Issue 44 Volume 39
Celebrating 38 Years!
FRIDAY November 4, 2011 FREE! 25¢ in bookstores & news stands
LGBT HISTORY p. 4
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL p. 25
ASK MICHAEL p. 18
Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
New polling says LGBT community center WA voters 55% for plans continue – no funding marriage equality
A Washington poll released on October 31 shows that voters could approve a law giving
courtesy sound transit
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
equal marriage rights to same-sex couples if the legislature passes it in 2012. The University of Washington Center for Survey Research sampled 938 registered voters by phone between October 10 and October 30. Among other questions, they were asked: “Next year the legislature could pass a law allowing Gay and Lesbian couples to get married. If that happens, there could be a referendum in which voters would be asked to approve or reject the law. If such a referendum were held today … would you vote YES – that is, to keep the law in place allowing Gay and Lesbian couples to marry
Artist’s rendering of Broadway’s light-rail station, currently under construction
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor
In 2007, the Seattle LGBT Community Center closed, leaving America’s third-largest LGBT population without a space to call their own. There has been talk – mostly among LGBT non-profit see Poll page 21 executive directors, community
organizers, and the City of Seattle LGBT Commission – to once again lay the groundwork for the development of an LGBT community center on Capitol Hill. But where would the center be housed? If a center did emerge, what would it look like? And most importantly, who would fund such a project? After all, the last com-
munity center closed its doors amidst funding problems. Money talks, and in this economy, the talking is so scarce it could be heard as a whisper. Still, community leaders like Louise Chernin, the Greater Seatsee center page 20
Defense Department confirms 14 The Advocate’s benefits for Gay & Lesbian troops founder Aristide
“AJ” Laurent dies
Duval “Buck” Laurent, a farmhand, and Betty Weeks. He was reportedly an altar boy and choir leader at his local church. After graduating from high school in 1960, Laurent joined the Air Force, where he served four years as a signals intelligence operator. According to Laurent, his sexual orientation became an issue during his service. He was investigated by Air Force officials during his service in Turkey, and questioned by federal agents after his discharge, he said. Despite threats, he refused to inform on other Gay service members and remained proud of his military service. He later held a sign at the 1993 Gay march on Washington that featured a copy of his honorable discharge under the words, “I Served My Country! Did Rush courtesy queerty
• Service Members Group Life Insurance beneficiary, • Post Vietnam-era Veterans Assistance Program beneficiary, • All-volunteer Force Educational Assistance Program – Active Duty Death Benefit beneficiary, • Death Gratuity beneficiary, • Final Settlement of Accounts, • Wounded Warrior Designated Caregiver, • Thrift Savings Plan beneficiary, • Survivor Benefit for retirees, • Casualty Notification, • Escorts for Dependents of Deceased or Missing, • Designation of Persons Having Interest in Status of a Missing Member, by Shaun Knittel Department spokeswoman Eileen • Veterans’ Group Life Insurance SGN Associate Editor Lainez. “While these are not ‘new,’ beneficiary, now that we’ve confirmed these • Person Eligible to Receive EfIn their ongoing review of mili- additional benefits, we’re updat- fects of Deceased Persons, and tary benefits in connection with the ing the Quick Reference Guide to • Travel and Transportation Alrepeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” ensure all are aware of their ben- lowance: Attendance at Yellow Defense Department officials have eficiary options.” Ribbon Reintegration events. now identified a total of 14 benIn other words, Gay and Lesbian Eligibility for a number of other efits where service members may service members who were legally benefits, including on-base housdesignate beneficiaries of their married in states where same-sex ing and tax-free commissary shopchoosing – regardless of sexual marriage is legal, or who’ve en- ping, is restricted due to the federal orientation. tered a domestic partnership or Defense of Marriage Act. “We listed eight member-des- civil union, may legally designate “Unfortunately, this announceignated benefits in our original 14 benefits to their partner. ment does nothing to move the Quick Reference Guide, released The 14 benefits identified for September 20. We’ve now validat- members to designate whomever ed an additional six,” said Defense they wish as beneficiaries are: see benefits page 21
Aristide Laurent
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Aristide J. Laurent, Gay rights pioneer and founder of The Advocate newspaper, died on October 26 after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 70. Of Louisiana/Creole ancestry, Laurent was born in Alabama to
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Nick Ardizzone, Nate Gowdy, Joseph P. Herron, Shaun Knittel National Advertising Rep. Rivendell Media (212) 242-6863 Website Designer Barry Thorsness/Digital Team Works Seattle Gay News is published weekly by Frogs and Ink, Inc. © 2011, Frogs and Ink, Inc., all rights reserved. Reprints by permission. Publication of names, photographs or likenesses of any person, organization, event or business in this publication cannot be taken as any indication of the sexual orientation of the person, organization, event or business. Opinions expressed in bylined articles, columns, and letters are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff or management of this paper. Seattle Gay News welcomes unsolicited material, including letters to the editor, but reserves the right to edit or reject material. All rights revert to authors upon publication. We assume no liability for loss or damage of materials, solicited or not. We invite feedback, please write. And please play safe. It is our policy that no money shall be refunded if you choose to cancel your subscription or ad. However, credit towards any size ad will be given for the balance owed. No exceptions.
Historians need to step up to the plate litical system. The article showcases a man who is passionate about politics and the system that makes change. Some children grow up wanting to be doctors, lawyers, or artists. Was President Lincoln a Gay man? Were There are also those who grow up wanting President Buchanan and William King part- to be like Barney: a part of a system that ners? Can we prove that Lesbians and Trans will foster change and equality. For them people fought in the Revolutionary and Civil to know that LGBT people were a part of this system from the start and were wars? Was a Gay man the founder founders of this country of the U.S. military? Why is gives them great pride in any of this important? So, we’ve done themselves and hope A new passion has taken hold of me the our work. Now it’s the time for a future politicareer or work last year or so and, if for historians to step up to the cal in government. And you’ve been reading these pages or those plate. My personal promise: those are the children who will make in LGBT publicaThat will happen. the changes that will tions across the country, affect our future. you’ve witnessed its intenThis year’s National Gay Hissity: LGBT history, especially LGBT people in American history. It was in tory Project started out with a premise stated full bloom as part of our sixth annual Na- by a member of the far-right-wing Republican Party. The quote was, “Our founding tional Gay History Project in October. In the first year of the National Gay His- fathers did not have homosexuals in mind tory Project, we asked Congressman Bar- when they created this country.” The project ney Frank to write an essay on Gay history. this year proved that statement utterly false. It was an ambitious project and our writHe wrote eloquently about his early years in politics and his coming out as an openly ers delivered more than what was expected Gay member of Congress, and how difficult of them. If you hear that quote again, tell it was. He explained very clearly how even them about Baron von Steuben. Without in the 1960s, under liberal presidents such von Steuben, a Gay man, there would be no as Kennedy and Johnson, anti-Gay legisla- USA. Benjamin Franklin was the first U.S. oftion was still being ushered through the poby Mark Segal Courtesy of the Philadelphia Gay News
ficial to recruit a Gay man for the military; at that time, the Continental Army. Did you know that one of the most patriotic songs, “America the Beautiful,” was written by a lesbian, Katharine Lee Bates? And thanks to our reporting, the official library and home of President James Buchanan is finally beginning to admit that it is possible that he was Gay. (Read about Buchanan, his partner William Rufus King and the rest at www.epgn.com, under Special Coverage). So, we’ve done our work. Now it’s the time for historians to step up to the plate. My personal promise: That will happen. This year, 30 LGBT publications challenged historians to get LGBT history straight. The combined print run for this innovative historic coverage was be over 650,000 copies. The newspapers and magazines came from every major city in America and reached millions. Among those participating were leading LGBT publications in Atlanta (Gay Voice), Baltimore (Out Loud), Charlotte (Q Notes), Chicago (Windy City Times), Cleveland (Gay People’s Choice), Dallas (Dallas Voice), Denver (Out Front), Detroit (Between Lines), Harrisburg (Central Voice), Houston (Montrose Star), Las Vegas (Q Vegas), Los Angeles (Frontiers In La), Miami/Ft. Lauderdale (South Florida Gay News), Milwaukee (Wisconsin Gazette), Minneapolis/St. Paul (Lavender Magazine), Nashville (Out & About), New Orleans (Ambush), Philadelphia (Philadelphia Gay News), Phoenix (Echo Magazine), Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh’s Out), Orlando (Watermark), Portland (Just Out), Sacramento (Outword), Salt Lake City (Q Salt Lake), San Diego (Gay San Diego), San Francisco (Bay Area Reporter), Seattle (Seattle Gay News), Tampa (Watermark), And Washington, D.C. (Washington Blade). Mark Segal is founder and publisher of Philadelphia Gay News, the country’s oldest LGBT newsweekly. Sometimes called the dean of the Gay press, Segal is an awardwinning columnist and is fascinated by history.
