SGN March 29, 2013 - Section 1

Issue 13 Volume 41

Celebrating 40 Years!

FRIDAY March 29, 2013 FREE! 25¢ in bookstores & newsstands

Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

What will the Supreme Court do now?

How the justices could rule, and what it will mean for our community

On March 26, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Hollingsworth v. Perry, the Prop 8 case, and the next day in U.S.A. v. Windsor, which takes up the constitutionality of DOMA.

THE PROP 8 DILEMMA U.S. District Judge Vaughan Walker’s original decision striking down Prop 8 was based on the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause of the Constitution, and it suggested that Gay and Lesbian couples have an affirmative right to marry, since that

majunznk

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

Prop 8 is a much trickier case for the court, because it invites the justices to make a very broad statement about LGBT rights – exactly the kind of statement an ideologically divided Supreme Court may be unable to make.

While observers are carefully parsing every word of the justices’ questions and comments for clues to how they might rule, there are actually only a few logical possibilities.

Prop 8 is a much trickier case for the court, because it invites the justices to make a very broad statement about LGBT rights – exactly the kind of statement an ideologically divided Supreme Court may be unable to make.

right is afforded to opposite-sex couples and there is no rational basis for excluding same-sex couples from marriage.

The Supreme Court, therefore, cannot endorse Walker’s reasoning without finding a constitutional right to same-sex marriage – thus voiding existing laws in more than 40 states prohibiting Gays and Lesbians from marrying. see court page 13

Supporters and protesters have gathered in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington D.C.

America speaks:

Rallies in Seattle and nationwide support hearings at SCOTUS

Pride Foundation’s new program director has wealth of experience boston.com

richard wood / kapture.us photography

bate.

Evidence of that can be found with the release of polls from around the nation that show well over 50% of Americans agree with allowing same-sex couples to wed.

But more so, I would point to the many hundreds of rallies – in big cities and small towns – on March 26 and 27 (the two days this week that SCOTUS heard Prop 8 and DOMA arguments), that were attended by members of our community and our allies.

Holding signs of support at rallies, turning Facebook and other social media red (for love), and writing letters to the editor in newspapers and words of encouragement on personal blogs, straight family members stood by their LGBTQ relatives. Open and Affirming churches reminded everyone that they accept members of the LGBTQ community into their congregation. Business owners and CEOs voiced their support and even backed it with the mantra, “Marriage equality is good for business.” And we, the very comMarriage equality supporters gathered outside munity that has been oppressed Seattle’s Federal Courthouse for far too long, stood next to each

by Shaun Knittel the constitutionality of Prop 8 and other in solidarity to proclaim, DOMA, but the rest of America “Enough! Do the right thing. Give SGN Associate Editor has made up its mind. For the first We don’t yet know what the U.S. time in my life I can honestly say see rally page 5 Supreme Court will decide about I feel we’ve won the marriage de-

Meet Gunner Scott

Gunner Scott

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Gunner Scott has just finished his first week of work at Pride Foundation.

“Hailing from Boston, Gunner packed up his cats, Bert and Fred, on March 2 and embarked on a week-long drive to Seattle to

start work as Pride Foundation’s new Director of Programs,” Philip Wong, Pride Foundation communications director said in a media statement this week.

Though his position is new, Scott’s experience working for the LGBTQ community isn’t. Having see scott page 5

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Celebrating 40 Years!

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The former PA governor was a key Gay rights ally file photo

Mike Andrew, Miryam Gordon, Anthony Greer, Shaun Knittel, Albert Rodriguez, James Whitely

op-ed Our chap Shapp

Contributing Writers

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

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In Loving Memory Of

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

Former Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp

by Mark Segal Philadelphia Gay News

I understand that my grandfather was involved with the Gay rights movement, and my father told me you worked with him.”

She then said, “My father’s name is Richard Shapp.” And hearing that brought chills.

Her grandfather was the late Milton Shapp, Pennsylvania’s governor from 1971 to 1979. Richard is his son, and now his granddaughter, Rachel, was asking what he did. She had no idea, and unfortunately most Americans don’t. And believe me, he’s one of the most important figures in the early Gay rights movement.

As a participant in the Stonewall uprising and other major Gay rights struggles, I receive many interview requests from students wishing to write about the early days of Gay activism. But one such request I got recently was so special I have to tell you about it.

The phone rings and the earpiece is at my ear when I hear a young girl’s voice say, “My father suggested that I call you regarding a report on Gay rights I’m doing for my school term paper.” After I asked her a A TRUE PIONEER few routine questions from me regarding At a time when no one higher in governher school and her particular interest in the ment than a mayor would meet with Gay topic, she continued, “I’m not calling you activists, Shapp, in 1973, became the first about your activism – I’m calling you since governor in the nation to do so. That meet-

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March 29, 2013

ing led to the launch of the first official governmental body to look into the problems faced by the Gay community, and the governor ordered all state departments to participate in that effort. This was the first such official body of its type – not just in Pennsylvania, not just in the nation, but in the world. Never before had a government at any level created an official panel to look into ways to better serve its LGBT citizens.

It was called the Governor’s Commission on Sexual Minorities. And it became the model for the entire globe.

In 1975, Gov. Shapp issued the first state executive order to end anti-Gay discrimination in state government – again, something no governor had ever done before. The following year, he issued the state’s first official Gay Pride resolution. And when he embarked on his Don Quixote mission of running for president in 1976, he had the first official Gay campaign outreach, Gays for Shapp. While he won only one precinct in Florida’s Democratic primary (Coconut Grove, Miami’s Gay ghetto at the time), he did inspire another, more successful candidate to look into Gay rights – a peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia. After his election, Jimmy Carter appointed the first presidential liaison to the Gay community.

