SGN May 26, 2017 - Section 1

Celebrating 43 Years!

Issue 21 Volume 45

FRIDAY May 26, 2017 FREE!

25¢ in bookstores & newsstands

Chris Cornell’s death felt by many SEC 2 PG 1

Indecent on Broadway SEC 2 PG 1

Seattle Gay News

Seattle to host sister Mayor Murray and Generations Aging with march for Washington Pride host “Aging the DC National Pride March June 11 LGBTQ Way” June 3

LGBTQ community members•are ray and community leaders.

Learn Saturday 06.03.17 10invited a.m.–5:30 p.m.

• Seattle City Hallwhat the to participate in “Aging the LGBTQ Way” Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging, onfull Saturday, 3, at Seattle Hall.well!

The Sexuality and Gender Study can tell us about A day June dedicated toCity aging forum starts at 10am (arrive at 9:30am to Seattle. Consider the intersections between • Learn the Aging Pride: National Health, Aging, visit theabout resource fair).with Hear Mayor Ed MurSexuality and Gender Study.

• Talk about intersections among race, gender, and equity issues.

• Attend workshops on LGBTQ equity, respect, and social inclusion; economic and housing security; social and civic engagement; and aging, health, and community services.

• Help develop Age Friendly Seattle.

• Build intergenerational relationships.

• Get resources.

see AGING page 7 FREE

On Sunday, June 11, the LGBTQ community and allies around the United States will march in solidarity for the dignity, freedom, equality, and love of all people regardless of gender, orientation, race, ability, religion, immigration status or economic circumstance.

A coalition of Seattle-based LGBTQ organizations has taken the lead on orga-

nizing Seattle’s sister march. The Seattle Pride March will begin with a rally at 11am in Cal Anderson Park (11th Ave. & E. Howell St.). The march will step off at noon and make its way to Seattle Center via E. Pine St. and 4th Ave. The coalition’s stated purpose is to “march for all people who feel marginalized, under attack, or simply not

see MARCH page 4

Lunch & dinner included.

RSVPs appreciated: www.surveymonkey.com/r/ LGBTQforum060317

GSBA Scholars Dinner Rev. Troy Perry, founder of LGBTQ denomination, a huge success!

Seattle City Hall is located at 601 5th Avenue, between Cherry & James Streets.

For general accessibility information, visit bit.ly/2p5RVep

For accommodations, language interpretation, or childcare, contact Terry Ann at 206-386-1521 or agefriendly@seattle.gov.

Mayor Ed Murray

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Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Seattle Human Services Department Seattle LGBTQ Commission Seattle Office for Civil Rights Seattle Parks and Recreation

Dear GSBA members, donors and volunteers, Hearts were bursting with pride as over 500 guests including scholars, donors, community leaders and elected officials gathered [last Friday at the GSBA Scholars Dinner] to witness history as GSBA gave out its $3 millionth dollar in scholarships awarded since 1991.

This Fund, and the hope it provides, has changed the lives of over 500 LGBT and allied students, but perhaps the biggest game changer is the launch of the GSBA Guarantee. The Guarantee promises up to four

SGN Seattle Gay News

years of support to GSBA Scholars as long as they continue their part by doing their best in school. This extraordinary commitment is possible because of you, and your understanding of the power of education to change lives. The exciting news continued as long-term GSBA member and Antioch Board member, Steve Crandall, came on stage to announce the GSBA Leadership Academy, an innovative leadership experience created through a partnership between Antioch and GSBA with support from Microsoft and input from several GSBA donors. This Leadership Academy will hold

see GSBA page 5

first American to receive Cuba’s CENESEX award

Rev. Troy Perry wins Cuba’s CENESEX award – Photo by CENESEX

Rev. Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC), is the first American citizen given Cuba’s CENE-

SEX award. The 10th Cuban Gala Against Homophobia at the Karl Marx Theater in

see PERRY page 18

Saturday 06.03.17 • 10 a.m.–5:30 p.m. • Seattle City Hall A full day dedicated to aging well!

• Learn about the Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging, Sexuality and Gender Study.

• Talk about intersections among race, gender, and equity issues.

• Attend workshops on LGBTQ equity, respect, and social inclusion; economic and housing security; social and civic engagement; and aging, health, and community services.

• Help develop Age Friendly Seattle.

• Build intergenerational relationships.

• Get resources.

Seattle City Hall is located at 601 5th Avenue, between Cherry & James Streets.

For general accessibility information, visit bit.ly/2p5RVep

FREE Lunch & dinner included.

RSVPs appreciated: www.surveymonkey.com/r/ LGBTQforum060317 For accommodations, language interpretation, or childcare, contact Terry Ann at 206-386-1521 or agefriendly@seattle.gov.

Mayor Ed Murray

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Seattle Department of Neighborhoods Seattle Human Services Department Seattle LGBTQ Commission Seattle Office for Civil Rights Seattle Parks and Recreation

Taking Pride in

SGN Seattle Gay News

Capitol Hill

JUNE 4

2 Seattle Gay News

May 26, 2017

Celebrating 41 Years!

Think twice before you support I-1552, religious leaders tell their colleagues

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Nine prominent religious leaders in Washington state have issued an open letter to their colleagues, asking them to think twice before supporting I-1552, the antiTransgender initiative being circulated for signatures.

The letter, dated May 23, is a rebuttal to a recent appeal for help with I-1552 issued

by Pastor Joe Fuiten, a longtime opponent of the LGBT community.

“Please search your heart and do not allow the backers of I-1552 to sow fear and distrust among us,” the letter says.

The plea is signed by Bishop B. Kirby Unti, Northwest Washington Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Bishop Greg Rickel, Episcopal Diocese of Olympia; Presiding Elder Spencer Barrett of the African Methodist Episcopal Church; President R. Skyler Oberst, Spokane Interfaith Council; Rabbi Bruce Kadden, Temple Beth El; Rabbi Jason Levine, Temple Beth Am; Rev. David Wright, University of Puget Sound; Rabbi Daniel Weiner, Temple De Hirsch Sinai; and Rev. Paul Benz, Faith Action Network.

“We are followers of many different faiths that share a basic common tenet: love our neighbors as ourselves – including those who may seem different from us,” they wrote to their colleagues.

“Like many of our congregants, we’re concerned about the impacts of a proposed ballot initiative – I-1552 – that seeks to repeal the last decade of Washington’s nondiscrimination protections for transgender

Visit us online www.sgn.org

people…

“This is not how we, as people of faith, treat each other. We should not single out our transgender neighbors for different treatment and potentially put their safety at risk with a proposal that would have unintended consequences for all of us.

“We have prayed about this and come to believe that protecting people from discrimination is about treating others as we want to be treated – including people who are transgender – and we should all be treated equally under the law.”

The letter closes with a request to sign on to a statement opposing I-1552.

“We applaud these faith leaders for stepping forward and calling on others to respect our state’s longstanding nondis-

crimination laws,” said Seth Kirby, a Transgender man and chair of Washington Won’t Discriminate.

“Washingtonians value fairness and equality, and we believe that everyone in our state should be able to earn a living, frequent a business, earn an education, and raise a family free from the fear of discrimination.”

Washington Won’t Discriminate is a coalition of more than 500 law enforcement, clergy, labor and business leaders, and others opposing I-1552.

May 26, 2017

Seattle Gay News 3

Dismiss the lawsuit, Ed Murray’s attorneys ask court

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Attorneys for Seattle Mayor Ed Murray asked a court to dismiss a lawsuit charging that he paid an underage boy for sex in the mid-1980s.

The suit, filed by local attorney Lincoln Beauregard on behalf of Delvonn Heckard, alleges that Murray paid for sex with Heckard up to 50 times, starting when Heckard was only 15 and therefore under the age of consent.

Murray aggressively denied the charges but eventually dropped out of his race for re-election on May 8.

