SGN February 21, 2020 - Section 1

Celebrating 46 Years!

Issue 8 Volume 48

Solving nuclear disaster so The Children don’t have to?

Children’s Film Festival Seattle celebrates 15 years

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SEC 2 PG 1

Seattle Gay News

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Bloomberg mocks Trans people, Democratic Party allies

Mayor Pete challenged

by Queer activists

San Francisco fundraiser disrupted

Michael Bloomberg – Photo by Oli Scarff / Getty Images

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Competing videos of Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg speaking about LGBT issues surfaced on February 18.

In one, released by the Bloomberg campaign, Gay fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi claims that Bloomberg is “so incredibly sensitive” to inclusion of “LGBTQ+ youth.”

In the other, discovered by former Seat-

see BLOOMBERG page 11

Pete Buttigieg – Photo by Chuck Kennedy / PFA

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg was interrupted by activists at a San Francisco fundraising event on February 14.

According to The Guardian, two protestors interrupted Buttigieg’s campaign speech, while others picketed the event outside San Francisco’s National LGBTQ Center for the Arts.

see BUTTIGIEG page 11

HRC president on Mayor Durkan announces Bloomberg’s transphobic new efforts to prepare comments for 2020 Census

HRC President Alphonso David – Photo by Hans Pennink / AP

WASHINGTON, DC (February 19, 2020) – Earlier this month, video surfaced of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg making transphobic comments at a conference in 2016. Then today, transphobic comments by Mayor Bloomberg made less than one year ago came to light.

In response, Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign – the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization – issued the following statement:

see HRC page 11

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan – Photo courtesy of the Seattle Office of the Mayor

SEATTLE (February 18, 2020) – As part of her 2020 State of the City address, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan announced the City’s new actions to prepare for the 2020 United States Census. The City will open a series of Census Assistance Centers and launch other focused education efforts to

help ensure that all Seattle communities know their rights and can be counted. By mid-March, every household in Seattle will receive a letter from the US Census Bureau, inviting them to fill out their census form

see CENSUS page 6

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Celebrating 46 Years!

Seattle Gay News F O U N D ED 1974 MEMBER

2018

1707 23rd Avenue Seattle, WA 98122 (206) 324-4297 sgn2@sgn.org sgn.org

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Editor in Chief George Bakan Copy Editor Rick McKinnon (since Dec 2013) Advertising George Bakan • Maggie Bloodstone MK Scott National Advertising Rep. Rivendell Media (212) 242-6863 Staff Writers Mike Andrew • Sara Michelle Fetters Miryam Gordon • Albert Rodriguez Contributing Writers Rev. Barbara Allen • Ron Anders Madelyn Arnold • Alice Bloch Maggie Bloodstone • Beau Burriola Sharon Cumberland • Jessica Davis Tina Gianoulis • Anthony Greer Milton W. Hamlin • Nevin Jefferson Richard Kennedy • Shaun Knittel Liz Meyer • Jason A. Miller Jesse Monteagudo David Nguyen aka Teriyaki Temple Rod Parke • Don Paulson Jerry Peerson • Tim Peter • Jessica Price Scott Rice • Leslie Robinson MK Scott • Mark Segal • Gaysha Starr Sarah Toce • Paul Torres • Janice Van Cleve Ed Walsh • James Whitely Scott Wittet • Rex Wockner Cartoonist Ken Campbell Calendar Editor Rick McKinnon Classifieds Rick McKinnon Photographers Nate Gowdy • Joseph P. Herron MK Scott • James Whitely Production Mike Pham Website Designer Barry Thorsness / Digital Team Works Seattle Gay News is published by Frogs and Ink, Inc. © 2018. Frogs and Ink, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reprints by permission.

Publication of names, photographs, or likeness of any person, organization, event or business in this publication cannot be taken as any indication of the sexual orientation of the person, organization, event or business.

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We assume no liability for loss or damage of materials, solicited or not. We invite feedback, please write.

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In Loving Memory Of Steve Foiles • Scott Roger Alpert Cookie Andrews-Hunt James Leland Moore Randy Peters • Lee Richeson Shaun Shelton • Jim Tully James Arnold

SEAMEC hosts Community Meeting on Saturday, March 7 An open letter to SEAMEC members and the community: On Saturday, March 7, 2020, at 3:00 pm, SEAMEC [Seattle Metropolitan Elections Committee for the LGBTQ+ community] will hold a Community Meeting for the purpose of obtaining input from voters on the candidates and issues of concern for the 2020 elections. We will also have opportunities for people to sign up to help develop questions, interview candidates, assist with fundraising, and otherwise help SEAMEC do the job it’s been doing for 43 years, since 1977.

The Community Meeting will be at the Capitol Hill Branch of the Seattle Public Library, 425 Harvard Ave. E., Seattle, WA 98102, at 3:00 pm. The Library is located just west of the Broadway Market. Please join us at the meeting and bring someone with you.

