Celebrating 43 Years! Issue 27 Volume 45
Robert Petkoff: The stage is a real Fun Home
MoPOP’s new exhibit Bowie by Mick Rock
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FRIDAY July 7, 2017 FREE!
25¢ in bookstores & newsstands
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Seattle Gay News
WorldPride 2017 in What will happen if and Madrid a Pride trifecta when anti-Trans groups submit I-1552 petitions?
The fountain in front of the landmark Cibeles Palace in Madrid – Photo by Ed Walsh
by Ed Walsh SGN Contributing Writer More than a million people flooded Madrid amid tight security last weekend
for WorldPride 2017, which for the first time combined WorldPride and EuroPride with Madrid Pride going along for the
see WORLDPRIDE page 9
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer By the time you read this, we’ll know whether I-1552 petitions have been submitted to the Secretary of State’s office. Just
Want Privacy – the inaptly named group that’s backing the initiative to take restroom access away from Transgender people – has an appointment with the Secretary
see I-1552 page 8
Pike Place Market expands We have to marry ‘em but we for first time in decades with don’t have to give ‘em benefits, Texas Supreme Court says new MarketFront
Photo courtesy of gaytravel.com Ceremonial cutting of the cake with a swordfish – Photo by Barbie Hull
by Albert Rodriguez SGN A&E Writer Pike Place Market just got bigger. For the first time in 40 years, the beloved Seattle landmark has expanded to now
include the Pike Place MarketFront, a 30,000-square foot space that houses additional local artisan vendors and an observation deck overlooking the waterfront
see MARKETFRONT page 6
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The Texas Supreme Court ruled on June 30 that same-sex married couples have no inherent right to the spousal benefits that opposite-sex spouses enjoy. All the court’s justices – Republicans
elected in partisan statewide elections – agreed with the ruling. The decision came in a case challenging a Houston city policy put in place by Lesbian mayor Annise Parker in 2013. Rev. Jack Pidgeon of the West Houston
see TEXAS page 13
What is TRUVADA for PrEP? TRUVADA for PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is a prescription medicine that is used together with safer sex practices to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 through sex. This use is only for HIV-negative adults who are at high risk of getting HIV-1. To help determine your risk of getting HIV-1, talk openly with your healthcare provider about your sexual health. Ask your healthcare provider if you have questions about how to prevent getting HIV. Always practice safer sex and use condoms to lower the chance of sexual contact with body fluids. Never reuse or share needles or other items that have body fluids on them.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION |What is the most important information I should
know about TRUVADA for PrEP?
Before taking TRUVADA for PrEP: u You must be HIV-negative before you start taking TRUVADA for PrEP. You must get tested to make sure that you do not already have HIV-1. Do not take TRUVADA to reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 unless you are confirmed to be HIV-negative. u Many HIV-1 tests can miss HIV-1 infection in a person who has recently become infected. If you have flu-like symptoms, you could have recently become infected with HIV-1. Tell your healthcare provider if you had a flu-like illness within the last month before starting or at any time while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Symptoms of new HIV-1 infection include tiredness, fever, joint or muscle aches, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, night sweats, and/or enlarged lymph nodes in the neck or groin. While taking TRUVADA for PrEP: u You must continue to use safer sex practices. Just taking TRUVADA for PrEP may not keep you from getting HIV-1. u You must stay HIV-negative to keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP: • Get tested for HIV-1 at least every 3 months. • If you think you were exposed to HIV-1, tell your healthcare provider right away. u To further help reduce your risk of getting HIV-1: • Know your HIV status and the HIV status of your partners. • Get tested for other sexually transmitted infections. Other infections make it easier for HIV to infect you. • Get information and support to help reduce risky sexual behavior, such as having fewer sex partners. • Do not miss any doses of TRUVADA. Missing doses may increase your risk of getting HIV-1 infection. u If you do become HIV-1 positive, you need more medicine than TRUVADA alone to treat HIV-1. TRUVADA by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time. TRUVADA can cause serious side effects: u Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. TRUVADA is not approved to treat HBV. If you have HBV and stop taking TRUVADA, your HBV may suddenly get worse. Do not stop taking TRUVADA without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to monitor your health.
|Who should not take TRUVADA for PrEP?
Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP if you: u Already have HIV-1 infection or if you do not know your HIV-1 status. If you are HIV-1 positive, you need to take other medicines with TRUVADA to treat HIV-1. TRUVADA by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time. u Also take certain medicines to treat hepatitis B infection. |What are the other possible side effects of
TRUVADA for PrEP?
Serious side effects of TRUVADA may also include: u Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider may do blood tests to check your kidneys before and during treatment with TRUVADA. If you develop kidney problems, your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking TRUVADA. u Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat. u Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain. u Bone problems, including bone pain, softening, or thinning, which may lead to fractures. Your healthcare provider may do tests to check your bones. Common side effects in people taking TRUVADA for PrEP are stomach-area (abdomen) pain, headache, and decreased weight. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or do not go away. |What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking
TRUVADA for PrEP?
u All your health problems. Be sure to tell your healthcare
provider if you have or have had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis. u If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if TRUVADA can harm your unborn baby. If you become pregnant while taking TRUVADA for PrEP, talk to your healthcare provider to decide if you should keep taking TRUVADA. u If you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. If you become HIV-positive, HIV can be passed to the baby in breast milk. u All the medicines you take, including prescription and over-thecounter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. TRUVADA may interact with other medicines. Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist when you get a new medicine. u If you take certain other medicines with TRUVADA, your healthcare provider may need to check you more often or change your dose. These medicines include certain medicines to treat hepatitis C (HCV) infection. You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
Please see Important Facts about TRUVADA for PrEP including important warnings on the following page.
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2 Seattle Gay News
July 7, 2017
Celebrating 43 Years!
Have you heard about
TRUVADA for PrEP™ ? The once-daily prescription medicine that can help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 when used with safer sex practices. • TRUVADA for PrEP is only for adults who are at high risk of getting HIV through sex. • You must be HIV-negative before you start taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Ask your doctor about your risk of getting HIV-1 infection and if TRUVADA for PrEP may be right for you.
visit start.truvada.com
Visit us online www.sgn.org
July 7, 2017
6/5/17 2:53 PM
Seattle Gay News 3
IMPORTANT FACTS
This is only a brief summary of important information about taking TRUVADA for PrEPTM (pre-exposure prophylaxis) to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection. This does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your medicine.
(tru-VAH-dah) MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT TRUVADA FOR PrEP
POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF TRUVADA FOR PrEP
Before starting TRUVADA for PrEP: • You must be HIV-1 negative. You must get tested to make sure that you do not already have HIV-1. Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 unless you are confirmed to be HIV-1 negative. • Many HIV-1 tests can miss HIV-1 infection in a person who has recently become infected. Symptoms of new HIV-1 infection include flu-like symptoms, tiredness, fever, joint or muscle aches, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, night sweats, and/or enlarged lymph nodes in the neck or groin. Tell your healthcare provider if you have had a flu-like illness within the last month before starting TRUVADA for PrEP. While taking TRUVADA for PrEP: • You must continue to use safer sex practices. Just taking TRUVADA for PrEP may not keep you from getting HIV-1. • You must stay HIV-negative to keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Get tested for HIV-1 at least every 3 months while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you think you were exposed to HIV-1 or have a flu-like illness while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. • If you do become HIV-1 positive, you need more medicine than TRUVADA alone to treat HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time. • See the “How To Further Reduce Your Risk” section for more information. TRUVADA may cause serious side effects, including: • Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. TRUVADA is not approved to treat HBV. If you have HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking TRUVADA. Do not stop taking TRUVADA without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months.
TRUVADA can cause serious side effects, including: • Those in the “Most Important Information About TRUVADA for PrEP” section. • New or worse kidney problems, including kidney failure. • Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat. • Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain. • Bone problems. Common side effects in people taking TRUVADA for PrEP include stomach-area (abdomen) pain, headache, and decreased weight. These are not all the possible side effects of TRUVADA. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with TRUVADA for PrEP.
