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Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
White House endorses Federal hate crime Equality Act sentence in Capitol Hill Bill would add LGBT protections to Civil Rights attack Act by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on November 9 that a man convicted on federal hate crimes charges has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison. In a plea agreement, Troy Deacon Burns admitted to assaulting three men near Harvard Avenue and E. Pike Street on January 25. He faced up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine. According to the DOJ, Burns was on Capitol Hill Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore is sponsoring the Equality Act, which would expand protections against discrimination to members of the LGBT community – wwwusnews.com to sell meth, when he encountered three Gay men by Mike Andrew walking down the street. supports the Equality Act.” Troy Deacon Burns – www.gaystarnews.com SGN Staff Writer Burns admitted to comThe bill would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include protections for sexual ing up behind the three men and shout- bing position. ing homophobic slurs. He then produced a The White House announced on No- orientation and gender identity. The men fled, but Burns caught one of vember 10 that President Obama “strongly see equality act page 8 knife and raised it over his head in a stabsee hate crime page 8
Utah judge takes foster child away from Lesbian couple Ruling aligns with new Mormon guidelines
April Hoagland (l) and Beckie Peirce – Teve Griffin/The Salt Lake Tribune/Associated Press
April Hoagland and Beckie Pierce had planned to adopt the girl they had been raising for three months. The couple also has the support of the girl’s biological mother. A Utah court has taken away the fosIn his November 10 ruling, Utah Judge ter child of a married Lesbian couple and Scott Johanson cited research that children placed the infant with a straight couple in- do better when they are raised by heterosexstead. by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
see utah judge page 4
Transgender Day of Remembrance ceremonies to be held in Seattle, Bellevue and Edmonds
The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is a day set aside to remember and honor Transgender persons who were murdered in the last year. Sadly, this year has seen a marked increase in the number of such hate-motivated crimes. The Puget Sound Transgender community and its allies gather to remember those who were taken from us at ceremonies around the Puget Sound region. We invite you to stand with us. We are holding four ceremonies for the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
day, November 21. The first will be at Seattle’s Ravenna United Methodist Church (5751 33rd Ave. NE, Seattle). The Wallingford United Methodist Church Choir will perform “Agnus Dei” and “In Paradesium” by Fauré. Mother Robbinson will be the featured speaker. The second ceremony will be at the First United Methodist Church of Bellevue (1934 108th Ave. NE, Bellevue). The church choir will perform “Requieum” by Ezekiel and Claire Michelle Burgess will perform “True Colors.”
The first two will be held on Friday, November 20. One will be at Seattle City Hall (entrance at 5th Ave. & Cherry St.) in the Bertha Knight Landes Room. Aidan Key will deliver the keynote address entitled “Fighting Back.” Captain Smartypants, an ensemble from the Seattle Men’s Chorus will perform “Lean on Me” and Diverse Harmony, an LGBT youth chorus will perform “True Colors.” The second ceremony will be held in Edmonds at St. Hilda/St. Patrick Episcopalian Church (15224 52nd Ave. W., Edmonds). The church choir will perform “Lacrimosa” and “Ave Verum Corpus,” both by Mozart. Mother Carla Robbinson will be the featured speaker. She is a Transwoman of color who is also an Episcopalian Priest.
Each of the ceremonies will have a reading of the names. The names of the Transgender persons who were murdered in the last year will be read. Most ceremonies have Transgender persons reading the names. However, at ours we will invite anyone who wants to read a name to come forward and do so. We remember and honor the Transgender persons who lost their lives because of Transgender hatred and we respect and embrace our allies who stand with us against the hate. Admission is free and light snacks will be served after the ceremony. For more information call us at 360-353-4193 or email us at TDORSeattle@gmail.com.
Courtesy of Transgender Day of RememWe will hold two ceremonies on Satur- brance Seattle
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ual couples. Hoagland believes the judge imposed his personal religious beliefs. “We are shattered,” she told CBS affiliate KUTV news. “It hurts me really badly because I haven’t done anything wrong.” Attorneys for the Utah Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) plan to review the decision and may challenge Johanson’s order. The women were approved as foster parents after passing home inspections, background checks, and interviews with the DCFS. DCFS director Brent Platt told KUTV the state does not track the number of same-sex couples who are fostering children but the state needs as many couples as possible to help raise the state’s 2,600 children now in foster care. “Any loving couple if they are legally married, and meet the requirements, we want them to be involved,” he said. HRC issued a statement condemning Johanson’s decision. “Removing a child from a loving home simply because the parents are LGBT is outrageous, shocking, and unjust,” the group said. “It also flies in the face of overwhelming evidence that children being raised by
same-sex parents are just as healthy and well-adjusted as those with different-sex parents. At a time when so many children in foster care need loving homes, it is sickening to think that a child would be taken from caring parents who planned to adopt.” Mormons bar children of same-sex couples from baptism The court ruling came only days after a new Mormon Church policy manual barring children of same-sex couples from baptism was leaked to the media. Excommunicated Mormon blogger John Dehlin posted parts of the new guidebook on Facebook on November 5, provoking both grief and outrage from LGBT Mormons and ex-Mormons who had hoped the church would come to some accommodation with same-sex marriage. According to the new Mormon rules, children of Gay and Lesbian parents may not join the church until they are 18, move out of their parents’ home, and disavow same-sex relationships. If they fulfill all those conditions, they must then request case-by-case approval from top Mormon leaders for baptism. Their parents will be considered “apostates,” the policy manual says, making it more difficult for the children to maintain ongoing relationships with them. Dehlin, a straight supporter of LGBT rights who was excommunicated by the
Mormon Church earlier this year, noted that “the inclusion of same-gender marriage as specific grounds for apostasy is surprising only because it really paints the church into a corner, and leaves them less room to slowly finesse a change over time.” “Progressives were still holding out hope, but many feel that this closes the door on future change,” he added. Dehlin predicted that the new policy would “trigger a huge round of excommunications for legally same-sex married Mormons.” Before the new handbook came out, bishops and congregational leaders had more discretion in when and how to discipline Mormons in same-sex marriages. Now that same-sex marriage has been added to a list of conditions considered apostasy, church members in such marriages will be subject to disciplinary hearings that could result in excommunication. “The church has long been on record as opposing same-sex marriages,” Mormon spokesperson Eric Hawkins said in a statement. “While it respects the law of the land, and acknowledges the right of others to think and act differently, it does not perform or accept same-sex marriage within its membership.” Affirmation, an organization for LGBT Mormons and their families, said it had received “a flood of reactions” from members expressing “grief, shock, disbelief and spiritual confusion.”
