SGN February 8, 2013 - Section 1

Celebrating 40 Years!

Issue 06 Volume 41

Seattle Gay News

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by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor The Pentagon announced this week that it plans to extend new benefits to the spouses of Gay personnel. The move comes about 17

while the Defense of Marriage Act – which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman – remains in effect.

The Obama administration has made it clear that it believes equal rights and benefits should be extended to all military families, re-

Carolyn Kaster / ap

Pentagon announces plan to extend spousal benefits

SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

ing, and the social fabric doesn’t tear, that does make it easier down the line to do away with DOMA,” said Tammy S. Schultz, the director of the National Security and Joint Warfare Program at the Marine Corps War College, who has studied implementing the repeal of

“If you provide benefits to individuals seen as the most deserving, and the social fabric doesn’t tear, that does make it easier down the line to do away with DOMA.” months after repeal of the longstanding “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy prohibiting service by openly Gay personnel.

While no final decision has been made as to which benefits will be extended, reports indicate they may include housing privileges, access to base recreational facilities, and joint duty assignments for uniformed couples.

However, legal experts say, the Pentagon is unlikely to offer health-care coverage and more than 100 other spousal benefits

gardless of sexual orientation.

In his inaugural address last month, President Obama appealed for Gay Americans to be “treated like anyone else under the law.”

A WELCOME CHANGE Advocates for LGBT service members welcomed the news, noting that it could boost support for marriage equality in the lead-up to a Supreme Court ruling this spring that may legalize same-sex unions.

“If you provide benefits to individuals seen as the most deserv-

the ban on openly Gay troops. “It could be a flanking maneuver to keep chipping away at it.”

The new guidelines will be departing Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta’s final imprint on the armed forces. They come on the heels of two landmark changes undertaken during his relatively short tenure: the rescinding of the ban on openly Gay service members and the decision to allow women to serve in combat units. see military page 9

Empress Nicole

The ICS grande dame reflects on a lifetime of activism International Court System

Weddings By the Sea

Spreading the love Freedom to Marry plans $2M campaign for 2013

by James Whitely SGN Staff Writer On Saturday, February 16, The Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle will hold its annual Coronation.

Now in its 43rd year, the Coronation is one of the longest-running LGBT events in the Northwest.

SGN chatted with Empress Nicole the Great de San Diego, head of the International Court System (ICS) and Queen Mother of the Americas, about the event on Presidents’ Day weekend, the history of the Court, and its direction today.

YEAR OF THE ELDERS Empress Nicole was given control over the Court at the 2007 Coronation in Seattle, when Empress José Sarria, founder of the ICS, retired. This year, Empress Nicole is “returning to the scene of the crime” to give her State of the Empire Address. In honor of Sarria’s 90th birthday, Empress Nicole has proclaimed 2013 as “the Year of the Elders.”

“Our community needs to treat our seniors with more respect and also recognize them for being the

Empress Nicole the Great de San Diego

Outgoing Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta

see empress page 17

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Freedom to Marry announced on February 7 a 2013 drive to raise and invest $2 million through the Win More States Fund, with an initial focus on passing marriage equality legislation in several more states across the country.

According to officials of the same-sex marriage advocacy group, in its first wave of contributions for 2013 Freedom to

www.oceanshoresweddings.com 206-403-8170 Let us make your wedding day as fun as a day at the beach.

Marry is investing $800,000 in states where marriage bills are currently being debated. These states include Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. The group is calling on others to be a part of these victories through strategic and early Win More States Fund investment.

“Building on our four-for-four ballot victories in November, Freedom to Marry is calling on supporters to join us in continusee freedom page 5

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op-ed

Is the Constitution passé?

provision that counted slaves as three-fifths a person, or the fact that only rich white men got to vote. Whoops.

In light of LGBT advances, perhaps it’s time for a rethink

WHAT THE FRAMERS KNEW I also see in it, though, a good-faith attempt to be enlightened, to be better. The framers understood that it was inherently flawed and subject to the prejudices of the times. Thomas Jefferson probably embodied this contradiction as much as any of the founders: he was a seeker of truth, and also a slave owner. I make no excuses for this, but he was at least somewhat aware of his failings. He wrote, “I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. … We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.”

There is nowhere else in our legal canon such a document that allows for improvement to our collective wisdom or marks so well where we’ve been. The three-fifths provision still exists in the text of the constitution, but it has been superseded by the extraordinary historical moment of the 14th Amendment (1866), recognizing the equality of all American citizens. And we’ve bumped along toward full equality for women, despite the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment. The Supreme Court, as interpreter of our Constitution, has enshrined our biases, and then at other times, pushed us well out of our national comfort zone. In recent history, we only need look at the shameful Korematsu case of 1944 in which the internment of Japanese-Americans was held to be lawful. Then, just ten years later, the Court declared segregation on the basis of race to be unlawful in Brown v. Board of Education.

My point is, the Constitution isn’t a crumbling piece of parchment. It is, like lawyers are fond of saying, a “living document.” In that spirit, LGBT rights are poised to be the next logical step in its – and our – growth.

I’m all for deleting the Electoral College text, and who cares about the “framers’ intent” if it can’t guide us today. But I still have faith in the Constitution’s unique power to urge us forward. Absent a better alternative, I’ll keep it.

by Abby Dees SGN Contributing Writer Despite my radical spirit, my committed feminism, and my deep distrust of old establishments, after I went to law school I became a fawning, dorky fan of the U.S. Constitution. It’s normal for lawyers to do this.

We see in the Constitution all this promise of equality and justice, even though we know all too well what a problematic document it is, and how bloody its failings have been.

We see in the Constitution all this promise of equality and justice, even though we know all too well what a problematic document it is, and how bloody its failings have been. We will fight for it like rabid dogs.

I was, therefore, gobsmacked to hear esteemed constitutional law professor Michael Seidman calling it “an ancient and outdated document” on CBS Sunday Morning last week. I almost threw my cereal at the TV. I refrained, and instead, continued to watch while suppressing a twitch. OK, he made some sense. His question was, why are we so beholden to a bunch of dead guys?

Come to think of it, is there really a good

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reason for the Electoral College or a twoyear term for members of the House other than, “because the it’s in the Constitution”?

Those provisions have given us Bush II and unending campaign robocalls. Seidman pointed to the gun-control debate to illustrate our misguided obsession with what people thought 200 years ago. Instead of

discussing the role guns should play in our society today, we get bogged down in what the framers meant in 1790. One’s opinion on the matter then becomes needlessly elevated to a litmus test about who’s the most patriotic, all because of the Second Amendment, written back when guns coughed out a lead gumball. At this point, forget rational debate.

I can’t really argue with him, but I’m not willing to concede so quickly, especially since this year promises to be a turning point in LGBT rights. There’s no doubt that the Constitution got many things profoundly wrong – for example, the notorious

Abby Dees is a civil rights attorneyturned-author who has been in the LGBT rights trenches for 25+ years. She can be reached through her website: www.queerquestionsstraighttalk.com.

February 8, 2013

Celebrating 40 Years!

Local news

courtesy holly tiege

Coming out after 30 ‘Meet-up’ group in Seattle offers community and support

by Uma Rao Special to the SGN Coming out as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Queer (LGBTQ) is a deeply personal process that varies for each individual, and there is no “right” or “wrong” way to do so. No matter your age or life path, each individual gets to determine when the time is right to publicly share their identity. The great news is that more and more people are feeling more supported and

you are over 30 years old and married? Carren Strock, author of Married Women Who Love Women, writes in her book that 59 of 100 women polled who came out later in life admitted that at the time of their marriage, they did not know that they were Gay. She also quotes licensed social worker and Lesbian relationship coach Barb Elgin, who explains, “When you’ve built a whole life in the straight world and then dismantle or implode it, there can be many victims. …

Sadly, until folks are educated, many [Les-

“Everyone has a story and everyone’s story is different. When I came out at 30 years old and sought out resources, I found that most were for youth or men. I decided to establish a support network to at least connect myself with others in my situation, men and women.” safer than ever before. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) surveyed Americans in 2006 and found that 83% of adults who selfidentify as LGBTQ consider themselves to be out.

Many of us also know that as support and safety increase, the age at which people self-identify their sexual orientation is decreasing, and people are coming out at a younger age than ever before. In 2012, HRC surveyed over 10,000 LGBTQ-identified youth (age 13-17) and found that 91% of them are out to their close friends, 64% are out to their classmates, and just over half are out to their families. The report also outlines the challenges that face young people and marks the incredible progress we’ve made over the years.

LGBTQ ADULTS NEED SUPPORT However, many of us know that coming out, particularly later in life, remains challenging and can be further complicated by a lack of community support, ignorance, or geographic isolation. For example, what if

freedom

continued from cover

bians’ loved ones] believe they would rather not know or pretend it isn’t happening.”