WHY HE DID IT Shapp was also my political mentor. We became close friends. My memories of him are many, and some outrageous. Once, when the head of the state police tried to buck the nondiscrimination executive order, Shapp called and ordered me to set up a press conference and apply to become a state trooper myself! True story. The colonel gave in. After one particularly long day of fighting, I asked Shapp why he was taking this issue on, and he replied, “Mark, I’m in the closet as well.” When I looked at him in shock, he laughed and followed up with, “My real name is Shapiro – I had to change it to Shapp. So I understand discrimination.”

Each time I do one of these interviews, I ask the student to send me a copy of their finished paper. They rarely do. Likewise, I haven’t seen this one. So, Rachel, if you see this column and you still have that paper, I’d love to read it. Milt, you’d be proud of your granddaughter. She has your thirst for truth and justice.

Mark Segal is publisher of Philadelphia Gay News and a contributor to Philly.com.

He can be reached at mark@epgn.com or via Facebook or Twitter.

Seattle Gay News

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Local news

joan marcus

Thinkin’ Lincoln

Tony Kushner highlights insightful discussion on Honest Abe

by Miryam Gordon SGN A&E Writer CITIZEN UNIVERSITY GUIDING LIGHTS NETWORK March 23 Eric Liu served in President Clinton’s administration as both a speechwriter and policy wonk, and then came out Seattle way to work at RealNetworks. Here he founded the Guiding Lights Network, which “specializes in the art of the gathering, creating experiences that spark civic imagination and social change.”

How does it do that? With an annual conference called Citizen University, this year’s edition of which happened on March 23, mostly at Seattle Center’s Fisher Pavilion. It concluded with a panel discussion about President Lincoln at SIFF Cinema Uptown in Queen Anne. Luminaries from many arenas came for the discussions and workshops during the day, including Nick Hanauer, with whom Eric Liu has written

century for his epic six-hour play Angels in America, which focused on the AIDS epidemic in a way that theater had really not yet plumbed. Most recently, he collaborated with Steven Spielberg on the movie Lincoln.

Since Kushner’s nomination for an Oscar as the writer for Lincoln, he’s been terribly busy and getting a lot of attention. Liu told a Seattle Met interviewer that he also is a Lincoln fan and said he was drawn to the movie and to inviting Kushner to speak because “Lincoln embodies this combination of patriotism and a tragic sensibility that I think Kushner embodies and captures in his work. That’s why a lot of what we try to do at the conference isn’t jingoism. Our country, warts and all, is what we’ve got, so let’s figure out for all of its tragic flaws how we can show up and make it just a little better.”

A GREAT INFLUENCE With great anticipation, SGN attended the evening panel. After a wonderful musialan alabastro

Tony Kushner

deeply committed artist of language. Lincoln strove to heal with language, during the divorce of two halves of the union. I think Lincoln believed that we desperately need one another.” If the North and South were to split, he said, Lincoln believed we would become impoverished in that separation.

Eric Liu

a book, The True Patriot, on the topic of “progressive” patriotism. Other CU participants included TV journalist Lisa Ling and MoveOn.org co-founder Joan Blades, the latter of whom conversed with Mark Meckler of the Tea Party Patriots on “How to Talk With the Other Side.”

REAL CITIZENSHIP The focus was on how to be a “great citizen,” mostly by participating in civic discourse and acting together to create change.

The evening culminated in a panel discussion titled “Standing Tall: The Lessons of Lincoln.” Tony Kushner, historian Karl Weber, and Yale University constitutional law professor Akhil Reed Amar spoke, with Liu serving as moderator.

Kushner, just in case you might-mightmight not know his name, is already considered one of the great writers of the 20th

cal composition performed by Paul Rucker and a young woman from 826 Writers who described her Pakistani background and the freedom she has that her grandmother could not imagine, Liu began by asking the panelists how Lincoln had influenced them.

Kushner described growing up in Louisiana within a family that was unlike his neighbors, both politically and culturally.

“When I was five, my father read me [Lincoln’s] second inaugural address, and I remember how moved he was,” he recalled.

Many people in Louisiana and elsewhere in the South wouldn’t even carry $5 bills because of their “hatred” of Lincoln, he said, but he “saw that the federal government works – big government works. Poverty programs worked.”

Weber said, “I discovered Lincoln’s great use of language in my 20s. Here was a man with enormous power as president, and a

‘HE THE MAN’ Amar opined that we need to understand that “we live in Lincoln’s ‘house’ – the reconstructed constitution that fell because of slavery and was reconstituted.” For any serious constitutionalist, “he the man,” Amar said of Lincoln.

Liu asked Kushner about his process in writing the movie, to which Kushner replied, “I started by saying ‘no’ for six months to Steven [Spielberg]’s request that I do it. I knew that the administration of Lincoln was too packed with remarkable people and events. And Lincoln was a genius, a word I use sparingly … one of those people who did a number of things that don’t seem within the capacity of people to do. Shakespeare and Mozart and people like that.

“If the task of a screenwriter is to explain how people do things, you fail in the attempt,” Kushner continued. “Then … I began to understand the depth of Lincoln’s accomplishment and the vastness of his moral and politic vision. Doris Kearns Goodwin [author of the main text used, Team of Rivals] said [to me], ‘When I started writing Team of Rivals, I didn’t know if I could do it. But you’ll never regret the time you spend with Lincoln.’ I said [to Spielberg] I just want to do the last four months” of Lincoln’s life, Kushner recalled, and the director agreed.

Amar said, “Time spent with Lincoln is really well-spent. Some heroes disappoint you the more you know, but the more time I spend with him, the more I admire him.”

“Lincoln affected the people around him in the same way,” added Weber. “His rise to power was swift and he was disliked and disrespected. The team of rivals he brought into his cabinet thought he was a country

bumpkin and [they would] run the country.

