SGN Jan 8, 2021

Seattle Gay News

VICTORY IN GEORGIA

Victory for HRC-backed candidates Rev. Raphael Warnock, Jon Ossoff in Georgia Senate runoffs

ATLANTA (January 6, 2021) – Yesterday, Human Rights Campaign (HRC)-endorsed candidates emerged victorious in Georgia. Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock won their elections to the United States Senate in the January 5th dual Senate runoff, defeating incumbent Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler. see VICTORY page 8

25th Amendment

Sen. Murray calls for removal of President Trump from office

WASHINGTON, DC (January 7, 2021)

– Today, US Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) issued the following statement on Congress resuming its constitutional duty to certify the election after a violent mob of President Trump’s supporters attacked the US Capitol, calling for the 25th Amendment to be invoked immediately to prevent President Trump from inciting further harm in the days ahead:

“Congress is continuing the process of certifying the election, but only after a day of chaos and violent extremism in the Capitol where some of our worst fears about the harm this President is willing to incite were realized.

is what terrorism looks like” Pride at Work statement on the attack at the US Capitol

Statement by Pride at Work Executive Director, Jerame Davis, on the attack on the US Capitol on Wednesday:

“What we’re witnessing at the Capitol today is nothing less than an attack on our country and on our people brought to life by a president who refuses to accept that millions turned out to elect Joe Biden by overwhelming margins.

“Let there be no doubt, this is what terrorism looks like: an angry mob violently invading our Capitol and threatening our elected leaders, even the very Republican leaders – who egged them on.

“We are here today due to the cheering of some Republicans and the silence of others. This president and his Republican allies fed lie after lie to their supporters about this

“We need questions answered about the profound breakdown in security and the stark difference in the treatment of see TRUMP page 6 see PRIDE AT WORK page 6

Vitambi Springs needs miracle to stay open

by Jesse Monteagudo SGN Contributing Writer

On December 8, Vitambi Springs Florida Wilderness Resort & Camp sent out a lengthy e-mail message, in English and Spanish, “To the Friends of Vitambi.” This message led to much concern and discussion among past and present guests of Vitambi, on Facebook and other forums: “After much debate, soul-searching, and nonstop attempts to find solutions, we must inform you that Vitambi Springs Resort & Camp is making plans to permanently close business. Without a miraculous intervention, we plan to close sometime in late January. The Covid-19 pandemic has dealt a fatal blow to business operations and there is no relief in sight.

“We’ve been here 10 years now and have built a community. We’ve also created a beautiful place with great value. It is unfortunate in these difficult times that others would scheme to benefit from the difficulties of others. It’s equally unfortunate that our government and community institutions have not been able to help.

“While there is time to save this treasure, and we will try, we don’t want to be one of those businesses that suddenly disappear. We owe our staff and our guests the ability to make plans for this loss. We can’t wait until it is too late. We are trying to hang in there these last two months but honestly, it will take more reservations to keep the lights on. If you need to get away, a walk in the woods, or a chance to thank our amazing staff please consider a reservation over the next months.”

Vitambi’s ominous email came at a time when too many LGBT venues were going out of business because of Covid-19. Orlando’s legendary Parliament House closed less than two months ago. While Vitambi’s message caused much consternation in social media, business partners Steve McCloud and Martin

Ruddock are not as alarmed as their message might imply. “We believe having a conversation is much better than not having that conversation,” they say. “Simply put, the deadline to refinance our mortgage is Jan. 31st. We want to pull the fire alarm prior to the flames getting out of hand. While we continue to seek out all solutions, we felt it would be unfair to leave our guests in the lurch. What we want is the opportunity to have a discussion with our friends and guests to find a way to approach the problem responsively. And we have been having thoughtful, productive conversations with lots of people. It is a very different conversation than anyone is likely to have on Facebook.”

The WildFyre Society, a South Florida social group for nudist men, took note of Vitambi’s plight and sent out its own message on December 9. “The WildFyre Society has been a steady supporter of Vitambi Springs Florida Wilderness Resort & Camp for years, showcasing all of its nude weekends on our schedule. We are writing with a special request to support the campground now. Yesterday, Vitambi Springs announced that it is in dire straits, partially as a result of COVID-19 challenges. It advised of a potential shutdown in a couple of months if nothing changes. There are two ways to help the campground survive to better times.” WildFyre’s first suggestion was for its members to make reservations and spend their weekends at Vitambi. Its second suggestion was for someone to raise “a temporary, private bridge loan to make up for Vitambi Springs’ mortgage, which is being called in by the previous owner, who wishes to disengage. It involves approximately $1.5 million on a 269-acre property recently assessed at $4.8 million.”

To this suggestion, Ruddock and McCloud agree that “a bridge loan is a perfect example of what is needed. We have a history of seeking out that solution and it’s

not been easy. Jumping into an agreement in the hard-money lending market is risky and requires caution. We have been told on more than one occasion that there are many mainstream lenders that do not want an LGBT ‘clothing optional’ business in their portfolio. Additionally, many lenders are averse to collateralizing property in a rural area. It is not an impossible route, but it has been tricky and unattainable thus far.” As to WildFyre’s first suggestion, Ruddock says that “Vitambi Springs is happy to market specifically to our naturist guests with our N-VS weekends (Naturists at Vitambi Springs) and we would be open to hosting more of them.” (Their next naturist weekend, N-VS Jungle, will take place January 8-10. Vitambi also holds special weekends for clubs, women, leathermen, athletes, outdoor adventure enthusiasts, bears and holidays.)

“In a perfect world we would find a private bridge loan for 2-3 years to address our current mortgage issue. Beyond that, Vitambi Springs needs to expand to capture the overwhelming demand for RVs and private cabins with bathrooms. Our current problems are worsened by being too small an operation. We have approved plans to expand but need the funding. Adding a few RV space is not a simple task. It requires a significant development of infrastructure to handle septic, water, and power. It’s a big job.

“The Gay community has been extremely supportive, and we thank everyone who has reached out to us wanting to help. The outpouring from our fan base has been amazing and at times emotional. It inspires us to continue to seek out every available solution.” Vitambi Springs Florida Wilderness Resort & Camp is a valuable resource, and it must be maintained.

For more information about Vitambi Springs, contact them at PO Box 100, Clewiston, FL 33440; (863) 983-8488; or Vitambi.com.

COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on LGBTQ people and Seattle’s response

by Eve Kucharski SGN Contributing Writer

As the United States passes the somber milestone of 300,000 deaths from the novel coronavirus, it’s clear that the pandemic’s impacts on all aspects of life will be felt far beyond the release of a vaccine. While it’s unlikely that we can have a full understanding of what COVID-19’s legacy will be while we’re still going through it, it is possible to take stock of what it has meant for our community so far.

For Seattle’s LGBTQ population, it’s clear that it has highlighted – and in some cases amplified – existing inequalities in the realms of health care and social services. Despite this reality, in some instances the steps taken to ameliorate these discrepancies have brought about positive change. What follows is a snapshot of COVID-19’s disproportionate effect on the American LGBTQ community as a whole and how that has translated to the city of Seattle.

Why the LGBTQ community has a heightened risk

As of 2019, the Public Religion Research Institute – a nonprofit organization dedicated to taking nonpartisan public opinion polls – found that roughly 5.1%

of Americans identify as having an LGBT identity. (Given the US population of 328.2 million people at the time, this would translate to roughly 16 million.) A 2015 Gallup poll found that Seattle had the fifth-highest number of LGBTQ citizens in the US.

Studies point to LGBTQ people being disproportionately at risk for contracting COVID-19. Ithaca College Director of LGBTQ Education, Outreach, and Services Luca Maurer says that this heightened risk stems from a variety of sources, and the fear of discrimination is chief among them.

“LGBTQ folks are very likely to delay or avoid routine health care, even if something is urgent or an emergency, because they have had negative experiences because of their sexual orientation or gender identity with health care providers in the past, or because they fear that they will in the future,” Maurer said. “The data shows that this is far too common still today in 2020.” And because of the Trump administration’s rollbacks of explicit protections for LGBTQ people, accessing health care during the past four years has become even more difficult than before.

This, unfortunately, translates to an increased risk of cancer and HIV – both diseases that suppress one’s immune system and therefore increase the risk of get-

ting COVID-19.

Also, on average, LGBTQ people tend to exhibit a much higher rate of smoking tobacco products, which the World Health Organization tied to a higher likelihood of developing severe disease if COVID-19 is contracted.

Maurer has published a publicly accessible resource page [www.ithaca.edu/ center-lgbt-education-outreach-services/ resources-and-services/lgbtq-people-andcovid-19] to educate both students and the public about these risk factors.

Economically, too, the LGBTQ community has been hit hard during this pandemic. In a report titled “The Lives & Livelihoods of Many in the LGBTQ Community Are at Risk Amidst [the] COVID19 Crisis,” the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) found that LGBTQ people also have “higher economic sensitivity” to the crisis, because they tend to work in the industries most impacted by the pandemic.

“[The] HRC Foundation’s analysis of data from the 2018 [General Social Survey data] found the top five industries in which LGBTQ adults in the United States are most likely to work,” the report said. “Making up about 40% of all industries where LGBTQ people work, the top five are… [restaurants and food services], [hospitals],

[K-12 education], [colleges and universities], and [retail].”

That means that LGBTQ people are more likely than their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts to make use of social services like meal-delivery services and unemployment benefits, among others. Maurer points out that because of a “unique confluence of interpersonal stigma,” just as LGBTQ people tend not to take care of their health outside of a crisis, they’re just as likely not to feel comfortable using social safety nets during this pandemic. He used elders as an example.

“We know that LGBTQ elders report that they don’t feel that they would be welcome by everyday, mainstream elder service programs. They report experiences of not [feeling] welcome [in] senior centers and other programs that [support] our elders,” he said.

It’s realities like this, Maurer said, that have shone a “really stark, bright light on the impacts of oppression that were already embedded throughout our society.”

“So, even without COVID-19, all of the things that I’m describing still existed in the background and still impacted LGBTQ people differently,” he continued. “But it really brings to mind the existing public health crisis that springs from this [inequality].”