ABOUT TRUVADA FOR PrEP TRUVADA for PrEP is a prescription medicine used together with safer sex practices to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 through sex. This use is only for HIV-negative adults who are at high risk of getting HIV-1. • To help determine your risk of getting HIV-1, talk openly with your healthcare provider about your sexual health. Do NOT take TRUVADA for PrEP if you: • Already have HIV-1 infection or if you do not know your HIV-1 status. • Take certain medicines to treat hepatitis B infection.
HOW TO TAKE TRUVADA FOR PrEP • Take 1 tablet once a day, every day, not just when you think you have been exposed to HIV-1. • Do not miss any doses. Missing doses may increase your risk of getting HIV-1 infection. • Use TRUVADA for PrEP together with condoms and safer sex practices. • Get tested for HIV-1 at least every 3 months. You must stay HIV-negative to keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP.
BEFORE TAKING TRUVADA FOR PrEP Tell your healthcare provider if you: • Have or have had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis. • Have any other medical conditions. • Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. • Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. If you become HIV-positive, HIV can pass to the baby in breast milk. Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take: • Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist. • Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist about medicines that should not be taken with TRUVADA for PrEP.
HOW TO FURTHER REDUCE YOUR RISK • Know your HIV status and the HIV status of your partners. • Get tested for other sexually transmitted infections. Other infections make it easier for HIV to infect you. • Get information and support to help reduce risky sexual behavior, such as having fewer sex partners. • Do not share needles or personal items that can have blood or body fluids on them.
GET MORE INFORMATION • This is only a brief summary of important information about TRUVADA for PrEP. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more, including how to prevent HIV infection. • Go to start.truvada.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5 • If you need help paying for your medicine, visit start.truvada.com for program information.
TRUVADA, the TRUVADA Logo, TRUVADA FOR PREP, GILEAD, and the GILEAD Logo are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. All other marks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners. Version date: April 2017 © 2017 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. TVDC0095 05/17
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4 Seattle Gay News
July 7, 2017
6/5/17 2:53 PM
Celebrating 43 Years!
Two giants pass: Jim French and Chuck Renslow Jesse’s ournal
J
by Jesse Monteagudo SGN Contributing Writer June 2017 will be remembered as our LGBT community’s Pride Summer of Resistance; when the joyful celebrations of previous pride seasons were replaced by protest marches and rallies. It was also a month when our community lost two of its most influential figures. On June 15 Jim French, the male physique artist and photographer who created his most famous work under the pseudonym “Rip Colt,” passed away at the age of 84. “Jim French’s contributions to the gay porn industry, to the art world, to generations of gay men, are immeasurable and too numerous to count,” said Dennis Bell, president and CEO of the Bob Mizer Foundation. “We at the Foundation are forever indebted to Jim for paving the way for other photographers, and today we pay tribute to the life of a brilliant artist who will live on in his work, which celebrates male beauty and masculinity throughout decades of changing social mores and trends.” Jim French began to draw and photograph the male form during the 1960’s, following a successful career as a fashion illustrator. One of French’s early drawings, “Longhorns - Dance,” caused a sensation when Malcolm McLaren, fashion designer and manager of the punk rocking Sex Pistols, used the drawing on a t-shirt sold in McLaren’s London boutique, Sex. In 1967 French and his then-partner, Lou Thomas, founded Colt Studio to produce and sell male erotic drawings, photographs, publications, films and videos. Soon the “Colt Man” became the epitome of the male masculine ideal. Generations of gay or bisexual men were inspired and stimulated by books, magazines, calendars, post cards, movies, and community events produced by French and his fantasy factory. French ran Colt until 2003, when he sold the studio to John Rutherford, formerly of Falcon Studios. Two weeks after Jim French died the LGBT community lost another icon, one whose contributions vastly surpassed those
Jim French – Painting by Adrian Gottlieb
of the original Colt Man. Chuck Renslow, who died on June 29 at the age of 87, was more than a successful photographer, business owner, newspaper publisher and community leader. More than anyone else, Renslow created the LGBT leather/SM/ BD/kink/fetish community as we know it today. Renslow was a larger than life leader, an alpha male in all senses of the word, both in his hometown of Chicago and elsewhere in the United States and abroad. Renslow’s eventful life is chronicled in Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow, by Tracy Baim and Owen Keehnen. In the 1950’s, Renslow founded Kris Studios, one of the earliest purveyors of male physique photography. Renslow’s greatest discovery was Dom Orejudos, who became Renslow’s life partner and, as “Etienne,” the greatest male erotic artist this side of Tom of Finland. In 1958 Renslow opened Gold Coast, the first gay leather bar in Chicago or anywhere else. This was the first of many Renslow-owned or operated bars and sex clubs, most famously includ-
Chuck Renslow in 1978 – Photo courtesy of windycitymediagroup.com
Visit us online www.sgn.org
July 7, 2017
ing Man’s Country, a Chicago bathhouse Renslow and Orejudos bought in 1972 which continues to flourish today. Renslow also the publisher of various publications, including Triumph, Mars, Rawhide and, later, Chicago Gay Life, which he bought from its founder Grant Ford (who later became a minister and pastor of the Sunshine Cathedral in Fort Lauderdale). Chuck Renslow’s involvement in the gay leather scene went beyond his businesses. In 1965 Renslow was a founder of Second City Motorcycle Club, Chicago’s first gay bike club. In 1979 he founded International Mr. Leather, still the greatest LGBT leather title contest and the greatest gathering of LGBT leather folk in the world. After Renslow’s partner, like so many other gay or bisexual leathermen, died from AIDS complications, Renslow saw the need for an institution that would preserve the legacy of his endangered community. In 1991, Renslow and Tony DeBlase founded the Leather Archives & Museum in Chicago, which continues to exist and flourish today. According to a statement issued by the LA&M staff and board, “Chuck gave deeply and worked with great passion for over 26 years to save the names and faces of Leather, kink, BDSM and fetish people, communities, and history, and he fought to ensure that Leatherfolk were the ones who would ‘tell’ their own stories so that they might better understand and bring enhanced visibility to ‘Leather history.’” Chuck Renslow was active in Chicago LGBT politics during the 1970’s and 1980’s, when he founded the Prairie State Democratic Club and pushed for a lesbian and gay rights ordinance in the Windy City. He served on the board of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force was a U.S. representative to the International Lesbian and Gay Association. Renslow was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 1991 and received many awards from the LGBT and leather communities, including the Leather Journal’s lifetime achievement award and a Centurion Award given to Renslow as Leatherman of the Century. Though such titles often invite hyperbole, in Renslow’s case it was no exaggeration. Chuck Renslow and Jim French were giants in the LGBT community; and though we mourn their passing, we celebrate their lives and vast contributions.
Seattle Gay News 5
6 Seattle Gay News
July 7, 2017
Celebrating 43 Years!
