SGN April 21, 2017 - Section 2

Seattle Gay News

Issue 16, Volume 45, April 21, 2017

Arts & Entertainment

Mary Lambert gets bold and personal on new EP And she’ll be at Seattle PrideFest on June 25!

Celebrating Black Brilliance – Langston Hughes African American Film Festival April 27-30 LANGSTON HUGHES

AFRICAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL APRIL

27–30 Mary Lambert – Photo courtesy of marylambertsings.com

by Albert Rodriguez SGN A&E Writer She’s back and she’s bolder than ever.

Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and producer Mary Lambert is set to release her new EP Bold, on May 5, which

includes the lead-off single “Know Your Name.” The former Seattle resident, who gained international recognition when she collaborated with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis on the pro-equality anthem “Same see MARY LAMBERT page 4

LANGSTON HUGHES Performing Arts Institute

104 17th Ave South, Seattle, Washington 98144

Celebrating Black Brilliance – Image@206langston courtesy of LHAAFF@langstonseattle langstonseattle.org @langstonseattle

“CELEBRATING BLACK BRILLIANCE” LANGSTON HUGHES AFRICAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL LANGSTON HUGHES PERFORMING ARTS INSTITUTE

April 27-30 LANGSTON, the new non-profit arts organization created to continue the mission of the historic Langston Hughes Persee LHAAFF page 8

Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Lush Us Ballet on Broadway Gay City Arts’ fundraiser a great evening of with special guest Sonya All-American dance Renee Taylor April 28

A Gay City Arts Showcase Pacific Northwest Ballet company dancers in Jerome Robbins’ West Side Story Suite, which PNB is presenting as part of BALLET ON BROADWAY, April 14 – 23, 2017 – Photo © Angela Sterling

Lush Us presented by Gay City – Image courtesy of Gay City Arts

with Special Guest

GAY CITY ARTS “LUSH US” TOWN HALL SEATTLE April 28

Sonya Ballet dancers are usually seen but not heard. They are in charge of our eyes, while PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET Renee Gay City Arts culminates its fourth “BALLET ON BROADWAY” MARION OLIVER MCCAW HALL see PNB page 7 performing arts season on April 28 with Taylor

by Sharon Cumberland SGN A&E Writer

April 14 (continues April 21-23)

Founder of

“LUSH US,” aFriday, fundraiserApril for Gay 28 City Arts and final showcase of artists7pm from Gay City Arts’ Season Four: UNCONTAINED. Special guest Sonya Renee Taylor, performance poet and founder of The Body is Not

Town Hall Seattle see LUSH page 6 1111 8thUSAve

General Admission $25 Meet & Greet $75-$125

tbinaa.com

Presented by

2 Seattle Gay News

April 21, 2017

Celebrating 41 Years!

Gorillaz include Seattle show on upcoming “Humanz Tour” Plan on September 3 at The Neptune (their September 2 concert is sold out, or close to selling out).

by Albert Rodriguez SGN A&E Writer Look out, here comes Gorillaz! A much-anticipated tour announcement was made this week when the eclectic British band revealed dates for its upcoming road outing, centered on the release of its newest album Humanz, which includes a Seattle concert this fall. This is the first time in seven years that the virtual group – 2-D, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle and Russell Hobbs – will perform live in North America and the Emerald City is their only Northwest appearance. The tour also includes stops in Boston, Washington DC, Detroit, Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Miami, plus appearances at the Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival (San Francisco), Meadows Music & Arts Festival (New York) and Life Is Beautiful (Las Vegas). The Humanz Tour will feature Gorillaz co-founder and chief musician Damon Albarn, a real-life full band and guest artist collaborators, such as Jehnny Beth (Savages), Danny Brown, Benjamin Clementine, De La Soul, D.R.A.M., Peven Everett, Anthony Hamilton, Grace Jones, Zebra Katz, Kelela, Mavis Staples, Vince Staples, Popcaan, Pusha T, Jamie Principle and Kali Uchis, among others.

Of course, the actual virtual group members will be present during the concert, which is always interesting to see. I loved their last performance at Key Arena back in 2010, during their “Escape to Plastic Beach Tour,” and am looking forward to seeing them again on September 30 at the same venue. Tickets for Gorillaz are on

Gorillaz’s newest album, Humanz, releases on April 28, 2017 – Image courtesy of nme.com

sale now at LiveNation.com, or by phone at 1-800-745-3000.

Additional tickets for Lady GaGa’s “Joanne World Tour” performance at the Tacoma Dome, on August 5, are available now for purchase. Thanks to an expanded set design, allowing fans to view the show from multiple levels and stages, more people will be able to attend the pop superstar’s concert this summer. Lady GaGa is coming off a sensational appearance at Coachella and has released a new single from her album Joanne, titled “The Cure.”

You might want to write these other new shows down: AFI on August 5 at the Paramount Theatre, Take Six on September 21-24 at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley and Simple

Guitar extraordinaire Kaki King will perform at the Tacoma Guitar Festival, happening April 29 and 30 at the Tacoma Dome. The event brings together entertainers, industry experts, equipment vendors and other exhibitors under one roof next weekend with King playing an hour-long set on Saturday afternoon. The openly Lesbian musician launched her career in 2002 with the debut recording Everybody Loves You and quickly became a household name in the instrumental guitar scene, playing a variety of styles that won her acclaim and a growing fan base. She collaborated with Foo Fighters on the album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace and then toured with the band on the Australian leg of the tour promoting that record. King is also a film composer, having scored the music for August Rush, Into the Wild and the Twilight movies. She and her wife Jessica have been married for four years. King will hop on stage early Saturday afternoon at 12:25pm.

For more information on the festival, go to tacomadome.org/tgf.

Finally, Grammy-nominated alternative rock act Alt-J will perform an intimate show at Chop Suey this weekend, on Sunday, April 23 at 3pm, as part of an Endsession, sponsored by local radio station The End (107.7 FM). Go to 1077theend.com, or tune in for details on how to get into the show.

Starboy descending: The Weeknd lands huge concert tour at Key Arena this week

by Albert Rodriguez SGN A&E Writer THE WEEKND KEY ARENA April 26 You just knew that The Weeknd was going to blow up when you heard “Can’t Feel My Face.” That beat, that sound and the energy of the song was a recipe for a guaranteed mega hit. That hit topped the charts in thirteen countries worldwide, including the singer-songwriter-producer’s native home of Canada, and to date has sold 6 million copies in the US alone.

Many people might think The Weeknd (real name Abel Tesfaye) got his start DJ’ing in clubs in Toronto, where he grew up. But he actually launched his career on YouTube, uploading a series of tracks and mixtapes, hoping to capture an audience, and more importantly land a recording contract. He got both. Though his major label debut, 2012’s Kiss Land, was barely paid attention to by American radio stations and fans, his follow-up, 2015’s Beauty Behind the Madness had the complete opposite effect. Not only has it posted global sales of nearly 4 million, thus far, it also showered The Weeknd with critical acclaim and industry accolades, including two Grammys, for Best Urban Contempoary Album and Best R&B Performance for the track “Earned It,” featured in the film Fifty Shades of Grey, which went on to receive

Visit us online www.sgn.org

The Weeknd – Photo courtesy of XO Records

an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Beauty Behind the Madness produced a few more singles – “The Hills,” “Often,” “In the Night” and “Acquainted” – that became top ten hits.

Late last year, the international star dominated the charts again with “Starboy,” the first released track from his third album, of the same name. The song, an electro-pop number with mysteriously dark lyrics and a slick music video, featured the highly regarded EDM duo Daft Punk, who also worked with him on a sec-

April 21, 2017

ond track, “I Feel It Coming.” When the album Starboy came out on November 25, it zipped to #1 in 80 countries within 24 hours. It will likely contend for multiple awards at the 2018 Grammys. Most recently, he’s made headlines for dating Selena Gomez, a strong LGBT supporter, and for collaborating with Lana Del Rey on her new single “Lust for Life.”

But something else The Weeknd is creating a buzz about at the moment is for his current tour, which delivers him to Seattle this week. I don’t remember him coming through the Pacific Northwest to promote Beauty Behind the Madness – although it’s possible that he slipped through quietly – but nonetheless, this is the first big show he’s brought here and it’s one of the concerts I’ve been eagerly awaiting since it was announced on October 31. The “Starboy: Legend of the Fall 2017 World Tour” kicked off in February at Stockholm’s Ericsson Globe and has already traveled through Europe and South America. The Seattle performance is the second stop of the North American leg with additional appearances in Phoenix, New Orleans, Tampa, Ottawa, Newark and Cincinnati, to name a few. Opening the concert will be Rae Sremmurd, Belly and 6LACK. Tickets to see The Weeknd at Key Arena are on sale now at LiveNation.com, or by phone at 1-800-745-3000. On the day of show, any remaining tickets can be purchased in-person at the arena box office.

Seattle Gay News 3

MARY LAMBERT continued from cover

Love” is continuing to spread positive, inspiring messages about Gay culture and relationships through her music, including the seven tracks on Bold that are best described as “feel-good queer pop.” Lambert, herself openly-Lesbian, dug deep into her own emotions as she penned each song on the EP, and self-produced three of them. I caught up with the accomplished artist via email to discuss her new music and to find out if we’ll be seeing her perform in the Emerald City anytime soon. Read on to find out what she had to say on this and more: Albert Rodriguez: The last time we spoke, you had just relocated to the East Coast. Are you still there now, or have you moved back to Seattle?

Mary Lambert: Yes, I’m still on the East Coast! I love it here. Seattle will always be a place that I call home, and I make sure that I visit every two months or so.

Rodriguez: Bold is being described as “feel-good queer pop.” What was on your mind when you wrote these songs?

Lambert: Man. These songs come from all over – some of them are 5, 6 years old. But I would say the general feeling of each of these 7 tracks are resilience, joy, and being completely, head-over-heels in love. Bold means a lot of things – but one dictionary definition that resonated with me is “necessitating courage” – like there’s a self-urgency to being brave. And each of these songs encapsulates their own sort of definition of boldness – whether it’s the spoken word in “Lay Your Head Down,” or the overt female pronoun usage in “Know Your Name,” or the fact that a lot of this EP was made by women. I hope that the joy and celebration of independence translates to whoever listens to it.

Rodriguez: What’s your favorite song on Bold?

Lambert: Each song has a very different origin story, actually, and I think that’s kind of what makes it fresh. “Do Anything,” the first track that I produced on the

EP, came about when I parted ways with Capitol Records. I sing a refrain repeatedly at the end: “I could have stayed and been fine.” That sentiment is about acknowledging the safety in complacency, and that taking a risk and betting on yourself is scary.

There’s also a duality in that thought: Could I have really been okay on the major label route? Had I continued the intense schedule and pressure of financially-driven music, I don’t know that I would have actually been mentally or physically okay. I also had a lot of people within the industry telling me I simply “couldn’t do” something – whether it was foregoing traditional management, or self-producing an album, or pausing my schedule for mental health breaks. The second repeating line in “Do Anything” just simply says “Watch me.”

“Know Your Name” is one of my favorite tracks on the EP – it’s dancey, it’s kind of sexy, and it uses a lot of female pronouns, which I’m super excited about. The producer of this track, Tobias Karlsson, did an amazing job making this punchy, kind of aggressively fun dance song. I wrote it channeling a bit of how I felt when I met my partner – this consuming feeling of “WHO ARE YOU, I NEED TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU” is pretty relatable, so even though it is gay-gay-gay, I think it’s also a universal experience. Not to mention, it was pretty neat having my partner be the mix engineer on this track!

I would also be remiss to not mention that MY MOM (Mary Kay Lambert) is featured on Bold. She wrote a beautiful song for her wife this last Summer, and asked me to sing it. I begged her to let me put it on my record at the last minute, and even though she was adorably nervous, she let me talk her into it. We sing it as a duet, and it still makes me cry.

Rodriguez: You produced three tracks on the new EP. What does that entail and what was that experience like?

Lambert: I have always wanted to be in the producer’s chair. It is a daunting and rewarding (and usually ergonomical!) chair to be in. I have so much respect for good producers, because the goal (hopefully) for a producer is to best serve the song and artist, and when you are a creative and hungry

artist yourself, sometimes practicing that restraint to serve the art can be very challenging – especially to one’s ego. I mean to say that as someone who has 100% only worked with cis, white, male producers up until this EP, I never realized that my voice was never fully expressed. To no fault of those producers – I think this experience is a microcosm of being a woman: The impulse is to take up the least amount of space, and allow for those who “know best” to take charge. The main incongruence here is that there is no “correct” way to express your voice – expression is fluid and is very much tied to identity.

An artist can express themselves through the music, but the producer really controls the sound and the way that the music reaches the listener. Depending on what reverbs you use, what preamp or microphone the vocals are recorded through, the sound of the snare – all of those small things add up and can either enhance the listener’s connection to the artist, or inhibit it. Therefore, the artist (whether they have more “technical” know-how or not) might actually have a deeper understanding of how to connect with their listener than the producer. At the end of the day, I guess it’s about what an artist is trying to create. If I’m attempting to make a super fun dancey pop song, there’s no way I’m going to be the right producer for that – I’m looking for a collaborator. If I’m attempting to make songs that grab you by the chest and pull you emotionally, my voice and direction need to be all over that recording.

I wouldn’t have come to these realizations, had it not been for my partner, Michelle Chamuel. She is a beast when it comes to being the sole conduit for her own music. Not only does she engineer her own recordings, but she plays every single instrument in the recording, produces them, mixes them, masters them, designs the artwork, releases it herself – literally start to finish. I am so inspired by her. I may be doing the producing on a few of my tracks, but I still have an engineer work with me to navigate the technical end. Producing “Do Anything” was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life, and is actually the impetus for the next album.

Rodriguez: Will you be touring again in 2017?

Lambert: Yes! We are looking at this Fall to do a national tour. It’s been almost two years since I’ve toured, and I think I’m officially ready! Fully recouped now!

Rodriguez: Do you still keep in touch with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis? Any possibilities of another collaboration with them?

Lambert: Absolutely. I saw Ben (Macklemore) a few weeks ago – they brought me to Los Angeles to sing “Same Love” for Zedd’s ACLU benefit at the Staples Center.

It was a beautiful night and it felt so good to see their whole crew. I consider them both dear friends, and I’m sure we’ll be working together again in the future.

Rodriguez: Are you making any live appearances, on television or in-store CD signings, to coincide with the release of Bold?

Lambert: Stay tuned!

Rodriguez: What’s the last piece of music you downloaded?

Lambert: Ugh, I’ve been obsessed with Phoebe Bridgers and her single “Smoke Signals.” I’ve had it on repeat for weeks.

I, like everyone else in the world, downloaded the new Kendrick Lamar album the second I woke up and felt overwhelming admiration for his artistry. I’m grateful that Kendrick makes music and shares it with the world – we are lucky recipients. Also, unrelatedly, this week I rediscovered my love of The Pixies – like damn, “Debaser” is so good. It’s got to be one of the best rock recordings of all time.

Rodriguez: Will you be attending any Pride festivals this year?

Lambert: I’ve got a few on my calendar, actually! I think it’s been announced by now, but I’m playing Seattle PrideFest this Summer! So excited to come back and dance and cry and serenade my home city.

Rodriguez: Which social media site are you the most active on and how can we follow?

Lambert: I’m pretty decent at Twitter!

Most of my handles are @marylambertsing if you want to stay in the loop!

The stereotype of the delicate Asian flower – Nadeshiko

by Miryam Gordon SGN A&E Writer NADESHIKO SOUND THEATRE COMPANY Through May 16 An ambitious, vigorously mounted production from Sound Theatre Company seeks to weave together Japanese societalcultural after-effects of World War II with a family’s modern descendants. Adventurous local writer Keiko Green uses some unconventional theatrical devices in Nadeshiko, along with traditional storytelling.

The main character in the play is a 20-something young woman, Risa (Maile Wong), who is struggling with formulating her path in life, and affording it. Taking a cue from her cousin, Sue (Mi Kang), our first introduction to her is as a hired sex object to a “White Haired Man” (Greg Lyle-Newton).

