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Celebrating 43 Years! Issue 28 Volume 45

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Concert for America an important night of talent and causes SEC 2

Celebrating Compromise Nick Hamm on making The Journey SEC 2

Seattle Gay News

Anti-Transgender losers Chechnya executed 27 lose again – I-1552 fails people on January 26, to qualify for Nov. ballot Russian newspaper says

I-1552 fails – Photo courtesy of Washington Won’t Discriminate

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Once again, the campaign to deny basic rights for Transgender people has failed. The Washington Secretary of State’s office announced on July 7 that the I-1552 campaign cancelled its 3pm appointment to turn in the petitions that would have put the measure on the November ballot. July 7 was the last day to submit petitions to put the measure before voters. I-1552 would have repealed 10-year-old legal protections for Transgender people and denied them the right to use genderappropriate restroom facilities. HRC said the initiative’s failure was “a victory for equality and validation for Washington's non-discrimination laws that ensure fair and equal treatment for LGBTQ people in housing, employment and public accommodations.” According to the initiative’s backers, they fell 20,000 signatures short of the number required to qualify for the ballot, in spite of spending more than half of their campaign budget on paid signature gatherers. The group, ironically named Just Want Privacy, also fell short last year when they promoted a similar measure – I-1515. That also failed to gather the necessary signatures and did not appear on the ballot. The anti-Trans group was led by Joseph Backholm, boss of the Family Policy Institute, and included a coalition of far right ideologues and Christian fundamentalists. Even former state Republican chair Chris Vance refused to back them. In contrast, Washington Won’t Discriminate put together a coalition of more than 500 businesses, labor unions, faith, and community organizations against the measure. According to a July 7 press release, Washington Won’t discriminate had already “recruited more than 100,000 activists and volunteers ready to oppose I-1552 if it had made it to the ballot.” “Washington would have been the first state to put a repeal of transgender rights up for a public vote, and we’re proud of our state for saying no a second time,” Wash-

ington Won’t Discriminate chair Seth Kirby said in a statement. “As more people get to know transgender folks like myself, it’s clear the tide is starting to turn against discriminatory efforts like I-1552.” “I've devoted my career to preventing sexual violence in our community and there is nothing more important to me than ensuring our community is safe. I’m proud that voters declined to sign on I-1552, an initiative which would have done nothing to make us safer and instead would have caused serious unintended consequences for the privacy and safety of all of us by encouraging more discrimination and harassment,” added Andrea Piper-Wentland, Director of Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs. LGBT activists said they hoped that the second failure in as many years would convince rightwing forces to give up their campaign to reverse Transgender rights. “It’s time for the forces behind I-1552 to get the message – Washingtonians aren’t buying what they’re selling because in this state we value freedom and liberty, and we don’t want to go backwards from the progress we’ve made for LGBTQ people,” said State Representative and Judiciary Committee Chair Laurie Jinkins. “Transgender people like me deserve the same basic protections as everyone else – to use public facilities with safety, privacy and dignity,” added Kirby. Washington Won’t Discriminate raised $217,438.59 and spent $185,534.28, most of it on political consultants and media. In contrast, Just Want Privacy raised $348,907.11, spent $303,966.13, and still owes an additional $500. Most of their expenditures went to pay for signature gatherers. The mysterious $50,000 contribution that Backholm’s group announced in June came from retired Mariners player John Olerud and his wife Kelly. Another $50,000 came from John and Angela Connelly. John Connelly is the principal partner in the law firm employing Lincoln Beauregard, the attorney who filed a sex abuse lawsuit against Seattle Mayor Ed Murray.

Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov

The Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta has reported that Chechen security forces executed 27 people on the

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

see CHECHNYA page 4

Marriage equality moves forward in Germany

Marriage equality celebrated in Berlin

by Stephen Peters Human Rights Campaign On June 30 HRC celebrated a vote by the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany’s parliament, to make marriage equality the law of the land. Once the legislation is approved by Bundesrat, the upper house, which is expected to be a formality, and

signed into law by the president, Germany will become the 22nd country to secure full marriage equality for same-sex couples. “We welcome the German people into the growing family of nations that ensure loving and committed same-sex couples have the right to marry,” said Ty Cobb, Di-

see GERMANY page 4

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Celebrating 43 Years!

