Issue 43 Volume 39
Celebrating 38 Years!
seamec p. 8
ABRAHAM LINCOLN p. 16
joan rivers p. 25
Seattle Gay News
FRIDAY October 28, 2011 FREE! 25¢ in bookstores & news stands
SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Purr 6th anniversary “Whatever it takes, gala raises money we’re there for you.” for YSPP’s OUTLoud UFCW 21 ENDORSES MARRIAGE EQUALITY by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
courtesy barbie humphrey
Purr owner Barbie Humphrey
bie Humphrey, decided to donate a percentage of the proceeds to the Youth Suicide Prevention ProOn October 19, Purr Cocktail gram (YSPP), Washington state’s Lounge celebrated its six-year an- youth suicide organization which niversary – in style – as a popular houses the only statewide LGBTQ LGBT bar on the Hill. Celebrating six years of support and “a lifetime see PURR page 21 of friendship,” Purr’s owner, Barby Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor
On October 20, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21, the state’s largest private-sector union, endorsed marriage equality and promised its “strong support” for the marriage equality bill expected to be introduced in the state legislature next year. With 38,000 members and an aggressive political program, the union could be a key ally in passing the bill. SGN talked recently with two representatives of UFCW 21 about what their union can bring to the fight for marriage rights in Washington. Scott Shiflett is a meatcutter at Safeway and a member of UFCW 21’s Executive Board. Joe Mizrahi see ufcw page 21
DADT is repealed, Gay New data: LGBT veteran first to reenlist adoptions triple Keri Wiginton, Chicago Tribune
Lee Reinhart
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Lee Reinhart, 38, is about to join the military for a third time. Only now, with DADT out of the picture, he won’t be forced to lie about his sexual orientation to serve his country. So, in all actuality, Reinhart, as a Gay man, is about to join the military – wholly – for the first time. Reinhart was kicked out of the Coast Guard in 2002 for violating the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy three years after completing a four-year enlistment in the Navy without ever being confronted about his sexual orientation. Now, nearly 10 years later, Reinhart is scheduled to reenlist in the U.S. Navy Reserve on October 31. U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, a Chicago Democrat who voted to repeal DADT, will administer the oath to Reinhart during a ceremony at the Center on Halsted, a community center for LGBT people in Chicago’s Boystown district. The U.S. Department of De-
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor
A new study released this week by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute shows that the number of same-sex individuals and couples who adopted children tripled over the past decade, in part because of eased state restrictions and more foster care options. The report, a four-year study of 158 Gay parents, found the highsee veteran page 20 est number of Gay people adopted
children from Massachusetts, California, New York, and Texas. Recently, Florida stopped enforcing its strict ban on adoptions by Gay people, and the Arkansas Supreme Court struck down a voter-approved measure to bar samesex and unmarried cohabitating couples from adopting. “In the past, adoption was often an option only for wealthy Gay see adoption page 21
OctOber is Gay HistOry MOntH! Read the SGN throughout October for the best in Gay history!
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Celebrating 38 Years!
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Classifieds - Thursday at noon Calendar - Tuesday 6pm Display Ads: Space Reservation - Monday 5pm Ad copy (non-camera ready) - Tues. 5pm Ad copy (camera ready) - Wed. 5pm Letters to the Editor - Tuesday 5pm Obituaries - Call the SGN office All others - Tuesday 5pm
Editor In Chief George Bakan Associate Editor Shaun Knittel Editorial Assistant Nick Ardizzone Production William Creswell Calender Editors Mike Andrew and Rick McKinnon Travel Editor George Bakan Advertising Manager Marty Weisbrod Advertising Department Maggie Bloodstone Executive Assistant Mike Andrew Staff Writers George Bakan, Albert S. Rodriguez, Nick Ardizzone, Shaun Knittel, Miryam Gordon, Anthony Greer Contributing Writers
Rev. Barbara Allen, Mike Andrew, Eric Andrews-Katz, Madelyn Arnold, Maggie Bloodstone, Beau Burriola, Jessica Davis, Ron Anders, Jessica Price, Milton W. Hamlin, Nevin Jefferson, Keen News Service, Jason A. Miller, Liz Meyer, Rod Parke, Don Paulson, Scott Rice, Leslie Robinson, Richard Kennedy, Romeo San Vicente, Rex Wockner
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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.
Sapphic addictions – basketball and movies by Leslie Robinson SGN Contributing Writer My partner and I are both going through withdrawal. It ain’t pretty. We’re not addicted to drugs, alcohol, porn, sex, love, cigarettes, texting, or gambling. I’ll bet you a case of gin we’re not. No, our addictions have a Lesbian flair. Anne is mad for the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, while I’m obsessed with women’s professional basketball. I realize the WNBA players and fans are far from strictly Lesbian, but I say we keep that a secret. From May to October, I’m either glued to my seat in Key Arena to watch the Seattle Storm, or I’m glued to the television to gaze upon other teams. I prefer watching the Storm, of course, but my addiction is real, and if I don’t watch some women’s hoop every few days, my hands get clammy. The Storm, league champions last year, lost in the first round of the playoffs this season. Naturally, I was distraught. But a true
As I drift along in my dismal state, Anne is looking pretty pitiful, too. Normally she blocks out the 10 days of the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival on her calendar. She agrees to go to work and feed herself, but everything else comes second to the movies. If my appendix were to rupture, she’d rush me to the hospital – immediately after the conclusion of the documentary on Maori Gay youth. Obviously Anne loves movies, but the 10day hit of just LGBT movies is an ultimate high for her. The organizers of the film festival are her dealers. Bet they never thought of themselves that way before. This year various forces made grueling demands on Anne’s time, and at this writing, eight days into the festival, she has seen just one movie. The result? Anne comes home, hands the dog her “ticket” and demands buttered popcorn for dinner. She’s planning her attack on the remaining films. At this moment Anne is cloistered with the festival guide; she’s speaking to it as lovingly as she would to me. She aims to see as many films as she can over these last two days. It’s time to mainline. If she starts mixing her drugs – running back and forth between the Lesbian shorts and a Transgender musical – then I’ll start to worry. I plan to accompany her today and tomorrow. I’m the designated driver, in case she goes blind from staring at too many screens. But if one of the movies turns out to be about women’s basketball, neither one of us will be in a fit state to drive.
fan – addict – must continue, so I watched the rest of the playoffs and the finals, where some damn team that wasn’t the Storm beat some other damn team that wasn’t the Storm. Now it’s approximately 15 days, four hours and 38 minutes from the last game of the season, and wow, is it clear that I’m in the grip of basketball withdrawal. I blurt out “Go Storm!” at unpredictable intervals. I set up my Storm-player bobbleheads in a zone defense. I draw the WNBA trophy in my oatmeal. I miss the athletic exploits, like when a guard weaves around four defenders to get to the basket, or when I weave around 10 kids to get to the bathroom. I miss the competition, the drama, the socializing. Good God, I even miss the security line. Somebody needs a 12-step program, quick. Relief is not far off. Women’s college basketball begins soon. While that will satisfy my hoop hunger, I have one problem with Leslie Robinson is tired of buttered popthe college game: The players keep getting corn. Email her at lesarobinson@gmail. remarkably younger. com, and visit her blog at www.generalgayety.com for more humor on LGBT matters.
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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Seattle Gay News
October 28, 2011
Celebrating 38 Years!
