SGN August 31, 2012 - Section 1

Issue 35 Volume 40

Celebrating 39 Years!

NO BUNDLING p. 5

fab fashion p. 7

PUSSY RIOTERS ESCAPE p. 17

Seattle Gay News

FRIDAY August 31, 2012 FREE! 25¢ in bookstores & newsstands

SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Bryan and Zoe NOM’s hired guns come to town courtesy bryan corbett

Zoe MacGregor (l) and Bryan Corbett

launch of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound’s LGBT Initiative.

This week, Knittel interviewed a In the July 20 edition of Seattle “Big,” Bryan Corbett, and a “LitGay News, Associate Editor Shaun Knittel told readers about the see BIG brothers page 18

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

Frank Schubert and Chris Plante are veteran anti-Gay campaigners

Sacramento bee

How Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound’s LGBT Initiative makes a difference

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Like gunslingers riding into town in a 1950s Western, NOM operatives Frank Schubert and Chris Plante have arrived in Washington to run the November election campaign against marriage equality.

Schubert will be campaign manager for Preserve Marriage Washington – the statewide anti-equality coalition – and Plante is his deputy. Both men have long, and so far mostly successful, histories as enemies of LGBT rights.

Schubert managed the Prop 8 campaign to repeal same-sex marriage in California in 2008, then ran a similar campaign in Maine in 2009. This year, Schubert worked to pass North Carolina’s constitutional amendment restricting marriage rights to opposite-sex couples.

He is now political director of NOM (the National Organization for Marriage), and the anti-equality campaign manager in all four states where equal marriage rights see nom page 20

Frank Schubert in Washington to run campaign against marriage equality

Swimming for our lives New Zealand votes Seattle’s Orca swim team – 30 years of LGBT community spirit

file photo

Out and Equal

80-40 for marriage

New Zealand parliament building in Wellington Part of the Orca Swim Team that participated in this year’s Swim for Life (l to r) Dorian Jepsen, Owen Wagenhals, Adam Young, Rob Foley, and Joshua Jepsen

by James Whitely SGN Staff Writer Earlier this month, Seattle’s very own LGBT swim team, the Orcas, participated in “Swim for Life,” a fundraiser for the National Bone Marrow Registry. SGN spoke with Orca Swim Team Co-Captain Ryan Robertson and Rick Peterson, a founding member of the

team, about the fundraiser and the Orcas’ nearly three-decade history.

In the 1980s, Peterson recalled, “it was exciting to realize that people did not expect Gays to be involved in sports [and] to surprise them, and it was even more exciting that some of them were exceedingly good and set records.

I myself was national champion in the men’s 50-meter freestyle in

1992.”

The Orcas are proud of their history. They know it well and they understand its relevance, and it’s probably not a stretch to say that the pride this knowledge brings has helped lead them to their many victories. The Orcas were pioneers in the international Gay and Les-

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

New Zealand’s parliament voted 80–40 to support a new marriage equality law in a preliminary vote August 29. It was the first of three votes the bill must pass before it becomes law.

If the law ultimately passes, New Zealand will be the 12th country to adopt equal marriage rights for Gay and Lesbian cousee orca page 20 ples.

New Zealand activists credited President Obama and New Zealand Prime Minister John Phillip Key for creating momentum for equality.

“If I’m really honest, I think the catalyst was around Obama’s announcement, and then obviously our prime minister came out very early in support, as did the leader of my party, David Shearer,” said parliament member Louisa Wall, see new zealand page 19

e t o v o t R e t s i g e R

www.myvote.wa.gov

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Celebrating 39 Years!

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August 31, 2012

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Three Dollar Bill Cinema wins Mayor’s Arts Award

Contributing Writers

Rev. Barbara Allen, Eric Andrews-Katz, Madelyn Arnold, Maggie Bloodstone, Beau Burriola, Jessica Davis, Ron Anders, Jessica Price, Milton W. Hamlin, Scott Wittet, Nevin Jefferson, Jason A. Miller, Liz Meyer, Rod Parke, Don Paulson, Scott Rice, Leslie Robinson, Richard Kennedy, Rex Wockner

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In Loving Memory Of

Steve Foiles, Scott Roger Alpert, Cookie Andrews-Hunt, James Leland Moore, Randy Peters, Lee Richeson, Shaun Shelton, Jim Tully, James Arnold

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Seattle Gay News

by James Whitely SGN Staff Writer On August 30, Three Dollar Bill Cinema (TDB) invited its members and supporters

to join the staff of the LGBT arts organization at St. John’s Bar & Eatery on Capitol Hill to celebrate TDB’s 2012 Mayors Arts Award. TDB is one of ten winners of the annual award.

Julia Marko 1965–2012

Seattle resident Julia Ann Marko (Jules) passed away on August 17, 2012 in Seattle. She was born March 14, 1965 to Janet and Robert Stanley Sr. in Nulato, Alaska.

Julie had a son, Daniel Edward Marko.

After living in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Arizona, Julie moved to Seattle in 2002. Julie was preceded in death by several family members and by her lover, Michelle Sauers.

Julie is survived by her son, Danny; her brother, Christopher (Ringo); and her sister, Bridget. Julie was a very happygo-lucky woman who always had a smile on her face. She had a great sense of humor and will be greatly missed by all who knew her.

There will be a memorial service at Interfaith Community Church in Ballard, 1763 N.W. 62nd St., at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 5.

August 31, 2012

“It’s wonderful that Three Dollar Bill Cinema is being honored with this award,” said Jason Plourde, TDB’s interim executive director. “I think it makes an important statement that an explicitly LGBT organization is being recognized. Queer people are an integral and innovative part of the arts community in Seattle.”

Ten recipients are being honored this year to mark the 10th anniversary of the Mayor’s Arts Awards. Some of the other winners include the Freehold Theatre, KEXP, and Seattle Arts & Lectures.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn will present the awards at a ceremony on August 31 at Seattle Center, in partnership with the Bumbershoot festival. The ceremony will also serve as the official opening of the festival’s visual arts exhibits.

“The arts are one of Seattle’s greatest strengths and a powerful avenue of expression for our diverse communities,” said McGinn. “I’m proud to live in a city where so many people and organizations are dedicated to making a difference through art and culture.”

The Mayor’s Arts Awards recognize the civic contributions made by artists, arts and cultural organizations, and community members. This year’s recipients were chosen by the Seattle Arts Commission from a pool of more than 500 nominations.

“As a non-profit arts organization, we simply couldn’t do anything without the support of our members, sponsors, and volunteers,” Plourde told SGN. “They believe in us and have generously donated time and money. This award recognizes the work we’ve been able to do together, and so we thank them as much as all the staff and board that have been a part of Three Dollar Bill Cinema.”

TDB hosts the annual Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, now in its 17th year. This year’s festival opens October 11 and runs through the 21st. The opening night film, Struck by Lightning, stars Chris Colfer of TV’s Glee.

Said Plourde of the upcoming festival, “It is an incredible mix of U.S. and international films, including work from Asia and Africa. We also have a special selection of films intended to inspire our audience to learn about and take action on crucial issues facing our community.

“Our opening night is National Coming Out Day, and I hope to see many people coming out to the movies!”

Information on the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival is available at www.seattlequeerfilm.com.

Celebrating 39 Years!

catholic outreach

No bundling allowed says state commission

Yakima’s Catholic bishop may not take up special collection for marriage equality foes

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Plans by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Yakima to take up a special collection for Preserve Marriage Washington – the group fighting marriage equality – are not legal, the state Public Disclosure Commission says.

Bishop Joseph Tyson said in an August 17 letter to parish priests that they should distribute envelopes for the anti-equality organization during Mass, ask parishioners to put money in them, and then forward the donations to the Preserve Marriage campaign.

The bishop’s letter also included talking points for priests to use in explaining why parishioners should donate to the antiequality group.

The PDC had misgivings about the plan and, after meeting on August 21, decided to inform the Yakima Diocese that it should not proceed with the special collection.

“State law doesn’t allow bundling for state and local campaigns,” PDC spokesperson Lori Anderson told SGN. Bundling, Anderson explained, means soliciting campaign donations from a number of individuals, collecting their money, and then turning it over to a campaign.

“They can hand out the remit envelopes and ask the parishioners to mail them back to the campaign,” Anderson continued.

“Or, if they want to leave some role for the church in raising money, they can invite campaign representatives to church to present the envelopes and then collect them. But the church can’t collect them on behalf of the campaign.”

OPPONENTS’ GOAL: $4M Preserve Marriage Washington is hoping to raise $4 million to defeat R-74, but Siler told the Yakima Herald-Republic that the diocese has not set a fundraising goal.

Siler and his bishop put a somewhat different spin on the politics of the special collection. In his August 17 letter, Tyson was careful to deny that church leaders were taking a political stand.

“The Church does not engage in partisan politics, but it has an obligation to teach about moral values of the issues facing society,” he wrote.

Siler, on the other hand, emphasized that the collection was a political contribution, and not a charitable donation to the church.

“To be clear, this is basically a contribution to a political campaign, and these are not considered tax-deductible church donations,” he told the Herald-Republic.

The Yakima Diocese includes 41 parishes and some 68,000 Catholics. It is known to be financially strapped because of legal

Roman Catholic Bishop of Yakima Joseph Tyson

expenses related to five child-molestation suits. The diocese reportedly has paid out $1 million in settlements and spent an additional $1.5 million in legal fees. All the cas-

es occurred long before Tyson was installed as bishop last year.

The Seattle Archdiocese, by contrast, includes 144 parishes and 972,000 Catholics.

Statement by Catholics for Marriage Equality Washington on the PDC decision

Catholics for Marriage Equality Washington, the statewide group of churchgoing Catholics who support the state’s marriage law and are working to Approve Referendum 74 this fall, today hailed the decision by the Public Disclosure Commission, which said Bishop Tyson’s calls for donations to marriage opponents amounted to “bundling,” which is not allowed under state finance laws.

The decision by the PDC followed a letter from the Bishop of the Yakima Diocese in Washington State to 41 parishes asking that they collect envelopes from their parishioners that would then be forwarded to Preserve Marriage Washington, the campaign seeking to overturn the bipartisan marriage law.

“We are delighted by this ruling because we represent so many Catholics in those

pews who not only find political fundraising inappropriate for their Sunday services, but also strongly disagree with the Bishop’s stance,” said Barbara Guzzo, spokesperson for Catholics for Marriage Equality Washington. “We believe we should all be able to practice our faith without pressure from our Bishop or our parish priests to support an effort we oppose.”

Guzzo noted that in the Pew Research Center’s June 2012 polling, Catholics approve same-sex marriage by a wide margin of 58 percent.

