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ITALY TO STEVE BANNON:

STAY HOME! Denied license to set up right-wing training camp

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Ex-Trump advisor Steve Bannon has lost his legal battle to set up a right-wing training camp in Italy.

In a March 15 ruling, Italy’s Council of State — its highest authority on civil law — ruled that Bannon and his associates may not have a license for their project. see BANNON page 5

Photo by Marco Bonomo / AP

This Week in SGN History

2007 Dr. Anthony Fauci

NIAID director, White House advisor talks to SGN Dr. Anthony Fauci – Photo courtesy of NIH

[Editor’s note: Over 47 years, the Seattle Gay News has covered thousands of stories that still resonate today. This week we look back at our first interview with Dr. Fauci, from August 2007. Be sure to read our new interview in our special section.] by [Renee] Raketty SGN Staff Writer Global researchers, clinicians, and specialists convened on Seattle this week to

examine an entire spectrum of issues in HIV vaccine development and deployment.

More than 900 people from 47 countries attended the AIDS Vaccine 2007 Conference, which concluded on Thursday.

The Seattle Gay News sat down Monday, August 20, with three of the attendees, all doctors who share a passion to end the scourge of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS, upon the world. They have each spent

see SGN HISTORY page 8

Oscar Noms

Random thoughts regarding the 93rd annual Academy Award nominations Mank – Photo courtesy of Netflix

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN Staff Writer Roughly two months later than normal, the nominations for the 93rd annual Academy Awards were announced Monday morning, March 15, having been delayed courtesy of COVID-19. With the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences extending the release deadline for 2020 films to February 28 of this year, 366 titles were eligible for Best Picture consideration.

This is a titanic number, one made all the more incredible considering that theaters around the globe were closed for the majority of last year. It also shows how a few other tweaks the Academy made in regards to eligibility — most notably suspending one requiring a theatrical release for all featurelength contenders for 2020 — were hugely significant in allowing a broad variety of pictures to remain in Oscar contention that otherwise would have been disqualified.

see OSCAR NOMS page 14

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Op-Ed

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Local News

Mayor extends eviction moratorium to June 30 Preempts City Council action

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer In a March 15 announcement, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan extended the city’s eviction moratorium to June 30.

The moratorium, one of Seattle’s pandemic relief measures, had been scheduled to expire on March 31.

“While there is hope on the horizon, the work of recovery is just beginning. Seattle residents and businesses continue to feel the economic impact of this pandemic, and we will not successfully recover if we do not include the recovery needs of low-income communities and small businesses,” Durkan said in a statement.

“Extending the eviction moratorium provides housing stability for our neighbors as new federal funding arrives. Fortunately, our eviction moratorium has withstood initial legal challenges in King County Superior court as it is directly tied to the COVID-19 public health crisis.”

While the residential eviction moratorium is in place in Seattle, property owners may not do anything to initiate an eviction action unless there is an imminent threat to the health and safety of the community.

Along with halting evictions, the order also prevents tenants from incurring late fees, interest, or other charges due to late payment of rent during the moratorium.

However, tenants are still legally obligated to pay rent during the moratorium, and they will eventually have to repay all the monthly payments they skipped. Landlords are encouraged to offer flexible payment plans.

In addition, tenants in Seattle have the added protection after the moratorium is lifted of a six-month defense to eviction for nonpayment of rent if they can demonstrate financial hardship.

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Mayor Durkan talking with WNBA star Sue Bird at Lumen vaccination site – Photo courtesy of Mayor Durkan

Residential tenants who receive an eviction notice during the moratorium should contact the Renting in Seattle hotline at 206-684-5700 or go online to submit a complaint.

Preempts City Council action The mayor’s announcement preempted a City Council resolution that would have extended the eviction moratorium through the end of 2021. A vote on that measure had been expected on March 15 also.

The Council said it would defer a vote on its moratorium resolution until June 7, at which time it would vote to extend the moratorium further.

March 19, 2021

The Council also decided to defer a vote on Councilmember Kshama Sawant’s right-to-counsel legislation. The measure would guarantee Seattle renters the opportunity to have legal representation during eviction hearings.

Councilmember Alex Pedersen, an opponent of the proposal, asked to postpone the vote until March 29, and the Council voted 6-3 to delay.

Councilmembers Tammy Morales, Teresa Mosqueda, and Sawant voted against the delay. Morales and Andrew Lewis are co-sponsors of the bill.

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Op-Ed

JESSE’S JOURNAL

Joseph McQuay: April 6, 1955–February 20, 2021

by Jesse Monteagudo SGN Contributing Writer I met Joseph McQuay in 1982, when he was hired as editor of The Weekly News (TWN), Miami’s gay community newspaper. During his tenure, Joe McQuay improved that paper — and my contributions to it — with his journalistic and editorial talents and his affection for the community that he served. Though Joe eventually left his TWN job for a more lucrative position at Barry University, we continued our friendship for years, though eventually we lost touch.

Joe was also a kind and gentle man, with a soft Southern accent. He came from North Carolina, like my partner Michael Greenspan, and like Michael, he was a University of North Carolina alum. Joe cared a lot: for his family, his boyfriend Derek Cunard, and his best friend for life Jim Stegall. Joe wrote about Jim so often that I dubbed Jim “South Florida’s most famous roommate.”

According to his obituary, Joe graduated from West Charlotte High School and later from UNC, where he earned a journalism degree. While still in North Carolina, Joe worked as sports editor for the Henderson Daily Dispatch, where he met Jim. While editing TWN, McQuay also served on the board of the Dade County Coalition for Human Rights for a brief period. He later worked on university relations at Barry University, a job that kept him busy for 16 years. While at Barry, Joe earned his MBA degree, met many celebrities, and continued his career as a human rights activist. Joe and Jim, now longtime friends, returned to Charlotte in 2014.

Cliff O’Neill, whom Joe McQuay hired as TWN’s assistant editor in 1986, succeeded him as editor in 1987. “Joe was an amazing guy, a great friend with a wicked sense of humor,” Cliff recalled. “As an editor, he helped turn me from a clueless 20-year-old graduate with no journalistic experience into a news editor, through his keen eye and news sense.

“He helped shine a light at the onset of the HIV/AIDS crisis when no one else was paying any attention. When, in 1987, the Ray family of Arcadia, Florida, was burned out of their home because they wanted to send their HIV-positive children to the local school, he and I, along with a small band of activist friends, tossed journalistic objectivity to the wind, donned pseudonyms, and became the SWAMP RATS (Society of Women and Men Protesting Reactionary AIDS Theories) and traveled to the town to demonstrate at the local courthouse, an activity that led to a massive ACT-UP operation and reactionary demonstrations from the KKK a year later. …

I remember that, after the protest, we were escorted out of DeSoto County by sheriff’s seputies ‘for our own safety.’”

Derek met Joe when he was 19 years old, on a Saturday afternoon in 1982 at a gay Pride carnival at the Double-R Bar in Miami. “He called me over and said that he had just moved to town from North Carolina and used some cheesy pickup line about me being the cutest boy he had seen since arriving. I sat down by his side at the TWN booth, and he told me about his work in gay rights advocacy. We sang every dance song they blared over the speakers, and he won a teddy bear for me at the ring toss. He soon became my first boyfriend, and we never left each other’s side again.

He immediately moved into my small apartment in Coral Gables and made the

4 Seattle Gay News

McQuay and Cunard – Photo courtesy of Jesse Monteagudo

decision to document every step of our new relationship, each week in his self-named TWN column.”

“Joe was a great comedic writer, and those columns were hilarious. I remember going out with him, and guys would come up to us and know every detail of our lives, as they waited each week to see what kind of trouble we had gotten into. Although Joe and I drifted apart and I eventually moved to Texas for college, what always remained,

even after 39 years, his slow decline of mental function, and the loss of our wonderful memories, was a deep love and respect. His years of AIDS advocacy work in Miami, his battle for gay equality, and his hilarious and thoughtful writing about living as a young gay man in the ’80s are things that Joe will be fondly remembered for.”

According to his obituary, Joe McQuay passed away peacefully after a courageous, 14-year battle with dementia. A celebration

of his life will be held later in the spring.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Barry University’s “Barry Fund.” *** Good news from Vitambi Springs: In a previous column I wrote about the financial troubles of Vitambi Springs Resort & Campground and worried that this LGBT community treasure might not be with us much longer. Happily, Vitambi Springs has made a comeback. According to a February 14 Facebook post by Rick McCloud, “Vitambi Springs has been able to address the issues that threatened its survival.”

Though McCloud did not tell us how this was done, a February 25 email from the gay men’s social group WildFyre explained that the “camp has solved its immediate financial problem by refinancing its mortgage with a private individual who is committed to the campground’s long-term growth. The previous mortgage holder is now out of the picture, and Vitambi Springs forges ahead without interruption.”

“Most of you are aware of the announced troubles late last year and the efforts to secure a future for the resort,” McCloud continued. “This beloved property has proven to be a treasured asset to our community. Our guests stepped up to the challenge, and incredible action within our own community has led to a better horizon. Vitambi Springs will continue working hard to bring you the best communityinspired resort.”

Image courtesy of Vitambi Springs Resort

March 19, 2021

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International News

Certosa di Trisulti – Photo by Francorov / Wikipedia

BANNON

continued from cover Bannon was a key backer of the socalled Dignitatis Humanae Institute (DHI), which planned to occupy an 800-year-old monastery south of Rome.

Bannon, a traditionalist Catholic, was helping to craft the curriculum for leadership courses aimed at right-wing Catholic activists at what was to be called “the Academy for the Judeo-Christian West” in the Italian town of Trisulti.

The Italian Ministry of Culture, which owns the property, opposed the DHI’s plans, provoking a series of lawsuits and countersuits that took several years to work their way through the Italian court system.