In Loving Memory Of
Steve Foiles, Scott Roger Alpert, Cookie Andrews-Hunt, James Leland Moore, Randy Peters, Lee Richeson, Shaun Shelton, Jim Tully, James Arnold
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Celebrating 38 Years!
Stories captured in Day with HIV in America photo project by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Six weeks ago, more than 120 people across America captured a moment of their day to show the world the challenges and resolve of living with HIV. The poignant images and powerful stories of September 21, 2011, are now captured in a photo essay, A Day with HIV in America, and are available online at www.adaywithhivinamerica.com. The individuals, couples, families, and groups in these photographs, whether HIV-negative or positive, represent a collective portrait of what it means to live with or care for someone with HIV. “The goal of this online exhibition is to help remove the stigma of HIV by shining a light on everyday people coping with the virus, and to advance a community of understanding, care, and support,” said Jeff Berry, editor of Positively Aware, the magazine that published the photo essay. Some of the photographs share very private moments in a day of living with HIV.
Donna Dane, an HIV-positive mom from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, tells her young son goodnight. Ron Hudson from Durham, North Carolina, HIV-positive for more than 26 years, gives himself an insulin shot to battle the diabetes he acquired while taking antiretroviral drugs. Jonathan Reitan, HIV-positive for five years, fatigued from his daily course of medications, is pictured resting in the arms of his partner, Jonathon Broadwater, who is HIV-negative. Many individuals chose this photo essay as a way to say, “Please look at me, I have something important to share.” Justin B. Terry-Smith of Washington, D.C., a self-described “cyber HIV activist,” holds a children’s book he authored, I Have a Secret. The Reverend Andrena Ingram from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is shown attending a church conference in Orlando, Florida in a striking black-and-white photograph, except for the color of her bright red “HIV Positive” T-shirt, as she stands among her ministerial peers. Kenneth from Indiana, holding his pill box with his daily regimen of medication, said, “This is the first time
“The goal of this online exhibition is to help remove the stigma of HIV by shining a light on everyday people coping with the virus.”
I have ever submitted a picture of myself acknowledging to the world that I live with HIV.” “As I look at these photographs, I’m taken by both the common, day-to-day lives of everyone; people at home, with their families, at work,” said Chuck Panozzo, the bassist of the band Styx and himself HIV-positive. “Yet there’s a great sense of courage and strength overlying all these images.” Panozzo is an active supporter of the A Day with HIV in America project, having submitted a photograph of himself for last year’s essay. Some of the submitted photographs were of groups of people, like the staff on the steps of the Wright House Wellness Center in Austin, Texas, or members of the Black Treatment Advocates Network in Los Angeles, California. These and other groups wanted to share the word about their work in supporting the HIV/AIDS community. The subjects of the photographs range from the notable, including Illinois State Representative Greg Harris, one of only two state legislators in the U.S. who is
THANK YOU FOR GAY HISTORY COVERAGE Thank you for the in-depth and very well written series from the National Gay History Project during October. This series has added significant perspective to our celebration of Coming Out month. It highlighted the fact that we are not only everywhere, but we have been everywhere since the founding of
openly HIV-positive, to people such as Velietta Dickens Rogers, who led a very sheltered life because of her HIV. Rogers, pictured painting at an easel, described how the Stewpot Art Program in Dallas, Texas, “brought me out of the seclusion of my home where I’ve been for 18 years” after being diagnosed with HIV. Thirty-one images were selected from more than 160 submitted to be included in the November-December issue of Positively Aware. Many more of these photographs are available online at the A Day with HIV in America website. Perhaps the image that best sums up the sentiments expressed by the participants is one from a woman in the Bronx, New York. The image obscures her full face, and words on an ad placard above her head are cropped to say, “Learn. Acting.” “I love that phrase,” she says. “Having HIV and not being public about it sometimes feels like I am acting. Today I hope, by being a powerful example, I can erode the misconceptions and dismantle the stigma, and say this is a day with HIV in America.”
this country. If “Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell” had been law in 1776, we would not have benfited from Baron von Steuben’s leadership in creating the U.S. Army. We would still be British, the Tea Party would still be a polite afternoon break, and Seattle’s reigning queen would still be at Buckingham Palace. Nice job! Janice Van Cleve
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Joachim Ladefoged
Danish LGBT pioneer Axel Axgil dies by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
Axel Axgil holds a picture of himself with his late husband, Eigil.
Danish LGBT rights activist Axel Axgil died October 29. He was 96. Born Axel Lundahl-Madsen, he and his partner, Eigil Eskildsen adopted a new surname, Axgil, to symbolize their relationship. They had already been together over 40 years when formal recognition for their relationship finally came on October 1, 1989, when Copenhagen’s deputy mayor Tom Ahlberg officiated at a civil union ceremony for the Axgils and 10 other couples. In 1948, when Axel and Eigil were newly dating, they founded Forbundet af 1948 (The Association of 1948), Denmark’s first Gay rights organization, with several friends. They later said they were inspired by the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, then a new and groundbreaking document. By 1951, F-48’s membership had grown to 1,339 and there were branches in Sweden and Norway. In 1985, F-48 became Landsforeningen for Bøsser og Lesbiske, Forbundet af 1948 (the Danish National Association of Gays and Lesbians) or LBL. The couple also launched a magazine, Vennen (The Friend). In the 1950s, Axel and Eigil were convicted on pornography charges and sentenced to short prison terms for running a Gay modeling agency that published pictures of naked men.
It was then that the couple combined their first names into a new surname and used it in a public show of defiance. Later, the two men ran a resort hotel that catered to a predominantly Gay clientele. In 1989, after years of lobbying by the Axgils and other advocates, Denmark became the first country in the world to allow same-sex civil unions. The Axgils were the first of 11 couples – all men – to be legally united when the law took effect in 1989. Eigil Axgil died in 1995. British human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell credits Axel, who was then in his 70s, with helping him track down and expose Danish Nazi war criminal Dr. Carl Vaernet, who experimented on Gay prisoners in Buchenwald. “Axel Axgil deserves great admiration from all LGBT people,” Tatchell wrote. “Danes and humanitarians. A true hero. I salute him. He will live on through his extraordinary contribution to LGBT human rights. I feel very fortunate to have worked with him.” Vivi Jelstrup, a spokeswoman for LGBT Danmark, said Axgil in many ways personified the struggle for Gay rights in Denmark. “Axel Axgil was a modest man who never cast himself as a lonely warrior,” Jelstrup said. “He always underscored that there were many involved in the work and that it was a common cause.” LGBT Danmark said it planned a memorial service for Axgil at the organization’s annual meeting on November 5.
