SGN February 12, 2010 - Section 1

Issue 07 Volume 38

Celebrating 37 Years!

FRIDAY February 12, 2010 FREE! 25¢ in bookstores & news stands

out to quit p. 4

bullying p. 18

Ask Michael p. 19

Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Dan Choi returns to The spirit of being human National Guard unit On the 20th anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela

by Rev. Robert V. Taylor Special to the SGN

Nelson Mandela is a reminder of what it means to be authentically human. As the world celebrates the 20th anniversary of Mandela’s release from prison, a story of courageous hope and courage is celebrated.

His authentic leadership and bridging of divisions are rare commodities of hope. There is a craving for such integrity among the global human family. We celebrate an icon who reminds us of what it means to part of the human family.

Many throughout the world remember exactly what they were doing on the day of Mandela’s release on February 11, 1990. I was leading church services in New York as a global audience watched him walk out of the Victor Verster prison. A few hours later, he stood on the balcony of Cape Town’s

San Francisco Chronicle outs Prop 8 judge Walker

Gay-bashing Air Force sergeant brought to justice

courtesy blake hayes

Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

Francisco Chronicle story. Typically, this would be a non-issue; however, Walker will be delivering a decision concerning the overturning of Prop 8 – a judicial referendum on Gay marriage – which will next head to a federal appeals court and likely also the Supreme Court, where it will likely create a national uproar.

“The biggest open secret in the landmark trial over same-sex marriage being heard in San Francisco is that the federal judge who will decide the case, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, is himself Gay,” wrote the San Francisco Chronicle.

Those close to the judge maintain that he doesn’t hide his sexuality. The source for the article, a friend of Walker, says he is open about it, “but for obvious reasons, keeps his personal life private.”

Walker has declined to talk about the Prop. 8 case – which was assigned to him at random – outside of court. In addition, he declined to comment when the San Francisco Chronicle asked him about his orientation and whether it was Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker relevant to the lawsuit.

by Shaun Knittel Perhaps Walker has been aftrict Judge Vaughn Walker, the 65-year-old jurist appointed to the SGN Staff Writer bench by President George H.W. see judge page 18 On February 7, Chief U.S. Dis- Bush in 1989, was outed in a San

City Hall and spoke to the world ben Island wondering if he would and the 50,000 who had gathered ever be freed. Many of us were as there. “Our march to freedom is joyful as we were incredulous at his release.

During apartheid, it was a criminal offense to own the writings of Mandela and quote or display images of him in public.

My heart pounded as I smuggled his writings into South Africa in 1978.

Government paranoia of his message was related to its powerful simplicity. He envisioned a diverse nation in which democracy, freedom and equality for all were the foundation of a thriving country. Apartheid-enforced divisions were the antithesis of his vision of a shared and common future for all.

Mandela reappeared on the world stage, striding out of prison on February 11, 1990. In spite of being Nelson Mandela jailed for 26 years, his own irreversible,” he said. As a young persona remained free, courageous anti-apartheid activist I had often sat on Cape Town’s Signal Hill, looking across Table Bay to Robsee Mandela page 16 getty images

courtesy q syndicate

weekend for the first time since June 2009, when a military review board recommended he be discharged from military service for violating the DADT policy.

Choi reported that he felt welcomed back by his fellow guardsmen in his infantry unit.

According to Choi, his commanding officer and unit has been highly supportive of him, even after he was recommended for discharge.

“Returning to my unit this past weekend for army Army Lieutenant Dan Choi training was many

by Shaun Knittel things: invigorating, exciting, a homecoming … but overall, a reSGN Staff Writer minder that actions speak louder Gay rights advocate and “Don’t than words,” Choi told SGN in a Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) repeal poster boy Army Lieutenant Dan see choi page 8 Choi returned to drill duty last

Blake Hayes

by Shaun Knittel SGN Staff Writer

FM radio, after he attacked Hayes and his friends Alec Bell and Danny Calvert outside of a New York “Go ahead, try telling the cops. West Side bar.

Hayes told SGN that the punches They won’t do anything … you can’t touch me.” That’s what U.S. Ford threw were accompanied by Air Force Staff Sergeant Benjamin Ford told Blake Hayes, a 24-yearold DJ for New York City’s WPLJsee Air force page 17

Tokyo skyscrapers. German men. kona waves. we like ThinGs biG.

Seattl e Gay N ewS trave l edit ioN Febru ary 19

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Seattle Gay News

February 12, 2010

Celebrating 37 Years!

Visit us online www.sgn.org

February 12, 2010

Seattle Gay News

3

Seattle Gay News FOUNDED 1973 1605 12th Ave., Ste. 31 Seattle, WA 98122 MEMBER Phone: (206) 324-4297 Fax: (206) 322-7188 2010 e-mail: sgn2@sgn.org internet: www.sgn.org Deadlines Classifieds - Thursday at noon Calendar - Tuesday 6pm Display Ads: Space Reservation - Monday 5pm Ad copy (non-camera ready) - Tues. 5pm Ad copy (camera ready) - Wed. 5pm Letters to the Editor - Tuesday 5pm Obituaries - Call the sgn office All others - Tuesday 5pm

Editor In Chief George Bakan Associate Editor Tom Flint (retired) Editorial Assistant Nick Ardizzone Production William Creswell Calender Editors Mike Andrew and Rick McKinnon Travel Editor George Bakan Advertising Manager Marty Weisbrod Advertising Department Maggie Bloodstone Executive Assistant Mike Andrew Staff Writers George Bakan, Albert S. Rodriguez, Nick Ardizzone, Shaun Knittel Miryam Gordon, James Whitely, Tim Peter Contributing Writers Rev. Barbara Allen, Mike Andrew, Eric Andrews-Katz, Madelyn Arnold, Maggie Bloodstone, Beau Burriola, Jessica Davis, Ron Anders, Jessica Price, Milton W. Hamlin, Nevin Jefferson, Keen News Service, Jason A. Miller, Liz Meyer, Rod Parke, Don Paulson, Scott Rice, Leslie Robinson, Richard Kennedy, Romeo San Vicente, Rex Wockner Classifieds Mike Andrew and Rick McKinnon Photographers Nick Ardizzone, Joseph P. Herron, Shaun Knittel, James Whitely National Advertising Rep. Rivendell Media (212) 242-6863 Website Designer Barry Thorsness/Digital Team Works Seattle Gay News is published weekly by JT&A, Inc. © 2010, JT&A, Inc., all rights reserved. Reprints by permission.

Publication of names, photographs or likenesses of any person, organization, event or business in this publication cannot be taken as any indication of the sexual orientation of the person, organization, event or business.

Opinions expressed in bylined articles, columns, and letters are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff or management of this paper.

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It is our policy that no money shall be refunded if you choose to cancel your subscription or ad. However, credit towards any size ad will be given for the balance owed. No exceptions.

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

Going through “The Program” - Week 6

by James Whitely SGN Staff Writer I quit smoking on Sunday. I’m not sure when, exactly, but I think I smoked my last cigarette around 4:30 p.m., which would put me at about 72 hours now – about five days by the time this paper hits the streets. It’s extremely difficult to concentrate, and I worry it will affect my writing – not a good situation to be in, especially when I’m writing about cigarettes.

I decided to quit early because I began to relapse. On February 6, the last day I was allotted three cigarettes, I had already smoked my three when I got a craving in the evening. I lit up, justifying it because I hadn’t smoked the other three cigarettes completely, so I only took a few deep drags of the fourth and promptly put it out. Technically, it wasn’t really cheating, but I’d never counted my cigarette intake that way before in my tapering process. Before then, one was one, regardless of how much of it I smoked. My act of desperation left me feel-

ing like a failure.

I continued to stay up that same night past midnight, and as Saturday turned to Sunday, I began the first day of the last part of my tapering plan – a single cigarette limit – in a tired and desperate daze. I decided to light up only about 30 minutes into the day, which left me with no more cigarettes for more than 23 hours.

I couldn’t do it. On Sunday, at about 4:30p.m., I decided to let myself lapse on my plan a bit and light up. I figured it would be no problem; I’d just continue tomorrow like it never happened and try not to give in again. That was my rationalization, at least, but as I sat there smoking, I realized how much control I’d let tobacco have over me.

I realized why I was really out there, and it became clear to me that if I didn’t stop then, I was never going to.

I finished the cigarette, enjoying it as much as I could, then I went inside and promptly soaked the rest of my cigarettes in the kitchen sink and shoved them down the garbage disposal.

I remember clearly how I felt when I put out my last cigarette that day: good. I felt like a new day was dawning and a new me was emerging – but, frankly, I don’t feel that way anymore.

I want a cigarette, and even more so than that, I want to give up on quitting and smoke to my heart’s content, but I know that’s just the addiction, and I hope, or rather I expect, that I’ll get that good feeling back. Once I get through the worst of this, I’ll get it back.

At this week’s meeting, we came up with ideas about rewards. Rewards can fall into multiple categories depending on how you look at them, the most obvious of which is financial. The money we save by not smoking adds up quickly, and buying things we desire with money we would have spent on cigarettes seems only natural.

At my worst, I was smoking about 10 cigarettes a day on average. At about seven bucks a pack, that comes out to $1,277.50 a year, and about $106 a month. Now I’m not much for buying things that I simply want, but I can use the money constructively in an anti-smoking way, too. I’ve been wanting to go to the dentist since I got out of the service, so maybe that could be my first monetary reward.

But what resonates for me much more than simple money is time. Time means that, according to the CDC, male and female smokers lose an average of 13.2 and 14.5 years of life, respectively. Time also means time saved every day. Ten cigarettes a day on average, with the average cigarette taking about 3-5 minutes to smoke, means that now, as a non-smoker, I have 30-50 extra minutes in my day to do whatever I want with – and 4,818 extra days with that extra time, as well.

So here I am, 72 hours in. It’s been tough.

The nights have been tough. If I lay in bed, my mind will inevitably gravitate to cigarettes, so I have to keep myself occupied, which means I have to keep myself awake.

My mind keeps bouncing back and forth, up and down, and in all directions. In our discussion about rewards, the idea of taking a road trip was brought up. “Good idea,” I thought, but then I remembered my last road trip. I remembered smoking as I curved around the Pacific Coast Highway’s twisted beachfront roadways, well over the speed limit. I remembered how good it felt to be there, and to be smoking.

All things considered, this was probably the most upbeat meeting we’ve had yet.

Hearing everyone’s success stories made me feel much better. Hell, some of us even look better; the ones that have quit have more energy and have a shine to their expressions that wasn’t there when we started. I don’t feel like I do, though.

I don’t feel pretty. I don’t feel happy. I don’t even feel hopeful anymore. I just want to smoke, but the only way to go is forward, and I’ve got to keep my eyes focused in that direction.

Bigots sue to block hate crimes law

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

A group of four anti-Gay religious leaders has filed suit to overturn the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009.

The complaint was filed in the US District Court for Eastern Michigan on February 2.

The plaintiffs in the suit are American Family Association-Michigan President Gary Glenn, Ypsilanti Bible Church pastor Levon Yuille, Bridgeport First Baptist Church pastor Rene Ouellette, and James Combs, pastor of four different Michigan churches.