Many residents of Trisulti opposed plans for the training camp. In 2019, the Culture Ministry withdrew a 19-year lease, citing violations of contractual obligations. The DHI won an appeal to a regional court but has finally lost at the highest judicial level.

Bannon said in a March 15 statement that he would fight the decision.

“We intend to appeal and win,” he said.

“Trisulti is an Italian treasure, and we will fight for it.”

During Trump’s presidency, the DHI project found support among Italy’s populist right-wing politicians, such as former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.

It also had the backing of key Roman Catholic conservatives, including American Cardinal Raymond Burke, who was an honorary president of the DHI. However, Burke withdrew his support after Bannon said he wanted to make a film alleging the existence of a politically powerful Gay sex ring in the Vatican.

Last year, Bannon was charged with swindling Trump supporters in a scheme to raise money for a wall on the US-Mexico border. He pleaded not guilty.

Days before leaving office in January, Trump granted clemency to Bannon, a key adviser in his 2016 presidential run.

Security guard tosses popular Trans DJ out of nightclub restroom; management is scrambling

by Bil Browning LGBTQ Nation MELBOURNE, Australia (March 15, 2021) — Musician and DJ Simona Castricum, a transgender woman, was berated and tossed out of the women’s restroom at a popular nightclub in Melbourne’s LGBTQ enclave.

Castricum literally helped the city’s nightlife venues write their trans inclusion policies — and now the venue, Yah Yah’s, is apologizing profusely.

A guard reportedly demanded Castricum leave the restroom, saying, “You’re a man. Go to the men’s bathroom now.” She says another woman came to her defense.

“A male security guard stood in the doorway of the women’s bathroom and pointed at me and yelled at me quite aggressively, ‘out of the bathroom’,” she told The Age. “I said, ‘I’m a woman, I’m a trans woman.’”

“It really is such an indignity to have your gender questioned in front of an entire bathroom full of people,” she said. “It’s also really frightening.”

“Yah Yah’s has obviously got a problem,” she added. “It’s incumbent on the management to make sure that the message gets down to security.”

Yah Yah’s co-owner, James Young, is apologizing publicly, admitting that “it’s embarrassing for us.”

Yah Yah's – Photo courtesy of Visit Victoria

“The guard was reprimanded and he apologized to the guest,” Young said.

“Simona is a very welcome guest.”

The club is located in the heart of the city’s queer nightlife district but isn’t specifically an LGBTQ venue.

Castricum says she doesn’t want locals to boycott the club.

“Rather than a name and shame, cancel [or] call out, I’m looking at Yah Yah’s to

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lead by example, commit to education and accountability, and change their culture so that any trans and gender-diverse person on any night will feel safe as the venue moves forward,” she said. “Not just on queer nights. Every night is queer and trans night in Smith Street.”

Young says all employees will be retrained.

“It’s vital, and not just at workplaces

that happen to be running a gay night, it’s all workplaces, it’s universal training,” he said. “This is a very embarrassing incident for me and the bar, and we have to welcome it as a learning experience with something very positive to come out of it.”

March 19, 2021

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Religion

No blessings for same-sex couples, Vatican says Slap at German bishops

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Roman Catholic clergy may not bless same-sex couples, the Vatican said on March 15.

The Vatican’s doctrinal office issued a document, said to be personally approved

by Pope Francis, saying it is impermissible for clergy to pronounce blessings on any relationship outside of marriage between a man and a woman.

Such blessings are wrong, the Vatican said, because they would seem “to approve and encourage a choice and a way of life that cannot be recognized as objectively ordered to the revealed plans of God,” adding that God “does not and cannot bless sin.”

The document reaffirms traditional Catholic teaching on marriage and sexuality.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, its official handbook of dogma, states that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,” the inclination to act on them is “objectively disordered” and “under no circumstances can they be approved.”

However, the catechism also states that LGBTQ people “must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided.”

The Vatican’s reaffirmation of traditional teaching is likely to disappoint progressive Catholics hoping for further

In this Dec. 6, 2008 file photo two men kiss each other outside St. Peter's Square at the Vatican during a candle-lit demonstration for gay rights. – Photo by Alessandra Tarantino / AP

change and cheer conservatives.

“It is not surprising but still disappointing,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, which advocates for LGBT Catholics.

“This decision, though, is an impotent one, because it will not stop the Catholic people in the pews, nor many Catholic leaders,

who are eager for such blessings to happen.”

The Vatican document is also a slap at the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference, which has called for the Church to bless — but not marry — same-sex couples. Priests in Germany have blessed same-sex couples for years, as have Catholic clergy in some other parts of Northern Europe.

The Vatican document acknowledged “the presence in such relationships of positive elements, which are in themselves to be valued and appreciated,” but said such elements “cannot justify these relationships and render them legitimate objects of an ecclesial blessing, since the positive elements exist within the context of a union not ordered to the Creator’s plan.”

German bishops “are unlikely to back down in their stance on blessing gay unions,” the Wall Street Journal reported.

While Pope Francis has gone out of his way to be conciliatory toward LGBTQ Catholics, the German bishops have gone even further toward liberalizing Catholic doctrine, and not just on LGBTQ issues.

They have, for example, given Holy Communion to Lutherans, long considered heretics and schismatics.

German bishops and lay Catholics are currently involved in a national synod that is considering changes to many aspects of church life, including the possibility of ordaining women clergy, something Francis and all past popes have rejected.

A move by German bishops to approve blessings of same-sex unions would exacerbate tensions with more conservative parts of the church, including in Africa and conservative bishops in the US. American bishops, in particular, have been critical of what they see as the Pope’s excessive liberalism.

National News

Mississippi governor signs first anti-Transgender bill of 2021

by Philip Van Slooten Washington Blade (March 12, 2021) — Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed into law on Wednesday a bill banning the state’s transgender student athletes from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity.

Jace Pierce, a 35-year-old trans man who was born and raised in Mississippi but has since relocated to Oregon because of his wife’s job, was saddened by the news.

“I feel it just continues to further push the idea that transgender individuals are a threat, and that’s dangerous,” Pierce told the Washington Blade. “I can, at times, understand some concerns that people may have but that’s only because they are uninformed.”

Rev. Brandiilyne Mangum-Dear, a 46-year-old cisgender lesbian, lives in Laurel, a city in Mississippi’s Pine Belt. She and her gender-fluid wife were both disappointed by Reeves’ decision to sign the bill, but they remain hopeful.

“We are incredibly saddened and angered by this bill, but we are not surprised.

Unfortunately, this is the climate of our state.

Bigotry and hate for the LGBTQAI community are deeply woven into the tapestry that is the South,” she said. “This bill, like the anti-LGBT bills that came before, will be a rallying point for our community.“ Senate Bill 2536, sponsored by state Sen. Angela Burks Hill (R-Marion, Pearl River Counties), is one of many anti-trans measures advancing through state legislatures across the country, according to Freedom for All Americans. SB 2536 is the first to be signed into law this year.

“This law is a solution in search of a problem, and legislators in Mississippi have

6 Seattle Gay News

Photo by Michael K. Lavers / Washington Blade

not provided any examples of Mississippi transgender athletes gaming the system for a competitive advantage, because none exist,” Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said in a press release.

“While transgender athletes have been competing at every level for years without incident, Gov. Reeves is signing this bill while Mississippians continue to suffer and real issues go unaddressed.”

Mississippi Republicans currently hold a two-thirds majority over Democrats in both chambers of the state’s legislature. This bill passed both chambers along party lines in the state Senate but with some Democratic support in the House of Representatives.

March 19, 2021

The new law requires public schools, colleges, and universities to “designate its athletic teams or sports according to biological sex.” It also bars government agencies, including accrediting and athletic associations, from taking adverse actions against public educational institutions that discriminate against trans student athletes.

The law also states that disputes regarding a student’s gender identity must be resolved by a physician attesting to the student’s sex “based solely upon” a check of the student’s reproductive anatomy, “endogenously produced levels of testosterone,” and genetic makeup.

“If there’s one thing that we are pas-

sionate about in the Reeves family, it’s my daughters’ sports,” Reeves, a Republican, said in a Facebook post supporting the new restrictions. “I know that the lessons learned through team sports have led to so many successful lives and careers for women and have truly helped provide a more equal opportunity for success in our world.”

Human Rights Campaign Mississippi State Director Rob Hill, however, said in response to the new law that all children deserve an equal opportunity to participate in youth sports.

“Every kid deserves the opportunity to learn the values of participation, team work, and work ethic that come with youth sports,” he stated on Wednesday during a press conference.

President Biden on Jan. 20 issued an executive order extending equal protection from discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

The order stated “children should be able to learn without worrying about whether they will be denied access to the restroom, the locker room, or school sports” and noted the “unconscionably high levels” of violence and discrimination that Black trans people in particular face.

Reeves, however, also stated in his Facebook post that he didn’t “understand why politicians are pushing children into transgenderism in the first place. And my heart breaks for the young women across America who will lose in this radical social experiment.”

Mangum-Dear condemned Reeves’ statements and actions as “transphobic.”

“Gov. Tate Reeves and many leaders in our state are transphobic bigots cloaked in pseudo-Christianity,” she said. “They choose hate and ignorance over love and truth. We

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LGBTQ ally Rep. Deb Haaland confirmed by Senate as Interior Secretary

by Brody Levesque Washington Blade WASHINGTON, DC (March 16, 2021) – New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland was confirmed Monday in a 51-40 vote by the Senate, becoming the first Native American to serve in a presidential cabinet, as the 54th Secretary of the Interior.

The vote to confirm was [mostly] along party lines, but Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC) joined three other Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan (Alaska) and Susan Collins (ME) in voting to confirm Haaland.

A member of the Laguna Pueblo tribal nation, Secretary Haaland will oversee the management and conservation of federal land holdings, including national parks and monuments, as well as the nation’s natural resources. She is the third resident from the state of New Mexico to hold the post and the first woman in addition to her historic confirmation to President Joe Biden’s Cabinet as a Native American [sic].