“The truth is our Bishops are not representing the majority of Catholics who do not see eye-to-eye on this central question,” said Guzzo.

Vote for Marriage Equality.

APPROVE Referendum 74! james whitely / seattle gay news

CHURCHES CAN’T BUNDLE Like any individual citizen, Tyson could personally raise money for the anti-equality campaign, but he is not allowed to do so in church.

“State law says individuals can bundle,” Anderson told SGN. “There are special hoops they have to jump thorough – there are disclosure rules, and the campaign must treat the money in a special way.

“But he can’t do it as the church. He can’t represent the church, because then it’s the church doing it. If he wants to go away from his job, then yes.”

In response to inquiries from SGN, the Yakima Diocese said it had not yet heard from the PDC and did not know why the state had objections to Tyson’s plan.

“We have not heard from the PDC yet,” Monsignor Robert Siler, chancellor of the diocese, told SGN. “It seems strange that the news media knows more about their concerns than we do. If and when we hear from the state, if we need to amend our procedures, we will do so.”

“It is our intent to follow the state’s campaign election law,” Siler insisted. “Basically we are simply exercising our constitutionally guaranteed right to express our views.”

Although Tyson’s letter includes instructions to parish staff on how to handle the Preserve Marriage remit envelopes, Siler said the diocese will follow a procedure similar to the one Anderson outlined in her conversation with SGN. “[T]he Bishop’s endorsement for Preserve Marriage Washington’s fundraising efforts does not violate state election law because the Church is not taking up the collection,” Siler told SGN. “We’re allowing Preserve Marriage Washington and their volunteers to distrib-

ute their envelopes to the parishes. They bank the money. They count the collection.

If parishioners choose to donate, they can send their contributions directly to Preserve Marriage Washington, or volunteers can collect the envelopes.”

The Archdiocese of Seattle told SGN in an email that it had no similar plans for a special collection.

“Parishes and Catholic people in the Archdiocese of Seattle are encouraged to support efforts to preserve the legal definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman. How they choose to do that will be a local decision,” Seattle Archdiocese spokesperson Greg Magnoni told SGN. Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain previously asked priests to circulate Referendum 74 petitions at Mass, but allowed individual parishes to opt out. Several prominent Seattle parishes did so, including the archbishop’s own cathedral, St. James.

The archdiocese did not comment on whether it agreed that the Yakima bishop’s fundraising plan was illegal.

At a “Families for Equality” workshop held on August 27 at Seattle Counseling Service, Laurie Carlsson (l) of the Pride Foundation talks with Tracy Kalloway of Rainbow Families of Puget Sound about how to discuss marriage equality with family members. Carlsson says about 30% of King County residents still don’t approve of same-sex marriage. “Do you know what your neighbor thinks?” she asks. For more information on this educational effort, visit www.whymarriagematterswashington.org.

Come meet Tim and Matt and join the family.

Go 1605 12th Avenue at Pine, Seattle (In liquor store parking garage.) Seattle Storm!

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August 31, 2012

Seattle Gay News

5

courtesy freedom to marry

Transgender couple weds in King County

And yes, it’s official and completely legal

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor On August 25, at King County District Court in Shoreline, the Tippayapaisal– Emongart marriage took place in front of a crowd of 30 friends and family. The wedding was not unlike any other that takes place every day across Washington state, with one exception: Worapat Tippayapaisal, a Transgender woman, tells SGN she married Pitchanum Emongart, a Transgender man. The two were able to marry because Transgender couples of the opposite sex are recognized for the gender they legally identify with, not their sexual orientation.

Tippayapaisal immigrated to the U.S. from Thailand 10 years ago and is now a U.S. citizen. When Tippayapaisal was 21 she transitioned to become a female.

“We met each other at a restaurant,” Tippayapaisal told SGN. “We were introduced by friends of friends.”

At first the two were just friends because Tippayapaisal had a boyfriend at that time.

“After I broke up with my ex, we began to have a relationship.”

As the relationship progressed, the couple’s communication increased and they clicked. “Four years ago we moved in together and have been living together ever since.”

Tippayapaisal told SGN, “We felt that in order to complete our relationship, we need-

ed to get married. And now we are looking to buy a house and make a family.”

NO DISCRIMINATION When the couple went to the courthouse, they did not run into any problems or encounter discrimination. “We act just like any other couple who are in love,” said Tippayapaisal. “My husband has a male ID and I have a female ID.” Because Tippayapaisal transitioned from male to female four years ago, and her husband transitioned from female to male, some of their friends did not know the two were a Transgender opposite-sex couple.

Before they got married the pair explained the situation to them.

According to Tippayapaisal, the couple’s life together has not drastically changed since they were married but she says they “feel like our relationship is complete because we had the ceremony. We hope our story shows people that marriage doesn’t matter about gender identification.”

Tippayapaisal continued, “We only have one life and that life should be about love.”

“Transgender people should not be treated differently because they do not identify with the body they were born into,” she said.

The newlyweds recognize that while being a member of the Transgender community means you identify with a gender other

Project NEON lights up substance abuse issues Seattle activists report back from Gay Men’s Health Summit

james whitely / seattle gay news

Jeff Rinderle, Aleks Martin, Brett Niessen, Morgan Jade (NEON Health Educator), Sister Glo Euro N’Wei, Aric Lane (University of Washington), and Don Ferris (NEON Peer Specialist.)

by James Whitely SGN Staff Writer On Monday, August 27, Project NEON (Needle Exchange and Sex Education Outreach Network), a harm-reduction program for Gay and Bisexual male users of crystal methamphetamine, presented its monthly health workshop at Seattle Counseling Service (SCS). While usually related to substance use – especially meth use and its correlation to mental health, sexuality, and HIV – this month’s subject was a broad

look at MSM health in general. Five panelists who represented Seattle at last month’s Gay Men’s Health Summit in Washington, D.C., gave a kind of “report back.” For two hours, panelists and participants discussed multiple issues around the health of Gay and Bisexual men.

“We’re just here to share that experience and have a wonderful, beautiful conversation,” said Aleks Martin of Project NEON, who led the discussion.

“I view it as a family gathering, a reunion

Worapat Tippayapaisal (l) and Pitchanum Emongart posing for photos after their wedding ceremony.

than the one you were born as, and has nothing to do with one’s sexual orientation, they have friends who are in loving and committed relationships who cannot get married because of a ballot initiative, Referendum 74.

In February, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed into law a bill passed by the Legislature to allow same-sex marriage in the state. The law was supposed to take effect June 7 but was put on hold when opponents of marriage equality turned in more than 240,000 signatures, about twice the minimum needed, to certify Referendum 74 for the ballot.

In the November general election the voters of Washington will have the opportunity to “Approve” or “Reject” the legislation. A

vote to “Approve” Referendum 74 is a vote to keep the state’s same-sex marriage law in place.

“I think it is sad that if you are in love with someone of the same sex or who is Transgender, and you really want to be with them, people will speak out against you,” said Tippayapaisal. “The LGBT community is not bothering anyone by loving and caring for each other. I really don’t understand why anyone could be against marriage equality.”

Tippayapaisal and Emongart told SGN they would like to remind our readers to vote to APPROVE REFERENDUM 74 in November to secure the freedom to marry in Washington.

of sorts,” said Sister Glo Euro N’Wei of the less people who test for gonorrhea at Gay Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Abbey of City test positive.

St. Joan. Sister Glo has been attending the “If you’re sexually active, get screened biannual summit for a decade. for STDs,” said Rinderle.

Both Rinderle and Sister Glo pointed out HIV AND HOMOPHOBIA that when testing for gonorrhea, you need to “Gay men are more than just their HIV be honest with your provider and yourself and STD status,” said Jeff Rinderle, well- about your activity, because testing “loness director at Gay City Health Project. cally” for the STD further helps stop spread One of the issues raised was that when infection. people think of Gay men’s health, whether “Locally” means if you know you need to they’re Gay or straight, HIV is often the first get your mouth checked, get it done; if you thing that comes to mind, but panelists and know you need to get your behind checked, attendees all agreed and discussed why Gay you need to do that too. Getting checked men’s health is so much more than that. for gonorrhea is more than just getting your From drug use to body image, mental “bore punched,” because Seattle MSMs health to other STDs, tobacco use to stigma- may be carrying without symptoms in plactization, there is a plethora of health issues es they didn’t even know they could.

Gay and Bisexual men face that are linked Sister Glo observed that it’s hard to be to their sexuality. honest with our health care providers about “Homophobia can actually help spread our sex practices, because we often can’t be HIV,” said one attendee, “because it forces honest with each other and ourselves about people back into the closet.” them.

One of the many important things disWhether it’s because of self-imposed cussed was that there seems to be a very shame, or because unlike other minorities different stigmatization of Gay/Bisexual we have to find our way into our communimen who don’t use condoms versus straight ty, or something else entirely, there seems to men who don’t. Namely, if you’re straight, be some truth behind Glo’s words. Glo said you’re thought likely to get someone preg- that conversations about sex need to happen nant. If you’re Gay or Bi, regardless of your outside of the bedroom among friends, just status, you’re considered part of the HIV as much as they need to happen inside the problem. bedroom among sex partners.

THE GONORRHEA MENACE The new “drug resistant” form of gonorrhea was also a hot topic. Panelists Aric Lane, of the University of Washington, and Brett Niessen, of Public Health – Seattle and King County, wanted to assure attendees that the CDC isn’t yet ready to use those words about the new cases. While it’s true that Gonorrhea has progressively developed resistance to the antibiotic drugs prescribed to treat it, the CDC says that currently the STD is still treatable.

However, this shouldn’t suggest that gonorrhea isn’t a problem for men who have sex with men (MSM) in Seattle. In fact, it may be a bigger problem than most of us think.

According to Rinderle, 10% of symptom-

WORKSHOPS ARE ONGOING “Last month, we featured the documentary Meth by director Todd Ahlberg, which depicts the realities of active addiction to the challenges of recovery as told by Gay men affected by meth,” said Martin. “It was followed by a panel discussion comprised of men in recovery and in active addiction, a drug and alcohol counselor, and a mental health therapist.”

The workshops are held on the fourth Monday of each month at SCS. To learn more, visit www.seattlecounseling.org or look them up on Facebook.

“Seattle is way ahead of some other places,” said Martin. “We have a lot of talent here, a lot of resources.”

Come meet Tim and Matt and join the family.

Go 1605 12th Avenue at Pine, Seattle (In liquor store parking garage.) Seattle Storm!

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Seattle Gay News

August 31, 2012

Celebrating 39 Years!