When she accidentally runs away with money after not completing the task, she comes back a bit later to offer an apology (but no money because she says she needs it).

Because of Risa’s insistence on inappropriately showing up at his door, Man and she develop a very odd kind of friendship.

The rationale for it is extremely thin. Except that, perhaps, Man is very nice to her.

He tolerates all kinds of inappropriate behavior and prying questions from her.

We also meet Sue as Risa tries to get Sue

4 Seattle Gay News

to help show her how to find a way to make money in this youth- and sex-obsessed society, by providing a live internet feed for paying subscribers. Sue is brash and much more clear-eyed about what she is doing and why she is doing it. She seems annoyed by Risa’s haphazard attention to the life-choice and its consequences. In fact, Green has written a pretty annoying main character!

We also meet Nadeshiko (Ina Chang), the grandmother. That is not her real name, we learn. It is an appellation given to young girls who took on a job of waving goodbye in 1945 to young Japanese kamikaze pilots as they fly away to die. It is the name of a flower.

Chang brings most of the humor into the play in a welcome way, though she’s overly stereotyped into “old.” Still, her interaction with the audience is definitely fun and warmly received.

We also are brought back in time to see the young Shoko (grandma’s real name) interact with one of the soldiers (Josh Kenji) in a couple of delicate scenes that allow us to try out what it might have been like to be in that situation. We see the soldier wrestle a bit with his fate and his decision, as Shoko begins to feel connected to him and to a possible future after the war.

The script focuses on idealized Asian beauty as a commodity and as possessed by the women characterized. A lot of the dialogue focuses on being “looked at” and

April 21, 2017

the implication is not just that women are looked at sexually, but that cultural myths and societal norms have embedded Asian women into a particularly sexual fetish.

The implication is that Asian women can’t be looked at any other way than sexually.

Not being Asian, I must simply accept that information when it comes from Asian women. Being female, having experienced, as all women do, many of the kinds of sexism rampant around us, I do not doubt the extra layers of sexism heaped upon Asian women.

Green’s use of this story of young women (nadeshiko) in Japanese culture is more benign than the darker history in that same war of “comfort women” – usually women who were abducted into sex slavery by the Japanese Army, usually not of Japanese descent. The women in Green’s history were more gently used, put on pedestals, with apparently strict rules against fraternization.

It’s the “madonna” side of the “madonna/ whore” coin.

The set of this handsome production is focused on elegant panels of walls that can swing from the Man’s pristinely white apartment into black walls of a tiny bedroom and other locations (designed by Catherine Cornell). Projections are used to good effect and key sound moments (designed by Dana Amromin) are important to the script.

Director Kaytlin McIntyre seems to have asked her actors to overplay their roles

a bit. The three women are rarely modulated in their deliveries. Kang modulates best in the 1945 scenes as the young Shoko.

Therefore, the two men come off better in their deliveries.

The script mostly skips over any area where the modern young women feel anything. Every time they get close to a real feeling, the characters stoically push them away, but that doesn’t really help the audience understand and identify with them much. We don’t know why Sue thinks doing Internet camera work is preferable to any other form of work, nor why Risa doesn’t care for her father. Even when Risa tells us why she’s angry with her mother, it’s more of a report with anger than it is an accessible experience.

Having said this, there is still much to like about the production. You can appreciate the unique point of view of the playwright and the characters. It’s clear the company cares about the production. Some of it is delightful. Some of it is thought-provoking. None of it is boring.

For more information, go to www.soundtheatrecompany.org or call 206-856-5520.

Discuss your opinions with SGNcritic@ gmail.com or go to www.facebook.com/ SeattleTheaterWriters. More articles can be found at MiryamsTheaterMusings. blogspot.com.

Celebrating 41 Years!

Pacific Northwest Ballet presents “Beyond Ballet – A Town Hall on the State of Ballet and Diversity” On Wednesday, May 3, Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) will host BEYOND BALLET, a FREE Town Hall-style conversation which will investigate aesthetics, diversity, equity, and the efforts to redesign arts institutions. PNB, Spectrum Dance Theater, and Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet (MOBB) invite attendees to share their thoughts, feelings and experiences in a Town Hall format. Ballet – its aesthetics, lack of diversity and equity – is the springboard from which we begin to examine these issues in the theater and arts at large. This forum will be an open study group for organizations participating in the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Racial Equity Learning Cohorts, part of the Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI), the City’s commitment to eliminate racial disparities and achieve racial equity in Seattle.

BEYOND BALLET will take place at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, May 3, at PNB’s Phelps Center, 301 Mercer St. at Seattle Center. This is a free event, however space is limited, and registration is required at PNB.org/BeyondBallet.

Panelists for BEYOND BALLET include Peter Boal, Artistic Director of PNB; Donald Byrd, Artistic Director of Spectrum Dance Theater; Erica Edwards, Director of Community Engagement at The Joffrey Ballet; Kiyon Gaines, former PNB soloist and PNB School faculty member; and Andrea Long-Naidu, ballet instructor for Dance Theatre of Harlem and CityDance Conservatory. The evening will be moderated by Theresa Ruth Howard, founder and curator of Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet.

While the format of the program will allow for diverging conversations, perspectives and stories from the field, planned topics for the evening include:

ABOUT THE PANELISTS Theresa Ruth Howard (moderator) began her professional dance career with the Philadelphia Civic Ballet Company at the age of twelve. Later, she joined the Dance Theatre of Harlem where she had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout the United States, Europe and Africa. In 2004 she became a founding member of Armitage Gone! Dance, and was a guest artist with Complexions Contemporary Ballet’s 10th Anniversary season. Ms. Howard has been a member of the faculty at the Ailey School for over 18 years. As a writer, she has contributed to Pointe and Dance magazines, among others. Her articles about body image prompted her to create mybodymyimage.com, which endeavors to help build positive body image through respect, acceptance, and appreciation. Ms. Howard launched MoBBallet.org, the digital archive for Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet. One of MOBB’s first projects was to help organize and facilitate the first-ever audition for Black Female Ballet dancers for major ballet organizations at the 2015 International Association of Blacks in Dance conference.

• The History of Blacks in Ballet: A Legacy as Long as America • The Aesthetics of Ballet: What do Classicism and Tradition “Look” Like?

• Teachers and Administrators of Color: Why They Are an Essential Component of Diversification

Peter Boal was raised in Bedford, New York. At the age of nine, he began studying ballet at the School of American Ballet, the official school of New York City Ballet. Mr. Boal became a member of NYCB’s corps de ballet in 1983 and became a principal dancer in 1989. In 2005, he retired from NYCB after a 22-year career with the company. Mr. Boal was also a full-time faculty member at the School of American Ballet from 1997 to 2005. In 2003, he founded Peter Boal and Company, a critically-acclaimed chamber ensemble. In 1996 Mr. Boal received the Dance Magazine Award, and in 2000 he received a New York Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for his performance in Molissa Fenley’s “State of Darkness.” In 2005, upon his retirement from NYCB, Mr. Boal became Artistic Director of Pacific Northwest Ballet and Director of PNB School.

TICKET INFORMATION This is a free event, however seating is limited and subject to availability: Advance registration is required at PNB.org/BeyondBallet.

Donald Byrd‘s career has been long and complex and his choreographic and theatrical interests are broad. The New York Times describes him as “a choreographer with multiple personalities…

an unabashed eclectic.” Mr. Byrd, a Tony Award-nominated (The Color Purple) and Bessie Award-winning (The Minstrel Show) choreographer, became Artistic Director of Spectrum Dance Theater in 2002.

From 1978 to 2002, he was Artistic Director of Donald Byrd/The Group, a criticallyacclaimed contemporary dance company – founded in Los Angeles and later based in New York – that toured extensively, both nationally and internationally. He has created over 100 dance works for his own groups as well as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Philadelphia Dance Company (Philadanco), PNB, The Joffrey Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and many others. His nondance company work has been with some of the most prestigious theater and opera companies in the US, including New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, and more.

Erica Lynette Edwards joined The Joffrey Ballet after being one of the first dancers in the Arpino Apprentice program in 2000. She trained at the Salt Creek Ballet School where she performed major roles in their pre-professional ballet company.

Ms. Edwards believes that it is important to share the experience of dance with others, and she does this by teaching at various community, school, and outreach programs throughout Chicagoland. In 2001, the Chicago Sun-Times spotlighted her as a “Black History Maker,” and in 2002 she was The Joffrey’s nominee for the Princess Grace Foundation Award. In 2003, Ebony magazine featured Ms. Edwards as a Young Leader of the Future in the Arts. She retired in 2014 after a 15-year career as a ballerina and is now The Joffrey’s Director of Community Engagement: She is responsible for managing all Joffrey arts education programs through Chicago Public Schools and the community to increase access, awareness, and appreciation for the art of dance.

Kiyon Gaines is from Baltimore, Maryland. He trained at Baltimore School of the Arts, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School, the School of American Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet School. He joined PNB as a member of the corps de ballet in 2001 and was promoted to soloist in 2012. He retired in 2015 and currently teaches on the faculty

of PNB School, works with PNB’s DanceChance program to bring classical dance training to the students of Seattle Public Schools, and has been program manager of PNB’s annual NEXT STEP choreographers’ showcase since 2012. Mr. Gaines is also an established choreographer: Since creating his first work in 2001, he has made ballets for PNB, PNB School, New York Choreographic Institute, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Cornish College of the Arts, and Spectrum Dance Theater. Mr. Gaines has been resident choreographer at Ballet Arkansas since 2015.

Andrea Long-Naidu was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, trained with Pennsylvania Ballet School, the American Ballet Theatre School, and School of American Ballet, and began her career dancing with New York City Ballet where she remained for over eight years before joining Dance Theater of Harlem. She has received critical acclaim dancing the works of George Balanchine, Robert Garland, Dwight Rhoden, Jerome Robbins, and others. Internationally renowned following thirteen years as a principal dancer at DTH, she continues to inspire in an arduous profession. She has danced as a guest artist with many regional ballet companies, and is considered an exemplary and demanding ballet instructor.

Ms. Long-Naidu sees a growing respect for the art of ballet in popular culture and joins in encouraging such groups as Aesha Ash’s The Swan Dreams Project, with a goal to increase minority participation in ballet.

She is married to Laveen Naidu, former Executive Director of DTH, and now Artistic Director of BalletNova. The couple continue to support the development of Dance Theatre of Harlem.

(For complete bios, visit PNB.org/BeyondBallet.)

BEYOND BALLET is an important part of PNB’s ongoing work in the area of racial equity and inclusion. This community event is made possible with generous support from Bank of America.

Courtesy of Pacific Northwest Ballet

Image courtesy of pnb.org

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April 21, 2017

Seattle Gay News 5

LUSH US

continued from cover an Apology, an international movement committed to radical self-love and body empowerment as the foundational tools for social justice and global transformation, will headline the event. Other performers include Seattle-based artists The Lady B, Ebo Barton, L Henderson, Ms. Briq House, ilvs strauss, Dani Tirrell, and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha.

“Lush Us” will be held on April 28 at Town Hall Seattle, 1119 8th Ave (at Seneca St). Doors: 6pm; Meet & Greet: 6-7pm; Show: 7pm. General admission tickets are $25; VIP meet-and-greet tickets with Sonya Renee Taylor are $75-$125. Tickets at https://www.gaycity.org/lushus/ or Stranger tickets and at the door.

In these frightening times, many of us find ourselves under attack because of our bodies. Because we are trans or nonbinary and laws are being written about where our bodies are or are not allowed. Because we are LGBTQ and shamed for how our bodies 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 physical violence by the police or the right. Because our bodies aren’t the shapes and sizes that are named desirable. Because we are undocumented and our bodies are called illegal in this state. Because we are cis and trans women still fighting for the right to make choices about our own bodies.

The resistance against our current administration is beautiful, multifaceted and strong. And yet we are still sometimes cut off from each other. There is a deep need for all of us to come together and celebrate the beauty of our bodies, our Lush Us. “Lush Us” is an evening of celebration and support for queer arts, body empowerment, and radical self-love.

“I was in Sonya Renee Taylor’s living room the moment she announced ‘I’m going to start a movement. It’s called The Body Is Not An Apology.’ I did not doubt her then, and I am not surprised to find that six years later, that’s exactly what she’s done. The movement that is The Body Is Not An Apology has reached thousands and thousands of people with its message of radical self-love, including the White House, where Sonya was invited to speak on the rights of people with disabilities,” Gay City Arts’ Director Tara Hardy said.

About Gay City Arts Art is the voice, spirit and conscience of every community and is a vital tool for community reflection, dialogue and pride.

Through Gay City Arts, Gay City collaborates with local LGBTQ artists to galvanize an audience for queer arts, foster the development of LGBTQ artists and works, and facilitate artistic excellence that is accessible. Gay City Arts is committed to presenting challenging, dynamic and excellent queer art across a wide range of disciplines, including theater, music, dance, film, spoken word, literary and visual arts.

The New York Times, New York Magazine, MSNBC.com, Today.com, Huffington Post, Vogue Australia, Shape.com, Ms. Magazine and many more.

She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Split This Rock, an organization calling poets to a greater role in public life and fostering a national network of socially engaged poets. Additionally, she serves on the Board of Directors for SisterSong, a pioneering Women of Color reproductive justice collective, and she is actively engaged in the movement for Black Lives and the Anti-Police Terror Project in Oakland, CA.

About Sonya Renee Taylor Sonya’s work as an award winning Performance Poet, Activist and transformational leader continues to have global reach.

Sonya is a former National and International poetry slam champion, author, educator and activist who has mesmerized audiences across the US, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, England, Scotland, Sweden, Canada and the Netherlands as well as in prisons, mental health treatment facilities, homeless shelters, universities, festivals and public schools across the globe.

Sonya and her work have been seen, heard and read on HBO, BET, MTV, TV One, NPR, PBS, CNN, Oxygen Network,

About The Body is Not an Apology The Body Is Not An Apology is an international movement committed to cultivating global Radical Self Love and Body Empowerment. We believe that discrimination, social inequality, and injustice are manifestations of our inability to make peace with the body, our own and others. Through information dissemination, personal and social transformation projects and community building, The Body is Not An Apology fosters global, radical, unapologetic self-love which translates to radical human love and action in service toward a more just, equitable and compassionate world.

The Horse in Motion’s Wellesley Girl a futuristic conundrum

by Miryam Gordon SGN A&E Writer WELLESLEY GIRL THE HORSE IN MOTION (at 18th & Union) Through April 29 The Horse in Motion is probably a small theater company you have never or rarely heard of. It was started as a collective of UW theater grads a few years back and has produced ensemble-created shows in particular. Their mission is to “expand the traditional conception of theatre.” If you attended their staging of Attempts on Her Life at the University Heights Center, that was a promising debut.

Sometimes, though, ya just have to do a “regular” kind of theatrical production.

Their choice, now on stage, is a brand new play (2016) by Brendan Pelsue, who has a very solid East Coast playwrighting background. He was brought out by the company to work on tweaks to his new play, Wellesley Girl.

I’m going to flip my usual pattern of writing “about the show” and then “about the production” for this review, and I’m going to use first-person much more than usual. Sometimes, I see productions that are well done, but the play is perhaps not as good as the production. That’s the case here. This production is excellent!

Bobbin Ramsay is a keen-eyed director who continues to show she really knows how to manage actors and has a great theatrical sense. She has cast solid actors from the ensemble and added others who also perform to a high degree. The scenic design by talented Brandon Estrella impresses in a small space like 18th & Union. The lights (by Ryan Dunn) and sound (by Alex Potter) do a great job, as well.

I have to call out Ms. Sunam Ellis, who joins the company for the first time. She has recently been seen onstage in various and different productions. Every time I see her, I find more of her depth and ability, and she presents her craft as if it were “nothing” and no effort at all. Yet, she brings nuance and understanding to every role. Here, her naturalism is so believable that she almost overcomes a difficult to like or understand character! I look forward to many more opportunities to watch her act.

