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Bernie endorses Hillary Log Cabin Republicans We must beat Trump, he says
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders – Photo courtesy of nbcnews.com
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Bernie Sanders endorsed his former rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton, on July 12, insisting that voters must unite against Republican Donald Trump.
“I have come here to make it as clear as possible why I am endorsing Hillary Clinton and why she must become our next president,” Sanders said at a joint rally in New Hampshire. “I intend to do everything I can to make
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has promised to reveal his vice presidential pick on July 14, but none of the presumed frontrunners is a good choice for the LGBT community. As SGN goes to press, all Trump’s potential running mates are jockeying for position, with some enlisting the aid of powerful right-wing opinion makers. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, for example, was flown to Cleveland to meet with Trump aboard Fox News anchor Sean
Log Cabin Republicans President Gregory T. Angelo – Photo courtesy of metroweekly.com
Compiled by MK Scott SGN contributing writer Log Cabins are fighting mad and shocked that the GOP passed the most anti-LGBT Platform in the Party’s 162-year history.
see BERNIE page 16
No good choice: All potential Trump VPs are anti-LGBT
Newt Gingrich – Photo courtesy of shoebat.com
responds to the GOP’s most anti-LGBT Platform yet!
The email, sent on Tuesday evening, from Log Cabin President Gregory T. Angelo, writes: “This isn’t my GOP, and I know it’s not yours either. Heck, it’s not even Donald see LOG CABIN page 14
Seattle Police Officers Guild President resigns after social media controversy
Gov. Mike Pence – Photo courtesy of washingtontimes.com
Hannity’s personal plane. Gingrich later announced that he considered himself and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence the likely picks. “I suspect some time tomorrow that Mike and I will both get phone calls, and one of us will be packing our bags to go to New York and the other one will be going to watch it on TV,” Gingrich told Fox News. “And we’ll find out tomorrow afternoon at some point which one is which.” “Donald and I get along very, very well,” he added. “We’ve known him a long time and get along very, very well with the whole family.” see NO GOOD page 16
Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) President Ron Smith – Photo courtesy of Seattle Times
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG) President Ron Smith is resigning. Smith announced on Tuesday that he would step down at the end of this month. His departure announcement comes in the wake of
an offensive Facebook post he made on the SPOG Facebook account on July 7 following news of the five police officers killed and six others wounded in Dallas, Texas, following a Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest, in which Smith stated that “the hatred of law enforcement by a minority movement” is disgusting, seemingly blamsee POLICE page 14
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Op-Ed: One Month After Orlando, We Must “Uproot” and “Disarm” Hatred by Nadine Smith Equality Florida Special to the SGN Was the young man who fired an automatic rifle into a crowd of more than 300 people at an Orlando gay bar an ISIS terrorist? Was he a closeted gay man lashing out explosively in the ultimate act of selfhatred? Was it both? These were the questions I fielded from reporters in the days and weeks following the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. As head of Equality Florida, the state’s LGBT civil rights organization, I know that sifting through rumor, fact, and speculation is important if we want clarity on what must change in our culture and in our laws to stem the tide of mass murders. So let’s start with this: No one I’ve spoken with – local, state, and federal law enforcement and government officials – about the motive believes that the killer was operating under the direction of ISIS. The consensus is that his ISIS claim was theater. He checked social media in the midst of the carnage to see if his strategy was getting him all the attention he craved. Next came the conjecture that the shooter was a conflicted closet case taught to despise what he could not reconcile within himself. A man who claimed that he’d had a clandestine affair with the murderer was deemed not credible by law enforcement. And investigators say that they have found nothing backing up reports that he sought men via online apps: no email trail, no secret texts, no memberships on gay dating sites. Right now, the best evidence points to a far more common tale: another delusional, young American man, with a cultivated hatred toward a specific group and easy access to military-grade weapons, who be-
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lieved mass murder would show the world he mattered. To me, that story is the most chilling of all, for its very predictability. Does anyone doubt another mass shooting will occur in America with the same features as these past ones? Can we not say, with near certainty, it will once again be a young man, his fragile masculinity nursing a deep hatred he believes must be validated by violence? In the aftermath, we have seen the predictable ugliness of those who would fan the flames of division. But overwhelmingly, the people of Orlando have shown a better way. The LGBT and Latino communities have been embraced, as each community grieves the dead and injured: of the 49 killed, 90 percent were Hispanic, and nearly half were Puerto Rican. Drive around town and you encounter a sea of rainbow flags. Listen at the vigils and you would hear diverse voices, in English and Spanish, calling on the community and the nation not to meet hate with hate. Within the LGBT community, there is a palpable shift. Anger is rising from our overwhelming grief. We refuse to accept “thoughts and prayers” from leaders who have been feeding anti-LGBT bigotry, who would deny us the very rights they demand for themselves. It is crystal clear who needs protecting in our state from real, not fabricated dangers. Yet there are glimpses of hope that some of our elected and religious leaders have a new clarity, that they must answer the question: Which side are you on? The Republican mayor of Orange County, Teresa Jacobs, apologized publicly for failing to lead on LGBT equality and called on the GOP to embrace ending discrimination. An Orlando megachurch pastor and a Florida-based Catholic bishop have spoken out against religious voices that dehuman-