Fashion fabulous in Oct.

again, even if it has already been on stage over a dozen times.

AUCTION ACTION “For folks who know me, and those that don’t, come prepared to bid on the items,” said J. Von Stratton. “One of the key features of this show is that all the modeled garments I’m making will be available for purchase via live silent auction. It might possibly the first fashion show where you can literally buy the items off the runway, right there! Plus, it adds more to the proceeds pot for Washington Women in Need.”

J. Von Stratton says she chose to do the show because “it’s important to me, when I produce an event, to try and give back.”

She told SGN that her mom always encouraged her to “live by the Golden Rule” and help others whenever she could. “I remember one Thanksgiving she made a bunch of extra dinner, packed it up on plates, and brought it to the folks on union strike out in the cold near our neighborhood, with the premise of ‘everyone should have a warm meal on Thanksgiving,’” recalled J. Von Stratton. “Or the time she asked a fellow eating alone at a restaurant on Christmas morning to join us for breakfast at our table.”

“I learned by her example growing up, so it’s ingrained in me to want to help out where I can,” she said. “The last time I produced a charity benefit (“Boobies for Boobies” in 2005) I chose a national charity.

This time I wanted to hit closer to home. I found the Washington Women in Need nonprofit and the puzzle fell into place. I love what they do, and how they directly help members of our community, offering assistance to low-income women in our state.”

“I’m very excited about this event,” she concluded. “Patrons have a fun evening at a fashion show, I get a platform for my work, I can hire fantastic performers, the venue has a well-attended show, and Washington (l to r) Kitten LaRue, Jamie Von Stratton, and Lou Henry Hoover modeling in designs by Von Stratton.

Women in Need receives the proceeds. Everybody wins!”

by Shaun Knittel For ticket information, go to www.thetri“I must say, I am really looking forward “I would love to see a bevy of people to spending the month of September work- wearing all the wild, wacky, and sometimes pledoor.net. Information about Washington SGN Associate Editor ing solely on this show, making whatever tacky things I’ve made over the years,” she Women in Need is at www.wwin.org.

On October 11, Seattle-based fashion I want,” said J. Von Stratton, adding, “Just admits. “It’s their chance to wear that outfit and costume designer Jamie Von Stratton me, my sewing machines, piles of fabric, brings her visionary whimsy to the Triple and a box of wine.”

Door mainstage for a one-night-only fashTOP TALENT ion charity and entertainment extravaganza.

BenDeLaCreme is scheduled to host the The all-new fall collection of J. Von Stratton originals will take the stage with some event. J. Von Stratton says she picked DeLa of Seattle’s finest performers. Proceeds because ”Ben is a comedic genius.”

“Any chance I get to work with her, I will. from ticket sales and a live silent auction of the new collection will be donated to help Ben is the type of professional I hope to col- by James Whitely Kicks, The Hunger Gays, Troop 69, Hello Washington Women in Need, a local char- laborate with no matter where my career SGN Staff Writer Tittys, and … well, you get the idea. ity assisting low-income women and single takes me. She is always aware of her audiFOB was founded in San Francisco by a The annual Lesbian soccer mayhem women’s soccer team who wanted to creence, and keeps it upbeat and lighthearted mothers.

J. Von Stratton has also scheduled a spe- yet poignant, as when presenting heavier known as the Festival of the Babes (FOB) ate a community-oriented tournament after cial free pre-show party for 6 p.m., at Liquid subject matter in the DeLouRue Produc- kicks off Friday, August 31, and lasts they’d competed in the Gay Games. That Lounge (above the Triple Door Mainstage), tions she co-produces,” she said. “In the through Sunday at Seattle’s Maple Wood was 22 years ago, and nowadays veterans where you can join local drag entertainers six years I’ve known her, I can honestly say Playfield (4801 Corson Ave. S.). It is one of and new teams alike join in each year.

Jinkx Monsoon and Mama Tits for a spe- I’ve never seen a ‘by the book’ act. Her acts several such events taking place on the West FOB is all-inclusive, too: players can be always catch you off guard with a twist or Coast. cialty cocktail.

LGBTQQIA – whatever. As Gallemore puts “Yes, it’s a soccer tournament,” said Kara it, the tournament is for “Lesbians and anyThe benefit and show begin at 8 p.m. and crazy surprise. Ben is great at keeping a defeatures a bevy of beautiful and talented lighted audience on its toes, so naturally I Gallemore, lead organizer of this year’s one willing to be mistaken for one.” performers, including Ben DeLaCreme, want her to be a part of my show. Well, that FOB. “But what it’s more about is bringing aerialist Tanya Brno, opera diva Elizabeth and I’ve been making most of her costumes community to all of these cities every year NEW TALENT NEEDED Ripley, aerialist Quynbi, chanteuse Caela over the years, so she’ll have lots to wear!” – having fun and spreading the love.” BasiGallemore says that while registration The amazingly popular local dance dream cally, she said, “It’s about being ‘FOB-ly.’” is down a bit from last year, there are still Bailey, Dance Belt (featuring Waxie Moon, So what does it mean to be FOB-ly?

Ruby Mimosa, and Lou Henry Hoover), team, Dance Belt (Waxie Moon, Lou Henry enough players to make for a very good “It’s kind of an attitude,” explains Galle- FOB – about 200. and appearances by Miss Kitty Baby and Hoover, and Inga Ingenue), will be joined by the lovely Ruby Mimosa. “First of all, more. “But its mostly just about really havThe Pin-Up Angels.

“A lot of the women who started it are getSGN recently sat down with J. Von Strat- I love Dance Belt!” said J. Von Stratton. ing fun while playing soccer.” ting older and they have families, so we’re ton to discuss the benefit, the wonderful “Ruby Mimosa’s company, The Burlesque trying to rally the younger crowd,” GalleTOURNAMENT WITH A TWIST performers booked for the show, and why Boutique, is also helping with the event. I more says.

While structured as a tournament, FOB is she chose Washington Women in Need as want to highlight the impressive quality and The closing party for FOB will be held on quantity of female-owned businesses and relaxed, fun, and perhaps most importantly, Sunday, August 2, at Cowgirls, Inc., where the beneficiary.

J. Von Stratton is best known for her performers this city has to offer. Of course I Gay. Keeping true to those tenets is what awards will be presented. The party is open clothing designs but as any Seattleite could don’t want to limit myself to only biological being FOB-ly is all about. It’s about making to the public with a $10 cover charge, which tell you, she does so much more. “It seems women when it comes to performers. The friends and making out. helps fund next year’s FOB. “We have official rules so it is definitely a like I have my fingers dipped in many pots art of female impersonation, or a man’s exMany of the awards are given for “FOBthese days,” she told SGN. “In the last 2 pression of the feminine, can be enjoyable soccer tournament,” says Gallemore. “But liness.” weeks my design workplace hasn’t even and loving to the female gender on many the refs can make up little rules as they go, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how like holding hands to touch the ball.” been about sewing. I’ve been painting, and levels.”

Gayly you play the game,” says Gallemore.

In addition, each team usually has a The talented designer and performance airbrushing, and hot gluing, oh my! It’s a FOB takes place each year in San Franmix of projects for PAX, a client of mine in artist says she is hoping that all “my previ- theme. Gallemore will be playing for the cisco, Portland, and Vancouver, B.C., in adNYC (Calamity Chang), and Teatro Zinzan- ous clients from over the decade I’ve been Oh!Gay Cupids, and her team is dressing dition to Seattle. For more information visit for the part. Other teams include Licks N www.festivalofthebabes.com. doing this, attend the show.” ni.”

Seattle designer J. Von Stratton’s fall preview benefits Washington Women in Need

jiamin Zhu

Festival of the Babes

22nd annual Lesbian soccer fest on tap this weekend

Rich Full-Bodied Cafes Savory Homestyle Soups & Sandwiches Visit us online www.sgn.org

August 31, 2012

Seattle Gay News

7

BookMarks

perverted. Salvation comes through a Trans support group, a more supportive therapist, and – in a nice touch – the fumbling but loving acknowledgement and semi-acceptance

by Richard Labonte that I’d die before she was the age of eman- by Chris’s father. Despite its cloying, toocipation. But it now feels like I’ll be chirp- coy references to “boy parts” (what’s so SGN Contributing Writer ing plaintively in an empty nest. – from The awful about calling a penis a penis?), this young-adult novel is a graceful story about Truth Is Bad Enough THE TRUTH IS BAD ENOUGH: emotional and physical transition.

WHAT BECAME OF BEING EMILY THE HAPPY HUSTLER? LOVE, CHRISTOPHER STREET:

BY RACHEL GOLD

BY MICHAEL KEARNS REFLECTIONS OF NEW YORK CITY (Bella Books, 210 pp) (CreateSpace, 294 pp)

BY THOMAS KEITH (ED.) Big hands, broad shoulders, solid biceps, First he was a precocious boy, acting in (Vantage Point Books, 406 pp) and directing plays – and Back when Alyson Books was a reveling in sex with older going concern, then-editor Joseph men – before he finished Pittman published Love, Bourbon high school. Then he was Street, celebrating New Orleans; a serious actor, a serious Love, Castro Street, celebrating drunk, a serial sexaholic, San Francisco; and Love, West Holand, in the mid-1970s, a lywood, celebrating Los Angeles. celebrated hoaxster, doWhat’s missing? New York, of ing the talk show circuit course. So, after a years-long hiatus, as “Grant Tracy Saxon,” the Queer-city series returns. Gay alleged author of a fake comedian Bob Smith opens with a memoir, The Happy profoundly personal essay blending Hustler, all the while selling his body to eager johns (and appearing in a couple of episodes of The Waltons). Next came hard-won sobriety, AIDS activism, HIV infection, a series of searing oneman performances and shimmering collaborations with his professional colleague, the late James Carroll Pickett.