At times, when a production is very

6 Seattle Gay News

From left: Sunam Ellis as Marie, Laura Steele as Donna and Mario Orallo-Molinaro as Scott in Wellesley Girl – Photo by Colby Wood

good, the entire play is elevated. A script is only real when it is animated, essentially, anyway. But in this case, the production cannot overcome the shortcomings of the script.

I can see why the company might have been drawn to the idea of the script. It describes a political colony where there are only several hundred people, so every adult is part of the “Congress” except one who represents the Supreme Court. The holy grail of playwriting these days is to try your hand at something that feels like it reflects on these political times.

However, the residents are so faithful to the old structure of government that they have to slavishly copy it – and only the federal government at that, not even a moment of state or municipality rule. That’s a bit precious for 400-something adults.

The story is based in the future. The Far Far Future: 2465. That’s 450 years from now. I don’t know about you, but my try at thinking what life would be like that far in the future seems fruitless. The play is about the United States after a devastating apocalyptical set of events – BUT the United States still exists! Frankly, while we are perhaps on the brink of finding out if we can survive president #45, getting to 450 years later and having this “experiment” still exist already seems questionable.

Other aspects, just of that decision to make it 450+ years from now, mean that

April 21, 2017

the idea that there has been zero technological change, even if there was an apocalypse, is therefore unbelievable. People seem to be living as though it were 1950.

And even science has taken an almost unbelievable pause.

Except. Except for one very sentient robot. A “husband robot,” who is very well played by Nic Morden. His presence, electricity, and the use of microphones is about the only suggestion of remaining technology.

We’re told that these characters live in a walled segment of four towns in what used to be Massachusetts, near Wellesley. They believe they are the entire United States.

We’re told that algae blooms poisoned the water – everywhere – and so people had to wall themselves in to filter the water and keep everyone from being poisoned.

And there is a crisis: Outside the walls is a contingent of they-don’t-know-what kind of gathering. It is large, it seems potentially threatening, and they can tell that these folks outside have mobile transportation filter devices, so they know how to stay alive and not be poisoned. The big argument is whether they should act as if the outsiders are a threat or send an emissary to ask why they’re there. That’s kind of a no brainer.

One can actually do both.

There’s a lot of talk about the power of the vote. Ellis plays a woman whose hus-

band is so conflicted with presented choices that he doesn’t vote. She is also someone who is against the “establishment” idea of abandoning their settlement and escaping into the unknown. Why? Well, when she was a tiny girl, her family left. It was a Wellesley contingent, hence the title. She is the Wellesley girl. There was an algal bloom and terrible consequences.

With little to amp up the non-stark choices before them, this wife is so scared to leave the walls that she is committed to killing her sons, as well. So, the rest of the play revolves around a “will they or won’t they” leave the walls or kill the children. It depends on the vote.

I am not interested in slamming this writer’s attempt at using theater to comment on politics. I think, though, that I’ve pointed out some choices that take him far, far away from a successful concept upon which to make his points. If he chose to write about a future 25 or 50 years from now that is based on some kind of modified nuclear devastation that has upended our grids and caused this fragmentation of core living spaces, that might be as useful as 450 years from now is not.

In this construct, the slavish adherence to a federal model is illogical for a small group of people. Voting is massively important in smaller groups and, yes, one or two people can make a huge difference in that outcome. This choice makes their society one to scoff at, instead.

Lastly, the danger has to be real, inescapable, and known to provoke a parent to want to kill her children. Or she has to be insane (trapped and insanely jealous and powerless like Medea, or really incapable of understanding reality). None of which is present in this script. Not to mention that there is no real reason to include such an issue in a play about politics.

I commend the company and look forward to their next outing. I look forward, as well, to you going to see the production and letting me know what you thought.

For more information, go to www.thehorseinmotion.org or http://wellesleygirl. bpt.me/ or call 800-838-3006.

Discuss your opinions with SGNcritic@ gmail.com or go to www.facebook.com/ SeattleTheaterWriters. More articles can be found at MiryamsTheaterMusings. blogspot.com.

Celebrating 41 Years!

it away, but there’s tap dancing, Keystone Kops, and a hilarious attempted murder that leaves the audience cheering.

PNB

continued from cover

“West Side Story Suite” (1995) Music: Leonard Bernstein from West Side Story (1957) Choreography: Jerome Robbins This dance begins with a documentarystyle ad for the original film of West Side Story. The camera pans over a section of New York City that was doomed in the mid-fifties to be torn down and replaced by the sparkling Lincoln Center – home of the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, and the New York City Ballet.

West Side Story was actually filmed in the neighborhood destined to be razed, so the street gangs it immortalizes – the Sharks and the Jets – were already a thing of the past. These are no Crips and Bloods, dealing in drugs and sex crimes. These are the fresh-faced boys who would have gone to Harvard – or at least NYU – if they’d gotta break. Bernstein’s familiar music and the finger-snapping threats of hormone driven teenagers seem more than nostalgic now, but a refreshing re-visit to simpler times.

My favorite moment was the rousing dance-off in the school gym when the two gangs of girls and boys outdo each other in their America versus Puerto Rico moves.

Though the mid-century skies were ruled

by Sputnik and school kids were threatened with nuclear war, it was still a hopeful time – full of American optimism and verve. It’s all captured in Robbins choreography and Bernstein’s jazz-based dance music.

the musicians – sometimes onstage, more often in the orchestra pit – are in charge of our ears. The most we hear from the dancers themselves are the occasional squeaks of chalk on wood, or the scatter of light thumps as point shoes rotate or land on the floor in grand jetés. But the current offering at Pacific Northwest Ballet gives the dancers a voice in service of the musical theater genre. “Ballet on Broadway” presents three interludes from shows that were popular on the Great White Way at the peak of its classic music style: Carousel, “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” from the musical On Your Toes, and West Side Story.

This is an evening of beautiful, exciting music, classic Broadway style dance, and – for those of us who grew up with Richard Rodgers and Leonard Bernstein – nostalgia. I was singing along on “If I Loved You,” “Maria” and “There’s a Place for Us.” It was fun to hear the dancers singing, too though how they can sing and dance at the same time is a mystery to me. But Gene Kelly could do it, so it shouldn’t surprise me that they can do it, too.

One of the most effective elements in this trilogy of Broadway dances is that each section is preceded by a short vintage film from the era of the dance itself.

This simple device sets the works in their proper times and places, while giving the audience a fascinating glimpse into the past. It’s an evening for the whole family – funny and colorful with both ballet and tap dancing, and the substantial music of Rodgers and Bernstein.

“Carousel (A Dance)” (2002) Music: Richard Rodgers from Carousel (1945) Choreography: Christopher Wheeldon We first see a short clip from the ballet section of the 1956 film version of Carousel with the wonderful dancer Jacques D’Amboise in choreography adapted from Agnes De Mille’s original work on Broadway. It set the tone perfectly for the dreamy whirling of the Carousel waltz that brings the entire corps de ballet onstage in circle dances and wheel formations. For those of us who know this story about a young woman who falls in love with a carny when the circus comes to town, Wheeldon’s dance makes perfect sense. A boy and girl find their way to each other through the rotating dancers and perform a duet that expresses all the joy of young love when it seems as though, by some miracle, something wonderful has happened. It hasn’t – the story of Carousel is the story of a failed relationship – but you can see why the love was real. My dance buddy for the evening was too young to know anything about Carousel, and found the dance vague. Who are these people? Even when the corps came out with brass poles and created the sense of a merry-go-round my buddy was underwhelmed. The revolving dancers were very touching, I thought, but it reminded me of circle dances that are truly sublime, like the Maypole Dance in Mark Morris’ “King Arthur.” This was a lovely start to the evening but only the lobby, not the great hall.

Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer Lesley Rausch with company dancers in Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, choreographed by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust, which PNB is presenting as part of BALLET ON BROADWAY, April 14 – 23, 2017 – Photo © Angela Sterling

ing night is carried through on stage when Jonathan Porretta appears before the curtain in a send-up of a Ballet Russes dancer – Russian-accented, self-absorbed, demanding endless praise and attention. It’s the funniest bit of the evening that sets up the plot of “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,” a

“Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” (1968) Music: Richard Rodgers from On Your Toes (1936) Choreographer: George Balanchine The vintage trailer for On Your Toes took us back to a time when movies were a window to the world and dance was an exciting departure from the ordinary. We see an impresario with a Russian accent putting on a show – the audiences at that time would recognize a send-up of Sergei Diaghliev. The frantic hub-bub of an open-

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stand-alone story ballet that takes place in a speakeasy. The story – a shimmy dancer, a thug, a guy in love – unfolds in a roaring party full of wild dance and clever references to Prohibition. Who better than George Balanchine, the Russian émigré, to tell an All-American story? I won’t give

This great evening of All-American dance uses the entire company in unaccustomed ways. They sing, they tap-dance, they do comedy, all with the same enthusiasm and expertise that we’re used to seeing in more formal ballets. It’s an evening full of fun that shows off some the best choreographers at a distinctive moment in the history of dance. PNB’s lively, lovely ”Ballet on Broadway” is on the boards through April 23rd.

Pacific Northwest Ballet company dancers in Christopher Wheeldon’s Carousel (A Dance), which PNB is presenting as part of BALLET ON BROADWAY, April 14 – 23, 2017 – Photo © Angela Sterling

April 21, 2017

Seattle Gay News 7

LHAAFF

continued from cover forming Arts Institute, brings the annual Langston Hughes African American Film Festival (LHAAFF) to audiences next week.

LHAAFF is a four-day curated experience in the heart of Seattle dedicated to celebrating Black brilliance in independent cinema. LHAAFF showcases provocative films and works about the Black experience shot from an independent lens. This year’s festival features engaging panel discussions and in-depth chats with filmmakers, industry professionals and community leaders.

In celebration of 14 years of Black film, LHAAFF 2017 presents over 20 independent films and special events.

“CELEBRATING BLACK BRILLIANCE” – LHAAFF 2017 runs from April 27-30 at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, 104 17th Ave. S (@ E. Yesler Way) in Seattle.

Thursday (April 27) LHAAFF hosts the Brilliant, Bubbly OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION in the Great Hall at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute (LHPAI) followed by Opening Night film screenings. Friday (April 28) LHAAFF’s Short Film “Happy Hour” features an array of diverse short films plus MR. HANDY’S BLUES, an hour-long documentary about William Christopher Handy, known affectionately worldwide as The Father of the Blues. On Saturday afternoon (April 29) LHAAFF hosts the panel discussion, Do Black Heroes Matter?, an intimate conversation about Black heroes on-screen and in the world of comics. Saturday’s program also includes two family-features, youthfocused indie films, DOUBLETIME and MY B.F.F., a documentary about Black women in medicine, and DREAMSTATES, a road movie featuring some of the most pivotal figures in Afro-Punk movement (see paragraph below). The annual Filmmakers Brunch on Sunday afternoon (April 30) includes a delicious meal by local chef, Tarik Abdullah. Special guests include Saul Williams, David Walker, Charles Murray, Anisia Uzyeman, Nnegest Likke, Sol Aponte, Jennia Aponte, Nathan Hale Williams, and Chef Tarik Abdullah.

The festival opens Thursday with 90 DAYS, a film by Jennia Aponte and Nathan Hale Williams. 90 DAYS is a provocative film that confronts the realities of living and loving with HIV. The cast includes Teyonah Parris (Survivor’s Remorse, Mad Men, Chi-Raq, Dear White People), Nic Few (The Chadwick Journals, Gideon’s Cross), and Rodney Chester (Noah’s Arc).

90 DAYS is executive produced by Jussie Smollett and Sol Aponte. The film will be followed by a post screening discussion with the filmmakers.

Friday’s short films include the hourlong documentary MR HANDY’S BLUES chronicling the life of William Christopher Handy, known affectionately worldwide as The Father of the Blues.

Handy’s trajectory took him from a strict religious home in Northern Alabama,to becoming one of the most revered composers of the 20th Century. Interviews with Taj Mahal, Bobby Rush and Vince Giordano bring Handy’s story to life.

On Saturday at 8pm poet, musician, and renaissance artist Saul Williams joins LHAAFF and director Anisia Uzeyman to present DREAMSTATES, a film that is equal parts love story, road movie, and Americana. DREAMSTATES tells the haunting tale of two wayward souls (Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman) discovering their love for one another in their dreams and reality while touring the United States with some of the most pivotal figures of the Afro-Punk movement.

On Sunday afternoon the compelling films, SPILLED MILK by Jaqai Mick-

8 Seattle Gay News

elsen; LIVE YOUR DASH by Brian K. Johnson, and SUPER PREDATOR: PRELUDES OF THE BLACK FISH

by Kelechi Agwuncha will be shown, followed by the CLOSING NIGHT feature documentary: TELL THEM WE ARE RISING: The Story of Historically Black Colleges.

The Langston Hughes African American Film Festival is a program of LANGSTON and is sponsored by The Office of Arts and Culture, 4Culture, and Teen Tix. TICKETS: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/profile/2370339 and (800) 8383006. For more INFO, visit langstonseattle.org; Twitter : @blkfilmseattle; Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/LangstonSeattle; Instagram : @206Langston

“CELEBRATING BLACK BRILLIANCE” – LHAAFF 2017 THURSDAY, April 27 – OPENING NIGHT! A night of brilliant short films that showcase a range of ideas, emotions and storytelling styles, highlighted by 90 DAYS, a superb film that confronts the realities of living and loving with HIV. Followed by post-screening discussion with filmmakers Jennia Frederique Aponte and Nathan Hale Williams.

6-7pm | Opening Night Reception | Great Hall – Enjoy lively music, bubbly beverages and nibbles as we celebrate the 14th year of LHAAFF! 7pm | DIVINE Part l | Dir. Kiana Harris | 0:02:48 | United States | Short – Reclaiming the narrative of femme blackness.

Reflections of body positivity and non-exploitative visuals lead to healing. Positive self-imagery is one of many roads to black feminist liberation.

THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD | Dir. Angelique Molina | 0:26:36 | United States | Documentary – THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD intimately follows an extended Black family from View Park, California, as they experience demographic changes and reflect on their shifting community. https://www.facebook.com/TGTNMOVIE/ PADLOCK MEN | Dir. Lewis T. Powell | 0:16:25 | United States | Short – 86 yr. old Barber Walter “Posey” Fodrell on his last day to live shares a memoir of a historically unknown secret pact between John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King & Malcolm X that sparked one of the greatest untold stories in Civil Rights history. This story is the genesis of what became a gritty stalwart band of ‘Secret Civil Rights Soldiers’ known as the Padlock Men. https://www. facebook.com/padlockmen/ LAST STOP | Dir. Prentice Dupins | 0:24:18 | United States | Short – LAST STOP is the story of Benjamin Wilson, a young African American male and his struggle to go on living. A veteran suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Benjamin has given up on life and his family. He seeks solace in the family cemetery as he gathers the courage to end his life.

As he pours out his despair and a bottle of whiskey in tribute to friends and beloved family members, Benjamin finds himself inexplicably transported back to 1860. He now must fight to survive the night as a runaway slave. https://www.facebook.com/ laststop2016 90 DAYS | Dir. Nathan Hale Williams, Jennia Fredrique Aponte | 0:19:30 | United States | Short, Romance – 90 DAYS confronts the realities of living and loving with HIV. Written and directed by Jennia Frederique Aponte and Nathan Hale Williams.

The cast includes Teyonah Parris (Survivor’s Remorse, Mad Men, Chi-Raq, Dear White People), Nic Few (The Chadwick Journals, Gideon’s Cross), and Rodney Chester (Noah’s Arc). Executive Produced

by Jussie Smollett and Sol Aponte. Filmmakers Jennia Aponte, Nathan Hale Williams and Sol Aponte will join the audience for a post-screening discussion. https:// www.90daysthefilm.com/

April 21, 2017

FRIDAY, April 28 5:30-7pm | SHORT FILM HAPPY HOUR Start your weekend off with unique, bite-sized films, followed by the evening’s feature film, EVERYTHING BUT A MAN at 8pm.