ize LGBT Americans, including their own. So yes, we must uproot the hatred that runs so deep in our culture that a father of an Orlando victim refused to claim his gay son’s body. And we must also disarm it. We must take on the gun culture and the fear, paranoia, and violence it breeds. It is immoral to simply hope the next mass shooting passes our house and hits our neighbors instead. There is evidence that an emerging majority in America is ready to take on this challenge. A new CBS poll shows 57 percent support for a ban on assault weapons in the aftermath of the Orlando massacre, up 13 points since December. Nonpartisan coalitions are forming among groups that have not traditionally included gun violence as a priority issue. After the last candle of the last vigil flickers out, what will be our lasting memorial to the slain in Orlando and every mass shooting that preceded? Let our anger and grief harden into resolve. The choice is clear: support the full humanity of LGBT people, or endorse bigotry. Support limiting access to weapons of mass destruction, or enable slaughter. The time has come for action and accounting. We must ask ourselves and demand an answer from our leaders: Which side are you on? Nadine Smith is the co-founder and CEO of Equality Florida, the state’s largest organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Courtesy of Equality Florida
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King County becomes a national leader in recognizing the economic impact of LGBT-owned businesses by Jason Dittmer Director of Marketing & Communications GSBA King County will become a national leader in supporting LGBT-owned small businesses under an inclusive policy announced by King County Executive Dow Constantine. Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA), the region’s LGBT and allied Chamber of Commerce, commends Constantine’s decision to track the number of contracts awarded to LGBT-owned small businesses, which will have a positive impact on the region’s economy, and predicts that other metropolitan regions will follow King County’s lead. King County will become the largest county in the United States to track the number of contracts that are awarded to LGBT entrepreneurs, an approach that has dramatically increased the number and value of contracts awarded to local small businesses owned by women, people of color, and people who are disadvantaged during Constantine’s administration. “We are once again putting King County at the national forefront of social change and justice,” said Constantine. “We are stronger when we reduce barriers to opportunity so everyone can fully participate in our economy. By supporting local LGBT entrepreneurs, we are making progress toward a just, equitable society.” Local and national business associations say the move will have a positive impact on economic activity in the region and
predict that other metropolitan regions will follow King County’s lead. “Opportunity and access are key ingredients for ensuring the success of small businesses. GSBA applauds King County for its leadership in being the first government agency in the Northwest to recognize LGBT certification so that LGBT businesses will now have parity in opportunity with other minority businesses in the region,” said Louise Chernin, president and CEO of GSBA. “By recognizing and tracking certified LGBT-owned businesses that apply for contracts, King County continues its longstanding commitment to equality, diversity, and opportunity for all.” “King County continues a long tradition of creating greater access to the American Dream for the thousands of LGBT business owners who live and work there,” said Justin Nelson, co-founder and president of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. “By offering an equal seat at the table to bid on King County contracts, we will see the same surge in the job creation, industry innovation, and contributions to the local economy that LGBT businesses owners have earned acclaim for across this country. King County is now committed to enhancing the visibility of its thriving LGBT business community.” “For the past couple years, the US Small Business Administration (SBA) has conducted LGBTQ Business Builder trainings across the US to educate LGBTQ-owned small businesses about the supply chain opportunities available through LGBTQ business certification,” said regional admin-
istrator Calvin Goings. “I commend King County for being a leader among local governments by embracing this inclusive vision of entrepreneurship. When we draw from all demographics and backgrounds, we’ll grow our economy, create good jobs, and make the Puget Sound more globally competitive.” Based on a highly successful model The county’s successful Small Contractors and Suppliers program has more than doubled the number and value of contracts awarded to local small businesses since Constantine took office. The number of certified small contractors has increased from just over 1,100 in 2010 to more than 2,300 last year. The value of small business contracts over that same period has increased from $23 million to $47.3 million. Contracts are still awarded to businesses that score the highest in the competitive process, regardless of race, gender, or sexual identity. What King County has done is increase the number and diversity of small businesses competing for contracts by reaching out to small business owners that have historically been disadvantaged and making the procurement process more accessible. Now the county will expand the approach to include LGBT small business owners to increase visibility and create a more equitable environment. By creating a directory of LGBT-owned small businesses, King County will also better connect local business owners, acting as a catalyst for economic activity.
The announcement is the culmination of work that started during Constantine’s first term, when he committed to reforming county operations, which evolved into what is now known as the Best Run Government initiative. One of the achievements was improving the procurement process to make it more convenient for businesses. Today, for example, small businesses can enroll in a single program to compete for contracts awarded by King County, the Port of Seattle, Sound Transit, and Seattle colleges. King County will also include an LGBT category in its directory of small businesses, making it easier for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender businesses to support one another. The largest county in the US to apply this approach With a population of more than 2.1 million residents, King County is the 13th largest county in the United States. It will be just the second county, after Essex County in New Jersey, to track how many contracts are awarded to businesses owners who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender. Only two states – Massachusetts and California – include an LGBT category in their procurement policies. http://thegsba.org/advocacy/about-us/ blog/gsba-blog/2016/07/08/executive-constantine-makes-king-county-a-nationalleader-in-supporting-lgbt-owned-smallbusinesses