And now, still acting and directing (and surviving), Kearns is reveling in his finest role – father to an African-American child he adopted more than 15 years ago. Kearns is unsparing in recounting his addictive days, candid about how his Queer and AIDS activism impacted his Hollywood career, and – in the final chapters – luminous in imparting the love he shares with his daughter, who now aspires to be an ac- hard chest, lanky swim team-honed body – teenaged Christopher is all tor, just like Dad. boy. But there’s a girl within, and her name is Emily. Around other FEATURED EXCERPT “I just want to live long enough to be lads, Chris slips into manly mode to a grandfather – that’s my goal,” I tell her. avoid being the prey of high school “You’ll live to be eighty-five,” Tia pro- bullies, but sets his alarm clock to 4 claims, not joking but introducing a certain a.m. to don soft clothes and imaggravitas. “Honey, what about my poor feet? ine a more feminine world. Chris’s I don’t think I can live twenty-five more Goth girlfriend, Claire, is repelled years with this pain.” “They’ll be able to when Chris tells her, heart racing, make you new feet by then.” I laugh. “It’s “I’m a girl” – though she soon betrue, I suppose. I’ll be the grandpa with fake comes a makeup-applying conspirafeet!” As our years together have unfolded, tor. Chris’s parents are both condeit does seem that Tia may take the world by scending and confrontational when storm before I take my permanent leave. they learn of Emily – even Chris’s For so many years, my overriding fear was first therapist insists that being Emily is a brief history of LGBT comics, a memorylane remembrance of his early New York days, and a no-self-pity-here account of the progression of his Lou Gehrig’s disease (“I don’t even like baseball!”). Another Gay comic, Eddie Sarfaty, nicely bookends the collection with a closing essay about welcoming his sophisticated Manhattan friends to his mother’s very suburban home for an irreligious Passover feast. In between, mystery author Val McDermid recalls her first wide-eyed visit to Greenwich Village, publicist Michele Karlsberg reveals Queer Staten Island, and more than 20 other writers (Thomas Glave’s contribution is an astounding literary reflection) tell how Manhattan and the boroughs shaped their Queer lives.

WHY IS THE PENIS SHAPED LIKE THAT? AND OTHER REFLECTIONS ON BEING HUMAN

BY JESSE BERING (FSG/Scientific American, 288 pp) Most of the 30-plus columns here first ap-

8

Seattle Gay News

August 31, 2012

peared at ScientificAmerican.com, though some are from the online magazine Slate.

Research psychologist Bering writes about sex, life, and the human condition – a handful of the pieces examine cannibalism, suicide, free will, and religious belief – with such easy-going prose and ready wit that it’s not always apparent which outlet, the scientific specialist or the lower-brow populist, spawned which essay. From the function of the scrotum to the purpose of pubic hair to the fact that humans masturbate far more frequently than other primates to assessments of assorted fetishes (podophilia, anyone?), Bering is often saucy and occasionally salacious but always factual – his prose is irresistibly irreverent, but he’s a writer who reveres scientific rigor. He’s also quite openly Queer. Overall, his “reflections on being human” are unabashedly filtered through a personal, personable Gay voice, and one section of the collection, “The Gayer Science: There’s Something Queer Here,” addresses such LGBT issues as “Homophobia as repressed desire” and “Is your child pre-homosexual?”

FOOTNOTES LOVE AND MARRIAGE (IN) EQUALITY: The politics and passions behind the American push for traditional marriage and the pushback against samesex marriage are the focus of Melanie Heath’s One Marriage Under God: The Campaign to Promote Marriage in America, now available from New York University Press. … Battles over same-sex marriage are the focus of Sasha Issenberg’s The Engagement, an account of the unprecedented political, social, and legal transformations over a quartercentury that have moved marriage equality from the margins of American life to the mainstream and seen it endorsed by President Obama and supported by a majority of American adults; the narrative history is a 2013 title from Crown Books. ... In a lighter vein, Manhattan playwright (The Boys Upstairs) and Soho House event planner Jason Mitchell has sold Getting Groomed – a mostly serious (fine food, festive flowers), sometimes facetious (“where to seat the homophobic uncle”) guide for Gay grooms on how to negotiate the ins and outs of fabulous nuptials – to Chronicle Books, heading to the publication altar next year. ... And, in Ken O’Neill’s farcical first novel, The Marrying Kind, wedding planner Adam More and his not-yet-wedded hubby Steven Worth launch a boycott of the wedding industry, causing florists, cater-waiters, hairdressers, organists, and other wedding-connected Queers to withdraw their services to protest marriage inequality. The romantic call-to-arms is now available from Bold Strokes Books.

Richard Labonte has been reading, editing, selling, and writing about Queer literature since the mid-’70s. He can be reached in care of SGN or at BookMarks@qsyndicate.com.

Celebrating 39 Years!

NORTHWEST

S.) presents “An Evening With Arnaldo! and Friends.” Proceeds from this evening’s cabaret will benefit the upcoming performance of “Floradora: Reimagined,” an adaptation of a Broadway comedy musical compiled by Rick McKinnon that was set in the Philippines in the 1890’s SGN Staff Writer to be retold with Filipino perspective. Some members of the cast of “Floradora ReimagREGISTER TO VOTE A weekend for Gay, Bisexual and Trans- ined,” Charles Crowley, Manny Golez and Register to vote at myvote.wa.gov. gender men, 8/31-9/3. Cost: $195. www. Melissa Fleming will be joining Arnaldo!

Mail-in voter registration forms can also be qcamp.org.

Drag Chanteuse. Victor Loo of Pride Asia obtained in person at city and county public will be performing a special number for the libraries and county election offices around evening. Tickets: $25 unreserved seating, XL WEEKEND – the state. For more information on the 2012 includes dinner and show, available at FCC A NEW SEATTLE BEAR RUN election, visit www.vote.wa.gov. office (206-722-9372) or www.brownpapAUGUST 30-SEPTEMBER 3 The deadline for online and mail-in votertickets.com/event/267627. Buy a table for www.XLWeekend.com. er registration as well as CHANGES OF 8 and sit with your friends.

ADDRESS and other updates is Monday, NORTHWEST LEATHER October 8. (Because Monday, October 8, is DIFFA/SEATTLE & MASIN’S WEEKEND a federal holiday, if you are planning to mail “GLAM: TABLESCAPES” – AUGUST 31-SEPTEMBER 3 in your voter registration, you are advised to WINE + DINE + DESIGN Generic Leather Productions of WA presmail it in no later than Saturday, October ents Northwest Leather Weekend 2012.

Taking inspiration from DIFFA’s national 6, before the last mailbox pick up time that Friday, August 31, 7-10 p.m., Meet & Greet “Dining by Design” event, this year Maday, because the post office will not be pro- Cigar Social at Doghouse Leathers (1312 E. sin’s and DIFFA/Seattle present “GLAM: cessing mail on October 8.)

Pike St.). Saturday, September 1, 1-3 p.m., TABLESCAPES,” a two-day extravaganza Because Washington State has a vote- Whips in The Park at NE Corner of Cal An- celebrating wine, entertaining and design at by-mail system, it is important to submit derson Park (11th Ave. & E. Denny Way); Masin’s in Bellevue (10708 Main St., Belchanges of address to ensure you receive 6-9 p.m., Burlesque Leather Show at The levue). your ballot in the mail. If you have not Cuff Complex (13th Ave. & E. Pine St.); On Friday, September 7, at 6 p.m., enjoy a submitted a change of address by October 8, starting at 8 p.m., Blood, Sweat & Queer tablehop party with couture hors d’oeuvres, you can still vote, but you will need to pick Play Party with demonstrations at 8:30 p.m. wine bar and specialty cocktails, DJ enterup your ballot from your previous address at Center for Sex Positive Culture (1602 tainment and luxury silent auction. Tickets: or contact your county elections office for 15th Ave. W.) Sunday, September 2, 10:30 $45-$75 at diffaseattle.org. information on other voting options.)

On Saturday, September 8, at 2 p.m., ena.m.-1 p.m., Brunch at C.C. Attle’s (1701 E. The FINAL deadline for NEW (in per- Olive Way); 2-5 p.m., Argosy Cruise with joy spirited, informative presentations by a son only) Washington State voter regis- MC Tony Buff; starting at 6 p.m. After Care panel of design and entertaining experts at tration is Monday, October 29. After Oc- Party at C.C. Attle’s (1701 E. Olive Way). a FREE Tabletalk Design Seminar that is tober 8, the only option to register to vote in Cost: $10-show, $25 demo and party, $10 open to the public.

Washington State is to go in person to your brunch, $69 cruise. See website for discounty elections office. The King County counts and more information. All profits “EQUINOX 2012” – Elections Office is located at 919 SW Grady from the weekend will be donated to the SEATTLE MEN IN LEATHER’S Way, Renton, WA 98057. The Snohom- Leather Leadership Conference 2013 Fund.

ANNUAL LEATHER WEEKEND ish County Elections Office is located at www.NWLeatherWeekend.org SEPTEMBER 7-9 3000 Rockefeller Ave. #505, Everett, WA www.SeattleMeninLeather.org 98201. The Pierce County Elections Office FESTIVAL OF THE BABES is located at 2501 S. 35th St., Tacoma, WA “CABARET SOCCER TOURNAMENT 98409. For other county locations contact FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY” – IN SEATTLE the Washington State Elections Office, 360FEATURING ALISON ARNGRIM LABOR DAY WEEKEND 902-4180.

WITH GUEST PERFORMERS Festival of the Babes is a soccer tournaThe 18-day mail-in voting period for ment for Lesbians, and those willing to be On Saturday, September 8, door at 6:30 the 2012 General Election is October mistaken for one! Register a team of up to p.m., show at 7 p.m., at Town Hall (8th Ave. 19-November 6.

15 ladies, register as a single player or get & Seneca St.), join Alison Arngrim (from Ballots must be postmarked no later into all the events for FREE by volunteer- “Little House on the Prairie”) with guest than Tuesday, November 6. If you mail ing. performers Vicci Martinez, Peggy Platt, your ballot on Tuesday, November 6, be Opening Party and Registration on Friday, Scott Silverman, Captain Smartypants, sure to put your ballot in the mail box before August 31, from 7 p.m.-2 a.m., at The Lob- Jinkx Monsoon, Abbey Drake, Jackie Hell, that mail box’s last scheduled pick up of by Bar (916 E. Pike St.). Soccer Tournament with videos by Collide-O-Scope. Tickets: the day so that it is postmarked November on Saturday and Sunday, September 1 and $35-general, $75-VIP seating with recep6. (Earlier voting is recommended.) Your 2, all day, at the playfields at 4901 Corson tion. Purchase advance tickets at www. county elections office can also provide you Ave. S. Dance Party on Saturday, Septem- WUFM.IT/cabaret. Proceeds to benefit with locations where you can drop off your ber 1, from 8 p.m.-2 a.m., at Melrose Market Washington United for Marriage’s camballot in person.

Studios (1532 Minor Ave.). Closing Party paign to Approve Referendum 74.

The November 6 General Election has on Sunday, September 2, 7 p.m.-2 a.m., at several important candidates and issues on Cowgirls, Inc. (421 1st Ave. S.).

