Celebrating 41 Years! Issue 39 Volume 42
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Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Eric Holder resigns as Attorney General Leaves a legacy of civil rights protections CBS
Eric Holder
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced on September 25 that he would resign from office as soon as a replacement was con-
firmed by the U.S. Senate. He is the first African American Attorney General, and – at six years in office – one of the longest serving. “Holder’s accomplishments have established a historic legacy of civil rights enforcement and restoring fair-
ness to the criminal justice system,” the White House said in a statement. “Holder revitalized the department’s praised Civil Rights Division, protected the rights of the LGBT community, successfully prosecuted terrorists, and fought tirelessly for
voting rights, to name a few.” According to NPR, an inside source identified as “a former U.S. government official” told them Holder was “adamant” about leaving office soon, lest he find himself locked into serving for the remainder of President Obama’s second term. A source described as “a senior White House official” told The New York Times that the president was “a long way” from announcing Mr. Holder’s replacement. Speculation on possible replacements started immediately after Holder’s announcement. Possible candidates include former White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler; Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, a close friend of the president; Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr.; former Governor Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan; Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI); and Loretta E. Lynch, the United States attorney in Brooklyn. Holder is perhaps best known to SGN readers for his February 2011 announcement that the Justice De-
partment would no longer defend DOMA in court, because he and President Obama believed it was unconstitutional. Holder also insisted that the federal government would recognize same-sex marriages performed in states like Utah – following federal court decisions striking down state bans – even when state officials called the marriages invalid. In 2011, Holder suspended deportation proceeding against an Irish citizen who was in a samesex partnership with a U.S. citizen. This action prompted federal immigation judges to halt other deportation proceedings against the same-sex spouses of U.S. citizens. After the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder, in which the court struck down a key section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Holder went on the offensive, suing the states of Texas and North Carolina for enacting voting restrictions that unfairly impacted voters of color. see Holder page 13
Louisiana state judge strikes down marriage ban
22 decision contradicts an earlier ruling by federal court judge Martin Feldman that Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage satisfies rational basis review and therefore is valid. Judge Rubin’s decision comes in an adoption case involving a Lesbian couple, Angela Marie Costanza and Chastity Shanelle Brewer, who married in California in 2008. Brewer gave birth to the couple’s child, and Costanza wants an “intrafamily adoption” so that she also is the legal mother of the child. Under Louisiana law, this is possible only if the couple’s marriage is recognized by the state. Rubin said Louisiana law violated the “full faith and credit” clause of the U.S. Constitution, which requires states to give credence to legal acts of other states – in this case, the marriage of Brewer and Costanza. Rubin added that Louisiana’s ban on same-sex marriage violated the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. The judge ordered his state Judge Edward Rubin to allow Costanza’s petition for A judge in Lafayette Parish, adoption and to allow the couple Louisiana, has ruled that his to file joint tax returns, and he enstate’s ban on same-sex marriages see Lousiana page 8 is unconstitutional.
Pink Door / Anna-Lisa Notter
theind.com
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
The Pink Door unveils a public mural in Pike Place Market featuring Waxie Moon Judge Edward Rubin’s September
Mural of Waxie Moon by Anna-Lisa Notter
by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Waxie Moon, the fabulous glittered and Gay dancer, actor and Queer artist about town that he is, has been seen onstage, onscreen, and now – on the side of a building? Yes, you read that right. Waxie Moon’s likeness now adorns the side of a building and, that’s right, you guessed it, it is as fabulous as anything else you could imagine at this moment in time. Waxie is on top of the world … or at least the
Pike Place Market anyway. Anna-Lisa Notter and The Pink Door announced the unveiling of the brand new outdoor mural in the Pike Place Market this week. “This permanent display of public art features celebrated Seattle burlesque personality Waxie Moon and stands on the 1000 sq. ft. wall on the north side of the Stewart Building, directly above the “original” Starbucks on historic Pike Place,” said Notter in a media release. see Waxie page 5