In court documents filed May 24, Murray’s attorneys, Malaika Eaton and Robert Sulkin, said that their client “denies any inappropriate contact with the Plaintiff or any minor.”

They also argued that Heckard had failed to state a legitimate claim in the lawsuit and that the claims are barred by Washington’s statute of limitations, meaning that even if true, the charges can’t be litigated because the events took place too long ago.

Murray’s attorneys then asked for the suit to be dismissed with prejudice, meaning it could not be refiled, and that the court award Murray his legal expenses.

In the filing, Murray’s attorneys admit that Murray knew two other accusers – Jeff

MARCH

CONTINUED FROM COVER seen, heard, or known by this administration and our fellow citizens.”

For further details about the march, please visit .

25 LGBTQ organizations currently form the coalition and new members are welcome to join. As of May 17, the coalition is comprised of: BiNet Seattle, Camp Ten Trees, Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, Center for Multicultural Health, Entre Hermanos, Equal Rights Washington, Gay City, Gender Justice League, GSBA, Ingersoll Gender Center, Lavender Magic, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in

Mayor Ed Murray is surrounded and embraced by supporters – Photo by Elaine Thompson / AP

Simpson and Lloyd Anderson – but said the Mayor “denies he engaged in any inappropriate conduct or inappropriate relationship” with them.

No mention was made of the fourth accuser, Maurice Lavon Jones, who claimed that Heckard introduced him to Murray when he was 15.

To date, only Heckard has filed a lawsuit against Murray. Simpson tried to file a suit, but his criminal history and the length of time elapsed since the alleged offenses caused his attorneys to back out of the case.

Both Simpson and Anderson have told their stories to local TV stations. Jones was in King County Jail when he gave a state-

ment accusing Murray to Beauregard, but he was interviewed by the Seattle Times about his charges.

Even if the court dismisses the suit against Murray, the date for filing in the mayoral race has passed, and he can no longer run for re-election.

Washington, NW Network, Out in Front, PFLAG Washington State Council, PrideFest, Seattle Area Support Groups, Seattle Counseling Service, Seattle International Socialist Organization, Seattle Men’s Chorus & Seattle Women’s Chorus, Seattle Nonbinary Collective, Seattle Pride, Three Dollar Bill Cinema, U.T.O.P.I.A. Seattle (United Territories of Pacific Islanders Alliance), Washington Won’t Discriminate.

All of the LGBTQ community’s most cherished events for Pride weekend, like Trans Pride, the Capitol Hill Pride Festival (this year called the Capitol Hill Pride Festival – Bite of Pride), the Dyke March, PrideFest Capitol Hill, the Pride Parade, and PrideFest at Seattle Center, will all happen as usual the last weekend of June 23-25.

For further inquiries about the Seattle Pride March on June 11, 2017, please contact Egan Orion at egan@pridefest.org.

The Coalition’s Leadership Team includes representatives from Gay City, the GSBA, Seattle Pride, and Seattle PrideFest.

St. followed by a rally from 10:30am-10pm.

On Sunday, June 11, the Capitol Hill Pride Festival is organizing “The Equality March for Unity and Pride – Seattle” which will run from 11am-6pm. The Sunday march will start at Broadway & E. Pike St. at 11am and proceed to the main stage at Broadway E. & E. Harrison St. Capitol Hill Pride Festival organizers will also be organizing their annual Capitol Hill Pride Festival (this year called the Capitol Hill Pride Festival – Bite of Pride) on Saturday, June 24, from 10am-10pm on Broadway E. (between 10am-10pm).

For more information on the Capitol Hill Pride Festival events, visit http://www. capitolhillpridefestival.info/

EDITOR’S NOTE: In addition to the events outlined above, Capitol Hill Pride Festival organizers are sponsoring two independent free speech events on Capitol Hill on June 10 and June 11 in support of the Washington DC National Pride March.

The Saturday, June 10 event, called the Capitol Hill Pride March & Rally, is scheduled to run from 10am-10pm. The Capitol Hill centered march steps off from Seattle Central College at 10am and continues to the main stage at Broadway E & E Harrison

Illustration courtesy of Seattle PrideFest

4 Seattle Gay News

May 26, 2017

Celebrating 41 Years!

Pride Foundation awards $438,000 in scholarships to 108 student leaders On Wednesday, May 24, Pride Foundation announced scholarships to 108 students from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington totaling $438,000 – the largest total award in the organization’s history.

Pride Foundation is the largest source of scholarships to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students in the country. These scholarships, which range from $3,000 to $14,000, seed the next generation of leaders in the LGBTQ community and support remarkable students who are engaged in a range of studies that will benefit the LGBTQ movement and the world.

Students supported include: Miki Cabell grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota and dropped out of school in 6th grade. Miki is now enrolled in a PhD program in education with the goal of becoming a teacher.

Lexi Bergeron is pursuing a degree in psychology at the University of Oregon.

Lexi is one of the first openly transgender women to be accepted to a national sorority – Kappa Alpha Theta.

Cynthia DeVille will study Industrial Electronics Technology at Lewis and Clark State in Lewiston, Idaho. Cynthia is the first openly transgender athlete in the Northwest

Athletic Conference.

Jillian Saxton-Moody of Fairbanks, AK is pursuing a PhD in public health with the goal of eliminating youth suicide in Alaska.

Michelle Knerr is an aspiring rural veterinarian who lives on a ranch in Lewistown, MT. Erika Kumar of Issaquah, WA dreams of becoming a surgeon dedicated to working in war zones in the Middle East.

Ryan DePauw, a first-generation college student who has experienced homelessness and struggled with addiction, is attending Portland Community College with the intention of becoming a speech pathologist.

Eliot Feenstra, a farmer, teacher, and artist, is pursuing an MFA at Portland State University.

“These scholarships provide vital support to students who have often had to overcome enormous hurdles, both societal and financial,” said Pride Foundation CEO, Kris A. Hermanns.

“I look forward to seeing their impact on our community and our world and I am thrilled that Pride Foundation has the ability to provide substantial support to enable these students to achieve their dreams.”

Since its inception in 1993, Pride Foundation’s scholarship program has awarded more than $4.8 million to 1,292 individual

scholars.

Recipients are leaders in the LGBTQ community and they either currently live or grew up in the Northwest. This year’s scholars hail from every corner of the region – from North Pole, Alaska to Kalispell, Montana and Sherwood, Oregon and include native peoples from the Blackfoot and Cherokee nations, students of Irish, Jamaican, and Korean ancestry, as well as Latino/a/x and African Americans students, and refugees from the Middle East who now call the Northwest home. Their ages range from 17 years old to nontraditional students in their 50s.

These scholarships have proved to be life-changing for students like Miki Cabell, “The largest challenge I have ever faced is my inner landscape, and embracing the knowledge that this Gaelic/Lakota girl with a sixth-grade education and a GED she earned in Purdy deserves to be here creating a voice of authority. The financial support, along with the psychological lift of scholarship funding has made me dare to

believe.”

Members of the public can meet these inspiring students at local events taking place around the region. The Seattle celebration will be held on Wednesday, May 31, at 5:30pm, at McCaw Hall (321 Mercer St.).

Learn about other celebrations in the region at https://www.pridefoundation.org/whatwe-do/scholarships/scholarship-events/ Founded in 1985, Pride Foundation is a regional community foundation serving Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Its mission is to inspire giving to expand opportunities and advance full equality for LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) people in the Northwest. Learn more at www.pridefoundation.org.

Courtesy of Pride Foundation

GSBA

CONTINUED FROM COVER

its first immersion weekend this August at Islandwood Retreat Center on Bainbridge Island during which all 45 scholars will be brought together to go through a three-day leadership curriculum.

