SGN November 28, 2014 - Section 1

Celebrating 41 Years!

Issue 48 Volume 42

FRIDAY November 28, 2014 FREE!

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Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

TASTE of GSBA raises over $727,000 to support our LGBTQ and allied scholars thegsbascholarship.org

Taste of GSBA 2014

our 820 guests were welcomed with champagne by 100 outstanding volunteers, including the Sisters of PerThis week, Greater Seattle Business petual Indulgence selling Emerald Association CEO Louise Chernin Tickets, PFLAG, Quake Rugby, Delta said, “There was magic in the air as Lambda Phi, UW’s Rainbow Grads,

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

scholars and members selling Celebrity Chef table raffles.”

“Within minutes guests were mingling with each other, saying hi to Mayor Ed Murray, Councilmembers Sally Clark and Tom Rasmussen,

King County Councilmember Joe McDermott, Tacoma Councilmember Ryan Mello, and enjoying signature cocktails by Tutta Bella, small plates by our caterers: Amato Catering, Cameron Catering, Ray’s Boathouse, Manhattan, Taylor Shellfish, Barrio, Urbane, Two Tartes Catering and Fig Tree Catering and popping balloons for one of our restaurant gift certificates,” she recalled.

Guests sipped wine poured by Bartholomew, Elsom, Fidélitas, Goose Ridge, Laurelhurst Cellars, Nota Bene, Port Gardner Bay Winery and Va Piano, she said, as they bid on auction items – which also included wines.

A dance number from the musical Sweet Charity, performed by actors from the 5th Avenue’s production of A Chorus Line, kicked off the official program. Then the program moved on to the Emerald Ticket and CelebrityChef’sRaffle,”whichmadeforsome very happy guests,” said Chernin.

“Huge thanks to our talented and generous celebrity chefs: Tamara Murphy of TerraPlata, Jerry Traunfeld of Poppy and Rumi Ohnui of Cassis,” she said. “Thank

you also to the Westin Hotel staff for the outstanding job of taking care of us while our Auctioneer Extraordinaire Laura Michalek and our Emcee Elisa Jaffe kept the evening lively and the bidding high.”

“Of course, the extraordinary bidding was inspired by our scholar, Nyka Tucker, who touched us to the core sharing her story and dreams and the power of your gifts to change worlds and make dreams come true,” said Chernin.

TASTE Chair, Kent Thoelke, addressed the audience about the power of giving. “After that, it was impossible not to raise that paddle high and often,” Chernin said, acknowledging that some donors gave at many different levels. “Staying with a wonderful tradition, Michael Melancon and Glenn Johnson started the evening with a $25,000 bid; and after some very exciting $10,000 and $5,000 bids, our TASTE Chairs Kent Thoelke and Kevin Gaspari donated $25,000 and three other amazing donors, Ernie, Sandy and Glenn added see Taste page 5

ISIS stones two Gay men, National LGBT groups react international watchdog group says – Iraqi and Syrian to Ferguson decision LGBT community at risk

The so-called Islamic State (IS, ISIS, or ISIL) has stoned two men to death because they were Gay, according to the watchdog group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“The IS today stoned to death a man that it said was gay,” the group said in a November 25 statement, adding that the victim was around 20 years old.

According to AFP news agency, the man was killed in Mayadeen, Syria,

in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, near the border with Iraq.

The British-based Observatory said IS claimed it found videos on his mobile phone showing him “practicing indecent acts with males.”

In a separate incident on November 25, an 18-year-old was stoned to death in Deir Ezzor city also for being Gay, the Observatory said.

Activists on social media said that the dead men were opponents of IS and that the group had used the allegation as a pretext to kill see isis page 8

Facebook

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

Pride at Work Executive Director Jerame Davis: “The decision of the grand jury not to indict Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown feels like a punch in the gut to many. I am one of those who feel like justice failed us tonight.

“I believe in an America where there is no justification for a police officer to discharge 12 rounds at an unarmed teen. I believe in an America where police are expected and required to take every step possible to keep from killing the citizens they are sworn to protect. But most importantly, I believe in an America where black lives matter.

