Celebrating 41 Years! Issue 39 Volume 43
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Seattle Gay News
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SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Sleazeball pharmaceutical exec hikes price of AIDS drug 5,500% “We needed to turn a profit” he says
Pope survives White House reception with Gay bishop, radical nun, and Trans activists
Brings up controversial Catholics in address to Congress
Turning Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli – Universal News & Sports (Europe)
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
Daraprim, the trade name for pyrimethamine, is used to combat protozoal infecPope Francis addresses Congress September 23, 2015 – Win McNamee / Getty Images tions usually transmitted through food. The price of an important AIDS drug Most people can easily fight off the infec- by Mike Andrew ficials, Pope Francis made the best of a will rise 5,500%, from $13.50 to $750 per tions even without medications, but for SGN Staff Writer September 23 White House reception that dose, the drug’s manufacturer announced people whose immune systems are comproincluded on the guest list a Gay bishop, a September 20. Despite the displeasure of Vatican ofsee daraprim page 12 see pope francis page 6
New campaign launched to A new study reveals how make Stonewall the nation’s Gay men see themselves first park site dedicated to the LGBTQ community
New study reveals Gay men’s perspective – www.jonathonaslay.com Stonewall Inn – Johannes Jordan / cbsnews.com
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor On September 20, in front of the iconic Stonewall Inn, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), the Human Rights Campaign,
state and local elected officials, advocacy groups and community leaders launched a new campaign to designate the nation’s first national park site dedicated to LGBT history at Stonewall. The national campaign launch has been organized outside of the historic Stonewall Inn and Christopher Park, in New York see stonewall inn page 11
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor The LGBTQ community is rarely surveyed on a national level. And when we are, it is almost always about personal safety, bullying, or some other terrible thing. While that information is vital and needed, the truth is, when do we ever get to just talk to each other to find out how we think, why we think it, and acknowledge that while we are
LGBTQ, it is okay to see something from a Gay perspective if you are a Gay man – and not be made to feel like you are a bigot because of it. Recently, Logo (Viacom Media network aimed at LGBTQ audiences) polled 1,061 Gay men between ages 18 and 49, asking them how they saw themselves and their communities and following up with smaller groups in a number of cities. The survey is see survey page 12
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Celebrating 41 Years!
AHF: $750 drug that sells for $1 to government agencies underscores need for drug pricing reform LOS ANGELES (September 24, 2015) – AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization that currently serves over 486,000 patients around the world each year, today denounced the lack of regulation and pharmaceutical industry greed that has led to record drug prices for specialty medications and billions of dollars in profits for drug manufacturers. Most recently, Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli made international headlines this week for defending the company’s decision to raise the price of Daraprim – a medication used to treat toxoplasmosis in AIDS patients – over 5,000% after recently acquiring the rights to the drug. While drug companies have increasingly introduced new specialty medications at astronomical prices – including Gilead’s $1,000-per-pill Sovaldi or $94,500 cost of Harvoni – Turing purchased the 62-year-old Daraprim in August from Impax Laboratories for $55 million. Overnight, the company priced the drug at $750 per pill until widespread public outrage prompted Shkreli to announce a yet-to-be-determined price reduction. Prior to being purchased by Turing, Daraprim was available through the federal government’s 340B Drug Discount Program at $1 per 100 tablets – one penny per pill – a price AHF Pharmacy confirmed when it purchased quantities of the drug at that price this past Monday morning through 340B. The vast gap between the price government agencies were allowed to pay for Daraprim compared to cost charged to private insurers underscores the need for increased government oversight and regulation of drug company pricing. “Martin Shkreli’s stated rationale for hiking the price of a lifesaving drug used by
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many AIDS patients within hours of acquiring the rights to the drug seems like a page taken right out of the pharmaceutical industry’s ‘profits before patients’ playbook,” said AHF Chief Pharmacy Officer Scott Caruthers. “For Turing to charge public payers one dollar – just one cent per pill – for Daraprim through the 340B program but burden private insurance companies and self-pay individuals with a cost 750 times greater for the same drug is unconscionable and deeply unfair to both patients and the healthcare system.” “The one upside of Martin Shkreli’s price hike is that it unleashed a firestorm of criticism in the media, among the general
public and in political circles over the pharmaceutical industry’s greed on drug pricing that has been festering for years,” said AHF President Michael Weinstein. “Turing’s 32-year-old CEO’s greed is likely to go down in history as the straw that broke the camel’s back on drug pricing.” On Tuesday, following a tsunami of negative press and criticism after the New York Times’ Andrew Pollack wrote about the price hike, Shkreli said that he will reduce the price of Daraprim, but, according to NBCNews.com, said he, “…did not say what the new price would be but expected a determination to be made over the next few weeks.”