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SPD Chief O’Toole meets with demographic advisory committees by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor On September 22, Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole met with leaders from various advisory councils at the SPD Educational and Training Center. The Chief wanted our input on how to handle serious, if not critical, incidents that may happen in Seattle from a community perspective. The meeting was fantastic. As a member of the LGBTQ Advisory Council to SPD, I can say that when given the chance to meet with our counterparts from the Somali, Filipino, and Black communities, to name a few, progress can be made. And, at what may surprise many readers, the “real talk” that took place during the meeting was encouraged by the SPD – especially Chief O’Toole. She is genuine; there’s no doubt about it. Think about this for a second. It’s still your honeymoon period of being named police chief of a department that the feds have to babysit because the cops couldn’t – or wouldn’t – babysit themselves and had to use excessive force all the time. You walk into a room where over 20 people, all leaders in their community (race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation) who are fed up with the cops and the robbers and they all want you to have the answers. In those situations, let’s face it; you had better have them, too. And don’t give us any of that bullshit we’ve heard before about “your community matters” and that you “value our cultural contributions to the City of Seattle.” Chief O’Toole, along with moderator and sometimes devil’s advocate, Community Outreach Officer John Hays, did not patronize attendees and truly listened to what we all had to say. And do you know what the beautiful thing is? We were all on the same page and we all are asking for the same thing: Accountability. If you mess up – say so and then fix it. No cover-ups, no lies, and deceit. O’Toole said, more than once, that if there are cops that
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engage in behavior that is unprofessional and are working to cover their tracks, she wants those officers gone just as much, if not more so, than we do. “I don’t have a problem getting rid of cops that do not follow the rules,” she said matterof-factly, adding, “But I think that there are things the department can do to help officers not go down that path.” “Our police officers have an extremely difficult and dangerous job,” O’Toole added, showing good leadership by never selling out her officers, yet holding them accountable. “When something happens in your neighborhoods or your demographic, you are who I am going to look to for answers and cooperation.” Although you may be scratching your head saying, “Well … yeah” but would you believe it if I told you that in the past, for whatever ignorant reason or another, most community council advisors to the department were shut out, ignored, or just plain never even cultivated by the department in the first place. At the meeting, I met people that had been on their respective council for over a decade. Many crimes – including the Danny Vega murder in the Filipino/Gay community in Rainier Valley – remain unsolved, scarcely investigated – if investigated at all – eroding people’s trust in the department or their ability to get anything done. In fact, sadly, Chief O’Toole admitted nobody briefed her on the Danny Vega tragedy. The case is cold as far as the Filipino and Gay communities are concerned. In 2011, shortly after the incident, I interviewed Danny Vega’s housemate and the picture he painted of the department was depressing at best. He had information that you would think they would want to have and this man couldn’t even get the department to call him back. In the December 2, 2011 edition of Seattle Gay News I reported that on November 15, around 7:30-8:00 p.m., Rainier Valley
resident Danny Vega was walking in the 4200 block of S. Othello St. in Seattle. The 58-year-old man was assaulted and robbed by three black teenagers. Twelve days later, Vega died at Harborview Medical Center. At the time, I noted that the public, as well as Danny’s friends and family, were left with more questions than answers. As we approach the third anniversary of his murder – the state of affairs is still the same. No arrests have been made. No persons of interest named – nothing. Vega’s housemate and friend of over 20 years, James Saarenas, said outright to Seattle Gay News, “Danny was targeted because he was Gay.” James, a friend of Vega since they immigrated to the U.S. in 1982, said the police don’t seem to get it – what happened to Danny was motivated by hate. I, like many community organizers, attended a very emotionally charged meeting at the Filipino Community Center in late November, 2011, in which then-Mayor Mike McGinn and then-SPD Chief John Diaz promised a lot but delivered nothing. Nobody wanted to even acknowledge that the young men that allegedly attacked Vega were Somali youth; just the same as what has been going on at night on Capitol Hill currently. It took the department and city government months before they put out info that said they were looking for a group of Somali youth, all males. What took so long? Why can’t we be honest about these things? Describing someone as having the skin color or ethnicity that they claim, is not racist. That is an absurd accusation. The truth is, and Chief O’Toole and Captain John Hays found this out at the meeting on Monday, the elders in the Somali community are also tired of their young men that have become drug dealers, petty thieves or worse. In regards to the Danny Vega case, nobody, it seemed, ever tried to get the three communities impacted by his murder – the LGBT, Filipino and Somali communities – together to help, advise, or heal. We can’t
Celebrating 41 Years!
afford that as a city or culture of so-called progressive people. How dare we claim that, when we can’t even get over reporting the ethnicity of the accused? It stops progress. The only “us vs. them” should be “us,” Seattle residents and “them,” criminals. Criminals come in all sizes and shapes and shades of color. Unless you are a complete bigot and really, really naïve, you know this to be true. A woman who did not want to be named in this article, told O’Toole and Hays that it is time to “dust off ” the Danny Vegas murder case and seek justice for his family, friends, and communities that he was such a vibrant and popular member of. “I will take a look at that, yes,” O’Toole said.