Holly Teige, co-founder of the Sky Valley GLBTQ Alliance and founder of Western Washington’s Out After 30 Meet-up, says, “Everyone has a story and everyone’s story is different. When I came out at 30 years old and sought out resources, I found that most were for youth or men. There was very little for those coming out in adulthood. I wanted to find guidance, and in the absence of it, I decided to establish a support network to at least connect myself with others in my situation, men and women.”

Holly says that in the 18 months since the group began, membership has grown to more than 150. She quotes member “K” who says, “I saw the name of this group, and thought ‘Thank God! I’m not the only one!’

Pretty much all the resources currently out there are geared towards teens, and even though we hear about people who wake up to their true sexualities much later, I was feeling kind of dumb for not accepting myself before now.” campaign manager for Minnesotans United for All Families. “As we move toward securing the freedom to marry for our state, this investment shows the level of commitment and confidence that soon all loving and committed couples can join marriage in Minnesota. Freedom to Marry continues to be an outstanding leader and partner to all those who believe love is love and it belongs to everybody.”

ing the momentum and winning still more states in 2013,” said Evan Wolfson, founder and president of Freedom to Marry. “With the clock ticking on the Supreme Court’s review of marriage cases, we want to make as much progress as we can – and with battles already under way now in state capitals, we all need to put our money where our momentum is.”

Launched in 2012, Freedom to Marry’s Win More States Fund strategically channels dollars into state marriage campaigns where and when the funds are most needed, supporting grassroots organizing, lobbying, paid and new media, and more – all aimed at ensuring that the most strategic campaigns are being waged. In addition, Freedom to Minnesotans defeated a proposed antiMarry is deeply embedded in the campaigns equality constitutional amendment last Nothemselves, providing strategic guidance vember, but the campaign to legalize sameand supporting every aspect of the advo- sex marriage in the state continues. cacy work in the states.

In 2012, Freedom to Marry surpassed its initial Win More States Fund goal by MINNESOTA FIGHT GOES ON August and helped achieve victory in all “Freedom to Marry’s continued com- four ballot states – Maine, Maryland, Minmitment to Minnesota couldn’t come at a nesota, and Washington – as well as defeat more critical time,” said Richard Carlbom, a repeal measure in New Hampshire and

Holly Teige

COMING ATTRACTIONS Beginning in April, there will be monthly social activities in addition to a regular chat group held on the last Saturday of every month at the DeLuxe Bar & Grill on Broadway. Holly also plans to expand the website to include a bulletin board and counseling support from volunteer therapists as well as resource referrals for those in this position.

She says, “As a primarily online resource this small organization is uniquely positioned to bring together people from all geographic areas, especially those of us who are in rural areas, with less access to a more vis-

ible LGBTQ community.”

Coming out at any age can be both a struggle and a joy, but most of all it can reduce isolation. As an organization working in the West, covering vast geography and thousands of small towns, Pride Foundation understands the unique challenges that individuals coming out later in life face. If you are over 30 when you decide to do this, consider joining the Out After 30 Meet-Up to connect with others who are going through, or have gone through, a similar process.

Visit www.meetup.com/outafter30/ for info. You never know who you will meet!

move a marriage bill through New Jersey’s state legislature. In total, Freedom to Marry invested more than $4 million through the Fund in 2012, and is the leading funder of marriage work nationally.

port will be an invaluable resource for our coalition and the growing majority of Rhode Islanders who support marriage for samesex couples.”

Freedom to Marry’s Win More States Fund is financed by a donor base that is both geographically and politically diverse, with contributors from both progressive and conservative political affiliations across America. Last year Freedom to Marry’s National Engagement Party raised over $500,000 towards the Win More States Fund through dozens of grassroots house parties as well as major fundraisers in six cities. In online donations, the 2012 Win More States Fund received contributions from over 800 donors in all 50 states as well as Canada.

Freedom to Marry is the campaign to win marriage nationwide. As the group’s website states, “We are pursuing our Roadmap to Victory by working to win the freedom to marry in more states, grow the national majority for marriage, and end federal marriage discrimination. We partner with individuals and organizations across the country to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage and the protections, responsibilities, and commitment that marriage brings.”

RHODE ISLAND POISED FOR WIN “We are thrilled to have the support of Freedom to Marry, whose commitment to Rhode Island has been a driving force in the

Freedom to Marry’s Win More States Fund strategically channels dollars into state marriage campaigns where and when the funds are most needed. fight to win marriage for all loving, committed couples,” said Ray Sullivan, campaign director for Rhode Islanders United for Marriage, the coalition of organizations leading the campaign to pass a marriage bill in the Ocean State in 2013. “Freedom to Marry has played an integral role in winning marriage for same-sex couples in our neighboring New England states and across the country, and their experience and sup-

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February 8, 2013

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Turning tragedy into triumph

Gay Kenyan gang-rape victim, now living in Seattle, has a harrowing story to tell courtesy msmgf

closer, offering to buy his next drink if he cared to stay a little longer and keep them company, he thought he would finally get that kiss he’d traveled all this way for.

But that would not happen. Instead, Anthony Adero would endure a hell that no one should ever experience in their lifetime.

Only this hell, even after he would leave it, clawing and climbing his way to uncertain safety, would follow him for the rest of his life – poisoning his blood and weakening his ability to fight off pneumonia and cancer.

“They stole my shoes, my bag, my money. I lay stomach-down on a dirt floor, embraced by darkness. Eyes closed, I heard the rush of cars down a nearby road. Where was I?” recalled Anthony.

He’d been dumped in a semi-completed, abandoned house without a door. The men raping him would come back again and again throughout the night.

a stupid, uneducated farmhand. I kept silent, in pain. They said curse words. ‘Idiot,’ ‘ugly,’ ‘filth,’ ‘trash,’ they said.

“A voice in my head interrupted their dirty, abusive sermon with warrior language for my broken spirit,” he told SGN. “‘Anthony Adero, this is not who you are.”

“Who am I?” Then came the epiphany: “I. Am. Blessed.”

THE AFTERMATH Anthony Adero had contracted HIV. Anthony’s journey with HIV/AIDS has been a humbling experience – one that he has a personal connection with.

“It makes you experience a rollercoaster health journey, [and] tells you what action, social organizing, and activism can achieve on prevention and control,” he said.

“I’ve lost friends and colleagues to HIV due to factors beyond comprehension,” said Anthony, adding, “There is no Disneyland in HIV.” NIGHT OF TERROR “I was deeply depressed, very sickly,” he The harsh reality of the scene is hard to imagine. Anthony says mosquitoes feasted went on, describing how he felt when he on blood from his anus, blood was dripping returned to Nairobi. “I could not get out of

“I have died. I was in Hell. Then I rose from the dead. I’ve died many, many times and risen from the dead more times. No, I am not afraid of death, nor what life brings.”

Anthony Adero

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Anthony Adero has found Seattle social life to be very liberal and unique. “It is a city with its own unique culture and very great mix of hype,” he told Seattle Gay News.

A very extroverted and sociable person, he has come to love Seattle.

“The people are the nicest of any city I’ve been to in the United States, especially those who I have met at social events in the Seattle area,” said Anthony, adding, “Another new great life experience for me – a new home.”

Anthony Adero has many things now.

He has a story to tell. But then again, so do you and I. He has dreams. But who doesn’t?

He has HIV, and surely couldn’t claim to be the world’s sole infection.

But it is through his story – a very personal and at times tragic story – that you will learn of how he was infected, against his will, in Kenya, Africa, thousands of miles away from the city he now calls home.

LEAVING HOME His story first appeared on the Huffington Post website January 17.

“On the morning of Dec. 11, 2007, Anthony Adero decided to leave his hometown forever and head to the capital, because he wanted to kiss a man for the first time in his life. He packed the few essentials needed for his five-hour trip, little things that carry weight, like family photographs and a prerecorded cellphone message from his baby sister; he felt soothed whenever he heard her giggles,” Nick Mwaluko and Anthony Adero wrote in the HuffPo piece.

“What he could not stuff into his suitcase he packed in his heart. Then he took two reassuring breaths for courage, allowed himself a measured silence, and then headed straight for the central bus station in Kisumu for his final goodbyes. His grandmother cried. The men cried, too, but rural 6

Seattle Gay News

machismo forbids public displays of emotion among men, so they turned their backs to hide their shame. His older brother was envious, while his baby sister was proud.

Anthony was hopeful, but everyone else held serious doubts. Kiss, hug ... those final moments were so tense that he forgot his ticket before boarding.”

Anthony would travel over 165 miles to Nairobi seeking the freedom to explore his sexuality.

