MON D A Y
January 8, 2007 Volume 16, Issue 1 www.stonewallnews.net
Now published every other week!
Serving the GLBTQA Community of the Pacific Northwest since 1992
MAC partners with Spokane’s Queer History Project Stonewall News Northwest
turns 15!
Back issues available free at www.stonewallnews.net
Museum may also begin its first collection of regional GLBT documents, artifacts By JoyceCrosby Special to Stonewall News Northwest Rose Krause, Curator of Special Collections at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture (MAC), located at 2316 W. First Avenue in Spokane’s historic Browne’s Addition confirmed that the museum is partnering with Maureen Nickerson, the driving force behind Spokane’s GLBT history project, “Yesterday and Today: A Century of LGBT Faces in the Inland Northwest,” to compile and preserve materials relevant to local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history. The project, according to Nickerson, is also “affectionately known as QHP (Queer History Project) by the younger set.” Initially, Nickerson contacted Kris Major, Curator of Education at the MAC, to discuss research related to an exhibit Nickerson is planning to display at Odyssey Youth Center that will focus on Spokane’s GLBT historical figures. Please see MAC page 3
Next Issue: Wednesday, January 24th Ad and Content Deadline: Wednesday, January 17th Above: Spokane’s Museum of Arts and Culture (MAC)
Photos by Joyce Crosby
Left: Adjoining Cheney Cowles Center
THIS ISSUE
Vista Youth Center Opens March 1 in Tri-Cities by Joyce Crosby Special to Stonewall News Northwest
52 Things you can do for Transgender Equality | Page 10
52 Things for Transgender Equality 10 Anything But Straight............................4 Arts & Entertainment.............................9 Business Directory . ..............................11 Calendar....................................................14 Classifieds.................................................13 National / International ........................6 Resource Directory................................12 Reviews & Previews ...............................9 Spokane / Regional.................................2 Spokane DT Map....................................15 Voices...........................................................2
Fly your Flags on Fridays!
Mark Nathan Lee
Photo by Joyce Crosby
Mark Nathan Lee is a man with a vision of how the future should look. When the 44-year-old moved to the Tri-Cities area of Washington in September 2006, he knew that he wanted to do something to address the needs of south central Washington’s GLBTIQQA youths. Because of his efforts, a new youth center will open in Kennewick on March 1. The center has the support of Planned Parenthood, the Benton-Franklin Health District and local volunteers. According to Lee, GLBTIQQA is an all-inclusive acronym meaning gay, lesbian, transgender, intersex, queer, questioning and allied. Lee explained the new definition of the word ‘queer.’ “Now kids in the MTV generation are able to sleep with somebody, to choose that, and not have it brand him or her. It doesn’t mean ‘I’m gay just because I slept with someone of the same sex.’” Queer now means anything other than heterosexual. It is a label that is a non-label.
Lee volunteered at Planned Parenthood while he investigated the needs of GLBT youths in the area. He found some of their statistics appalling. According to Lee, young Americans ages 13-24 are infected with HIV/AIDS at the rate of two per hour, and half of all new infections are in people under 25. Education is a big piece of the activist work Lee is undertaking. The Tri-Cities has 181 reported cases of HIV/AIDS, and having teens and youths become infected because of ignorance terrified Lee. He also learned that no Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) existed in any high schools in the Tri-Cities. Furthermore, the Kennewick School District teaches only abstinence. “What century are we in?” Lee asks. He believes that if local GLBT youths receive support through a center, they will advocate for GSAs at their schools. Lee asked local people and organizations what they saw as the most urgent need in the GLBT community. Please see VISTA page 3