And they came to realize that he was the biggest among them. Not only did they respect him but they came to love him.”

WHY SO FEW BLACKS? The conversation continued on many aspects of Lincoln’s presidency and even some disagreements among the panel of educated Lincoln fans. Allowed a couple of questions from the audience, Tony was asked about what some see as a defect of the film: that few African-American characters were included, and none of major import.

Tony said, “I have complicated feelings on African-American representation in it.

I didn’t want to create a fantasy version of what happened. My ambition [was] that it had to say most powerfully that government is not a bad thing; a lack of laws is not freedom, it’s anarchy. And the greatest president was a big-government tax-and-spend liberal. I believe in this very deeply.

“The federal government was entirely white and male. This [film] wasn’t about the end of slavery; it’s about the end of slavery by means of bribable politicians … and I thought that was a story worth telling. I could have pretended that [Black abolitionist] Frederick Douglass was in the White House advising him. [But] I felt I needed to tell what happened. These limited guys who had little relationship to slavery did this immensely important thing. [I] hoped that people could understand the very specific story we were telling. And we rely on the audience to know it’s a fictional film. You should never read just one history. You should read 50, because they’re all going to make mistakes.”

Eric said, in closing, “Any time we tell a story of who we are, we’re making a claim of what we want this country to be. One of the ways we’re citizens is we tell our own story.”

It was a wonderful conversation and you would do well to attend next year’s Citizen University. Find out more at www.guidinglightsnetwork.com.

Come meet Tim and Matt and join the family.

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

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March 29, 2013

Celebrating 40 Years!

Stephanie Brusig

Activists rally outside the Seattle Federal Courthouse

rally

continued from cover us our freedom.”

America stood united for love. People are understanding that that is what is at the very crux of this issue. Love. Sure, it is also about fairness and equality, but in the long run we just want the right to be able to marry the person we love and have that marriage be equal under the law.

It’s been an exhausting battle, one with many casualties. Partners of Gay and Lesbian citizens who were ill or injured passing away without their loved one by their side in the final moments of life. Families disinheriting and disassociating from the boyfriend or girlfriend that their own son or daughter spent years loving, once they died. Careers ruined. Lives destroyed. Our people have been sent to so-called ex-Gay hospitals or worse. Our love and our relationships ignored, history erased, and all for what? So the religious right and the ultra-conservative movement could continue, desperately, to try to conserve hate and a time long gone that will never return.

It will never return because we, the people (LGBTQ and Allied), will remain vigilant on this issue – and the many other issues our community and culture still face. We will not forget.

Now, I understand we cannot yet call this an all out victory. But we have achieved is the changing of the hearts and minds of millions of Americans on an issue of basic fairness and freedom. Love is the answer. Love always was the answer – it took some people, including our president, a little longer than we’d like but we got them there. And for that we should always remain grateful.

SEATTLE RALLY A few months ago, Seattle resident Marley Blonsky approached me and asked if we would help her with an idea for a project she had.

“Sure,” I said, not yet knowing the massive job we faced. “What can we do for you?”

Blonsky began to tell me about March 26 and 27 and that she wanted to plan a rally for that occasion. Not yet knowing that SCOTUS had agreed to hear the Prop 8 and DOMA cases on those days, I asked her what this rally was intended to be about.

“Marriage equality in all 50 states,” she said.

“Social Outreach Seattle is all-in 100% on

this project,” I promised her.

And we were. Social Outreach Seattle (SOSea) members Sarah Toce, Mike Andrew, and Daniel Hanks formed a committee with Blonsky and her wife, Whitney Young, to produce the March 27 solidarity rally in Seattle: “Marriage Equality U.S.A.” On Wednesday, from noon to 1 p.m. at the Federal Courthouse in downtown Seattle, over 250 people gathered to show support for our brothers and sisters in the 40 states that currently do not have the freedom to marry, and to demand that SCOTUS do away with Prop 8 and DOMA. The feeling in the air was magical. Love was all around.

The Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle generously donated their sound equipment.

Girly Press, a Lesbian-owned and operated printing company, donated the printing of all of our posters and flyers. The community sent representatives from Equal Rights Washington to Pride Foundation and more.

The rally was also formally endorsed by Martin Luther King County Labor Council, Seattle Gay News, The Seattle Lesbian, and Pride at Work.

LOCAL HEROES Speaking at the rally was marriage equality advocate superstar Josh Friedes (ERW), Transgender activist and hero Marsha Botzer (Ingersoll), the amazing Kris Hermanns (Pride Foundation), bi-national couple Otts Bolisay and Ken Thompson, local social and economic justice advocate Debbie Carlsen (LGBTQ Allyship/UNITE HERE Local 8), the brilliant Sarah Toce (The Seattle Lesbian), myself, and Sahar Fathi of the ACLU. Each one of us told a story or praised the crowd for getting off the computer and out into the streets, and generally gave a good speech. But that’s to be expected. But the one amazing thing that became the theme of the day, was that we talked about “the movement” but also mentioned people we knew personally or offered up our own personal story.

I brought forward my fiance, Yee-Shin Huang, and expressed how much I love him.

“I’m head over heels in love with this guy,” I said, trying not to tear up. “He has really changed my life. He centers me and I can’t wait to marry him.”

Yee-Shin and I will marry on May 25 at Plymouth Church in downtown Seattle.

In addition, I called forward straight ally Dru Dinero, founder and CEO at Visual Affairs media production company, to thank him for all the amazing work he did for the

Approve Referendum 74 campaign. Dinero and those like him, I said, are why we have marriage equality in Washington. I think it is important to remind people of that fact.

Botzer, a brilliant public speaker, told the crowd, “Let them go! Let Prop 8 and DOMA go!” It is important, she said, to now get to work on other areas of inequality within the LGBTQ community. Transgender rights, near and dear to her heart, is a good start, she asserted.