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Turing’s price hike on Daraprim also prompted promises of action on drug pricing from politicians, including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Clinton vowed to release a plan to reform the specialty drug market, declaring Tuesday on Twitter that she wants to “both protect consumers and promote innovation – while putting an end to profiteering.” “We fully support Hillary Clinton’s timely decision to make addressing drug company pricing a key part of her platform,” added AHF’s Weinstein. “We call upon the other candidates vying to be the next president of the United States to detail how they would show leadership in addressing the issue of drug costs that the majority of Americans consider to be a top concern.” In order to curb astronomical increases in drug prices that three-quarters of the American public (76%) have ranked as a top priority (according to a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released in April), AHF is sponsoring two state ballot initiatives in California and Ohio to give the states increased bargaining power to obtain lower drug prices. AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 486,000 individuals in 36 countries worldwide in the U.S., Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare Courtesy of AHF
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LGBTQ Meet & Greet with the new superintendent of Seattle Parks and Recreation On Monday, October 5, from 5:30-7 p.m., the Seattle LGBT Commission is holding a special meeting at Miller Community Center (330 19th Ave. E., in Seattle) with Seattle Parks and Recreation Superintendent Jesús Aguirre to allow the public to share ideas, suggestions, and concerns about Parks and Recreation for LGBTQ
children, youth, adults, seniors, and families. This event is free and open to all and members of the public are encouraged to attend and join the discussion. Superintendent Aguirre will give a brief presentation on the department’s goals moving forward and will lead a discussion with community members to learn more
about what’s important to them with regards to recreation and public spaces. The department will be receiving $47 million in new funding from the Metropolitan Parks District that voters approved last year. About $4 million will be used to develop new culturally relevant programming to serve an additional 6,000 Seattle residents
across the system. For more information contact Loren Orthon at (206) 684-4500; loren.othon@ seattle.gov; www.seattle.gov/lgbt; www.facebook.com/events/ 996399550391918/
Pamela Banks wins one:
Gets 37th District Democrats endorsement for City Council
Pamela Banks – KUOW Photo / Jason Pagano
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer District 3 City Council candidate Pa-
mela Banks scored a victory September 23, winning endorsement from the 37th District Democrats organization. Banks is running against incumbent City Council member Kshama Sawant in
the district that includes Capitol Hill, First Hill, the Central District, Montlake, and Madison Park. City Council District 3 overlaps some of the 37th legislative district and some of the 43rd district, so both Democratic groups voted for endorsements in this race. A member of the Socialist Alternative party, Sawant is not a Democrat, so she is barred from getting the endorsement of Democratic district organizations. Nevertheless, she managed to get the 43rd District Dems to reject a motion to endorse Banks. The 37th legislative district includes upscale neighborhoods along Lake Washington, as well as working class Madison Valley areas, so its Democratic Party activists may be less attracted to Sawant’s pitch for rent control and higher wages than those in the 43rd. “It was great to see so many friends and neighbors at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center, and to earn the endorsement of the 37th District Democrats,” Banks said in a statement.
“I’ve known many of these strong Democrats for years. Some friendships go back to when I helped make sure small businesses kept their doors open during light rail construction back in the 1990s and others are friends and fellow parents from when I served as Garfield PTSA President. “This is the kind of results-driven, hands-on community activism that I love, and it was humbling and gratifying to see so many people turn out and support my candidacy for City Council.” The day after winning the 37th District endorsement, Banks unveiled her “public safety platform” at an event at Powell Barnett Park in the Central District. The plan calls for the City to hire 12 ex-gang members to act as “violence interrupters” and to put more money into community policing teams. The ex-gang idea is similar to a program that was used in Seattle until it was defunded in 2010. Sawant and Banks will debate on Sunday, October 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Seattle University’s Pigott Auditorium.
The end of local TV?
Corporate media giant wants to gut KING 5 by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Tegna – the broadcasting arm of the monster newspaper publisher Gannett Company – wants to make changes at KING 5 TV that could mean the end of local news coverage, KING 5 employees say. KING 5 workers and the three unions that represent them – SAG-AFTRA for onair reporters, IATSE for photographers and editors, and IBEW for engineers and tech people – explained their precarious situation at a September 23 forum at UW’s Meany Hall. Gannett, which owns USA Today and 11 other newspapers, bought Belo Broadcasting and its 23 TV stations, including KING 5 and KGW in Portland, in 2013. This year, Gannett created Tegna Inc. to manage its broadcasting assets, which are now much more profitable than its newspapers. Acquisition by Gannett brought immediate changes to KING 5, none of them positive, employees said. First, Gannett cancelled the station’s contract with CNN, depriving KING 5 viewers of a leading international video news source. Second, and more ominously for employees, Gannett cut employee health care benefits, raising the deductible to $5,000
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and also raising the premiums employees had to pay. In other words, KING 5 employees now pay more for less, and have to pay $5,000 out of pocket before their health insurance kicks in. Even worse from the employees’ point of view is that management is proposing a “non-exclusive jurisdictional contract.” That’s fancy language for taking away union protections from KING 5 employees and allowing Gannett/Tegna to hire non-union folks to do work that previously was done by union professionals. “These changes will make [KING 5] a Walmart TV station,” IATSE spokesperson Dave Twedell said. “They are leading many of our number to look for work elsewhere.” Seattle City Council members Kshama Sawant and Nick Licata also spoke, promising to support a resolution the unions want the Council to pass. “Your struggle is in no way isolated,” Sawant told the gathering. “It’s happening in society everywhere. There’s a concerted effort to break the back of unions in a number of professions.”