He arrived with great hope mixed with deep anxiety. Painful memories began to flash before his mind’s eye: the semester when six boys were expelled for wearing earrings – the boys beaten to a pulp by their fathers who had sacrificed nearly everything to educate them, counting on their sons’ support in their old age or infirmity.

Blood spilling from one boy as he fell to the ground, kneeling as his father pounded him, front teeth knocked clear out of his swollen mouth. Searching the dictionary for “homosexuality” to find no word in Kiswahili, though the slang for “faggot,” “cunt,” and “bitch boy” lives in multiple incarnations at the tip of every Kenyan’s tongue. Televised presidential speeches denouncing Gay love and calling for its prohibition. Sermons preaching eternal hellfire, demonic possession, perversity. And, finally, telling his girlfriend, “No, sweetheart, I cannot marry you, because I’m Gay” – and then banking on God’s protection to pave the way for a planned escape.

THE FIRST ENCOUNTER Like many of us – probably most of us – Anthony decided that a celebratory drink should precede a phone call home telling his family that he’d arrived safely in the big city. He looked for the rumored Gay bar. He found it.

Anthony stood at the bar, ordered his drink, and was excited by the prospect of exploring his sexuality. He smiled.

Two men sat down beside him. They were tall with deep voices. As the men inched

February 8, 2013

down his legs, and there was blood on the side of his skull, where they’d beaten him with a steel pipe.

“My asshole throbbed with pain,” he said.

“My skull and stomach jerked with pain whenever I moved – even the slightest gesture jolted my suffering to its depths.”

To stay motionless was an invitation for rape.

“Alternatively, I could escape this hell. I closed my eyes and pushed my consciousness into a bird,” he said. “I flew. I soared. I was free. Eyes open, I tried to push my upper body off the dirt floor but failed.”

“My wings were too fragile,” Anthony said. “In my stillness I could not gather peace, only rushing thoughts from a counter-narrative in which they parted my legs and penetrated me, stabbing my sexuality as mosquitoes danced joyfully to the rhythm of each greedy thrust. ‘No!’ I screamed, pushing my upper body off the floor. ‘No!’ I screamed as I came to my knees. ‘No! No! No!’” MEETING AN ‘ANGEL’ Finally, he stood alone, naked in the dark.

Realizing that he was naked, he searched for and found plastic sheeting left over from construction work.

“I put the plastic around my body, careful to cover the blood on my legs as best as I could. I worried that I smelled of spunk, blood, sweat, anus,” he said.

When he reached the door, he says, he took one deep breath, then his first step.

“How to describe it, that moment of initial self-rescue? A million birds taking flight from my heart, thanks to release by an inner warrior. The spirit regaining ‘Yes’ language with each step as affirmation,” said Anthony. “God of a thousand hands stretching to lift the mountain off my back. Fire dragons plunging headfirst into the ocean, emerging as butterfly love. I was flying. I was soaring.

Yes, freedom.”

At the end of the road, Anthony came across a woman who gave him directions.

She walked him to the Matatu bus stop and then, slowly reaching into her bra, she brought out 90 Kenyan shillings for his fare back to Nairobi. “‘Take,’ my angel said. She promised to pray for my protection,” said Anthony.

During the ride back, passengers refused to sit near him. He was called “monster.”

In Nairobi he called a relative, who came to pick him up. “They said I looked miserable,” he said. “They said Nairobi was a cosmopolitan city for sophisticated people, a place where someone as dirt-poor and as rural as I could not survive beyond a week at best. They said I smelled bad and spoke like

bed. My youngest aunt suggested, with the utmost compassion, that I get medical attention. My first test was negative, but I knew my body was not my body. My second test was positive.”

HETEROSEXISM KILLS Anthony told SGN that an African man who is raped is not an African man by traditional African standards. “I had no language. Nothing to call forth, not in a village with strict gender stereotypes. Blame is available: ‘You’re stupid. You’re naïve.

Nobody will accept you. You deserve nothing.’ My first tongue was shame. It came from deep. It was all I could summon from within.

“I am complex. Accept me. Embrace me.

Appreciate what I have to offer. I am different. Why fear me? Change the homophobic laws so I can think about a future, marry if I want, have job security,” said Anthony.

“In Africa, patriarchy and heterosexism are huge diseases. They impact my intimacy, my education, my religion, my politics, my personal health, and the way I relate with my culture. How can we strip them away, Africa?”

Anthony says he would like the men who raped him to acknowledge his pain – tell him why they made him live in hell.

He says of the men who raped him, “They have influenced me, forced me to look closely at my life, to look to life for meaning. My whole experience has given me a new sense of how I see issues. I hear the sound of truth, truth birthed by agony. They forced me to create that sound. They have truly influenced my destiny in a very positive way.”

ANTHONY, UNAFRAID After all he has been through, Anthony says, he does not fear death. “I have died.

I was in Hell. Then I rose from the dead.

I’ve died many, many times and risen from the dead more times. No, I am not afraid of death, nor what life brings.”

In his U.S. experience, Anthony has found that many people seem to be afraid of Africans. He said, “A lot of people stereotype the diaspora-based Africans with portrayed misunderstood culture back in Africa based on media reporting, and some perceived cultural differences also raise phobias and also cut social interactions with Africans.”

Anthony Adero wants SGN readers to know that he is a change-maker who’s truly passionate to bring difference to the community. Last week, Anthony joined Social Outreach Seattle (SOSea) as the organization’s Immigration and Asylum Services Program Director.

Celebrating 40 Years!

national news

Boy Scouts postpone decision on Gays Poll shows most people favor inclusion

LGBT ACTIVISTS REACT The postponement disappointed some LGBT activists who hoped the organization would end its ban on Gay Scouts. Eagle Scout and LGBT activist Zach Wahls, the son of two Lesbian mothers, accused the Boy Scouts of “caving” to right-wing interests.

“By postponing this decision, the BSA has caved to those who argue that their antiGay attitudes trump basic Scouting values

WERE MORMONS INVOLVED? CNN anchor Erin Burnett suggested that the Mormon Church may have influenced the Boy Scouts to put off a final decision.

Mormons represent 15% of the 2.7 million registered Boy Scouts, the largest single group. A decision by the church to withdraw its support could be a devastating blow to the Scouts.

Mormon leaders, meanwhile, tried to quiet speculation about their role in the con-

“By postponing this decision, the BSA has caved to those who argue that their anti-Gay attitudes trump basic Scouting values of kindness, courtesy, and bravery.” of kindness, courtesy, and bravery. Scouting was built on a foundation of respect and dignity. Today, the BSA cracked that foundation,” he said.

HRC President Chad Griffin called on the Scouts’ organization to act on Gay rights.

“Every day that the Boy Scouts of America delay action is another day that discrimination prevails,” Griffin said.

“Now is the time for action. Young Americans, Gay and straight, are hurt by the inaction associated with today’s news. The BSA leadership should end this awful policy once and for all, and open the proud tradition of Scouting to all.”

troversy.

“We believe [Boy Scouts of America] has acted wisely in delaying a vote on this policy issue until the implications can be more carefully evaluated,” they said in a statement.

“We caution others not to speculate about our position or to assume that individual Latter-day Saints inside or outside the Scouting movement speak for the Church.

Neither has the Church launched any campaign either to effect or prevent a policy change.”

ica’s National Executive Board concluded that due to the complexity of this issue, the organization needs time for a more deliberBoy Scouts of America officials an- ate review.” nounced on February 6 that they will delay a decision on whether to end their ban on Gay OBAMA URGES CHANGE Scouts and adult Scout leaders, but a poll rePresident Obama weighed in on the issue leased the same day indicates most Ameri- in a February 3 speech in Las Vegas. cans have already made up their minds on “My attitude is that Gays and Lesbians the issue. should have access and opportunity the According to the new Quinnipiac poll, same way everybody else does in every in55% of Americans believe the Scouts stitution and walk of life,” he said. should drop their discriminatory policy, “The Scouts are a great institution that are while only 33% say they should keep it. promoting young people and exposing them As might be expected, women support- to opportunities and leadership that will ed Gay Scouts by a wider margin – 61% serve people for the rest of their lives. And to 27%, compared to a 49%-39% margin I think nobody should be barred from that.” among men. Support for Gay Scouts among However, White House spokesman Jay white Catholics was 63% to 25%, and Carney said February 6 that the administraamong white Protestants it was 44% to 41%. tion had no comment on the Scouts’ deciHowever, white Protestants who described sion to postpone its decision. themselves as “evangelical” opposed Gay “You know that the president believes the Scouts by a margin of 56% to 33%.