In her role as Interior Secretary overseeing 70,000 employees, making it one of the largest federal government departments, she will lead […] the Bureau of Land Management, the United States Geological Survey, the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and other agencies that manage lands, waters, and coastal areas.

Haaland will also oversee the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the Bureau of Trust Fund Administration. The Bureau of Indian Education has come under fire from advocates and lawmakers for what is generally perceived as its failure to adequately address issues that affect Native American students in the past decade plus.

The All Pueblo Council of Governors also issued a statement lauding their fellow Pueblo member’s confirmation, the Arizona Central reported.

“This confirmation is a defining moment for Indigenous peoples not only in the United States but around the world,” said the council’s chairman, Wilfred Herrera, former governor of Laguna Pueblo.

Indigenous peoples are the first stewards of the lands, waters, and living beings, Herrera said, and predicted that Haaland’s leadership will provide “a long-overdue opportunity to strengthen the nation-tonation relationship and help our nation swing the pendulum on our most pressing Indigenous and environmental justice issues.”

As a member of the US House, Haaland was a committed ally of the LGBTQ community. In May of 2019, Haaland was awarded the prestigious Vanguard Award by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR). The Vanguard Award is given to outstanding allies who use their platform to further LGBTQ+ equality.

MISSISSIPPI

continued from page 6 stand firmly with our transgender family and will continue defend our community.”

The text of the anti-trans Mississippi ban cites support from Duke law professor and all-American track athlete Doriane Coleman, Martina Navratilova, and Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross. All stated that trans females have a “biological” advantage over cisgender women and that “claims to the contrary are simply a denial of science.”

The bill also mentioned an often-cited 2010 study published in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine that analyzed top Olympic performers in swimming and other events and found a persistent performance gap between cisgender males and females since 1983. The measure nevertheless failed to mention contrary or more

Vice President Kamala Harris (r) speaks during a ceremonial swearing in for Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (third from r) on March 18, 2021, in Washington, D.C. – Photo by Alex Brandon / AP

Accepting the award, she stated, “Everyone deserves to love who they love and be who they are without facing discrimination or violence. I truly believe that, and I’m honored to receive the NCLR’s Vanguard Award. It means I’m doing the right thing for my daughter, the amazing LGBTQ community in New Mexico, and everyone who has fought tirelessly for equality.”

When she was running for office in 2018, Haaland was asked by the NM Political Report during a Q&A session with candidates for US House […] “how an LGBTQ person in your life has affected your worldview.”

[She replied,] “That would be my daughter, who is a lesbian. Sometimes I think about how I have this beautiful, wonderful lesbian daughter who I adore, and who I want to have every opportunity for success. But quite frankly, I would feel that way about any member of the LGBTQ community, because I just feel that every single American, regardless of where they are, what community they belong to, deserves to have opportunities to succeed.

“I took a tour one time of the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico, and it’s a shame that a lot of members of the LGBTQ community have found it very difficult to find housing, find employment. That’s a community that really needs all of us to step up and treat them with respect, dignity and equality. That’s something I would really like to change in our society.”

The NMPR [also asked,] “What are your priorities when it comes to addressing needs and concerns of LGBTQ people, including those in rural and tribal communities?”

Haaland [replied,] “A lot of times it might boil down to understanding. … For me, I have a lesbian daughter who would be everywhere I go; I talk to her every day on the telephone if I don’t see her in person.

I think some people don’t have the breadth of understanding that they should when it comes to the struggles of members of the LGBTQ community.

“It’s up to people like me, up to people who do understand that community, to make sure we’re finding ways to bridge those gaps so that we can have a more accepting society.”

Haaland introduced the Elder Pride Act in 2019 to address a lifetime of discrimination that has resulted in less financial security, more social isolation, and specific healthcare needs for older LGBT Americans. The Elder Pride Act amends the Older American Act to address the needs of older LGBT Americans and make necessary investments to support them.

Haaland also raised transgender issues at the State of the Union in 2019, inviting local advocate Bunnie Benton Cruz, chair of the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico board, and Mara Kiesling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE). Haa-

land’s office coordinated a transgender awareness training for staff on the Hill, which was administered by the NCTE. Haaland was also vice chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, a group of lawmakers that serves as a resource for members of Congress, their staff, and the public on LGBTQ+ issues at the federal level. The caucus works toward the extension of equal rights, the repeal of discriminatory laws, the elimination of hate-motivated violence, and the improved health and well-being for all regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.

The Blade reached out to Running Bear Ramirez, a leader in the San Manuel tribe of Mission Indians in Southern California and one of the Yuhaaviatam people, for his reaction to the news of Secretary Haaland’s confirmation.

“First off, to have a Native American running the Department of the Interior is something I never would have thought would happen. Representation matters, and there is no better person I could think of to run the department then a native person,” Ramirez said, adding, “It’s exciting to be able to see someone like myself (native) in such an influential role within the administration.”

recent research that either drills down into a particular sport, like “Sex Differences in Youth Elite Swimming” from 2019, or compares performance in different events, such as “The Age-Related Performance Decline in Ironman Triathlon Starts Earlier in Swimming than in Cycling and Running” from 2018.

These studies, for example, found that an athlete’s age and build and the type of event were other important “biological” factors to consider as well, when accounting for performance differences and changes over time.

The youth swimming study, in particular, found “there were no sex-related differences in swimming performance prior to age 10.”

‘know better’ and decide to step in to ‘correct’ that it becomes an issue.”

The Mississippi American Civil Liberties Union, however, stated in their Wednesday release that “SB 2536 isn’t about protecting fairness in women’s sports.”

“It’s about erasing and excluding trans people from participation in all aspects of public life,” the group stated. “It’s about creating solutions to problems that don’t exist.

Not once have the supporters of this bill cited an actual dispute over this issue in Mississippi.”

The Human Rights Campaign noted that 55 major US corporations such as Amazon, American Airlines, Apple, Nike, and others oppose anti-trans legislation introduced in various state legislatures across the country.

They also point out that nearly 550 college athletes have demanded the NCAA pull championships from states with anti-trans sports legislation.

More than 7 million youth-serving professionals and more than 1,000 child welfare groups also called for legislatures to oppose bills that target trans children, according to the HRC. “What makes SB 2536 so much worse than the routine fear-mongering is that it targets children. That cannot be lost in this discussion,” said the Mississippi ACLU in a statement. “Whatever your politics, we should all agree that ostracizing middle and high school kids is not something to celebrate.”

David added in the HRC’s statement that “transgender kids deserve better and so does Mississippi.”

The law is slated to go into effect on July 1.

March 19, 2021

Seattle Gay News 7

“SB 2536 isn’t about protecting fairness in women’s sports” “Boys and girls always compete together from the moment they hit the playgrounds,” Pierce said. “It’s not until the adults who

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SGN HISTORY continued from cover

decades researching or reporting on the virus and agreed to share their knowledge and insight in a rare group interview high atop the Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Towers.

Dr. Anthony Fauci oversees a $4.4 billion 2007 fiscal year budget as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Disease at the National Institutes for Health. He has been credited for expanding the agencies HIV research capacity. He continues to run a productive research program at NIAID, where he also serves as chief of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation.

Dr. Lawrence Corey is the principal investigator of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network; head of the University of Washington’s Virology Division; head of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s Program in Infectious Diseases; professor of medicine and laboratory medicine at the UW; and infectious disease attending physician at Fred Hutchinson. He also was the chair of the AIDS Vaccine 2007 Conference in Seattle.

Dr. Lawrence Altman, a staff writer at the New York Times since 1969, is one of a select few full-fledged medical doctors working as a full-time daily newspaper reporter. He also writes for Science Times and is a published author. In addition, he is clinical professor at New York University Medical School; master of the American College of Epidemiology and the New York Academy of Medicine; and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

The doctors offered their frank assessments about the history, impact, and potential threat of HIV/AIDS. Seattle Gay News: Dr. Fauci. In the early days of this epidemic, do you feel enough was being done to address the problem?

Fauci: Well, it really depends on what you mean by the early days. In the very early beginning, in the summer of 1981, when the first cases of pneumocystis pneumonia were reported in five gay men in Los Angeles, this was something that was clearly not fully appreciated among leaders of the country, and certainly not among the general population. In some respects, understandably so, as to what the potential impact of this disease would be. I wouldn’t say it was an epidemic; there were only a handful of cases. Then, over a period of months, including four weeks later when the [Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)] on July 4 reported that 20-plus patients [had] capa sarcoma pneumocystis, that it became clear that this was beginning to be a serious problem.

Then, in a series of reports over the next several months, I think it was during that period when insightful people would say we have really got a problem here, and Dr. Altman, who is here, is the earliest one reporting, among the classical standard media, about how this was progressing in our minds to being something that really needed to be addressed. In those early days, I think, there wasn’t enough openness and discussion about what potential risks were.

The research agenda; it was tough to get that jump started in months because the cycle of funding is usually and year and half ahead. So, it took about a year and a half to get money to jump start the situation-to get people interested in the science of it-- before HIV was actually discovered.

Probably, if you want to talk about the criticism during those early years, was the lack of leadership on the part of the political apparatus in our country of, even, admitting that this was the beginning of a problem because I think things could have moved a little faster. Once they did start moving, the really began to move.

If you looked at the NIH budget, it literally took off to the point now where it is $2.9 billion, which is 11% of the NIH budget. So, nobody can argue now that not

8 Seattle Gay News

This Week in SGN History

2007

Dr. Lawrence Corey – Photo courtesy of Fred Hutch

enough research money is being put in.

Although you could say there is not enough because, as a researcher, the only time you have enough is when you solve the problem and we haven’t solved the problem. But it is a substantial amount. People could argue that it might actually be disproportionate.

Briefly, to get to your question, I think, in the beginning, it could have been a lit bit more quick than it was.

