SGN February 3, 2017 - Section 1

Celebrating 43 Years!

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Trump wants to allow discrimination on religious grounds

The Nation publishes leaked anti-LGBT order

Georgetown professor Marty Lederman – Photo courtesy of scotusblog.com

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The Nation magazine has published a document it says is a leaked draft of an executive order intended to curtail LGBT

rights and reproductive choice.

“The draft order seeks to create wholesale exemptions for people and organizations who claim religious or moral objecsee LEAKED page 17

City Council defies Trump, declares Seattle a “Welcoming City”

City Council member Lorena González – Photo courtesy of housingactionfund.org

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The Seattle City Council unanimously passed a resolution on January 30 affirming that the city is a “welcoming city” for immigrants, refugees, and Muslims.

An overflow crowd of more than 200 people broke into a standing ovation at the vote.

“In just ten days, the Trump administration has made a mockery of the Constitution,” said City Councilmember Lorena see CITY DEFIES page 7

Washington AG sues to block Trump immigration ban

(c) Attorney General Bob Ferguson – Photo by Ted Warren / The Associated Press

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson filed a lawsuit on January 30 seeking to block Donald

Trump’s immigration ban.

In addition to Trump, the suit names other high-ranking federal officials and the Department of Homeland Security see FERGUSON SUES page 8

LGBT groups skeptical of Trump promise on LGBT rights

James Esseks – Photo courtesy of law.vanderbilt.edu

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer LGBT and human rights groups say they are skeptical of Donald Trump’s announced intention to keep federal protections for LGBT workers in place.

Trump said on January 31 that he would keep in place an executive order issued by President Obama that requires companies doing business with the federal government to have anti-discrimination policies coversee LGBT SKEPTICAL page 17

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Celebrating 41 Years!

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February 3, 2017

Seattle Gay News 3

Cleaning up homeless camps January 20, 2017 TO: Kathleen Taylor, Executive Director, ACLU of Washington; Greg Rickel, 8th Bishop of Olympia, The Episcopal Church in Western Washington; Alan Preston, Managing Director, Real Change; Edward B. Murray, Mayor, City of Seattle; Patricia Lally, Department Director, Seattle Office for Civil Rights; Jay Inslee, Governor, State of Washington; Lisa Herbold, Bruce Harrell, Kshama Sawant, Rob Johnson, Debora Juarez, Mike O’Brien, Sally Bagshaw, Tim Burgess, and Lorena González – Councilmembers, Seattle City Council Dear Ms. Taylor, Bishop Rickel, and Mr. Preston; Mayor Murray, Ms. Lally, Governor Inslee, and Seattle City Councilpeople: We’re writing with a proposed solution to the problem of clean-ups of homeless encampments. We call it Clean-up Work Parties (as opposed to “sweeps” which sound like the disrespectful, terrorizing events they seem to have devolved into). Perhaps elements of this proposal could be part of a settlement of the lawsuit reported in today’s Seattle Times. We don’t have a way to reach Ms. Brandie Osborne or Ms. Lisa Hooper, but we’re hoping that you might present these ideas to them, Ms. Taylor.

We’re personally invested having recently lost my beloved grandson, Joseph McCommons-White, who lived outdoors for the past few years. His dearest friends still live on the streets and in abandoned buildings and cemeteries.

We want – as we believe all of you want – for them to have living conditions that are as safe as possible. We want – as we believe all of you want – for the communities around them to also feel safe. We want – as we believe all of you want – for their dignity, humanity, and human rights to be considered even as we help them keep their encampments sanitary.

We’re new to homelessness activism and certainly naïve to the complexity of

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February 3, 2017

clean-up efforts, so perhaps all the ideas in our proposal have flaws you can tell us about, but here goes: • What if we kept dumpsters and portapotties at each place people typically camp?

• What if we had big, permanent signs at each place people typically camp saying when clean-up work parties would be held (say 10 am on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of every month at a particular site)? The city would commit to reliably following the posted schedules.

• What if, at those times, a truck would arrive at a site with small, lockable pods?

Each camper would be offered a pod and would have 2 hours during which to fill it with whatever personal belongings they wish to keep.

• What if the city partnered with social service agencies so that a bus and a food cart would be on site as well, giving folks a warm place to sit and a warm meal to eat during the clean-up work party?

• What if, once people who were home at the time had time to pack and store their own belongings, remaining obviously usable belongings and photos and paperwork would be packed into a locked pod that would be left on the site with a commitment that someone would be there from 5 to 7 pm that same night to unlock it and dole out tents, etc. to those who missed the clean-up work party?

• What if, at say noon, all remaining trash was removed from the site and the porta-potties cleaned? Then folks were allowed then to retrieve their locked belongings to re-encamp?

• What if the city brought a dozen orange vests with them to each clean-up work party and hired up to a dozen residents of the camp, at minimum wage, to assist with the clean-up? If residents of the encampment are not available or interested, perhaps their neighbors and/or local churches or high school students would be. Whoever provided the labor could be paid in cash at the end of the day or could choose to donate their pay to the agency providing food that day.

• What if a health department mobile van was on site during each clean-up to pro-

vide basic physical health care to residents during their several-hour displacement and referral to treatment when appropriate?

• And in order to better serve the community between clean-up work parties, what if the City committed funds to double the number of Urban Rest Stops from 3 to 6 or to fund organizations like Aurora Commons, which served our grandson and still serves his friends with dignity and respect, so they could expand to offer the same services as the Urban Rest Stops at an additional 3 locations?

Of course, there would be costs involved in this program. Equally obvious to us is that the costs would be far less than the cost of providing permanent housing to all those living outdoors. That long-term solution should … MUST … be made to happen. In the meantime, however, this seems a reasonable, humane, respectful project that could be a boon, rather than a burden, in people’s already chaotic, difficult lives.

We hope to hear back from each of you or your staff. And we hope you’ll give serious consideration to negotiating this sort of solution.

Thank you.

Beth Reis and Barbara Steele P.S. Those of you for whom we could not find email addresses will be receiving this letter via your online contact forms.

CC: Elizabeth Dahl, Executive Director, Aurora Commons; Krista Cossalter, Executive Director, Peace for the Streets

by Kids from the Streets; Esther Lucero, Executive Director, Seattle Indian Health Board; Pamela Banks, President and Chief Executive Officer, Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle; Melinda Giovengo, Chief Executive Officer and President, YouthCare; Tricia Romano, Editor-in-Chief, The Stranger; George Bakan, Editor-in-Chief, Seattle Gay News; Daniel Beekman, Staff Reporter, Seattle Times

Celebrating 41 Years!