Boy Scouts is a valuable organization that In their February 6 statement, the Boy has helped educate and build character in Scouts acknowledged they had received “an American boys for more than a century,” outpouring of feedback from the American Carney said. public,” but said they had to postpone a de“He also, as you know, opposes discrimicision. nation in all forms. And as such, believes – “After careful consideration,” the state- as he said just on Sunday – that Gay Ameriment said, “and extensive dialogue within cans ought to be able to participate in the the Scouting family, along with comments Boy Scouts. But in terms of the process of from those outside the organization, the vol- their evaluation of their policies, I don’t unteer officers of the Boy Scouts of Amer- have a comment.”

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

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denver post

Rhode Island Bar Association endorses marriage equality

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The Rhode Island Bar Association executive committee and its House of Delegates have both endorsed the marriage equality bill now pending in the state Senate. Rhode Islanders United for Marriage announced the Bar Association’s endorsement on February 4.

The measure passed the Rhode Island House of Representatives on January 24 by a lopsided 51-19 vote. Its prospects in the Senate remain uncertain, however. Democrats control the Senate by a margin of 32 to 5, but not all Democratic senators support the bill.

Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed, Senate Majority Leader Dominick Ruggerio, and Senate Judiciary Committee chair Michael McCaffrey, all Democrats, oppose the measure. All three are devout Roman Catholics. Some 64% of Rhode Island residents are Catholic, the highest proportion of any state.

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee is a supporter of marriage equality

DEBATE PROMISED Nevertheless, Paiva-Weed promised a “full and fair debate” in the Senate. This represents a huge step forward for equality supporters, since in past sessions Senate leaders have refused to allow the legislation

to come up for debate.

Paiva-Weed said in an interview after the House vote that she and many of her Senate colleagues are “genuinely struggling with this issue.”

“The debate and the discussion in the Senate will be very real, and neither I nor anybody else ... really knows what the final outcome of that will be,” she added.

Governor Lincoln Chafee supports equality and has promised to sign the bill if the Senate passes it.

“I urge Senate leadership to ‘call the roll,’” Chafee said in a statement, “for our economy, for our Gay and Lesbian friends and neighbors, and for history.”

“We are in intense competition with Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts,” Chafee said in a February 5 interview. “We are all in the same economy. We have to have the same welcome mat at our door that our neighbors have.” Rhode Island is the only New England state that still does not allow same-sex marriage.

A former Republican who succeeded his father, John Chafee, in the U.S. Senate, Chafee won the governorship as an independent in 2010, after endorsing President Obama and describing 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin as a “wacko.”

AP Photo / Seth Perlman

Marriage equality for Valentine’s Day? Illinois lawmakers plan a Feb. 14 vote on same-sex marriage

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Illinois Senate President John Cullerton said on February 5 that he would bring his state’s marriage equality bill to the Senate floor for a vote on Valentine’s Day, February 14.

Speaking with reporters just after the Senate Executive Committee passed SB10, the Religious Freedom and Marriage Equality Act, by a 9-5 vote, Cullerton said he is confident he has the 30 votes needed to pass the measure and send it on to the state House of Representatives.

Although the Illinois House is said to be more conservative than the Senate, Cullerton said that the marriage equality bill is “getting more support in the public every day.”

Democratic lawmakers, who control both houses of the Illinois legislature, have made equality one of the cornerstones of their legislative agenda, and Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn has promised to sign the bill when it comes to his desk.

REPUBLICAN SUPPORT According to a Chicago Sun-Times column by blogger Rich Miller, even Republican legislators want to see the bill passed as quickly as possible. It has been endorsed

by Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady.

Brady went public with his support for marriage equality last month in a joint statement with former George W. Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman, who came

out as Gay in 2010.

Republican candidates performed poorly in the November election, especially in Illinois, and party leaders are trying to revamp their image. Knowing that Democrats have the votes to pass a marriage bill regardless of what they do or say, Republicans have an incentive to go along with equality rather than oppose it and reinforce their image as backward anti-Gay bigots.

LGBT rights activists were optimistic that the legislation will pass quickly.

Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois, told the Windy City Times that Cullerton’s statement indicated the bill will pass.

“I believe that the Senate president would not have announced a timeline on the bill if he did not think it had the votes to pass,” he said.

Said Rick Garcia, director of the Equal Marriage Illinois Project and senior policy advisor for the Civil Rights Agenda, “We are all very excited to see this bill move forward.”

‘VALENTINE’S DAY GIFT’ “We are looking forward to a full vote in the Senate and we expect it to pass,” Garcia added. “It should be a very welcome Valentine’s Day gift for the thousands of couples and families that are anxiously awaiting the passage of this bill. The momentum continues to build in Illinois.”

Lambda Legal also released a statement predicting the measure will pass.

“The day when loving, committed samesex couples in Illinois can marry feels imminent, and Lambda Legal is energized by

Illinois Senate President John Cullerton

this vote,” said Lambda’s Midwest regional director, Jim Bennett.

“Our state is ready to become the 10th state where same-sex couples have the freedom to marry, and we urge people across the state to call their senators and urge them to vote in favor of the bill when it comes to a vote as early as next week. It’s just time.”

Marriage equality supporters had hoped to pass SB10 in the legislature’s lame-duck session in January, but could not assemble the votes to do so because three senators were absent. President Obama, who was himself an Illinois state senator, has endorsed the measure.

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February 8, 2013

Celebrating 40 Years!

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton called for marriage equality in his annual State of the State address to the state legislature on February 6.

“Let me mention one other cause,” Dayton said after outlining his budget priorities

ecm publishers

Minnesota governor calls for marriage equality legislation CHILLY GOP RECEPTION The governor’s remarks drew a standing ovation from his Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party legislators, who have a majority in both houses of the Minnesota legislature, but Republican lawmakers sat in silence.

“I’m not sure that now is exactly the time to be talking about that. This is an issue

“I believe that every Minnesotan should have the freedom to marry legally the person she or he loves, whether of the same or other sex.” for the coming year, “which is controversial, but consistent with my faith and my principles. And, more importantly, consistent with this country’s founding principles and its Constitution. I believe that every Minnesotan should have the freedom to marry legally the person she or he loves, whether of the same or other sex.”

Referring to the November election in which Minnesota voters rejected an antiGay marriage amendment, the governor continued, “Last year, Minnesotans began a conversation about why marriage matters, and we found our common belief that it is about love, commitment, and responsibility.

“I want Minnesota to be a state which affirms that freedom for one means freedom for everyone, and where no one is told it is illegal to marry the person you love.”

that certainly the state of Minnesota is divided on,” said House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt. “We really need to be focused on the budget and growing the economy and creating jobs.”

A campaign is under way in Minnesota to legalize same-sex marriage, but is unclear whether activists and lawmakers can pass a bill this spring, the Wisconsin Gazette, a regional LGBT newspaper, said.

Dayton was elected governor in 2010, after serving one term in the U.S. Senate (2001-07). As a senator, Dayton co-sponsored the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act to extend spousal benefits to the same-sex domestic partners of federal employees. He also voted against a proposed constitutional amendment to limit marriage to opposite-sex couples. abc news

Chuck Hagel

military

continued from cover Military officials have struggled with the fuss of equality quandaries that have emerged since the ban on openly Gay troops was lifted in September 2011, following congressional repeal of DADT. The repeal led to criticism of the military’s subsequent decision not to give same-sex spouses the same privileges as opposite-sex ones.

TWO-TIERED SYSTEM The military “has established a twotiered system regarding how they treat the haves and have-not families,” said Allyson

Robinson, the executive director of OutServe-SLDN, an organization that has been pressing the Pentagon to expand benefits to same-sex couples. “It’s an untenable leadership situation.”

Commander Leslie Hull-Ryde, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the department has been conducting a “deliberative and comprehensive review of the possibility of extending eligibility for benefits, when legally permitted, to same-sex domestic partners.”

The Defense Department has already granted a few benefits to same-sex spouses, mainly relating to troop deaths and other emergency situations.

In October, the Joint Chiefs of Staff received a final version of a plan to extend

Visit us online www.sgn.org

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton

benefits to same-sex couples, said Robinson, who has informally advised the Pentagon on the issue. The Joint Chiefs did not take action on the recommendations at the time, she said, but the issue appears to have gained new momentum in recent months.

The government in 2010 expanded the range of benefits available to same-sex spouses of civilian employees, but those guidelines did not apply to the armed forces, because of DOMA. HAGEL ON BOARD The issue also surfaced during the confirmation hearing of defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel, who has disavowed disparaging remarks he made in 1998 about an openly Gay ambassador. Hagel sought to reassure senators during his opening remarks last week, saying he is “fully committed” to implementing the repeal of the ban on openly Gay troops and saying he would do “everything possible under current law to provide equal benefits to the families of all our service members.”

