Celebrating 47 Years! Issue 13 Volume 49
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N E W S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T W E E K LY
DR. RACHEL LEVINE CONFIRMED BY SENATE
by A.V. Eichenbaum SGN Associate Editor In a historic vote Wednesday, March 25th, the US Senate confirmed Dr. Rachel Levine to be the Assistant Health Secretary of the US Dept of Health and Human Services. Levine is the first openly Transgender federal official in the history of the United States, and many see her confirmation as a glimpse at brighter days ahead.
Dr. Rachel Levine – Photo by Caroline Brehman / AP
see LEVINE page 9
Unsung story
An interview with Aaron Bear, director of Yes I Am: The Ric Weiland Story
Atlanta shootings leave LGBTQ AAPI community reeling
Aaron Bear – Photo courtesy of The Karpel Group
by Gregg Shapiro Special to the SGN During the COVID-19 pandemic, the term “unsung hero” was tossed around a lot, as average yet extraordinary people struggled to find alternative means of survival because the government failed to protect them. To a whole generation of gay men, this experience had an eerily familiar feeling. If the late Ric Weiland (1953–2006), a true unsung hero if ever there was one, were still alive, he would most likely agree.
Weiland, an openly gay man who cofounded Microsoft along with Bill Gates and Paul Allen, still found a way to make a lasting impact on causes near and dear to him, including HIV/AIDS research and marriage equality, by leaving significant financial endowments to various LGBTQ organizations. With his informative documentary Yes I Am: The Ric Weiland Story (World of Wonder), gay filmmaker Aaron Bear illu-
see BEAR page 14
Photo by Ben Gray / AP
by Michael K. Lavers Washington Blade ATLANTA (March 20, 2021) — The shootings at three Atlanta-area spas and massage parlors on March 16 have left members of the LGBTQ Asian American and Pacific Islander community deeply shaken and angry. A gunman killed eight people when he opened fire at Young’s Asian Massage in Acworth in suburban Cherokee County and at the Gold Massage and Aromatherapy
Spas in Atlanta. Six of the victims were women of Asian descent. Georgia state Rep. Sam Park, an openly gay man of Korean descent who represents suburban Gwinnett County in the Georgia House of Representatives, is among the local AAPI community leaders who met with President Biden and Vice President Harris on Friday in Atlanta. Park spoke with the Washington Blade a couple of hours before the meeting.
see ATLANTA page 9