Celebrating 42 Years! Issue 42 Volume 44
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Seattle Opera presents a Transgender story at Washington Hall
Seattle Rep’s A Raisin in the Sun shines brightly
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Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
So sue us, New York GOP abandons Trump, Times tells Trump Trump abandons Virginia
(l) Trump’s lawyer, Marc Kasowitz & NYT’s attorney, David E. McCraw – Photos courtesy of gettyimages.com & delfi.lt
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Twice in as many days Donald Trump has threatened to sue the New York Times for publishing interviews with women who charge that Trump made aggressive and un-
solicited sexual advances toward them. Trump’s lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, followed up with an October 12 letter to the Times demanding it retract the charges made by the women or be sued for libel. On October 13, the newspaper’s attorsee NYT page 19
UW debuts LGBTQ Activism in Seattle History Project
Seattle Magazine cover of Peter Wichern, an openly Gay businessman – Photo courtesy of depts.washington.edu
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The University of Washington debuted a new project – the LGBTQ Activism in Seattle History Project – with a public launch
on October 10. Conceived as part of the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project, which began in 2005, the new piece was compiled see LGBTQ HISTORY page 7
Trump at a Virginia rally – Photo courtesy of newshour-tc.pbs.org
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer In spite of his exultant claim that “the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to,” Donald Trump is withdrawing campaign resources from the key battleground state
of Virginia as GOP leaders turn their backs on him. House Speaker Paul Ryan told his Republican congressional colleagues in an October 10 conference call that he would no longer defend Trump and would focus instead on maintaining the GOP’s impersee GOP page 19
Tina Podlodowski visits 39 counties; Wyman sued by AG
Tina Podlodowski – Photo courtesy of votersfortina.com
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Can a politician who allows security breaches in voters’ personal information, allegedly violates campaign contribution
laws, and is openly opposed to the fair treatment of LGBTQ people get re-elected as Washington Secretary of State? Voters will decide the outcome to that see PODLODOWSKI page 6
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Sharon Cumberland’s delightful review Dear Editors of SGN, I read Sharon Cumberland’s delightful review of PNB’s “Tricolore” program today [Seattle Gay News, Sept. 30, 2016 – http://www. sgn.org/sgnnews44_40/page29.cfm] and wanted to commend her. As a former professional ballet dancer I found her review tremendously insightful and her writing clear and evocative. My guess is that she has danced herself. I look forward to reading more of her work. Thank you for enhancing the SGN with good writing. Susan Nivert
University Lutheran Church’s new pipe organ Editor: I had a very enjoyable evening on Saturday, October 8th, at the University Lutheran Church at 1604 NE 50th Street here in Seattle. The occasion was the Dedicatory Recital for the new three-manual pipe organ, which was installed by Marceau Pipe Organ Builders of Seattle. Some of the pipe work of the original Reuters Organ was retained, with additional ranks of pipes, including a new division, which was installed in the rear gallery of the church. The organ performed flawlessly and easily handled some of the heavy and classical repertoire which was on the program. I personally thought that the strings were particularly outstanding. (All pipes fall into one of four families or categories: Diapason, Flute, String and Reed.) The builder, Rene Marceau, agreed and appreciated my comment. A lot of the pipe work, voicing and tuning, was done by Sean Haley who is an associate of Marceau Organ Builders, and who is a delightful conversationalist, and who agreed with me over the glaring and distracting lighting for the pedalboard. The new three-manual organ console had four rows of tiered stops on each side of the manuals. There were rows of pistons (which resemble door bell buttons) under each of the three manuals/keyboards which allows the organist to pre-set combination of ranks of pipes to play instead of having to pull out each stop individually in order to change the tone color of the organ. Also, there were over a dozen toe-studs, which the organist can tap with his foot to change the registration if he is too busy playing and doesn’t have a free finger with which to press a piston in order to change the sound of the organ. The service began at 6:00 p.m. with Vespers; and the excellent mature female and male choir did an outstanding job singing two of my favorite hymns: “All Creatures of Our Lord and King” and “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,” both of which are powerful Protestant Hymns which really put the organ through its paces and which the handsome twenty-seven year old organist, William Fletcher Bryant, did a masterful job playing. Vespers ended about 6:30 p.m. when the Organ Dedication Concert began. Mr. Bryant played three of my favorite organ works, namely “Sonata No. 1 in F minor Op. 65” by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847), “Chorale in A minor FWA 40” by Cesar Franck (1822-1890) and “Symphony No. 5 in F minor Op. 42 No. 1” by Charles-Marie Widow (1844-1937) and Mr. Bryant played all five movements, including the spectacular and famous Toccata. I was in a pew near the front of the church and sat next to the aisle where I had an unobstructed view of the console and the organist. It was a joy to watch and hear the organist play three very difficult organ works, which I am very familiar with, and am pleased to say that he hardly missed a note. His keyboard technique was excellent and his pedal work was superb, and on some of the pieces his feet literally flew across the pedalboard. I was very impressed with his playing, and I’m sure Messrs Mendelssohn, Franck and Widor would have also been pleased to see and hear this very talented young man play their organ compositions. The program ended about 8:30 p.m. and was followed by an excellent reception in a large room off of the main sanctuary, which included a large decorated cake, mixed nuts, coffee and pink punch. This room also contained large display boards with color photographs of both the old and the new organ console with the tiered configuration for the draw-knobs, which resembles the console which Marceau Organ Builders installed in Trinity Episcopal Church on 8th Avenue in Seattle, which follows the French tradition. So although the weather was wet and unpleasant, I found the University Lutheran Church (ELCA) choir, organ and organist, very uplifting for my soul and spirit on that Saturday evening. I believe it was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who dubbed the organ “The King of Instruments,” which indeed it is! John Henry Mark Member of Seattle Chapter of The American Guild of Organists
