Celebrating 39 Years!
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Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Fiscal cliff-diving What the budget crisis means for the LGBT community by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Relax. But only a little. The country is not going to do a Thelma and Louise over the “fiscal cliff” even if Congress fails to reach a compromise solution
control of the House in the 2010 10-year period. In the fall of 2011 the congreselection. sional “super committee,” charged with devising a plan to reduce the A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL In the Budget Control Act of deficit by this amount, failed to 2011, the administration traded its produce a proposal that could get promise of future deficit negotia- majority agreement in Congress. tions for an immediate increase in The lame-duck session of Con-
Automatic cuts to the federal budget – known as sequestration – will be triggered and will go into effect beginning in January 2013. by January 1. Nevertheless, real people in the LGBT community will suffer real harm if the federal government does not resolve its budget crisis in a balanced and equitable way. In spite of the overly dramatic name, originally coined by Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke, the “fiscal cliff” is really nothing more than a temporary compromise between the Obama administration and the Republicans who gained
the federal debt ceiling. As part of that deal, congressional Republicans held the country’s creditworthiness and economic recovery hostage to force painful and immediate spending cuts, totaling more than $1 trillion over the 10-year period from 2012 through 2021. In addition to these immediate cuts, the Budget Control Act also left Congress with the task of finding an additional $1.2 trillion to cut from the budget over the same
gress also failed to produce a deal. This means that automatic cuts to the federal budget – known as sequestration – will be triggered and will go into effect beginning in January 2013 so as to achieve the $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction as mandated by the Budget Control Act.
see fiscal page 15
has prevailed’ New funding announced ‘Love The day marriage equality became real to address poverty in LGBT community file photo
to being a little nervous, while some had waited for decades and could hardly wait another minute. Here’s a little background: I worked hard in support of R-74 because I believe to my bones that all adults should have the right to marry the person they love. Since the Andersen case in 2004, where many new friends were plaintiffs in that lawsuit demanding Seattle City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw the right to marry, I have been deeply invested. When by Sally Bagshaw R-74 was on the ballot this year, it was personal and I wanted to help. Seattle City Council I walked the 43rd District encourSunday, December 9, 2012, was aging voters to vote yes on R-74; an emotionally charged day for I talked with literally hundreds of people encouraging them to vote; me. Inside, City Hall was decked I helped people register. So, standwith flowers, platforms were ing shoulder to shoulder with my raised for individual ceremonies, friends at the Westin on Tuesday, and beautifully crafted backdrops November 6 – many of whom had hung from the ceiling, converting waited years for the right to marry the building into an almost-elegant – was exhilarating. We hugged, we wedding venue. Couples and their cried, we smiled until our faces entourages blew in from the east hurt. We won. side, surrounded by their family see bagshaw page 22 and supporters. Some confessed
reuters
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Pride Foundation has been awarded a grant of $400,000 over four years by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation will re-grant the funds through a special Request for Proposals (RFP) process to nonprofit organizations that propose innovative approaches to addressing poverty in the LGBTQ community in Washington state and Portland, Oregon, with particular emphasis on proposals and partnerships that focus on homeless LGBTQ youth, according to Philip Wong, communications director for Pride Foundation. “LGBTQ youth are disproportionately represented among homeless youth, and may make up as much as 50 percent of the total homeless youth populations in Portland and Seattle on any given night,” said Kris Hermanns, Pride Foundation’s executive director. “These youth are more likely
Weddings By the Sea Bill and Melinda Gates
see poverty page 22
www.oceanshoresweddings.com 206-403-8170 Let us make your wedding day as fun as a day at the beach.
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Celebrating 39 Years!
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Rev. Barbara Allen, Eric Andrews-Katz, Madelyn Arnold, Maggie Bloodstone, Beau Burriola, Jessica Davis, Ron Anders, Jessica Price, Milton W. Hamlin, Scott Wittet, Nevin Jefferson, Jason A. Miller, Liz Meyer, Rod Parke, Don Paulson, Scott Rice, Leslie Robinson, Richard Kennedy, Rex Wockner
op-ed Pope should practice what he preaches Got that? A woman marrying another woman is the moral equivalent to a suicide bomber. Homos are ruining marriage, and There are a lot of things that threaten therefore peace, for everybody. Boo. world peace: The ready availability of asApparently not satisfied with calling out sault rifles. The military-industrial com- the Gays during his December 8 “peace” by D’Anne Witkowski SGN Contributing Writer
Benedict is pretty freaked out about all of the gains Gays and Lesbians have made toward marrying for real in this world ... so he used his Christmas speech to accuse Gays and Lesbians of flipping the bird to God.
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Publication of names, photographs or likenesses of any person, organization, event or business in this publication cannot be taken as any indication of the sexual orientation of the person, organization, event or business. Opinions expressed in bylined articles, columns, and letters are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff or management of this paper. Seattle Gay News welcomes unsolicited material, including letters to the editor, but reserves the right to edit or reject material. All rights revert to authors upon publication. We assume no liability for loss or damage of materials, solicited or not. We invite feedback, please write. And please play safe. It is our policy that no money shall be refunded if you choose to cancel your subscription or ad. However, credit towards any size ad will be given for the balance owed. No exceptions.
In Loving Memory Of
Steve Foiles, Scott Roger Alpert, Cookie Andrews-Hunt, James Leland Moore, Randy Peters, Lee Richeson, Shaun Shelton, Jim Tully, James Arnold
KNOW YOUR ROLE Thanks to homos, the pope said, gender is “no longer a given element of nature that man has to accept and personally make sense of – it is a social role that we choose for ourselves, while in the past it was chosen for us by society.” In other words, God assigned you a role, damn it. You’re either a woman who wants a penis in her vagina or you’re a man who wants to put his penis into a vagina. For peace. This penis/vagina “duality,” he went on, is “an essential aspect of what being human
plex. Terrorism. Chemical weapons. Nuclear arms. Global warming. Religious intolerance. Greed. Power-hungry dictators. The war on drugs. Vast economic inequality. You know, just to name a few little things. But I can’t help but feel like I’m forgetting something. Something else as terrible as a dictator killing his own people or a suicide bomber or an elementary school full of dead children … Oh! I’ve got it: a guy marrying another guy (or a lady marrying another lady). But don’t take my word for it. Take it from Pope Benedict XVI, who said as much in his Message for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace (which is January 1, by the way, in case you wanted to celebrate). After decrying abortion and saying that pro-choice people are actively working against happiness and peace, he turned his attention to the Gays. “There is,” he said, “a need to acknowledge and promote the natural structure of marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the face of attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different types of union. Such attempts actually harm and help to destabilize marriage, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society.”
speech, the pope wagged his gnarled finger at them again during his Christmas speech. What it comes down to is that Benedict is pretty freaked out about all of the gains Gays and Lesbians have made toward marrying for real in this world, including in heavily Christian countries. And so he used his Christmas speech to accuse Gays and Lesbians of flipping the bird to God.
is all about.” “When freedom to be creative becomes the freedom to create oneself, then necessarily the Maker himself is denied and ultimately man too is stripped of his dignity as a creature of God,” Benedict asserted. Being Gay, in the pope’s eyes, is a choice – and a bad one at that. All this coming from a man who himself has eschewed traditional marriage in favor of an alternative lifestyle.
GAYS: THREAT TO PEACE? He added that homosexuality was basically “an offense against the truth of the human person, with serious harm to justice and peace.”
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Seattle Gay News
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Local news
The top local news of 2012 nate gowdy / seattle gay news
Same-sex marriages became legal in Washington on December 9. After getting married at City Hall these newlyweds exited on the Grand Staircase greeted by cheering crowds.
SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BECOMES REALITY In December, legal same-sex ceremonies took place across the state, including inside Seattle City Hall, for the first time ever. The weddings were held after Washingtonians passed same-sex marriage by popular vote. Referendum 74 had asked voters to either approve or reject the state law legalizing same-sex marriage that legislators passed earlier in the year. That law was signed by Gov. Chris Gregoire in February but was put on hold pending the outcome of the election. Nearly 54% of voters approved R-74. Washington joined Maine and Maryland as the first states to pass same-sex marriage by popular vote. Six other states – New York, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont – and the District of Columbia already allowed same-sex nuptials. The other states’ laws were enacted either by lawmakers or court rulings. INSLEE BEATS MCKENNA In a very close race, after a vote count that went on for days, Democrat Jay Inslee prevailed over Republican Rob McKenna, continuing a long winning streak in governor’s races for Inslee’s party. Inslee, McKenna and outside political groups raised and spent some $40 million in the contest. McKenna, Washington’s attorney general and a former King County councilman, was favored by many to win because he was the GOP’s best candidate in many years. The last time a Republican won a Washington governor’s
scribed deadline to suspend his fundraising efforts. Although Murray is running in what is perceived to be a tight race, his chances of winning are very good. Seattle Gay News has endorsed Ed Murray for mayor of Seattle. nate gowdy / seattle gay news
race was in 1980, when John Spellman was elected in that year’s GOP landslide. Inslee, a former longtime congressman and There’s no denying it – this was a year that supporter of the LGBT community, will be the LGBT community will long remember. sworn into office in mid-January. Here is a look back at the top people and events in Washington state that made headlines in 2012: by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor
Former President Bill Clinton (l) and Washington gubernatorial candidate Jay Inslee at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle in September 15. Inslee was elected Governor on November 6.