A report and reflection on the Womxn’s March on Seattle

by Sharon Cumberland SGN Contributing Writer There are at least 130,000 women and men who will tell the story of their Womxn’s March on Seattle on Saturday, January 21, 2017 and I’d love to hear them all.

Here’s mine: I’m a woman in her 60s whose pussy (and boobs and butt) have been grabbed more times than I want to recall, whose unwilling body has been pinned on sofas, in the backseats of cars, and at parties on coat piles in back bedrooms, whose mouth has been invaded by alien tongues, and whose right to say NO has been repeatedly disregarded by people with bigger muscles. You might think that at my age these indignities would have subsided, but I was felt up a couple of Sundays ago in the narthex of my church by a homeless man who asked for the hug of peace.

So I was fully prepared to wear a pink Pussy hat and “grab back” on Saturday.

I spent all week thinking of slogans to write on my sign – and I saw some great ones in Judkins Park: “Real Men Don’t Grab,” “You Can’t Grab Our Rights,” “Girls Just Want to Have Fundamental Rights,” “You Can’t Comb Over Sexism,” “A Woman’s Place is in the Resistance,” “I [heart] My Cuntry” “When Women Rise the Nation Rises.”

But it occurred to me that I already have a hat worth wearing to an anti-abuser and protest rally – my mortarboard. We all have one of those, especially since they give them out for graduations from kindergarten to college – a flat or floppy hat with a tassel that sends a message: “I earned this by achieving a level of learning that makes me smarter than I was before.” Becoming educated is one of the great freedoms this country offers its citizens – nothing to be scorned in a world where women are routinely barred from going to school, either because of their sex or their economic limitations, and therefore confined to home or to low-level jobs.

Yet the Republicans have scorned educated people for decades, calling them eggheads or elites, and making them out

Sharon poses with each side of her sign – Photos courtesy of Sharon Cumberland

efits to America as our Irish and English and European ancestors.

I think Trump made it into the White House because our education system failed the voters. All through the election campaign Trump made absurd assertions without offering evidence that anything he said was true. Gullible voters believed him because they didn’t know enough to say “Prove it!” Of course, many didn’t care – they voted with their emotions instead of their brains. So I decided to march in my academic robes, to stand up for my students and colleagues at Seattle University and to make a pitch for universal education and educators everywhere. On one side of my sign I wrote: “Knowledge is Power – Not Elitism” and on the other I wrote “Demand Evidence.”

My mortarboard is the floppy variety, from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York where I earned a Ph.D. in English. I’ve got a nifty medieval-

some honorable mud on them!

So on Saturday – which turned out to be dry and sunny, against all predictions – my nephew, Paul, dropped me and my niece, Laura, and an SU colleague, Eli, as close to the action as he could. All along the way we saw streetcars trundling by, packed to the windows with people and signs. The bus stops were crowded with marchers ready to go, and the sidewalks clogged with patient, Pussy-hatted people headed for the park. Not since the Seahawks’ Super Bowl parade have I seen such a river of people filling the streets – and while this crowd seemed optimistic and excited, it had an edge to it – a sense of determination that bucked me up and gave me courage.

We piled out of the car at 10:15 and made our way into the park, but we didn’t make it out again until 12:30 because the crowds were so vast that it took an extra hour just to trickle over to Jackson and then down to 4th Avenue. We could hear the

(l) Otts poses with his evening bag and (r) reveals the other side of his “Purse First” sign – Photos by Sharon Cumberland

to be living in ivory towers and out of touch with the world. Many Republicans are committed to ignorance: they deny science, climate change, racism, and the danger of guns in our culture. Trump and his minions deny all evidence that Muslim Americans are solid citizens, or that immigrants of all colors bring the same ben-

style gown that goes with it, with velvet trim and poufy sleeves, and a gold-lined hood that goes over my shoulders and hangs down the back. Some of my colleagues warned me that it was going to rain and I’d be dragging my lovely gown in the mud. But I thought, so what? I DON’T live in an ivory tower! Let my robes get

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speeches but couldn’t see the podium past the ocean of signs and Pussy hats of every color, variety, and ingenious construction.

The only speech I remember is the Muslim woman’s, who spoke movingly about the hate crimes being committed against mosques and girls in hijabs here in Seattle. (What? Here? I was ashamed.) She

February 3, 2017

encouraged everyone to visit mosques and make an effort to get to know Muslims in the area. Education, I thought – we need to educate ourselves.

Being dressed in an outrageously fabulous outfit meant that lots of folks came up to me and talked to me. I met half the English Department from British Columbia University in Vancouver; a woman whose lawyer sister was a Republican but who so honored evidence that she thought my “Demand Evidence” sign would get her to be a Democrat; teachers of every level, K through college, carrying signs like “Nothing is More Dangerous Than Ignorance” and “Make America Think Again.” I ran into SU’s Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences in a pink Pussy hat, and the chair of my department with her wife and their wonderful daughter in matching homemade Pussy hats. I found one of my own students, Molly, at a church that had generously opened it’s facilities for marchers.

The church carillon played folk songs, and as we marched along singing “Oh, Susanna” a little girl cried out “That’s my name!”

As we stood at the top of South Jackson, waiting to move down the hill, a distant roar seemed to build somewhere below and move toward us. At first we couldn’t figure out what it was, but as it approached us we realized it was a massive sound wave of marchers yelling, passing the shout along the line. When it reached us we started yelling, too – nothing coherent, just cathartic hollering at the top of our lungs. Then many arms suddenly pointed upwards – there had been helicopters hovering all day – but instead what we saw was a pair of eagles circling over head. Round and round they soared as thousands called up to them in gratitude – a blessing, from any standpoint.

As the walk progressed, I ran into friends from all areas of my life – school, church, the poetry world, the LGBT community. I even ran into Tom Douglas, who was handing out water and tea in front of the Dahlia Lounge. I was so weary by that time that I didn’t recognize him. I just thought it was cool to get some water from a guy in a Pussy hat who looked like Santa Claus. When people called out “Thanks, Tom!” he called back, “This is the home team!”

One of my favorite encounters was with a guy named Otts who was posing with a gold Whiting and Davis evening bag and a sign that said “Purse First.” What does see WOMXN’S MARCH page 8

Seattle Gay News 5

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Celebrating 41 Years!

Ingersoll Center at 40 SGN exclusive interview with new executive director Karter Booher

Ingersoll does really well is we see people as whole people. We do a really good job of raising these conversations, talking about our different experiences and not shying away.

“It takes community to makes things happen. The fact that I’m now executive director, that reflects the community Ingersoll has built here, and that’s why I am where I am.”