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Gay Seattle high school athlete finds love and respect from his teams by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Something amazing happened on National Coming Out Day, October 11, for Dylan Baker. His life has changed for the better. In fact, things are looking really great for the football player and track and field athlete at Seattle’s Inglemoor High School ever since he said the powerful words: “I’m Gay.” Baker admitted to OutSports.com that he was scared when he posted that message to Facebook on Tuesday. “I was terrified,” Baker told Outsports. com. “I read over the caption probably 50 times and kept thinking to myself that I should just wait longer until I’m out of the house or in college.” As the LGBTQ sports blog reports, Baker decided not to wait. The response from people on the football and track teams, many would think, was one of rejection or shame. But times have changed and now, with more and more
Dylan Baker – Photo by Mike Fiechtner Photography
athletes coming out in the professional leagues, college and at other high schools, the response Baker received follows a growing trend of acceptance of out Gay athletes by their teammates. “My football and track teammates have told me that they have nothing but love and respect for me. I had so many of them come up to me at school today and give me a hug and tell me how strong and courageous I am for doing that,” he said. And Baker doesn’t report any bad behavior coming from school faculty either. “My main coach, Scott, told me from day one that he’d have my back and that I will always be a part of the “hurdle squad,’” Baker said. “He is probably the most accepting person I’ve told.” “Every comment on Instagram and Facebook and text message I’ve received has been amazing,” he said. Seattle Gay News took a look at Baker’s social media and he’s not joking – this kid is loved. “Dylan you’re awesome always been an
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question come November as out Lesbian and former Seattle City Councilmember Tina Podlodowski has emerged as a serious contender to beat the embattled GOP incumbent, Kim Wyman. Wyman hasn’t had a good week. As Podlodowski announced that she has traveled to 39 counties during her campaign for Secretary of State to talk to voters about the importance of the race and reforming Washington’s voting system, Wyman received news that the State of Washington is suing her. Wyman, who is seeking to keep the only GOP statewide position on the West Coast, is accused of multiple public disclosure law violations, Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s office announced in a news release earlier this week. “The complaint alleges the Wyman campaign failed to timely file contribution and expenditure disclosure reports, as required under the state’s campaign finance laws. It also alleges that the campaign failed to timely deposit contributions,” reads a news release from the attorney general’s office. Ordinarily, these types of announcements include a brief statement from the attorney general; however, Ferguson recused himself from the case as he is currently seeking re-election as well. The complaint against Wyman was made by a citizen action notice sent by the Washington State Democratic Party in the spring, which then came before the Public Disclosure Commission. During the investigation into the matter, the PDC staff reached the following conclusions, according to the AG’s office: Wyman filed 11 reports for the campaign’s April 2016 activity 10 days late, disclosing $30,567 in additional contributions in May 2016. The campaign also filed an amended campaign summary report that included late contribution disclosures, as well as $943 it had failed to account for in a previous report. The Washington State Republican Party’s response to the lawsuit was to say that “the mistakes were minor and technical in nature – the public was not harmed in any way” and to attack Ferguson. “Even though the AG has had this information for months, he carefully timed his action to make headlines right before ballots arrive
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Tina Podlodowski – Photo courtesy of nwprogressive.org
in voters’ homes.” But the latest news of Wyman’s screwup is just another entry on a list of incompetency and alleged rule-breaking by the Republican Secretary of State. The investigation into Arcan Cetin, the man who gunned down five people earlier this month at a Macy’s in Burlington, Washington, has become the tip of an investigation into voter fraud. Cetin immigrated to the United States
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from Turkey as a child and has permanent residency as a green card holder. He has never taken the next step and become a citizen. Despite the requirement to be a US citizen to vote, Cetin registered to vote in 2014 and voted three times, most recently in May for Washington’s presidential primary. While citizenship is required to vote, proof of citizenship in Washington State is not, thus opening up an opportunity for Cetin to vote illegally.
awesome friend,” Tyler Smith, a student at the same high school as Baker, posted on Facebook. “This still won’t change the fact that you are amazing and great,” said another, while another friend wrote, “So Happy for you! I hope everything is going well for you.” Baker told OutSports.com that he thought that the reaction to his coming out as Gay would have some negative consequences, but instead, he says going to school the following morning was “unusually normal.” “I had only a couple people bring it up and they were just asking me questions like how long I’ve known, how my parents have handled it, etc.... Everyone acted like nothing had changed at all and it was amazing,” he said.