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Spectrum speculators Twedell charged that Gannett “has no real interest in KING 5 and KGW as local TV stations.” Instead, he said, the media giant wants to sell off some or all of its federally licensed broadcast frequency to the highest bidder. Next spring the FCC, the federal agency charged with regulating the broadcast industry, will conduct what is called a “broadcast spectrum auction,” in which every broadcast station may sell off its frequencies. The Consumer Electronics Association estimates that the current value of broadcast spectrum is some $62 million, but that value could jump to $1 trillion dollars if the frequencies were converted to wireless media. “This means that the frequency allocated to broadcast TV is an order of magnitude more valuable to broadband providers than it is to TV station owners,” Twedell said, and therefore Gannett has every incentive to get out of the TV business altogether and
sell its assets to a broadband provider. “If the TV frequency is going to go to something else, what will take the place of local TV?” Twedell asked, and where will TV employees go to find equivalent middle class jobs? Not our $1 trillion “It’s horrifying to hear that there’s $1 trillion in this, but somehow it’s not our $1 trillion,” Martin Luther King County Labor Council Executive Secretary Nicole Grant told the forum. “[Gannett’s] goal is to take every last cent out of the situation and hoard it at the top.” The airwaves are public property, Grant noted – “our property!” – and not merely licensed to broadcasters. She compared privatization of the broadcast spectrum to the 2012 privatization of Washington state liquor stores. “Sure, we get sales taxes from the private stores,” she said, “but before we got the taxes and the profits from the sales.” Grant promised that the labor movement in King County, which she heads, would support the three unions at KING 5 and fight for “professionalism in the industry.”
Celebrating 41 Years!
Task Force congratulates the International Imperial Court System on their 50th Anniversary Celebration to be held in Portland October 23 WASHINGTON, DC (September 18) – The National LGBTQ Task Force is congratulating the International Imperial Court System on their 50th anniversary. The Court System, one of the nation’s oldest LGBTQ community service organizations, will be hosting its Golden Jubilee Gala State Dinner at the Sentinel Hotel in Portland, Oregon on October 23 to celebrate its anniversary. “Congratulations to the International Imperial Court System for reaching an impressive milestone. For decades, the Court System has helped raise critical funds and support for the work to secure basic rights
and protections for LGBTQ people,” said Russell Roybal, National LGBTQ Task Force Deputy Executive Director. Since 1961, the International Imperial Court System has grown to include 68 local court chapters in cities throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Each local chapter elects a royal court and members volunteer their time on a wide array of community service projects. In the 1960s and 1970s, court chapters helped build LGBTQ community centers and organized LGBTQ pride parades across the country. In the 1980s, the Court System worked to defeat Anita Bryant’s anti-LGBTQ cam-
paigns and raised funds to address the HIV/ AIDS epidemic. Most recently, the court successfully lobbied the U.S. Postal Service to issue a Harvey Milk commemorative stamp. Last year, the National LGBTQ Task Force and the Court System launched a campaign to secure a commemorative stamp for Bayard Rustin – the late openly Gay Civil Rights Movement leader. For more information about the International Imperial Court’s please visit: http://www.impcourt.org. The Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle and the Olympic and Rainier Empire can be reached at www.imperialcourtofseattle.
com and on Facebook. The National LGBTQ Task Force works to secure full freedom, justice and equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) people. For over forty years, we have been at the forefront of the social justice movement by training thousands of organizers and advocating for change at the federal, state, and local level. www.thetaskforce.org Courtesy of the National LGBTQ Task Force
I have Gay friends…and they’re all going to burn in Hell, Kim Davis says Anti-Gay clerk may return to jail by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Kim Davis has Gay friends, or so she claims, but she will continue to defy federal court orders not to interfere with deputies who issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and is ready to go back to jail. In a September 21 interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Davis said she was hurt that people considered her a homophobe. “I have friends who are Gay and Lesbian,” she asserted. Her supposed Gay and Lesbian friends don’t hold her anti-Gay stand against her, she added. “They know where I stand,” she said. “We don’t agree on the issue and we’re okay because we respect each other.” Davis also insisted that she could never endorse marriage licenses for her Gay and Lesbian supposed friends. “I can’t put my name on a license that
doesn’t represent what God ordained marriage to be,” she said. In fact, it was revealed that Davis had violated an order by U.S. District Judge David Bunning by removing both her name and the name of Rowan County, Kentucky, from marriage licenses before they were issued by her deputies. Lawyers for the ACLU, which represents several same- and opposite-sex couples suing Davis, said that the changes she made to the license forms make their validity “questionable at best.” The altered licenses also bring “humiliation and stigma” to the same-sex couples who receive them, the ACLU added. “The adulterated marriage licenses received by Rowan County couples will effectively feature a stamp of animus against the LGBT community, signaling that, in Rowan County, the government’s position is that LGBT couples are second-class citizens unworthy of official recognition and autho-
Kim Davis’s September 3, 2015 booking photo – cnn.com / Carter County Prison
rization of their marriage licenses but for this Court’s intervention and Order,” ACLU lawyers wrote in a court filing. They have asked Judge Bunning to order Davis’s office to reissue the licenses with the
deleted parts restored. If Davis interferes, the lawyers say Bunning should place her office in a receivership for the purposes of issuing marriage licenses, and send her back to jail.
HRC asks New York Attorney General to investigate pharmaceutical CEO by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli may soon be in even more legal trouble after the HRC asked New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to investigate Shkreli’s plan to hike the price of a potentially life-saving drug more than 5,000%. As reported in this week’s SGN, Shkreli recently acquired the rights to Daraprim, a drug often used by HIV/AIDS patients, and said he was going to increase the price from $13.50 per dose to $750. He is also being sued by investors in his former company, who charge him with using company assets to reimburse his hedge fund clients. In a September 22 interview with ABC News, Shkreli tried to walk back his earlier statements about raising the price of Daraprim.
