SGN Jun 15, 2018 - Part 1

Pride Calendar

Seattle Gay News

NIH reports on experimental HIV vaccine

“Novel and potentially powerful,” agency says

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

A “novel and potentially powerful” experimental HIV vaccine has been developed, the National Institutes for Health (NIH) announced in a June 4 article in the journal Nature Medicine

The vaccine is reportedly based on a particularly vulnerable site on the HIV protein where antibodies bind to its surface. The vaccine has elicited antibodies in mice, guinea pigs, and monkeys and is said to be able to neutralize dozens of HIV strains

see HIV VACCINE page 13

LGBTQ Human Rights highlight the GSBA Pride Luncheon

by MK Scott SGN Contributing Writer

The Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) Pride Luncheon was held this past Wednesday, June 13th. This was the first time the luncheon was held at the new Embassy Suites in Pioneer Square, which has a view of Century Link Field. Before the luncheon there was the annual Pride

Business Expo, featuring businesses in the travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors. Following opening remarks and an introduction by GSBA CEO Louise Chernin, Amie Bishop, a consultant on global health and human rights, lead a panel discussion with Fabrice Houdart from the Office of the UN High Court Commissioner for Human Rights who is see GSBA PRIDE page 12

Businesses may not refuse to serve LGBT customers, Arizona court says “Compelling

interest” to eliminate discrimination

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

Only days after the US Supreme Court decision in the Masterpiece Cake Shop case – in which the high court found in favor of a baker who refused to make a cake for a Gay couple – an Arizona state appeals court came to the opposite conclusion. Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of Brush & Nib Studio, acted illegally in refusing to make wedding invitations for a same-sex couple, the court found.

see DISCRIMINATION page 13

Seattle AIDS Memorial Pathway to celebrate groundbreaking Tuesday, June 19

by Tim Peter SGN Contributing Writer

The Seattle AMP: AIDS Memorial Pathway (AMP) will break ground Tuesday, June 19, in conjunction with developer Gerding Edlen at the Seattle Capitol Hill Station on Broadway. To honor this important milestone, a celebration will be held on the site of the future public plaza, near

the intersection of Broadway and Denny from 5pm to 7pm. The event will feature food and drinks from local purveyors, live music and a pop-up farmers market. The event is hosted by project partners Gerding Edlen, Bentall Kennedy, Capitol Hill Housing, Sound Transit, Capitol Hill Champion, Capitol Hill Neighborhood Farmers Market and The AMP. The community is see AIDS MEMORIAL page 6

The Grow House

by Nick DiMartino Special to the SGN

My new novel, The Grow House, is being released on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 17, at University Book Store (4326 University Way NE) at 3pm. Just in case you aren’t busy, and want to see my newest creation, buy a copy and experience the story, I’d love to have you join me, so I can tell you about how it was written and what I was trying to achieve.

It’s an extremely tight nail-biter of a story, full of petty crime and illegal secrets in the lovely neighborhood of Maple Leaf, where an old gay bookseller is quietly living out the end of his life with his partner and devoted dog. That is, until he becomes entangled with some dangerous characters who appear to be living at the end of the alley, who are acting like his friends with something else in mind.

It’s a sneaky plot, every element of which comes from reality, the unknow-

able thrill of life when change becomes unpredictable and people aren’t what they seem. Add to it the mysterious blessing that dogs bring into our lives, and it’s the most suspenseful plot I’ve ever created. Please join me for the release of my 20th novel!

Nick DiMartino leads the Queer Seattle Book Club (https://faculty.washington.edu/ swittet/SGLBookClub/), which meets most Wednesdays from 6-7:15pm at SASG, 115 15th Ave E.

Q-Squared announces Q-Camp 2018

Happy Pride from the Board of Q-Squared!

For many years in our small community celebrating Pride week has also meant signing up for CAMP and despite our 2-year hiatus we think some traditions are worth keeping.