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor By a unanimous voice vote on November 3, a Senate committee approved Michael Walter Fitzgerald, a judicial nominee who could become the fourth openly Gay person to sit on the federal bench. President Obama nominated Fitzgerald in July, and he was approved in the Senate Judiciary Committee en banc as part of a group of nominees. Fitzgerald is the fourth out federal judicial nominee chosen by the White House. Upon confirmation, he would take a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and would be the first openly Gay federal judge in that state. “Moving Michael Fitzgerald’s nomination to the Senate floor is a positive step toward confirming a dedicated legal talent,” said Michael Cole-Schwartz, spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign. “We urge the full Senate to confirm him and help make the bench more representative of the diversity of the American public.” It is unknown when the full Senate will
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take up the Fitzgerald nomination because the Senate is currently facing a backlog of judicial nominees who have yet to receive votes. Erica Chabot, a Senate Judiciary Committee spokesperson, said 22 nominations were already pending on the floor before the committee approved Fitzgerald and other nominees on Thursday. “This nomination will join those and the others reported today on the floor,” Chabot said. “Sen. Leahy has been very clear about his concerns with how long nominations are pending on the floor after being reported by the committee.” The Fitzgerald nomination was recommended to Obama by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-California), who also praised the committee for advancing the Fitzgerald nomination and called for swift confirmation on the Senate floor. “I am so pleased that the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved Michael Fitzgerald’s nomination to serve on the federal bench,” Boxer said. “He is a highly respected attorney whose sharp intellect and
November 4, 2011
michael Key/washington blade
Senate panel advances Gay judicial nominee
Michael Walter Fitzgerald, openly Gay nominee to federal judiciary
experience as a former federal prosecutor and attorney in private practice will make him an outstanding judge. It is now critical that the Senate move swiftly to confirm him so he can begin serving the people of the Central District.” According to Boxer’s office, Fitzgerald has tried 26 cases to verdict, and the overwhelming majority were before a jury. Around 60% of his practice is in federal court. The American Bar Association gave him a rating of “unanimously well-qualified.” Fitzgerald is no stranger to represent client in cases related to LGBT rights. He was involved in the settlement of Buttino v. FBI, the 1993 class-action lawsuit involving Frank Buttino, a Gay FBI specialist who was anonymously outed to his superior, resulting in the loss of his security clearance and subsequent firing. Fitzgerald asked his law firm at the time to represent Buttino on a pro-bono basis. As a result of the settlement, the FBI re-
nounced its prior policy of viewing homosexuality as a negative factor in regard to security clearances. The agency also agreed to hire an openly Lesbian special agent, and Buttino’s pension was restored. In addition to Fitzgerald, only one other Gay judicial nominee is pending before the Senate: Edward DuMont, who was nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Obama renominated DuMont for the position in January after the 111th Congress took no action on his appointment. DuMont’s nomination has yet to be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The extensive delay in moving his nomination forward has led to questions over what’s preventing the Senate from taking action. The committee voted to approve the Fitzgerald nomination as it held over other scheduled business to start debate leading on legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. The panel is expected to reconsider the legislation next week.
Celebrating 38 Years!
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Two California high-school students became one of the first Lesbian couples crowned homecoming king and queen in the nation last weekend. Rebeca Arellano, a senior at Patrick Henry High School, was made the school’s first female homecoming king when her name was announced October 28 at a pep rally. “They were chanting my name and it was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had,” recalled Arellano. Arellano’s girlfriend, Haileigh Adams, who also attends Patrick Henry High School, was made homecoming queen at the next night’s dance. “I was happier than when I won, my little Haileigh has just been announced homecoming queen and I couldn’t feel happier!” Arellano wrote on her Facebook that night. “Thanks to every single one of you! You guys made this happen and we are all part of something huge. I can’t fully express how grateful I am. I am completely shocked that this happened. My girl looks absolutely flawless.” The two girls said they’re thankful for the abundance of support they’ve received from
Courtesy Rebeca Arellano
Calif. Lesbian couple crowned homecoming king and queen
family, friends, and students and staff at the school. Arellano said one of her teachers told her, “Today school is a bit better because of you girls.” Arellano’s Facebook wall is covered with congratulatory notes from her friends. “Thank you all for allowing this change to happen,” Arellano posted on Facebook. Adams, however, said they have received negative feedback as well. “We have a lot of support, but there are also a lot of people who are angry about it,” she said. “Anonymous Patrick Henry students are saying they’re embarrassed and that it’s wrong for a girl to take the spot of king. But there’s no other way for us to run as a couple. It’s not really fair for us not to have the right to run as a couple.” Arellano posted a statement to those who opposed her: “For all the girls who think tradition should be continued, go back to the kitchen, stop having sex before you’re married, get out of school and the job system, don’t have an opinion, don’t own any property, give up the right to marry who you Rebeca Arellano (l) and Haileigh Adams at the Patrick Henry High School homecoming dance love, don’t vote, and allow your husband to do whatever he pleases to you. Think about Adams and Arellano both came out their year. They say their parents were supportthe meaning of tradition when you use it in freshman year of high school, and they be- ive both when they came out and when they your argument against us.” gan dating in February of their sophomore started dating.
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Former Marine lance corporal Esther Garatie, 28, went to the Dallas VA Medical Center on October 12 to “seek treatment for severe depression and possible post-traumatic stress disorder – including thoughts of suicide.” Garatie, who was wounded and honorably discharged from the Marines, claims that nurse practitioner Lincy Pandithurai told her that the reason she was depressed and contemplating suicide was because she is a Lesbian. “She sat down and looked at me, and her first question was, ‘Are you a Lesbian?’” Garatie wrote in a personal statement written one day after the incident and published by the Dallas Voice. “Her second question to me was, ‘Have you asked God into your heart? Have you been saved by Jesus Christ?’ This is when I realized that I was no longer a United States veteran in her eyes, I was just a homosexual.” Garatie decided to fight back. The former Marine has since filed official complaints with the VA Medical Center and the Texas Board of Nursing against the nurse practitioner. Penny Kerby, a spokeswoman for the VA Medical Center, confirmed that Garatie’s complaint is under investigation. “VA North Texas Health Care System does not tolerate discrimination on any level and takes any allegation of such behavior seriously,” Kerby said in a statement. “Each employee who interacts with every veteran patient is expected to demonstrate our core values of integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect, and excellence. This allegation is being investigated and if substantiated, appropriate measures will be taken to address
the issue.” Immediately after the event, Esther sought the advice of her friend Jessica Gerson, a MSW candidate at Tulane University, who launched a campaign on Change.org to support the veteran. “As soon as I heard from Esther, I knew I had to help,” said Gerson. “Nurse Pandithurai should be fired from the Dallas VA Medical Center and have her license revoked by the Texas Board of Nursing. This isn’t just about supporting Esther – it’s about starting a dialogue. Esther’s case is a powerful example of abuses that still occur with disturbing regularity to our brave LGBT service men and women.” “The end of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ was a preliminary victory but nowhere near a final one,” Gerson continued. “We can’t just sit by idly and watch our veterans – whether they’re Gay or straight – be neglected or mistreated after giving so much to our country.” Within hours of filing formal complaints and launching the campaign, Jessica had recruited hundreds of supporters. More than 5,000 people have now signed the online petition campaign, most within the last 48 hours. “What Jessica has accomplished in just a few days is remarkable,” said Change.org organizing manager Mark Anthony Dingbaum. “Armed with only a computer and a fierce loyalty to her friend, Jessica has already garnered the attention of the Dallas VA Medical Center and the local media. Change.org is about empowering anyone, anywhere, to demand action on the issues that matter to them, and it has been incredible to watch Jessica’s campaign in support of her friend take off.”
courtesy Dallas Voice
Lesbian veteran fights discrimination at Dallas VA Medical Center
Marine veteran Esther Garatie
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SISTAH SINEMA – THE WATERMELON WOMAN On Friday, November 4, at 8 p.m. at Chao Bar & Bistro (12th Ave. & E. Pine St.), join Sistah Sinema for a screening of Cheryl Dunye’s The Watermelon Woman. Produced in 1996, this movie was the first full-length African-American Lesbian feature. It took top honors in film festivals around the globe. Cheryl Dunye will be joining Sistah Sinema via Skype for the Q&A. Tickets: $5. www. sistahsinema.webs.com.