Local support efforts

In the face of these statistical predispositions to contracting COVID-19, LGBTQ people across the US have continued to navigate the pandemic with a resolve and resilience that Maurer has called “incredible.”

“We’re only here because of those LGBTQ ancestors who were able to do things when life was incredibly even more difficult. So, we owe it not just to them but to ourselves to live as long as we possibly can. And that does mean, when we can, taking care of our health needs,” he said.

Local programs have been created to aid the LGBTQ population in just that effort, through the work of organizations like Gay City, Seattle’s LGBTQ Center. There, people can find aid in the realms of health, legal, and educational COVID-19 resources.

Director of Marketing & Communications Melvin Givens echoed Maurer’s concerns about the local LGBTQ community’s increased risk factors for contracting the virus. That’s why, in addition to providing in-person health services, Gay City works to direct the public to services it doesn’t directly provide and hosts a variety of virtual events to foster community at a distance.

“If you say you need a service that we don’t provide, like an outside therapist, we can connect you,” Givens said. “Carewise, we are still doing health care appointments and signing people up for health insurance plans that best meet their needs. So, we sit down and talk with community [members] to really understand what are the things that you need, what are the things that you’re hoping to have covered, are there any procedures that you’re hoping to have in the future, and how can we find a plan that will be responsive and supportive.”

More specialized care can be found

locally, too. For instance, the Ingersoll Gender Center, a not-for-profit organization that has been aiding transgender and gender-nonconforming people since 1977, has

COVID-19-specific programming. There, community members can access financial assistance programs, job boards, support groups and more.

And Lambert House is currently offering fully virtual support for LGBTQ youth, its target demographic.

For a more comprehensive list of potential LGBTQ service providers, the University of Washington Bothell & Cascadia College Campus Library has compiled most citywide and regional resources [https://guides.lib.uw.edu/uwbcc-lgbtqresources/puget-sound-regional-resources].

Virtually fighting seclusion and unexpected community-building

Givens said that one of the biggest local challenges he has faced in his work has been staving off isolation due to quarantine measures put in place to fight the pandemic. Said Givens, “Studies say that prolonged isolation can be lethal and the equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.”

“Not every city and every place that our community is in is very welcoming and accepting of LGBTQ people, or even just understanding about our community,” Givens added. “So, a lot of times, they can’t necessarily express their full selves, because maybe they’re not out or [don’t] necessarily [have] the affirming space they need.”

Givens went on to say that much of his job lately has been working to change the mindset of the local population about the current social distancing requirements.

“One of our campaigns has been to teach the community…to look [at restrictions] not just as a constraint on their lives but…a way to create a safe environment for themselves and their community. And to realize that we can still be resilient and center our health throughout the pandemic,” he said. “Stress may look a little bit different during COVID-19, and maybe that’s due to the fact that you can’t go out and hang out with friends or grab a meal with a loved one and spend that quality time with them…so we’ve been able to encourage folks to find new ways of doing things that they love. And not only that but to share it with their community [virtually].”

A virtual approach has been taken on by the University of Washington’s Q Center for LGBTQ students, too. Outreach Coordinator Jace Reyes says it’s been especially helpful, since on-campus events have all but stopped this year.

“There’s not really the chance of hanging out in the physical space, which is on campus, and meeting people. [But] we have a lot of supplementary places to meet people right now, like…a community Discord space, [and] we facilitate a lot of online Zoom [calls],” he said.

Reyes admitted that while Zoom or a Discord chat can’t really simulate the experience of being in the room with other LGBTQ people, it has offered a layer of accessibility to international and disabled students not felt before on campus.

Q Center Associate Director Val Schweigert agreed: “We’re really tapping into our youthful environment and building out that virtual landscape. And I hope to see that continue on in the future and be way more accessible, especially for disabled and immuno-compromised folks that I think, to be honest, we were underserving before,” she said.

In fact, similarly to Maurer’s efforts, Schweigert is working to publish information through the University of Washington to not only highlight the increased risk factors that LGBTQ people face but showcase how other intersections of identity can impact things, too.

“To create [this infographic], I did do some research about the susceptibility that particularly queer and BIPOC folks are experiencing, due to levels of marginalization and oppression that would contribute to us being impacted more by COVID-19, like having to navigate transphobia in the health care system, anti-Blackness and racism, and the disproportionate effects of being HIV positive,” Schweigert said. “That is the legacy of neglect that comes out of the AIDS crisis. People were disregarding attending to the needs of queer and trans folks and especially queer and trans communities of color. We see that happening as well now.”

Maurer agreed, saying that as compounded as things are right now, “this isn’t new.”

“It’s a new presentation, but this isn’t new. We are living [with] the results of rampant, pervasive structural racism, misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia. And when you add COVID to the mix, that gets all the more deadly,” Maurer said. “I really think that part of the solution to this is [answering the question], ‘How do we build different structures that center the people who are the most marginalized?’ We know that if we do that, everyone else will be served as well.”

National LGBTQ Task Force, National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund call for “immediate removal” of President Trump by use of the 25th Amendment

(January 6, 2021) – Statement by Rea Carey, Executive Director: “Donald Trump has been, continues to be, and will remain a threat to democracy, the US Constitution, and human life every day he remains in office. While his attempted coup has failed, he and his supporters are a threat to democracy and will be as long as he is in power.

“The National LGBTQ Task Force and National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund calls for the immediate removal of Donald Trump under the 25th Amendment.

“Even if today were January 19th, the time left in Trump’s term would be too long. If Donald Trump were to stay in office for a mere 24 hours, it would be too long and too risky. If Trump is able to make one more call to the Acting Secretary of Defense, it would be one call too many. If Trump is able to push through one more regulation, it would be one too many. He abandoned his post and responsibility long ago, and we have watched in horror with each swing of his golf club, as more Americans die.

“For his entire administration, and especially today, he has rhetorically spat on the right of assembly and free speech by inciting violence as Congress today fulfills its duty to certify the election. The domestic terrorist attack on the Capital today was not merely incited by Trump but orchestrated and organized by Trump and his enablers using misin-

formation, lies, and conspiracy theories.

“Trump has desecrated the memories of generations before us who, even when abused by the very country they loved, resolved to make it better, to leave a better country for their children and grandchildren. Americans have suffered his abuse of power and his practice of tyranny for far too long, and his delusional display of narcissistic coup fantasies have thankfully fallen short.

“We condemn the violence in Washington, DC and in communities across the country that has been incited by today’s attack on the Capitol building. We are better than this. To move forward we must begin by making the strongest statement possible and remove Trump from office using the power of the 25th Amendment.”

The National LGBTQ Task Force advances full freedom, justice, and equity for LGBTQ people. It is building a future where everyone can be free to be their entire selves in every aspect of their lives. Today, despite all the progress we’ve made to end discrimination, millions of LGBTQ people face barriers in every aspect of their lives: in housing, employment, healthcare, retirement, and basic human rights. More at www.thetaskforce.org.

Courtesy of Target Cue

PRIDE AT WORK

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election in order to undermine the will of the people and desperately attempt to hold onto power they clearly do not deserve.

“They will not prevail.”

Pride At Work is the largest national organization that builds power for LGBTQIA+ working people. We organize

TRUMP

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this violent mob compared to legions of women, people with disabilities, members of the clergy, and activists of color who have peacefully protested in and around the Capitol complex.

“The insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol today should be held fully accountable for their actions under the law. So should the President. The most immediate way to ensure the President is prevented from causing further harm in coming days is to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove him from office. As his-

mutual support between the organized Labor Movement and the LGBTQ Community for social and economic justice. We seek full equality for LGBTQIA+ working people in our workplaces, our unions, and the public square. We organize in the spirit of the union movement’s historic motto, “An Injury to One is An Injury to All.” Learn more at www.prideatwork.org.

of Pride At Work

tory watches, I urge Vice President Pence and the President’s cabinet to put country before party and act.

“To families in Washington state and nationwide, please know that as frightening as this has been, there is reason for hope because of your participation in the very same processes the President is seeking to undermine. Because of you, we will soon have a President and Senate determined to protect and strengthen rather than jeopardize our democratic institutions. Continue to have faith in yourselves, each other, and our democracy, and we will get through this together.”

Courtesy of Sen. Patty Murray

Rep. Smith on Capitol campus insurrection

WASHINGTON, DC (January 6, 2021)

– Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, today issued the following statement in the midst of the protest that has overrun the Capitol campus during the proceedings to certify the 2020 general election results:

“The assault by pro-Trump extremists on the United States Capitol is a criminal act aimed at ending our democracy as we know it. The Capitol campus must be cleared of these extremists as soon and as safely as possible.

“I have spoken with Department of the Defense leadership – specifically Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, and Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy – who are now working with the District of Columbia government, the Department of Justice, and Capitol police to restore order to the Capitol and allow members of Congress to safely cer-

tify the election results, as is our constitutional obligation.

“President Trump and his enablers are directly responsible for the despicable acts at our nation’s Capitol that we all have witnessed today. The President incited and encouraged this riot. He has lied repeatedly, as have his enablers in Congress and elsewhere about this election. They do not believe in democracy. They believe in retaining power by any means necessary. All Americans who believe in the rule of law and our Constitution must clearly and unambiguously hold these people accountable for their actions.

“Order will be restored. Congress will do its job. This election will be certified, and Joe Biden will, as he was duly elected to do, take office as our next President on January 20th.”

Courtesy of Rep. Adam Smith

JCPA condemns violence and insurrection

(January 6, 2021) – The Jewish Council for Public Affairs strongly condemns the violent insurrection at the US Capitol Building. This was a direct assault on our democratic process, and nothing less than an attempt to disrupt the peaceful transition of power in a presidential election and an act of sedition.

We urge in the strongest possible terms that President Trump and others immediately cease incendiary rhetoric and restore order. We urge members of Congress and other responsible elected officials to speak out against the violence and immediately cease all questioning the legitimacy of the election. Those who have broken the law must be held accountable for their actions.

