SGN March 7, 2024

BY HANNAH SAUNDERS

When

With nearly 1,500 Facebook members, over 1,300 Instagram followers, a monthly newsletter, and plans for a community center, it’s safe to say this is one of the hottest Queer groups in town.

SGN decries unconstitutional censorship in Ocean Shores library

BY RENEE RAKETTY SGN EDITOR

In a state where libraries are revered as bastions of intellectual freedom and guardians of our constitutional rights to liberty and a free press, one would expect nothing less than equal treatment for all voices. However, the reality in the picturesque city of Ocean Shores paints a different picture.

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Under the leadership of Ocean Shores Public Library Director Keitha Owen, the voices of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender writers have been unfairly stifled. The SGN, a publication embodying the experiences and struggles of the LGBTQ community for 50 years, has been relegated to the shadows of the library, hidden away in a back corner marked as “Local Reference Books - Library Use Only.” In addition to being on a shelf just above the floor, the paper can’t be seen at all when a patron is sitting in a chair nearby.

This seems like an odd turn of events, because Owen herself once told the SGN that the paper was popular among library patrons. She even requested a distribution increase. The paper had been prominently displayed at a counter in the front vestibule with the other free publications, where it belonged.

Owen’s decision to marginalize the SGN comes in response to purported complaints about a single photo depicting a go-go dancer at a Gay bar buried within its pages, in the issue dated February 9, 2024. It’s worth noting that these objections were based not on obscenity, libel, or any other illegality but rather on personal discomfort.

Ironically, the very photo in question illustrates recent incidents in Gay bars in Seattle that had been unjustly raided by the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Control Board and issued citations, stemming from a profound misunderstanding of longstanding LGBTQ cultural norms. Even the authorities have acknowledged their overreach. Will Owen acknowledge hers and rectify the unjust treatment of the SGN?

As a librarian, Owen should champion the principles of the First Amendment, which prohibit the government from restricting free speech on the basis of its content. Yet, by discriminating against this publication, she has committed impermissible censorship. The objections of a few cannot serve as grounds for silencing the voices of a minority group.

We implore the residents of Ocean Shores and the broader LGBTQ community to raise their voices in protest. Demand that the SGN be accorded the same treatment as any other free publication in the Ocean Shores Public Library. We must uphold the principles of equality and free expression that our libraries are meant to embody and our Constitution guarantees.

A look back on Bruce Harrell’s first two years as Seattle mayor

BY LINDSEY ANDERSON SGN STAFF WRITER

This year marks the halfway point in the first term of Seattle’s mayor, Bruce Harrell. Sworn in on January 1, 2022, he has accomplished many of his campaign promises over the last two years but has also elicited controversy for his treatment of people experiencing homelessness, his support of the Seattle Police, and recent moves against LGBTQ+ safe spaces made by city and county officials he had appointed.

In his first year on the job, Harrell appointed several city employees to higher positions. In February of 2022, Jessyn Farrell was made the director of sustainability and environment. In July, he nominated Gregg Spotts for director of transportation, and in September, he named Anthony-Paul Diaz superintendent of the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department.

As such, Diaz introduced the proposal to build a playground at Denny Blaine Park. The department ultimately decided to scrap the plan, following overwhelming protests from the LGBTQ+ community.

Diaz was also responsible for the removal of the BLM Memorial Garden in Cal Anderson Park. The free garden stood as a reminder of the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP), from the BLM protests in the summer of 2020, and had effectively worked to feed impoverished members of the community. In December 2023, the Parks and Recreation Department released a statement saying, “In recent months, the temporary garden has created unsafe conditions for all park users, including the vandalism of Cal Anderson public bathrooms, public drug use, unauthorized camping, and a significant rodent problem, among other issues.”

The statement also informed the public that Mayor Harrell would be working closely with the department to relocate the garden. No information on a pending relocation has yet to be released, and the office of the mayor declined to speak to us on the topic.

Appointing department directors remained one of Harrell’s shining accomplishments in his 2024 State of the City address on February 20, in which he noted he appointed an additional eight positions in 2023, and had helped to address apparent staffing shortages in the Seattle Police Department

Police

Harrell’s most controversial staffing move has proven to be Chief of Seattle Police Adrian Diaz, whom he appointed in September 2022. Following this, Chief Diaz demoted Captain Deanna Nollette and Assistant Chief Eric Greening, both of whom had also applied for the position.

At the beginning of this month, Nollette filed a lawsuit against the City of Seattle, the Seattle Police Department, and Chief Diaz for gender-based discrimination. In the suit, Nollette asserts that Chief Diaz has a known history of misogyny and purposely excludes female employees from higher positions and social events.

Diaz faced a similar suit in 2023 by SPD Detective Denise Bouldin, who alleged the chief had built his career on racial and gender-based discrimination.

Harrell has spent his first term as mayor working closely with Chief Diaz and the SPD. One of his highest priorities is reducing crime in the city, something that has been partially accomplished. In his first year, Seattle’s statistics on property crimes decreased, as did reports of violent crime. However, homicides have risen under Harrell’s tenure.

Harrell’s commitment to the Seattle

Police Department was echoed in his State of the City address, in which he noted that, under his leadership, applications to the SPD have increased to nearly 200 a month — a record high since the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. “We are urgently recruiting police officers who share our values,” he said.

Though not in office at the time of the protests, Harrell continues to be impacted by the fallout from the movement. According to a public records request by the SGN, the City has accrued heavy legal costs under Harrell’s administration: $25,869,941.51.

The City also reached a settlement in January with a group of peaceful protesters and journalists, and has agreed to pay a total of $10 million for damages caused by the Seattle Police Department. (This class-action lawsuit includes SGN Editor Renee Raketty.)

In the summer of 2023, Harrell changed the way parking tickets are issued in Seattle, making the Department of Transportation responsible for issuing fines instead of the SPD. This change led to the cancellation of 200,000 parking tickets and $5 million in refunds issued.

Homelessness

Both the decrease in property crimes and the increase in homicides may be linked to Harrell’s strict approach to homelessness. While he did alter the city’s 2024 budget to allocate more money toward fighting homelessness, Harrell has also stunted affordable housing programs across the city. Citing gentrification as his concern, he imposed limits on a recently passed law, so as to prevent the construction of low-income fourplexes and sixplexes in zones originally intended for single-family housing.

Harrell has also faced criticism for his increased crackdowns on homeless encampments. During the July 2022 heat wave, his administration backed the removal of encampments across the city without providing access to alternative housing. The Regional Homelessness Authority issued an official statement con-

demning the administration’s decision, noting that the removal of encampments endangered the lives of several citizens during deadly weather conditions.

The following month, recordings from a meeting between Harrell and the Seattle Police Department were leaked by a local radio station. In them, Harrell is heard saying, “No one has a right to sleep on the streets,” as he criticized the King County RHA and the City Council.

In his State of the City address, Harrell highlighted the importance of affordable housing in Seattle. He reminded voters that his administration was pivotal in passing a $970 million housing levy in 2023.

Climate change

Thanks to Harrell, Seattle is leading the country in the fight against climate change. In 2022, he signed a Green New Deal bill, in which the City will provide $6.5 million toward the transition to clean energy. Harrell plans on having all city-owned buildings entirely powered by green energy within the next ten years.

Liquor and drug use

Addressing the city’s growing fentanyl crisis has also been a priority of Harrell’s over the last two years. One of his proudest accomplishments of 2023 was passing legislation to address the consumption of illegal drugs, and approving $27 million toward new substance treatment programs and facilities.

In his State of the City address, Harrell also boasted that his increased police funding has helped the department confiscate 200 million individual fentanyl pills. Harrell’s new drug treatment program is now the most comprehensive in the state, and will only continue to grow. In March, he plans to invest an additional $7 million in a postoverdose treatment center.

In April 2023, Harrell proposed a plan to “revitalize” downtown Seattle and address public drug use by allowing people to openly carry alcoholic beverages on the street, though this would only apply to people participating in First Thursday Art Walks.

CITY OF SEATTLE

Despite his liberating approach to the Washington Liquor and Cannabis Board’s rules on public drinking and intoxication, Harrell looked the other way in January when the WLCB issued several fines in the same night to prominent LGBTQ+ bars for reported “dress code violations.” The board has since revoked these fines.

Since the night of the Gay bar raids, legislators in Olympia have been working to reverse the archaic LCB policies. Leading the fight is Sen. Jamie Pedersen. While Harrell has not commented on the specifics regarding the LCB policies, he did release a vague statement following backlash on social media, which read in part, “Under my administration we will not target people or communities based on their sexuality... We understand concerns raised by the community based on a perception of violating this principle.”

Plans for the future

Harrell has worked to cooperate with the City Council to pass a total of 187 bills, as well as approving the 2024 budget. His plans for the future include pushing a strategy for economic growth by ensuring that Seattle is a place for “entrepreneurial workers,” as he noted in his speech. “That’s why in 2023 we put into action our Future of Seattle Economy agenda,” he said, highlighting the economic program, which aims to help citizens start businesses and find “good jobs” while expanding capital for existing businesses.

As Harrell moves into the second half of his tenure, he is determined to invest more money in affordable housing and human services. The budget he signed into law for 2024 allocates record funds of $339 million toward affordable housing and $109 million toward the King County Regional Homelessness Authority, which aims to shelter and provide programs to those experiencing homelessness.

Still a strong supporter of the SPD, Harrell also allocated $4.5 million to the department to help expand “event staffing” and “police availability.”

Queering the wedding industry with Love Altared, a Queer wedding show

BY SHELBY OLSON SGN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

If, like many Queer people, you didn’t know what a wedding show was, it’s likely because they are a traditionally straight affair: an exposition showcasing various vendors to help plan your special day, featuring ads dominated by straight, white, thin, able-bodied couples in white gowns and black suits.

But what might this look like if it were Queer? On February 18, Love Altared’s resounding answer took shape in its debut. Organizers Alanna Francis, Loren Shea, and Jake Taylor — themselves wedding coordinators and members of the Queer community — combined their professional experience and connections to bring to life, as stated on the website, “a love letter to the LGBTQIA+ marriers who dream of a wedding where they are fully seen as their full selves.”