Consider signing up for Q-Camp 2018 as part of your celebration of Pride 2018. By signing up now you help us reach our minimum attendance faster. Reaching that magic number of attendees not only secures the space we need but allows us to introduce new pricing plans which we believe

will allow us to reach out and introduce more guys to Q-Camp. You can learn all the details by going to: www.qcamp.org

If you don’t have time right now, here is a quick look at what’s new:

New Location – Vashon Island, just a quick ferry ride from West Seattle.

New Weekend – September 7th-9th the weekend after Labor Day so you don’t have to make those hard choices between Q-Camp and your current commitments or traditions.

New Comfortable Accommodations

– Shared or private double rooms perfect

for a couple or triad of buddies. This new property includes private bathrooms with towels, sheets and blankets provided in each room. You can leave your sleeping bag at home. The meals are delicious and healthy; designed to accommodate special dietary needs.

All this that is new with the old magic of CAMP awaits you. Are you ready to sign up today?

Hope to see you soon and Happy Pride!

The Q-Squared Board

Vigorous pro-choice protest stands strong in Kent

by Gina Petry Radical Women

On June 9, a counter-rally brought out a large crowd of feminists and human rights supporters to support a Planned Parenthood clinic in Kent, Washington, against the anti-abortion group Patriot Prayer, led by Joey Gibson. Unionists, clinic defenders, socialists, LGBTQ activists, and anarchists outnumbered the anti-choice crowd six to one.

Says Gina Petry, the Radical Women president who helped to plan the counterrally: “We outlasted and outshouted the anti-abortionists, despite being peppersprayed by police who sided with the misogynists. Our side was invigorated by wide collaboration and the large turnout and vowed to continue to work together to stop the alt-right and white supremacist elements that Patriot Prayer attracts.”

The ad hoc coalition that organized the action issued a statement saying, “Embold-

ened by the Trump White House, Patriot Prayer and Joey Gibson’s US Senate campaign have been accelerating their attacks on women and reproductive rights. They are the same bigots that have been appearing with increasing frequency from Washington to California. They bring with them violence, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and Islamophobia.”

Organizers for reproductive freedom reported encounters with FBI and police that they described as intimidation. Before the action, FBI agents visited the homes of people associated with Radical Women and Seattle Clinic Defense. According to Seattle Clinic Defense member Ariel Hard, “FBI agents were trying to disrupt our planning and scare activists by going to their homes to question them. But we were not dissuaded.”

The morning of June 9 a large number of heavily armed law enforcement personnel showed up in riot gear, including police from Kent, Auburn, Renton, and Tukwila,

plus King County sheriffs. The police set up barricades on both sides of the street and established what they termed a “free speech zone” for Patriot Prayer directly in front of the clinic. Chicana activist and longtime clinic defender Christina López asserts, “The cops served as escorts across Planned Parenthood property for those very fanatics who are attempting to shut down the clinic. Then they brutally shoved those of us standing up for women’s rights across the street with long billy clubs and doused us with pepper spray.”

Freedom Socialist Party candidate for US Senate Steve Hoffman, who is running for the same seat as Joey Gibson, was among the clinic defenders. He reports, “I was disgusted to see the police unleash pepper spray on unarmed community members standing up for the basic right of women to control their own bodies and lives.” Medics quickly came to the assistance of those who were injured by the debilitating chemical spray, including

retired union carpenter Patrick Burns of Organized Workers for Labor Solidarity, who had to be taken away for treatment.

After this encounter, reproductive rights activists persisted with their demonstration until the right-wing protesters left. The 11 organizations in the ad hoc coalition gathered for what they termed a victory rally before dispersing.

The organizations that came together for the counterprotest were Seattle Clinic Defense, Radical Women, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Seattle Gay News, the Freedom Socialist Party, Dyke Community Activists, Organized Workers for Labor Solidarity, ANSWER, the Steve Hoffman Campaign for US Senate, the International Socialist Organization, and the Workers World Party.

Photos courtesy of Radical Women Seattle Branch

AIDS MEMORIAL

invited to join the celebration of this major achievement.