Each plaintiff is described in the complaint as “a devout Christian.”

The defendant named in the suit is US Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. Holder is charged with enforcing the Hate Crimes Act. The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys from the Thomas Moore Law Center, which describes itself as “a not-for-profit public interest law firm dedicated to the defense and promotion of the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life.”

The Thomas Moore Law Center (TMLC) was founded in 1999 by Domino’s Pizza owner Tom Monaghan. Its co-founder, president, and chief counsel is Richard Thompson, one-time prosecutor of Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

“Plaintiffs challenge Section 249(a)(2) of the Hate Crimes Act, which criminalizes socalled ‘bias’ crimes motivated by a person’s ‘actual or perceived’ ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘gender identity’ and thus elevates those engaged in certain deviant sexual behaviors to a special, protected class of persons under federal law,” the complaint says.

It goes on to allege that “supporters of the homosexual agenda seek to demonize, vilify, and criminalize deeply held religious beliefs that are in opposition to their agenda.”

TMLC Chief Counsel Thompson elaborated on these allegations in a statement to reporters.

“This is part of the list of political payoffs to homosexual advocacy groups for support of Barack Obama in the last presidential election,” Thompson said. “The sole pur-

pose of this law is to criminalize the Bible and use the threat of federal prosecutions and long jail sentences to silence Christians from expressing their Biblically-based religious belief that homosexual conduct is a sin.”

Essentially, plaintiffs claim the Hate Crimes Act makes it illegal for them to preach against homosexuality and therefore infringes on their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and free exercise of religion.

While the plaintiffs advance six “claims for relief” based on these alleged violations of their constitutional rights, they do not show that they have suffered any harm whatsoever from the passage or operation of the federal Hate Crimes Act. None of the plaintiffs has ever been charged under the Act. None of them has ever been named by any LGBT person as a perpetrator of hate crimes.

In fact, the “Statement of Facts” in their complaint begins with a three-page essay on “God’s Word on Homosexuality.” It goes on to allege that LGBT activists have accused unnamed “leaders of the so-called Christian right and their political allies” with instigating and approving hate crimes.

On the other hand, the Hate Crimes Act itself contains explicit exemptions that address the free speech and freedom of religion concerns the plaintiffs raise in their suit.

“Nothing in this division shall be construed to prohibit any constitutionally protected speech, expressive conduct or activities (regardless of whether compelled by, or central to, a system of religious belief), including the exercise of religion protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States and peaceful picketing or demonstration,” the Act says.

TMLC has a history of suing Obama administration officials. They have previously filed suit against US Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner to prevent AIG – as a recipient of federal bailout money – from offering sharia-compliant insurance products to Muslim customers.

Sharia law forbids Muslims from paying or being paid interest, so special financial instruments need to be written to comply with those limitations.

Rupert Manalili 1965-2009 Rupert was born and raised in Lakewood, Washington, an army brat and youngest of five siblings. He passed away on December 29th, 2009. He is survived by two sisters, Irene and Bonnie, and two brothers, Robert and Joe. Always interested in the arts, he first pursued graphic design and worked for a label company in Seattle in the mid ‘80s. He saved up some money and took time out to visit an exchange student he befriended out in Tokyo, Japan. He took up the cause for activism and became a member of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) in Seattle. His pursuit of activism led him to Boston, then New York City. He became a member of the Asian Pacific Islander Caucus of ACT UP New York in the early ‘90s. He participated in civil disobedience demonstrations and outreach. Some of the goals for the coalition he saw come true were safer sex education materials distributed to the Asian Pacific Islander community in native languages and the availability of more retro-viral drugs in the battle against HIV infection covered by health insurance. He met his former partner Mark Schaumburg. They were together in Brooklyn for six years. He pursued his new interest in culinary arts and came back to Lakewood in the early 2000s. He worked a couple of seasons on cruise ships for Norwegian Cruise Lines, which took him to the islands of the Bahamas and Hawaii. He later moved out to Creston, Colorado in 2007, then finally out to the rural Island of Molokai in the state of Hawaii in 2009.

Family and friends attended a lovely Hawaiian memorial service on January 8, 2010 at One Alii Park in Molokai. A Hawaiian ceremony was performed, including conch shell horn, Hawaiian chants, and ended with a tropical flower sendoff. A dinner reception followed, which included both Hawaiian and Filipino food. His ashes were later spread into the ocean at Moomomi Beach.

Visit us online www.sgn.org

Summit announced on Gay service in foreign militaries

by Shaun Knittel SGN Staff Writer

policy. Since then, military leaders have scrambled to present the president with an The Palm Center, a think tank at the Uni- acceptable plan for implementation, while versity of California, Santa Barbara that has DADT foes in the Congress and Senate have been a leader in commissioning and dissem- lobbied for a repeal.

In 1993, the Government Accountabilinating research in the areas of gender, sexu-

ality and the military, has announced plans to convene a Washington, D.C. summit of officials and experts from military forces which allow Gay men and Lesbian women to serve openly – including the Israel Defense Force and NATO member militaries.

The summit, planned for early spring, will focus on the implementation of personnel policies for openly Gay servicemembers.

According to the Palm Center, British and Israeli experts have confirmed their participation.

“As military and political leaders anticipate the end of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ [DADT], the lessons from the 25 foreign forces that allow open Gay service are instructive,” stated Dr. Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center.

Belkin says there are three questions that generally dominate the comparison: Did the decision to allow open Gay servicemembers undermine military readiness? How was implementation managed? To what extent can lessons from abroad help U.S. officials plan for an inclusive policy? Those questions and more, Belkin says, should be answered at the summit.

During his State of the Union address, President Obama reiterated his campaign pledge to repeal the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

ity Office submitted a report to Congress regarding Gays and Lesbians in foreign militaries. It assessed the impact of open Gay service in military readiness, finding that “Military officials in all four countries said that the presence of homosexuals in the military is not an issue and has not created problems in the functioning units.”

A 1993 report by the RAND Corporation reached a similar conclusion.

Last week, during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on DADT, Maine Senator Susan Collins asked if any NATO partners had reported difficulties since their implementation of open service. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he had spoken to many NATO allies and they reported “no impact” on military performance.

Palm Center scholars have published several journal articles and book chapters on Gays and Lesbians in the Israeli, British, Canadian and Australian forces.

Next week, the Center is set to release a new, 150-page study on the status of Gays and Lesbians in foreign military forces around the world. The study will include the first ever in-depth analysis of Gays and Lesbians in the South African Defense Force, which dropped its ban in 1998.

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

One bill called for an outright repeal of same-sex marriage, while the other called for a public vote on the matter.

The vote was 12-8 on both measures, again along party lines.

Marriage equality opponents knew their chance of success on the measures was slim, but they hoped to keep the issue before voters in case Republicans regained control of the legislature in November. They would then repeal same-sex marriage.

The whole House could act on the Judiciary Committee’s recommendations next week.

New Hampshire became the fifth state to legalize Gay marriage on June 3, 2009. The new law took effect on January 1.

Besides Iowa and New Hampshire, samesex marriage is legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vermont. Maine’s legislature passed a marriage equality law that was signed into law in May 2009, but it was reversed by a “people’s veto” election in November last year.

Iowa and New Hampshire save marriage equality laws

On February 9, state legislators in both Iowa and New Hampshire voted to preserve their states’ marriage equality laws.

Iowa Republicans wanted to pull House Joint Resolution 6 out of a committee and place it on the debate calendar to avoid a February 12 legislative deadline. HJR 6 would ultimately put a constitutional amendment defining a marriage as “one man and one woman” on the ballot.

The Iowa House spent almost 30 minutes on a rarely used “call-of-the-House” in which each of the 100 members are required to come into the chambers to vote unless they are formally excused.

The measure ultimately failed 45 to 54 in a vote that was mostly along party lines.

The effort also failed in the Senate where a vote was not taken.

All 18 Senate Republicans and one Democratic Senator signed a petition asking that the HJR 6 be put on the floor for debate.

They needed 26.

In view of Tuesday’s actions, it is likely that the measure will fail to meet its deadline and quietly die.

The Iowa Supreme Court ruled in April 2009 that same-sex couples must be allowed to marry for reasons of equity and constitutional equal protection clauses.

In New Hampshire, the House Judiciary Committee also voted Tuesday to recommend that the House not pass two bills attempting to reverse New Hampshire’s samesex marriage law.

February 12, 2010

Seattle Gay News

5

people to participate in the conversation.

January, to the California cities of Redding “We had no secrets, only limited space and Chico. and resources, and a very short time to orAdditional forays will take the group to ganize this retreat. We wish we could have Bakersfield, Fresno and Tracy. The counties invited thousands. We want to work with the five cities are in voted to re-ban sameby Rex Wockner everyone to help inspire our community to sex marriage at levels of 57 percent to 75 SGN Contributing Writer bold action. ... We want to make the White percent, although voters in the city of Chico House and Congress take notice. And we itself opposed Prop 8.

The January 30 performance at Redding’s younger ones who had helped Cleve on the want everyone who stands in the way of full equality to be held accountable and wonder 1,000-seat Cascade Theatre and the Janumarch.” ary 31 performance at Williams and McGehee Chico’s 450-seat Harlen said the people who attended Adams Theatre both sold the gathering are “sick of out. The group received delays, compromises and exa standing ovation in cuses.”

Chico.

“Some who joined us “Before Prop 8 passed, have been activists for many we were planning to go years; some are new to the to Europe in 2010,” said movement – all brought a chorus Executive Direcvast depth of knowledge tor Teddy Witherington. and a readiness to fight for “The shock of losing our a more just and equal world marriage rights caused for all,” they said. us to rethink our prioriWithout mentioning ties as an organization. names, Williams and McGeUpon reflection, we have hee said of the attendees: decided to eat our veg“Some have worked on naetables before having tional LGBTQ issues, such dessert. ... We believe as ACT UP, Equality Across to accept us, you have to America and Join the Impact; know us.” some were connected to orThe tour is being preganizations outside of LGsented in association BTQ rights, such as PETA, with Parents, Families Presente.org, Unite Here, and Friends of Lesbian Colorofchange.org, Greenand Gays and is teamed peace, etc. In our outreach with a local charity in we purposefully looked for each city. All proceeds those who were supporting San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus performing in are split by the local and advocating for LGBTQ Chico, California on January 31, 2009 charity and PFLAG. working people, communiwhat just hit them.”

“The song I wrote, ‘We Are Coming Out,’ ties of color, and Trans rights.”

For more information or to join the net- was the leadoff song in both concerts, and Williams and McGehee said there was the crowd responded with excited applause nothing “secret” or exclusive about the work, e-mail kip@neworganizing.com.

Among the famous people who have and whistles,” said chorus member Sean gathering, but there were limited resources trained at the Highlander Center over the Chapin. “I was deeply touched. Moreover, and space.