“We have agreed to lower the price of Daraprim to a point that is more affordable,” he said, without making a specific commitment as to what the new price would be. The HRC responded with a letter to Schneiderman asking him to investigate whether Shkreli’s actions constitute illegal price-gouging. “Daraprim is a lifesaving treatment for toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection impact-
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ing patients with compromised immune systems including those who are pregnant or living with HIV,” HRC CEO Chad Griffin wrote. “Medical organizations have estimated that this predatory move could increase the average cost per year for an adult patient reliant on the drug to more than $630,000. The burden of this extra cost will undoubtedly be shouldered by the most vulnerable members of our community. This price
increase is wholly unjustified and unprecedented. We urge your office to conduct a thorough investigation of Turing Pharmaceuticals’ irresponsible and shameless price increase and assess whether these dubious actions violate New York state law. We also urge you to take all steps within your power to hold Turing Pharmaceuticals accountable and communicate to all companies doing business in New York that making such drastic changes on the backs of those most vulnerable are not welcome in the Empire State.” Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical lobbying group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said that Shkreli and his companies were never part of the group and do not represent the values of its member companies. The lobbying group’s CEO, John Castellani, wrote in an email that “we do not embrace either their recent actions or the conduct of their CEO [Martin Shkreli].”
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Maryland Trans woman wins compensation for prison abuse by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer A Transgender woman inmate in Maryland has won a groundbreaking legal victory giving her compensation for abuse she suffered at the hands of prison guards. Sandy Brown was held in solitary confinement for 66 days and was regularly ridiculed by guards, who encouraged her to kill herself, called her “It” and “Animal,” and at one point pulled back the curtain while she was showering to stare at her naked body. “They put me in solitary confinement just because I am transgender. I spent 24 hours a day in solitary and was only allowed one hour of recreation during the entire 66 days I was there,” Brown said.
“They didn’t see me for the human being I am. They treated me like a circus act. They gawked, pointed, made fun of me and tried to break my spirit,” she added. According to FreeState legal aid organization, Brown is the first Trans inmate to win relief under the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) of 2003. An administrative law judge agreed with Brown’s attorneys that the guards’ conduct violated the national standards set up by PREA, and on August 17 the Secretary of Maryland’s Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services formally adopted the judge’s finding. FreeState announced the win on September 24 as SGN went to press. Under the orders issued in this case, Maryland must adopt new, comprehensive
policies for the protection of Transgender inmates in prison housing assignments, searches, and interactions between guards and Transgender prisoners, and must institute mandatory training on these policies for all correctional officers. “As far as we know, this is the first case in the country in which a transgender person has been able to obtain individual relief, including monetary compensation, for violations of the national PREA standards,” Brown’s lawyer Rebecca Earlbeck stated. “We believe this case creates a framework for enforcing the national standards that transgender people who are incarcerated in other states and their advocates can follow to help to ensure that others do not have to endure the pain and trauma Ms.
Brown experienced,” she added. According to a 2011 NGLTF survey, nearly 40% of Transgender people in prison report being harassed due to their gender identity by prison staff. Because Transgender people are particularly vulnerable to abuse in prison, the national standards contain provisions that specifically address how prisons should determine where to house Transgender inmates, how searches of Transgender inmates should be conducted, and how guards should interact with Transgender people who are incarcerated. Next week, SGN will feature an interview with attorney Rebecca Earlbeck.
Tennessee legislators want to nullify marriage equality by Mike Andrew SGN A&E Writer Two Republican lawmakers in Tennessee have filed a bill to nullify the U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. The Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act was introduced in both the Tennessee State House and Senate on September 17 with Representative Mark Pody and Senator Mae Beavers as the prime sponsors. “Natural marriage between one man and one woman as recognized by the people of Tennessee remains the law in Tennessee, regardless of any court decision to the contrary,” the bill states. “Any court decision purporting to strike down natural marriage, including Obergefell v. Hodges, is unauthoritative, void, and of no effect.” After introducing the measure, Pody and Beavers attended a “religious freedom” rally outside the state capitol where they
pope francis continued from cover
radical nun, and several Transgender activists. The pontiff survived to address Congress on September 24, and then departed DC for the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. Vatican officials made it known before the Obama administration’s welcoming reception on the White House south lawn that they were distressed at the guests the president had invited. Included were Gay Episcopalian bishop Gene Robinson, Sister Simone Campbell of the Catholic social justice organization NETWORK, and at least four Trans activists – two of them connected with the LGBT Catholic group Dignity USA. Robinson was named bishop of New Hampshire in 2004 – the first openly Gay bishop in the world – and retired in 2013. He is reportedly a close friend of President Obama. Campbell organized the 2012 “Nuns on the Bus” tour that promoted Obamacare, in spite of opposition to abortion and contraception coverage by U.S. Catholic bishops.
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were cheered by the faithful. “Marriage is between a man and a woman in Tennessee,” Pody yelled. “We’re going to tell the attorney-general, he will defend marriage in Tennessee as it is written on our constitution,” said Beavers, referring to a state ban on same-sex marriage that was overwhelmingly passed by voters in 2006. However, the Tennessean newspaper noted that the bill would likely be found unconstitutional if passed, because federal law trumps state measures. “This is futile, costly, and chaotic,” Chris Sanders, executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project told WSMV-TV. “Because I’ll tell you, couples who want to get married will not take no for an answer.” Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in the Supreme Court marriage case, responded to the bill on Twitter: “Tennessee lawmakers have already introduced the Tennessee Pastor Protection Act to ‘protect’ clergy from being ‘forced’ to Her NETWORK group was one of the organizations investigated by order of Pope Benedict XVI in the Catholic Church’s inquisition aimed at American nuns. The Transgender activists included Vivian Taylor of Integrity USA, an LGBT Episcopalian group; Mateo Williamson, chair of Dignity USA’s Transgender Caucus; Marcia Garber of Dignity Boston; and Nicole Santamaria of the Latino/Latina group Asociacion Colectivo Alejandria. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Vatican was concerned that someone would take photos of the Pope shaking hands with Catholic radicals and LGBT activists, and then use them to create “controversy,” something the Vatican abhors. I’m not the first Gay bishop you’ve met Robinson took advantage of the dustup over the president’s guest list to write a tongue-in-cheek open letter to the Pope. “I suppose the Vatican official’s concern has to do with my having been elected and consecrated a Bishop of The Episcopal Church, while at the same time being an openly gay, partnered man,” Robinson wrote. “Were I ever to have the honor of meet-
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Tennesse Senator Mae Beavers and Representative Mark Pody – images from Contributed Photo / Times Free Press & www.lebanondemocrat.com
officiate gay weddings, even though there is nothing in the Supreme Court ruling that does so.”