The emotion exhibited in the Seattle Marriott Waterfront ballroom was palpable as founders and early donors; six college presidents, a college chancellor, a Supreme Court Justice, a long list of elected officials, community leaders, small business owners and major corporate partners, showed up to celebrate the next generation of leaders and our hope for a better future. It is always a treat to have Justice Yu offer special remarks and this year she also introduced US Senator Maria Cantwell to join her on stage to address our guests. Certainly, the most powerful highlight of the evening came when past GSBA Scholar and 2016 Community Leader of the Year Aidan Key shared his powerful, personal journey and talked about what it meant to him in 2005 to receive a GSBA Scholarship. This year, another new endowment was announced when Sandy Peterson came on stage to present the first Theodore and Rosemarie Ockels Scholarship to Victor Puoci. It is always poignant when our donors who have created named scholarships come on stage to meet their new scholars who received the following named scholarships: Bright Horizon Scholarship; Rich Thoelke Memorial Scholarship; David Barzilai Memorial Scholarship; Chester Podlodowski Scholarship and the L. Robb Scholarship. Additionally, our two Diamond Sponsors, Wells Fargo and Microsoft presented their scholarships.

Thank you to our Emcee Extraordinaire, Danny Cords, Table Captains, remarkable volunteers, photographers Malcolm Smith and Dani Weiss for capturing the evening and Aria Style for the beautiful arrangements. Because of the generosity of the evening’s sponsors: Title Sponsor, PwC; Provost Sponsors Alaska Airlines,

2017 GSBA Scholars Dinner – Photo courtesy of Pride Foundation via Twitter

Amazon, and Carter Subaru; and Mentor Sponsor, CenturyLink, 100% of your donations that night are able to be invested in our Scholars. Big thanks also to Interchange Media, Precept Wine, and the Seattle Marriott Waterfront for all the support they gave to this event and to their wonderful staff for taking such good care of us.

Special thanks must also go to our Board Chair, Drew Ness; Scholarship Chair Carrie Carson; dinner Co-Chair Dena Levine; and dinner committee members Katie Mooney and Robert Rhodehamel for giving countless hours to ensure the GSBA Scholarship Fund remains strong. Working alongside this extraordinary Board are GSBA staff members Carlos Chavez, Program and Events Manager, Travis Mears,

Visit us online www.sgn.org

Director of Development & Scholarship Programs, and Mark Rosén, VP of Development & Corporate Relations and the entire Team GSBA. Spending an evening meeting our extraordinary scholars and hearing their stories about how GSBA Scholarships transformed their lives; listening to donors talk about how meaningful it is to honor someone through a named scholarship or learning about the lasting impact of leaving a legacy, many of us now are inspired to take the step by investing in the next generation of leaders. If you are considering a first donation or a lasting gift to support a future LGBTQ or allied leader, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Travis Mears or Mark Rosén. You have the power to be that next

donor that will change a scholar’s life forever. You have the power to ensure a better future for our community. Please consider joining the GSBA Guarantee by making a meaningful gift to the Scholarship Fund.

It’s not too late to join the celebration and to invest in the next generation of leaders by making a donation today.

May 26, 2017

Seattle Gay News 5

For the future, Louise Chernin President & CEO Greater Seattle Business Association

Gay City Arts, Season 5: RESISTANCE! September 2017 through May 2018 Gay City Arts now accepting applications until June 7 at 5pm In these frightening times, many of us find ourselves under attack – because we are trans or nonbinary, and laws are being written about where we are allowed; because we are LGBTQ and shamed for how we love and experience desire; because we live with disabilities and our bodies refuse to submit to the demands of capitalism; because we are black and indigenous and brown and we live in fear of violence from the police; because we aren’t the shapes or sizes named desirable; because we are undocumented and are called illegal in this state; because we are trans and cis women still fighting for the right to make choices about our own bodies.

The resistance against our current ad-

ministration is beautiful, multifaceted and strong. Gay City Arts is thrilled to have the opportunity to rise to meet it, to be part of a new movement growing defiantly up out of the center of what has been cut down. The joy we feel to be part of the swell is why the theme of Gay City Arts, Season 5 is: RESISTANCE! Gay City Arts, Season 5 runs from September 2017 through May 2018 Gay City Arts is looking for work that can be dance/movement, theater, spoken word/poetry/writing, burlesque, drag, music, film, visual, or can be multi-genre, etc. that addresses and reflects the theme of RESISTANCE! Gay City wants to make the application

process as easy as possible. They write: “Our hope is that this application is an accessible experience through which you can tell us about yourself and what you’d like to do for Gay City Arts, Season 5. We know that experiences of oppression impact the way we value ourselves (i.e., see our art as “good enough” to apply) and also affect the way we experience forms and institutions. This is why we’re here to support you with this application.”

To download an application, visit https:// www.gaycity.org/uploads/Gay%20City%20 Arts,%20Season%205%20Application.pdf For more information or to talk to a supportive person about applying in person,

email arts@gaycity.org to schedule an appointment.

Gay City Arts will also be hosting a few information sessions for artists interested in applying – to discuss how to go through the application process and what they’re looking for in the upcoming season. You can RSVP to arts@gaycity.org or just dropby on Wednesday, May 31, from 5:307pm. Gay City, 517 E. Pike St. DEADLINE FOR APPLICATION for Gay City Arts, Season 5: RESISTANCE! is Wednesday, June 7 at 5pm to be considered.

Courtesy of Gay City Arts

“Family 2.0: An Asian Pacific Islander LGBTQ Gathering” a huge success!

by Sarah E. Baker Seattle JACL President The concept for Family was originally started by the Seattle Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) in 2014. As the second national organization to support marriage equality (after the ACLU), the JACL has always been a strong advocate and ally of the LGBTQIA+ community.

The Seattle JACL recognized the need for a culturally relevant API LGBTQIA+ support group in the Seattle area, and thus the idea for Family sparked. What started as a small community meeting at the Panama Hotel Tea Room, the first Family conference soon took wing and was successfully implemented in June of 2015. Marsha Ai-

6 Seattle Gay News

zumi, author of Two Spirits One Heart writes: “Attending an Asian American LGBTQ event like Family with my son and daughter-in- law, we were able to see people like us, so we didn’t feel so all alone and shared our stories of moving through fear, sadness and shame to unconditional love and acceptance which continued to bring healing to our lives. The Family event also gave me, a mother, hope that more families will support their children and more allies will become visible voices for my son and the LGBTQ community.”

“Family 2.0: An Asian Pacific Islander LGBTQ Gathering” took place this past Saturday, May 20th at North Seattle College in the Health and Sciences building.

Attendance totaled approximately 150

May 26, 2017

people, with folks traveling in from 6 different states to take part in the event. Seattle JACL President and “Family 2.0” Committee Chair, Sarah E. Baker, emceed the event. The day began with greetings from Deputy Mayor Hyeok Kim on behalf of the City of Seattle, followed by North Seattle College’s Cathy Lee Arquino, Director of International Programs.

The resource fair, which took place all day, had representatives and materials from 20 different community based and national organizations. These included: Seattle JACL, North Seattle College, North Seattle College Gender and Equity Center, API Chaya, Trikone, NQAPIA, PFLAG, NOOR, Ingersoll Gender Center, Bayan Queer Collective, LGBTQ Allyship, Hepatitis Education Project, Interplay – Sneaky Deep Collective, Mayeno Consulting, Marsha Aizumi, API PFLAG California, Seattle Gay News, Gender Odyssey, State Farm, and International Community Health Services.

After the initial kickoff was a performance by the Seattle Interplay Multicultural group. Interplay is a national organization that bases itself in group therapy via various improvisational styles that incorporate movement, stillness, vocalization, and other types of self-expression through the body. Coke Tani, a member of Interplay, traveled from California to join in the performance and to help facilitate an Interplay workshop later in the day.