SEAMEC’s future depends on the younger generations participating in its work.

Your support for SEAMEC as a member has been invaluable, helping to ensure that our non-partisan, serious inquiry into the knowledge and actions of candidates impacting the issues and concerns of LGBTQ voters. If you haven’t already sent your $25 membership dues, it’s time to do so, to help maintain the organization’s ability to perform. You can pay your dues online at www.VOTESEAMEC.org or mail a check to SEAMEC, 1122 E. Pike St. #901, Seattle, WA 98122.

SEAMEC’s Steering Committee is looking for new members. About this time of each year, we need to strengthen our governing body by adding people with particular skills, strengths, and knowledge. We are eager to find people with time to volunteer and help with organizational details, finance and reporting, maintaining confidential records, technology, and communicating with the public. We look to our members, our strongest supporters, to help spread the word so we can ensure another vigorous campaign of learning and revealing to the electorate where candidates stand on LGBTQ issues.

Visit us online www.sgn.org

Thank you for your support of SEAMEC. We hope to see you at the March 7 Community Meeting.

Que, Roger, Herb, Jeff, Deborah, Norm SEAMEC’s Steering Committee http://voteseamec.org/ Testimonials/Endorsements Founding members return to SEAMEC board and ask you to join in support.

“Forty-three years ago, I learned SEAMEC needed volunteers to interview candidates for Seattle City offices. I got involved with the Evaluation Committee that did the first-ever interviewing and rating of candidates for Seattle offices to discover and report on their knowledge and actions concerning the needs of Lesbians and Gay men.

After a few years as a SEAMEC leader, I became a SEAMEC user. Like thousands of other voters in our area, I look for the SEAMEC Ratings when I’m completing my ballot. Over the years, SEAMEC has expanded the races it covers. I rely on SEAMEC to tell me who the real friends of the LGBTQ community are when I cast my vote. I’ve rejoined the SEAMEC Steering Committee because I still believe strongly in the principle that our political influence as a community is best served by our having a non-partisan, well developed, and rigorous examina-

February 21, 2020

tion of the candidates. SEAMEC made the political community sit up and take notice in 1977. Join in supporting SEAMEC with your volunteered time, your financial support, and your interest in having the best information available to help you as you cast your vote in this critical year, not only for President, but for Congress, our State Legislature, and other offices that have an impact on our lives every day.” – Roger Winters, a founding member of SEAMEC “We’ve come so far and yet its as important as ever to keep going.

“Although our most urgent issues change over time, for example we ask fewer questions about assaults, HIV, and needle exchange programs, we may ask more about PREP, women’s reproductive rights as antiabortion laws sweep across the nation today and pay closer attention to Trans+ concerns.

“Our current president is proof our work is never done.

“We have to remember Hitler was supported and elected years before the fires, assignations and his murderous rampage across the globe.

“Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely and because history repeats we should must remain vigilant!”

– Jeff Phillips, a founding member of SNOMEC [Snohomish County] and returning to SEAMEC for a second time.

Courtesy of SEAMEC

Seattle Gay News 3

GSBA honors business and community leaders from Alaska Airlines to microbusinesses

Photos by Brian Matt

SEATTLE (February 18, 2020) – The GSBA, Washington state’s LGBTQ and allied chamber of commerce and the largest LGBTQ and allied chamber of commerce in North America, honored outstanding businesses, business, and nonprofit leaders on February 13 at its annual Business & Humanitarian Awards Dinner. The award recipients, each one demonstrating proven leadership in our community through philanthropy and volunteerism, embody a commitment to advancing LGBTQ equality and working to achieve a world in which everyone can “Thrive Together.”

Each recipient, captivating the 500 guests in attendance, masterfully articulated their passion and commitment to equality.

Opening remarks by Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan roused the crowd in anticipation for the awards to come. “Seattle is such a thriving city, and you are all part of the reason it is,” said Durkan. “Not just small businesses, but having gay business owners stand up for equity, and other allied businesses knowing that we have to stand for equity, and it hasn’t always been that way in Seattle.”

Throughout the evening, honorees spoke about their personal commitment to supporting equality and building a culture where small businesses, corporations, and community organizations can come together and build equitable communities for all. In recognition for their hard work and dedication to their business, BECU presented the Small Business of the Year honoree, Chantel Jackson of Thyme Well Spent Catering, with a check for $5,000. Emily Parkhurst of the Puget Sound Business Journal presented Alaska Airlines with the 2019 Corporate Leader of the Year award, received on behalf of the airline by CFO Brandon Pederson and Managing Director of Community Relations Shaunta Hyde.