Bringing Booher on as executive director was the outcome of several years of discussion by Ingersoll’s board of directors, but the decision turned out to be especially timely in view of the election, Booher noted.

“The election gives us a sense of ur-

gency,” they said. “The election was Tuesday, and you could see it at our Wednesday night support group. There were more people than usual, and they were scared.

“Obama was the first president to say ‘trans’ in public, and that took till 2016.

[Loretta] Lynch was the first attorney general to say that the administration stands with trans people.

“Now that’s gone. But it’s easy to focus on national politics and not look at what’s going on in our communities. The history of Ingersoll proves it doesn’t matter that much who is president, or mayor. Ingersoll is a place where anything is possible.”

In addition to the regular Wednesday night support group, Ingersoll provides a number of services and helps link Trans people with competent service providers.

The group currently has offices in the Gay City space at 517 E. Pike Street and holds its Wednesday meetings at Seattle Counseling Service at 1216 Pine Street.

“We met quietly and in secret places when we started,” Botzer recalls. “We’ve seen everyone and all their challenges in the mix.

“I take great satisfaction that we’ve come this far. At the same time, I’m afraid. We’re creating a structure that will let this organization live on, and we have to answer so many questions. Why are we here? Why are we needed? Can we provide real service?

“Everybody has a resource list. We’ve expanded ours as far as we can. But the intangibles – the fact people can come to Ingersoll’s regular Wednesday night groups and talk about anything – that’s what we provide, that’s the difference,” Botzer explained.

“For some folks, in the beginning the biggest resource is community,” Booher interjected. “I’ve seen people come into the room for the first time, and sit in a room with 50 or 100 other trans folks – you can see them change, you can see them shift…”

Community – the idea of Trans people helping other Trans people – was at the heart of Botzer’s vision when she founded the organization, but now Ingersoll has developed to the point where new forms are needed.

“Mutual aid is built into the bones of Ingersoll,” Botzer said. “So our problem was, how do we blend sustainability with the concept of mutual aid?”

“It’s hard to provide a sense of continuity to people who need it by relying on all volunteers,” Booher added. “And we have very, very dedicated volunteers. But there’s a limit to what we can provide – a ceiling – with just our volunteers.

“We want to be able to offer more services on a more regular basis. And we want to pay trans folks for the skills they bring to the table. In the future we could possibly hire more folks to provide more services.

We want to have a sustainable future in a sustainable space.”

Asked for a last thought to share with SGN readers, both looked to the future.

“It’s an exciting time to get acquainted – or reacquainted – with Ingersoll,” Booher said. “And by the way, you don’t have to be trans to support the trans community.”

“Come to Ingersoll, help us imagine, help us create the next 40 years,” Botzer concluded.

police departments.

González’s resolution directs city employees “to not detain or arrest any individual based upon an administrative or civil immigration warrant for a violation of federal civil immigration law” unless a federal judge has issued a warrant for the individual, and not merely when another police jurisdiction asks them to do so.

The resolution also directs SPD to provide a list of all the mutual aid agreements it has with other police agencies. Seattle police will have to identify which police agencies have promised to help federal immigration police find and arrest undocumented immigrants, as well as which ones have not.

Finally, the list must be accompanied by “proposed amendments to the city’s mutual aid agreements with jurisdictions that have not explicitly rejected offers” to help federal agents hunt undocumented immigrants, so that SPD’s mutual aid re-

sponsibilities do not conflict with Seattle’s sanctuary city laws.

The resolution also directs city departments to develop a plan for “assisting children and families associated with Seattle Public Schools affected by federal policies directed at immigrants and refugees” and earmarks a quarter million dollars for this purpose.

It creates an Equity Cabinet to advise the mayor and other city officials on how to protect at-risk residents from the Trump regime. The Equity Cabinet will be charged to develop “a strategy for the creation and funding of a legal defense fund to assist immigrant and refugee individuals and families.”

The resolution also states that Seattle is also a welcoming city to homeless people.

Finally, the resolution defends the Black Lives Matter movement, saying the city “rejects any effort to criminalize or attack the Black Lives Matter

social justice movement.”

It is not yet clear what response the City Council resolution and statements from Mayor Ed Murray will draw from the Trump administration.

Trump has signed an executive order designed to punish cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration agents by stripping their federal funding. Although Seattle could lose more than $85 million, Murray said he was prepared to “lose every penny” to protect immigrants.

City Councilmember Mike O’Brien said he was bracing for the loss of federal money.

“As a community, we’re going to have to figure out what happens when the fed unfunds things we need,” he said before the vote on González’s resolution. “I am just personally bracing myself for what the world looks like.”

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Ingersoll Gender Center, Seattle’s pioneering center for Transgender and gendernonconforming people, is celebrating its 40th anniversary by hiring its first ever executive director, Karter Booher.

The SGN sat down with Booher and Ingersoll’s founder and co-chair, Marsha Botzer, to talk about the center’s anniversary and its future.

“I’ve been doing activism for 50 years,” Botzer said. “I’ve known so many executive directors from so many organizations. I know the process intimately.

“I can say now that Ingersoll has the right person backed up by the right board.

In Karter we’re getting an advanced level of skill at a very young age.

“We’re starting at a good place. At Ingersoll we’re used to doing the impossible. Now the impossible will be done much faster.”

Botzer will stay on as co-chair and will remain actively involved in the organization she founded four decades ago, but Booher will take over Ingersoll’s day-today operations.

At 26, Booher (who prefers the pronouns they/them) is 14 years younger than the organization they will be leading, but they come with substantial experience.

Booher has been on the Ingersoll board for several years and was fellowship manager at Washington Bus, an organization empowering and mobilizing young people.

“Marsha and I don’t have the same experiences,” Booher explained. “But one thing

CITY DEFIES

continued from cover González, who sponsored the resolution.

“My parents first came to this country as undocumented immigrants,” she explained.

“My parents are not rapists, murderers, or drug dealers, Mr. Trump!

“Seattle, are you ready to stand as one?”

The entire audience stood and cheered.

Beyond extending a welcome to refugees, González’s resolution imposes some practical restrictions on local police.

First, it will prevent Seattle police from assisting other police departments in hunting undocumented immigrants.

The Seattle ordinance that directs the Seattle Police Department (SPD) not to inquire into an individual’s immigration status will now take precedence over SPD’s “mutual aid” agreement with other

Executive Director Karter Booher – Photo courtesy of Karter Booher

Freely Speaking Toastmasters hosts Open House at their new location

by Barbara Sehr Special to the SGN FREELY SPEAKING TOASTMASTERS OPEN HOUSE February 6 In a world where construction cranes still rise in untold numbers, where once there was a spot for Seattle’s Central Park, a less “Common” a cappella tribute to public speaking will toast masters of the spoken word. Freely Speaking Toastmasters, the city’s only LGBTQ Toastmasters Club, has joined the rush to the repeatedly regraded Denny Park in a land of Amazonian riches.