State Sen. Scott White, our friend, 1970-2011 Courtesy of Bill Dubay As many of you know, Senator Scott White was found dead in a hotel room on October 21. The cause of death has been determined to be a cardiac problem related to an undiagnosed enlarged heart. Scott’s passing is not only a loss to his family and the 46th legislative district, which he represented in the legislature, but to many friends and associates that he knew and helped in his active political and community life. Scott served in the Washington State House of Representatives before advancing to the Senate. The GLBT community can be counted as one of those communities that will miss a first-rate friend and supporter. It was back in 2004 that a group of activists was pushing the King County Council to expand its civil rights ordinance to include gender identity and expression. I was a part of that group and found that lobbying the council was no small job and required a good amount of knowledge about how the council works and an equal or greater skill in lobbying councilmembers. At that time, Scott White was chief of staff of the King County Council. He had worked his way up to that position and knew the temperaments, positions, and personali-
ties of all the councilmembers. It was Scott White who was on our side and guided us through the dos and don’ts of approaching and lobbying each member of the council. In addition to telling us what to say to make a good impression on a councilmember – and more importantly, what not to say so that a councilmember would not take offense or be put on the defensive. He would advise us when to approach, when to wait, and in some cases, who to not bother with at all because that particular councilmember would never support the issue. We got the bill passed that year, but I still doubt that we would have if we didn’t have Scott White guiding us through every step of the process. Scott went on to become the senator from the 46th District. In the legislature he was always a strong and outspoken advocate not only for GLBT rights, but for everyone’s best interest. He was a true gentleman and a downright nice guy. He will be missed by the many whose lives he touched and helped. Scott is survived by his wife, Alison, and two children. A memorial service honoring Scott’s life will be held November 6 at 1 p.m. at Meany Theater on the UW campus. His family welcomes everyone to attend.
He was always a strong and outspoken advocate not only for GLBT rights, but for everyone’s best interest.
courtesy washington state senate democrats
Washington State Senator Scott White
Come meet Tim and Matt and join the family.
Go 1605 12th Avenue at Pine, Seattle (In liquor store parking garage.) Seattle Storm!
206-838-6027 or 206-898-4306 Visit us online www.sgn.org
October 28, 2011
Seattle Gay News
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courtesy naviny.by
Defiant activists hold pride in Minsk, Belarus by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
Twenty LGBT activists defiantly held a Pride march in Minsk despite a ban by the local authorities.
Twenty hardy LGBT activists staged a Pride march in Minsk, Belarus, in defiance of an official ban on Pride activities. The activists marched about 40 meters, less than half a football field, along a busy street in a southeastern suburb of Belarus’ capital city, on Saturday, October 22. The march lasted about 10 minutes, with no police reported at the scene. The real achievement was not the length of the march, however, but the fact that it happened at all. Last year’s Pride marchers were all arrested by police after briefly displaying a rainbow flag in downtown Minsk. Like last year, the 2011 Pride march was also banned by authorities. Ihar Karpenka, deputy chairman of the Minsk City Executive Committee, turned down the organizers’ application for a march permit, saying that the proposed site was less than 50 meters away from “facilities that are of vital importance to the local community.” Karpenka claimed that the march would cause disruption to “pedestrian and even vehicle traffic.” “As you can see, the march has not disturbed a single driver or pedestrian,” Pride organizer Syarhey Androsenka said. Androsenka added that he is not ashamed
to be Gay. Gay people should have the same rights as other citizens of Belarus and should not be subjected to discrimination, he said. March organizers said that a mysterious letter had been circulated in the week before Pride, purporting to be from the “Ideological Department of Minsk City Executive Committee.” The letter asks Minsk “citizens to be vigilant” during the Pride march and to hide their children “because many Gay men are alcoholics, drug addicts, and pedophiles.” The letter advises residents to “not leave unattended children outside the home in the dark.” The letter was reportedly very widely distributed, posted on public bulletin boards outside blocks of flats. Belarus, one of the countries that emerged in 1990 from the wreckage of the former Soviet Union, has become increasingly authoritarian – and increasingly homophobic – under the leadership of President Alexander Lukashenko. In 2004 Lukashenko charged that the United States and the European Union were trying to undermine Belarus’ security by “spreading sexual perversion.” Same-sex relations were legalized in 1994, but LGBT Belarussians are still subject to legal discrimination. Belarus police are reportedly very slow to investigate and prosecute crimes against LGBT people.
European Parliament repeats call for new antidiscrimination directive by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
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courtesy INTERNATIONAL ONLINE LIBRARY
The European Parliament declared twice in one week that it wants to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation across the European Union. On October 25, it adopted a resolution saying that “Member States should, as a priority, agree and adopt as soon as possible the proposal for a Council directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment.” The proposed directive would forbid discrimination based on religion or belief, disability, age, or sexual orientation in access to goods and services, education, and social benefits. The resolution also “calls on the [European] Commission to continue to support the overcoming of technical difficulties [between Member States] in order to ensure that a swift agreement is reached.” Once passed by the European Parliament, the proposal still requires approval from all 27 E.U. Member States. Germany and oth-
ers have refused any dialogue on the draft law, despite examining the proposals since July 2008. On October 26, the European Parliament passed a further resolution calling on “Member States to take the necessary steps to swiftly conclude agreement and adopt the proposal for a Council directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment.” Such a directive would help Europe achieve employment and stability targets for 2020, the European Parliament said. European Parliament member Raul Romeva i Rueda, rapporteur for the directive – in U.S. terms, its prime sponsor – and vicepresident of the LGBT Intergroup, welcomed the votes. “These two votes show the European Parliament remains firmly committed to nondiscrimination,” he said. “We fought long and hard for this proposal, and we will outlast retrograde governments that use fallacious arguments to delay equality. It’s in Europe’s DNA to protect minorities, and we will eventually get there.” European Parliament member Sophie in ‘t Veld, also a vice-president of the LGBT Intergroup and one of the authors of the proposed directive, called for stronger enforcement of fundamental human rights. “Like the eurozone crisis, fundamental rights in the E.U. are weakened by huge national deficits and little enforcement of European rules,” she said. “Just as we need stronger governance and sanctions for our economy, we need stronger governance and sanctions for fundamental rights. Member States must defend equality as urgently as the stability of the euro: both are absolutely vital.”
European Parliament
“The European Parliament’s Intergroup on LGBT Rights works by gathering members of the European Parliament from all political groups and countries, and advancing issues connected to the rights of LGBT people in the EU and beyond,” the group says on its website. As a condition of membership, the E.U. requires that countries abolish laws against same-sex relations. The Treaty of Amsterdam, one of the governing documents of the E.U., also requires E.U. members to pass anti-discrimination legislation. The new directive proposed by the Eu-
ropean Parliament would standardize antidiscrimination laws throughout the E.U. and provide additional protections to LGBT residents in countries that have enacted only partial legal protections. The proposed E.U. directive does not address relationship recognition, which varies widely among E.U. members. To date, five E.U. members have legalized same-sex marriage – Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. Eleven have established civil unions or registered partnerships, and eleven others do not recognize same-sex partnerships.
Celebrating 38 Years!
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The Danish government will introduce legislation to legalize same-sex marriage early in 2012. Danish Church Minister Manu Sareen said on October 24 that same-sex couples will “hopefully” be able to marry by next spring. “I look forward to the moment the first homosexual couple steps out of the church,” Sareen told the Danish newspaper JyllandsPosten. “I’ll be standing out there throwing rice. I have many friends who are homosexuals and can’t get married. They love their partners the same way heterosexuals do, but they don’t have the right to live it out in the same way. That’s really problematic.” Denmark was the first country in the world to legalize same-sex “registered partnerships” in 1989, but it has not yet legalized marriages. The proposal from the center-left coalition government angered some Danish religious leaders. The Lutheran Church is the state religion in Denmark, and church employees, includ-
Mogens Engelund
Danish government will push for full marriage equality in 2012
ing priests and bishops, are government employees. As church minister, Sareen is charged with managing the state church. Sareen said that church employees opposed to the new law would be accommodated, but some priests opposed the proposed legislation. “Lots of people are mistaken in thinking that homosexual weddings are just the next step after female priests,” said Henrik Højlund, a parish priest and chairman for the Evangelical Lutheran Network (ELN). “But it is much more consequential and beyond the boundaries for normal Christianity.” A May Jyllands-Posten poll showed that 75% of Danes support same-sex marriages through the church. Religious leaders acknowledge public support for same-sex marriage and some have floated a potential compromise – a “specific marriage ritual for homosexual couples.” Denmark is a parliamentary democracy in which the coalition of parties that controls a Manu Sareen majority in the parliament forms the governIf and when the new marriage law passes, ment, and is almost certain to be able pass “extremely gay friendly,” and many officials took part in preliminary discussions on Denmark will become the eighth European any law it proposes. country to establish marriage equality. All Danish political parties are reportedly same-sex marriage.