SGN: Dr. Altman, you have been reporting on this for many years. I wondered if you felt if the tactics of groups, such as ACT-UP were productive, in your opinion?

Altman: I guess you would say that any time activism leads to focusing attention on something, yes, that’s helpful. But, I’m not sure all of the tactics that were used were that helpful and some of them may have even been counterproductive.

I think, as Dr. Fauci has outlined, in the early days no one knew what we were dealing with. In New York State, state health officials were not convinced that it was a virus, going back to the days before the virus was discovered. They made the case that it could have been a drug and or a toxin. The New York State health commissioner, his background had been in the Love Canal; naturally he was thinking in terms of the things [he] had done.

So, until what was presumed to be a viral infection was shown to be a viral infection, there was a lot for which you could conjecture, but you couldn’t be specific about.

That part was hard to cover. Trying to convince people of the epidemiology findings that it wasn’t contagious personalto-person, except through sexual contact, blood, blood products, or mother-to-child transmission; people still refused to go to Greenwich Village or places perceived to have a number of employees who were Gay. They perceived themselves to be at risk just from eating there, which wasn’t the case.

I think what Dr. Fauci was saying is also true. There was a lack of precise definition of what health officials were saying from the epidemiology standpoint and body fluids.

They weren’t very helpful without being more specific and that led to some confusion.

SGN: Dr. Altman, because it was seen as a “Gay disease” early on, do you believe this played a role or initially hampered the response of the government and medical community?

March 19, 2021

Altman: I am sure it was a factor, but whether it was the factor, I don’t know.

Many people, in the beginning, didn’t believe it was a viral infection, regardless which part of the population or subset of the population was affected. There were people who said it was very small numbers and therefore didn’t mean anything. They got proved wrong.

Forgetting whomever, it is a disease that is clearly spread in the heterosexual population of the world. Nobody, in the beginning, could have foreseen that we would be in the position that we are today. If they are [saying that they did], I have never seen anything that they said at the time to document what claim to be saying now.

SGN: Dr. Fauci, would you like to comment on that?

Fauci: I agree completely with what Larry said, but there was another area of it that was very difficult. The explosion of the infection in the Gay community in the early years and subsequent years was devistating to the community, but there was a tremendous ambivalence in the Gay community about admitting that there was a problem. They had just recently, within the last several years, gained their ability to freely express their sexuality following the Stonewall Bar riots in New York City where they said, “Enough of this prejudice and disenfranchisement from society. We want to do our thing.” So, it was difficult to get people to realize that the very essence of their sexuality and the practices they fought so hard to be able to freely engage in was the very risk that was causing all this. It was very difficult then.

So, yes, the government, because this was in reality a disenfranchised group, did not do as much as they would have done if it had been a bunch of 25-year-old girls in a private high school or college. That’s a different story.

But there were also people like Larry Kramer, who was one of the ones that berated the Gay community very vehemently during those early years for not getting out there stepping to the plate to help themselves; then they finally did. They galvanized and were one of the great forces of the realization of the difficulty of the epidemic and the things to do about it. They played an important leadership role. But, in the beginning, it was very ambiguous.

There were some segments of the govern-

ment who didn’t want to admit it was happening; then there was some elements of the Gay community who didn’t want to admit it was happening. It was very interesting period in ‘81 and ‘82.

Corey: Unfortunately, it is repeated by every government still today. Stigmatization is never a good thing, whether it be the social aspects of it or the medical aspects of it. Stigmatization of HIV continues worldwide, and what you saw happen in the United State in the 1980s continues to occur in every country throughout the world. There is a stigmatization that goes with HIV infection. It has been very difficult to counteract; it leads to problems in implementing and diagnosing treatment and therapy; it leads to problems in identifying who is infected. Ninety-nine percent of people who are infected are asymptomatic. It leads to the problem of control. So, one can see the same issues being played out worldwide, unfortunately.

SGN: Dr. Fauci, you worked for the government during ACT-UP early years of activism. Do you think that swayed anyone in the government level?

Fauci: Oh, absolutely. I think Larry put it well. A lot of what they did was very productive, both in their confrontational nature to get attention. Sometimes, they overdid it.

They got more attention than they needed to get to get their point across. But, the confrontative aspects of it, I think, served the purpose of getting attention. They got my attention early on, and I started dealing with them very early on.

I think that it is bit interesting, historically, that scientists are a bit prudish — the sacrosanct nature of science. No one can tell scientists how do science. They, for the first time, really in a forceful way — people have done that intimately for years, but never is such an organized way — brought up the point that they needed to be part of the decision-making, both clinical trials and the regulation of approval of drugs since they were the stakeholders.

It was different from other diseases in which you have two or three, five or ten drugs. We had nothing in the early years. So, the idea about how you configured a clinical trial to maintain scientific integrity of the trial while still doing the ethically correct thing of making the drug available to people who had no other options — that was one of

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Dr. Anthony Fauci – Photo courtesy of NIH

the things: the famous parallel track. The other was relooking at the time it takes to approve drugs for life-threatening diseases when there are no other options available.

So, I would say the Gay activist community played a major role-in a positive way, in getting scientists and regulators to rethink and relook at the very rigid approaches that they did. In fact, we did do clinical trials that gave us the answer at the same time we made the drug available to people who had no options.

So, the idea that if you violate the sacrosanct nature of the clinical trial, you will never get your answer is not correct. I was very impressed early on because it was the theater, as Larry said, that turned people on: dressing kind of funny and putting on theatrical gimmicks, such as smoke bombs or lying out in the street. For scientists, that was extremely shocking. That is not neat and proper. Instead of listening to what they were saying, they were completely [taken] aback by the theater of what they were doing.

I had the opportunity to kind of read and listen to what they were saying. If you kind of screened out the theater, a lot of what they were saying was making a lot of sense. Once people got past the theater, then there was a good dialogue back and forth between the establishment and the Gay community.

SGN: Dr. Fauci, You serve as an advisor to both the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services on global AIDS issues. I wondered if you felt that enough was being done to combat the issue worldwide?

Fauci: I think, over the last few years, there has been a quantum leap over what has been done. With the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an original $15 billion five-year program now up to $30 billion, now extended another five years; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; private foundations, such as the Gates Foundation, the Clinton Foundation...

I know a lot is being done.

Is it enough? Quite frankly, no, it isn’t enough. That’s in part because, I know, there are some partners, particularly in developed nations, that have not really put in their share, number one. Number two: there’s been, in some nations, a serious lack of leadership at the level of the host country of what needs to be done.

I think the problems that we have seen in South Africa are a very good example of that lack of leadership. In taking a long time and, even now, not yet approaching HIV with the seriousness it needs to be taken. There was an initial denial, the same kind of denial we have been talking about but with a different twist. In China, a long time went by before they admitted the problem of the blood contamination, as well as the problem sexual (hetero and homosexual) transmissibility and injection drug use. So, there’s a lot of things that are being done, but there is still a lot more that needs to be done.

SGN: Dr. Fauci, are there other areas of the world, in addition to African and China, that you mentioned, which concern you?

Fauci: The whole world concerns me. The developing world concerns me, because if you look at the curves, they are still out of control. There are 4.3 million new infections each year, 2.9 million deaths. A statistic that is quite troubling is that for every one person you put on therapy, six people get newly infected. Every day that goes by, we are getting worse and worse with the numbers game. So, treatment, although is necessary, is not the final solution. The final solution is prevention.

So, I worry not only about the developing world, in which you have this acceleration of infection. I worry about the developed world. In the United States, we have a very embarrassing number. We have 40,000 new infections each year. It’s been 40,000 for the last 15 years. That is absolutely unacceptable. It went way up in the ’80s to 150,000 new infections, yet it went down to 40,000 and has stayed at 40,000.

So, we are not cracking that 40,000 number. Even in a country like the United States, we are not seeing it go down linearly. So, I see a problem in the developing world and the developed world.

SGN: Dr. Fauci, how does political will in Washington, DC, affect your efforts?

Fauci: You have to have political will for leadership. We have been very fortunate because we have a Congress with bipartisan support of HIV/AIDS generally over the years. You have presidents who in different manners and forms have done very well as far as HIV, including the current president, who started the PEPFAR program. Clinton,

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he did a lot. He has been criticized for some of the things he didn’t do. The first Bush, H. W. Bush, got away and broke away from the almost-silence of the Reagan administration. So, I think, throughout the political scene, both houses of Congress have been supportive and the administrations have been supportive.

Right now, unfortunately, we have a flattening of the budget both for the NIH and CDC over the last four or five years. It is unprecedented to have so many years in a row with a flat budget. So, if you look at the AIDS budget, it’s flat. That is not good when you have the opportunities that we are going to be talking about at this meeting: the vaccines, interventions, and new drugs.

To have a flat budget is very constricting.

SGN: Dr. Corey, I wanted to ask you about what you’re doing and what role Seattle plays in the HIV vaccine research effort?

Corey: Well, Seattle is a pretty central place with respect to the HIV vaccine field.

First of all, the HIV Vaccine Trials Network is centered in Seattle. Of course, it is a global network that is supported by the National Institutes of Health, specifically, Allergy and Infectious Disease. That is a network that is in 10 countries, four continents, and involves 29 clinical trial sites. It really is sort of a conduit to developing and the platform to rapidly evaluate, in the clinical trials, candidate HIV vaccines. It has sort of created a scientific community in Seattle that is interested in vaccines development. There is no question that the Gates Foundation — when Gates gets up there and made the analogy that it is the most cost-effective technology in all of medicine — [is] a big proponent of HIV vaccine development, which is a relatively new program.

They have really put money into global vaccine development, whether that be malaria, TB, leishmaniasis, or various other diseases.

So, that has created, in our biomedical community, a very directed approach to vaccines, which is frankly a tough area.