In pursuit of these aims, almost every vendor present was Queer-owned, with many of them specializing in serving Queer, Trans, POC, disabled, and fat clientele. Several colorful booths lined the room, hosting photographers, caterers, lighting technicians, florists, clothing designers, leather vendors, sex therapists, and of course, wedding planners.

Representation and support

Shea, who got married last year, emphasized how difficult it can be, “having to explain to your vendors on your wedding day how to take care of you,” and how having Queer businesses planning your event can remove that extra layer of labor and trepidation.

The vendors shared those same values of representation and support. Laura Brooks of Brooks Visual, an outdoor boudoir photography business specializing in fat bodies, shared how their experience being fat and Intersex translates into their work, which centers on celebrating and connecting with ourselves. Similar sentiments were echoed by SODO Garment Collec-

tive, a Queer-owned tailoring business specializing in gender- and body-affirming alterations. Even Edward Jones was in attendance with a Queer representative, citing how few financial avenues feel safe and viable for members of the community.

The event was also made radically accessible. The building (the Queer-owned Metropolist) had accessible entry points; wheelchair-friendly, gender-neutral bathrooms; and free street parking. Masking and proof of vaccination were required for attendance. A dry bar, seating, childcare, and a quiet space were provided. Attendees

of all ages found themselves nourished by an array of charcuterie and mocktails, as well as canapes provided by Communion, a family restaurant owned by Chef Kristi Brown of That Brown Girl Cooks!

The most oft-repeated comment from the vendors seemed to be that while catering to everyone, they’d love to have more Queer clientele. Some, like Wags Down the Aisle, a dog-care service for those who want their furry friends at their special event, have had trouble getting exposure in the community. Others, like Modern Aisles, a Queer wedding planner duo, pulled themselves

through the pandemic by conducting several ceremonies over Zoom. Still others, like Aisle Less Traveled, attract Queer marriers with its nontraditional planning services, such as haunted house and burlesque-themed weddings.

In the spirit of nontraditional weddings, Francis emceed a fashion show at the midpoint. She opened with a rousing reflection on Queer kinship and resistance, as well as a land acknowledgment, inviting the audience to join in Love Altared’s donation to Real Rent Duwamish. Rainbow of Soul Chains, whose Y2K-style jewelry was featured on many of the models, then led attendees through a manifestation exercise, at which point that the love among the families, friends, and couples in the room felt palpable.

“We built this,” Francis said, “to expand the thinking outside of what marriage can look like, to help heal ideas of how marriage feels for many of us.” Shea echoed this: “It’s our time. We’ve seen that, we’ve done that, and now we get to show up, we get to celebrate and do something different.”

Taylor added, “It’s about being able to choose what you want. We’ve all seen a skinny white lady in a white dress, and her able body walking down the aisle…so we’re gonna take up space and make room for us.”

On which note, models of all bodies, skin tones, and gender expression began to grace the catwalk, flaunting designs made by local Queer artists, as well as the gender-expansive clothing line Wildfang.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Queer event without dancing, so the fashion show featured a choreographed dance between Francis and her partner, followed by a group dance.

Not as many attendees were prospective marriers as the organizers were hoping, with most being family and friends of vendors. The team hopes that more Queer people considering marriage will be drawn to these services, and they have plans for future shows.

“I’m not ready,” said Taylor, laughing, “but I do think it’ll be an annual event, and we do have ideas for other things.”

It was important to the organizers that this be “Queer and not just Gay,” and to that aim, this celebration of what’s possible succeeded in every sense.

To learn more about Love Altared and its vendors, visit https://www.aqueerwedding. com.

ALANNA FRANCIS AS EMCEE – PHOTO BY FUCK YEAH WEDDINGS

FROM TOP: LOREN SHEA OF FUCK YEAH WEDDINGS, PNW SEX THERAPY COLLECTIVE, MODELS ON THE RUNWAY – PHOTO BY FUCK YEAH WEDDINGS

SAN GALA

“SAN has always been communityfocused,” Grant Ogren, executive director of SAN, told the SGN. The gala was [initiated] to provide an outlet in the gloom of the way HIV was looked at, to be able to have an event that people can dress up [for], [so] they can go have fun, get in on some auction items, and just get together and celebrate community — that was the original concept behind it.”

Ogren became the organization’s executive director in 2019 and was the only SAN staff member until the addition of five employees this past January. He said the last major Red Ribbon Gala (before last year) was held in 2016, with the COVID-19 pandemic having created further interruptions in recent years.

“Last year was our first year of getting back to having a gala, and we sold out,” Ogren said.

The gala will feature a silent auction with Hollywood-related items, as well as LGBTQ-related ones, including signed photographs, comedy club tickets, and Chiefs hockey tickets, among others.

REGIONAL NEWS

A large projector will display the Academy Awards, which will take place from 4 to 7pm.

“We [will have a drag queen MC and a community-member MC, [who] will be talking in between, kind of showcasing some auction items,” Ogren said.

Changing needs

In addition to carrying on a community tradition, the gala’s purpose is to bring in funding that is not tied to contracts, which can be very specific about the ways that funding is spent. Ogren mentioned how donated funds are very crucial for all nonprofits.

“A lot of the things we do outside of providing that direct clinical case management or nonclinical case management is providing housing dollars, providing beds for people that are going from homeless to housed, providing utility assistance — all the things that everyday people just pay out of their regular checking account,” he said. “Most of our clients don’t have access

to those kind of funds, so we have always had an emergency fund where if somebody is becoming housed, we can go buy them a bed, sheets, [or] help with their first month’s utility [bill].”

SAN’s biggest program service is the food pantry, which is open to the public and serves over 300 people annually. With the current state of the economy and high grocery expenses, Ogren expects the use of the food pantry to grow.

The nonprofit also offers peer support and housing coordination for clients living with HIV. According to Ogren, about 800 people in Spokane are living with HIV, and about 400 of those are case-managed through the Spokane Regional Health District. By the end of this year, Ogren expects SAN’s caseload to consist of about a hundred people.

Ogren noted how the world of HIV has changed much in recent decades, and he is seeing more young people living

with HIV and maintaining their worklives. He also said that the aging population living with HIV are developing heart conditions, diabetes, and dementia, similarly to those who do not live with HIV: “They’re surviving just like anybody else that doesn’t have HIV, but a lot of the older, long-term survivors are getting sicker. Not necessarily from HIV, but just from life.”

The needs of this population are changing, Ogren said. “We’re finding they’re needing more in-home support or delivery of items, trips to the grocery store … so we’re seeing this shift in the way we support clients, and making sure we’re offering those support items… This kind of fundraiser is where money goes. We’re in a huge growth mode.”

Red carpet

The 20th Red Ribbon Gala is a black-tie affair, and while no one will be turned away from the door, SAN encourages attendees to wear their best and brightest sequins, since they will be walking down their very own red carpet. After the appetizers, the buffet dinner will include salmon, chicken, and prime rib. There will also be a wine pull, in which participants can pay $20 for a wine cork with a number on it, and at the end of the night, a bottle ranging from $5 to $150 is paired with the cork number and passed out.

SAN is in search of additional volunteers to assist with check-in and check-out desk operations, and for the wine pull. Ogren encourages those interested in volunteering to reach out through the website (http:// www.sannw.org).

While this year’s Red Ribbon Gala is expected to be a bigger bash than last year’s, SAN is planning to put any and all funds raised to impactful use. It’s currently operating under a three-year rental lease, and last year, began a search for a new location.

“We’re either looking at building or buying a housing complex to offer LGBTQaffirming senior housing here in Spokane,” Ogren said. As an example, he mentioned Pride Place on Capitol Hill in Seattle, which is a senior-living facility for LGBTQ+ adults and the first of its kind here.

“My intent after our lease is up here is to move into our own building that’s part of this complex. SAN would be the community center and the support hub of this new LGBTQ-affirming/HIV-positive complex,” Ogren said. “We have so many people in this area — which I didn’t realize we did — that are aging, and they have homes that they can’t care for anymore, and they’re wanting to move somewhere where they can be themselves.”

CONTINUED FROM COVER

SAN SAN

GRANT OGREN – COURTESY PHOTO

John Cummings hopes to serve Pierce County as first openly Gay judge

BY LINDSEY ANDERSON SGN STAFF WRITER

Holding any public office can be daunting, but serving as a county superior court judge requires special criteria, unlike any other position. Superior court judges run in nonpartisan elections and cannot rely on voters to check a box along party lines. They must also maintain a deep understanding of both civil and criminal law.

For John Cummings, who is running to become the first openly Gay man to serve on Pierce County’s superior court bench, a love of community is essential too.

“I think that the piece that is sometimes lost is how important it is for a judge to be a part of the community,” Cummings told the SGN. “I am so dedicated to the South Sound and Pierce County in particular. I met my husband here, we have two amazing cats here, we are hosting a German exchange student, and we have our family here, because we love it here.”

Cummings works as a pro tem judge in Thurston County and at the Lakewood Municipal Court. Before that, he spent 15 years in front of juries as an attorney. “I began my career as a prosecutor, and my job was to keep people safe, to sit with victims in their hardest times, and I handled cases that were the most serious, including murder cases, cases involving child victims, and cases involving sexual assault,” he said.

During his career, Cummings fell in love with community service. At work, this meant helping maintain the integrity of the court system. Outside of work, he volunteered at the Oasis Youth Center, where he helped counsel LGBTQ+ youth and organize name-change-clinics for Trans kids.

Connecting with members of his community is what drives Cummings. “I can remember being a prosecutor and having

BELLINGHAM

CONTINUED FROM COVER

“Back in November 2022, there were several of us that were new to Bellingham, that were really finding it difficult to find community,” Harmeier said. “There were… about a dozen of us who had connected to different ways and said, ‘How are we going to find community?’... We know the Queers are here, and they’re at home with their cats and their kids in the suburbs…

“The whole point of this Facebook group was not to engage online. We were all sick of that at the end of COVID. We wanted people to feel comfortable getting together in person.”