The country I love by Pramila Jayapal U.S. Representative Washington’s 7th Congressional District I wrote a piece [on Tuesday, July 4] in the New York Times sharing my story and talking about what it means to be an immigrant in America today. With Donald Trump terrorizing immigrant communities and demagoguing millions of good, hardworking people, it’s never been more important to speak out and tell our stories as immigrants and as Americans. Seventeen years ago, I celebrated my first Independence Day as a United States citizen. I couldn’t have predicted then that I would one day have the enormous privilege of being the first Indian-American woman to serve in the United States House of Representatives, and one of only six members of Congress who are naturalized citizens. After arriving here from India at age 16, I spent more than a dozen years on an alphabet soup of visas – F1, H1B and more – before I finally got my green card through marriage to an American. Some years later, I was awarded a fellowship from the Institute of Current World Affairs, which allowed me to spend two years living in my birth country. I just had to come back to the United States once a year to keep my permanent resident status current. When I became pregnant during the second year of the program, my husband and I planned to return to the United States in time for my last trimester, so I could deliver the baby at home, and then return to India. That plan did not work out. Just two weeks before we were scheduled to board our flight back to the United States, I developed a leak in my amniotic sac. My son was born prematurely at 26.5 weeks, weighing less than two pounds. I was now faced with a choice. In order to preserve my permanent resident status, I needed to return to the United States within weeks of his birth. But he was so tiny and in such critical condition that he could not fly, and I refused to leave his bedside knowing he might die. So I stayed in India. I lost my green card status and only through the help and hard work of the institute was I able to regain my
Photo courtesy of Pramila for Congress
permanent residence status and return to the United States three months later when my son was finally able to fly. I became determined to get my citizenship as soon as I was eligible so that I would never again face the prospect of being separated from my son, who was a United States citizen by virtue of being the child of a United States citizen father. Part of the agreement that had allowed me to return to the United States again and regain my permanent residence status was that I would have to start from zero to qualify for citizenship again. That process took three years. When I finally walked into the cavernous hall at the old location of Immigration and Naturalization Services (now called United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) south of downtown Seattle, I was prepared for a simple transaction that would finally grant me citizenship and ensure that I would always be with my son. I did not anticipate the emotion that would come with the moment, or the way it would shape my future, and my understanding of this country. There were hundreds of others at the ceremony from all over the world, and I could hear languages from every continent spoken. We all carried small American flags. Grandparents held children; moms
and dads held hands. As we took the oath of citizenship, the solemnity of the moment spiked through me. Tears welled up and rolled down my cheeks as I took in the mixed emotions of renouncing any allegiance to my birth country of India where I had been a citizen for 35 years and embracing my new country. America, a country that had embraced me as a 16-year-old who had come here by myself to study and build a life of better opportunity. America, a country built on the idea of being a refuge for those in need, “the tired masses, yearning to breathe free.” America, a country that has always celebrated itself as a nation of immigrants. In that moment, as I took my oath, I realized how lucky I was. I knew that my future had opened up, and that citizenship would offer me the chance to seek opportunity and to take part in our democracy. I knew, too, that with those freedoms and opportunity came enormous responsibility: to do everything I could to preserve and build our democracy, to vote, and to use my life to pay it forward and ensure opportunity for others. I became an immigrant, civil and human rights advocate, then the first South Asian elected to the Washington State Legislature and the only woman of color in
the Washington State Senate, and then was elected in 2016 to the United States Congress. These are difficult times for immigrants and for Americans across our country. President Trump has harnessed the fear and prejudice that have accompanied every wave of immigrants in United States history, and stoked those fears to further his own agenda. Restricting immigration from Muslimmajority countries, and cracking down on unauthorized immigration in a way that tears families apart and creates an atmosphere of fear, cuts at the very fabric of what really does make America great: the diversity that is our greatest strength. This Fourth of July, as I remember my own naturalization ceremony and give thanks for the honor of being a United States citizen and a member of Congress, I call on the president and my fellow Americans to remember our history. What makes America great is our commitment to our values of inclusivity and opportunity for all. Immigration is about more than just who comes here and who is allowed to stay. It is about who we are as a country and what we are willing to stand up for. Courtesy of U.S. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal
THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY SEEKS HOMEWORK HELP VOLUNTEERS FOR 2017-2018 SCHOOL YEAR The Seattle Public Library is seeking Homework Help volunteers at 11 Library locations for the 2017-2018 school year. The Library is looking for people who have a passion for helping elementary, middle and high school students learn and succeed in school. Homework Help volunteers support students by helping them understand homework assignments, develop literacy and mathematics skills, and prepare for college and careers. Volunteers mentor students in all academic subjects and may also specialize in college-prep subjects, like English and science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) fields. Most of the students are first-generation Americans who speak a language other
Visit us online www.sgn.org
than English at home. Volunteers interact with students of all ages in small groups and individually. Volunteers will provide Homework Help once a week when public schools are in session, and a commitment throughout the school year is requested. Visit www. spl.org/homeworkvolunteer for more information. Volunteer applications are due by Monday, July 31. Homework Help will be offered at the following Library locations from Sept. 11, 2017 through June 14, 2018. Bilingual volunteers who speak Spanish are especially needed at the Beacon Hill and South Park branches. Beacon Hill Branch, 2821 Beacon Ave. S. | Broadview Branch, 12755 Greenwood
Ave. N. | Columbia Branch, 4721 Rainier Ave. S. | Douglass-Truth Branch, 2300 E. Yesler Way | Greenwood Branch, 8016 Greenwood Ave. N. | High Point Branch, 3411 S.W. Raymond St. | Lake City Branch, 12501 28th Ave. N.E. | New Holly Branch, 7058 32nd Ave. S. | Northgate Branch, 10548 Fifth Ave. N.E. | Rainier Beach Branch, 9125 Rainier Ave. S. | South Park Branch, 8604 Eighth Ave. S. For more information, visit www.spl. org/homeworkvolunteer. If you have questions, contact Anne Vedella, volunteer services coordinator, at volunteer@spl.org.
July 7, 2017
Seattle Gay News 7
Courtesy of Seattle Public Library
MARKETFRONT continued from cover
with magnificent views of Elliott Bay, the Olympic Mountains and nearby islands, as well as the south downtown area and sports stadiums. The $74 million project, which broke ground in 2015 yet was in the planning stages for many years before that, was unveiled to the public on June 29 during a 30-minute reception that included a brief speech by Mayor Ed Murray, where he thanked his predecessors and First Husband, as he referred to him by, Michael Shiosaki. He stated how giant projects like these often face obstacles in just getting started, sometimes from city residents who oppose new development. In mentioning the upcoming expansion of Pier 62 and the return of live music to the waterfront, the mayor seemed undeterred in moving things along. “We’re not going to stop until its completed,” Murray said firmly, to a large crowd gathered under a blazing hot sun. The reception also featured a performance by members of the Chief Seattle Club, headed by Colleen Echohawk, also in attendance, who chanted while beating drums during a short tribal ceremony that honored the city’s Native American heritage and Seattle’s first ancestors. The MarketFront, situated in the northwest corner of the market, includes a pavilion with room for 47 farm and craft ven-
I-1552
continued from cover of State for 3pm on Friday, July 7. If they don’t show up, they’re done. No initiative goes on the ballot in November and Transgender people can continue using gender-appropriate restroom facilities. If they do show, however, things have only just gotten started. We may not know for a long time whether I-1552 will be on the November ballot. First, the Secretary of State will decide if there are enough valid signatures – 259,622 – for the initiative to qualify for the ballot. Of course, the state won’t examine each and every signature. “We’ll take a random sample,” the Secretary of State’s Communications Director, Erich Ebel, explained to SGN. “If that pass-
8 Seattle Gay News
dors, a Producers Hall featuring a brewery, seafood restaurant, biscuit maker and chocolatier, brand new covered parking spaces for 300 vehicles and 33 bicycles, three public art installations, a social services center called Market Commons and a 40-unit senior housing complex that will be managed by Pike Place Market PDA (Preservation & Development Authority), which manages the properties in the Market Historic District. “The Market is about people,” noted Matt Hanna, PDA Council Chair. “It’s about individuals who love this place.” Opened in 1907, Pike Place Market is one of the oldest public farmers’ markets in the country and one of Seattle’s top attractions with thousands of daily visitors from around the country, including celebrities like James Franco, Lea Michele, Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis, who’ve dropped in while in town to promote their latest work, or on tour. Last year saw the debut of an Evening Farmers Market, continuing this summer every Wednesday through September 27 (3pm to 7pm) with fresh produce, floral bouquets, artisan-crafted goods and food vendors. For more information on the Pike Place Market, visit pikeplacemarket.org.
Members of Chief Seattle Club at the Pike Place MarketFront – Photo by Barbie Hull
es muster, the petitions will be considered acceptable. “In this case, though, there’s an additional step because of the complaint.” “The complaint” is a letter sent by Washington Won’t Discriminate, the coalition formed to fight I-1552, to the Secretary of State’s office charging the anti-Trans forces with violating state law by circulating improperly drawn-up petitions. Specifically, Washington Won’t Discriminate says, the petitions misrepresent the court-established ballot title and summary, and fail to include the full text of the measure on the back of the petition. These errors should be enough to disqualify the petitions, the group said in a June 23 letter to Secretary of State Kim Wyman. Ebel says Wyman’s office “has been made aware of the potential for error,” but will not rule on the charges till they have
July 7, 2017
the I-1552 petitions in hand. “To be frank,” Ebel said, “we haven’t even seen the petitions yet. We know that part of the challenge refers to the language. “Historically, we’ve decided on the side of the democratic process. In other words, if there’s a minor typo, we’d tend to accept the petitions. In a case like this where there are multiple issues, we’d use an added amount of scrutiny.” If Just Want Privacy fails to show for their appointment, the issues raised by Washington Won’t Discriminate would be moot, Ebel explained. “They do have an appointment, but because of their history we have to wait and see. They’ve told us before that they had the signatures and then at the eleventh hour, they backed out,” he added, referring to a similar anti-Trans petition drive that failed last year. If I-1552 are, in fact, presented on
schedule, Ebel said, then the Secretary of State will rule on the challenge. “The decision is up to us, and if we have enough information we’ll make the decision,” he said. “We also have the option to refer the matter to the Attorney General’s office.” Once the Secretary of State’s ruling is made – with or without input from the Attorney General – the unhappy side can “choose to appeal to the courts,” Ebel continued. That could set the stage for a long and drawn-out legal battle. “I want your readers to know that the Secretary of State’s office does not have a dog in the fight,” Ebel concluded. “What we really value is the process. We want citizens to have their voices heard through the initiative process. “We have a standard set of procedures that we will follow to ensure that we’re fair to everyone.”