We thank Capitol police and law enforcement for putting themselves in harm’s way and keeping our elected officials and their staff safe.

We urge Americans to stand together against politically motivated violence and for our democracy.

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), the network hub of 125 local Jewish community relations councils and 16 national Jewish agencies, builds Jewish unity and advocates for a just and pluralistic America, Israel’s quest for peace and security, and global human rights.

Courtesy of the JCPA

NCLR on historic Georgia Senate election of Rev. Warnock and Jon Ossoff

SAN FRANCISCO (January 6, 2021) – Last night, Georgia voters made history by electing Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to represent the Southern state in the US Senate. Rev. Warnock’s election is truly historic, as he will be the first Black senator to represent Georgia in Congress.

A statement from Imani Rupert-Gordon, the NCLR’s executive director, follows:

“Yesterday, record numbers of Georgia voters turned out for one of the most important Senate elections in our nation’s history,” said Rupert-Gordon. “We congratulate Rev. Warnock and Mr. Ossoff on their historic victories, and we join millions of other Americans in urging them and the other members of the 117th Congress to address the urgent needs of those whose lives have been devastated by the pandemic and the glaring inequalities that are threatening our democracy. Now more than ever, we need leaders who will be honest about the problems we face and who are genuinely committed to solving them. Here at the NCLR, we are ready to do our part. We look forward to working with Senators-elect Warnock and Ossoff to advance legislation that protects the rights and well-being of all.”

The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) is a national legal organization committed to advancing the human and civil rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education. Since its founding, the NCLR has maintained a longstanding commitment to racial and economic justice and the LGBTQ community’s most vulnerable. More at www.nclrights.org.

Lambda Legal celebrates election of pro-equality Senate

NEW YORK (January 6, 2021) –Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings today issued the following statement about the election of Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock and Democrat Jon Ossoff to the US Senate, defeating incumbent Georgia Republican Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in Tuesday’s run-off election:

“We hope that today’s outcome ushers in a new day when the legislative and executive branches can work together to make life easier, safer, and more fair for people – whether it comes to access to healthcare, racial justice, or equality for LGBTQ people and everyone living with HIV. If the past ten years have demonstrated anything, it is the importance of the Senate [in] determining whether the government will work for the people to advance equality and opportunity, or whether it will stand in the way of that progress.

“There is important work to be done – to repair our judiciary, to improve our economy, to tame the COVID pandemic, and to restore faith in our government as a force for good. We are eager to get to work with the Biden-Harris administration and the new Congress to improve the lives of LGBTQ people and everyone living with HIV.

“The people of Georgia came out in record numbers to vote in a special election in a fitting tribute to the work of the late John Lewis in promoting the right of all Georgians to vote, and we salute them. And we celebrate with them the new future Sens. Warnock and Ossoff, Georgia’s first Black and first Jewish senators in a state where during the 20th century both Blacks and Jews were lynched, and we rejoice in these victories that signal a new era for the South and for our work with our partners across the region.”

Lambda Legal’s recently released report on the Trump administration’s attack on the federal judiciary is available at www.lambdalegal.org/blog/20210105_new-reportfour-years-trump.

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education, and policy work. More at www.lambdalegal.org.

Courtesy of Lambda Legal

VICTORY

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Ossoff and Warnock committed that should they be elected, both would co-sponsor and vote in favor of the Equality Act, crucial federal legislation that would finally guarantee explicit protections for LGBTQ people under our nation’s existing civil rights laws.

“Georgians have made their voices heard and united for equality by electing Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, installing a new proequality majority in the United States Senate ” said Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David. “We celebrate this incredible moment, and we are proud to have helped them across the finish line by deploying our staff to engage and mobilize the 1.3 million Equality Voters across the state. These victories ensure a pro-equality Senate majority alongside a pro-equality House majority and a Biden presidency, which will work together to pass the Equality Act and enshrine protections for all LGBTQ people.”

The HRC deployed over a dozen staff to mobilize voters in Georgia for the runoff election, targeting more than 1.3 million Equality Voters, including Georgia’s 356,000 LGBTQ adults. The HRC has 185,000 members and supporters statewide, making the Atlanta metro area home to one of the largest networks of HRC volunteers in the country. Its over 700 volunteers completed over 1,300 volunteer shifts, hosted 40+ trainings, made more than 105,000 calls, and sent more than 196,000 text messages on behalf of the Ossoff and Warnock campaigns throughout the election cycle, partnering with nearly a dozen organizations on the ground to ensure our work made the biggest impact possible. In the

runoff specifically, our volunteers made more than 70,000 calls and sent more than 75,000 text messages. As a result, early vote data showed that a majority (52%) of Equality Voters turned out prior to Election Day, 12 points higher than the 40% early vote turnout rate of the general population.

Warnock defeated Loeffler, who hasn’t had the opportunity to vote on much legislation but supported a Georgia bill that would have undermined nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people and is on the record with a number of virulent anti-LGBTQ statements. During the campaign, in her attempts to appeal to the most repugnant anti-equality forces in her base, Loeffler introduced legislation targeting transgender children. Jon Ossoff defeated incumbent David Perdue, who received a zero on the 2020 HRC Congressional Scorecard, a report measuring support for LGBTQ equality in the 116th Congress. Perdue has a long history of opposition to same-sex marriage and in 2014 said, “I believe that we must protect traditional marriage, keeping it clearly defined as between one man and one woman.” In addition to opposing the Equality Act, Perdue voted for a bill that would have dismantled the Obama administration’s executive order that prohibits government contractors from discriminating against employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

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

Courtesy of the HRC

ART

Photographic Center Northwest presents “To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults”

Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre highlight transgender older adults in new book and exhibition

“TO SURVIVE ON THIS SHORE: PHOTOGRAPHS AND INTERVIEWS WITH TRANSGENDER AND GENDER NON-CONFORMING OLDER ADULTS” PHOTOGRAPHIC CENTER NORTHWEST

January 14-April 15

“In the ’60s they called me a sissy. In the ’70s they called me a faggot. In the ’80s I was a queen. In the ’90s I was transgender. In the 2000s I was a woman, and now I’m just Grace.” – Grace, 56, Boston MA

Photographic Center Northwest (PCNW) is pleased to present “To Survive on This Shore”, a new photographic exhibition on view January 14 - April 15. This interdisciplinary project is a collaboration between Jess T. Dugan, photographer, and Vanessa Fabbre, social worker and assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis, whose research focuses on the intersection of LGBTQ issues and aging.

For more than five years, Dugan and Fabbre traveled throughout the United States seeking subjects whose experiences exist within the complex intersections of gender identity, age, race, ethnicity, sexuality, socioeconomic class and geographic location. They traveled from coast to coast, to big cities and small towns, documenting the life stories of this important but largely underrepresented group of older adults. The featured individuals have a wide variety of life narratives spanning the last 90 years, offering an important historical record of transgender experience and activism in the United States.

The exhibition will include 22 photographs, each paired with texts illuminating the life narratives of those photographed. A hardcover book (Kehrer Verlag, August 28, 2018) contains 65 portraits and texts as well as an interview with Dugan and Fabbre conducted by Karen Irvine, Deputy Director and Chief Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago IL.

While Dugan’s earlier work focused on issues of identity, gender and sexuality – and often on LGBTQ communities specifically – this is their first body of work that focuses on older adults, a result of their collaboration with Fabbre. Dugan’s portraits are open, emotive and nuanced, utilizing direct eye contact to facilitate a meaningful exchange between subject and viewer. For the accompanying texts, Fabbre provides selections of full-length interviews to enhance the viewer’s connection to each subject’s story. The resulting book and exhibition provide a nuanced view into the struggles and joys of growing older as a transgender person and offer a poignant reflection on what it means to live authentically despite seemingly insurmountable odds.

Jess T. Dugan is an artist whose work explores issues of identity through photographic portraiture. Dugan’s work has been widely exhibited and is in the permanent collections of over 35 museums throughout the United States. Dugan’s monographs include To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults (Kehrer Verlag, 2018) and Every Breath We Drew (Daylight Books, 2015). They are the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, an ICP Infinity Award, and were selected by the Obama White House as an LGBT Artist Champion of Change. They are represented by the Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago IL.

Vanessa Fabbre, Ph.D., LCSW, is an Assistant Professor at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, where she is also Affiliate Faculty in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and a Faculty Scholar at the Institute for Public Health. She received her Ph.D. from the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. Her research explores the conditions under which gender and sexual minorities

age well and what this means in the context of social forces such as heteronormativity, heterosexism and transphobia. She is also interested in critical perspectives on social work practice and interpretive methodology in the social sciences. She is actively involved in the Gerontological Society of America, the American Society on Aging and the Socisee PCNW page 12

PCNW

continued from page 9

ety for Social Work and Research. Her work has been published in The Gerontologist, the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, Social Work, the Journal of Gerontological Social Work, the Journal of Urban Health and the Journal of Interpersonal Violence

] Barrett Barrera Projects is a crossdisciplinary group of originators who redefine art experiences and push boundaries to explore the continuously expanding spectrum of art forms. We see art where others see separate disciplines. At Barrett Barrera Projects we focus on the intersections, because that’s where new ideas and experiences emerge. Our team produces, manages, consults and advises on tour-

ing exhibitions, in addition to managing our own exhibition and gallery spaces. For more information, visit barrettbarrera.com.

Photographic Center Northwest (PCNW) teaches people how to see. Through our 53-credit Certificate Program, classes and workshops; free exhibitions and companion public programs; and publicly accessible facilities we teach the history

and future of the photographic medium. The PCNW gallery is open by appointment for groups of ten or less and masks must be worn at all times when in the gallery. Please call (206) 720-7222 during our current business hours (Sun-Mon, 12-6pm; Tues-Thurs 12:30-9pm; CLOSED Fri-Sat) or email frontdesk@pcnw.org to make an appointment.

For more information, visit pcnw.org.

Judge dismisses SPD lawsuit against Kshama Sawant “with prejudice”

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Seattle City Council member Kshama Sawant filed by two Seattle police officers.