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MUSIC OF REMEMBRANCE – “WHAT A LIFE!” On Monday, November 7, at 7:30 p.m., at Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall, Benaroya Hall (3rd Ave. & Union St.), Music of Remembrance celebrates the musical contributions of emigre composers, with Hans Gal’s satiric camp revue What A Life!, written and performed while he was held in a British detention camp on the Isle of Man. Guest vocalists are Ross Hauck and Eric SEATTLE CENTER FESTAL – Parce, and reading from Gals’ diary will be HMONG NEW YEAR ACT’s Kurt Beattie! Also: a quartet from CELEBRATION Vilem Tausky, and a lushly romantic piano On Saturday, November 5, from 11 a.m.-5 trio by Marcel Tyberg. Tickets: $36. 206p.m., at the Seattle Center Fisher Pavilion, 365-7770; www.musicofremembrance.org. www.hmongassociationofwa.org. RADICAL WOMEN – “RED, WHITE & PROUD” – WEEKLY FEMINIST 2011/2012 MR. & MISS READING CIRCLE GAY SEATTLE PAGEANT Radical Women hosts a weekly roundtaOn Saturday, November 5, door at 5 p.m., ble discussion of Frederick Engels’ classic pageant at 6 p.m., at Neighbours (1509 work, Origin of the Family, Private PropBroadway, entrance in alley between Har- erty and the State, on the persistent problem vard Ave. and Broadway, off E. Pike St.) of women’s inequality and how it can be join the Imperial Court of Seattle and Miss overcome. The reading circle meets MonGay Seattle XLVI Jetta Mae and Mr. Gay day through December 12,, 7:30-9:30 p.m., Seattle XXXV David, for an evening of fine at 3314 Wallingford Ave. N. #4, Seattle. $2 drag entertainment and celebration. $10 suggested donation per session. Everyone suggested donation. www.imperialcourtof- welcome. For more information, call 206seattle.com. 722-6057 or email RWseattle@mindspring. com. “OMG! WHO ARTED?” – AN ART CONTEST FOR SISTERS’ THE ELITE HOSTS “CONDOM SAVIOUR” FREE ASL LESSONS PACKAGING FOR BEGINNERS Do you like to draw, or paint, or just Have you ever wanted to learn basic sketch and doodle? Well, if you do, you may American Sign Language? If so, you can want to enter this art contest sponsored by get some beginning ASL instruction at the the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence – The Elite (1520 E. Olive Way). The FREE lesAbbey of St. Joan and Vermillion Gallery sons will be held every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. for a chance to have your art featured on the in the loft. Sisters’ “Condom Saviour” packaging! All artistic skill levels are encouraged to SEATTLE REPRODUCTIVE participate. In the Sisters’ spirit of non-judgMEDICINE SEMINAR – ment and fundraising, the winner will be deWHEN YOUR PATH termined by how much money a particular TO PREGNANCY submission raises through direct donation REQUIRES DONOR SPERM and silent auction. Who doesn’t love a good Increasingly single women and Lesbian old-fashioned popularity contest, huh? couples are looking to achieve pregnanFrom now through November 5, 2011, cy requiring the use of donor sperm. On artists can register (with $10 donation) and Wednesday, November 9, from 6-7:30 p.m., pick up their submission packets at Vermil- Seattle Reproductive Medicine (1505 Westlion (1508 11th Ave.). Submission packets lake Ave. N., Suite 400) presents “Optimizwill contain a list of rules, image require- ing Success Using Donor Sperm,” a free ments, a release form and a canvas. seminar that will cover the process of usOn Saturday, November 12, from 6-10 ing donor sperm and answer the most asked p.m., judging for the contest will be held at questions: How do we find a sperm donor? Vermillion. This is an all-ages contest and How long should I keep trying? How old is event. There is no cover charge; donations too old? What does this cost? What’s next at the door will gladly be accepted. Artists when inseminations aren’t working? under 18 will need a parent’s or legal guardDuring the seminar, you will have the opian’s permission to enter. portunity to meet an SRM physician and ask All proceeds from “OMG! Who Arted?” your specific family building questions. Prego to the Sisters’ “Play Fair!” program. registration requested. Call 206-301-5000. In 1982 as San Francisco’s health scene www.seattlefertilitylgbt.com. (NOTE: had hit crisis levels, registered nurses Sister Street level parking is recommended beFlorence Nightmare and Sister Roz erection cause the garage closes at 7 p.m.) joined with a team of Sisters and medical Seattle Reproductive Medicine is the largprofessionals to create “Play Fair!,” the first est fertility center west of the Mississippi safer sex pamphlet to use plain sex-positive River, with 11 full-time physicians in four language, practical advice and humor to locations. Partners have been awarded Naeducate people on the responsibility of their tional Institutes of Health (NIH) research sexual health. grants and their work in reproductive aging The Abbey of St. Joan continues the duty has received international recognition. of teaching the message that everyone has a responsibility to themselves and their sex POZ SEATTLE’S partners to stay safe and “Play Fair.” “ConTHANKSGIVING HOLIDAY dom Saviors” and “Passion Packs” carry SOCIAL supplies and helpful information, all of On Wednesday, November 9, from 6-8:30 which are free for the asking. p.m., at The Cuff Complex (13th Ave. & E. Pine St.), POZSeattle presents their 3rd anJET CITY HOOPS – nual Traditional (U.S.) Thanksgiving HoliSEATTLE’S CO-ED GLBTQ day Social. Meet in the downstairs bar for a BASKETBALL LEAGUE fully catered traditional Thanksgiving holiJet City Hoops winter season games will day meal generously provided by some of be held on Sundays, November 6-Decem- their wonderful volunteers and members of ber 18, at Miller Community Center (330 POZSeattle. Turkey with dressing, home19th Ave. E., just north of E. Thomas St.). made cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and Recreational division games will be held 9 gravy, veggies and holiday dessert is what’s a.m.-noon; competitive division games will on the menu. be held noon-4 p.m. Spectators welcome. Join POZSeattle for dinner, socializing,
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catching-up with old friends, making new ones, and a whole lot of fun. This event is FREE (except for the cost of beverages), and is for all HIV-Positive men and their friends, regardless of age, shape, size or color. www.pozseattle.org. SEATTLE GAY & LESBIAN BOOK CLUB – THE STRANGER’S CHILD The Seattle Gay & Lesbian Book Club meets every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Seattle Area Support Groups Community Center (formerly Dunshee House) (303 17th Ave. E. & E. Thomas St.). Alan Hollinghurst’s stupendous, multigenerational Gay epic is the book club’s November selection. The Stranger’s Child is a challenging, perceptive, labyrinthine, and hugely satisfying fiction entertainment. Hollinghurst serves up plenty of the cruelty and sting of the real world, the irrationality of lust, the fickleness of fame, unanticipated deaths, and those unexpected, priceless moments of compassion and grace, with a cast ranging from servants to baronets, from piano teachers, to bankers, a literary field day with its roots in an era when passionate friendships dared not speak their name. All GLBTQ folks are welcome to participate in this FREE book club. For more information, email nickdimartin@earthlink. net, visit http://faculty.washington.edu/ swittet/SGLBookClub/ or contact SASG at 206-322-2437.
On Thursday, November 10, at 9 p.m., at The Lobby Bar (916 E. Pike St.), Carmen Sense presents the Rise n’ Shine Charity Drag Event with special guest performers Miss Gay Washington, Taylor Couture!, Xandria Cox, Brook Lynn Bradshaw, Drew Paridisco, and Lexi Lasso, and more! $5 suggested donation will help support Rise n’ Shine’s important programs for children affected by HIV/AIDS. www.risenshine.org. GOODWILL GLITTER SALE NOVEMBER 12-13 On Saturday and Sunday, November 12 and 13, from 9 a.m.-6 p.m., the Seattle Goodwill (1400 S. Lane St., near the corner of Rainier Ave. S. and S. Dearborn St.) presents their annual Glitter Sale featuring high fashion, formal and glamourous attire and accessories at their famous low prices.