Hermanns suffered the devastating loss delivered to California residents in 2008.

At the time, she served as deputy director at National Center for Lesbian Rights, which played a key role in the No on 8 campaign.

She told the March 27 crowd that she was changed by that experience forever. And so the jubilation she felt when marriage equality came to Washington, historically delivered to us by voters, she was overjoyed.

Hermanns also reiterated that our relationships are not second-best, and that we have every right to the same freedoms our heterosexual counterparts enjoy.

In a particularly moving presentation, bi-national couple, Otts and Ken told their

scott

continued from cover

story. The two men have been together for 12 years. Otts isn’t a U.S. citizen and is here temporarily on a work visa. A straight couple in the same situation could marry and remain together in the U.S. But even if Ken and Otts were to marry, they explained, DOMA prevents Ken from sponsoring Otts to stay in the country.

Friedes was glowing with happiness when he addressed the crowd. For over a decade he has argued that Gays and Lesbians should have the freedom to marry. He did this first, and successfully, in Massachusetts, and then here in Washington beginning some six years ago. Friedes praised the people of faith who joined us in the fight for freedom and said that he was hopeful of the things to come for our community. Like Botzer and others that day, Friedes reiterated that there is still work to be done and that it is our obligation to continue to support those who supported us during our times of need.

Toce read a statement from Sen. Ed Murray, the openly Gay candidate for mayor of Seattle (endorsed by SGN) and the champion of the marriage equality bill in the state Senate. She also said that we are winning this fight because we are all human beings and at the end of the day that is what this argument is all about – that we, as LGBTQ people, are no different than anyone else.

LET’S UNITE, WITH PRIDE I’m proud of the guest speakers for their vulnerability because it really resonated with the crowd, some of whom came from as far away as Vancouver, B.C. And what a crowd it was. Diversity reigned supreme. Beautiful, cheery, and decked out in red, it was one of the most beautiful sights these eyes have ever seen.

The one thing that I would like to see change most here in Seattle is that our pride reach an all-time high. There are those in our own community who seek to divide organizations, or scoff at the idea of raising the Pride flag above businesses, homes, and the Space Needle. I’d like to see their views changed. I’d like for us all to really and truly understand that we are worth it, we are not less-than, and that having pride in ourselves and our community is essential.

We are winning. That much is certain.

And I am so honored to be among the leaders who helped to shape what this outcome will look like. Social Outreach Seattle is only six months old, and already we’ve made a big difference. It has been, to date, the single most important thing that has happened to me. The next? Marrying YeeShin on May 25. thing is picked over already in New England, he says – “and trying out coffee shops in each neighborhood.”

most recently served as executive director FAMILIAR FLEECE of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Scott says some similarities exist between Coalition, he has a wealth of experience in the two coasts. training and curriculum development, pro“Similarities would be the wearing of gram management, and public education fleece, passion for LGBTQ equality, and and legislative campaigns. the abundance of seafood options,” he said.

“Differences, I would say how friendly peoPLENTY OF COMPANY ple are here in the Northwest and the biggest The first week of work at any new job one, how differently people drive – let’s just can be stressful, but by week’s end, Scott’s say Boston has more of an assertive driving sense of humor seemed to shine through. culture.”

Scott told Wong in a Pride Foundation blog So far, Scott says, he doesn’t have a favorinterview that the most intriguing thing he ite local restaurant or coffee shop. “I have learned about Pride Foundation this week a goal to try a new place every week. I will is that “with my office next to the kitchen, happily take suggestions for the best sushi, how food and coffee bring my co-workers noodle spots, ice cream, and the best places and the dogs by my door quite often.” serving locally roasted coffee.”

Like any proud pet owner, Scott did not “Never forget that justice is what love shy away from talking about the health and looks like in public,” by Dr. Cornel West, welfare of his cats. “They are happy to be is Scott’s favorite quote – one that demonout of the car, excited to watch the goings- strates his personal philosophy in working on in the parking lot from the apartment on behalf of the LGBTQ community. windows, and back to their routine of sleepThe Director of Programs is a new posiing the day away. tion at Pride Foundation that will provide “I have enjoyed getting to know Seattle, strategic vision and leadership for its procatching up with old friends who made the grammatic efforts throughout the NorthEast Coast to West Coast leap before me, west. You can reach Scott at gunner@pridescouring vintage shops for deals” – every- foundation.org.

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

March 29, 2013

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Intersections Bringing diverse communities together for change Qwynn Studios

the United States. Damn right it’s important. There are immigrants – undocumented and documented – who also identify as LGBTQ so it’s absolutely imperative we join their movement and support them.

See, it’s easy to assume that the LGBTQ and allied community have a one-track mind. Honestly, people would be mistaken if they thought our work was over just because we have marriage equality in Washington. However, it’s far from over. We are proud and excited for the accomplishment of the hard work put into marriage equality. We are proud of those who’ve come before us. I like to think that if we looked down we’d all see that we’re standing on the shoulders of giants. The giants who demanded people talk about the AIDS crisis.

The giants who fought against DADT. The giants who fought, and still fight, against DOMA. So, quietly, while some were taking down the balloons and cleaning up the confetti on the morning of November 7, a few of us said, “Imagine more than marriage!” Imagine comprehensive immigration reform because it affects LGBTQ people. Imagine dismantling racism because it affects LGBTQ people. Imagine the full inclusion of Trans people into our conversations and considerations. Imagine health care for all because it affects LGBTQ people. Imagine deconstructing sexual violence and the marginalization of women because it affects LGBTQ people. We are the heat and we are cracking that outer layer. We are breaking through and creating new energy. We’re making progress and adding a valuable layer to our society.