On February 6, friends old and new can get a taste of the club’s rhetorical command

blended with learning and sautéed with more than a dash of humor – not to mention its classy new surroundings. The club hosts a sample meeting at its regular time, 7pm, at the church’s basement meeting hall located at 200 Eighth Avenue N. in Seattle.

The club lost its longtime space at Fred Lind Manor this past summer, launching a challenging search for new space. Despite nearly 30 years as a Capitol Hill institution, Freely Speaking, an organization with a grand voice and pitiful budget, discovered that space on Capitol Hill is rarely free.

Many options on the Hill were examined, debated and ultimately dismissed before an attractive meeting space at Unity Church, in the booming Lake Union area, was found. The club moved into its new space in early November.

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The club was founded in 1988 as a place where Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Other Sexual Minorities could come together under the traditional Toastmasters International banner to learn both spontaneous and rehearsed public speaking. Through the years, the club has excelled in speaking competitions amidst other Toastmaster clubs in District 2, which includes clubs west of the Cascades from Kent to the Canadian border. Membership is not limited to LGBTQ people. The club remains open to all. Meetings include speeches from a standard Toastmaster manual that are often flavored with creative language and performance by Freely Speaking members. In addition, members are given timed opportunities at each meeting to engage in “spontaneous speech” regarding a topic raised

by the “Table Topic” master. Evaluations of rehearsed speeches and role players at the meeting are given at the end to provide speakers with measurement of their performance – including ways to improve the tenor of each delivery.

Everyone is welcome to join in a rare window on both advanced and beginning speakers tuning their craft. You will also have the opportunity to add your own voice in both Table Topics and speaker evaluation at this meeting. Like the cranes surrounding the Lake Union area, Freely Speaking Toastmasters is always under construction.

Your participation could be just the most important piece that holds the club together. (http://freelyspeaking.org/)

February 3, 2017

Seattle Gay News 7

Mac McGregor for Seattle City Council, Position 8

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Mac S. McGregor, a Seattle-based Transgender activist, has thrown his name into the race with six other candidates to elect the at-large City Council Position 8.

Late last year, longtime Seattle council member Tim Burgess announced he would retire. Jon Grant, former director of the Tenants Union, was the first to announce his bid for the seat in November. Other candidates include Teresa Mosqueda, Sheley Secrest, Ryan Asbert, Rudy Pantoja Jr., and Roger Kluck.

McGregor, who moved to Seattle in 2008 from the Bible Belt, served on the Seattle LGBTQ Commission from 2011 to 2016. As The Gender Sensei, McGregor offers classes on self-defense, martial arts, and Tai-chi wellness through Social Outreach Seattle (SOSea). He is also a professional life coach, personal trainer, motivational speaker, and educates and trains groups on diversity and sensitivity.

FERGUSON SUES continued from cover

as defendants.

Ferguson also filed a motion for a temporary restraining order to halt implementation of Trump’s executive order immediately and nationwide.

The attorney general asked the court to schedule a hearing on his suit within 14 days.

Ferguson charges that the executive order barring immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries violates the equal protection and due process clauses of the US Constitution and the First Amendment ban on establishment of religion. Trump’s order also contravenes the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, the lawsuit says.

Local mega-corporations Amazon and Expedia joined the lawsuit because of potential economic damage resulting from the exclusion of immigrants.

The executive order, issued January 27, affects Washington state by “separating Washington families, harming thousands of Washington residents, damaging Washington’s economy, hurting Washingtonbased companies, and undermining Washington’s sovereign interest in remaining a welcoming place for immigrants and refugees,” Ferguson’s filing says.

WOMXN’S MARCH continued from page 5

that mean? I asked, thinking it was cute but a little off message. Boy, was I wrong.

He flipped his sign over and showed me a black and white photo taken at a proNazi rally in Germany, of an elderly Holocaust survivor rushing up to a skinhead and bashing him with her purse – a fearless woman using the best weapon at hand to fight a dangerous, vicious man. What could be more on message?

Then I saw two beautiful boys armin-arm with a sign that said “Pro-Choice IS Pro-life!” and then two beautiful girls sitting arm-in-arm on top of newspaper dispensers with a sign that said “Stronger Together.” It still makes my heart ache to see shades of Hillary, but she is the President-elected-by-the-people and my hope and prayer is that she will somehow help us keep rallying and fighting the dangers ahead. Several of the college professors I met said “I wish I had worn my regalia!”

8 Seattle Gay News

According to McGregor, even though there are so many things we do right in Seattle, and we’re a progressive city in so many ways, we can do better.

McGregor has considered running for office for a while, but now with President Donald Trump in office and Republicans in control of Congress, the champion martial arts fighter has been motivated to step onto the mat as a candidate.

His priorities include helping small businesses, addressing the pay gap for women and minorities and lifting up marginalized communities.

McGregor, a small business owner for 23 years, wants to reduce fees for minority-run businesses and provide incentives for businesses to open in higher crime areas because more activity helps to reduce crime. He also wants to provide assistance with permitting and getting “through the red tape.”

“There are so many great things that the council has done that are good. I am a supporter of the raise in minimum wage, of our

city pulling our money away from Wells Fargo, of the Mayor’s and Lorena Gonzales’s recent work to make sure we are a sanctuary city for immigrants,” he said. “I supported the move in fee’s legislation but do think that could make some amendment for people who have two properties or under.”

As a transgender man, McGregor said he understands sexism in a unique way and wants to address the pay gap that exists in Seattle that is negatively impacting women, minorities, and gender nonconforming people.

“As progressive as we are as a city, I was shocked to find out how much of a gender pay gap there is in Seattle,” he said.

He wants to further help marginalized communities and plans to hold town hall meetings to learn what the various communities need.

As a part of the LGBTQ community, McGregor said he feels like he has “a good pulse on their needs.”

“I don’t want to pretend that I know

what the Somali and Muslim communities need,” he told CHS. He plans to participate in the Democracy Voucher program, which he believes was made for grassroots candidates from marginalized communities. McGregor said he’s also encouraged by the number of candidates vying for Position 8.

“If we’re living in a time when that many people care and feel passionate to step forward, I think that’s wonderful,” he said.