The GSBA awarded the 2019 Special Recognition: Voice for Social Justice Award to OutRight Action International, an LGBTIQ human rights NGO that addresses human rights violations and abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people around the world. OutRight Action International West Coast Director Katie Hultquist received the award on behalf

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February 21, 2020

of the organization. “We are dedicated to ensuring the freedom, safety, dignity, and equality of queer people, everywhere,” she said. “The progress has been uneven, and the backlash has been fierce. Sixty-eight countries still criminalize homosexuality,” she continued, “and [have] anti-gay propaganda laws and laws prohibiting freedom of assembly, which means in many places we could be arrested for gathering just like we are here tonight. This is why OutRight exists.”

In total, nine businesses and nonprofits were honored throughout the evening. See the complete list below and to find out more about each honoree, and check out the short video on each on the GSBA YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/GSBAseattle.

2019 GSBA Business & Humanitarian Awards Honorees • 2019 New Business of the Year: Thyme Well Spent Catering | Chantel Jackson • 2019 Business of the Year: Wezee’s Plumbing | Louise Hansen • 2019 Business Leader of the Year: Nat Stratton-Clarke | Café Flora

• 2019 Corporate Leader of the Year: Alaska Airlines • 2019 Nonprofit of the Year: QLaw Foundation • 2019 Community Leader of the Year: Dominique Stephens • 2019 Green Business of the Year: Goldmine Design | Cindy Hansen • 2019 Special Recognition: Voice for International Social Justice: OutRight Action International • Board Chair’s Award: Marci Flanery | FlaneryCPA The GSBA is Washington’s LGBTQ and allied chamber of commerce, and the largest LGBTQ and allied chamber of commerce in North America. It represents over 1,400 small business, corporate, and nonprofit members who share the values of advancing equality and diversity in the workplace.

Courtesy of the GSBA

Celebrating 46 Years!

Photos by Brian Matt

Visit us online www.sgn.org

February 21, 2020

Seattle Gay News 5

“Dream Big, Fight Hard” Seattle meet-and-greet event with Elizabeth Warren at Seattle Center Armory on Saturday, Feb. 22 Elizabeth Warren is coming to Washington! She will be hosting an event in Seattle on Saturday, February 22 at the Seattle Center Armory (305 Harrison St) as we build our movement for 2020. We’d love to see you there!

Elizabeth knows that to create real change – to rebuild the middle class and save our democracy – we need to dream big and fight hard. That’s why she’s in this fight: to have a real conversation about how to level the playing field for working families, and who is best to lead that fight.

Doors open at 4:00 pm and the event will begin at 6:00 pm. This event is free and open to the public, so feel free to bring your friends and family along too. Tickets aren’t required, but an RSVP is strongly encouraged – https:// events.elizabethwarren.com/event/235987 Admission will be first come, first served.

The location of this event is ADA-compliant. Reply to your registration email to confirm any of your accessibility needs or request more information.

Thanks, and we hope to see you in Seattle!

Courtesy of Elizabeth Warren for President campaign

Photo courtesy of Warren for President

CENSUS

continued from cover online. With the president trying to undermine the census at every turn, and with this being the first-ever online census, the City is working to break down barriers that could prevent historically undercounted communities from completing their forms.

The US Census only happens once every 10 years, and the consequences of having an incomplete count are not just statistical: residents’ lives could be significantly impacted for an entire decade. A complete census count would ensure Seattle receives its fair share of federal resources, as significant funding is at stake for other federal programs that Seattle families and communities rely on, including Head Start, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Medicare and Medicaid.

“As one of the fastest-growing cities in America, there’s a lot at stake for Seattle in this next census. We know that everyone counts, and everyone needs to be counted, which is why we’re working to ensure our residents have the resources and information they need to participate in the 2020 Census,” said Mayor Durkan. “From fear surrounding the failed ‘citizenship question’ to this being the first-ever online census, there are significant barriers to a complete 2020 Census count. But our Census Assistance Centers, coupled with the efforts of our community partners, will help people participate in the census, and ensure Seattle receives our fair share of federal resources.”

The City of Seattle is deploying four key strategies to ensure a complete, safe census count: • City staff at all Seattle Public Library (SPL) branches and all Seattle Parks and Recreation community centers will be prepared to answer questions about the 2020 Census.

• Starting March 12, every Seattle Public Library branch will have computers available for communities to fill out their census form, regardless of whether they have library cards.

• On April 1, the Seattle Public Library will host Census Assistance Centers at the Lake City, Rainier Beach, and Ballard branches.

• On April 15, community centers at Alki, Delridge, Garfield, High Point, Jefferson, Rainier, South Park, and Yesler will host Census Assistance Centers.

“Seattle is committed to using its resources and supporting community organizations and networks to ensure a full, fair, accurate, and informed census count,” said Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda (Position 8, Citywide). “Through Census Assistance Centers, the City is changing the way it engages with our communities, and having conversations with our residents where they live, work, and rest. Full participation in the 2020 Census will ensure adequate funding for our city, and bring needed resources back to our historically undercounted communities. But the Census isn’t just about funding; it’s also about having a voice, being counted, and local resistance to this administration’s harmful policies.”