Wyman said that Washington State doesn’t have a provision in state law that allows county elections officials or the Secretary of State’s office to verify someone’s citizenship. That is true. However, she slipped up when she downplayed the notion that there are many similar cases like Cetin’s. “Our hands are kind of tied, but make no mistake, we want to make sure that everybody has confidence that people casting ballots are eligible,” she said. Additionally, Podlodowski embarrassed the incumbent by sending a letter to the state’s chief information security officers last month, revealing a design flaw in the state’s voter database. The undiscovered four-year-old flaw allowed a computer-savvy person, like Podlodowski, to have back-door access to voters’ email addresses, cell phone numbers, ballot delivery types, and the coding used to reach military and overseas voters. The information security officer informed Wyman’s office, which corrected the design flaw, after Podlodowski detailed how to break in in her letter. Meanwhile, Podlodowski is on a roll. She argues that Wyman’s office has become sluggish at registering new voters in a state where 1.5 million eligible citizens are eligible but not registered. Podlodowski, on the other hand, champions same-day registration and registering 16- and 17-year-olds as they get their driver’s licenses. Podlodowski says she is listening to what voters say they want. On Thursday, Podlodowski told supporters in an email, “Along the way, I’ve sat down with Washingtonians of all stripes to listen to their ideas about our voting system. From Wahkiakum to Pend Oreille, from Pierce to Spokane, voters agree: we need a voting system that works for everyone.” She reminded voters that “there are 33 days until Election Day – and this election will come down to whether or not voters participate,” and she asked that people talk to others and explain why they believe the state’s voter registration needs changing. If Podlodowski is successful in her bid to unseat Wyman, not only will she become the first LGBTQ person in Washington history to be elected to a statewide office, she will also break the 54-year hold the GOP has had on the Secretary of State’s position. For more information on Podlodowski’s campaign go to www.VotersForTina.com.
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Polls: Murray, Inslee heading for reelection, minimum wage and gun controls passing Clinton also way ahead in state by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer If a new KOMO News/Strategies 360 poll is accurate, Sen. Patty Murray and Gov. Jay Inslee are headed for re-election, the state’s poorest workers will get a raise, mentally ill people will find it harder to buy guns, and Hillary Clinton will get the state’s 12 electoral votes. The telephone poll of 500 likely voters was taken between September 29 and October 3, and was released October 7. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4%. According to the poll, Democratic incumbent Sen. Patty Murray gets 57% support, compared to only 36% for Republican challenger Chris Vance. That lines up pretty closely with Murray’s high favorable rating. Fifty-seven percent have a positive view of the senator, and only 30% a negative view. Murray enjoys an advantage across all demographics, even among white men and men over 50, usually considered easy pickups for Republican candidates. Murray was elected to the US Senate in 1992, pitching herself as “a mom in tennis shoes,” and has risen to become part of the Democratic leadership team. Vance, a former state GOP chair, is not as well known to the electorate at large. In fact, the poll finds that nearly half the respondents – 48% – didn’t even recognize his name. Another 26% said they’d heard of him but had no opinion of him one way or the other. Twelve percent had a good opinion of him and 8% a negative view. Murray’s re-election campaign also has a huge financial advantage. She has raised nearly $12 million, while Vance has brought in only $310,000. Consequently Murray is buying TV time while Vance is relying largely on social media. Inslee vs. Bryant Gov. Jay Inslee also enjoys a big lead over his Republican opponent, former Seattle Port Commissioner Bill Bryant. Fifty percent back Inslee and only 40% support Bryant.
(l) WA Sen. Patty Murray & Gov. Jay Inslee – Photos courtesy of seattletimes.com & invw.org
Like Murray, Inslee’s numbers correspond with his high favorability ratings. Fifty-one percent of the respondents said they had a good impression of him, against only 31% with a negative one. And, like Murray, Inslee leads across all demographics. Bryant, on the other hand, resembles his Republican colleague Chris Vance in having limited name recognition. Thirty-two percent said they didn’t know him, and another 30% said they’d heard of him but had no opinion of him. Ballot measures The poll finds two ballot measures likely to pass in November. I-1433, which calls for raising the state minimum wage to $13.50 by 2020 and offering workers paid sick and safe days, has 62% support. Eastern Washington voters are more likely to oppose the measure, but voters in King County and Western Washington support it by large margins. I-1491 gets 79% support in the poll. The initiative seeks to prevent people who are
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by Kevin McKenna, a doctoral student in history, with assistance from another doctoral student, Michael Aguirre. According to history professor James Gregory, McKenna began the project three years ago when he saw “an opportunity to fill in the LGBTQ history” that was missing from the Civil Rights and Labor History Project. Gregory is also director of the project. Like the overall Civil Rights and Labor project, the LGBTQ Activism project combines narrative history, photos, oral histories, timelines, and a catalog of LGBTQ activists and their organizations. It is accessible online at http://depts.washington.edu/ civilr/lgbtq_intro.htm. “It is an exciting set of resources that show for the first time the generations of activism that changed rights and attitudes in Seattle and made it possible for the city to claim, justifiably, to have produced sequences of pioneering legislation, including one of the nation’s first nondiscrimination laws,” Gregory said. The timeline of activism runs from the mid-nineteenth century to Seattle’s 2013 election of its first openly Gay
Gay men and lesbians celebrating Gay Pride on June 30, 1974 at Seattle Center’s International Fountain in commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York City – Courtesy of Don Wallen: An American Still Life, Modern Photographers Collection, Digital Collections of the University of Washington Libraries.