The first workshops of the morning ran for 1.5 hours and consisted of the following: • How LGBTQ Folks can support trans and gender nonconforming communities, facilitated by the Ingersoll Gender Center • Family Acceptance, facilitated by NQAPIA • The Soul Loves the Body: Healing, Reconnecting and Affirming Our Lives Through Movement, Story, and Interplay / Body Wisdom, facilitated by Interplay • Run!! It’s Islamophobia, facilitated by NOOR

Following the morning workshops was lunch, which was provided by two family run, people of color owned businesses: pork, chicken, and tofu banh mi from Vietnam Café and Sandwich, and Tofu pad Thai and fresh rolls from Thai Siam.

The afternoon keynote speaker was Lydia Brown, an activist from the East Coast who is API, transnational, autistic, and LGBTQ identified. Lydia spoke on the importance of intersectionality in regards to disability justice in all forms of activism, and the frequent marginalization that people with disabilities endure when they try to participate in other communities.

Afternoon workshops ran for 1.5 hours and consisted of the following: • Coming Out After 30, facilitated by Seattle PFLAG • LGBTQ Immigrant History in the US, facilitated by the JACL NY/SC and North Seattle College • Asian Transgender Conversations, led

by Olympia’s Stonewall Youth • How to be QAPI and Survive This Political Moment , facilitated by API Chaya The day concluded just after 4pm. The emcee asked all participants to join hands in a circle and to take a moment to appreciate the safe and inclusive space that they had created together.

“Family 2.0” will be followed up by creating an API PFLAG group. With the help of other community organizations and Blaine United Methodist Memorial Church (which has a high volume of Nikkei), our hope is to be able to invite attendees from “Family 2.0” as well as others who are interested to participate in a monthly API LGBTQ support group. If you are interested in joining, please email APILGBTQEvent@gmail.com A huge thank you to all of our sponsors! Major donors include: National JACL Legacy Fund Grant, North Seattle College (NSC), NSC Student Leadership and Multicultural Programs , State Farm, and the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture.

Celebrating 41 Years!

AGING WITH PRIDE NATIONAL HEALTH, AGING & SEXUALITY/GENDER STUDY

Karen Frederiksen-Goldsen – Photo courtesy of Jayn Goldsen

Welcome Thank you for your genuine commitment to Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging, and Sexuality/Gender Study. We are nearly finished collecting surveys for the third year of Aging with Pride and have achieved an incredible 94% response rate.

The new information offers important insights about how different factors in real lives affect aging, health and well-being over time. As always, we are deeply grateful to our participants, community partners, and everyone who supports and follows our work.

All of our publications are available on the Publications page of our website, AgePride.org.

We have collaborated with many of our community partner organizations recently, including a Forum for the American Society on Aging and a preconference at the Gerontological Society of America. We continue to work closely with communities to make older LGBTQ voices heard.

My best wishes, Karen Karen I. Fredriksen-Goldsen, PhD PI, Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging, and Sexuality/Gender Study NOTE: For more information and to be added to the Aging With Pride e-mail news-

AGING

CONTINUED FROM COVER sexuality, gender, race, and social justice.

Help inform #agefriendlySeattle with your own views about LGBTQ equity, respect, and inclusion; economic and housing security; social and civic engagement; and aging,

letter visit http://age-pride.org/, contact agepride@uw.edu or call us at 1-800-558-8703.

It’s easy to connect with Aging with Pride online. Follow us on Twitter, like our page on Facebook, and read our blog.

Aging with Pride News LGBT aging is now being recognized as an important issue. In February, we published a 10-article supplement in the leading journal The Gerontologist. The articles are available at Age-Pride.org, with our other publications. Both The Gerontologist and Generations represent their first-ever special issues on LGBT aging.

Over 80 news articles about our study have been published in at least six languages in 2017, including in Forbes, US News & World Report, CBS News, and The Huffington Post. Links to these articles can also be found at Age-Pride.org.

We worked to support the continued inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity questions in the National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants and the Annual Program Performance Report for Centers for Independent Living. Our research reveals that LGBT older adults have many strengths and critically unmet needs.

Massachusetts Commission on LGBT Aging: In 2013 two LGBT advocacy organizations in Massachusetts, The LGBT Aging Project and MassEquality, called on lawmakers to create an LGBT Aging Commission to study and recommend ways to meet the unique needs of LGBT elders in the Commonwealth, which was signed into law in August 2013 by Governor Deval Patrick to establish the Special Legislative Commission on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Aging.

In September of 2015 the Commission released its report. Commission Co-Chair Senator Pat Jehlen said “This first-in-thenation state commission will provide a roadmap for giving our state’s LGBT older adults the care that they deserve, and it is one other states can follow.” In 2016 the Commission was established as an ongoing entity and continues its work to implement the many recommendations developed in this comprehensive report.

To view the report, visit: https://malegislature.gov/Bills/189/Senate/SD2441 Highlights from Our Recent Research • LGBTQ older adults with a positive sense of self report better quality of life and health.

• Transgender participants have larger social networks but less social support than other participants.

• Bisexual older adults are at risk of mental and physical health challenges, partly related to lower incomes.

Work-related experiences of LGBT older adults, by sexual orientation, gender identity & age, %:

1 – Women includes cisgender and transgender lesbian, bisexual, and other.

2 – Men includes cisgender and transgender gay, bisexual, and other.

3 – Trans includes transgender women, men and other.

Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging, and Sexuality/Gender Study is the first ever federally-funded and largest ongoing national project designed to deepen our understanding of how various life experiences are related to changes in health, aging, and well-being over time for LGBTQ adults 50 years and older. Our community collaborators are Center on Halsted, FORGE Transgender Aging Network, Gay & Lesbian Services Organization, GLBT Generations, GRIOT Circle, LGBT Aging Project/ The Fenway Institute, Los Angeles LGBT Center, Mary’s House for Older Adults, Inc., Milwaukee LGBT Community Center, Montrose Center, Openhouse, SAGE, SAGE Atlanta/The Health Initiative, SAGE Metro St. Louis, Senior Services, Utah Pride Center, and ZAMI NOBLA. Recommended citation: FredriksenGoldsen, K. I., Kim, H.-J., Sabin, J., & Goldsen, J. (2016). Aging with Pride: National Health, Aging, and Sexuality/Gender Study Spring 2017 Newsletter. Seattle, WA: LGBT+ National Aging Research Center.

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01AG026526 (Fredriksen-Goldsen, PI). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Courtesy of Aging with Pride

Update from a Community Partner: LGBT Aging Project of the Fenway Institute

Findings from: Fredriksen-Goldsen, K. I., Bryan, A. E. B., Jen, S., Goldsen, J., Kim, H.-J., & Muraco, A. (2017).

“The unfolding of LGBT lives: Key events associated with health and well-being in later life.” The Gerontologist 57(S1), S15-S29.

health, and community services. Lunch and afternoon appetizers are included at no cost.

Pre-register at www.surveymonkey.com/r/ LGBTQforum060317. For more info, e-mail agefriendly@seattle.gov or visit Age Friendly Seattle on Facebook and Twitter.

Tweet: Aging the LGBTQ Way forum 6/3 Seattle City Hall #agefriendlySeattle @agefriendlySEA RSVP http://bit.

ly/2qsdYPG On Facebook: www.facebook.com/ events/1701864310111018/.

http://gapseattle.org/ Courtesy of Generations Aging with Pride

Capitol Hill Clean Sweep June 4 Kick off Pride Month on June 4, at Cal Anderson Park (1635 11th Ave. at E. Howell St.) 10am-1:30pm, by helping to clean the streets and public spaces of Capitol Hill.

We feed you (well, Starbucks, Sizzle Pie, Nuflours, and a few other local businesses feed you...), give you a free stylish t-shirt, and you give a nice polish to Capitol Hill in preparation for Pride Month.