At Census Assistance Centers, commu-

nity members can receive technical assistance when filling out their online census form, get their questions answered about how census information is used, and learn more about why the census is important. A full list of Census Assistance Center times and locations is available at www.seattlecensus.org.

“As Seattle’s immigrant and refugee population continues to grow, it’s important that we are prepared for a fair and accurate 2020 Census count. The federal funding we receive as a result of the Census is critical to supporting the success and well-being of the communities that make up the fabric of our great city. I’m glad to see the City of Seattle open these assistance centers, which will help our communities, especially immigrant and refugee communities, get counted in the 2020 Census,” said Mahnaz Eshetu, executive director of ReWA. “So many of our necessary community resources are determined by the Census, whether that be transportation, food access, health care, or education. If we are not all counted, we will be competing for

crumbs to support our families and communities,” said Michelle Merriweather, president and CEO of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle. “There is also an impact on political representation. Who we vote for depends on legislative districts, which move every 10 years depending on how many people are counted. Our representation in Washington, DC, is solely determined by the Census. If we want fair and equitable representation, we need to be counted.”

“Seattle Department of Neighborhoods works every day to elevate community voices, and the 2020 Census is only of the most significant issues for Seattle communities,” said Andrés Mantilla, director of the Department of Neighborhoods. “We are closely working with community-based organizations along with our ethnic media to ensure we are engaging all communities across Seattle and making it easier for them to participate in the Census.

Throughout 2019, the City of Seattle partnered with community-based organizations to lay the groundwork for a complete and safe census count. The mayor regularly convened her Seattle Census Task Force to advise on pressing census issues, including lack of federal funding, the citizenship question, and continued anti-immigrant policies being pursued by the president.

The City was also a significant contributor to the Regional Census Fund, which allocated millions of dollars to community-based organizations throughout King County working to get a complete census count. Finally, the City issued its first-ever Ethnic and Minority Media Fund to grant a total of $150,000 to local ethnic media so they could raise awareness about the importance of the census.

The City of Seattle’s fight for a fair, safe, and complete census count is part of its work as a Welcoming City. For more information on Welcoming City policies, please visit www.seattle.gov/welcoming.

Courtesy of the Office of the Mayor

Visit us online at www.sgn.org 6 Seattle Gay News

February 21, 2020

Celebrating 46 Years!

Help Wanted AMP Story-gathering assistant, part-time contract position

The AIDS Memorial Pathway (The AMP) is looking for an organized, communitycentered person to assist in the process of gathering personal narratives of local people sharing how HIV/AIDS has impacted their lives.

The story-gathering assistant’s responsibilities include scheduling interviews with subjects; coordinating with filmmakers, audio specialists and editors; securing and scheduling studio spaces; and working with story-gathering consultant to create a calendar of interviews and related events.

This is a part-time, 15-20 hour-a-week contract position.

Pay rate is $25/hr.

The position ends late 2020.

Visit us online www.sgn.org

Story-gathering assistant responsibilities:

Story-gathering assistant requirements:

• Engage with interview subjects to schedule interviews

• High level of organization, attention to detail

• Coordinate interview schedules with filmmaking, recording and editing team members

• Strong communication skills, both written and oral

• Schedule studio locations/spaces for interviews • Help create monthly and annual calendar of upcoming interviews and related AMP events • Work closely with story-gathering consultant and others to achieve AMP goals

• Availability to attend some evening and weekend events • Ability to respect and honor subjects who share intimate personal stories • Comfort engaging with, reaching out to people in stigmatized groups

• Attend monthly story committee meetings and assist story-gathering consultant in meeting preparation

People living with HIV are encouraged to apply.

To apply, please submit cover letter and resume to Rosette Royale, AMP Story-gathering consultant, rosette.royale@theamp.org.

Please include “Story-gathering assistant application” in subject line.

Deadline for responses: Fri., Feb. 28, 2020.

February 21, 2020

Seattle Gay News 7

8 Seattle Gay News

February 21, 2020

Celebrating 46 Years!

Visit us online www.sgn.org

February 21, 2020

Seattle Gay News 9

10 Seattle Gay News

February 21, 2020

Celebrating 46 Years!

BUTTIGIEG

continued from cover Those outside chanted “Hey Pete, stop it, put people over profit!” and “Hey Pete, come out, we’ve got some things to talk about!”

The two who interrupted the event jumped to their feet when Buttigieg was asked about his husband, Chasten.

“I respect your activism, but this is a gathering for supporters of our campaign, and I just got a question about my husband and I’m really excited to answer it,” Buttigieg told the activists.

According to The Guardian, a Buttigieg supporter in the room yelled at the protestors, “You’re homophobes, that’s what you all are, you’re homophobes!”

“We’re all Gay!” one responded.