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determined by a court to pose a threat to themselves or to others from buying guns. The poll finds that I-732, which would establish a carbon emissions tax, leads by 42% to 37%. Twenty-one percent are undecided, and pollsters caution that undecided voters historically swing “No” on ballot measures. I-732 is supported by CarbonWA but not by other environmental groups. The Sierra Club, for example, took a “Not Support” stand on the issue. It is also opposed by the Washington State Labor Council and a coalition of groups based in communities of color. Polling from February shows that Seattle’s I-124 is also on track to win, although it was not polled in the latest survey. I-124 would protect hotel housekeepers – largely immigrant women and women of color – from sexual harassment as well as establishing legal limits on their daily workloads. Clinton vs. Trump The poll found that Hillary Clinton will easily beat Donald Trump in Washington,
winning the state’s 12 electoral votes. In a two-way matchup, Clinton beats Trump by 17 points, 50% to 33%. With all four presidential candidates in the poll, Clinton wins by 16 points, with 47% to Trump’s 31%. Libertarian Gary Johnson gets 10% and Green Jill Stein has 4%. Like Murray and Inslee, Clinton wins across all demographics, with a particularly strong showing among voters in the 18-30 age group, 56% to 25% in a two-way race against Trump. When Johnson and Stein are in the mix, Clinton still wins among 18-30 years olds with 50%, compared to 22% for Trump, 20% for Johnson, and 4% for Stein. Geographically, Eastern Washington is Trump country, but his support there – a 14-point lead – is not enough to overcome Clinton’s 44-point lead in King County and 18-point advantage in the rest of Western Washington. While Clinton struggles with favorability, her ratings are still ahead of Trump’s. Forty-nine percent of respondents had a good impression of Clinton, as opposed to only 31% who had a similar view of Trump. Voters under 30 had the most favorable impressions of Clinton and the least favorable of Trump, with 52% of 18-30-year-olds liking her; only 21% liked Trump. 7th Congressional District A poll released in August showed State Sen. Pramila Jayapal (D-37) leading State Rep. Brady Walkinshaw (D-43) in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Jim McDermott in the 7th District. The poll, conducted by GBA Strategies and paid for by Jayapal’s campaign, showed her leading Walkinshaw by 14 points, 43% to 29%. She also leads by 15 points – 50% to 35% – among voters who are familiar with both candidates. Jayapal led Walkinshaw across all demographics, even leading among voters who had supported King County Councilmember Joe McDermott in the primary. Although McDermott endorsed Walkinshaw, his voters endorsed Jayapal by a margin of 59% to 21%.
mayor, Ed Murray. The list of sixty-some LGBTQ organizations “says a lot,” McKenna said in his introductory talk at the October 10 event. “It’s a testament to the commitment of all the activists included in the project.” McKenna added that his new project “is by no means a comprehensive history of LGBTQ activism in Seattle, but with time it can be,” if activists not yet included in the video interviews come forward to share their stories. “Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people have been visible and politically active in Seattle for generations. Their activism has yielded pioneering civil rights victories,” McKenna says on the website. As a result of local activism, McKenna points out, the Seattle City Council was “quicker than most municipal governments in acknowledging and passing protections for the gay community on the heels of gay liberation,” adopting an ordinance against employment discrimination in 1973 and a housing nondiscrimination ordinance in 1975. But serious issues still face Seattle and King County’s LGBTQ communities, McKenna adds. “Even in King County, queer youth continue to face disproportionate rates of
homelessness, mental health issues, and domestic violence, and trans people are far more likely to live in poverty than cisgendered people,” he says. The October 10 project launch was attended by a number of veteran activists, including Marsha Botzer, Phil Bereano, and Roger Winters – whose interviews are included on the project’s website – and SGN publisher George Bakan. Alice Crowe, head of the UW Queer Student Commission, organized the launch event. The LGBTQ project was funded by grants from the History Department Digital History Fellows program and the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest. It was also supported in part by 4Culture, a public development authority funded by the King County Lodging Tax. The Northwest Lesbian and Gay History Museum Project and the UW Libraries shared parts of their collections with the project.
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Superintendent of Public Instruction race: SEAMEC endorses Chris Reykdal, downgrades Erin Jones by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer In an unusual move, SEAMEC has decided to revise the rating it gave Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Erin Jones and endorse her opponent, Chris Reykdal. Jones’s rating will be reduced to a 2, indicating she “needs improvement” on LGBT issues, SEAMEC said. Reykdal will keep his rating of 5, meaning that he has “shown leadership” on matters of importance to the LGBT community. “We’re taking this unprecedented step
because we have serious concerns about Erin Jones,” SEAMEC spokesperson Herb Krohn told SGN on October 13. “Our post-primary review of this candidacy revealed numerous inconsistencies, including her documented opposition to legislation banning reparative therapy. We were also concerned about some of her affiliations,” Krohn added, noting Jones had been involved with Young Life, a controversial anti-Gay evangelical group. “That’s frankly alarming,” he continued. “Some of us are worried that she might be a stealth candidate. When you look at all the information and connect the dots, it be-
comes very disturbing.” Equal Rights Washington (ERW) has also denounced Jones and endorsed Reykdal. Jones’s shortcomings on LGBT issues first came to light in an August 31 Stranger article by Sydney Brownstone. Brownstone noted that in her response to questions from a conservative blog, Jones used the right-wing catch-phrase “teaching transgenderism.” Jones also wrote “I do not think it is appropriate” and that such instruction could cause students to “feel additional pressure to ‘choose an orientation.’” In an August 25 interview with the Stranger, Jones reportedly avoided a direct
answer to the question whether she thinks being Gay is a sin. In a later interview with ERW, Jones referred to LGBTQ identity as a “lifestyle,” another right-wing code word. However, Jones impressed the panel of SEAMEC volunteers that interviewed her, earning straight A’s from the panel. The SEAMEC steering committee then gave her its highest rating, a 5, indicating “leadership” on LGBT issues. Reykdal also earned a 5, largely because of his outstanding record as a state representative from 2011 to the present.