REGISTER TODAY (FREE): http:// www.strangertickets.com/events/43915072/ capitol-hill-clean-sweep-2017-a-partnership-between-the-capitol-hill-chamber-

Visit us online www.sgn.org

and-pridefest PUT TOGETHER A TEAM! Teams are generally 6-10 people. Companies and nonprofits are encouraged to put a team together and to wear your own t-shirts to promote your contribution. Or wear ours. Or wear both!

Music provided by Kendall’s DJ & Event: DJ’s LA Kendall, Tony Burns & Kid Amiga Thanks to Central Co-op @ 16th & Madison, Seattle, Coca-Cola, Nuflours, Sizzle Pie, and Starbucks for keeping our

volunteers fed and hydrated!

And a huge THANK YOU to this year’s generous sponsors whose contributions make Clean Sweep possible! Blanton Turner, Broadway BIA, Coca-Cola, The Derschang Group (King’s Hardware, Linda’s Tavern, Oddfellows Cafe & Bar, Smith, Tallulah’s), Hunters Capital, Nyhus Communications, ReachNow, Recology, Republic Services, & Swedish.

May 26, 2017

Seattle Gay News 7

Courtesy of Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce and PrideFest

Burien Pride launches first annual Burien Pride Festival June 3

Burien Pride is excited to announce the first annual Burien Pride Festival on June 3 from 10am-10pm. The LGBTQ+ event is open to all ages and everyone is welcome.

Burien Pride was an idea born out of necessity when community members decided it was time to stop complaining about various ailments (homelessness, theft, crime) in Burien and do something for the good of all people.

“We are a group of local Burien residents and business owners who came to-

gether to create a day where we celebrate and recognize the LGBTQ+ community; this day is Saturday June 3rd,” said committee member Debra George.

George is also the director of C.A.R.E.S. (Community Animal Resource & Education Society) in Burien. All money raised at the first annual Burien Pride Festival will go to Burien C.A.R.E.S., the local nonprofit animal shelter.

In addition to George, diverse committee members include a teacher at the Highline School District, a technical lead at Facebook, a stay-at-home mom, a journalist, an events coordinator, and additional community leaders.

“We look forward to an event filled with love, laughter, and community,” said Burien Pride committee member Nick Skolness.

Within one week of the announcement, the following businesses and causes have thrown their support behind Burien Pride: Discover Burien, Pit Stop Taproom & Pub, Black Zia Cantina, The Seattle Lesbian, Se-

attle Women’s Pride, B-Town Blog, and The Point.

Committee member Joey Gerretsen, who co-owns Pit Stop Taproom & Pub with her husband John, said: “As a business owner, and community member in this wonderful city of Burien, it just made sense to be part of such a monumental celebration. I am proud to be a part of the team that is helping Burien progress forward with compassion, love, and understanding.”

The Burien Pride committee is comprised of nine members and of those members, four are members of the LGBTQ+ community. The mix of personalities is an integral part of the group’s strength.

“We are all looking forward to welcoming the Burien LGBTQ+ community, our friends, and allies to our first annual Burien Pride Festival,” said committee member Sarah Toce. “Now more than ever, we need to unite as a community and bring positive change into the world.”

Toce is the founder and producer of

Seattle Women’s Pride. She also owns the award-winning daily online news site The Seattle Lesbian.

The Burien Pride committee may still be seeking sponsors and vendors to participate in the 2017 Burien Pride Festival. If your company is interested in being a sponsor or vendor for the festival, please download an application (https://www.burienpride.com/s/2017Vendor-Form.pdf) and mail it to 909 SW 151st Street. Volunteers are also needed.

Burien Pride welcomes neighbors, families and friends in joining them on this monumental journey to help enrich their local community. The Burien Pride Festival will take place Saturday, June 3 from 10am10pm at Town Square Park (400 SW 152nd St., Burien, WA 98166). The event is free and open to all ages.

For additional information, please contact burienpride@gmail.com.

Courtesy of Burien Pride

Pride of Ellensburg to host 2nd annual Pride Parade and Festival June 3

Local LGBTQ group gathers community support for second year of celebration

was formed in conjunction with, and is a partner project of its financial sponsor, CascadiaNow! Pride of Ellensburg will be partnering with other Ellensburg organizations and businesses to execute this year’s festivities. The Pride Festival is being sponsored in conjunction with Gallery One’s Art Confab taking place that same weekend. Pride of Ellensburg is still seeking opportunities to collaborate with other Ellensburg businesses who would like to be a part of the event.

Formed in the Fall of 2015, LGBTQ non-profit group, Pride of Ellensburg (PoE) will host the 2nd annual Ellensburg Pride Parade and Festival with the theme “Live.

Love. Be.” in downtown Ellensburg, WA, on Saturday June 3rd. Pride of Ellensburg

Parade – The parade will start on the corner of Chestnut and University Way, heading downtown to the Rotary Pavilion.

Many area organizations will take part in marching in the parade and spectators are encouraged to come and watch in support.

A full map of the parade route can be found on the Pride of Ellensburg website.

Festival – The Second Annual Pride Festival will be taking place at Ellensburg’s Downtown Rotary Pavilion on June 3rd from 1pm to 8pm! There will be local vendors, including LGBT and other organizations represented. There will be entertainment on the mainstage all day, including local performer Star Anna, the annual Pride of Ellensburg charity Drag Competition, and this year’s headliner, Furniture Girls.

Plus, this year sees the exciting addition of “Food Truck Alley”!

Afterparty – A Pride Festival afterparty will be held across the street at Starlight Lounge for people who are 21+ starting at 9pm. A drag show performance with fanfavorites Aquasha DeLusty and friends will

take place.

Ellensburg Pride is a shared experience meant to inspire and celebrate the Pride we carry in ourselves, in each other, and our community.

Pride of Ellensburg is a non-profit, community organization dedicated to inspiring and celebrating love, equality and diversity through local events, outreach and fostering opportunity. Pride of Ellensburg is responsible for the signature Ellensburg Pride Festival and Parade. Email: prideofellensburg@gmail.com Website: www.prideofellensburg.com Courtesy of Pride of Ellensburg

New City of Seattle fund seeks new ideas for achieving results and racial equity

The City of Seattle’s Human Services Department (HSD) is piloting an Innovation Fund to test new ideas or programs that focus on achieving results and racial equity.

This fund will make available $225,000 for new ideas related to one of the department’s six impact areas: (1) Preparing Youth for Success, (2) Addressing Homelessness, (3) Supporting Affordability and Livability, (4) Responding to Gender-Based Violence, (5) Promoting Public Health, and (6) Promoting Healthy Aging.

As part of the City’s Age-Friendly Seat-

tle initiative, HSD is designating $125,000 of the total Innovation Fund to support up to six projects at approximately $21,000 each. These projects will need to advance the “Promoting Healthy Aging” impact area, and discuss how they align with one or more of the Age-Friendly Seattle goals to: 1) increase social participation, 2) decrease displacement, 3) increase racial equity, and 4) increase awareness of the positive contributions of older adults. In July 2016, Seattle joined the AARP Network of Age-Friendly Communities, an af-

8 Seattle Gay News

May 26, 2017

filiate of the World Health Organization’s Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities. The balance of the Innovation Fund will be awarded to five projects at $20,000 each to advance one of HSD’s other five impact areas.

“Our department continues to be committed to results and racial equity,” said HSD Director Catherine L. Lester. “We see this Innovation Fund pilot as a way to encourage creativity and risk taking, both of which are important in responding to the human service issues our community faces. I am excited to see how this Innovation Fund pilot helps us to test new ideas and support our learning with our partners as we carry out our commitment to results and racial equity. This pilot is an important part of HSD’s work to strengthen the capacity of the human service sector,” Lester continued.

The traditional view of capacity-building can range from hiring extra staff, to providing special training, to sharing resources across different organizations. The

goal of the Innovation Fund pilot is to move beyond traditional methods by supporting organizations, people, or programs that can look at the areas HSD wants to affect and try something new.