“Electing a Transgender person is a huge step forward for marginalized communities,” said McGregor. “The Transgender community is the smallest and most marginalized part of our community and therefore if we move Transgender rights forward then we move the rights of all marginalized people. It also sends a huge statement that your voice counts to all marginalized people.”

Gov. Jay Inslee joined Ferguson in announcing the lawsuit.

“Never has our system of checks and balances been more important,” Inslee said at the January 30 press conference.

“Washington is filing the first suit of its kind in the nation, thanks to the good work of Attorney General Ferguson and his team. I would not be surprised to see more.

Until Congress takes this administration to task for the obvious moral and legal injuries suffered by innocent, law-abiding people entering our country, it is up to states to protect and promote the rights of the people who reside in our borders.”

Inslee used a phrase familiar to “Star Trek” fans to call for confrontation with the Trump administration.

“Resistance is not futile,” he said. “It is productive.”

Ferguson offered “special thanks” to the ACLU of Washington, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, and the National Immigration Law Center for their “extensive work” on immigration rights issues.

Immigrants cannot legally be issued a visa if they are barred from entry.”

Other lawsuits The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has also filed a lawsuit against what it calls the “Muslim Exclusion Order” on behalf of a group of Muslim-Americans and unnamed citizens of

nations covered by the ban currently residing in the United States.

The ACLU, which won a temporary injunction against Trump’s order, allowing the release of individuals detained at US airports, may also file its own lawsuit.

Common to all the lawsuits and potential suits is the argument that Trump’s executive action violates the Fifth and 14th Amendment guarantees of “due process of the law” by denying entry to individuals who have valid visas.

In his order, Trump cited a 1952 immigration law that allows the president to suspend entry “of all aliens or any class of aliens” into the US if he thinks it would be “detrimental to the interests of the United States.”

However, a 1965 amendment to the law says individuals cannot be “discriminated against in the issuance of an immigrant visa” because of their “race, sex, nationality, place of birth, or place of residence.”

David J. Beir, an immigration policy analyst at the conservative Cato Institute, says that this language means discriminating against immigrants based on where they are from – whether it’s Iraq, Sudan, or Canada – is illegal.

“Mr. Trump may want to revive discrimination based on national origin by asserting a distinction between ‘the issuance of a visa’ and the ‘entry’ of the immigrant,” he writes. “But this is nonsense.

Wear it next time, I said, because I know there will be a next time.

My niece started to count how many people asked me to pose for a picture and show both sides of my sign, but she gave up at around 30, and that was just the first hour before we left the park. By the time we made it to Seattle Center, after five hours of marching, I had been stopped for photos at least 100 times. Some fellow marchers were New Yorkers who recognized the CUNY insignia on my gown and reminisced with me about NYC. Others were taking photos of interestingly dressed people or the wonderful variety of placards. But most encounters were like the one I had at the end of the march when we were headed home, wearily wondering where to sit down and get food and drink.

A woman came running after me calling “There she is! There she is!” She said she saw me get out of the car on 23rd and Charles St. six hours earlier and had been looking for me ever since. Why? I asked.

But she didn’t say, just snapped away saying “thank you, thank you.” But by then I knew why – she wasn’t looking for me, of course,

but for what I symbolized.

I was a walking symbol of higher education, of education in general, of being smart, of being female and smart, and of being proud to have a good brain in my head. All along the route people called out “Thanks, Professor!” and “Beautiful!” and “Right On!” After all the Hillary-bashing and fearmongering against smart women in the election, it was a relief for all of us to say “I’m educated, I’m smart, and I’m proud!”

Obama was one of the smartest presidents we’ve ever had, and Hillary would have matched his smarts as well as his awareness of the issues that prevent women, children and immigrants the essential educational opportunities they need to become solid citizens. Now that we’re cursed with one of the least civilized, least well-read, and just plain stupidest men ever to be in the White House, we need to fight against the lie that educated people are unrealistic, pointyheaded dreamers. We are the brains of this operation and our country needs us more than ever before.

I hope the next time we march will be as peaceful as Seattle Womxn’s wonder-

ful, serious, massive march was on Saturday. One sign I saw said “1968 is calling – don’t answer.” The young people around me didn’t know what it meant, but we oldsters, who marched against the Vietnam war, know very well what it means: Don’t succumb to violence. How well I remember the tear gas, the billy clubs, and the electric fear of peace marching in those days – not to mention the sexist slogan “Chicks Up Front!” In case you’re too young to know what that means, threats of violence against marchers were so prevalent that the girls were lined up in front of the march in hopes that the police and pro-war counter-protesters would hesitate to beat up girls. Our corporate feminist consciousness was not yet fully raised – we still let ourselves be used as human shields. It was some sell job about women having nurturing natures and protecting their men. The flip side of that coin is how much we like having our pussies grabbed. Don’t worry, 1968 – we’re not answering. We’ve got our Pussy hats on and our mortarboards on. 2017 is calling – and Trump had better watch out.

February 3, 2017

International law Trump may also be in trouble when it comes to international law. The United States has treaty obligations around immigration and treatment of refugees, and the US Constitution gives these treaties equal status as “the supreme law of the land.”

During a phone call with Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel reminded him that his immigration ban may contravene the country’s international commitments.

“The Geneva refugee convention requires the international community to take in war refugees on humanitarian grounds,” Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert wrote in a statement. “All signatory states are obligated to do. The German government explained this policy in their call yesterday.”

So far, no lawsuits have been brought challenging the order on these grounds.

Nevertheless, the US Supreme Court does have the power to strike down a law or presidential action if it is contrary to US obligations under international treaties.

Some Supreme Court justices have also said that international consensus may influence their interpretation of US law and constitutional principles, although this view is unpopular in conservative legal circles.

Celebrating 41 Years!

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February 3, 2017

Seattle Gay News 9

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February 3, 2017

Celebrating 41 Years!

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February 3, 2017

Seattle Gay News 11

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A report on housing solutions for people experiencing homelessness in Seattle

by Sharon Lee Executive Director Low Income Housing Institute New Tiny House Villages!

New tiny houses built by the Tulalip Tribes TERO program will be going to the Georgetown site In partnership with Nickelsville, SHARE, the City of Seattle, and Mayor Murray’s Bridging the Gap Initiative, LIHI will be opening two new sanctioned encampment sites to address the needs of the 3000 people living unsheltered. The first site will be opening in February and is located at 1000 S. Myrtle St in Georgetown. The second site will be opening in April and is located on Nesbit Ave N. in Licton Springs. Volunteers and donors are working on completing 70 tiny houses. Pre-apprentice students at the Tulalip Tribes TERO program have built three tiny houses. Hygiene and kitchen facilities will be on-site, and LIHI staff and case managers will be available to help residents move quickly into housing and access the services that they need. As with our current encampments – Othello Village, Ballard Village, and Tiny House Village – we will need any help that we can get in the coming months to get these villages up and running! If you would like to get involved, we are always accepting volunteers and welcome donations for the program or for the residents. For more information and to volunteer, call 206-4439935 or visit http://lihi.org/ City Transfers Old Fire Station 39 to LIHI to develop affordable housing & preschool Mayor Murray recently signed legislation to redevelop the old Fire Station 39 into affordable housing and a new preschool for the Lake City neighborhood. The old Fire Station 39 will be transferred to the LIHI, which will turn the site into 70 affordable, family-sized homes with first floor space for childcare and preschool programs.