Activists and lawmakers who champion Gay rights say they recognize that many benefits mandated by federal law will remain unavailable to same-sex military couples because of the Defense of Marriage Act. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next month about the constitutionality of the law, which numerous lower courts have struck down. The court is expected to rule on the issue by the end of June.

Still, activists and lawmakers who have pushed the Pentagon to offer benefits to same-sex couples say there are meaningful steps the military can take right now. These include offering Gay spouses military identification cards and access to commissaries and family support programs. The military also could offer transportation privileges for couples with one member stationed abroad, according to those pressing for expanded

February 8, 2013

benefits.

According to the Washington Post, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) sent a letter to Panetta co-signed by 25 lawmakers urging him to extend full benefits as a matter of policy.

“As long as they remain in place, these restrictions have the effect of perpetuating discrimination against same-sex spouses and their families,” the congressman wrote.

“Department of Defense current policy is treating same-sex service members, their spouses and families as second-class citizens.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) also appealed to Panetta, a civil rights champion who often talks about being the son of Italian immigrants, not to leave office without tackling this issue.

“Before you retire, and to secure your legacy on this critical issue, we urge you to change Defense Department rules to extend as many benefits as possible,” she wrote in a Jan. 28 letter co-signed by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).

FLAP AT FORT BRAGG The Army has wrestled in recent weeks with a controversy at Fort Bragg, N.C., that has given the issue greater urgency after the wife of a female lieutenant colonel was denied membership in the officers’ spouses’ organization in December because she didn’t have a military ID. The case made national news and prompted the Marine Corps to issue a memo saying that groups at its bases nationwide could not reject prospective members on the basis of sexual orientation.

The spouses’ group backed down last month, offering the officer’s wife, Ashley Broadway, full membership. The announcement came the same day Broadway learned that she had been named Fort Bragg spouse of the year by Military Spouse magazine.

Seattle Gay News

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February 8, 2013

Celebrating 40 Years!

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February 8, 2013

Celebrating 40 Years!

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northwest news

SEATTLE WOMEN’S CHORUS – “CELEBRATE!” FEATURING VICCI MARTINEZ On Friday, February 8, at 8 p.m., at Benaroya Hall (3rd Ave. & University St.), Seattle Women’s Chorus celebrates their 10th anniversary season “Celebrate!” with special guest Vicci Martinez.

Featuring songs from some of the fantastic musical divas of the past few decades, written by some of the great female singersongwirters of the modern era, this chorus of 200 women will be setting the stage on fire with songs such as “Constant Craving” (k.d. lang), “Rumor Has it” (Adele), “Give Me One Reason” (Tracy Chapman) and “Natural Woman” (Carole King) and other tunes. Vicci Martinez, known for her rocking acoustic guitar and electrifying performances, will join the chorus on stage for a few songs and will showcase her impressive musical talents.

The event continues with a FREE postconcert dance party in the Benaroya Hall lobby. DJ Stacey Cooks (The Original Timberline, The Cuff, Hotflash, and Girl 4 Girl) will spin celebratory music from the ‘70s to the present. The party continues until 1 a.m. There will be a cash bar and all are welcome.

Tickets to the Seattle performance are $25-$65 and can be purchased in advance at 206-388-1400 or at www.SeattleWomens Chorus.org.

BABES NETWORK – ANNUAL ONE-DAY RETREAT FOR HIV+ WOMEN On Saturday, February 9, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., at the YWCA (5th Ave. & Seneca St.), join the BABES Network for a day of education, sisterhood, good food, massage, and free giveaways. RSVP to 206-720-5566. www.babesnetwork.org.

EMERALD CITY SOFTBALL ASSOCIATION – NEW PLAYER SKILLS CLINIC On Saturday, February 9, at 10 a.m., at North SeaTac Park (S. 128th St. & 20th Ave. S., SeaTac), join one of the nation’s largest Gay softball leagues, home of two 2012 national champion teams. This practice session is open to new and returning players of all skill levels. Team representatives will be on hand to recruit new players. Please bring a mitt. Rain date: Feb. 10, same time/place.

Info: membershipdirector@seattlegaysoftball.com; www.emeraldcitysoftball.org.

D. on the Court of Seattle’s designated Voting Day. All King County residents (ID required) are eligible to select the coming year’s Emperor and Empress.

On Sunday, February 10, 6 p.m. door, 7 p.m., show, at R Place (619 E. Pine St.), enjoy the Imperial Court of Seattle’s In Town Show and Awards event featuring performances by Seattle members and friends of the Court paying tribute to the current reigning Emperor and Empress, Rainier 38 Rick Peters-Lake and Olympia 41 Beverly Peters Lake. Awards will be bestowed to selected individuals to recognize their special contributions to the Court of Seattle this past year.

No cover.

On Thursday, February 14, 7 p.m. door, 7:30 p.m. show, at R Place (619 E. Pine St.) the Imperial Court of Seattle presents the Denver/Salt Lake City Show featuring dignitaries from Denver and Salt Lake City in town for Coronation. No cover.

On Friday, February 15, 6 p.m. door, 7 p.m. show, at Neighbours Nightclub (1509 Broadway), the Imperial Court of Seattle presents the Out-of-Town Show featuring dignitaries visiting from outside Seattle in town for Coronation. $15 cover.

On Saturday, February 16, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., at Seattle Renaissance Hotel Presidential Suite (515 Madison St.), dignitaries are invited to submit their Protocol for Coronation. $35.

On Saturday, February 16, 5 p.m. door, 6 p.m. pageant, at Seattle Renaissance Hotel (515 Madison St.), join the Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle and the Olympic and Rainier Empire for Coronation 2013: The President’s Ball: A Cruise Around the World, Lake Style.

The Court of Seattle is pleased to host Queen Mother of the Americas, Empress Nicole the Great, as she presents her 7th annual State of the Empire address.

The evening will also feature command performances, introduction of visiting dignaries, the crowning and investiture of the Court of Seattle’s new Emperor and Empress and final walks of the Court of Seattle’s reigning Emperor 38 Rick Peters-Lake and Empress 41 Beverly Peters-Lake.

Tickets for the President’s Ball: $50.

On Sunday, February 17, at 11 a.m., at Seattle Renaissance Hotel Visions Ballroom (515 Madison St.), the Court of Seattle hosts Coronation Victory Brunch, celebrating the investiture of the new Emperor and Empress. Cost: $35.

On Sunday, February 17, at 3 p.m., at C.C. Attle’s (1701 E. Olive Way), the Court of Seattle presents the Alaska Birdwater Party, featuring dignitaries from Alaska in town for Coronation. No cover.

LES FAERIES VERTES – 5TH ANNUAL MARDI GRAS BALL On Saturday, February 9, at 6 p.m., at 415 Westlake Ave., join Les Faeries Vertes SKI BUDDIES POTLUCK & for an evening of dinner, auction, dancing, SKI BUDDIES WEEKEND and celebration at their 5th annual Mardi On Sunday, February 10, at 6 p.m., join Gras Ball. Five years of Faerie Tales as they raise funds to benefit Gay City Health Ski Buddies for their monthly potluck. (See Project. Tickets: $85, includes dinner and website for West Seattle location.) Meet LGBTQ ski and snow sport enthusiasts and drinks. www.lesfaeriesvertes.org. learn about Ski Buddies outings, including their upcoming Ski Buddies weekend at SISTAH SINEMA VALENTINE’S DAY CELEBRATION Steven’s Pass, February 21-24. Ski Buddies On Saturday, February 9, at Roy Street will have a cabin and be there all weekend, Coffee & Tea (700 Broadway E.), Sistah with an apres-ski potluck on Saturday, FebSinema will be celebrating Valentine’s Day ruary 23, at 6 p.m. www.skibuddies.org.

– whether you are single or partnered. From SEATTLE VOLLEYBALL CLUB – 7-8 p.m., Sistah Sinema will host a singles WINTER 2013 SEASON speed dating event, followed by a raffle. At The Winter 2013 Season runs through 8 p.m., a movie will be shown, followed by mingling at 9 p.m. Tickets: $10. www.sis- March. For complete details, including schedule, locations and costs, visit www.setahsinema.com. attlevolleyballclub.com.

IMPERIAL COURT OF SEATTLE – LGBTQ YOUTH BASKETBALL CORONATION WEEK Meets weekly on Tuesdays, from 6:30 On Sunday, February 10, from 11 a.m.4 p.m., at Richmark’s 12th & Pine Building p.m.-8:30 p.m., at the International Dis(12th Ave. & E. Pine St.) cast your ballot trict/Chinatown Community Center (719 for this year’s Emperor and Empress can- 8th Ave. S.), Seattle Parks and Recreation didates, Michael Dior D. and Sahara Dior hosts this FREE LGBTQ Youth basketball

compiled by Rick McKinnon SGN Staff Writer

program for LGBTQ Youth, Queer Youth of Color, allies and friends, ages 14-19. For more information, contact Randy Wiger at 206-883-6110 phone/text or email randy. wiger@seattle.gov.