To find this in-person community, they rented the Mount Baker Theatre and hosted a documentary film titled Ahead of the Curve. This attempt to lure Queer people from around the area worked, as 125 tickets were sold to people aged 18 to 80 from every part of the LGBTQ+ alphabet. From there, using approximately 200 Post-it note suggestions submitted by attendees of the documentary, the BQC officially began.

“We... gathered [the suggestions] and then had some brunch and had some advisory meetings about once a month after that,” Harmeier said. “We took all those ideas and synthesized them down to what could we do using just a free Facebook group to help bring people together. And so that’s how it got started.

“The group named [itself] the Bellingham Queer Collective, and it was very intentional that we wanted to be very inclusive, and ‘Queer’ seems to encompass all of the genders and sexualities that were represented in our activity group meeting.

“And we also wanted to make sure that we were a BIPOC, anti-racist group that was welcoming of everybody and being very clear and explicit about that.”

witnesses and victims who were members of the LGBTQ community — like I am — who did not always have a voice or feel like they had a voice in that environment,” Cummings said. “I feel like it is important that everyone, no matter their orientation, their gender identity, their gender, their race, their political leanings, anything, should get a fair view and a fair voice in the courtroom.”

Bringing understanding

If elected to the Pierce County Superior Court, Cummings will bring an LGBTQ+ perspective that has yet to be heard on the bench. However, he also believes he has something the bench is known for: a deep understanding of the law. “The Pierce County Superior Court bench has amazing judges right now, and what we’re looking at is the retirement of four accomplished and

knowledgeable judges, and so I’m bringing something that is leaving the bench,” Cummings explained.

Having worked on both criminal and civil cases, Cummings believes he can address the backlog since the COVID-19 pandemic with the proper efficiency needed to solve the delays. Because criminal cases take precedence over civil ones, and Pierce County still only has 23 judges despite a rapidly increasing population, many civil disputes — including property crime, landlord conflicts, and zoning crises — have been put on hold. With the retirement of four skilled judges, many in Pierce County fear the backlog will only get worse.

“The judges leaving have a very deep understanding of real estate and construction law, and that’s a gap I am ready to jump into and fill because I’ve practiced that,”

Cummings said. “I’ve seen what happens when landlords discriminate, I’ve seen what happens when tenants are damaging property — I understand all sides of the situation.”

While Cummings would be the first Gay man to serve on the bench in Pierce County, and the second Queer person after Washington Supreme Court Justice Helen Whitener, he holds a shifting perspective on what it means to be a “first.”

“In 2024, we have the bittersweet of being a ‘first.’ We need to have a first to have a second, a third, a fourth, a fifth,” Cummings said. “What we need as Queer people is representation from all aspects of the LGBTQ community, and that includes Gay men, Lesbian women, and Trans people, which we need. There’s never been a Trans person as a judge in Pierce County either. So, we need a full diversity of perspectives.

“I bring a perspective, an understanding of my lived experience that’s come from a really well-examined life, and through a lot of work in every workplace I’ve ever been in, to help lead the way in making our workplace more inclusive. And I’m really excited to continue to do that in the Pierce County Superior Court, because our courts, our jury systems, our depositions — all aspects of the judicial system — have to continue to be inclusive of all people.”

Cummings is also aware that some voters may be concerned about biases attached to his identity. “I fully understand that doing justice means recognizing that a person’s membership in a particular community does not make them any less or more culpable than anyone else. I’ll judge people by the facts, a good-faith application of the law, and the merits of the case. That’s it,” he said.

Packed calendar

BQC now has a packed calendar of diverse events featuring everything from Rainbow Elder events to pickleball to erotic parties.

“We had 320 people attend the Bellingham Erotic Ball in the ferry terminal building in Fairhaven [in October],” Harmeier said. “That was our max that we could really handle [given the] capacity, and it was a lot of fun. It was… really focused on letting the Queer community feel like they could have a space where they can be themselves… Some people [wore] affirming clothing and costumes. [There was] great entertainment, with… burlesque and drag and some old performers. And even a kink demonstration room.

“So, after that event, we said, ‘Let’s do another formal winter ball. People really liked it last year.’ So, this year, we made it in February and called it Hearts Desire Dance and made it more of a Valentine’s

theme… It was just about dancing and music and just really a fun event.

“So, we’re going to do those two events annually. They’re going to be our two ‘friend-raising’ events, where we expect to not only bring people together but raise a little bit of money at the same time for our future community center.”

Future plans

While BQC members have enjoyed events located in local businesses, the group has decided to look toward creating a community center.

“It’s been a little bit challenging for us, because it’s hard to meet all around town in these places that are all monetized restaurants, coffee shops, and bars, because not everybody wants to go and spend money on an expensive meal or beverage,” Harmeier said. “And there’s also not much privacy.

“But at the same time, it’s met our goal to get people out and see new places and kind

of get out into the town and be part of our downtown culture. So in one way, it’s been very empowering, but at the same time, we really need some space for some more privacy, and also that’s not monetized.

“So we are looking forward to opening a community center space later this spring with several different partners, where we will have a space of our own to have small group meetings or workshops and also provide a resource center for community for things that have been identified.”

The community center input sessions are set to take place March 14-17. Registration and times for the sessions are listed on BQC’s calendar (https://www.bellinghamqueercollective.org/calendar).

For more information on BQC, visit its website at https://www. bellinghamqueercollective.org or join its Facebook group “Bellingham Queer Collective.”

BELLINGHAM QUEER COLLECTIVE

JOHN CUMMINGS – COURTESY PHOTO

NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL NEWS

National news highlights

BY TEDDY MACQUARRIE SGN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

American Psychological Association approves policy supporting

Trans youth

On February 28, the American Psychological Association announced in a historic policy resolution opposing gender-affirming care bans for Transgender youth.

The association, the largest psychological organization in the world, with 157,000 members, declared, “Government bans on gender-affirming care disregard the comprehensive body of psychological and medical research supporting the positive impact of gender-affirming treatments,” and affirms the organization’s support for the necessity of that care for Transgender youth and adults.

The policy, which passed 153-9, is the strongest yet from the organization in support of gender-affirming care and represents a major consensus among leading psychologists on its importance.

While the APA has previously passed resolutions supporting Trans individuals, Wednesday’s resolution goes further by directly supporting gender-affirming care as medically necessary and opposing misinformation that emerges in legislative hearings targeting it. Few medical organizations have rebutted anti-Trans talking points as comprehensively as the APA’s recent policy.

The document will be an important response to increasing misinformation

around Transgender care. Other professional organizations are similarly in the process of releasing updated policies.

Court rules against Texas AG attempt to obtain data on Trans members from PFLAG

A judge has temporarily blocked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s demand for information on Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays National’s work on behalf of

Texas families with Transgender children seeking gender-affirming medical care.

PFLAG National is a plaintiff in a lawsuit opposing two Texas laws banning gender-affirming care for Queer youth. Paxton issued a demand in early February for the organization to turn over documents, communications, and other information related to its work with these families, including the names and addresses of Trans youth members.

International news highlights

BY TEDDY MACQUARRIE SGN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Australia: Sydney Mardi Gras Parade pays tribute to slain Gay couple

After two murders that jarred the country’s entire Queer community, the 46th annual Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade came to a halt on Saturday in a powerful act of remembrance for the Gay couple, Jesse Baird and Luke Davies.

In its float, Qantas Airways paid tribute to Davies, who worked for the carrier as a flight attendant. A company spokesperson confirmed that Davies’ name was added prominently on the side of the float, and Executive Manager Crew Leeanne Langridge said in a statement that Davies “was a much-loved member of the Qantas cabin crew community in Brisbane and Sydney.

According to the BBC, the murder of the couple caused the Mardi Gras organizers to uninvite the New South Wales Police Force.

In a press statement, the parade’s board said the decision to exclude police, who have taken part in the annual march for over two decades, was “not taken lightly” but that it was essential to create a safe environment “to protest, celebrate,… honor, and grieve those we’ve lost.”

Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade has a complex history of both Queer activism and police brutality. The first march, held in 1978, resulted in dozens of people being beaten and arrested by officers. Tensions between organizers, participants, and police have risen and fallen over several decades.

Ghana intensifies crackdown on Queer community

Ghana’s parliament has passed legislation that intensifies a crackdown on the rights of Queer people and those promoting Lesbian, Gay or other nonconventional

In response, PFLAG National filed a separate lawsuit against the AG and sought a temporary restraining order to keep him from obtaining the information. Travis County District Court Judge Maria Cantú Hexsel granted the order Friday.

“It clearly appears to the Court that unless the Defendants are immediately restrained from abusing the Deceptive Trade Practices Act by enforcing or otherwise requiring PFLAG to respond to the Civil Investigative Demand and Notice of Demand for Sworn Written Statement, immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage will result to PFLAG and its members from the Defendants’ wrongful actions,” she wrote.

“Such injury includes, but is not limited to: harm to the ability of PFLAG and its members to exercise their rights of free speech and association under the First Amendment; harm to the ability of PFLAG and its members to be secure against unreasonable searches under the Fourth Amendment; harm to the ability of PFLAG and its members to avail themselves of the courts when their constitutional rights are threatened; and gross invasions of both PFLAG’s and its members’ privacy in an attempt to bypass discovery stays entered in both Loe v. Texas and PFLAG v. Abbott.”

Paxton has previously sought information on gender-affirming care from a hospital in Austin and some outside of Texas.

sexual or gender identities in the West African country.

The new legislation passed on Wednesday imposes a prison sentence of up to five years for the “willful promotion, sponsorship, or support of LGBTQ+ activities.”

The bill still has to be validated by the president before becoming law, which observers believe is unlikely before a general election in December.

The sweeping legislation received sponsorship from a coalition comprising Christian, Muslim, and traditional Ghanaian leaders, and passed through an unopposed voice vote.

Mexican-British man arrested in Qatar for sexuality; HIV meds withheld A British man, Manuel Guerrero Aviña, is being held in prison in Qatar after reportedly being arrested because of his sexuality.