I-1515 fails to qualify for the November ballot by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor [EDITOR’S NOTE: Due to a production error, this story did not run in last Friday’s print edition of the SGN as part of the SGN’s coverage of the failure of I-1515 to qualify for the November ballot, although the story did run in the SGN’s online edition.] The I-1515 campaign, an effort to repeal Washington state’s 10 year-old non-discrimination law protecting members of Washington’s Transgender community, failed to turn in enough (246,372) signatures to qualify for this year’s fall election ballot. The WA Secretary of State’s office announced late this afternoon that the I-1515 campaign cancelled its appointment to turn in signatures. This is an important victory for not only the Transgender community, but for equality-minded people across the state. With Tim Eyman having already failed to qualify anything, the end of I-1515 means that for the first time in decades, there will be no right wing initiatives on Washington’s statewide ballot come November. “Washingtonians have sent a clear message – we won’t discriminate,” said Seth Kirby, chair of Washington Won’t Discriminate, the “No” on I-1515 campaign. “As a Transgender man, I’m encouraged that voters didn’t buy the pitch that repealing our state’s non-discrimination protections for transgender people would somehow make everyone safer. Washingtonians value fairness and equality and we believe that everyone in our state should be able to earn a living, frequent a business, earn an education, and raise a family free from the fear of discrimination.” Just Want Privacy Campaign filed Initiative 1515, which, if qualified for the ballot and passed would have repealed sections, pertaining to Transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, of the Anderson-Murray Anti-Discrimination bill passed in 2006 protecting the civil rights of
LGBTQ Washingtonians. Specifically, Initiative 1515 aimed to prohibit Transgender and gender non-conforming individuals from using restrooms in public, at work and at school that match the gender they live daily. The Just Want Privacy campaign is associated with the Family Policy Institute of Washington. Joseph Backholm, who led the charge for I-1515, encouraged male signature-gatherers to enter women’s restrooms to demonstrate the ramifications of the Transgender-rights decision earlier this year. Those reports angered many, including people outside of the LGBTQ community, because it demonstrated that Backholm was willfully and dangerously misrepresenting the intent of the law. Backholm dismissed it as a “joke” saying, “It was obvious to all that we are not seriously encouraging people to gather signatures inside restrooms.” The joke was certainly lost on the general public and the county sheriff, state attorney general, and LGBTQ activists, who warned that following women into bathrooms is illegal. Already, Trans people in Washington are “significantly more fearful” because of Backholm and the Just Want Privacy campaign, Danni Askini, executive director of the Trans advocacy group Gender Justice League, told The Stranger after Backholm made his “joke.” “There definitely is a sense that there’s more attention on gender nonconforming people in public spaces,” Askini continued. “People are afraid to participate in public or just go out in public. The campaign has really created a huge sense of fear that people are in danger, even if the law doesn’t pass.” The public, it would seem, has grown tired of the demonizing of Transgender people – which as far as crime statistics show is a complete misrepresentation of the truth. Just Want Privacy claimed that allowing Trans people to pee where they choose would open the door for male predators to enter into women’s restrooms and locker rooms and assault women and girls with impunity. They spread those lies despite the fact that there’s zero evidence of Trans people harassing people in bath-
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rooms and despite the fact that offenses like sexual assault and voyeurism, in bathrooms or anywhere else, are already illegal. Additionally, it is important to note that Trans people are more likely to be survivors of assault. One in two Trans people are sexually assaulted or abused at some point in their lives, according to the Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime. Despite raising a lot of money, the campaign working to take away rights of Washington Transgender folks couldn’t get the correct number of signatures needed to qualify for the ballot – even though a tremendous amount of cash was spent on paid signature gatherers. On Thursday [July 7, 2016], LGBTQ Allyship, the organization leading the “decline to sign” campaign against I-1515, delivered over 1,000 signed postcards from community members who opposed I-1515. The activists filled a sparkly rainbow toilet bowl full of Trans justice postcards at Just Want Privacy’s office door while a delegation delivered a message demanding that Joseph Backholm and the Just Want Privacy campaign “Flush hate out of our state: Make restrooms safe for all!” Washington Won’t Discriminate ran a campaign that, at times, seemed silent to many in the community aside from sending out emails requesting money to fund the No on I-1515 campaign. Still, despite what some might have perceived to be a stalled campaign, they built a broad coalition of more than 500 law enforcement, clergy, business leaders, violence prevent groups and others to oppose I-1515 successfully. Since launching a little over three months ago the campaign reports that more than 51,000 people became Washington Won’t Discriminate supporters, volunteers, and activists. Additionally, more than 600 individuals donated to the No on I-1515 campaign at an average of $97/each. The campaign says that more than 150 big and small businesses and labor unions from around the state quickly rallied to oppose I-1515, including Amazon, Microsoft, Group Health, Google, Facebook, Expedia, Vulcan, AT&T, Dow Chemical, WA State Labor Council, Washington Education
Association, and many more. Faith leaders, including Evangelical Lutheran Bishop Kirby Unti, and law enforcement officials, such as King County Sheriff John Urquhart, raised moral and safety objections to I-1515. Editorial boards, including the Seattle Gay News, Seattle Times, Everett Herald, The Olympian and Tacoma News Tribune, urged opposition to I-1515. Like Washington, more than 200 cities and counties and 18 states have nondiscrimination laws protecting Transgender people’s access to facilities consistent with the gender they live every day – without negative impacts on public safety. “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-1515, 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,” said Andrea Piper-Wentland, Director of Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs. “This state said no to discrimination against the LGBT community with passage of Washington’s 2006 LGBT civil rights bill: Today, the people of the state said no to turning the clock back on the rights of our Transgender brothers and sisters,” said Seattle Mayor Ed Murray. The city has an ordinance requiring that single occupancy bathrooms in businesses and public places be available to all. Former Seattle City Council member Tina Podlodowski, who is challenging Kim Wyman for WA Secretary of State in the fall election, said, “We sent a clear message that discrimination against Transgender people is NOT one of our values,” said Podlodowski. While I-1515 did not qualify for the ballot this year, Washington Won’t Discriminate says they will continue to mobilize public support for protecting our state’s non-discrimination laws from future attacks.