“In the labor movement, we fight every day to make sure everyone is treated with the dignity and respect they deserve on the job and in the public square. Our black brothers and sisters need and deserve a sysMichael Brown Jr. tem that doesn’t fail them so tragically and with such frequency.” decision represents. The fact that colleagues in the broader civil an unarmed black youth can be fa- rights community in condemnThe National Center for tally shot by a police officer with no ing the grand jury decision, and Lesbian Rights (NCLR): accountability or consequence is a send our strength and support to “We vacillate between heart- chilling commentary on the worth the family and friends of Michael break and outrage at the decision afforded to young, black lives and Brown and the entire Ferguson from the grand jury. Injustice is the sorry state of racial justice in see Ferguson page 7 too tame a word for what today’s this country. We stand with our

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Celebrating 41 Years!

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Statement by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray on the Grand Jury Decision in Ferguson, Missouri I have said many times as Mayor that I believe race remains our greatest challenge as a nation and as a community.

Today, we as a nation and as a community confront this challenge painfully and profoundly.

After the tragic police shooting of an unarmed teenager, Michael Brown, in Ferguson this past summer, President Obama described a “gulf of mistrust” that exists between law enforcement and our communities – and particularly our communities of color.

As they learn of today’s grand jury decision in Ferguson, many in the African American community in Seattle and across the country are bound to feel that justice has not been served, and experience tremendous hurt as a result.

For many in the African American community, this decision will likely replicate the pain caused by the tragic shooting itself, and underscore this gulf of mistrust, which, if left unattended, will only divide us as one community.

Many outside the African American community stand today in solidarity with the African American community through this time of anguish and anger and alienation, including me, members of Council and community leaders of this city.

We cannot let this gulf of mistrust divide us, and we will not let this gulf of mistrust divide us.

Seattle is not Ferguson – a town that is predominantly African American but only has three African American officers on its 53-member police force.

Our city is committed to the goals of racial and social justice in all aspects of our cultural, social and economic lives. This is a core value of Seattle, and we should be proud of this.

But, of course, Seattle is far from perfect.

Racial disparities persist, having been built – here and everywhere throughout this country – upon a legacy of decades and decades of institutional bias.

These disparities are very real, and our communities of color bear daily these burdens – and our young African Americans in particular.

And that’s the deep, unacceptable truth that Ferguson reveals about us as a society: We are failing our young African American men.

Too often we are sending them to prison instead of college. Too often they are dying young instead living long lives of fulfillment.

And while I cannot pretend to know the individual experiences of young African American men, I do know that we in this city must be united in how we address these experiences.

My message to the young African American men in Seattle today is this: While we do not have the answers today, we in this city are listening to you.

Your city hears you. And your city loves you.

In this hour of pain, your city is absolutely committed to moving forward with you, together, towards greater peace and greater justice.

My message today to all Seattle residents is to ask that we all reach out to our neighbors – across racial and cultural lines in particular – and commit to a promise of making our city a better place.

And I echo President Obama’s words from over the weekend: “This is a country that allows everybody to express their views. But using any event as an excuse for violence is contrary to the rule of law and contrary to who we are.”

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Celebrating 41 Years!

Marc Solomon, national campaign director for Freedom to Marry, to appear at Town Hall, December 1 Washington Blade / Micheal Key

Marc Solomon

On Monday, December 1, at 7:30 p.m., at Town Hall Seattle (1119 8th Ave. at Seneca St.) Marc Solomon, national campaign director for Freedom to Marry, will appear at a reading and book-signing event in support of his new book, Winning Marriage: The Inside Story of How Same-Sex Couples Took on the Politicians and Pundits – and Won. Ten years ago, no state allowed same-sex couples to marry. Today, over fifty percent of the U.S. population lives in a state where Gay marriage has been legalized. In his new book, Marc Solomon, veteran leader in the movement for marriage equity, takes readers behind the scenes in an in-depth

account of the groundbreaking campaign to win and protect the freedom to marry.

Joining us for a reading and signing, Solomon will take us into the center of one of the greatest civil and human rights movements of our time and reveal the struggles, strategies, battles, and decisions that turned it into an important example of historical change for decades to come.

Tickets are $5 and available at townhallseattle.org.

Presented by Town Hall and University Book Store, as part of the Civics series. Series supported by The Boeing Company, the RealNetworks Foundation, and the TrueBrown Foundation.