A Celebration of Friends: Where maturity matters

A Celebration of Friends (2016) – Photo by Steven Shires – Courtesy of A Celebration of Friends

by Jesse Monteagudo SGN Contributing Writer A Celebration of Friends (ACOF) is a semi-annual convention or celebration for mature men and their admirers. This year’s celebration (#16) will be held on the weekend of July 20-23 at the Ramada Fort Lauderdale Oakland Park Inn, located at 3001 North Federal Highway. “Tomcat” Pence, a former Marine and the founder and president of A Celebration of Friends, Inc., realized that “Maturity Matters,” even in the youth-oriented gay world. Thus there should be a time and a place for maturity to be celebrated. Operating on a tight budget, the first Celebration was held in 2002 in New Orleans, where 100 men enjoyed each other and a wonderful weekend and raised $1,000 for “Buzzy’s Boys” (at the time a non-profit organization that benefitted hospitalized children living with HIV). The next year, ACOF moved to Florida, where it has been ever since. Now fifteen years later putting countless smiles on mature men from around the world, ACOF has raised over $184,000 for various local charities,

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including $10,000 raised last year for the Pride Center and Tuesdays Angels. According to Tomcat, “we have quite an age difference in members who attend the Celebration. We have members who are 92 years young, as well as members who are 22 years old. The average age of attendees last year was 60. We attract many men from small towns who do not have the opportunities to enjoy the many freedoms we enjoy here in South Florida. Our members work hard all year long saving their pennies so they can attend the Celebration weekend, so our board tries to work hard to keep costs down while providing as much entertainment as we can. While the Ramada provides a free daily breakfast for those staying overnight in the hotel and free shuttles to and from the airport, registered attendees will also receive a free daily lunch, a nightly free cocktail hour and free pool parties and contests.” Previous Celebrations featured celebrities like actor Ed Asner and former congressman Barney Frank. “This year’s Celebration,” Tomcat notes, “showcases Fort Lauderdale and our attendees themselves.

While we realize that most people think that beauty pageants are only for young men, we will have daily contests to get our guys into the swing of things, as they walk the red carpet around the pool. Our attendees enjoy and participate in contests like our Fantasy Swimsuit or Best Bootie contests, among others. Yet, the one contest which attracts the most contestants and creates the most fun is our Senior Speedo Contest. Last year’s winner was 72 years young. While we do not tolerate any public nudity, one of the most famous events at the Celebration is our nightly “Absolutely Positively NOT a Skinny Dipping Pool Party” party. Men between 21 and 121 who are interested in learning more about A Celebration of Friends should visit the ACOF website (www.celebrationoffriends.org). Full registration and rooms at the Ramada are still available, as are day passes. Whether or not they attend for a day or for the weekend, mature men will find plenty to do, and plenty of men to do it with. As Tomcat puts it, “if you are a mature man or someone who admires maturity, come join us. It will change your life forever.”

July 14, 2017

Seattle Gay News 3

Labor Council endorses Farrell and Hasegawa for Mayor I-940 “De-Escalate Washington” also endorsed by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The Martin Luther King County Labor Council (MLKCLC) gave its support to Jessyn Farrell and Bob Hasegawa for Mayor of Seattle in a special endorsement meeting on June 11. MLKCLC represents 150 labor organizations and some 100,000 workers in King County and its endorsement comes with potential campaign contributions and boots-on-the-ground support for its favored candidates. The unions arrived at a dual endorsement in the crowded mayoral race when it became apparent that neither candidate had the two-thirds support necessary for a solo seal of approval. Incumbent Mayor Ed Murray had lined up near-unanimous labor support and an early February endorsement from MLKCLC before he dropped out of the race. His departure set off a scramble to find an alternative worker-friendly candidate. Farrell is a former state legislator and mass transit activist who impressed union leaders with her aggressive outreach and

Mayoral candidates Jessyn Farrell (left) and Bob Hasegawa

her knowledge of public policy. Hasegawa was endorsed by the labor delegates because he is one of their own, a former president of Teamsters Local 174. SEIU (Service Employees International Union) 775NW – which is not affiliated with MLKCLC – endorsed former US Attorney Jenny Durkan. 775NW President David Rolf was an ally of Ed Murray and

his union followed Murray’s lead in backing Durkan, in spite of the fact that she has the backing of the Chamber of Commerce and the Seattle Hotel Association – two big business groups. SEA (Seattle Education Association) – the public school teachers’ union which is a part of MLKCLC – dual-endorsed Hasegawa and activist Nikkita Oliver.