PRIDE LIVES suicide prevention walk by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor The LGBTQ community is sadly no stranger to hearing that one of our own has died by suicide. From youth to seniors in our community, the rate at which some LGBTQ people have fallen victim to suicide is disproportionate to that of our straight counterparts. And we know that attempts at suicide are particularly high among the Transgender population especially. Despite a number of campaigns aimed at curbing these tragedies the death rate does not show any signs of subsiding. However, a coali-
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tion of local organizations and businesses plan to launch a program this weekend that takes aim at suicide prevention to let people who might be suffering from depression and thoughts of suicide know that there are resources and that they are not alone. Pride Lives is scheduled to take place Saturday, November 14 at 2 p.m. `“Volunteers will walk Capitol Hill with suicide prevention materials we’ve designed,” said the group on their official Facebook page, www.facebook.com/PrideLives. “We’ll start at the Cuff Complex (1533 13th Ave.) and walk across the Hill visiting businesses and giving them signs
and handouts to display. This gets needed resource info out to the public right in the spaces where we live and play.” The coalition behind the project is made up of the LGBTQ community’s leather scene: Seattle Pups and Handlers (SEAPAH), Washington State Mr. & Ms. Leather Organization (WSMLO), Seattle Men in Leather (SML), Seattle Girls of Leather (SgoL), Seattle Boys of Leather (SBOL), The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Abbey of Saint Joan, Seattle Women in Leather (SWL), and the Cuff Complex (where the after-party will be held).
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30-month federal hate crime sentence in Capitol Hill knife attack
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor
Crimes against people, such as assault, muggings, malicious harassment always seem to spike in the summer. But 2015 was different. While crimes against people did not necessarily rise in January and February of this year, bias crimes (hate crimes) did. One of the incidents that made headlines and led to a town hall conversation attended by over 300 people to address crime in the LGBTQ neighborhood of Capitol Hill happened January 25. On that date, Troy Deacon Burns threatened three men with a knife while yelling homophobic slurs near Harvard and E. Pike. According to investigators, Burns had been living in shelters, is addicted to drugs, and was on Capitol Hill to sell meth the night of the crime. The cops were called and SPD swooped in and made an arrest. Not every incident ends the same way. Luckily, for the victims of this incident the story not only shows an arrest was made but that a prosecution in a
federal courtroom happened, too. The Department of Justice announced Monday afternoon that Burns, 38, was convicted of a federal hate crime for the January attack on Capitol Hill and has been sentenced to two and a half years in jail. Burns faced up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Because the knife “travelled in interstate commerce,” prosecutors were able to charge the defendant in federal court. The DOJ announcement reads: A Bremerton, Washington, man has been sentenced to 30 months in prison following his conviction of a federal hate crime, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta, head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, and U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes of the Western District of Washington. Troy Deacon Burns, 38, was charged with violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Burns pleaded guilty on Aug. 5, 2015, and
admitted that just after midnight on Jan. 25, 2015, he attacked three gay men who were walking in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. Burns admitted in his plea agreement that he came up behind the three men and shouted homophobic slurs. Burns then raised a knife over his head in a stabbing position. Fearing for their safety, the men started running. As Burns caught up to one of the men, he again used a slur and attempted to stab the man. One of the other men was able to pull his friend away from Burns. The third man located Seattle police officers who took Burns into custody. While detained in the police car, Burns continued to yell homophobic slurs. During the plea hearing, Burns said he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of the assault and claimed that he does not remember his actions. “The Department of Justice will continue to vigilantly protect the rights of victims who are targeted simply because of their sexual orientation,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Gupta.
“Six years have passed since the enactment of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and it continues to serve as an important tool for federal law enforcement.” “No one should have to fear attack because of their sexual orientation when they walk down the streets of the cities and towns in Western Washington,” said U.S. Attorney Hayes. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to working closely with the Civil Rights Division to ensure cases like this are prosecuted and that the common decency that is at the heart of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act is respected by all.” The case was investigated by the Seattle Police Department and the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Miyake of the Western District of Washington and Trial Attorney Saeed Mody of the Civil Rights Division. The King County, Washington, Prosecuting Attorney’s Office provided significant assistance with the case as well.