Celebrating 43 Years!
WORLDPRIDE continued from cover
ride effectively making it a Pride trifecta. The festivities lasted ten days, ending on Sunday July 2, with the passing of the baton to New York City, which will host WorldPride 2019, during the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. The closing ceremony also included a memorial tribute to gay flag creator Gilbert Baker, who died in March. The WorldPride parade began on Saturday, July 1, at 5pm and didn’t conclude until after midnight. Organizers had expected as many as three million people would attend at least some of the 10-day celebration (June 23-July 2). Two TV stations broadcast the entire parade live. Local media reported that 1.5 million turned out to watch or participate in Saturday’s parade. Tourists from all over the world attended the celebration. The chance to capitalize on LGBT travel was not lost on tourism officials who hoped Pride would encourage more tourists to regularly return to Madrid and other parts of Spain. Madrid more than lives up to its claim as being one of the world’s most gay-welcoming cities. “This is not just a gay-friendly city, we are a gay city and we are very proud of that,” said Miguel Sanz, the openly gay director of Madrid’s tourism bureau. Sanz spoke last week before a press conference with LGBT journalist from the US, Canada, Latin America, Australia and other parts of Europe. He presented a promotional video showing male and female samesex couples enjoying the city. The tourism chief also reiterated the city’s slogan, “Whoever you love, Madrid loves you.” The press briefing was held in the tourism office in the historic Plaza Mayor, which was adorned with that slogan on a banner in English and Spanish. The plaza is celebrating its 400-year birthday this year. Sanz noted that the city’s gay friendliness extended even to the city’s traffic signals. Madrid has installed pedestrian walk/ don’t walk sign that depict same-sex couples walking hand-in-hand at 72 intersections around the city. Those signs went up in advance of Pride in early June and the city plans to keep them up. A 2013 Pew Research study backs Spain’s claim to gay-friendliness. It scored the highest among 39 countries surveyed on whether homosexuality should be accepted by society. The survey found 88% acceptance of gays in Spain. That is contrasted by
Madrid’s historic Plaza Mayor, celebrating its 400th birthday this year, is also celebrating Pride with the city’s slogan, “Whoever you love, Madrid Loves you.– Photo by Ed Walsh
the US with 60% gay acceptance and at the bottom of the survey: Jordan, Egypt, Indonesia, and Ghana who all tied for last place at 3%. Spain experienced one of the most dramatic changes in LGBT tolerance in the years following the death of the country’s longtime dictator, Francisco Franco, in 1975. Franco’s regime routinely imprisoned gays. Spain’s first gay pride march was held in Barcelona in 1977 and a year later in Madrid. But homosexuality wasn’t legalized until 1979. Spain eventually more than made up for lost time when it became the third country in the world to legalize gay marriage in 2005. In time for WorldPride, the city’s landmark CentroCentro Palacio de Cibeles building includes a floor dedicated to the country’s LGBT history. Exhibits include photos of some of the early marches, as well as mug shots of people arrested for being gay, and even a shock-therapy machine designed to “cure” people of homosexuality. Many of WorldPride’s events were held in Madrid’s gay neighborhood, Chueca, which evolved along with Spain’s acceptance. In the late 1970s it was a downtrodden area best known as the place in the city to buy drugs. Gay entrepreneurs took advantage of the cheap real estate there opening the first gay businesses in 1980. Others soon followed and today it is one of the city’s most attractive neighborhoods. Chueca is also a favorite spot for tourists because of its wealth of restaurants and shops just
Puerta de Sol during the Mr. Gay Pride contest last Friday, June 30 – Photo by Ed Walsh
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north of the city’s old historic center. WorldPride’s nine venues were spread out throughout the city. Three were in and around the Chueca gayborhood. Some of Madrid’s famed landmarks served as backdrops for the eclectic entertainment presented throughout the ten-day celebration. The WorldPride Park took over the park along the Madrid River, near the historic Spanish royal castle. The city’s most touristpopular square, Puerta del Sol, was another focal point for Pride entertainment. Chueca’s picturesque Pelayo Street was the scene of a Madrid Pride tradition. On Thursday, June 29, crowds lined two blocks of the narrow street for a famed high heels race. American entertainers included Ultra Nate known for her LGBT anthem, “Free,” and the Weather Girls, who of course delighted the crowd with “It’s Raining Men.” Austrian Eurovision gender-bender star Conchita Wurst was another crowd favorite. But WorldPride was not all entertainment. It included a three-day international human rights summit that brought together more than 200 activists, politicians and leaders in the fields of education and culture. It is the first time that a Spanishspeaking country hosted WorldPride and the summit put a focus on LGBT rights in Latin American and its close continental neighbor, Africa. A separate conference was held over the same three days at the University Autonoma de Madrid to focus on HIV in the LGBT community with panelists who discussed treatment and preven-
tion strategies. Organizers said they expected WorldPride would generate about 110 million euros economic activity in Madrid during a traditionally slow time for tourism in Madrid. But the city also returned much of that money in security and cleanup costs. Madrid brought in extra police and sealed off the streets around entertainment venues as well as the parade on Saturday. Patrol cars were set up in the roads around the Pride celebrations to prevent vehicles from being used by terrorists as has been seen most recently in Paris and London. Participants were searched before entering venues. Glass bottles or anything that could be used as a weapon were not permitted inside. Just two days before WorldPride began, Spanish authorities arrested three men suspected of jihadist terrorist activity. WorldPride ended at midnight on Sunday evening, July 2, with a ceremony with New York City officials who were officially given the reins of WorldPride. The city was chosen in large part because 2019 will mark 50 years since the city’s Stonewall riots, which symbolized a turning point for many in the gay rights movement. Baker was also honored for creating the rainbow symbol that is universally adopted in countries around the world as a symbol for LGBT rights and unity. Baker would undoubtedly be proud to see his flag on virtually every v in Madrid and the rainbow colors of his flag on the city’s landmarks and fountains.