detainees were never formally arrested and no paperwork was filled out on them before they were summarily executed. A source within the Russian Interior Ministry, which has jurisdiction over police forces, reportedly provided the newspaper with the names of the victims but Novaya Gazeta reporters were unable to locate any of them. “All attempts to learn anything about these people were met with incredible fear from everyone we questioned,” the newspaper wrote. In April, Novaya Gazeta reported that dozens of Gay Chechen men had been arrested, imprisoned in special detention camps, and tortured. Security forces controlled by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov have been accused of gross human rights violations for many years, including abductions, torture, and killings. Kadyrov was installed as President of Chechnya in 2011, after Putin crushed the Chechen independence movement. His father Akhmad was also President of the country for about six months before he was assassinated in 2004. Kadyrov promised in a June statement

that he would clear Chechnya of Gays by the end of Ramadan 2017, which ironically occurred on Pride Day, June 25. In its 29-page report released on May 26, Human Rights Watch said the “antigay purge” lasted from late February until at least early April, and that “it was ordered and conducted by officials in Chechnya.” The report says the speaker of Chechnya’s parliament, Magomed Daudov, an ally of Kadyrov, “seems to have played a key role in both securing and giving approval from the Chechen leadership to set in motion the purge.” The Russian LGBT Network is assisting Gay men to flee Chechnya, and several were available to be interviewed by Human Rights Watch. Gay refugees interviewed by the human rights group “reported hearing the police who held and abused them refer to Daudov and to orders he allegedly issued about violence against Gay men.” At least three refugees who had been held in Chechen detention camps reported seeing Daudov at camps in Grozny, Chechnya’s capital, and the town of Argun, where the abuses were carried out. Human Rights Watch said the purge be-

this historic day possible through their tireless advocacy.” Although German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, the conservative Christian Democrats, has been historically opposed to marriage equality, many individual legislators within the party do support it. Merkel indicated a possible shift in her viewpoint by opening a path forward for the vote. Her decision to allow the vote followed a move by her coalition partner, the

Social Democrats, who announced their continued support for Merkel’s government would be contingent on her backing marriage equality. Recent polling shows that 66 percent of Germans support full marriage equality. Germany has had same-sex civil unions since 2001, although those unions lacked the full dignity, legal protections and rights that come with marriage, including adoption rights.

Although he was the favorite of a number of unions in 2013, former Mayor Mike McGinn drew little support from organized labor for his comeback attempt. MLKCLC also endorsed I-940, the “De-Escalate Washington” initiative. The measure would require police to receive de-escalation and mental health training and would change the legal standards for justifiable use of deadly force. Almost alone among states, Washington currently requires a finding of “malice” to discipline police officers when they kill a civilian. Critics say that malice is almost impossible to prove, allowing police to evade discipline for unjustified shootings. I-940 would replace “malice” with a “good faith” standard, based on what a “reasonable officer” would do in a risky situation. MLKCLC has also endorsed Teresa Mosqueda for Seattle City Council position 8 and Lorena Gonzalez for City Council position 9, the two city-wide seats that are up for election this year.

CHECHNYA continued from cover

night of January 26. Radio Free Europe (RFE) published an English-language summary of the story on July 9. While RFE did not explicitly identify the executed individuals as Gay, it linked the killings to the ongoing pogrom against Gay men in the Caucasian republic, which is part of the Russian Federation and is ruled by an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian LGBT Network corroborated the reports, noting that some of the names published by Novaya Gazeta were known to be members of the LGBT community. Novaya Gazeta broke the story of the anti-Gay campaign in Chechnya in April, and their reporting was confirmed by the international watchdog group Human Rights Watch in May. This is the first report of deliberate executions of Gay people carried out by Chechen government forces. At least three deaths had been reported previously, but all were said to have occurred as a result of beatings in detention camps where Gay men were being held. According to Novaya Gazeta, the 27

GERMANY continued from cover

rector of HRC Global. “With the very serious challenges the LGBTQ community continues to face around the world, this is welcome news and an important victory in working to ensure LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society. We congratulate the German advocates who made

4 Seattle Gay News

July 14, 2017

gan in Argun, about 18 kilometers east of Grozny, during the last week of February. It says police who detained a young gay man found “intimate photographs and messages” on his mobile phone indicating he was Gay. “Using the information from the man’s phone together with information the man provided under torture, the officials established the identity of several of his gay contacts,” Human Rights Watch reported. “The police officials reported their findings to their superior, who apparently raised it with Magomed Daudov,” it said. American human rights advocates called on the US government to intervene to prevent further executions. “If these reports are true, the US government must act now.” said Shawn Gaylord, Advocacy Counsel for Human Rights First. “The perpetrators of these atrocious acts must be brought to justice and we need to make sure that detained members of the Chechen LGBT community do not meet the same fate.”