“LGBTQ and the Police: Changing Cultures from the Inside” A panel discussion at Central Washington Univerity by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Seattle Gay News was invited to attend and participate in a Monday afternoon (November 9) panel discussion at Central Washington University (CWU) with community organizations and law enforcement officials from the Seattle Police Department, King County Sheriff ’s Office, U.S. Department of Justice and Equal Rights Washington (ERW) called “LGBTQ and the Police: Changing Cultures from the Inside.” I joined fellow panelists for the community presentation in the Central Washington University Student Union and Recreation Center Pit. The event was sponsored by the CWU Law and Justice department and the Center for Diversity and Social Justice. Nearly 60 students were in attendance and community members included the local police chief and media. The focus was on how law enforcement agencies in Seattle and King County are working to become more LGBTQ friendly. The key word in that focus is “working.” Everybody agrees that more needs to be done but considering the alternative, whereas up until recently little to nothing had been done in this area of policing, the strides that have been made towards a more understanding and accepting police force have been good ones. Seattle Police Department’s LGBTQ Liaison Officer Jim Ritter, who helped organize the event, talked to the students about the successful SPD SAFE PLACE Program and how, when he joined the police force over 30 years ago, there was only one out Gay officer and so he remained in the closet. “The Seattle Police Department was not always LGBTQ friendly,” Ritter said, pointing out that “In the late 1960s some police officers were involved in racketeering,
Central Washington University - “LGBTQ & The Police” – Courtesy of Shaun Knittel
where they would shake down local businesses. Officers also shook down businesses owned by Gay people, but additionally took their customer lists and threatened to blackmail customers.” The Seattle Police Department is a completely different place today in terms of LGBTQ employment. Ritter, a Central Washington University alumnus, said he came out to fellow officer’s 22-years ago and now the department boasts nearly 60 out LGB officers and that the department just hired their first known Transgender officer. Ritter finds that LGBTQ crimes were sometimes not being reported. That is the driving force behind why he started SAFE PLACE. The SAFE PLACE Program works to provide the LGBTQ community with signs and resources with easily accessible safety information. The Safe Place Program focuses on reducing anti-LGBTQ crimes and bullying and encourages the reporting of LGBTQ crimes. “Whatever policies we come up with in Seattle have a ripple effect,” he said. And that is not lip-service; since the program’s launch last June, more than 700
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businesses have signed up to be a part of SAFE PLACE, a number of incidents have been reported and investigated through the SPD SAFE PLACE website, www.seattle. gov/spd-safe-place, and the successful program has been reported on from as far away as Dubai and Japan. Michelle Bennett, LGBTQ liaison for the King County Sheriff ’s Office, and former Maple Valley Chief of Police, has been following Ritter’s lead when it comes to improving LGBTQ relationships, and is focusing on diversity within her department. Bennett, a 25-year law enforcement professional, talked about what it was like to be Lesbian and a woman on the force. She told attendees about how earlier in her career she once got asked whether she actually had bullets in her gun and whether her vest was real and somebody even asked her that between her and her wife, “which one of you is the woman and which one is the man?” “You couldn’t be out, you had to talk in gender neutral terms,” she said. “It was very different.” Like Ritter, she says the environment has changed though more work is needed.
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She says her main focus is on improving the LGBTQ and police relationship through diversity recruiting. “Part of what we need to do within our department is we need to reflect the community we’re serving,” she said. Knight Sor, conciliation specialist for the U.S. Department of Justice, talked with students, faculty and residents from the surrounding community about the role the DOJ plays in battling hate crimes. “The one thing you never want to do if your community or school experiences hate crimes is to remain silent,” Sor said. “That is what they want. The people that commit these crimes are watching for things like silence. They will do it again if they think a community can be silenced.” Monisha Harrell, board chair for Equal Rights Washington, spoke about the importance of having LGBTQ representation on the police force and the various things that ERW is working on. In addition to representing SGN, I was asked to speak also as the founder and president of Social Outreach Seattle (SOSea) because of the work my organization has done by working with SPD, local community leaders and by developing our neighborhood LGBTQ SAFETY SHUTTLE and monthly self-defense classes (www.SocialOutreachSeattle.com). At the end of the panel presentation, each speaker made themselves available for questions and answers and even met with students one-on-one at the end of the event to speak with them about LGBTQ and the police.
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TPP treaty shortchanges LGBT people
Leaders of TPP member states – en.wikipedia.org
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Despite the Obama administration’s commitment to LGBT rights, the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) trade treaty it is promoting fails to protect LGBT people in the countries that are set to sign on to the deal. The TPP is a free trade agreement that will include 12 Pacific Rim countries, much like previous trade treaties – NAFTA and CAFTA, for example – but much bigger. When all the papers are signed, fully 40% of world trade will come under the agreement. The countries involved in the deal are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Sin-
gapore, the U.S. and Vietnam. In some of those countries, however, same-sex relations are illegal. In Brunei, for example, the reigning sultan has enacted a law in the country, which punishes “sodomy” with stoning to death. As part of TPP agreement, Brunei will “prohibit discrimination in respect of employment and occupation, including on the basis of race, sex, color, religion, political opinion and extraction,” but it will not guarantee the rights of LGBT residents. In Singapore and Malaysia, remnants of British colonial-era law make it illegal for men – but curiously enough not for women – to have sex. Gay sex is punishable by a sentence of two years in prison in Singapore, and up to 20 years in Malaysia, although the law is reportedly not enforced in
Singapore, and is only enforced on Muslims in Malaysia. Neither country has promised to lift bans on Gay sex, although Malaysia has said it will “remove the prohibitions on employment of women in certain occupations.” But even in the countries that have laws protecting their LGBT residents, the TPP will put those laws at risk. Several chapters of the TPP treaty impose limits on what participating government can do, if their laws in any way restrict trade. For example, regulations that guarantee safe food, a clean environment, worker health and safety, and workers’ rights – including protections against discrimination – could limit the ability of companies to invest and trade, so they might be overruled by the treaty.