STRUGGLE AND SUPPORT The personal stories of struggle and perseverance from some people at the INTERSECTIONS/Immigration & LGBTQ event was incredible. Despite the overwhelming

SOSea’s Shaun Knittel speaks as supporters of bi-national families rally against DOMA outside the Seattle Federal Courthouse on March 27.

by Zachary Pullin Special to the SGN A few years ago I watched a Discovery Channel show about the volcanoes of Hawaii. I’ve always loved Hawaii. But even more so, I love volcanoes. Their raw power and mystery. It’s the beauty in the destruction. And the poetry of creation.

There was the usual ominous background music, filling the moments when the narrator was silent. The most poignant moment occurred near the end of the show, when the focus was on expansion of existing islands as a result of lava solidifying once it hit the Pacific Ocean.

The lava drops off the ridge, at the edge of an island. As it topples into the sea, the viscous lava solidifies – obviously only the outside. Inside still exists molten lava: heat, movement, and energy. But, there’s still so much heat. Energy. Life. And this blob of lava continuously breaks the shell and expands over and over until it eventually adds another, valuable layer to the island. A newness. Progress. Growth.

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Seattle Gay News

THE NEXT CONVERSATION INTERSECTIONS didn’t end Wednesday night. We will continue engaging the LGBTQ and allied community in conversations that are real and valuable. Our next conversation, in the East Hall of Century Ballroom (915 E. Pine St.), on Tuesday, April 30, at 7 p.m., will be about body diversity and sizeism. It will feature an eclectic photo exhibit illustrating the body diversity that exists within the LGBTQ community and why it’s important we acknowledge and have discourse about healthy body image.

Some tests are worth flunking

donations – and our heat and energy finally broke that shell. We won marriage equality in Washington state. We activated ourselves and now we see our raw power and the efficacy of our voice.

After Referendum 74 passed, Social Outreach Seattle and all of our community partners wanted to direct energy into social justice issues that were apparent and important. As dynamic people, LGBTQs are merely the collective creation of the various identities we carry with us. Inside, our identities seem like all the wires in a computer server room – criss-crossing, interwoven, and inextricably linked to who we are. So, we’re using that energy and heat to focus on other pertinent issues affecting people – our people – as oppression in different forms.

It’s this important understanding, much like the South African saying Ubuntu, which means “I am who I am because of who we all are.” So, if anyone of us are experiencing injustice, we all are. When one benefits, we all do!

Murray, Cantwell, McDermott earn F ratings from NRA

OTHER ISSUES REMAIN This is where my story with Social Outreach Seattle and our INTERSECTIONS conversation series begins. Last night was our official launch of the INTERSECTIONS initiative. Born out of a desire to leverage and harness our energy, passion, and commitment to social justice, we are trying to engage our community in other important avenues to end oppression and injustice in all its forms. The first topic is particularly important to me, and not because I have a personal connection to immigration. It’s because as a human being, it’s easy for us to see injustice and recognize it, but it’s what we do with that knowledge that really matters. When we knowingly see oppression, we must engage and help move toward reform and progress. There are 267,000 undocumented adult immigrants, and almost 700,000 adult documented immigrants in

UPSIDE-DOWN BELL CURVE All six West Coast senators – all of them Democrats – were rated F by the NRA, as were 146 members of the House of Representatives. Just one congressional Republican, Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, earned an F from the NRA. In fact, only 30 members of the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives are not at the A or F end of the grading spectrum.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California is regarded as the leading congressional advocate of gun control. On November 27, 1978, as a San Francisco supervisor, she discovered the body of Mayor George Moscone, who had been shot to death along with Supervisor Harvey Milk by their political rival, Dan White, who had recently resigned as a supervisor.

March 29, 2013

gressional delegation, three Republicans got A’s – Reps.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Doc Hastings, and Jaime Herrera Beutler. Rep. Dave Reichert got a B, one of the lower scores for House Republicans.

Newly elected Democratic Rep. Derek Kilmer also scored a B, and Denny Heck, another first-term Democrat, got a Cplus. Veteran Democrats Rick Larsen and Adam Smith both scored C-minus, and Democrat Suzan DelBene was not rated.

The NRA’s A grades come with cash prizes. The group awarded $2,500 to Beutler and $2,000 apiece to McMorris, Rodgers, and Hastings.

file photo

THE LGBTQ ‘VOLCANO’ That’s kind of how I think about the modern LGBTQ movement. With the oppressive powers of government, institutions, and cultures an LGBTQ person – or our community – can solidify. And those who don’t understand our energy, our gravitas, our moxie, our heat, our life, our spirit, or our unity don’t yet understand that despite being pushed off, reacting to our environment and seeming to form a shell, we are intensely and intently awaiting our moment to break that cooled shell, and create movement. Create a movement. Expand and grow.

We had been brushed aside and pushed off enough. We all worked hard – through various phone banks, door-to-door outreach, dinner-table conversations, and financial

costs of visas, the hassles of applying to be a citizen, the deportations and detentions, many are hopeful for comprehensive immigration reform. They just need more voices. More support. More people like the LGBTQ community to hear what they need and support them in making real, lasting change.

We were so lucky to have experts from both LGBTQ and allied organizations talking about immigration and asylum. So, we are very pleased with the turnout. One panelist said he’s hopeful that our community is engaged and ready to help where we can because “there was a line out the door [of Gay City] just to get into the auditorium.”

There are real things we can do now to help advocate. King County and Seattle City both send visa-holders, refugees, and other immigrant people who violate the law to ICE – Immigration & Customs Enforcement. If they break even a small law our municipalities send them to a privately owned detention center in Tacoma. And LGBTQ people are at a disadvantage in the care they receive. Often they are put into solitary confinement “for their own safety.”

Today, you can call your King County and Seattle City councilpersons and demand they stop sending low-level offenders to a detention center. It’s not right.