The groundbreaking celebration marks the commencement of construction for the Capitol Hill Station Development, a longawaited and transformational project for the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Located atop the Capitol Hill Light Rail Station, the transitoriented development includes four buildings and will provide 428 apartments, including 178 affordable apartments, approximately

30,000 square feet of ground floor retail and 210 underground parking spaces. The development will also include a community room available to the public and a public plaza that will serve as the home of the Capitol Hill Neighborhood Farmers Market as well as a venue for other community events. The project will be highly sustainable and is targeting a LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) for Homes Platinum Certification. The project is slated to open in the second quarter of 2020.

The Capitol Hill Station Development is a Federal Transit Administration Joint Development project being developed

by Gerding Edlen, which was selected by Sound Transit to be the Master Developer of all four sites. Sound Transit will lease Sites A, B-South and C to Gerding Edlen and sell site B-North to Capitol Hill Housing, Gerding Edlen’s co-developer on the site. Gerding Edlen’s joint venture partner on Sites A, B-South and C is Bentall Kennedy’s U.S. Core Fund, who shares Gerding Edlen’s passion for responsible property investment and sustainability.

The project is mixed-income; 42 per cent of the units will be leased at below market-rate rents. Site B-North will be owned and operated by Capitol Hill Hous-

ing. It will include 110 apartments affordable to households that earn at or below 30 per cent, 50 per cent and 60 per cent of the area median income. The apartments will be a mixture of studios, one, two and three-bedroom units. The project is made possible thanks to the Seattle Office of Housing, which committed $8.7 million in financing through the 2009 Housing Levy, as well King County, which committed $4.7 million toward construction. Impact Capital and KeyBank provided critical predevelopment funding.

WE WILL REMEMBER

ORLANDO – JUNE 12, 2016

Two years ago, on Sunday, June 12, 49 members of our community lost their lives in a mass shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando – victims of one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern American history.

Stanley Almodovar III

Amanda L. Alvear

Oscar A. Aracena-Montero

Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala

Antonio Davon Brown

Darryl Roman Burt II

Angel Candelario-Padro

Juan Chavez-Martinez

Luis Daniel Conde

Cory James Connell

ORLANDO – JUNE 12, 2016

Tevin Eugene Crosby Deonka Deidra Drayton

Simón Adrian Carrillo Fernández

Leroy Valentin Fernandez

Mercedez Marisol Flores

Peter Ommy Gonzalez-Cruz

Juan Ramon Guerrero

Paul Terrell Henry

Frank Hernandez

Miguel Angel Honorato

Javier Jorge-Reyes

Jason Benjamin Josaphat

Eddie Jamoldroy Justice

Anthony Luis Laureano Disla

Christopher Andrew Leinonen

Alejandro Barrios Martinez

Brenda Marquez McCool

Gilberto R. Silva Menendez

Kimberly Jean Morris

Akyra Monet Murray

Luis Omar Ocasio Capo

Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez

Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera

Joel Rayon Paniagua

Jean Carlos Mendez Perez

Enrique L. Rios, Jr.

Jean Carlos Nieves Rodríguez

Xavier Emmanuel Serrano-Rosado

Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz

Yilmary Rodríguez Solivan

Edward Sotomayor Jr.

Shane Evan Tomlinson

Martin Benitez Torres

Jonathan A. Camuy Vega

Juan Pablo Rivera Velázquez

Luis Sergio Vielma

Franky Jimmy DeJesus Velázquez

Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon

Jerald Arthur Wright

730

This is the number of days that have passed since 29 year old security guard Omar Mateen entered the LGBTQ nightclub known as Pulse in Orlando, Florida with mass murder on his mind. The number of days the families of the victims have grieved over the loss of their loved ones who fell that night. It would become the worst act of terrorism since 9/11 and the second worst mass shooting to date in US history surpassed only by the shooting in Las Vegas.

320

This is the number of carefree people, most of them of Hispanic and Puerto Rican descent, who were in attendance for the weekly Latin Night event that evening, dancing and cavorting, blissfully unaware of the nightmare that was about to be visited upon them.