ED MURRAY ANNOUNCES INTENTION TO RUN FOR MAYOR State Sen. Ed Murray announced his intention to run for mayor of Seattle on December 5, less than one month after he shared in the victory for same-sex marriage. Murray, an out Gay legislator, has spent two decades in the state House and Senate as a champion of LGBT equality. Recently, Murray jumped ahead in fundraising. As a sitting senator, Murray may not raise money while the state legislature is in session, but he managed to bring in a whopping $122,776 in the nine days before the pre-
MARIJUANA POSSESSION LEGALIZED (SORT OF) In a move that was widely viewed as impossible, Washingtonians legalized the recreational use of marijuana on November 6. The successful initiative had the support of many elected leaders, as well as current and former law enforcement officials, who said prohibition no longer makes sense. Colorado passed a similar measure, while Oregon voters rejected one. Marijuana is still illegal under federal law, and there’s no firm indication yet what action the Justice Depart-
ment might take against states or businesses that participate in the nascent pot market. Washington’s new law allows possession of up to an ounce for people over 21. But selling marijuana remains illegal for now. The initiative gave the state a year to come up with a system of licensing for growers, processors, and retail stores. LOCALLY BASED COMPANIES SUPPORT SAME-SEX MARRIAGE Without a shadow of a doubt, the successful passage of marriage equality in Washington State was due in large part to the support from more than 100 businesses, large and small, that endorsed same-sex marriage in the Evergreen State. Big players, however, like Microsoft, Amazon, and Starbucks, were instrumental not only for their branding recognition, but for the money and resources they put behind the campaign. Many companies pledged support before Gov. Chris Gregoire signed the bill in February. PATTY MURRAY HAS BANNER YEAR Washington’s U.S. Sen. Patty Murray made 2012 count. In February Murray strongly defended women’s access to contraception under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. As chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, she saw Democrats expand their Senate majority, President Obama re-elected, and a Lesbian, Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) elected to the U.S. Senate. As chair of the Committee on Veterans Affairs, Murray continued her mission of improving the lives of veterans and, in particular in 2012, the lives of LGBT veterans and their families. She supports the repeal of DOMA, and was a vocal supporter of both Governor-elect Inslee and the Approve Referendum 74 campaign for marriage equality.
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Violent crime is a growing problem for Seattle’s LGBT community by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Seattle is a city of neighborhoods. People tend to live, shop, play, and work all in the same neighborhood. So when a crime happens in White Center, it’s not too surprising that its effects aren’t always felt in the Gay community, whose focus is typically Capitol Hill (and more recently, West Seattle). But all that is beginning to change. Guns are increasingly becoming a problem, violent crime is on the rise, and Capitol Hill is in danger of becoming a lawless outpost. So what happens when you add being LGBT and obvious to the picture? Well, I don’t think it takes a genius to answer that question. The bottom line is, as it stands
Suspect still at large. • December 25, 10 p.m., 15th Ave. E., two men beat and mug a man for an iPhone. Suspects still at large. • December 25, Sound Transit art program reports that one of the art pieces hanging on the red construction wall has been stolen. Police have no leads. • December 25, Gay City reports library computer stolen, Kaladi Cafe cash stolen, and some damage to POS system sustained. SPD has no suspects or leads in the case. Sadly, the list goes on, and on, and on. Guns, knives, and assault accompany many of the police reports. Race, age, and even gender do not seem to play a role in how suspects are choosing their victims. Jen Deleo / Seattle Gay News
The murder of Danny Vega remains unsolved
information in regard to his death. On November 15, 2011, around 7:30-8 p.m., Rainier Valley resident Danny Vega was walking in the 4200 block of South Othello Street in Seattle. The 58-year-old man was assaulted and robbed by three Black teenagers. Twelve days later, Vega died at Harborview Medical Center. Seattle Police Chief John Diaz promised
THREATENED BY GANG According to Saarenas, anti-Gay sentiment has crept into the neighborhoods of Rainier Valley due to gang violence. Just two weeks before Vega was attacked, Saarenas told me he was in the front yard of the house they shared, watering the lawn when an African-American teen came up to
I was told that the department simply does not have enough officers to deal with the spike in violent crime. an aggressive investigation and asked anyone with leads to call homicide detectives at (206) 233-5000. Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound is offering up to $1,000 cash for any information leading to an arrest in the case (1-800-222-TIPS). Video and still photos from a surveillance camera near the crime scene were released on November 30, 2011, but generated no arrests. Jessica Paradisco was attacked and robbed on board a light rail train
right now, if you are LGBT – obvious or not – you are unsafe in Seattle when the sun goes down. The next time you are on Capitol Hill I want you to do an experiment. Barring the East Precinct, stand outside and time how long it takes for you to see another SPD patrol, from car to car. You’ll be shocked at the time lapse, I assure you. In a meeting with an assistant Seattle police chief, who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity, I was told that the department simply does not have enough officers to deal with the spike in violent crime. I was also told that, due to budget cuts, it doesn’t look like things are going to improve anytime soon.
TWO UNSOLVED MURDERS As I write this, Capitol Hill has two unsolved murders on the SPD roster: • March 6, 2011, 500 block, 11th Ave. E. and E. Republican St., Zachary Lewis was found dead, having been beaten to death in the lot that will someday be Broadway Hill Park. Lewis was a resident of an Eastlake “supportive housing” facility, and was savagely beaten as both arms were reportedly broken. A reward was offered for more information in the case but a suspect has never been publicly identified. • January 17, 2012, 1700 block of Harvard Ave., 11:20 p.m., Darek Darewski was shot to death on the sidewalk behind Seattle Central, several blocks from his Capitol Hill apartment. The gunman fled the scene. A suspect has never been publicly identified. There is, however, one particular case that points to the problem of unsolved violence in Seattle. Although it did not happen on Capitol Hill, the victim was an out and proud member of the LGBT community. His name was Danny Vega and he was, most certainly, Gay.
CHRISTMAS CRIME WAVE And the latest police reports show this to be a sad reality for Seattle, and Capitol Hill in particular. Capitol Hill Seattle Blog (www.capitolhillseattle.com) publishes reports of violent crime on the Hill almost on a daily basis. Here is a snapshot of some recent reports: • December 26, 7:45 p.m., victim says robbed by man with “a gold badge” posing STILL NO JUSTICE FOR VEGA as police officer in Volunteer Park. Suspect Over one year has passed since Danny still at large. • December 25, 11 p.m., Belmont Ave. E., Vega was killed. No one has been arrested. man reported he was robbed at gunpoint. And no one has publicly come forward with
the fence with his fists clenched and said to him, “Fuck you, bitch. You faggot. I’m gonna kick your ass.” Saarenas told me he was frightened by the incident and was glad that there was a fence between them. “Because I really thought he was going to come after me,” he said. That’s when Saarenas said he noticed something peculiar. Vega had recently installed a sign on their fence advertising his hair salon. “The young man yelling at me ‘WE GRIEVE WITH YOU’ thought I was Danny,” he said. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn appeared Weeks later, Danny Vega was beaten so with top police officials at the Filipino Com- badly he slipped into a coma and ultimately munity of Seattle Center for a public meet- died. ing in late November 2011, at the request of Vega’s family and the SPD Filipino AdviTIME TO FIGHT BACK sory Council. Members of the LGBT comDanny Vega’s murder must be solved. The munity as well as the City of Seattle LGBT streets must be cleansed of this violence. Commission were in the crowd. Attendance Justice must be served. swelled to more than 300. I, for one, am not about to allow the streets “We grieve with you,” McGinn said. on Capitol Hill – or anywhere else for that “This is a horrifying and tragic loss, and it is matter – to become open season on victimizthe highest priority of our police department ing members of the LGBT community. And to solve this crime with your help.” neither should you. The nonprofit organizaVega’s housemate and friend of over 20 tion that I founded and currently run, Social years, James Saarenas, said to me that night, Outreach Seattle (SOSea) (www.socialout“Danny was targeted because he was Gay.” reachseattle.com) has tasked our program Saarenas and Vega had been friends since Straight Allies for Equality (SAFE) with they immigrated to the U.S. in 1982. He helping to make the streets safe and to edusaid the police don’t “seem to get it – what cate people on personal safety when walkhappened to Danny was motivated by hate.” ing around at night. In addition, I am schedVega had mentioned to Saarenas before that uled to meet with the East Precinct comhe had been harassed by local teens in the mander, Capt. Ron Wilson, on January 7 to neighborhood. address the actions that SOSea is prepared “You had to know Danny to understand to take should things not improve. And I can just how openly Gay he was,” his friend told tell you right now that one of them will be me. “He was flamboyant and very feminine five nights of visibility at midnight, on the and even more feminine than any female I Hill. Each night we will march through the know.” streets of Capitol Hill making noise, chantFrom Vega’s laugh to the way he walked, ing, watching, and patrolling – by the hunhe said, there was “no question to anyone dreds – to show this street scum that our that he was visibly Gay.” see crime page 15
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Seattle Gay News
December 28, 2012
Celebrating 39 Years!
