, I will be forever grateful.

I also would like to thank my Family for sticking by me through thick and thin. Mom, Dad, and Debbie, you’re the best a girl could ask for. I love you dearly.

The time has come for me to move on, and retire this “Kitty Bar”. Today, Sunday 7/29, from 2-10pm, I will be working

behind the bar saying my final farewells. It’s been a real honor to have served you all these years and have you in my home. If you get a chance, please stop by. What will I do next? Only time will tell. Relax a bit, I hope.

If I don’t see you, please know this is never “Goodbye”...

Love you All Forever Your Friend, Barbie

The time to VOTE [and REGISTER to vote] is now

by Jesse Monteagudo SGN Contributing Writer

A few articles ago, I asked Trump supporters who read my column to contact me and let me know why they support the President. Apparently Trump supporters do not read my column because, so far, I have not received one reply. It is a shame, because if there is one thing wrong with America today is the fact that we who hold different views do not talk to each other. We insult and attack each other in the media, our blogs, our Facebook posts and Twitter messages. But do we talk to each other? Of course not. At least people on both sides in our first Civil War communicated with each other, if violently.

This lack of communication from the other side in our Great Divide leads me to conclude that people who read “Jesse’s Journal” tend to agree with me, and believe that Trump is the worst thing that’s ever happened to our great country. So what are we going to do about it? I have a friend who spends his time bitching and moaning about Trump, his administration, followers, policies and programs. But does he do anything to stop Trump? Of course not. Like many others, my friend is a victim of sedentary agitation, a condition where, in the words of U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), “We sit on our couch so upset about what’s going on and fail to realize that we have to do something about it.”

As Senator Booker said so well, we cannot allow our inability to do everything to undermine our determination to do something. We MUST do something, or else we will have Trump determine (and destroy) our destinies for the next six years, aided and abetted by a Republican Congress. Unfortunately, barring a sensational revelation on the part of Robert Mueller’s investigative committee, it is

highly unlikely that Trump will be toppled anytime soon. If we want to stop Trump, we must do it ourselves. Happily, the anti-Trump Resistance is alive and well, and always in need of recruits. Opposition groups ranging from the Democratic Party to organizations fighting on behalf of LGBT people, women, labor, youth, the elderly, the disabled, racial or religious minorities, immigrants or the environment are hard at work in your communities, and waiting for you to join them. Why don’t you?

If you cannot join a group, for whatever reason, there is one thing that you can do: VOTE. If you are U.S. citizen,

a legal resident of your state, over 18 and not a convicted felon, you are eligible to vote. Though it might be too late to vote in most primaries, you still have time to register to vote for the November elections. [EDITOR’S NOTE: The deadline to vote in the Washington state primary is next Tuesday, August 7.] Though Trump will not be up for re-election until 2020, voters in November will have a chance to slow Trump’s momentum in its tracks by electing opposition Senators and Representatives, Governors and State Legislators who will say NO and mean it; unlike the Trump droids who make up the current GOP Congress.

Many Americans do not vote; and Republicans in power do their best to keep people from voting, especially those who might vote against them. But you, my friend, must resist the temptation to do nothing, Come November 6 – if not before, in places that allow early voting – you must step away from your easy chair and VOTE, as if your life depends on it. (Because it does.) Do not give Trump and his minions the last laugh. Let us have the last laugh, by electing candidates who will work hard to control his madness. You can’t complain if you do not vote.

Vulcan backs voter registration at SLU Block Party August 10

Next Friday, August 10, between noon and 11pm, more than 80 businesses and organizations located in South Lake Union will take over 9th Avenue N and John Street, including Seattle CityClub’s generous Premier Member Vulcan Inc., for the South Lake Union Block Party. Vulcan, who is presenting the event with Amazon, will be hosting a voter registration booth along with Seattle CityClub staff to promote civic engagement among many of the attendees who are young people and new residents to the region.