The former British Airways manager has been detained since February 4, after allegedly replying to a fake message on Grindr, The Mirror reported.

Aviña’s family has claimed that lifesaving HIV medication is being refused while he is in prison.

According to Aviña’s brother Enrique

in The Mirror, “Qatar police used a false Grindr profile to contact Manuel and invite him to participate in a meeting with other people from the LGBT community in the city of Doha... Manuel was supposed to meet a person he thought he had arranged an appointment with on the night of 4 February but instead encountered police officers who were waiting to arrest him.”

Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar, with no protection from discrimination, according to the equality ratings site Equaldex. The country scores just seven out of 100 in terms of Queer rights.

STEVEN SAPHORE / AAP

NEX BENEDICT

CONTINUED FROM COVER

The next day, the Nonbinary Trans teen died. Two weeks later, police have yet to release an official cause of death or confirm that the bullying incident was a hate crime.

The bathroom fight allegedly began when a group of girls mocked Benedict for the way they dressed and laughed. Text messages released by Benedict’s mother showed that a group of girls involved in the incident had previously bullied them online. Responding to the girls’ jeers, Benedict reportedly splashed water at them. The girls lashed out with physical violence.

Teachers and students broke up the fight and escorted all parties to the nurse’s office. School security camera footage showed Benedict staggering and unable to walk in a straight line. School faculty decided to call the students’ parents but did not contact an ambulance to address any medical needs. Once Benedict’s mother arrived at school, nurses suggested they take Benedict to the hospital for an examination.

Police discouraged reporting the attack

While at the hospital, Benedict’s mother called the police, who arrived and took a statement. In released body-cam footage from the statement, Benedict and their mother repeatedly indicated they wanted to press charges on the girls involved in the fight. The officer seemed hesitant, attempting to discourage Benedict from filing anything official.

“I will also tell you, though, this old saying: ‘What’s good for the goose is good for the gander,’ meaning, the way the courts are going to look at it is as a mutual fight. Both parties are victims. Both parties are also suspects in this,” the officer said as Benedict lay in a hospital bed. “Do you get what I’m saying? You’re also an offender as well. I will report if that’s what you want.”

“Yes. That’s what I want,” they insisted.

“Okay, I’m just letting you know, if the other party wants to do the same thing… the assault [charge] will be on [Benedict] as well,” the officer said to Benedict’s mother, about the water Benedict splashed on the bully, “because [Benedict] first assaulted, [he’s] the one who initiated it originally.”

As the interview went on, the officer seemed to defend Benedict’s attackers, stat-

ing that they had the freedom of speech to say whatever they wanted, but the moment Benedict splashed them, that initiated the fight. “You assaulted someone. You made the first jab,” the officer said. “It doesn’t make it right, but they defended themselves.”

Died the next day

Following the interview and a brief medical evaluation, Benedict was released from the hospital and returned home. The next day, Benedict was rushed back to the hospital after their mother discovered them posturing, struggling to breathe, and their eyes rolling back in their head. These are all symptoms of traumatic brain injury, although official reports have yet to confirm what exactly was occurring to Benedict when they were admitted to the hospital the second time. Within hours, they died.

An official autopsy is expected to be released within a matter of days but has yet to be made public. However, reports from the Owasso Police Department, which has had a chance to examine preliminary

autopsy evidence, claim Benedict “did not die as a result of trauma,” which has led some to speculate whether Benedict chose to take their own life.

The police have begun investigating the incident for foul play by photographing the bathroom where the fight occurred and swabbing blood stains on the ground. Benedict’s family has also hired a private investigator to look into the case. The FBI may begin a separate investigation if the case is deemed a hate crime.

Reactions

News of Benedict’s death has sparked outrage from LGBTQ+ people, and adversaries across the country have added to the controversy.

On Monday, February 26, over 40 students staged a walkout at Owasso High School in protest of the district’s lax bullying policies, which they believe contributed to the death of their classmate.

One of the organizers of the walkout was Kane, a Nonbinary student who previously attended Owasso High School in per-

son but has since transferred to online-only classes due to bullying based on their gender identity and sexuality. “There’s been bullying issues. This time, the bullying has gone so far that a student has passed,” Kane told reporters following the walkout and five minutes of silence for Benedict.

“To me, it doesn’t matter if Nex passed from a traumatic brain injury or if they passed from suicide. What matters is the fact that they died after getting bullied, and that is the story for so many other students. I’ve been close to ending it myself because of bullying. It’s not new for so many students.”

Politicians respond to Nex Benedict’s death

Oklahoma politicians are also speaking out. Despite passing laws that forced Trans students like Benedict to use school bathrooms based on the sex they were assigned at birth, and banning Trans healthcare in the state, Gov. Kevin Stitt condemned the bullying of Benedict.

“I haven’t spoken to the grandmother, but any death by a student is just a tragedy,” Stitt said. “There’s no bullying allowed in Oklahoma. We’re going to prosecute that. I think they’re still investigating what happened, but it’s an absolute tragedy.”

Oklahoma Sen. Tom Woods also addressed the incident on February 24, in a different manner. “As an educator, I took an oath to educate, not indoctrinate. And I’ll always take that stand,” he said after a citizen asked him about Benedict’s death. “My heart goes out to that scenario — if that is the case — but we represent a constituency. We’re a Republican state — supermajority — in the House and Senate. I represent a constituency that doesn’t want that filth in Oklahoma. You know, we are a religious state. We are going to fight and keep that filth out of the state of Oklahoma, because we’re a Christian state.”

Remembering Benedict

A funeral was held for Benedict earlier this month, and vigils continue across the country. Friends and family remember Benedict as brave, energetic, and adventurous. Friends recalled Benedict helping them come out, standing up for them, and always concentrating on artistic masterpieces. Their family also recalled Benedict as a kind soul who loved their cats.

Friends and family continue to mourn the loss of yet another Trans kid gone too soon. “When I think about the life that we lost, I feel disappointed,” Robin Gray Ingersoll, one of Benedict’s friends and former partner, said at their vigil. “Disappointed that he never got the chance to grow up and mature and learn and grow to find his community, and that was taken from him.”

This is a developing story.

NATE BILLINGS / THE OKLAHOMAN VIA AP

OWASSO POLICE DEPARTMENT

by Bruce Stores

GAY

When a man in mid-life with a wife and children suddenly makes the discovery that he is gay, where does he turn for guidance and support? Until very recently, the answer was “nowhere,” except to expensive counseling centers. According to Gay Fathers Support Group facilitator Phil Harrington, this is an extremely critical period. “Many feel ‘I’m the only one,’” he said, referring to the role of a gay man in the husband/father situation.

At a meeting early in February, the GFSG celebrated its first year as a group. Between servings of cake (a gift from a local church) and champagne, Harrington told the 14 fathers in his home that “over 60 have taken advantage of this group. This is our first anniversary, and I’m glad we’re still doing it.” To the first-time men in attendance at the anniversary meeting, Harrington explained the purpose of the GFSG: “We don’t care if you’re gay, bisexual, or

Gay fathers group helps men adjust to dual roles

don’t even know what your sexual orientation is. We don’t encourage people to make any decision as to their marriage or lifestyle. What we do is let people see the diversity that exists. We all have neat things and difficult things in our life, and we share these together.” He told the new fathers what they might expect from a meeting. “At a typical meeting, each father takes five minutes to introduce himself and tell the others what kind of space he is in. From there the meeting just takes off.”

It’s time to stop asking people about their sexual “body count”

I had a conversation recently with a family friend about dating etiquette. She was wondering why she keeps getting asked what her “body count” is and if she needs to actually disclose this information to her dates. For those unfamiliar with it, this term is often used in relation to how many people you have been sexually intimate with. This made me wonder, why do we care so much about how many people our potential partners have slept with? And is it time to finally let it go and stop asking? My answer is yes.

As society evolves and embraces more progressive attitudes toward sex and sexuality, it becomes increasingly apparent that asking about someone’s “body count” is an outdated and harmful practice. Not only does this invade a person’s privacy but it also perpetuates harmful notions of sexual purity and worth based on past experiences. While the question sometimes starts as pure curiosity, to see if someone is sexually compatible, it more so fosters a culture of judgment and comparison, in which people are unfairly evaluated and stigmatized based on their sexual history, rather than their character and values.

When you ask someone their “body count,” you are essentially reducing someone’s intimate relationships to mere numbers and disregarding the emotional complexities involved. It also reinforces harmful gender stereotypes, often leading to double standards, wherein men are praised for high numbers while women are shamed for the same. This disparity not only reinforces inequality but also undermines the autonomy and agency of people regarding

Harrington reviewed the genesis of the GFSG. “When I was coming out and going through my divorce, I received lots of help from the counseling center. It was good help, but it wasn’t peer help. […] I was aware of a real sense of isolation. I had straight values, 32 years old, and didn’t know how I would fit. […] Then I went to the San Francisco Gay Pride March in 1978. They had a fathers group on a float with their children. When I came home, I put my ideas together […] and started getting calls. […] After a few meetings, […] I started getting calls from mental health groups around town, and they wanted to know if they could refer people. […] I got invaluable information from the Lesbian [Mothers’] National Defense Fund. They told me what they do, and their methods and resources became open to us.” […]

And before long the GFSG won national and local approval. “We’re now listed as a resource with the National Gay Task Force,” said Harrington. In Seattle, “the gay community has really pulled together to support the GFSG, especially the professionals — doctors and mental health workers.” Research groups, he explained, make contact with the GFSG because it is about the only way to make contact with gay fathers. “Child development researchers at UW and sex therapists did research with us.” […]

He believes the group has done a great deal of good for most of the fathers involved. “We consider it a success when an individual is confident, self-assured, vir-

BY ISABEL MATA SGN STAFF WRITER

Ask Izzy is an advice column about relationships, mental health, and sexuality. Written by Isabel Mata — a Seattle-based lifestyle writer, podcast host, and mental health advocate — Ask Izzy offers tangible expert advice so all readers can have stronger relationships, better sex, and healthier mindsets. Submit your question today at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/KLKJ6TW.

their sexual choices. At the end of the day, it shouldn’t matter whether you have slept with three people or thirty — the choice is yours and yours alone to make.