THE NORMAL HEART – STAGED READING BY EDMONDS DRIFTWOOD PLAYERS TO BENEFIT LIFELONG AIDS ALLIANCE On Saturday, November 12, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, November 13, at 2 p.m., the Edmonds Driftwood Players (Wade James Theatre, 950 Main St., Edmonds), presents a staged reading of Larry Kramer’s Tony Award winning play, The Normal Heart. Kramer’s chronicle of the beginning of the AIDS crisis in 1984 New York is alternately angry and tender, as the protagonist takes on the government, the medical establishment, the media, and even his own Gay community to help those he loves. Shattering and BOOK READING & SIGNING true, the play reverberates with rights withWITH GREGORY MAGUIRE, held and dignity quashed. All seats are $25 – AUTHOR OF with proceeds to benefit the Lifelong AIDS THE WICKED YEARS SERIES On Wednesday, November 9, at 7 p.m., Alliance. 425-774-9600; www.driftwoodat University Temple Chapel at the United players.com. Methodist Church (NE 43rd St. & 15th Ave. GENERIC LEATHER NE), the University Bookstore presents PRODUCTIONS OF WA (GLPW) a reading and booksigning with Gregory HOSTING COMMUNITY MEETING Maguire. Maguire’s immensely popular seGeneric Leather Productions of Washingries The Wicked Years reaches its conclusion with Out of Oz. Amidst the chaos of a ton (GLPW) and former president Gene RoLand of Oz in turmoil, a little green baby maine have decided to resign as producers has come of age and taken up her broom. of the Northwest LeatherSIR, Leatherboy & Community Bootblack Contest, effective FREE. immediately. The decision does not reflect on their continuing support for the contest PAUL DAHLQUIST or their support for the local titleholders, PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS whom they respect greatly, according to MiAND PHOTOGRAPHY chael “Odie” Heaston, acting president of AT GHOST GALLERY From Thursday, November 10, through the Board. After 9 years of producing the regional Monday, December 5, Ghost Gallery (on Summit Ave. E. between E. Denny Way and contest, GLPW and Mr. Romaine have deE. Olive Way, next to the Hillcrest Market) cided that it was time for a fresh perspective will be showing rare and never-before-seen on the contest, as well as a need to refocus images by Northwest painter and photog- energies on building the Queer Kink Comrapher Paul Dahlquist. The show includes munity in the Pacific Northwest. Plans for paintings and drawings from the ‘50s and new events and a roadshow are currently in ‘60s when Dahlquist spent time with North- the works, as well as deliberations on how west artists, including Mark Tobey and Guy to maximize their core mission of producing Anderson. He lived with Wesley Wehr and events that support the alternative sexuality worked for Zoe Dusanne during that time. community from Montana to Washington He began working in photography in the and Oregon to Alaska. In this effort, GLPW has put together a list of projects and events ‘70s. Dahlquist is calling his show “Presences,” for the coming year. GLPW and Mr. Romaine are very ina word used by Wendell Berry in his novel Jayber Crow. “Presences” are any specific volved in producing the Leather Leadership times, places or subjects that are intensely Conference XVII, slated to occur in Seattle in April, 2013. Other events that GLPW proexperienced. This show will feature portraits of friends, duces include the Leather Pride Picnic, durlight studies, urban subjects and nudes, in- ing Seattle’s Pride weekend; Spanksgiving cluding photographs of people who have on Thanksgiving evening; and several play shaped the Northwest art scene for the last parties over the course of the year, many of 30 years. The show will include rare and which coincide with other Leather or fetish events. never before seen images by the artist. With a new direction as their goal, GLPW Gallery hours are Monday, WednesdayFriday, noon-8 p.m., Saturday/Sunday, is putting out an invitation to everyone in noon-6 p.m. Tuesday by appointment. www. the Pacific Northwest who regard the buildghostgallery.org; www.pauldahlquist.com/ ing of a greater Queer Kink Community a priority in their own life to come out and join them for their next meeting to be held SISTERS ORGANIZE on Sunday, November 13, at 1:15 p.m, at the FOR SURVIVAL MEETING On Thursday, November 10, at 7 p.m., at Seattle Public Library, Capitol Hill Branch New Freeway Hall (5018 Rainier Ave. S.) (Harvard Ave. E. & E. Republican St.), 2nd Sisters Organize for Survival host a public floor conference room. GLPW will be holdmeeting to discuss their plans for fighting ing elections to fill three vacant board seats budget cuts that impact poor and working and will be forming committees with both people in the state. All are welcome to at- Board and non-board members at the helm tend. For more information, call 206-722- to steer the organization and these commit6057. Wheelchair accessible. www.sister- tees into a brighter future. The new goals of GLPW are in keeping with their mission sorganizeforsurvival.org. statement. “Now is the time to step up and make some news about who we are and RISE N’ SHINE what we are doing,” says acting president CHARITY DRAG EVENT Michael “Odie” Heaston. www.glpw.org. AT THE LOBBY BAR
November 4, 2011
Seattle Gay News
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Celebrating 38 Years!
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Celebrating 38 Years!
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Celebrating 38 Years!
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Seattle Gay News 15
New book explores the prehistory of AIDS courtesy la Tribune
quired to have venereal disease inspections. He also went through stacks of newspapers, like the Voix du Congolais, which wrote extensively about polygamy and prostitution, and pored over studies by European ethnographers. Blood and tissue samples stored in freezers in Africa and in European hospitals that treat Africans – some going back to the 1950s – form a map of AIDS viral subtypes, which is surprisingly complex. For example, white and black South Africans have different subtypes. “Few homosexual Afrikaners have sex with heterosexual Zulus,” Pepin notes. The whites’ subtype is common among Gay European and American men. The one most common among blacks moved south through Zambia, often following trade routes. Simian immunodeficiency virus, which infects monkeys and apes, is similarly mapped. In nature, only about six percent of troglodytes chimps are ever infected. Within a troop, each female mates with many males, but mating with outsiders is rare, so most troops are untouched while a few are heav-
Dr. Jacques Pepin
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer We all “know” that the AIDS epidemic began on June 5, 1981, when the CDC identified a cluster of mysterious pneumocystis cariniipneumonia infections in five Gay men in Los Angeles. At that time the disease was not even known as AIDS. It was usually called GRID – Gay-related immune deficiency. The name AIDS – acquired immune deficiency syndrome – was adopted in 1982. Now, however, a new book, The Origins of AIDS, by Dr. Jacques Pepin, traces the prehistory of AIDS back to the beginning of the last century when French and Belgian colonialism in Africa set in motion a chain of events that gave rise to the global pandemic. A very fragile virus infecting a small subspecies of chimpanzees was introduced into the blood of a handful of humans, most likely hunters of what is called “bush meat.” One of them must then have introduced the virus into a chain of “amplifiers” – disease eradication campaigns, brothels serving African workers, a Haitian plasma center, and Gay sex tourism. Without those amplifiers, the virus would not be what it is now – a global phenomenon with more than 62 million infections. Pepin is now an infectious disease specialist at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec, but in the early 1980s, when AIDS was just being identified, he was a young doctor fighting a sleeping sickness epidemic at a hospital in Nioki, in what was formerly the Belgian Congo, then Zaire, and is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. Later, he worked in Guinea-Bissau on HIV-2, which is related to HIV-1, but causes a milder and harder-to-transmit form of AIDS that some victims live with for de-
cades. In 2005, Pepin began field studies. By sampling the blood of Africans 55 and over, he showed that those who had many injections in their youth or had undergone ritual circumcision, in which many boys were cut with the same blade, often had antibodies to hepatitis C or HTLV. HTLV is a littleknown virus that, like HIV-1, comes from chimps and infects the CD4 cells of the human immune system. Unlike HIV-1, it is harmless to humans. Nevertheless, for Pepin, it was hard evidence that blood and syringes had spread other viruses. The viral ancestor of AIDS exists in one chimpanzee subspecies, Pan troglodytes troglodytes, which in nature lives only between the Sanaga and Congo rivers. That virus, in turn, is a blend of simian viruses from red-capped mangabeys and mustached guenons, small monkeys that chimps hunt and eat. Pepin examined colonial archives in Paris, Marseilles, Brussels, Lisbon, and London. He also dug out old records of clinics where, as early as 1909, African prostitutes were re-
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ily infected. HIV-1’s four genetic groups, M, N, O and P, show that it made the chimp-human jump at least four times in history, but group M accounts for more than 99% of all cases. Molecular clock dating shows that M reached humans around 1921. Chimpanzees are too big and agile to be hunted with anything but guns, which until the 20th century were almost entirely in white hands. Using colonial census data, surveys of how modern bush meat hunters butcher their kills, and infection rates among nurses stuck by dirty needles, Pepin calculates that, in the early 1920s, a maximum of 1,350 hunters might have had blood-to-blood contact with troglodytes chimps. Only six percent of the chimps – about 80 individuals – would have been infected, and fewer than four percent of the scratched hunters probably could have caught the virus. That would suggest at most three infected hunters, and the disease might have died out with that tiny population, except, Pe-
pin says, that amplifiers helped the disease spread more widely. In the 1920s, machine-made glass syringes replaced expensive hand-blown ones, and the Belgians and French shipped them in bulk to their colonies, hoping to wipe out infectious diseases there. Patients might get up to 300 shots in a lifetime, but standards of sterilization were primitive. Thus, one hunter’s HIV-1 group M infection could have become dozens. Then Pepin’s focus shifts to the twin cities facing each other across the Congo – Leopoldville, now Kinshasa, on the Belgian side, and Brazzaville on the French. They are the epidemic’s cradle. Viral diversity is highest there, and the earliest positive blood sample, from 1959, was found there. From 1900, both grew from tiny river outposts into cities, but only black men with colonial work permits were allowed to live in them legally. Naturally, women followed. But until 1960, brothels were rare. Most of the women were “femmes libres” – escapees from rural polygamy who typically had only three or four clients for whom they also cooked and did laundry. Since femmes libres had few sexual partners, viral spread was probably sluggish, although occasional hepatitis outbreaks were noted at clinics where prostitutes got penicillin shots for syphilis – suggesting amplification by needle there, too. In the 1960s, however, everything changed. World War II had swollen the twin cities, which supplied raw materials the Allies had lost when Japan conquered their Asian colonies. Then, when whites fled the chaos of independence, economies collapsed. Poverty was rampant. Dozens of bar-brothels called “flamingoes” sprang up, competition forced desperate women to have sex with up to 1,000 clients a year, and venereal disease treatment dried up. There must have been a viral explosion like the one that happened 20 years later in a closely studied band of prostitutes in Nairobi. In 1981, five percent of them had the virus, but three years later, 82% did. The next link was Haiti. Because white Belgians never trained an African elite, only about 30 Congolese outside the priesthood had university degrees at independence. To fill the gap, the United Nations hired bureaucrats and teachers from abroad. About 4,500 Haitians got jobs in the Congo area. By mapping subgroups of HIV1 group M, in particular subgroup B, Pepin speculates that AIDS may have returned to Haiti in just one Haitian. Molecular clock dating indicates it reached Haiti roughly in 1966. Pepin argues that rapid expansion through sex alone is mathematically impossible and that there must have been an amplifier. He believes the culprit was a Port-au-Prince plasma center called Hemo-Caribbean that operated only from 1971 to 1972 and was known to have low hygiene standards. Ironically, Hemo-Caribbean was owned by Luckner Cambronne, leader of the feared Tontons Macoutes secret police, and known as “The Vampire of the Caribbean.” Haiti was also a prime destination for American sex tourism. The Spartacus travel guides of the time even listed average prices for young hustlers. By the early 1980s, HIV-1 group M, subgroup B, was killing both American Gay men and hemophiliacs, suggesting it arrived both through sexual contact and through contaminated blood.