In a December 29 order, US District Judge Marsha Pechman noted that Seattle Police Department (SPD) officers Michael Spaulding and Scott Miller have now filed four different versions of the suit against Sawant and availed themselves of an appeal to the 9th Circuit. She dismissed the latest suit “with prejudice,” meaning that the officers cannot refile their complaints.

The two officers shot and killed Che Taylor in 2016. In a speech, Sawant characterized the action as a “brutal murder” but did not name the officers responsible. Nevertheless, they sued her for “damaging their reputation.”

Sawant represents Seattle’s 3rd City Council District (Capitol Hill, Montlake, the Central District, and Madison Park). She was first elected in 2013 and reelected in 2015 and 2019.

Judge Pechman handled all four iterations of the lawsuit, initially dismissing the police allegation in March 2019.

The officers then appealed to the 9th Circuit, which allowed them to file an

amended suit. Pechman then dismissed that complaint and yet another one, before issuing her final ruling on December 29.

Sawant could not have injured the officers, the judge ruled, because she never named them.

“Taken in their full quoted context, the broad statements do not single out individual police officers or speak to labeling specific officers as ‘murderers,’” Pechman wrote.

Balducci re-elected chair

as

“The Court finds that leave to amend would be futile…and further litigation prejudicial to Defendant [Sawant].”

Daniel Brown, the attorney representing the officers, said they will appeal again.

“The trial judge erred again, and the forthcoming appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (yet again) will confirm the judge’s error,” he said in an email to the Seattle Times

Sawant’s attorney, Dmitri Iglitzin, said he isn’t surprised that the officers wished to appeal, but he pointed out that the 9th Circuit has already affirmed Pechman’s earlier dismissal.

Sawant said in a statement that Pechman’s ruling was “a victory for the Black Lives Matter movement, working people, socialists, and my council office. The police lawsuit against my office is just one in a series of attacks by the ruling class, whose interests the police defend under this deeply unequal system.”

Spaulding and Miller killed Taylor on February 21, 2016.

They say they were performing surveillance outside a Wedgwood home when Taylor arrived, then left the scene, then returned. According to the officers, they believed he was armed and attempted to arrest him for being a felon in possession of a gun.

During the arrest, the officers shot him, claiming later they believed they saw him reaching for a gun.

The only weapon found at the scene, a handgun, was found under debris beneath the passenger seat of the vehicle Taylor had been in.

His family later sued the City of Seattle for wrongful death and won a $1.5 million settlement.

King County Council embarks on busy new year

SEATTLE (January 6, 2020) – Coming off a challenging past year and looking ahead to a busy 2021, the King County Council on Tuesday unanimously reelected Claudia Balducci as chair and Joe McDermott and Reagan Dunn as vice chairs.

“I’m proud of the work the King County Council accomplished in 2020 under unprecedented conditions and look forward to leading the council in 2021 as we continue to respond and recover from the pandemic,” Balducci said. “As the pandemic raged, the King County Council adapted and worked together to support our constituents. In 2021, we will recover and build toward a better, more equitable future with

Durkan

economic opportunity and improved public and mental health for all.”

The council faces a full docket in 2021, including:

Vaccine distribution & COVID-19 recovery – Job #1 in 2021 continues to be saving lives, preventing the spread of the virus, and getting to the other side of the pandemic. The council will continue to provide oversight and budget support to respond to the pandemic, while also working to deploy COVID-19 vaccines countywide.

Best Starts for Kids levy renewal –

Six years ago, the voters of King County approved the first Best Starts for Kids levy, dedicated to putting every baby born and

every child raised in King County on a path toward lifelong success. In 2021 the council will review accomplishments, set priorities, and determine investments for a levy renewal to be put before voters.

Law enforcement reforms for public safety and equity – With voter approval of charter amendments to improve accountability in law enforcement, the council will work with the executive, community, stakeholders, and experts toward public safety and reduced racial disparities in law enforcement practices.

Strategic climate plan update – As the region confronts the realities of a warming planet, the urgency to act now as a county is even greater. In early 2021, the King

County Council will review and approve a five-year update to our groundbreaking strategic climate action plan.

Rebuilding transit – Access to frequent and reliable transportation improves economic opportunity. Following the wake of the pandemic, the council has a lot of work to rebuild our transit system, including planning and updating our policies to enable a more robust and equitable transit network throughout King County.

Homelessness – Homelessness continues to be a crisis in all parts of our county. Councilmembers will work toward real progress putting roofs over heads as the

see KC COUNCIL page 15

Digest: Goodbye 2020, welcome 2021

SEATTLE (December 31, 2020) – 2020 presented unprecedented challenges for cities across the world. While many families faced grief and loss, we saw the resiliency, compassion, and determination of our community, neighbors, friends, essential workers, and first responders to respond to a oncein-a-lifetime pandemic and economic crisis.

As we weather the crises of 2020, the City of Seattle has made new and significant investments to help our residents, businesses, and city emerge stronger, more just, and equitable from these crises. Because of the commitments of Seattle residents, our City now has one of the lowest rates of COVID-19 cases of any major city. In addition to following public health guidance to help reduce the spread of COVID-19, the City has also created a number of programs [www.seattle.gov/mayor/covid-19] to respond to the virus like grocery vouchers, small business grants, rental assistance, and utility assistance.

Hope is on the horizon with a vaccine. Our first responders, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), paramedics, health care workers, and workers and residents of longterm care facilities are among the first vaccinated against COVID-19. Early next year, I will announce the City’s plan to ensure that our residents and workers [are] vaccinated as the doses of vaccine increases. As vaccines are more widely distributed, we will focus on reopening and our economic recovery, especially downtown.

Beyond our pandemic response, there are many accomplishments to be proud of. In 2020, we began to reimagine community safety, with the expansion alternatives to policing like Health One program [https://durkan.seattle.gov/2020/02/ mayor-durkan-announces-expansion-ofsuccessful-health-one-pilot-additionalmeasures-to-promote-public-safety/] and $100 million of new investments in racial equity. This year, the City, Seattle Colleges, and Seattle Public Schools celebrated the

largest enrollment in Seattle Promise in the program’s history [https://durkan.seattle. gov/2020/12/seattle-promise-celebrateslargest-enrollment-to-date].

In 2020, we were civically engaged and elected a new president who will work with Seattle – not against all our shared values. In 2020, we also announced our largest investment in affordable homes to date, including 600 new units of permanent supportive housing for individuals experiencing homelessness, which will open in 2021. The City has now invested $1.7 billion in housing leveraging $400 million of City funds to build 6,200 affordable homes. In 2020, we also passed a budget that expands our funding [for] homelessness, so we can bring more individuals off the street and into safer spaces. I also announced that the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is moving forward to continue repairs to the West Seattle High-Rise Bridge – another unexpected challenge of 2020 [https://durkan.seattle.gov/2020/11/

as-stabilization-repairs-continue-mayordurkan-announces-decision-for-seattledepartment-of-transportation-to-pursuerepair-of-the-west-seattle-bridge/].

2020 has been hard. Yet, in 2021 I’ll be hopeful. Cities like Seattle will build back stronger, better, and more equitable. We still have some tough months ahead, but we have the grit and determination to not just get through them but to create a better future for the next generations.

May the new year bring us all peace, joy, and happiness. Goodbye 2020 and hello 2021.

As always, please continue to write me at Jenny.Durkan@seattle.gov, reach out via Twitter and Facebook, and stay up-to-date on the work we’re doing for the people of Seattle on my blog [https://durkan.seattle.gov/].

Stay safe and healthy.

Courtesy of Mayor Jenny Durkan

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Chopin’s Gay love letters shock Poland

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

Swiss music critic Moritz Weber shocked Poles recently with his documentation of Polish composer Frederick Chopin’s romantic feelings for another man.

On his radio show, Chopin’s Men, Weber revealed 22 erotic letters from Chopin to his friend Tytus Woyciechowski.

In the letters, Chopin addresses as Woyciechowski as “my dearest life” and signs off with “Give me a kiss, dearest lover.”

In one letter, Chopin writes, “You don’t like being kissed. Please allow me to do so today. You have to pay for the dirty dream I had about you last night.”

“As always, I carry your letters with me,” Chopin wrote to Woyciechowski in a letter dated March 27, 1830.

“How good it will be for me to take out your letter and make sure that you love me. And at least to look at the writing and the hand of the one I can only love.”

In an April 4, 1830, letter, Chopin wrote to him, “I’m going to wash myself. Don’t kiss me now, because I haven’t washed myself yet – have you? Even if I rubbed Byzantine oils on myself, you wouldn’t

kiss me if I didn’t magnetically force you to do it. There’s some force in nature. Today, you’ll dream of kissing me.”

Weber said that Chopin also sent passionate letters to his female fiancée’s brother, Antoni Wodzińska; a male doctor named Jan Matuszyński; and a close friend, Julian Fontana.

Chopin once wrote to Wodzińska, “Believe me that I think of you as I think of Tytus.”

Chopin lived with Matuszyński and Fontana in Paris for years.

Chopin was at one time engaged to the artist Maria Wodzińska and had an affair with the French female novelist George Sand. Sand herself had same-sex relationships, notably with actress Marie Dorval.

While Chopin’s Gay love letters document an interesting – and as yet little-known – aspect of 19th-century high culture, they are deeply shocking to Poles.

On one hand, Chopin is a national hero for his unwavering Polish nationalism in a

period when his country was split between the Russian and Prussian empires.

On the other hand, post-communist Poland is notoriously right-wing, traditionalist Roman Catholic, and anti-Gay.

The governing Law and Justice Party is violently opposed to LGBT rights, and especially marriage equality.

“The affirmation of homosexuality will lead to the downfall of civilization,” former Law and Justice Prime Minister Jaroslav Kraczynski said in 2005. “We can’t agree to it.”

His twin brother Lech, who was the Polish president until his death in 2010, famously refused to meet with LGBT activists, saying, “I am not willing to meet perverts.”

According to Weber, Polish historians and Wikipedia editors have often changed the male pronouns in Chopin’s letters to female ones or have deleted any mentions of Chopin’s male love letters from his online biographies.