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“I’m gay in Ukraine & my country despises me” Ukraine’s crisis is not just military and political; it’s social and cultural by Maxim Eristavi Special to the SGN Kiev, Ukraine – 13 July 2016 INTRODUCTION Gay Ukrainian Maxim Eristavi writes: Last October came my turning point. After years of reporting on Eastern European LGBTI issues, I felt I was fighting an uphill battle. In the shadow of Russia’s assault on queer communities, identical stories were being told about gay people struggling with rising violence and state-led oppression, from Belarus and Ukraine to Georgia, Armenia, and Moldova. These stories usually provoked zero media and public interest. At the same time, I felt they deserved so much more attention, to defend the human rights frontline against the expansion of institutionalized hate. I was among the lone voices. I decided to cross the journalism line and make a final plea with my own personal story as a struggling, openly gay man in Ukraine. I thought: This is it. If this doesn’t help, I quit. When Politico Europe published my op-ed article “I’m gay in Ukraine and my country despises me” (below) I wasn’t surprised by the hate messages and the usual death threats. What knocked me out was the torrent of support from all over Eastern Europe. In the following months, my story was translated into Ukrainian and Russian and made waves across Eastern Europe. This helped me to rally additional support for the LGBTI cause from foreign diplomatic and political circles and inside the political elites. Suddenly, I felt the discourse was changing and the issue of the Eastern European assault on LGBTI equality was not marginalized anymore. Still, reporting and advocacy for LGBTI equality in the region lacks sufficient attention. With the rising power of homophobia in Eastern Europe, we cannot fight it off on our own anymore. We also need the solidarity of our brothers and sisters abroad. “I’m gay in Ukraine & my country despises me” In my long struggle to both be true to myself and to my homeland, I always lose. I still hope to see a ray of light. Sometimes I do. Like during a groundbreaking – for Ukraine – queer art show that opened in Kiev in October 2015. This is the first time that an LGBTIthemed installation occupies the most popular modern art space in the country. Thousands of people visit every week, the entrance guarded by heavy security. Created by American artist Carlos Motta, the exhibition features eleven prominent queer Ukrainians, including myself. Two of us decided to cover our faces. In a European country of 45 million, being openly gay can not only destroy your life, it can cost you your life. I spent some time standing near a huge plasma screen. It played a filmed interview in which I shared personal stories about my daily life as a gay man in Ukraine. After watching the interview, most visitors avoided making eye contact with me – not surprising in a country where more than 70 percent still consider homosexuality a disease. But there were many who smiled and nodded in support instead. A few people even brought their kids to the installation. That was a ray of light for me. But unfortunately the clouds are getting darker every day. A few weeks later, the Ukrainian parliament passed an amendment granting LGBTI Ukrainians protection from discrimination in the workplace, after only nine voting attempts and heated debates. It is a crucial clause on the path to securing a visa-free travel regime with the European Union (EU). Despite rampant homopho-
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bia among local political elites, Yuriy Lutsenko, the parliament’s majority leader and head of President Poroshenko’s parliamentary group, tried to convince the media that the reason there was no consensus on the anti-discrimination clause was just because – well, no LGBTI discrimination exists in Ukraine. “It is better to have gay parades in Kiev, rather than Russian tanks” – Yuriy Lutsenko “Some ‘creative’ Ukrainians come to Europe and say they are LGBTI and that in their homeland country their rights are not guaranteed, and, for example, in the Netherlands those guarantees exist,” Lutsenko said. “They would automatically receive an asylum based on the claim. And, of course, the Netherlands would say to us: Well, change the law; do not let those opportunistic scammers accuse Ukraine of endangering rights of particular minorities.” In his opinion, “it is better to have gay parades in Kiev, rather than Russian tanks,” he added. “Ukraine will never have same-sex marriages. God help us, so it’ll never happen,” Volodymyr Groisman, the parliament’s speaker, said during the vote. To be honest, I haven’t felt like celebrating: It’s like they’ve thrown that equality law in my face and spat on me too. The amendment they passed is temporary: it is an equality clause to a labor code in effect since Soviet times. A new code is on its way to a second, final reading and doesn’t include any mention of LGBTI rights. The technicality creates a temporary alley for Ukraine to fulfill visa-free demands, without granting any equality in the long run. The only thing I could think of at the time was whether or not the EU would blink. Because, we, the Ukrainian LGBTI community, have been backstabbed by the EU before. Last year the European Commission silently backed down before the homophobic Ukrainian government and ditched a crucial LGBTI anti-discrimination provision for the local labor code from bilateral talks. While the EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini was in Kiev trying to lure the Ukrainian government into adopting legislation needed for a visa-free agreement, I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened to me 10 years ago. I was 19 years old and working as a reporter when my boss outed me, in front of a room full of our newsroom’s top managers, and threatened to out me to my parents too – all because I dared ask for the money she owed me. It is still the most humiliating thing that has ever happened to me. But these things – and worse – will keep happening in Ukraine because gay workers are granted no protection from discrimination. Equality is still a dirty word in Ukraine. The rising violence against the queer community in Ukraine is largely ignored by both local and foreign media. While traveling abroad and telling the stories of LGBTI Ukrainians, I’m often asked if I