The protestors were from several groups, including Queers Against Pete, SF Rising, and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), according to reporters at the event.

“He can’t be using his gay card to propel his campaign,” one protester told a reporter for the SFGate website.

“He is not representative of our community. He may be representative of part, but not all –especially the most marginalized and disenfranchised ones.”

The same individual compared Buttigieg unfavorably to LGBT politicians José Sarris and Harvey Milk, who raised controversial

Pete Buttigieg – Photo by Chuck Kennedy / PFA

community issues like police harassment.

Speaking with The Guardian, activist Celi Tamayo-Lee said that while she is “proud” that an out Gay candidate is represented in the Democratic primaries, “it’s hard to enjoy or appreciate when his stances are so middle of the road and speak to a predominantly white, upper-class audience.”

Queers Against Pete released an open letter stating that “being gay is not enough to earn the support of LGBTQIA communities.”

“We cannot in good conscience allow Mayor Pete to become the nominee,” the letter continued, “without demanding that he address the needs and concerns of the broader Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual (LGBTQIA) communities. While many see different issues in silos, we are clear that LGBTQIA people are directly and disproportionately impacted by police violence, incarceration, unaffordable healthcare, homelessness, deportation, and

economic inequality among other things.”

While Buttigieg had a good outing in Iowa – where he came second in raw votes but first in delegate equivalents – and New Hampshire, where he ran a close second to Bernie Sanders, he has struggled in national polling, even among LGBT voters.

Two separate polls of self-identified LGBT voters show that their favorite is far and away Bernie Sanders. Buttigieg did not score double digits in either poll.

BLOOMBERG

In a statement to BuzzFeed, the Bloomberg campaign said, “Mike understands that the transgender community has been under attack for decades and the advance of rights has not been equal. In April 2002, during his first year as mayor, Mike signed a sweeping transgender civil rights bill into law. His company provides comprehensive health care coverage for his transgender employees. As [a presidential candidate], he has a comprehensive plan to secure rights for transgender Americans, including passing the Equality Act, ensuring transgender people have access to affirming health care, and working to end the crisis of violence against transgender women. Mike is running to defeat Donald Trump and reverse the many policies he has implemented that attack the rights of the transgender community.”

Bloomberg’s investment company, Bloomberg LP, joined a 2016 court filing with several dozen other corporations to oppose a North Carolina law that banned Transgender people from using restrooms that matched their gender identity.

According to Holden, Bloomberg’s spokesperson did not respond to BuzzFeed’s questions about whether Bloomberg thinks a Transgender woman is “a guy wearing a dress” or an “it,” if transgender rights are a liability for Democratic presidential candidates, or how his campaign video on LGBTQ+ rights squares with his comments less than a year ago.

continued from cover

Federal tax workshop for artists

Photo courtesy of WLA

Depreciation, capital gains, deductions, W-2s, 1099s! Having trouble keeping track of it all?

Neil Sussman’s popular tax workshop is back to guide artists and their attorneys through yet another season of gains, losses, formulas and forms. Learn all the basics you need, plus special tips and what’s new for your 2019 tax return.

Monday | March 9 | 7:00 - 10:00 pm | Cost: $20 | at Cornish College of the Arts, Notion Building | 1001 Lenora St, Seattle, WA 98121 Designed specifically to address the arts and entertainment issues, topics to be covered will include: • Tax obligations as a musician or artist.

• How the IRS tracks your income.

• What you can deduct and how to deduct it.

• Documenting your income and deductions.

• Tax forms you may need to file.

• Changes for 2020 and the future.

Neil Sussman is a Seattle attorney concentrating in the areas of Art, Entertainment and Media Law. His practice includes work on matters such as: city, state and federal income tax return preparation and planning, representing parties in tax audits, reviewing, drafting, and negotiating contracts, recording and publishing agreements, licensing and merchandising agreements, copyright and trademark issues and registrations, and forming corporations and limited liability companies for small businesses. A 1982 graduate of the University of Washington School of Law, Mr. Sussman received his undergraduate degree in business management from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Washington State Bar Association and has had his own law practice for over 37 years.

Thanks to the generous contributions of our partners and donors, Washington Lawyers for the Arts is able to continue offering services to artists and arts organizations across Washington state. thewla.org; info@ thewla.org Courtesy of WLA

Visit us online www.sgn.org

tle writer and current BuzzFeed reporter Dominic Holden, Bloomberg refers to Trans people as “he, she, or it,” and “some guy in a dress.”

Shockingly, those remarks were very recent, made at a forum hosted by the Bermuda Business Development Agency on March 21, 2019, in Manhattan.

A video of the event was posted to YouTube shortly after it happened, but it received scant attention until it was discovered by Holden. Bloomberg was not a candidate for president at the time but announced his campaign just eight months after he made the remarks.

In his speech, Bloomberg mocked the other Democratic candidates for talking about Transgender protections.