Waxie
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in the documentary films Waxie Moon and A Wink and a Smile. He acted in, co-wrote and co-produced Waxie Moon in Fallen Jewel, and was nominated for a 2010 Gregory Award (Person to Watch). Currently he is featured in the web series Capitol Hill and is developing a commission for the Seattle Repertory The-
atre. www.facebook.com/waxiemoon Muralist Anna-Lisa Notter is a Seattle-based graphic artist who specializes in large-scale oil painting. In addition to the Pike Place Market, she has worked with many prominent Seattle businesses such as Swedish Medical Center and Silver Platters Records. Outside of mu-
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isn’t the best we can do. Oh, and it is good to see that the brilliant idea of keeping the lights on later in Cal Anderson Park is working so well. Why would it!? It didn’t work last year, why would it work this year? I am glad the police chief is meeting with folks from the communities; but we need to see action. The last thing this community – or any community for that matter – needs is another Danny Vega case where, because Seattle doesn’t know how to talk about race and crime, without having a meltdown like a spoiled toddler throwing a fit, years later there is no arrest, no leads, and a life spent for no reason. This violence will get a lot worse before it gets better. There is an obvious gang problem that has moved into Capitol Hill and nobody seems willing to talk about it. Why is that?
Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole
raling, she excels in chalk, ink and illustration works. A Jill-of-all-trades-artistic, Anna-Lisa holds a Bachelor’s Degree in theater and her Actor’s Equity Card and is also a touring musician, singing with Shelby Earl and her own folk trio, Hannalee, with her husband and oldest friend. www.mindyourbeesknees.com Pink Door / Anna-Lisa Notter
Laid over a starry midnight sky, Waxie dangles from a swinging chandelier and pours bubbles and stars from a champagne flute out toward Elliot Bay. From his lofty vantage point, he looks down over the bustling, tourist-filled street below and can be spied by onlookers from the west sidewalk. According to the media release, those seeking a better view will find one in Post Alley near Kell’s front door, although the best, closest and clearest view can be had from The Pink Door’s outdoor patio which sits directly across the rooftop from the mural itself. “Commissioned by The Pink Door, muralist Anna-Lisa Notter began design work on the mural in 2012, but due to logistic and seasonal delays (i.e. Anna-Lisa giving birth!) the mural wasn’t completed or revealed till August of 2014,” said Notter. Working together with Pink Door owner Jacqueline Roberts to find an image highlighting the market’s after-hours nightlife, Notter drafted and considered a number of varying themes and models. She eventually chose Waxie Moon as an ideal figure to portray the market’s vibrant burlesque scene while also celebrating aspects of the current cultural climate in Seattle. Miss(ter)Waxie Moon, the performance personae created by Marc Kenison, is a gender-blending queer lady “boylesque” performance-art stripping sensation. He has performed at various venues throughout Seattle including Key Arena, On the Boards, The Seattle Rep, ACT Theatre, The Moore Theatre, and The Triple Door. He is featured
black males in their teens or 20s who had punched him in the head during the strongarm robbery. SPD Robbery Detectives believe some of these incidents may be tied to a recent string of robberies around Capitol Hill, which led the department to increase the number of officers working near the busy nightlife district around the Pike/Pine/Broadway corridor. It is my understanding that the increased patrols are on the weekend only. Do we, the community, and SPD really believe that criminals are dumb? Don’t you think that common sense would tell you that if the cops were doing extra patrols on Friday, Saturday and (maybe) Sunday that they would figure that out and just continue the crime on others days – like Thursday? Please tell me that this
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A lot of praise was given to O’Toole for the job that she has been doing thus far. Praise came from nearly every demographic council, in fact. Although she is not the officers, she is their leader, and the fact remains that communities – especially minority communities – are starting to put trust in her ability to deliver results. Simply put, we want crime to come down and so does she. The first step, she said, is that meetings like the September 22 meeting need to continue, and that sometimes emergency meetings should be called whenever answering a serious situation. Nobody disagreed. In fact, a really great sign is that everyone updated contact information and agreed that we all, LGBT, Somali, Muslim, Latino, Filipino and more, should meet more often and tackle these issues as if they are our own, because at the end of the day they become our own one day anyway. Crime does not sit still, after all. In fact, we see evidence that police – or at least the current state of the department – is not enough to combat this issue of crime; especially on the Hill. On September 25, CHS
