SGN Feb 16, 2018 - Part 1

Seattle Gay News

US Department of Education won’t investigate Trans discrimination complaints

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

The US Department of Education will no longer investigate complaints from Transgender students who have been denied access to restrooms that correspond

to their gender, the department said in an email to a BuzzFeed News reporter.

BuzzFeed’s Dominic Holden wrote in his February 12 column that the department replied to an inquiry on February 8,

see DEPT. OF ED. page 11

Seattle area Veterans Administration hosts open meeting for LGBTQ military veterans

by Ron Rasmussen Special to the SGN

The Seattle area Veterans Administration is hosting a meeting for LGBTQ military veterans on Friday, February 23 at 10:00 am at the Wounded Warrior Project office, 2200 Alaskan Way, Suite 130. The office is located along the waterfront

see VETERANS page 7

by MK Scott SGN Contributing Writer

Regardless if you have been watching the Winter Olympics, currently in

PyeongChang, South Korea, you have definitely been hearing the name Adam Rippon, who has been very Out and vocal

see ADAM RIPPON page 12

Singer, songwriter k.d. lang to perform fundraising concerts on Vashon

by Juli Goetz Morser Vashon Beachcomber

Vashon just got lucky, very lucky. Not lucky once, but twice as international pop and country singer-songwriter k.d lang plans to launch her U.S. “Ingénue Redux” tour with two benefit concerts at Vashon Center for the Arts in February.

see k.d. lang page 5

OBITUARY IN MEMORIAM – R. Martin Allen-Diveley

by Mark Finley Special to the SGN

“We’re in the garage.” It’s a moment that’s burned into my memory with laser like precision. I was about to go off the handle when he flashed that “everything is going to be great” smile that only Martin could do so effortlessly. That gentle grin stopped me cold – for two reasons: 1) I knew that he was right – we’d be great; and 2) behind that sweet calming countenance was a powerhouse that didn’t let anything stand in his way or keep him from what he wanted.

I was first introduced to Martin in the early to mid ’90s when we were both heav-

ily involved with the Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle. I was merely a past Miss Gay Seattle – but he was Imperial Prince 26 and well on his way to becoming Emperor Rainier 30 – so when he came to me with ideas I listened.

This was the era of endless fundraisers and benefits for any and all HIV/AIDS organizations at least twice a month. As you can imagine, attending them time and time again, one could grow bored before the show and begin trying to figure out how many times a $1 tip could make its way through all the performers hands. Martin came to me because he knew I would literally do anything onstage or for an event.

With the help of the Capitol Hill Gay AA group we started Bat’N’Rouge, the annual Drag Queens Against the Dykes Softball Game – which is still going on today!

The other event Martin and I concocted was The Mr. Nude Seattle Contest.

You must remember that this was before Grindr, Scruff, smart phones, cell phones –NO Internet – and only hustlers and plumbers had beepers. So the prospect of seeing that guy you always see at the gym or the bar or in class or wherever naked was a pretty novel thing in those days. The first year we held it at Club Seattle (now Steamworks). Surprisingly enough see MARTIN DIVELEY page 5

2018 State of the Hill address, fundraiser and Spirit Award

Spirit Award nominees include GSBA’s Louise Chernin

The Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce this year’s State of the Hill address will be held on Wednesday, February 21st, from 6 to 9pm at Queer/Bar (1518 11th Ave.). We look forward to this event each year, and invite chamber members, local businesses, public officials and other Hill-folk to gather to hear the State of the Hill address and celebrate all things Capitol Hill over local fare and cocktails.

State of the Hill is our annual fundraiser and the biggest and best social event of the year for our members! We’ll celebrate the past year with the organizations and individuals who make Capitol Hill a fun, safe, diverse and vibrant place to visit, live and relax. We’ll review all that we have accomplished in the past year and share exciting news about what’s to come in our State of the Hill address.

We’ll have a champagne greeting; cocktail hour featuring cold drafts from Redhook Brewlab and wine from Aluel Cellars; and small bites from Big Mario’s, Lost Lake Cafe & Lounge, Poquitos, and Rhein Haus. We’ll also have coffee and sweets by Honor Society Coffee, Cafe Pettirosso and Nuflours Bakery.

The cast of MX. will star in our very own queer/drag performance for State of the Hill with Lucy Tealheart Paradisco, Stacey Starstruck, Abbey Roads! Check out thequeerbar. com for more details about the cast and show!