WA GOP in turmoil over Trump remarks GOP leader Susan Hutchinson should resign, many say by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The Washington State Republican Party is in a state of open rebellion against party chair Susan Hutchison after she attempted to brush off Donald Trump’s boasts about groping women. “What I’m saying is that Donald Trump said those comments when he was a Democrat and he is a Republican today,” Hutchison told KOMO News. Many state Republican leaders have disavowed Hutchison’s remark, and there is now a Change.org petition calling on her to resign. Former GOP spokesperson Josh Amato said Hutchison’s “absurd” remarks were an embarrassment to the GOP and could hurt Republican candidates. “We can be a big-tent party. But we can’t be big enough to condone or excuse sexual assault,” Amato said. Hutchison had options in how she handled the Trump videotape, Amato added, including just keeping silent or saying the remarks on the tape were inexcusable. Right-wing radio talk show host Todd Herman agreed that Hutchison’s comments could harm Republican candidates across
Susan Hutchinson – Photos courtesy of seattletimes.com
the state. The comments, Herman said, essentially say that if you talk about sexually assaulting women as a Democrat but later
become a Republican, then it’s all OK. Herman added that he could not understand why Hutchison would jeopardize down-ballot GOP candidates who have a chance of winning their races to protect Trump, who will not carry Washington state anyway. “Why are you expending political capital on a guy who has a six percent chance of winning (the state)?” Herman said. He also called on Hutchison to resign. Eric Minor, a Republican National Convention delegate from Gig Harbor who is opposed to Trump, said he was also very disappointed in Hutchison’s remarks because “she seemed to be justifying Trump’s conduct.” Minor has been frustrated with Hutchison because he felt that she squashed legitimate opposition to Trump at the party’s national convention. Minor also wishes Hutchison would resign. Republican senate candidate Chris Vance, who has already said he will not vote for Trump, criticized Hutchison but stopped short of calling on her to step down. Asked by the Seattle Times whether her remarks were harmful to local Republican candidates, Vance said he wasn’t sure. Trump’s candidacy has been divisive for
Washington state Republicans, Vance said. “The party is bitterly and deeply divided, and people are mad at each other,” he said. “There’s a lot of rancor out there.” Hutchison, meanwhile, went into hiding, failing to respond to requests for comment. GOP executive director Caleb Heimlich said anyone who thinks Hutchison was trying to excuse Trump’s comments is willfully misconstruing what she said. Hutchison was simply pointing out that Trump’s comments were from another time in Trump’s life and that people change over time, he explained. “We like to believe that Mr. Trump has changed,” Heimlich said. He said he hasn’t heard from any Republican elected officials or GOP board members who think Hutchison should step down, and he said any suggestion that she do so distracts from the party’s effort to mobilize before the election. Trump’s state campaign director, Sen. Don Benton, said his campaign operation wouldn’t be distracted by “10-year-old gotcha comments made in a private setting.” “Mr. Trump took ownership of it and issued an immediate apology, and we were happy to see that,” Benton said.
Don’t know what PrEP is? Unfortunately, you’re not alone by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Six out of ten LGBT men have never heard of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Even worse, one-third of primary health care providers don’t know what it is either. Those are the shocking results of a new study by the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health in Baltimore. The research was published this month in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. The study also found that men from demographics with the highest risk, such as the African-American Gay community, knew the least about PrEP. Once they were made aware of it, however, six in ten said they would consider using it.