Associated Press
national news Marriage equality pioneer dies
Richard Adams tried to marry his partner in 1975 by James Whitely SGN Staff Writer
limeted partnership movie
Richard Adams (l) with Anthony Sullivan in 1984 (top) and in 2012
Richard Adams, who fought for his samesex marriage to be recognized for four decades, has died, his attorney, Lavi Soloway, said Sunday. Adams passed away December 17 at his home in Hollywood after a brief illness. He was 65. “After 40 years of fighting he missed the outcome at the Supreme Court,” Soloway said in the announcement of Adams’ death. “But he felt optimistic.” Adams’ fight for his right to marry began in 1975, when he and his partner, Tony Sullivan, were granted a marriage license in Boulder, Colorado. The two had heard that a county clerk there, Clela Rorex, was offering marriage licenses to same-sex couples after learning from her district attorney’s office that nothing in Colorado law expressly forbade it. Adams and Sullivan were among only a handful of couples that received licenses before the State of Colorado came down on Rorex. One of Adams and Sullivan’s motivations for marrying was to get permanent U.S. residency status for Sullivan, an Australian, which they applied for through the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) after their marriage. GOVERNMENT USED F-WORD The couple received a one-sentence denial letter from the INS, which read, “You have failed to establish that a bona fide marital relationship can exist between two faggots.”
SUBJECT OF NEW FILM Both Adams and Sullivan, his partner of 43 years at the time of his death, will be featured in an upcoming documentary, Limited Partnership, a film about “love, marriage, and deportation.” “You can draw a straight line from Tony and Richard’s efforts in the 1970s to that piece of paper in 2012,” Soloway said of same-sex marriage today. Adams and Sullivan fought together for decades to see their marriage recognized by the U.S. and Australian governments, as well as by a population for whom the idea of two married men was still unheard of. The two were subjected to anti-Gay sentiment and slurs, even from government agencies. “They felt that in the end, the most important thing was their love for each other, and in that respect they won,” said Soloway. “No government or no law was ever able to keep them apart.” Stewart F. House / Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Churches at odds in Texas
The INS later issued a follow-up response that removed the offending language but gave no grounds for its reasoning. Adams took the INS to court in 1979 in an attempt to have the decision overturned – the first federal lawsuit seeking same-sex marriage recognition. He later filed a separate lawsuit on the constitutionality of denying same-sex couples the right to marry. While many LGBT rights activists were fighting for the right to marry in the first place, Adams was defending a marriage he had been officially granted. The trial reached the federal appeals courts, but Adams’ claims were ultimately rejected.
State’s highest court to decide between pro- and anti-Gay Anglican factions by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
of the individual disputes have been settled, but most still await the Texas Supreme Court’s disposition. A state district judge sided with the national church, giving Iker 30 days to surrender the properties. Iker then appealed to the state Supreme Court, and the district court decision was stayed pending the decision of the higher court. The Texas Supreme Court is not under a deadline to issue its ruling. The case is said by lawyers to be one of the largest church property disputes in state and U.S. history. “It’s not the amount of money that makes the case important,” Iker’s attorney, Scott Brister, told the Austin American-Statesman newspaper.
The Texas Supreme Court will decide who owns 52 Fort Worth-area Episcopal Church properties valued at more than $100 million. Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth, a theological conservative, split from the national Episcopal Church in 2008 to protest the consecration of openly Gay bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the ordination of women clergy, and other policies of the increasingly liberal denomination. In 2009, Iker joined the Anglican Church in North America, which is aligned with ultraconservative churches in Nigeria, Uganda, and Sudan in opposition to the Church DUELING LEGAL STANDARDS of England, the Episcopal Church in the Attorneys say church property disputes U.S.A., and other mainstream Anglican require courts to balance the constitutional churches. guarantee of freedom of religion and state laws on property rights and nonprofits. The REAL ESTATE GRAB? Iker’s breakaway diocese claimed it Texas Supreme Court’s decision could deowned the church properties in his district, termine how the state handles similar cases but in 2009 the national church sued him to in the future. The breakaway faction claims the court block his efforts to take possession of them. At stake was ownership of the 48 church- needs to view the properties under a “neues that joined Iker as well as eight that re- tral principles” standard created by the U.S. mained loyal to the national church. A few Supreme Court. That standard determines
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Bishop Jack Iker (center) and members of the Fort Worth Diocese
ownership by looking at property records and has been used in most states to resolve church disputes. The national Episcopal Church, though, argues the court should resolve the dispute based on the “deference” standard, also developed by the U.S. Supreme Court. This
December 28, 2012
requires courts to “defer” to the church hierarchy and allow it to select its own officials. The national Episcopal Church argues, based on this principle, that Iker is not an official church leader and has no right to church property.
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Seattle Gay News
December 28, 2012
Celebrating 39 Years!
The top LGBT news stories of 2012 United States Congress
within a week, it was back to business as usual. But every now and then – and I mean rarely, if ever – does a guy like Frank Ocean come along. When R&B and hip-hop artist Ocean came out of the closet on Tumblr, he successfully overshadowed Cooper, who made his own announcement just days before. At the time, most of the world responded, “Who?” Now, everyone knows Frank Ocean. He became hip-hop’s first-ever major artist to come out, drawing large support from insiders like Jay-Z and 50 Cent (widely viewed as homophobic), and successfully changed the way the genre deals with homosexuality. His critically acclaimed 2012 release, Channel Orange, did not suffer in record sales because of his disclosure. Some would argue that, for the first time in history, coming out as Gay actually helped an artist with record sales.
2012. Idiots like Rick Santorum (who said it is better for kids to have a father in jail than to be raised by same-sex parents) and the incensed Rick Perry (who released a TV ad whining about DADT repeal) went on the warpath and were not shy in letting the country know what they thought of the Queers. Both opposed marriage equality, opposed the repeal of DADT, vowed to keep the Defense of Marriage Act the law of the land, and opposed hate-crimes legislation. Both also lost the nomination to Mitt Romney, who ultimately lost to Obama. I’m still smiling.