I take lipitor that lowers my cholesterol by 40%, costs $1,100 a year, and I have to get an SEOT test once a year. If I developed a vaccine that cost $1,100, had 40% efficacy, and everyone would have to have a blood test, they would laugh me out of the [room]...

Yet, it is making $13 billion a year. Every vaccine sold to mankind, up until this year… the papilloma virus will take it above that,

March 19, 2021

the total consumer of all vaccines is about $12 billion a year. So, there is one drug versus the entire vaccine portfolio.

So, it is a harder area to get people to work in. There are longer times, and the scientific bars are higher. But we have been able to sort of create a community in Seattle that says, “Hey, vaccine development is something we should be working in and base our scientific community.” So, we are pretty active in a lot of areas, but that has sort of been an area of emphasis.

SGN: Dr. Corey and Dr. Fauci, what excites you about HIV vaccine research and its potential as a long-term solution?

Fauci: I think the keyword to that question is potential. If we get a vaccine that is a good vaccine, it will be a major, major advance in prevention... We have to be careful. It would unlikely be the sole way that you prevent infection. Unlike other vaccines, where once you take the vaccine you don’t have to worry about any of the other risks, with HIV — even if we get a very good vaccine — we will have to continue to practice risk reduction and risk avoidance. But the role of vaccine in prevention is absolutely critical. If we get a good vaccine that prevents infection in a substantial portion of people, then, I think we will take a quantum leap in our preventive efforts globally and domestically. That is the reason why we are very excited and energized about a vaccine, even though it has some of the toughest scientific problems we have had to face in any discipline.

Corey: I don’t think we have ever been able to handle a sexually transmitted disease and get it to the point where we take it from 40,000 [infected people] to 400 without a vaccine. That is not saying that we should be doing every preventive approach that we can, but, from a biomedical point of view, when you look at the biology of this with asymptomatic acquisition, asymptomatic transmission, sexual transmission, to really control this, to really take it to the levels that we are with polio, measles, or rubella, we are going to have to develop a vaccine now.

Again, when you make that statement, you want be a little bit careful of how people perceive that. I am not minimizing all the other things that are being done, from microbicides to antiretrovirals and all the other approaches. But, when you really want to look at it from a global point of view, to say we have to take 4 million infections a year down to 4,000 infections a year, I actually can’t imagine that any other technology can do that.

SGN: It seems like HIV vaccine research has become an academic endeavor where the government or foundations are funding these small groups of scientists. What can the average person do to help you all come to a solution?

Corey: We have had incredible support from the Seattle community in enrolling people in our clinical trials. It is important for people to know that clinical trials are the part of this enterprise that makes this thing work. Eventually, it has to have community understanding to do this. There aren’t any stealth HIV trials of anything, and that is both within the United States and worldwide. So, involving community and understanding the need for it, essentially. If you look at the people who enroll in clinical trials, they are in a very high degree some way affected, either personally or their loved ones. In some fashion or some part of their community is affected by this epidemic.

So, we do need our community, as well as the global community, to understand what is trying to be done. We need both community understanding and community involvement in medical research. In fact, that’s the activism in the ‘80s has led to: some understanding on the researchers’ part, the necessity to get the community involved. Hopefully, there is understanding on the community’s part that we actually need their help; otherwise we can’t accomplish this mission.

SGN: Thank you all very much for your time.

Seattle Gay News 9

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Peaceful protesters sue City of Seattle, State of Washington in civil rights case SGN staff writer Renee Raketty expected to join landmark suit

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Health & Medicine

What is the most affordable way to obtain dental care?

Image courtesy of Delta Dental of Washington

SEATTLE – As Washington state’s unemployed suffer the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, so too can their healthcare.

According to the Movement Advancement Project, nearly two-thirds of LGBTQ+ households experienced job loss since the beginning of the pandemic. For many, unemployment results in a loss of medical and dental insurance — more than one in eight LGBTQ+ people have lost their health insurance since the start of pandemic, more than twice the rate on non-LGBTQ+ people.

Medical, dental, and vision insurance are important tools during a public health crisis for individuals who need preventive care and treatment at this critical time.

More than one in four LGBTQ+ households has reported having serious problems affording care, which is at a rate twice as high as non-LGBTQ+ households.

With conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and pneumonia connected to oral health, maintaining regular visits to the dentist despite a job loss is key.

The good news is that there are several dental coverage options, as well as non-insurance alternatives, worth exploring, according to Rick Blonden, who manages individual plans for Delta Dental of Washington, the state’s largest dental benefits provider.

“There are dental insurance plans available at affordable rates, but there are plenty of other options, including joining your dentist’s in-office plan, signing up for a discount plan, or paying out of pocket,” said Blonden. “Families can mix and match their insurance plans and alternative options to ensure they receive the best rates for each member of their family, particularly if they are on a tight budget. What’s most important is that they get to the dentist and they receive high-quality care.”

It is important to not delay finding a new insurance plan or an alternative option. By having a plan in place early, people can be prepared for unexpected emergency procedures, and any waiting periods for new plans won’t greatly affect their care. Blonden outlines the wide range of options to explore for those who experience a loss of coverage.

COBRA (continuation of health coverage) might be an option One of the pricier options is the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), which gives families and workers

12 Seattle Gay News

who lose their health benefits the right to continue their existing medical, vision, and dental insurance coverage for a limited time — typically up to 18 months after the final day of employment. To be eligible, you must be enrolled in the employer’s plan while working and must continue with that plan under COBRA. With the consistency of remaining on the same plan comes a high price tag: those who enroll in COBRA must pay the entire insurance premium up to 102%.

Although one of the most expensive options, COBRA can act as a bridge until a person is able to get an alternative into place.

Shop around for insurance One good reason to consider purchasing dental insurance is saving money on unexpected treatments. By visiting the dentist for cleanings two times a year, the annual premium is typically met, meaning any emergency procedures will cost significantly less with the benefit of insurer-discounted rates than if you paid for everything out of pocket.

This is also a good reason why everyone who has dental insurance should visit their dentist for their twice-yearly cleanings.

Dental insurance can be obtained by joining a family member’s group plan, purchasing a family or individual plan direct from insurance providers, or the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, which has opened a special enrollment period from February 15 to May 15, 2021 for those that have experienced a qualifying “life event.”

If a person does not qualify for special enrollment, they will need to wait for an open enrollment period.

When purchasing a family or individual dental insurance plan, there are a few things to take into consideration. There is often a waiting period of about six to twelve months before benefits for services like root canals and fillings can be used — so plan ahead! And if an individual wants to continue to see their current dentist, they should talk to their dentist about which insurance providers and plans are considered “in network” prior to committing.

Finally, people can mix and match plans to fit the needs of their family. If there is a great deal for kids’ coverage on the Washington Health Benefit Exchange, but a better plan for the parents direct from an insurance provider, then proceed with that arrangement of plans. Shopping around increases the likelihood that a person will get more bang for their buck.

March 19, 2021

Find out if you qualify for Medicaid Although this may not be obvious to everyone who has just suffered a job loss, it is worth looking into Medicaid (Washington Apple Health) as an option. Medicaid provides for lower-income individuals who qualify for discounted or free coverage; the coverage can also be retroactive for up to three months if the person or family was eligible during that period. The qualifications are based on current income (including unemployment), and exclude COVID19 relief payments.

Although free dental health coverage when an individual qualifies is helpful, many people who are on Washington Apple Health struggle to find dentists who will accept Medicaid and who are accepting new patients, with 24% of low-income adults in Washington state citing trouble finding a dentist as a reason to not visit the dentist. Fortunately, there are tools to help aid in finding a dentist, including DentistLink, a free referral service for anyone in Washington.

Pay for dental work out of pocket Paying a dentist out of pocket for dental work and cleanings is straightforward, but it may not be the most cost effective or reliable. What many people don’t know about dental insurance is that the fees are negotiated by the insurer to incorporate a 20–30% discount on services that are standardized across dentists — and those discounts don’t exist when paying out of pocket. Being insured comes with the added benefit of utilizing estimator tools and having customer service representatives who can help estimate the costs of procedures. With 59% of adults in Washington state avoiding the dentist due to cost, unpredictable pricing can be challenging for people experiencing a loss of coverage.

Although paying out of pocket for dental care is not standardized, it is a viable option. It is recommended when paying out of pocket to seek a dentist who will provide free or low-cost dental care and who is set up to do things by the book. Which ones provide free or discounted services can be found at dental schools, public dental clinics, free dental clinics, nonprofit clinics, donated services, and some private dentists.

The Washington State Dental Association (WSDA) recommends the 211 Program and the Washington Healthcare Access Alliance as place to begin the search.

Check out non-insurance plans and products Insurance is the most utilized method of paying for dental procedures, but it’s not the only option. There are several non-insurance plans and products available online and through private dental offices that can be worth exploring. Discount plans offer discounts on dental services and products for a low-cost monthly membership fee.

Some dentists also offer their own inoffice plans with discounts on various services. What sets these plans apart from insurance is that the premium is often much cheaper than an insurance plan and there is no claims process — meaning suggested work is not reviewed by an insurer prior to moving forward with the dental work. A conversation with a trusted dentist about non-insurance payment plans and options is a good place to start.

Keep up with preventive care A job loss is a stressful event and needing to find new or alternative dental benefits can fall to the end of the to-do list. But it’s important to prioritize preventive care at home and by visiting the dentist regularly to positively impact oral and overall health.

If a person or family is unable to get into the dentist for their preventive visits, brushing for two minutes twice a day, flossing once a day, and eating healthy foods will positively impact their oral health outcomes.

It’s possible for everyone to get into the dentist — it just takes research and persistence to ensure people receive quality care at a price point they can afford.

Delta Dental of Washington is the state’s leading dental benefit provider, covering nearly 3 million people in Washington state and nationally. As the only not-forprofit carrier dedicated to improving oral health in Washington, Delta Dental plays a vital role extending access to care for the underserved and vulnerable populations by funding the Arcora Foundation, as well as through corporate philanthropy and oral health advocacy — to ensure that all people enjoy good oral health and overall health, with no one left behind. For more information, visit www.deltadentalwa.com.