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer When Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai told BBC News that LGBT rights should be included in his country’s new constitution, he touched off a controversy that may split the fragile coalition governing the African country. Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe have divided political leadership since 2008, when Mugabe beat Tsvangirai in a presidential election. The elections were marred by widespread violence and vote-rigging, with Tsvangirai charging that Mugabe stole the election. Other African leaders stepped in to negotiate a power-sharing agreement that has stabilized the country, but tensions have been increasing as Zimbabwe prepares for new elections next year. Mugabe is openly hostile to LGBT rights, stating that Gays are “worse than pigs and dogs.” His supporters have reportedly attacked LGBT community centers, kidnapping and torturing outreach workers. Tsvangirai joined Mugabe in condemning same-sex relations at a political rally last year. “I don’t agree with the idea of a man breathing hard on the neck of another man while humping him,” Tsvangirai said then, according to the website Afrik.com. But in an interview with BBC News aired on October 4, Tsvangirai said that LGBT rights were a “human right” that Zimbabweans should respect. Tsvangirai added that he would defend LGBT rights if he became president in the upcoming elections, and he said that sexual orientation should be included in Zimbabwe’s constitution, which is currently in a
lengthy and controversial revision process. “It’s a very controversial subject in my part of the world. My attitude is that I hope the constitution will come out with freedom of sexual orientation, for as long as it does not interfere with anybody,” Tsvangirai said. “To me, it’s a human right.” According to a statement released by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, Tsvangirai made similar remarks in a September newsletter to his supporters. “There can be no place in the new Zimbabwe for hate speech or the persecution of any sector of our population based on race, gender, tribe, culture, sexual orientation, or political affiliation,” Tsvangirai wrote. “All of us are entitled to our own opinions on certain values and beliefs, but in order to move our nation forward and achieve national reconciliation and healing, we have to uphold and foster the fundamental principle of tolerance, including tolerance of people who have chosen to live, believe and vote differently from ourselves. “For too long, many of you, my fellow Zimbabweans, have not had the freedom of choice. Our new constitution shall be the cornerstone of a new society that embraces this particular freedom of choice and tolerance of both majority and minority views.” Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), Zimabawe’s leading LGBT organization, welcomed Tsvangirai’s statement and urged him to take positive action to support his statement on the indivisibility of human rights. “We urge him to have the courage to stand by his laudable respect for human rights in the face of the propaganda and unpopularity that will be generated by the Zimbabwean
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file photo
LGBT rights at the center of controversy in Zimbabwe government
Morgan Tsvangirai
media around his position. “True leadership remains steadfast in the pursuit of justice and equality,” they said. Zimbabwe’s Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa denounced Tsvangirai in his own BBC interview on October 24, however. Tsvangirai made the comments for “propaganda” purposes, contradicting positions he had previously taken in cabinet meetings, Chinamasa charged. “We can’t smuggle [into the constitution] the views of a prime minister who wants to
October 28, 2011
please a certain audience, basically, I suppose, to mobilize resources for his party. “I know personally he doesn’t believe it. He has said so many times in the cabinet,” Chinamasa said. Chinamasa added that Zimbabweans had firmly rejected LGBT rights during government-sponsored consultations on the new constitution. “We all know what people said about Gay rights – it’s a total no; an almost 100% no,” he told the BBC’s Network Africa program.
Seattle Gay News
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Rich Full-Bodied Cafes Savory Homestyle Soups & Sandwiches 8
Seattle Gay News
October 28, 2011
Celebrating 38 Years!
NORTHWEST
NEWS
compiled by Rick McKinnon SGN Staff Writer
JET CITY HOOPS – SEATTLE’S CO-ED GLBTQ BASKETBALL LEAGUE Whether you’ve got game or just want to try something new and make some new friends, get involved with Jet City Hoops’ winter session for some fun times. All skills levels welcome. Register online through Sunday, October 30, for the winter season games that will be held on Sundays, November 6-December 18, at Miller Community Center (330 19th Ave. E., just north of E. Thomas St.). Jet City Hoops offers both recreational and competitive divisions. Visit jetcityhoops.org for complete information. SEATTLE CENTER FESTAL – DIA DE MUERTOS OCTOBER 29-30 On Saturday, October 29. from noon-8 p.m., and Sunday, October 30, from noon-6 p.m., Taller Mexicano para la Cultura y las Artes presents Dia de Muertos or “Day of the Dead.” Enjoy a spectacular sand painting (tapete), community altars, music and dance performances, food, sugar skull painting and a community altar to remember our dearly departed with a special musical procession lit by candles Saturday evening. MERCE CUNNINGHAM DANCE COMPANY LEGACY TOUR On Saturday, October 29, at 8 p.m., at the Paramount Theatre (911 Pine St.), Seattle Theatre Group presents the Merce Cunningham Dance Company Legacy Tour. Set to disband after this tour, the Company will perform works by their founder and choreographer in celebration of his life and achievement as an artist who redefined dance in the 20th Century in collaboration with composers, most noteably John Cage, and artists such as Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg. Presented by Seattle Theatre Group in conjunction with On The Boards, Spectrum Dance Theater, Cornish College of the Arts, Pacific Northwest Ballet and Seattle Art Museum, this will be Seattle’s final opportunity to see Cunningham’s choreography performed by the company he personally trained. www.stg-presents.org. MUSIC OF REMEMBRANCE – THE BOYS OF TERAZIN, A DOCUMENTARY On Sunday, October 30, at 2:30 p.m., at Plestcheeff Auditorium, Seattle Art Museum, Music of Remembrance presents the world premiere of acclaimed newsman and film producer John Sharify’s story of the boys of Terazin’s Home One, their secret magazine VEDEM, and the unlikely reunion of four survivors in Seattle, 65 years later, at a Music of Remembrance concert in their honor. With special guests, members of The Northwest Boychoir. Post-screen discussion with director John Sharify and cinematographer Tim Griffis. Tickets: $18-advance, $25 at the door. 206-365-7770; www.musicofremembrance.org. HALLOWEEN OPEN HOUSE – VOLUNTEER PARK CONSERVATORY On Monday, October 31, 5-8 p.m., come to the Volunteer Park Conservatory (14th Ave. E. & E. Galer St., vehicles enter at 14th Ave. E. & E. Prospect St.) for their first annual spooky Halloween Open House. Join them for a family friendly evening and explore the eerie darkened building after hours. Treats and cider will be served.
RADICAL WOMEN – WEEKLY FEMINIST READING CIRCLE Radical Women hosts a weekly roundtable discussion of Frederick Engels’ classic work, Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, on the persistent problem of women’s inequality and how it can be overcome. The reading circle meets Monday through December 12,, 7:30-9:30 p.m., at 3314 Wallingford Ave. N. #4, Seattle. $2 suggested donation per session. Everyone welcome. For more information, call 206722-6057 or email RWseattle@mindspring. com. 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 one great big banquet of a book, with 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 fieldday 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.
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. Sistah Sinema is a movie event showcasing Black womyn in Queer roles and is held the first Friday of each month. Each showing will be followed by a moderated discussion section. Sistah Sinema was created to showcase the nuances of Black Queer Womyn culture. It is hoped that the movies will serve as a vehicle to foster honest dialogue on struggles and opportunities unique to Black Queer Womyn. While discussion sections will focus on Black Queer Womyn, all members of the Queer community are invited to attend. UNIVERSITY DISTRICT JAZZ FESTIVAL NOVEMBER 4-6 www.udistrictjazzfestival.com SEATTLE CENTER FESTAL – HMONG NEW YEAR CELEBRATION On Saturday, November 5, from 11 a.m.-5 p.m., at the Seattle Center Fisher Pavilion, the Hmong New Year Celebration offers an exploration and insights into the unique culture and traditions of the Southeast Asian Highlands, showcasing local Hmong dancers, musicians and artists in ways that illuminate and preserve this unique culture. For a full event schedule, visit www.hmongassociationofwa.org.