The event takes place from noon to 11pm. Community Information Booths and Local Restaurants will participate from noon to 6pm. Food Trucks and Beer Gardens will be open from noon to 11pm. SVC’s Steamroller Smackdown and Plein Air Printing Parlour will take place from 2pm-8pm with awards at 7:45pm. Live music will be performed from 4pm-11pm featuring The Gods Themselves, Acid Tongue, Down North, Deep Sea Diver, and Built to Spill. The SLU Block Party is the largest festival focused on showcasing and celebrating the South Lake Union neighborhood. For more information and complete schedule of events, visit slublockparty.com

Proceeds from the SLU Block Party benefit local organizations doing important work in the community. This year’s Block Party will benefit Plymouth Housing

who

the

TASK FORCE

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religious liberty.”

Speaking from DOJ headquarters in DC, Sessions said he will chair the task force, which will implement the “religious liberty” memo he signed in October 2017.

That 25-page memo outlines 20 guiding principles that federal agencies can use to protect religious liberty in employment, contracting, and programming. The new task force will enforce compliance with the October memo, address new or recurring issues that arise from implementation of the memo, and facilitate interagency coordination regarding the memo.

Sessions made his announcement at a summit panel moderated by DOJ media affairs specialist Kerri Kupec, raising questions about the involvement of the notoriously anti-LGBT legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) in his decision to launch the task force.

Kupec worked at the ADF for four years before joining the DOJ in January this year. In his statement, Sessions said that the DOJ

DISCRIMINATION

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If the high court takes the case, it would be able strike down – or at least severely limit – Obama-era regulations giving Trans workers protection under the Title VII prohibition against discrimination in employment on account of sex.

In March, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the religious convictions of an employer cannot justify discrimination against Transgender employees.

That decision came in the case of Aimee Stephens, who was fired from her job at a funeral home after coming out as Trans to her boss.

had “been holding listening sessions” with “religious groups across America.” The ADF has previously acknowledged participating in such talks.

Sessions and his boss, Donald Trump, have been closely aligned with extreme antiLGBTQ groups, and with ADF in particular. Sessions’ DOJ issued an unusual brief on behalf of the ADF’s client, Jack Phillips, the plaintiff in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case. ADF alumni and allies have also been hired by various federal agencies and nominated for federal judgeships.

In his remarks to the summit, Sessions explicitly said that Trump’s election opened opportunities to reverse pro-LGBT laws and federal regulations.

“A dangerous movement, undetected by many, is now challenging and eroding our great tradition of religious freedom,”

Sessions said.

“There can be no doubt. This is no little matter. It must be confronted and defeated. This election, and much that has flowed from it, gives us a rare opportunity to arrest these trends. Such a reversal will not just be done with electoral victories, but by intellectual victories.”

She then filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency charged with enforcing civil rights laws in the workplace. When the employer refused EEOC arbitration in the case, Stephens sued.

A US district court dismissed her lawsuit on the grounds that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act gave the funeral home an exemption from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which covers sex discrimination in the workplace.

The 6th Circuit overruled this decision, however, definitively ruling that sex discrimination includes discrimination against Trans people – and that there is no exemption to Title VII under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

According to a new research book by Media Matters, the ADF holds many extreme anti-LGBT positions on nearly every aspect of life, advocating laws that would punish sodomy by imprisonment, support for Russia’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, and pushing the discredited practice of conversion therapy.

The group is in many ways the most influential group working to roll back LGBT rights, frequently targeting basic protections for Transgender students and pushing religious exemptions policies.

Sessions’ move was hailed by another powerful anti-LGBT group, the Liberty Counsel, an offshoot of Liberty University Law School.

“The establishment of a Religious Liberty Task Force is an historic and positive step by the Trump administration to protect religious freedom and the rights of conscience,” Liberty Counsel President Matt Staver said in a statement.