Tennessee’s legislature is not in session now, and will not vote on the bill until after it reconvenes in January.
ing you, I would of course not be the first gay man or gay bishop with whom you have had contact. “Some of them, undoubtedly, work with and for you in the Vatican. Based on your demonstrated and notorious compassion, I suspect you will not be offended by a gay bishop and a feisty nun somewhere in the crowd of 10,000 admirers.” Robinson went on to note that “we disagree in our understandings about sexuality and the diverse and wonderful ways God has made us….Our churches disagree on those whom we are willing to ordain, their gender and their sexual orientation. “Still, that does not keep me from striving to love and serve those entrusted to me, and to pray for you as you strive to love and serve those entrusted to you.”
sibilities to immigrants and the poor, the most stunning feature of the Pope’s speech was the four Americans he singled out as examples of spiritual heroism. Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln were expected. They would make anybody’s list of moral exemplars. But the real surprise came when the Pope cited two American Catholics – Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton – who were, and remain, controversial figures in the Church. Dorothy Day (1897-1980) was the cofounder of the Catholic Worker movement and probably the most famous Christian anarchist in the United States. She regularly clashed with the right-wing Cardinal Francis Spellman of New York (1889-1967), and is in many ways the spiritual ancestor of Sister Simone Campbell. Thomas Merton (1915-1968) was just the opposite – a Trappist monk and poet who spent half his life secluded in monasteries. Merton’s legacy is controversial, however, because he was attracted to Zen Buddhism and believed that non-Christian religions had things to teach the Catholic Church – rather than the other way around, as Vatican officials would have it.
Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton The Pope made the best of the White House reception, however, and the next day delivered a remarkable speech to a joint session of Congress – a first for a Roman Catholic Pontiff. While he included the now-obligatory nod to “marriage and the family,” and lectured Congress members on their respon-
Celebrating 41 Years!
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Celebrating 41 Years!
USA Rugby and International Gay Rugby sign Memorandum of Understanding to eliminate homophobia in Rugby BOULDER, Colo. – USA Rugby signed a memorandum of understanding with International Gay Rugby (IGR) Thursday, setting forth a partnership that will see the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States promote a diverse and inclusive environment in all levels of Rugby, working to end homophobia in all areas of the game. In March 2015, IGR signed an agreement with World Rugby to collaborate on the promotion of equality and inclusivity in rugby around the world, actively seeking to globally remove homophobia from the game. The agreement with USA Rugby focuses mainly on the domestic side of the game in the United States to ensure registered members of USA Rugby are provided with the tools and education necessary to combat discrimination, be it based on sexual orientation, perceived sexual orientation, or identification. USA Rugby recognizes the right of any player, official, coach, and spectator to be involved in rugby without bullying, discrimination, or exclusion of any kind, and celebrates the differences that make its members unique. Nigel Melville, CEO of USA Rugby said “USA Rugby is thrilled to be joining IGR in the advancement of diversity and inclusion throughout the sport of rugby, as well to eliminate homophobia from the game. Following in World Rugby’s footsteps, we
are steadfast in ensuring that rugby remains and continues to grow as a sport for individuals from all walks of life.” USA Rugby will work with its own member associations, clubs, and unions to improve acceptance of LGBT members, provide educational tools to support in the elimination of perceived and institutionalized homophobia in the game, and help support IGR events. “IGR is very proud of the leadership that USA Rugby continues to show around equality, diversity and inclusion in Rugby. The signing of this agreement is a great example of the commitment of USA Rugby to eliminating homophobia from the sport at all levels. We look forward to our continued partnership in creating a safe and homophobia free environment for all players, proving that rugby is the most inclusive sport in the United States and in the World,” Jeff Wilson, Chairman of International Gay Rugby (IGR) said. IGR provides its 56 member clubs in fifteen countries developmental support and resources in several aspects of club organization through leadership and community engagement. Also, IGR member clubs host global, continental and regional tournaments and events celebrating the diversity and inclusion rugby community. The Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Tournament is the flagship global event for IGR Member Clubs. Named after a Gay American rugby
player who died on United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001, the Bingham Cup is IGR’s World Cup of Gay and inclusive rugby. The Nashville Grizzlies RFC will host the 2016 Mark Kendall Bingham Memorial Tournament in the “Music City” of Nashville, Tennessee from Monday, May 22 through Sunday, May 29. This will be the first since 2010 that the tournament has been held in the USA and is the first time it has ever been held in the mid-South.