Guests can bid in a silent auction to win fun items donated by neighborhood merchants; personal shopping packages by Ada’s Technical Books, Cupcake Royale’s Gaybie Cakes, Mariners tickets, VIP tickets to the Golden Girls LIVE show, an overnight stay at Silvercloud Hotel, 70 min facial

at Cake Skincare, Queer/Bar Pride package, and more! Featured item: “Morning till Night Package!” Guild Seattle & Block Party will provide two guests with VIP access to the three-day festival and a day of VIP treatment! Start your day at Lost Lake Café and Lounge for a complimentary breakfast for two, including Bloody Mary’s and pitcher of Mimosa. After breakfast head straight into the festival to experience the music while enjoying a $200 dollar comp tab at The Comet Tavern.

We will present the Spirit Award to an individual that has shown an outstanding commitment to the Capitol Hill community in 2017. The Spirit Award represents the best of Capitol Hill through community service, excellence, and passion for this neighborhood. This year’s nominees: Alex Brennan (for strong community work in Capitol Hill), Louise Chernin (for dedication to small business and commitment to non-profit work), Brie Gyncild (for leadership surrounding safe streets for pedestrians and bicycles) and Tracy Taylor (for small business advocacy).

Tickets: $35 Chamber Members, $45 Non-Members – on sale in advance at stateofthehill2018.brownpapertickets.com and at the door.

The Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce is committed to supporting an economically vital, livable community and promoting Capitol Hill as a unique urban neighborhood that is welcoming to everyone.

Courtesy of the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce

2018 Black History Month gathering to be held Feb. 24

“Resilience in the Black Community: What Gives Us Strength?”

On Saturday, February 24, from 10am-3pm, Mount Zion Baptist Church hosts a 2018 Black History Month gathering – “Resilience in the Black Community: What Gives Us Strength?” – with keynote speakers Police Chief Carmen Best, renown historian Quintard Taylor, and Dr. Michele Andrasik, known for her advocacy work on behalf of women with HIV.

Police Chief Carmen Best is Seattle’s first female African American to hold this position; historian Quintard Taylor is an expert on black settlement in the Pacific Northwest and King County; Dr. Michele Andrasik is a social scientist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center who is known for her work on behalf of women with HIV.

Other speakers include Dr. Bessie Young, Christopher Moore, George Dicks, Linda Chastine, Mattie Taplin and Louis Shackelford.

In addition to the featured presentations, FREE HIV and Hepatitis C and other health screenings will be offered. Information will also be provided on diabetes and other health-related issues.

The program includes a free lunch catered by “Satisfied Palate.”

Mount Zion Baptist Church is located at 1634 19th Ave. just south of E. Madison St. Everyone is welcome to attend this FREE community gathering. For more information, please call 206-6670-6360.

Courtesy of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

MARTIN DIVELEY

continued from page 3

it wasn’t the right atmosphere. The second year was held in the aforementioned garage of the Richmark Building at 12th & Pine; next to the liquor store and SGN ’s offices. We made it through with flying colors. They always say “third time’s a charm” because we found our home for the next nine years at the Langston Hughes Cultural Theatre.

But enough about Martin’s endless dedication to his community; his concern that everyone in the entire gender spectrum be treated with the same dignity and respect – long before it was the “cause du jour”; and always the one to stick up for the underdog – no one was ever going to be

bullied or belittled on his watch. Martin’s gracious and giving spirit touched so many people. He was never one to “toot his own horn” with his many accomplishments in his day-to-day life as a well respected and beloved hair stylist and instructor. If you don’t believe me, take a scroll through his Facebook page – have a tissue handy.

I had fallen out of touch with Martin for longer than I would like to admit when out of the blue I got a message from him saying he’d like to put on The Mr. Nude Seattle Contest again. It had been over a decade since we’d done the last show – times had changed but he hadn’t – his drive and “let’s do this” work ethic was in top form. The only hiccup was it wasn’t as easy to get local business sponsors as it used to be. And I hadn’t worked with Absolut’s causative

sponsorships for years. We pow-wowed on the phone, called in a few favors and came up with the means to do the event. It was great fun having everyone back again, laughing backstage with Latrina Bidet and Ed, Martin’s long-suffering-steadfasthusband, about the shows and events from years past. But something was different –Martin’s glow wasn’t as beamingly bright as in years past. I sensed that there were things he wasn’t going to and didn’t want to discuss.

At the end of the night I gave him a big hug saying “whatever, whenever, wherever – I’m always just a phone call, or email, or text, or smoke signals, or really loud holler away!!” Unfortunately, that was the last time I was to see my friend Martin. As with everything these days – I learned he had

passed from a post on my Facebook feed. I was immediately overtaken with grief and loss, crying into my hands. It wasn’t more than a moment had passed though before an image of Martin popped into my head, and he gave me one of those smiles and said, “Stop crying, you silly queen. I’m fine – look at me! I look twenty years younger! So no more tears. Just remember all the good times we shared and all the good we gave. Keep it going!”