JUNIOR | Dir. Pearl Gluck | 0:28:00 | United States | Short – A mother struggles with a new normal after her teenage son is murdered by an off-duty police officer. https://www.facebook.com/Junior-ShortFilm-319518068416769/ THE MIXTAPE: STAY BLACK, BABY! | Dir. Jasmine Lynea | 0:20:00 | United States | Short – Capturing an exhilarating reflection on Black America, THE MIXTAPE: STAY BLACK, BABY! is a complex portrait of black youth rising, black art glorified, black voices uncovered, black struggle acknowledged and black empowerment revered. Musically driven, this film arrives at a very important time in America. https://www.facebook.com/stayblackbaby15 MR HANDY’S BLUES | Dir. Joanne Fish | 1:00:00 | United States | Music Documentary – Chronicling the life of William Christopher Handy, known affectionately worldwide as The Father of the Blues.

Handy’s trajectory took him from a strict religious home in Northern Alabama to becoming one of the most revered composers of the 20th Century. Interviews with Taj Mahal, Bobby Rush and Vince Giordano bring Handy’s story to life. https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=oQkLFTcdgH4 8pm | Friday Night Feature | EVERYTHING BUT A MAN | Dir. Nnegest Likke | 1:49:58 | United States | Comedy, Drama, Romance – She’s sexy, smart, successful... and still single. EVERYTHING BUT A MAN, starring Monica Calhoun (The Best Man franchise), Jimmy Jean-Louis (Heroes, Joy), and Camille Winbush (The Bernie Mac Show) explores the paradox of strong, independent women whose strength is actually a weakness when it comes to their relationships with men. Filmmaker Nnegest Likke in attendance. https://www. facebook.com/EverythingButAMan/ SATURDAY, April 29 12pm | DO BLACK HEROES MATTER? | Panel Discussion | Featuring David F Walker | Great Hall | FREE – David F. Walker is an award-winning comic book writer, author, filmmaker, journalist, and educator and leading scholar on African American Cinema will engage audiences in a powerful discussion. Do Black heroes matter? We think so. Walker helps us understand why.

12pm | DOUBLETIME | Dir. Stephanie Johnes | 1:20:00 | United States | Documentary – LHAAFF brings back a family favorite: DOUBLETIME. This edgeof-your-seat documentary focuses on two teams in preparation for the Double Dutch world championship at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Doubletime 2pm | SATURDAY 360 SHOWCASE | Featuring Paul Jackson – Filmmaker Paul Jackson takes us on a tour of the world of 360 degree images. Explore the world of 360 degree video. Travel to worlds and places across the globe and right here at home.

2:30pm | SLEEP RUNNING | Dir. Kevin Neynaber | 0:05:55 | United States | Short, Drama – A man haunted by trauma and stuck in a routine of depression tries to escape the torment of his dream world and find healing from the wounds of his past.

2:35pm | BLACK WOMEN IN MEDICINE | Dir. Crystal Emery |1:06:00 | United States | Documentary – This feature length documentary explores the history, contemporary issues, and future possibilities of African American women physi-

cians. A variety of Black women practitioners share intimate stories of what it means to be a Black woman doctor in America. https://youtu.be/7bQULXfB544 5pm | MY B.F.F. | Dir. Greg Carter | 1:50:00 | United States | Comedy – When five-year-old Marni Wilkins lost her mother, she was left with an unfulfilled soul. Her best friend, Gemma Brown was always by her side. When they enroll in a prestigious school, Gemma gets accepted, Marni does not. Things don’t go as quite planned, but the two girls learn a valuable lesson about race, identity, politics, friendship and growing up. http://vevo.ly/lTwqoJ 8pm | Saturday Night Feature | DREAMSTATES | Dir. Anisia Uzeyman | 1:14:00 | United States | Experimental – Equal parts love story, road movie, and Americana, DREAMSTATES tells the haunting tale of two wayward souls (Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman) discovering their love for one another in their dreams and reality while touring the United States with some of the most pivotal figures of the Afro-Punk movement. Sultry, sensual, and quixotic, an underground portrait of America: haunted and hollow.

Director Anisia Uzeyman and poet, musician and renaissance artist Saul Williams in attendance. http://www.dreamstatesfilm. com/#dreamstates SUNDAY, April 30 1pm | FILMMAKER BRUNCH – The Filmmakers Brunch features delicious food from MorningStar creator, Chef Tarik Abdullah. Enjoy lively conversation and an excellent meal with LHAAFF filmmakers.

3pm | SPILLED MILK | Dir. Jaqai Mickelsen | 1:43:32 | United States | Documentary – Two lifelong friends, one blood disease. Follow their journey as one suffers from Sickle Cell – an often stigmatized and excruciatingly painful disorder that mostly affects African Americans. https://vimeo. com/95778871 5pm | CLOSING NIGHT FILMS LIVE YOUR DASH | Dir. Bryan K. Johnson | 0:11:55 | United States | Documentary Short – Dr. Raphael Moffett’s encouraging and unexpected journey overcoming Colon Cancer.

SUPER PREDATOR: PRELUDES OF THE BLACK FISH | Dir. Kelechi Agwuncha | 0:06:11 | United States | Short, Drama – A contemporary black ethnocentric film about the parallels between the predator-prey relationship of a black man facing the prejudicial bounds of society.

He reflects the underlying qualities, while showing that the integrity of his dispositions reveals much more. https://vimeo. com/205613101 TELL THEM WE ARE RISING: The Story of Historically Black Colleges | Dir. Stanley Nelson | 1:30:00 | United States | Documentary – The story of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) began before the Civil War and influenced the course of our nation yet remains one of America’s most important untold stories.

Until now. Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Historically Black Colleges and Universities is the first and only feature documentary and multi-platform project to research, gather, and share a rich mosaic of stories that relay the history of HBCUs. Tell Them We Are Rising is produced

by Firelight Films and directed by master documentarian Stanley Nelson, producer of The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution.

Courtesy of the Langston Hughes African American Film Festival

Celebrating 41 Years!

Witty Colossal a human monster of a melodrama

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN A&E Writer COLOSSAL Now playing At a certain point, you either realize Colossal is not the giant South Korean kaiju movie, starring Anne Hathaway, that you believe it is going to be and you’re fine with that, or you keep thinking writer/director Nacho Vigalondo (Timecrimes) is going to give it to you only to be left unhappily dissatisfied when he steadfastly refuses to do so. This is not the film the trailers have done their job selling it to be, and as such I assume there will be those who will be so upset by this turn of events they’ll fail to notice just how witty, thought-provoking and richly character-driven the film turns out to be.

Vigalondo has craftily manufactured a comedy-drama about addiction and abusive relationships and costumed it in the skins of a lizard-like creature rampaging through the streets of Seoul. But instead of unchecked destruction to buildings and machinery, the core carnage is that of the human variety. Whether it is the despair and the regret one feels over unintended, uncontrolled calamity born of selfish excess, or pent-up longing and sexual repression that has metastasized into a form of aggression and violence towards friends and family, there’s plenty to ponder. But as far as spectacle is concerned, visuals of monsters crashing through buildings and battling it out in downtown streets as civilians run wildly to escape, there’s precious little of that, and when it does happen Vigalondo treats it more as an afterthought than as an easy excuse to generate tension or excitement.

After her boyfriend Tim (Dan Stevens) kicks her out of his New York apartment for coming home drunk one too many times, unemployed writer Gloria (Hathaway) heads upstate to her former childhood home to hide out until she can figure out what to do next. With her parents out of town, the house isn’t just

Jason Sudeikis (Oscar) and Anne Hathaway (Gloria) in Colossal – Photo courtesy of collider.com

empty, it’s positively barren, all the furniture and furnishing in storage until they return next summer.

After picking up an air mattress and a few other additional supplies, Gloria runs into former schoolmate Oscar (Jason Sudeikis) who happens to own and run his late father’s bar. After being introduced to a couple of his regulars, Joel (Austin Stowell) and Garth (Tim Blake Nelson), one thing leads to another and a number of beers are enjoyed by all. Next morning, hung over and barely able to get out of bed, Gloria learns that a giant creature attacked South Korea, strangely during the exact same hours she was stumbling around a local playground blind drunk. It’s impossible, totally beyond comprehension, but she thinks the monster and her are somehow linked, and if that’s the case, that makes the young woman indirectly responsible for unfathomable destruction and carnage including the loss of untold lives, all due to an alcoholic stupor that’s become all too common of late.

The central device is as silly and as bizarre as it sounds. Gloria is the monster.

The monster is Gloria. They are one and the same, and whenever she steps foot into that playground at a certain time of day, the creature appears in the middle of Seoul ready to unleash havoc. But it is how this realization affects the young woman, the way in which it suddenly forces her to look at the way she’s been living her life, makes her peer into the mirror and come to grips with the fact she’s an alcoholic in need of help, that’s the key element. It is what will drive Gloria in a number of varied directions as she attempts to cope with what’s going on, as well as what will compel her to prove to Oscar, Joel and Garth that what’s happening isn’t a figment of her imagination brought on by all the drinking.

That last element is a key turn of events, especially considering the emotionally stilted Oscar has had a thing for Gloria since the time they were in elementary school. But what kind of thing? What are his true feelings for her? And how far is he willing to go to make sure she remains part of his life whether she’d like to or not? These questions get added to the mix, and what began as a crazy, silly, dialogue-

driven exercise in comedic science fiction on a dime mutates into something far more personal and affecting. It’s a powerful evolution, this imaginative, fun little throwaway becoming something meaningful and thought-provoking as it analyzes gender roles, addictive personalities and relationship dynamics in a pointed, unflinching manner that’s startling.

Hathaway is superb, her amazed delight at having control of a Godzilla-like being morphing into unfathomable regret and terror as she instantly realizes being a giant, city-stomping monster means she is directly responsible for all that has happened to the citizens of Seoul. Her chemistry with Sudeikis is equally sensational, especially as their easygoing back-andforth banter becomes decidedly different as the film progresses. Hathaway’s fortitude as she attempts to shed the shackles of alcohol abuse and find an inner confidence she’d somehow misplaced once she started finding happiness at the bottom of a bottle is terrific, all of which helps make her final moments looking an unexpected adversary in the metaphorical eye a wonder of empowering resilience that’s oddly easy to relate to.

Vigalondo keeps the tone light and bouncy until the moment he allows the worm to turn and subtly reveals what’s really going on and who the true villain of the piece is. The director appears to be having a grand time playing this game, keeping things close to the vest, and the jokes fly and the sight gags take center stage. But once the tone grows serious, the moment characters begin to reveal who they are and openly state what lengths they’re willing to go to in order to achieve their desires, Vigalondo does not pull his punches. Because of this, Colossal is uniquely fascinating, this kaiju relationship comedy secretly an emotionally crushing monster of a relationship melodrama that’s as intimately human as it is cathartically humane.

Emotionally dazzling Gifted a stroke of genius

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN A&E Writer GIFTED Now playing Mary Adler (McKenna Grace) is on her way to First Grade and she isn’t happy about it. But her uncle Frank (Chris Evans) insists she go, and as he’s the one who has looked after her since the tragic death of her mother when she was still a baby, it’s not like the six-and-a-half-year-old has a lot of say in the matter. Still, Mary knows this whole school thing won’t be for her, the kids she’s going to encounter and the curriculum she’ll be tasked to learn likely not going to meet with her virtuoso standards.

That’s understating things considerably. Turns out, Mary is something of a child prodigy, especially her math skills, something her new teacher Bonnie Stevenson (Jenny Slate) can’t fail to notice. But by doing her job, by attempting to make Frank aware of the situation as well as by bringing the news to her school’s principal, Miss Stevenson opens up an unintended can of worms. Mary’s grandmother, Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan), arrives at her son’s Florida home from Massachusetts with designs on taking the girl back to Boston. In fact, she files a lawsuit to do just that, and as much as she loves Frank she believes just as deeply that his plans for Mary are not in her own best interests.

Inspirational drama Gifted is director Marc Webb’s return to (500) Days of Summer territory and an escape from big budget comic book adventures, namely his two bloated, self-indulgent and increasingly dumb The Amazing Spider-Man efforts.

Working from a deft, thought-provoking script written by Tom Flynn (Watch It), what the movie lacks in originality it makes up for in spunk, depth and authentically realized human emotions, all of which have precious little trouble breaking through the melodramatic contrivances that sometimes arise. Featuring what might be Evans’ best performance as well as a breakout turn by pint-sized starlet Grace, this little gem had me wrapped around its finger right from the start, and to say I loved it wouldn’t be stretching the truth one iota.

Webb does a terrific job revealing the tiny notes of mystery hidden inside Flynn’s screenplay, parceling out information about Mary’s mother in delicately piecemeal fashion. He allows tension to build with naturalistic subtlety, allowing Evans, Grace, Duncan, Slate and Oscar-winner Octavia Spencer ample room to give their respective characters energy and life that leaps off the screen. Mixing laughter with tears, heartbreak with celebration, Webb strikes a delicate balance between all the varying emotions, doing so with an idiosyncratic whimsy that’s not so much groundbreaking as it is difficult to find fault with and easy to be enamored by.

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Not that some of the contrivances don’t stand out in ways they probably shouldn’t.

A third act twist in the court case leads to actions on Evelyn’s part that will surprise just about no one, while the solution that Flynn puts forth to bring as many of his characters to their respective happy place is tiredly rudimentary. This latter item is an easy out that solves most of the film’s problems in one simplistic swoop, and once revealed there was a part of me that wanted to roll my eyes in incredulous disbelief that things were about to play themselves out in this particular manner.

Funny thing is, as false as the moment itself might be, the way in which many of the primary players give it life turns out to be anything but. Evans and Duncan are particularly outstanding, the way in which they interact during these climactic sequences undeniably genuine. The two actors bring an intimate urgency to this reveal that held me spellbound, and while the bow Webb wraps around things in order to send his audience out of the theatre with a spring in their step and a smile on their face is a little too vibrant, I still responded positively all the same.

Then there are the little moments. Spencer and Grace dancing on a couch without a care in the world. Evans and Duncan showing that, while their characters might be at odds over Mary, that their mutual respect and love for one another as mother and son still exists no matter how difficult and an-

gry the court case itself might become. A lovely quiet moment between Bonnie and Frank in a bar where seemingly innocent reveals about their respective histories sheds unexpected light on why the uncle is pursuing this particular course of action as it pertains to Mary. Best of all might be a heroic act of resistance aboard a school bus that has unintended consequences that reverberate throughout the remainder of the story; and while the actions undertaken are certainly excessive, the selflessness driving them are anything but.

Webb combines everything together with utmost confidence, and while he isn’t reinventing the wheel the way he did with (500) Days of Summer, that doesn’t make his handling of this more straightforward and less imaginatively dexterous material something to be ashamed of. Quite the opposite, the director righting his ship and putting his career back on course with surprising energetic verisimilitude, making me excited to see what he has up his sleeve next in a way I did not believe was possible after watching the positively dreadful The Amazing Spider-Man 2 back in the summer of 2014. Gifted won me over, body and soul, and the only thing I wanted to do when it came to an end was to find a way to watch it again right that very second.

April 21, 2017

Seattle Gay News 9

10 Seattle Gay News

April 21, 2017

Celebrating 41 Years!

Visit us online www.sgn.org

April 21, 2017

Seattle Gay News 11

12 Seattle Gay News

April 21, 2017

Celebrating 41 Years!

LANGSTON HUGHES

AFRICAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL APRIL

27–30 langstonseattle.org

Visit us online www.sgn.org

LANGSTON HUGHES Performing Arts Institute

104 17th Ave South, Seattle, Washington 98144 @langstonseattle

@206langston

@langstonseattle

April 21, 2017

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14 Seattle Gay News

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Celebrating 41 Years!

EVENTS

Diverse Harmony hosts annual luncheon May 7 and presents summer concert June 30 & July 1 On May 7 Diverse Harmony, Seattle’s Gay/Straight Alliance youth chorus for ages 14-22, will host their annual luncheon where we thank our donors for supporting us. The large chorus and smaller chorus, Spectrum will perform. The luncheon starts at 12:30. We would love to have you join us and hear the youth sing and hear their stories of how important Diverse Harmony is to them. In the past, the stories have been very moving! Contact us at info@diverseharmony.org to reserve your spot for lunch.