J.C. PENNEY STANDS BY ELLEN America loves Lesbian talk show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres. There’s just no way around that fact. Department store chain execs at J.C. Penney realized this and announced that Ellen DeGeneres was the LESSONS IN PARENTING company’s new spokeswoman. Seemed a In what was perhaps the most touching like a good fit. The ultraconservative group news story of the year, German father Nils One Million Moms disagreed, however, and Pickert became Father of the Year to many called for a boycott, demanding that DeGeafter he told feminist magazine Emma that neres be fired because of her Lesbianism. he sometimes wears skirts to support his For the first time ever, a national corporapreschool-age son who prefers to wear tion stood up for our team and kept Deskirts and dresses. Pickert said his son is Generes on the payroll and in not so many the talk of his small, conservative, tradi- words, told One Million Moms to get lost. AP Photo / Evan Vucci
Tammy Baldwin became the first openly Gay person to be elected to the U.S. Senate
the country. Obama’s May 9 endorsement of same-sex marriage is as every bit as historic for the LGBT community as anything. The The weight of the world got a little lighter movement will never be the same. for us all in 2012. For the first time in a long time – maybe it’s just really, for the first FIRST OUT U.S. SENATOR time – LGBT wasn’t some sort of acronym ELECTED for a leper colony on the outskirts of the VilWisconsin became the first state in the lage. Now, I’m not going to go all out and nation to elect an openly Gay person to the declare “Mission Accomplished” (please, U.S. Senate when voters chose Democrat I’m not George W.) because the mission Tammy Baldwin over four-term Republihas certainly not been accomplished, but can Gov. Tommy Thompson. Baldwin is let’s be mindful of martyrdom. It is healthy also Wisconsin’s first female senator. “I to celebrate the triumph that was 2012 and didn’t run to make history,” she said. “I ran the LGBT modern equality movement! to make a difference.” Baldwin’s election Across the nation we made headway on comes just two years after the Wisconsin issues ranging from marriage equality to Supreme Court upheld the state’s constituleadership roles in government, re-elected tional ban on same-sex marriage and civil a Democratic president, and sent the mes- unions. sage out to the masses that you can no longer bully, intimidate, or shut us up. We are GAYS GO MAD screaming queens after all – and in 2012 the OVER FRIED CHICKEN CHAIN world heard us! Homeless LGBT youth get ignored. The Here is a look back at some of the people Transgender-inclusive Employment Nonplaces and events that helped to shape our Discrimination Act is stalled. Does anybody lives in 2012. even say “peep”? No. But when Georgiabased fried chicken chain Chick-fil-A donatPROP 8 AND DOMA AWAIT ed more than $5 million to anti-Gay groups, SUPREME COURT HEARING the Gays screamed so loud you would’ve Ending the guessing game of “will they or thought that RuPaul’s Drag Race had been won’t they?” the Supreme Court has agreed cancelled. While the situation is not particuto hear the challenges to California’s Propo- larly funny, it was – and I don’t feel like I am sition 8 and Lesbian widow Edie Windsor’s alone here – exhausting. The fried-chicken challenge to the discriminatory Defense of morons donated to hate groups designated Marriage Act. The news barely made this by the Southern Poverty Law Center (they list because the justices declined to place definitely have earned the Hater Award. any of the marriage cases on the docket be- I mean, these folks are right up there with fore the November election. Afterwards, the Westboro Baptist Church) and all Hell however, they agreed to hear the cases – a broke loose; there were kiss-in protests from fact that is considered by some to be a major our side and “come out and stuff your face victory. by showing support” from their side. And one activist even vandalized a Torrance, OBAMA ENDORSES California, franchise with the words “Tastes MARRIAGE EQUALITY Like Hate.” It was a mess. But, no one, not On May 9, in an interview with ABC’s even me, could say that it wasn’t news. Robin Roberts, Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to support HIP-HOP HAD marriage equality. Many lashed out at the A CHANGE OF HEART president, saying he was going after support Anderson Cooper, much like our beloved from Gay voters. Obama’s announcement Ricky Martin, came out in 2012. It was yet encouraged politicians, religious leaders, another “Well, duh” moment. Nobody atpop-culture figures, and citizens to do the tacks these men because that would be same, and the phrase “Get on the right side wrong. A few people here and there might of history” began to appear over and over in grumble, “Why did they wait so long?” but speeches for pro-marriage supporters across the reality is, they become a headline and by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor
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Homophobic Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum got kicked to the curb.
tional southern German town, but the father insists on supporting him. “I only had one DADT REPEAL STICKS option left: to broaden my shoulders for my This marks the first full year since the relittle buddy and dress in a skirt myself,” said peal of the U.S. military’s discriminatory Pickert. The interview and photos went visee national page 21 ral. GOP HOMOPHOBES LOSE NOMINATION Admit it – you’ve got a smile on your face over this one, don’t you? I sure do! Twentytwelve was the year that we saw the GOP leadership working feverishly to out-crazy each other. They thought, “He who could be crazier than the others will surely get the nomination for President of the United States and go on to defeat the Black guy.” Well, we all know how that turned out. Four or five years ago that crackpot strategy might well have worked, but not in
December 28, 2012
Seattle Gay News
9
Discrimination persists in Maryland Marry Gay couples or don’t marry anyone, court clerks told by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer When Gay and Lesbian couples begin to marry in Maryland on January 2, county clerks who object to marrying same-sex couples will cease to marry anyone, according to a report in the Washington Examiner. When clerks at St. Mary’s County Circuit Court told their supervisor, Joan Williams, that they had religious objections to marrying same-sex couples, she decided they should recuse themselves from marrying anyone and pass the duty on to other court clerks. “There are some [clerks] that have voiced some opposition to doing it – [they have] religious feelings about it ... so it’s basically my idea that they won’t do any marriage at all,” Williams said. “Some people are just very against same-sex marriages, and I have to respect their reasons and their decisions.” St. Mary’s is a rural county in southern Maryland, between Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River. Like other Maryland counties, it will be legally required to begin marrying same-sex couples on January 2. In suburban Montgomery County, northwest of the District of Columbia, circuit court officials are scheduled to perform six same-sex marriages that day, said clerk Loretta Knight.
WASHINGTON NO BETTER Here in Washington state, a Thurston County Superior Court judge recently told court employees he would not marry samesex couples (see story in last issue). While judges are not required to marry anyone, this state’s county auditors are required to issue marriage licenses to all couples who apply. David Ammon, spokesperson for the Washington Secretary of State’s office, told SGN that officials who object to issuing licenses to Gay or Lesbian couples must furnish another official who will do so, so that no one is turned away because of sexual orientation. John Zito, president of the Maryland Wedding Professionals Association, told the Washington Examiner that he spoke with a wedding photographer who “didn’t feel comfortable” taking same-sex couples’ photos. “I’m a photographer by trade myself, and I’ve done a couple of commitment ceremonies, and it is kind of awkward,” Zito said. “When you have two men, I don’t know how to pose them, and this person didn’t know how to provide them the same services [as he would provide straight couples] if they didn’t know how to pose them.”
WEDDING TOURS CANCELED Discover Annapolis Tours announced recently that it would suspend its popular “Wedding Tour” – in which wedding parties tour the city on an old-fashioned trolley – because the owner, Matt Grubbs, has religious objections to same-sex marriage. According to the Baltimore Sun, Grubbs said in an e-mail to a prospective client that he was legally obligated either to accept Gay and Lesbian parties or to cancel the tours altogether. By opting out of the wedding industry, rather than picking and choosing between clients, businesses can avoid discrimination complaints, according to Glendora Hughes, general counsel for the Maryland Com-
mission on Civil Rights. Hughes would not comment on any specific business’ practices before a formal complaint has been filed and an opinion issued. The St. Mary’s County Circuit Court’s decision – changing which clerks perform marriages – also appears to skirt discrimination charges, said Carrie Evans, executive director of Equality Maryland, the group that spearheaded the campaign for marriage equality. However, the photographer might be in legal trouble if he picks his clients based on their sexual orientation, Evans said. “Would he opt out of [photographing] African Americans getting married because he can’t do the lighting right?” she asked.
No goodwill toward Gay men Baltimore man beaten on Christmas Eve in apparent hate crime by James Whitely SGN Staff Writer Kenneth Shaw of Baltimore, Maryland, was admitted to the emergency room on Christmas Eve after an alleged anti-Gay hate crime. Shaw said he was on his way home from a neighborhood store when he was cornered by five men at the corner of Rose and Hoffman streets in the city’s Berea neighborhood. He was beaten, he said, for 10 to 12 minutes. HIT ONLY IN FACE “As my face swelled, I could feel it and it was like the guy kept on hitting me in the same spot and all I can hear is the crunch-
ing of my tissue,” Shaw told a Baltimore TV station. Shaw said that the attackers hit only his face and he was beaten so badly that his mother did not recognize him in the emergency room. “My son walked into the emergency room and I didn’t even recognize my own child. I couldn’t believe it. I could not believe somebody beat my son for no reason,” said his mother, Sheila Shaw. Both Shaw and his mother believe that he was targeted for being Gay, because he was not robbed and all of the blows were aimed at his face. “I think it was a hate crime because of my lifestyle, and I didn’t do anything, I didn’t do anything. I don’t even know these guys’ names,” Shaw said. In the past, he has been the target of anti-Gay slurs, he added. POLICE INVESTIGATING No one has been arrested in the case, which the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) has not yet classified as a hate crime. Shaw said he didn’t get a good look at his attackers, but is nonetheless confident that the BPD will solve the case. “I think you get to a point in life where you can’t be afraid anymore. This is our stand. This is my son and I know I will lay down my life for my son,” vowed Sheila Shaw.