In embracing a more respectful and inclusive approach to dating and relationships, it’s time to shift away from focusing on “body count” and instead prioritize mutual respect, communication, and understanding. If you really want to know how many people someone has slept with, pause and reflect on what you are hoping to gain by asking. More often than not, it stems from a place of insecurity, rather than curiosity. If you are asking because you want to have safe sex, then there are other ways to talk about it instead of asking directly about someone’s sexual history. Instead, you can

approach the topic in a respectful and considerate manner.

Here are some ways to broach the subject:

◦ Initiate a conversation about sexual health: You can start by discussing the importance of sexual health and how it plays a role in your life. It helps to share your own views and experiences before encouraging your date to do the same.

◦ Ask about a partner’s recent sexual health check-ups: If you are worried about sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), you can inquire about when someone last got tested and ask whether they have any recent results they’d be willing to share.

◦ Discuss safe sex practices: Before being intimate, it’s important to talk about

tually at peace with himself. For some it is for the first time in their lives.” […]

Sometimes the “reward” for some may be the start of a new relationship, though new friendships aren’t always apparent to the group. […] “We just can’t meet everybody’s needs. Some come looking for a structured format to find out about legalities, parenting, et cetera, and don’t find it.” […]

Harrington also related actual incidents of fathers who have attended GFSG who have undergone electrotherapy, aversion therapy, and have been in mental institutions for no other reason than their homosexuality. […] After discussing problems that gay fathers have confronted, he said. “The cruelest thing is the possibility that they will never see or be a parent to their children.” […]

“[L]ately we’ve started going out together socially and it’s been great. Last year, we did a weekend at Fort Warden with the children. There were eight children, four fathers, and two others. The children did all the things kids do when they meet. It was summer Bible camp without the Bible. Some fathers were apprehensive of exposing their children to a gay lifestyle, but what happened to the children was no [exposure to a] lifestyle in particular… just a group of men who cared a lot about each other.” […]

This article was edited for length. To view the article in full, visit https://issuu. com/sgn.org/docs/sgn_march_14_1980.

what form of protection you will be using. It doesn’t hurt to ask about your date’s preferences and practices regarding condoms, birth control, and other forms of protection. This conversation can naturally lead to discussions about sexual history and current habits.

◦ Share your own boundaries and expectations: This may be the most important bit of advice I have to offer. When having a conversation with a potential partner about your own experiences, be honest about your concerns about sexual health and safety. Don’t be shy in letting your date know the level of sexual exclusivity you prefer in a relationship. This can encourage them to share their own boundaries and expectations as well.

Remember that discussing sexual health is a normal and responsible part of dating and forming intimate relationships, as long as it is approached respectfully. By employing empathy and honesty, you can help ensure a safer and more fulfilling experience for both you and your potential partner.

Rather than fixating on numbers, we should strive to foster open and honest conversations about sexual health, boundaries, and expectations, creating a culture of acceptance and empowerment in which people feel safe to express themselves without fear of judgment or scrutiny. By letting go of outdated metrics of worth, we can cultivate more meaningful connections based on mutual trust, respect, and understanding.

ANNA SHVETS / PEXELS

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Seattle Opera’s brilliant, winning revival of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X

BY SHARON CUMBERLAND & ALICE BLOCH SGN CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

X: THE LIFE & TIMES OF MALCOLM X

Music by Anthony Davis

Libretto by Thulani Davis

Story by Christopher Davis Seattle Opera

McCaw Hall, Seattle Center

Opening weekend (February 24 & 25)

McCaw Hall was packed for the opening weekend of X: The Life & Times of Malcolm X — full of excited first-timers as well as seasoned opera lovers. Though the work is three hours long, the entire audience was on its feet and cheering at the end of both performances. Instead of shouting “Bravo!” many audience members called out

“Thank you! Thank you!”

The production was flawless: wonderful music, fabulous singing, and brilliant stage settings in service of a fascinating and important story. The libretto, by Thulani Davis, is one of the most beautifully simple and elegantly expressed texts you will ever hear on an opera stage, while the music, by Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Anthony Davis, added the excitement of a jazz ensemble to Seattle Opera’s terrific orchestra. This show is a winner from beginning to end.

Particularly impressive were soprano Leah Hawkins (as Malcolm’s mother and, later, his wife Betty Shabazz) and mezzosoprano Ronnita Miller (as Malcolm’s half-sister, who raises him after his mother becomes disabled). Their stentorian voices brought the love and danger surrounding him into sympathetic focus. Bass Kenneth Kellogg as Malcolm and tenor Joshua Stewart as Elijah Muhammad (and as Street, a swaggering mentor to the young Malcolm) formed the solid core of the opera, their interesting contrast of high and low voices an imaginative accent to the drama.

The relatively small ensemble of singers, actors, and dancers did a great job supplying all the additional roles and creating a real sense of a larger world as the story moves from Michigan to Boston, to Harlem, to Mecca, and back to Washington Heights,

where the death of Malcolm is shown with a dramatic, symbolic use of light.

Past, present, and future

The clever stage setting by Clint Ramos establishes three zones of reality. The first, a small theater stage, is a replica of the one at the Audubon Ballroom, where Malcolm was killed and provides a portal between past and present. The second, a large open space, represents the characters’ emotional world. The third is a swirl-shaped

screen overhead that supplies projections of news, photos, colors, and textures, a kind of visual chorus that illustrates the story. Stage director Robert O’Hara envisioned this third zone as a space ship, in a futuristic interpretation of the Black Star Line that Marcus Garvey imagined would transport Black people back to Africa.

Four male dancers accompany the characters and express their emotions in flowing movement. Their contribution is particularly important in Act 1, as young

Malcolm lives through the racism and loneliness of his early life. This role was wonderfully sung and danced by Rex Walker and Jace Johnson, students of the Allegro Performing Arts Academy in Kent.

Anthony Davis’s score is complex and sumptuous, both rhythmically and harmonically. In a recent interview about the current production of X, he said, “Rhythm drives the drama. I use rhythm as the building block. When the polyrhythms become more complex, there’s rhythmic tension; when it comes together, there’s release.” Conductor Kazem Abdullah’s masterful direction led the musicians and singers through this difficult piece without a hitch.

A fitting revival

The three-Davis team (two brothers and a cousin) were originally commissioned by the New York City Opera in 1986 to write this work two decades after Malcolm X was murdered, while his memory was still at the center of controversies swirling around his belief in racial justice “by any means necessary.” Today, as time contextualizes his service to the cause, Anthony Davis reminds us that “racial tensions and inequities still haunt us,” and that this production is “a new vision of the opera for a new audience, a new generation who may not have a living memory of Malcolm X.” Seattle Opera’s revival of this great work is a fitting contribution to the ongoing effort to make this nation live up to its allegiance to “liberty and justice for all.”

Congratulations — and thank you! — to Seattle Opera for bringing this brilliant work back to the stage, where a new generation of Americans can learn more about the struggle Black citizens have had to endure to be treated as equal members of society.

Performances continue through March 9. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit https://seattleopera. org.

REX WALKER (YOUNG MALCOLM, FEB. 24, MAR. 3 & 9) AND LEAH HAWKINS (LOUISE LITTLE) IN X: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MALCOLM X AT SEATTLE OPERA – PHOTO BY PHILIP NEWTON

KENNETH KELLOGG (MALCOLM X) IN X: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MALCOLM X AT SEATTLE OPERA – PHOTO BY PHILIP NEWTON

Seattle comedian Andy Iwancio tops iTunes chart with debut album

BY LINDSEY ANDERSON SGN STAFF WRITER

In 2023, Seattle comedian Andy Iwancio released her first full-length comedy album on iTunes, Spotify, and Apple Music. For the next month, Better Living Through Femmistry charted in the top three on iTunes. “The screenshots of it are saved on my phone, and they will be printed on my tombstone,” Iwancio said. “I’m just really stoked.”

Iwancio’s debut EP, Hard Trans — a 20-minute collection of jokes about her experience as a Trans woman — was released earlier in 2023 and it also held a solid spot in the charts. “To have two [charting] in the same year is wild. It’s a buzzing thing, and I felt like I accomplished something,” she said.

Hard Trans was the material Iwancio’s been working on since her return to the comedy scene in 2012. “I started doing comedy in 2007,” she said, “and then I took a break, because I was dealing with gender shit, and then I came back in about 2012, and I’ve just been back at it since then.”

Better Living Through Femmistry takes a broader look into life through Iwancio’s eyes.

The album begins with tracks about her experiences with epilepsy, her teenage hijinks, and her relationship with high school sweetheart Linus. While her identity as a Trans woman isn’t the explicit focus of the album, it’s an aspect of Iwancio’s life. Trans jokes are peppered into nearly every track, much to the delight of LGBTQ+ listeners.

The tape gives off a timeless feel and stays true to the original live show, with minimal editing — something Iwancio notices specials don’t always have. The album requires a listener to embrace imagination, especially when she acts out a bit or references something going on in the crowd, like a patron falling asleep. The setup, structure, and premise give it a feeling of familiarity and closeness that modern specials lack. Iwancio takes listeners on a journey into her memories with clever humor and some surprisingly heartfelt moments.

Encouraging trends

In her many years as a comedian, Iwancio has noticed a big change in the industry regarding reactions to Trans material. “At first, it was harder to land jokes.

It seemed more like I was teaching people something, teaching them about Trans people and our vulnerabilities and our experiences,” she said. “Then, over time, it’s become a shared experience. Even people who don’t know a Trans person know some of our lingo or know about us in a way they didn’t before.”

When she tours the country, Iwancio always tries to book a Trans or Nonbinary comedian to open for her. Reaching Trans audiences in smaller towns has become one of the most rewarding parts of comedy.

Over the last 13 years, Iwancio has also noticed an increase in the number of other LGBTQ+ comedians in the Pacific Northwest, which she finds encouraging. “It’s funny that there’s enough Trans women doing comedy now that there’s Trans women hack comedy — Trans women doing jokes you make in your first year doing comedy as a Trans woman. For that to exist means something about our growth.”