“If your conversation during a presidential election is about some guy wearing a dress and whether he, she, or it can go to the locker room with their daughter, that’s not a winning formula for most people,” he said.

Bloomberg made a similar remark about a “man wearing a dress” in 2016, at an Oxford University appearance. Transgender rights would never gain traction in the US, Bloomberg predicted, because only the “intelligentsia” would understand why “some man wearing a dress should be in a locker room with their daughter.”

HRC

continued from cover “Over the last decade, right-wing extremists have attacked transgender people, their humanity, and their rights at every opportunity. And in 2019, at least 26 transgender and gender-nonconforming people lost their lives to fatal violence.”

“We expect all pro-equality candidates, including Mayor Bloomberg, to create policy solutions to end the epidemic of violence our community faces, not use the same talking points our opponents use to dehumanize transgender people and justify their own hateful beliefs.

“Transgender women aren’t ‘he-she or it,’ they’re women. LGBTQ people are human and deserve to be treated with respect.

“57 million Equality Voters – LGBTQ voters and our allies – across America are

February 21, 2020

watching this primary closely, including almost nine million in the Midwest. We are looking for a candidate who can undo the damage done to our community by the Trump-Pence administration and build a future more safe, more equal, and more accepting for LGBTQ people.

“Words matter, and Mayor Bloomberg should apologize for using language that demoralizes and dehumanizes members of our community.”

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people.

The HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and in every community.

Courtesy of the HRC

Seattle Gay News 11

The Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission issues 2019 Democracy Voucher Program Biennial Report The 2019 Democracy Voucher Program Biennial Report [https://www.seattle. gov/Documents/Departments/EthicsElections/DemocracyVoucher/2019_Biennial_Report.pdf] includes a summary of the administrative processes from second implementation of the Democracy Voucher Program (DVP). In 2019, the seven city council district positions were eligible for DVP funding.

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS Increased resident and candidate participation: • 38,092 residents returned more than 147,128 Democracy Vouchers, nearly doubling the 2017 participation rates.

• 53 candidates pledged to participate in the program and 35 candidates completed the qualifying process.

Conducted outreach in Seattle’s seven districts: • Staff and community-based organizations (CBOs) attended 356 outreach events and interacted with more than 28,000 residents.

• The SEEC managed $150,000 in contracts with 10 CBOs to conduct outreach in hard-to-reach communities.

Launched online portal in 15 languages: • 6,204 residents successfully assigned 24,105 vouchers using the Democracy Voucher Online Portal.

Courtesy of Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission

OutRight Action International celebrates 30th anniversary with OutRising event in Seattle Feb. 8 Dear Friends, Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for OutRight Action International’s 30th anniversary OutRising Seattle: An Evening for Global LGBTIQ Equality event on February 8. We had a terrific time celebrating our 30th anniversary and the strength and determination of our global LGBTIQ community with longtime supporters and new friends!

I am delighted to share that because of your support, we raised more than $85,000 for LGBTIQ human rights around the world! If you weren’t able to donate in person at the event, please consider making a donation online today to support OutRight’s global work supporting grassroots activists, conducting groundbreaking research, and holding governments accountable. We need YOU to help us change laws, save lives, and stand up for equality, freedom and safety for LGBITQ people everywhere.

Photo by Jack Storms

Special thanks to Jack Storms for capturing such marvelous photos of the event! [http://bit.ly/2HMd0FC] (The password to download photos is outright).

Additional thanks to our auctioneer Laura Michalek and guest reader Michele

Storms for their longtime support and for making the evening so fun and successful.

And our deepest gratitude to our Ambassador Sponsors Seattle Out & Proud/Seattle Pride and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, our Envoy Sponsors Sassenach and Linksbridge, our Advocate Sponsors Vulcan and Defiance Realty, and our in-kind sponsors Cupcake Royale, Tutta Bella, Sparkman Cellars, Fremont Brewing, and GSBA.

Our undying admiration and thanks to Rikki Nathanson for sharing her story, courage and continued activism with us, and to Derrick Brown and Jeff Natter for their support and so warmly welcoming our guests. If you were inspired by Rikki and our Executive Director Jessica Stern in their call to “keep working so that LGBTIQ people can be safe and thrive wherever they live,” please share OutRight’s work with your community and follow us on social media at @OutRightIntl.

Thank you again for supporting OutRight and LGBTIQ human rights around the world. I look forward to seeing you again soon!

With warmth and gratitude, Katie Hultquist West Coast Director OutRight Action International Courtesy of OutRight Action International

NEW SURVEY RESULTS: Tennesseans agree that anti-LGBTQ legislation is a waste of time NASHVILLE (February 14, 2020) – Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights organization, released new survey results showing Tennesseans’ broad opposition to anti-LGBTQ legislation in the state’s legislature.