“The Organizing Committee is excited to partner with USA Rugby,” said Jon Glassmeyer, the president of the Mark Kendall Bingham Cup 2016 Organizing Committee. “This agreement demonstrates USA Rugby’s commitment to inclusiveness and sets an example for other national unions around the world.”
stonewall inn
of the LGBT community, so that this story may be preserved and retold for future generations.” Two-thirds of America’s more than 400 national park sites are dedicated to cultural and historic significance: • Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, New York tells the story of the first Women’s Rights Convention held there in July 1848, and the struggle for equality and civil rights. • Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail in Alabama, a national park site, traces the march led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the struggle for equal voting rights for African Americans. • A national park at Stonewall would tell the story of the LGBT community’s fight for equal rights in America, and is integral to fully incorporating the diverse range of LGBT experiences into our nation’s history. The events that happened around Stonewall honor unique stories of American history and its legacy is a part of the push for human rights and civil rights in the United States. “The resounding support for this effort underscores that it is time to have a national park site that tells the story of the LGBT rights movement – one that should be told for decades to come,” said Cortney Worrall, Northeast regional director for the National Parks Conservation Association. “We must continue to protect and preserve these places, urban and rural, natural and historic, that speak to and represent who we are as a nation. And by the best storytellers in the business – the National Park Service.” “A national park – we who had to keep the most central part of our souls hidden in shame will now be celebrated as full human beings,” said Stonewall uprising witness Martha Shelley. Local community leaders say that a na-
tional park in Greenwich Village would invigorate historic preservation of LGBT history in the neighborhood. The call to designate the nation’s first LGBT national park site around Stonewall enjoys tremendous local and national support. “The Stonewall Uprising wasn’t just a catalyst for the LGBTQ civil rights movement – it signified a watershed moment in the history of American social justice,” said New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer. “We are here today united behind the movement to create the first national monument designated for its significance to LGBTQ history. Now is the time for Stonewall to take its place alongside the many other places of deep historical significance in New York City.” “The Stonewall Rebellion marks a pivotal moment in our nation’s ongoing struggle against prejudice and injustice. After our successful push this summer to make the Stonewall Inn a New York City landmark, it’s time to recognize the national significance of this site. Our fight for equality is far from over, and we must preserve this symbol of courage and perseverance for generations to come,” said Public Advocate Letitia James. “The Stonewall Rebellion is a rarity – a tipping point in history where we know, with absolute clarity, that everything changed,” said Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer. “This site has a unique place in American history and the struggle for dignity and equal rights in our society, and would be a fitting site for the country’s first National Monument dedicated to the LGBT community.” State Senator Brad Hoylman said, “I’m grateful to Congressman Jerrold Nadler and NPCA for leading the effort to designate Stonewall Inn as a National Park. I’ve been proud to work with them to help build
support from the local community, alongside Borough President Gale Brewer, Assembly Member Deborah Glick, Council Member Corey Johnson, and Community Board 2. For me personally, as a Gay dad, it’s reassuring to know that if we succeed, we will have helped safeguard the birthplace of the LGBT civil rights movement for my daughter’s generation and beyond.” “The fight for full equal rights and recognition of the contributions of the LGBT community has been a long struggle. The creation of a National Park dedicated to LGBT history is a big step toward validating the significance of these hard-won rights on national scale. I am even more thrilled that such a place would be proposed within my district,” said Assemblymember Deborah J. Glick. “At a dark time in our nation’s history when LGBT Americans were targeted, marginalized, and oppressed by almost all of society just because of who they were, the brave individuals who stood up at Stonewall and said enough is enough sparked a movement to end unfair and unjust discrimination against LGBT people – one that we’re unfortunately still fighting today,” said HRC Government Affairs Director David Stacy. “A Stonewall National Monument would pay tribute to the bravery that has made possible the pro-equality achievements we enjoy today, help tell their incredibly important stories, and continue to inspire fair-minded Americans across this country to stand up for equality. We’re proud to join with national, state, and local advocates in this effort to honor our history.” Learn more about the push to create a national park for Stonewall and add your support by signing the petition at: www. npca.org/natlparkforstonewall. Join the conversation online with #NatlParkForStonewall.
September 25, 2015
Seattle Gay News 11
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City’s Greenwich Village, where the modern LGBT equal rights movement began in the summer of 1969. As part of the lead up to the national launch, elected officials representing all levels of government in New York have sent the first letters to President Obama requesting the designation of a Stonewall National Monument. Organized by Congressman Nadler, the list of officials announcing their support includes U.S. Senators Gillibrand and Schumer, eleven Members of Congress, thirteen New York State Senators, 37 New York State Assembly Members, five New York City Council Members, as well as the New York City Comptroller, Public Advocate, and Manhattan Borough President. “We have a responsibility to preserve and respect the places important to our history, and the Stonewall Inn deserves our highest recognition,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Victories like the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the passage of marriage equality in New York State and the final, decisive Supreme Court ruling securing our freedom to marry, were born from the modern equal rights movement launched at Stonewall. It’s time for a national monument honoring the legacy of people and events that took place here.” “The legacy of the Stonewall Rebellion mirrors that of our nation: a group of individuals standing together against all odds to demand their freedom,” said Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-10). “As the struggle to ensure equality for all continues, I am proud to stand with this coalition to remember the spark that launched the LGBT civil rights movement. We urge President Obama to designate the first ever National Park Service site dedicated to the history
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Daraprim
continued from cover mised – HIV patients, for example – the infection could be deadly. Experts say that no other drug can give the same results. It is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines, the most important medications needed in a basic health system. Pharmaceutical exec Martin Shkreli, CEO of Turning Pharmaceuticals, acquired rights to manufacture the drug just this month. “We needed to turn a profit on this drug,” Shkreli, told Bloomberg TV. “The companies before us were actually giving it away almost.” Because patients would use Daraprim only until the infection was wiped out, they simply wouldn’t spend enough money to satisfy Shkreli. The course of treatment “to save your life was only a $1,000,” he exclaimed in the TV interview. “These days, modern pharmaceuticals, cancer drugs can cost $100,000 or more, whereas these drugs can cost half a million dollars. Daraprim is still underpriced relative to its peers,” he added.