“That’s what made me start touring more to small places and towns,” she added. “The legislation passed in these places are the loudest people saying the most hurtful

things, but it doesn’t represent the majority of the people in the state.”

Releasing more of her work on streaming platforms also gives Iwancio hope that her comedy will attract Trans and Nonbinary people who may not make it to a live show.

Evoking nostalgia

The album invites the listener into Iwancio’s life as if they’ve been friends for decades. Part of the reason it features such a warm and friendly tone is that many members of the audience were long-time fans and friends. Iwancio’s familiarity with the crowd and the stage helped calm her nerves and stoked her excitement for the recording.

“Most of [my] jitters were just production worries,” she admitted. “There were butterflies in my tummy, is that what you want? They were moths, because it was a basement. No, that sounds too masculine. Too butch. There were lightning bugs? No, that’s not cute. There was something in my stomach. Tapeworm? I was confident. I was loose. I knew my friends would be there, and that made me happy enough.”

Iwancio chose to record a comedy album due to her love for the tapes she grew up listening to. As a Gen X kid, records by Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, and Joan Rivers topped the charts and brought laughter into people’s homes. While live TV and streaming specials may be the most mainstream way to consume stand-up from home now, Iwancio wanted to connect with the nostalgia of her first comedy loves.

“I grew up listening to comedy albums. I like how concise they are, and I like the albums more than the specials, because I get to imagine the room,” she admitted. “I’m an aural kind of person — A-U-R-AL, not O-R-A-L. Anybody I’ve been with will tell you I’m an O-R-A-L, but I’m talking about aural,” she joked.

“That kind of experience of feeling like I’m hearing the room is really interesting to me, and getting a chance to put something together like the albums I grew up listening to [has] always been a goal of mine.”

Better Living Through Femmistry and Hard Trans are available to stream now on Apple Music, iTunes, and Spotify.

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

FILM

96TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS PREVIEW

BY SARA MICHELLE FETTERS SGN STAFF WRITER

The first time I recall sitting down to watch the annual Academy Award telecast with an actual rooting interest in which film would take Best Picture was in 1982. I was absolutely positive Raiders of the Lost Ark was going to bring home the Oscar. How could it not? No motion picture was better the previous year. Not a single one.

Well, maybe Dragonslayer or Excalibur But even at eight years old, I understood those films weren’t for everyone. Sure, I loved them — a giant fire-breathing dragon in the former and King Arthur pulling the sword from the stone and engaging in a massive duel to the death with Mordred in the lat-

ter, how could I not? — but considering that almost no one I knew saw either, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to grasp I was in (at the time) the minority.

But Raiders of the Lost Ark? Everyone, everywhere saw it, and everyone, everywhere loved it. It was going to win. I knew it. I could feel it in my bones.

While it did walk away with five Academy Awards that evening (Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, Best Sound, and a special-achievement Oscar for innovation in sound effects editing), Raiders did not score the top prize. Imagine my shock when the winner was Chariots of Fire What was that? British people running? At the Olympics? In 1924? Who the heck would watch that?

A lot of people, as it turns out, and 42 years later, I can’t exactly say the voting members of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences were wrong. Chariots of Fire is pretty dang great.

Anyhow, what I learned watching the Academy Awards that year is that, if you’re really going to play the who’s-gonna-winwhat guessing game, personal preference and biases cannot factor in. It’s all about Oscar tendencies. Who’s due? What’s the cultural vibe of that moment? Which films won prizes from critics groups and other awards bodies beforehand? What statement — if any — are voters wanting to make that year?

Questions like those inexorably lead to discussions and debates regarding Best Picture victors (along those in many of the acting categories) and how voters “made

a mistake” by awarding them the Oscar. It’s why some get so heated when they think about Dances with Wolves winning over Goodfellas, or Crash “taking the victory away” from Brokeback Mountain. It’s why people go nuts over perceived “snubs” when the nominees are announced, even though a snub really isn’t a thing. The list goes on and on, and the arguments are never-ending.

Personally, I find it all both amusing and tiresome. Unlike actual elections (like the one this November), there are no earthshaking real-world consequences to who wins what at the Academy Awards. I can be annoyed that Green Book beat Roma or that Around the World in 80 Days inexplicably toppled Giant as much as anyone. But those moments make semiunexpected victories by the likes of Parasite, Moonlight, The Apartment, and, yes, even Chariots of Fire all the more satisfying, and it’s why diehards like me keep tuning in to the Oscar telecast every year like clockwork.

What does any of this have to do with this year’s 96th annual Academy Awards? If all of the preseason bellwethers are to be believed, we’re in for a sweep like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Titanic, or Ben-Hur this year. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is almost assured to take home at least six Oscars out of its 13 nominations. Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and even Best Actor appear to all be wrapped up for the epic biopic, and it wouldn’t shock me if it more than doubles that overallwin count by the end of the evening.

If I’m being honest, there’s truly only one category that’s still up in the air, and that’s Best Actress. Will Lily Gladstone make history for Killers of the Flower Moon? Can Emma Stone shag her second Academy Award for Poor Things? Or will Sandra Hüller emerge victorious at the last second, with the voting members of the Academy adjudicating the outcome in her favor for Anatomy of a Fall?

OPPENHEIMER – UNIVERSAL PICTURES

OSCARS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

The following are my predictions. While eight-year-old me is still pulling for Raiders of the Lost Ark, I think it’s safe to say not even a de-aged Indiana Jones could bullwhip that into reality (although composer John Williams received his 54th nomination for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny).

BEST PICTURE

Nominees:

American Fiction

Anatomy of a Fall

Barbie

The Holdovers

Killers of the Flower Moon

Maestro

Oppenheimer

Past Lives

Poor Things

The Zone of Interest

Prediction: Oppenheimer

BEST DIRECTOR

Nominees:

Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall )

Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon)

Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer), Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things)

Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)

Prediction:

Nolan

BEST ACTOR

Nominees:

Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction)

Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers)

Bradley Cooper (Maestro)

Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)

Colman Domingo (Rustin)

Prediction: Murphy

BEST ACTRESS

Nominees:

Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall )

Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon)

Carey Mulligan (Maestro)

Annette Bening (Nyad )

Emma Stone (Poor Things)

Prediction:

Gladstone

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Nominees:

Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction)

Ryan Gosling (Barbie)

Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon)

Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)

Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things)

Prediction:

Downey Jr.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Nominees:

America Ferrera (Barbie)

Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

Jodie Foster (Nyad )

Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer)

Prediction:

Randolph

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Nominees:

Anatomy of a Fall

The Holdovers

Maestro

May December

Past Lives

Prediction:

Anatomy of a Fall

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Nominees:

American Fiction

Barbie

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

The Zone of Interest

Prediction:

FILM

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Nominees:

The Boy and the Heron

Elemental

Nimona

Robot Dreams

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Prediction:

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Nominees:

20 Days in Mariupol

Bobi Wine: The People’s President

The Eternal Memory

Four Daughters, To Kill a Tiger

Prediction:

20 Days in Mariupol

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

Nominees:

Io capitano

Perfect Days

Society of the Snow

The Zone of Interest

Prediction:

The Zone of Interest

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Nominees:

El Conde

Killers of the Flower Moon

Maestro

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

Prediction:

Oppenheimer

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Nominees:

Barbie

Killers of the Flower Moon

Napoleon

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

Prediction: Napoleon

BEST EDITING

Nominees:

Anatomy of a Fall

The Holdovers

Killers of the Flower Moon

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

Prediction: Oppenheimer

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

Nominees: Golda

Maestro

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

Society of the Snow

Prediction: Oppenheimer

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Nominees:

American Fiction

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Killers of the Flower Moon

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

Prediction:

Oppenheimer

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

Nominees:

“It Never Went Away” (American Fiction)

“I’m Just Ken” (Barbie)

“What Was I Made For?” (Barbie)

“The Fire Inside” (Flamin’ Hot)

“Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” (Killers of the Flower Moon)

Prediction:

“What Was I Made For?” (Barbie)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Nominees:

Barbie

Killers of the Flower Moon

Napoleon

Oppenheimer

Poor Things

Prediction:

Oppenheimer

BEST SOUND

Nominees:

The Creator

Maestro

Mission: Impossible –Dead Reckoning Part One

Oppenheimer

The Zone of Interest

Prediction:

The Zone of Interest

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Nominees:

The Creator

Godzilla Minus One

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

Mission: Impossible:

Dead Reckoning Part One

Napoleon

Prediction:

The Creator

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

Nominees:

Letter to a Pig

Ninety-Five Senses

Our Uniform Pachyderme

War Is Over!

Prediction:

Our Uniform

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Nominees:

The ABCs of Book Banning

The Barber of Little Rock

Island in Between

The Last Repair Shop

Nai Nai & Wài Pó

Prediction:

The ABCs of Book Banning

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

Nominees:

The After

Invincible

Knight of Fortune

Red, White and Blue

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Prediction:

Red, White and Blue

American Fiction

Ambitious Dune: Part Two journeys back to Arrakis with mixed results

BY SARA MICHELLE FETTERS SGN STAFF WRITER

DUNE: PART TWO

Theaters

Dune: Part Two hits the ground running. Well, make that walking. Paul Atredies (Timothée Chalamet) and his Bene Gesserit mother Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) are in the hands of Fremen leader Stilgar (Javier Bardem) as he shepherds them to safety across the northern desert of Arrakis. There’s nothing in the way of a recap, but I’m not altogether certain one is required. Paul and Jessica are on the run from the Harkonnen, and winning the trust of the Fremen is the key to their survival. That’s basically it.

Of course, Frank Herbert’s sprawling source material is far more complex than that, and much like they did with 2021’s Academy Award–winning Dune, filmmaker Denis Villeneuve and co-writer Jon Spaihts have gone out of their way to transfer as many of the author’s themes and subplots to the screen as they can. This adaptation of the second half of the book is a sprawling, visually dynamic affair, and it overflows in outstanding moments and with sequences of auditory brilliance.