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could provide specific statistics of LGBTIrelated murders and assaults. Well, it’s next to impossible. How to compile numbers about a hate crime not recognized as such by Ukrainian law? In most cases local lawenforcement bodies classify the incidents as drunk violence or robbery. If you are naïve enough to file a police report after you are attacked, you won’t be treated seriously. A hate crime at an LGBTI movie screening in Kiev that resulted in a movie theater burning to the ground last year was classified as “hooliganism.” Similar attacks occurred in LGBTI community centers around the country last year. We don’t have conclusive information about what happened to more than two dozen attackers at Kiev Pride who were detained this year. But I can give an educated guess, given that no local LGBTI people I have met and who have been attacked have seen justice. I can understand how hard it is to reinstate the rule of law after a dramatic revolution and in the middle of a foreign-backed insurgency. I get it. But what’s unacceptable is the government’s complete silence, and the absence of any official condemnation of the rise in LGBTI violence in the country. This summer the southern city of Odessa, the fourth largest in the country, banned its local gay pride celebration. The ban on the city’s first, and Ukraine’s third, LGBTI pride event was a major setback for the fight for equal civil rights in Eastern Europe. It’s a slap in the face for local LGBTI people who dared to hope for change after this year’s semi-success, when Kiev Pride resumed. So here we are. It is 2015 and Ukraine still does not have a single law that protects gay people from hate speech or hate crimes. But on the same day the ban on Odessa’s pride parade was introduced, Pavlo Unguryan, a member of the Ukrainian parliament (MP), can go on live TV in Odessa and call homosexuality “a treatable disease” and accuse gay people of pedophilia. And return to his job as an MP with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s party as if nothing happened. None of his 450 colleagues publicly shamed him. This same guy is a member of a parliamentary contact group with the United States. I can only imagine how hard it is for him to travel to the US, where gay people are mostly being treated, well, as people. That said, the start of a change can be felt in Parliament: Two deputies showed up for this year’s Kiev Pride. Sergii Leshchenko and Svitlana Zalishchuk. That’s two out of 450. But they were the first-ever MPs to march shoulder to shoulder with the city’s gay population. Other so-called reformist politicians, like Kiev’s major Vitali Klitschko, openly called for the march to be canceled. I also salute those hundreds of policemen who showed up to protect the Ukrainian capital’s Pride parade. Some were injured in the ensuing violence. One policeman
was hit with a homemade grenade packed with metal that the neo-Nazis brought with them – with the intention to kill. The LGBTI community raised a sizeable sum of money for the officer’s hospital treatment. This happened exactly a year after the same police force refused to protect the first postrevolutionary Kiev Pride and it was canceled. Broad homophobia in Ukraine is mostly a result of lack of education. As an experiment in central Ukraine shows, most people don’t know anyone who is openly gay, or even what LGBTI stands for. In Kryvyi Rih, local activists interviewed people on the streets and asked a simple question: “What do you think about heterosexuals?” Most people answered with disgust that they condemn heterosexuals as something unnatural. If they had understood what they were saying, Kryvyi Rih would have to be Ukraine’s most gay-friendly city. When you grow up in Ukraine, you don’t meet queer people. I was apparently the only gay kid in school and a constant target for bullies. And it doesn’t get better. Nobody is out, except for a handful of LGBTI activists. Being a proud gay person in Eastern Europe is very lonely. Recently I met a personal hero of mine, one of the most powerful openly gay people in the region – Latvian foreign minister Edgars Rinkevics. While I was filming an interview with him for the Hromadske International news network (of which I am a co-founder), he stressed the importance of “gradual changes” when it comes to civil rights equality in the region. “I don’t want to wait 30 years to have my equality,” I snapped at his comment, reflexively. In 2015 making “gradual changes” in developing societies doesn’t work the way it used to. As I approach 30, I watch my friends in the States or in Europe getting married, having kids, creating families. And I feel like my life is passing me by. As though I’m being cruelly punished for being born in the wrong country, a country where you don’t dare dream of having a normal family, but find yourself carefully weighing your security options before you kiss your long-time partner in public, no matter how happy you are to see him. You patiently wait to be in the privacy of your own home. Many would say this toxic, self-destructive option is “something, at least.” But I refuse to play Stockholm syndrome in relationships with my own country, the country where I grew up, and that I support with my taxes and hard-earned money. I refuse to give up. I’ll fight back. Because by fighting back, you not only give your country a second chance, you give yourself that same chance. It’s just that there’s a limited number of second chances on offer. Maxim Eristavi is a co-founder of Hromadske International news network, based in Kiev. This article was first published in Politico Europe: http://www.politico.eu/article/gay-ukraine-my-country-despises-me Further information: Maxim Eristavi Email: maxim.eristavi@gmail.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/maximeristavi Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ MaximEristavi Peter Tatchell Director, Peter Tatchell Foundation London, UK: 0207 403 1790 and 07795 077 065 Email: Peter@PeterTatchellFoundation.org Web: www.PeterTatchellFoundation.org Courtesy of the Peter Tatchell Foundation
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LOG CABIN
continued from cover Trump’s! When given a chance to follow the lead of our presumptive presidential nominee and reach out to the LGBT community in the wake of the awful terrorist massacre in Orlando on the gay nightclub Pulse, the Platform Committee said NO.” Angelo then continues, “Take back the Platform. Take back the Party. Stand up today and let the folks on the Platform Committee who paved the way to this foolishness know you’re not going down without a fight!”