Female couple on pedestrian traffic signal, one of 72 intersections with walk/don’t walk signs depicting same sex couples in the city – Photo by Ed Walsh
July 7, 2017
Seattle Gay News 9
America’s newest museum recognizes LGBTs in our revolution by Mark Segal Philadelphia Gay News (PGN) America’s newest museum, Museum Of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, does something quite revolutionary: It recognizes the LGBT community as having played a part of that revolution. And it does so with several exhibits. This may seem strange to point out, as LGBT people have been a part of every facet of life and war throughout history – and at times the major historical players, from Alexander the Great to World War II codebreaker Alan Turing. But up until now, you might have thought that LGBT people were invisible at the founding of the United States, and had no role in our country winning its independence. Thanks to this museum, that notion ends here and now. In addition to lauding the community’s historical efforts, another of the museum’s themes is that the revolution continues; we still have work to do. As Dr. Philip Mead, the museum’s director of curatorial affairs and chief historian, states: “We’re so pleased to have a story of the American Revolution here that we hope includes all Americans and messages for people around the world.” Here’s how LGBT media played a part in getting that story to the museum. It’s a rare experience when you actually get to see something that you’re passionate about take root. It’s even more special when academics in the field run with that material, embrace it and make it a major point of their own project. What the museum has done is a great leap in LGBT history. Those involved are well aware of that and
embrace it, maybe more than me. And I just love when those who join the march begin to lead it or add to it to create discussion. So what has me so euphoric? It’s a story that goes back about six years. I was watching a TV talk show on which LGBT rights were being debated when a conservative on the panel stated something to the effect of, “When our founding fathers created this nation, they didn’t have those [LGBT] people in mind.” Well, this angered me and, as you’d expect, became a challenge. In response to that TV show, I pitched a project entitled “We Are America,” as part of the LGBT History Project I coordinate that appears in numerous newspapers around the country each October. We commissioned writers and began research on LGBT people who were instrumental to the cause of the Revolutionary War. In our research, there was one character who stood out and fascinated me. His name was Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. He was a brilliant and somewhat flamboyant military genius. I read almost everything that I could find on the web and then the wonderful and revealing biography “The Drillmaster of Valley Forge.” The book was written by Paul Lockhart, who at this point most would say is the foremost expert on von Steuben and a teacher of military history. Von Steuben was outrageous and he was going to be my contribution to the project – never did I expect how passionate I’d become about him earning his rightful place in history. Why von Steuben? Simply, his being acknowledged as a gay man would bring about major change in the way we look at
The Army at Valley Forge display, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben in detail – Photos by Scott Drake
10 Seattle Gay News
July 7, 2017
Museum of the American Revolution – Photo by Scott Drake
the founding of this country. Without von Steuben, there would be no United States of America, and that means a gay man was a founding father. If we could prove that the founding fathers knew he was gay, then the founding fathers not only had us in mind when founding this country, but also expected us to have equality, or what could pass for equality at that time. Clearly, one of those equality points was the issue of gays in the military. For that is where von Steuben and founding father Benjamin Franklin come in. Never did we expect that in our research we’d find such names touching on the subject as Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and Adams and many others. The project of explaining von Steuben’s impact became so big and touched on so many founding fathers that we had to break it into various segments: a piece on Franklin, another on Washington and so on. Here in quick order is a short version of part of the von Steuben story: In the late 1700s, von Steuben had a somewhat-celebrated military leadership career in the various German states, though at numerous times he was accused of having sex with his male recruits. He never denied the allegations, but did leave (escape)
those countries before he could be charged or arrested. He arrived in Paris hoping to impress The Continental Congress’s ambassador to the Court of Louie XVI, Benjamin Franklin, and get a commission in the Continental Army commanded by George Washington. At the first meeting, Franklin was unimpressed. Von Steuben left Paris, but another scandal brought him back. Von Steuben and his friends – connected either to the court of Louie XVI or to Franklin – asked Franklin to have another meeting with von Steuben, knowing of those scandals and the chances that he could be arrested in Paris if he did not escape Europe. Franklin met with von Steuben and agreed on the plan to escape, but not before von Steuben went shopping and enlisted an entourage. How could one not find him fascinating? There can be little doubt here that Franklin, the Bill Gates of his day and a major celebrity in Paris at that time, with spies at his disposal, would not have known of von Steuben’s “problems.” This makes Franklin the father of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Before von Steuben boarded his boat, he ordered fine, new special uniforms made with epaulets and medals, found a personal
Baron von Steuben display – Photo by Scott Drake
Celebrating 43 Years!
staff and, just to look like royalty, brought along a couple of dogs. He was then smuggled out of Paris on a ship that had munitions for the Continental Army, along with letters of introduction to Washington and Congress by Franklin. The ship arrived in New England, and von Steuben met members of the Adams family and John Hancock before heading to meet Congress, and then onto Valley Forge to meet Washington. It was at Valley Forge that von Steuben pulled together Washington’s rag-tag Continental Army and began to make them into a cohesive, collective force. He taught them to drill, created a regulation book (which continued to be used by U.S. military until the war of 1812), instituted standards of sanitation and became Washington’s chief of staff. Today, there are few, if any, professional historians who would doubt that von Steuben was gay. In our research, we unearthed correspondence among members of the Adams family regarding the subject. The whispers about von Steuben led the Continental Congress to delay granting him a pension, and it was Washington’s last act as commander of the Continental Army to write the Congress on behalf of von Steuben’s “moral character.” And finally, at the urging of Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury of the new country, Congress finally granted von Steuben an annual $2,500 pension. According to the New York Public Library (“The Papers of von Steuben”) the following is a list of von Steuben’s major achievements: February 1778: Arrives at Valley Forge to serve under Washington, having informed Congress of his desire for paid service after an initial volunteer trial period, a request with which Washington concurs. March 1778: Begins tenure as inspector general, drilling troops according to established European military precepts. 1778-79: Writes “Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States,” which becomes a fundamental guide for the Continental Army and remains in active use through the War of 1812, published in over 70 editions. 1780-81: Serves as senior military officer in charge of troop and supply mobilization in Virginia. 1781: Replaced by Marquis de Lafayette as commander in Virginia. 1781-83: Continues to serve as Washington’s inspector general, and is active in
improving discipline and streamlining administration in the army. Spring 1783: Assists in formulating plans for the post-war American military. Washington rewarded von Steuben with a house at Valley Forge (still in existence and open for visits), which he shared with his aide-de-camps, Capt. William North and Gen. Benjamin Walker. Walker lived with him through the remainder of his life, and von Steuben, who neither married nor denied any of the allegations of homosexuality, left his estate to North and Walker. His last will and testament, which includes the line “extraordinarily intense emotional relationship,” has been described as a love letter to Walker. Von Steuben, like many LGBT people and their histories and contributions, has remained invisible or unrecognized until recently. That is what is so revolutionary about what the Museum of the American Revolution has done. The largest original mural in the $150-million museum features von Steuben drilling the troops along with key figures at Valley Forge. Each figure has a biography. Here’s what the museum wrote about von Steuben: “Baron von Steuben came to the encampment as a volunteer but left it as a general. A German nobleman with experience in Frederick the Great’s Army, von Steuben transformed the Continental Army’s drill and training. In May, he was promoted to inspector general of the army. Here he sits on a horse directing the troops as they maneuver. Though the army didn’t ask, and he didn’t tell, von Steuben is thought by some historians to have been gay.” On my recent visit to the museum, when Mead showed this to me, my response was, “What you’re going for is inclusion of the entire American family.” He smiled and responded, “Correct, the revolution belongs to all of us.” He pointed out other LGBT exhibits. One features a scene of two Quaker women visiting American prisoners of war at Independence Hall, then known as the Pennsylvania State House. The exhibit was based on the diary of a Quaker woman named Elizabeth Drinker, who wrote about the “two Hannah Catherells.” “Now there’s ambiguity in this scene,” Mead noted. “It’s possible that this refers to a niece and an aunt who were both named Hannah Catherell in the Quaker community. It’s also possible that it refers to Hannah Catherell and Rebecca Jones, two women
Deborah Sampson display – Photo by Scott Drake
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Winter Patriots display, two Hannah Catherells in detail – Photos by Scott Drake
who lived together who were described at the time as ‘yolk mates.’” When I inquired what “yolk mates” means, Mead explained, “They were coworkers, co-laborers in this place, in a school, for the good of the young people of Philadelphia. So some historians speculate that this may have been a same-sex couple. While we may not be able to prove that, we thought some of these displays were useful in getting people to think about the presence of the gay community here in Philadelphia in the 18th century.” When I asked Dr. R. Scott Stephenson, the museum’s vice president of collections, exhibitions and programming, about the museum’s LGBT inclusion, he put it up this way: “You can’t tell the story of E pluribus unum without the pluribus.” Another possible LGBT connection exists in the Revolution Gallery. One of the people highlighted along a wall of revolutionaries is Deborah Sampson. A post-war, 1790s portrait depicting Sampson in a dress with a necklace and typical women’s haircut is featured alongside a summary of her contributions. “You’ll learn here that, during the Revolutionary War, she dressed as a man to join the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment,” Mead explained. “She saw combat and was discovered after she was wounded. She was honorably discharged from the Continental Army on the basis of her gender and later published a memoir of her experiences, ‘The Female Review.’” “This is the place where we talk about the highest aspirations of the revolutionary generation in 1776,” Mead added about the gallery in which Sampson’s story is featured. “We talk about the limitations of the revolution in immediately expanding voting rights and other civil liberties of many groups. But our point here is that the revolution continues; it’s an idea, it’s ongoing. So while the 1760-90 period might not have seen major changes for all of these people, the ideas of the revolution made advancement possible. And along the way we meet people who have anticipation of those changes; they are pushing them forward
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with their own lives. Mead next took me to the final screening room before you leave the museum for a film about the continuing revolution of our nation. The set-up features a clip of Abraham Lincoln and the words: “These revolutionaries were inspired and forged as a generation by their sacrifices and their belief that people have a right to liberty, equality and a role in governance. “In 1858 Abraham Lincoln answers,” the narrator continued. “He sees a connection between the ideas of a revolution and the hopes of millions of immigrants arriving on U.S. shores. He describes these new arrivals as American revolutionaries, people without family ties to the revolution itself. He says that the revolution includes all people who are inspired by those words of 1776 and who look for the Declaration of Independence and feel they have a right to claim it. He called that the electric cord that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty loving men together.” As these words played, we saw pictures of slaves winning their freedom, immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, laborers organizing, women fighting for the right to vote and then we saw a picture of the first Gay Pride March fill the entire screen. I cried. For more information about The Museum of the American Revolution, visit www. amrevmuseum.org/. Courtesy of Mark Segal and Philadelphia Gay News
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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-
TEXAS
continued from cover Christian Center and one other plaintiff, alleging they were harmed by the policy because their tax money went to support relationships they opposed on religious grounds, sued to overturn Parker’s decision. After failing at the trial court level, they appealed to the Texas Supreme Court, which initially rejected their appeal in September 2016. A campaign by social and religious conservatives produced what the Austin Statesman described as “a barrage of emails” demanding the justices reconsider or risk a backlash in the next GOP primary. Leading Republicans – including Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton – joined the call, and in Janu-
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
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.