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Clinical studies have established that PrEP – a once-daily dosage of the same antiretroviral medications that are prescribed to fight HIV in HIV-positive people – reduces the chance of infection among HIVnegative people by 92%. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that all those who are at high risk for HIV, including men who have sex with men, should be on PrEP. In 2011, HIV incidence among Gay and Bi men nationally was 18%. In Baltimore, where Johns Hopkins is based, it is estimated to be 31%. Nevertheless, since the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved PrEP in 2012, only 5% of high-risk individuals have taken it for HIV prevention. The Johns Hopkins research team
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found that many health care providers don’t even discuss PrEP, even with highrisk patients they know are Gay or Bi, or those who are getting tested for other sexually transmitted diseases. The CDC estimates that as many as one-third of physicians may not even know PrEP is an option for patients at risk of HIV. “Doctors have limited time with their patients, but with gay and bisexual male patients, physicians definitely need to make it a point to discuss HIV risks and whether PrEP is a good option,” said lead researcher Julia R.G. Raifman, ScD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Bloomberg School Department of Epidemiology. “Health care providers may be unfamiliar with PrEP or may be uncomfortable broaching sexual health topics with their
patients. Whatever the reason, we need to find a way to get PrEP to the people who can most benefit. PrEP could be a game-changer for HIV in the United States, where there are more than 44,000 new cases of HIV every year – but only if people know about it.” Another report by Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health in July found that “across countries and income levels, men who have sex with other men continue to see disproportionately high rates of HIV infection.” One significant problem in reducing the rate of new infections, the report said, is the failure to get PrEP to the people who need it most, and the failure of health care providers to discuss PrEP with their patients is a huge obstacle to getting the meds to highrisk individuals.
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Mike Pence: Coward by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Mike Pence is the biggest coward on the national political scene. On October 7, when Washington Post reporter David Farenthold broke the nowinfamous video in which Donald Trump brags about sexually assaulting women, vice presidential candidate Pence literally ran for the hills, disappearing from public view for three days. He only re-emerged late on October 9, when the coast was clear. By then, Trump’s scorched-earth debate tactics had rallied his base and convinced many Republicans that he was still a dangerous man to cross. “Congrats to my running mate @realDonaldTrump on a big debate win! Proud to stand with you as we #MAGA [Make America Great Again],” Pence tweeted as the October 9 debate came to a close. From his hiding place somewhere in Indiana, Pence had previously issued contradictory statements about Trump’s “pussy” video. Only hours after the video story broke on October 7, Pence said: “I just tell people, Donald Trump gets it. You know what I mean? I mean, he’s a genuine article. He’s a doer in a game usually reserved for talkers. When he does his talking, he doesn’t go tiptoeing around all those thousands of rules of political correctness.” By the afternoon of October 8, Pence evidently realized that sexual assault is so far beyond the rules of political correctness that his previous statement had to be modified, so he issued a new one:
Mike Pence – Photo courtesy of al.com
“As a husband and father, I was offended by the words and actions described by
Donald Trump in the eleven-year-old video released yesterday. I do not condone his re-
marks and cannot defend them. I am grateful that he has expressed remorse and apologized to the American people. We pray for his family and look forward to the opportunity he has to show what is in his heart when he goes before the nation tomorrow night.” Pence also canceled his appearance at a Wisconsin event hosted by House Speaker Paul Ryan, where he was to have been the featured speaker – replacing the newly uninvited Trump. Reports began to circulate that Pence was thinking about dropping off the Republican ticket – either as a protest against Trump’s remarks, or as a way to salvage enough of his political reputation to justify his own presidential bid in 2020. By October 10, however, Pence decided that serving as Trump’s running mate was the “greatest honor of my life.” In an interview with CNN reporter Alisyn Camerota, Pence denied he’d ever thought about dropping off the Republican ticket. “You know I’ll always keep my conversations with Donald Trump and my family private. But it’s absolutely false to suggest that at any point in time we considered dropping off this ticket,” Pence told Camerota. Whatever Trump said or did, Pence told Camerota, Bill Clinton was worse. “Alisyn, [Trump] said last night very clearly that that was talk, not actions,” Pence told her. “And I believe him, and I think the contrast between that and what the Clintons were involved in 20 years ago – the four women that were present last night – was pretty dramatic.”
Trump sued at least 20 times for sexual harassment or discrimination against women by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Donald Trump has been sued at least 20 times by women employees charging they were sexually harassed or discriminated against while working for his companies, according to USA Today. In the wake of the October 7 release of a video showing Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women, Trump issued a string of denials saying that his words amounted to nothing more than “locker room talk.” USA Today, however, revealed that “allegations outlined in at least 20 separate lawsuits accuse Trump and managers at his companies of discriminating against women, ignoring sexual harassment complaints, and even participating in the harassment themselves.” The cases run the gamut of improper conduct. One woman sued Donald Trump’s Miami resort for discrimination, saying she lost her job because she got pregnant. Two others charged they were fired after complaining that co-workers sexually harassed them. A supervisor at one Trump property testified she was ordered to fire a woman employee because Trump thought she was “fat.” When she refused, she was disciplined. One married waitress testified that Trump constantly flirted with her when she had to serve him, asking whether she was “still happily married.” She didn’t like it, she said, but felt powerless to complain about it because Trump was her boss. And a number of women testified in a lawsuit that Trump personally instructed managers to hire younger, prettier workers at his Los Angeles golf club. For example, a woman supervisor at Trump National Golf Club near Los Angeles said Trump pulled her aside one day to
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complain about hiring. “I want you to get some good-looking hostesses here,” Trump told her, Sue Kwiatkowski recounted in a sworn statement corroborated by many other employees’ testimony. He then went on to say, “People like to see good-looking people when they come in,” she said. Managers acted on Trump’s directive, she and colleagues testified, to hire younger and “prettier” staff and to make sure other women workers were out of sight when
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Trump visited. According to USA Today, Trump has been the defendant in at least 4,000 lawsuits, of which about 130 have involved complaints by his employees. Many of the rest were filed by contractors who did work for Trump’s projects only to find that he refused to pay them. “A definitive accounting of women claiming mistreatment by Trump or his companies isn’t possible because many such complaints are resolved internally and
never escalate to a lawsuit,” the newspaper added. “And, researchers consistently have found, many women don’t report such workplace behavior at all.” For example, the Associated Press reported on October 10 that Trump systematically demeaned women during filming of NBC’s “The Apprentice” television show, discussing in front of them which ones he wanted to have sex with and asking other men in the room which ones they would have sex with.