POLICE
continued from cover ing BLM for the loss of life. “Heads in [sic] swivel brothers and sisters,” Smith’s post continued, ending with #weshallovercome. What Smith is alleging, albeit thinly veiled – that the BLM movement is somehow responsible for the Dallas shooting – is incorrect. The actions of Micah Johnson, 25, the man identified as the lone shooter, do not reflect the BLM movement in any way, shape, or form. By saying “Black Lives Matter,” the activists are not saying that blue lives don’t matter. They are, justifiably, calling attention to the disproportionate number of blacks killed by police in this country. Johnson, who was killed by a bombcarrying robot after a long standoff (during which he was reportedly laughing, singing, and bragging about training for the attack), was not a member of the BLM movement and did not represent the protesters that evening. We know this to be true, because according to Dallas Police Chief David Brown, during the long standoff with police following the shooting, Johnson said he “wanted to kill white people, especially white officers,” and although he expressed sympathy with Black Lives Matter, he admitted he “was not affiliated with any groups.” The Facebook post led to nearly two dozen complaints of racial bias. “I posted out of emotion,” Smith explained to media. The post was supposed to be in support of Dallas police, he added. “It was blown out of proportion.” “My words have been taken out of context; for that I am very sorry, and we have to move on,” Smith said. In his resignation letter to SPOG members, Smith wrote, “Recently in the heat of the moment, as our brothers and sisters were under attack in Dallas, I posted on the SPOG Facebook page something I intended to be supportive of our Dallas brothers and sisters as well as the outrage we all feel in the attacks on law enforcement across the country.” “What the post was meant to say is that it is disgusting that a small segment of society perpetuates violence toward law enforcement officers across this country,” he continued. “At no time was there any intent to apply blame to any organized group, only the small segment of society which has the propensity for violence toward law enforcement. We shall overcome meant just that; law enforcement will persevere and work through this time in history, just as law enforcement did after 9/11 and how local law enforcement did after we lost six local law enforcement officers in a six-week period in 2009, including Seattle Police Officer Tim Brenton. I regret that this post offended anyone, as that was not the intent in any way.” Smith says that he poured his heart and soul into the organization for the past 16 years, “whether it was as Guardian Editor, two terms as Position #3 on the SPOG Board, Secretary-Treasurer, and, in the last 27 months,” as SPOG president. “I have been made aware that I have let
14 Seattle Gay News
Here is the full text of Angelo’s email: There’s no way to sugar-coat this: I’m mad as hell – and I know you are, too. Moments ago, the Republican Party passed the most anti-LGBT Platform in the Party’s 162-year history. Opposition to marriage equality, nonsense about bathrooms, an endorsement of the debunked psychological practice of “pray the gay away” – it’s all in there. This isn’t my GOP, and I know it’s not yours either. Heck, it’s not even Donald Trump’s! When given a chance to follow the lead of our presumptive presidential nominee and reach out to the LGBT community in the wake of the awful terrorist massacre in Orlando on the gay nightclub
Pulse, the Platform Committee said NO. BUT...now is not the time to sit around feeling sorry for ourselves. Log Cabin Republicans has been officially credentialed for the Republican National Convention, and when it convenes in Cleveland in a mere 6 days’ time I want to be able to take a stand, but we’re going to need your support to do it. Cleveland is rightly making the most of their time in the spotlight, and prices for advertising in area news outlets are skyhigh. Take back the Platform. Take back the Party. Stand up today and let the folks on the Platform Committee who paved the way to this foolishness know you’re not going down without a fight!
the membership down, something that I deeply regret,” he concedes. “I have never quit anything in my life except chewing tobacco; however, this is not about me; it’s about the membership. We are living in very difficult times in law enforcement history, and we don’t need any further distractions in moving down the reform road and in full compliance with the consent decree. With these things in mind, I am notifying you now that I will resign my position as President effective July 31, 2016. This will allow an adequate transition for Vice President Kevin Stuckey, who will assume the rest of my term, which expires March 1, 2017.” Kevin Stuckey, an African-American police officer, is SPOG’s representative on the Community Police Commission.
SPOG added the caption “Truth.” Smith confirmed that he was the one who posted the link and wrote the caption. When a reporter from The Stranger asked him via text message about his views, he ultimately said, “Yep! The administration’s message has fueled the war on cops!! Quote me!!” But, such as in the case with the recent ill-conceived post, SPOG deleted the Facebook post about the so-called war on cops. “I absolutely disagree with his characterization,” said Seattle Mayor Murray back in August 2015. “If anything, this president has helped lead an honest conversation about racial justice, not just about policing.” Murray said that Smith was wrong for posting it. “I’m a little taken aback that he posted to it, because he’s said some fairly progressive things to you and to the media in general,” he said. “He’s been willing to step up and talk about how the police need to change their behavior on a whole series of issues.” Murray said Smith made his job and the chief’s job a lot more difficult. Smith earned the ire of the public when he came out in strong support of Seattle police officer Cynthia Whitlatch, who faced termination over the arrest on July 9, 2014, of William Wingate, a 69-year-old AfricanAmerican man, who was carrying a golf club as a cane but whom she accused of wielding it as a weapon. Under department disciplinary procedures, Whitlatch was given the opportunity to plead her case at a meeting in August 2015 with Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole before O’Toole issued a final decision on whether to terminate Whitlatch or reprimand her and keep her on the force. An internal investigation into Whitlatch’s arrest of Wingate found a variety of policy violations, including biased policing. And although video was produced, taken from the dash cam inside of Whitlatch’s patrol car, showed her lying about the incident to Wingate and an officer responding to her call for backup, Smith vehemently supported Whitlatch. Ultimately O’Toole terminated Whitlatch. Smith came back from vacation to be with Whitlatch when she was informed of the Office of Professional Accountability (OPA) findings. Along with his criticism of the OPA, Smith argued that O’Toole “caved under the enormous political pressure and made this decision. The department has clearly violated the collective bargaining agreement section 3.6B, and as such an appeal will be filed if requested by Officer Whitlach.” Smith was referring to provisions in the SPOG contract that limit the amount of time the department can spend on an internal investigation. He vowed to appeal the decision to fire Whitlatch. Whitlatch stated she would fight her for her job, and Smith said that the union would back her up.
A controversial president The Seattle Police Officers Guild is the largest police labor union in the Northwest and represents over 1,250 members. Guild members include all of the officers and sergeants on the Seattle Police Department. As a not-for-profit corporation, SPOG receives no funding from government agencies or tax dollars. SPOG strives to provide assistance to officers, their families, and the community. Over the years, according to the organization’s portfolio, SPOG has been able to make funds available to families facing life-threatening illnesses, sponsor children’s athletic leagues, and participate in many charitable events. Most importantly, say SPOG officials, they work hard to protect the benefits, working conditions, training, and equipment of their members so they can “continue to work hard to protect all of us in the community.” Smith was both well received and ill received during his tenure as SPOG president. He succeeded Sergeant Rich O’Neill. O’Neill, who served as SPOG president from 2006 to 2014, was considered by many to be a public relations liability. Under his watch, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) began its investigation into excessive use of force and discriminatory policing exhibited by Seattle police officers. When Smith first took office, he promised accountability. He said that his members would cooperate with the DOJ and not block or hinder reform efforts in the department. Under his leadership, SPOG didn’t join the failed lawsuit that sought to block reform efforts, just as he had promised. After one year as SPOG president, Smith told media that his message to cops in Seattle was that they needed to adapt to the city’s liberal political climate or get out. That is when everything changed. After an uproar within the union and calls for his resignation, Smith seemed to change. Last August, Smith said he believed the federal government is waging a “war on cops.” SPOG posted a link on its Facebook page to a video of commentary by Fox News contributor Kimberly Guilfoyle, who said, “The White House and this administration have created a war against police officers in this country with their allegations [and] false assertions that there is widespread and pervasive racism in the United States of America that lives in the heart and minds of the men and women in blue.”