For more information, visit www.diverseharmony.org/ Also, coming up in the Seattle area is the Seattle Foundation’s Give BIG campaign on May 10th.

NOW MORE THAN EVER! This is a chance for the Diverse Harmony community, supporters and fans to show their support for our work and make their contributions have a greater impact! You can pre-schedule your gifts starting on April 27th and GiveBIG will be all day on May 10th. If you donate via https://www.givebigseattle.org/diverse-harmony you will help non-profits make Greater Seattle a stronger, more vibrant community for all.

It is our region’s most well-recognized and visible crowd-funding platform, with more than 1,600 non-profits estimated to be participating. Nearly 50 percent of GiveBIG donors give to multiple organizations. You don’t want to be missing from the GiveBIG website when donors enjoying the convenience of online giving start “shopping” for more organizations to support!

Coming Up Diverse Harmony concert – June 30 & July 1 The youth are currently preparing music for their next show at the end of June. It will be two nights at the Broadway Performance Hall (1625 Broadway – off the Seattle Community College south plaza) and will feature music all about musicians and composers of color with songs from spirituals to pop! Both the large chorus and Spectrum will perform. Advance tickets will be available through Brown Paper Tickets as we get closer to the concert dates.

News From Our Youth You may not realize it but we have youth who make a tremendous effort to come to rehearsal every Tuesday. We have several high schoolers that take the light rail and bus each way to every rehearsal from Kent!

Visit us online www.sgn.org

Several youth just finished their involvement as actors and crew in West Seattle High School’s production of Bonnie and Clyde. One youth who has struggled for affordable housing was just approved for Section 8 housing!

Diverse Harmony Wants You! Finally, we are always looking for volunteers to help out at our shows. You will interact with board members and the youth as well. We are also looking for more board members! We are a working board and we meet monthly on the first Wednesday of every month. Brayton plans the shows, selects the music, and rehearses and leads the youth. We do the rest. So if you are interested in hauling props, taking tickets, and folding mailings for events, Diverse Harmony might just be for you! Interacting

April 21, 2017

with our youth and seeing their passion for their community, and seeing them come together week after week for a performance, is a very enriching experience. If you are interested in learning more about volunteering or being on the board, contact us at info@diverseharmony.org.

We hope to see you at our luncheon on May 7 and at our concerts June 30 and July 1.

Courtesy of Diverse Harmony

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Celebrating 41 Years!

EVENTS

QueerCon WWU Hello,I am writing to you on behalf of Western Washington University’s Queer Comic Con. WWU Queer Con is a single day convention that will be held on Saturday April 29th from 10 AM to 5 PM in the Academic West building of WWU in Bellingham Washington. This event will feature panels, a costume contest, vendors, and 20+ queer/LGBTQ+ artists and authors from throughout the US and Canada. With this event, we hope to provide an opportunity to celebrate queer comics and creators and bring further visibility to the queer community in comics.

Since this is our first year hosting this event, we are trying to raise awareness, and we thought that as a leader of a relevant organization in our area you might be willing to share information about this event with your members.

Tickets are $15 each for the general public, and kids under 12 are free with a paying adult. The secure website where you can purchase tickets is linked below. It would be very helpful for us for both planning and financial purposes if you are able to buy tickets in advance. Tickets are also available at The Comics Place in downtown

Bellingham. Parking is free in the “C Lots” near the Academic West building on campus on Saturdays.

You can find out more information about our event, including a full list of invited artists, authors and vendors on our website www.wwuqueercon.com. We also have a Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr account linked below.I have attached our event poster if you have a physical location to put up in.If you would like to help us out in funding this event, we do have a crowdfunder campaign running through the university through the end of the month. Since

it is supported by the university all donations are tax deductible. Absolutely any donations are greatly appreciated. That link is also below.Links: Ticket s: h t t p s : //c o m m e r c e. cashnet.com /cashneti/selfs e r v e / E d i t I t e m . a s p x ? P C =V U 1 3 QRCONRE&ItemCount=1 Crowdfunder: https://www.vikingfunder.com/ project/5740 Website: www.wwuqueercon.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wwuqueercon/ Twitter: https:// twitter.com/wwuqueercon Tumblr: http:// wwuqueercon.tumblr.com/

Brutally lucid Graduation a haunting morality play

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN A&E Writer GRADUATION Now playing Romeo Aldea (Adrian Titieni) is a small town Transylvanian doctor barely able to contain his excitement. His teenage daughter Eliza (Maria Dragus) is about to graduate with honors, and if she can pass her final exams with the anticipated high scores, she’ll earn a full ride to attend university in the UK. But on the eve of these pivotal tests, she is attacked on the way to school, leaving her a frazzled mess unsure if she has the psychological wherewithal to deliver the necessary scores required for her to earn the scholarship.

Romeo is understandably worried. He knows the best thing for Eliza, whether she realizes it or not, is to leave this battered and bruised country for a better life, this opportunity to study in the UK not something to be taken lightly. But the doctor has tried to instill in his daughter a commitment to doing the right thing, that living life as honestly as possible is always the way to go no matter what the circumstance.

However, here there are things as a father he knows he can do that will ensure Eliza will pass, solutions to her potential problems that are common in this corrupt town, all of which he has vowed to never stoop to no matter what the circumstance.

This is the setting for acclaimed, awardwinning Romanian writer/director Cristian Mungiu’s latest meticulously mounted and bracingly personal drama Graduation, and much like 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days and Beyond the Hills this isn’t exactly the most uplifting motion picture a person is likely to watch anytime soon. And yet, also like those two, it is a masterfully composed effort that is instantly fascinating, moving towards its emotionally hushed conclusion with breathless, if still unhurried, intensity.

More, it is slightly more hopeful than anticipated, Mungiu ending things in a way where Eliza’s future is placed decidedly into her

Eliza (Maria Dragus) and her father Romeo Aldea (Adrian Titieni) in Graduation – Photo courtesy of perthfestival.com.au

own two hands and those hands alone.

Not to say there’s any sort of confirmation as to what it is she’s going to do. The way Mungiu orchestrates things Eliza’s decisions remain her own. More, because the movie is almost entirely seen through Romeo’s eyes, Eliza remains a compelling enigma throughout, going through the typical maneuverings of teenage growth and angst but doing so against a backdrop of unimaginable dishonesty and threats of senseless violence. Because of that, beauty and kindness are difficult to find, the wariness Eliza feels post-attack permeating every interaction that takes place from that point forward, and not just the ones involving her.

It really is Romeo’s story, though, this driven father obsessed with doing what he feels is best to secure his daughter’s future.

Yet, for all his bluster that Eliza needs to be upstanding and honest not matter what the situation, he’s not exactly living his life the way he has always gone out of his way

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to imprint upon her that she needs to. Not only is his marriage to the girl’s mother Magda (Lia Bugnar) a mess, the two barely able to speak to one another in the morning let alone comfortably embrace as husband and wife, but he also has a mistress, Sandra (Malina Manovici), and even better she’s his most trusted associate at the hospital and family friend. While a good man who is fair, just and treats all he encounters with respect and kindness, he’s also something of a hypocrite, this realization hitting Eliza with practically the same fearful force as that pre-school day assault did.

Mungiu’s presentation is cinematic yet still intimately personal. Working with cinematographer Tudor Vladimir Panduru, the visual look of the film is massive, the camera moving in ways that are as stylishly composed as anything out of a David Lean or Stanley Kubrick epic. Yet the focus always remains tightly joined to the characters, with Romeo constantly at the center,

each twist and turn leading him to places he never imagined he’d ever allow himself to be lead towards. It’s gorgeous, the methodical pace of events having a ticking clock effect on the larger story, the line between tragedy and jubilation perilously thin, especially as the days leading to Eliza’s graduation tick by one by one.

I can’t say I was as instantly floored by Mungiu’s latest the same way I was by 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, to my mind one of the great motion pictures of the 21st century, but that doesn’t make Graduation any less marvelous. A profound drama that transcends cultural barriers in ways that are recognizable and poignant, the film’s power is lasting, pure and decidedly genuine. It casts a spell that is impossible to break, the shattering impact of what ultimately transpires a universal call to action that’s brutally clear no matter what language is being spoken.

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Seattle Gay News 17

Volunteer Park

• BACON MANSION

E. PROSPECT ST. • SHAFER MANSION E. ALOHA ST.

12TH AVE. E.

E. ROY ST.

16TH AVE. E.

15TH AVE. E.

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E. VALLEY ST. 14TH AVE. E.

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FEDERAL AVE. E.

10TH AVE. E.

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MALDEN AVE. E.

BROADWAY E.

• THE CANTERBURY E. REPUBLICAN ST. E. HARRISON ST.

E. THOMAS ST.

10TH AVE. E.

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11TH AVE.

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• CLUB Z BATHS

• THE STRANGER

NAGLE PL.

Cal Anderson Park

• LAMBERT HOUSE

BROADWAY

HARVARD AVE. E.

Seattle Central Community College

• LINDAʼS • BILLʼS OFF BROADWAY

C.C. ATTLEʼS• BOYLSTON AVE.

BELMONT AVE.

• GLOʼS SUMMIT AVE.

GAY CITY HEALTH PROJECT •

E. DENNY WAY

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• HOT MAMAʼS PIZZA • TOYS IN BABELAND

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• STEAM WORKS

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• SIMPLY FRAMES & MINER GALLERY

NEW YORK EXCHANGE • STUDIO 229 • PANACHE • LAUGHING BUDDHA TATTOO •

BELLEVUE AVE.

• SEATTLE COUNSELING SERVICE FOR SEXUAL MINORITIES MELROSE AVE.

• JULIAʼS

DENNY WAY

E. OLIVE ST. GLSEN ONYX LEATHER • SEAMEC

• STOUT • PURR

• UNICORN • POST OPTIONS •WILDROSE • HOT HOUSE

BATHS

CLUB Z - (men) 1117 Pike near Boren - 622-9958 HOT HOUSE SPA & SAUNA - (women) SW corner of Pike & 11th (stairs behind Wildrose) - 568-3240 STEAM WORKS - (men) 1520 Summit - 388-4818

RESTAURANTS & BARS

88 KEYS - 315 2nd Ave. S. - 839-1300 BALTIC ROOM - 1207 Pine St. - 625-4444 THE BOTTLENECK LOUNGE 2328 E. Madison St. - 323-1098 C.C. ATTLE’S BAR & GRILLE 1701 E. Olive Way - 726-0565

THE CANTERBURY - 534 15th Ave. E. - 322-3130 CHANGES IN WALLINGFORD 2103 N. 45th - 545-8363 THE CRESCENT - 1413 E. Olive Way - 720-8188 THE CUFF COMPLEX 1533 13th Ave. - 323-1525 DIESEL BAR - 1413 14th Ave. - 322-1080 GLO’S - 1621 E. Olive Way - 324-2577 GNOCCHI BAR - 1542 12th Ave - 328-4285 HOT MAMA’S PIZZA - 700 E. Pine St. - 322-6444 JAZZ ALLEY - 2033 6th Ave. E. - 441-9729 JULIA’S - 300 Broadway Ave. E. - 860-1818 KREMWERK - 1809 Minor Ave. #10 - 682-2935 MAE’S CAFE 6412 Phinney Ave. N. - 782-1222 MADISON PUB - 1315 E. Madison - 325-6537 NEIGHBOURS - 1509 Broadway - 324-5358 OUT WEST - 5401California Ave. SW THE PINE BOX - 1600 Melrose Ave - 588-0375 POCO WINE ROOM 1408 E. Pine St. - 322-9463

RETAIL SHOPS

CASTLE SUPERSTORE #17 1017 E. Pike St - 204-0126 DOGHOUSE LEATHERS 1312 E. Pike St. - 257-0231 EMERSON SALON - 909 E. Pike St. - 323-7437 NEW YORK EXCHANGE 231 Broadway Ave E - 726-7978 ONYX LEATHER - 1605 12th Ave. #8 - 328-1965 PANACHE - 225 Broadway E. - 726-3300 RUCKUS 1465 E Republican St. - 257-4805 STAN’S ADULT SUPERSTORE 9630 16th Ave. SW - 762-3299 TOYS IN BABELAND - 707 E. Pike St. - 328-2914 UNDER U 4 MEN 709 Broadway Ave. E. - 324-6446 WILD AT HEART 1111 NW Leary Way - 782-5538 YOUR CHOICE VIDEO 9811 16TH AVE SW - 768-0711

BELLINGHAM

LOVER’S 193 Telegraph Road - (360) 752-1862 RUMORS CABARET 1119 Railroad - (306) 671-1849

BAR MYX - 1212 California St. - 425-610-4071 LOVER’S - 112 SE Everett - (425) 353-3607 LOVER’S - 3402 Broadway - (425) 252-8754

KENT

LOVER’S 25801 104th Ave. S.E. - (253) 852-1720 THE FANTASY SHOP 604 Central Ave. S. - (253) 850-8428 NASHVILLE’S SPORTS BAR (Drag Shows) 114 - Railroad Ave. N. - (253) 852 - 0909

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• DOGHOUSE LEATHERS

E. PIKE ST. • CHOP SUEY • MADISON PUB • DIESEL BAR • PONY

PONY - 1221 E. Madison St. - 324-2854 PURR - 1518 11th Ave. - 325-3112 R PLACE - 619 E. Pine - 322-8828 RE-BAR - 1114 Howell at Boren - 233-9873 SEATTLE EAGLE - 314 E. Pike - 621-7591 SHORTY’S 2222 2nd Ave - 441-5449 SPINNAKER BAY BREWING 5718 Rainier Ave S - 725-BEER(2337) STOUT -1530 11th Ave - 397-3825 TOULOUSE PETIT 601 Queen Anne Ave N - 432-9069 UNICORN - 1118 E Pike - 325-6492 WILDROSE - 1021 E. Pike - 324-9210 ZIPPY’S GIANT BURGERS 5633 Airport Way S - 466-5954 9614 14th Ave SW - 763-1347

EVERETT

• THE GASLIGHT INN

• POCO WINE ROOM

• THE CUFF COMPLEX • GNOCCHI BAR

E. UNION ST.

SEATTLE

• RUCKUS

E. UNION ST.

LA CONNER

THE HERON INN & WATERGRASS DAY SPA 117 Maple Ave. - (877) 883-8899 info@theheron.com

OLYMPIA

DARBY’S CAFE 211 5th Ave. S.E. - (360) 357-6229 LOVER’S 3959 Martin Way E. Suite D - (360) 456-7300 JAKES - 311 4th Ave. E. - (360) 956-3247 URBAN ONION 116 Legion Way - (360) 943-9242

PORT ANGELES MAPLE ROSE INN 112 Reservoir Rd - (800) 570-2007

SPOKANE

ANDY’S 1401 W. 1st Ave. - (509) 747 - 0304 IRV’S (Drag Shows) 415 W. Sprague Ave. - (509) 624 - 4450 NYNE BAR AND BISTRO 232 W. Sprague Ave. - (509) 474 -1621 SPOTLIGHT LOUNGE 321 W. Sprague Ave. - (509) 624 - 0722

TACOMA

CASTLE SUPERSTORE 6015 Tacoma Mall Blvd. - (253) 471-0391 CLUB SILVERSTONE 739½ St. Helens Ave. - (253) 404-0273 THE FANTASY SHOP 2301 6th Ave. - (253) 272-6640 LOVER’S 7002 Tacoma Mall Blvd., #F - (253) 475-2271 THE MIX - 635 St. Helens Ave. - (253) 383-4327 RAINBOW CENTER 2215 Pacific Ave. - (253) 383-2318 SHAKABRAH JAVA CAFE 2618 6th Ave. - (253) 572-2787 TANDEM FOR GEAR, CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES 3019 6th Ave, Ste. B - (253) 301-3026

TUKWILA

LOVER’S 530 Southcenter Blvd. - (206) 248-5085

WENATCHEE

THE CELLAR CAFE 240 N. Mission St. - (509) 662-1722

Celebrating 41 Years!

community calendar

Meetings Events Activities

FOR A CALENDAR LISTING: Send details to: SGN, Attn: Community Calendar, 1707 23rd Ave., Seattle, WA 98122. SGN phone: 324-4297. E-mail: sgn2@sgn. org. INCLUDE: Date, time, location, contact phone # for publication (if possible), brief description of event & sponsoring organization. DEADLINE: Tuesday 5pm.