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fiscal
continued from cover TAX CUTS TO END The so-called Bush tax cuts will also expire at the same time that sequestration goes into effect. If both occur simultaneously, then neither American consumers nor the federal government will be spending at current levels, potentially jeopardizing the country’s fragile economic recovery. Some of the most vulnerable Americans – including LGBT folks who depend on Social Security and Medicaid – will be shielded from the most drastic consequences, however. Major social programs like Social Security, Medicaid, pay for federal employees including military pay and pensions, and veterans’ benefits are exempt from the spending cuts. On the other hand, many federal programs that benefit LGBT Americans will be cut, according to a study prepared by the Center for American Progress, in partnership with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and 23 other national LGBT groups. “Sequestration in particular would inflict significant harm by requiring wholesale cuts to programs that are critical to the health, wellness, and livelihood of LGBT people and their families,” CAP Vice President Jeff Krehely said. “We cannot afford to let that happen.” According to the groups’ joint report, Caught in the Budget Battle: How the “Fiscal Showdown” Impacts Gay and Transgender Americans, LGBT seniors and youth will be particularly harmed by sequestration. Seniors who rely on Medicare will find that federal payments to physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers will be reduced in 2013, meaning they will have to pay more out of pocket for the same level of care. LESS $ = MORE BULLIES? For LGBT youth, sequestration would reduce funding for agencies within the Department of Education and Department of Justice responsible for investigating bullying claims against students based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. With fewer resources, the report maintains, it would become more difficult for the Department of Housing and Urban Development to enforce relatively new federal regulations prohibiting discrimination against LGBT renters, tenants, and potential homeowners. Sequestration would greatly undermine the progress made over the past four years toward ending housing discrimination among the LGBT population. Under sequestration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces federal employment discrimination laws, would see an automatic cut to its budget in 2013 that will continue through 2021 if no budget resolution is reached after sequestration occurs. While these laws do not explicitly cover Gay, Lesbian, and Bi Americans, the Obama administration has interpreted laws against sex discrimination to cover Trans people. HEALTH CARE TAKES HIT In an area not covered by the Center for American Progress report, sequestration would also jeopardize health care services for LGBT Americans. According to Dr. Dawn Harbatkin, executive director of Lyon-Martin Health Services in San Francisco, community health centers may lose $167 million in funding should Congress fail to negotiate a budget deal. “[Sequestration] will affect the ability of community health centers to respond to the increased need for services expected from the implementation of the Affordable Care Act,” Harbatkin says, and thus jeopardize health care for the 30% of HIV-positive Americans who cannot afford health insurance.
DEFICIT NOT MAIN PROBLEM The greatest tragedy may be that the whole “fiscal cliff” crisis is based on the false assumption that deficit reduction is the most important thing the federal government can do to revive the national economy. According to Christina Romer, professor of economics at U.C. Berkeley and a former chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Obama administration, cuts aimed at reducing the budget deficit might actually be harmful. “A crude rule of thumb is that every $100 billion of deficit reduction will cost close to a million jobs in the near term. If that isn’t a reason to move gradually, what is? But if you need another, just look at Europe,” she said, referring to the catastrophic economic collapse of several European countries after implementing austerity measures. Her analysis was confirmed by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in its report on the probable effects of going over the “fiscal cliff.” The CBO predicted increased risk of a new recession during 2013 if the deficit is reduced suddenly through automatic spending cuts, even though lower deficits and debt would improve economic growth over the long term. In other words, the budget cuts advocated by congressional Republicans are wrong in theory as well as harmful in practice.
crime
continued from page 6 neighborhoods belong to us, not to them. DRAG QUEEN ATTACKED Jessica Paradisco doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. In fact, the local drag entertainer and celebrity among the 18-30 bar crowd says she doesn’t even wish her attacker any harm, although she is quick to caution that, had it not been for her being able to keep her wits about her, she might not be around to tell her story of survival. “I was on my way back to Seattle from visiting family from a small Christmas dinner in Federal Way,” Roy Jesse Scott, the man behind the makeup and costuming that is Jessica Paradisco, said. “Since it was too late for the bus I had to take the light rail home.” “A guy came onto the light rail near Othello station, and sat right next to me,” he recalled. “He said ‘Hi,’ so I took off my headphones and responded, ‘Hi,’ as I usually do.” Scott admits that he had a bad feeling about the guy because, “he sat right next to me even though there were plenty of empty seats.” “I had my phone in my lap because I was talking to some friends,” he continued. “The man asked if he could use my phone, and I said he couldn’t. I had a feeling that he was going to run out the door with it, leaving me more defenseless and vulnerable. “As I was looking out the window he grabbed my arm and was trying to force me to give him my phone,” recalls Scott. The young man pushed the man away a few times, “but each time I kept trying to push him off of me he kept coming back and would use more force, and it was making me sink lower into the corner. NO ONE HELPED “All of the people around us ignored that this was happening,” Scott went on. “Nobody did anything. I kept yelling and trying to free myself and still nobody came.” Finally, the train came to a stop and the driver came over, which caused his attacker to run away. “Although I wasn’t seriously injured, I was still in shock,” said Scott. “It was a reminder that you can never be too careful anymore.” After this experience Scott says he won’t be riding the light rail anymore, adding, “especially at night unless I have a friend or two with me.”
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“I truly believe that if the driver didn’t come out when he did, I would’ve been more injured, and blood would’ve been spilled,” said Scott. “I’m just so thankful that I sat right next to the driver’s pit, because if I hadn’t things would’ve been much worse.” Sadly, this incident is not an isolated or even rare. ‘TRUST YOUR GUT’ “Nobody wants to be attacked,” said local drag entertainer Fraya Love. “It’s scary and it sucks.” “When I was 17 I was walking home after midnight and at just one block away from my house I got mugged at gun point,” she said. “I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” That incident happened in Oxnard, California, but the experience serves Fraya Love well in Seattle. “I stay safe by keeping my wits about me,” she said. “Trust your gut, if you feel unsafe for any reason, ask a friend to walk you home or take a cab. Make sure you are aware of your surroundings. And if you are alone call a friend – if they are a real friend they won’t mind.” “Lastly, and most people knock me for this,” she adds, “wear shoes you can easily run in, like riding boots.” Mac McGreggor, a Transgender activist and commissioner with the City of Seattle LGBTQ Council, has 43 years of martial arts training and is a world champion fighter. McGreggor is a member of SOSea and, through our SAFE program in 2013, will offer an annual street-smart self-defense seminar open to anyone who wants to attend. “Most Transgender people feel fear every time they go to a public restroom,” he explained. “It only takes one jackass who thinks you don’t belong in [there] to seriously hurt you, and sometime they will attack in groups.” RISE IN HARASSMENT SEEN Six years ago, BenDeLaCreme moved to Seattle from Chicago. Realizing that Seattle seemed accepting of Gays, DeLa says, “I quickly got a lot gayer-looking.” One night, DeLa, dressed as a boy, was standing outside Pony with a friend. “An SUV full of college-age guys pulled up and starting yelling at us about whether we were interested in sucking their dicks. We weren’t,” said DeLa. “Then they threw a beer bottle just past our heads against the wall behind us and sped off.” “This was my first Seattle bottle,” she said. “But it is the logical next step as the number of times I hear derogatory ‘faggots’ slung my way on the Hill increasing every year, from never when I first moved to Seattle, to once or twice (a year or so ago) to semi-monthly now – that bothers me.” “Semi-monthly is still pretty damn good compared to most of the country,” DeLa admits. “But it’s terrible compared to here six years ago. And the increase in straight weekend partygoers who are unaware that they are even visiting a Gay neighborhood for their good time seems directly proportionate to this.
cally a yellow cab driver who told me and a queen I was riding with that we were amoral and dumped us in a bad neighborhood in full drag in the middle of the night.” DeLa says that when she called Yellow Cab to complain, they told her that their drivers are all independent contractors and there was nothing they could do. Because of the recent spike in crime and aggression on the Hill, DeLa says she is thinking about starting to carry mace, “which scares the bejeezus out of me, but apparently they have developed mace discharges that function like a gun, decreasing the chance of a misfire.” “I always just think of the number of times I have accidentally shot hairspray in my eyes,” she said. Aleksa Manila, one of Seattle’s most recognizable drag entertainers, says that while she has never been physically attacked, she has been verbally abused. The experience can be just as frightening. “I certainly have had my share of insults, from looks to whispers to being outed in public from social events indoors and outdoors to commuting via public transportation,” she said, sympathizing with what happened to Jessica Paradisco. Aleksa lives in downtown Seattle and said she stays safe by realizing that “I can’t control my surroundings, but I can choose where I want and need to be in any given moment.” In addition, she said, “It’s also comforting to know that I’ve retained valuable selfdefense training from Northwest Network.” ALWAYS REPORT AN ATTACK The most important thing to do, if you are attacked for any reason, or if you witnessed someone being attacked, is to call the police and file a report. “As a survivor myself, the law is definitely on your side to file a police report,” said Aleksa Manila. “It may feel like the results are not imminent, but it is the right thing to do.” When everyone files a report, the police are then able to evaluate a pattern of events, and it gives them the important information they need to pursue assailants. “Talk to friends who will support you throughout the process,” she said. “This can be an emotionally and psychologically draining ordeal, but remember you are not alone. Our community has services that provide support and fellowship.” Here are some more tips that everyone can apply: Be aware of your personal space anywhere you are – at home or play; create a buddy system; have a designated driver for your group of friends or have someone who you can call or who will call and check on you to make sure you are where you need to be, safe and sound; and tell at least one person where you are going and who you are going to see. If you find yourself in a situation that you cannot avoid, become defensive or aggressive as your instinct leads you. Weigh the benefits and consequences of your actions, but always yell out, “Help!” or “Call 9-1-1! Call the police!”
