Celebrating 45 Years! Issue 45 Volume 47
FRIDAY November 8, 2019 FREE!
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Mo Rocca to appear at Town Hall on Nov. 12
Masterful Pain and Glory another triumph for Almodóvar SEC 2 PG 1
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
Feds sue Gilead over PrEP patents
Election 2019: Money can’t buy you love
Photo by Jeff Chiu / AP
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Federal attorneys filed suit on November 8 against Gilead Sciences, the pharmaceutical giant that makes and markets PrEP medications Truvada and Descovy.
Photo courtesy of Egan for Seattle
According to the lawsuit, Gilead infringed on patents owned by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and refused attempts by HHS to license its patents and collect royalties.
see GILEAD page 13
144 out LGBTQ candidates won elected office so far in 2019 Most ever in an odd-numbered election year
Photo courtesy of Getty Images
WASHINGTON, DC (November 6, 2019) – More openly LGBTQ candidates won elected office in 2019 than in any other odd-numbered election year in United States history. As of November 6, at 1:30 p.m. ET, a total of 144 openly LGBTQ candidates won election out of the 382
known openly LGBTQ candidates who ran throughout the year. Last night alone, 99 of the 200 known openly LGBTQ candidates on the ballot won their races – with six still undecided and six candidates heading to a
see LGBTQ CANDIDATES page 5
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Amazon wasted more than $1 million on Seattle’s City Council election. That’s the inescapable conclusion as the SGN goes to press after three days of ballot counting.
Photo courtesy of Vote Sawant
Amazon’s number one target, District 3 incumbent Kshama Sawant, now trails her opponent, Egan Orion, by only 739 votes after lagging behind by almost 2,000 on election night. Late voters – who are histor-
see SEATTLE ELECTION page 4
BREAKING NEWS:
Lambda Legal decries execution of South Dakota gay man sentenced to die by jury tainted with antigay bias
Photo courtesy of Amber Hunt / AP
SIOUX FALLS, SD (November 5, 2019) – Last night, Charles Rhines, a South Dakota gay man, was put to death by lethal injection after the US Supreme Court rejected a final motion that would have allowed Rhines to bring new evidence to the court showing that antigay bias may
have motivated the jury to sentence him to death. Recently, it was discovered that jurors suggested that sentencing Mr. Rhines to life in prison with other men would be “sending him where he wants to go.”
see RHINES page 6