On the two-year anniversary of the Orlando massacre, here are the numbers:

2

This is the number of lethal firearms Mateen was able to sneak past the nightclub’s security that night, a SIG Sauer MCX semi-automatic rifle and a 9mm Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol.

200

This is the number of gunshot wounds these weapons would inflict that night.

150

This is the number of bullets fired by heroic SWAT team members to take down Mateen and end his murderous rampage.

8

This is the number of their bullets that found their mark, ending Mateen’s life and the bloody conflict he initiated.

30

This is the number of terrified but grateful hostages who were freed when Mateen’s heart finally beat its last.

49

This is the number of innocent people who were struck down by a madman’s bullet that night. The number of people who would never return to their families. The number of people who would never see another sunrise. The number of people who would never dance again.

53

This is the number of people fortunate enough to live to tell the tale despite the horrendous injuries inflicted upon them by that same madman.

73

This is the number of surgeries performed by the Orlando Regional Medical Center in their valiant efforts to save the lives of the 44 wounded who arrived there.

195

This is the number of minutes Mateen was able to inflict his terror and rage upon the masses that night for motives still debated to this day. Mateen claimed his actions were in response to American atrocities committed in the Middle East but some theorize his actions were the result of an internal struggle between a hidden sexual orientation and his own fundamentalist beliefs that could not abide it.

Compiled by Ken Campbell

GSBA PRIDE

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project lead on global standards of conduct for businesses on tackling LGBTI discrimination. Joining him was Siri May, UN Program Coordinator for OutRight Action International, as well as Clara Ria “Claire” A. Padilla, founder and Executive Director of EnGendeRights in the Philippines.

LGBTQ rights are under attack across the world. We are silenced, our existence is criminalized and in some countries, we are subjected to arrest and even murder. Simply because of who we are and whom we love. Does your company understand its responsibility in the countries it operates? As LGBTQ and allied business leaders, they can raise awareness and leverage the power of business to make a difference by supporting the struggles for LGBTQ rights on a global scale.

The GSBA also unveiled their new 2018-19 Guide. Over 15,000 copies will be distributed over the coming year.

30th annual Lambda Literary Award winners announced

Winners include Carmen Maria Machado, John Rechy, and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

NEW YORK, NY – On Monday, June 4, Lambda Literary, the nation’s leading organization advancing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) literature, announced the winners of the 30th annual Lambda Literary Awards (the “Lammys”). Comedian Kate Clinton hosted the ceremony at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, where attendees, sponsors, and celebrities celebrated thirty years of groundbreaking LGBTQ literature.

Roxane Gay and Edmund White were honored with Lambda’s Trustee and Visionary Awards, respectively. Rick Whitaker introduced Edmund White with a tribute composed entirely from sentences found in Mr. White’s books. Accepting the Visionary Award, White shared, “Contained in the word ‘novel’ is novelty, and lesbian and gay writers have been lucky to write about this new world.”

Later, Rebecca Solnit introduced Roxane Gay, who won the Trustee Award. “The word ‘encourage’ literally means to instill courage, and Roxane’s work is marked by both courage and encouragement,” said Solnit. During her acceptance speech, Gay said, “As a woman, as a black woman, as a queer woman, writing has offered me salvation and sanctuary.” She later said, “I want queer writers to create the work that they want to put into the world, regardless if all of the work does or does not meet the expectations of those who read it.”

Other winners of the night included Carmen Maria Machado, John Rechy, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Barbara Browning, [and] Bogi Takács, [among others].

“What I want to leave with you tonight,” said Tony Valenzuela during his remarks on his ninth and final year as Lambda Literary’s executive director, “is that, despite our continued challenges, you have a community through Lambda Literary that has your back. I feel deeply grateful to have spent the last nine years with the help of so many of you, to make Lambda Literary into a space where more of us will be seen and can thrive.”

The Lammys brought out the stars from the worlds of film, television, theatre,

journalism, and literature. Presenters this year included Alison Bechdel (MacArthur Fellow and award-winning author of Fun

Home); Rebecca Solnit (award-winning author and contributing editor at Harper’s Magazine); actor Taylor Trensch (actor, Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway); Pamela Sneed (award-winning poet); and Kate Bornstein (iconic trans activist and writer), [among others].