CABS NOT ALWAYS SAFE “I stay safe by never traveling alone unless in a car with a car service I know and trust,” she continued. “I have had some very bad experiences with cab drivers, specifi-
December 28, 2012
Seattle Gay News 15
international news Bad pope, no flowers Dutch official criticizes Benedict XVI over marriage comments by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer “Why can Romeo marry Juliet but not Julius?” Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans asked on December 22. Speaking to reporters, Timmermans criticized Pope Benedict XVI for the pontiff’s statement last week against same-sex marriage. “If every person is unique, as the pope’s representative said in Dublin last week, then why should that unique person not have the right to stand up for their own sexual orientation?” Timmermans asked. “Marriage between two people of the same sex is having respect for the uniqueness of the individual.” Timmermans has been foreign minister since November 5. He was previously the Netherlands’ secretary of European affairs.
The Netherlands legalized same-sex marriage in April 2001, becoming the first country in the world to do so. Same-sex sexual relations were legalized in 1811, when revolutionary France invaded the country and instituted the Napoleonic Code. While polls show that 90% of ethnic Dutch people view their LGBT neighbors as “moral,” more recent immigrants from Turkey and North Africa disagree. Anti-Gay hate crimes in the Netherlands are often attributed to Muslim immigrants.
have a transmittable disease and areas of another person’s body through which an infectious agent might be able to penetrate.” Under the new rule, confidential questionnaires are used to obtain information enabling health workers to “identify potential risks to the health of the donor or recipients,” without identifying the donor’s sexual orientation. “If this report is correct,” Duque writes, sexual men to donate blood,” but has yet to “Mexico might be the first country in the take action. Argentina, Chile, and Colombia American continent to lift such a ban.” are also considering reversing their bans on Gay and Bi blood donors. NO CHANGE IN U.S. POLICY Great Britain abolished its ban on Gay Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of blood donors in September 2011, but it Health and Human Services solicited com- still “defers” donations from men who reA DIFFERENT APPROACH The new NOM 253 eliminates specific ments on a pilot study to “assess alternative port having sex with men within the prior bans on Gay and Bisexual men and instead policies that would allow some Gay and Bi- 12 months. A similar policy exists in other
European Union countries. Critics of the ban on Gay and Bi donors say improvements in testing and other safeguards have reduced the risk from transfusion-transmitted HIV to a very low level. They also assert that a promiscuous heterosexual male is a higher-risk donor than a Gay or Bi man in a monogamous relationship.
AP / Andrew Medichini
BLAMES GAYS FOR ‘CRISIS’ The pope used his traditional Christmas homily this year to denounce same-sex marriage, which he claimed threatens the very “essence of the human creature.” “There is no denying the crisis that threatens [the family] to its foundations – especially in the Western world,” the pope said on December 21. “When such commitment is repudiated, the key figures of human existence likewise vanish: father, mother, child – essential elements of the experience of being human are lost.”
ACTIVISTS URGE PUSHBACK According to the Dutch RTL News Service, the LGBT rights group COC Nederland has been lobbying the FM to lodge a formal protest with the pope’s diplomatic representative in the Netherlands, and to work to terminate the Vatican’s special status at the United Nations. “Wars are raging and people are dying of hunger, and the Vatican chooses to condemn people who love each other,” a COC spokesperson told RTL. “And when it comes to Uganda, where the most terrible anti-Gay legislation is being introduced in the name of religion, the Vatican says not a word.” LGBT rights activists have also launched a new Facebook page, “No Flowers for the Pope,” a reference to the fact that the Netherlands sends flowers to the pope every Easter. The page had reportedly gathered 7,000 likes by December 22.
Pope Benedict XVI
Mexico repeals ban on Gay blood donors by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer A new public health rule has gone into effect in Mexico, doing away with the previous ban on blood donations from Gay and Bi men, according to blogger Andres Duque.
bans blood donations from people with HIV or hepatitis, their sexual partners, and people who engage in “risky sexual practices” regardless of their sexual orientation. “Risky sexual practices” are defined as those that may include “contact or exchange of blood, sexual secretions, or other bodily secretions between someone who might
“Mexico might be the first country in the American continent to lift such a ban.” Duque, who writes on the site Blabbeando, picked up reports of the new health rules from the Mexican blog Animal Politico. The new regulation, NOM 253, was adopted on October 26 and went into effect on Christmas Day. The old rule, NOM 003SSA2, explicitly banned Gay and Bisexual men from donating blood “because of their practices” and their “increased probability of acquiring HIV or hepatitis infection.” Sex workers, intravenous drug users, former convicts, and people with mental illness were also excluded. NOM 003-SSA2 was drafted in 1993.
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Seattle Gay News 17
Holiday Calendar
FAMILY FUN
Gingerbread Village, the 20th annual benefit for the Northwest Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, through Jan. 1. Seattle’s top architectural firms team up with Sheraton Seattle’s culinary staff to design, bake, and build elaborate gingerbread displays and other holiday creations reflecting this year’s theme. The display is free and open to the public (donation suggested). Sheraton Seattle Hotel, 1400 6th Ave., Seattle. More information at http://gingerbreadvillage.myevent.com/3/ events.htm. Seattle Center WinterFest, Six weeks of free entertainment running through Jan. 6, including the timeless Winter Train and Village, WinterFest Ice Rink, Ice Sculpting (Saturdays through Dec. 29, noon-2 p.m., outside Fisher Pavilion), WinterFest Student Showcase (through Jan. 6, various times, Armory), The Dickens Carolers (Dec. 29, 12:30 p.m., Armory), Eastside Modern Jazz Orchestra (Dec. 30, 12:30 p.m., Armory), and a New Year’s Eve celebration with the Rhythm Nation (Dec. 31, 8:15-11:45 p.m., Armory). Details on these and other events at www.seattlecenter.com/ winterfest/.
New Year’s Eve Celebration at the Space Needle, Dec. 31, 11:59 p.m. Start 2013 off with a bang as the Space Needle displays the world’s tallest structure-launched fireworks show with more than 2,000 pyrotechnic events. The base of the Needle will host the West Coast version of Times Square, where more than 50,000 people gather each year to watch the fireworks shoot across the midnight sky. Special events are planned at the SkyCity restaurant and on the Needle’s observation deck. Details at www.spaceneedle.com. LGBT/CABARET
Ham for the Holidays: Ham-ageddon! featuring Dos Fallopia, through Dec. 30, 7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat.; 3 p.m. Sun. The apocalypse is just around the corner, so Dos Fallopia (Lisa Koch and Peggy Platt) celebrate with some classic moments from past years’ shows, with some new tunes and sketches. Theatre Off Jackson, 409 7th Ave. S. Details at www.heylisa.com. Tickets at www. brownpapertickets.com/event/277489.
Dina Martina Christmas Show, a Seattle tradition featuring the First Lady of Entertainment, through Dec. 31. Famed N.Y. critic Michael Musto called Dina “the most original drag performer working in America today.” Martina comes armed with truly legendary songs, stories, costumes, and audience gifts, giving you one of the most festive, invigorating, and ingeniously funny evenings you’ve ever had. 8 p.m. nightly Dec. 28-31. Re-Bar, 1114 Howell St., Seattle. Tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com/ event/271829. MUSIC The Seattle Symphony celebrates the holidays with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Dec. 28-31. Benaroya Hall, 200 University St., Seattle. Details at www.seattlesymphony.org. Cappella Romana presents Rachmaninoff’s Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Jan. 12, 8 p.m. A 1910 sacred masterpiece for the Orthodox Eucharist, sung in Church Slavonic and featuring 26 of the Pacific Northwest’s finest professional singers. Holy Rosary Church, 4139 42nd Ave. S.W., Seattle. (Pre-concert talk starts one hour before performance.) Information and tickets at www.cappellaromana.org or 1-800-494-8497. THEATER AND DANCE Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Christmas Carol by John Longenbaugh, presented by Taproot Theatre, through Dec. 29. It’s Christmas Eve, 1894, and Sherlock Holmes resurfaces after being presumed dead for three years. Only he’s changed, and not for the better. Three unexpected callers arrive, uncovering clues from the detective’s past, present, and future. Can they save Holmes and his world from a dire end? A mystery full of Christmas spirits the whole family will enjoy. 204 N. 85th St., Seattle. Details at http://taproottheatre.org.