In Malta, another European Union nation, members of parliament are also expected to vote soon in favor of marriage equality. This progress in Europe comes on the heels of a recent victory in Asia, where Taiwan’s Constitutional Court ruled in favor of marriage equality in May. Courtesy of the Human Rights Campaign

Celebrating 43 Years!

Human Rights Campaign announces largest grassroots expansion in its history, opens new offensive against Trump-Pence agenda

Photo courtesy of Human Rights Campaign

America’s leading LGBTQ civil rights organization launches a massive grassroots campaign aligned with staff and volunteer deployments across 50 states HRC will make significant additional investments in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin WASHINGTON, DC – The Human Rights Campaign today announced a bold, proactive grassroots expansion with the launch of HRC Rising, a campaign to accelerate progress in states from coast-to-coast, resist the politics of hate, fight anti-LGBTQ legislation, and fuel pro-equality candidates and initiatives. In June, HRC partnered on dozens of nationwide marches – from the Los Angeles #ResistMarch to the National Equality March in Washington, D.C. and cities in between. HRC is harnessing that momentum to begin organizing for the 2018 elections earlier than ever before, with its biggest strategic investment in the organization’s 37-year history. “It’s not enough to resist the hateful policies and attacks coming from the TrumpPence regime – we’ve got to accelerate the pace of progress toward full equality and secure protections for LGBTQ people in states and communities across the country. That’s why we’re going on the offense with the largest grassroots expansion in HRC’s 37-year history,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Our grassroots army of over 3 million has proven that, even in the face of unprecedented challenges, we can make incredible progress and defeat the hateful politicians who've been emboldened by Donald Trump when we organize and mobilize. The power and determination of the 10 million LGBTQ voters and our allies across America will only continue to grow stronger in the face of discriminatory attacks on our rights and freedoms.” HRC has a proven track record of orga-

nizing and mobilizing supporters to defeat anti-LGBTQ legislation and candidates, and to turn out on Election Day. Last fall, national exit polls showed the LGBTQ vote was the only demographic group to increase its support for Hillary Clinton over former President Barack Obama four years earlier, with a record-breaking 78 percent of the vote. And, in one of the only bright spots of the election, HRC and Equality North Carolina successfully defeated North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory after he targeted LGBTQ people with his notoriously discriminatory HB2 law. HRC and Equality North Carolina set out to organize the more than 250,000 LGBTQ voters and allies across North Carolina and built a campaign against HB2; by Election Day, 57 percent of voters said the law was their top reason to vote against McCrory. This was the result of significant, long-term investment and staff deployment on the ground in North Carolina. HRC will now expand on these efforts and has begun recruiting at least 20 additional full-time staff, including dedicated political, field, grassroots organizing, volunteer engagement, communications, and digital staff, who will join more than two dozen existing staff working on the initiative. They will immediately begin working with HRC’s 32 existing, volunteer-led, local steering committees to expand local partnerships, recruit additional volunteers, mobilize constituents, register voters and grow the organization’s grassroots army to flex political muscle in legislatures and at the ballot box. HRC is allocating $26 million to resource this nationwide grassroots push. The launch of HRC Rising comes after a year in which HRC significantly expanded its grassroots engagement and proved that the ten million LGBTQ voters in America – five percent of all voters – are one of the most important and effective voting blocs in the nation. In Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada, HRC will

Visit us online www.sgn.org

make an especially strong, early push to organize against the Trump-Pence agenda and support pro-equality candidates in coming elections. Staff and volunteers will work with state and local organizations and partners in coalition to bolster efforts to advance equality, defend the LGBTQ community against attacks, and deliver wins for pro-equality candidates in order to lay the groundwork for future legislative victories. In addition, over the last year, HRC has refined its digital outreach, organizing and targeting, including the development of an “Equality Voter Model.” HRC can now target with a high degree of accuracy not only LGBTQ voters but allies – “equality voters” – who are likely to oppose candidates who attack the civil rights of LGBTQ people. Mobilizing “equality voters” will be crucial to making future gains because of their reliable support and consistently high turnout. Despite Clinton’s loss in last year’s presidential election, the results reinforced the importance of the LGBTQ vote for delivering key states. In 2012, Gallup noted the strength of the LGBTQ vote in battleground states: “without the support of the 5 percent of voters in four key swing states who identified as LGBT, President Barack Obama may have lost those states, jeopardizing his re-election.” Of the 25 GOP House members holding districts carried by Clinton last cycle, 23 have anti-equality records. Planning for both a defensive strategy to combat the Trump-Pence regime and an offensive strategy began immediately following the election in November. In January, HRC launched a full-time war room dedicated to fighting the Trump Administration’s anti-LGBTQ, anti-American agenda. HRC’s 10-person war room team, comprised of rapid response, research, digital and video staff, has led efforts to defeat hateful nominees with anti-LGBTQ records like Mark Green and resist antiLGBTQ executive actions. The team has