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continued from cover iled House majority. Ryan’s announcement came after Trump’s losing debate performance on October 9, which failed to reassure top Republicans that he could rebound from the nowinfamous videotape showing him bragging about groping women. When news of the conference call broke, Trump launched into a Twitter war with Republican leaders, calling Ryan “weak and ineffective” and “disloyal.” “Despite winning the second debate in a landslide (every poll), it is hard to do well when Paul Ryan and others give zero support!” Trump tweeted, despite the fact that all scientific polls showed Clinton as the clear winner of their second debate. Trump also returned to his longstanding feud with GOP senator and former presidential candidate John McCain. “The very foul-mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my support during his primary (I gave, he won), then dropped me over locker room remarks!” Trump complained. Republican National Committee (RNC) chair Reince Priebus assured fellow Republicans that he has “a great relationship” with Trump and would continue to support the nominee, but behind the scenes, Republican Party resources may be shifting away from the presidential race and toward down-ballot races. One indication that even the RNC is backing away from Trump came on October 13 when NBC News broke the story that the Trump campaign is “pulling
From left: House Speaker Paul Ryan, GOP senator and former presidential candidate John McCain & Trump’s former Virginia state chairman Corey Steward – Photos courtesy of paulryan.house.gov, wikimedia.org & libertyfarmfestival.com
out of Virginia.” “The decision came from Trump’s headquarters in New York and was announced on a conference call late Wednesday [October 12] that left some Republican Party operatives in the state blindsided,” NBC reported. “Two staffers directly involved in the GOP’s efforts in Virginia confirmed the decision.” “This says the RNC is not helping” Trump to campaign in the state, one source told NBC. Trump’s former Virginia state chair-
man, Corey Stewart, said the decision to pull staff out of Virginia “makes it next to impossible to win the state.” Stewart was fired by Trump October 10, after leading a protest outside the RNC headquarters. According to Stewart, the RNC had not followed through on promises to help Trump win Virginia, and Trump’s own campaign had not spent enough money on winning the state. “They have not been spending money on an ad campaign for months,” Stewart complained. “They’ve had a fraction
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of the number of paid staff as the Clinton campaign, despite promises by the RNC to boost that up.” President Barack Obama carried Virginia in 2008 and again in 2012 after decades of Republican presidential victories there. Trump has trailed Clinton in every poll in Virginia since August, by a margin that’s only widened over the last month. According to the Real Clear Politics poll of polls, Clinton is up by 7.5 points in the state.
stroyed his reputation, McCraw argued: “Mr. Trump has bragged about his nonconsensual sexual touching of women. He has bragged about intruding on beauty pageant contestants in their dressing rooms. He acquiesced to a radio host’s request to discuss Mr. Trump’s own daughter as a ‘piece of ass.’ Multiple women not mentioned in our article have publicly come forward to report on Mr. Trump’s unwanted advances. Nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr. Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself.”
continued from cover ney, David E. McCraw, replied that the Times merely “did what the laws allows: We published newsworthy information about a subject of deep public concern. If Mr. Trump disagrees, if he believes that American citizens had no right to hear what these women had to say and that the law of this country forces us and those who dare to criticize him to stand silent or be punished, we welcome the opportunity to have a court set him straight.” On behalf of the Times, McCraw brushed off Trump’s libel claims, noting that “the essence of the libel claim, of course, is the protection of one’s reputation.” But it was Trump himself who de-
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Oklahoma Supreme Court strikes down restrictive abortion law by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The Oklahoma Supreme Court struck down a state law restricting the ability of women’s health centers to provide abortions for their patients in a unanimous decision issued October 4. The law, intended to prevent abortions without directly challenging the US Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, required that: • women’s health centers take samples of fetal tissue from patients younger than 14 and preserve them for state investigators; • women’s health centers submit to a very strict inspection system; and • health centers and individuals who helped under-age patients get abortions
without parental consent be subject to criminal penalties. The sweep of the anti-choice law turned out to be its undoing. The nine-member Oklahoma Supreme Court found the law violated the state constitution’s requirement that each legislative bill must address only “one subject.” The rule, the court said, is designed to prevent legislators from embedding unpopular provisions that could not normally pass in otherwise-popular bills. The state unsuccessfully asserted that each part of the law addressed a single subject – women’s reproductive health. “We reject defendants’ arguments and find this legislation violates the single-subject rule, as each of these sections is so unre-
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lated and misleading that a legislator voting on this matter could have been left with an unpalatable all-or-nothing choice,” Justice Joseph Watt wrote for the court. In a concurring opinion, four judges said they also would have struck down the law as an unconstitutional burden on a woman’s right to have an abortion. In a post-decision statement, Center for Reproductive Rights President Nancy Northup said the law was “nothing but a cynical attack on women’s health and rights by unjustly targeting their trusted health care providers.” Lincoln Ferguson, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office, which defended the law, called the decision “disappointing.”