survey
continued from cover the first in a series of surveys of different LGBT communities that Logo plans to conduct. The findings of the survey provide a fascinating look at how generations of Gay men feel about Gay history, the role of the Internet and some of the biggest internal challenges facing LGBTQ communities. The reality is, the Logo study is unusual simply in that it exists at all. As the Washington Post points out, “Gay publications like Harry Hay’s One Magazine surveyed their readers at early as 1961, asking them how often they had sex, whether they had arrest records and if they might enjoy corresponding with other Gay men. And the 1992 National Health and Social Life Survey became one of the first major studies to ask respondents to state their sexual orientation. But while LGBT people have been asked about their sexual practices, particularly in the wake of the AIDS crisis, it’s only recently that LGBT people have been asked about how they see themselves and the society they live in more generally.” “There haven’t been many surveys of LGBT people over time where we can kind of assess how some of the perceptions that exist now might have been different 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago,” says Gary Gates, the research director and Williams Distinguished Scholar at the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. “It’s only very recently that people believe that you can do a representative sample of LGBT people anyway. For a long time, survey people and polling organizations actually didn’t believe that was possible, because they didn’t know what the characteristics of an LGBT population were to determine whether the sample they got was appropriate or not.” The only comparable recent survey is the Pew Research Center’s 2013 survey of LGBT Americans, which included 1,197 LGBT adults and asked them about their coming-out experiences and manifestations of discrimination. It is important to point out that the Logo study doesn’t capture the range of experiences of other mem-
12 Seattle Gay News
Sued for defrauding investors Shkreli began his business career as a hedge fund manager, and got into pharmaceuticals as part of a scheme to pay off legal settlements with unhappy hedge fund investors when his investment firm went bankrupt. According to Forbes magazine, he is now being sued by former business associates for more than $65 million in damages. In 2011, Shkreli was the manager of MSMB Capital Management, a hedge fund company catering to investors who wanted to avoid regulatory oversight. That year, he started his own biotech company, Retrophin, and began purchasing manufacturing rights to drugs for rare diseases. He served at the helm of Retrophin until last fall, when the company’s board of directors ousted him, alleging that he improperly passed off legal settlements with MSMB investors as Retrophin consulting expenses. Retrophin filed a federal lawsuit against Shkreli in August, alleging that he created the biotech solely to provide stock as compensation to MSMB investors when the hedge fund became insolvent. The suit seeks more than $65 million in damages and a requirement that Shkreli disgorge all the compensation he received from Retrophin during the time he acted as a “faithless
servant” to it. Turing Pharmaceuticals, the current manufacturer of Daraprim, was founded by Shkreli in February, and is not named in the suit.
bers of the LGBT community, like Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgender people. However, the researchers behind it were able to explore more largely into the way Gay men see themselves. This yielded some surprising results. Alison Hillhouse, vice president of insights innovation at MTV and one of the researchers who conducted the survey, compared the changing attitudes reflected in the results to a journey up Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. That pyramid-shaped psychological model suggests that people can begin searching for esteem and self-actualization once they are safe and secure. “It’s more of a quest for meaning than for a common enemy like it used to be. It’s what does our brotherhood mean, in a way,” she explains. “You start with basic survival, and then you get to what’s the meaning of life and relationships and establishing connections. There’s a lot of people who are really struggling in the community, but we’re moving up that pyramid, just a bit.” The survey results reflect high and intense levels of pride among the respondents. • Sixty-one percent of Gay men between ages 20 and 29 told researchers that being Gay was either extremely or very important to their identity (those numbers declined somewhat with age). • Seventy-five percent of respondents of all ages agreed with the statement “Being Gay makes me feel different in a good way.” • Three-quarters also said that their sexual orientation had a positive effect on their lives. • Sixty-seven percent said that their lives were more interesting because they were Gay. • Eighty-three percent said that they found something distinct and important in their friendships with other Gay men. “We went into the study with the prevailing notion that this is really a great time to be Gay in America, and that the Gay community has achieved unprecedented levels of acceptance and visibility and opportunity, more so than ever before,” says Matt Cohen, a senior manager for brand and marketing insights at MTV who worked with Hillhouse on the project. “But at the same time we started to hear expressions of nostalgia from the younger end of the community that they felt that the Gay
community of today didn’t feel as united or close-knit as they imagined it once was.” Survey results suggest a real longing for Gay institutions. • Sixty-four percent of the respondents in their 20s and 30s told researchers that “As Gay people become more integrated into the mainstream, we have fewer places we can call our own.” • Eighty-five percent of the overall respondents agreed with the statement “It’s sad to see Gay neighborhoods and bars disappear,” and also with the idea that even as more Americans become open and accepting to Gay people, it’s important to maintain Gay-only spaces. Generational differences manifest in the process of figuring out how to be Gay and what it means to be Gay the report shows. • Sixty-five percent of the survey respondents in their 20s and 30s agreed with the statement “Today the big struggle is no longer coming out but figuring out what kind of Gay man do I want to be.” “One of the interesting things about that is they felt like it was harder for them to take advice from older members of the community because they felt like the experiences they were having today, and the fact that they grew up in such a different environment sort of meant that the advice they had received from their older counterparts wasn’t going to be directly relevant,” Cohen says of the 79 percent of all respondents who said that younger Gay men were creating new rules and ways of Gayness, often turning to pop culture such “Will and Grace” or “The Real World” for starter archetypes. “We heard from some guys that they felt like they tried on a certain identity that they thought that’s how a Gay man should be. And then later on they were able to come into their own more,” Hillhouse explains. “A lot of times it was people who came from a smaller, rural environment, and that was all they knew. And they realized later that that wasn’t all, and now I’ve found myself. But it took some time.” Gay men are defining themselves and their communities by using the Internet to form groups based less on gender presentation or sexual taste and more on other shared affinities say researchers. “Whereas back in the day when you had one local Gay bar, that was your com-