“RED, WHITE & PROUD” – 2011/2012 MR. & MISS GAY SEATTLE PAGEANT On Saturday, November 5, door at 5 p.m., pageant at 6 p.m., at Neighbours (1509 Broadway, entrance in alley between Harvard Ave. and Broadway, off E. Pike St.) join the Imperial Court of Seattle and Miss Gay Seattle XLVI Jetta Mae and Mr. Gay Seattle XXXV David, for an evening of fine RADICAL WOMEN drag entertainment and celebration. $10 ORGANIZING MEETING On Thursday, November 3, at 7 p.m., at suggested donation. www.imperialcourtofNew Freeway Hall (5018 Rainier Ave. S.), seattle.com. join Radical Women members for an orga“OMG! WHO ARTED?” – nizing meeting. Dinner, with vegetarian AN ART CONTEST FOR SISTERS’ option, will be available at 6:30 p.m. for an “CONDOM SAVIOUR” $8 donation. For more information, rides or PACKAGING childcare, call 206-722-6057 or email rwseDo you like to draw, or paint, or just attle@mindspring.com. Everyone welcome. Wheelchair accessible. Hosted by Radical sketch and doodle? Well, if you do, you may want to enter this art contest sponsored by Women. the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence – The Abbey of St. Joan and Vermillion Gallery GSBA PRIME TIME EAST On Tuesday, November 1, from 5:30-7:30 for a chance to have your art featured on the p.m., at Redmond Marriott Town Center Sisters’ “Condom Saviour” packaging! All artistic skill levels are encouraged to (7401 164th Ave. NE, Redmond, WA) join GSBA members and guests for this monthly participate. In the Sisters’ spirit of non-judgcomplimentary social and business net- ment and fundraising, the winner will be deworking event. To RSVP, call 206-363-9188 termined by how much money a particular submission raises through direct donation or visit www.thegsba.org. and silent auction. Who doesn’t love a good old-fashioned popularity contest, huh? FREEDOM SOCIALIST PARTY – From now through November 5, 2011, “SOCIALIST FEMINISM artists can register (with $10 donation) and VS. ANARCHISM” On Friday, November 4, at 7:30 p.m., at pick up their submission packets at VermilNew Freeway Hall (5018 Rainier Ave. S.), lion (1508 11th Ave.). Submission packets the Freedom Socialist Party hosts a public will contain a list of rules, image requireforum, “Socialist Feminism vs. Anarchism,” ments, a release form and a canvas. On Saturday, November 12, from 6-10 featuring Marxist journalist and organizer Andrea Bauer, who will explore the differ- p.m., judging for the contest will be held at ent philosophical differences between these Vermillion. This is an all-ages contest and two schools of thought and political action. event. There is no cover charge; donations Bauer is a Queer rights activist, pop culture at the door will gladly be accepted. Artists critic and environmentalist. Doors open at under 18 will need a parent’s or legal guard6:30 p.m., door donation $3. Hearty snack ian’s permission to enter. All proceeds from “OMG! Who Arted?” plates for $7. For more information, call 206-722-2453 or email FSPseattle@mind- go to the Sisters’ “Play Fair!” program. In 1982 as San Francisco’s health scene spring.com. Wheelchair accessible. had hit crisis levels, registered nurses Sister
Florence Nightmare and Sister Roz erection joined with a team of Sisters and medical professionals to create “Play Fair!,” the first safer sex pamphlet to use plain sex-positive language, practical advice and humor to educate people on the responsibility of their sexual health. The Abbey of St. Joan continues the duty of teaching the message that everyone has a responsibility to themselves and their sex partners to stay safe and “Play Fair.” “Condom Saviors” and “Passion Packs” carry supplies and helpful information, all of which are free for the asking. PAUL DAHLQUIST PHOTOGRAPHY AT GHOST GALLERY NOVEMBER 10-DECEMBER 5 From Thursday, November 10, through Monday, December 5, Ghost Gallery (on Summit Ave. E. between E. Denny Way and E. Olive Way, next to the Hillcrest Market) will be showing rare and never-before-seen images by Northwest master photographer Paul Dahlquist. Included in the show will be stunning portraits and nudes. Gallery hours are Monday, Wednesday-Friday, noon-8 p.m., Saturday/Sunday, noon-6 p.m. Tuesday by appointment. www.ghostgallery.org; www.pauldahlquist.com/ GENERIC LEATHER PRODUCTIONS OF WA (GLPW) HOLDS COMMUNITY MEETING Generic Leather Productions of Washington (GLPW) and former president Gene Romaine have decided to resign as producers of the Northwest LeatherSIR, Leatherboy & Community Bootblack Contest, effective immediately. The decision does not reflect on their continuing support for the contest or their support for the local titleholders, whom they respect greatly, according to Michael “Odie” Heaston, acting president of the Board. After 9 years of producing the regional contest, GLPW and Mr. Romaine have decided that it was time for a fresh perspective on the contest, as well as a need to refocus energies on building the Queer Kink Community in the Pacific Northwest. Plans for new events and a roadshow are currently in the works, as well as deliberations on how to maximize their core mission of producing events that support the alternative sexuality community from Montana to Washington and Oregon to Alaska. In this effort, GLPW has put together a list of projects and events for the coming year. GLPW and Mr. Romaine are very involved in producing the Leather Leadership Conference XVII, slated to occur in Seattle in April, 2013. Other events that GLPW produces include the Leather Pride Picnic, during Seattle’s Pride weekend; Spanksgiving on Thanksgiving evening; and several play parties over the course of the year, many of which coincide with other Leather or fetish events. With a new direction as their goal, GLPW is putting out an invitation to everyone in the Pacific Northwest who regard the building 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 on Sunday, November 13, at 1:15 p.m, at the Seattle Public Library, Capitol Hill Branch (Harvard Ave. E. & E. Republican St.), 2nd floor conference room. GLPW will be holding elections to fill three vacant board seats and will be forming committees with both Board and non-board members at the helm to steer the organization and these committees into a brighter future. The new goals of GLPW are in keeping with their mission statement. “Now is the time to step up and make some news about who we are and what we are doing,” says acting president Michael “Odie” Heaston. www.glpw.org.
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October is Gay History Month Abraham Lincoln: A life in the closet? My Suitor you never Can be Beside your low crotch proclaims you a botch And that never Can serve for me
Abraham Lincoln (1809-65) may likely be the most studied and researched of all U.S. presidents. The first reference to him possibly being homosexual came from notable Lincoln expert Carl Sandburg in his 1926 biography, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years. Describing the early relationship between Lincoln and his close friend, Joshua Fry Speed, Sandburg wrote of it having “a streak of lavender, and spots soft as May violets.” This line got historians talking about an issue from which many had previously shied away. Still, the biography was written in the early 20th century, a time when such topics were discussed only in whispers, but Sandburg clearly felt the relationship deserved acknowledgment. It wasn’t until 2005 when the first book was published on Lincoln’s relationships with men, C.A. Tripp’s The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln. Doubters of Lincoln’s possible homosexuality, such as historian David Herbert Donald, often say there is no new evidence on Lincoln. Yet historians continue to draw fresh conclusions from Lincoln’s letters. Those who attempt to refute Lincoln’s possible “homosexuality” usually focus on one particular incident – of many – that supports the theory: his relationship with Speed. Yet history, like everything else, is open to interpretation and influenced by new findings. Bias also motivated the retelling of historical events. The best example of bias in American history is the story of Thomas Jefferson and his slave/concubine Sally Hemings, which was not accepted as a truthful account until 1998 – and only after DNA proof. African-American citizens, not historians, led the effort to give Hemings her rightful place in history. Likewise with Lincoln, most historians have referred to isolated facts rather than the pattern of events in his life to tell his personal story. Will history once again prove historians wrong?
This poem, about a boy marrying a boy, is thought to be the first written reference to Gay marriage in U.S. history. A 20-yearold man in rural Indiana wrote it 182 years ago. That young man was Abraham Lincoln.