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Film

Gory horror-comedy Slaxx worth trying on for size

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN Staff Writer SLAXX Shudder Libby (Romane Denis) is dizzily excited about her first day working for Canadian Cotton Clothiers (CCC). The company has built its reputation on clean business practices and the promotion of healthy living, stating proudly that they want their employees and fans to all “make a better tomorrow today.”

But the line between the private reality and the public company line couldn’t be more different. Libby gets the feeling that her fellow employees, especially store manager Craig (Brett Donahue), don’t hold to the purported altruistic ideals of founder Harold Landsgrove (Stephen Bogaert) nearly as much as she does. Worse, as her first night goes on, she’s starting to think the company itself is as capitalistically soulless and as self-centeredly niggling as the majority of her coworkers appear to be.

That’s the dry satirical stuff that makes up the foundation of Slaxx, a carnivorous horror-comedy sprung from the inventively warped minds of director Elza Kephart and co-writer Patricia Gomez. While the base of their narrative makes a handful of salient (if also all too obvious) points about corporate policies that don’t exactly put people above profits, the reason viewers might get excited about watching is far more gruesomely disreputable.

What did I leave out of that synopsis?

The reason Libby and her entire CCC location’s crew are working overnight is that they are the only location unveiling the company’s highly touted new jeans for the upcoming season. They’re form-fitting and are reported to make any and every body type, no matter the gender, look like they have the perfect derriere. There’s just one problem: these jeans literally eat people.

Sehar Bhojani and Romane Denis in Slaxx – Photo courtesy of The Horror Collective

It’s as silly as it sounds, and Kephart and Gomez pull out all the stops as they showcase their sentient legwear chomping down on CCC employees one at a time. The first kill is especially grisly, both because of how giddily gory it is and also thanks to how terrifyingly relatable the situation the victim finds herself in. It’s nasty in all the right ways, and the filmmakers maintain a consistent tone of comedic karmic menace that happily kept a horrified smile on my face from the first dismemberment to the last.

Denis is a good, wide-eyed heroine, infusing Libby with an aura of angry resolve as her illusions of the company she works for are shattered bit by bit and the truth behind

the jean’s killing spree is slowly revealed.

She also has sublime rapport with Sehar Bhojani (portraying seemingly the only store employee who isn’t either a venal, plastic consumerist mannequin or an insensitive corporate stooge), and the two forge an authentically sincere connection I could relate to.

Unlike Peter Strickland’s magnificent In Fabric, also about seemingly sentient clothing that destroys anyone who wears it, Kephart and Gomez aren’t entirely successful in making all of their social and political points. While they do hit the majority of their satirical targets, their commentary is heavy-handed. This keeps the pair from sticking the landing, and the climax to their

film slightly underwhelms because of this.

Thankfully, the stuff that works does so nicely. The makeup effects are top-notch.

The creativity of the kills is undeniable.

The comedic quirkiness of the scenario is consistently amusing yet also still treated with admirable seriousness by the entire cast. Donahue is a suitably hissable villain, and Erica Anderson makes a memorable impression as a self-possessed online influencer invited to the store for a sneak preview of the jeans.

While not a perfect fit, Slaxx slays, and I can’t wait to size it up again sometime soon.

Convoluted Cosmic Sin a misbegotten sci-fi mess

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN Staff Writer COSMIC SIN Theaters / PVOD Centuries from now, humanity has spread across the cosmos. On a distant planet on the outer edges of the known universe, a small mining survey team has made first contact with an alien race. Rounds are fired and chaos ensues. No one can ascertain who shot at who first, and back on Earth, the Alliance of Governments is clueless as to what should happen next.

Eron Ryle (Frank Grillo) is the commanding general of the planet’s military defense forces, and he does not believe waiting for the politicians to complete their seemingly endless debate is a viable option. Instead, he brings in a team of experts, including disgraced retired war hero Gen. James Ford (Bruce Willis) and his estranged ex, ethnologist Dr. Lea Goss (Perrey Reeves), to chart a course of action. It is quickly determined that Earth must strike first against this new threat. Ryle returns Ford to active duty and helps him handpick a small group of soldiers who will leap across the cosmos and become humanity’s last line of defense against total annihilation.

Cosmic Sin is 88 minutes of convoluted nonsense that can’t decide if it is a straightforward sci-fi action flick or a serious treatise on the complex and murky ethics of warfare. There were moments when I felt like director Edward Drake and co-writer Corey Large were trying to deliver an interstellar Platoon or The Deer Hunter. There

Frank Grillo and Bruce Willis in Cosmic Sin – Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

were others when I imagined the pair were shooting for some sort of jingoistic outerspace Delta Force-style yarn, with a grizzled Willis subbing for Lee Marvin and Grillo tasked with doing his best Chuck Norris impersonation.

The reality is something in between, and that’s as damning as it sounds. I couldn’t take any of what was happening seriously. The overtly theatrical staging of the action sequences and the melodramatic grandstanding as it pertains to the climactic encounter between the remaining soldiers and their powerful otherworldly adversaries are preposterous. Characters come and go like the wind, making it difficult to emo-

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tionally attach to any of them — with one notable exception.

Said exception is a veteran soldier portrayed by Costas Mandylor. He’s better than the material, adding a layer of multifaceted solemnity that’s surprisingly interesting.

Mandylor has a moment around the midpoint that hints at what Drake and Large’s script might have been. Wounded on the battlefield, his character meditates on the horrors of warfare, the terrifying weight of command, and the inherent atrocities of military conflict with a raw potency that hits home. But he also touches on the familial camaraderie that develops between soldiers, especially when under fire, and it was

March 19, 2021

in this moment I started to believe this film might become something worthwhile.

I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.

Willis, while more invested than usual of late but still not exactly giving his best, and Grillo are barely in the picture, their abovethe-title listing coming perilously close to false advertising. The remainder of the cast does what they can, but their motivations are so all over the map that none of them genuinely connect to the material. As for the action sequences, they’re so underlit and overedited that keeping track of what is happening is next to impossible, and the screen overflows with so much visual noise that it gave me a headache.

Worst of all, in a way it kind of seems that Drake and Large are attempting to make a case for genocide, that a preemptive strike against one’s foes is warranted in certain situations. It’s a strange argument to make, and one I honestly do not think the filmmakers intended. But I’m equally not sure what else I am supposed to think, based on the discussions certain key characters have throughout, as well as where things end up during the climax. It’s flat-out bizarre.

I’m all for B-grade science fiction. I grew up on 1980s Chuck Norris/Sylvester Stallone military action cheese (thanks, Dad). The combination of the two frequently works for me even when it leaves others cold. But that wasn’t the case here.

Cosmic Sin never comes together, drifting in space like a misbegotten artifact of a bygone filmmaking era its makers seem to be going purposefully out of their way to emulate as poorly as they possibly can.

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Film

Director Chloé Zhao and actor Frances McDormand on the set of Nomadland – Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

OSCAR NOMS continued from cover

David Fincher’s Mank brought home the most nomination, with ten, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Gary Oldman, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress for Amanda Seyfried — the B&W Netflix release was undeniably popular with Academy members.

But that does not make the film the obvious frontrunner. The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Minari, Nomadland, Sound of Metal, and The Trial of the Chicago 7 all received six nominations apiece, while Promising Young Woman was right behind them with five.

Personally, I have a few random

Steven Yeun Minari – Photo courtesy of A24

Daniel Kaluuya Judas and the Black Messiah – Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

14 Seattle Gay News

thoughts about this year’s slate of nominees, most of them positive, a couple not so much. (The full list is at: www.cnn. com/2021/03/15/entertainment/oscar-nominations-2021/index.html.)

Academy members challenged themselves – if only slightly It was widely expected, even with its indie roots and minimalistic packaging, that Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland was going to be a major player, and considering its nominations for Best Picture, Best Actress Frances McDormand, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Cinematography, that is undeniably the case.

What wasn’t as expected were the likes of Sound of Metal, Minari, Promising Young Woman, and The Father doing

Viola Davis Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Photo courtesy of Netflix

Diversification in the acting nominees Can we finally retire the #OscarSoWhite hashtag for good now? Probably not,

Chadwick Boseman Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – Photo courtesy of Netflix

Leslie Odom, Jr. One Night in Miami – Photo courtesy of Amazon Studios

March 19, 2021

equally as well.

Voters eschewed most of the perceived major Hollywood players like the Tom Hanks’ western News of the World (which still picked up nods in Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Sound, and Best Production Design) for these smaller endeavors. Granted, all of those titles have been picking up awards from critics groups and other industry awards bodies since December, so as nice as it is to see such a diverse group of nominees playing for the top prize, it’s not like the Academy has suddenly transformed itself into the Independent Spirit Awards.

but things do appear to be moving in the right direction. Steven Yeun (Minari) is the first Asian to be nominated for Best Actor.

Viola Davis (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) became the most nominated Black actress in Academy history, picking up her fourth nomination. Other performers of color picking up nominations include the late Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) and Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) for Best Actor, Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday) for Best Actress, Daniel Kaluuya (Judas and the Black Messiah), Leslie Odom, Jr. (One Night in Miami…) and Lakeith Stanfield (Judas and the Black Messiah) for Best Supporting Actor, and Yuh-Jung Youn (Minari) for Best Supporting Actress.