“Today’s announcement by the Department of Justice is encouraging, and the Trump administration is to be commended for making this 180-degree turn from the past administration, which used the federal

“Discrimination against employees, either because of their failure to conform to sex stereotypes or their transgender and transitioning status, is illegal under Title VII,” Circuit Judge Karen Nelson Moore wrote for the 6th Circuit.

“The unrefuted facts show that the Funeral Home fired Stephens because she refused to abide by her employer’s stereotypical conception of her sex.”

A representative from the ACLU, who argued the case for Stephens, said at the time that it was “an exciting and important victory for transgender people and allied communities across the country.”

The HRC expressed concern that the Supreme Court might take the case, which would then be decided with Brett Kavana-

government to violate religious freedom and conscience rather than protecting our first freedom. This task force sends a strong message that there is a commitment to protecting religious freedom.”

The Democratic National Committee, on the other hand, condemned Sessions’ task force.

“By creating this task force, Sessions is establishing a unit dedicated to undermining LGBTQ rights and giving anti-LGBTQ far-right extremists like task force head Jesse Panuccio a taxpayer-funded platform to push their anti-equality agenda. Rather than ensuring every person has equal protections and opportunities, Sessions is shamefully doubling down on bigotry,” DNC LGBTQ media director Lucas Acosta said.

“This action is further proof that Republicans continue to push forward an agenda completely out of step with the American people and our values. Democrats will continue to focus on how to improve opportunity for all Americans regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or income.”

ugh replacing Justice Anthony Kennedy.

“[T]he prospect of a Justice Kavanaugh threatens to erode our nation’s civil rights laws, block transgender troops from bravely serving this nation, and allow a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people in every aspect of American life,” HRC President Chad Griffin said in a statement.

In June, the Supreme Court – with Kennedy writing the majority decision –ruled in favor of a Colorado bakery that refused on religious grounds to make a wedding cake for a Gay couple. While the ruling was very narrowly reasoned, it raised concerns that the high court would establish a broad religious exemption to federal laws protecting LGBT Americans.

HRC releases new comprehensive guide for HIV prevention, treatment, and care on HBCU campuses

WASHINGTON – [On July 19], the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, released a new comprehensive guide for Historically Black College and University (HBCU) administrators, staff, and students, outlining many of the critical steps higher educational institutions can take to help achieve an HIV-free generation.

Published by the HRC Foundation’s HIV & Health Equity Project, this guide was shared exclusively last week at the HRC Foundation’s second HBCU Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Briefing for University Presidents and Senior Executives, the largest-ever gathering of HBCU presidents discussing LGBTQ-inclusive practices and policies.

“In the fight to end HIV and AIDS, we must ensure that our work touches every college and university campus – and especially those primarily serving Black college-aged students, who are disproportionately impacted by the epidemic,” said Leslie Hall, associate director of the HRC Foundation’s HBCU Program. “This new guide, shared last week with HBCU leaders, will help these institutions provide equitable treatment, expand access to care, and offer educational resources for people living with HIV and LGBTQ students.”

“Ending the HIV epidemic is a battle the HRC is committed to fighting, and

engaging campus administrators is critical to our efforts,” said Ashland Johnson, the HRC’s Director of Public Education and Research. “This guide empowers them with information about ways they can immediately intervene and take action.”

Despite declining HIV infection rates in the US, college-aged and Black Americans continue to be at a higher risk of acquiring HIV than the general population. In 2015, youth and young adults ages 13 to 24 years old represented more than one in five new HIV diagnoses in America. Eighty percent of those diagnoses occurred in people ages 20 to 24 years old. Among youth diagnosed

with HIV in 2015, 55% were gay or bisexual Black men.

And shockingly, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 51% of young people living with HIV do not know their status, in large part due to inadequate HIV educational resources for young people.