Celebrating 38 Years!
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer A number of African countries have responded with anger after British Prime Minister David Cameron threatened to cut aid to countries that refuse to repeal anti-LGBT laws. Speaking at a Commonwealth Conference in October, Cameron said he would consider discontinuing a type of British foreign aid known as “general budget support” if Commonwealth members continued to discriminate against their LGBT citizens. General budget support is aid money that is not earmarked for special projects like HIV/AIDS treatment. “Britain is one of the premier aid givers in the world. We want to see countries that receive our aid adhering to proper human rights,” Cameron told the Commonwealth Conference. “We are saying that is one of the things that determines our aid policy, and there have been particularly bad examples where we have taken action.” Cameron said he had spoken with “a number of African countries” and that Foreign Secretary William Hague had also applied diplomatic pressure. Forty-one countries within the 54-member Commonwealth have laws banning same-sex relations. While Cameron’s remarks were greeted with enthusiasm by LGBT rights advocates, the African governments he was addressing reacted with anger. Ugandan presidential adviser John Nagenda accused Cameron of showing an “ex-colonial mentality” and of treating Ugandans “like children.”
“Uganda is, if you remember, a sovereign state and we are tired of being given these lectures by people,” he told BBC’s Newshour. “If they must take their money, so be it.” Nagenda added that the Ugandan parliament would probably not approve the socalled “Kill-the-Gays” bill that provoked international outrage against his country. “I believe it will die a natural death. But this kind of ex-colonial mentality of saying: ‘You do this or I withdraw my aid’ will definitely make people extremely uncomfortable with being treated like children,” Nagenda said. Reacting to the news, Uganda Radio Network reporter Charles Odongpho, said Cameron’s concern was misplaced. “I welcome any move to pressure our government to be respectful of democratic values and human rights but speaking as a Ugandan I think we have much more important issues to deal with than the rights of homosexuals. “This is your money and you know where you want to put it but we face very serious issues of corruption, poverty, education, and hunger. These are the most critical issues for us, not homosexual rights.” Ghana’s president, John Atta Mills, accused Cameron of trying to impose foreign vales on his country. “I, as president, will never initiate or support any attempt to legalize homosexuality in Ghana.” Atta Mills said. Atta Mills added that Cameron was entitled to his views, but he did not have the right to “direct to other sovereign nations as to what they should do.” Ghana’s trade and industry minister, Hannah Tetteh, said that same-sex relationships
Labor Council reaffirms support for marriage equality Special to the SGN Courtesy of Pride At Work The executive board of the Martin Luther King County Labor Council voted unanimously on November 3 to reaffirm its support for marriage equality. The MLKCLC also committed to lobby for a marriage equality bill expected to be introduced in the 2012 state legislative ses-
sion, and to encourage its affiliated unions to do the same. The MLKCLC is made up of some 150 affiliated unions, representing more than 75,000 workers in King County. The action was taken on a resolution submitted by Pride At Work, an LGBT labor organization affiliated with the AFL-CIO. Pride At Work argued in its resolution that “LGBT workers deserve the right to provide
file photo
African countries defy pressure for Gay rights
Ugandan presidential adviser John Nagenda
are unacceptable in African culture and should not be imposed by outsiders. “Every society has its norms and what it considers to be acceptable. In the Western world it is acceptable to have Gay relationships and even move on to the next level to Gay marriages; in our society it is unacceptable,” she said in an apparent reference to Cameron’s promise to legalize same-sex marriage before the next British election. On October 31, the day after Cameron’s
speech, Ghanaweb news service reported that three Gay men were arrested after appearing on a Jerry Springer-style TV show. In July, the governor of Ghana’s Western region threatened to arrest every LGBT person in his province. In Malawi, government spokesperson Patricia Kaliati said it was “unfortunate” for Britain to tie “pro-Gay strings” to aid. She added that anti-Gay laws are a legacy of British rule.
for their partners and their families in the same way and at the same level as straight workers.” While Washington state has a robust domestic partnership law, the Pride At Work resolution said, “domestic partnerships in Washington state still do not provide all the rights of marriage for committed same-sex couples, including equal rights to health care, pensions, and death benefits.” The MLKCLC is no stranger to the issue of equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. It first endorsed marriage equality in a resolution passed on April 21, 2004. In 2006, the MLKCLC was one of 23 labor organizations signing on to an amicus brief supporting marriage equality in Andersen v King County. Most of the others were unions affiliated with the MLKCLC. MLKCLC Executive Secretary Dave Freiboth, then newly elected to his post, signed the brief in 2006, and lent his support
to the Pride At Work resolution. “We have to keep coming back to this,” Freiboth said, “to chip away at the opposition. It’s a civil rights issue, and a workers’ rights issue, and it’s important to labor.”
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Seattle Gay News 17
Youth suicide prevention by Michael Raitt SGN Contributing Writer I find myself very disturbed because of the need to write about young LGBTQ men and women killing themselves. It means that youth suicide is still a major concern in our community. I was reflecting how this issue eerily mirrors the struggles the community had in the early years of HIV/AIDS – young people dying needlessly and a lack of concern by certain others in the larger society. There is talk about how to prevent suicide in the community. To continue this conversation, let me remind people about the gravity of the subject. When a young adult is seriously contemplating suicide, it means they are experiencing a level of anguish and psychological/spiritual pain that they feel they can’t bear any longer. Many can’t find – let alone hold onto – hope. Words can’t express the experience they are feeling. However, a good number of us have felt these horrible feelings at periods in our lives and know what they are like. For those who created the It Gets Better Project, I speculate that, to some degree, having had these feelings in the past spurred this movement. When I feel the feelings I had as a teen, I’m called to action now! Let’s dispel one myth about suicide: The
act or contemplation of suicide is not any reflection on weakness! It is about agony in the present and hopelessness about the future. It’s about a state of being so worn down and isolated by the relentlessness and severity of bullying that no hope can be found. The only way to have any hope of reducing youth suicide is to fully understand what bullying is. Bullying has two dimensions: duration and degree. Duration is about how long bullying goes on. For many, bullying goes on over time for months and years. It is unwavering over its span. Degree refers to the severity of the character assassination and physical violence perpetuated against LGBTQ youth. Degree and duration also describe the effects bullying has on its victims. Victims of bullying can suffer its pain to the core of their being, and for many years after the bullying has stopped. They don’t just feel worthless; they believe they are worthless, and that is a completely different place to be in. Unequivocally, bullying is about tormenting another relentlessly both mentally and physically, over a long period of time, and it has significant consequences. It is highly stressful on its victims and causes serious psychological and spiritual suffering. As a side note, we know that some soldiers
who have experienced chronic high levels of stress and are tormented psychologically and spiritually by what they’ve gone through, unfortunately choose suicide as an option. It is not about the context – war or high school – it’s about the effects that long-term severe stress has and the degree to which people are affected by what has happened to them that causes suicide. Preventing youth suicide has important foundational components. The It Gets Better Project is one of those components: hope! We know that when people have hope, they are less likely to commit suicide. This project has called on many in many communities to offer hope! I have been touched by so many of their stories. The other components – reprieve and remedies – also call on a multitude of people and professionals from various organizations and interests to work together to prevent suicide. It has to be a multi-dimensional approach including school officials, parents, peers, community members, and dare I say religious leaders! LGBTQ youth need immediate reprieve! They will be less likely to commit suicide if they get relief from the on-going violence. Remember, violence is both mental and physical. Reprieve means that people in authority have to step in and intervene immediately. School officials and friends can provide authority and support to put an end to the attacks. Suspensions/expulsions of perpetrators need to happen immediately and their return to school must be conditional. A three-day slap on the wrist won’t deter anyone! As well, victims, their families, and organizations need to have legal remedies to stop the violence. Victims must be able to obtain restraining orders and pursue financial restitution against perpetrators and their parents. We need lawyers, judges, police officials, and others to acknowledge the severity of this problem and put their expertise and skill behind protecting young LGBTQ men and women.