All U.S. federal, state and local policies would be required to comply with TPP rules, which do not include protections for LGBT people. The treaty would also give corporations standing to sue participating governments to overrule laws or policies the corporations believe interfere with trade. Courts would also be authorized to order taxpayer compensation to the foreign corporations for the “expected future profits” they claim they would lose because of the challenged policies. Even worse from a legal point of view, the U.S. Constitution makes treaties “the supreme law of the land” along with constitutional provisions, so once the TPP is ratified U.S. citizens can’t sue for redress if the treaty violates their rights. No wonder LGBT rights groups have criticized the TPP. In 2014 HRC, the National LGBTQ Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality petitioned the White House to require Brunei to address its human rights violations as part of the deal. Democratic presidential hopefuls Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are both opposed to the treaty and Sen. Elizabeth Warren has condemned it, both for involving countries with poor human rights records, and fear of what it will do to the domestic job market and manufacturing. Sanders described the deal as “disastrous” for workers’ rights. The TPP must be ratified by the U.S. Senate. Both of Washington’s senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, voted to fasttrack the treaty and are considered likely to vote to ratify it.
96,000 same-sex couples married since Supreme Court decision by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor
Since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized marriage equality nationwide in June, the 96,000 same-sex couples who have tied the knot account for 11 percent of all summer weddings, according to an analysis released today by Gary J. Gates, Blachford-Cooper Distinguished Scholar and Research Director, and Taylor N.T. Brown, Policy Analyst, at the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. In the first half of 2015, same-sex couples comprised just 6 percent of all marriages. From July to October, same-sex couples comprised 11 percent of all marriages. The study, titled “Marriage and Samesex Couples after Obergefell,” analyzes new data from the Gallup Daily Tracking survey and the American Community Survey to show the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court marriage decisions in Windsor v. United States in June 2013 and Obergefell v. Hodges in June 2015. “The data makes it clear that the majority of same-sex couples in the United States will soon be married,” Gates said. “That means more American children can benefit from the stability and economic security that marriage can provide. It also means that it will be easier for more families to
equality will continue to grow,” Gates said. In addition, marriages by same-sex couples have generated an estimated $813 million boost to state and local economies and $52 million in state and local sales tax revenue since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision extending marriage equality nationwide in June, according to a new study by Christy Mallory, Senior Counsel and Anna M. Curren Fellow at the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.
96,000 same-sex couples wed since Obergefell decision in June – fistfuloftalent.com
adopt some of the country’s most vulnerable children and provide stable and loving homes.” Key findings from the report include: • In the first half of 2015, same-sex couples comprised just 6 percent of all marriages. From July to October, same-sex couples comprised 11 percent of all marriages. • In 2013, the year the Windsor ruling was issued, an estimated 230,000 same-sex couples were married, or 21 percent of all
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same-sex couples. • By June 2015 just before Obergefell was decided, 390,000 same-sex couples were married, or 38 percent of all same-sex couples. • As of October, 486,000 same-sex couples are married, or 45 percent of all samesex couples. “As Americans attend the weddings of their friends, family, and work colleagues, research shows that support for marriage
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Key findings from the report include: • Total spending on those marriages generated an estimated $813 million, including $635 million on weddings and $178 million by out-of-state guests. • This economic boost has added an estimated $52 million in sales tax revenue to state and local coffers. • This spending could support an estimated 9,700 jobs for one full year. This study, titled “Estimating the Economic Impact of Marriage for Same-sex Couples after Obergefell,” estimates the impact of those marriages on state and local economies, sales tax revenue and job creation. Both studies can be read, in full, at www. williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu.
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the men and attempted to stab him. One of the other men then intervened and pulled his companion away. The third man located Seattle police officers who took Burns into custody. While detained in the police car, Burns continued to yell homophobic slurs. During the plea hearing, Burns said he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the
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White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the administration has been reviewing the bill “for several weeks.” “Upon that review it is now clear that the administration strongly supports the Equality Act,” he said. “That bill is historic legislation that would advance the cause of equality for millions of Americans.” “We look forward to working with Congress to ensure that the legislative process produces a result that balances both the bedrock principles of civil rights, like those I’ve just described, with the religious liberty that we hold dear in this country,” Earnest added. The legislation was introduced simultaneously in the Senate and the House in July
time of the assault and claimed that he did not remember what had occurred. The case was investigated by the Seattle Police Department and the FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bruce Miyake of the Western District of Washington and Trial Attorney Saeed Mody of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division prosecuted the case with the assistance of the King County Prosecutor’s Office. The FBI and DOJ got involved in the case because Burns’s knife was acquired through interstate commerce, thereby
opening the case to federal jurisdiction. Burns was charged under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. “The Department of Justice will continue to vigilantly protect the rights of victims who are targeted simply because of their sexual orientation,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Gupta. “Six years have passed since the enactment of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and it continues to serve as an important tool for
federal law enforcement.” “No one should have to fear attack because of their sexual orientation when they walk down the streets of the cities and towns in Western Washington,” said U.S. Attorney Hayes. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to working closely with the Civil Rights Division to ensure cases like this are prosecuted and that the common decency that is at the heart of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act is respected by all.”
by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Representative David N. Cicilline (DRI). Thirty-seven Democratic Senators and two Independents – Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine – are cosponsors, along with 170 Democratic House members. Since Republicans now control both chambers of Congress, there is little chance that the measure will become law before Obama leaves office. In 2012 the federal EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) interpreted Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, barring discrimination in the workplace, to include Transgender workers under the category of sex discrimination, and in July this year it extended that decision to cover
all LGBT workers. In September, a Gay man who had been fired from his job became the first person to test the new EEOC ruling in court. Nevertheless, a federal law would afford LGBT Americans more permanent protection than an agency ruling, which has not yet been litigated by the courts. In any case, Title VII on workplace discrimination is only one of many protections in the Civil Rights Act. Responding to the White House announcement, HRC President Chad Griffin said in a statement that “the White House sent a strong message that it’s time to put the politics of discrimination behind us once and for all.” “The unfortunate reality is that, while LGBT Americans can legally get married, millions remain at risk of being fired or de-
nied services for who they are or who they love because the majority of states still lack explicit, comprehensive non-discrimination protections,” Griffin added. On the other hand, some human rights activists have been skeptical of opening the Civil Rights Act for revision, even though they support the concept of federal legal protection for LGBT Americans. Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in an interview that the civil rights community has “supported the concept of the Equality Act from its very inception.” “It recognizes, however, there are questions that could benefit from further analysis,” he added. “Before it moves forward, there’s hope that those can be addressed.”