MARC SOLOMON is the national campaign director for Freedom to Marry where he directs programs to win marriage nationwide. In 13 years of work on marriage equality, he has led the campaign to protect marriage in Massachusetts and played key roles in New York, Illinois, California, New Hampshire, Maine, and elsewhere. He has innovated programs to make advances with both the Democratic and Republican Parties, and has led efforts to enlist elected officials and business leaders to the cause.

He is a regular media spokesperson – on television and radio and in print.

Courtesy of University Book Store

End of the road for Freedom to Marry, NOM?

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Political rivals Freedom to Marry and NOM may be nearing the end of their existence as marriage equality is rapidly becoming a reality across the country.

Founded by Evan Wolfson in 2003, Freedom to Marry not only waged a national campaign for equality, but also funneled resources into state organizations like Washington United for Marriage – the group that won R-74 and established marriage rights in this state.

In a recent interview with the Washington Blade, Freedom to Marry’s national campaign director Marc Solomon said he thought it “highly unlikely” that the U.S. Supreme Court will rule against equality. He is also “pretty confident” that voters would support marriage rights if they come up on the ballot, he added.

To Solomon, that means his organization will successfully put itself “out of business.”

TASTE

continued from cover

NOM ended the year (2013) more than $2.5 million in debt.

HRC Vice President of Communications Fred Sainz predicted that NOM was locked in a downward spiral from which it would not recover.

“If I were Brian Brown, I’d be worried that my two or three mega-donors are soon going to come to terms with the fact that they’d largely be better off flushing money down the toilet,” Sainz said in a statement.

“Americans certainly aren’t buying what NOM is selling, and it’s only a matter of time before the trickle of money keeping the lights on at NOM HQ dries up.”

Within the last year NOM suffered what HRC calls “crippling blows to its core purpose and mission.” The number of states allowing same-sex marriage has jumped from 15 to 33 states, with 62% of the nation’s population living in states that allow equal marriage rights to Gay and Lesbian couples.

Recent poll results show that NOM’s anti-

Gay rhetoric is falling on deaf ears. An HRC survey of 1,200 registered voters conducted June 6-10 this year by Republican pollster Alex Lundry of TargetPoint Consulting found that the number of Americans strongly opposed to national marriage equality dropped to 28%, its lowest point ever.

raised during the night of the TASTE go directly to the Scholarship Fund, if it weren’t for the generous support of the evening’s TASTE Sponsors, said officials. “Huge thanks to our Presenting Partner: 1st Security Bank; Marquee Sponsors: AlaskaAirlines, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Outerwall, Precision Garage Door Service, Vulcan, JPMorgan Chase and SVEDKA; our Premier Sponsors: Sound Community Bank and Thorny Rose Wines; Supporting Sponsors: AA Party Rentals, Aria Style, Choice Linens, Girlie Press, Reliable Movers, Team Photogenic, and West Coast Draperies; Silent Auction Sponsors: Morgan Stanley, Kasala and Alaska Airlines.”

GSBA also thanks, for their ongoing support, their 2014 ANNUAL Sponsors: Jewels – Diamond Sponsor: Microsoft; Emerald Sponsor: 1st Security Bank; and our Ruby Jewel: PwC. Our Platinum Sponsor: Liberty Mutual and Safeco Insurance. Gold Sponsors: American Family Insurance, PacMed, Regence and Wells Fargo. Silver Sponsors: Alaska Airlines, Boeing, Carter Subaru, Seattle Goodwill, Group Health, New York Life, Precision Garage Door Service, Starbucks, RBC Wealth Management, US Bank.

Bronze Sponsors: Avanade, Carpet Liquidators, CenturyLink, DML Insurance, Overlake Reproductive Health, Mona Smith, Attorney at Law, Google, Irons Brothers Construction,

Vulcan and White Pages. Travel & Tourism: Amtrak, Port of Seattle, Visit Seattle, Space Needle (happy birthday Karen), Renaissance Seattle, King County, Sheraton Seattle, Sound Transit. Guide Sponsor: BECU, Marketing Sponsor: Green Rubino, and Community Health Partner: Gay City Health Project.

“Your chamber, GSBA, would not be the largest LGBT chamber in the U.S., with a nationally recognized Scholarship Fund, if it weren’t for you, our amazing members, generous donors and a progressive business

community,” said Chernin. “You understand that Equality is Good Business. You are committed to diversity and equality in business.

You know the power of education and the importance of supporting the next generation of leaders. You are our heroes. Thank you.”