Healthcare professionals need to work aggressively to treat the damage that is caused to the identity of targeted LGTBQ youth. This is deeper than how one feels about oneself – self-esteem. This is about the value and worth that one feels in the face of messages that they have no value or worth! Reprieve, remedies, and hope make up the foundation for saving lives! Hate is a systemic problem – it is much broader than just a lone perpetrator. It stems from messages these perpetrators get from those they look up to. Helping young LGBTQ men and women requires a systemic solution – the involvement of many parties – both professionals and peers alike. It has to be a priority! All involved have to get past the notion that this is simply “kids teasing kids” and that kids have to get strong! It is about the intentional targeting and long-term systematic abuse of youngsters by their peers who are sometimes encouraged by adults. We got outraged and came together to effect change when our lives weren’t being valued during the early years of the AIDS crisis. People from all walks of life and circumstance came together to fight for what was right and to fight for lives. There is little difference today. Lives are at stake and we can effect change. Get involved, donate money, email schools and school boards across the country when youth are being targeted and put pressure on legislators to legislate change so that victims and their families can get restitution and perpetrators can experience real and meaningful consequences to the violence and harm they are causing.
The only way to have any hope of reducing youth suicide is to fully understand what bullying is.
Michael Raitt, MA LMHC, is a therapist and a contributing writer to the SGN. If you would like to comment on this column, ask a question you’d like him to write about, or suggest another topic of interest, please contact him at askingmichael@comcast. net.
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18 Seattle Gay News
November 4, 2011
Celebrating 38 Years!
Iranian soccer stars face flogging for butt squeeze courtesy Daily Mail
damaged the country’s sporting spirit be dealt with firmly.” The butt squeeze took place on October 30. After a teammate scored the winning goal in a 3-2 match, Mohammad Nosrati grabbed teammate Sheys Rezaei’s butt and squeezed it. Rezaei had reportedly squeezed Nosrati’s butt earlier in the game. Iran’s Football Federation immediately suspended both players indefinitely and fined them nearly $40,000 each, Fars reported. “Nosrati and Rezaei have been banned indefinitely from all football activities for committing immoral acts,’’ said Ismail Hasanzadeh, head of the federation’s disciplinary committee. A judiciary official told Fars that Nosrati and Rezaei could also face public flogging, to be carried out on the soccer pitch where the behavior occurred. According to the norms of ultra-conserva-
tive Iran, the butt squeeze “can be considered a violation of public chastity,” Judge Valiollah Hosseini told the news agency. “The punishment of this crime is prison up to two months and 74 lashes.” “It is even worse to do these actions before the eyes of thousands of spectators and TV cameras,” Hosseini added. Iranian soccer stars say the authorities are overreacting to the latest indiscretion. Ali Parvin, a former Persepolis coach and a venerated figure in Iranian soccer, has spoken out against punishing Nosrati and Rezaei, saying that officials should offer guidance to the players instead of punishing them. “Come and execute them if it relieves you,” he said sarcastically. Former national team player Mehdi Mahdavikia said Iranian media were making a big deal out of a minor incident. “When I was playing in Germany, such things happened all the time,” he said.
Mohammad Nosrati (left) and Sheys Rezaei could be lashed up to 74 times and imprisoned for two months for their “offensive” celebration.
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Two players for Iran’s most popular soccer club, Persepolis, have been indefinitely suspended from their team, fined, and may be publicly flogged on the soccer pitch – all over a televised butt squeezing incident. On November 1, Fars News Agency re-
ported that members of the Iranian parliament, judges, and sports officials had called for “swift punishment” of the players. “What happened is absolutely not acceptable because it was a very ugly thing,” Jalal Yahyazadeh, a cleric and member of parliament, told Reuters. The Iranian soccer federation’s media committee “demanded that elements who
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center
continued from cover
tle Business Association’s executive director, believe that an LGBT community center housed on Capitol Hill is not only possible, but could flourish under the right leadership and community support. Chernin, along with City of Seattle planners, believes that the ideal site is the Sound Transit Broadway light-rail station. “Conversation about what would be located at the light-rail station has been going on for over two years,” Chernin told Seattle Gay News. “The Greater Seattle Business Association has had the discussion at our board level and came to the conclusion that an LGBT community center would be something we’d support. In fact, some of our board members have expressed interest in working on it.” Although no formal group – from within the GSBA or any other LGBT organization on the Hill – has been formed to officially tackle the project, Chernin says the informal group of LGBT non-profit executive directors and community activists do have a vision of what a modern community or civic center would look like. She told SGN that services not currently provided in the community could find a home inside the space. “Services such as a senior citizen dropin center or LGBT senior housing,” said
Chernin. “Perhaps childcare for LGBT families. These are services that not one of our organizations currently provide.” The obvious uses would be a community meeting space, a safe place for LGBT youth to meet, among other basic services that may be provided at other locations on the Hill – but apart from each other. Chernin’s vision is that the new LGBT community center would bring the community together, in one place, at the heart of the cultural center of LGBT life in Seattle. “We are one of the only minority groups in all of Seattle that does not have our own center,” she said. “Almost every service provided to the LGBT community is done through the community with very little help from the city or state. We identify with Capitol Hill. It is the right spot for such a place.” Chernin, however, says she is well aware that the center would cost a pretty penny, but she thinks it is doable. “In order for the LGBT community center to be successful, there would have to be anchor tenants that would be able to actually afford to pay the rent. Smaller groups that do not have enough money to pay for rent would be included because the larger organizations would make it a part of their mission to include them by providing resources or meeting space for them.” As the director of one of the nation’s largest LGBT business chambers, Chernin said she knows that there is interest to support a campaign to purchase the space, but at this
time no anchor tenants have been identified. The development of the property surrounding Broadway’s light-rail station is enormous and ever-changing. City of Seattle leadership is hoping to work with Sound Transit to have the agency commit to selling its surplus properties at Broadway with “strings attached,” meaning they get a say as to what goes into the buildings. These sorts of negotiations are what have made an LGBT-focused community center possible. “Through our work with the community on the future of these sites, it became clear that there is a strong interest in a community space focused on the history and culture of Capitol Hill being included in future development,” Bryan Stevens, customer-service manager and Seattle’s industrial permit liaison at the Department of Planning and Development, told SGN. “Capitol Hill has a prominent role as a center for the LGBTQ and arts community. The Urban Design Framework (UDF) highlights this as an important desire for future development and programming needs.” It is important to note the UDF is not a regulatory document – rather, it establishes a shared programming and design vision for the Sound Transit-owned properties on Capitol Hill. According to Jeff Kinney, a GSBA member who volunteers with the organization’s scholarship fund and has taken a lead role in canvassing the community to drum up support for the project, “We are at the point now where we are trying to broaden the conversation within the community about a community center. We are still very much in the planning stages.” “The idea doesn’t belong to me or the GSBA,” he continued, “it belongs to the community. What has been expressed, through various meetings and the outcome of the City of Seattle’s LGBT commission survey, is that people would like to see an LGBT community center on the Hill. How that manifests in a physical space is yet to be determined.” Kinney said that anyone interested in the LGBT community center – currently called a “civic center” by city planners – is welcome to contact him directly at civiccenter@jeffkinney.net.