worked in coalition to protect healthcare, defend Planned Parenthood, rally against Trump’s Muslim ban, deportation force, and border wall. The launch of HRC Rising represents the opening of another front in HRC’s fight against the Trump-Pence agenda, and draws on one of the greatest strengths of the organization: its more than 3 million highly-engaged members, supporters, volunteers and activists in virtually every community coast-to-coast. Over several decades, HRC has steadily expanded its footprint at the state and local levels. One of the models for the HRC Rising initiative has been HRC’s successful Project One America program, which launched in 2014 with the goal of dramatically expanding LGBTQ equality in the South through permanent campaigns in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas. Since the program’s launch, several cities and towns have passed comprehensive, trans-inclusive non-discrimination protections – including in Jackson and Magnolia, Mississippi. To join HRC Rising, visit hrc.im/Rising or text Rising to 30644.

July 14, 2017

Seattle Gay News 5

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

Lambda Legal readies for U.S. Supreme Court after full Eleventh Circuit denies Georgia anti-gay employment discrimination case

Jameka Evans and Greg Nevis – Courtesy of Lambda Legal

“Momentum is growing behind our efforts to combat employment discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual workers in the courts.” ATLANTA –Last Thursday, July 6, Lambda Legal announced it will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit denied its en banc petition asking that the full Court rehear the case of Jameka Evans, a security guard who was harassed at work and effectively terminated from her job because she is a lesbian and doesn’t conform to gender norms in her appearance and demeanor. This spring, the full Seventh Circuit ruled that Ivy Tech Community College in Indiana violated the Civil Rights Act by discriminating against Kimberly Hively because she is a lesbian. In May, the full Second Circuit Court of Appeals granted en banc review in Zarda v. Altitude Express the case of a New York skydiving instructor who was fired from his job because he was gay. “My job was important to me and I was good at it, but because I was a lesbian my supervisor zeroed in on me and punished me,” said Jameka Evans. “If I looked and carried myself like the other women, or worse, if I had hid my sexual orientation, today I would still be in that job. Now, I have not only been let down by my employer, I have been closed off from justice by a court that is supposed to protect my rights. It’s not right. Something needs to change.”

6 Seattle Gay News

“We plan to take this to the Supreme Court. This extremely troubling decision does not slow the momentum that is building behind our efforts to combat employment discrimination against lesbian, gay and bisexual workers in the courts,” said Greg Nevis, Counsel and Employment Fairness Strategist for Lambda Legal. “We will continue to press the legally correct argument, recognized by so many other courts, that the Civil Rights Act protects all workers against sexual orientation discrimination, whether they are gender-conforming in particular ways or not.” In April of 2015, Evans filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia against her former employer, Georgia Regional Hospital. The hospital violated Title VII by discriminating against her because of her sexual orientation and her nonconformity with gender norms of appearance and demeanor. The district court dismissed her complaint, saying that Title VII does not protect her as a lesbian. In January of last year, Lambda Legal filed an appeal on Jameka’s behalf, arguing that she must have her day in court because sexual orientation discrimination is a form of sex discrimination and therefore illegal under Title VII, citing rulings by several federal district courts and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) finding that sexual orientation discrimination is a form of sex discrimination and thereby a prohibited employment practice. But, the three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit denied Evans’ claim in early March 2017. On Thursday, July 6 the full Eleventh