KENT PRIDE 2012 the ballot – including President of the UnitSEPTEMBER 8-9 http://festivalofthebabes.com. ed States, Governor of the State of WashingThe City of Kent, WA is having its own ton, Attorney General of the State of WashPride event! On Saturday, September 8, TRIANGLE RECREATION CAMP ington, Referendum 74 to APPROVE come down to the Long Dog Tavern (209 AT BENDER CREEK – Marriage Equality (LGBTQ Marriage) E. Meeker St.) for an evening kick-off get “MARDI GRAS WEEKEND” in Washington State, and Initiative 502 Triangle Recreation Camp at Bender together at 8 p.m. Come in drag, come anyto Decriminalize Marijuana in Washington Creek hosts LGBTQ camping all summer way you like, bring friends! The next day, State. long. Labor Day Weekend, August 31-Sep- from 2-5 p.m., join us at the Gazebo Stage For more information, contact the Wash- tember 3, TRC hosts Mardi Gras Weekend. located at the Burlington Green Park, just ington State Elections Office, 360-902- www.camptrc.org or on Facebook. off Railroad Ave. and E. Meeker St. Guests 4180; 800-448-4881 (voter hotline). include Mayor Suzette Cooke, Kent City Council President Dennis Higgins, State BLACK NAIL KARAOKE CONCERT UNDER THE COLUMNS Representative Dave Upthegrove, and AT JULIA’S ON BROADWAY Every Friday from June 1 to September 7, many more, to speak about the importance WEDNESDAY EVENINGS noon-2 p.m. and 4-8:30 p.m., the public is Black Nail Karaoke is now hosting kara- of getting the word out to vote in November. invited to FREE concerts by local musicians oke on Wednesday evenings, 9 p.m.-1 a.m., Come show your support for the LGBTQ at the Columns (Boren Ave. & Pike St.). at Julia’s on Broadway (Broadway E. & E. community and rally for our rights! This event is endorsed and sponsored by the Kent Thomas St.).

MR. PLANET ADONIS CONCERT Downtown Partnership and Long Dog TavOn Friday, August 31, 7 p.m. silent aucern.

ALISON ARNGRIM – tion, 8 p.m. fashion show, Planet Adonis “CONFESSIONS OF A PRAIRIE presents the Mr. Planet Adonis Contest at IMPERIAL COURT OF SEATTLE – BITCH” AT JULIA’S the Filipino Community Center of Seattle KING & QUEEN OF HEARTS On Thursday, September 6, door at 6:30 (5740 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way). Party p.m., show at 7 p.m., Julia’s on Broadway PAGEANT with the models after the contest. Tickets: (300 Broadway E.) presents Alison ArnOn Saturday, September 8, door at 6 p.m., $15-general; $25-VIP. Dress code: Semi- grim in her “wickedly funny” one-woman show at 7 p.m., at R Place (619 E. Pine St.), formal. For reservations: 206-458-1782. show, “Confessions of a Prairie Bitch” (the join the Imperial Court of Seattle for the Tickets may also be available at the door. stand-up version). With MC Mama Tits and King & Queen of Hearts Pageant. $7 donaPortion of the proceeds will benefit Pami- special appearance by Jacob Rodvelt-Gam- tion. lya. lieli. Tickets: $20-general, $35-VIP. www.

“RUGBY IS A DRAG” – brownpapertickets.com/event/267606.

BUMBERSHOOT FUNDRAISER TO AUGUST 31-SEPTEMBER 3 APPROVE REFERENDUM 74 “AN EVENING WITH ARNALDO! www.bumbershoot.org On Sunday, September 8, door at 7 p.m., AND FRIENDS” On Friday, September 7, dinner seating at show at 8 p.m., join hostess Gaysha Starr BOYZ IN THE WOODS 6 p.m. and show starting promptly at 7:30 and Seattle Quake Rugby at Neighbours Q-SQUARED CAMP p.m., the Filipino Community Center of (1509 Broadway, entrance in alley off E. LABOR DAY WEEKEND Seattle (5740 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way Pike St.) for a special “Rugby is a Drag”

NEWS

Visit us online www.sgn.org

August 31, 2012

fundraising benefit for Washington United for Marriage’s campaign to Approve Referendum 74. $5 cover.

SING JAZZ! BlueStreet Jazz Voices will be holding auditions on Monday, September 10 and by appointment. Visit www.bluestreetvoices.com for audition information. Email bluestreetjazz@hotmail.com.

EAT OUT ON CAPITOL HILL TO BENEFIT COUNTRY DOCTOR On Wednesday, September 12, eat out at participating Capitol Hill restaurants (see ad in SGN or visit www.countrydoctor.org) and a portion of your bill will be donated to Country Doctor Community Health Centers.

LESLIE JORDAN AT RE-BAR – “STORIES I CAN’T TELL MAMA” On Thursday, September 13, and Friday, September 14, at 8 p.m., Re-bar (1114 Howell St.), presents comedian Leslie Jordan in his one-man hit show, “Stories I Can’t Tell Mama.” Tickets: $20-advance, $25 at the door. www.brownpapertickets.com/ event/265113. Must be 21+ with ID. 2012 GSBA CANDIDATE FORUM On Friday, September 14, from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., at Red Lion Hotel (1415 5th Ave.), the Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA), your LGBT Chamber of Commerce, hosts the 2012 GSBA Candidate Forum Luncheon with Jay Inslee (Governor), Bob Ferguson (Attorney General), Kathleen Drew and Kim Wyman (Secretary of State), Noel Frame & Gael Tarleton (36th Legislative District). Cost: $34-members, $39 nonmembers, $34 students. RSVP 206363-9188; www.thegsba.org.

OUT FOR SUSTAINABILITY – OUT AT THE BEACH On Saturday, September 15, OUT for Sustainability will participate in International Shoreline Cleanup Day at Ocean Shores with shoreline cleanup activities followed by a Beach Ball with food, music and fun!

For more information and to register, visit www.out4s.org.

(OUT for Sustainability will be hosting their annual Coming Out Local dinner on Sunday, September 30.)

ROY HORN EXPERIENCE – THE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE PERFORMANCE TO BENEFIT EQUAL RIGHTS WASHINGTON On Saturday, September 15, at 5 p.m., at the Scarlet Tree Restaurant and Lounge (801 NE 65th St.), join the Roy Horn Experience Band in support of Equal Rights Washington. Tickets: $20. www.brownpapertickets.com/event/267744.

HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN PACIFIC NORTHWEST GALA DINNER On Saturday, September 15, 5:30 p.m. registration, 5:30-7 p.m. silent auction and cocktails, 7 p.m. gala, at Sheraton Seattle Hotel (1400 6th Ave.), join local HRC supporters and HRC President Chad Griffin for an evening in celebration of the work of HRC. Featuring HRC Visibility Award Recipient Dustin Lance Black (winner of the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for MILK) and Special Guest Megan Hilty. Tickets: $225 Regular, $150 Student (with ID), Seniors and Elected Officials. www.hrcseattle.org/dinner.

SEATTLE AIDS WALK & 5K RUN SEPTEMBER 22 www.SeattleAIDSWalk.org SEATTLE LESBIAN & GAY FILM FESTIVAL OCTOBER 11-21 www.threedollarbillcinema.org “WICKED” FOR MARRIAGE On Thursday, October 18, at 7:30 p.m., join the Washington United for Marriage campaign to Approve Referendum 74 at the Paramount Theatre (911 Pine St.) for a special fundraising performance of the musical “Wicked.” www.wickedformarriage.com.

Seattle Gay News

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archdiocese of new york

Cardinal Dolan works both sides of the street ‘American Pope’ will pray at Republican, Democratic conventions

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer New York’s Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and sometimes not-so-jokingly called “the American pope,” is treading a fine line in this election year.

On August 22, Dolan’s Archdiocese of New York confirmed that he would deliver the closing prayer at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. On August 28, the archdiocese announced that Dolan would also pray at the close of the Democrats’ convention in Charlotte, N.C. Dolan also personally invited President Obama to the annual Al Smith Dinner in October, becoming the target of a protest by Catholic hardliners as a result.

The cardinal led his church to challenge Obama’s Affordable Care Act because it requires insurance companies to cover contraceptives. The Catholic Church opposes contraception and wants Catholic hospitals, colleges, and other institutions to be exempt from the law.

Dolan also found Obama’s endorsement of equal marriage rights for Gay and Lesbian couples “deeply saddening” and called on Catholics “to promote and protect marriage and by so doing serve the true good of all persons.”

On the other hand, Catholic bishops have denounced Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan, a Catholic himself, for a budget plan they contend harms the poor.

NOT AN ENDORSEMENT A spokesperson for Dolan told CNN that Republican Party officials insisted that Dolan deliver the closing prayer, even though church protocol would normally dictate that the prayer be delivered by a local bishop. The spokesperson, Joseph Zwilling, also said there were no partisan implications in the cardinal’s decision to attend the Republican convention.

“The Cardinal made it clear to the RNC (and to the Democratic National Committee as well) that he was only there to offer a prayer, not to engage in any partisan politics,” Zwilling said, “and that he would be willing to accept a similar invitation from the DNC if they were to invite him to pray at their convention as well.”

Less than a week later, Zwilling repeated to CNN that the cardinal is coming to the Democratic convention “solely as a pastor, only to pray, not to endorse any party, platform, or candidate.”

Obama’s re-election campaign revealed on August 28 that Dolan would not be the only high-profile Catholic at the Democrats’ convention. Among the speakers in Charlotte will be Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of the social justice group NETWORK. Campbell’s group led the recent “Nuns on the Bus” tour protesting the Ryan budget, but it was also the target of formal criticism from the Vatican. Papal officials alleged the group is influenced by a “radical feminist agenda” and should instead put more energy into promoting the church’s anti-choice, anti-Gay teachings.

ISSUING AN EDICT ORDERING ALL CITIZENS TO WORSHIP THE STATE GODS OR FACE DIRE CONSEQUENCES,” the appeal said, all in capital letters.

“Cardinal Dolan’s invitation to Obama is an outrage. OBAMA IS THE MOST PRO-ABORTION AND ANTI-CATHOLIC PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY.” The cardinal’s office has not commented on the protest.

The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation, named for the first Roman Catholic to run for president on a major party ticket, funds Catholic charities, and the annual dinner is its signature fundraising event.

Although Smith was a Democrat himself, Democratic candidates have sometimes skipped the dinner because of their differences with the Catholic Church on reproductive choice.

Bill Clinton, for example, never spoke there. Walter Mondale skipped the event in 1984, as did John Kerry in 2004. In 1980, Jimmy Carter spoke but was booed by the crowd, because he refused to let his personal antiabortion views intrude on public policy. In 2008, both Obama and his rival, John McCain, spoke at the dinner.

The Roman Catholic Church is the largest religious denomination in the U.S., and Catholics are considered a crucial swing vote. No recent presidential candidate has won the White House without winning a majority among Catholics.