R. Martin Allen-Diveley is survived by his father, Clarence Diveley, and his husband of 17 years, Ed Allen-Diveley.

lang continued from cover

Why Vashon? Her manager, and parttime island resident for the past 14 years Steve Jensen, said it’s simple.

“k.d. loves Vashon. She is genuinely excited to do this show,” he said. “Once I bought my place here, she started to visit me – she is my client and also best friend. She and I decided the band would rehearse here and do a benefit for the Land Trust and Vashon Center for the Arts. The decision felt both special and natural.” lang agreed.

“I have lots of good friends on Vashon, so I’ve spent a lot of time hanging out and holidaying on the island,” lang said during a recent phone interview. “I try to make Vashon a place I go to.”

Perhaps because of her small-town roots in Alberta, Canada, lang said she loves the Pacific Northwest, a love she shares with Jensen, so the decision to benefit the VashonMaury Land Trust was an easy one.

“Taking care of and preserving the land is a priority,” said lang, who is both a vegetarian and animal rights advocate. “The fertile soil, how Vashon once had strawberry farms and now has lots of vegetable farms, that’s a priority – to focus on growing food.”

Choosing Vashon Center for the Arts (VCA) as the second nonprofit recipient was another no-brainer.

“It just makes sense to promote art and artists in a beautiful place with a great community – to cultivate the arts on Vashon – and to have such a great venue to perform in,” she said.

Yet whether it’s before a crowd of

100,000 at the opening games of the 2010 Winter Olympics while performing an exquisite and powerful rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” or singing in the smaller, 300-seat Vashon Center for the Arts Katherine L. White Hall, for lang the feeling doesn’t change.

“It sounds contrived, but really it is the same,” she said. “Singing is about integrity, motivation and authenticity.”

It is about being present and connecting with the audience, she said. And she does so with inimitable style – barefoot – unless, of course, it’s the East Wing of the White House, where she once performed for President Obama’s Christmas dinner.

“There are times when it is inappropriate,” lang said with a full-on laugh, “but I’ll definitely be barefoot on Vashon.”

Like her 2017 Australian and Canadian tour, “Ingénue Redux” celebrates the 25th anniversary of her Grammy-award winning and platinum-selling album, “Ingénue,” and the Nonesuch Records release of the re-mastered version of her 1992 album that includes mega-hits like “Constant Craving” and “Miss Chatelaine.” lang and her band will perform the entire original album in sequence, followed by other familiar songs. Australian classical guitarist Slava Grigoryan, whose music lang really likes and believes fits well with her own music, will open the show.

So after 25 years of success and musical exploration from country to pop, collaboration with the likes of Roy Orbison, Tony Bennett, Elton John, Anne Murray and Ann Wilson plus multiple Juno and Grammy awards, what’s it like for the artist to revisit her early music?

“It’s like finding a comfortable pair of

shoes you’ve ignored for the past 25 years. It’s super familiar and yet really challenging,” she said. “But in prep for the tour, I thought about what it means to have an audience that has existed with the record and their own emotions and history (connected to it). I didn’t want to superimpose any other emotions on top, so I’ll deliver the songs as clean and matter of fact as possible.”

That thoughtfulness of others seems in keeping with lang’s close to two decades of Tibetan Buddhist practice in the Nyingma tradition. Though not a practicing Buddhist when she wrote “Ingenue,” she now finds her practice and music to be inseparable.

“Music is part of my practice, and I see it as an offering,” she said. “My relationship to music has changed. I don’t try to own, contain or control it. It is an offering or a teaching when I go out to sing. It’s in a space of less attachment to the outcome, more in tune with the actual experience of it. I’m not saying I’ve mastered it, but I have shifted to the more fluid and non-contrived experience for myself.”

lang’s – and Jensen’s – beneficence to the island includes waving her artistic fees and donating all proceeds to the two nonprofits. Her organization, in collaboration with the Land Trust and Vashon Center for the Arts, set ticket prices by balancing availability with raising significant funds for both organizations. A $500 VIP level includes front row seating and a “meet and greet” with the artist. Other tickets were set at $250 and $80. (The $80 tickets are sold out.) Tickets for her show at Seattle’s Moore Theatre on Monday, February 26, currently range from $47 to $122.

“We are honored by k.d. lang’s gift and generosity,” said Land Trust Executive Direc-

tor Tom Dean. “We will direct funds from the benefit to planting our first crop at Matsuda Farm, the harvests of which will go to the food bank and to restoration and trail building in the growing Judd Creek Preserve. We are most excited to be in the audience, as well.”

Vashon Center for the Arts Executive Director Susan Warner echoed Dean’s sentiment.