Lambda Literary’s incoming executive director, Sue Landers, was acknowledged from the stage and begins a new chapter in the organization in July.

30th Annual Lambda Literary Award

Winners

Lesbian Fiction

Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado, Graywolf Press

Gay Fiction

After the Blue Hour, John Rechy, Grove

Press

Bisexual Fiction

The Gift, Barbara Browning, Coffee House Press

Bisexual Nonfiction

Hunger, Roxane Gay, HarperCollins

Transgender Fiction

Transcendent 2: The Year’s Best Transgender Speculative Fiction, Bogi Takács (ed.), Lethe Press

LGBTQ Nonfiction

How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective, KeeangaYamahtta Taylor, Haymarket Books

Transgender Nonfiction

Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity, C. Riley Snorton, University of Minnesota Press

Lesbian Poetry

Rock | Salt | Stone, Rosamond S. King, Nightboat Books

Gay Poetry

While Standing in Line for Death, CA Conrad, Wave Books

Transgender Poetry recombinant, Ching-In Chen, Kelsey Street Press

Lesbian Mystery

Huntress, A. E. Radley, Heartsome

Publishing

Gay Mystery

Night Drop, Marshall Thornton, Kenmore Books

Lesbian Memoir/Biography

The Fact of a Body, Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, Flatiron Books

Gay Memoir/Biography

Lives of Great Men: Living and Loving as an African Gay Man, Chike Frankie Edozien, Team Angelica Publishing

Lesbian Romance

Tailor-Made, Yolanda Wallace, Bold Strokes Books

Gay Romance

Love and Other Hot Beverages, Laurie Loft, Riptide Publishing

LGBTQ Erotica

His Seed, Steve Berman, Unzipped Books

LGBTQ Anthology

¡Cuéntamelo! Oral Histories by LGBT Latino Immigrants, Juliana Delgado Lopera, Aunt Lute Books

LGBTQ Children’s/Young Adult

Like Water, Rebecca Podos, Balzer + Bray

LGBTQ Drama

The Gulf, Audrey Cefaly, Samuel French

LGBTQ Graphic Novels

My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Emil Ferris, Fantagraphics Books

LGBTQ SF/F/Horror

Autonomous, Annalee Newitz, Tor Books

LGBTQ Studies

Punishing Disease: HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness, Trevor Hoppe, University of California Press

Lambda Literary (LL) nurtures and advocates for LGBTQ writers, elevating the impact of their words to create community, preserve our legacies, and affirm the value of our stories and our lives. LL’s programs include the Lambda Literary Awards, the Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices, LGBTQ Writers in Schools, Lambda LitFest LA, and our web magazine, the Lambda Literary Review, at www.LambdaLiterary.org. For more information email admin@lambdaliterary.org.

Courtesy of Lambda Literary

DISCRIMINATION

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Duka and Koski argued that a Phoenix city ordinance barring discrimination on account of sexual orientation deprived them of their First Amendment right to freedom of religion. They should, they claimed, be allowed to turn away same-sex couples because their Christian religion frowns on same-sex relationships.

Phoenix added protections for sexual orientation and gender identity in 2013,

HIV VACCINE

continued from cover

from around the world.

The researchers on the study were employed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, and their colleagues.

“NIH scientists have used their detailed knowledge of the structure of HIV to find an unusual site of vulnerability on the virus and design a novel and potentially powerful vaccine,” said NIAID Director Anthony S.

and the two calligraphers filed suit in 2016. Phoenix defended its ordinance, and the Court of Appeals upheld the measure on June 7.

“We have previously found that eliminating discrimination constitutes a compelling interest,” Judge Lawrence Winthrop wrote in his opinion.

Winthrop went onto state that “antidiscrimination ordinances are not aimed at the suppression of speech but at the elimination of discriminatory conduct.”