In spite of repeated statements by the pope and the U.S. bishops, most American Catholics support marriage equality. A 2011 Pew poll found Catholics favoring equal marriage rights by a margin of 52% to 37%.

Among white Catholics – the Irish, Italian, Polish, and German ethnic voters among whom Democratic candidates struggle for support – the margin is even bigger, with 57% supporting equality.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan

ROASTED FOR DINNER Dolan is regarded as conservative both on theological and social issues, and has been closely associated with Pope Benedict XVI, but he may have done his work too well.

When it was reported that he had personally asked Obama to attend the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, it was too much for some Catholic hardliners to bear.

On August 27, the American Life League, which describes itself as “the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life education organization in the United States,” issued an almost hysterical call to its supporters to send the cardinal postcards protesting the invitation.

“THIS INVITATION GIVES THE APPEARANCE OF GOOD FELLOWSHIP WITH A PRESIDENT WHOSE ACTIONS AND POLICIES ARE NO LESS HOSTILE THAN THOSE OF THE ROMAN EMPEROR DECIUS, WHO TRIED TO ROOT OUT THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION BY

courtesy freedom to marry

A voice for equality in Tampa Republican mayor runs pro-equality TV ad during GOP convention

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The Republican mayor of San Diego aired a TV spot for equal marriage rights during the Republican National Convention in Tampa this week.

In the ad, which will not be shown in the Seattle market, Mayor Jerry Sanders looks directly into the camera as he urges Republicans to support equal marriage rights for Gay and Lesbian couples and the principle of limited government.

“In 2007, I announced my support for marriage equality for two reasons – family and freedom,” says Sanders in the ad.

“Marriage strengthens families and we need more of that in this country, not less.”

Sanders also mentions other prominent Republicans, such as Dick and Lynne Cheney, Laura Bush, and Cindy McCain, who have announced their support for same-sex marriage.

HRC and Freedom to Marry paid $30,000 to air the spot, which ran August 27–30 only in the Tampa market.

“Republicans talk about values such as freedom, limited government, and personal responsibility, values that support the freedom to marry,” said Evan Wolfson, founder and President of Freedom to Marry.

“Our ad showcases Republicans who are living up to the values they proclaim, pointing the way for the party to get with the majority of Americans and on the right side of history.”

Sanders was elected mayor in 2005. On September 19, 2007, he abruptly reversed his public opposition to marriage equality by signing a San Diego City Council resolution against the state’s ban on same-sex marriages.

In an emotional speech, Sanders explained that he could not tell his Lesbian daughter, Lisa, that her relationship with a partner is not as important as that of a straight couple. He had “decided to lead with my heart,” he said at the time, “to take a stand on behalf of equality and social justice.”

DISSENTING DELEGATES While the Republican Party platform is uniformly hostile to LGBT rights, some convention delegates have spoken out for equality.

Barbara Ann Fenton of Rhode Island made a formal motion to add support for same-sex civil unions to the GOP platform.

“As a Roman Catholic, there’s nobody in this room who believes more than I do that the definition of marriage is between one man and one woman, but those are my religious beliefs,” Fenton said as she made the motion Monday. “This country was founded on the separation of church and state.”

She added, “For my own generation, a lot of times homosexuality is not the biggest deal in the world. And that’s OK.” Themis Klarides, a Connecticut state representative, was one of the delegates who

Tampa Mayor Jerry Sanders from his marriage equality television ad

seconded Fenton’s motion.

“I’m from New England, where support for Gay couples is really old news,” Klarides told CNN. In 2005, Connecticut became the first state to pass a civil unions law for same-sex couples. She voted in favor of the bill several times until it passed.

“This speaks to the heart of what Republicans believe in – less government interference in our lives,” Klarides said. “We want our party to focus on growth and the economy and allowing us to thrive as a people, not on telling people what they should do in our private lives.”

Fenton told CNN she had only one disturbing run-in after the platform meeting.

“One person did come up and tell me I should renounce my Catholicism – that

what I was spewing was pure evil,” Fenton said. “It was hard to keep a straight face.”

But for the most part, the reaction she received from other delegates and Republican staffers was positive, she said.

“People kept buying me drinks and kept coming up to me saying how they wanted to support my group for doing this. I don’t have a group,” Fenton said. “Some people asked me if I was Gay. I told them you could still be for Gay rights and be a heterosexual. I don’t think that’s political suicide. If it were, I wouldn’t be a part of this party.

“One guy even dropped a note in my lap, “ Fenton added. “I thought I was going to get bashed with some nasty note, like you’d get in fifth grade. But what it said essentially was, ‘I’m in the closet. Thank you so much for this.’”

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Celebrating 39 Years!

AFP/GettyImages

Escape from Russia Two Pussy Riot members flee country while three others go to prison

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Three members of the all-girl Russian punk band Pussy Riot are beginning their prison terms, while two other members of the band reportedly have eluded Russian police and fled the country.

Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Yekaterina Samutsevich were sentenced to two-year prison terms on August 17. Their crime, officially designated as “hooliganism,” was taking part in a provocative protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The two who escaped were not named by Russian sources, but Tolokonnikova’s husband, Pyotr Verzilov, said they were wanted by police for participating in the group’s anti-Putin performance inside a Moscow cathedral.

The Twitter account called Pussy Riot Group confirmed that the two had left Russia.

“In regard to the pursuit, two of our members have successfully fled the country!” it said. “They are recruiting foreign feminists to prepare new actions!”

Following the verdict, Russian police said they were actively searching for other members of the group who had taken part in the cathedral protest, but they gave no

names and did not say how many were being sought.

“Since the Moscow police said they are searching for them, they will keep a low profile for now. They are in a safe place beyond the reach of the Russian police,” Verzilov told Reuters.

He suggested that this meant a country that has no extradition treaty with Russia.

Verzilov also told Reuters that other members of the Pussy Riot collective are still active inside Russia.

“Twelve or even 14 members who are still in Russia actively participate in the band’s work now – it’s a big collective,” he said.

HIGH-PROFILE ARRESTS The threat of more arrests is very real.

Since the trial, Russian police have rounded up many pro-Pussy Riot protesters, including former world chess champion Garry Kasparov and leftist opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov.

The U.S. State Department, the British Foreign Ministry, and the European Union have protested the two-year sentences as “excessive.” Celebrities including Madonna, Paul McCartney, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Björk have called for the women to be freed.

The three were arrested after a February 21 “punk prayer” in Moscow’s Christ the

Are we out enough?

How a Facebook status update raised hard questions about my marriage

by Abby Dees SGN Contributing Writer During a lazy day last weekend, my partner, Traci, and I were Google surfing in bed, one laptop between us. Every once in a while, Traci would switch windows, check Facebook, and then return to our search. I don’t recall what we were searching for, but I won’t forget what we uncovered.

During one of those Facebook breaks, I saw that Traci had yet to confirm the fact that she and I were married. If you’re unfamiliar with Facebook, this is how they try to assure that a member can’t randomly make public assertions about another member. In this case, many months ago I happily told Facebook that I was married to Traci. Traci was supposed to assure Facebook that I was not insane in thinking this, and then

Visit us online www.sgn.org

Pussy Riot members (l to r) Maria Alyokhina, Yekaterina Samutsevich, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova show the court’s verdict from within a glass-walled cage in a Moscow courtroom Friday.

Savior Cathedral, in which they sang obscene lyrics and beseeched the Virgin Mary to “throw Putin out.” The performance enraged Russian Orthodox bishops as well as Putin’s political supporters.

Putin has been the effective ruler of Russia since 1999. He was prime minister from 1999 until 2000, then served two terms as president. After being term-limited out of the presidency, he was prime minister again

until this year, when he was re-elected president.

Putin has been the target of increasingly large demonstrations by Russians demanding democracy, but so far his grip on power has not loosened.

“Whatever Putin wants, Putin gets. That is the only thing to say,” Verzilov remarked after leaving the court on the day of his wife’s sentencing.

our Facebook friends would immediately see the updated info. But as of last weekend, she hadn’t done this. So I, figuring she had merely forgotten, impulsively reached over and clicked “Confirm,” at which point the now-very-old update hit Traci’s newsfeed and congratulations poured in almost instantly. Never mind that we married in 2008.

I have big rules about respecting other people’s personal space and I knew I’d broken one of them. It’s the Internet version of reaching over from the passenger seat and honking the driver’s horn because the car in front of you is stopped at a green light.

While understandable, it’s still rude. It’s not your car.

Traci was ticked off, but I soon realized that it wasn’t so much about my commandeering her Facebook account as it was about broadcasting our marriage status. The first thing she said was that it could upset her parents. Her folks have embraced me completely as Traci’s partner. They have come a long, long way in their understanding and acceptance of their Lesbian daughter. While deserving a thumbs-up, they haven’t exactly joined PFLAG. I am still Traci’s “friend” when they talk to their neighbors and extended family. My response was, “You can’t keep protecting them from themselves. It’s time for their next step.”

She said, yes, maybe. But I could see that wasn’t totally it.

Traci herself was uncomfortable advertising the fact that she was married to me, her spouse – and a very out “professional Gay,” as I call often myself. She has always listed her status as “married” and posts endless pictures of the two of us here and there, sampling weird food, on vacation, or asleep.

She said it wasn’t that she isn’t “out” or that she was ashamed of me, but that my level of outness was more “in your face” than hers.

She doesn’t like to be defined by her sexuality, and it could turn off the conservative folks back home who hadn’t had much exposure to the idea yet. She felt she’d accomplish more in the long run by simply being herself and changing minds by example.

I understood all of this, but got stuck – and am still stuck – on the fact that she wanted to distance herself from me even just a little

bit. I do know she is proud of me, happy that I’m writing and talking about important LGBT issues. I would be disingenuous to accuse her of being ashamed of me, yet I can’t find peace with her discomfort. I know that if we were straight, she wouldn’t have hesitated to click “confirm” those many months ago. She disagrees. It’s about being more private in general, she insists.

The first big irony here is that my whole public platform is about being patient with everyone’s processes and applauding our loved ones’ baby steps toward understanding. I’m both irritated and hurt by her disassociation from me considering that my whole public persona is as a cuddly, userfriendly, not-scary Lesbian. I’m hardly a porn star or a Fox News commentator. And then there’s the second irony (you were probably here before me): I preach about patience, yet I’m having a hell of a time finding that patience in myself.

After our brief argument, we stopped talking about it. We had heard each other, and we both felt icky. But she didn’t delete the update. I wish I could be happier about that.

August 31, 2012

Seattle Gay News 17

BIG brothers continued from cover

tle,” Zoe MacGregor.