As a group, college students experience heightened risk factors that can lead to contracting HIV, including engaging in highrisk sexual behavior and experimenting with drugs or alcohol. Yet the CDC reports that that between 2000 and 2014, the percentage of schools in which students are required to receive instruction on HIV prevention actu-

ally decreased from 64% to 41%.

The guide’s recommendations to assist colleges and universities in reversing these troubling realities include developing and implementing formal HIV-inclusive policies, decreasing stigma and discrimination for people living with HIV, promoting comprehensive and LGBTQ-inclusive sexual health education on campus, and identifying and collaborating with campus and community partners.

To learn more about the HRC Foundation’s HBCU Project, [visit https://www. hrc.org/resources/about-the-hbcu-project]. To learn more about the HRC Foundation’s HIV & Health Equity Project, [visit https:// www.hrc.org/explore/topic/hiv-aids]. To read the full guide, [visit https://www.hrc.org/ resources/making-hiv-history-a-pragmaticguide-to-confronting-hiv-at-hbcus].

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation is the educational arm of America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. The HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and in every community.

Courtesy of the HRC

HRC releases new “Coming Home” faith guide for LGBTQ evangelical Christians

WASHINGTON – [On July 12], the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, released “Coming Home to Evangelicalism and to Self,” a guide for LGBTQ evangelical Christians [https://www.hrc. org/resources/coming-home-to-evangelicalism-and-to-self]. The HRC worked with an advisory team of evangelical Christian scholars and advocates to develop and shape this essential resource.

Across the nation, LGBTQ people are continuing to have important conversations about the role of faith in their lives. While recent surveys show that 53% of young white evangelical Protestants support marriage equality, many older members of that faith group are still struggling with accepting LGBTQ people – including the LGBTQ faithful worshiping among them. Unfortunately, this leads many LGBTQ evangelical Christians to remain closeted, and to weigh whether and how they might be open in their own faith communities about who they are.

“Within evangelical churches, many LGBTQ people, their loved ones, and their allies are putting in the important work to create a safe and welcoming place to practice their religion. The HRC is proud to release this powerful guide as part of our ongoing effort to help faith leaders and organizers fully embrace the LGBTQ faithful,” said Lisbeth Melendez Rivera, HRC Foundation director of faith outreach and training.

The guide provides advice and resources to help evangelical Christians in the US looking to engage more deeply with their faith, even in the face of significant challenges. “Coming Home to Evangelicalism and to Self” offers strategies for the LGBTQ evangelical faithful seeking

enriching and meaningful lives in their churches and broader faith community.

“We are greatly indebted to the evangelical Christian scholars and activists who helped create this resource, and send encouragement to all LGBTQ evangelical Christians working to reconcile their identity and their faith,” said Michael Toumayan, HRC Foundation’s Religion and Faith Program senior manager.

The HRC is a sponsor of the Wild Goose Festival – an annual gathering of progressive evangelical Christians – and is hosting Justice Camp, a daylong advocacy training for faith organizers seeking to

uplift LGBTQ, black, and Latinx voices in the church.

“Coming Home to Evangelicalism and to Self” is the sixth in a series of faithspecific “coming home” guides released by the HRC Foundation. Earlier editions [were] Mormon, Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, and general faith guides.

To learn more about how the HRC Foundation’s Religion and Faith Program is helping to build a world in which nobody is forced to choose between who they are, who they love and what they believe, go to hrc.org/religion.

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation is the educational arm of America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender, and queer people. The HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and in every community.

Courtesy of the HRC

GYM

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In 2015, Yvette Cormier complained to management at a Midland, Michigan, Planet Fitness after seeing a Trans woman in the locker room. She also raised the issue – in what the gym said was a disruptive way – with other clients of the business.

Planet Fitness responded by canceling her membership due to her “inappropriate and disruptive” behavior. Planet Fitness spokeswoman McCall Gosselin said in 2015 that Cormier violated their “judge -

ment-free zone” policy.