“We know that many people across the years were Rosa Parks and Martin Luther it was just the beginning of a magnificent array of songs that elevated the spirits of the country feel the same way, and that many King Jr. audience members and gave a valiant chalhave been actively working within their SF Gay chorus lenge to those hearts blanketed with careown communities for a long time,” they visits Prop 8 territory fully taught ignorance and fear.” said. “The Highlander Center can comfortThe San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus ably accommodate about 35 people, and we With assistance from Bill Kelley broke those limits because we wanted more went on tour into Prop 8 territory in late

NATIONAL

NEWS

courtesy SFGMC

New formed National network in style of Act Up Around 45 LGBT activists of varying national stature met at the Highlander Research and Education Center in rural Tennessee in late January to create a new national LGBT direct-action movement.

“We had one thing on our agenda: Discuss ways to build a national network of activists to demand full equality now,” said Kip Williams and Robin McGehee, who are best known as key organizers of last year’s National Equality March on Washington, D.C. “We believe that it is time to escalate our demands through coordinated nationwide nonviolent direct action, and we hope to build a broad base of organizers to work with all who struggle for justice and dignity in their lives,” they said.

The gathering reportedly was invitationonly and all-expenses-paid. No press releases have been issued and details of who was there and what happened have been difficult to come by, though Williams and McGehee answered questions from this reporter by email.

Veteran New York City activist Ann Northrop was among the attendees. Writer Dan Savage and activist legend Cleve Jones were invited but didn’t go.

According to veteran activist Larry Kramer, the gathering was “bankrolled” by Jonathan Lewis, the son of one of the founders of Progressive Auto Insurance. Richard Socarides, who was President Bill Clinton’s adviser on Gay issues, was “involved with helping him set it up,” Kramer said.

“They had one open meeting at the [LGBT] center here [in New York City] to see if there was activist energy and they seemed to be pleased there was,” Kramer said. “The people invited to Tennessee were people that were known activists, mostly

tina’s Tierra del Fuego province; and in the U.S. states of Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. It will become legal in March in Washington, D.C., and in Portugal later this year.

INTERNATIONAL Senado de la República de México.

NEWS

by Rex Wockner SGN Contributing Writer

Mexican Attorney General Arturo Chávez

Mexican attorney general tries to block Gay marriage law Mexican Attorney General Arturo Chávez appealed to the nation’s Supreme Court on January 27 to block Mexico City’s new law that legalized same-sex marriage and adoption. It is scheduled to take effect in March.

The city’s Legislative Assembly passed the law 39-20 on December 21. It redefines marriage as “the free uniting of two people.”

Chávez’s office claimed the law runs afoul of vague language in the federal constitution 6

Seattle Gay News

that says: “Men and women are equal before the law. The law will protect the organization and development of the family.” The office also claimed the law fails to safeguard the interests of children.

City officials have said they hope Gay couples will come from around the world to get married. The city is working with travel agencies to offer packages that include flights, hotel, sightseeing, a wedding and a banquet.

Same-sex marriage also is legal in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain and Sweden; in Argen-

February 12, 2010

“The aim is to secure full equality in civil marriage and civil-partnership law,” said veteran activist Peter Tatchell. “We want both systems open to all couples, Gay and straight.”

Civil partnerships and marriage carry the Macedonia backtracks same rights and obligations in the United on LGB protections Kingdom, but under different laws and The government of Macedonia unveiled names. revised anti-discrimination legislation January 29 that deleted sexual orientation as a Canadian Cabinet minister covered ground. outed Deputy Minister for Social Policy Spiro Canada’s minister of transport, infrastrucRistovski downplayed the change, saying ture and communities, John Baird, was outLGB people still would be protected via a ed on a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation category of “other grounds” that applies to live radio program February 2. everyone.

Host Andy Barrie asked guest Pamela Conservative forces had pressured the Taylor, a Progressive Conservative candigovernment to drop the “sexual orientation” date for the Ontario Legislative Assembly, language.

“Can you think of a single openly Gay poliThe European Parliament’s Intergroup on tician in the Conservative party, federally or LGBT Rights denounced the deletion. provincially?”

“If Macedonia is serious about joining the Taylor replied: “Openly Gay? John European Union, it must ensure that its laws Baird.” match those of the European Union – and “Thank you. You got me,” Barrie respondthat explicitly includes nondiscrimination ed. on the grounds of sexual orientation,” said “There are many others,” Taylor said.

Intergroup Co-President Michael Cash“That was really dumb of me,” said Barman. “There is no opt-out on fundamental rie. “I let you walk right into me there.” rights.”

Baird is not openly Gay but “is a familiar Human Rights Watch’s Boris Dittrich face in Gay social circles in Ottawa [and has] said: “Silence equals inequality. Vague attended Ottawa’s Pride parties,” said the references to ‘other grounds’ simply aren’t Xtra! chain of Canadian Gay newspapers. good enough.”

A day later, Xtra! added: “[W]hen he’s Countries that want to join the EU are re- not answering media questions, he is pretty quired to specifically protect LGB people frank about his sexuality (officially: whatfrom discrimination – and citizens of mem- ever his sexuality is).” ber nations that procrastinate in doing so are Baird did not respond to requests for comdenied the perk of visa-free travel within the ment on the incident.

EU. Taylor lost the election February 4, coming in third. Openly Gay Liberal Glen MurBritish group to sue ray, the former mayor of Winnipeg, won the for same-sex marriage seat, replacing openly Gay Liberal George The London LGBT group OutRage! on Smitherman, the former Ontario deputy preFebruary 1 announced a dual legal chal- mier, who stepped down in November to run lenge to the British bans on same-sex mar- for mayor of Toronto. riage and opposite-sex civil partnerships.

There are 24 candidates registered for the Several Gay and straight couples will file October 25 mayoral election. a joint application to the European Court of Human Rights, the group said.

With assistance from Bill Kelley

Celebrating 37 Years!

NORTHWEST

NEWS

compiled by Rick McKinnon SGN Staff Writer

SAFE SCHOOLS COALITION GAY SKATE PARTY AT LGBT SCHOLARSHIP RESOURCES BELLEVUE SKATE KING www.safeschoolscoalition.org/RG-scholOn Monday, February 15, from 7-10 p.m., arships.html enjoy an evening of roller skating at Bellevue Skate King, 2301 140th Ave. NE, BelleFREE RÉSUMÉ AND vue, at this LGBTQ community social event JOB SEARCH WORKSHOPS for friends and family. Cost is $8 at the door; South Seattle Community College’s $5 under 18. Regular skate rentals: FREE. WorkSource Center is partnering with the Inline skate rentals: $4 or bring your own Seattle Public Library to offer résumé and skates. For more information and directions, job search workshops at the downtown call 425-458-4707. Next Gay Skate Party is Central Library, 1000 Fourth Ave., Room Monday, March 15. www.GaySkateSeattle.

4 on Level 4. The one-hour workshops are com; info@gayskateseattle.com. conveniently scheduled on weekdays and Saturdays. No registration is required, but SEATTLE QUAKE RUGBY seating may be limited. For more informaCALENDAR SIGNING EVENT tion, contact the Seattle Public Library at On Monday, February 15, from 7-10 p.m., 206-386-4636, www.spl.org, or South Se- join the Seattle Quake Rugby team at The attle Community College WorkSource at BottleNeck Lounge, 2328 E. Madison St., 206-764-5304, www.southseattle.edu. to pick up a signed copy of the 2010 Seattle Quake Calendar. This could be your last RAINBOW FAMILIES OF chance to snag a copy, so come and support PUGET SOUND PANCAKE a hooker or scrumhalf, flyback, fullback, BREAKFAST FUNDRAISER etc. Enjoy beer specials and players in kit.

On Saturday, February 13, from 9-11:30 a.m., Rainbow Families of Puget Sound 29TH ANNUAL hosts their annual fundraiser, “For the Love GSBA BUSINESS & of Pancakes,” at the Greenwood Senior CenHUMANITARIAN ter, 525 N. 85th St. Cost is $10 per person or AWARDS BANQUET $20 per family. For more information, email On Wednesday, February 17, at 5:30 p.m., Tracy at tracy@tracykalloway.com. the Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA), Seattle’s LGBT and Allied ChamSEATTLE QUAKE RUGBY ber of Commerce, hosts their 29th annual HOME GAMES GSBA Business & Humanitarian Awards The Seattle Quake Rugby hosts 3 homes Banquet – “GSBA: The Place to Be, To games this season on Saturdays, February Connect and To Give” – at the Grand Hyatt 13 (vs. Microsoft), February 27 (vs. Orsu), Seattle, 721 Pine St. “We are thrilled to honand April 3 (vs. Corvallis). All games are or some outstanding recipients: leaders who played at Magnuson Park, Field #5, 7400 have left their indelible mark in business, Sand Point Way NE. Kickoff at 1 p.m. Spec- social advocacy and philanthropy. We also tators welcome. www.quakerugby.org. welcome keynote speaker and business pioneer Judy Dlugacz, founder of Olivia Music IMPERIAL COURT OF SEATTLE and Olivia Cruises, with MC Gary Tucker, PRESENTS CORONATION 2010 – Pacific Northwest Ballet, and special re“THE PRESIDENT’S BALL: marks by US Senator Maria Cantwell.”

A STAR-SPANGLED AFFAIR” Tickets: $130-GSBA members; $145-nonThe Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle members; $75-students. To register and for presents Coronation 2010 – “The Presi- more information, call 206-363-9188 or dent’s Ball: A Star-Spangled Affair” on Sat- visit www.thegsba.org. urday, February 13. The gala affair, which includes a complete dinner, will be held at SEATTLE GAY & LESBIAN the Seattle Renaissance Hotel, 515 Madison BOOK CLUB AT DUNSHEE HOUSE St., starting at 5 p.m. Tickets for the CoronaThe Seattle Gay & Lesbian Book Club tion Ball are $55. meets every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at DunOn Friday, February 12, the Court pres- shee House, 303 17th Ave. E. at E. Thomas ents the Out of Town Show, 7 p.m., at St. The club is pleased to announce the folNeighbours, with fine drag entertainment lowing titles to be discussed in their ongoperformed by visiting dignitaries from Im- ing reading and discussion series: February perial Courts in the Northwest region out- – A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood; side of Seattle.

March – The Pure and the Impure by CoA Victory Brunch celebrating Seattle’s lette. All GLBTQ folks in the community new reigning monarchs will be held on Sun- are welcome to participate in this free book day, February 14, at 10:30 a.m., at the Se- club. The reading list is chosen and the disattle Renaissance Hotel. cussion facilitated by Nick DiMartino, pubFor more information, visit www.imperi- lished novelist and playwright, currently a alcourtofseattle.com. book reviewer for ShelfAwareness.com, and a 30-year employee of University Book SISTERS OF PERPETUAL Store. For more information, email nickdiINDULGENCE, martin@earthlink.net or contact Dunshee ABBEY OF ST. JOAN, House at 206-322-2437.

HOST MARDI GRAS EVENTS AT THE CUFF TWISTED! COMEDY SHOW On Saturday, February 13, from 9 p.m.