Next year will mark the 25th Anniversary of the GSBA Scholarship Fund. Mark your calendars now for the May 15 Scholarship Dinner, the night you get to meet the students and hear their stories and the 2015 TASTE of GSBA on November 21.

Visit us online www.sgn.org

thegsbascholarship.org

to that to make a $50,000 match at the $1,000 level resulting in a night at which the Fund-AScholar raised $279,000.”

“It’s hard to believe there was more to come; more bidding, a wine frenzy with sommeliers April Pogue and Lee Spires and a breathtaking array of trips, food experiences, tickets to ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ which had some wild bidding and then two more performances by our talent from the 5th Avenue Theatre,” she said.

Chernin said that if you weren’t able to attend the TASTE event, you can still be a Scholarship Fund Donor by making a gift online at www.thegsba.org.

“So many people made this night so successful, but we must start out and acknowledge the amazing vision and hard work by our two Chairs, Kent Thoelke and Kevin Gaspari and their talented committee Monica Ackerman, Allan Aquila, Dena Levine, Drew Ness, Chris Nishiwaki, Mark Rosén, Lee and Van Spires and Jason Staats,” said Chernin. “Supporting this committee every step of the way, with his expertise around all things auction is our Events Manager, Scott Walden and a stellar GSBA staff: Rachael Brister, Amy Burdick, Rachel Chernin, Mandy Dormer, Matt Landers, Aaron Rindt, Alysa Rosen and Jessica Wootten.”

GSBA could not ensure that all the funds

“We’ve always been set up as a campaign, and we are a campaign, and when we’ve won nationwide, we’re finished,” Solomon told the Washington Blade.

“I want to see some of the really good people stick around in LGBT stuff, or in other progressive causes, but Freedom to Marry’s done.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the issue, an HRC report suggests NOM is rapidly losing funding, and may be on the way to bankruptcy.

HRC examined NOM’s tax filings from 2013 and found that the organization’s funding for the year dropped a whopping 50% from 2012, with only $5.1 million coming in this year.

Only two donors account for half of NOM’s income, which indicates NOM’s support base consists of a handful of wealthy people and almost no one among the general public.

The NOM Education Fund – the group’s tax-exempt “educational” wing – also dropped nearly 70% since the previous year, losing some $3.5 million in funding.

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Celebrating 41 Years!

Arkansas and Mississippi marriage bans fall

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Federal judges struck down same-sex marriage bans in both Arkansas and Mississippi on November 25. The back-to-back decisions came only days after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a stay on a similar decision in South Carolina, where Gay and Lesbian marriages have already begun.

In Arkansas, U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker ruled in favor of two same-sex couples who had challenged a 2004 constitutional amendment and an earlier state law barring same-sex marriage.

Baker wrote in her ruling that Arkansas marriage laws violate the U.S. Constitution by “precluding same-sex couples from exercising their fundamental right to marry in

Arkansas, by not recognizing valid same-sex marriages from other states, and by discriminating on the basis of gender.”

Baker also made it clear that marriage is a fundamental right for everyone, protected by the Constitution.

“As to the right to marry,” she wrote, “the Supreme Court has been clear: ‘the ‘liberty’ specially protected by the Due Process Clause includes the right to marry . . . .” and “Marriage is one of the ‘basic civil rights of man,’ fundamental to our very existence and survival.”

The judge stayed her ruling to allow the state time to appeal, and the Arkansas Attorney General is expected to appeal it to the Eight Circuit Court, based in St. Louis. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s office had argued that same-sex marriage is not a fundamental right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

Baker’s ruling comes as the Arkansas State Supreme Court considers a separate case challenging the ban. In May, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled that state marriage laws violate both the U.S. and Arkansas constitutions. His decision led to 541 same-sex marriages in the week before the state Supreme Court suspended his ruling.

State justices have not indicated when they will rule in that case.

In Mississippi, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves also ruled that bans on same-sex marriage violate the U.S. Constitution. His decision came in Campaign for Southern Equality v.

Bryant, in which two same-sex couples and the LGBT rights group sued for the right to marry.

“The court concludes that Mississippi’s same-sex marriage ban deprives same-sex couples and their children of equal dignity

under the law,” Reeves wrote in his ruling.

“Gay and lesbian citizens cannot be subjected to such second-class citizenship.”