Riz Ahmed Sound of Metal – Photo courtesy of Amazon Studios

Lakeith Stanfield Judas and the Black Messiah – Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Andra Day The United States vs Billie Holiday – Photo courtesy of Hulu

Yuh-Jung Youn Minari – Photo courtesy of A24

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Steven Yeun, Alan S. Kim, Youn Yuh-jung, Yeri Han and Noel Cho in Minari – Photo courtesy of A24

Actor Carey Mulligan and director Emerald Fennell on the set of Promising Young Woman – Photo courtesy of Focus Features

Granted, with Kaluuya and Stanfield both up for the same award, one can’t help but wonder who Academy members felt the lead character was in Judas and the Black Messiah. Did they think it was Jessie Plemons’ duplicitous FBI agent? Speaking of Shaka King’s superb drama…

The Academy appears to still be only able to watch so many Black films at one time Yes, Judas and the Black Messiah is a Best Picture nominee, but in a year where so many extraordinary Black-led films were released, it’s honestly a little disappointing this was the only one to make the cut for the top prize. While Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and One Night in Miami… did score a few key nominations, the fact neither met the 5% first-place vote threshold to garner a Best Picture slot is damning, especially

when you consider only eight films out of a potential ten were nominated this year.

But it gets worse. After watching his BlacKkKlansman lost out to Green Book in 2019, director Spike Lee had to be a little perturbed that his magnificent return-toVietnam drama Da 5 Bloods only picked up a single nomination for Terrence Blanchard’s stirring score; Delroy Lindo’s absence in the Best Actor category is particularly egregious. Then there are Channing Godfrey Peoples’ Miss Juneteenth and Radha Blank’s The Forty-Year-Old Version, two strong, female-led dramas that I can only assume Academy members didn’t even bother to take a look at.

Two women nominated for best director Promising Young Woman filmmaker Emerald Fennell joins the aforementioned

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Maria Bakalova and Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm – Photo courtesy of Amazon Studios

Zhao in the category; having two women nominated as Best Director is a first in the 93-year history of the Academy Awards.

Say what you will about their movies (I feel both are brilliant, and Nomadland is borderline an instant classic), this is still a landmark moment as far as Oscar is concerned. Seeing both women among the nominees made my heart fill with glee, and the only thing that would have made the moment even better is if Fincher could have been jettisoned for the equally deserving Regina King (One Night in Miami…).

The Academy remains a big fan of Borat Comedies typically get the side-eye as far as the Academy is concerned, and it’s the rare effort that manages to garner the voting membership’s attention. And yet, following the footsteps of its ambitiously

March 19, 2021

uncouth 2005 predecessor, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (the longest titled film to ever score an Oscar nomination) managed a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination. Even more surprising (although equally warranted), star Maria Bakalova also managed a Best Supporting Actress nomination, and it wouldn’t shock me in the slightest if she were to upset her far more high-profile competitors (including now eight-time nominee Glenn Close) and walk away with the win.

The 93rd annual Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, April 25, 2021, on ABC. Sara Michelle will be back with her predictions the Friday before the big night.

Seattle Gay News 15

Allyship - an organization of LGBTQ individuals fighting for economic and social justice. www.LGBTQAllyship. org, allyship@yahoo.com, (206) 279-8169.

American Veterans for Equal Rights - www.aver.us Another Gay Social Club! - www.meetup.com/AnotherGay-Social-Club/ Bellingham/Whatcom County - www.theslowlane. com/guide.html BiNet Seattle is a mixed gender, social group for Bisexuals, their partners & other Bi-friendly folks - www. binetseattle.org.

Bremerton/Kitsap County - www.outwestsound.org Capitol Hill Alano Club - www.chacseattle.org Cascade Rainbow Community Center (Mount Vernon) - (360) 840-8499 and on Facebook.

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

Channel Q 103.3 FM - LGBTQ+ Talk Radio Network News and information, pop culture and music. radio.com COLAGE unites people with LGBTQ parents and caregivers into a network of peers and supports them as they nurture and empower each other to be skilled, self-confident, and just leaders in our collective communities - www.colage.org DIFFA/Northwest (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS). (206) 763-8885; www.diffanorthwest. org DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SEXUAL ASSAULT: Crisis Clinic, (206) 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, (206) 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, (206) 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 - (206) 324-2570; www. equalrightswashington.org Everett/Snohomish Cty - www.gaysnohomish.org Freely Speaking Toastmasters - www.freelyspeaking.org Gay City promotes wellness in LGBTQ communities by providing health services, connecting people to resources, fostering arts, and building community. Gay City Health Project’s Wellness Center provides anonymous & confidential HIV/STD testing. 517 E Pike St. More info or to schedule an appointment, (206) 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.

Generations Aging With Pride empowers elder LGBTQ adults to live with pride and dignity by promoting, connecting, and developing innovative programs and services that enhance belonging and support, eliminate discrimination, and honor the lives of older members of our community - (206) 393-3400; info@gapseattle.org; gapseattle.org GLSEN/WA - Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network - (206) 330-2099; www.glsenwa.org Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) - (206) 363-9188; www.thegsba.org HIV/AIDS Program, Seattle/King County Dept of Public Health, provides confidential/anonymous information about & testing for HIV/AIDS. (206) 205-7837. For a comprehensive list of HIV/AIDS service organizations see the GSBA Guide or visit www.thegsba.org or call Lifelong AIDS Alliance, (206) 328-8979.

Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle & the Olympic & Rainier Empire - www.facebook.com/ISCSORE; www. imperialcourtofseattle.com Lambert House - (206) 322-2515; www.lamberthouse. org LGBT Library - 517 E Pike St. Open Mon-Fri 2-8pm; Sat 2-5pm. A wide range of fiction and non-fiction for the LGBT community and allies can be borrowed free of charge.

LGBT MS Connection - (425) 785-8593; lgbtmsconnections@comcast.net. Support group for LGBT persons with MS and their partners and their caregivers.

Sponsored by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Lifelong AIDS Alliance - (206) 328-8979, www.lifelongaids alliance.org Lion’s Main Art Collective - www.lionsmain.org MEN: Gay City: (206) 860-6969, www.gaycity.org; Knights of Mantra: (206) 329-0886, www.jetchapterkofm.com; Mature Friends: Gay men & women 40 & over, www.maturefriends.org; Northwest Bears: www. nwbears.com; The Olympians: www.TheOlympians. net; POZSeattle: www.pozseattle.com; 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; Tacoma Older LGBT: www. tacomaolderlgbt.org. (See also listings under Bisexual, Parenthood, People of Color, Transgender.)

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: (206) 388-1408, (206) 323-0750. www.seattlechoruses.org.

Northwest Lesbian & Gay History Museum Project - gayhistnw@aol.com

16 Seattle Gay News

community resources Northwest Rainbow Alliance for the Deaf - www. nwrad.org Olympia/Thurston County - www.RainbowCenterOly. 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, including Alaska Airlines, Amazon.com, Amgen, AT&T, Bank of America, Deloitte, Macy’s, Microsoft, Russell Investments, Safeco Insurance, Starbucks Coffee, Xerox. www.outandequal.org/affiliates/seattle Out & Proud Grays Harbor Coalition - http://outandproudgh.org PARENTHOOD: Families Like Ours provides a gateway for LGBT families interested in adoption & provides a network of safe placement agencies, training, support & resources: (206) 441-7602, www.familieslikeours. org; Family Works offers support, information & activities for LGBT families: (206) 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/proudand-loud-families-northwest, plfnorthwest@aol.com; Queer Parent Networking Dinners: (206) 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.pflagseattle.org; PFLAG Bellevue/Eastside: (425) 483-6642, info@bellevue-pflag.org, http://community. pflag.org/PFLAGBellevue; PFLAG Pacific Northwest: www.pnwpflag.org; PFLAG Washington State Council: www.pflagwsc.org.

Peer Seattle (formerly Seattle Area Support Groups) 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. Our work is done in a spirit of safety, trust, inclusiveness, and celebration of individual differences.

(206) 322-2437; www.peerseattle.org PEOPLE OF COLOR: AARTH (African American Reach & Teach Health Ministry), (206) 850-2070, www.aarth.org; Asian/Pacific Islander Queer Network Program at API Chaya, (206) 467-9976; Center for MultiCultural Health, (206) 461-6910, www.multiculturalhealth.org; Entre Hermanos, GLBT Latinos/as, (206) 322-7700, www.entrehermanos.org; Ile LaiLai, (206) 781-3565, iya@ilelailai.org; Men of All Colors & Cultures Together (MACCT), (206) 923-8313, macctseattle@yahoo.com, www.macctsea.org; Northwest Two Spirit Society, https://www.facebook.com/ groups/nw2spiritsociety/, Nubian Pride Productions, nubianpride@gmail.com; People of Color Against AIDS Network (POCAAN) offers rapid HIV testing, M-F, 10am-5pm, (206) 322-7061, www.pocaan.org and on Facebook; QBASS - Queer Black Alliance of the South Sound, (253) 256-1846, weareqbass@gmail. com; Sistah 2 Sistah, LBT women of African descent, (206) 322-7061, (206) 255-8951; Somos Seattle, somosseattle.org; 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, www.utopiaseattlewa.org; VietQ Greater Seattle, vietqorganization@gmail.com Pierce County AIDS Foundation - (253) 383-2565; www.piercecountyaids.org Pride Foundation - (206) 323-3318; www.pridefoundation. org Pride Lives - www.facebook.com/PrideLives/ Pride Radio 93.3 HD2 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. (206) 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 - (206) 682-6711; www.q-law.org Q Law GLBT Legal Clinic - (206) 235-7235.

Queer Geek! - queergeekseattle.org Rainbow Center - Resource Center for Tacoma/Pierce County LGBTIQA community. Through education, advocacy and celebration, the Rainbow Center expands resources, and safe space for the LGBTQIA community.

March 19, 2021

Sponsors Tacoma Pride Festival. (253) 383-2318, www. rainbowcntr.org SEAMEC interviews, researches & rates candidates for public office on issues of concern to the LGBT community. www.voteseamec.org Seattle Area Support Groups & Community Center (SASG) i- SEE LISTING for Peer Seattle.

Seattle Bisexual Women’s Network - BiSeattle.wixsite. com/SBWN and on Facebook.

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. (206) 323-1768.