ACCESSIBILITY: Is your event accessible to LGBTQ people with disabilities? See Jean’s List webpage www. scn.org/activism/calendar/disabilities.html for Marla Nonken’s disabilities accommodations lists.

NOTE: Phone numbers accompanying listings are within area code (206) & locations of meetings/ events are in Seattle unless otherwise noted.

SATURDAY - April 22

Seattle Frontrunners Fun Run. 9am. Greenlake (outside Evans Pool). Every Saturday. GLBT running & walking club sponsors weekly runs, monthly potlucks, track & field activity, annual Run With Pride. 448-8518. www.seattlefrontrunners.org.

March for Science. 10am-rally, 11am-soeakers, 12 noon-march. Cal Anderson Park, 11th Ave & E Howell St. Science is the best method for understanding the world.

It should be an open process used to serve all people.

If you wish to support those aims, please join us and march to support us. The March for Science champions robustly funded and publicly communicated science as a pillar of human freedom and prosperity. We unite as a diverse, nonpartisan group to call for science the upholds the common good and for political leaders and policy makers to enact evidence-based policies in the public interest. The March for Science is a celebration of science. It’s not about scientists or politicians; it is about the very real role that science plays in each of our lives and the need to respect and encourage research that gives us insight into the world. Nevertheless, the march has generated a great deal of conversation around whether or not scientists should involved themselves in politics.

In the face of an alarming trend toward discrediting scientific consensus and restricting scientific discovery we might ask instead can we afford not to speak out in its defense?

Crystal Meth Anonymous. 10:30am. Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, 1729 Harvard Ave. Also meets Mon @ 6:30pm, Thurs @ 6:30pm, Sun @ 6:30pm. More info: crystalmeth.org.

Mature Friends Monthly Potluck. 6pm. Wallingford Community Senior Center, Good Shepherd Center, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, Suite 140. Monthly potluck meets last Saturday most months, but in April it’s the 3rd Saturday.

MF is a social organization for Gay men & women, 40 years & over. www.maturefriends.org [NOTE: Annual Banquet in June at a special location; August Picnic at location to be announced.]

Oasis Youth Center in Tacoma - For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Questioning Youth, Ages 14-25. 6pm-12 midnight. Call for location & details. Every Saturday. (253) 671-2838. www.oasisyouth center.org.

(Also meets Thursdays & Fridays 4-10pm.)

Rainbow Duplicate Bridge. 6pm. Bus-accessible Central Area location. Every Saturday. Games also on Tuesdays & Thursdays. $4 fee includes coffee & snacks.

For more information visit www.rainbowbridgeclub.org or email rainbowbridgeclub@gmail.com Root Out Hunger With Northwest Harvest. Reception 5:30pm, Dinner 7pm, Dancing 9:30pm. Fremont Studios, 155 N 35th St. An evening of live music, inspiration & culinary delights. 501auctions.com/NWH “Deep Space Lez” (April 13-16 & 20-23). 7pm (Sunday 5pm). Calamus Auditorium at Gay City, 517 E Pike St. www.gaycity.org/arts-season Pink Pistols Target Shooting in Tacoma. 7:30pm.

Bull’s Eye Indoor Range, 414 Puyallup Ave, Tacoma.

Contact us on Facebook for more information.

SUNDAY - April 23

Center for Spiritual Living. Services 8:25, 9:45, 11:30am. 5801 Sand Point Way NE. Blessings & we hope to see you soon! Info 527-8801 ext 203, www. cslseattle.org Ravenna United Methodist Church. 5751 33rd Ave NE. 8:30am “Seattle’s most dangerous Sunday school;” 9:45am worship. A reconciling congregation, fully inclusive and affirming of LGBTQ persons. 525-7988.

Seattle Unity Church. 9am & 11am-Sunday Services.

200 8th Ave N. “Come join our Gay & Lesbian-friendly, spiritual family at Seattle Unity Church. Our mission is to bring love, miracles & spiritual awakening into everyday life!” 622-8475; www.seattleunity.org.

Seattle Soto Zen. 9:15am-Zazen Instruction, 9:30amZazen. 101 Nickerson St, Lower Level. Follow the traditional forms of the Soto school of Zen in a spirit of warmth & inclusion. Anyone interested in meditation, whether new or experienced in Zen practice or other traditions, is welcome. 323-1659, www.seattlesotozen.org Gay Men’s Bowling in Lynnwood. 9:30am. Brunswick Majestics Lane, Lynnwood. 9:30am Every Sunday.

Spectators welcome. Join us for lunch afterwards!

Sponsored by the Snohomish County Gay Men’s Task Force. For info email John at johndmarsh@mac.com; www.gaysnohomish.org Tacoma First United Methodist Church. 9:30amWorship, 11am-Adult Education. 423 Martin Luther King Way, Tacoma. This reconciling congregation welcomes with warm hands, warm hearts & open minds GLBT persons seeking a spiritual home. (253) 627-0129, www.

April 22 thru April 30 publishing opportunities, & discussion of issues facing writers. NSWG’s primary focus is erotic writing - but they welcome anyone who writes. The only requirements are to write, to attend, & to be respectful. For info & location, NSWG@sexpositiveculture.org; www.nosafeword writersgroup.org (Also meets 2nd Tuesday, 7pm.)

Seattle Prime Timers Rap Group. 1:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Subject: Transcending materialism. Metro routes 8, 10, 12, 49 & 60.

“Deep Space Lez” (April 13-16 & 20-23). 5pm Calamus Auditorium at Gay City, 517 E Pike St. www.gaycity.org/ arts-season ICON 13: A Celebration of Drag, Art & Life! VIP 5pm, General Admission 6pm. Seattle Marriott Waterfront, 2100 Alaskan Way. A benefit for Seattle Counseling Service hosted by Aleksa Manila. Tickets: General Admission $150, VIP $200. seattlecounseling.org/icon Shame to Grace Sunday SAA. 6-7:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Sunday. SAA is a fellowship of men & women who share their experience, strength & hope with each other so they may overcome their sexual addiction & help others recover from sexual addiction or dependency. Seattle SAA helpline 237-8828, SAA International Service Organization 1-800-477-8191.

SASG 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org Crystal Meth Anonymous. 6:30pm. Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, 1729 Harvard Ave. Also meets Mon @ 6:30pm, Thurs @ 6:30pm, Sat @ 10:30am. More info: crystalmeth.org.

Pride League Bowling. 6:30pm. West Seattle Bowl, 4505 39th Ave SW. Every Sunday (except during the summer). Regular league bowling. Jeff, 932-3731.

Integrity/Puget Sound. 7pm-Worship & Fellowship. St. Mark’s Cathedral, Thomson Chapel, 1245 10th Ave E. Integrity is an international ministry of Gay & Lesbian Episcopalians, their friends & families, dedicated to education, support & service within the Church & the GLBT community. (425) 226-2746.

Noche Latina - Latino Night. 10pm. Neighbours, 1509 Broadway. Every Sunday.

MONDAY - April 24

fumctacoma.org Central Lutheran Church. 10am-Worship. 1710 11th Ave (just north of E Pine St). An open & affirming church, which in Lutheran churches is called “Reconciled in Christ.” “We seek to share God’s love with all people regardless of race, age, gender or sexual orientation.”

All are welcome. 322-7500.

East Shore Unitarian Church. 10am-Sunday Service.

12700 SE 32nd St, Bellevue. An open & affirming congregation. (425) 747-3780.

Gethsemane Lutheran Church. 10am-Worship. 911 Stewart St. A downtown faith community centered in justice. An open & affirming congregation. 682-3620.

Unity Church of Kent. 10am. 218 State Ave S, Kent.

A welcoming congregation open to people of all races, religions, creeds & lifestyles. Join us any Sunday for an inspirational message, joyful fellowship & a fresh spiritual outlook. 253-854-9747.

University Congregational United Church of Christ.

All ages education 9am, Worship 10am. 4515 16th Ave NE. UCUCC is an open & affirming congregation. 5242322; www.universityucc.org.

Volunteer Park Spring Restoration Day. 10am-2pm.

13th Ave E & E Prospect St. We’ll be cleaning gardens, gravelling paths & weeding to make Seattle’s Volunteer Park even more beautiful. www.volunteerparktrust.org Wallingford United Methodist Church. 10am-Worship.

2115 N 42nd St. A progressive congregation. In 1984 Wallingford UMC became the 9th reconciling Methodist church in the U.S. 547-6945 (office); 285-5077 (George).

All Pilgrims Christian Church. 10:30am-Worship.

500 Broadway E. Come as you are. All are welcome.

A congregation of the Disciples of Christ & the United Church of Christ. 322-0487, www.allpilgrims.org Living Water Fellowship. 10:30am-Worship. 7204 NE 175th St, Kenmore. All GLBT welcome. Pastor Susan George. 963-0807. www.livingwaterwa. com Seattle Sunday Bowling. 10:30am. West Seattle Bowl, 4505 39th Ave SW (at SW Oregon St). Open bowl every Sunday for the GLBT community & friends. You don’t have to worry about how you bowl! $6.50 + $3 shoe rental. (425) 785-4729.

Westside Unitarian Universalist Congregation.

10:30am. 7141 California Ave SW. 935-0418, office@ wsuu.org, www.wsuu.org Emerald City Metropolitan Community Church Seattle. 11am-Worship. Chapel at University Temple United Methodist Church, 1415 NE 43rd St. MCC is a progressive Christ-centered faith community committed

Visit us online www.sgn.org

to providing a nurturing environment for individual & community growth thru Jesus Christ while celebrating unity in diversity. MCC is Seattle’s oldest Gay-friendly church. 325-2421, www.mccseattle.org.

Meditation for GBT Men. 11am-1pm. Cal Anderson House, 400 Broadway. Suitable for beginning & experienced meditators. Sponsored by Dharma Buddies.

Contact Forrest Rode, 920-6117, Mike Chin (509) 990-0007, or Doug Allison, doug.l.allison@gmail.com. www.dharmabuddies.org. (Women may wish to contact our sister meditation group at www.LotusSisters.org.)

St Paul’s United Church of Christ. 11am-Worship.

6512 12th Ave NW. An “open & affirming” congregation.

“We celebrate our diversity in religious background, sexual orientation, race, age & abilities.” 783-6733; www. stpauluccseattle.com.

Holy Covenant International Christian Community Church. 12pm. 4525 19th Ave NE. Outreach to the LGBT community. holycovenantccc@gmail.com Just for Today. 12-1:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Sunday. Drop-in 12-step (Narcotics Anonymous) group open to anyone in recovery. 3222437; www.sasgcc.org Paths to Recovery Al-Anon Family Group. 12-1:30pm.

Seattle University Student Center, 901 12th Ave, Room 122. Every Sunday. LGBTQ supported. The Al-Anon Family Groups are a fellowship of relatives & friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength & hope in order to solve their common problems. We believe alcoholism is a family illness & that changed attitudes can aid recovery. Greater Seattle AIS 24-hour number 625-0000; www.seattle-al-anon.org Rain City Soccer Club - Ripple Effect. Sunday afternoon. Location varies. Ripple Effect soccer team plays an almost weekly recreational scrimmage game for LGBTQ players in Seattle. Perfect for individuals looking for more relaxed play, who are just getting back into soccer, just learning the game and/or want to supplement their competitive play with a recreational team. To sign up visit www.raincitysoccer.org Orca Swim Team Workout. Sun: Afternoon; Mon/Weds/ Fri: Evenings. Seattle University, Connolly Athletic Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. Every Sun, Mon, Wed & Fri. Pre-registration required. Orca Swim Team workouts are for both competitive & recreational swimmers. www. orcaswimteam.org No Safeword Writers Group. 1pm. Meets 4th Sunday each month. NSWG exists to provide mutual support for members’ efforts. Support is in the form of critique & commentary on each other’s work, information about

April 21, 2017

SOBER - On Meds. 1-2pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Monday. 12-step group open to anyone in recovery & living on a medicine regimen. 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org Strength Over Speed. 2-3:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. FREE drop-in support group (not a 12 step) for Gay & Bi men who desire recovery from meth. For information visit www.strengthoverspeed.org. SASG 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org Crystal Meth Anonymous. 6:30pm. Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, 1729 Harvard Ave. Also meets Thurs @ 6:30pm, Sat @ 10:30am, Sun @ 6:30pm. More info: crystalmeth.org.

Freely Speaking Toastmasters. 7pm. Seattle Unity Church, 200 8th Ave N. Every Monday (except holidays & the last Mondays in August & December). Seattle’s only LGBT speaking club. www.FreelySpeaking.or Orca Swim Team Workout. Evening. Seattle University, Connolly Athletic Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. (See Sunday listing.)

PFLAG/South King County Monthly Meeting. 7pm.

Unitarian Universalist Church, 25701 14th Pl S, Kent.

Meets 4th Monday each month. Parents & Friends of Lesbians & Gays is a national support organization for parents, spouses & families of GLBT persons, as well as those sexual minorities. PFLAG/Puget Sound: 325-7724.

Trans Youth Group. 7-8:30pm. Lambert House, 1818 15th Ave. Every Monday. A chance for youth to talk with others about their experiences & concerns related to identifying as Transgender. www.lamberthouse.org Lambert House Art Night. 7:30-9:30pm. 1818 15th Ave. Every Monday. Bring your ideas & let’s have some fun.

322-2515, www.lamberthouse.org Poetry on Buses Launch Party: A Celebration of Poetry & Movement. Doors 6:30pm, Show 7:30pm. Moore Theatre, 1932 2nd Ave. FREE. poetryonbuses.org Unity Gay Men’s AA Group in Tacoma. 7:30pm. New Heart MCC, 759 S 45th St. Tacoma. Every Monday.

(253) 474-8897.

Washington Gender Alliance Support Group Meeting in Shoreline. 7:30pm. Center for Human Services, 17018 15th Ave NE, Shoreline. Meets every Monday. For information email info@washingtongender alliance.com Queers, Crackpots & Fallen Women AA. 8-9pm.

SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Monday. Open women only AA group. 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org.

TUESDAY - April 25

Lesbian & Gay Child Care Task Force Monthly Meeting. 12 noon-2pm. Call for location. Meets 4th Tuesday each month. The Task Force, in conjunction with Child Care Resources of King County, offers referrals to GLBT-welcoming child care centers & provides training, support & curriculum materials to child care providers. (To access this, call 329-1011 & ask for the “Gay-welcoming” child care programs in your zip code area.) The task force meets monthly to assess their progress in achieving their goals.

LGBTQ Questioning & Allied Youth Drop-in Group in Renton. 6-8pm. Renton Area Youth Services (RAYS), 1025 S 3rd St, Renton. Meets every Tuesday. Confidential. Snacks provided. Bring friends or come alone - anyone 12-18 is welcome. Questions? Call Sarah Hardin, 425-271-5600 ext 155, or email sarahh@rays.org

Seattle Gay News 19

Strength Over Speed. 6-7:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. FREE drop-in support group (not a 12 step) for Gay & Bi men who desire recovery from meth. For information visit www.strengthoverspeed.org. SASG 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org ALISS - Aging Lesbians in South Seattle Evening Gathering. 6:30-8pm. Southeast Seattle Senior Center, 4655 S Holly St, Rainier Ave S & S Holly St., Social Hall. Meets 2nd & 4th Tuesday each month. This is a group primarily for Lesbians but all are welcome to attend. Facilitator: Fai Coffin; Cost: FREE. Metro route 7.

Wheelchair accessible. Kate, 722-0317; www.sessc.org.