THE POEM I will tell you a Joke about Jewel and Mary It is neither a Joke nor a Story For Rubin and Charles has married two girls But Billy has married a boy The girlies he had tried on every Side But none could he get to agree All was in vain he went home again And since that is married to Natty So Billy and Natty agreed very well And mama’s well pleased at the match The egg it is laid but Natty’s afraid The Shell is So Soft that it never will hatch But Betsy she said you Cursed bald head
courtesy library of congress
by Mark Segal Special to the SGN Courtesy of the National Gay History Project
Abraham Lincoln circa 1846
Most historians agree Lincoln wrote the poem as a joke or rebuttal to the lack of an invitation to a friend’s wedding, but how a backwoodsman could even have conceived a boy-marries-boy poem in 1829 remains a question. The poem was included in the first major biography of Lincoln, written by his law partner, William Herndon. Revisionists omitted it in subsequent editions. It didn’t reappear in Herndon’s book until the 1940s. BILLY GREENE In 1830, when Lincoln’s family moved to Coles County, Ill., he headed out on his own. At age 22, he settled in New Salem, Ill., where he met Billy Greene – and, as Greene told Herndon, the two “shared a narrow bed. When one turned over the other had to do likewise.” Greene was so close to Lincoln at that time that he could describe Lincoln’s physique. However, Lincoln was poor at the time and it was not unusual for men in poverty to share a bed. JOSHUA FRY SPEED In 1837, Lincoln moved to Springfield, Ill., to practice law and enter politics. That’s where he met the two men who would be his greatest friends throughout his life. One,
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Joshua Fry Speed, became his bed partner for a while; the other was law partner Herndon. Beyond the revelation that Lincoln and Speed had an intimate friendship, little has been written about how diligently Speed worked for Lincoln’s legal and political career. Speed’s name popped up in many of Lincoln’s legal filings and on the Illinois Whig Party’s central committee. The two were almost inseparable. Most Lincoln historians agree this relationship was the strongest and most intimate of the president’s life. What they don’t agree on is why they slept in the same bed for four years when they had the space and means to sleep separately, as was expected of men their age. By 1840, both Lincoln and Speed – now 31 and 26 – were considered past marrying
October 28, 2011
age. Both bachelors reportedly were hesitant to tie the knot, but it was a de-facto requirement to have a wife (or at least show a strong interest in marriage) if you wanted to move in political circles. Both Speed and Lincoln dreaded this “requirement,” as evidenced by Lincoln’s letters. Speed took the marriage plunge first and moved back to Kentucky, leaving Lincoln. At this precise time, Lincoln suffered a mental breakdown. Historians have been all over the map as to what caused the breakdown, but it was so intense that friends, including Herndon, worried he would take his own life. Lincoln only recovered after Speed invited him to visit him and his new wife in Kentucky. Lincoln’s most emotional and intimate writings were contained in his letters to Speed. From the time they lived together until shortly after Speed married and moved away, Lincoln always signed his letters “forever yours” or “yours forever.” Lincoln wrote to Speed shortly before the latter’s February 15, 1842, wedding: “When this shall reach you, you will have been Fanny’s husband several days. You know my desire to befriend you is everlasting – that I will never cease, while I know how to do any thing. “But you will always hereafter, be on
ground that I have never occupied, and consequently, if advice were needed, I might advise wrong. “I am now fully convinced, that you love her as ardently as you are capable of loving … If you went through the ceremony calmly, or even with sufficient composure not to excite alarm in any present, you are safe, beyond question, and in two or three months, to say the most, will be the happiest of men. “I hope with tolerable confidence, that this letter is a plaster for a place that is no longer sore. God grant it may be so. “I would desire you to give my particular respects to Fanny, but perhaps you will not wish her to know you have received this, lest she should desire to see it. Make her write me an answer to my last letter to her at any rate. I would set great value upon another letter from her. “P.S. I have been quite a man ever since you left.” The two exchanged letters regularly and, in October 1842, Lincoln observed the newlywed Speed was “happier now than you were the day you married her.” He continued: “Are you now, in feeling as well as judgment, glad you are married as you are? From any body but me, this would be an impudent question not to be tolerated; but I know you will pardon it in me. Please answer it quickly as I feel impatient to know.” The urgency in his letter is palpable: Lincoln married Mary Todd on November 4, 1842, despite having broken off their engagement two years earlier. Even after the Civil War broke out, Lincoln and Speed continued to write. On numerous occasions, Speed visited Lincoln at the White House; he even spent a night with Lincoln in the president’s cottage at the Soldiers’ Home, three miles to the northwest. Throughout Lincoln’s political career, he urged Speed to accept a political appointment that would bring him to live in Washington, D.C. When that failed, he appointed Speed’s brother, James, U.S. attorney general in 1864. ELMER ELLSWORTH After Speed and Lincoln’s marriages, there were no traces of other men in Lincoln’s life until Elmer Ellsworth in 1860. According to the Abraham Lincoln Blog (abrahamlincolnblog.blogspot.com), in 1859, Ellsworth formed the Chicago Zouaves, a precision military drill team based on the famous Zouave soldiers of the French Army based in northern Africa. The Chicago Zouaves, led by Ellsworth, toured the Northern states in the months before the Civil War, performing acrobatic moves, marching, and weapons displays. The regiment impressed the crowds, despite the fact that they’d never seen military action. Lincoln met Ellsworth through these displays and the two became friends. Lincoln invited Ellsworth, who had been a law clerk in Chicago, to move to Springfield to study law. Ellsworth became devoted to Lincoln and adored by the entire Lincoln family. One author wrote that it seemed Lincoln had a “schoolboy crush” on the much-younger Ellsworth. He first worked in Lincoln’s law practice, and then moved on to his political career and eventual campaign for president. Once elected, Lincoln asked Ellsworth to accompany his family to Washington. At the beginning of the Civil War, Ellsworth asked Lincoln to assist in obtaining a position for him in the Union Army. In a letter dated April 15, 1861, Lincoln wrote: “I have been, and still am anxious for you to have the best position in the military which can be given you.” When a call for soldiers went out, Ellsworth headed to New York and rallied 1,000 men, then returned to Washington, D.C. When Virginia voted to secede on May 23, 1861, a hotel owner in Alexandria, Va.,
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DAVID DERICKSON In 1862, Lincoln met Capt. David Derickson, who served as his bodyguard, providing protection for the president when he commuted from the White House to his cottage at the Soldiers’ Home. Lincoln spent about a quarter of his presidency at the cottage, which allowed him some escape from D.C.’s summers and from public interruptions at the White House. Lincoln and his bodyguard became close, and historians Tripp and Donald note two recorded mentions that Lincoln and Derickson slept in the same bed: Derickson’s superior, Lt. Col. Thomas Chamberlain, and Tish Fox, the wife of Assistant Navy Secretary Gustavus Fox, both wrote about it. Tish wrote in her diary that Derickson was devoted to Lincoln and “when Mrs. Lincoln was away, they slept together.” But there were more than just two eyewitnesses to this relationship. After the war, Chamberlain published an account, History of the 150th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers, Second Regiment, Bucktail Brigade. Before it was published, many members of the company reviewed the manuscript and no one objected to the following: “The president was also not an infrequent visitor in the late afternoon hours, and endeared himself to his guards by his genial, kind ways. He was not long in placing the officers in his two companies at their ease in his presence, and Capts. Derickson and Crozier were shortly on a footing of such marked friendship with him that they were often summoned to dinner or breakfast at the presidential board. Capt. Derickson, in particular, advanced so far in the president’s confidence and esteem that in Mrs. Lincoln’s absence he frequently spent the night at his cottage, sleeping in the same bed with him, and – it is said – making use of his excellency’s nightshirt! Thus began
an intimacy which continued unbroken until the following spring, when Capt. Derickson was appointed provost marshal of the 19th Pennsylvania District, with headquarters in Meadville.” The Bucktails witnessed the relationship between the president and his bodyguard, which was public enough that they knew Derickson kept him company when Mrs. Lincoln traveled, and maybe wore his nightshirt. Historical interpretations aside, why would the president, then in his 50s, sleep with his bodyguard?