“For years, a group of extreme lawmakers have been targeting LGBTQ people in Tennessee, spreading misinformation and using vicious, harmful rhetoric while doing so,” said Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign. “These antiLGBTQ lawmakers have been trying to use any legislative vehicle possible to target and single out LGBTQ people in Tennessee. Yet, as these new survey results show, most people in Tennessee have no interest in pursuing divisiveness for the sake of divisiveness, and think that anti-LGBTQ bills are a solution in search of a problem.

Elected officials should be looking out for all of their constituents, not targeting the most vulnerable among them to appeal to a shrinking population.”

“The support we receive in cities like Martin, Dickson, Murfreesboro, and Morristown confirms these poll results,” said Chris Sanders, executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project. “Rural and

urban voters know that Tennessee can’t succeed by stigmatizing LGBTQ people with attack legislation. It’s time for the legislature to put these old battles behind us so we can build our state together.”

On behalf of the Human Rights Campaign, Change Research surveyed 893 likely voters in Tennessee on January 30 and 31 in order to understand their reaction to the anti-LGBTQ legislative agenda being pushed by state legislators. A majority of voters oppose these anti-LGBTQ bills and support policies that protect the rights of LGBTQ Tennesseans.

• Voters, including Republicans, are not demanding laws like this, and say legislators are too focused on divisive issues instead of real problems. Just 4% of all voters and 1% of Republicans say that “regulating transgender rights” is among the most important issues for the Tennessee state government to address, the least important policy priority tested. Further, a 62% majority – including majorities of voters across age, race, gender, and education divides – say that “legislators are too focused on divisive issues and should be focusing on pressing issues that will actually have an impact on Tennesseans, like growing the economy.”

• The issue that Tennessee voters priori-

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February 21, 2020

tize most is healthcare costs (41%), and a 55% majority disapprove of the job Republican leaders in the state are doing handing their #1 issue.

• Voters decisively reject anti-transgender legislation. Majorities oppose proposed legislation that would discriminate against LGBTQ people, and strong opposition is greater than strong support for each of these policies.

• Tennessee voters express clear opposition to policies that seek to regulate transgender minors. A 63% majority opposes a medical care ban for transgender minors, and 56% oppose a bill requiring the state attorney general to defend anti-LGBTQ policies in Tennessee schools. Majorities also reject proposals that would make it legal for Tennesseans to discriminate against LGBTQ people. Six in ten voters oppose Tennessee’s new anti-LGBTQ adoption law, with strong opponents outnumbering strong supporters two to one. A 56% majority also opposes granting businesses a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people.

• Tennesseans instead support new laws to protect the rights of LGBTQ people and a more inclusive view of society. A 57% majority of Tennessee voters say that “we need to stop stigmatizing transgender

people as a society,” and majorities support new policies that would protect the rights of transgender people. An overwhelming 72% of voters support “protecting LGBTQ people against discrimination in the workplace,” and 49% strongly support this.

• These divisive, anti-LGBTQ bills reinforce for voters the negative things they think about Tennessee elected officials.

A 57% majority disapprove of the job that Gov. Lee and Republicans in the state legislature are doing handling LGBTQ rights, and just 26% say those leaders “respect the rights of LGBTQ people.” With voters supporting a more inclusive and less divisive agenda, it is no wonder that just 38% say Gov. Lee and state legislators “share my values” and 55% say they are “out of touch.”

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people.

The HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work, and in every community.

Courtesy of the HRC

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ACLU statement: There is a coordinated attack against Trans youth in state legislatures (February 18, 2020) – Less than a month and a half into 2020, this state legislative session has seen unprecedented attacks on LGBTQ people, and an alarming focus on bills that would harm trans youth.

Also alarming: These bills, and the terminology used in them, use similar language and clearly come from a common playbook.

Right now, bills are pending in 10 states that would criminalize life-saving, best-practice medical care for trans youth, putting government in the way of decisions that should be left up to the young person, their parents, and their medical providers. Proponents of these bills repeat similar lies about medical care, but these bills are opposed by all major medical associations that just want to be sure all kids can get the health care they need.

At the same time, 16 states currently are considering bills that would ban young trans athletes from participating in athletic activities consistent with their gender (bills in Missouri and Idaho have hearings this week).

Some of the bills only exclude girls who are trans, echoing language that was once used to keep cisgender women out of sports. Others also require boys who are trans to participate solely on girls’ teams. Statewide scholastic sports organizations typically regulate the terms of participation in sports to ensure all youth can participate fairly. These bills would instead authorize invasive medical examinations of young athletes, and would substitute a categorical exclusion from school sports that doesn’t match up even with the most stringent regulations governing elite competition like the Olympics.

And still other bills would allow all health care providers to refuse care based on religious objections to trans people, or make it harder for schools to support trans youth.

These bills – and dozens of other antiLGBTQ measures – are pending in states across the country, from Alaska to Florida.