September 25, 2015
Criminal complaint Shkreli has also been investigated by police in New Jersey for threatening the family of a rival pharmaceutical exec. According to US Uncut, Shkreli was accused of hacking the email, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts of competitor Tim Pierotti in December 2013. Pierotti’s lawyers say the IP address used to alter their client’s accounts was traced directly to Shkreli. After taking control of Pierotti’s accounts, Shkreli began posting statements relating to on-going civil litigation between the two rivals. Pierotti’s lawyers also charged Shkreli with harassing Pierotti’s 16-year-old son on his Facbook account, messaging the son that his father had stolen money and betrayed Shkreli. The Pierotti family blocked the account, but Pierotti’s wife continued to receive harassing text messages from someone she believed to be Shkreli. Documents filed by Pierotti’s lawyers claim that Shkreli sent messages to Pierotti’s
wife stating things such as “I hope to see you and your four children homeless and will do whatever I can to assure this.” “Cost is unjustifiable” The Infectious Diseases Society of America, the HIV Medicine Association and other health care providers wrote an open letter to Shkreli’s company, urging him to reconsider. “This cost is unjustifiable for the medically vulnerable patient population in need of this medication and unsustainable for the health care system,” the groups wrote. Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton also got into the fray, pledging on September 21 to take action against firms hiking prices for specialty drugs. “Price gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous,” Clinton said, specifically citing Daraprim. Clinton’s rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders, reiterated his pledge to replace private health insurance plans with a robust single payer system that would be better able to negotiate fair drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry.
munity whether or not you had anything in common with those people, that was sort of what you were stuck with,” Cohen says. “In that sense, it lets people self-segment in a positive way based on shared interests. But obviously we talked about the discrimination that a lot of these guys are encountering on the dating and hookup apps, so obviously that’s a bad kind of segmentation, splitting up the community in another way. …On the one hand, a lot of the guys we talk to blame the decline of the Gay bar on Grindr and saying well, now people don’t have to go out to meet people anymore because you can just kind of order them on your phone. But at the same time, they’re also, as I mentioned, using the Internet in all these positive ways to seek out and create these micro-communities.” Self-sorting can be negative researchers found. • Eighty percent of respondents described the Gay community as very judgmental • Eighty-one percent called it clique-y • Sixty-five percent of respondents agreed with the statement “Within the Gay community, I often feel the pressure to look or act a certain way.” In particular, judgment can manifest as racism against men of color, heavier or older men or men who don’t present themselves as hyper-masculine say researchers. Even still, 92 percent of respondents said that they hoped Gay communities become more accepting. “One thing we do see with thirteen years old, we’ve started talking to them at MTV, is even more increasing acceptance of people with different sexualities, gender identities, not feeling like you have to label or box in your sexuality or gender in a way the older generation feels,” Hillhouse says. “So I think the openness coming from the external community and within, it’s exploding even more. Most high schoolers we see do have a Trans classmate who is open. So that’s a different era.”
Celebrating 41 Years!
Island of Jersey approves same-sex marriage by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The legislature of the Island of Jersey voted to approve same-sex marriage on September 22. One of the Channel Islands between England and France, Jersey is legally a Bailiwick of the old Duchy of Normandy, whose Dukes became Kings of England in 1066. Elizabeth II is Queen of Jersey, but the island is not part of the United Kingdom. Instead it has its own legislature, the Assembly of the States, and is self-governing. The vote on the marriage law was 37-4 with one abstention. The bill conferred a series of rights on same-sex couples, but requires enabling legislation to be passed. The Jersey States passed four separate proposals related to marriage: (1) to agree, in principle, that appropriate legislation should be brought forward for approval to allow same-sex couples to get married in Jersey, with the legislation to • include civil marriage and religious marriage with appropriate safeguards in place to protect the rights of religious organizations and their officials who do not wish to conduct same-sex marriages; • include allowing people in civil partnerships to convert their partnership into marriage; • include retention of terms such as “husband and wife,” and “mother and father” in legislation; • not include a spousal veto in respect of
gender recognition; (2) to agree, in principle, that current legislation should be amended to confer parental responsibility automatically on unmarried fathers who are named on birth certificates; (3) to agree, in principle, that new legislation should be brought forward for approval to allow for the introduction of a system of divorce and dissolution making it a legal requirement to access and use mediation services subject to appropriate safeguards and human rights considerations; (4) to request that the Chief Minister bring forward for approval by the States Assembly, no later than end January 2017, the draft legislation necessary to give effect to these proposals. Among local dignitaries who lent their support to the measures was the superintendent of the Jersey Methodist Church, Rev. Graeme Halls, who said that the Church does not believe in inequality. Jersey is the first of the so-called “Crown dependencies” to act on marriage equality. Guernsey, another Channel Island, and the Isle of Man, between England and Ireland, have legislation pending.
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Celebrating 41 Years!
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September 25, 2015
Celebrating 41 Years!