AT COMEDY UNDERGROUND to close, join the Sisters for a “Mardi Gras On Wednesday, February 17, at 8 p.m., Debaucherade” at The Cuff Complex, 1533 TK Kasnick hosts “TWISTED!,” a “Sex 13th Ave. at E. Pine St. This will be a dance Positive Community” Comedy Show, at the resplendent with beads and flesh. Wear your Comedy Underground, 109 S. Washington mask and feathers, but leave most of your St., featuring Solomon Georgio. Tickets are clothes at home. $10 at the door. Must be 18+ and 21+ to purThe party continues at The Cuff on Tues- chase alcohol. Wear something sexy! day, February 16, from 8 p.m. to close, with “TWISTED!,” a sex positive event, questhe “Mardi Gras Masquerade.” Enjoy cos- tions and stretches the 1950s sex/sexuality tume contest with cash prize, raffle prizes, morals prevalent in America. Comedians souvenir beads, drink specials, photos with and variety acts from the LGBTQA and the Sisters and models from DV8 casting.

BDSM communities sizzle with suggestProceeds from the Sisters’ Mardi Gras ibility and laughter. TK Kasnick, a Bisexual events will benefit the Foundation for Sex comedienne from both communities, hosts Positive Culture and the Sisters’ Play Fair! the show with a hot sensuality that must be Project. www.theabbey.org. experienced. Every month, a different theme and a different experience from BDSM play will be demonstrated, courtesy of the Center for Sex Positive Culture – www.sexpositiveculture.org. Next show on 3/24. www. comedyunderground.com

Visit us online www.sgn.org

GRAND OPENING PARTY FOR GAY CITY’S LGBT LIBRARY & LGBT RESOURCE & REFERRAL LINE On Thursday, February 18, from 6-8 p.m., join Gay City staff and volunteers at the Gay City Health Project offices, 511 E. Pike St., for the launch of their new LGBT Library (which includes the collection previously managed by the Seattle LGBT Community Center) and the LGBT Resource & Referral Line (206-323-LGBT). Refreshments will be served.

The library is a collection of about 2,000 books, and includes fiction, poetry, memoir, Queer studies, Transgender studies, law, civil rights, HIV, and more. The library will be a drop-in space for people to sit, read, discuss, and learn more about the LGBT community.

Rome Gay Bingo,” April 17 is “Biker Babe Gay Bingo,” May 22 is “Blue Hair Gay Bingo,” and June 19 is “Beach Blanket Gay Bingo.” Tickets are $25 and a full bar will be available. Due to Washington State Liquor Control regulations, all guests must be 21 years of age or older.

Visit the Lifelong AIDS Alliance Gay Bingo website at www.gaybingoseattle.com for more information and to buy your tickets. Or contact Gay Bingo at 206-323-0069 or gaybingo@llaa.org

NUBIAN PRIDE PAGEANT On Saturday, February 20, Nubian Pride Productions, a newly formed GLBT organization, presents the Nubian Pride Pageant, an ALL-AGES event, door at 6 p.m., show at 7 p.m., at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center, 3515 S. Alaska St. Tickets are $15 and are available in advance at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/91388. The event will be hosted by Regine Dynasty with a grand GAY CITY SEEKS VOLUNTEERS prize of $800. A 21+ after party will be held FOR LGBT LIBRARY & starting around 9 p.m. For more informaRESOURCE & REFERRAL LINE Gay City Health Project’s newest program tion, email nubianpride@gmail.com. needs your help! They have taken charge of “DON’T BOX ME IN: the 323-LGBT community resource line and DIVERSITY IN GENDER & need your help to make it successful! Some SEXUALITY” – duties include answering phones, connectTHE 2010 PACIFIC NW ing people to resources, updating material RECONCILING MINISTRIES for their records, checking out books and NETWORK GATHERING reshelving. If you are interested, please conOn Sunday, February 21, from 1:15 p.m.tact Susan at 206-388-1707 or email her at 8 p.m., the Pacific Northwest Reconciling susan@gaycity.org.

Ministries Network will host their annual gathering at the Puyallup United MethodQ-SQUARED BOOK GROUP On Saturday, February 20, at 1 p.m., the ist Church, 1919 W. Pioneer Ave., Puyallup, Q-Squared Book Group will meet at the WA. In past years PNW-RMN has held workCapitol Hill Branch Library, 425 Harvard Ave. E., to discuss Felice Picano’s novel, shops that dealt with people who are Gay, Like People in History. Edmund White said Lesbian or Transgender. These were imporof the book, “This is the big novel we’ve tant moments to learn more about the people been waiting for – the Gay Gone With the who are family members, friends and neighWind. It’s the heroic and funny saga of the bors. At this year’s gathering you can learn last three decades by someone who saw ev- more about sex and gender as it applies to erything and forgot nothing.” Q-Squared those who may consider themselves BisexBook Group is open to men who are inter- ual, “gender fluid” or Intersex.

If you have been curious about these isested in Gay literature and always welcomes new members. For more information, visit sues, here is a place to ask your questions about gender, sexuality and how the wide www.qsquared.org. diversity of gender and sexuality are encompassed within a Christian community.

43RD DISTRICT LEGISLATORS Bring yourselves, your loved ones and HOST TOWN HALL MEETING On Saturday, February 20, from 1:30-3 your questions. For more information, visit p.m., the 43rd District legislative delega- http://2010-pnwrmn-gathering.notlong. tion – House Speaker Frank Chopp, Sen. Ed com or call Jeff at 206-634-2444.

Murray, and Rep. Jamie Pedersen – will host SISTERS ORGANIZE FOR SURVIVAL a local town hall meeting at the Seattle First Sisters Organize for Survival is working Baptist Church, 1111 Harvard Ave. The three lawmakers will provide an up- on a campaign to save the WA State Basic date on the 2010 Legislative Session and Health Plan. Upcoming meeting is schedtake questions from constituents. The law- uled for Thursday, February 25 at 7 p.m., makers expect a range of questions on is- at New Freeway Hall, 5018 Rainier Ave. S. sues before the Legislature, such as how to Everyone welcome. Wheelchair accessible. resolve the state’s budget crisis and the re- For more information, call 206-722-6057 or email rwseattle@mindspring.com. placement of the SR 520 bridge.

The event is free and open to all constituQUEER FOUNDATION ents of the 43rd Legislative District, which OFFERING THREE $1,000 includes Capitol Hill, University District, COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS Madison Valley, Washington Park, BroadTo the top essayists in the 2010 high moor, Madison Park, Montlake, Wallingford and parts of Fremont, Ravenna, Denny school seniors English essay contest, $1,000 scholarships are available for studRegrade and downtown Seattle.

The 2010 Legislative Session began in ies in Queer theory or a related field at the January and will continue through mid- U.S. college or university of their choice in 2010-11. For complete information, visit March. http://queerfoundation.org/Documents/essay_contest.html. Application deadline is CALLING ALL QUEER February 26, 2010.

AND TRANS YOUTH: QUEER YOUTH SPACE GAY OL’ PURIM PARTY IN SEATTLE – On Sunday, February 28, Kolenu hosts HELP MAKE IT HAPPEN! On Saturday, February 20, from 3-6 p.m, Seattle’s annual GLBTQ Purim Party at come imagine and shape Queer Youth Pravda Studios, 1406 10th Ave. E. With DJ Space in Seattle at the “Queer Youth Mu- Mathematix, Purim Burlesque by Honeytiny” meeting at Seattle Central Commu- suckle, singer-songwriter Moorea Malatt, nity College, 1701 Broadway, Room BE- costume contest with prizes, dancing, drinks 1110. Bring your voice, your politics, and and more. Doors at 7 p.m., admission is $5 your perspective and help create a space or at the door.

“Don’t miss the biggest GLBTQ Purim spaces for Queer youth, led by youth. www.

Party that Seattle has ever seen! Purim is ofqueeryouthspace.com. ten viewed as the Jewish coming out story and to honor Esther’s ‘coming out’ as a Jew GAY BINGO we will be throwing a huge bash. There will TO BENEFIT be plenty of pink hamantaschen, drinks and LIFELONG AIDS ALLIANCE Lifelong AIDS Alliance’s long-running dancing. Don’t forget that Purim is a holiday Gay Bingo season continues on Saturday, to dress up on, so come in costume ‘cause February 20 with “Racy and Lacy Bingo” at we’re giving out some fabulous prizes!”

Fremont Studios, 155 N. 35th St. – doors at 6 p.m., game starts promptly at 7 p.m. The season continues on March 20 is “When in

February 12, 2010

Seattle Gay News

7

Shaun knittel

(l to r) Howard Russell, Art Ruiz, and members of the Emerald City Softball Association among the over 50 bags of clothing received at the fundraiser

R Place BIG GAME fundraiser a success

by Shaun Knittel SGN Staff Writer

The Super Bowl has long attracted crowds of pigskin and beer lovers to sports bars around the country, so it should come as no surprise that a number of Capitol Hill Gay bars broadcast the game. But for local events planner Art Ruiz and the Emerald City Soft-

“Gay sports are big in Seattle,” Ruiz told SGN, “and there’s no bigger game than the Super Bowl. With such an interest in the game, we created THE BIG GAME as a way to help out the Haitians and raise muchneeded funds to improve our playfield.”

Ruiz told SGN that he organized THE BIG GAME around fundraisers for Haiti because ball Association (ECSA) officials, the Su- “I didn’t want people to forget that they still per Bowl served as a catapult for bringing need help.” He came up with a used clothtogether members of the LGBT community ing drive where each guest was asked to for two fundraisers – one of which benefited donate clothes for the cause, which entered the people of Haiti with a clothing drive, them in a raffle ticket drawing for a onewhile the other raised money for the ECSA’s night hotel stay in Chicago or New York or North SeaTac playfields – while having fun concert tickets to The Black Eyed Peas, to name a few of the prizes. Helping Ruiz and at the same time.

Seattle Otters hold water polo tournament

by James Whitely SGN Staff Writer The Seattle Otters, a local LGBT-friendly water polo team, held its 14th International Open Water Polo Tournament February 5-7.

“It’s one of the largest water polo tournaments in the Pacific Northwest. … It was 27 teams in three divisions: women, open, and co-ed,” said Wade Taylor, a player for the Otters.

About 45 locals participated in the threeday tournament – just one of many that the Otters will compete in any given year, but the only annual tournament that the Otters themselves host as a team. The Open saw teams from many states and provinces including Utah, California, Alberta, British

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer When the Mr. Gay World 2010 Pageant takes place in Oslo this weekend, it will include a contestant from China, in spite of the Chinese government’s efforts.

Chinese police raided the Mr. Gay China event on January 15, shutting it down only an hour before show time. Event organizers were informed they lacked appropriate permits.

At that time, Mr. Gay China organizers said they would not send a representative to Oslo.

“After a group discussion, the organizers and candidates all decided not to send a delegate to represent China this year,” their website announced.

8

Seattle Gay News

are hostile,” Aasheim said. ”In Beijing, all the contestants were gathered in one room and police clearly indicated they did not want Chinese participation in the pageant. It’s very uncomfortable to receive such a message in a country where human rights are not the main priority,” Aasheim added.

Twenty-four contestants from five continents will compete in this year’s pageant.