SEATTLE EROTIC BALL On Tuesday, February 12, from 8 p.m.2 a.m., at Trinity Nightclub (111 Yesler Way), celebrate Mardi Gras at Sasha Scarlett’s 6th Annual Seattle Erotic Ball. Get ready to dance the night away with DJ Jub Jub and DJ Paul Aleinikoff and DJ Girl 6.

Enjoy six stages of non-stop entertainment including burlesque dancers, Lady Alycyn, aerial performers, fetish demonstration stages, including live suspension. With special guest: Mr. Peter Big. The Seattle Erotic Ball is a costume mandatory event. Guests without costumes will not be admitted. No ticket refunds provided. $2,000 cash prizes for Sexiest Male, Sexiest Female, Sexiest Couple. The Seattle Erotic Ball is a hate free event and guests of all ages over 21, colors, lifestyles and orientations are welcome. Producers ask all guests to be tolerant and respectful. If such an environment is not comfortable to you as a guest, please do not purchase a ticket or attend the event.

Tickets: $20. www.brownpapertickets.com/ event/295641. Proceeds benefit Rise ‘n Shine. www.sashaeroticball.com.

visionary architecture of Bernard Maybeck.

You’ll see familiar and not so familiar examples of buildings and interiors by the region’s most accomplished and imaginative designers with commentary and critique by outstanding scholars and authors.

On February 14: “Designing With Nature: Arts & Crafts Architecture in Northern California.” On February 21: “Pursuing Beauty: The Architecture of Bernard Maybeck.” Tickets: $10 members, $15 general public, $5 student. 206-622-6952; www. historicseattle.org.

“WEST SIDE GLORY” – VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIAL – AT SKYLARK CAFE On Thursday, February 14, door at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m., at Skylark Cafe (3803 Delridge Way SW), Jeffrey Robert (the Lane Bryant of Comedy) hosts a special Valentine’s Day edition of “West Side Glory,” West Seattle’s Queer Variety Show.

This show will be jam-packed with talent and fun, featuring Mizz Honey Bucket (Pac Highway Superstar), Cubs McGee (The Bear Britney Spears), Betty Fish (from Chameleon Productions), Scandal from Bohemia (Anti-Glamour Adventuress), Hoi Polloi (Man of Mystery), Aphelia Bottom (Tacoma Icon), James & Kerry (Darling Entertainers), Cannoli (Delicious Genderbending), David Johnson (Bear-O-Dynamics Singer/Songwriter), with special guest POZ SEATTLE – Stachia Fierce and featuring the Fabulous “MARDI GRAS DE CARNIVALE” On Wednesday, February 13, from GoGo Bears. Tickets: $10. Must be 21 and 6-8 p.m., at The Cuff Complex (13th Ave. over, ID required. www.brownpapertickets. & E. Pine St.) join POZSeattle for their com/event/327234. monthly social get-together. Meet in the “CUPID’S CARNIVAL” downstairs bar for light snacks, socializing, On Saturday, February 16, from 6-10 catching-up with old friends, making new ones, and a whole lot of fun. This month’s p.m., at The Cuff Complex (13th Ave. & theme is “Mardi Gras de Carnivale.” Mardi E. Pine St.), Seattle girls of Leather, hosts Gras beads included – “I have to flash you “Cupid’s Carnival,” a fundraiser to help SgoL provide the hospitality suite for Kink WHAT???”

This event is FREE (except for the cost of LINCS Leadership and Community Buildbeverages), and is for all HIV-Positive men ing Symposium (www.kinklincs.org) which and their friends, regardless of age, shape, will be held in Seattle April 12-14. “Cupid’s size or color. NOTE: If you or your group Carnival” features carnival booths by Seor organization would like to sponsor one of attle boys of Leather, Seattle Pups and HanPOZSeattle’s monthly socials by either do- dlers, Microdungeon, Seattle Men in Leathnation or a meal or both, please contact POZ er, Knights of Mantra, Kitsap Aces, Bad Girls, and Snoco R.A.C.K.E.D. Come pet, Seattle.

POZSeattle is a social organization run play, or rent a Sea-Pah puppy. Check out the for and by Seattle-area HIV-Positive guys pastries and pasties of the Seattle girls of that is committed to planning and promoting Leather, and many more! Tickets: $10 at the fun, social activities. Their primary social door, plus $1 raffle and ride tickets. www. event is always held on the 2nd Wednesday sgol.org of each month. For questions or more information about this event, to plan your own 1ST ANNUAL social event, or to be added to the POZSeTACOMA GAY & LESBIAN attle email list, email contactpozseattle@ WEDDING SHOW gmail.com or visit www.pozseattle.org.

On Sunday, February 17, from 1:304:30 p.m., at McGavick Conference CenSEATTLE GAY & LESBIAN ter at Clover Park Technical College (4500 BOOK CLUB – Steilacoom Blvd SW), meet with dozens of BORROWED TIME LGBT-friendly wedding vendors, enjoy a The Seattle Gay & Lesbian Book Club variety of delicious samples, music, LGBTmeets every Wednesday from 6-7:15 p.m., specific planning tips, and much more. For at Seattle Area Support Groups Community more information, visit www.samelovesaCenter (303 17th Ave. E. at E. Thomas St.). merights.com. This is a kid-friendly event.

In Febuary, the club is reading Paul Monette’s acclaimed Borrowed Time, a SOCIAL OUTREACH SEATTLE – love-song to Monette’s beloved partner “KICK ASS QUEENS AND FEMMES” Roger Horwitz dying of AIDS. STREET SMART & SELF-DEFENSE All GLBTQ folks are welcome to parCLASS ticipate in this FREE book club. For more On Sunday, February 17, from 6-9 p.m., information visit http://faculty.washington. at Velocity Dance Center (1621 12th Ave.), edu/swittet/SGLBookClub/. join host Robbie Turner and instructor Mac McGregor for SOSea’s first annual street HISTORIC SEATTLE – smart and self-defense class, “Kick Ass CALIFORNIA ARTS & CRAFTS Queens and Femmes.” Learn how to proARCHITECTURE FILM NIGHTS tect and defend yourself from becoming a On Thursdays, February 14 and 21, from victim. There will be sections designed for 7-8:30 p.m., at Washington Hall (153 14th drag queens or women in heels as well as Ave.) Historic Seattle and Northwest Film bartenders or other late-night workers and Forum continues their film program fea- the average citizen. This event is FREE; doturing outstanding films produced by Paul nations will be greatly appreciated.

Bockhurst on Arts & Crafts architecture in Southern and Northern California and the

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international news

Mandhar Deodhar / India Today

Gay Pride celebrated in India Thousands march in Mumbai and Hyderabad

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Thousands of Indians marched for LGBT rights in Mumbai on February 2 and in Hyderabad the next day.

According to Gay Star News, 2,000 people marched in Mumbai in the fifth annual Queer Azaadi Pride march. “Azaadi” means “freedom” in Hindi, and the march climaxes a month of LGBT performances and parties. The event has been held regularly since 2008, with Mumbai’s first Pride march dating back to 2005.

FEWER HIDE THEIR FACES This year’s event was also notable in that fewer people in the parade wore masks to avoid being identified, The Times of India reported.

“It shows that people are gaining confidence,” LGBT rights activist Ashok Row Kavi told the newspaper.

Queer Azaadi organizers had to petition Mumbai traffic control officials after authorities initially refused to grant permission for them to march on the streets. Five march organizers reportedly met with the Joint Commissioner of Traffic Police, who

“There is a need for the society to seriously consider same-sex marriages in India. This will definitely help stop discrimination [against] LGBT members.”

This year, the focus was on defending the 2009 Delhi High Court decision to decriminalize Gay sex, which some elements in the Indian government want to overturn.

“Today we March! Pride is here!” march organizer Pallav Patankar posted on Facebook. “I march as a Queer citizen of the world’s largest democracy to let people know that even I exist!”

“More young people come up on stage and speak about their sexuality, and we also had straight allies come up on stage and support us,” Patankar told Gay Star News.