“Our gender identity nondiscrimination policy states that members and guests may use all gym facilities based on their sincere self-reported gender identity,” Gossellin told the Detroit Free Press Cormier then sued Planet Fitness for $25,000, alleging violation of privacy, severe emotional distress, and damage to her reputation as a result of the gym’s actions. By allowing access to “men who self-identify as women,” Planet Fitness was misrepresenting its promise to provide private women’s locker rooms, Cormier claimed.

She lost her case, however, with a Mich-

igan trial court and a state court of appeals agreeing that she had suffered no invasion of privacy.

However, the Michigan Supreme Court reviewed Cormier’s case in April this year, returning the lawsuit to the state appeals court for reconsideration.

In a new decision on July 29, the appellate court found that Planet Fitness violated its contract with Cormier.

“Plaintiff’s actions indicate that she strongly preferred a locker room and a restroom in which individuals who are assigned biologically male are not present, and it is thus reasonable to infer that

defendants’ failure to inform plaintiff of the unwritten policy affected her decision to join the gym,” the court ruled.

Planet Fitness was guilty of “failing to reveal a material fact” in an attempt to “mislead or deceive the consumer,” in violation of Michigan consumer protection laws, the court said.

The case now goes back to the trial court for examination. Cormier’s lawyer David Kallman said he intends to file a motion for summary disposition, meaning that his client would win her case without the need for a trial.

Same-sex couples more likely than straight couples to raise adopted and foster children

LOS ANGELES – New research from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds that an estimated 114,000 samesex couples in the United States are raising children, and many of them have become parents through adoption or fostering.

According to the study, most samesex couples who are raising children have biological children (68%), but same-sex couples are significantly more likely than different-sex couples to be raising adopted or foster children. One in five same-sex couples (21.4%) are raising adopted children compared to just 3% of different-sex couples, and 2.9% of same-sex couples have foster children compared to 0.4% of different-sex couples.

“Our findings highlight the importance of laws and policies that encourage and support adoption and fostering by samesex couples,” said lead author Shoshana Goldberg, PhD, visiting scholar at the Williams Institute. “Without these policies, a qualified population of prospec-

tive parents may not have equal access to government-funded child welfare agencies and services.”

Policy Implications –Aderholt Amendment

These findings are especially relevant in light of legislation currently being considered by Congress. The “Aderholt amendment” seeks to insulate religiously affiliated child welfare providers from nondiscrimination laws that protect, among others, LGBT adults seeking to foster and adopt children, and LGBT children in the foster and adoption systems.

If the amendment passes, states that prohibit adoption and foster agencies from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or family structure could lose substantial federal funding. In addition, federal protections for LGBT parents and children would be at risk under the Aderholt amendment.

Other LGBT Parenting & Child Welfare Research

The Aderholt amendment aims to shield child welfare providers who refuse to place foster or adoptive children with same-sex couples. However, such a view is contrary to previous research. A study by the Williams Institute has found that the children of LGB parents fare as well as children of different-sex parents. Recent findings from the 32-year National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study, which has followed the same cohort of offspring from conception to adulthood, showed that the mental health of young adults with lesbian parents is the same as their peers.

The Aderholt amendment also puts LGBTQ children in the child welfare system at risk. A study by the Williams Institute found that nearly 20% of youth in foster care in Los Angeles were LGBTQ – twice the number of LGBTQ youth estimated to be living outside of foster care. In addition, LGBTQ youth had a higher number of foster

care placements and were more likely to be living in a group home, which are two challenges toward finding permanent homes.

“The disparities experienced by LGBTQ youth in the child welfare system can have long-term consequences for the health and well-being of these youth,” said Bianca D. M. Wilson, PhD, the Rabbi Barbara Zacky senior public policy scholar at the Williams Institute. “This amendment will limit the number of available homes for youth who really need them and will prevent states from holding prejudiced foster care agencies accountable when they fail to help the LGBTQ youth in their care.”

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