An Irish contestant won the title last year in the first Mr. Gay World Pageant, held in Whistler, Canada.

Since decriminalizing homosexuality in 1997, China has made real, though occasionally halting progress toward tolerance of its LGBT citizens.

In 2001, China removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.

Beijing’s first Gay bar opened in 2005, and in June last year Shanghai hosted China’s first Pride Festival, although the parade was cancelled by authorities.

June 2009 also featured the five-day Beijing Queer Film Festival, an event that police blocked in 2001 and 2005.

However, Chinese authorities have announced new restrictions on LGBT organizations and their activities in the wake of last month’s raid on the Mr. Gay China Pageant.

While the Chinese government wishes to portray their country as a cosmopolitan and sophisticated tourist destination – by opening a state-sponsored Gay bar in the Dali tourist resort, for example – authorities clearly remain divided on how to relate to their own LGBT citizens.

choi

“Dan is a member of the New York National Guard,” explained Sue Fulton, communications director of Knights Out, and organization of LGBT West Point alumni.

“This is not the same as active duty. National Guard units can be activated or called back to active duty. Officially, Dan’s unit has not [been activated].”

Fulton says this is not a change in Army policy, nor “any action from higher headquarters that we are aware of.”

“I would view it as a recognition by his unit that Dan’s discharge may, after all, not be confirmed by the army,” she said. “That said, Dan’s unit welcomed him back and he spent a very full weekend practicing infantry tactics and lifesaving procedures with them.

Dan has never lost the respect of his fellow soldiers – even as an out Gay man – and he will continue to do his job as an infantry officer for as long as he is allowed.”

Even as Choi returned to drill duty, he has not stepped out of the role as America’s top advocate for a DADT repeal.

“While some might praise the idea of ‘better implementation’ of the law, claiming that ‘witch hunts,’ ‘jilted lovers,’ or ‘third-party outings’ are the worst part of DADT, we know that the most dangerous and poisonous part of DADT is the fact that it forces soldiers to live a lie,” Choi said. “We all have a responsibility to honor our soldiers and restore integrity by demanding the full repeal of military discrimination.”

“Do not accept compromise,” Choi said.

“Our American values have been compromised for too long.”

Columbia.

The Seattle Otters were founded in 1990 as a women’s team to compete in the Gay Games. The Otters became a co-ed team in 1992. Over the years, the Otters have gradually moved from an almost entirely Gay team to a Gay-friendly team comprised mostly of straight people, but the team still remains very connected to its LGBT roots.

According to Taylor, players with skill levels of all kinds are welcome. The Otters currently have women’s, open and co-ed teams, and are always looking for new players. The Otters hold an open-to-all practice the last Tuesday of every month at Medgar continued from cover Evers Pool by Garfield High School.

For more information, visit www.otter- written statement. polo.com.

Choi told SGN that the night before he reported for duty, he appeared on CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, BBC, al-Jazeera, and other networks, commenting on the testimonies Admiral Mullen and Defense Secretary Gates gave before the Senate Armed Forces Committee.

“One debate, on Larry King Live, was particularly interesting,” he said. “Anti-Gay Tony Perkins rolled out his same old fear tactics and insulted our military in front of Gen. Wesley Clark and the nation. Tony Perkins bet against our soldiers, predicting that if DADT were repealed so many soldiers That apparently was a ruse to elude Chi- would quit that we would need a draft.” nese authorities, however, because the Chi“During last week’s infantry training, we nese contestant arrived in Oslo on February proved him wrong,” Choi said.

9.

“Do not call any of us quitters,” Choi de“Chinese authorities did not want a Chi- manded. “Gay patriots are serving openly nese contestant to come to Norway to take and honestly today.” part in our pageant, but thanks to the NorweChoi says that although he is back with gian embassy, which rushed his visa deliv- his unit, drilling and preparing for a posery, the participant arrived [Tuesday, Febru- sible deployment, his discharge is still pendary 9] in Oslo,” Mr. Gay World 2010 direc- ing. “Any day I could still be fired under tor Tore Aasheim told AFP news service.

DADT,” he said.

Aasheim would not reveal the name of “The paperwork has been floating around the Chinese entrant, but said he had been se- the Pentagon very slowly,” Choi said. “Usulected by the other Chinese contestants after ally people wait six or seven days for their authorities shut down their pageant. discharge. Meanwhile, I’m waiting for “It is very courageous on his part to have months to hear back.” taken the risk to leave his country to take There has been confusion surrounding part in an event to which Chinese authorities Choi’s return to his National Guard unit.

Chinese man defies government, shows up for Mr. Gay World Pageant

February 12, 2010

the ECSA was Howard Russell, an ECSA member also known as Lady Chablis, host of “Lashes Cabaret” at R Place.

Ruiz, an active member of ECSA and team manager of the Seattle Squadron, said that partnering with R Place turned out to be a great thing because “the bar management and staff really got behind the project.”

In addition to decorating the three-story nightclub and bar into Super Bowl XLIV central, Ruiz says the owners added four new flatscreen TVs for the event, ensuring that no matter where you were inside the club, you got a good view of the game. The bar supplied hotdogs, chili, and nachos for the ECSA food sale.

By the end of the game, the event was a huge success. Over 200 people had brought clothes, raised money, and came together as a Queer community to enjoy each other’s company. When all was said and done, Ruiz had collected over 50 bags of clothes and the ECSA was one step closer to adding important safety features to their playfields.

“THE BIG GAME was a success and a testament to what our community can accomplish when we all get together,” Ruiz told SGN. Ruiz says that the clothing drive was particularly special to him because “it meant more than just giving money.” Parting with clothes for a specific cause is something that you have to put some thought into, he said.

“It’s easy for someone to just drop some pocket change into a donation jar,” said Ruiz, “but this clothing drive added a personal touch.”

For Ruiz, Russell, the ECSA and R Place management, THE BIG GAME was an event that they can be proud of. The night went off without a hitch and the sense of community and caring was apparent as the fundraising goals were exceeded beyond all expectations.

Celebrating 37 Years!

A Canterbury tale

Archbishop apologizes to LGBT Anglicans

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

Albania passes antidiscrimination law

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Albania – Europe’s poorest and least developed country – passed a comprehensive anti-discrimination law guaranteeing the rights of its LGBT citizens on February 4.

The vote in Albania’s Assembly was 70-0.

The new law reportedly prohibits discrimination based on “gender, race, color, ethnicity, language, gender identity, sexual orientation, political, religious or philosophical beliefs, economic, education or social status, pregnancy, parentage, parental responsibility, age, family or marital condition, civil status, residence, health status, genetic predispositions, disability, affiliation with a particular group or for any other reason.”

The Albanian LGBT organization Aleanca Kunder Diskriminimit LGBT (Alliance Against LGBT Discrimination) hailed the new legislation on its bilingual English-Albanian website gayalbania.org.

“The [Aleanca] enthusiastically welcomes the approval of the Anti-Discrimination Law and we consider the law a powerful and solid legal instrument for the protection against any form of discrimination, direct or indirect.”

“As one of the categories that directly benefits from this law, we, the representatives of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community, take the opportunity to express our gratitude to all the members of parliament who supported this legal initiative, as well as to the media that objectively covered it.”

“We would like to particularly thank the working group and the Albanian human rights organizations that have for many years engaged for the conceptualization and drafting of this law.”

“This law is not simply a fulfillment of requirements that Albania has undertaken

for EU integration and visa liberalization.

Above all, this law is a victory for democracy and for human rights for all Albanians,” the Aleanca said.

In 2008, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg reported that LGBT Albanians faced routine intolerance and violence.

“An open discussion regarding homosexuality remains taboo in Albania,” Hammarberg wrote. “LGBT persons are routinely subject to intolerance, physical and psychological violence and seen by many as persons suffering from an ‘illness.’ ... There have also been cases of mistreatment by the police.”

Albania applied for membership in the European Union in April 2009. All EU members must comply with the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits discrimination against LGBT persons.

Lilit Poghosyan, Policy and Programs Officer for ILGA-Europe (the International LGBT Association in Europe), expressed the hope that Albania would set an example for other EU hopefuls.

“We congratulate Albania on this important step towards EU integration and elimination of all forms of discrimination. We hope that the new Albanian anti-discrimination [law] will be a good example for other countries in the region aspiring to join the European Union and have not yet adopted similar laws,” she said.

“Moreover, we hope that Albanian example will influence Macedonian authorities to revisit their recent decision to delete sexual orientation from the list of banned grounds of discrimination in their anti-discrimination bill currently being debated. Macedonia is a candidate country for EU membership and is under obligation to provide protection against sexual orientation discrimination.”

Albania is a parliamentary democracy in which the party that controls a majority in

Visit us online www.sgn.org

file photo

In his opening speech to the General Synod of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams called for an end to infighting over Gay and women clergy and apologized to LGBT Anglicans.

“The debate over the status and vocational possibilities of LGBT people in the Church is not helped by ignoring the existing facts, which include many regular worshippers of Gay or Lesbian orientation and many sacrificial and exemplary priests who share this orientation,” Williams said.

“There are ways of speaking about the question that seem to ignore these human realities or to undervalue them,” he continued.

“I have been criticized for doing just this, and I am profoundly sorry for the carelessness that could give such an impression.”

The General Synod is a gathering of bishops from all of the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion, representing its 77 million members worldwide.

The Anglican Communion includes the U.S. Episcopal Church, the Church of England, and Anglican Churches in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The Archbishop of Canterbury, England, is recognized as the titular head of the Anglican Church, although he lacks the absolute theological and administrative authority of the Roman Catholic Pope.

Williams finds himself at the head of a church wracked by controversy over who may be ordained as clergy, with Anglican conservatives rejecting Gay – and even women – bishops.

The Rev. Eugene Robinson, an openly Gay man with a long-term partner, was

elected Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. Nineteen other Episcopal bishops issued a statement of protest, warning of a possible schism over Gay issues within the Anglican Communion.

The situation became even more complicated in December last year, when the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles elected a Lesbian bishop, Mary Glasspool. Some conservative Anglicans oppose ordination of even straight women, much less Lesbians.

While conservatives were outraged, the Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, said she would consecrate any bishop whose election followed the rules.

After Robinson’s election, some Episcopalians left the Episcopal Church in the US and organized the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA), affiliated with bishops in Nigeria, Rwanda, and Uganda. More joined ACNA after Glasspool’s election.

Many African bishops are friendly towards the anti-Gay faction in the US. On the other hand, retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa has been openly supportive of Gay clergy. The South African Constitution guarantees full equality for LGBT citizens, including marriage rights.

Pope Benedict XVI has also tried to capitalize on the disarray in the Anglican Church, offering to set up special jurisdictions for conservative Anglican clergy who defect to the Roman Catholic Church.

Dr. Williams’ attempts to moderate the controversy often seemed hostile to Gay Anglicans.

Unlike all the other US Episcopal bishops, Bishop Robinson was not invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the 2008 Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops.

