Celebrating 44 Years! Issue 1 Volume 46
FRIDAY January 5, 2018 FREE!
25¢ in bookstores & newsstands
Jeremy Jordan to appear with Seattle Symphony in “Broadway Today” concerts SEC 2 PG 1
Spielberg’s The Post an essential First Amendment call to action
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
WA DOH passes groundbreaking DOJ backs down, dismissing rule creating new gender option appeal of order putting ban on Transgender service members for birth certificates Rule creates gender marker “X” for those who on hold identify as a gender that is not exclusively male or female
‘X’ will soon be a gender marker option on Washington state birth certificates. – Photo courtesy of state of Washington
SEATTLE – [On January 4, 2018], the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) passed a new rule that simplifies the process for a person to change the gender listed on their birth certificate. The rule
also creates a gender marker “X,” which represents a gender that is not exclusively male or female (such as nonbinary, intersex, agender, genderfluid, genderqueer,
see GENDER MARKER “X” page 5
A farewell editorial – Part 2
Shaun Knittel – Photo by Nate Gowdy
by Shaun Knittel Special to the SGN [EDITOR’S NOTE: Three months ago, at the end of September, Seattle Gay News staff writer and associate editor Shaun Knittel and his husband Yee-Shin Huang pulled up stakes here in Seattle and have relocated to Shaun’s hometown of Las Vegas, where they are settling into a new groove. Following are Shaun’s farewell remarks and reflections on his eight years
of community activism in Seattle’s LGBTQ community. SGN wishes Shaun and YeeShin the best in their new life in Las Vegas and thank him profoundly for his community service here in Seattle and at the SGN.] It has been a great honor and privilege to write about the modern LGBTQ equality movement, as it happened, for the pages of
see SHAUN KNITTEL page 14
President Donald Trump delivers remarks to US military personnel at a Naval Air Station following the G7 Summit, May 27, 2017. – Photo by Reuters / Darrin Zammit Lupi
SAN FRANCISCO – [On December 22, 2017], the Trump administration withdrew its appeal of a lower court ruling halting implementation of its discriminatory plan to ban transgender people from
serving openly in the US armed services. Today’s actions clear the way for open enlistment by transgender people scheduled to begin [on January 1] and also
see TRANS BAN page 12
HRC celebrates swearing-in of Alabama’s US senator, Doug Jones
Sen. Doug Jones (l) raises his right hand as Vice President Mike Pence administers the oath of office during a ceremonial swearing-in at the Capitol on January 3, 2018. – Photo by Jacquelyn Martin / AP
WASHINGTON, DC – [On January 3], the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, celebrated the swearing-in of former civil rights prosecutor Doug Jones to the US Senate. HRC – which opened offices in Alabama in 2014 and first launched its #NoMoore campaign against Roy Moore
in 2016 – engaged in a public education campaign about Roy Moore’s record during the Republican primary and endorsed Sen. Jones in Alabama’s hotly contested special election. In the weeks leading up to Election Day, HRC organized dozens of events, recruited hundreds of volunteers, and partnered with the NAACP of Alabama on statewide get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts.
see DOUG JONES page 8