However, much like its predecessor, I found this sequel frequently cold and emotionally barren at the most inopportune times. The second half is particularly monotonous as Paul trudges toward

a destiny he does not want and presciently believes will be his damnation — and by extension the universe’s. Villeneuve stages several eye-popping set pieces but then all too often resolves them with heavy suddenness. The film is all exhilarating buildup leading to an unsatisfactory, and even somewhat perfunctory, payoff. While I was impressed with the director’s cinematic gusto, I was equally disappointed by how little I cared about the majority of the characters or their plights.

Not that I thought any of this during the picture’s opening half. It is during this section that Paul settles in with the Fremen and starts becoming a valuable asset in their fight against the Harkonnen. Chalamet is at his best here, and whether it’s bantering back and forth with a surprisingly relaxed (and often very, very funny) Bardem or working toward a thorny romantic entanglement with Zendaya (returning as the respected Fremen warrior Chani), the foundation he fabricates for Paul’s eventual transformation into the fabled Kwisatz Haderach is a solid one.

Everything builds to the moment when Paul — now known by the Fremen as “Muad’Dib” — must pass a final test of manhood and ride a sandworm. It’s also the most noticeable instance in which Villeneuve uncorks a sequence of jaw-dropping kinetic magnificence — only for things to conclude with an unfinished thud. Paul calls the worm, composer Hans Zimmer (The Creator) conducts his intensely con-

frontational score with vitriolic urgency, cinematographer Greig Fraser (Zero Dark Thirty) crafts one awe-inspiring image after another, and the line between practical and computer-generated visual effects vanishes entirely.

But while all of this looks and sounds stunning, there is no emotional payoff. Villeneuve quickly moves events along to focus on other characters and additional subplots. Considering there’s so much story to be told, this isn’t shocking. In the same breath, keeping things in such an unfinished state robs Paul of the necessary interior nuances that make him such a troubled and fascinating protagonist. This is a man who wants no part of the prophecy he is at the center of, fearing that becoming a messianic leader will only lead to ruination for everyone he cares about. It drove me nuts to have so many bits where Paul fulfills an aspect of said prophecy for a momentary need, only for them to gloss over the long-term ramifications.

It’s not just Paul who falls victim to this form of narrative shorthand. With the Beast Rabban (Dave Bautista) failing miserably to control the Fremen on Arrakis, Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgård) turns to another nephew, the bloodthirsty FeydRautha (Austin Butler), to turn the tide back into their favor. Butler is suitably psychotic in the role, and from the first second he monochromatically steps into the frame, I found it impossible to take my eyes off of him. But the gladiatorial combat he’s introduced in is a major letdown, while a later

assault he leads on a Fremen stronghold happens because the story needs it to (it’s the catalyst to get Paul moving from north to south) and does nothing to develop the villain beyond the plainly obvious.

The same goes for Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV (a game, if miscast, Christopher Walken) and his Bene Gesserit daughter Princess Irulan (Florence Pugh). The sections involving them rely heavily on voiceovers from Pugh as she recaps events in her diary, and these scenes have about the same impact on the proceedings as Virginia Madsen (portraying the same narrator) did on David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation, i.e., practically none.

There are exceptions to all of this, and that is part of what makes Dune: Part Two so monumentally vexing. Irulan has a heated tête-à-tête with Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother Mohiam (Charlotte Rampling), and Pugh and Rampling bounce off one another with masterfully modulated subtlety. There’s another bit between Butler and Léa Seydoux that is dazzling, the latter’s seduction of the former having an arachnid virtuosity that’s unlike anything I’ve seen in ages. Finally, and maybe most important of all, the scene in which Paul finally takes charge of the Fremen during a giant meeting of the clans is well worth the wait, and the full magnitude of what he is doing is portrayed with a noticeable undercurrent of tragic inevitability that mirrors Herbert’s source material nicely.

Then there is Zendaya. She’s superb. Chani sees what is happening and knows she should not be falling in love with Paul, and yet no matter the danger, she cannot help but do so anyhow. The actor’s eyes are always probing, consistently questioning. Zendaya has an uncontrolled fire kindling within her lithe, athletic frame, and it’s a constant guessing game as to whether she’ll be able to keep it from exploding. This is the best performance of her young career so far.

Villeneuve has guts. He does not shy away from the darker aspects of Herbert’s prose, and while I could have done without the blatant cliffhanger setting up the next chapter of this saga (which will undoubtedly be pulled from the author’s Dune Messiah), I respect that the director delivers a downer of a climax. If I felt more of an attachment to anyone other than Chani, I probably would have applauded this ending, as some in my small screening audience did.

But that wasn’t the case. While I’ll journey back to Arrakis with Villeneuve for a third time when the opportunity presents itself, I’m no longer nearly as excited about making the trek, and that’s too bad.

DUNE: PART TWO – WARNER BROS

Lovely, Dark, and Deep hauntingly lingers in nature’s unknown voids

BY SARA MICHELLE FETTERS SGN STAFF WRITER

LOVELY, DARK, AND DEEP Theaters / PVOD

There is nothing kind about writer-director Teresa Sutherland’s haunting suspense yarn Lovely, Dark, and Deep. Much like her screenplay for 2018’s female-driven Western The Wind, there is danger to be found in the quiet of the forest. In the darkness, fleeting movements rustling just out of eyesight may not be as benign as one assumes. Nature plays tricks upon a weary mind, and right side up becomes upside down in the blink of an eye.

Lennon (Georgina Campbell) is a backcountry ranger working her rookie summer season in a vast California national park, an obsession sparked by a childhood trauma involving her younger sister. Not too long into her 90-day tenure, a female hiker goes missing. Ignoring the direct order of her supervisor Jackson (Nick Blood), and even though her feet are injured, Lennon proceeds deep into the woods, certain she can find the young woman. When she does, the bruised, bloodied, and terrified hiker keeps repeating one question: “Are you real?”

Sutherland’s story may be simple, but the themes she explores are complex and intimate, and they hit you in the gut. Lennon refuses to believe people can just vanish as if they never existed. She is driven to go above and beyond, no matter what the cost, never dreaming that otherworldly unknowns reside in the impenetrable voids of the forest and, if you take their prey away from them, they will come for you next in their place.

It’s unsettling stuff, and Sutherland isn’t interested in making it easy for the viewer to keep track of what is happening at any given moment. Once Lennon’s encounter with the park’s supernatural inhabitants begins, things quickly become psychologically discombobulating. The line between fact and fiction vanishes. Lennon must deal with the scars left in the wake of her sister’s disappearance, even as she valiantly struggles to maintain her sanity and make it back to civilization before she, too, becomes another photograph of a missing person collecting dust on the ranger station’s bulletin board.

None of this happens right away. I liked

that Sutherland took her time before she plunged me into the metaphorical abyss that separated fantasy from reality. We spend time with Lennon as she hikes her section of the park. We get to know many of the landmarks. We see how closely each ranger’s quadrant intersects with the one next to it, and so when the call goes out to search for the missing woman, it’s not surprising how fellow rangers like Lennon can quickly respond to assist in tracking her down. I did find it interesting that the film was shot almost entirely in Paraguay, and not in an actual California national park. While I’m no expert in sunny Californian topography, I’ve hiked enough of the Pacific

Northwest and watched more than my fair share of classic Westerns (not to mention multiple viewings of Return of the Jedi) to know that Lennon, Jackson, and the other rangers aren’t wandering around Yosemite, Redwood, or Sequoia.

No matter. This turns out to be a stroke of genius. There is uneasy, eerie elegance to these Paraguayan locations that’s disquietly ethereal. Cinematographer Rui Poças crafts painterly visuals that are like some insane cross between Bob Ross, Salvador Dalí, Edvard Munch, and Thomas Moran. It’s as if the moment Lennon steps foot into the park, she has been instantaneously transported to an entirely different planet, and Sutherland utilizes this unearthly landscape to perfection.

While I do appreciate Sutherland’s subtlety, the narrative can become impenetrably vague at times, especially during the film’s culminating act. Characters introduced early on reappear suddenly, and I didn’t quite buy a critical turn of events involving veteran character actor Wai Ching Ho (who is in charge of all the rangers) that helps Lennon comprehend what is happening with slightly more clarity than would have otherwise been possible. It’s expository nonsense, and because of this, an act of selfless sacrifice falls a little flat. But the film’s climactic scene wrecked me. Sutherland brings things to a tragically somber conclusion, and the way the director insists that some mysteries should eternally remain unsolved is both cathartically magical and horrifically unpleasant. Lovely, Dark, and Deep remains true to its title, and the next time I go hiking, come hell or high water, I’m staying on the beaten path.

Po returns for a final adventure as the Dragon Warrior in Kung Fu Panda 4

BY SARA MICHELLE FETTERS SGN STAFF WRITER

KUNG FU PANDA 4

Theaters

Kung Fu Panda 4 does not rise to the lofty heights of 2008’s Kung Fu Panda or its 2011 sequel Kung Fu Panda 2. It does, however, maintain the perfectly pleasant, endearingly entertaining charm found in 2016’s Kung Fu Panda 3. While this installment in the popular DreamWorks animated series does not deliver on the inherent promise of its clever premise (panda Dragon Warrior Po, voiced by Jack Black, must stop baddie The Chameleon — who is literally a chameleon — from entering the Spirit Realm and stealing the kung fu skills of as many villains as possible), it does offer up enough laughs, visual ingenuity, and genuine heart to be worthwhile.

The sequel doesn’t waste a lot of time reestablishing the world of the Valley of Peace or recapping the events of Po’s previous escapades. Heck, it begins with snow leopard Tai Lung (Ian McShane) mysteriously returning from the Spirit Realm to wreak all sorts of havoc for gosh sake, not caring at all that the younger viewers who first saw him 16 years ago are all likely in — or have graduated from — college at this point. This does not mean the plot dreamt up by returning screenwriters Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, plus newcomer Darren Lemke (Shazam!), is flimsy. Its foundation is admittedly pretty solid. The idea is that it is time for Po to move on from being the Dragon Warrior and pass his knowledge to a worthy successor. While searching for inner peace, the rotund panda walks in on fast-talking fox Zhen (Awkwafina)

attempting to steal valuable ancient treasures from the Valley of Peace’s temple’s inner sanctum.