Blog reported, “The streets around Capitol Hill became a dangerous place early Thursday for pedestrians and drivers alike with a string of robberies reported on the rainy night including a gunpoint carjacking at 10th and E. Seneca.” And, big surprise (sarcasm, I assure you) police say the incidents may be related. Police were called to the short strip of E. Seneca near IHOP around 12:30 a.m., Thursday morning. A victim was pistol whipped during an armed carjacking of a 2011 Ford Fusion. The victim told police that two young thieves held him up and stole the silver car and his phone and wallet before speeding away on Madison toward I-5. The suspects were described as two teens, both black males with light complexions, one with a “5-inch” Afro, the other packing the handgun used in the carjacking. According to SPD, 15 minutes before the carjacking, a man had been robbed at Boylston and E. Pine by three black males in their 20s wearing dark clothes who robbed him of his wallet, car keys, and phone. CHS Blog reports, “The victim said the males put something hard to his head during the robbery, but he could not see if it was a gun. The thieves also reportedly stole his blue rain jacket on the rainy night.” At 1:15 a.m. that same morning, a group of five males and a female were reported to have held up a victim at gunpoint on the west side of Cal Anderson on Nagle Pl. near E. Howell. The victim walked to the East Precinct front desk at 12th and E. Pine to report the crime. The victim told police that the group of five black males and a white female with blonde hair took his wallet and phone at gunpoint. In yet another reported incident, just before 4 a.m., a male victim reported to police he had been mugged of his phone by three
View of mural from Pike Place Market
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250,000 same-sex couples married in first decade of marriage equality by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, more than 250,000 same-sex couples have been married since May 2004, when Massachusetts became the first state to allow them to do so. The figure does not include couples who married, but were subsequently divorced. The Census Bureau’s initial estimate through 2012 showed only 182,000 samesex married couples, but data from the American Community survey increased the number substantially. Some 8,500 of those marriages were performed here in Washington state through the end of 2013, according to the Washington State Department of Health. Same-sex marriages were conducted in 36 of this state’s 39 counties, but one-quarter of all Washington marriages were performed in King County. Because that number was counted only through the end of 2013, with 2014 marriages still unreported, it does not reflect the number of domestic partnerships that converted to marriages in June this year. There were an estimated 10,000 registered domestic partnerships in Washington state. While the number of same-sex married couples is dwarfed by the 56 million opposite-sex married couples in the United States, the comparison is misleading.
Even now, Gay and Lesbian couples may not marry in most of the U.S., even in most states where court cases have been decided in their favor. After Massachusetts became the first state to allow same-sex marriage in 2004, their courts ruled that out-of-state couples could not marry there unless same-sex marriage was also legal in their own states of residence. It would be another four years before the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage rights, and that decision was quickly reversed by Prop 8. It would be another four years after that before Washington’s state legislature passed
a marriage equality bill and voters approved it in Referendum 74. In the meantime, Connecticut legalized same-sex marriage in 2008, Iowa and Vermont in 2009, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia in 2010, and New York in 2011. Washington, Maine, and Maryland followed suit on Election Day 2012. Rhode Island, Delaware, Minnesota, Illinois, New Jersey, and Hawaii followed by legislation in 2013, and most states now have court judgments striking down their bans on Gay and Lesbian marriages, although most of those judgments have been stayed pending appeals. Until May of this year the U.S. Census
Bureau lumped people who reported being in same-sex marriages in with unmarried couples who were living together, making it difficult to get an accurate picture of how many Gay and Lesbian Americans have actually married. The Census Bureau also found that in 2013 only 50.3% of Americans over 18 were married – down from an all time high in 1960 when 72.2% of Americans were in opposite-sex marriages and same-sex relationships were illegal and not recorded. In 1962 Illinois became the first U.S. state to decriminalize Gay sex between consenting adults.