July 15, 2016
Resign or be fired Smith said Wednesday, just one day after his resignation was announced, that he decided to resign over the controversial Facebook post because he expected his board to ask for his resignation.
Sincerely, Gregory T. Angelo President [Log Cabin Republicans] Log Cabin Republicans is the nation’s largest Republican organization representing LGBT conservatives and allies. The more than 30-year old organization has state and local chapters nationwide, a fulltime office in Washington, DC, a federal political action committee and state political action committees. Email source: Miami Herald Photo Source: The Federalist
Smith says the board’s anger is rooted in his approach to federally mandated reforms, his cooperation with Chief Kathleen O’Toole, and his acceptance of accountability measures as part of a tentative contract with the city. Smith told the Seattle Times that three members of his board told him the membership was furious over various issues. “I think it’s a red herring. I think, what do they say, never let a good crisis go to waste? And I think that’s what’s happened here,” Smith said in the interview. He apologized for any offense he caused by the Facebook post. Smith says he was misunderstood and accepts the criticism he has received, in particular, the use of the civil rights anthem “We Shall Overcome.” He said he could see how others might perceive it as offensive in the way it was presented. Now, he said, he is “sick to my stomach” over the damage the post did. “If I had to do it all over again, I probably would have used different verbiage,” Smith said. Smith maintains he was alerted Tuesday of plans for an emergency board meeting to seek his resignation or force a membership vote to oust him. Although the board has 14 members, including him, three of his most loyal supporters were on vacation, Smith said. So when he did the math, he concluded he didn’t have the votes to face the faction that is unhappy with his leadership. Smith could have appealed or forced a membership vote, but he said he decided to step down effective July 31 to end the distraction he created, avoid harming the reform process, and leave on his own terms. Smith will return to detective duties at the department. Smith says he has full faith in Stuckey, who is a close friend and someone he considers an ally. A delicate time for transition But the transition comes at a delicate time, as Guild members are deciding on a proposed four-year contract that Smith expects to be voted down, partly over provisions giving the department more leeway on transfer and promotion lists. Smith told the Times that many members believe the compensation and benefits in the package don’t justify handing management more power. They also are unhappy with language that appears to give more power to the civilian director of the police department’s OPA. During his time as SPOG president, Smith criticized the OPA for its “heavyhanded disciplinary findings” and disrespect for collective-bargaining rights. Still, Smith said his relationship with O’Toole produced tangible benefits, including getting officers back on the street after delays in reviewing shootings, more money to pay for new uniforms, family-friendly hours for some officers, and, most recently, a late-night order from O’Toole for officers to work in pairs after the Dallas shootings. If the contract is rejected in voting that ends soon, it will complicate the city’s position moving forward with reforms rooted in civilian oversight of the police department.
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Civil war over PrEP – LA LGBT Center vs. AHF by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Civil war has broken out among California’s HIV activists, with the Los Angeles LGBT Center targeting the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) in a new attack ad. At stake is the future of HIV prevention in California. A bill now pending in the California legislature promotes the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a oncecontroversial but now generally accepted method of preventing HIV infection with daily doses of the antiretroviral drug Truvada. AB 2640 would require that all people tested for HIV in California also receive information about the safety and effectiveness of PrEP and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). The measure was sponsored by the LA LGBT Center and AIDS Project Los Angeles, and it is supported by just about every HIV/AIDS organization in California. The notable exception is AHF, which has always been opposed to PrEP. Dr. Robert Bolan, medical director of the LA LGBT Center, says the bill will save lives by “reminding medical providers” that they are also “educators.”
BERNIE
continued from cover certain she will be the next president of the United States.” While Clinton supporters may have preferred to see this as Bernie’s concession speech, he continued to press his signature issues and spoke with pride of the achievements of his campaign. “Let me begin by thanking the 13 million Americans who voted for me during the Democratic primaries,” Sanders said. “Our campaign won the primaries and caucuses in 22 states, and when the roll call at the Democratic National Convention is announced, it will show that we won almost 1,900 delegates.
NO GOOD
continued from cover Both Gingrich and Pence have met with Trump and his children, who are said to be exercising a decisive influence over their father’s decision. One-time Trump rival and current Trump toady Chris Christie was reported to be the frontrunner as late as July 13, but while Gingrich and Pence were meeting with the whole Trump family, Christie only met with a delegation of offspring. By July 14, ABC News reported that Christie was out of the running. Meanwhile, anti-Trump forces are proposing a rules change that would allow delegates to choose their own vice presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention, instead of voting automatically for Trump’s choice. According to BuzzFeed News, proposed changes to RNC Rule 40 would make it easier for delegates to reject Trump’s pick and elect their own alternative. BuzzFeed says the change will be presented at the
16 Seattle Gay News
AHF does not agree. Spokesperson Rand Martin warns that Truvada can be “toxic” and “it does have side effects.” Prescribing Truvada even for individuals not at high risk for HIV infections, Martin added, was “condemning a person who should not be taking it to forever having to take this pill.” AHF CEO Michael Weinstein has frequently denounced PrEP, even after repeated scientific studies have proved it safe and effective. PrEP is a “party drug” that is peddled by people who are “all associated with bareback porn,” Weinstein has charged. For the most part, other HIV/AIDS groups have gone out of their way not to get into a controversy with Weinstein, but now the supporters of AB 2640 have released a video ad, directly taking on AHF’s claims. For example, the ad features an AHF lobbyist telling lawmakers that “a 45-yearold man who has been married for 20 years” could end up needlessly taking Truvada if people who get tested are routinely informed about it. Then the LGBT Center hits back: “This bill is not a mandate to prescribe anything – only to share information about PrEP with people who test negative for HIV.”