Virtual coaching for LGBTQI* entrepreneurs in South Africa: Five challenges and five lessons

(December 8, 2020) – Dreilinden is reporting back on its first coaching program for LGBTQI* entrepreneurs in South Africa [https://bit.ly/2VZMsb3]. The program was launched [as a] follow-up to the Queer Pitch Days in South Africa [https:// bit.ly/3gnwW2k] where we had identified six entrepreneurs with high potential business models and outsized impact on LGBTQI* communities.

With COVID-19 hitting South Africa right at the beginning of the program, the cohort was facing existential threats. What started as a healthcare crisis quickly expanded to an economic one. Many of the entrepreneurs had to completely shut down and rethink their business model.

The article looks at the challenges faced by the six entrepreneurs, discusses how the entrepreneurs responded to the crisis, and concludes with five lessons learned. The aspiration is to learn from this one-of-akind experience, so we can assist in equipping future cohorts with the tools required to manage through these types of existential challenges.

What is Queer Lens Impact investing about?

Queer Lens Impact (QLI) investing is an alternative investment approach with a dedicated focus on queer empowerment. It stands for the full spectrum of gender identification, expression, and sex characteristics

in the investment process. Due to conscious and unconscious biases, queer communities as well as entrepreneurs continue to struggle with access to financial systems and support systems (such as mentorship programs). The lack of visibility of queer entrepreneurs not only has devastating effects on the livelihoods of the entrepreneurs and their families but also results in huge economic loss. QLI sets out to change that!

See previous articles “The Queer Impact Investment Universe” [https:// bit.ly/3lY6cX6] and “Queer Lens Impact Investing: Country Selection” [https://bit. ly/2VWNOmU] to glean further insights on assessing and evaluating opportunities through a queer lens. Develop a deeper

understanding of the importance of going beyond a binary gender definition in “Beyond Gender Lens Investing” [https:// bit.ly/37IKD89]. Follow Dreilinden’s foray into direct impact investing chronicled in “Thriving Entrepreneurship in South Africa” [https://bit.ly/2JY4pEl], and check out our first response to COVID-19 in “Philanthropy for a Rainy Day: Our COVID-19 Response” [https://bit.ly/33SgRMQ].

Dreilinden gGmbh is a Germanybased foundation dedicated to advancing societal acceptance of gender and sexual diversity.

Courtesy of Dreilinden gGmbh

AHF thanks HHS for clarifying rules on 340B drug pricing; blasts pharma’s greed

WASHINGTON, DC (December 30, 2020) – The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) welcomed and praised an advisory opinion issued earlier today by the Office of the General Counsel for the US Health and Human Services Department (HHS), which concluded that drug manufacturers are required to deliver discounts under the 340B Drug Pricing Program on covered outpatient drugs when contract pharmacies are acting as agents of 340B covered entities.

The opinion came on the heels of widespread public pressure on the HHS by safety net providers after nine rogue drug companies including Amgen, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Merck, Novartis, and Sanofi-Aventis, among others, announced they planned to refuse to continue to provide certain drugs at the legally required “340B price” as required by section 340B of the US Public Health Services Act.

In addition, 28 US state attorneys general recently drew a line in the sand, trying to protect this essential part of the healthcare safety net against the seemingly limitless greed of the drug industry. In a December 14 letter, the

bipartisan group of elected attorneys general demanded that HHS Secretary Alex Azar take immediate steps to enforce the law “to address drug companies’ unlawful refusal to provide critical drug discounts to covered entities such as community health centers under the 340B Drug Pricing Program.”

On December 7, 2020, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), also spoke to reporters at a federal qualified health center in East Hartford about drug manufacturers’ recent denials of 340B pricing on drugs shipped to contract pharmacies.

“What the pharmaceutical drug companies are doing here is absolutely unconscionable and unacceptable,” Blumenthal said. “They are required by law to provide discounted drugs not out of the goodness of their heart but because they participate in the Medicaid program that yields them tons of profit. They are making money from the Medicaid program, and one of the conditions for those profits is that they provide discounted drugs to federally qualified health care centers, to clinics, and hospitals, and others that serve the most vulnerable people in our society.”

“We thank HHS for really listening to safety net providers, the attorneys general, and others in recognizing – and checking –the unbridled greed of the pharmaceutical industry. We also thank HHS for recognizing the crucial need the 340B program – and the many contract pharmacies that provide services to 340B covered entities – fulfills, particularly in more rural areas of the country,” said Michael Weinstein, president of the AHF. “The 340B program represents at most just 6% of the industry’s billions and billions in annual revenue, yet they are still not satisfied. Instead, they chose to break their contractual obligations underlining their participation in 340B and have now been taken to task by HHS. Thank you, HHS, for this important and very definitive opinion.”

340B is a lifeline that allows nonprofit safety net providers, such as rural hospitals and HIV/AIDS clinics receiving funding through federal programs, to obtain prescription drugs at below-retail prices. It was established with bipartisan support as part of the Veterans Health Care Act of 1992. With 340B savings, Ryan White HIV clinics and

other covered entities are able to stretch their grant funds, offer a wider range of services, and improve the quality of care for underinsured vulnerable populations, such as people living with HIV.

In today’s advisory opinion, Robert P. Charrow, general counsel for HHS, wrote, “…we conclude that to the extent contract pharmacies are acting as agents of a covered entity, a drug manufacturer in the 340B Program is obligated to deliver its covered outpatient drugs to those contract pharmacies and to charge the covered entity no more than the 340B ceiling price for those drugs.”

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.5 million individuals in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/ the Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific region, and Eastern Europe. More at www.aidshealth. org, or www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us @aidshealthcare.

Courtesy of the AHF

Trump has ushered in a federal judicial climate unprecedented in its anti-LGBTQ+ hostility

WASHINGTON, DC (January 5, 2021)

– In just four years, President Trump has ushered in a judicial landscape that is significantly more hostile toward LGBTQ+ people, with nearly 40% of Trump’s confirmed federal appellate judges having demonstrated anti-LGBTQ+ bias according to a new report released today by Lambda Legal. The new report – the culmination of a pains-

taking, four-year effort by Lambda Legal to meticulously track and monitor Trump’s judicial appointments and their impact on restructuring and reshaping the federal judiciary – provides for the first time a clear and complete snapshot of the outsized impact Trump has had on reshaping the courts.

The report finds that in four years Trump has not only confirmed judges with

alarming speed (faster than any other president in recent history) but has ultimately “whitewashed” the federal courts system by packing the bench with predominantly white male judges.

Among the report’s top findings are the following:

• Nearly 40% of the federal judges that Trump has appointed to the courts of

HRC: The 117th Congress will prioritize LGBTQ equality

WASHINGTON, DC (January 3, 2021) –Today, the 117th US Congress swears in its new members, which boasts a pro-equality majority in the US House of Representatives and record number of women and LGBTQ people elected. In response to first convening of the 117th Congress, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Alphonso David issued the following statement:

“With support for LGBTQ equality continuing to increase among the American public, the 117th Congress is poised on a path to move equality forward and advance policies to improve the lives of millions of LGBTQ people.

“Over the last four years, the TrumpPence administration has systematically attacked the most vulnerable of communities and enacted policies that have undermined our fundamental civil rights. The 117th Congress has the opportunity to not only put our democracy back on track but deliver real positive change for LGBTQ people’s daily lives – including prioritizing passage of the Equality Act, crucial federal legislation that would finally guarantee explicit protections for LGBTQ people under our nation’s existing civil rights laws.

“As we welcome the 117th Congress, the Human Rights Campaign looks toward the critical Georgia Senate runoff elections, in just two days, to ensure that we have a proequality working majority in the US Senate for the 117th Congress to end the road blocks put up by our opponents.”

The 117th Congress boasts historic new additions, including the election of Ritchie Torres and Mondaire Jones as its first Black and Afro-Latino members to the House LGBTQ Caucus and Sean Patrick Maloney as the first openly LGBTQ person to chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

The HRC recently released the “Blueprint for Positive Change 2020,” an impor-

tant brief that includes 85 individual policy recommendations, reaching across the federal government, aimed at bettering the daily lives of LGBTQ people at home and abroad. These recommendations do not require any action by Congress. The [brief] has been shared with the Biden transition team as they evaluate the policy steps of the incoming administration. Recommendations include:

• Ensuring consistent administrative implementation of Bostock v. Clayton County across all agencies enforcing civil rights statutes and provisions;

• Revising restrictions on transgender individuals to return to an inclusive policy of military service;

• Establishing an interagency working group to address anti-transgender violence;

• Appointing openly LGBTQ justices, judges, executive officials, and ambassadors;

• Establishing uniform data collection standards [incorporating] sexual orientation and gender identity into federal surveys;

• Establishing an interagency working group to protect and support LGBTQ rights globally;

• Ending discrimination against gay and bisexual blood donors;

• Prohibiting the practice of conversion therapy as a fraudulent business practice;

• Rescinding and replacing regulations restricting coverage of Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act; and

• Eliminating discrimination against beneficiaries in charitable choice and faithbased initiatives.

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

KC COUNCIL

continued from page 13

County implements the Health through Housing Program approved last year. The council will also continue working with its partners to stand up a truly regional response to this humanitarian crisis.

Although the King County Council will continue to operate virtually in keeping with public health best practices, the reorganization adopted today will shift business back to more normal operations. The council will ramp up a full suite of committees so members have all the tools to take up the important work of the new year. The organization of the council remained

largely unchanged for 2021.

“I’m personally committed to continuing the fight for more affordable housing so our region can be more inclusive and economically accessible,” Balducci added. “I hope you will join us in coming together and seizing opportunity as we take up this important work.”

Dunn and McDermott lauded Balducci’s efforts and looked ahead to a productive year.

“Councilmember Balducci has been a strong and steady leader of the King County Council over the course of a particularly difficult year,” Dunn said. “I am honored to support her for another term as Chair and look forward to continuing to work closely with her on the council’s lead-

ership team as we tackle the many challenges facing our region.”