ary the court issued a rare motion to rehear the case. While the Texas court was obligated to acknowledge the US Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision recognizing same-sex marriages, the Texas justices adopted a very narrow reading of the high court’s instructions. According to the Texas court, the 2015 US Supreme Court ruling didn’t decide all marriage-related matters, leaving room for state courts to explore the decision’s “reach and ramifications.” “The Supreme Court held … that the Constitution requires states to license and recognize same-sex marriages to the same extent that they license and recognize opposite-sex marriages, but it did not hold that states must provide the same publicly funded benefits to all married persons,” Justice Jeff Boyd wrote for the Texas court. Neel Lane, a Dallas lawyer who challenged the state’s ban on same-sex marriage
in 2013, said the Texas judges blatantly disregarded the US Supreme Court’s meaning in Obergefell, as well as subsequent rulings including a decision earlier in June requiring Arkansas to list both same-sex spouses on their children’s birth certificates. “The (US) court majority intended it to be a watershed opinion that would clear all barriers to equality for same-sex couples. That’s just clear from the language of the opinion,” Lane said. The LGBT rights group Equality Texas said the Texas Supreme Court decision “clings to unconstitutional notions of separate but equal.” “The Texas Supreme Court’s decision this morning is a warning shot to all LGBTQ Americans that the war on marriage equality is ever-evolving, and anti-LGBTQ activists will do anything possible to discriminate against our families,” GLAAD President Sarah Kate Elli added. The Texas Supreme Court ruling re-
turns the case to a Texas district court to determine if the Obergefell decision requires equal spousal benefits for same-sex and opposite-sex couples. “We decline to instruct the trial court how to construe Obergefell on remand,” Boyd wrote. Houston officials said they were reviewing the decision and considering options, which could include an appeal to the US. Supreme Court. In the meantime, spousal benefits will continue to be offered “all eligible employees,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said. Turner, who is a Democrat, added that “Marriage equality is the law of the land, and everyone is entitled to the full benefits of marriage, regardless of the gender of their spouse.” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who argued for the narrowest possible reading of Obergefell, is currently under indictment for securities fraud.
July 7, 2017
Seattle Gay News 13
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Celebrating 43 Years!
They’ve got rhythm, they’ve got music at OSF by Alice Bloch SGN A&E Writer OREGON SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL ASHLAND, OREGON Through October 29 It all began in 2009, when Bill Rauch, newly appointed Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF), added a musical, The Music Man, to the roster of plays for the season. Since then, OSF has mounted at least one musical or operetta per year, and most actors hired for the festival are highly skilled dancers and singers. Smart directors take advantage of all the talents of their cast members, with the happy result that in this year’s lineup of firstrate productions, some of the most memorable moments feature movement, rhythm, and song. Julius Caesar Through October 29 Brilliantly directed by Shana Cooper, this riveting production is by far the best I’ve ever seen of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. While most directors focus on the first half of the play, leading up to Caesar’s assassination and Mark Antony’s famous funeral oration, Cooper emphasizes the subsequent devolution into mob violence and civil war. As Brutus, Danforth Comins presents an idealist whose political theories become meaningless once they lead to a killing, because that killing sets into motion a cycle of violence that can’t be stopped. The stubbornness of Caesar (Armando Duran) causes him to disregard the wise counsel of his wife (exquisitely portrayed by Amy Kim Waschke) and the warnings of both the soothsayer (twelve-year-old Callan Skuratowicz) and the teacher of rhetoric (Cindy Im). His assassination in the Senate is portrayed in traditional, literal fashion, with lots of stage blood spurting about. Antony’s speech (delivered magnificently by Jordan Barbour, whose big, deep voice could rouse any crowd) hijacks the sympathies of the people and turns them against Brutus and the other conspirators. This is where the production goes from good to great. In the scene following the funeral, the mob attacks the poet Cinna, who has the misfortune of sharing the name of the conspirator Cinna. This killing, presented figuratively, is more powerful and moving than the literal killing of Caesar. A member of the mob pours a bottle of red liquid onto a white sheet, and Cinna (Ga-
Cassius (Rodney Gardiner, left) and Brutus (Danforth Comins) muse on what may happen on the plains of Philippi where they prepare to do battle, as soldiers prepare in Julius Caesar – Photo by Jenny Graham
len Molk) slowly and gracefully falls into it. The crowd then begins a slow, rhythmic stomping, and with each stomp, Cinna writhes on the floor until finally he is still. When the lights came up for intermission, the audience sat for a moment in stunned silence. The second half of the play shows the inevitable civil war that ensues, juxtaposing the brutality of battle with sweet moments between Brutus and his young, innocent servant Lucius (Julian Remulla). Ritual gestures, drumming, and movement combine to portray the endless cycle of violence. The effect is mesmerizing and terrifying; I can’t stop thinking about it. Choreographer Erika Chong Shuch, Fight Director U. Jonathan Toppo, and Composer and Sound Designer Paul James Prendergast share credit with Cooper for creating an unforgettable theatrical experience. The always-impressive ensemble work of OSF actors is here on full display, with particularly noteworthy performances by Rodney Gardiner as Cassius, Kate Hurster as Portia, and Stephen Michael Spencer, Barret O’Brien, Richard Howard, and Ted Deasy as conspirators.