Diverse Harmony. 6:30-9pm. Seattle First Baptist Church, 1111 Harvard Ave. Every Tuesday. Diverse Harmony is the nation’s first Gay/Straight Alliance Youth Chorus. Youths ages 13-22 are welcome regardless of sexual orientation. www.diverseharmony.org LGBTQ MS Connection/National MS Society. 6:308pm. Swedish Conference Center, Cherry Hill Campus, James Tower, 550 17th Avenue, Room E, 1st Floor.

Meets the 2nd & 4th Tuesday each month. MS Connection is a support group with the goal of providing a safe environment for the LGBT community to express their experiences and the impact of MS on their lives and the lives of their loved ones, as well as provide support for one another. Contact Shelly at 206-250-5002 or LGBTMSConnection@gmail.com.

Queer Young Females Group - For Female-Identified Youth, Ages 22 & Under. 6:30-7:30pm. Lambert House, 1818 15th Ave. Every Tuesday. Topics range from family issues to school happenings to like/lust/love relationships. All Queer females welcome. Come discuss how smart. strong Queer women live their lives. 322-2515, www. lamberthouse.org Tuesday Night Sex Addicts Anonymous (GLBTQI).

7-8:30pm. All Pilgrims Christian Church, 500 Broadway E (enter at 509 10th Ave E; buzz in, Dickson room). Every Tuesday. SAA is a fellowship of men & women whose primary purpose is to stop addictive sexual behavior & help others recover from sexual addiction. Seattle SAA helpline 237-8828. SAA International Service Organization 1-800-477-8191.

Over 40’s Group - For Lesbian Women 40 & Older.

7-8:30pm. University Congregational Church, 4515 16th Ave NE, Pilgrim Room. Every Tuesday. Open group for Lesbian women, 40 & older, in every stage of coming out or being out. Lots of social activities in addition to Tuesday meetings. 545-3521.

PFLAG/North Seattle Monthly Meeting. 7-9pm.

Haller Lake United Methodist Church, 13055 1st Ave NE. Meets 4th Tuesday each month. 206-325-7724 or northseattle@pflagseattle.org. PFLAG, a national organization founded in 1972, provides support, education and advocacy for families and friends of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer persons and is committed to moving LGBTQ equality forward.

Rainbow Duplicate Bridge. 7pm. Bus-accessible Central Area location. Every Tuesday. (See Saturday listing at 6pm.)

Different Drummers. 7:15-8:30pm. Every Tuesday.

Hand drumming classes for Gay men. It’s easy, it’s fun & anyone can do it! Learn traditional African & AfroCaribbean rhythms & basic hand drumming techniques.

Experience connection, community & spirituality. Drums are provided. For info & location call Dennis at 363-4500 or www.outdrum.com What About Me? 7:30-9pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Tuesday. Drop-in social, support & discussion group for Gay & Bi men of all ages. 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org Here & Now Gay & Lesbian AA Meeting in Tacoma.

7:30pm. Christ Episcopal Church, 310 N “K” St, Tacoma.

Every Tuesday.

Spiritual Empowerment. 7:30-9pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. A group for all LGBT & friends of any spiritual belief to explore how spiritual practice can enrich their life. 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org Seattle Otters Water Polo Team. 8-9:30pm. Medgar Evers Pool, 500 23rd Ave E (at E Cherry St). Every Tuesday & Thursday. GLBT & GLBT-friendly co-ed water polo team is open to all who want to play. Beginners & experienced players welcome. Check our website for up to the minute details, or call the Otter Hotline 414-8797. www.otterpolo.com.

Seattle Poetry Slam. Doors 8pm, Show 8:30pm. Rebar, 1114 Howell St. Every Tuesday. A spoken word poetry event that features a weekly open mic, feature poet, and slam (poetry competition). Come out and express yourself. LGBTQ- & QTPOC-friendly; all genders welcome. $5. 21+. seattlepoetryslam.org

WEDNESDAY - April 26

LGBTQ Support Group in Renton. 10am-12noon.

Renton Senior Activity Center, 211 Burnett Ave N. Meets the last Wednesday of every month. This newly-formed group will address issues while providing support & information that may be unique to the LGBTQ community.

425-430-6633, rentonwa.gov Mature Friends Morning Exercise/Health & Fitness Get-Together. 10am. Ballard Odd Fellows Hall Bldg, 1706 NW Market St. Every Wednesday. An hour of health-related activities, followed by a walk around Greenlake & lunch at a local restaurant. MF is a social group for Gay men & women, 40 years & over. www. maturefriends.org Mature Friends Dining Out Luncheon. 12 noon. Call for details, location & to make reservations. Meets 2nd & 4th Wednesday most months. MF is a social organization for Gay men & women, 40 years & over. www. maturefriends.org “Make American Gay Again” Fundraiser. 3-6pm.

Coastal Kitchen, 429 15th Ave E. To support LGBTQ Allyship’s efforts to raise awareness for a “NO” vote on I-1552 anti-Trans initiative. Bathroom rights are

20 Seattle Gay News

community calendar

@ 6:30pm, Sat @ 10:30am, Sun @ 6:30pm. More info: crystalmeth.org.

QLaw Annual Banquet. Reception 5:30pm, Dinner & Program 6:30pm. Seattle Sheraton Hotel, 6th Ave & Pike St. Features keynote speaker Judge Victoria Kolakowski of the California Superior Court, with musical entertainment by the Alkis. For tickets visit www.q-law.org Boys’ Group - For Male-Identified Youth, Ages 1422. 7-8:30pm. Lambert House, 1818 15th Ave. Every Thursday. Youth take the opportunity to talk about issues that relate to their everyday lives, with the facilitation of a male volunteer. 322-2515 ext 16. www.lamberthouse.org PFLAG/Tacoma Monthly Meeting. 7pm. St Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 7410 S 12th (at Jackson), Tacoma.

Meets 4th Thursday each month. Parents & Friends of Lesbians & Gays is a national support organization for parents, spouses & families of GLBT persons, as well as those sexual minorities. PFLAG/Tacoma: (253) 3832318. PFLAG/Puget Sound: 325-7724.

Rainbow Duplicate Bridge. 7pm. Bus-accessible Central Area location. Every Thursday. (See Saturday listing at 6pm.)

Buddhism & Recovery. 7:30-9pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Thursday. A meditation/recovery group. 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org Gay Fathers Association of Seattle. 7:30-9pm. Group Health, 201 16th Ave E, Central Bldg, Lower Atrium.

Every Thursday. Support meetings for Gay fathers & Gay men who are currently or previously married. For information, community events & “questioning” visit www.gfas.org or our message board at http://groups. yahoo.com/groups/gayfathersseattle Gay Male Sexuality & Relationships. 7:30-9pm.

SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Thursday. A discussion group that is strictly focused on sexual topics and relationship issues related to being a Gay male.

322-2437; www.sasgcc.org Seattle Otters Water Polo Team. 8-9:30pm. Medgar Evers Pool, 500 23rd Ave E (at E Cherry St). Every Tuesday & Thursday. (See Tuesday listing at 8pm.)

FRIDAY - April 28

human rights.

True Colors: Connecting LGBTQ Teens in Shoreline.

4-5pm. Every Wednesday. Discussing your important issues, building a supportive community. For information, location & to REGISTER call Lindsay Bagley 362-7282 x 8018 or email lbagley@chs-nw.org GLOBE (GLBTQ Loving Ourselves, Becoming Empowered): A Support Group & HIV/STD Prevention for Youth (14-20) in Everett. 6-8pm. CCA Building, 3331 Broadway - Bottom Floor, Everett. Every Wednesday.

Sponsored by PFLAG Everett chapter. David/Brenda, (425) 263-2908. globeleaders@hotmail.com The Rowing Team Peer Recovery Group. 6-7:30pm.

All Pilgrims Church, 500 Broadway E. Meets every Wednesday. This peer recovery group provides a safe & supportive faith community to share your recovery journey with, God answers our prayers & sends us a boat.

Sometimes rowing furiously for yourself & sometimes for others. All are welcome.

Lotus Sisters Meditation & Dharma Discussion North. 6:15-8pm. Ravenna Bryant neighborhood. Meets every Wednesday. Call 525-7295 for location. www.

LotusSisters.org.

Center for Spiritual Living. 6:30pm-Meditation, 7pmService. 5801 Sand Point Way NE. Blessings & we hope to see you soon! Info 527-8801 ext 203, www. cslseattle.org Seattle Frontrunners Fun Run. 6:30pm. Volunteer Park (in front of Black Sun across for museum). Every Wednesday. (See Saturday at 9am.)

Hermanos Trans Latino & Foreign-Born Support Group. 7pm. Entre Hermanos, 1105 23rd Ave. Bilingual (Spanish/English) Transsexual support group meets 2nd & 4th Wednesday each month to provide information, counseling, healthcare, sisterhood & social activities for Latino & foreign-born people in their transition.

For more information contact Abby 322-7700, www. entrehermanos.org Ingersoll All-Trans Drop-In Support Group. 7-9pm.

Seattle Counseling Services, 1216 Pine St, Suite 300.

All Transgender, Gender Variant, Gender Queer, Gender Questioning, allies, family & friends are welcome. This is a drop in group to get & give support, social interaction & information for the whole Gender community. No fee, donations welcome. www.ingersoll center.org Mature Friends Weekly Bridge Group. 7:30pm. Call for location. Every Wednesday. All levels welcome. MF is a social organization for Gay men & women, 40 years & over. www.maturefriends.org

April 21, 2017

Orca Swim Team Workout. Evening. Seattle University, Connolly Athletic Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. (See Sunday listing.)

Washington Gender Alliance Open Support Meeting in Everett. 7:30-9pm. Everett United Church of Christ, 2624 Rockefeller Ave, Everett. Every Wednesday.

Trained peer facilitators lead a structured support meeting helping people deal with issues of gender identity & expression. All adults are welcomed, including those who are questioning, allies, or identify as FTM, MTF, Transgender, Queer, or Intersex, among others. (360) 445-2411; www.washingtongenderalliance.com.

THURSDAY - April 27

Dining Out For Life. Eat your generous heart out. Proceeds benefit Lifelong’s food programs. For participating restaurants visit diningoutforlife.com/seattle Langston Hughes African American Film Festival (4/27-4/30). Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, 104 17th Ave S. langstonseattle.org Alcoholics Anonymous “Safe & Sober Group.”

12noon-1pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Open meeting of AA. 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org.

BABES Women’s Support Group/Lunch Meeting.

12 noon-2pm. Call for location. Every Thursday. The BABES Network is a peer led agency; a sisterhood of women facing HIV together. 720-5566 or 888-292-1912; www.babesnetwork.org.

Oasis Youth Center in Tacoma - For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Questioning Youth, Ages 14-25. 4-10pm. Call for location & details. Every Thursday. (253) 671-2838, www.oasisyouthcenter.org Everett-Snohomish County Friendship Dinner for Persons Living with HIV/AIDS. 6pm. Grace UMC (formerly Firs United Methodist). Meets last Thursday most months. FREE. Everyone welcome. Sponsored by the Evergreen AIDS Foundation & SNOCO Gay Men’s Task Force. For information call (425) 252-7751.

Shifting Gears. 6-7:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Every Thursday. Drop-in support group (non 12-step) for anyone of any orientation or gender who desires recovery from drugs or alcohol. 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org B-GLAD (Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Trans & Questioning Adolescent Drop-In Group). 6:30-8pm. Call for location. Every Thursday. Sponsored by Youth Eastside Services, which offers many programs for GLBT youth.

(425) 747-4937.

Crystal Meth Anonymous. 6:30pm. Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, 1729 Harvard Ave. Also meets Mon

Langston Hughes African American Film Festival (4/27-4/30). Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, 104 17th Ave S. langstonseattle.org Seattle Erotic Arts Festival (4/28-4/30). Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, 225 Mercer St. seattleerotic.org QLaw LGBTQ Legal Clinic CLE & Training on LGBTQ Legal Issues. 8:30am-1:30pm. Davis Wright Tremaine, 1201 3rd Ave. The CLE is designed to help attorneys issue spot & understand LGBTQ issues within various aspects of Washington state law, as they typically arise in 30 minute client sessions at the QLaw Legal Clinic. Cost: QLaw members $50, non-members $75, volunteers at QLaw clinic FREE. To REGISTER visit qlaw.z2systems. com/np/clients/qlaw/event.jsp?event=430& AA Ageless in Recovery. 12noon-1pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Meets every Friday. A drop in AA group for older & wiser people 55+. www.sasgcc.org Re-Parenting Ourselves. 12noon-1pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Meets every Friday. A peer support group for adult children of any addiction. www. sasgcc.org SLAA Road to Recovery. 12noon-1:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Meets every Friday. Ongoing 12 step group for sex & love addicts. www.sasgcc.org Oasis Youth Center in Tacoma - For Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender & Questioning Youth, Ages 14-25. 4-10pm. Call for location & details. Every Friday.

(253) 671-2838, www.oasisyouthcenter.org Strength Over Speed. 6-7:30pm. SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. FREE drop-in support group (not a 12-step) for Gay & Bi men who desire recovery from meth. www.strengthoverspeed.org. SASG 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org Mature Friends Monthly Potluck. 6:30pm-appetizers & socializing; 7:30pm-dinner. Ballard Odd Fellows Hall Bldg, 1706 NW Market St. Meets last Friday most months. MF is a social organization for Gay men & women, 40 years & over. www.maturefriends.org Lambert House Queer Movie Night. 7-9:30pm. Lambert House, 1818 15th Ave. Every Friday. Lambert House is a nationally-recognized activities & resource center for GLBT & questioning youth, ages 14-22. 322-2515, www.lamberthouse.org “Lush Us” - A Gay City Arts Showcase. 6pm doors; 7pm show. Town Hall Seattle, 1111 8th Ave. With special guest Sonya Renee Taylor and local stars for the past year’s Gay City Arts season. General admission: $25.

VIP from 6-7pm: $75-$125. www.gaycity.org/lushus Rain Country Dance Night. 7-11pm, lessons at 7:15pm.

The Cuff, 1533 13th Ave. An evening of country-western dancing for the LGBTQ community. FREE. www.raincountrydance.org.

Destiny Gay AA Group in Tacoma. 7:30pm. New Heart MCC, 759 S 45th St, Tacoma. Every Friday.

(253) 474-8897.

Orca Swim Team Workout. Evening. Seattle University, Connolly Athletic Center, 14th Ave & E Cherry St. (See Sunday listing.)

GaYme Night 4 the LGBT Community. 8pm-1am.

SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201. Meets the 3rd & 4th Friday of every month. Board games, cards & fun. www.sasgcc.org LGBT Friday Night Al-Anon Family Group. 8pm.

SASG, 115 15th Ave E, Suite 201 - in the O’Neill Room.

Every Friday. (See related listing Sunday at noon for details.) Greater Seattle AIS 24-hour number 625-0000; www.seattle-al-anon.org

SATURDAY - April 29

(See previous Saturday for ongoing activities.)

Celebrating 41 Years!

Langston Hughes African American Film Festival (4/27-4/30). Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, 104 17th Ave S. langstonseattle.org Seattle Erotic Arts Festival (4/28-4/30). Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, 225 Mercer St. seattleerotic.org LGBTQ Seniors Resource Fair. 10am-3pm. Northgate Community Center, 10510 5th Ave NE. Find groups & fun social activities, get help with utility bills & housing, help with gender markers on IDs, help with changing military discharge status. FREE. seattle.gov/parks/lgbtq WWU Queer Con in Bellingham. 10am-5pm. Western Washington University, Academic West, Bellingham.

Panels, a costume contest, 30+ artists, authors & vendors. Come join the fun. Tickets: WWU students $10, non-students $15. www.queercon.com

community calendar

SUNDAY - April ‑30

(See previous Sunday for ongoing activities.)

Langston Hughes African American Film Festival (4/27-4/30). Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, 104 17th Ave S. langstonseattle.org Seattle Erotic Arts Festival (4/28-4/30). Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, 225 Mercer St. seattleerotic.org

COMMUNITY RESOURCES

Allyship - an organization of LGBTQ individuals fighting for economic and social justice. www.LGBTQ Allyship. org, allyship@yahoo.com, 279-8169.