“We are so honored to be beneficiaries of this great artist and music icon. We will utilize these funds for supporting the care and upkeep of the Blue Heron and to further our arts education programming. It is an honor to host her in our wonderful performance hall.”

As for lang, who over the years has participated in Frisbee golf tournaments here and even “lost a couple of discs,” Vashon feels like home.

“The whole Pacific Northwest is where my heart and soul is, so Vashon is a place I love.”

k.d. lang will perform at 7:30pm Friday and Saturday, Feb. 23 and 24, at Vashon Center for the Arts Katherine L. White Hall. 19600 Vashon Highway SW, Vashon WA. Available tickets are $250 and $500. Visit vashoncenterforthearts.org to purchase a ticket.

Courtesy of the Vashion Beachcomber (originally published January 18, 2018)

VETERANS

continued from cover

near the Wall St. parking garage across the street from Anthony’s Pier 66 restaurant in Belltown. All LGBTQ veterans are invited to attend.

“This is not the VA of 10 or 15 years ago,” said Mr. Johnnie Hawkins, Legal Administration Specialist with the Veterans Benefit Administration, part of the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

One of the purposes of the meeting is to establish a social network of care for LGBTQ veterans in the Greater Seattle and Puget Sound region as well as provide an opportunity to learn about what services the VA is currently offering to LGBTQ veterans. The VA also hopes to learn how the VA can better serve the underserved population of LGBTQ veterans in the Puget Sound region.

At the meeting, Johnnie will discuss the current array of VA services for LGBTQ veterans, including counseling, benefits, and discharge upgrades. On the medical side, the VA also provides social support groups for LGBTQ veterans, including male, female, trans, and HIV-positive veterans.

Another goal of the meeting is to determine how many medical care providers are seeing veterans in the community in a nonVA setting, and if the providers are asking the

right questions when first seeing the veterans.

Also in attendance at the meeting will be a representative of the Washington State Dept of Veterans Affairs.

And at the end of the meeting, Johnnie plans to show a Northwest-made documentary film, Breaking The Silence, about the lives, struggles, and successes of Oregon LGBTQ veterans.

This will be a great opportunity to meet up with other LGBTQ veterans in the Greater Seattle and Puget Sound region

and to learn more about what benefits and services the VA can provide you, including, if you suffered the indignity of an unfavorable discharge under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” or prior to DADT, because of your sexual orientation, discharge upgrades.

Mr. Johnnie Hawkins can be reached at 206-341-8593.

Ron Rasmussen is Vice-President of Portland-based Veterans for Human Rights (VFHR) (www.vfhr.org) and also through VFHR helps coordinate the annual Color Guard at the Seattle and Portland Pride Parades.

rights division to dismiss a Trans student’s restroom case.

saying its position was that that Title IX –a federal civil rights law – did not protect Transgender students.

The Obama administration ruled that Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination also covered gender identity, and on that basis it supported Trans students’ legal complaints against school districts that restricted their access to gender-appropriate facilities.

As with other federal policies, things changed when Trump was inaugurated.

In February 2017, the Trump administration said in a memo that it would “consider the legal issues involved” in Title IX complaints, but last June, the Department of Education issued another memo saying it was “permissible” for its civil

Trump officials have still not formally stated their intention to reject all restroomrelated complaints from Trans students, but their February 8 email is the most comprehensive statement to date of their intentions.

According to Holden, the email came as a result of three weeks’ worth of attempts to get clarification from the Trump Department of Education on its legal interpretation of Title IX.

Finally on February 8, department spokesperson Liz Hill replied “Yes, that’s what the law says” when asked if the Education Department believes that restroom-related discrimination complaints from Transgender students are not covered by Title IX.

Asked for further explanation of the department’s position, Hill wrote defini-

tively on February 9 that “Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, not gender identity.”

According to Holden, she added that some Transgender discrimination complaints may be investigated, but not bathroom complaints.

“Where students, including transgender students, are penalized or harassed for failing to conform to sex-based stereotypes, that is sex discrimination prohibited by Title IX,” Hill said.

“In the case of bathrooms, however, longstanding regulations provide that separating facilities on the basis of sex is not a form of discrimination prohibited by Title IX.”

The Trump administration’s analysis of Title IX is dubious and contradicts relevant case law, according to Catherine Lhamon, who led the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights during the Obama administration.

“Until now, the official position of the Department has been that Title IX protects all students and that they were evaluating how that protection applies to the issue of bathroom access,” she said in an email to BuzzFeed News

“This new categorical bar of civil rights protection for transgender children required to attend schools every day ignores the text of the law, courts’ interpretation of the law, the stated position of the Department to date, and human decency.”

The Education Department’s reading of Title IX also conflicts with rulings by two federal circuit courts, which held that Title IX guarantees Transgender students’ access to restrooms matching their gender identity.