she stumbled upon her husband’s same-sex has to be familiar with Lincoln contemporary Walt Whitman, who is now universally affections. regarded as having been Gay. Younger historians and scholars seem to DETRACTORS The most outspoken and respected doubt- be more sensitive to the subject than Donald er of Lincoln’s possible homosexuality is or Kerns were. For example, Jean H. Baker, historian and biographer David Herbert a former student of Donald, conceded in her Donald, arguably the most notable Lincoln acclaimed 1987 book, Mary Todd Lincoln: observer since Sandburg. Donald claims in A Biography, that Lincoln’s distraction his 2004 book Lincoln’s Men that although from his wife was likely due to more than Speed and Lincoln slept together for four just his all-consuming work. Baker said in years, they both were romancing women a New York Times interview, “I previously during two of those years. But the fact that thought [Lincoln] was detached because he was thinking great things about court cases … now I see there is another explanation.” courtesy library of congress
across the Potomac River, raised a Confederate flag visible from Lincoln’s office. Early the next morning, Ellsworth and his men crossed the river and occupied the telegraph office to cut off communications. Seeing that the hotel was next door, Ellsworth entered it and took down the flag, then was fatally shot by the hotel’s proprietor. Ellsworth thus became the first Union soldier killed in the war. After hearing of the tragedy, Lincoln wept openly and went with Mrs. Lincoln to view the soldier’s body. Lincoln arranged for Ellsworth to lie in state in the White House, followed by a funeral. The president was inconsolable for days. Lincoln wrote condolences to Ellsworth’s parents: “My acquaintance with him began less than two years ago; yet through the latter half of the intervening period, it was as intimate as the disparity of our ages, and my engrossing engagements, would permit. … What was conclusive of his good heart, he never forgot his parents.” As with Speed and his family, Lincoln appointed Ellsworth family members to positions in government.
CONCLUSIONS Taken individually, the various accounts of Lincoln with other men may not offer enough proof that he was Gay. But the pattern reveals a man who, in his sexual prime, slept exclusively with another man for four years – two of those years (according to Donald) without romancing someone of the opposite sex; who wrote a poem about a boy marrying a boy; and who, as president, slept with his bodyguard. From historical records, one certainly can conclude that Lincoln enjoyed sleeping with men. He did so when it was acceptable in youth and poverty, and also when he was older and successful. While it is documented that Lincoln slept with several men, there is only one confirmed woman who shared his bed: Todd. (Most Lincoln historians dispute an account that he was involved with a female prostitute.) Of the men, we don’t know how many reciprocated with emotion. To find just one same-sex soulmate in the culture of the mid-1800s seems a miracle; Lincoln may have sought others after Speed went on to have the life that was expected of men of his time. In that period, only one man in 300 did not marry. And Speed was apparently the love of his life. Lincoln resisted marriage as long as he could, only marrying after Speed was well-entrenched Abraham Lincoln in February 1865 in his own marriage – a phase that coincided he courted women doesn’t rule out the possi- with Lincoln’s “mental distress.” bility that Lincoln may have preferred men. LINCOLN AND WOMEN Mark Segal is founder and publisher of Lincoln’s lack of interest in women was Donald also notes that no contemporaries frequently documented as awkward. Most of the two, including Herndon, claimed to Philadelphia Gay News, the country’s oldhistorians agree there are only three women have ever witnessed Speed and Lincoln hav- est LGBT newsweekly. Sometimes called the with whom Lincoln was close: his step- ing intimate relations. But Donald ignores dean of the Gay press, Segal is an awardmother, Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln, who eyewitness accounts and misinterprets other winning columnist and is fascinated by hisraised him with affection; Ann Rutledge, to witnesses who hinted at it, such as the presi- tory. whom he was romantically linked but not dent’s own secretaries. The historian also engaged; and Todd. He also courted Mary brushes aside the emotion contained in the Owens for a time in 1836, but the relation- letters between Lincoln and Speed, in their ship ended on mutual agreement. If Lincoln own handwriting. Donald points out that it was a closeted Gay man, he still could have was common for 19th-century young men loved and adored Todd, for the same rea- to have emotional relationships and share a sons many closeted men love their wives: bed. But Speed and Lincoln weren’t considShe brought him a sense of being loved ered “young” when they met. Doris Kearns Goodwin, in an interview and the family he craved. While Todd was always described as high-strung, she report- on C-SPAN about her 2006 Lincoln biogedly took a turn for the worse – many his- raphy Team of Rivals: The Political Genius torians have labeled her as insane – during of Abraham Lincoln, said, “Homosexuals their marriage. The Lincolns endured many didn’t exist before the word was coined in tragedies – three of their four children did 1868.” She most likely meant the term didn’t not survive to adulthood – which could have exist, but this clearly demonstrates a lack of caused her decline, but it’s also possible that sensitivity by non-Gay historians. Goodwin
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Benjamin Franklin: Writer, inventor, statesman, and friend to Gays by Victoria A. Brownworth Special to the SGN Courtesy of the National Gay History Project There is no more fascinating character among the Founding Fathers than Benjamin Franklin. An intellectual powerhouse credited with an extraordinary number of inventions and writings, he also was one of the three most pivotal players in the solidifying of the new colonial government, along with George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Historian Walter Isaacson, author of the definitive biography of Franklin, described him as “the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become.” It was Franklin who edited the Declaration of Independence as Jefferson wrote it, making significant changes, which altered the course of history. (For example, Jefferson had originally written “we hold these truths to be Sacred,” but Franklin altered that to read “self-evident” because, he argued with Jefferson, the new democracy could not be predicated on the old divine right of kings, like the monarchy they had just won freedom from. Thus “self-evident” – coming from the people, not “Sacred,” coming via a kingly conduit to God.) Franklin was also a statesman, having been speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly and president of Pennsylvania – a position equivalent to governor, today. Franklin was also known as the great communicator among the major players in the colonial era. His joie de vivre and sense of humor ingratiated him with everyone, which is why he became the primary diplomat from the colonies, an ambassador to the French and Prussian courts and U.S. minister to both France and Sweden. In each capacity he negotiated treaties and opened communication between supporters in Europe and the colonies. It was in his role as ambassador to France that Franklin also became the nation’s first Gay-friendly ambassador, helping a known homosexual escape prosecution and become a pivotal figure in the American Revolution. Identifying Franklin’s most pivotal role in colonial America is impossible as there was no arena in which he was not essential, as Isaacson’s biography makes clear. But certainly Franklin’s most significant role in relationship to the American Revolution and the propitious outcome of the Revolutionary War was his delivery of Baron Friedrich von Steuben from the French court at Paris
Joseph Friedrich Wilhelm of HohenzollernHechingen, in southern Germany. Von Steuben traveled to Paris – some say fled – seeking a position in the French army or the Continental Army, through American military representatives like Franklin. Washington had sought a military strategist, but had insisted on someone who spoke fluent English. Von Steuben spoke German and French and very little English, so Franklin was initially leery of recommending him to George Washington at Valley Forge. to Washington. Washington himself felt that von SteuBut – and this is where Franklin’s Gayben’s military strategies were vital to friendly attitude is most obvious – his success in the war; von Franklin had empathy for Steuben’s expertise von Steuben’s increaswas so stellar his ingly problematic military manual, circumstances “Regulations and decided for the Orto write der and letters
Discipline of the Troops of the United States,” became the fundamental guide for the Continental Army and remained in active use through the War of 1812, being published in over 70 editions. Had it not been for Franklin, however, Washington would never have gotten his military strategist and von Steuben may have spent the remainder of his life in prison somewhere in Europe. At the lead-in of the Revolution, Franklin was a mediator between the French and the colonists in negotiating the support of France against the British. It was during this period of intense political complexity and foment that von Steuben was first approached. Franklin knew of von Steuben’s homosexual encounters, but didn’t consider them relevant to a position in Washington’s Continental Army. In June 1777, rumors of homosexual activity had forced von Steuben to resign his role as chamberlain to Prince
of recommendation to Washington and bring von Steuben to America. These letters of recommendation came immediately following a crisis for von Steuben. Having first rejected a non-paid position offered by Franklin, von Steuben found himself in danger of being prosecuted. A letter dated August 13, 1777 to the Prince for whom von Steuben had been chamberlain threatened von Steuben: “It has come to me from different sources that M. de Steuben is accused of having taken familiarities with young boys which the laws forbid and punish severely. I have even been informed that that is the reason why M. de Steuben was obliged to leave Hechingen and that the clergy of your country intend to prosecute him by law as soon as he may establish himself anywhere.” Franklin and von Steuben met again and Franklin expanded and revised von Steuben’s résumé to make it more attractive to
Religion & Spirituality