The Apprentice and the Poet (Asia Mark, Steven Sapp, with Ensemble) are transfixed as Terror #1: Seamstress (Christiana Clark, right) sings of her childhood in UniSon – Photo by Jenny Graham
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UniSon Through October 28 The unpublished poetry of famed playwright August Wilson inspired this musical drama, created by UNIVERSES, an ensemble of writers and performers (Steven Sapp, Mildred Ruiz-Sapp, and William Ruiz), in association with Wilson’s widow, Constanza Romero. The Poet (Sapp) dies, leaving a trunk to his Apprentice (Asia Mark). When she opens the box, seven Terrors emerge and confront the Poet and Apprentice in song, dance, and spoken word, forcing the Poet to come to terms with his demons and the Apprentice to come to terms with her responsibility as an artist. The world premiere of this exciting new play, directed by Robert O’Hara and choreographed by Byron Easley, offers a master class in ensemble work. The members of UNIVERSES and the other actors who portray the Terrors (Christiana Clark, Kevin Kenerly, Rodney Gardiner, Yvette Monique Clark, and Jonathan Luke Stevens) are all extraordinarily gifted performers whose singing, dancing, and acting merge seamlessly. The result is theatrical perfection. OSF has used video projections for sev-
eral years, and in the past, the projections tended to overwhelm other aspects of the production. This year, the festival seems to have found the right balance. The beautiful set designed by Christopher Acebo incorporates video (designed by Kaitlyn Pietras) effectively and subtly. Lighting designed by Alex Jainchill enhances the moody atmosphere of the piece, and music composed by UNIVERSES with Broken Chord and Toshi Reagon is dramatic and evocative. I walked into this play with a question: How do you make poetry into a play? It seemed an impossible challenge, but this team rose to the challenge with intelligence, courage, and imagination. If you aren’t able to get to Ashland this year, be on the lookout for a UniSon production in Seattle. It’s bound to happen. The Odyssey Through October 14 Adapter and director Mary Zimmerman has a long history with The Odyssey: she first encountered a children’s version of Homer’s epic when she was five years old, and she adapted it for theater and directed a performance when she was still in college, in the late 1980s. Christopher Donahue played Odysseus in the first production, and he is still
Meet the sirens in The Odyssey – Photo by Jenny Graham
July 7, 2017
Seattle Gay News 15
playing that role at OSF this season. Zimmerman’s affection for this work comes through in a production full of delights, beginning with Christiana Clark as a high school student trying repeatedly to read the first lines of The Odyssey: “Sing in me, muse ….” The sleeping muse (the wonderful Amy Newman) wakes up, grabs her, holds a hand over her eyes, and whispers the text into her ear as Clark simultaneously gives the words the delivery they deserve. Clark, one of the finest OSF actors, then turns into a fabulous Athena, who guides the rest of the action. The pacing of this production is excellent; in a three-and-a-half-hour performance, there was only one slightly tedious scene, when Odysseus begins telling his tale and the narration goes on too long before the tale is acted out. My favorite scene, and that of my companions, portrays the Sirens as women in red dresses and seductive poses, stroking the male ego by cooing, “Everything you say is so important” and “Don’t get up. I’ll take care of it.” The dramatic high points involve rhythm and dance: first, a comic pas de deux in which Odysseus attempts to free himself from Calypso (Newman), who twines herself around him and hangs from his shoulders. There’s an adorable hiphop dance performed by a cadre of giggly girls in the Nausicaa scene. And there’s the smashing entrance of Penelope’s suitors, who take over Odysseus’s home in his absence: led by Danforth Comins and accompanied by taiko drums the phalanx of beefy men moves forward in a martial dance that is both hyper-masculine and gorgeous. (Both the Nausicaa dance and the suitors’ dance are superbly choreographed by Kirstin Hara.) Odysseus’s eventual slaying of the suitors with the assistance of Athena is handled metaphorically: cloth bags full of sand are suspended over each suitor’s head, and Athena slowly pierces each one with her
Hannah (Cindy Im), struggles to communicate with a staff member (Jessica Ko) at her grandmother’s retirement home in Hannah and the Dread Gazebo – Photo by Jenny Graham
spear, while the men below recall their earliest childhood memories. The sand draining onto the men as they fall to the ground is far more touching than a bloodbath would have been. The highly rhythmic score composed by Andre J. Pluess adds to the dramatic tension, and Mara Blumenfeld’s costumes are striking and clever – particularly the see-through armor that shows off the suitors’ muscles, the variety of red garments worn by the Sirens, and the funny but glamorous evening gown worn by Poseidon (Comins, who stamps around manfully in a flurry of chiffon). The only weak link in the performance I attended was Donahue, who flubbed many lines, even though he’s been playing Odysseus for 30 years. It’s a testament to the strength of this production that the star’s off-night did little to diminish the audience’s enjoyment. Like UniSon, this play is about battling demons, finding the way home, and transmitting legacy. The two plays couldn’t be more different otherwise, but they’re both terrific.
Mistress Ford and Mistress Page (Amy Newman and Vilma Silva) are less than thrilled about the Falstaff’s (K. T. Vogt, center) overtures in The Merry Wives of Windsor – Photo by Jenny Graham
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July 7, 2017
Hannah and the Dread Gazebo Through October 28 Directed by Chay Yew, the world premiere of Jiehae Park’s Hannah and the Dread Gazebo is mysterious, sad, and funny. Hannah (Cindy Im), a young Korean-American woman who is about to take her board certification exam in Pediatric Neurology, receives a package from her grandmother in South Korea. The package contains a stone in a bottle and a suicide note. Unable to get a straight answer from her parents, who have moved back to Seoul after raising their family in the U.S., Hannah travels to South Korea to try to find out what happened to her grandmother and what the meaning of the stone might be. In a lovely feat of magic realism, Park draws her characters into the Korean creation myth and the history of the division between North and South Korea. The bear and tiger of the creation myth show up, as does Kim Jong-Il (all played by marvelous Shapeshifter Jessica Ko, who also plays the grandmother, a nurse, and a bureaucrat). The issue of assimilation is central to the play: Hannah and her brother Dang (Sean Jones) cannot speak Korean, so they wander around Seoul without understanding most of what they hear from others. The audience shares their plight, because no subtitles or translations are provided for the lines spoken in Korean. A stranger (also played by Ko) confers upon Dang the temporary ability to understand Korean and leaves him with a head of garlic. It’s funny
and sweet. Amy Kim Waschke and Paul John as Hannah’s parents are standouts, along with the supremely versatile Ko. Eunice Hong is charming as a girl who befriends Dang. The play’s playful, inventive spirit is enhanced by Collette Pollard’s set design, which includes a cantilevered section of the stage that rises magically halfway through and becomes important to the rest of the drama. The Merry Wives of Windsor Through October 13 This is the first production I’ve ever seen of Merry Wives that didn’t bore me silly, and the reason is simple: 1980s music. Who can resist a Shakespeare comedy that begins with the cast singing “I Want to Dance with Somebody” and ends with “Let’s Go Crazy,” with a little bit of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” along the way? Directed by Dawn Monique Williams, this production is too much fun. K.T. Vogt was born to play Falstaff, although she has to wear campy drag to do it. Speaking of drag, designer Ulises Alcala’s costumes are a feast for the eyes: beautiful floral embroidery and floral prints, and hilarious codpieces that double as purses. Vilma Silva has had a long, illustrious OSF career as a tragedian, but she turns out to have comedic chops and impeccable timing, too, as Mistress Page. Jamie Ann Romero and William DeMeritt give endearing performances as Anne Page and
Hotspur (Alejandra Escalante) prepares to bid her wife Lady Percy (Nemuna Cessay) farewell before joining her father’s rebellion on the battlefield in Henry IV, Part One – Photo by Jenny Graham
Celebrating 43 Years!
her swain Fenton. Amy Newman and Rex Young as Mistress and Master Ford are also a delight. Howie Seago’s ASL performance as Host of the Garter is handled deftly. The singing by Yvette Monique Clark, Jennie Greenberry, and Mildred Ruiz-Sapp is completely enjoyable, as is the dancing of Tatiana Lofton and ensemble. Kudos to composer and sound designer Paul James Prendergast, vocal arranger Darcy Danielson, and choreographer Valerie Rachelle. Henry IV, Part One Through October 28 Director Lileana Blain-Cruz has updated this history play to modern times, with automatic firearms, women in the military, women married to each other, and Reagan and Trump masks disguising highway robbers. The updating works, and the extremely loud gunfire noises and music (composed by Palmer Hefferan), as well as the blinding strobe lights (designed by Yi Zhao), though uncomfortable for the audience, convey the horror of modern warfare. Jeffrey King has excelled in all of his many roles at OSF, and his Henry IV is no exception. As Prince Hal, Daniel José Molina is convincing and cute, and his transformation from dissolute denizen of the Boar’s Head Tavern to military leader and loyal son is entirely believable. G. Valmont Thomas is a splendid Falstaff and provides a nice contrast with K.T. Vogt’s interpretation in Merry Wives. Lauren Modica is outstanding as the Welsh rebel leader Glendower, and Nemuna Ceesay shines as Lady Percy. Alejandra Escalante captures Hotspur’s warrior nature, but she has a tendency to rush her lines, rendering them unintelligible. Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles Closed July 6 I’m going to give this play short shrift, because it will have closed by press time – but if you have the opportunity, see it wherever you can. It’s a devastating tragedy of the immigrant experience, playwright Luis Alfaro’s contemporary adaptation of the ancient Greek play. If you’re familiar with the original Medea by Euripides, or with any of the films based on it, you know that it doesn’t end well. In Alfaro’s version, directed by Juliette Carrillo, Medea has immigrated to Los Angeles from Michoacán, Mexico, with her husband, young son, and longtime housekeeper. In a stroke of genius, Alfaro narrates the story from the point of view of Tita, the housekeeper (played by VIVIS with great warmth and humor), who functions as the chorus. Medea, in a heartbreaking performance by Sabina Zuniga Varela, is attached to the Mayan culture of Michoacán. Unlike her husband, Jason (Lakin Valdez), she does not want to assimilate into American culture, and she wants her son Acan (brave, talented eleven-year-old Jahnangel Jimenez) to learn Mayan rituals.