The march began at August Kranti Maidan (August Revolution Ground), where Gandhi delivered his historic “Quit India” speech in 1942. Winding through the city, the march returned to its starting point for a rally.

empress

continued from cover trailblazers that they are. It is our Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender seniors that are the most isolated,” said Empress Nicole. “In a Gay bar, a bartender often won’t even engage in conversation with a senior.” “[Our seniors] lived through a time when you couldn’t dance with each other, you couldn’t kiss each other in public, you’d get arrested for lewd conduct. It was against the law to have homosexual sex,” Empress Nicole told SGN. “They didn’t have to be an activist [to get in trouble with the law], they just had to be themselves. They lived through everything and they have a story to tell.

“We’re all going to become seniors,” added Nicole. “Now is the time to not only be more respectful, but more inclusive. It seems like a lot of organizations remember the seniors around the holidays, but they need to be doing it all the time.”

The year designation is also a fundraising vehicle. Last year was proclaimed to be for Gay and Lesbian veterans, and the Court focused on fundraising for military charities. The year prior was for youth, and the Court raised money for the Trevor Project and the Matthew Shepard Foundation. For the Year of the Elders, the primary organization the Court intends to support is Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE), a national nonprofit.

Since taking the helm of the Court in February 2007, Empress Nicole has focused on

eventually issued a march permit.

Hyderabad police also refused initially to issue a permit for that city’s Pride march, but organizers finally obtained their OK late last month.

“Such rallies are important for our community members because it provides us an opportunity to raise big issues impacting LGBT community,” Hyderabad march organizer Andy Silveira told reporters for The Hindu newspaper during the march.

“There is a need for the society to seriously consider same-sex marriages in India.

This will definitely help stop discrimination [against] LGBT members.”

Unlike Mumbai, India’s most populous city, this was Hyderabad’s first Pride march.

The cities of Bangalore, Calcutta, Chennai, and Delhi also hold annual Pride events. bringing more structure and leadership to the organization. She has appointed more women – both Lesbian and straight – as well as more people of color and more Transgendered people to the ICS Council.

“It’s a very exciting time,” said Empress Nicole. “We’re not the only game in town – certainly we don’t have the same influence we used to – but I gave a commitment to José that her legacy and her organization would not be lost.”

A COMMUNITY PIONEER The Court is an organization rich in history – much more so than most other LGBT organizations.

“In those dark ages, in the early years of the 1980s, there were no corporate sponsors.

People thought you could get [AIDS] in the air. The Court was opening food banks. We were responding by building communities.

There were no centers – there were only the tavern guilds, the Mattachine, and the Imperial Court. We raised the money – we still do,” said Empress Nicole.

The ’80s, she said, were “bad enough in the states, but in Mexico, it would make you cry.”

The court has many chapters in Mexico that are still quite popular, largely because of the Court’s presence in the country during the AIDS crisis. Over the years, the Court raised more than $200,000 to fund AIDS clinics in Tijuana and further south.

Empress Nicole said that not only did Mexico’s then-existing health clinics refuse to admit or treat HIV/AIDS patients, but when they died, their families were responsible

Visit us online www.sgn.org

A participant waves a flag at the Gay Pride Parade in Mumbai, India.

for obtaining their own body bags. Because of Empress Nicole’s contacts, the mayor of San Diego at the time, Maureen O’Connor, provided the Court with body bags.

“We snuck body bags from the mayor’s office during the night, then across the border into Tijuana,” said Empress Nicole. “No one else was helping them.”

MARINES: NO TOYS FROM GAYS When Christmas rolled around, the Court would do toy drives. In 1974, the Court collected more than 600 toys in San Diego alone, but when they went to donate them to the Marines’ Toys for Tots program, they were told that “the U.S. Marines do not accept toys from homosexuals.”

In short, Empress Nicole sees that the Court paved the way for the things that more mainstream, corporate-sponsored LGBT organizations are doing today. The court began the first LGBT scholarship program ever in 1979; they were in the trenches when no one else would even speak about AIDS; and founder Sarria, in 1961, was the first openly Gay person ever to run for public office (specifically, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors).

Empress Nicole said that she sees the court as “the LGBT Elks or Shriners of the world, except we don’t wear funny hats, we just wear crowns, gowns, and uniforms.”

Empress Nicole has a history of activism stretching back more than 40 years, both inside and outside the Court. She marched with Cesar Chávez in the 1960s grape boycott; she served on the boards of the National Gay Rights Lobby (which later became

February 8, 2013

the Human Rights Commission) and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force; she chaired the Stonewall 25th anniversary rally in New York City, which drew half a million people; she served on the planning committees for all five Marches on Washington; and she has served the last five mayors of San Diego as chair of the mayor’s GLBT Advisory Board. She has also served on the GLBT Advisory Board to the city’s police chief.

A GLOBAL EMPIRE Today, the International Court System (ICS) has 68 chapters in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Beyond the shimmer of their crowns, the elegance of their sashes, and their grand titles, they have made a difference in many people’s lives for many years.

The Court is an organization that knows its history and the importance of it.

“A movement that doesn’t know where it came from can’t know where it’s going,” said Empress Nicole in New York City’s Central Park in 1994, 25 years after Stonewall.

“I’m glad there’s a national spotlight.

Things are changing, but the Court has played a large part in laying the groundwork for that,” Empress Nicole told SGN. “I’m blessed to be leading an organization of so many unsung heroes. It its my hope to bring the Court System into the 21st century.”

“Our heart still beats the same – it beats for the community, for the voiceless, for the marginalized and disregarded,” added Empress Nicole.

Seattle Gay News 17

Reuters / Chris Helgren

UK House of Commons OKs marriage equality CAMERON PRAISES VOTE Trying to make the best of the situation, Cameron said the vote was a step forward The British House of Commons gave its for his country.

“Today is an important day. I am a strong initial approval to a marriage equality bill by a wide margin on February 5. The vote believer in marriage. It helps people commit to each other and I think it is right that Gay was 400 to 175.

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

“The overwhelming majority of Labor MPs supported this change to make sure marriage reflects the value we place on long-term, loving relationships, whoever you love.”

Although Prime Minister David Cameron backed the measure, most of his Conservative Party members voted against it.

“More than half of the Tory MPs who voted chose to oppose Gay marriage,” The Guardian newspaper’s live blog noted.

“Initial figures suggest that 139 Tories voted against, and only 132 voted for. Technically this is not a rebellion, because it was a free vote. But it is a severe embarrassment to David Cameron.”

people should be able to get married too,” he told reporters after the vote.

“This is, yes, about equality. But it is also about making our society stronger. I know there are strong views on both side of the argument – I accept that. But I think this is an important step forward for our country.”

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, which is the junior partner in Cameron’s coalition government, said: “I genuinely believe that Christian activists Jonathan Longstaff and Jenny Rose protested outside Britain’s Parliament building before the vote on same-sex marriage. we will look back on today as a landmark for equality in Britain. … No matter who you are and who you love, we are all equal. it. As long as there is one rule for us and Marriage is about love and commitment, another for them, we allow the barriers of and it should no longer be denied to people acceptance to go unchallenged. As long as just because they are Gay. our statute book suggests love between two “The Liberal Democrats have long fought men or two women is unworthy of being for equal marriage. It is party policy and I recognized through marriage, we allow the am proud that the Liberal Democrats are rot of homophobia to fester.” part of the coalition government that are making it happen.”

MORE HURDLES TO CLEAR The vote in Commons does not immediLABOR: ‘A PROUD DAY’ ately legalize same-sex marriage. The bill Opposition leader Ed Miliband, whose will now go to a committee of the ComLabor Party supplied 217 of the 400 Yes mons, which may add amendments, and it votes, was quick to note that his party over- then goes to the House of Lords. whelmingly supported equality.

British political pundits say the over“This is a proud day and an important step whelming majority for equality in Comforward in the fight for equality in Britain,” mons makes it far more likely the Lords will Miliband said. pass the government’s bill intact, but even “The overwhelming majority of Labor if they refuse to approve it, Commons is leMPs supported this change to make sure gally entitled to override them and give the marriage reflects the value we place on measure final approval anyway. long-term, loving relationships, whoever Barring any complication in committee or you love.” in the House of Lords, the legislation should Labor member David Lammy said exist- reach final passage relatively quickly, but ing civil partnerships for same-sex couples even if equality opponents drag out the prowere discriminatory. cess, same-sex marriage should by legal“‘Separate but equal’ are the words that ized by the end of 2014. justified sending Black children to differSome Conservative members of Coment schools than their white peers,” Lammy mons who opposed the bill predicted that if said. “It is the same statement, the same it passed, the issue would end up before the ideas, and the same delusion that we bor- European Court of Human Rights, because rowed in this country to say that women the Church of England would complain that could vote but only if they were married and its religious liberties were being infringed. only when they were over 30.

The Church of England and the Roman “Separate is not equal, so let us be rid of Catholic Church spearheaded opposition to the bill.

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Celebrating 40 Years!

France approves first part of marriage equality law

French colloquialism.