The ad also points out that AB 2640 is backed by a host of LGBT and HIV organizations but is being actively opposed only by the AHF. Besides the criticism of AHF, the new ad highlights some important facts about HIV infections: • California has the second highest number of new HIV infections in the nation (Florida is number one). • Expanding HIV testing, treatment, and PrEP could slash new HIV cases by 70% by 2020. • One in four Gay men should take PrEP, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). • Only one in ten Gay or Bi men in California have ever taken PrEP. • Black and Latino men are least likely to know about it. • One in four Latino Gay or Bi men are projected to get HIV in their lifetime. The AHF has yet to respond to the ad. However, some observers have charged that Weinstein’s diehard opposition to PrEP has less to do with the science of antiretrovirals than with what they call his “political vendetta” against Gilead Sciences, the company that manufactures Truvada.
“Together we have begun a political revolution to transform America, and that revolution continues. Together we will continue to fight for a government that represents all of us and not just the one percent.” In fact, Sanders may have lost the Democratic nomination, but he dominated the debate on issues, extracting concessions from the Clinton camp on point after point in the party platform. To realize these promises, Sanders said, Clinton must be elected president. “This campaign is about the needs of the American people and addressing the very serious crises that we face,” Sanders said as Clinton stood nodding at his side. “And there is no doubt in my mind that, as we head into November, Hillary Clinton is far and away the best candidate to do that.”
In her speech that followed, Clinton struck a triumphal note but also addressed the Sanders supporters at the rally. She cited a number of policy issues where Sanders had pulled her to the left during the course of the election – minimum wage, the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, and college affordability. “Sen. Sanders has brought people off the sidelines and into the political process,” she said. “He has energized and inspired a generation of young people who care deeply about our country. To everyone here and everyone cross the country who poured your heart and soul into Sen. Sanders’ campaign: Thank you.” The Sanders endorsement will help Clinton “enormously,” said former Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, a Clinton
supporter and co-chair of the Democratic convention’s rules committee. Staffers from both camps said that while the June meeting between the candidates laid the groundwork for the New Hampshire event, the respective campaign managers, Robby Mook for Clinton and Jeff Weaver for Sanders, worked out the details. The two talked daily, a Clinton aide said, and Mook traveled to Burlington, Vt., where the Sanders campaign is based, so that the two could meet and flesh out details of future joint events. Mook also began working directly with Jane Sanders, the senator’s wife, to craft Clinton’s policy statements on college affordability and health care that moved her closer to Sanders’ positions.
Rules Committee in Cleveland ahead of the convention. In any case, all the potential vice presidential candidates have long records of anti-LGBT views. Of the three, Mike Pence is certainly the worst, having supported the now-notorious SB 101 – the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” that repeals local anti-discrimination ordinances and bars Transgender people from using gender-appropriate restrooms. After supporting the measure, signing it into law, and defending it against the national outcry that ensued after it was passed, Pence backtracked and signed revised legislation stating that the legislature did not intend anti-LGBT discrimination. While the new bill left many areas of discrimination legal – in employment, housing, and public accommodations, for example – it was enough of a concession that hardcore evangelicals accused Pence of selling out. If he is not selected as Trump’s running mate, it may indicate that the Christian right has won some influence in the Trump camp.
Gingrich cozy with NOM In spite of his own marital eccentricities, Gingrich has always been cozy with the National Organization for Marriage (NOM). In fact, in 2011, before the US Supreme Court ruling that struck down DOMA, Gingrich signed on to NOM’s “Marriage Pledge.” The pledge calls on candidates to defend DOMA, push for a federal marriage amendment defining marriage as an opposite-sex union between one man and one woman, repeal marriage equality in the nation’s capital, appoint anti-equality judges, and form a McCarthy-like commission to look into alleged incidents of harassment against NOM supporters. Gingrich also lent his support to the so-called “Marriage Vow” promoted by the Family Leader, an ultra-right religious organization. The vow states that homosexuality is a choice and a threat to public health. In a letter to the group, Gingrich vowed to support DOMA and a federal marriage amendment. You know it’s bad when Chris Christie is the best of the bunch
Of the three frontrunners, Chris Christie may be the best of the bunch when it comes to LGBT issues. At least he has admitted that sexual orientation is innate, distancing himself from the teachings of his Catholic faith. “If someone is born that way, it’s very difficult to say then that that’s a sin,” Christie said in 2013. In 2012 he vetoed a marriage equality bill passed by the New Jersey legislature but spoke in favor of the existing civil union law. When his veto was nullified by a federal court, Christie appealed, but his request for a stay was turned down by the US Supreme Court. Christie dropped the appeal in 2013, before the Obergefell decision. On the plus side, Christie signed a bill outlawing conversion therapy for minors in 2013 and successfully defended the law in court. New Jersey was only the second state to ban the practice.
July 15, 2016
Celebrating 41 Years!
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July 15, 2016
Seattle Gay News 17
18 Seattle Gay News
July 15, 2016
Celebrating 41 Years!
Visit us online www.sgn.org
July 15, 2016
Seattle Gay News 19