Celebrating 44 Years! Issue 9 Volume 46
FRIDAY March 2, 2018 FREE!
25¢ in bookstores & newsstands
Beijing Queer Chorus concert on March 10 SEC 2 PG 1
2018 Academy Award Predictions SEC 2 PG 1
Seattle Gay News S E AT T L E ’ S L G B T Q N E W S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T W E E K LY
Title VII protects LGBT workers, 2nd Circuit Court says
Victory for married same-sex parents
US Supreme Court allows decision ruling married same-sex parents and married different-sex parents must be treated equally to stand
The case centered on the firing of Donald Zarda, a now-deceased Gay skydiving instructor. – Photo by Donald Zarda via Facebook
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on February 26 that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act does indeed protect LGBT workers against discrimination on the job.
In doing so, it reversed its own precedent – established in 2000 and reaffirmed in 2005 – stating that the law’s prohibition of sex discrimination did not apply to sexual orientation. The court’s ruling was also a rebuke
see TITLE VII page 11
Suzan McLaughlin – Photo by Mari Herreras
WASHINGTON, DC – The Supreme Court of the United States announced [on February 26, 2018,] that it will not review the decision in McLaughlin v. McLaughlin, an Arizona Supreme Court case that found a woman to be the legal parent of the child she and her same-sex spouse conceived
through assisted reproduction during their marriage. The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Arizona attorney Claudia Work, and Ropes & Gray LLP represented the mother who sought to be recognized as a parent in this case.
see MCLAUGHLIN page 13
LGBT military groups Students sue Mississippi celebrate first out Trans town that banned recruit signing up to join Pride Parade the armed forces
Photo courtesy of OutServe-SLDN
WASHINGTON – [On Tuesday, February 27], the nation’s leading lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) military organizations, OutServe-SLDN, the American Military Partner Association, and SPARTA, issued statements responding to the news that the first out transgen-
der recruit has signed up to join the US Armed Forces. As first reported by CNN’s Ryan Browne yesterday, “The Pentagon confirmed Monday that the first transgender person has signed a contract to join the US military, a development made possible
see TRANS RECRUITS page 11
Bailey McDaniel (l) and Alexandra Hendon react after hearing the 4-3 vote denying the Starkville Pride organization’s request for an LGBT pride parade during the Starkville Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018 – Photo courtesy of AP
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Two Mississippi students are suing the town of Starkville, home of Mississippi
State University, because it denied them a permit to hold a Pride Parade. Bailey McDaniel and Emily Turner – leaders of Starkville Pride – filed suit Febru-
see STARKVILLE PRIDE page 13