Reeves said his decision hinged on whether same-sex couples were capable of loving one another, being in committed relationships, and being good parents. He then asked whether denying Gays and Lesbians the right to marry subjected them to humiliation and “state-sanctioned prejudice.”

“Answering ‘Yes’ to each of these questions leads the court to the inescapable conclusion that same-sex couples should be allowed to share in the benefits, and burdens, for better or for worse, of marriage,” he wrote.

Reeves put a 14-day stay on the verdict. A spokesperson for Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant said he expected the state to appeal Reeves’ ruling to the Fifth Circuit Court.

Mississippi Supreme Court will hear Lesbian divorce case

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Mississippi’s Supreme Court set January 21 as the date it will hear arguments in a Lesbian divorce case, but the state Attorney General’s office says Mississippi cannot grant the women a divorce because it does not recognize their marriage in the first place.

Lauren Czekala-Chatham and Dana Ann Melancon were married in San Francisco in 2008, subsequently bought a home in Mississippi, but then separated in 2010.

They have agreed on an amicable divorce and division of their joint property, and they want Mississippi to recognize their divorce.

Ferguson

continued from cover community as they continue to grieve their tragic loss. We also urge the Department of Justice to take action to address the longstanding history of racialized intimidation and discrimination by the Ferguson police.”

Lambda Legal: “While there will be debate and disagreement about the facts that led to the grand jury decision announced today in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by Police Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, MO, there is no debate about the facts that a terrible tragedy took place and that another unarmed young black man lost his life at the hands of a police officer. Around the country, we continue to witness similar tragedies and loss of life that have resulted from the deadly combination of racism, police profiling, excessive use of lethal force and a general disregard for the lives of black and brown people.

“We mourn Michael Brown and every victim of police violence by continuing to work for justice – for better policing and fairer laws. As an organization fighting for the rights of LGBT people and people living with HIV, we know that bias and prejudice can lead to injustice. We believe that these issues must be addressed in a systemic way and that regardless of one decision, all of us must be active participants in holding law enforcement agencies accountable for ending the unchecked assault on the lives of all of our communities that are marginalized and criminal-

In 2013, DeSoto County Chancery Judge Mitchell Lundy, Jr. ruled that the Mississippi Constitution and statutes prevented him from granting a divorce since in the eyes of the state the women are not legally married.

The couple could get a California divorce, but they told the Biloxi Sun Herald they should not be treated differently from straight couples and they want to set a precedent to help same-sex couples whose parting may be less amicable.

Czekala-Chatham’s attorney has argued Mississippi’s law shouldn’t be allowed to infringe on her rights.

“Lauren does not seek to be married – she seeks a divorce,” her attorney argued in court papers.

“Lauren does not complain of Mississippi’s refusal to recognize her marriage to Dana on a going-forward basis. Her complaint is that Mississippi law relegates her to a declaration of voidness, when a party to an opposite-sex marriage in otherwise similar circumstances would be entitled to a divorce.”

Mississippi’s Attorney General said the state is not required to recognize a California same-sex marriage or to grant CzekalaChatham a divorce.

“All same sex Mississippi couples lack a right to have their marriage recognized by the state regardless of whether newly arrived here, having lived here all their life or anywhere in between,” Assistant Attorney Gen-

ized – whether on the basis of race, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression or economic status. We support U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice in the continued investigation into the shooting of Michael Brown and the policing practices in Ferguson.”

misconduct and other law enforcement officials. We stand arm in arm with the community of Ferguson to demand justice for Mike Brown. Black lives matter and we do not accept the decision of the Grand Jury.

“Violence perpetrated by state actors in the streets of Ferguson, at immigration detention center, or at the border must be curtailed and the safety and security of all people of color – African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans – and especially young people, immigrants, people of transgender experiences must be safeguarded. Law enforcement agencies must be held accountable to the communities they swore to serve and protect.

“The Grand Jury’s refusal to indict Officer Darren Wilson for the shooting of Michael Brown is a statement by our Justice System that if you wear a badge, you do not have to be accountable to the same laws as the people in this nation. It is a statement that black lives don’t matter and that American judicial system will continue to use two different water fountains: One for those who wear the badge and another for “colored” people.