Vatican meets with U.S. LGBT envoy by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Randy Berry, the U.S. Special Envoy for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons, met privately with Vatican officials on November 10. Details of Berry’s meeting with officials from the Holy See’s Secretary of State’s office, the Vatican equivalent of the U.S. State Department, were not released. Berry is on a three-week trip to European capitals. The meeting between Berry and the Vatican was described as a “first-of-its-kind” event. This past spring, the Vatican refused to receive Gay French ambassador Laurent Stefanini. France eventually withdrew Stefanini’s nomination. Observers speculated that the Vatican objected to Stefanini because he is married and his husband might have turned up at diplomatic receptions, requiring the Holy See’s diplomats to recognize their relationship. However, Berry’s mission will not focus on marriage rights, but on the twin foreign policy issues of anti-LGBT violence and discrimination, which are less problematic from the Vatican’s point of view. That strategy, Berry says, allows for common ground with the Vatican to stand together against extreme violence. “We were not there to talk about issues
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Pope Francis leaves St. Peter’s Square after his weekly audience at The Vatican on Nov. 11, 2015 – Giullo Origlia / Getty Images
of civil unions or same sex marriage, for example, because that is not part of our policy,” Berry told Time magazine. “That is not part of the conversation we were interested
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in engaging in, nor do I think were they.” Berry was appointed in February, as the first LGBT rights envoy in U.S. history. He is a career diplomat who has served in Ne-
pal, Uganda, and the Netherlands.
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Greek government to introduce civil partnerships by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Greece’s left-wing government announced November 9 that it would soon introduce a bill opening civil partnerships to same-sex couples. Under existing Greek law, opposite-sex couples who don’t want to be married by the Orthodox Church can sign a cohabitation agreement and get almost the same rights as married couples. The new law would open those legal protections to Gay and Lesbian couples. According to Greek Justice Minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos the bill would give same-sex couples the same tax and pension benefits and the same inheritance rights as opposite-sex couples in civil partnerships. Adoptions by same-sex couples will be the subject of a separate bill, to be introduced in the future, Paraskevopoulos said. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the country’s first openly atheist leader, is currently in a civil partnership with his high school sweetheart Peristera Batziana. They have two sons. Tsipras promised to enact civil partner-
ships for same-sex couples in the campaign leading up to Greece’s January elections, but his government was preoccupied with debt negotiations with its European creditors. After signing a new accord with the European Central Bank and winning a second election in September, Tsipras is now in a position to deliver on non-economic parts of his platform. Paraskevopoulos said that in addition to equalizing civil partnerships, the bill would also expand the country’s anti-racism laws by banning discrimination on the basis of sex and religion. Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens, head of the ultra-traditionalist Greek Orthodox Church, did not have an immediate reaction to the new legislation, but he has previously denounced civil partnerships as “a poor imitation” of marriage and “a neoliberal rewarding of irresponsibility in interpersonal relations which it relegates to a simple transaction.” Ieronymos is considered a moderate in the church. In 2008, when the socialist mayor of the island of Tilos married one Gay and one Lesbian couple, several bishops denounced the ceremonies as an “abomina-
Greek flags in front of the Greek Pantheon – www.analystratingreports.com
tion,” but Ieronymos shrugged them off. “They weren’t members of the Church and they didn’t get married in a church,” he said, “so the church really has nothing to say about it.” Although the Prime Minister is an atheist and refused to allow the Archbishop to swear him in, the two leaders are reportedly
on cordial terms. In 2009, a Greek court ruled the Tilos marriages invalid, but in 2013 the European Court of Human Rights said that Greece could not discriminate against same-sex couples in its civil partnership laws.
Ukraine defies EU, rejects bill to protect LGBT workers
Ukrainian membership in the EU. Exactly one year ago, Ukraine plunged into a political crisis when then-president Victor Yanukovich canceled a trade deal with the EU and moved toward an alliance with Russia. A rebellion by anti-Russian Ukrainians drove Yanukovich from office. A subsequent Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory seemed like it would drive the
country into the arms of the EU, and the debate on the nondiscrimination bill echoed those concerns. “It’s better to have a gay parade on [the main street of Kiev] than Russian tanks in the center of the Ukrainian capital,” said Yuriy Lutsenko, an ally of pro-EU Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko. “I believe that if we go to Europe, we must recognize the rules adopted in the European Union. Unfortunately, in two or three parliamentary factions there are grave doubts.” Gay journalist and activist Maxim Eristavi said the parliament was not concerned with LGBT issues, but was expressing deeprooted homophobia. “In the last year, or even in the last two years, the situation got so much worse in so many ways, especially when it comes to violence that is absolutely not controlled by law enforcement bodies,” he told Gay Star News. “There is a rising culture of absence of prosecution for those initiating violence against minorities, including but not limited to LGBTI.” In spite of the two votes against LGBT rights, Erivasti said public opinion would eventually back whatever measures were needed to join the EU. “In case of Ukraine, where so many people really aspire to rejoin the European Family, it seems they can accept a lot of things they don’t understand for the sake of the greater good,” he said. Eristavi added that some politicians were stirring up anti-LGBT sentiments to distract people from the long-term implications of joining Europe. “It’s easier than just talking about the real issues,” he said.