A(n Improvised) Christmas Carol presented by Unexpected Productions, through Dec. 30. An improvised take on Charles Dickens’ classic, shaped by audience input. Market Theater, 1428 Post Alley, Seattle. Details at www.unexpectedproductions.org. A Christmas Carol presented by ACT Theatre, through Dec. 30. Charles Dickens’ classic tale of hope and redemption, adapted by Gregory A. Falls. Allen Theatre, 700 Union St., Seattle. Details at www.acttheatre.org. The Winter Wonderettes, a “new ’60s Christmas musical,” presented by ArtsWest, through Dec. 30. Take a nostalgic trip through the late ’50s-early ’60s musical style when the Marvelous Wonderettes are asked to entertain at the holiday party for Harper’s Hardware. Curtain 7:30 p.m. nightly (plus weekend matinees at 3 p.m. Dec. 29 and 30). ArtsWest Playhouse, 4711 California Ave. S.W., Seattle. Details at www.artswest.org. ELF – The Musical, the story of Buddy, a boy raised by elves at the North Pole who sets off to the big city in search of his father and finds an alarming lack of Christmas spirit. Through Dec. 31, 5th Avenue Theatre, 1308 5th Ave., Seattle. Details at www.5thavenue.org. Nutcracker presented by Pacific Northwest Ballet, through Dec. 29, 7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat. plus weekend matinees. Praised by the New York Times as “original and exciting,” this marvelously imagined production created by PNB founding artistic director Kent Stowell and author/illustrator Maurice Sendak, features more than 200 dancers, gigantic moving sets, a snowfall, and Tchaikovsky’s beloved score performed by the PNB Orchestra. McCaw Hall, Seattle Center. Details at www.pnb.org. Amahl and the Night Visitors, a dramatic reading with music, Jan. 4 (7 p.m.) and Jan. 6 (2 p.m.). Gian Carlo Menotti’s classic story about a poor boy and his mother who meet the Magi coming from the East to honor the Christ child. Suggested donation $15. Plymouth Congregational Church, 1217 6th Ave., Seattle. Details at www. plymouthchurchseattle.org.
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December 28, 2012
Celebrating 39 Years!
northwest news
MUSEUM OF HISTORY & INDUSTRY (MOHAI) – GRAND OPENING AT LAKE UNION PARK On Saturday, December 29, from 10 a.m.8 p.m., be among the first to step inside the dazzling new MOHAI at Lake Union Park (860 Terry Ave. N., Terry Ave. N. & Valley St., take the South Lake Union Streetcar from 5th & Stewart St. to MOHAI) at this community-wide celebration! The new beautifully restored facility will provide MOHAI with 50,000 square feet of exhibit space. Come explore, participate in special programming, and see amazing live performances in this exciting new space. To ensure that all visitors have a fun and worthwhile experience, MOHAI has set up a timed-ticketing reservation system for Grand Opening weekend. Tickets are FREE on Saturday and regularly priced on Sunday. Reserved tickets are recommended, but not required. Visitors can choose to arrive anytime during the Grand Opening and will be let in pending building capacity. The museum estimates it will take about 90 minutes to see most of the exhibits. For more information and advance ticket reservations for the Grand Opening, visit www.mohai.org or call 206-324-1126. The museum also offers Free First Thursday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m., each month. On Thursday, January 3, MOHAI, along with Pabst Brewing Company, will host a celebration for the iconic, 12-foot tall Rainier “R” sign, which has been restored and placed at the top of the Wall of Icons in the museum’s Faye G. Allen Grand Atrium. All are welcome to join for photo ops with the oneof-a-kind Rainier Harley Davidson Fatboy, and to witness the Wild Rainiers grazing throughout Lake Union Park. The event will culminate at 7 p.m. with a short ceremony and presentation of the icon’s place in Seattle’s heritage. The museum is open daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. RADICAL WOMEN & FREEDOM SOCIALIST PARTY – NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY On Monday, December 31, at 8:30 p.m., at New Freeway Hall (5018 Rainier Ave. S.), join Radical Women at their New Year’s Eve Party to “Sweep the Globe Clean in
2013!” Festivities include a Northern Italian Feast, dancing, a Riotous Year-in-Review, and a no-host bar. Door donation $5. Buffet donation $15. Sliding scale and work exchange available for students, unemployed and low-income people. Wheelchair accessible. Hosted by Radical Women and Freedom Socialist Party. More info: 206722-6057; RWSeattle@mindspring.com; RadicalWomen.org/seattle.shtml. SEATTLE GAY & LESBIAN BOOK CLUB – BECOMING A MAN The Seattle Gay & Lesbian Book Club meets every Wednesday from 6-7:15 p.m., at Seattle Area Support Groups Community Center (303 17th Ave. E. at E. Thomas St.). In January, the club will read Paul Monette’s National Book Award-winning memoir, Becoming A Man. All GLBTQ folks are welcome to participate in this FREE book club. For more information email nickdimartin@earthlink. net or visit http://faculty.washington.edu/ swittet/SGLBookClub/.
compiled by Rick McKinnon SGN Staff Writer
held on Thursdays from January through May. Cost is $150 for 40 hours of instruction and practice and includes additional perks valed at over $100. Come try the first two weeks before making a financial commitment for the entire series. Come as you are. Singles and couples welcome. For more information email puddletownsqmc@yahoo.com; www.puddletownsquares.org. HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH On Monday, January 7, doors 7 p.m., Peter Crow 8 p.m., Hedwig Band 9 p.m., at Sunset Tavern (5433 Ballard Ave. NW), in anticipation of the run on Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Moore Theatre (January 15-27), join Jerick Hoffer aka Jinkx Monsoon (Hedwig) and the show’s band, The Angry Inch, for a special rock show featuring selections from the show plus a few ad-
ditional glam-rock masterpieces. $6 cover. Must be 21+ with ID. IMPERIAL COURT OF SEATTLE – MR. & MISS GAY SEATTLE PAGEANT 2013 On Saturday, January 12, door at 5 p.m., show at 6 p.m., at Neighbours (1509 Broadway E.), join Mr. Gay Seattle, Alexander Mentele and Miss Gay Seattle DonnaTella Howe in celebrating their year of service to the LGBTQ community and be part of selecting the next Mr. & Miss Gay Seattle. With special guest hostess Jujubee of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Drag U, and Drag Race All Stars. Tickets: $20 advance; $25 at the door. www.brownpapertickets.com/ event/304921. Event details: www.DonnaTellaHowe.com/pageant. Presented by the Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle.
SEATTLE VOLLEYBALL CLUB – WINTER 2013 SEASON On Wednesday, January 2, from 7-9:30 p.m., at Rainier Community Center (4600 38th Ave. S.), the Seattle Volleyball Club will host a Skills Clinic for new players or for any player who is not yet on an SVC team. Skills Clinics provide basic instruction on the core Volleyball Skills, and allow new and established players a means for finding an SVC team to join for the season. SVC will also host an Open Gym that evening for all players and all skill levels. The cost for Open Gym is $4. The Winter 2013 Season begins Tuesday/ Wednesday, January 8/9 and runs through March. For complete details, including schedule, locations and costs, visit www.seattlevolleyballclub.com. PUDDLETOWN SQUARES – BEGINNING (MAINSTREAM) SQUARE DANCE CLASS On Thursday, January 3, from 7-9 p.m., at St. Andrews’s Episcopal Church (N. 80th St. & 1st Ave. NE), Puddletown Squares kicks off their next Beginners Lesson Series (Mainstream), a 20 week lesson series to be
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20 Seattle Gay News
December 28, 2012
Celebrating 39 Years!
london 2012 olympics
Australian diver Matthew Mitcham was one of 23 openly Gay athletes to participate in the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
national
continued from page 6 “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) law. And would you believe it? The sky didn’t fall, there was no mass exodus of straight troops, and according to high-ranking Department of Defense officials, units are every bit as cohesive as they were the previous year. A contingent of uniformed, openly Gay service members marched in the San Diego Pride Parade and, for the first time in history, U.S. military academies graduated out Gay and Lesbian cadets. In addition, there have been, to date, no major issues or incident associated with the repeal of DADT. In other words, Sen. John McCain and all of the other naysayers of DADT repeal should pack up their bigoted rhetoric and go home, and leave the running of this country and its military to people who don’t have hate in their hearts and fear in their arsenal. NFL PLAYER SUPPORTS MARRIAGE EQUALITY Same-sex marriage got its most unlikely
endorsement in 2012 when the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo became outwardly supportive. He even campaigned for marriage equality in Maryland – where it won by popular vote, along with Maine and Washington on November 6! The best news of all is Ayanbadejo was joined by Cleveland Browns linebacker Scott Fujita and Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe to become three of the roughly three dozen professional football players who have become vocal about their support for marriage equality, LGBT rights, and out players. SUMMER OLYMPICS GOES GAY This is a big one. An unprecedented 23 openly Gay athletes competed in the summer Olympics this year! And 10 of those athletes earned a total of seven medals (team sports yielded one medal each in the official count) in basketball, equestrian, field hockey, cycling, soccer, and tennis. If those 23 athletes had been a country, they’d have finished 31st, tying Georgia, Ethiopia, and Mexico.