According to Le Monde newspaper, the transcript of the debate already amounted to more than 240,000 words – about half the text of Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables.

Opinion polls show a clear majority of French voters support marriage equality and a narrower majority favor adoption rights for same-sex couples.

Lawmakers trade insults as debate continues

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The French National Assembly has overwhelmingly approved the first and most important article of the new marriage equality law sponsored by President Francois Hollande.

By a 249-97 vote on February 2, French lawmakers decided that marriage should be defined as a contract between two people, rather than between a man and a woman.

According to Agence France Presse news service, Hollande’s Socialists were joined in voting for the measure by all the leftist legislators and at least one from the right-wing opposition.

“We are happy and proud to have taken this first step,” said Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, who introduced the bill on January 29. “We are going to establish the freedom for everyone to choose his or her partner for a future together.”

The final vote on the full bill, which also includes the right of same-sex couples to adopt children, is expected on February 12.

FRIVOLOUS AMENDMENTS In an attempt to stall the legislation, rightwing Assembly members introduced more than 5,300 amendments, many of which were designed to mock equality supporters.

One, for example, proposed that polygamy and incest should also be legalized. Some

XENOPHOBIC APPEAL Rightist Assembly members warned that passing the proposed law would lead to waves of foreigners coming to get married in France, a recurring nightmare for French nationalists.

Others said they feared the government would not be satisfied with a victory on marriage and adoption rights, and would try to alter other social arrangements.

“Today it is marriage and adoption. Tomorrow it will be medically assisted conception and surrogate mothers,” right-wing Assembly member Philippe Gosselin said.

As the vote on Article One of the bill demonstrated, Hollande’s government has a large majority in the National Assembly, and the eventual passage of his marriage law is not in doubt.

3,000 of the amendments still have to be dealt with, and Socialist members have reportedly agreed to limit their remarks in order to keep to their legislative schedule.

In what the British newspaper The Guardian described as “a seven-day slanging match,” Assembly members tweeted insults and accusations. One session had to be adjourned to restore order after a Green Party member compared a rightist colleague to Desperate Housewives character Bree Van de Kamp.

At one point Assembly members debated whether “clown” was an appropriate insult, and others accused each other of being “dictators” and “mute carps” – muet comme une carpe (“mute as a carp”) being a common

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Seattle Gay News 19

A bitter Valentine insurance and with durable powers of attorney, designation of health care surrogate and pre-need guardian, and living wills drafted As we begin the second Obama Adminis- in addition to the standard wills that all of us tration, many Americans – like the president should have. After all, we never know when himself – have “evolved” in their attitudes adversity will strike. about same-sex couples. Though marriage TRAGEDY STRIKES equality is still a long way off, especially in Though those of us who are in committed “red states” like Florida, mainstream views about Lesbian or Gay couples have soft- relationships promise to love our partners ened considerably. To an increasing number through good times and bad times, when of straight Americans, the two men or two bad times strike we are often caught totally women who live next door, contribute to the unaware and unprepared. This happened to life of their community, and (in many cases) me when Michael, my partner of 27 years, take their children to the nearby school are came down with a still-undiagnosed form not friends or roommates (at best) or sinners of dementia. In a real sense, Michael and or perverts (at worst). Rather, Joe and Bob, I were the lucky ones: We have long-term or Kate and Mary, are like any other couple: health care coverage, power of attorney and two human beings who formed a long-last- other essential documents (thanks to our ating, personal partnership that carried them torney, Robin Bodiford), supportive families, and a circle of friends. But this did not through good times and bad.

It wasn’t always this way. For the longest make the emotional pain any easier to bear time, many a durable Lesbian or Gay couple – not when the man I love became confused, collapsed because it did not have a legal leg forgetful, or disoriented; or when he wanto stand on. One of the horrors of the early dered away from home only to be found the AIDS epidemic was the spectacle of a sur- next day, miles away. (Here again Michael viving partner fighting a losing battle for was one of the lucky ones. Many mentally his lover’s person or property, against said ill people who walk away from home are lover’s biological relatives who couldn’t never found.) Even worse was coming to care less about their Gay kinsman but who the awful conclusion that I was not prepared had the law on their side. Many rights that to be a caregiver, even if I had all the time straight married couples take for granted are in the world. Working against my deepest not shared by legally unmarried, same-sex feelings, I placed Michael in an assisted livduos, thanks to the Defense of Marriage Act ing facility last July, where he still lives toand 31 state constitutions. For this reason, day. Though I visit Michael several times a same-sex couples are encouraged to be le- week, and take him out almost as often, at gally prepared with long-term health care the end of the day I have to take him back

by Jesse Monteagudo SGN Contributing Writer

there. And then go home alone.

Though Michael and I have our share of problems, being a same-sex couple is not one of them. We live in Broward, the state of Florida’s bluest, Gay-friendliest county.

In addition to the already-mentioned longterm care insurance and legal documents, I work for a company that provides domestic partner benefits. (Here I refer to my day job, not to my evening and weekend job writing for LGBT publications and blogs that are, of course, supportive.) Michael’s biological family, which in a dystopian universe could have given us legal hell and gotten away with it, is most supportive. Finally, the assisted living facility where Michael resides has been cooperative and treats us as

a couple.

February 14 is St. Valentine’s Day – a day when couples and other romantic unions celebrate their love, loyalty, and devotion.

This year, for the first time since 1985, I will sleep alone on Valentine’s Day. But don’t feel sorry for me. The man I love is still alive, and is well enough to spend at least part of V-Day with me. (Thankfully, Michael still knows who I am and still appreciates my company.) It will be a bitter Valentine, but a Valentine nonetheless. I cherish the years that Michael and I spent together and look forward to the moments when we can be together again – as few and as fleeting as those moments may be.

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February 8, 2013

www.sgn.org Celebrating 40 Years!

health and medicine

Porn: A force for equality?

Study says exposure to pornography boosts support for same-sex marriage

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer A new study published in the professional journal Communication Research says that the more porn straight men watch, the more open they become to the idea of same-sex marriage.

dall, of the University of Arizona, looked at data from studies of 500 heterosexual men over the past five years, funded by the National Science Foundation.

They found that the level of pornography consumption was predictive of increased support for same-sex marriage over time.

“Since a portion of individuals’ sexual attitudes come from the media they consume, it makes sense that pornography viewers would have more positive attitudes towards same-sex marriage.”

“Our study suggests that the more heterosexual men, especially less-educated heterosexual men, watch pornography, the more supportive they become of same-sex marriage,” Indiana University Assistant Professor Paul Wright, the lead researcher, said.

Wright and study co-author Ashley Ran-

have same-sex sex, they will also think that individuals should be able to decide for themselves whether to get married to a partner of the same sex.

“Since a portion of individuals’ sexual attitudes come from the media they consume,” Wright added, “it makes sense that pornography viewers would have more positive attitudes towards same-sex marriage.”

NOT GOOD FOR WOMEN Another unrelated study found that when

straight men frequently watch porn the self-confidence of their women partners declined, and they reported being less happy and less satisfied with their relationships.

Women’s sex lives were also damaged if their partners preferred virtual ways of arousing themselves instead of sleeping with them, according to a report in the Washington Examiner.

Destin Stewart, a clinical psychology intern at the University of Florida, began studying the issue after one of her patients explained she was having difficulty with her porn-addicted partner. Stewart surveyed 308 straight women students aged 18 to 29, asking them to complete online questionnaires about how often their partners viewed porn.

They were also asked about how sexually satisfied they were, how much self-esteem they had, and how they rated the quality of their relationship.

The results showed a strong statistical link between men viewing porn and their women partners becoming unhappy. When women thought that their partner was a heavy porn user, or a “porn addict,” it also had a negative impact on their self-esteem and general sexual satisfaction.

COMMUNICATION IS VITAL Stewart said that the key to solving the issue was to get couples to talk frankly about what they wanted.

“It’s just about trying to do some education about what is realistic and unrealistic and trying to get couples to be honest about what their wants and needs and desires are,” she said.

Some media experts estimate that onethird of all Internet traffic is porn.

The biggest porn site on the web, Xvideos, records more than four billion page views and 350 million unique visits per month, according to figures released last spring.

The only sites that generate more traffic are Google and Facebook, according to an investigation carried out by ExtremeTech.

The report uncovered the viewing figures for Xvideos from Google’s DoubleClick Ad Planner, which uses cookies to gather information about users.

PORN ‘NON-JUDGMENTAL’ “Pornography adopts an individualistic, non-judgmental stance on all kinds of nontraditional sexual behaviors, and same-sex marriage attitudes are strongly linked to attitudes about same-sex sex,” Wright said.

“If people think individuals should be able to decide for themselves whether to

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