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Ukraine parliament – www.catholicismusa.com
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer In defiance of European human rights laws, the Ukrainian parliament blocked a bill to protect LGBT employees from being fired because of their sexual orientation. Only 207 MPs voted in favor of the new law, 19 short of a majority. It was the second time in as many weeks
that the parliament voted down the measure. The Ukraine has no laws on its books against hate crimes or discrimination against LGBT residents. Passing the bill was one of the conditions required by the EU (European Union) before it will allow Ukrainian citizens to travel in Europe without visas, and it would have been seen as progress towards eventual
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Lawyer who defeated DOMA speaks to Philadelphia Gay News
by Paige Cooperstein Philadelphia Gay News Special to the SGN [EDITOR’S NOTE: This interview was submitted to the SGN by Philadelphia Gay News last month as part of their annual LGBT History Month editorial celebration. Due to time constraints, the SGN was not able to run this interview until now. Roberta Kaplan appeared in Seattle at Town Hall on October 21. Her new book, Then Comes Marriage: United States v. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA came out October 5.] Edie Windsor, charismatic, stylish and articulate, found herself widowed just shy of her 80th birthday. She hadn’t yet been married two years to her spouse, Thea Spyer, who died of complications from a heart condition on February 5, 2009. Windsor and Spyer had been together more than 40 years by the time they made the treacherous journey to Canada, soon after the case for marriage equality failed in their home state of New York. Spyer had lost the use of almost all of her limbs to multiple sclerosis and used a wheelchair. The two married on May 22, 2007, at the Sheraton Gateway, a business hotel in Terminal 3 of the Toronto Pearson International Airport. Roberta Kaplan, a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, relates the scene in her new book, Then Comes Marriage: United States v. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA. It came out October 5. Kaplan, also a lesbian, filed the lawsuit that ultimately resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court declaring Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. After Spyer died, Windsor inherited her estate. But because the two were a gay couple, the government did not recognize a tax exemption typically granted to married couples. Windsor had to pay $363,053 in federal taxes and $275,528 in state taxes. “If Thea had been ‘Theo’ – in other words, if she had been born a man rather than a woman – then Edie, upon being widowed, would not have had to pay a single penny of estate tax on her inheritance,” Kaplan writes. As Kaplan, a Philadelphia native who earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology
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Roberta Kaplan and her new book – latimes.com
from Temple University, argued her case for Windsor she built her strategy around one imperative, which she kept on a Post-It: “It’s all about Edie, stupid.” Since the Supreme Court struck down DOMA on June 26, 2013, Windsor has earned a reputation as a cult hero. Kaplan wrote about Windsor’s reception at Stonewall in New York City on the afternoon of the 5-4 decision: “When Edie stepped out of the car, the crowd, which had packed the streets and sidewalks, went crazy. She waved her hands and blew kisses, beaming with joy as people clapped, cheered, and screamed her name.” In a phone interview with Philadelphia Gay News, Kaplan noted, “Who wouldn’t want to spend their mid-80s like Edie Windsor has? What a way to spend them.” On October 13, Kaplan spoke in conversation with Tobias Barrington Wolff, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania,
“Involved in some of the most important legal developments of recent years” (The Financial Times), Roberta Kaplan made history as the first lawyer to successfully defeat the Defense of Marriage Act in the U.S. Supreme Court. A partner in the Litigation Department of the New York-based law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, she is also an adjunct professor of law at Columbia University. The American Lawyer magazine named her as one of “The 100 Most Influential Lawyers” in the U.S. and 2013 Litigator of the Year. Then Comes Marriage tells the story of Kaplan’s Supreme Court victory in terms of its personal, political, and legal triumphs. In conversation with Tobias Barrington Wolff, professor of law, University of Pennsylvania] In advance of her talk at the Free Library of Philadelphia, PGN got a chance to chat
Edie Windsor (background to the left) and Roberta Kaplan – Mark Wilson / Getty Images
at Parkway Central Library in Philadelphia. [NOTE: That conversation can be heard at https://libwww.freelibrary.org/ podcast/?podcastID=1405 Roberta Kaplan | Then Comes Marriage: United States v. Windsor and the Defeat of DOMA Recorded 10/13/2015 – Listen to MP3 audio
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with Kaplan about everything from her own coming out to challenging DOMA and becoming friends with Edie Windsor. The interview transcription has been lightly edited for clarity. PGN: You talk a lot about how you felt like it was fate for you to take Edie Windsor’s case. You sought help in your comingout process from Thea Spyer, a psycholo-
gist, in 1991, years before meeting Edie or taking her case. It seems like it was also fate for the case against DOMA to be won at the particular time in American history when it was. Did it feel like there was something in the water around 2009 for the sea change to happen so quickly? Kaplan: To use a corporate legal and a civil-rights legal term, I think a lot of the “smart money” in this area – and people who work in this field, including, of course, Mary Bonauto [Civil Rights Project director at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders] – had a sense that the next step to ultimately win equal protection under the law for gay people nationwide was to challenge DOMA. Everyone knew that the ultimate case was going to be a version of Obergefell. [The Obergefell v. Hodges decision in June essentially created marriage equality nationwide]. Ultimately, we as a community were going to ask the court to recognize and require marriage nationwide. But, before that, you have to get the Supreme Court used to the idea of gay people being married. That, in itself, was a relatively recent phenomenon. The best legal way to do that, I think everyone believed, and correctly, was to challenge DOMA, because DOMA on its face was such an irrational statute. If you think of the timeline here, marriages between gay couples only started in Massachusetts in 2003. Now, Thea died in 2009, so it’s only six years later. The facts are truly incredible. When we filed Edie’s case, in early 2010, only five states allowed gay couples to marry, and that didn’t even include New York. When I argued the case at the Supreme Court, I think it was nine. When we won the case in June [2013], it was 13. And then