“Residents of King County deserve and expect us to tackle important challenges that will help us recover from this pandemic and thrive once we get through the worst of it in the years ahead,” McDermott said. “With this monumental amount of work ahead, I’m proud of the work we’ve done to ensure that our work at the council in 2021 remains as accessible as possible to the residents of King County as we continue to endure necessary restrictions on operating in-person.

Courtesy of the King County Council Office of Council Communications

• Nearly 85% of all of Trump’s circuit court nominees were white and 80% were men, while none of his circuit court nominees were Black, representing an unprecedented whitewashing of the judicial system that has become significantly less diverse. Only two of Trump’s circuit court nominees were Latinx.

• Almost one-third of the circuit court judgeships are now Trump judges (54 out of 179). On 9 of the country’s 12 circuit courts, Trump nominees makeup at least 25% of the active-duty (i.e., non-senior status) judges in that circuit.

• 85% of Trump’s circuit court nominees are or have been affiliated with the Federalist Society, an activist organization that advocates for a deeply conservative reading of the Constitution and gives a platform to many anti-LGBTQ+ activists who have argued against marriage equality, fought nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ workers, and sought to strip away parental rights of same-sex parents.

• The Trump administration has outpaced the last five administrations in number of appellate judges confirmed. The Trump administration has confirmed 54 circuit court judges in four years, just one fewer than the Obama administration had confirmed in eight years. This is nearly double the number of circuit court judges confirmed during the first term of Presidents Obama (30) and Clinton (30), and over 50% higher than the number of appellate court confirmations during the first terms of Presidents Reagan (33) and George W. Bush (35).

Courtesy of the HRC appeals have a demonstrated history of hostility towards the LGBTQ+ community. This reflects a commitment by President Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate to appointing and confirming antiLGBTQ+ judges over the course of his presidency, notwithstanding public outcry over the dangerous records of these nominees.

“While Donald Trump’s presidency may be coming to end, his devastating impact on our federal courts will take decades to reverse,” said Kevin Jennings, CEO of Lambda Legal. “When the basic human rights of LGBTQ+ Americans are so often challenged in court, we cannot accept a judiciary stacked with judges who would disenfranchise these vulnerable groups. This report should serve as a call to action for the incoming Biden administration. To reverse the damage done by the outgoing administration, President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris must commit to ensuring future nominees respect the dignity of all Americans, including those in the LGBTQ+ community. Lambda Legal will continue to fight, as we have for almost 50 years, for the full equality of all LGBTQ+ people, everyone living with HIV, and all Americans.”

Since Trump’s inauguration in January 2017, Lambda Legal has mounted an aggressive and painstaking four-year effort to meticulously monitor, track, document, and analyze the extent to which Trump’s influence over the federal judiciary would impact the lives of LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV. This report represents the culmination of those efforts.

The full report, “Courts, Confirmations, & Consequences: How Trump Restructured the Federal Judiciary and Ushered in a Climate of Unprecedented Hostility toward LGBTQ+ People and Civil Rights,” —can be found on Lambda Legal’s website [at www. lambdalegal.org/sites/default/files/judicial_ report_2020.pdf].

Courtesy of Precision Strategies

Allyship - an organization of LGBTQ individuals fighting for economic and social justice. www.LGBTQAllyship. org, allyship@yahoo.com, (206) 279-8169. American Veterans for Equal Rights - www.aver.us

Another Gay Social Club! - www.meetup.com/AnotherGay-Social-Club/ Bellingham/Whatcom County - www.theslowlane. com/guide.html

BiNet Seattle is a mixed gender, social group for Bisexuals, their partners & other Bi-friendly folks - www. binetseattle.org.

Bremerton/Kitsap County - www.outwestsound.org Capitol Hill Alano Club - www.chacseattle.org

Cascade Rainbow Community Center (Mount Vernon) - (360) 840-8499 and on Facebook. Central Washington University GALA Hotline: (509) 963-1994.

Channel Q 103.3 FM - LGBTQ+ Talk Radio NetworkNews and information, pop culture and music. radio.com COLAGE unites people with LGBTQ parents and caregivers into a network of peers and supports them as they nurture and empower each other to be skilled, self-confident, and just leaders in our collective communities - www.colage.org

DIFFA/Northwest (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS). (206) 763-8885; www.diffanorthwest. org

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SEXUAL ASSAULT: Crisis Clinic, (206) 461-3222 (24 hour line); King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC) - 24-hour crisis line for information, support, & medical & legal assistance: 1-888-99-VOICE; Northwest Networksupport & advocacy for Bisexual, Trans, Lesbian & Gay Survivors of Abuse & Dating Violence, (206) 568-7777 (voice), 517-9670 (tty), www.nwnetwork.org; Pierce County Domestic Violence Helpline: Teresa, (253) 798-4166; Seattle Counseling Service for Sexual Minorities - offers on-going support groups for men: 323-1768; Seattle Police Dept Domestic Violence Unit, (206) 684-0330; State Wide Domestic Violence Hot Line, 1-800-562-6025. In an emergency call 911 Report domestic violence and sexual assault. Equal Rights Washington - (206) 324-2570; www. equalrightswashington.org

Everett/Snohomish Cty - www.gaysnohomish.org

Freely Speaking Toastmasters - www.freelyspeaking.org

Gay City promotes wellness in LGBTQ communities by providing health services, connecting people to resources, fostering arts, and building community. Gay City Health Project’s Wellness Center provides anonymous & confidential HIV/STD testing. 517 E Pike St. More info or to schedule an appointment, (206) 860-6969. www.gaycity.org

Gay & Lesbian National Hotline (GLNH): 1-888-THEGLNH (1-888-843-4564). Non-profit, peer-counseling, information & local resources telephone hotline for GLBT people across the country.

Generations Aging With Pride empowers elder LGBTQ adults to live with pride and dignity by promoting, connecting, and developing innovative programs and services that enhance belonging and support, eliminate discrimination, and honor the lives of older members of our community - (206) 393-3400; info@gapseattle.org; gapseattle.org

GLSEN/WA - Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network - (206) 330-2099; www.glsenwa.org

Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) - (206) 363-9188; www.thegsba.org

HIV/AIDS Program, Seattle/King County Dept of Public Health, provides confidential/anonymous information about & testing for HIV/AIDS. (206) 205-7837. For a comprehensive list of HIV/AIDS service organizations see the GSBA Guide or visit www.thegsba.org or call Lifelong AIDS Alliance, (206) 328-8979.

Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle & the Olympic & Rainier Empire - www.facebook.com/ISCSORE; www. imperialcourtofseattle.com

Lambert House - (206) 322-2515; www.lamberthouse. org

LGBT Library - 517 E Pike St. Open Mon-Fri 2-8pm; Sat 2-5pm. A wide range of fiction and non-fiction for the LGBT community and allies can be borrowed free of charge.

LGBT MS Connection - (425) 785-8593; lgbtmsconnections@comcast.net. Support group for LGBT persons with MS and their partners and their caregivers. Sponsored by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Lifelong AIDS Alliance - (206) 328-8979, www.lifelongaids alliance.org Lion’s Main Art Collective - www.lionsmain.org

MEN: Gay City: (206) 860-6969, www.gaycity.org; Knights of Mantra: (206) 329-0886, www.jetchapterkofm.com; Mature Friends: Gay men & women 40 & over, www.maturefriends.org; Northwest Bears: www. nwbears.com; The Olympians: www.TheOlympians. net; POZSeattle: www.pozseattle.com; Q-Squared: www.qsquared.org; Rain City Jacks: www.raincityjacks. org; Seattle Gay Couples: www. seattlegaycouples.org; Seattle Men in Leather: www.seattlemeninleather. org; Seattle Prime Timers: Gay & Bi men 40 & over, www. seattle primetimers.org; Tacoma Older LGBT: www. tacomaolderlgbt.org. (See also listings under Bisexual, Parenthood, People of Color, Transgender.)

MUSIC: Diverse Harmony: www.diverseharmony. org; Rainbow City Band: 1-866-841-9139 ext 2126; rainbowcityband@onebox.com; www.rainbowcity band. com; Seattle Men’s Chorus and Seattle Women’s Chorus: (206) 388-1408, (206) 323-0750. www.seattlechoruses.org.

Northwest Lesbian & Gay History Museum Project - gayhistnw@aol.com

community resources

Northwest Rainbow Alliance for the Deaf - www. nwrad.org

Olympia/Thurston County - www.RainbowCenterOly. org

Out & Equal Workplace Advocates/Seattle Regional Affiliate supports the work of LGBT employees and the growing number of ERGs (Employee Resource Groups) making a difference within local companies, including Alaska Airlines, Amazon.com, Amgen, AT&T, Bank of America, Deloitte, Macy’s, Microsoft, Russell Investments, Safeco Insurance, Starbucks Coffee, Xerox. www.outandequal.org/affiliates/seattle

Out & Proud Grays Harbor Coalition - http://outandproudgh.org

PARENTHOOD: Families Like Ours provides a gateway for LGBT families interested in adoption & provides a network of safe placement agencies, training, support & resources: (206) 441-7602, www.familieslikeours. org; Family Works offers support, information & activities for LGBT families: (206) 694-6727, www.familyworksseattle. org; Gay Fathers’ Association of Seattle offers support groups & social activities: www.gfas. org; Proud & Loud Families - Northwest, www.meetup.com/proudand-loud-families-northwest, plfnorthwest@aol.com; Queer Parent Networking Dinners: (206) 568-7777, qpnd@nwnetwork.org, www.nwnetwork.org; Rainbow Families of Puget Sound: www.rainbowfamiliesps.org PFLAG is the national organization for parents, families, allies, and LGBTQ people united for equality with chapters in Seattle, Bellevue/Eastside, the Puget Sound region and across Washington state. PFLAG Seattle: (206) 325-7724, info@pflagseattle.org, and www.pflagseattle.org; PFLAG Bellevue/Eastside: (425) 483-6642, info@bellevue-pflag.org, http://community. pflag.org/PFLAGBellevue; PFLAG Pacific Northwest: www.pnwpflag.org; PFLAG Washington State Council: www.pflagwsc.org.