Vanessa Murdock, senior urban planner at the Department of Planning and Development, told SGN, “Inclusion of a community center of any kind in the redevelopment that will occur on the Sound Transit-owned properties on Capitol Hill is not a done deal.” The property disposition process for the Sound Transit-owned properties is a Request For Qualifications (RFQ)/Request for Proposals (RFP) process. Interested development teams will need to respond to the RFQ and meet certain requirements in order to be invited to submit a proposal, she said. Developers and development teams responding to Sound Transit’s RFQ/RFP process for the disposition of property may choose to include a community center in their program. For more information about the RFQ/RFP process, contact Bruce Gray at Sound Transit at bruce.gray@soundtransit.org. “A draft Urban Design Framework was released in May for public comment,” said Murdock. “I received over 50 comments on the draft. A number of comments suggested that the Framework did not adequately reflect the conversations taking place within the Capitol Hill community regarding the desire for a community cultural space within the redevelopment, open to all, that represents the diversity of the Capitol Hill neighborhood including the LGBTQ community. There was mention of a LGBTQ community center within the redevelopment in the May draft Framework, in the ‘Other Great Ideas’ section.” A copy of the full UDF for the Capitol Hill light-rail station sites can be found at http:// www.seattle.gov/dpd/cms/groups/pan/@ pan/@plan/@capitolhilllightrail/documents/web_informational/dpdp021537. pdf. One of the guiding principles in the Framework is that the cultural center would represent the history and evolving culture of the Capitol Hill neighborhood, including its prominent role as a center for LGBTQ culture and the arts. Additionally, in the Desired Uses section, there is the following reference: “A community/cultural gathering space within the redevelopment is strongly supported by the community, ideally located facing the Plaza. This space could serve as a community meeting and gathering space, contain office spaces for non-profits, and possible performance and/or arts spaces. There is strong community interest around a facility open to all with a significant LGBTQ culture and services component. Additional work continues to be undertaken in the community to further refine the vision of the center and its identity as well as to continue to explore funding mechanisms and partnerships.” Chernin believes that there are those in the community who are up for the challenge and that realizing a new LGBT community or civic center on Capitol Hill could move from the planning stages to the development stages with the right direction and leader-
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November 4, 2011
Celebrating 38 Years!
After NewsWest ceased publication in 1977, he bought a printing company and became active in ACT UP to advocate for people with HIV/AIDS. He also participated in the 1993 March on Washington. In 1996, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Given only two years to live, Laurent managed to outlive those expectations by more than a decade. “Thanks to the prayers and support of friends and family – and some highly qualified medical professionals – I have lived many years past the doctors’ predictions,” he wrote in a letter released after his death. He spent his final months in hospice care continued from cover with several caretakers and “my loyal band of crazy friends.” In his posthumous letter he wrote, “If you are reading this I’m dead. Deader, as the Limbaugh?” saying goes, than vaudeville. But don’t feel After his discharge, he moved to Califor- sorry for me, I’ve had a truly blessed life.” nia and came out. Between 1964 and 1967, he worked at KABC radio in Los Angeles. Laurent always said he had participated in the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria riot, and the riots following the 1967 police raid on the Black Cat Tavern, both incidents preceding continued from cover the more famous Stonewall riot in 1969. In the wake of these incidents, Laurent joined Steve Ginsberg’s PRIDE organization and co-founded The Los Angeles AdvoOR would you vote NO, against the law – cate. While helping to publish the early edi- to make it so that Gay and Lesbian couples tions of the paper, he wrote a nightlife col- could not marry?” According to the poll, 55% of voters umn (“Mariposas de la Noche”) under the would support a marriage equality law. Only pseudonym “P. Nutz.” “It was dangerous to be a ‘pervert’ prior 38% would vote against it. Of those who said they would vote for to the liberation movement. You didn’t use your real name for fear of reprisals, not only marriage equality, 47% said they supported harassment by the LAPD, but the ever-pres- the proposed law “strongly,” with only 8% ent possibility of losing your day job, fam- saying their support was “not strong.” Thirty-one percent said they opposed marily, and friends,” he wrote in a 2007 blog riage equality “strongly.” marking The Advocate’s 40th anniversary. The poll’s margin of error is 3.2%. In 1975, Laurent was one of 40 arrested in Equal Rights Washington Marriage a police raid on Hollywood’s Mark IV Gay Bathhouse following a mistaken tip that the Equality Director Josh Friedes said he was “slave auction” being held there to benefit “delighted” by the new poll. “This confirms ERW’s internal polling the Gay Community Services Center was an that 55% of the electorate would vote to actual, illegal slave auction. The raid, which involved more than 100 confirm the [marriage equality] law,” Frieofficers and cost an estimated $150,000, be- des told SGN. In other questions about marriage, 43% of came a public relations disaster for the police and a rallying point for the Gay commu- the respondents said that “Gay and Lesbian nity. Felony slavery charges against those couples should have the same right to marry as straight couples.” arrested were later dismissed. An additional 22% said that “Gay and That same year, when The Advocate was sold and relocated to the Bay Area, he also Lesbian couples should be able to have the moved there for a short time before return- same rights as straight couples but it should ing to Los Angeles and founding NewsWest not be called marriage.” Comparing this finding to the results of to fill the void left by The Advocate. ship. At any rate, she says, the community will, once again, have to take care of itself. “We have to be our own champions,” concluded Chernin. “This is an important conversation to have. We have an opportunity to come together as a community and work with the city – or whomever we have to – to make this happen.”
laurent
poll
the question about a possible referendum on marriage, it is evident that the 22% who favor relationship recognition if it is not called marriage split about evenly on whether they would vote to keep same-sex marriage or reject it. This is important information for LGBT rights activists who have to plan for a possible referendum if the state legislature does pass a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. “What the poll says is that it’s possible to win,” Friedes told SGN. “A clear plurality of voters prefer [marriage equality]. “That changes the dynamic in the room. It means that now, when people have conversations about marriage, they will most often be interacting with marriage-equality supporters rather than domestic-partnership or civil-union supporters.” The fact that only 43% of the respondents explicitly favored “the same right to marry as straight couples” is a reason for caution, however. “The take-away from the poll is that this is winnable, but only if we accelerate our work and strengthen our marriage equality majority,” Friedes warned. “The votes we need to win are not in Seattle,” Friedes continued. “They’re outside of Seattle. That’s why we’re organizing a series of meetings – some of them in Seattle but most of them in other areas – to begin organizing around the state. “Our internal polling shows that many of our straight allies don’t know that marriage equality is important to us because we haven’t raised that issue with them yet.” It is also interesting to compare the 65% who now favor legal recognition of samesex relationships – whether it is called “marriage” or not – to the results of Referendum 71 in 2009. Referendum 71 passed with a 53% Yes vote, indicating that public support for same-sex relationships has increased in the intervening two years. This is also important information for LGBT activists. “The radical right overplayed its hand,” Friedes observed. “They promised a parade of horribles if Referendum 71 passed. But it didn’t happen. The sky didn’t fall. People became increasingly comfortable with domestic partnership laws. Also people have become more familiar with the problems Gay and Lesbian families face. “New York made a big difference,” he added. “So too did President Obama’s position that DOMA is unconstitutional. That was very powerful, but it highlights the fact
that Gay and Lesbian families remain very vulnerable.”
benefits
continued from cover ball forward on the issue of providing equal benefits, recognition, and family support for legally married Gay and Lesbian families,” said Army veteran and SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis. “The benefits outlined were, in fact, available even before the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ Again, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network calls upon Secretary Panetta to confer now all the benefits and recognition he is authorized to extend to Gay and Lesbian servicemembers and their families under current law.” Servicemembers Legal Defense Network is a non-partisan, non-profit legal services and policy organization dedicated to bringing about full LGBT equality to America’s military and ending all forms of discrimination and harassment of military personnel on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. SLDN provides free and direct legal assistance to service members and veterans affected by the repealed DADT law and the prior regulatory ban on open service, as well as those currently serving who may experience harassment or discrimination. Since 1993, their in-house legal team has responded to more than 11,000 requests for assistance. SLDN sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in August, outlining benefit and family support programs that can be extended under current law without coming into conflict with the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) or other federal statutes. On October 27, SLDN filed a constitutional challenge in federal court in order to secure equal benefits, recognition, and family support for all military families. “We are not advocating any special treatment for the families of Gay and Lesbian service members or veterans, but we want to underscore that all military families should be treated the same when it comes to recognition, benefits, and family support,” said Sarvis. Lainez concluded that “the Defense Department is engaged in a careful and deliberate review of the possibility of revising the eligibility for additional benefits, if legally permitted.”
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