FIRST LADIES HAVE OUR BACK It’s official: Gays love Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama. How could we not? They love us. In fact, they’ve got our back. There are lists of examples that show their support for the LGBT community. But two stand out in particular. Last December, Secretary of State Clinton told the U.N. Human Rights Council, “Gay rights are human rights, and human rights are Gay rights.” This year, the first lady spoke to LGBT delegates and activists at the Democratic National Convention, thanking them for all they’ve done to “move this country forward and ensure that all Americans are treated fairly no matter who they are or who they love.” THE END OF THE ‘EX-GAY’ MOVEMENT Let’s all say it together. Ready? “FINALLY!” Is it just me or did that take far too long? This year we saw legislation passed in California that made sexual orientation “conversion therapy,” more commonly known as the “Ex-Gay” or “Pray Away the Gay” movement, illegal. The unraveling of the movement began when ex-Gay umbrella organization Exodus International dropped its promise to “cure” Gays and Lesbians and its president, Alan Chambers, told OWN’s Lisa Ling he believes Gay Christians are indeed going to Heaven. A serious backlash against Chambers and Exodus began and we successfully capitalized on the moment. Ha! Take that, bigots! However, we will have to remain vigilant in 2013 because Focus on the Family ex-Gay poster boy Jeff Johnston came out and endorsed a new, more vehement ex-Gay group called Restored Hope Network. The group intends to replace Exodus International as the pre-eminent group in the country and return the party line to telling Gay people that we can become straight. At its kickoff party, Johnston said that Gays are “sexually broken” people who can’t have real relationships. IN THE LIFE SAYS GOODBYE Some sad news in 2012 as, after 20 years on the air, In the Life, the national LGBT news program (which airs on PBS) broadcast its final episode this month. The Emmy Award–nominated series pioneered LGBT visibility on television long before traditional TV shows were featuring Gay characters. There is some good news, though: the show’s production company, In the Life Media, remains in business and promises to take the show’s rich legacy and create a worthy new digital resource for LGBT folks in 2013.
something?” is a question I’m sure many of you asked. This year, somebody did do something. After a rash of highly visible LGBT teen suicides, the 2012 edition of the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention took an in-depth look at the prevalence of suicide among LGBT people and how to reduce it. This was the first revision of a 2001 document that barely mentioned us, and it came not a moment too soon: A full 30% to 40% of LGBT youth attempt suicide. BOY SCOUTS LOSE SOME EAGLES After the Boy Scouts of America reiterated its policy prohibiting “open or avowed homosexuals” from membership, leadership, or employment, more than 300 Eagle Scouts – the organization’s highest rank – returned their badges in protest. Making headline news, Lesbian mother of four and troop leader Jennifer Tyrrell got booted by the Cub Scouts and went on a campaign to raise awareness of the problem – and in doing so, received plenty of Scout support. Also, 390,000 people have signed a Change.org petition started by a California mother whose son was denied his Eagle Scout badge because he came out to friends and family as Gay. Despite increasingly vocal protests from members around the country, the BSA’s leadership affirmed and continues to enforce the discriminatory policy. VICTORY AT THE BALLOT BOX This is the big one. If there was just one news story to sum up what kind of year the Gays had, it would have to be that for the first time in our nation’s history, marriage equality won by popular vote. And we didn’t just win once, we won three times for marriage when voters in Maine, Maryland, and right here in Washington voted for love, equality, and being on the right side of history. And as an added bonus, we got a fourth win when voters in Minnesota decided against a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between one man and one … (I can’t even finish typing that, it’s so stupid). While there are still more than 40 states left to win, no one can deny that we have reached the tipping point. We’ve got the bigots on the run. Let’s make sure we keep up the chase until the race is won.
TEEN SUICIDE GETS AN IN-DEPTH LOOK In headline after headline their names appeared; Young boys and girls who died by suicide, presumably because of the pressures of being taunted at school, church, and elsewhere because they were, or were perceived to be, LGBT. “How many of these kids have to die before somebody does
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December 28, 2012
Seattle Gay News 21
Statement by Seattle City Council Member Nick Licata on the City Hall marriage ceremonies seattle.gov
ally appreciate the 100-plus volunteers who showed up. It really was an expression of our city community coming together, recognizing the right of individuals to marry whomever they wish and to do it in a safe and celebratory fashion.”
poverty
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Nick Licata
“I was so impressed with how well-organized it was. The council actually had nothing to do with it; it came through the mayor’s office. The mayor’s office deserves kudos for having not just a great event, but an extraordinary event, and one that as far as I can tell is the most unique in the nation. I don’t think any other city in this country has opened up their City Hall for mass marriages – specifically, mass Gay marriages – and done it in such a classy fashion. I thought the arrangements were terrific, not overpowering. We had six stations going on at all times – they functioned smoothly. I re-
to come from low-income backgrounds and are at high risk of serious educational, health, and employment setbacks, as well as justice system engagement. All this can have a significant impact on their economic futures and overall ability to be safe and thrive,” added Hermanns. Pride Foundation is a donor-supported LGBTQ community foundation serving the U.S. Northwest. According to Wong, the other re-granting partners are Blue Mountain Community Foundation, Community Foundation of North Central Washington, Greater Everett Community Foundation, The Community Foundation of South Puget Sound, United Way of Benton and Franklin Counties, and United Way of Snohomish County. WHY ARE YOUTH HOMELESS? “Poverty in the LGBTQ community is a complex, multifaceted issue on which accurate state and local data can be hard to find,” Wong said in a media release. “Sex-
ual orientation and gender identity are not uniformly collected in standard data sets, and reluctance to self-identify may hamper accuracy where data is collected.” Various data sources over time have found that 20% to 40% of all homeless youth identify as LGBTQ, and service providers over the past decade increasingly recognize that they are serving LGBTQ youth, said Pride Foundation officials. The most recent survey of service providers identified the following as the top five reasons that LGBTQ youth are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless: • Running away because of family rejection based on sexual orientation or gender identity (46%), • Forced out by parents because of sexual orientation or gender identity (43%), • Physical, emotional, or sexual abuse at home (32%), • Aged out of the foster care system (17%), or • Financial or emotional neglect from family (14%). In the last decade, the Gates Foundation has selected local community foundations to lead local re-granting initiatives through its Building Community Philanthropy program, leveraging the expertise of local community foundations to achieve immediate and long-term solutions to social problems. WATERING THE GRASSROOTS “The Gates Foundation has a longstanding commitment to supporting community philanthropy,” said David Bley, the Gates Foundation’s director of the Pacific Northwest program. “These organizations have established networks of nonprofits that serve families and children quickly and ef-
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continued from cover Then one month later – Heaven! Being part of the scene on December 9 was an earth-moving event. I shook hands and hugged the line of joyful people who came to City Hall; everyone knew they were making history. Everyone wanted to take part. Three women had made boutonnieres for couples waiting to enter the building – they had come up from San Francisco and wanted everyone to feel special and loved. Parents, brothers and sisters, flower-girl nieces, ring-bearer nephews, and supportive friends lined the sidewalk, many jumping with enthusiasm around the happy couples. Even on the cold blustery day there was nothing but warmth and joy! That day, I watched from the second floor as couples smiled into each other’s eyes, committing themselves to each other’s wellbeing and honor. Their guests and witnesses cheered as they said “I DO.” I choked up as I saw the happy couples embrace. Then they were showered with cheers as they walked down the west stairs where hundreds more of their supporters waited outside to welcome them as married couples. The crowd was electric and inspired. We’ve all won in this state. Congratulations, Washington. Love has prevailed.
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December 28, 2012
Celebrating 39 Years!
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Seattle Gay News 23