Eligible applicants may include, but are not limited to, non-profit organizations, forprofit companies, government agencies, researchers and individuals. The application process will be through a Request for Proposal (RFP) and consist of a one-page document with less than 500 words describing the proposals.

The Innovation Fund RFP will be released on June 1, 2017 at http://www.seattle.gov/humanservices/information-forgrantees. Awards will be made in August 2017, with projects beginning in September 2017. For more information on HSD’s work and six impact areas, visit seattle.gov/humanservices Courtesy of City of Seattle’s Human Services Department

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Celebrating 41 Years!

Adoption Center

WEEKLY PETS:

PIPPIN Pippin is an 8-year-old Shepherd mix who is looking for a loving home. Pippin is gentle and a beautiful dog. He came to Seattle Humane after going through some traumatic experiences and as a result has some anxiety. She will need a patient family who will work with Pippin to help her feel safe and gain confidence.

She has the potential to be an incredibly loyal companion once she becomes more comfortable in her home. She enjoys going for walks and having her ears scratched. She also loves treats and will take them gently from your hand. Meet Pippin today at Seattle Humane!

As with all of our wonderful dogs, Pippin has been spayed, microchipped, vaccinated and behavior-tested. She will go home with a certificate for an examination by a King County veterinarian and an identification tag. PLUS, most dog adoptions include 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 10 years and older. Resident dogs are required to visit Pippin prior to adoption. Introduce to cats.

Visit us online www.sgn.org

Sunday – Wednesday | 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.

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

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

BING Meet Bing, a handsome 11-year-old orange tabby boy! Bing is a charming fellow with the most striking, enchanting green eyes. This handsome, talkative boy likes to explore and carry a conversation with you. He’s also a fan of petting time, face rubs, and rubbing up against your legs. Come meet Bing today at Seattle Humane! He can’t wait to be your new best friend.

As with all of our cats, Bing 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!

May 23-29 | Summer Dreamin’ Summer is approaching! With longer and warmer days ahead, kick off the season by adopting a pet at Seattle Humane in Bellevue. From May 27-29, take $25 off adoption fees and embark on the joys of pet ownership. Whether you’ll head to the mountains, explore the water, or catch up on TV shows this summer, there’s a pet who would love to meet you! Details at seattlehumane.org

May 26, 2017

Seattle Gay News 13

HUD Secretary Ben Carson to speak at hate group convention

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson is scheduled to deliver a speech at the upcoming World Congress of Families convention in Budapest. The group is listed as an anti-LGBT hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

According to the SPLC, the convention starts May 25 and will last through May 28.

The theme of this year’s meeting is “Building Family-Friendly Nations: Making Families Strong Again.” The subject of Carson’s speech has not been announced.

Among the US-based hate groups slated to attend are the Alliance Defending Freedom and C-FAM, both of which advocate for criminalizing homosexuality. At the 2016 convention, held in Moscow, National Organization for Marriage (NOM) leader Brian Brown was elected president of the World Congress of Families.

The same meeting that elected Brown also backed the rollout of Russia-style “gay propaganda” laws, criminalizing any advocacy for LGBT rights.

The resolution called for “the adoption of legislative bans on all types propaganda concerning homosexual relationships” in order to “uphold the interests of children” across the world.

The convention also endorsed legislation around the world to ban same-sex adoption, calling for people to study “the

negative social and psychological effects of raising children in same-gender couples.”

While laws protecting LGBT rights are on the books in Hungary, the country is currently ruled by the right-wing populist – and anti-Gay – Fidesz Party. Same-sex marriage was banned by a constitutional amendment in 2012.

Carson himself is opposed to laws protecting the American community, claiming they provide “extra rights” for LGBT Americans.

In a speech to NOM, Carson also charged that marriage equality is part of a Marxist New World Order plot to undermine American morals.

“Our strength lies in our unity,” Carson said in the speech. “And there are so many forces that are there to try to destroy that unity – the only way to bring America down.

“If you look in a lot of writings of the Neo-Marxists, when they talk about the New World Order, they say there’s only one stick in the mud: how do you get them out of the way and how do you change them?

“They said there were two things: their Judeo-Christian faith, and their strong families. Those were the things that had to be attacked, and those things have been systematically attacked.

“There’s a book called The Naked Communist… it lays out the whole agenda of how to attack the family and JudeoChristian values, to weaken the structure of America.

“This stuff is not secret; you can read

HUD Secretary Ben Carson – Photo by Chris Keane / REUTERS

about it. You can see all the things that are happening in America today.”

The Naked Communist is a 1958 book by former FBI agent W. Cleon Skousen (1913–2006), a supporter of the far-right John Birch Society. In 1981, he was recruited to be a charter member of the Council for National Policy, a secretive right-wing think tank, by the group’s founder, Tim LaHaye. LaHaye is best known as the author of the Left Behind series of books, which promotes the idea that we are now in the

“end times,” when Christ will establish his kingdom on earth.

“When we talk about liberty and justice for all,” Carson continued, “doesn’t that mean that people can be left alone, that no one else gets to change definitions on them and change life for them?”

“They have no right to say to me that I must change the way I think in order to accommodate what they believe.

“That’s where the injustice comes from, and we have to understand that.”

Patty Murray introduces federal $15 per hour minimum wage bill

Senator Patty Murray – Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Washington Sen. Patty Murray announced on May 25 that she will introduce legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2024.

Her colleague, Sen. Maria Cantwell, is a one of 30 co-sponsors of the measure.

Reps. Bobby Scott (D-Va.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) also introduced a companion House bill with 152 co-sponsors.

The Raise the Wage Act would raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by

14 Seattle Gay News

2024 and index future increases to median wage growth thereafter. This raise would increase the federal minimum wage – in dollars adjusted for inflation – higher than its 1968 peak. The federal minimum wage has not been raised since 2009, when the Democratic majority in Congress raised it to the current $7.25 per hour.

The legislation would give more than 41 million low-wage workers a raise, increasing the wages of almost 30% of the US workforce. A $15 minimum wage by 2024 would generate $144 billion in higher wages for workers, benefiting their local economies.

May 26, 2017

The bill will also gradually eliminate the loophole that allows tipped workers and workers with disabilities to be paid substantially less than the federal minimum wage, bringing them to parity with the regular minimum wage. It would also phase out the youth minimum wage, which allows employers to pay workers under 20 years old a lower wage for the first 90 calendar days of work.

According to a statement released by Murray’s office, labor productivity has more than doubled since the late 1960s, but pay for workers generally and for low-wage workers in particular has either stagnated or fallen since the 1970s.

At the same time, income for those at the top has skyrocketed. The richest 1% have seen their income grow by 15% since 2009 and by more than 130% since the late 1960s.

“Our country is strongest when workers and families are strongest, and raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour nationally is a critical part of reaching that goal,” Murray said in a statement.

“Washington state has been a leader in raising the minimum wage, because we know the value a living wage adds to our economy and in our communities. I’m especially proud that the Raise the Wage Act would mean millions of women – particularly women of color who are disproportionately impacted by pay discrimination – [can] earn more of what they need to support their families.”

Murray added: “If President Trump truly cared about the workers he promised to put first on the campaign trail, he would

join us to make sure workers get a fair wage, and that’s exactly what we are going to push this administration and Republicans to do.”

“Washington state has a history of fighting for workers’ rights. Our state has the nation’s highest minimum wage at $11.00 and is one of the fastest growing economies in the country. We are proof that you can provide Americans a living wage while creating jobs and growing the economy,” Cantwell added.

“It’s time for Congress to put workers before corporations and raise the national minimum wage. Today’s bill does just that.”

Besides Murray and Cantwell, other sponsors of the measure include Sens.

Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Tammy Duckworth (DIll.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Kamala Harris (DCalif.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Ed Markey (DMass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Ben Nelson (D-Fla.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Debbie Stabenow (DMich), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

Celebrating 41 Years!