New report on Bisexuals: they’re a majority of LGBTs, and poorer than Gays and Lesbians by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Bisexuals make up 52% of the LGBT community, a new report says, and despite their numbers, they fare worse than Gay men and Lesbians when it comes to income and working conditions. The study, by Movement Advancement Project, in conjunction with Bi Resource Center and BiNet USA, was released Septem-
ber 23 to mark Bisexual Awareness Week. “Bisexual people are vulnerable to ... poor physical and mental health outcomes – often at rates higher than their lesbian and gay peers,” the report concludes, and disproportionate levels of discrimination, violence, poverty, and suicide, the report concludes. According to the report, some 25% of Bi men and 30% of Bi women live in poverty, in contrast to 20% of Gay men and 23% of Lesbians. At work, almost three in five bisexual
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employees have heard jokes or comments about their sexuality, and feel like they work in a hostile environment. Ineke Mushovic, executive director of the Movement Advancement Project, said that despite being a majority of the LGBT population, “[Bisexuals] are among the most invisible.” “The failure to account for bisexual lives and experiences compounds a lack of social support and keeps bisexual people in the closet,” she added. “Bisexual people often face pervasive stereotypes and myths surrounding bisexuality,” adds Ellyn Ruthstrom, president of the Bisexual Resource Center. “The fear of being stereotyped manifests itself in a real way: bisexual people are six times more likely than gay men and lesbians to be closeted. This impacts the emotional well-being of many bisexual people and is a contributing factor to the community’s higher rates of poor physical and mental health.” The finding that Bisexuals make up a majority of the LGBT community is consistent with previous studies, but may gloss over some of the nuances of sexual identities. In a 2011 study by the Williams Institute, almost 52% of the respondents identified as Bi, but the results were very unevenly distributed among men and women. Gay men made up “substantially more than half ” of the men in seven of the nine surveys Williams Institute used for their study. In contrast, Bisexual women made up a majority of the women surveyed in eight of the nine. One other issue raised by the Williams In-
stitute study is the question of identity. While 3.5% of the U.S. population identified as LGBT, a much higher percentage – 8.2% – actually had sex with a same-sex partner and 11% reported experiencing same-sex attractions. Obviously, many individuals are exhibiting Gay behavior, and even more are experiencing Gay attractions, without identifying as Gay, and that complicates the task of counting the different components of the LGBT community. In terms of income disparities, a 2009 Williams Institute study showed that “lesbian couples and their families are much more likely to be poor” than either Gay couples or opposite-sex couples, and that “children in gay and lesbian couple households have poverty rates twice those of children in heterosexual married couple households.” The Williams Institute study also found that race and location were more significant indicators of economic distress than sexual orientation. “African American people in same-sex couples and same-sex couples who live in rural areas are much more likely to be poor than white or urban same-sex couples,” the study reported. Again, the question of identity comes into play, because it is completely possible that one or both partners in a same-sex couple identifies as Bi rather than Gay or Lesbian, and the same is true for opposite-sex couples. Also, as the Williams Institute study noted, the U.S. Census Bureau records samesex households, but does not record the sexual orientation of single people, making all estimates of poverty rates among LGBT individuals suspect.
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Lambda Legal asks for summary judgment in Puerto Rico marriage suit lambdalegal.org
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are told they are inferior to our other family members. They are living, working and caring for each other now and need the dignity and respect of marriage.” Attorney Ada Mercedes Conde Vidal filed the original suit on March 25, on behalf of herself and her wife, Ivonne Álvarez Vélez. Yolanda Pizarro & Zulma Vega The couple had been legally married in Massachusetts in 2004, and wanted Puerto Rico • Zulma Oliveras Vega and Yolanda Arto recognize their marriage. They have been royo Pizarro have been together for six years and are parents of one daughter; together for 14 and have one daughter. When Lambda Legal entered the case, they also brought additional plaintiffs: lambdalegal.org
lambdalegal.org
Johanne García & Faviola Rodríguez
• Iris Delia Rivera Rivera – a veteran of the National Guard deployed in the first Gulf War marriages is discriminatory and unconsti- – and Maritza López Avilés have been together tutional on its face, without a need for fur- for 38 years and are parents of one daughter; ther hearings. The case, Conde v. Garcia Padilla, involves five same-sex couples and the organization Puerto Rico Para Tod@s. “All families deserve to have their love and commitment recognized in Puerto Rico; they need the protections only marriage can provide as soon as possible, without disJosé Iglesias & Thomas Robinson crimination,” Lambda Legal staff attorney • José A. Torruellas Iglesias and Thomas Omar Gonzalez-Pagan said in a statement. “Every day that passes, our gay, lesbian, J. Robinson have been together for 13 years bisexual and transgender family members and married in Toronto in 2007;
• Johanne Vélez García and Faviola Meléndez Rodríguez have been together for six years and married in New York in 2012. The organizational plaintiff, Puerto Rico Para Tod@s, is a leading advocate for LGBT people and their families in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, with many members throughout the island. Their suit argues that Puerto Rico’s marriage ban unfairly discriminates against LGBT couples and sends a purposeful message that LGBT people and their children are second-class, undeserving of the legal protections, respect, and support that different-sex couples and their families are able to enjoy through marriage. The ban was enacted in 1999, but proposed amendments that would have enshrined it in the Commonwealth’s constitution were defeated in 2008 and 2009.