When I first met Bryan, 27, at Oddfellows Café on Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood for this interview, I thought I’d been duped.

Sitting next to him was 10-year-old Zoe. I thought to myself, “Uh-oh, something has gone wrong. I requested to speak with an LGBTQ Big and Little pairing.”

Admittedly, as I walked over to make introductions, I thought, “This is a straight guy and girl, or a Gay man and Lesbian girl.

Great. Now what am I supposed to tell my readers?”

I didn’t know it then, but I was about to get a lesson in life. For the next two hours I was witness to the impact and difference the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound LGBT Initiative is making in the lives of its participants. Bryan, a Seattle transplant from Wenatchee who is conservative in appearance, and Zoe, a girl who is Transgender, are teacher and student and vice versa – mentor and protégé and so much more. In many ways their relationship can be likened to Lego building blocks.

‘THERE’S ALWAYS RAINY DAY LEGOS’ “We have a lot of shared interests,” Bryan says, looking over at Zoe as we talk about the Big Brothers Big Sisters program that brought the two together. “There’s always rainy day Legos.’”

With that, Zoe’s face lights up with a smile that tells the rest of us at the table that Legos are a common denominator between the two.

When asked what’s the deal with Legos, Bryan responds, “Who doesn’t like Legos?

It’s a toy you can still play with as an adult.”

And he confides, “When we are building things together with Legos we talk about things. When we first met I had to provoke dialogue. But ever since Zoe began to identify as Transgender, all of that changed.

She’s much more playful now and open to discussion and asks more questions.”

Zoe, who had not yet transitioned when Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound paired the two, says Bryan is “easy to talk to.”

“It’s good to know another LGBTQ person,” she said. “We talk about school, and, well, all sorts of stuff. Life in general.”

When talking about Legos, you really get a sense of the depth of understanding that Zoe possesses.

“There’s no wrong or right thing to build,” she said.

Watching the two of them talk about each other with affinity – and agree with each other on almost everything they say – one gets the feeling that Bryan and Zoe really do get each other and that the bond they share is an important one. But the story doesn’t begin or end with Legos. It began in 2010 after the media blitz that followed the deaths by suicide of LGBTQ and perceived-to-beLGBTQ youth.

gram, she says, is “really good. It’s an amazing all-volunteer program that is making a positive impact.”

“Before meeting Zoe, I knew of Transgender but did not know anybody personally,” said Bryan. “My perception was more like Transvestite, someone who felt themselves better represented opposite their birth gender.”

“After meeting Zoe and experiencing the personality and confidence that came out with Zoe’s transformation,” Bryan says. “I saw that she wasn’t a boy who liked girl’s clothes, she is a girl who wants to be herself.”

“This program gives back, time and time again,” he said. “The time commitment is real, the kids are real, and building a friendship with a youth is real.”

Seeing Zoe be the happy kid that she is, especially when they go out together, is very satisfying to Bryan. “I pushed myself to be more confident in my surroundings and advocate for support and understanding,” he said. “The program supported me and encouraged me right from the get-go. I was hesitant to call and say ‘Hey, I’m a Gay guy that wants to help kids,’ but that’s exactly what I said and had an amazing reception. The process is personal and within the organization I have a bunch of names and phone numbers I can call on for questions, comments, and support.

“LGBTQ youth need to know this community loves and supports them,” Bryan continued. “Any youth needs to know they aren’t alone but so many don’t know where to go or who to ask. Outside of our Seattle LGBTQ community it’s not such a pretty picture. My high school didn’t have any programs or rainbow signs on the doors. I found out about PFLAG very late on – [I was] nearly a senior when I went to my first group. Even that PFLAG group was held at a church 30 miles from my home.

Had I known of this resource even earlier, it could have eased the growing pains of being a closeted Gay kid from a small town. I can look back and totally recognize times in my life where a mentor and support system could have helped me.”

“LGBTQ youth need to know this community loves and supports them, any youth needs to know they aren’t alone but so many don’t know where to go or who to ask ... I can look back and totally recognize times in my life where a mentor and support system could have helped me.”

‘I HAD BEEN IN A SIMILAR PLACE’ When Bryan Corbett first reached out to Big Brothers Big Sisters, he did so as a reaction to having “read too many news stories about LGBTQ kids who were committing suicide because they felt they didn’t have anyone.”

At the time, says Emily Juhre, 21, “The LGBTQ Initiative existed but was not widely known.”

Juhre, a Pride Foundation fellow, worked with Big Brother Big Sisters Puget Sound to help publicize the initiative. The pro-

dress when she was four, but had already started growing her hair longer and was very interested in ‘pretty’ things and playing with girls.”

Soon she was wearing clothes from the girl’s department exclusively and seemed content to identify as “a boy who likes girl things.” It was only in the spring of her ninth year that she decided she wanted to try living as a girl full-time. She has had a great year and seems happily settled in her identity.

“It has actually been fairly easy for me to accept and support her, as I’ve never appreciated gender stereotypes and didn’t have a strong attachment to her boy identity,” said MacGregor. “Her feminine spirit has always been present in various ways, so I was never totally shocked or surprised. Harder to deal with has been the interactions with extended family and schools, and the process of educating folks in all the various arenas of our lives.”

“I hope that she can continue to hold her head up proudly as someone whose gender identity is an integral and positive part of who she is and how she sees the world,” she continued. “I hope that her experiences continue to shape her into a compassionate, caring, and accepting human being, and I hope that ignorance and discrimination never keep her from pursuing her dreams, whatever they may be.”

“Children need to know that, no matter what, at least one parent, and certainly ideally both, loves them to the core, and will support and affirm them as they discover and embrace their authentic selves,” said MacGregor. “It takes a whole lot from the outside world to tear down a strong foundation of parental love and affirmation.”

CHILDREN KNOW THEIR GENDER It is very common for many to ask how a Transgender child can know their gender identity at age 10 or even younger. We don’t, however, ask a gender-typical child how they know if they are a boy or a girl.

If you are a person whose body aligns with your gender, you don’t question – you simply “know.”

“Kids like Zoe know who they are as well, and at much younger ages than 10,” said Aidan Key, director of Gender Diversity. “It is quite common for Transgender kids, as soon as they begin to talk, to start proclaiming that they are a boy, not a girl, or vice versa.”

The confusion for a Transgender child begins when their parents, siblings, friends, teachers, and everyone else “corrects” them and insists that body parts, specifically one’s genitalia, are the determining factors for gender. If a Transgender child does not see other children like them, see themselves reflected in society or the media, and has PARENTAL AFFIRMATION every authority figure around them insistCarolyn MacGregor, Zoe’s mother, says ing they aren’t who they say they are – well, Bryan first met Zoe in November of 2010. that is when it becomes quite confusing.

“Zoe’s transition was really quite gradu“Again and again, I work to educate othal,” said MacGregor. “She first asked for a ers so they can understand the concept of

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gender identity and how that is different than sexual orientation,” said Key. “I’ve worked with attorneys, pediatricians, teachers, camp directors, psychologists, professors, and students. The common thread for all these adults, whether heterosexual, Gay or Lesbian, is that they most often view the concept of gender diversity through the lens of sexual orientation. “ Gender identity is not about having sex and it is not about to whom we are attracted.

It’s about who we are.

“One seven year old child put it to her parent perfectly when she said, “Dad, when are you going to understand? I have the body of a boy but the heart and mind of a girl.”

“What I repeatedly witness with these adults is a paradigm shift with respect to their understanding of the fluidity of gender,” said Key. “Surprisingly, young children have little to no difficulty grasping the concept of gender fluidity and can readily talk about their own frustrations with gender restrictions.

“When adults witness the conversations of these children, it’s as if they are transported back in time when gender was simply about the toys that you played with, the clothing you wore, the color of your shoes, and the friends you played with. Ultimately, clothes, colors, and activities do NOT have a gender – one is simply assigned. Children readily see the fallacy in this designation.

Adults need to dig deep and remember.”

PROVEN RESULTS Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound partners with actively involved community members to match caring adults with children, “both of whom benefit from our oneto-one mentoring programs,” say officials.

Here’s how it works: Bigs (adult volunteers) and Littles (children ages 7 to 17) meet a few times a month in school or the community to share fun activities and a little part of themselves.

National research has shown that the positive relationships between youth and their Big Brothers and Big Sisters have a direct and measurable impact on their lives. Little Brothers and Sisters are more confident in their schoolwork performance, able to get along better with their families, 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs, 27% less likely to begin using alcohol, and 52% less likely to skip school.

According to information provided to SGN by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound, “LGBT identities are not only accepted but seen as an asset to reflecting the full range of identities that BBBSPS is try-

ing to represent in their Bigs and Littles.”

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound says it are committed to providing activities and opportunities for LGBT Bigs and Littles. In fact, the group recently sponsored a Gay and Lesbian Film Festival movie, tabled at the Seattle AIDS Walk and Rainbow Families pumpkin-patch event, and talked with over a dozen LGBT organizations and groups in the area.

“Please consider volunteering to become a mentor,” said officials, adding, “You can make a BIG difference in the life of a child by committing a few hours a month to just hang out with a young person.”

If you’re interested in becoming a mentor, or if you know a young person who could benefit from the program, contact Jordan Lane at jordan.lane@bbbsps.org, or Pamela Shields at pamela.shields@bbbsps.org.

civil unions law.

Of course, not everyone is happy with the nation’s trend towards equality.

“Equality doesn’t mean sameness,” said Bob McCoskrie, national director of the conservative advocacy group Family First,

who maintains that civil unions adequately protect Gay and Lesbian couples.

“Marriage has always been about the relationship of a man and a woman because of their natural potential to have children,” McCoskrie stated.

new zealand continued from cover

who is openly Lesbian. “The timing was right.”

Key said the large majority for the new marriage law put the measure in a stronger position to pass.

“It was an overwhelming result and I think it puts the bill in a pretty strong place to potentially become law, given you’ve had two-thirds of Parliament voting for it,” he said.

“I think New Zealand’s always been a country that’s really stood up for equality of rights and an egalitarian society, being the first country to give women the vote. We’ve been making slow progress in a number of other areas.”

DEATH FOR GAY SEX New Zealand’s move toward equality is a relatively recent development. In the former British colony, sex between men was punishable by death until 1961 and was finally decriminalized only in 1986. Curiously, sex between women was never illegal.

In 1993, the Human Rights Act banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Parliament enacted a civil unions bill in 2005. The following year, the country’s solicitor general ruled that the Human Rights Act’s provisions on gender bias prohibited discrimination against Transgender people.