“NQAPIA calls on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the Ferguson Police Department for systematic civil rights violations. We also call on the U.S. Department of Justice to issue guidance on racial and religious profiling to provide safeguard our communities from state actors.

“NQAPIA calls on our queer Asian community to rise up and protest injustice; to stand in solidarity with the people of Ferguson. Join protests around the nation to demand justice for Mike Brown.”

Human Rights Campaign (HRC): “Michael Brown’s family and the American people deserve to have this case fully adjudicated in a public trial. Today’s deeply disappointing decision by the grand jury denies them that opportunity. Until we as a nation make a meaningful commitment to ending police profiling – and to fully prosecuting individual cases of brutality – the kind of violence that ended Michael Brown’s life will only continue. As advocates for equality, it’s our job to show solidarity with a growing national movement to break this cycle of police violence.

While we cannot begin to imagine the pain that the Brown family is facing at this moment, we send our thoughts, prayers and condolences to them during this heartbreaking and difficult time. We also stand in solidarity with the family’s encouragement of peaceful protests and reflection following this decision.”

National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA): “NQAPIA stands in solidarity with the family of Michael Brown and all those who protest injustice. As LGBT Asian Americans, South Asians, Southeast Asians, and Pacific Islanders, we know too well the pains of those who suffer under unbridled police

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eral Harold E. Pizzetta III said in briefs.

“Valid federal law grants states the right to choose whether to recognize marriages from other jurisdictions. States are not bound to import other states’ laws or policy choices. They are, and forever have been, free to choose their own public policy, as Mississippi rightfully has done here.”

U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves is expected to rule soon in a lawsuit that seeks to overturn Mississippi’s ban on same-sex marriage. Plaintiffs in the case are two Lesbian couples seeking the right to marry and the Campaign for Southern Equality.

If Reeves overturns Mississippi law, the state would have to recognize California marriages for all purposes, including divorce.

Seattle Gay News 7

ISIS

continued from cover them. The United Nations said this month that IS had stoned to death several women in Syria it accused of adultery.

IGLHRC report on Iraq These reports follow by less than a week a paper issued by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) on the danger to LGBT individuals in Iraq.

IGLHRC was joined in its report by MADRE, an international women’s rights group, and the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI). Their report, When Coming Out is a Death Sentence, documents violence and human rights abuses by family members, tribal groups, vigilantes, and Islamist militias.

While little hard information is available for conditions faced by LGBT Iraqis is areas controlled by the Islamic State, IS believes that sharia law prescribes a death sentence for same-sex relations.

“LGBT Iraqis are in a desperate situation

that demands action,” IGLHRC Executive Director Jessica Stern said in a statement.

“Many Iraqis face violence and serious human rights abuses but LGBT Iraqis, reviled across large segments of society, have none of the protection that can come from families, tribes and the community-at-large.

Now, many LGBT Iraqis literally must hide to protect themselves. Exposure can mean death in the chaos of present-day Iraq.”

The report concludes that LGBT Iraqis are especially at risk because • their persecutors range across so many sectors of society; • they have little to no protection from family, community or government; • their physical appearance may put them at risk in public; • they face hostility in refugee circumstances; • and their movement has been curtailed by the conflict.

MADRE Executive Director Yifat Susskind said the three groups were joining with other human rights advocates to defend the endangered LGBT community.

“Human rights advocates, in Iraq and across the world, are banding together to sound the alarm,” she said.

“Respect for all human rights, indivisible and universal, demands that we stand up for LGBT people who are in grave danger now. This struggle, to defend all who are targeted for their gender and sexuality, is central to securing human rights for all people.”

IGLHRC, MADRE and OWFI have made recommendations for how foreign embassies, relief organizations, donor countries and others can protect lives. Among other measures, they want to push the Iraqi government to permit shelters and resettlement areas for LGBT refugees fleeing violence.

The groups also called for holding militias accountable for harassment and abuse of LGBT individuals. This may prove difficult, because the Shia militias that are supporting the Iraqi government against IS are the same ones that have previously been charged with torturing and killing Gay men in Baghdad.

AP

Iraqi security forces standing guard in front of the Islamic court run by the Islamic State in Sadiyah, north of Baghdad, Nov. 24, 2014

Human Rights Watch report on Syria A Human Rights Watch report on Syria, issued in April, made clear that IS is not the only threat to the LGBT community in the region. The group also named the Syrian Army, Lebanese militias, and family members of LGBT individuals as dangers.