than slower, resolution. “Martin Feldman is the only judge in the country that has ruled the way he did,” she said. “So far this ruling is kind of the odd one out and everything is going the way the Lafayette decision has gone today.” L. Har vard Scott III, one of the plaintiffs in the federal case, noted
not much different than anyone else. The strong opposition we started with several years ago is fading away.” Scott and March-Prieto, who married in Vermont in 2012, following a civil union obtained there in 2000, are suing in federal court to get their marriage recognized in their home state.
Maritza López Aviles & Iris Delia Rivera Ada Mercedes Conde Vidal & Ivonne Álvarez Vélez
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
Louisiana
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that Rubin’s ruling would not help him and his husband, Sergio March-Prieto, “but it is great P.R.” “The whole thing here is changing people’s minds,” Scott said. “As this has unfolded over the last couple of years, more have gotten to know their neighbors and met same-sex couples and realized we’re
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joined the state from enforcing its ban on Gay and Lesbian marriages – effectively legalizing same-sex marriage in Louisiana. According to BuzzFeed’s Chris Geidner, who obtained a copy of the decision on condition he did not quote from it directly, Rubin, who is African American, cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down laws against inter-racial marriage. Louisiana’s state marriage law enshrines a system of “separate but equal,” Rubin said. Furthermore, he said, none of the reasons given by the state’s attorneys for retaining the ban have a rational basis, and therefore they are unconstitutional. Laura Gerdes, a spokesperson for the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office, told the Shreveport Times that the Attorney General disagrees with the ruling and started the appeals process. Because Rubin is a state judge, the appeals trail leads to the Louisiana Supreme Court, rather than the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court. Federal District Judge Martin Feldman’s earlier ruling upholding Louisiana law is now being appealed to the Fifth Circuit. Marjorie Esman, ACLU of Louisiana Executive Director, said the conflicting rulings between state and federal courts will give the issue higher visibility in Louisiana and bring a quicker, rather
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Lambda Legal entered a motion for summary judgment on September 15 in a suit to overturn Puerto Rico’s ban on same-sex marriages. As a Commonwealth of the United States, Puerto Rico is internally self-governing, but is under the jurisdiction of U.S. federal courts, and the suit was filed in March in the U.S. District Court in San Juan. Lambda Legal entered the suit in June. Summary judgment means that the court would rule that the ban on Gay and Lesbian
Judge Edward Rubin
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Eric Holder
Holder
continued from cover At his direction the Justice Department also launched 20 investigations of local police departments – including Seattle’s – for various abuses, including excessive use of force and disproportionate targeting of people of color. HRC President Chad Griffin praised Holder in a statement released shortly after he announced his resignation, and suggested President Obama appoint an LGBT replacement. “Some Attorneys General wait for history, others make history happen,” Griffin wrote. “Attorney General Holder made history for the LGBT community. He was our
Robert F. Kennedy, lightening the burden of every American who faces legal discrimination and social oppression. We owe him a profound debt of gratitude for his legacy of advocacy and service. “President Obama faces a historic opportunity in light of Attorney General Holder’s departure. The President has expressed a commitment to appointing a cabinet that reflects the full diversity of the American people, and there are many richly-qualified candidates available to serve as the first openly-LGBT cabinet secretary. It would be a natural extension of this administration’s enduring commitment to equality to send a message of visibility and inclusion by nominating such a candidate to serve in this historic role.”
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Greek Gays organize against violence when they are vulnerable,” Pantikiou said. The website already has dozens of entries, he added. “The people who write to us are mainly teenagers and young people who became victims of domestic violence after coming out at home,” Pantikiou said. “Violence can be in the form of a beating or the cessation of financial assistance or even eviction from the family home.” The biggest problem in terms of the law, he added, is that victims cannot file legal complaints if the violence comes from a parent.