“This law would have given law enforcement the ability to more easily prosecute sexual assaults of children that are discovered when a child under 14 has an abortion,” he said. “The Attorney General’s Office remains committed to defending laws aimed at protecting the safety and well-being of Oklahoma women.” Oklahoma’s Republican-dominated state government has joined a number of other states in enacting burdensome restrictions on abortion, drawing court challenges. In June, the US Supreme Court struck down a Texas law requiring women’s health centers to meet strict design and construction standards. A similar law is on hold in Oklahoma while the state Supreme Court considers its legality.
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LGBT issues missing from VP debate by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Whoever you think won the October 4 vice presidential debate, one thing is clear: LGBT issues were glaringly absent from the discussion. In fact, Democrat Tim Kaine threw away a perfect opportunity to force Republican Mike Pence to defend his horrible record of anti-LGBT views. Asked by moderator Elaine Quijano for one example where a public policy stand he felt obliged to take diverged from his Catholic faith, Kaine could have brought up his support for LGBT rights. Instead, he said that as governor of Virginia he felt he should execute convicted criminals despite the Catholic Church’s opposition to the death penalty. That answer not only distanced Kaine from base voters in his own party but it let Pence off the hook. Speaking on MSNBC after the debate, Lesbian news anchor Rachel Maddow said she was “surprised” that Kaine passed up the opportunity to nail Pence on his antiGay attitudes. “I was surprised, especially the way that Tim Kaine approaches this, that we didn’t get more about how Gov. Mike Pence has behaved on feminist issues, on reproductive rights issues – we got there a little bit – but specifically on LGBT issues,” Maddow said. “I mean, I don’t think that because I’m Gay I was looking to hear more of it than most people were, but I mean, Mike Pence is really famous for having pushed the most aggressive pro–LGBT-discrimination bill in the country, having to really embarrassingly walk it back. “When he was in Congress, he said that HIV and AIDS funding should not be disbursed unless it was also spent – federal dollars – spent to try to cure people from being Gay. I mean, he’s got a really, really, really
(l) Democratic vice-presidential nominee Sen. Tim Kaine & Mike Pence – Photo courtesy of wtop.com
radical position and history and current positions on Gay issues. It didn’t come up at all.” The Victory Fund joined Maddow in expressing concern that LGBT issues had been left out of the debate. “Mike Pence has made a career of singling out LGBT people for discrimination, and it is disappointing tonight’s debate did not address his long record of using public
office to advance his backward views,” said Victory Fund President and CEO Aisha C. Moodie-Mills. “Pence opposes recognition of our relationships, opposes LGBT soldiers serving openly in the military, and opposes prohibiting restaurants and other businesses from refusing service to LGBT customers. It is important the Trump campaign’s extremist
anti-LGBT positions be exposed in future debates – along with its attacks on women, immigrants, Latinos, Muslims, and veterans recovering from war. Their entire campaign has been built on fear and bigotry, and we believe voters will reject their attempts to turn back the clock on progress.”
Trump supporters may go to jail, not Hillary by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Despite Donald trump’s insistence at an October 12 rally in Ocala, Florida, that Hillary Clinton “has to go to jail,” it may be his own supporters who end up in prison. On the same day that Trump doubled down on his inflammatory threat to jail his opponent, Trump followers Chris Christie and Ken Paxton found themselves facing legal charges. Christie, governor of New Jersey and a close advisor to Trump, may face a criminal indictment in the ongoing Bridgegate scandal. In an October 12 ruling, a New Jersey judge found probable cause for a complaint of official misconduct against the governor related to the George Washington Bridge closure. The case now goes to the Bergen County prosecutor’s office, which will decide whether to indict Christie. The misconduct complaint was filed in September by activist Bill Brennan because, he said, the fallout of the 2013 lane closures cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Brennan said his criminal complaint followed from former Christie aide David Wildstein’s accusation that the governor knew that the lane shutdowns had been planned as political retaliation against the mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey. Christie also failed to seek criminal prosecution of his staffers once he found out, Brennan charged. Meanwhile, in Texas, state Attorney General Ken Paxton lost his last-ditch effort to avoid trial for felony fraud. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused to hear Paxton’s appeal of multiple
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(l) Chris Christie and Ken Paxton – Photos courtesy of educationpost.org & mystatesman.com
felony indictments that could net him up to 99 years in prison. Paxton will be tried next spring. “Today’s ruling marks an end to Mr. Paxton’s almost-yearlong attempt to avoid being judged by a jury of his peers,” special prosecutor Brian Wice said after the ruling. “We look forward to going to trial and seeking justice on behalf of the
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people of Texas.” The Republican-dominated appeals court gave no explanation for its decision not to take up Paxton’s case. A lower appeals court in Dallas, as well as the Tarrant County judge hearing the case, had already refused to throw out his indictments. Among the charges are two first-degree felony fraud charges arising from Paxton’s
work as an investment advisor for Servergy. Prosecutors say that Paxton advised people to invest in the company without disclosing that he was working for it and that he made commissions from investments.
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