Seattle LGBTQ Commission - (206) 684-4503. www/ seattle.gov/lgbtq Seattle Out & Proud - (206) 322-9561; www.seattlepride.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 Sex Workers Outreach Project - https://seattle. swopusa.org Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, The Abbey of St. Joan - (206) 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.SouthSoundQCal.com Spokane/Inland Northwest - www.outspokane.com; www.stonewallnews.net 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; Cascade Flag Football: www.cascadeflagfootball.org; Cascade Flyers: www.cascadeflyers.org; Emerald City Mudhen Rugby: www.mudhenrugby.com; Emerald City Softball Association: www.emeraldcitysoftball. org, www.eteamz.com/womensecsa; Ethyl Forever Car Club: ethylforever@hotmail.com; Festival of the Babes: www.festivalofthebabes.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 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.seattlefrontrunners.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, (206) 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 Three Dollar Bill Cinema - TWIST: Seattle Queer Film Festival; Translations: Seattle Transgender Film Festival; Outdoor Cinema at Cal Anderson Park. www. threedollarbillcinema.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 & Foreign-Born

Support Group: (206) 322-7700; Ingersoll Gender Center: (206) 329-6651, www.ingersollcenter.org; Lion’s Main Art Collective: www.lionsmain.org; The New BoyZ Club: www.olympiaftmgroup.webs.com; Olympia Trans Discussion Group: www.facebook.com/pages/ Olympia-Trans-Discussion-Group/262449878114; [trans] ACTION: Trans* & Gender Non-Conforming Sex Workers’ Support Group - a safe, peer-led space. mail@utopiaseattle.org; TRANSform Washington: transformwashington.com; Trans Resource & Referral Guide: kctransguide.org; Trans Women of Color Solidarity Network: Funding the collective liberation of Trans women of color – https://m.facebook.com/ TWOCSolidarityNW/; Washington Gender Alliance: (360) 445-2411, www.washington genderalliance.com WOMEN: Aging Ballard Lesbian Exchange (A.B.L.E.): We are Lesbians 60 years (generally) and up, living (mostly) in the north half of Seattle. The purpose of the group is to connect, socialize and support each other. ruthemilyvogel@gmail.com; Aging Lesbians in South Seattle (ALISS) - Lesbian Group at the Southeast Seattle Senior Center. This is a gathering primarily for Lesbians but all are welcome to attend. Kate, (206) 722-0317; www.sessc.org; BABES: support groups for HIV+ women. (206) 720-5566, 1-888-292-1912; Coming Out Women Support Group of Tacoma: www. comingoutwomen.org; Festival of the Babes: www. festivalofthebabes.com; Mature Friends: Gay men & women 40 & over, www.maturefriends.org; Puget Sound Old Lesbian Organizing for Change: http:// psoloc.org, (253) 777-3357; 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 Bisexual Women’s Network: BiSeattle. wixsite.com/SBWN; Seattle Girls of Leather: www. sgol.org; Tacoma Lesbian Concern (TLC): www.tacomalesbianconcern.org; Tacoma Older LGBT: www. tacomaolderlgbt.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, (206) 461-4493. (See also listings under Bisexual, Parenthood, People of Color, Transgender.)

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; Coyote Central: www.coyotecentral.org; 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. (206) 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, 1818 15th Ave @ E Denny Way, with additional support groups organized in smaller towns throughout King County, (206) 322-2515, www. lamberthouse.org; Lifelong HEYO (Health Education Youth Outreach): for LGBTQ youth, ages 16-24: (206) 957-1665; www.llaa.org/HEYO; www.MatthewsPlace. com; The Mockingbird Society: (206) 323-KIDS (5437), www.mockingbirdsociety.org; New Horizons: social services and shelter for homeless youth, 2708 3rd Ave (in Belltown), (206) 374-0866, http://namin.org; Oasis Youth Center: for GLBTQ youth, ages 14-25, in Tacoma, (253) 671-2838, www.oasisyouthcenter. org; OKAY! LGBTQ+ Outreach for Kent Area Youth: (253) 859-0699 ext 3034. OKAY! is an open support group for youth ages 13-19 who identify as LGBTQ+. A program of Kent Youth & Family Services; OUT There Adventures: www.outthereadventures.org; Parents, Family & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG)/ Puget Sound: (206) 325-7724, www.seattle-pflag.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; Roots Young Adult Shelter: 1415 NE 43rd St., (206) 632-1635; www.rootsinfo.org; Safe Schools Coalition: www.safeschoolscoalition.org; (206) 451-SAFE, (206) 451-7233 (non-emergency), 1-877-SAFE-SAFE (1-877-723-3723) (crisis line); Seattle Young People’s Project (Queer Youth Resource Board): (206) 860-9606, www.sypp.org; Street Youth Ministries (SYM): (206) 524-7301 ext 111; www. streetyouthministries.org; Teen Link: (206) 461-4922, 1-888-431-TEEN; The Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor; www.thetrevorproject.org; True Colors - Connecting LGBTQ Teens: in Shoreline, (206) 362-7282 x 8018, lbagley@chs-nw.org; The Vera Project: fuels personal & community transformation through collaborative youthdriven engagement in music and art. (206) 956-8372; theveraproject.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): (206) 522-8412; YouthCare/ Orion Center Young Adult Shelter: 1828 Yale Ave @ Stewart St. (206) 622-5555; Youth in Focus: (206) 723-1479; www.youthinfocus.org; Youth Suicide Prevention Program (OUTLoud-GLBTQ): (206) 297-5922, ext 116, 1-800-273-TALK, www.yspp.org

Celebrating 47 Years!

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Arts

LGBTQ Grammy highlights

Brandi Carlile, among others, paid tribute to the artists who died last year during the 2021 Grammy Awards’ In Memoriam segment – Photo by Francis Specker / CBS

The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards turned out to be the queerest in years!

LGBTQ-inclusive winners included: • Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: “Rain On Me” — Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande • Best Rock Song: “Stay High” — Brittany Howard • Best Dance/Electronic Album: Bubba — Kaytranada • Best Dance Recording: “10%” — Kaytranada • Best R&B Song: “Better Than I Imagined” — Robert Glasper feat. H.E.R. & Meshell Ndegeocello • Best Country Song: “Crowded Table” — The Highwomen (Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, and Lori Mckenna) • Best Music Film: Linda Ronstadt: The Song of My Voice — Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman • Best Spoken Word Album: Rachel Maddow — Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth • Best Musical Theater Album: Jagged Little Pill The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards took place on Sunday night [March 14] in Los Angeles, with Trevor Noah hosting the toneddown affair on CBS from a rooftop at the show’s long-term home at the Staples Center.

And this year, the nominees and winners lists were filled with both familiar and new names from the LGBTQ community.

The Grammys present the majority of its awards well before the primetime broadcast begins, and early on in the afternoon, a number of LGBTQ winners took home trophies. One of the first winners of the day came for documentary filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, who won Best Music Film for their CNN-acquired doc Linda Ronstadt: The Song of My Voice.

Image courtesy of The Recording Academy

They were most recently GLAAD Media Award winners in 2019 for their documentary State of Pride. They are two-time Oscar winners for The Times of Harvey Milk and Common Threads: Stories From the Quilt. They also directed the iconic 1995 documentary The Celluloid Closet, based on the book by GLAAD co-founder Vito Russo.

Bi musician Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande made history as a duo for their pop summer anthem, winning Best Pop Duo/ Group Performance for “Rain On Me.” Marking Gaga’s 12th Grammy win, “Rain on Me” became the first all-female song to win in this Grammy category, which was established in 2012 after the Grammys combined Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best Pop Instrumental Performance into a single category.

Former Alabama Shakes lead vocalist Brittany Howard won Best Rock Song for “Stay High,” an award that goes to the songwriter.

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Music icon and out bisexual singer and rapper Meshell Ndegeocello won Best R&B Song for “Better Than I Imagined”

by Robert Glasper featuring H.E.R. and Meshell Ndegeocello — the award is also a songwriter’s award, which Ndegeocello penned along with Robert Glasper and Gabriella Wilson.

Over in the country music categories, Brandi Carlile was a winner for Best Country Song for “Crowded Table” by The Highwomen, a songwriter’s award that she shared with Natalie Hemby and Lori Mckenna.

Queer Haitian-Canadian DJ Kaytranada won Best Dance/Electronic Album and Best Dance Recording, for his album Bubba, and his track “10%” (feat. Kali Uchis). Kaytranada was also nominated for Best New Artist this year.

Megan Thee Stallion, who has spoken about her feelings of same-sex attraction and is beloved by many in the LGBTQ community, but who has not yet publicly said she is part of [it], won the prestigious

March 19, 2021

Best New Artist award early on in the primetime broadcast. The category was the queerest it had been in many years, with Phoebe Bridgers, Kaytranada and Chika also nominated.

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow won a Grammy for Best Spoken World Album for Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth.

And LGBTQ-inclusive Broadway musical Jagged Little Pill, based on the music of Alanis Morissette, won Best Musical Theater Album. The original Broadway cast contains several members of the LGBTQ community, including Lauren Patten and Ezra Menas.

The “In Memoriam” section of this year’s broadcast honored queer musicians SOPHIE and Ari Gold and included performances from Brandi Carlile and Brittany Howard.

In other major non-LGBTQ moments from the night, H.E.R.’s “I Can’t Breathe” won Song of the Year. Billie Eilish won Record of the Year for “Everything I Wanted.” Taylor Swift won Album of the Year for Folklore, making history with her record third win in the category. And Beyoncé became the most-awarded woman in Grammys history when she took home her 28th trophy with a win for her 2020 single “Black Parade” — her fourth win of the night — surpassing country singer Alison Krauss’ previous record. She also won earlier awards for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance for “Savage,” her collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion, and Best Music Video for “Brown Skin Girl.”

Courtesy of GLAAD

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Celebrating 47 Years!

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