Senator Maria Cantwell

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell of Washington state, along with veteran Rep. Jim McDermott of Seattle, have all earned a grade of F from the National Rifle Association. According to the NRA, each of them is a “true enemy of gun owners’ rights.”

The NRA, a fierce opponent of any and all firearms restrictions, released its latest report card on March 25.

As the for rest of Washington’s Con-

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AP Photo / Gregory Smith

Huck won’t have it

Former governor says he’ll leave GOP if it endorses equality

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Less than 24 hours after being endorsed

by RNC chair Reince Priebus as a potential Republican Party spokesperson on LGBT issues, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee threatened that he and his fellow evangelicals would “take a walk” if the GOP supports marriage equality.

As a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, Huckabee won a reputation as a common-sense politician with a sense of humor and the ability to relate to rank-and-file voters.

“I always tell people: Listen to Governor Mike Huckabee,” Priebus said March 25, echoing the public perception of the former governor. “I don’t know anyone that talks about [same-sex marriage] any better.”

Huckabee’s reputation was always at odds with his fundamentalist religious views, however, as he demonstrated in a NewsMax interview soon after Priebus’s remarks.

Asked about Republican Sen. Rob Portman’s endorsement of marriage equality and the possibility that the GOP as a whole might also reverse course and accept samesex marriage, Huckabee responded with a threat to withdraw from the party.

“They might [endorse same-sex marriage],” he said. “And if they do, they’re going to lose a large part of their base because evangelicals will take a walk.”

AN ‘OBJECTIVE STANDARD’ “And it’s not because there’s an anti-ho-

mosexual mood, and nobody’s homophobic that I know of, but many of us, and I consider myself included, base our standards not on the latest Washington Post poll, but on an objective standard, not a subjective standard,” Huckabee continued.

“I have great sympathy and extraordinary admiration for Senator Portman. I consider him a friend and I value his work in the Senate and think he’s a great person. The mistake is that we sometimes base our publicpolicy decisions on how we feel, how we think, maybe even some personal experiences, and we don’t regard a lot of these issues from the standpoint of an objective standard.

“Let me explain what I mean by that. If we have subjective standards, that means that we’re willing to move our standards based on the prevailing whims of culture. Politicians have an obligation to be thermostats, not just thermometers. They’re not simply to reflect the temperature of the room, or the culture, as it were. They’re to set the standards for law, for what’s right, for what’s wrong, understanding that not everybody’s going to agree with it.

“On this issue, I recognize the culture is moving away from the traditional standard, but it’s almost like saying, well, we have a basketball team and nobody on the team can hit the goal that’s 10 feet off the floor so we’re going to lower the goal down to six feet and that way everybody can slam-dunk the ball.

“So the question is, have you have improved your basketball game? Or have

Former Arkansas Governor and Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee

you actually just changed the standard so it dent, I will fight for passage of this amendlooks like you’re doing better? And that’s ment. My personal belief is that marriage is my concern.” between one man and one woman, for life.”

Huckabee has also opposed ENDA, FIGHTING THE FUTURE DADT repeal, federal hate-crimes protecWhile these views might have come as a tions for LGBT people, and adoption rights surprise to Reince Priebus, they should not for Gay and Lesbian couples. surprise anyone who is familiar with HuckIf Huckabee’s intransigent opposition to abee’s record. equality is typical of the evangelical wing “I support and have always supported pas- of the Republican Party, and it probably is, sage of a federal constitutional amendment the GOP will face huge obstacles trying to that defines marriage as a union between update its image and appeal to younger votone man and one woman,” Huckabee wrote ers, who overwhelmingly accept Gay and on his 2008 campaign website. “As Presi- Lesbian relationships.

Willie Nelson endorses marriage equality ‘Gay people should be just as miserable as the rest of us,’ legendary singer says

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer In a lighthearted interview with Texas Monthly, legendary musician, tax resister, environmentalist, and legal pot advocate Willie Nelson has endorsed marriage equality.

thought of marriage as something only for men and women. But I’d never marry a guy I didn’t like.”

The interviewer than refers to “the fight for civil rights in the ’60s.”

“It’s about human rights,” Nelson agrees.

“As humanity, we’ve come through so many problems from the beginning to here.

Referring to Nelson’s four marriages, the magazine, which published the interview online March 28, observed he’d “grown into a reputation as something of an authority on marriage itself.”

“I’ve been there and back a few times,” Nelson told interviewer Andy Langer. “It’s not perfect, so why should we expect it to be perfect for everybody?” “[Y]ou think everybody should be able to get married?” the interviewer asks.

“Absolutely,” Nelson replies. “I never

I guess it finally had to come around to this.

This is just another situation, another problem. We’ll work it out and move on.”

“And what do you think they’ll say when they look back on this?” the interviewer asks.

“We’ll look back and say it was crazy that we ever even argued about this,” Nelson replies.

courtesy texas monthly

“As humanity, we’ve come through so many problems from the beginning to here. This is just another situation, another problem. We’ll work it out and move on. We’ll look back and say it was crazy that we ever even argued about this.”

Willie Nelson supports marriage equality ... among other things.

often spoken out in favor of LGBT rights, a stand that has also carried over into his music. In 2006 Nelson covered Ned Sublette’s “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other,” which is, as its name suggests, a Gay-positive country song.

“I thought it was the funniest goddamn song I’d ever heard,” Nelson said. “I had it on the bus for 20 years, and people would come in and I’d play it. When Brokeback A LONGTIME ALLY In addition to his other causes, Nelson has Mountain come out, it just seemed like a

good time to kick it out of the closet.”

Nelson later revealed that his release of the recording was inspired when David Anderson, his friend and tour manager of 30 years, came out of the closet.