LIHI selected Refugee Women’s Alliance (ReWA) to operate the preschool program, which will have space for 80 children.

This legislation supports the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) committee’s recommendation that the City leverage under-utilized property to address Seattle’s housing affordability crisis. Innovative investments like this will help ensure Seattle is an affordable city for all who live and work here.

Commentary from Sharon Lee Tiny Houses: A big help for the homeless New Tiny House Villages!

City Transfers Old Fire Station 39 to LIHI! More!

This article originally appeared on crosscut.com.

Reprinted with permission.

Margaret Pitka, age 41, was napping inside her tent near downtown when she was fatally shot by a gunman who fired through her tent flap. Stacey Davis, age 48, was fatally bludgeoned with a homemade club, and her husband was seriously injured, when they were attacked by a neighbor while living in a tent under a bridge. William Burton, age 19, was killed when a drunk driver careened off the I-5 ramp in the University District and plowed into his tent.

Looking back on 2016, the King County medical examiner identified 69 homeless men and women who died while living on the streets. The causes of death? People died from exposure, poor health, violence,

New tiny houses built by the Tulalip Tribes TERO program will be going to the Georgetown site – Photo courtesy of LIHI

gunshot wounds, drugs, suicides and being run over by cars. While this is a reduction from the 91 deaths reported in 2015, the situation is depressing. No one should die from being homeless.

Death from homelessness is totally preventable, but we currently have more people dying from being homeless than being murdered in Seattle. The homeless activists from SHARE and Nickelsville make a valid point: “Without shelter, people die.”

The One Night Count last January showed 3,000 vulnerable men, women and children living unsheltered on the streets of Seattle.

Mayor Murray showed leadership in declaring a state of emergency on homelessness in 2015 and putting forward landmark legislation to establish three legal and safe encampments. The mayor even offered up city-owned property in Ballard, Interbay and other locations.

From a homeless person’s perspective, living in a legal encampment with food, water, toilets, a kitchen, security, tiny houses (with doors that lock) and case management services is a far cry from trying to survive alone on the street. We now have a year’s experience with the three city-sanctioned sites that have been operating in Ballard, Interbay and Othello. They house 160 people at any time, including singles, couples, seniors, vets, families with children and people with pets. Thousands of other people have been helped in the short term as they pass through, staying for a night or a week before moving on.

Each location has a city mandated Community Advisory Committee (CAC) comprised of neighbors, businesses and church groups who monitor progress, give feedback and lend support. Each site has social workers helping families and individuals connect quickly to housing, employment and education so that living in a tent or a tiny house is not a dead end. My organization, the Low Income Housing Institute (LIHI), contracts with the city for services. SHARE and Nickelsville organizes the residents on daily operations, employing self-help requirements and democratic decision-making. Everyone has duties and chores, they must follow a strict code of conduct, and they are accountable to thecommunity. No alcohol, drugs, weapons and violence are allowed.

On December 1, Mayor Murray an-

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nounced the establishment of three new homeless encampment sites in Licton Springs, Georgetown and Myers Way in West Seattle. These will shelter over 200 individuals and will prioritize homeless people who are currently living in dangerous and unsafe locations on Seattle’s streets and sidewalks. The Georgetown and Licton Springs sites will open in early 2017, and both are planned with tiny houses instead of tents. Councilmembers Bruce Harrell and Debora Juarez are supporting tiny houses over tents for the sites in their district.

Tiny houses are a preferred option over tents for many reasons. They provide better protection, they are insulated, some have heat, light and electricity, you can lock the door and windows, and you can get a good night’s sleep without worrying about your safety. Living in a tiny house allows a person to go to work or school, and gives them the ability to keep their belongings safe and secure. They’re also cheap, costing only about $2,200 to build.

How is it possible for tiny houses and tiny house villages to be built so quickly given Seattle’s land use and building codes?

Tiny houses that are under 120 square feet are not considered dwelling units under the International Building Code (IBC).

Therefore they are under the wire and can be built in a few days or over a weekend by volunteers, church groups, high school students, apprentice/vocational training programs and neighbors.

This may feel like guerrilla housing, but a legal loophole actually exists.

Anytime a new multi-family apartment building is planned to provide homeless housing, it takes three to four years to get through land assembly, financing, environmental and design reviews, building permits and construction. Building affordable housing is the real solution to our homelessness crisis – but with thousands of vulnerable families and individuals on the streets today, tiny houses are a viable, quick and low-cost solution.

So far over 60 tiny houses have been built and 40 more are underway. Each house is about eight feet by 12 feet, the size of a bedroom. Singles, couples, families and people with pets are living in them. A family of four can fit snugly in a tiny house. A family of seven who showed

up at Othello Village lived in two tiny houses side by side!

The cost per tiny house is only $2,200 for wood and building materials. They can be constructed on site, or built elsewhere and brought in on a flatbed truck. The Tulalip Tribes’ TERO pre-apprenticeship program has built eight houses. The Apprenticeship and Non-traditional Employment for Women (ANEW), YouthBuild, Walsh Construction, Seattle Vocational Institute, Renton Technical College, and many others are building them with enthusiastic participants who want to help people in need.

Further, residents in Ballard, Interbay and Othello have embraced their new neighbors and are generously supporting the families and individuals with donations of building materials, clothing, blankets, food, books and toys for the children, flash lights, hygiene supplies and other necessities.

While a tiny house may seem like a teeny idea, it can help save a life.

February 3, 2017

Seattle Gay News 13

Housing and Homelessness Advocacy Day was February 2 in Olympia The Low Income Housing Institute team and hundreds of housing justice advocates participated in this exciting annual all-day event organized by WA Low Income Housing Alliance to rally at Washington state’s capitol and meet with lawmakers to discuss solutions to our state’s affordable housing and homelessness crisis. For more information, visit http://wliha.org/housing-and-homelessnes-advocacy-day United Way (MLK) Day of Service!