In a statement posted on his website, Dr. Dr. Williams also took special care to extend Williams said Glasspool’s election “raises a hand to conservatives. He warned against very serious questions, not just for the Epis- the “megaphone tones” used in the debate copal Church and its place in the Anglican on Gay clergy, and cautioned US EpiscopaCommunion, but for the Communion as a lians – who have ordained both women and Gays as bishops – whole.” not to alienate their Suggesting that colleagues in less Glasspool’s election liberal societies. “could be rejected The chairman of by diocesan bishops the conservative and diocesan standAnglican group Reing committees,” form, the Reverend Williams warned Rod Thomas, said that their “decithe Archbishop’s sion will have very address was positive important implicafor traditionalists. tions.”

“I thought it was a Williams has very wise speech,” also been critical of Thomas said, “askBritain’s Equality ing Christians to Bill – which would bear with one anothban workplace diser and to care about crimination against the impact they’re LGBT persons – on having on one anthe grounds that the other, and not to so government had no pursue what they right “to tell reliwant to see that they gious bodies which effectively exclude of the tasks for people from the which they might Church.” employ people reNot all the conquired and which Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams servatives were did not require some level of compliance with the public teaching so impressed, however. The conservative bishop of Winchester, England, Michael of the church about behavior.”

On the other hand, Williams strongly Scott-Joynt, reportedly made a show of givcondemned Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality ing only perfunctory applause to the Archbishop’s plea for tolerance.

Bill.

Immediately following Williams’ re“Overall, the proposed legislation is of shocking severity and I can’t see how it marks to the Synod, Archbishop Orombi of could be supported by any Anglican who is Uganda issued a statement in which he said, committed to what the Communion has said “Homosexual practice has no place in God’s in recent decades,” he said in an interview design of creation, the continuation of the human race through procreation or His plan with the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

“Apart from invoking the death penalty, it of redemption.” “[L]esbianism, bestiality and other sexmakes pastoral care impossible – it seeks to ual perversions” should also be prohibited, turn pastors into informers,” he continued.

While he apologized to LGBT Anglicans, Orombi insisted. the Assembly makes up the government.

Prime Minister Salih Berisha’s center-right Democratic Party holds 68 seats in the 140seat parliament, and governs with the cooperation of smaller centrist parties.

The center-left Socialist Party, Berisha’s principal opposition, controls 63 seats. They and their leftist allies are currently boycotting parliament in protest against alleged voter fraud in the 2009 parliamentary elections, so there are only 71 voting members.

Berisha announced in July 2009 that his government would support same-sex civil marriages, although he did not introduce a new marriage law.

Legalization of same-sex marriage would require a change in Albania’s Family Code, and changes to the Family Code require 84 votes in the Assembly. As long as the 63 Socialists continue to boycott parliament, it will therefore be impossible to amend the Family Code.

American-born Lesbian Mindy Michaels, who lives with her partner in the Albanian capital Tirana, told the Gay blog Pam’s House Blend that the Aleanca – while still small – was using grassroots organizing techniques to bring visibility and respect to Albania’s LGBT community.

“Day by day, through word of mouth, through the Facebook group, through media coverage, through lectures at universities ... they are finding other people, creating community, and building a group of people who want to try and make a difference,” Michaels said. “I cannot begin to tell you how inspired I am by them. The steps are small, and there is a long way to go, but something has started.”

Michaels also credited US Ambassador John Withers with supporting the LGBT community.

“Since [2008] he has personally met with key LGBT group and human rights organization leaders, been the primary speaker for a public International Day Against Homophobia lecture, written an op-ed for an Albanian newspaper, and supported numerous other activities designed to build support for LGBT human rights,” she said. “His actions and statements have been personally inspirational to us, and incredibly inspiring to the Albanian activists.”

February 12, 2010

While modern Albanians are probably descendants of the prehistoric inhabitants of the Adriatic coast where they still live, Albania became an independent country only in 1912. After more than 25 years of political turmoil, Italy occupied the country during World War II. Albania emerged from the war under a Communist government so hardline it rejected even Stalin and Mao as too liberal, and so isolationist its only international ally was North Korea.

Communist Albania collapsed in 1990, but the new democratic Albania almost collapsed as well in 1996 when the vast Ponzi scheme on which the national economy was based fell apart, bankrupting the country.

Perhaps 70% of Albanians are of Muslim background, but because the Communists closed all religious institutions and executed most of the clergy in 1968, few modern Albanians are actively religious.

In addition to a national anti-discrimination law, Albania also has a national government-sponsored healthcare system.

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Seattle Gay News 15

Kenya blocks same-sex wedding

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer As SGN goes to press, BBC News reports that village chiefs have blocked a same-sex wedding in the African country of Kenya.

“I was shocked. … I won’t allow it,” Chief Hussein Swaleh told BBC. The marriage had been scheduled to take place February 11 in what was described as “a private villa” near the Kenyan seaport city of Mombassa.

The BBC reporter on the scene said the wedding party left the area in three minibuses before the marriage could be concluded.

Kenyan government officials in the Mnarani area near Mombasa planned protests against the wedding and wanted to evict the

two men from their houses.

“We had planned with our area chiefs to give them notices … and tell these people to move from our area,” said government councilor Esther Kache.

Gay sex is illegal in Kenya, and carries a penalty of up to 14 years in prison. Lesbian sex is apparently legal, however. Most African countries ban Gay sex, although several of them permit Lesbian sex.

While most of Kenya’s 39 million people are Christians, the majority of people in Coast Province – centered on Mombassa – are Muslims.

Among African countries, only South Africa forbids all discrimination against LGBT South Africans, and a same-sex marriage law was passed there in 2006.

Gay activist arrested in Malawi

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer A man has been arrested in the African nation of Malawi for putting up posters advocating LGBT rights.

Peter Sawali, 21, was arrested with stacks of posters which read “Gay rights are human rights.” Police say they believe he is part of an international Gay conspiracy because of the number and quality of the posters.

“We are still investigating because we believe there is a chain of people who were

working with Mr. Sawali,” police spokesperson Dave Chingwalu said.

“We cannot rule out international sponsors because of the quality and the quantity of the posters,” Chingwalu added. “They might even have been produced outside.”

Chingwalu said that Sawali will be charged with “conduct likely to cause a breach of peace,” a misdemeanor that could be punished with a fine of up to 5,000 kwacha (about $35) or up to three months in jail.

The Malawian human rights group Broad Coalition has distributed leaflets, posters

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and pictures promoting LGBT rights, but keeps the names of its members secret.

Another recently formed group, the Center for the Development of People, says studies show that Malawi’s homophobic laws inhibit international efforts to prevent the spread of HIV/ AIDS. Malawi’s government has been the target of international criticism for the prosecution of Steven Monjeza and his Transgender bride Tiwonge Chimbalanga, arrested after their December 27 wedding.

Monjeza and Chimbalanga are charged with “gross indecency” under a Malawian law forbidding homosexuality. If convicted they face up to 14 years in prison.

Mauya Msuku, the couple’s lawyer, said

the laws under which they were charged are archaic and unconstitutional.

“The penal code criminalizes homosexuality or same-sex marriages but under the Bill of Rights in the new Constitution it is clearly stated that no one should be discriminated against on the basis of – among other things – sexual orientation,” he said.

Malawi’s Information Minister Leckford Mwanza Thoto said Monjeza and Chimbalanga were “clearly breaking the laws of Malawi.”

“Despite Malawi depending on international aid, the country is a sovereign country with its own laws and must not be influenced by the West in the running of its affairs of state,” Thoto said.

mandela

reflects Mandela’s vision and the yearning of a nation with no outcasts among its citizens. Unique among constitutions, it enshrines legal protections for children, women and Gay and Lesbian South Africans, among others.

Mandela and Tutu believed in a proactive effort to avoid any possibilities of vengeance. These two Nobel Peace Laureates set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, chaired by Tutu. Any South African could apply for amnesty from civil and criminal charges if they confessed to and asked for forgiveness for their actions.

Nothing quite like it had ever been attempted in any part of the world.

Mandela’s life story and integrity supported the words he spoke 20 years ago that “the march to freedom is irreversible.” In a country where the roadblocks to freedom for all were abundant, Mandela led the widening of the path to oneness and unity.

Mandela the icon may be iconic because he transcends the politics of divisions. In place of discord, his life story is about freedom for all, an innate freedom that not even the harshest imprisonment can destroy. The march to freedom is irreversible. Hundreds of millions in the global family know it. We celebrate freedom, justice and dignity for all in Mandela even as we yearn for others to take up the mantle of his spirit – the mantle of being authentically human.

continued from cover and unwavering in his vision. He may have been in prison, but his personal identity and vision were never imprisoned. His release from jail was a reminder that he had never left the world stage; he was re-entering it with even greater gravitas.

The attempt to silence and diminish Mandela was an unmitigated failure – a truth that F.W. De Klerk, then president of that country, acknowledged in admitting the moral failure of apartheid’s cruel, unjust divisions.

De Klerk said he realized that all South Africans were “an omelet you could not unscramble.”

A more compelling version of De Klerk’s observation was the message constantly offered by Archbishop Desmond Tutu: that all people are made for oneness. Mandela’s iconic status is etched in history because of his leadership in building common ground, unity and oneness out of the ashes of division.

Clint Eastwood’s Invictus is a reminder that Mandela steadfastly resisted the yearning for payback expressed by some of his supporters. Instead, Mandela was resolute in using every tool at his disposal to work for the oneness so often elusive in post-traumatic political landscapes.

The South African Constitution, widely regarded as a model of constitutional law,

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continued from cover anti-Gay slurs: “Faggots.” “Homos.” “Get AIDS and die, you fucking Queers.”

The West Side Gay bashing turned into an international incident ending with the New York Police Department (NYPD) crossing the pond to England in order to track down the suspect – Staff Sergeant Ford – a Bronze Star recipient. Last week, Hayes told SGN that nearly five months later, justice has been served by an unlikely source: The U.S. Air Force.

EARLY HOURS OF SEPTEMBER 26, 2009 The confrontation happened outside McCoy’s Bar in Hell’s Kitchen. Like so many Gay bashings, the suspect was drunk, belligerent and looking for trouble. Unfortunately for Hayes and his friends, they became the targets of Ford’s aggression. The trouble for Ford was that Hayes, Bell, and Calvert are Gay. According to Hayes and eyewitness accounts, which Ford did not contest at his U.S. Air Force punishment review board, the Air Force Staff Sergeant flicked a lit cigarette at the three men as they exited McCoy’s Bar. After he called Bell a “homo,” the group reportedly began to make fun of Ford’s baldness.

That’s when Ford exploded in anger – shoving Hayes and Calvert and then punching Bell in the face.

After the assault, Ford bragged about being “untouchable,” due to his decorated military service, told them to die of AIDS and went inside McCoy’s Bar as if nothing had happened at all.

“One dented car, two eyewitnesses, and at least five cops later, we expected him to be punished,” Hayes told SGN. “But that night, Ford was right. He walked away without a report even being filed.”

Much to Hayes’ disbelief, NYPD told him “there wasn’t enough of a physical injury to warrant an arrest.” In addition to that, the police refused to charge Ford with property damage for the dented car because the car had New Jersey plates.

