Celebrating 47 Years! Issue 9 Volume 49
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Seattle Gay News S E AT T L E ’S L GB T Q
N E W S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T W E E K LY
DEMS REINTRODUCE LGBTQ EQUALITY ACT by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
Congressional Democrats reintroduced the LGBTQ Equality Act on February 18. Openly Gay Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) were the primary sponsors in their respective chambers.
Photo by Matt Rourke / AP
see LGBTQ EQUALITY ACT page 7
Remembering conservative radio provocateur Rush Limbaugh
Black trans service members welcome chance to again serve openly
Rush Limbaugh – Photo by Leah Millis / Reuters
U.S. Navy Corpsman Akira Wyatt – Photo courtesy of Akira Wyatt
by Hannah Saunders SGN Contributing Writer Today we remember radio personality Rush Limbaugh — not for his renowned achievements but for his platforms where misogynistic, racist, and anti-LGBTQ+ remarks flowed freely. On February 17, 2021, Limbaugh died at the age of 70 after a yearlong battle with lung cancer.
Limbaugh was born in Missouri on January 12, 1951, and had a passion for radio from a young age. He landed his first gig in high school at KGMO, a local station his father co-owned. Limbaugh would later be fired from radio stations in Pennsylvania and Missouri due to controversial comments.
see LIMBAUGH page 10
by Philip Van Slooten Washington Blade Transgender US Navy Corpsman Akira Wyatt rises at 6 a.m. at Camp Pendleton each day to see sailors and marines for sick calls, and today she does so a little easier. President Biden on Jan. 25 signed an executive order rescinding the Trump administration’s ban on trans individuals being able to
enlist or openly serve in the military. The ban was in response to former President Trump’s July 26, 2017, tweets prohibiting “transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the US military.” But Wyatt and others who had transitioned prior to the ban going into effect in April 2019 continued to serve in silence while others
see TRANS MILITARY page 9