Betsy DeVos OKs anti-LGBT discrimination by schools

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Trump’s Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, said she would allow schools receiving federal funds to discriminate against LGBT students if parents wanted such discrimination and state rules authorized it.

DeVos made the statement at a May 24 House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, where she was seeking $250 million more for vouchers going to private schools.

Democratic Rep. Katherine Clark asked DeVos about Lighthouse Christian Academy, a private school in Indiana that receives state voucher money but denies admission to students from families where there is “homosexual or bisexual activity” or someone “practicing alternate gender identity.”

Would she authorize federal funds for such a school, Clark asked the Secretary.

DeVos replied by saying she supports giving flexibility to states.

“For states who have programs that allow for parents to make choices, they set up the rules around that,” she said.

“You would put the state flexibility over our students?” Clark replied.

“The Office of Civil Rights and our Title IX protections are broadly applicable across the board,” DeVos said. “But when it comes to parents making choices on behalf

of their students…”

“This isn’t about parents making choices. This is about use of federal dollars,” Clark interrupted. “You would put the state flexibility over our students.”

“I think a hypothetical…” DeVos said.

“It’s not a hypothetical,” Clark snapped.

“It’s a real school.”

The subcommittee chair then intervened, telling Clark her time for questions had expired.

“The bottom line is we believe that parents are the best equipped to make choices for their children’s schooling and education decisions,” DeVos concluded. “States and local communities are best equipped to make these decisions and framework.”

Clark managed to get in a parting comment.

“I am shocked that you cannot come up with one example of discrimination that you would stand up for students,” she said.

At DeVos’s confirmation hearing in January, it was revealed that she was vice president of the Edgar and Elsa Prince Foundation, a nonprofit founded by her mother.

The foundation made substantial donations to anti-LGBT groups like Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council.

DeVos dismissed the information as “a clerical error.”

Betsy DeVos – Photo by Yuri Gripas / Reuters

Health care catastrophe if Trump gets his way: 23 million to lose insurance; deep cuts to HIV services, research

Activists protest against the Republican plan to repeal Obamacar. – Photo by Kevin Lamarque / REUTERS

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer America is on track for a health care catastrophe if Republicans succeed in replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) with the legislation that passed the US House of Representatives, and the situation will only get worse if Donald Trump’s proposed budget passes.

According to a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projection, 23 million Americans will lose their health insurance if the Republican plan makes it through the Senate. Most of the losses will take place in the first year of the plan, with 14 million people losing coverage in 2018 if the ACA is replaced.

“Premiums would vary significantly according to health status and the types of benefits provided, and less healthy people would face extremely high premiums,” the

CBO said in a report released May 24.

Older Americans would also have to contend with much higher premiums, and all but the richest of them would likely be priced out of the insurance market, along with people who have pre-existing conditions – in other words, anyone who’s ever been sick.

In a one-two punch aimed at middleand lower-income Americans, Trump’s proposed budget cuts also target the health care system, especially programs that benefit LGBT folks and people of color.

For example, Trump plans to cut Medicaid – the program that helps many low-income people pay for their health insurance under the ACA – by $600 billion over the next 10 years.

Domestic HIV/AIDS programs are also slated for deep cuts. The proposed budget for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) includes a $186 million cut

Visit us online www.sgn.org

in funding that affects HIV/AIDS prevention.

In the CDC’s own budget request justification, public health officials admitted the impact on HIV services.

“At the FY 2018 requested amount, CDC will reduce activities around testing, support services for persons living with HIV, and prevention services,” they wrote.

“In addition, CDC’s ability to implement innovative demonstration projects or research examining strategies related to high-impact prevention and new tools supporting HIV prevention will be reduced.”

Americans living with HIV would not be the only victims of Trump’s budget. Under the slogan “Putting America’s Health First,” the Trump budget cuts $2 billion in global health assistance, which includes a $225 million reduction in the US contribution to the Global Fund, an international organization fighting HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria.

May 26, 2017

Disease prevention programs – especially those that serve communities of color – are also targeted under Trump’s plan.

His proposed budget cuts $222 million off of 2017 spending on disease prevention and health promotion programs. It eliminates $51 million for “Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health” programs, $18 million for cancer prevention efforts, and $8 million for an epilepsy program.

Trump also wants to eliminate $136 million for public health preparedness and response programs. Most of that cut is a $107 million reduction for “Public Health Emergency Preparedness Cooperative Agreements,” a joint federal-state-local project to ensure that local public health departments have the resources to respond to a crisis.

CDC-funded occupational health and safety programs would take a $138 million hit, which the agency says would prevent it from funding “state and academic partners for conducting, translating, or evaluating research” as it has in years past.

The budget would also eliminate $64.9 million for “emerging and zoonotic infections,” including activities related to chronic fatigue syndrome and prion disease.

Mental health services would take two hits – a $116 million cut to mental health services block grants, and a $136 million reduction in “programs of regional and national significance.”

One of the biggest line-item cuts in the entire budget comes from HHS Community Services Block Grants, a $714 million pool of money awarded to communities around the country to address issues of poverty – and often poverty’s public health implications. Those grants would be zeroed out entirely in 2018 under the White House’s funding request.

Repeal of the ACA and deep budget cuts to health and human services are intended to finance a proposed tax cut for the very rich. The nonpartisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center forecasts that more than half of the tax savings in Trump’s plan would eventually accrue to the wealthiest 1% of taxpayers.

Seattle Gay News 15

Ex-waiter sues New York restaurant for HIV discrimination

Jack Mountford – Photo by Helayne Seidman

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

A New York City waiter is suing the trendy Buddakan restaurant for HIV discrimination.

Jack Mountford started working at the restaurant in February 2013 and charges he was fired in June 2016 because he is HIV positive.

According to Mountford, he has been positive since 2010. He says notified Buddakan’s general manager and other managers at the time, because on occasion he needed to take time off to meet with his medical team.

Buddakan management accommodated Mountford, allowing him time off and extra breaks so that he could inject himself in the stomach with medication, court documents say.

Then a scathing 2015 review in Eater NY magazine prompted Starr Restaurants, Buddakan’s parent company, to bring in a new management team.

Brandon Wergeles was brought in as general manager, and he did not continue the policy of accommodating Mountford’s health problems, the suit says.

After Mountford returned from a weeklong vacation in June 2016, he was told by a colleague that Wergeles had been meeting with other managers to discuss Mountford’s health.

A week later, Mountford said, he was confronted by Wergeles and two other managers. He was told he was a “huge asset” to the company but “became a liability” because a patron alleged his credit card

was charged twice on a $62 bill, the suit says. He was also accused of taking an unauthorized vacation.

Wergeles said he had “heard other things that were concerning,” the suit says.

When Mountford asked if he was referring to his HIV status, Wergeles responded, “Don’t you think I should be made aware of a health condition that could be detrimental to your job performance?”

Mountford told the New York Post that after being “humiliated” and fired, Wergeles “offered to write him a glowing recommendation.”

A manager then escorted Mountford out of the restaurant. Mountford “broke down and cried,” he said.

Mountford has denied the allegations that he overcharged a customer and took an unauthorized vacation. In fact, he says, he is responsible for up to $20,000 in sales.

The only reason for the firing is his HIV status, he charges.

“It’s Chelsea and the Meatpacking District,” he said. “I never expected to be in a position where a piece of my life that is so personal and unrelated to my job performance was thrown in my face.”

“It’s not the spread of HIV that [the] defendants should worry about, it’s their spread of prejudice,” Mountford’s lawyer, Paul Liggieri, said.

Teen may proceed with gender transition without parental consent, Minnesota court rules

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer A 17-year-old woman may proceed with her gender transition without interference from her mother, a Minnesota court has ruled.

The young woman, identified in court documents as EJK, identified as Gay at age 13 and later began to identify as a woman.

Her mother, who consistently referred to her with “he” pronouns in her public statements and court filings, sued her to prevent her from going forward with her transition.