Thank you to United Way Day of Service volunteers from KeyBank Young Professionals, who came together on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to provide hot meals at the Ballard and Interbay homeless encampments!

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Senate Dems vow to fight Gorsuch nomination

Supreme Court nominee judge Neil Gorsuch – Photo courtesy of ksro.com

will not simply allow but require an exhaustive, robust, and comprehensive debate on Judge Gorsuch’s fitness to be a Supreme Court justice.”

“With so much chaos in the administration and so many questions surrounding this president’s commitment to the rule of law and the separation of powers, I have serious concerns about moving forward with a Supreme Court nomination at this time, and will be joining with those pushing back against jamming this nominee through or rushing a confirmation in any way,” Washington Sen. Patty Murray said.

Former Democratic presidential contender Sen. Bernie Sanders said Judge Gorsuch “must explain his hostility to women’s rights, support of corporations over workers, and opposition to campaign finance reform.”

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren

accused the nominee of siding with large companies over American workers.

Two of Judge Gorsuch’s most high-profile appeals court rulings saw him side with business owners who objected on religious grounds to funding some forms of birth control through employee insurance plans.

Lambda Legal said that Gorsuch’s ruling in an early hearing of the Hobby Lobby case should rule him out as a Supreme Court justice.

“Judge Gorsuch’s opinion in the 10th Circuit Hobby Lobby decision is disqualifying,” said Rachel B. Tiven, CEO of Lambda Legal.

“The Hobby Lobby decision set a terrible and destructive standard for bosses being allowed to meddle in our sex lives and decide whether or not birth control is covered by the employer’s insurance plan.”

The revelation comes only 48 hours after the Trump administration announced that it would retain President Obama’s executive order requiring companies that do business with the federal government to have nondiscrimination policies that cover sexual orientation and gender identity.

The purpose of the leaked order seems to be the creation of a huge carve-out for religious convictions similar to the socalled “First Amendment Defense Act” (FADA) being promoted by congressional Republicans.

Legal experts contacted by The Nation described the changes contained in the draft executive order as “sweeping” and “staggering.”

If enacted, the order may exceed the president’s authority, they warned. It may also violate the First Amendment by ex-

tending protection to only one particular set of religious beliefs.

“This executive order would appear to require agencies to provide extensive exemptions from a staggering number of federal laws – without regard to whether such laws substantially burden religious exercise,” Marty Lederman, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, told The Nation.

The exemptions, Lederman said, could themselves violate federal law or license individuals and private parties to violate federal law.

“Moreover,” he added, “the exemptions would raise serious First Amendment questions, as well, because they would go far beyond what the Supreme Court has identified as the limits of permissive religious accommodations.”

The leaked draft defines “religious exercise” as “any act or refusal to act that is motivated by a sincerely held religious belief, whether or not the act is required or compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief.”

The Nation worried that the language of the draft “might invite federal employees,” for example, at the Social Security Administration or Veterans Administration, “to refuse on religious grounds to process applications or respond to questions from those whose benefits depend on same-sex marriages.”

Full reporting on the leaked order and a copy of it can be found here: https://www.thenation.com /a r ticle/ leaked-draft-of-trumps-religious-freedomorder-reveals-sweeping-plans-to-legalizediscrimination/

LGBTQ workplace discrimination while working for federal contractors, will remain intact at the direction of President Donald J. Trump,” the White House said.

If Trump expected to be embraced by the LGBT community, he had another think coming. HRC President Chad Griffin said Trump set a low bar by merely continuing protections that already exist.

“LGBTQ refugees, immigrants, Muslims, and women are scared today, and with good reason,” Griffin said in a statement.

“Donald Trump has done nothing but undermine equality since he set foot in the White House. Donald Trump has left the key question unanswered – will he commit to opposing any executive actions that allow government employees, taxpayerfunded organizations, or even companies to discriminate?”

Griffin added that Trump has filled his cabinet with people who “have spent their careers working to demonize us and limit

our rights.”

“You can’t claim to be an ally when you send LGBTQ refugees back to countries where their lives are at risk,” he said.

“You can’t claim support them and then rip away life-saving services made possible through the Affordable Care Act for transgender people and those living with HIV or AIDS. You can’t be a friend to this community and appoint people to run the government who compare being gay to bestiality.”

“Actions speak louder than words,” ACLU LGBT Project Director James Esseks said.

“President Trump has surrounded himself with a vice president and cabinet members who have repeatedly sought to sanction discrimination against LGBT people in the name of religion, and nothing in the White House’s statement makes clear that these efforts are behind us.

“LGBT immigrants, refugees, Muslims, and women have already come under attack

by this administration. If Donald Trump is serious about being an ally to the LGBT community, it starts with abandoning an agenda driven by fear and prejudice.”

National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Kate Kendell said Trump’s decision to keep existing protections in place was “not a step forward.”

“We remain concerned by reports that the president intends to issue an order creating new religious exemptions that will permit discrimination against LGBT people and others,” Kendell warned.

“This is also a distraction from the imminent announcement of a Supreme Court nominee, which is the most important issue for our community. The Senate must reject any nominee who will turn back the clock on our nation’s commitment to the equality and freedom of LGBT people, including the fundamental right to marry and to be treated equally to other married couples.”

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Democratic senators vowed to fight the nomination of appeals court judge Neil Gorsuch to the US Supreme Court as new damaging information about Gorsuch’s past came to light.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) threatened to stage a filibuster on the Senate floor even before the pick was formally announced.

Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York demanded a long debate over the judge’s qualifications to serve on the country’s highest court.

“The burden is on Judge Neil Gorsuch to prove himself to be within the legal mainstream,” Schumer said in a statement issued moments after Trump revealed his pick.

“Make no mistake, Senate Democrats

LEAKED

continued from cover tions to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, and trans identity, and it seeks to curtail women’s access to contraception and abortion through the Affordable Care Act,” The Nation reports.

“The White House did not respond to requests for comment, but when asked Monday about whether a religious freedom executive order was in the works, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters, ‘I’m not getting ahead of the executive orders that we may or may not issue. There is a lot of executive orders, a lot of things that the president has talked about and will continue to fulfill, but we have nothing on that front now.’”

LGBT SKEPTICAL continued from cover

ing sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Obama-era order, signed in 2014, protects an estimated 28 million workers – one fifth of the total workforce – in some 24,000 companies, including the country’s biggest.

Trump made the announcement after Washington Post reporter Josh Rogin wrote on January 30 that he was considering a possible executive order limiting LGBT adoption rights, workplace benefits, and other protections. Daily Kos reported a similar story later the same day.

While Trump did not deny the reports, he made clear that the Obama directive would remain in force.