That’s not a coincidence. These efforts are part of an orchestrated national campaign led by groups like Heritage Foundation,

Photo courtesy of ACLU

Alliance Defending Freedom — which last week filed a lawsuit attacking trans student athletes – and the Family Policy Alliance, to demonize trans youth and drive a wedge among supporters of LGBTQ equality. We can’t let them succeed.

We know that when young people are supported by their parents and communities, they thrive. Research shows that transgender youth whose families support their gender identity have a 52% decrease in suicidal thoughts, a 48% decrease in suicide attempts, and significant increases in selfesteem and general health.

This isn’t theoretical. The South Dakota Health & Human Services Committee voted last week to kill its bill restricting access

to health care for trans youth. While a bill to exclude trans kids from sports failed in committee in Alabama on February 13, the sponsor has already scheduled it for another hearing next week. And that same day, a House committee in Arizona voted to move forward a bill that would bar trans young people from participating in sports. Other legislatures are poised to act soon.

In South Dakota, trans youth, their parents, medical providers, business leaders, and others spoke up and made it clear that these attacks will hurt young people and the state. As is so often the case, the victory in protecting the rights of transgender people belongs to the trans community.

But even when these bills are defeated,

the fact young people and their families have to show up over and over before lawmakers and testify to try to stop these attacks is itself harmful. Let’s fight back with these youth and the entire LGBTQ community, and show our young people who are watching – and the orchestrated movement attacking us – that trans kids have fierce allies and we won’t let these bills pass.

Like Zaya Wade said last week, we only get one life. If we can’t be ourselves, how can we live?

Courtesy of the ACLU

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Crackdown against LGBTQ people intensifies in Indonesia NEW YORK (February 20, 2020) – A draft “family resilience” bill has been proposed by members of the House of Representatives of Indonesia. The draft law defines homosexuality as a deviance that poses a threat to families, and requires LGBTQ people to report to authorities for rehabilitation, and their families to report LGBTIQ people to agencies handling “family resilience.”

The draft law, seen by the Jakarta Post on Wednesday, February 19, 2020, outlines the formation of a state body responsible for “family resilience,” which would handle “family crises due to sexual deviation” through spiritual guidance and social, psychological, and medical rehabilitation.

The proposed law is the latest development in an increasingly hostile situation for LGBTQ people; government targeting and vigilante violence against LGBTQ people has steadily intensified over the last five years. Indonesia does not criminalize samesex relations on a national level; however, sharia law, which outlaws same-sex relations, is in effect in the provinces of Aceh and West Sumatra. The national Pornography Act, which is vaguely worded and thus open to wide interpretation, is widely used to target LGBTQ people, and in 2018 a national law criminalizing same-sex relations was proposed but has not yet been passed.

Jessica Stern, executive director of OutRight Action International, commented: “The news from Indonesia is extremely

Stern [commented further]: “The introduction of criminalization laws where none have existed, and further criminalization in countries that already criminalize samesex relations, is a frightening reminder of a growing global backlash against gender equality and the right of LGBTQ people to be who we are and love who we choose, without fear of violence, persecution, or imprisonment. This should serve as a reminder that progress cannot be taken for granted, and LGBTQ movements have to fight not only for progress but also against regression.”

Photo by Anfara Foto / Reuters

concerning. The draft bill proposes to codify in law that LGBTQ people pose a threat to their families and need to be ‘rehabilitated,’ changed, and removed – in essence requiring LGBTQ people by law to undergo so-called conversion therapy practices, which are deemed by reputable psychiatric institutions, such as the World Psychiatric Association, [to be] harmful and ineffective. This not only intensifies the mounting persecution and hate LGBTQ people already face but also requires their families to report them, making LGBTQ people even more vulnerable and isolated.”

The bill is reminiscent of the 2014 “Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Act”

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in Nigeria, which criminalizes those who know or “abet” same-sex relationships, thus criminalizing the friends and families of LGBTQ people. Furthermore, the bill falls into an alarming trend of a number of countries proposing stricter regulations on same-sex relations. In 2019 Brunei finalized implementation of sharia law, which prescribes stoning to death for same-sex relations, and Gabon introduced legislation criminalizing same-sex relations; similar legislation is pending in Egypt. Persecution of LGBTIQ people has intensified in Malaysia, and rumors of further criminalization on top of the already existing ban on same-sex relations in Uganda continue.

February 21, 2020

OutRight Action International, founded in 1990 as the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, works alongside LGBTIQ people in the Global South, with offices in six countries, to help identify community-focused solutions to promote policy for a lasting change. It vigilantly monitors and documents human rights abuses to spur action when they occur. It trains partners to expose abuses and advocate for themselves. Headquartered in New York City, OutRight is the only global LGBTIQ-specific organization with a permanent presence at the United Nations in New York that advocates for human rights progress for LGBTIQ people.

Courtesy of OutRight Action International

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