Peer Seattle (formerly Seattle Area Support Groups) is a non-profit organization that builds community and cultivates powerful, healthy lives by providing emotional support and personal development services to those affected by HIV/AIDS, the Queer communities, and those who love them. Our work is done in a spirit of safety, trust, inclusiveness, and celebration of individual differences. (206) 322-2437; www.peerseattle.org

PEOPLE OF COLOR: AARTH (African American Reach & Teach Health Ministry), (206) 850-2070, www.aarth.org; Asian/Pacific Islander Queer Network Program at API Chaya, (206) 467-9976; Center for MultiCultural Health, (206) 461-6910, www.multiculturalhealth.org; Entre Hermanos, GLBT Latinos/as, (206) 322-7700, www.entrehermanos.org; Ile LaiLai, (206) 781-3565, iya@ilelailai.org; Men of All Colors & Cultures Together (MACCT), (206) 923-8313, macctseattle@yahoo.com, www.macctsea.org; Northwest Two Spirit Society, https://www.facebook.com/ groups/nw2spiritsociety/, Nubian Pride Productions, nubianpride@gmail.com; People of Color Against AIDS Network (POCAAN) offers rapid HIV testing, M-F, 10am-5pm, (206) 322-7061, www.pocaan.org and on Facebook; QBASS - Queer Black Alliance of the South Sound, (253) 256-1846, weareqbass@gmail. com; Sistah 2 Sistah, LBT women of African descent, (206) 322-7061, (206) 255-8951; Somos Seattle, somosseattle.org; Trikone-Northwest, GLBT South Asians, (425) 985-4376, www.trikonenw.org; Two-Spirit Honor Project, 1-866-685-0164; U.T.O.P.I.A. Seattle, www.utopiaseattlewa.org; VietQ Greater Seattle, vietqorganization@gmail.com

Pierce County AIDS Foundation - (253) 383-2565; www.piercecountyaids.org

Pride Foundation - (206) 323-3318; www.pridefoundation. org

Pride Lives - www.facebook.com/PrideLives/ Pride Radio 93.3 HD2

Project NEON is a program of Seattle Counseling Service providing FREE information & services to Gay & Bi men to reduce health risks associated with methamphetamine use. (206) 323-1768. www.crystalneon.org

Public Health-Seattle & King County Online Comprehensive Health Information for Sexual Minorities: www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/personal/ glbt.aspx

Q Law: The GLBT Bar Association of WA - (206) 682-6711; www.q-law.org

Q Law GLBT Legal Clinic - (206) 235-7235. Queer Geek! - queergeekseattle.org

Rainbow Center - Resource Center for Tacoma/Pierce County LGBTIQA community. Through education, advocacy and celebration, the Rainbow Center expands resources, and safe space for the LGBTQIA community.

Sponsors Tacoma Pride Festival. (253) 383-2318, www. rainbowcntr.org

SEAMEC interviews, researches & rates candidates for public office on issues of concern to the LGBT community. www.voteseamec.org

Seattle Area Support Groups & Community Center (SASG) i- SEE LISTING for Peer Seattle. Seattle Bisexual Women’s Network - BiSeattle.wixsite. com/SBWN and on Facebook.

Seattle Counseling Service for Sexual Minorities is a community mental health service for GLBT persons & their families providing comprehensive mental health services on a sliding scale. (206) 323-1768.

Seattle LGBTQ Commission - (206) 684-4503. www/ seattle.gov/lgbtq

Seattle Out & Proud - (206) 322-9561; www.seattlepride.org

Seattle Police Department Sexual Minorities Community Advisory Council: kim.bogucki@seattle.gov

Seattle PrideFest - www.seattlepridefest.org Servicemembers Legal Defense Network - (202) 328-3244; www.sldn.org

Sex Workers Outreach Project - https://seattle. swopusa.org

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, The Abbey of St. Joan - (206) 860-3666; www.theabbey.org Snohomish Health District HIV/AIDS Program provides free confidential/anonymous HIV counseling & testing 9am-5pm Monday-Friday, until 7pm Tuesdays. (425) 339-5298.

South Sound Q Calendar - LGBTQ events in Tacoma, Olympia & Sound Puget Sound area; www.SouthSoundQCal.com Spokane/Inland Northwest - www.outspokane.com; www.stonewallnews.net

SPORTS & RECREATION: Bent Car Guys: www. bentcarguys.org; Border Riders Motorcycle Club: www.borderriders.com; Bottom Dwellers Scuba Club: www.bottomdwellers.org; Capitol Hill Cyclers: join their Facebook group or email capitolhillcycling@ groups.facebook.com or jordan.l.simonson@gmail.com; Cascade Flag Football: www.cascadeflagfootball.org; Cascade Flyers: www.cascadeflyers.org; Emerald City Mudhen Rugby: www.mudhenrugby.com; Emerald City Softball Association: www.emeraldcitysoftball. org, www.eteamz.com/womensecsa; Ethyl Forever Car Club: ethylforever@hotmail.com; Festival of the Babes: www.festivalofthebabes.com; Olympic Yacht Club: www.oycnw.org; OutVentures: outdoor education & recreation activities, www.outventures.org; Pacific Northwest Gay Rodeo Association: www.pacificnwgra.org; Puddletown Squares: www.puddletownsquares.org; Rain City Soccer: www.raincitysoccer.org; Rain Country Dance Association: a country-western dance organization catering to the LGBTQ community but open to all, www.raincountrydance.org; Sea Dawgs: LGBT ice hockey - SkateSeaDawgs@gmail.com and on Facebook; Seattle Frontrunners: www.seattlefrontrunners.org; Seattle Gay Basketball Association: www. seattlegaybasketballassociation.com; Seattle Orca Swim Team: www.orcaswimteam.org; Seattle Otters Water Polo: www.otterpolo.com; Seattle Quake Rugby: www.quakerugby.com; Seattle Tennis Alliance: www. seattletennisalliance.org; Seattle Unified Bowling Association (SUBA): magee98106@aol.com, www. teamseattle.org/bowling.htm, www.theprideleague. com, Century 21 League; Seattle Volleyball Club: www.seattlevolleyballclub.com; Ski Buddies: www. skibuddies.org; Team Seattle Gay Sports Network is an umbrella organization for a wide range of local GLBT sports activities, (206) 367-4064, www.teamseattle.org (see website for comprehensive list of sports clubs); Triangle Recreation Camp at Bender Creek: recreational camping for GLBT folks. Must be 21; ID required. trc@ camptrc.org, www.camptrc.org, 1122 E Pike St #1069, Seattle 98122-3934. Strength Over Speed - www.strengthoverspeed.org Tacoma/Pierce County - Rainbow Center, 2215 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, a resource center for the LGBTIQA community of Pierce County, (253) 383-2318, www. rainbowcntr.org

Three Dollar Bill Cinema - TWIST: Seattle Queer Film Festival; Translations: Seattle Transgender Film Festival; Outdoor Cinema at Cal Anderson Park. www. threedollarbillcinema.org

TRANSGENDER: Emerald City Social Club: (425) 827-9494; Gender Alliance of the South Sound: www. SouthSoundGender.com; Gender Diversity: www. genderdiversity.org; Gender Justice League: www.genderjusticeleague.org; Gender Odyssey: www.genderodyssey.com; Hermanos Trans Latino & Foreign-Born

Support Group: (206) 322-7700; Ingersoll Gender Center: (206) 329-6651, www.ingersollcenter.org; Lion’s Main Art Collective: www.lionsmain.org; The New BoyZ Club: www.olympiaftmgroup.webs.com; Olympia Trans Discussion Group: www.facebook.com/pages/ Olympia-Trans-Discussion-Group/262449878114; [trans] ACTION: Trans* & Gender Non-Conforming Sex Workers’ Support Group - a safe, peer-led space. mail@utopiaseattle.org; TRANSform Washington: transformwashington.com; Trans Resource & Referral Guide: kctransguide.org; Trans Women of Color Solidarity Network: Funding the collective liberation of Trans women of color – https://m.facebook.com/ TWOCSolidarityNW/; Washington Gender Alliance: (360) 445-2411, www.washington genderalliance.com

WOMEN: Aging Ballard Lesbian Exchange (A.B.L.E.): We are Lesbians 60 years (generally) and up, living (mostly) in the north half of Seattle. The purpose of the group is to connect, socialize and support each other. ruthemilyvogel@gmail.com; Aging Lesbians in South Seattle (ALISS) - Lesbian Group at the Southeast Seattle Senior Center. This is a gathering primarily for Lesbians but all are welcome to attend. Kate, (206) 722-0317; www.sessc.org; BABES: support groups for HIV+ women. (206) 720-5566, 1-888-292-1912; Coming Out Women Support Group of Tacoma: www. comingoutwomen.org; Festival of the Babes: www. festivalofthebabes.com; Mature Friends: Gay men & women 40 & over, www.maturefriends.org; Puget Sound Old Lesbian Organizing for Change: http:// psoloc.org, (253) 777-3357; Older Lesbians Organizing for Change/WA State Chapter: gloria@oloc.org, mary@oloc.org, www.oloc.org; Pacific Northwest Lesbian Archives: www.pnwlesbianarchives.org; RainshadowWomen: RainshadowWomen@aol. com; Seattle Bisexual Women’s Network: BiSeattle. wixsite.com/SBWN; Seattle Girls of Leather: www. sgol.org; Tacoma Lesbian Concern (TLC): www.tacomalesbianconcern.org; Tacoma Older LGBT: www. tacomaolderlgbt.org; Women of West Seattle (WOWS): a fun, member-driven social group for Lesbians, http:// groups.yahoo.com/group/womenofwestseattle; YWCA Women’s Health Outreach: providing low or no-cost mammograms for income eligible 40+ LBTQ individuals. Follow us at http://lbtqhealth-ywca.blogspot.com, twitter.com/ingridWHO or email lbthealth@ywcaworks. org, (206) 461-4493. (See also listings under Bisexual, Parenthood, People of Color, Transgender.)