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Greece’s Gay community is organizing against a wave of recent Gay-bashings in the capital, Athens, and several other cities, according to the Greek newspaper Kathimerini. In April, the LGBT rights organization Color Youth launched a website, www. pestosemas.com, where victims of attacks can report their experiences. “Pesto se mas” means “tell it to us.” The site is funded by the EEA (European Economic Area) Grants program “We are all Citizens” which encourages pub-
lic participation by socially marginalized groups in Europe. “We are also preparing an initiative to inform [groups such as ours] on how to work with victims in [the cities of ] Thessaloniki, Ioannina, Patras, and Iraklio, while we hope to use part of the funding we’ve received to cover the legal costs in at least 10 cases that have gone to court,” explained Constantinos Pantikiou, head of human resources and fundraising at Color Youth. “We encourage victims to report attacks but we also understand their reluctance, as any publicity could have an impact on their personal and private lives at a time
Another organization, the Racist Violence Recording Network, founded to document attacks against immigrants, also records Gay-bashings. In 2013, the Network compiled some 2030 reports of homophobic attacks, some in busy and fashionable parts of central Athens like Gazi, Exarchia and Panepistimiou metro station, and some in other cities – Ioannina, Alexandroupoli, Komotini, and especially in Thessaloniki. “Just a few years ago Gazi was extremely hospitable to the gay community,” Pantikiou noted. The neighborhood is home to many nightclubs and music venues. One story from a couple who were attacked in Gazi is typical. A 20-year-old man, identified only as ST, was walking with his boyfriend and their friends to the train station. Suddenly they were confronted by another group of young people about their age.
“You’re in for it, you faggots!” one of the young men in the other group yelled. “It was one of the guys in the group who launched the attack,” ST told Kathimerini. ST was knocked to the ground and suffered injuries to one eye. “One of his friends tried to stop him, but the other two guys, as well as the girlfriend of one of them, were egging him on. The more I think about it, the more I am shocked by the girl’s attitude. Isn’t she worried that her boyfriend’s violence may not always be restricted to strangers? When I managed to open my good eye I saw him dragging my boyfriend by the hair through a pool of blood.” ST and his friends called the police after being attacked. “We waited two-and-a-half hours with three of us taking turns to call every half-hour,” said ST. “If they had come sooner they would have caught the assailant. He stood there admiring his work for quite a while.” Unfortunately, the lax police response is also typical. Many Greeks say the police are allied with the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, whose supporters are blamed for most of the attacks on Gay Greeks, as well as on non-Greek immigrants. In at least one recent case, police officers themselves beat a Gay couple. While Golden Dawn is now the thirdlargest political party in Greece, it has been losing support among young people since one of its members murdered the popular rapper Pavlos Fyssas in September 2013.
Olympic host cities must agree to LGBT protections, IOC says Chris McGrath / Getty Images for Bridgestone
IOC President Thomas Bach
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by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on September 25 that all future Olympic host cities must agree to protect LGBT athletes and attendees from discrimination. According to IOC Sports Director Christopher Dubi, a new clause will be added to the contract that host cities must sign. The clause will include “the prohibition of any form of discrimination, using the wording of Fundamental Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter,” Dubi said. The changes were made in response to concerns raised by the location of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, where LGBT people face legal penalties and have been targeted for violence. Although the IOC said during the Sochi Olympics that it opposes discrimination against LGBT athletes, human rights groups campaigned for the sports organization to adopt a formal statement protecting LGBT people at the games. “By adopting a non-discrimination clause into its host city contracts, the IOC is showcasing its own realization that we must protect the rights of every athlete to live free and openly,” said Hudson Taylor, Executive Director of Athlete Ally, one of the groups pressing the IOC to adopt a firm
policy against anti-Gay discrimination. “The Principle 6 campaign sought to shed light on the responsibility of host countries to uphold the Olympic values, and this action validates all of the hard work by organizations and individuals across the world who’ve engaged in the fight for LGBT equality.” “This is a significant step in ensuring the protection of both citizens and athletes around the world and sends a clear message to future host cities that human rights violations, including those against [LGBT] people, will not be tolerated,” said Andre Banks, co-founder and executive director of All Out, another group promoting LGBT equality. “This is a particularly important moment for the world’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens who face discrimination and persecution not only in Russia but in countries all over the world. We will continue working to make sure this change is powerfully enforced – these new rules must prevent a replay of Sochi.” The 2016 Summer Olympics will be held in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, where LGBT protections are already part of national law. However, Brazil is infamous for violent assaults against LGBT people. The 2018 Winter Games will be held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, where Gay sex is legal, but anti-discrimination protections do not exist.