“This song obviously has special meaning to me in more ways than one,” Anderson said. “I want people to know more than anything – Gay, straight, whatever – just how cool Willie is and … his way of thinking, his tolerance, everything about him.”

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Swing-state Democrats swing to equality Six senators embrace same-sex marriage as Supreme Court hearings begin

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Six Democratic U.S. senators from swing states announced their support for marriage equality this week, in the hours before U.S. Supreme Court hearings began on Prop 8 and DOMA.

changed over time, but as many of my Gay and Lesbian friends, colleagues, and staff embrace long-term committed relationships, I find myself unable to look them in the eye without honestly confronting this uncomfortable inequality. Supporting marriage equality for Gay and Lesbian couples is simply the right thing to do for our coun-

“Supporting marriage equality for Gay and Lesbian couples is simply the right thing to do for our country, a country founded on the principles of liberty and equality.”

8

Seattle Gay News

try, a country founded on the principles of liberty and equality.

“Good people disagree with me. On the other hand, my children have a hard time understanding why this is even controversial. I think history will agree with my children.”

file photo

Claire McCaskill of Missouri led off the parade on March 25, posting a statement on her Tumblr page.

“I have come to the conclusion that our government should not limit the right to marry based on who you love,” McCaskill wrote.

“While churches should never be required to conduct marriages outside of their religious beliefs, neither should the government tell people who they have a right to marry. My views on this subject have

‘EVOLVING’ VIEWS Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill McCaskill was followed in short order by Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia and Mark “I support marriage equality because it is crimination in all its forms, and I think we Begich of Alaska. the fair and right thing to do,” Warner wrote can move forward in our progress toward on his Facebook page. true equality by repealing DOMA.” “Like many Virginians and Americans, Sen. Jon Tester of Montana joined the my views on Gay marriage have evolved, crowd on March 26. and this is the inevitable extension of my “Montanans believe in the right to make efforts to promote equality and opportuni- a good life for their families,” Tester said ty for everyone. I was proud to be the first on Facebook. “How they define a family Virginia governor to extend anti-discrimi- should be their business and their business nation protections to LGBT state workers. alone. I’m proud to support marriage equalIn 2010, I supported an end to the military’s ity because no one should be able to tell a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, and earlier this Montanan or any American who they can month I signed an amicus brief urging the love and who they can marry.” repeal of DOMA. I believe we should continue working to expand equal rights and ‘A COMPLEX ISSUE’ opportunities for all Americans.”

North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan checked “I believe that same-sex couples should in the next day. be able to marry and should have the same “Marriage equality is a complex issue rights, privileges, and responsibilities as with strong feelings on both sides, and I any other married couple,” Begich said in a have a great deal of respect for varying statement also issued March 25. opinions on the issue,” she posted on Face“Government should keep out of indi- book. viduals’ personal lives – if someone wants “After much thought and prayer, I have to marry someone they love, they should be come to my own personal conclusion that able to. Alaskans are fed up with govern- we shouldn’t tell people who they can love ment intrusion into our private lives, our or who they can marry. This wasn’t a decidaily business, and in the way we manage sion I came to overnight, like my Repubour resources and economy.” lican colleague Rob Portman expressed In a statement to ABC News, West Virgin- recently on his own viewpoint. Last year, ia Sen. Jay Rockefeller also endorsed equal- I opposed [anti-Gay] Amendment One beity. Rockefeller was the only one of the six cause I was concerned about the negative who was in Congress when DOMA passed consequences it could have on North Caroin 1996, and at the time he voted for it. lina families and our economy. The fabric of North Carolina and what makes our state so GENERATIONAL SHIFT special is our families and our common de“Like so many of my generation, sire for a brighter future for our children. No my views on allowing Gay couples to matter what your family looks like, we all marry have been challenged in recent want the same thing for our families – hapyears by a new, more open generation,” piness, health, prosperity, a bright future for Rockefeller said. our children and grandchildren.”

“Churches and ministers should never While the senators added to the politihave to perform marriages that violate cal momentum building up for a reversal their religious beliefs, but the government of DOMA by abandoning their previous shouldn’t discriminate against people who skepticism about marriage rights for Gay want to marry just because of their gender. and Lesbian couples, not all of them will Younger people in West Virginia and even have to deal with immediate political conmy own children have grown up in a much sequences. McCaskill and Tester won remore equal society, and they rightly push us election last year and will not face voters to question old assumptions – to think deep- again until 2018, and Rockefeller has ally about what it means for all Americans to ready announced that his current term will be created equal. This has been a process be his last. But Warner, Begich, and Hagan, for me, but at this point I think it’s clear that who were elected in 2008, will be up for reDOMA is discriminatory. I’m against dis- election next year.

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‘We’re trapped, Toto!’

Kansas wants to quarantine HIV+ people

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The Kansas state legislature is putting the finishing touches on a bill to allow state officials to quarantine HIV-positive residents.

According to local news sources, the bill is expected to become law in the next few weeks.

In a report aired on WDAF-TV in Kansas City, HIV/AIDS activists charged that the measure is flagrantly discriminatory and say health officials, especially those in rural areas, may begin intimidating HIV-positive people by threatening to quarantine them.

“They didn’t get that whole idea of being discriminated against,” said Cody Patton of Positive Directions Inc., an advocacy group for HIV-positive people. “And they didn’t get that that stuff still happens today. My concern is that there’s a lot of people in this state that are still fearful of HIV that don’t look at factual information.”

REVERSES 1988 LAW Kansas banned officials from quarantining AIDS patients in 1988, but supporters of the bill say restoring that option will help protect the public from a variety of infectious diseases, not just HIV. Tuberculosis and hepatitis patients would also be subject to quarantine.

According to the proposed law, HB 2183, the Kansas Secretary of Health and Environment would be able to issue orders for a quarantine without consulting with medical providers or any other public official.