Viola’s (Jamie Ann Romero) cast mates (ensemble) discover her true identity in Shakespeare in Love – Photo by Jenny Graham
In the course of the play, we see the crushing weight of sexism and American commercialism wear her down. Nancy Rodriguez as Josefina, a neighbor, injects life into what would otherwise be an unbearably depressing story. As always, Vilma Silva does a great job, this time as Armida, Jason’s villainous boss, who flounces around in short skirts and stiletto heels. Christopher Acebo’s scenic and costume design is flawless, evoking the neighborhood of Boyle Heights and the clash of cultures there. Shakespeare in Love Through October 29 Adapted by Lee Hall from the screenplay by Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard, this play is entertaining, with exceptionally beautiful costumes and good acting. But I still wonder why it seemed necessary to turn the movie into a play. The movie lacked nothing, and the play adds little. Anyway, it’s a lot of fun, and I’ll try not to be a stick in the mud about it. Christopher Liam Moore’s direction moves the action along at a good clip, with dizzying costume and scene changes. After attending a Festival Noon demonstration of one of the quick changes, I will never again take for granted a 39-second costume and wig change! (The Festival Noon and Park Talk presentations are worth attending, by the way; they’re sure to increase your enjoyment of the performances. During my week in Ashland, these events included several interesting presentations by behindthe-scenes heroes: stage manager, housing manager, costume and wig specialists.) Scenic designer Rachel Hauck, cos-
The group (left to right, Nancy Rodriguez, VIVIS, Sabina Zuniga Varela, Jahnangel Jimenez, Lakin Valdez) reenacts the arduous crossing of the desert from Mexico to the United States in Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles – Photo by Jenny Graham
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tume designer Susan Tsu, video designer Shawn Duan (fireworks!), choreographer Jaclyn Miller, and fight director U. Jonathan Toppo all show off their considerable skill. Jamie Ann Romero is an enchanting Viola, and William DeMeritt is a lovable Will Shakespeare. Notable performances include the hilarious Brent Hinkley as Henslowe, Kate Mulligan as a shrewd Queen Elizabeth, K.T. Vogt as Viola’s nurse, Ted Deasy as Kit Marlowe, Tony DeBruno as Fennyman, Kevin Kenerly as Burbage, Christopher Jean and Michael J. Hume in many roles, Will Dao as Sam and Juliet – and El the dog, playing himself. Countertenor Austin Comfort has an exquisite voice, and musicians Mark Eliot Jacobs and Michal Palzewicz know their way around period instruments such as the hurdy gurdy, serpent, sackbut, and viola da gamba. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Through October 15 Disclaimer: I detest most things Disney, and I’ve never been a fan of Beauty and the Beast. However, I enjoyed the production now running in the Allen Elizabethan Theatre more than I expected to. The show is ably directed by Eric Tucker, with music direction by J. Oconer Navarro, choreography by Erika Chong Shuch, and ingenious costumes designed by Ana Kuzmanic. Jennie Greenberry sings divinely as Belle, and the rest of the cast is admirable. On the day of the performance I attended, the temperature was 105 degrees. The cast members carried on as if ice packs under their costumes and sweat running in rivulets through their makeup were all in a day’s work. Extra combat pay is surely due
the actors saddled with stiff, heavy costumes: Jordan Barbour as the Beast, Daniel T. Parker as Cogsworth, David Kelly as Lumiere, Kate Mulligan as Mrs. Potts, Naiya Gardiner as Chip, Robin Goodrin Nordli as Babette, and Britney Simpson as Mme. de la Grande Bouche. Simpson’s soprano voice soars above the beautiful harmony of the other actors, Kate Mulligan delivers a winsome interpretation of the title song, and tenor Jeremy Peter Johnson sings well and clearly. James Ryen makes Gaston pathetic and funny, as well as villainous, and his songs are campy fun. Barbour, who comes from an opera and musical theater background, probably could fill the theater with his voice without amplification. Unfortunately, the sound engineering at the performance I attended was poor and off-balance, painfully distorting his big voice and over-amplifying the otherwise fine performance of the small orchestra led by Matt Goodrich. Coming up: Henry IV, Part Two and Off the Rails Henry IV, Part Two, featuring most of the same actors as Part One, will have opened by press time and runs through October 29. The world premiere of Randy Reinholz’s Off the Rails, based on Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure and set in an 1880s Indian Boarding School in Nebraska, will run July 27-October 28. For information about these and other OSF events, see osfashland.org.
Cogsworth (Daniel T. Parker, left) is wound up by Mrs. Potts (Kate Mulligan, right) and Lumiere (David Kelly) in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast – Photo by Jenny Graham
July 7, 2017
Seattle Gay News 17
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18 Seattle Gay News
July 7, 2017
Celebrating 43 Years!
Celebrate Pride in the City of Destiny July 7th through July 15th
Tacoma Pride
presented by the Rainbow Center
Sat July 8 / Noon - 5 pm / free / ASL Interpreted / Pacific Ave between 7th st & 9th st (formerly ‘Out in the Park’)
Kickoff! Flag Raising & Pride Awards
Fri July 7 / 4:30 pm - 6 pm / Free / ASL Interpreted Pantages Theater Lobby / 901 Broadway
the Broadway Center presents
Ben DelaCreme's Inferno A-Go-Go
Tacoma Pride Film Series
The Grand Cinema & TWIST: Seattle Queer Film Festival Present TWIST TOPS Tue July 11 / 1:30 pm & 6:45 pm / Ticketed Event Grand Cinema / 606 Fawcett Ave
Tacoma Pride Film Series
The Grand Cinema & TWIST: Seattle Queer Film Festival Present TWIST TOPS
Fri July 7 / 7:30 pm / Ticketed Event Pantages Theater / 901 Broadway
wed July 12 / 6:45 pm / Ticketed Event Grand Cinema / 606 Fawcett Ave
The Mix
Pride Shabbat
Pride Block Party
Sat July 8 / 5 pm -to 2 am / Ticketed Event / 21+ Only The Mix / St. Helens Ave between 6th st & 7th st
Tacoma Pride Festival presents
Interfaith Celebration Sun July 9 / 2 pm - 4 pm / Free Thea's Park / 535 Dock St
Fri July 14 / 5:15 pm / Free Temple Beth El / 5975 S 12th St
Tacoma Pride Festival presents
Andrea Gibson
Big Hat Brunch
presented by BECU Benefiting Oasis Youth Center Sat July 15 / 11 am - 1 pm / Ticketed Event The Courtyard by Marriott / 1515 Commerce Street
Village Keepers present
Village Pride Community Carnival Sat July 15 / Noon - 5 pm / Free People’s Park / 900 MLK Jr Way
Queens of the Night Celebrate Pride
Sat July 15 Doors 7 pm / Drag Show 8 pm / dance party 10 pm Cover Charge / 21+ Only The Mix / St. Helens Ave between 6th st & 7th st
Fri July 14 / 7:30 pm / Ticketed Event Urban Grace / 902 Market st
Tacoma Pride FEstival / www.tacomapride.org / facebook.com/tacomapridefestival / @tacomapridefest / @tacomapridefestival TPF is a program of the Rainbow Center / www.rainbowcntr.org / 253.383.2318 / 2215 Pacific Ave. Tacoma WA 98402
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July 7, 2017
Seattle Gay News 19