it just exploded. It’s easy to look back today and say, “Oh this was so obvious. Obviously this was going to happen.” But in 2009, that wasn’t necessarily the case. Marriage rights for gay people were still a pretty rare and pretty unique thing in this country. PGN: It was believed in 2013 that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was against rendering a 50-state ruling establishing the right to marriage between gay couples. What do you think happened over the next two years to change Ginsburg’s mind? Kaplan: First of all, she wasn’t that explicit, let me be clear, when she gave that interview to [Jeffrey] Toobin in The New Yorker. I think a lot of people interpreted her as meaning that she was being cautious. But she didn’t come right out and say that. The reason it came out is, she was comparing the marriage issue to her theory about Roe v. Wade. Her theory about Roe v. Wade is that it arguably went too far too fast and created political backlash. I think the answer for Justice Ginsburg is probably the answer for most Americans, frankly: More and more people got – and I hate to use this phrase here, but – “gay married.” So people who [Ginsburg] knew and loved – former clerks, colleagues, friends, etc. – got married. Once people get married, you see that the lives they live are no different, and the relationships they have and the marriages they have, are no different than the marriages and relationships of anyone else. In particular, I think with Edie and Thea, who were together for so long – and, in certain ways, their marriage existed over the same period as Justice Ginsburg’s relationship to her late husband – I think she, like so many others, came to her standards really funda-
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mentally about equality. PGN: You write in the book, “Because I was the only openly gay attorney arguing on either Perry or Windsor, I also wanted to make sure I kept my emotions as separate as I could from my argument.” How did you negotiate the balance of your emotions in your argument? Did the Supreme Court justices know about your sexuality, and did opposing counsel ever try to use your sexuality as an argument against your case? Kaplan: First of all, absolutely not, with respect to opposing counsel. They never raised the issue. I would’ve been shocked had they done so. Paul Clement and his colleagues are at the top of our profession and conducted themselves incredibly professionally and courteously throughout. So that was really never an issue. With respect to the justices, I can’t tell you what the justices knew. However, if you Googled my name at that point in time, you would’ve been able to figure out pretty quickly that I was an open lesbian, married with a kid; or, at least, that I was a lesbian and married. With respect to the personal issues in the case, part of it was – and I believe this is true for any client – I think it’s my job as a lawyer to separate out, at all times, to the greatest extent possible, whatever personal views, etc., I have about a case. Once I decide to take a case, my job is to be the advocate for my client. Whatever personal stuff I have is irrelevant and has to be treated as irrelevant. I think one of the reasons I had that Post-It, which said, “It’s all about Edie, stupid,” on my computer when I was working on the brief, was not only to constantly remind myself that the best way strategically to win this case was to focus on the facts of Edie and Thea’s life together, but to tell myself, I think subconsciously, that I needed to keep my stuff out of it. You know, I can’t be my own shrink, but I think I did a pretty good job of doing that here. I really channeled all of my energy [into it]. Let me put it to you this way, every decision we made in the case, was based on only one criteria and that was: Will doing X or Y help Edie Windsor win her case and get her money back? That was the only criteria on which we made decisions. It was the right criteria and it made making those decisions actually pretty easy. However, there were (emotional) times. For example, when I listen back now on the oral arguments, at the end there’s a question where the chief justice asks me something like, “Isn’t it true that politicians are falling all over themselves to support your side of the case?” When I answer him, my voice cracks a little bit. When I hear that crack in my voice, when I hear it now, to me that’s kind of the Robbie Kaplan coming out. I think at that point I couldn’t keep it in anymore. In retrospect, I don’t think it was damaging at all, and, arguably, it was probably kind of effective. It certainly wasn’t intentional. But I think for the most part, I did a pretty good job of keeping the Robbie Kaplan part of this stuff closed and shut until, of course, we won the case. PGN: During Mary Bonauto’s early years at GLAD [Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders], gay people faced so much legalized discrimination, you write, that it seemed entirely beside the point to pursue marriage, which clearly was not going to happen anytime soon. Why do you think marriage equality ended up coming before comprehensive nondiscrimination laws at the federal level or even in many states? Kaplan: I actually think this is pretty easy. Look, as I said before, marriage is hard. I’m not taking the position that anyone should or should not get married. That’s a choice everyone has to make individually, and I have no issue with people who don’t
believe in the institution of marriage. That’s fine. But if you think about how our society recognizes the commitment that a person has to another person, a lifetime commitment, that’s through marriage. If you think about, what is it that distinguishes gay people from everyone else, it’s the fact that they choose to have that commitment with someone of the same sex. In order for society, American society and the legal system, to truly recognize the fundamental equality of gay people, it needed to recognize their equality in marriage because marriage is how our society recognizes the essence of being gay or straight. I actually think it made total sense for marriage to happen first the way it did. Ironically, I think most people in America today think that discrimination is illegal technically even if in certain jurisdictions it may not be. But marriage, as a symbolic matter, was the necessary first step. Frankly, it was not only the first step. It’s the step that’s going to quickly lead to everything else that we’ve already seen. PGN: Is there anything that can be learned from Windsor and the marriage movement to help nondiscrimination laws move forward? Kaplan: In Windsor and of course