The mother, Anmarie Calgaro, also sued St. Louis County, Minn.; two nonprofit health care providers; the St. Louis School Board; the principal at her daughter’s school; and the director of the county’s Health and Human Services agency, all of whom helped her daughter transition.

Calgaro argued that her daughter’s transition violated her parental rights. The mother also claimed that her daughter had been “emancipated” – legally considered as an adult even though she was still underage – without parental consent, another violation of parental rights.

Calgaro was represented by the Thomas Moore Society, a conservative Catholic law group.

According to EJK, when she first came out as Gay, her mother and stepfather became verbally and physically abusive. She later moved in with her father, with Calgaro’s consent.

Subsequently EJK moved to her grandmother’s house, then lived with friends, before finding her own apartment. According to NBC News, she began gender transition in 2015.

16 Seattle Gay News

Anmarie Calgaro wipes tears from her eye – Photo by Don Davis / Forum News Service

“I was not pressured in any way by my providers to consent to this treatment,” she said in court documents.

NBC News reviewed the June 2015 emancipation document freeing EJK from parental supervision, and said it states that Calgaro did not want to have “any contact” with her child, who had been living apart from Calgaro and was financially self-supporting for the prior six months.

EJK will turn 18 this summer, has al-

May 26, 2017

ready graduated high school, and has been accepted into a number of college nursing programs.

Judge Paul Magnuson concluded that none of the defendants can be held liable, as they are legally unable to declare EJK emancipated and “did not act under color of state law.”

Minnesota, in fact, has no legal emancipation process. The state simply allows minors living apart from parents and tak-

ing care of their own finances to make their own medical decisions. The document seen

by NBC was a letter stating that EJK was in that situation and was entitled to medical treatments to help her transition.

Calgaro’s attorneys say they will appeal the ruling to the federal 8th Circuit Court of Appeals because the mother’s 14th Amendment due process rights were violated by her daughter’s transition.

Celebrating 41 Years!

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May 26, 2017

Seattle Gay News 17

“First Trans Chechen” speaks on Russian TV Chechens demolish Gay concentration camp, fate of prisoners unknown

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer A woman who calls herself the “first Transgender person” in Chechnya says she was the target of a murder attempt in 2015, after she’d fled Chechnya for a safer residence Moscow.

The woman, who was identified only as “Leila,” subsequently came to the United States.

Before she left Chechnya, she told the independent Russian TV channel Dozhd that local authorities urged her family to kill her.

“Either you remove this man who offends all Chechen society by their very presence,” they told her parents, “or we’ll find you and bring the body.”

After she fled to Moscow, she received death threats and was finally stabbed by unidentified assailants.

“When will you stop disgracing your family?” the would-be killers asked her.

She reported the attempted murder to Moscow police but got no assistance, she said. Police told her, “Either screw off to Europe, or we’ll escort you back to Chechnya ourselves.”

Leila left Russia in 2016, intending to travel to Argentina, but she changed her mind after getting a text message telling her that Chechen authorities knew where she was headed. She then entered the US without a visa – the US State Department has granted no visas to Chechen refugees – and is now living in this country without documents.

The Russian LGBT Network, which has helped at least 40 people flee Chechnya, confirmed her identity for Dozhd. The group says that at least nine of the 40 refugees have left Russia entirely but added that Western countries – especially the US and EU – have been too slow to issue visas to the refugees.

Meanwhile, the opposition Novaya Gazeta newspaper, which first broke the

PERRY

CONTINUED FROM COVER Havana 12 May 2017 was the setting where close to 5,000 people gathered to honor Rev. Perry, including the US, French, and Swiss ambassadors as well as the Minister of Culture of Cuba. Mariela Castro Espín, daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro, and a member of the country’s National Assembly attended the presentation. Perry was presented the award for his long history of working for human rights and the rights of the LGBTQ community worldwide.

Rev. Perry was the first to perform same-sex marriages, co-founded the first LGBTQ Pride Parade in the world, and was invited to the White House by three American presidents. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter’s administration invited Rev. Perry to discuss gay and lesbian civil rights, and in the 1990s, President Bill Clinton appointed Rev. Perry as an official delegate to White House Conference on Hate Crimes and the White House Conference on AIDS.

18 Seattle Gay News

Rainbow flags fly during a May Day rally in St. Petersburg, Russia, 2013 – Photo by Dmitry Lovetsky / AP

story of the Chechen pogrom against LGBT people, found that the largest concentration camp in the country has been demolished.

There is no word on the fate of the inmates, the newspaper added.

According to Novaya Gazeta, the Russian commission charged with investigating reports of anti-Gay crimes arrived at the camp to observe conditions but found only a pile of debris in place of the military barracks that had once held Gay prisoners.

Members of the commission were told the prisoners had been moved to a police center some 90 kilometers away, but they were not allowed to visit that facility.

In 2009, President Barack Obama invited Rev. Perry to the White House for the 40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

He and his husband of 32 years, Mr. Phillip Ray De Blieck, reside in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles, California.

In a statement to MCC’s Global Justice Institute, Rev. Perry said, “To say that I am honored to receive this award from CENESEX would be an understatement. I am thankful that I’ve had the opportunity to visit Cuba and meet members of the Cuban government as well as these wonderful citizens. I am still saddened that the government of my country, the United States of America, has not lifted the embargo against this wonderful country and its people. I call, again, for our government to make that change now!”

The National Center for Sex Education (Centro Nacional de Educación Sexual, or CENESEX) is a government-funded body in Cuba. The center is best known for advocating tolerance of LGBTQ issues on the island. CENESEX stresses acceptance of sexual diversity and has attracted international attention in recent years for its cam-

May 26, 2017

The newspaper says Chechen authorities are visiting the families of Gay detainees and “demanding they sign a statement with the standard text stating ‘their son (or brother) [FULL NAME] left the republic to work in Moscow in late February. There is no connection to the Chechen police.’”

The most recent Novaya Gazeta report says that 26 men have been killed by Chechen security forces, including one member of the Russian National Guard.

Russian authorities have denied that report.

As of April 25, Chechnya was reported to have set up six concentration camps for Gays, with as many as 200 people being

held.

The LGBT Network has been trying to evacuate LGBT Chechens to safe locations, preferably outside Russia.

“We are in the process of figuring out which countries are willing to accept the Chechen queer refugees,” the group said in a statement.

“We negotiate these possibilities with the foreign authorities and NGOs. This has to be done in order to ensure the victims’ maximum safety and security. We have strong evidence that families of those who fled Chechnya [have] already started looking for them.”

paigns for the rights of transgender persons, including the recognition of an individual’s gender identity, regardless of birth sex, and provision of state-funded gender reassignment surgery.

There are three Metropolitan Community Churches in Cuba.

The Rev. Troy Perry at his church (ca. 1973) – Photo by Anthony Eton Friedkin

Founded in 1968 as a church for the LGBTQ community, Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) has been at the vanguard of civil and human rights movements by addressing issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, economics, climate change, aging, and global human rights. MCC was the first to perform same gender marriages and has been on the forefront of the struggle towards marriage equality in the USA and other countries worldwide. MCC recognizes a state of need around the world in the areas of human rights and justice. As people of faith, MCC endeavors to build bridges that liberate and unite voices of sacred defiance. MCC leads from the margins and transforms.

Courtesy of MCC

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May 26, 2017

Seattle Gay News 19

Olympia, Washington

PRIDE 2017 resist hate. celebrate love.

June 15 Thursday

Pride Power-up @ Jake’s on 4th

June 16

June 17

@Oly Underground 21+ Dance Party 10pm Jake’s On 4th

Capitol way to heritage Festival 1 – 6pm Heritage Park Dance Parties

Friday Pride Kick-off 7:30pm

Saturday Pride Parade 11am Jakes & the Eagle’s Club

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