American Veterans for Equal Rights - www.aver.us BiNet Seattle is a mixed gender, social group for Bisexuals, their partners & other Bi-friendly folks - www. binetseattle.org.

Central Washington University GALA Hotline: (509) 963-1994.

DIFFA/Northwest (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS). 763-8885; www.diffanorthwest.org DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SEXUAL ASSAULT: Crisis Clinic, 461-3222 (24 hour line); King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC) - 24-hour crisis line for information, support, & medical & legal assistance: 1-888-99-VOICE; Northwest Network - support & advocacy for Bisexual, Trans, Lesbian & Gay Survivors of Abuse & Dating Violence, 568-7777 (voice), 517-9670 (tty), www.nwnetwork.org; Pierce County Domestic Violence Helpline: Teresa, (253) 798-4166; Seattle Counseling Service for Sexual Minorities - offers on-going support groups for men: 323-1768; Seattle Police Dept Domestic Violence Unit, 684-0330; State Wide Domestic Violence Hot Line, 1-800-562-6025.

In an emergency call 911. Report domestic violence and sexual assault.

Equal Rights Washington - 324-2570; www.equal rightswashington.org Freely Speaking Toastmasters - www.freely speaking.org Gay City promotes wellness in LGBTQ communities.

Gay City Health Project’s Wellness Center provides anonymous & confidential HIV/STD testing. 517 E Pike St. More info or to schedule an appointment, 860-6969. www.gaycity.org Gay & Lesbian National Hotline (GLNH): 1-888-THEGLNH (1-888-843-4564). Non-profit, peer-counseling, information & local resources telephone hotline for GLBT people across the country.

GLSEN/WA - Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network - 330-2099; www.glsenwa.org Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) - 3639188; www.thegsba.org HIV/AIDS Program, Seattle/King County Dept of Public Health, provides confidential/anonymous information about & testing for HIV/AIDS. 205-7837.

Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle & the Olympic & Rainier Empire - www.facebook.com/ISCSORE; www. imperialcourtofseattle.com Lambert House - 322-2515; www.lamberthouse.org LGBT MS Connection - 250-5002; LGBTMS Connection@gmail.com. Support group for LGBT persons with MS and their partners and their caregivers.

Lifelong AIDS Alliance - 328-8979, www.lifelongaids alliance.org MEN: Gay City: 860-6969, www.gaycity.org; Knights of Mantra: 329-0886, www.jetchapterkofm.com; Mature Friends: Gay men & women 40 & over, www.mature friends.org; Northwest Bears: www.nwbears.com; The Olympians: www.TheOlympians.net; POZSeattle: www.pozseattle.org; Q-Squared: www.qsquared.org; Rain City Jacks: www.raincityjacks.org; Seattle Gay Couples: www. seattlegaycouples.org; Seattle Men in Leather: www.seattlemeninleather. org; Seattle Prime Timers: Gay & Bi men 40 & over, www.seattle primetimers.org.

MUSIC: Diverse Harmony: www.diverseharmony.org; Rainbow City Band: 1-866-841-9139 ext 2126; rainbowcityband@onebox.com; www.rainbowcity band.com; Seattle Men’s Chorus and Seattle Women’s Chorus: 388-1408, 323-0750. www.flying house. org.

Northwest Lesbian & Gay History Museum Project - gayhistnw@aol.com Northwest Rainbow Alliance for the Deaf - www. nwrad.org Out & Equal Workplace Advocates/Seattle Regional Affiliate supports the work of LGBT employees and the growing number of ERGs (Employee Resource Groups) making a difference within local companies. www.outand equal.org/affiliates/seattle PARENTHOOD: Families Like Ours provides a gateway for LGBT families interested in adoption: 441-7602, www.familieslikeours. org; Family Works offers support, information & activities for LGBT families: 694-6727, www.familyworksseattle. org; Gay Fathers’ Association of Seattle offers support groups & social activities: www.gfas. org; Proud & Loud Families - Northwest,

www.meetup.com/proud-and-loud-families-northwest, plfnorthwest@aol.com; Queer Parent Networking Dinners: 568-7777, qpnd@ nwnetwork.org, www. nwnetwork.org; Rainbow Families of Puget Sound: www.rainbowfamiliesps.org PFLAG is the national organization for parents, families, allies, and LGBTQ people united for equality with chapters in Seattle, Bellevue/Eastside, the Puget Sound region and across Washington state. PFLAG Seattle: 206-325-7724, info@pflagseattle.org, and www.pflag seattle.org; PFLAG Bellevue/Eastside: 425-4836642, info@bellevue-pflag.org, http://community.pflag. org/PFLAGBellevue; PFLAG Pacific Northwest: www.pnwpflag.org; PFLAG Washington state: www. pflagwsc.org.

PEOPLE OF COLOR: AARTH (African American Reach & Teach Health Ministry), 850-2070, www. aarth.org; Asian/Pacific Islander Queer Network Program at API Chaya, 467-9976; Center for MultiCultural Health, 461-6910, www.multi-culturalhealth.org; Entre Hermanos, GLBT Latinos/as, 322-7700, www. entrehermanos.org; Ile LaiLai, 781-3565, iya@ilelailai. org; Men of All Colors & Cultures Together (MACCT), 923-8313, macctseattle@yahoo. com, www.macctsea.org; Nubian Pride Productions, nubianpride@ gmail.com; People of Color Against AIDS Network (POCAAN) offers rapid HIV testing, M-F, 10am-5pm, 322-7061, www.pocaan.org and on Facebook; Seattle Two Spirit, SeattleTwoSpirit@ hotmail.com; Sistah 2 Sistah, LBT women of African descent, 322-7061, 2558951; Sistah Sinema, www.sistahsinema.com, info@ sistahsinema.com; Trikone-Northwest, GLBT South Asians, (425) 985-4376, www.trikonenw.org; Two-Spirit Honor Project, 1-866-685-0164; U.T.O.P.I.A. Seattle.

Pride Foundation - 323-3318; www.pridefoundation. org Project NEON is a program of Seattle Counseling Service providing FREE information & services to Gay & Bi men to reduce health risks associated with methamphetamine use. 323-1768. www.crystalneon.org Public Health-Seattle & King County Online Comprehensive Health Information for Sexual Minorities: www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/personal/ glbt.aspx Q Law: The GLBT Bar Association of WA - 682-6711; www.q-law.org; Q Law GLBT Legal Clinic - 235-7235.

Resource & Referral Line can connect you to LGBTfriendly resources throughout Puget Sound and beyond.

Call 323-LGBT Mon-Fri 2-8pm; Sat 2-5pm. At other times leave voice mail and your call will be returned.

Visit us online www.sgn.org

Safe Schools Coalition - www.safeschoolscoalition. org; 451-SAFE (451-7233).

SEAMEC interviews, researches & rates candidates for public office on issues of concern to the LGBT community. 905-9941, www.seamec.org Seattle Area Support Groups & Community Center (SASG) is a non-profit organization that builds community and cultivates powerful, healthy lives by providing emotional support and personal development services to those affected by HIV/AIDS, the Queer communities, and those who love them. 322-2437; www.sasgcc.org Seattle Counseling Service for Sexual Minorities is a community mental health service for GLBT persons & their families providing comprehensive mental health services on a sliding scale. 323-1768.

Seattle LGBTQ Commission - 684-4503.

Seattle Out & Proud - 206-322-9561; www.seattle pride.org Seattle Police Department Sexual Minorities Community Advisory Council: kim.bogucki@seattle.gov Seattle PrideFest - www.seattlepridefest.org Servicemembers Legal Defense Network - (202) 328-3244; www.sldn.org Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, The Abbey of St. Joan - 860-3666; www.theabbey.org Snohomish Health District HIV/AIDS Program provides free confidential/anonymous HIV counseling & testing 9am-5pm Monday-Friday, until 7pm Tuesdays.

(425) 339-5298.

South Sound Q Calendar - LGBTQ events in Tacoma, Olympia & Sound Puget Sound area; www.South SoundQCal.com SPORTS & RECREATION: Bent Car Guys: www. bentcarguys.org; Border Riders Motorcycle Club: www.borderriders.com; Bottom Dwellers Scuba Club: www.bottomdwellers.org; Capitol Hill Cyclers: join their Facebook group or email capitolhillcycling@ groups. facebook.com or jordan.l.simonson@gmail.com; Different Spokes Bicycling Club: www.differentspokes. org; Emerald City Mudhen Rugby: www.mudhenrugby. com; Emerald City Softball Association: www.emerald citysoftball.org, www.eteamz.com/womensecsa; Ethyl Forever Car Club: ethylforever@hotmail.com; Olympic Yacht Club: www.oycnw.org; OutVentures: outdoor education & recreation activities, www.outventures.org; Pacific Northwest Gay Rodeo Association: www.pacificnwgra.org; Puddletown Squares: www.puddletownsquares.org; Rain City Soccer: www.raincitysoccer.org; Rain Country Dance Association: a country-western

April 21, 2017

dance organization catering to the LGBTQ community but open to all, www.raincountrydance.org; Sea Dawgs: LGBT ice hockey - SkateSeaDawgs@gmail.com and on Facebook; Seattle Frontrunners: www.seattlefront runners.org; Seattle Gay Basketball Association: www. seattlegaybasketballassociation.com; Seattle Orca Swim Team: www.orcaswimteam.org; Seattle Otters Water Polo: www.otterpolo.com; Seattle Quake Rugby: www.quakerugby.com; Seattle Tennis Alliance: www. seattletennisalliance.org; Seattle Unified Bowling Association (SUBA): magee98106@aol.com, www. teamseattle.org/bowling.htm, www.theprideleague. com, Century 21 League; Seattle Volleyball Club: www.seattlevolleyballclub.com; Ski Buddies: www. skibuddies. org; Team Seattle Gay Sports Network is an umbrella organization for a wide range of local GLBT sports activities, 367-4064, www.teamseattle.org (see website for comprehensive list of sports clubs); Triangle Recreation Camp at Bender Creek: recreational camping for GLBT folks. Must be 21; ID required. trc@camptrc.org, www. camptrc.org, 1122 E Pike St #1069, Seattle 98122-3934.

Strength Over Speed - www.strengthoverspeed.org Tacoma/Pierce County - Rainbow Center, 2215 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, a resource center for the LGBTIQA community of Pierce County, (253) 383-2318, www. rainbowcntr.org TRANSGENDER: Emerald City Social Club: (425) 827-9494; Gender Alliance of the South Sound: www.

SouthSoundGender.com; Gender Diversity: www. genderdiversity.org; Gender Justice League: www. genderjusticeleague.org; Gender Odyssey: www.genderodyssey.com; Hermanos Trans Latino & ForeignBorn Support Group: 322-7700; Ingersoll Gender Center: 329-6651, www.ingersollcenter.org; The New BoyZ Club: www.olympiaftmgroup.webs.com; Olympia Trans Discussion Group: www.facebook.com/pages/ Olympia-Trans-Discussion-Group/262449878114; Washington Gender Alliance: (360) 445-2411, www. washington genderalliance.com WOMEN: ALISS - Aging Lesbians in South Seattle - Lesbian Group at the Southeast Seattle Senior Center. This is a gathering primarily for Lesbians but all are welcome to attend. Kate, 722-0317; www.sessc. org; BABES: support groups for HIV+ women. 7205566, 1-888-292-1912; Festival of the Babes: www. festivalofthebabes.com; Lesbians Over 40: 722-0729; Mature Friends: Gay men & women 40 & over, www. maturefriends.org; Older Lesbians Organizing for Change/WA State Chapter: gloria@oloc.org, mary@ oloc.org, www.oloc.org; Pacific Northwest Lesbian Archives: www.pnwlesbianarchives.org; RainshadowWomen: RainshadowWomen@aol.com; Seattle Girls of Leather: www.sgol.org; Tacoma Lesbian Concern (TLC): www.tacomalesbianconcern.org; Women of West Seattle (WOWS): a fun, member-driven social group for Lesbians, http://groups.yahoo. com/group/ womenofwestseattle; YWCA Women’s Health Outreach: providing low or no-cost mammograms for income eligible 40+ LBTQ individuals. Follow us at http:// lbtqhealth-ywca.blogspot.com, twitter.com/ingridWHO or email lbthealth@ywcaworks. org, 461-4493.

YOUTH: B-GLAD (Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Trans & Questioning Adolescent Drop-In Group): Youth Eastside Services offers many programs for GLBT youth, including B-GLAD, (425) 747-4937; Diverse Harmony: www.diverseharmony. org; GLSEN/Washington State (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) & Washington State GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) Network: GLSEN works to create safe schools for LGBT students. WA GSA Network supports youth-led GSA’s to fight harassment & homophobia in Washington state schools. 330-2099; www.glsenwa. org; www.wagsa. org. GLOBE (GLBTQ Loving Ourselves, Becoming Empowered): a support group & HIV/STD prevention program for GLBTQ youth, 14-20, in Everett, (425) 263-2908, www.globeyouth.org; It Gets Better Project: www.itgetsbetter.org; Lambert House: an activities & resource center for LGBT youth, 14-22, in Seattle, 3222515, www.lamberthouse.org; Lifelong HEYO (Health Education Youth Outreach): for LGBTQ youth, ages 16-24: 957-1665; www.llaa.org/HEYO; www.Matthews Place.com; The Mockingbird Society: 323-KIDS (5437), www.mockingbirdsociety.org; Oasis Youth Center: for GLBTQ youth, ages 14-25, in Tacoma, (253) 671-2838, www.oasisyouthcen ter.org; Parents, Family & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG)/Puget Sound: 325-7724, www.seattle-pflag.org; Peace for the Streets by Kids from the Streets (PSKS): 7268500; www.psks.org; Pizza Klatch: weekly lunchtime support groups for LGBTQ youth in Thurston County, www.pizzaklatch.org; Prism: for LGBTQ youth, 14-21, in Puyallup - Cherise.Alexander@ multicare.org; www. facebook.com/PuyallupPrism; Proud Out Wonderful (POW!): for LGBTQ youth, 13-21, in South King County, 206-326-9112, www.facebook.com/proudoutwonderful; Q Youth Resources: in Kitsap County - 360-698-3335; www.kchaf.org; Renton Area Youth Services (RAYS): LGBTQ, questioning and allied youth drop-in group, ages 12-18 - Sarah Hardin, 425-271-5600, ext 155; sarahh@rays.org; Safe Schools Coalition: www. safeschoolscoalition.org; 451-SAFE (451-7233) (nonemergency), 1-877-SAFE-SAFE (1-877-723-3723) (crisis line); Seattle Young People’s Project (Queer Youth Resource Board): 860-9606, www.sypp.org; Street Youth Ministries (SYM): 524-7301 ext 111; www.streetyouthministries.org; Teen Link: 461-4922, 1-888-431-TEEN; The Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor; www.thetrevorproject.org; True Colors - Connecting LGBTQ Teens: in Shoreline, 362-7282 x 8018, lbagley@chs-nw.org; Vista Youth Center: for LGBTQ, questioning and allied youth, ages 14-21, in Kennewick, 509-396-5198, www.vistayouthcenter.org; YouthCare/ Isis Program (Transitional Living Home for LGBTQ Young Adults, 18-22): 522-8412; YouthCare/Orion Center: 622-5555; Youth in Focus: 723-1479; www. youthinfocus.org; Youth Suicide Prevention Program (OUTLoud-GLBTQ): 297-5922, ext 116, 1-800-273TALK, www.yspp.org

Seattle Gay News 21

21 LICENSED MASSAGE - NON-SEXUAL

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–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– FREE & ANONYMOUS HIV & STD COUNSELING/TESTING Walk-In or by Appt GAY CITY HEALTH PROJECT 517 E. Pike St. MON-FRI: 3pm-8pm SAT: 12:30pm-5pm More Info & to Schedule Appt 206-860-6969 ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

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22 Seattle Gay News

April 21, 2017

Celebrating 41 Years!

Visit us online www.sgn.org

April 21, 2017

Seattle Gay News 23

24 Seattle Gay News

April 21, 2017

Celebrating 41 Years!