ISSUE 31
C E L E B R AT I N G
VOLUME 50
48 YEARS
F R I D AY
IN
AUGUST 5, 20 2 2
PRINT S E AT T L E ’ S L G B T Q I A + N E W S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T W E E K LY S I N C E 19 74
A HUMAN VIRUS, NOT A GAY VIRUS Community leaders convene to address MPV misinformation, course of action
by A.V. Eichenbaum SGN Managing Editor Representatives of Seattle’s LGBTQ+ community met with state government officials at the LGBTQ Center on Wednesday, August 3, to address growing concerns about the monkeypox virus (MPV) and the harmful misinformation being spread about its transmission nationwide.
see MPV page 5
Photo by A.V. Eichenbaum
Seattle Starbucks workers win nation’s first bargaining victory
Employer makes concessions to laid-off workers
Queer-owned bookstore victim of break-in, vandalism
Photo courtesy of Starbucks Worker Solidarity @VentiSolidarity / Twitter
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Workers at two Seattle stores set to be closed by the corporation have won concessions from their employer. According to Starbucks Workers United (SBWU), the union that represents them, “this marks the first successful agreement our union has negotiated with the company.” On July 11, Starbucks announced it would close five Seattle-area stores for
“safety reasons.” Two of those stores — the Olive Way and the 505 Union Station locations — were already unionized, and the others had ongoing union organizing. SBWU charged that the closures were merely a union-busting tactic that the corporation had used in other parts of the country as well. The union filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency charged with enforcing US labor laws.
see CONCESSIONS page 6
Photo by Lindsey Anderson
by Lindsey Anderson SGN Staff Writer On Saturday, July 28, Capitol Hill’s newest bookstore received a harsh welcome to the neighborhood. In the early hours of the morning, Nook & Cranny Books was vandalized and broken into by unidentified suspects. Hours later, store owner Maren Comendant discovered the damage. “I got in around 7:30 on Saturday to open the store, and the first thing I noticed when I pulled up
was that the… benches in front were gone. I was confused by that,” she said. “Then I came in and looked out the window and saw that they were propped up against the telephone pole over there, just randomly.” The metal benches that were permanently installed in front of the store had been ripped out of the ground with such force that some of the brick from the sidewalk was also missing. The vandals did not take the benches far, however.
see BREAK-IN page 7