July 14, 2017

Circuit Court of Appeals declined to rehear the case. For years, Lambda Legal has been explaining to courts that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, when properly understood, protects LGBT employees. Three of Lambda Legal’s successful efforts in 2014, in federal courts in Seattle, Chicago, and Washington D.C., were cited by the EEOC in Baldwin v. Foxx. In April, The full Seventh Circuit ruled that workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation violates federal civil rights law in Lambda Legal’s case on behalf of Kimberly Hively, an instructor at Ivy Tech Community College who was fired for being a lesbian. Lambda Legal Employment Fairness Project Director Greg Nevins and Staff Attorney Omar Gonzalez-Pagan are the attorneys for both the Hively and Evans cases. “But until all federal courts recognize that all sexual orientation discrimination is in fact sex discrimination, Congress should do what it did with pregnancy discrimination – pass an amendment to clarify that it is a form of sex discrimination under the Civil Rights Act,” added Nevins. The case is Evans v. Georgia Regional Hospital. Read the petition: http://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal-docs/evans_ ga_20170331_petition-for-rehearing-enbanc More information about Lambda Legal’s work on employment protections is available here: http://www.lambdalegal. org/issues/employment-and-rights-in-theworkplace

About Lambda Legal Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and people living with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work. Courtesy of Lambda Legal

Celebrating 43 Years!

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Seattle Gay News 7

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Celebrating 43 Years!

Gender pay gap for White House staff triples under Trump Analysis was done by conservative group by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The gender pay gap for White House staffers is three times larger under the Trump administration than it was during President Obama’s last year in office, according to the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI). According to AEI’s report, published on July 3 in the Washington Post, women White House staffers are making a median of $72,650 while male staffers earn a me-

dian of $115,000. “The typical female staffer in Trump’s White House earns 63.2 cents per $1 earned by a typical male staffer,” AEI scholar Mark Perry wrote – a difference of nearly 37%. The pay gap stood at about 11% during President Obama’s last year in office, and the national average stands at about 17%, the report said. According to CNN, the gender pay gap for White House staffers is due in part to the fact that not as many women work in the highest-ranking – and best paid – White

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House jobs under Trump. Women comprise 47% of the workforce in the White House, but do not have top positions. The highest salary at the White House is $179,000 and there is only one woman making that out of the 22 people who draw in that amount. AEI found that nearly 74% of the top 23 Trump staffers are male, compared to 52% – near parity – under Obama. Male employees at the White House earn $104,000 on average compared to $83,000 that average women employees earn.

When median salaries are compared instead of average salaries, the gender pay gap becomes even wider. Averages can be skewed by outlier salaries that can drive the figure up or down, meaning one highly-paid female staffer can give the impression that all other women in the White House are paid more than they actually are. Trump has said that he supports equal pay for women and that helping working women was a priority of his administration.

July 14, 2017

Seattle Gay News 11

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Northwest Harvest invites you to join us in making a difference in the lives of those who struggle with hunger. We know that fighting hunger requires much more than just feeding the hungry. Eliminating hunger requires addressing its root causes in poverty and social disparities. Poverty and hunger are experienced at disproportionately higher rates for people of color, women, LGBTQ communities, and other oftenmarginalized minority groups. The reasons for the disparate impact of poverty are often rooted in structural barriers created by discriminatory laws, racist policies, and prejudicial societal practices—resulting in generations of lost opportunities for education, employment, health care, and housing. In order to better understand and identify solutions, we need to question these structural barriers. And to end hunger, we must help end practices that widen opportunity gaps, as well as instill the practices that help create opportunities and lead to a more equitable society. Advocacy on behalf of marginalized people is nothing new to Northwest Harvest. For 50 years, we’ve been building coalitions and partnerships to help those in need. During this time, we’ve grown from a project of local social activists to our position today as the foremost leader in fighting hunger in the state of Washington. Every day, we are proud to be a loud and active voice for those who are too often voiceless in our society. And, in today’s current social and political climate, we must do everything we can to turn up the volume. We ask you to join us. Make yourself heard. Donate. Volunteer. Be a voice. Together, we can end hunger in our state.

14 Seattle Gay News

July 14, 2017

Celebrating 43 Years!

Viva! Kitsap Pride

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Saturday,July 15th 11a-5p Evergreen Park, Bremerton

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Frenchie Davis Finalist from The Voice & American Idol Broadway Star and Grammy Nominee

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Film Fest July 8th & 9th TWIST TOPS

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Black & White Sabrina

with DJ & Dancing

Kitsap Pride is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to celebrate, support and unite the LGBTQ+ communities in Kitsap County.

kitsappride.org

Sunday JULY 16th, 2017 11 AM to 7 PM

ENTERTAINMENT INCLUDES

tickets can be purchased online @ brown paper tickets.com or at the gate

wild waves theme park

36201 Enchanted parkway s. • federal way, WA

for more information visit imperialcourtofseattle.com