According to a Washington Post poll, more than 60% of New Zealanders are in favor of marriage equality and want to allow same-sex partners to adopt children, which is prohibited under New Zealand’s current

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Seattle Gay News 19

size, which is really kind of neat.” teams for amount raised for the event.”

The fundraiser brought out a total of 80 continued from cover GETTING SANCTIONED teams and raised $62,000 to fund the Na“‘Deep down inside we all know what tional Bone Marrow Registry.

“Everyone had an amazing time,” said we’re talking about here is AIDS.’” bian sports movement, which Peterson says Peterson remembers this comment well is just one part of the emancipation of sports Robertson. “Next year I will try to get even when in 1987, he, alongside other Orcas, peculture. It is this history, the team’s many more Orca members involved.” titioned the Pacific Northwest Association victories, and their continued role in fundof Masters Swimmers to sanction their swim COMING OUT raising that makes this 28-year-old swim The Orcas formed in 1984, which makes meets. It was a battle for equality. club as great as they ever were.

“Without sanctioning you can’t rent pools them one of the oldest Gay teams in any … you can’t set records,” said Peterson. sport in the nation.

SWIMMING FOR LIFE Peterson said that the resistance largely “There was definitely controversy,” PeOn Wednesday, August 15, the Orcas came from the top, not the swimmers on the gathered at 6:30 a.m. on the shore of Lake terson told SGN of the team’s beginning.

Peterson was part of the team’s original other teams.

Washington for the 2.4-mile Swim for Life “What if the KKK were to ask us to sancevent hosted by the Puget Sound Blood lineup and has been swimming with them ever since. His proactive role on the team tion a meet?” was another statement PeterCenter.

“Being part of an event like this, swim- helped the Orcas get sanctioning in the ’80s son remembers hearing at an association ming with fellow athletes working toward a and led him to become one of the first co- board meeting.

“Equating us to a hate group like that is common goal, creates an incredible energy,” presidents of the Federation of Gay Games.

“The Orca Swim Club has historically just remarkable,” said Peterson. “What was said Robertson.

“This year we had three teams partici- played a key leadership role in the global normally a simple process became a threepate in the event,” Robertson told SGN. Gay and Lesbian sports movement,” Peter- month battle.”

That battle was finally won when Cal An“And again this year the same group from son told SGN. This role, he said, is “probthree years ago was ranked fifth amongst ably disproportionate to the organization’s derson, Washington’s first openly Gay state legislator, intervened. More than 100 people competed in the Orcas’ first sanctioned swim meet.

“We helped introduce a lot of firsts for LGBT sports,” said Peterson, including the first LGBT dive, water polo, and synchronized swimming teams. “Seattle has been a real catalyst for growing more opportunities in the aquatics area, but also in a lot of other team sports too.”

orca

CONTINUING THE TRADITION Today, Orca swim meets are some of the most highly attended in Western Washington. The Pink Flamingo Relay, one of their signature events, is now emulated by LGBT swim teams worldwide.

In their own way, the Orcas were pioneering a fight to push forward Gay rights in an oppressive environment. Many today still see sports as kind of a last bastion of homophobia.

“I feel like sports in general are still homophobic, in the sense that not a lot of people are out,” said Megan Rapinoe, a Seattle Sounders Women player, in an interview with OUT magazine, in which she came out shortly before her participation in the 2012 Olympics. “In female sports, if you’re Gay, most likely your team knows it pretty quickly. It’s very open and widely supported. For males, it’s not that way at all. It’s sad.”

Although the Orcas have some worldclass swimmers, team membership has al-

ways been open to everyone – swimmers of all ages, gender identities, sexual orientations, and skill levels.

“The team openly welcomes swimmers of all abilities. There’s a lane for every speed,” Peterson told SGN. “Not everybody competes – some just swim for recreation.”

“We’re open to men and women, and historically we’ve had a good representation of all those demographics,” said Peterson.

“If you’re friendly to the LGBT community and you like to swim, you have a place at the Orca Swim Club.”

If you’re interested in joining the Orcas, check out www.orcaswimteam.org.

nom

continued from cover are on the ballot – Washington, Maine, Maryland, and Minnesota.

Plante has an equally despicable past, if a slightly less successful one. As executive director of NOM Rhode Island, he led last year’s drive to block a marriage equality bill in the Rhode Island state legislature. Ultimately, lawmakers passed a civil unions bill instead.

Plante went on to lead the unsuccessful campaign to repeal New Hampshire’s marriage law and worked to put an antimarriage constitutional amendment on the November ballot in Minnesota.

THE CHALLENGE FROM NOM Josh Friedes, now spokesperson for Equal Rights Washington, was the campaign manager for 2009’s successful Approve Referendum 71 campaign to save the state’s domestic partnership law from a similar challenge. Friedes told SGN that he thinks the situation three years later is much different.

“We did not face a full frontal assault from NOM [in 2009],” Friedes observed. “If people think that because we won R-71 in 2009 we will win R-74, that’s a mistake. We face a very different opponent this time.”

“The anti-Gay movement in this state has historically been disorganized, subject to infighting, and not fully engaged,” Friedes continued. “And some of the people who were against us then have moved and are now supporters of equality.

“What we see now is the importation of a large out-of-state anti-Gay movement that knows how to parachute in organizers and run campaigns. NOM is the dominant player this time.”

Zach Silk, campaign manager for Wash-

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ington United for Marriage, said his group is aware of the threat from NOM and is ready to take them on.

“NOM has been all-in since day one of this campaign,” Silk told SGN. “They had national staff on the ground during the legislative battle. … They have targeted Washington and are prepared to run the same campaign of fear and confusion they have perpetrated in other states.

“The good news is that we have studied their playbook, and we are ready to hit back.”

Asked if the Approve R-74 campaign’s recent $5 million media buy was part of “hitting back,” Silk answered, “Correct.”

“We know they are getting ready to dump four to six million dollars on television,” he explained. “And we are prepared to stand toe-to-toe with them.”

Friedes added that equality supporters should contribute both volunteer time and money to the campaign, and activate their social networks to Approve Referendum 74.

FRANK SCHUBERT: PULLING THE STRINGS Schubert is no stranger to the task of molding public opinion. Until 2008, he was a well-paid media consultant helping corporate clients in the tobacco, timber, and pharmaceutical industries improve their public image.

Schubert got his initial experience in politics running campaigns on behalf of his corporate clients. In California and Oregon, he led efforts to strike down tobacco tax increases by sowing public doubts about how the money would be spent.

Then he landed the job of running the Prop 8 campaign to repeal marriage equality in California. By his own account, he got re-

ligion during the campaign and began to believe he had a personal “mission” to defeat equal marriage laws all over the country.

Looking back on the Prop 8 campaign, he told the San Francisco Chronicle, he began “really reflecting what I had been through.

Was this an accident? That here I am, a political consultant who happens to believe in the cause, on the scene at the very moment that this debate is occurring.”

Convinced that God had commissioned him to turn back same-sex marriage, Schubert then went to work for Stand for Marriage Maine, trying to repeal that state’s new marriage law.

According to Matt McTighe, Mainers United for Marriage campaign manager, Schubert “came in toward the end [of the 2009 campaign], pulling strings behind the scenes.”

“It’s always NOM,” McTighe told SGN. “NOM hires Schubert and his group, and they filter the talking points. They tell people what to say and what to do.”

According to McTighe, Schubert likes to avoid the limelight, preferring to let local groups take center stage.

“He acts as the campaign manager from afar,” McTighe explained. “He will partner with groups on the ground – he’ll pick one or two groups to work with. In 2009 it was the Catholic diocese [of Portland, Maine].”

Now the Catholic Church is backing away from NOM, McTighe says, in part because of a lawsuit seeking to force NOM to disclose its donors.

“The NOM money probably came from the Knights of Columbus and from the Mormon Church,” McTighe continued, “but that’s all speculation based on past campaigns. We don’t really care who their donors are – we just want to make them play

by the rules.”

Gay relationship with two kids.”

‘THINK OF THE CHILDREN!’ Schubert’s tactics in the Prop 8 campaign “were the exact same tactics that were used in Maine, the same ones used in North Carolina, are being used in Minnesota, and will no doubt be used in all the other states as well,” observed Joe Fox, co-producer of Question One, a documentary about the 2009 repeal of Maine’s marriage equality law.

Schubert’s tactics are dependent on a central message, always stressing that “children will pay a severe price” if Gay and Lesbian couples are allowed to have families.

After the 2009 Maine campaign, Schubert realized that corporate clients in nationwide markets regarded his newfound anti-Gay views as a public relations liability. He left his firm, Schubert Flint Public Affairs, and started a new company, Mission Public Affairs, devoted exclusively to anti-Gay work.

Although Schubert claims that his new company is “far less lucrative” than the $2.5 million a year he billed at Schubert Flint, he has made good money off of his campaigns against equal marriage rights.

According to state PDC documents, he has already billed Preserve Marriage Washington more than $30,000 though the end of July. He has also received some $45,273 for his work this year in Maine, and $127,408 from Minnesota. He reportedly earned $958,594 for his successful North Carolina campaign in May. .

Ironically, Schubert’s sister is a married Lesbian with two children.

“I love my sister deeply and I love her children,” he told the Chronicle. “That doesn’t require me to accept that marriages should be redefined because my sister is in a

CHRIS PLANTE: NOM’S PUBLIC FACE Unlike Schubert, Chris Plante is very much an in-front-of-the-scenes operator.

“He’s a mouthpiece, not an organizer,” said Ray Sullivan, campaign director for Marriage Equality Rhode Island.

Sullivan knows from experience. Plante got his start as executive director of NOM Rhode Island, where he successfully bullied state legislators into blocking a marriage equality bill that most of them had committed to vote for. After his win there, NOM sent him to other states. . “[Plante] started here and then became [NOM’s] regional guy,” Sullivan explained.

“He’s been in New Hampshire, he’s been in Minnesota, he goes wherever.”

According to Sullivan, Plante is a media figure, good at delivering a message, but not a skilled organizer. As a result, he has not left a lasting impression on Rhode Island politics.

“We haven’t seen much of a grassroots network. I don’t think he has much of a pedigree in organizing or strategy,” Sullivan said about Plante. “They drop him into a state. He doesn’t really do much to grow grassroots support.”

Echoing Schubert’s talking points, Plante once said that same-sex marriages would “turn children into little teacup dogs – it’s an accessory to put in my purse …”

Unlike Schubert, who is billing Preserve Marriage Washington for his services, Plante is being paid directly by NOM. PDC reports show Preserve Marriage reporting $3,600 for Plante’s “consulting services” and expenses as in-kind contributions from NOM.

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