In February, Human Rights Watch carried out interviews with 19 Gay Syrian refugees in Lebanon. “The extent of their suffering was both explicit and harrowing,” the group said.

One man, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was kidnapped by the Syrian Islamic Liberation front, and then detained in an abandoned ice cream factory for 23 days. There he suffered verbal and physical torture, and witnessed two men being executed for their “blasphemy,” a fate he feared he would suffer.

His father, who was initially unaware his son was Gay, paid a ransom to have him released and sent to Lebanon. However, the Islamist group outed the man, and the father subsequently phoned his son and threatened to have him killed if he is ever found. The man’s younger brother later joined the same group who kidnapped him in a bid to find him and kill him.

Among the other men interviewed, it was found that over half had been rejected by their families, in addition to suffering physical violence and verbal abuse from extreme Islamist groups. Five of the 19 were subject to death threats.

A Gay couple, who were kidnapped by the Syrian army, were forced to strip and have sex with each other in front of their interrogators. In another interview, one man said he was abducted by the Syrian Army and raped by the soldiers.

The couple eventually made their way to Lebanon, but found they were not safe even there. Having taken refuge in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh, they were ambushed by armed men dressed in black.

“Instead of coming to Lebanon to be gay, go fight in your country,” they were told before being beaten and evicted from their temporary lodgings.

Merry Christmas, Uganda!

Anti-Gay legislation will be revived by Uganda’s parliament before the New Year, a key lawmaker told Reuters news service on November 21.

A bill that would have mandated life in prison for Gays was passed by Uganda’s parliament almost a year ago, but the country’s constitutional court overturned it in August. Since then a parliamentary committee has been meeting to craft a new version that will pass constitutional muster.

Abdu Latif Ssebagala, a member of the committee, said it had finished the bill and was ready to present it to parliament for debate.

“The draft is ready and we have strengthened the law, especially in areas of promotion and luring children. Next week we expect to meet the speaker to fix a date for the re-tabling to parliament,” he told Reuters.

Ssebagala said the committee wanted it passed within weeks so that Ugandans “can celebrate it as a Christmas gift.”

Under intense international pressure, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said in August that he wanted the law amended to remove penalties for consenting adults. Ssebagala said the new version still punished Gay sex among consenting adults, however.

“This bill is inconsistent with fundamental freedoms and human rights ... accepting it would be a display of weakness rather than leadership,” said Asia Russell, Uganda-based director of international policy at Health GAP, an HIV advocacy group.

Most Western countries – on whom Uganda relies for economic aid – agree, and have urged Museveni not to sign any law that further penalizes his country’s LGBT community.

Analysts say Museveni is walking a political tightrope, trying to appease his conservative domestic constituency while not alienating foreign donors who finance about 20% of Uganda’s budget.

Like most of sub-Saharan Africa, Ugandan society is highly religious and sexually conservative. Influential evangelical pastors from the United States have also

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by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

intervened in the country’s politics, urg- not dictate to parliament what to do. ing Ugandan legislators to reintroduce the “We’ll only know his views when the law since it was quashed. new law is passed and is sent to him for Presidential spokesman Tamale Mirundi signing,” he said. said Museveni “is a democrat” and could

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SPD’s demographic advisory councils meet for training with SPD officials

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor On November 18, leadership from Seattle’s demographic advisory councils to the Seattle Police Department met with Community Outreach Commander, Captain John Hayes, at SPD’s Education and Training Section Support Facility for a two-hour discussion and training session about critical incidents involving police officers and use of force. The training came just days before the November 24 announcement from Ferguson, which led to unrest in Missouri as well as in Seattle and other cities as protestors took to the streets in reaction to the decision by a Ferguson grand jury to not indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of unarmed teen, Michael Brown.

I attended the meeting as a leader on the LGBTQ Advisory Council to SPD and can report that many different demographics were represented: from Filipino to Latino and African-American to Southeast Asian, the room was full. Attendees heard from Acting Captain Mike Teeter about SPD’s new Use of Force FIT Response Unit, which is sent to investigate whenever an officer is involved in a scenario that could call into question the officer’s use of force. In other words, Teeter and his team make the recommendation to SPD Chief Kathleen O’Toole, based on their investigation, if the officer’s use of force was justified or not. Accountability is something O’Toole has said is important to any police department.