Washington, wrote letters of recommendation for von Steuben and arranged for his passage to Pennsylvania. Von Steuben arrived at Valley Forge in February 1778, with his 17-year-old French lover, Pierre Etienne Duponceau. The rest – thanks to Franklin – is history. It wasn’t solely as ambassador that Franklin made Gay-friendly history in early America. In his role as America’s printer extraordinaire, Franklin had been responsible for facilitating the printing of the first male same-sex love story in North America through his friendship with and mentoring of French printer Fleury Mesplet. Franklin had befriended Mesplet after meeting him in London during one of his many sorties there. There are different versions of how Mesplet arrived in Philadelphia, but he was both a revolutionary and a printer and his friendship with Franklin deepened during his time in Philadelphia. He then moved to Montreal with the American Army in 1775 as a printer for the colonial Confederation. But when he failed to convince Quebec to engage in the American Revolution, he was imprisoned as the British Crown retaliated, charging him with sedition. Mesplet would become one of the most historically significant printers in Canada. In 1785, he founded the Montreal Gazette, now the oldest continuing newspaper in Canada. For LGBT historians, however, Mesplet is famous for printing the first book in Montreal, which was also the first homoerotic publication in North America. In 1776 Mesplet, whose friendship with Franklin bolstered his revolutionary fervor as a printer, bookseller, and writer, published the play Jonathas et David, or Le Triomphe de l’Amitie. The play details the homoerotic relationship between Jonathan and David in the Old Testament – a depiction still considered controversial today, 235 years after Mesplet’s publication. Franklin was known as a sexual profligate – he spent little time with his common-law wife, Deborah Read, once he began to travel abroad, and was known for his many dalliances with women and writings on the topic of womanizing. He had one illegitimate son whom he recognized and may have had others. One presumes Franklin’s own expansive sexual appetite allowed him not just tolerance but empathy with regard to von Steuben and also kept him from suggesting to Mesplet that homoerotic plays might not be the very first thing to publish in his new Canadian home, when he was already under suspicion for his political views. Franklin’s life was mesmerizingly rich and the breadth of his contributions to America incalculable. Added to that, now, can be his own significant contributions to LGBT history in North America. Victoria A. Brownworth is an awardwinning journalist and syndicated columnist. She is the author and editor of nearly 30 books, including the award-winning Too Queer: Essays from a Radical Life and Coming Out of Cancer: Writings from the Lesbian Cancer Epidemic. In 2010, she founded Tiny Satchel Press, an independent publisher of young adult books for tweens and teens, which specializes in books for LGBT youth and youth of color.
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Celebrating 38 Years!
CDC recommends HPV vaccine for boys by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The CDC has recommended that boys be vaccinated against HPV – human papillomavirus – a sexually transmitted virus that has been linked to cervical, anal, and throat cancers, and anal or genital warts. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practice, which advises the CDC, voted unanimously October 25 to recommend the vaccine for males ages 11 and 12. While the vaccine has been available to boys before, the CDC decision means that vaccinations are now likely to be covered by medical insurance. Dr. Anne Schuchat, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters that vaccinating boys would provide a direct benefit against various cancers and genital warts, and would also potentially reduce the spread of the virus from males to females. Until now, vaccination of girls has been considered standard with vaccination of boys being optional.
Officials said a lower than expected rate of vaccination in girls led them to reconsider the policy. “[The] HPV vaccine is not being highly taken up among teen girls,” Schuchat said. As of last year, 49% of adolescent girls had received at least the first of the recommended three HPV shots, while only a third had had all three doses. Schuchat attributed the low rates for girls to confusion by parents that the vaccination is appropriate only when their daughter becomes sexually active. The vaccine works best if the shots are given before the patient becomes sexually active. According to the CDC, HPV infection is the most common STD in the United States. An estimated 50% to 80% of men and women are infected with HPV at some point in their lifetime, with the largest number of new infections occurring in the age range 20 to 24. Most people never develop symptoms, but HPV is linked to almost 13,000 cases of cervical cancer among U.S. women every year,
and recent studies have shown increases in head and neck cancers linked to the virus. There is currently no specific treatment for HPV infection, but most cases reportedly clear up by themselves within two years, according to the CDC. Experts do not agree on how to tell when the virus is completely eliminated, however, or exactly when it is contagious. Two vaccines are currently available to prevent infection by some HPV types – Gardasil, marketed by Merck, and Cervarix,
marketed by GlaxoSmithKline. Both protect against initial infection by HPV types which cause most of the HPVassociated cancer cases. Gardasil also protects against HPV types which cause 90% of genital warts. The HPV vaccine made headlines in September when Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann claimed that it caused mental retardation. No such cases have been documented by U.S. health authorities, however.
see GSBA page 20
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October 28, 2011
Seattle Gay News 19
Botswana should legalize Gay sex, ex-president says Kalman Zabarsky
Former Botswana President Festus Mogae
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Former Botswana President Festus Mogae says his country should legalize Gay sex and prostitution to combat HIV/AIDS. Mogae now heads the African country’s AIDS Council. He was president from 1998 until his resignation in 2008. That same year, he was awarded the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. He was also awarded the Grand Cross of France’s Legion of Honor for making Botswana a “model for good government.” During his administration, Botswana became the first sub-Saharan African country to provide free anti-retroviral drugs to people with HIV/AIDS. “I don’t understand [Gay sex],” he told BBC’s Network Africa. “I am a heterosexual. I look at women. I don’t look at other men. “But there are men who look at other men. These are citizens.” Mogae added that the government needed
to change its policy toward sex workers to help curb HIV/AIDS. “To protect them and their clients from being infected, you have to assist them to protect themselves. I don’t think by arresting them you help them,” he said. Mogae also called for providing condoms to prisoners. “If people can go to prison HIV-negative and come out of it HIV-positive, it means that prisons, whatever the law says, are one of the sources of infection,” Mogae told Network Africa. Botswana’s penal code currently forbids having “carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature.” Same-sex relations are classified with bestiality and can result in a prison term of up to five years. A separate section of the penal code forbids undefined “gross indecency.” The U.S. State Department’s 2010 Human Rights Report found that “the police do not target homosexual activity, and there were no reports of violence against persons based on their sexual orientation or gender identity during the year. However, there were reports of societal discrimination and harassment of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender persons.” Same-sex relations are reportedly viewed as alien and Western among those who adhere to traditional Botswanan cultural norms. Botswana does have an LGBT rights organization, known as Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals of Botswana (LeGaBiBo), but it is not recognized by the government and is not allowed to solicit money.
veteran
continued from cover fense doesn’t track the number of people who have re-enlisted in the military after being discharged under DADT, but both Reinhart’s Navy Reserve recruiter and the head of the Chicago chapter of American Veterans for Equal Rights said he is the first person they know of to do so. Reinhart, who spent years pressuring federal lawmakers to repeal the policy after he was forced out of the Coast Guard, said the decision to re-enlist was an easy one. He was motivated, he said, by the “desire to be able to give back to my country and serve my country, and the honor and pride that comes with that.” “I just feel I have a place there,” Reinhart said of the military. “I’m glad I took the path that I did.” Michael Landry, a chief warrant officer in the Navy who served with Reinhart on the guided-missile cruiser USS Cowpens in the late 1990s, said he’s attending Reinhart’s reenlistment ceremony out of respect for Reinhart’s perseverance. “There are some people in this world who talk about doing a lot of good, and Lee is one those people who went out and actually made something happen,” Landry said. “He worked tirelessly after getting out of the military to get DADT repealed. He did a lot of good for a lot of other people, and I want to be there for him.” During his first tour on the Cowpens, Reinhart generally kept his secret to himself, coming out to only a few close friends. But the pressure of hiding his identity became too intense, and just before his second sixmonth deployment, Reinhart told a highranking officer that he was Gay. He expected to be kicked off the ship immediately. Instead, the officer told Reinhart to get back to work, and to let him know if anyone gave him trouble. “I never had a negative experience the rest of my time in the Navy,” Reinhart said. “I tell people that I was on the right ship at the right time. And that says a lot for the crew of that ship.” Reinhart finished his commitment in the Navy in 1999, but he decided to join the Coast Guard a few months after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Just four months after joining, however, he was discharged after word spread that he had gone to a Gay bar in Oregon while his ship was in port there. Military lawyers told him he could stay in the military if he denied being Gay, but Reinhart said he didn’t want to lie about his identity. “That’s not what the military teaches,” he said. “That’s not the core of the military, and that was a problem with the policy.” Now, after years spent meeting with legislators, collecting signatures, and making speeches in an effort to allow Gay people to serve openly, Reinhart is finally getting another chance to do so himself.