When the group went to the nearest police precinct, they were again met with resistance.

“On paper, he’s a hero,” Hayes said of Ford. “But when it comes to what happened … he deserves to be punished.”

Hayes is quick to note the conflicting portraits of the suspect. On the one hand, Ford is an expert at defusing bombs who was part of a military contingent whose job it is to protect the president and other world leaders, while on the other hand, Ford is a drunk fueled with rage, anger, and anti-Gay sentiment.

Still, Hayes told SGN, “It doesn’t matter what you do for a living or what kind of career you have – it doesn’t give you the right to Gay bash.”

Initially, Ford’s military I.D. seemed to have bought him a “get out of jail free” card.

Hayes says that surveillance cameras caught Ford handing the NYPD officer his I.D. and “that was that.” Hayes said, “They never asked any of us for our I.D. It was clear what we were up against.”

What Ford – and the NYPD officers, for that matter – didn’t expect is that Hayes was planning on making noise until someone – anyone – listened. That someone turned out to be New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn.

INVESTIGATION PROVES FRUITFUL Hayes and company would not keep mum, and they would not accept that what happened was justified. Hayes found an ally in Quinn, an open Lesbian on the city council. “She is fantastic,” he said. “She’s really good on LGBT issues.”

Quinn immediately went to work. She put out a statement for an internal investigation of the officers on the scene that had seemingly done nothing in the face of a hate crime. Hayes says, “from then on, NYPD was great.” They identified the attacker and began the process of “hunting him down.”

The Hate Crimes Task Force was assigned to the case and eventually learned that Ford was assigned to an Air Force base five hours outside London, England. An NYPD Intelligence Division detective stationed in London drove to the base and interviewed Ford, who admitted he was at the scene but insisted his alleged victims started the fight – a lie that would later come back to haunt the staff sergeant, as the Air Force would eventually pile on an extra charge of lying to military investigators.

Quinn said the planned prosecution of Ford would “send a strong message” that hate crimes would not be tolerated.

“When the Air Force heard about the incident, they took it very seriously,” said Hayes.

Due to the complicated nature of the case, Ford could only be charged solely by the U.S. Air Force, or brought back to New York to face his victims. Hayes says the District Attorney’s office gave him a choice between military justice and civil justice.

Not knowing what to expect, Hayes opted for the staff sergeant to appear before his commanding officer for punishment because “the Air Force piled on the charges.”

According to U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel John Hartsell, Ford was served with an Article 15 (issuing a false statement) and three counts for assault and battery. Ford’s commanding officer has docked his pay, lowered his rank, and wrote, “Ford was in New York for a presidential task and failed.

He drank in excess and confronted people minding their own business. He used Gay slurs inappropriately. He knowingly lied to investigators when confronted about the incident.”

The commander also emphasized that his punishment be visible, and must serve as a lesson. Hartsell told Hayes that the military

has instituted measures to put Ford through alcohol abuse classes and anger management classes.

Many are considering the punishment to be a landmark milestone in the way the military is facing anti-Gay sentiment. With a possible repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” on the horizon, Gay advocates say the military is sending a strong signal that Gay bashing will not be tolerated in the ranks or by servicemembers on or off duty.

Last week, Ford wrote a letter to Hayes, Bell and Calvert apologizing for the pain and suffering he caused. “What I did was horrible, and I’m embarrassed and ashamed,” he wrote. “I hurled horrible slurs, in an egregious offense that you did not deserve. … I have been learning about why I lashed out like I did at you that night. … I embarrassed myself, my family, and my country. … What happened that night is a permanent mark on my record, and on my mind.”

A CHANGED MAN “This has changed my life,” Hayes told SGN. “I was always involved in activism, but now I do it with passion. Now I get it.

When I think about what happened that night, I realize we were lucky. There are people who have a much worse outcome.

People have been killed during a Gay bashing.”

Hayes says he is proud that he did not stay silent and demanded justice. “We turned our lemons into lemonade,” he said. Although the physical injuries were not long-lasting, Hayes says the spiritual impact the attack made was substantial.

“I think we handled it well. When people ask ‘why didn’t you fight back?’ the answer is simple – it would have been just another drunken fight outside a bar,” he told SGN. “We took the higher road by taking a step back and not engaging our attacker. In doing so, we’ve helped raise awareness. There are better ways to fight back – violence will solve nothing.”

Hayes says that victims of Gay bashing

should not feel embarrassed. “If it happens to you, don’t be ashamed,” he advises. “Instead, take action. Talk about it and pursue justice.”

Speaker Quinn couldn’t agree more. She said that because Hayes and his friends were brave and demanded justice, “this sentence shows that if you commit a hate crime in New York City, you will be pursued, apprehended and prosecuted.”

Quinn says she applauds the U.S. Air Force for “taking swift and appropriate action” on this case.

“This crime was also notable because of reports from the victims that NYPD officers responding to the scene did not appropriately recognize the seriousness of the incident and failed to collect contact information from the alleged assailant,” Quinn said in a statement to SGN. “An Internal Affairs Bureau investigation is in progress and we are awaiting the results of this investigation.”

Hayes says that he is pleased with the final results because “that night, the police let [Ford] walk away.”

“Ideally, I would love for him to be dragged back to New York and thrown in front of TV cameras to face us,” he said., “but I am pleased that he has been punished and wasn’t allowed to slip through the cracks.”

For Hayes, the most touching moment to come out of the ordeal is the e-mail and Facebook messages he’s received from people around the country. “People, Gay and straight, have sent me words of support.”

In the end, Hayes says he has been more affected by the positive emotional outpouring from people than by the incident itself.

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Seattle Gay News 17

Studies show LGBT teens bullied more, at higher suicide risk

by Shaun Knittel SGN Staff Writer It’s no secret that kids can be mean to each other. But for some LGBT youth, the bullying has led to depression, self-imposed isolation, and even suicide. A new study shows that LGBT adolescents get bullied two or three times more than their heterosexual counterparts, and a separate study shows mental health professionals that self-identity, rather than actual sexual behavior, is the most crucial risk factor.

at schools are more likely to do the same at home. However, the new results suggest older kids are still vulnerable to bullies, even though past studies have shown the prevalence of bullying declines after middle-school years.

According to the study, LGBT students were the least likely to bully others.

The data came from 2001 information collected in an ongoing study of American teens, which included more than 7,500 adolescents aged 14 to 22. The participants were children of female registered nurses. The results are published online in the January issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Of the male teens, about 0.5% identified themselves as Bisexual, 1.4% as Gay, 4.5% as “mostly heterosexual,” and 93.6% as heterosexual. For teen girls, 1.9% identified themselves as Bisexual, 0.3% as Lesbian, 9.5% as mostly heterosexual, and 88.3% as heterosexual.

No group was immune to bullying.

Nearly 44% of Gay male participants said they had been bullied in the previous year, compared with 26% of heterosexuals who reported the same. For girls, 40% of Lesbians indicated they had been bullied in the past year, while just over 15% of heterosexuals reported the same.

“The importance of that is we know that it’s not just that they’re bullied and that’s a normative experience for young people,” said Berlan. “We know kids who are bullied have health consequences of those bullying experiences. Kids who are bullied are more likely to have physical and mental health problems.”

“We know kids who are bullied have health consequences of those bullying experiences.

Kids who are bullied are more likely to have physical and mental health problems.”

LGBT TEENS BULLIED MORE THAN HETEROSEXUALS Researchers at the Adolescent Medicine branch at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio say they aren’t sure why LGBT kids get bullied more than others. They broadly suggest that those who are different from the social norm are often the targets of bullying, which can include various verbal insults and physical assaults.

Whatever the cause, the researchers say the results have implications for parents and schools alike.

“Students, parents, schools and community organizations can work to create environments that are supportive and accepting of all students, regardless of their sexual orientation,” said lead study author Dr. Elise Berlan. “Schools, in particular, need to work to increase awareness of bullying.”

The research is hardly new; it adds to accumulating results on the topic of bullying, with studies showing kids who bully

LGBT YOUTH at HIGHER SUICIDE RISK Mental health professionals have known for a long time that LGBT teens face significantly elevated risks of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts. However, a group of McGill University researchers in Montreal has come to some new conclusions, published in February in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

The researchers administered an anonymous questionnaire to 1,900 students in 14 Montreal-area high schools. The study found that teens who self-identified as LGBT, or who were unsure of their sexual identity, were at higher risk for suicidal thoughts and attempts. However, teens who had same-sex attractions or sexual experiences but thought of themselves as heterosexual were at no greater risk than the population at large.

Surprisingly, the study found that the majority of teens with same-sex attraction or experience considered themselves to be heterosexual.

“This is the first study that has separated sexual identity from sexual attractions and

behaviors in looking at risk for poor mental health outcomes,” said corresponding author Dr. Brett Thombs, of the Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research at the Jewish General Hospital.

“It’s important to realize that a large proportion of people who have sex with or are attracted to people of the same sex do not identify themselves as LGBT. They consider themselves as heterosexual,” said coauthor Dr. Richard Montoro of the McGill University Health Center.

“The main message is that it’s the interface between individuals and society that causes students who identify as LGBT the most distress. Sexual orientation has three different components. The first is identity, which is dependent on the society in which one lives; the second is attraction or fantasy; and the third is behavior. Previous studies have not addressed which of those components may explain why LGBT youth are at risk,” said Yue Zhao, a McGill University graduate student working with Thombs.

Thombs says that the study’s findings “clearly suggest that further study of the link between anti-Gay sentiment and suicide … need to be undertaken.”

judge

Many believe that if Walker decides that Prop. 8 is unconstitutional, you can bet that supporters of the measure will make the judge’s sexuality front and center in their arguments on appeal.

Not so, said Andy Pugno, general counsel for the group that sponsored the Prop.

8 campaign. “We are not going to say anything about that,” he said.

He did, however, say that Prop. 8 backers haven’t gotten fair treatment from Walker in court, citing that the judge’s order for the campaign to turn over thousands of pages of internal memos to the other side and Walker’s decision to allow the trial to be broadcast as reasons for his accusations of an unbalanced trial. “In many ways, the sponsors of Prop. 8 have been put at a significant disadvantage throughout the case,” Pugno said, “regardless [of] the reason for it.”

Walker has a good reputation as a federal judge, say his friends and supporters. His sexuality has always been a non-issue, they say. In fact, in an ironic twist of events, in seeking the job as federal judge, Walker had to disprove allegations that he was anti-Gay due to a case he tried in private practice in the early ‘80s where the U.S. Olympic Committee sued San Francisco’s Gay Olympic Games for use of the Olympic name. Walker acted on behalf of the plaintiffs – and won.

continued from cover forded the opportunity to keep mum about his sexuality because so many of his colleagues, Gay politicians in San Francisco, have come forward to say they don’t believe his orientation will influence how he will rule on the case.

“There is nothing about Walker as a judge to indicate that his sexual orientation, other than being an interesting factor, will in any way bias his view,” said Kate Kendell, head of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which supports the lawsuit to overturn Prop. 8.