Part of the training we received was very effective. Captain Hayes separated attendees into three groups for an exercise in critical (or crisis) incident response. Each group watched a different video where a cop was involved in a shooting incident. Separately, each of our groups discussed what we saw, what we thought, scripted

a message that we thought the department should make to the media and public, and then came together as one large group again and presented what we had put together. The purpose of the training, said Captain Hayes, was to provide each of the leaders in the room with knowledge about how information is disseminated from the department to the advisory councils after an incident occurs, and to discuss what information each of us thought was needed to take back to our constituents.

The three videos used in the training all consisted of footage that was not recorded in Seattle, due to the fact the department wanted to avoid the possible mistake of showing a video to someone who might know the individuals involved or who might be connected to the incident itself without the department’s knowledge. I felt this showed a great deal of thought on their part. Imagine if you showed up to a training session and video from a police shooting that included a cousin or other family member, coworker, etc., was used. I think, in this way, Hayes made a great judgment call.

The first video showed a South Carolina state trooper involved in a shooting after the troopers stopped a car and the driver of the vehicle jumped out with an assault rifle and began to spray the police cruiser with bullets. One of the officers was injured, but did not die. The driver of the vehicle was killed.

This video was particularly interesting for two reasons: On the one hand, the man doing the shooting was a white male, and usually we see images of black males involved in firing at the police. Again, I think SPD made a good judgment call to show this video because it showed that criminals come from all races, communities and neighborhoods and that to suspect a person of criminal activity based on the color of their skin is not only morally and ethically

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wrong – it is just plain inaccurate. That inaccuracy could get an officer killed in the line of duty.

The second reason why the video, filmed from the dash cam of the police cruiser, was interesting is that the man immediately just opened fire. There was little the officers could do. They were faced with a very terrible situation of kill or be killed. So in this way, it changed the narrative from the cops being the criminal and the criminal being the victim. While this is sometimes not the case, there is overwhelming data that shows police are in danger when they do their jobs, and if they are not ready to act with use of force, when it is needed, they can be killed.

The second video contained footage taken from the dash cam of a white San Diego police officer’s vehicle, in which he pulls up to a gas station and asks the driver of a truck, a black male, to get his license and registration. When the driver of the vehicle turned to retrieve the requested items, the cop opened fire, shooting the unarmed man who had the license in his hand. The man could be heard asking the officer, “Why did you shoot me?” The officer, we learned, was fired after this incident and charges have been filed against him.

The third video we discussed was footage of an African American homeless man, who also used to be a former Crips gang member, come to the aid of a white police officer that was being attacked by a man high on PCP. The homeless man’s actions saved the cop’s life.

The perspective that was presented by each group made for respectful dialogue about the opinions that had been brought forth by some members of the community. For the most part, it seemed, people did not want to take the side of the criminal, perceived criminal, or police.

Instead, mostly, everyone called for investigation, wanted more facts, and did not want to

brand one or the other guilty or innocent until most of the facts were known. I think this shows tremendous progress because it was great to see my fellow demographic leaders looking at things from a position of fact checking, policy monitoring, and reasonable debate instead of heated arguments, chucking the facts and relying solely on the race of the people involved.

Whenever a tragedy happens, just like we saw in Ferguson, facts are often reported wrong or not at all, extreme opinions are broadcast on 24 hour news channels as if they are substantial when often they are not, and speculation is taken at face value when it should not be reported at all. This behavior leads to what happened in Seattle, Ferguson, Oakland and elsewhere whenever emotions run high. While it may be true that the November 18 meeting did little to stop the violence that occurred on Monday night in Seattle, I am hopeful that as we continue to train with SPD, we are able to bring more information and training back to our respective demographic communities that will start to change the way SPD does business and the way we respond to it.

Captain Hayes pointed out that violence is not the answer and that most cops never want to shoot anyone. It doesn’t lead to anything good he said. Also, he said that whenever the police department is doing right by the citizens they are sworn to protect, if an officer is involved in a shooting, then the public will have confidence that the officer had no other choice. Sadly, at this time, that confidence does not yet exist for SPD. But that is not to say we can’t get there – or even try.

I appreciated the department’s willingness to set up this type of training and, based on the comments I heard people make at the demographic meeting, everyone saw it as being effective as well.

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