Legal Services
20 Seattle Gay News
October 28, 2011
Celebrating 38 Years!
PURR
continued from cover component, Heather Carter’s OUTLoud program. “I really feel that over the past few years, we have heard more about suicides within our community than we should in a lifetime,” Barbie told Seattle Gay News. “So much of it stems from bullying and the feeling of not being accepted for who you are. There’s a lot of depression and sadness that goes along with that. I was happy to donate money to an organization that is local and who had dedicated their focus on the LGBT community.” Barbie said one of her employees lost a good friend recently, and Purr also lost an employee to suicide a few years back. “It just seems appropriate to do this,” she said. Purr donated all of the proceeds from their “Shots of Hope” ice sculpture along with other donations totaling $1,000. “There was such a great vibe going at the event,” Heather Carter, YSPP’s OUTLoud program coordinator, told SGN. “The staff were so handsome in their matching suits and they were all so nice and welcoming. Barbie is a great woman and I can tell she loves her bar and her employees!” Heather said that Barbie’s contribution to YSPP “lets people know she cares about the community she serves.” YSPP’s OUTLoud is a great resource for educating folks about LGBTQ youth and bullying. “We’re a small organization trying to make positive social change right here in our own community.” “I just sincerely want to thank all of our customers for their loyalty and support over the past six years,” said Barbie. “It’s a good feeling to have a place that brings people together. A place you can call home.” Barbie says that, moving forward, “you can always expect consistency from us, whether it’s year two, four, six, or eight!” “I’m very proud of my staff,” she continued. “Making sure you are having a good time is my No. 1 priority!” Barbie gives back locally to the community because “it’s amazing how everyone pulls together in times of need. Relying on each other is a powerful thing. This community has been there for me on both a personal and professional level over the last 15-plus years. I am proud to have a place that allows me to give back.” “The past year of fundraising has been so
amazing. I can’t tell you how much it means to me and YSPP to have the recognition from our peers for the hard work we do,” said Heather. “I want everyone to know that we are very thankful and every dollar is appreciated and spent right back in OUTLoud in support of LGBTQ youth.” “I believe in celebrating life,” concluded Barbie. “Our annual anniversary party is a way for us to celebrate and say thank you. We are fortunate to be here and to be such a vital part of our community. I am extremely grateful, and will continue to do our best to take care of each other.”
adoption
continued from cover
families who could afford to adopt internationally or to pay a surrogate,” reports the Associated Press. “Allowing Gay couples to adopt from foster care, where healthcare and college is paid for, opens it up to more people, experts said. The study estimates about 50% of adoptive gay families adopt children from foster care.” Not all adoption and foster care agencies will serve Gay parents – Catholic Charities notably refused to follow the new civil unions law in Illinois this year. About 60% of U.S. adoption agencies welcome applications from Gay parents, according to the Adoption Institute. According to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, almost 22,000 samesex couples adopted children in 2009, compared to around 6,500 in 2000, based on Census Bureau estimates. Still, potential problems for both the parents and the children remain. Children growing up in LGBT families are more likely to live in poverty and may be denied legal ties to one of their parents, a report released on October 25 showed. A lack of federal recognition of same-sex marriages means such families face higher tax burdens and unequal access to health insurance and government safety net programs, said the report, entitled “All Children Matter: How Legal and Social Inequalities Hurt LGBT Families.” The report was released online and authored by groups advocating for Gay rights, including the Movement Advancement Project, the Family Equality Council, and
the Center for American Progress. “The reality is if you look at today’s modern families, they come in all shapes and sizes,” said Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of Family Equality Council. “The laws and policies we have in place haven’t kept pace with that changing reality,” she said. An estimated two million children are being raised in such households, the report said. They live in 96% of U.S. counties in racially and ethnically diverse families, and the children are as happy, healthy, and welladjusted as their peers raised by heterosexual parents. But such families are more likely to live in poverty than married heterosexual households. In 31 states, it is very challenging for same-sex parents to establish legal ties for their children to both parents, Chrisler said. Thus a child could be left vulnerable if a parent dies or the relationship dissolves. The report detailed more than 100 state and federal policy recommendations, including ensuring access to health insurance and care, educating doctors and schools about LGBT families, and revising medical decision-making laws. It also highlighted legalization and federal recognition of same-sex marriage as an important step to protecting children raised in those homes.
UFCW
continued from cover is UFCW 21’s political action coordinator. As the staffer directly responsible for the union’s political program, Mizrahi will be on the front lines of the campaign to pass any marriage bill. “Well,” Mizrahi told SGN, “I would say the primary focus is to get our members to the front lines…” “He’s the general,” Shiflett interjected. “Our members will be on the front lines.” “To get them to take the initiative and call their legislators to support the bill,” Mizrahi continued. “We’re going to advocate very strongly for it. We want to be a good coalition partner with ERW – which is the main organization pushing it forward – and with all our partners.” UFCW 21 committed significant resources to the campaign to approve Referendum 71, including dedicated staff time and its
state-of-the-art phone-banking facilities. Asked if the union would make a similar commitment to a marriage bill, Mizrahi replied that it would. “On Referendum 71, that was what was asked of us,” Mizrahi said, “what was required by the campaign. We’re committed to this and we’ll do whatever it takes.” “When Dave [Schmitz], our president, asked us to vote on this it was like a nobrainer,” Shiflett added. “It’s a civil rights thing. It was like ‘Why hasn’t this happened already?’ “Whatever it takes, we’re there for you,” he concluded. The union plans to do outreach to its 38,000 members to prepare them to support the legalization when it is introduced. “We’ll do internal education with our members,” Shiflett told SGN. “We can send out bulletins. We can send out flyers. Whether it’s Macy’s or whether it’s our grocery stores – we’re out there to educate our members.” Mizrahi noted that UFCW 21’s last grocery contract campaign, which came to a successful conclusion last November, resulted in a huge increase in the number of active shop stewards working with union leadership. It can be a significant advantage in a political campaign. “The number of stewards more than doubled during the contract campaign,” Mizrahi said. “Often the best ambassador is someone you know. Someone with credibility in the store. That’s why stewards are important.” “You see more of them, so you trust them, where maybe you’d be a little suspicious of someone from outside,” Shiflett added. Neither man saw any significant opposition to marriage equality within their union. “I’m sure there’ll be a few members who’ll scoff at this,” Shiflett said, “but I think almost all of them will be there.” “One thing that impresses me about our executive board: there’s a certain degree of following our members, but there’s also a sense of leading,” Mizrahi added. “This passed very strongly at our executive board and it’s the right thing to do.” Mizrahi would not speculate about a possible initiative campaign to overturn a new marriage law if it passes the legislature, much like the Referendum 71 initiative aimed at overturning the state’s domestic partnership law. “Where we’re at now – we’re focused on the [legislative] session,” he said. “Where the process will end up is an open question.”
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Call us at 206.568.2486 Celebrating 38 Years!
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