California State Senator Mark Leno, a San Francisco Democrat who has sponsored two bills to authorize same-sex marriage (both were vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger) said that Walker’s background is a non-issue. “It seems curious to me,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle, “that when the state Supreme Court heard a challenge to Prop. 8, the justice’s sexual orientation “was never discussed.”

Leno added, “I have great respect for Judge Walker, professionally and personally.”

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Bullied?

Help is out there.

by Michael Raitt SGN Contributing Writer As a child/adolescent, were you called a faggot or a dyke? Were you threatened or physically attacked? Did you feel isolated, or were you excluded because people perceived you as being GLBTQ? Was fear a motivating factor to keep you in the closet to avoid being labeled as Gay and, therefore, subjected to verbal and/or physical assaults?

How much time did you spend being afraid of what might happen or be said?

It is not uncommon for GLBTQ men and women to tell of stories of being bullied as children because others used their sexual identity against them. Equally as troubling were those who were so terrified of being found out that they lived in chronic fear and stayed in the closet. People talk of being called names, getting physically attacked, and feeling isolated. Men and women report that these experiences were excruciatingly painful. We also know this is not an experience that exists solely in the past.

GLBTQ adolescents experience this around the world today, and the effects can be catastrophic.

A report came out last week about research that was published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry about the long-term health effects that bullying has on its victims. The study substantiates that victims of bullying exhibit physical and mental health effects well into adulthood.

Clearly, there are huge implications in the GLBTQ community regarding the effects of bullying. We know that too many adolescents and adults commit suicide because of the bullying they have been subjected to, which leads to them feeling unloved, worthless, isolated, and hopeless. From personal and professional experience, I also know that many GLBTQ adults are still affected

by the bullying they experienced earlier in life.

How does bullying affect us? There are two major parts to this. First, there is a physiological effect on the body when it chronically feels like there is a threat. Under that kind of stress, hormones are constantly being released which keep the body in a heightened state of alert that we call, “fight, flight, or freeze.” After long periods of time like this, the chemistry and physiology of the body changes. Sometimes this is experienced as chronic anxiety.

The second effect that bullying has on victims is its impact on how we see ourselves and how we relate to others around us – we call this our “psychological script.” Human development involves identity formation and, in large part, we form our identity through the messages and experiences we have in relation to others. When we receive constant messages – verbally and/or behaviorally – that we are unwanted, undesirable, weird, perverted, weak, and generally unlovable, this will influence how we see ourselves and how we interact with others.

People who have experienced this can have chronic depression, low self-esteem, and/or anxiety. They may try to manage these feelings through substance abuse, social isolation, self-harm, or suicide.

What can be done? On an individual basis, know that you are not alone and that you need to get help establishing an accurate, healthy psychological script – one that says that you are healthy, normal, and lovable being GLBTQ. You will feel better and your anxiety and depression will lessen. Get support in learning how to develop and maintain relationships in ways that reflect you feeling good about yourself, and work on dealing with how you feel about having been bullied. Many kids who were bullied felt more

isolated because they were told to “stand up for yourself and fight back” when there was no possible way of doing that. This was a frustrating, angering, and a lonely place to be.

Also, as hard as this is, you can’t blame yourself for being bullied. Bullying is a complex dynamic that has been socially sanctioned, and you need help in putting this into proper perspective. This is an important piece in developing your healthy psychological script.

If you are a GLBTQ adolescent who is currently being subjected to bullying, reach out to somebody who you can talk to and who will help you in dealing with this.

Sometimes it doesn’t feel like there is anyone you can talk to, but find someone. Every major city has GLBTQ resources, so if you don’t live in one of these cities, find a city nearby and call and see if they can make referrals for you. Whatever you do, don’t give up!

In schools and as a culture, we’ve got to stand up and stop making excuses for bullying, and stop allowing it to happen. Stand up to bullying parents who justify and support their children who are bullies. Bullies are not bullies because they secretly feel bad about themselves; they are bullies because they have entitlement issues, tend toward being narcissistic or psychopathic, and because they are not subjected to any meaningful consequences.

In the straight community, as individual leaders in schools and religious communities, some of you will never support or un-

derstand the GLBTQ community, and you don’t have to. I’d encourage you to decide what kind of person you want to be and whether you want to contribute to the pain and suffering of certain individuals or to their well-being. You may want to consider doing your own personal work to figure out how to balance your own beliefs while contributing in a positive way to another.

If you are a bully, you know you are a bully. Your friends know. Stop glorifying yourself. Get help. Again, you’ve got to decide what kind of person you want to be, and you need to understand the negative impact your attitudes and actions have on others. If your immediate reaction is “I don’t care,” then I’d be really concerned! You seriously want some help. If you want some help, it’s out there, and you’ll be better off for it.

It is now official: Bullying has long-term negative effects. For those of us who have been bullied, we can’t change that. We can change the effects it has on us. If you are, or were, a bully, there are things you can do to stop the negative impact your actions and attitudes are having on others. Let’s take this seriously and continue to do something about it.

Michael Raitt, MA LMHC, is a therapist and a contributing writer to the SGN. He writes a bi-monthly column in the SGN. If you would like to comment on this column, ask a question you’d like him to write about, or suggest another topic of interest, please contact him at askingmichael@comcast. net.

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February 12, 2010

Seattle Gay News 19

What is progress?

by Jennifer Vanasco SGN Contributing Writer We rounded the corner and were met by an 8-year-old girl with her hand outstretched in greeting.

“How are you?” she asked. Her long ponytails jittered with energy. “My name is Selena. Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure,” we said.

“What is progress?”

We were at the Tino Sehgal exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. All we

knew in advance was that the exhibit was interactive and took over the entire rotunda.

We didn’t expect that the piece would wind up being a serious conversation with several different people on the same theme.

Selena started walking up the ramp that circles the entire inside of the museum and we walked with her. I looked at my partner Jenny and her friend Lori and said slowly, “Progress is when you take steps toward a goal.”

“Can you give me an example of progress?”

“Gay marriage advancing from state to state.”

“OK,” she said. An older teenager, Jane, was waiting for us farther up the ramp, half hidden behind a pole. Selena summarized our conversation for her and vanished.

We walked alongside Jane, climbing the slope of the circular rotunda, ascending higher and higher with each word.

She asked us again about progress and when I again responded with Gay marriage, she gave her own example of progress: The weekend before, she had been out with a group of friends. They were mixed Gay and straight, and no one had really noticed.

To them, the difference was insignificant.

We talked about what social progress means, and how we can tell if it has been achieved.

The conversation continued to get deeper as we climbed higher.

With the next interpreter, a man in his 20s, we talked about where progress came from.

“Consensus,” said Lori.

“And where does consensus come from?” he asked.

“Listening,” Lori said.

Our final interpreter was Michael, an older man who told us a story. He had recently been to a play with his wife, he said. The play compared Gay life in the ‘50s with Gay life today. What did we think, he asked us.

Have Gays and Lesbians made progress?

“Absolutely,” I said. “In my lifetime you can see that.”

With each interpreter, our conversation became a slightly different take on broader social progress, but those conversations themselves were a sign of progress, too.

It is impossible for me to imagine that 50 years ago – or even 20 years ago – a similar conversation could have been had with an 8-year-old, an 18-year-old, a 25-year-old and a senior citizen.

Yet here was a random collection of New Yorkers who each believed that Gay marriage is progress and weren’t afraid to say so to (very straight-looking) strangers.

I’ve been thinking of those conversations ever since.

When we think of the progress we’ve made on Gay rights, we tend to limit our definition to whatever big state or national battle is currently in the news. Did a state legislature vote for Gay marriage? We crow about progress.

Did voters take that right back again?

We mourn our country’s backslide into homophobic intolerance.

But the truth is that those big battles aren’t making progress – they’re reflecting it. Progress comes slowly, person by person, step by step, in conversations like the ones we were having in the Guggenheim’s rotunda.

Progress comes when we listen to those who have doubts about Gay rights and when they listen to us about how it hurts us to be denied what straight people take for granted.

Progress comes when we tell our own truths to our families, our friends, our colleagues, our clients. Progress comes when, through conversation, people stop seeing us as a thing to be feared and start hearing our stories and empathizing with them.

When we do win those big battles, it is partly because of strategy – but it is mostly because of stories. It is only after we win hearts that we win votes.

At the top of the rotunda, Michael shook our hands. “This is a work by Tino Seghal,” he said. “It’s called, ‘This Progress.”

And it was.

When we think of the progress we’ve made on Gay rights, we tend to limit our definition to whatever big state or national battle is currently in the news.

Jennifer Vanasco is an award-winning, syndicated writer. E-mail her at Jennifer.

Vanasco@gmail.com; follow her at Twitter. com/JenniferVanasco.

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20 Seattle Gay News

February 12, 2010

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February 12, 2010

Seattle Gay News 21

DENTIST SEEKING PATIENT

TALENTED DENTIST IN SEARCH OF . . .

Highly skilled, very sensitive dentist located in the Madison Park neighborhood of Seattle is looking for patients who would appreciate being pampered and respected. If you are looking for a dentist who will listen to you, never judge or put you down and will always be there for you then please respond. I love all aspects of general dentistry including cosmetic dentistry, periodontal teeth cleanings, implants (dental implants, of course) and SEDATION dentistry. I am one of only 1% of dentists qualified to administer “Sedation Dentistry” in the entire country. I am open to having you come in for a complete examination or we could just meet for a short chat to get to know each other a little better first if you prefer.

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THE RECIPIENTS FOR THE 2009 GSBA B U S I N E S S & H U M A N I TA R I A N AWA R D S A R E . . .

Business of the Year

Business Leader of the Year

WAVE LINK MUSIC BRIAN DALE

ROGER NYHUS

New Business of the Year

Corporate Citizen of the Year

POPPY JERRY TRAUNFELD

GLENN JOHNSON ALASKA AIRLINES

Community Leadership of the Year

Community Leadership of the Year

JOYFUL FREEMAN AMERICAN FRIENDS

JAMIE PEDERSEN W A S TAT E R E P R E S E N TAT I V E

SERVICE COMMITTEE GLBT YOUTH PROGRAM

4 3 R D D I S T R I C T, AT T O R N E Y AT L A W, K & L G AT E S

Nonprofit of the Year

President’s Award

LEGAL VOICE LISA STONE

SCOTT AITKEN SCOTT AITKEN PHOTOGRAPHY

Special Recognition

Special Recognition

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CHARLENE STRONG

PERKINS COIE

N Y H U S C O M M U N I C AT I O N S

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Photography: Dani Weiss Photography

Keynote Address Judy Dlugacz Pioneer and President, Olivia Music and Olivia Cruises

Please join us at the 29th Annual GSBA Business & Humanitarian Awards Banquet Wednesday, February 17, 2010 Grand Hyatt Seattle Cost: Tables of Ten, $1300. Members $130.

Nonmembers $145. Students $75.

Registration: thegsba.org or 206.363.9188

Emcee Gary Tucker Pacific Northwest Ballet

Special Remarks Maria Cantwell U.S. Senator

GSBA Business & Humanitarian Award Sponsors

Visit us online www.sgn.org

February 12, 2010

Seattle Gay News 23