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Make PrEP free, SF Supervisor says San Francisco Supervisor David Campos has introduced a plan to distribute free PrEP drugs to city residents. His proposal was put before the Board of Supervisors – a combination city/county council – on September 22. PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is a method of preventing HIV infections with daily doses of antiretroviral drugs. While the treatment is considered highly effective, it is also extremely expensive. Truvada, the most commonly used PrEP drug, costs between $8,000 and $14,000 per year. Campos first announced his plan to make PrEP cheap or free in a posting to his Facebook page on September 18. “This coming Tuesday, I will introduce a measure to allocate funds for navigators to educate patients about PrEP, and provide subsidies to San Franciscans who cannot afford the life saving medication,” he wrote. “By making PrEP available to all regardless of income, we could set the tone for the rest of the country in how to effectively eradicate a disease that claimed the lives of so many of our loved ones.” The day before Campos’s Facebook post, his colleague on the Board of Supervisors, Scott Weiner, told The Huffington Post that
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by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer he was on PrEP. Both Campos and Weiner appeared at a rally at San Francisco City Hall to support Campos’s initiative. At the rally, Wiener emphasized how prevalent HIV remains, pointing to statistics that show there are 400 new HIV infections a year in San Francisco, 50,000 nationwide, and more than 2 million around the world. “I’m sick of meeting people 18, 19, 20, 21 years old who are [HIV] positive. We know that this is not necessary,” he said. “I think a lot of times, especially in the mainstream, there’s this view that somehow HIV is over, that the epidemic is somehow resolved, that everything is okay, and we know that that’s not true. “Ending this epidemic can’t just be limited to people who happen to have good insurance,” Wiener continued. “We have to expand access. We have to make sure that people who either don’t have insurance or have insurance with really high deductibles or high co-pays have access.” Although some HIV activists object to PrEP on the grounds that it is effective only with strict adherence to a daily dosage regimen, Weiner pointed out that only one in six Gay men report using a condom 100% of the time.
San Francisco Supervisor David Campos
Vaccinate Gay and Bi men for HPV, Brit activists say www.mitre.org
HPV Virus
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by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer British LGBT rights activists are urging a government panel to vaccinate Gay and Bi men against HPV (human papilloma virus). According to BBC News, HPV experts from the British government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization will investigate whether to extend the vaccine to Gay and Bi men, all boys at the age of 12 and 13, or both. They will announce their decision in October. HPV is known to cause cervical cancer in women, and currently only girls 12 and 13 years old are vaccinated. However, more than 2,000 British men develop cancer from HPV every year, activists say, and restricting prevention to girls is “foolish, immoral and has a whiff of homophobia.” In males, HPV can cause penile, anal, and throat cancers, as well as genital and anal warts. Peter Tatchell, a veteran Gay activist, told Gay Star News that the British government has an obligation to deal with the threat to men’s health posed by the virus. “HPV doesn’t just affect girls and women, it also has an impact on boys and young men including those who are gay or bisexual,” Tatchell said. “HPV is a health threat. The vaccination should be made available to everyone at potential risk. The cost of the vaccine will be much less than treating people who become infected with the virus. “The government’s current policy of denying the vaccine to gay and bisexual men at risk is foolish, immoral and has a whiff of homophobia. “It is causing ill health and costing the
NHS needless expense in treating a preventable infection.”
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Scientists agree with Tatchell. Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the Royal Society for Public Health, said vaccinating all boys would help to protect girls from cancer, as well as protecting men who have sex with men. It would also mean Gay and Bi men would no longer be excluded from what is called “herd immunity.” “Herd immunity” comes about when such a large portion of a population has been vaccinated for a disease, that even unvaccinated individuals enjoy a large measure of protection from infection. “Since introducing the HPV vaccination for girls in 2008, we have seen incredible uptake and sharp declines in HPV infection rates, but we must ensure that boys who don’t profit from herd immunity can also reap these benefits,” Cramer told the BBC. “Herd immunity only works in later life for males who are sexually active with females who have been vaccinated – it won’t work for men who are sexually active in countries where the vaccine isn’t available, those who have sex with men, or those who have sex with the estimated 15% of girls who haven’t had the vaccine.” The Royal Society for Public Health has also called for the HPV vaccine to be made available to Gay men. The cost to Britain’s National Health Service of offering the HPV vaccine to boys is estimated at about £20-22 million ($33-36 million) per year.
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