Inthrop added that if Duka and Koski “want to operate their for-profit business

Fauci, MD. “This elegant study is a potentially important step forward in the ongoing quest to develop a safe and effective HIV vaccine.”

A preliminary human trial of the new vaccine regimen is anticipated to begin in the second half of 2019.

The NIH study reflects one of two approaches NIAID is pursuing to develop an HIV vaccine. In this approach, scientists first identify powerful HIV antibodies that can neutralize many strains of the virus, and then try to elicit those antibodies with a vaccine based on the structure of the HIV surface protein where the antibodies bind.

as a public accommodation, they cannot discriminate against potential patrons based on sexual orientation.”

Alliance Defending Freedom, representing the two women, said it intends to appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court.

“Artists shouldn’t be forced under threat of fines and jail time to create artwork contrary to their core convictions,” said ADF attorney Jonathan Scruggs, echoing the US Supreme Court’s conclusion in the Masterpiece case.

Phoenix Mayor Thelda Williams praised the court’s decision, however.

In other words, scientists start with a specific immune response and work to develop a vaccine that will induce it.

Another, more empirical approach to HIV vaccine development begins by evaluating the most encouraging vaccine candidates for efficacy in people through clinical trials. Then scientists try to build on successful trial results by examining blood and other clinical specimens from study participants who received the vaccine to identify the most promising parts of the immune response.

Researchers subsequently use this information to improve vaccination approaches

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

“We will continue to be a city that welcomes everyone, and value each of our residents regardless of who they love,” she said.

Since the US Supreme Court deliberately wrote a ruling limited to the specifics of the Colorado case – arguing that a Colorado civil rights official had commented adversely on the plaintiff’s religion – it is likely that similar cases will continue to come to state courts for adjudication.

for future trials. This method was used to develop the HIV vaccine regimen tested in several recent clinical trials – for example, the RV144 clinical trial and the HIV vaccine regimens currently under study in the HVTN 702 and Imbokodo clinical trials.

New Spanish government includes two Gay cabinet ministers

Prime Minister also appoints women to majority of cabinet posts

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

Newly elected Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has picked two openly Gay politicians for posts in his cabinet. The two will serve alongside 11 women ministers and only four other men, making the new Spanish government one of the most diverse in Europe.

Fernando Grande-Marlaska, formerly a magistrate on Spain’s General Council of the Judiciary, will be the country’s Interior Minister, with responsibility for the national police. He married his longtime partner Gorka Gomez in 2005, shortly after

Spain legalized same-sex marriage.

Journalist and author Maxim Huerta will be the new Minister of Culture and Sports, and will now be responsible for Spain’s arts, sports, and cultural exports.

During a press conference on June 6, Sanchez said that he wanted the new cabinet to reflect recent changes in Spanish society, including those prompted by the nationwide women’s strike in March.

“This is a highly qualified government for a society with equal representation, open to the world but anchored in Europe,” Sanchez told The Guardian newspaper.

Sanchez, a Socialist, replaced rightwing Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in the wake of corruption scandals that brought

down Rajoy’s government. He heads a minority government under an agreement with several other parties to vote for Socialist budget proposals without endorsing the government’s entire program.

Among the supporters of Sanchez’s government are several Catalan parties, and the key test of his tenure in office may be how he handles the movement for Catalan independence. Rajoy’s government arrested several popular Catalan independence leaders, and they are still being held in prison.

The appointment of two openly Gay ministers has raised hopes that Sanchez’s new government will be more supportive of LGBT rights than Rajoy’s was.

Prior to his appointment in 2011, Rajoy opposed same-sex marriage and, in fact, launched an unsuccessful appeal in Spain’s Constitutional Court against the 2005 marriage equality law.

With that landmark law, passed by the country’s previous Socialist government, Spain became the third member of the European Union after Belgium and the Netherlands to allow same-sex marriages, ahead of neighboring Portugal and Sweden. Europe currently has five openly LGBT leaders in power, including Ireland’s Taoiseach and the prime ministers of Iceland, Belgium, Serbia, and Luxembourg.