Before he can take her to prison, Po learns about the return of Tai Lung. But Zhen knows all about this threat, including that the real culprit is the shapeshifting Chameleon (Viola Davis) and not a ghost from the Dragon Warrior’s past. She’s willing to lead Po on a quest to stop this lizard from gaining incredible power. While he must go on this mission without the aid of the Furious Five, if this truly is his last fight against evil, he’s determined to make it a memorable one.

Along with McShane, returning cast

members include Dustin Hoffman as Po’s wise mentor Shifu, and the always terrific James Hong (the noodle-making chef Mr. Ping), and a wonderfully goofy Bryan Cranston (the eternally optimistic Li), the panda’s two fathers (one adoptive, the other biological). In addition to Awkwafina and Davis, another newcomer who makes a lasting impression is Ke Huy Quan as a Fagin-like armadillo crime boss Han; I’d have been glad if the film had his character linger around a bit more than it does. Unlike the first two entries in the series, however, no matter how much energy Davis malevolently exerts, The Chameleon remains a bland, one-dimensional,

straightforward villain. While I appreciate having the bad guy just be bad seemingly for the sake of being bad (a rarity in major studio franchise fare of a late), that doesn’t mean much if the character ends up being instantaneously unmemorable. In the time it took me to stand up, exit the theater, and walk to the elevator, I’d already started to forget about the “whys” that drove The Chameleon’s plan.

Thankfully, Black is as great as ever as Po, Awkwafina is a strong addition to the series, McShane makes his few moments as Tai Lung resonate with surprisingly multifaceted strength, and several inspired set pieces help make up for The Chameleon’s overall ineffectiveness. There are several running gags involving bunnies that left me in hysterics, chief among them a comedic action sequence on a perilously positioned mountaintop inn where the “happy bunnies” working there are anything but.

I admit, after the unexpected genius of 2022’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, I was kind of hoping DreamWorks would deliver another unanticipated smash sequel overflowing with storytelling imagination and creatively adventurous animated bravado. That’s sadly not the case.

But that does not mean Kung Fu Panda 4 isn’t worthwhile. Far from it. There isn’t anything wrong with a good film being nothing more than a good film. This is an enjoyably winning continuation of Po’s story, and if this panda’s cinematic journey has finally reached a conclusion, at least he passed on his title as Dragon Warrior with the same gregarious, wide-eyed, and empathetic enthusiasm he accepted it with over a decade and a half ago.

LOVELY, DARK, AND DEEP – XYZ FILMS

KUNG-FU PANDA 4 – UNIVERSAL PICTURES

BOOKS

Ursula Villarreal-Moura examines sexuality, gender identity, and toxic relationships in debut novel

BY LINDSEY ANDERSON SGN STAFF WRITER

Ursula Villarreal-Moura was born to write, though she spent many years doubting how much she had to say. Though she had written several short stories and published essays, she held on to self-doubt and feared she’d never gain the chops to become a full-fledged book author.

“In graduate school, I considered myself a born short story writer like Raymond Carver,” she said in an interview with the SGN. “The prospect of writing a cohesive novel overwhelmed me. I doubted I had the necessary skill set.”

Then, in the sophomore year of her MFA program, Villarreal-Moura discovered a story within her that could not be contained. “I wrote a short story that outgrew its boundaries,” she explained. “At some point, I had to admit I had a novella on my hands.

The Well of Loneliness

A classmate gave me feedback on it that amounted to about a full page of questions. The only thing she wrote other than her questions was the statement, ‘I want to know more.’ I realized that if I answered all her questions — which by the way were all good ones — I would be writing a novel. Only then did I take the plunge.”

That plunge would ultimately become her debut novel, Like Happiness. It is a complex look at the experiences of a young, Queer, Latinx person grappling with the destructive relationship that cost her ten years and left scars she was unable to process. At times a difficult read, Like Happiness explores the dynamics of imbalanced relationships, gender identities, and what it means to heal from past traumas.

Inspiration and exploration

The inspiration for the novel came from Villarreal-Moura’s desire to express her feelings about the complex topics in the story. “I had a lot I wanted to say about gender, power, and sexuality,” she said. “I found it challenging to write about social topics within the framework of fiction, but challenging in an intellectually satisfying way, so I kept at it.”

Like Happiness also gave her the chance to explore how her sexuality and gender identity have shaped her own comingof-age story through the lens of her main character, Tatum. “Bisexuality shaped my late teens, my twenties, and the beginning of my thirties quite a bit,” she admitted. “My style was also androgynous, or gender-fluid, on and off for two decades.”

Villarreal-Moura felt that writing her novel gave her a stronger connection to the LGBTQ+ community she is a part of, especially since she doesn’t always feel visible in it. “Now that I’m married and working from home, I don’t have as many outlets for Queer culture. Writing Like Happiness

was a bit of a salute to my queerness. Creating a Queer protagonist solidified a part of my identity that some people can’t see or chose not to recognize. I made her Queer, because representation matters.”

Like Happiness is for anyone — except the close-minded. “[This book is for] people of color, Bisexuals, women, readers interested in learning about other perspectives or cultures,” Villarreal-Moura said. “For people who have a conniption whenever they see a word in Spanish…, this book is probably not for you.”

As for anyone on the fence about Like Happiness, Villarreal-Moura admits she’s experienced similar responses from critics, but those who opened the front page with an open mind were pleasantly surprised by what they encountered. “A few early reviewers admitted to being skeptical about the novel but soon found themselves enjoying it. That seems like a promising sign.”

In the future

While gender, expression, and sexuality are the buzzing topics in her first novel, Villarreal-Moura has much more to explore in the future. She is now drafting her next books, examining global politics, war, and propaganda.

“I’m working on two manuscripts right now,” she said. “One is a memoir based on my father’s draft into the Vietnam War and the physical and psychological repercussions that had on my family. The other is a novel about a writing instructor turned activist. It examines the relationship Americans have with the news media. Just as I once had plenty of ideas about gender, self-actualization, and sexuality, I’m eager to explore propaganda, media, and learned helplessness.”

Like Happiness will be available to purchase on March 26, 2024.

: “A book can be bad and still have a place in history.” — Jeanette

BY CLAR HART SGN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Content warning: Suicide, homophobia, racism, sexism

The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall is colloquially known as the first Lesbian novel. Even more colloquially, it’s known as “that pile of miserable garbage.” It’s about 500 pages of meandering description, stilted prose, and stiff dialogue that mopes through the life of Stephen Gordon. Stephen is an intersectional icon for the ages: not only Gay but also racist and sexist.

This book leisurely wanders through a long stretch of Stephen’s wealthy adolescence to her life in the war then as a lauded author who’s hot, strong, and rich (can you tell a writer wrote this?). During the war, she meets a 17-year-old girl (Stephen is in her thirties), and they move together to Paris, where Stephen begins her writing career. Stephen comes to realize she’ll never be able to give Mary the benefits of straightness, and so tricks her into thinking Stephen is cheating, so that Mary will ditch her for Stephen’s ex-boyfriend (love a messy Queer love triangle!).

It’s a difficult book to like. Hall attempts to establish common ground with straights through things like, “Look, I hate how miserable those other Queers are too” — although, as Caitlyn Jenner, Candace Owens, and innumerable others have taught us, it’s a quick path to individual success: betray your own people and reap the rewards… until your own people are gone and your overlords still need bodies to keep their fires going.

The distaste Stephen has toward other Queers is also distinctly upper class.

Winterson

She has wealth, therefore she doesn’t need community, other people, or to change. She just needs to be an Individual that’s so Individual, the world will be forced to recognize her literary brilliance (again, can you tell a writer wrote this?).

At the end, Stephen appropriates the death of two of her Queer friends as fodder for her ascendence to genius. The ghosts of these dead Queers rise from their graves to beg her to be their Gay Jesus. It’s up to Stephen to write books so good that they will cure straight prejudice just as surely as the royal touch. Truly, a book only a rich, white Queer could have written.

There are two possible readings of The Well of Loneliness. The first, as it’s written, is that Stephen is a butch Lesbian who’s ragingly sexist. The second is that Stephen is a Trans man in an era when that was unrecognized — who is also ragingly sexist.

Stephen succeeds in adopting all the trappings that her wealthy whiteness affords her. She is racist, she is homophobic. But where she is truly a genius of prejudice is in her perfect observance and replication of chauvinism. Stephen’s relationship with her child bride, Mary Llewelyn, is, in a word, gross. Mary is constantly described as a girl and a child in need of Stephen’s protection. Like the classic male protagonist, Stephen does not engage with Mary as an equal or someone capable of making her own decisions. Their dog, David, is written with more autonomy and character than Mary is.

Stephen, rather than engaging with Mary, tricks her and manipulates her “for her own good.” It is somehow supposed to be seen as a martyr-like sacrifice that Stephen lies to and emotionally abuses the partner she supposedly loves.

I don’t know why our society makes such a virtue of people (mostly men) being extremely bad communicators. It happens in nearly every supposedly heterosexual action movie (although I don’t know how heterosexual a movie about men in butch drag fondling erect silver phalluses that jizz bullets can be). Put Stephen in a bat costume and she’d be a Nolan protagonist flouncing down dark alleys, muttering about how no one understands her, when she hasn’t tried to explain herself a single time. Is this what Queer success is? To be as miserable as the straights?

Apparently this book was banned at the time. It was the first to show “inversion” as a thing that happens. Six years earlier, one of Hall’s white-dude peers proposed that all Lesbians be executed. So Hall thought she was doing something positive, even if that something was really just reshuffling her place on the line to the chopping block.

That’s the thing about books like this. It doesn’t seem like it’s arguing as much for universal change as for a self-interested “I’m one of the good ones.” Hall is trying to place herself above “those other types” of inverts, the ones she calls “the miserable army.” She’ll be good, she pleads. She’ll be just as prejudiced as any of the other white straights.

URSULA VILLARREAL-MOURA – PHOTO BY LEVI TRAVIESO

MACMILLAN

PENGUIN