large tax bill to the state and federal governments, most of that was due to the fact that, like many New Yorkers, she bought an apartment in New York City in the late ’70s, and like any piece of property in New York City, it greatly appreciated in value. I saw no issue with Edie’s wealth. I don’t even like to say wealth because, again, it’s all relative. I saw no issue with challenging DOMA. There was even some disagreement among the movement people about whether it was time to bring a DOMA case. I was very much in the camp that it was absolutely the time to bring a DOMA case. I thought Edie was perfect. I think her story, her life that she lived with Thea [was perfect]. Talk about a marriage with “in sickness and in health, till death do us part.” Talk about living through ups and downs with Thea’s multiple sclerosis and her paralysis; the lives they both lived, even before they met, and the kind of discrimination they encountered, which seems surprising to so many people today. And then, quite frankly, it didn’t hurt that she’s this beautiful, charismatic, stylish, articulate woman, who is better at making these points and telling her story than anyone I can think of. PGN: Justice Kennedy wrote, “Interference with the equal dignity of same-sex
Edie Windsor (l) and Roberta Kaplan – Courtesy of Philadelphia Gay News
Obergefell, which heavily relies on Windsor, what’s the fundamental holding of those cases? The fundamental holding is that gay people have the same dignity under the law as anyone else. Once you accept that proposition, I think it’s very hard to justify any law that discriminates against gay people on its face. There are very few of those laws left. One of the last ones left is the one I’m currently challenging in Mississippi (which forbids gay couples from adopting children). But, coming from that position, I think it’s very hard to say it’s OK for a city government to fire someone because they’re gay or for a shopkeeper to say to a kid, “I’m not going to sell you a chocolate ice cream cone because you have two moms.” I just think that makes no sense. The country has already realized that. I think the courts are realizing it as well. PGN: When you first started working with Edie on challenging DOMA, many of the major LGBT-rights groups worried that it wasn’t the right time to push for marriage, and they worried about making a wealthy woman the face of the movement. Did you have any qualms about Edie as the face of marriage equality? Kaplan: I can answer that in a really short answer, which is: No. I thought for so many reasons that Edie was the perfect client, assuming she was willing and able. She was the perfect person to be the face of this movement. While Edie, obviously, was privileged enough to have to pay a very
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marriages was more than an incidental effect of DOMA. It was its essence.” How did it feel when you read that the justices in the majority opinion so clearly understood the argument you made? Kaplan: I’m trying to think of the right adjective. I mean, it was incredible. It was an incredible feeling of gratitude, an incredible feeling of satisfaction, an incredible feeling of a job well done. I think one of the things that doesn’t come out enough for lawyers is – I certainly feel this way, and I think a lot of lawyers do – there’s a wonderful pleasure that I get in the craftsmanship of the law; putting together and writing a brief that’s complete, putting together facts, a story that’s convincing, being able to persuade the judge or court that your arguments are the right arguments. Of course, when Justice Kennedy wrote this, it was kind of the epitome of that. It was the high point. It was an incredible high is the way I would put it.
ten, I was able to say things that I would not say in a brief and I was able to talk about things that I obviously wouldn’t talk about in a brief. But I hope it’s true. I would like it to be true that if you read my voice in this book and you read my voice in my briefs, you’re going to be able to realize it’s the same person. That’s my goal, at least. I hope I’ve achieved it. I take great pride in writing briefs that anyone can understand. I hope the same things are true for this book. PGN: What was the hardest part of the book to write? Kaplan: The early stuff, for sure, about my own life. I really struggled with whether to include that. I realized, at some point, there was no way to tell this story and tell it honestly without talking about it. To write this book, I had to put down the “It’s all about Edie” Post-It and explain to people the full story. It’s hard. I think it’s hard for anyone. It’s hard writing about your past, obviously. We all do things and say things when we’re young that we wish we hadn’t said years from then. That was definitely the hardest part to write, and to get it right, to put it in words that I thought were honest and accurate about what had really happened. PGN: What was the easiest part of the book to write? Kaplan: Probably the easiest, and certainly most fun part of the book to write was the epilogue. Just to be able to kind of take from where we were in Windsor in 2013 and talk about everything that happened as a result, including Obergefell. Those words just flew out of my pen. It was a true pleasure to write that. PGN: Edie wrote the introduction for your book. In the early stages of her case, you wrote many letters to encourage judges to hurry the case through the litigation process because Edie was in poor health. You wanted her to live long enough to hear the final ruling in her case. How does it feel, now, knowing Edie not only lived long enough to enjoy the ruling in her case, but also became a longstanding family friend? Kaplan: It’s wonderful. First of all, I’ll be honest, I still worry about her health all the time. That part of loving someone and caring about someone hasn’t changed. We care about each other. But I said this throughout the case: The goal was making sure Edie got her money back. But the ultimate goal in the case was making sure Edie got her money back at a time when she could still enjoy it. There is no question that has happened. She so enjoys winning this case and has continued to be such a great spokesperson for our community and for the movement. On top of all that, we both have gotten this wonderful added bonus of becoming members of each other’s families. Who wouldn’t want to spend their mid-80s like Edie Windsor has? What a way to spend them.
PGN: What was the process of writing the book like for you? You wrote that at the firm where you work, Paul, Weiss, legal complaints tend to be more narrative than just saying X did this and Y resulted. Did that training factor into the way you wrote the book? Kaplan: I think it did. I write for a living, essentially. I spend a lot of my time writing. I love to write and I take great pride and pleasure in the craftsmanship of writing. Obviously, the way this book was writ-
PGN: What’s next for you? Kaplan: I like being a lawyer. It’s more that I love being a lawyer. I enjoy this type of work, the skill and craftsmanship of the law. I continue to do cases based on that. I enjoy all the cases I work on. I obviously am continuing to work in this area [LGBT rights]. We brought this pro-bono case against the Mississippi adoption ban and I very much look forward to the hearing in that case in Jackson, Miss., on November 6. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I plan to continue doing things the way I always have. If interesting cases come my way, I’m more than happy to do them. I just want to keep, for now, being a lawyer and writing briefs and arguing in courts and doing what I’ve been trained to do.
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