“The executive order signed in 2014, which protects employees from anti-

Trump threatens to invade Mexico

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Donald Trump threatened to send US troops into Mexico to deal with “bad hombres” in a phone call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, according to a report from the Associated Press.

According to AP, “a person with access to the official transcript of the phone call provided an excerpt to the Associated Press. The person gave it on condition of anonymity because the administration did

16 Seattle Gay News

not make the details of the call public.”

In the call, Trump reportedly spoke very bluntly about sending troops into Mexico.

“You have a bunch of bad hombres down there,” Trump told Peña Nieto, according to the excerpt seen by the AP. “You aren’t doing enough to stop them. I think your military is scared. Our military isn’t, so I just might send them down to take care of it.”

A Mexican reporter published a similar account of Trump’s comments on a Mexican website on January 31, but Mex-

February 3, 2017

ico’s foreign relations department denied that account, saying it “is based on absolute falsehoods.”

“The assertions that you make about said conversation do not correspond to the reality of it,” the statement said.

“The tone was constructive, and it was agreed by the presidents to continue working and that the teams will continue to meet frequently to construct an agreement that is positive for Mexico and for the United States.”

The White House did not respond to

AP’s requests for comment.

In a statement, the White House said that Trump and Peña acknowledged their “clear and very public differences” and agreed to work through their disagreements as part of broader discussions on the relationship between their countries.

The two presidents have bickered over the border wall, a centerpiece of the Trump campaign. The issue reignited when Trump proposed a 20% tax on imports from Mexico to finance the wall after Peña abruptly cancelled his planned trip to Washington.

Celebrating 41 Years!

Bad to worse: Trump names Jerry Falwell Jr. to head “education reform” task force

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Jerry Falwell Jr., who inherited his daddy’s religious right empire, announced on January 31 that he has been named by Donald Trump to head a new task force on education reform.

Falwell said in November that he’d been offered the post of Secretary of Education – which ultimately went to Betsy DeVos – but had declined because he wanted to remain president of Liberty University, the fundamentalist school founded by his father, Jerry Sr. Falwell reportedly met DeVos for the first time at a service in Washington’s National Cathedral and came away impressed. He told reporters he would do his best to help her do her job at the Department of Education.

“The task force will be a big help to her,” Falwell said. “It will do some of the work for her.”

The mission of the new task force has not been announced, but DeVos is known to favor privatization of schools.

In an interview, Falwell said his job would be to reverse what he called “overreaching regulation” and micromanagement by the Department of Education in a number of areas – accreditation and policies that affect colleges’ student recruitment, for example.

“The goal is to pare it back and give colleges and their accrediting agencies more leeway in governing their affairs,” Falwell said.

He added that he’d been discussing possible “reforms” with other college leaders

Jerry Falwell Jr. – Photo courtesy of huffingtonpost.com

and at least one accrediting agency since Trump’s election.

“I’ve got notebooks full of issues,” he said.

In addition to sticking to Daddy Falwell’s anti-LGBT politics, Junior Falwell is also a gun rights advocate.

In 2015, shortly after the San Bernardino mass shootings, he told a Liberty University convocation that if “some of those

people had got what I have in my back pocket right now,” the shooting would not have happened. “[I]f more good people had concealedcarry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in and killed them,” he added.

Falwell was one of the first evangelical leaders to endorse Trump, whom he com-

pared to Winston Churchill. Other religious leaders were skeptical at the time but were won over as Trump started to win Republican primaries.

Liberty University takes in over $800 million every year from federal grants and loans to students.

Lambda Legal warns Trump: “Reported Executive Order would be an attack on LGBT people and all Americans who love liberty” NEW YORK, NY (February 2, 2017) – Reports indicate that President Trump may issue an Executive Order that will encourage sweeping discrimination against LGBT people and women. Lambda Legal released the following statement in response to a leaked draft of the order: “The reported Executive Order is a direct attack on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, everyone living with HIV, women, and all Americans who love liberty,” said Lambda Legal CEO Rachel B. Tiven. “The immediate public outcry in response to the leaked order confirmed what we already know: people overwhelmingly reject discrimination against LGBT people and don’t want taxpayer money to fund hatred. Bigotry – whether against LGBT people, women, Muslim immigrants or refugees – has no place in our country.

“The Administration needs to stand down. Lambda Legal is remaining vigilant and is ready to file suit if this Executive Order is issued.”

About Lambda Legal Lambda Legal is the nation’s oldest and largest national legal organization working to achieve full recognition of the rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people, and everyone living with HIV. Courtesy of Lambda Legal

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Lambda Legal CEO Rachel B. Tiven – Photo courtesy of lambdalegal.org

February 3, 2017

Seattle Gay News 17

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February 3, 2017

Celebrating 41 Years!

WEEKLY PETS: Adoption Center Sunday – Wednesday | 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Thursday – Saturday | 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Phone: (425) 649-7563 Email: adoption@seattlehumane.org

NAPOLEON

Napoleon is a very handsome 2-year old Pit Bull mix with a big, charming grin. His fur is incredibly soft, and his brindle markings are accented with a broad white chest and spiffy white “socks.” Napoleon is a playful lug – fetch, tug, and chase are among his favorites. He is also a smart boy and learns quickly. He already knows commands such as “sit” and “come.” When not playing and romping, Napoleon loves cuddling. He gives very gentle little kisses, and his unique tail wiggles with joy when he sees a friendly face!

As with all of our dogs, Napoleon has been neutered, microchipped, vaccinated and behavior-tested. He will go home with a certificate for an examination by a King County veterinarian and an identification tag. PLUS, most dog adoptions included 30 days of pet insurance from Trupanion and a training rebate when you complete a dog behavior course - a great way to start off on the right paw!

Introduce to children 12 years and older. Resident dogs are required to visit Napoleon prior to adoption. Cat-free home.

CLIVE

Meet Clive, a 10-year-old orange and white tabby cat. This handsome fellow has a sweet personality who loves attention and enjoys to be petted and engage in some playtime. Clive is in a loving foster home and available for adoption. He has a report on file you can read to learn more about how he interacts with people, other animals, and his dietary needs, so come talk to adoption staff about meeting him today!

As with all of our cats, Clive is neutered, microchipped and vaccinated. All of our cats have been tested for Feline Leukemia/FIV and go home with a certificate for an examination by a King County veterinarian and their very own identification tag and collar. PLUS, most cat adoptions include 30 days of pet insurance from Trupanion – a great way to start off on the right paw!

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Looking for a personal MVP? Have your first pick of dogs 1 year+ and get $50 off.

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February 3, 2017

Seattle Gay News 19