YOUTH: B-GLAD (Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Trans & Questioning Adolescent Drop-In Group): Youth Eastside Services offers many programs for GLBT youth, including B-GLAD, (425) 747-4937; Coyote Central: www.coyotecentral.org; Diverse Harmony: www.diverseharmony. org; GLSEN/Washington State (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) & Washington State GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) Network: GLSEN works to create safe schools for LGBT students. WA GSA Network supports youth-led GSA’s to fight harassment & homophobia in Washington state schools. (206) 330-2099; www.glsenwa. org; www.wagsa.org. GLOBE (GLBTQ Loving Ourselves, Becoming Empowered): a support group & HIV/STD prevention program for GLBTQ youth, 14-20, in Everett, (425) 263-2908, www. globeyouth.org; It Gets Better Project: www.itgetsbetter.org; Lambert House: an activities & resource center for LGBT youth, 14-22, 1818 15th Ave @ E Denny Way, with additional support groups organized in smaller towns throughout King County, (206) 322-2515, www. lamberthouse.org; Lifelong HEYO (Health Education Youth Outreach): for LGBTQ youth, ages 16-24: (206) 957-1665; www.llaa.org/HEYO; www.MatthewsPlace. com ; The Mockingbird Society: (206) 323-KIDS (5437), www.mockingbirdsociety.org; New Horizons: social services and shelter for homeless youth, 2708 3rd Ave (in Belltown), (206) 374-0866, http://namin.org; Oasis Youth Center: for GLBTQ youth, ages 14-25, in Tacoma, (253) 671-2838, www.oasisyouthcenter. org; OKAY! LGBTQ+ Outreach for Kent Area Youth: (253) 859-0699 ext 3034. OKAY! is an open support group for youth ages 13-19 who identify as LGBTQ+. A program of Kent Youth & Family Services; OUT There Adventures: www.outthereadventures.org; Parents, Family & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG)/ Puget Sound: (206) 325-7724, www.seattle-pflag.org; Pizza Klatch: weekly lunchtime support groups for LGBTQ youth in Thurston County, www.pizzaklatch. org; Prism: for LGBTQ youth, 14-21, in PuyallupCherise.Alexander@ multicare.org; www.facebook. com/PuyallupPrism; Proud Out Wonderful (POW!): for LGBTQ youth, 13-21, in South King County, (206) 326-9112, www.facebook.com/proudoutwonderful; Q Youth Resources: in Kitsap County - (360) 698-3335; www.kchaf.org; Roots Young Adult Shelter: 1415 NE 43rd St., (206) 632-1635; www.rootsinfo.org; Safe Schools Coalition: www.safeschoolscoalition.org; (206) 451-SAFE, (206) 451-7233 (non-emergency), 1-877-SAFE-SAFE (1-877-723-3723) (crisis line); Seattle Young People’s Project (Queer Youth Resource Board): (206) 860-9606, www.sypp.org; Street Youth Ministries (SYM): (206) 524-7301 ext 111; www. streetyouthministries.org; Teen Link: (206) 461-4922, 1-888-431-TEEN; The Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor; www.thetrevorproject.org; True Colors - Connecting LGBTQ Teens: in Shoreline, (206) 362-7282 x 8018, lbagley@chs-nw.org; The Vera Project: fuels personal & community transformation through collaborative youthdriven engagement in music and art. (206) 956-8372; theveraproject.org; Vista Youth Center: for LGBTQ, questioning and allied youth, ages 14-21, in Kennewick, (509) 396-5198, www.vistayouthcenter.org; YouthCare/ Isis Program (Transitional Living Home for LGBTQ Young Adults, 18-22): (206) 522-8412; YouthCare/ Orion Center Young Adult Shelter: 1828 Yale Ave @ Stewart St. (206) 622-5555; Youth in Focus: (206) 723-1479; www.youthinfocus.org; Youth Suicide Prevention Program (OUTLoud-GLBTQ): (206) 297-5922, ext 116, 1-800-273-TALK, www.yspp.org

FILM

Friday Harbor Film Festival announces Director Series lineup for January & February

The Friday Harbor Film Festival Director Series will present a varied selection of not-to-be-missed documentaries to brighten your life during the winter of 2021. Tickets are $3.95 and can be accessed online at fhff.org. Here is the lineup for January and February:

January 7-17 –

The importance of public land

A Plea for Refuge, directed by Dan Holmes of KAVU, follows two adventurous friends who hike and fly paragliders across the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the eastern Brooks Range of Alaska, north of the Arctic Circle, learning the importance of fiercely protecting its nature.

A livestream Q&A with the director is planned.

January 18-31 –

Farming innovations

Growing Solutions looks at real-life solutions to challenges plaguing farmers, such as water scarcity, soil degradation and the ravages of climate change. Regenerative agriculture allows farmers to be more resilient in the face of mounting challenges.

Vertical: The Future of Farming follows a new generation of urban, indoor farmers, whose approach to food production offers the potential to combat climate change while feeding hundreds of millions by utilizing vertical space in cities, rather than expansive rural fields.

Special Event! A livestream panel discussion with the directors and local farming experts.

15 ways the Seattle Public Library can help you thrive in 2021

SEATTLE (January 4, 2021) – During the many challenges of 2020, we have all spent time longing for normalcy and connection with our families, friends and community. As the 2020 Library of the Year, the Seattle Public Library has put in place many free programs and services that can help us thrive together in the coming year. From finding a job to learning a language to simply escaping with a new book, here are 15 ways that your library card can help you realize your 2021 goals. Find more at www. spl.org/Thrive.

Enrich & imagine

1. Find a great read: Find escapism, entertainment, and education in 2021 with a new book at the Library. Visit our Staff Picks page for recommendations, or the Always Available collection to check out e-books and audiobooks.

2. Color your way into 2021: Have you seen the Library’s 2020 artist postcard series? Pick them up at any Curbside location or online at www.spl.org/Artists. Color, decorate, and post with #SPLArtists.

3. Learn something new: Submit a request to learn any skill, hobby, or lan-

guage, and we will send you a free, personalized learning plan within four days at www.spl.org/YourNextSkill.

4. Set yourself up for success: Check out the Library’s ShelfTalk blog posts on books that will help you set goals and get organized in the new year.

5. Listen to new stories with your little one: Firefighter story time, Spanish story time, Mandarin story time, STEAM crafts, bug and nature exploration: all these story times and more are available on the Library’s Kids YouTube channel [www. youtube.com/channel/UCN_MccNQSk4MmASWSMSSvsw].

Build community

1. Learn another language: Did you know that your library card is a passport to learning another language or even sign language? Check out Mango Languages, with lessons in more than 70 languages, and Signing Savvy, a resource for learning American Sign Language.

2. Attend a virtual event: Join us for interactive virtual events for all ages, from writing workshops to entrepreneurial classes, at www.spl.org/events.

3. Share your COVID story: Submit your story to become part of our COVID19 community collection at www.spl.org/ CovidCollection.

4. Connect in class: Take a dance or intergenerational art class with Silver Kite’s streaming workshops.

5. Return books for others: Ask neighbors if you can return books for them the next time you are using Curbside Service.

Take care

1. Find a new job: Newly unemployed or interested in making a change? Through Your Next Job, the Library offers one-onone appointments in 11 languages to help with job seeking and job skills at www.spl. org/YourNextJob

2. Grow your job skills: The Library’s online learning resources like Lynda.com classes and free Microsoft Certification Exams can help you show your new skills to employers.

3. Help your student find success: The Library supports students in all kinds of ways. This year, we added services to help remote learners, including expanding Library Link (which gives Seattle Public

February 1-17 –

A heart-warming and exciting musical trilogy

Shining Night: A Portrait of Composer Morten Lauridsen, offers a glimpse into the life and music of the artist considered to be one of the greatest living choral composers, now a San Juan Island resident.

In Search of the Great Song, explores and celebrates the universal current pulsing through all life in spoken word, sound, and music. Twelve countries, one question: What is the great song to you?

Beyond the Fear of Singing, explores how the world-wide epidemic of song silenced by criticism in childhood is being met by an irrepressible uprising of the primal urge to sing.

Special Event! Director Michael Stillwater, along with composers Morten Lauridsen and Alex Shapiro, both San Juan Islanders featured in the films, will participate in a livestream Q&A.

February 18-28 –

Just for animal lovers!

Stray draws us into the fragile world of Zeytin, a stray dog living life on the streets of Istanbul as seen through Zeytin’s eyes. Directed by Elizabeth Low and Danielle McCarthy-Bowles, this film will be presented by Magnolia Pictures prior to its release on Hulu.

Schools students immediate access to the Library’s digital resources) and free virtual tutoring and writing help through Tutor. com, available at spl.org/VirtualTutoring.

4. COVID-19 resources: Find information and resources to help you navigate the pandemic and economic crisis at www. spl.org/CovidResources.

5. Ask Us: We are here to look up information for you, help you with your library account, offer reading recommendations, and more. Visit www.spl.org/ask or call 206-386-4636.

More information

All physical locations of the Seattle Public Library are closed in accordance with public health guidelines, but the Library now has book returns, physical material holds, and curbside service available. Find out more at our Road to Reopening page. Find out more about the Seattle Public Library’s digital resources and services at spl.org/stayinghome. For more information, call 206-386-4636 or Ask Us [www.spl.org/using-the-library/ask-us].

Courtesy of the Seattle Public Library

HEALTH SERVICES

HOME SERVICES

U CALL WE HAUL

Construction Sites, Basements, Garages, Dirt, Wood, Concrete, Junk Removals, Washing Machines, Dryers, Stoves, Etc. Tidy, (206) 354-8949

JOANN’S NEAT & SWEET CLEANING

Our Crew Is Reliable & Trustworthy. Remember, Neat Is The Way To Go. (206) 841-7339 (Office) (206) 399-3281 (Cellular)

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HANDYMAN SERVICES

Fences, Decks, Drywall, Painting & Repair, ETC. 25 Years Experience. References Available. 206-935-6730.

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