“The secretary of health and environment is authorized to issue such orders and adopt rules and regulations as may be necessary to prevent the spread and dissemination of diseases injurious to the public health, including, but not limited to, providing for the testing for such diseases and the isolation and quarantine of persons afflicted with or exposed to such diseases,” the bill states.

NO PATIENT PRIVACY Another provision of the legislation would eliminate privacy protections for people treated by emergency responders.

“No later than January 1, 2014, the secretary shall develop and adopt rules and regulations providing for the protection of individuals who provide medical or nursing services, clinical or forensic laboratory services, emergency medical services and firefighting, law enforcement and correctional services, or who provide any other service (or individuals who receive any such services) or are in any other employment where the individual may encounter occupational exposure to blood and other potentially in-

t.c. hall media

Marriage equality supporters in front of the U.S. Supreme Court

court

continued from cover On the other hand, the Ninth Circuit upheld Walker’s result, striking down Prop 8, but substantially rewrote his reasoning so that it applied only to the unique circumstances of California: same-sex couples were first given the right to marry, then that right was taken away from them – and only from them, not from opposite-sex couples as well.

But, as Justice Kennedy pointed out at the hearing, if the court endorses the Ninth Circuit’s reasoning, they would be saying “that California, which has been more generous, more open to protecting same-sex couples than almost any state in the union, just didn’t go far enough [by disallowing marriage], and it’s being penalized for not going far enough.”

In other words, by upholding the Ninth Circuit the court would, in effect, be saying to states, “Give same-sex couples marriage, or give them no rights whatsoever,” a ruling that would be a setback for the LGBT community.

JUSTICE FOR SOME? The same criticism could also be applied

to the so-called “nine-state solution” advocated by the Obama Administration. The nine states that currently allow same-sex domestic partnerships or civil unions without including same-sex couples within the actual definition of “marriage,” the argument goes, place a stamp of inferiority on them, and therefore should be required to allow them to marry.

This obviously leads to the same conclusion as the “California-only” argument put forward by the Ninth Circuit – some states would conclude that it is better to deny Gay and Lesbian couples all rights, than to be forced to allow them to marry.

Justice Kennedy also asked if the prohibition on same-sex marriage could “be treated as a gender-based classification,” adding, “It’s a difficult question that I’ve been trying to wrestle with.”

This is an interesting question because it revives an issue from Judge Walker’s opinion that was not included in the Ninth Circuit’s ruling: namely, that the exclusion of Gays and Lesbians from the institution of marriage imposes a kind of sex-based discrimination by prohibiting men from doing something that women are allowed to do – marrying a man – and likewise prohibiting women from doing something that men are allowed to do – marrying a woman.

fectious materials,” the bill says.

Currently, when first responders are exposed to a patient’s blood, they are required to get a court order for a blood test. The proposed changes would allow state officials to order a blood test even if the patient objected.

The bill passed the Republican-controlled Senate last week by a vote of 29-11. Earlier this month it breezed through the House, 122-1. It is now being finalized in a HouseSenate conference committee before being sent to Gov. Sam Brownback, a notorious anti-Gay politician, for his signature.

If Kennedy is serious about this line of questioning, it may introduce justification for “heightened scrutiny” over marriage laws, since that level of judicial scrutiny is already considered appropriate for discrimination based on sex or gender.

This line of reasoning does not explicitly say that Gays and Lesbians are targeted for discrimination because of their sexual orientation, and therefore it could not be used to support heightened scrutiny in housing or employment cases, for example. Nevertheless, it would constitute a broad affirmation of their right to marry, backed up by judicial oversight.

an unconstitutional intrusion by the federal government in an area that would normally be regulated by state law – who has the right to marry whom.

While some justices, notably Ginsberg and Kagan, seem to be tending more toward a decision based on the Equal Protection Clause, which would lead to a broader affirmation of Gay rights, Justice Kennedy has based past opinions on the states’ rights issue.

If the Justices decide that DOMA is unconstitutional on this basis, then federal agencies like the IRS would have to treat legally married same-sex couples exactly they way they treat opposite-sex spouses, but, since the definition of marriage would be left to the states, Gay and Lesbian couples in states that do not currently permit samesex marriage would still not gain a right to marry.

THE ISSUE OF STANDING If the justices are unwilling or unable to reach the conclusion that same-sex couples have an affirmative right to marriage, however, they could dismiss the case on procedural grounds, and this is the reason for reviewing the “standing” issue.

The governor and attorney general of California, who would normally defend their law in court have declined to do so because they too believe Prop 8 is unconstitutional.

If the court finds that the supporters of Prop 8 do not have standing to appear before the court, they can dismiss the case.

If they did that, the Ninth Circuit’s decision would also be voided, since it ruled that Prop 8 supporters did in fact have standing.

But the original district court decision striking down Prop 8 would stand. The justices could also dismiss the case as “improvidently granted,” meaning they have changed their minds about hearing it, without even reaching the standing issue. In that instance, the Ninth Circuit decision would govern.

While the Prop 8 case technically affects only the immediate plaintiffs – one Gay and one Lesbian couple – and the state of California could conceivably require other same-sex couples also to sue for marriage licenses, the state is much more likely to begin granting licenses to all such couples, which is the result state officials wanted to begin with.

UNRESOLVED QUESTIONS While this seems to be the direction the court is heading, it does not settle all the possible questions of federal law. What happens, for example, if a same-sex couple is married in New York and then retires to Florida? Opposite-sex couples do that all the time, and their marriages are recognized in their new places of residence, but would that be the case for same-sex marriages?

And if not, could such couples bring suit for recognition under the Full Faith and Credit Clause, which requires states to recognize legal acts performed by other states?

And would federal agencies take their cue from state law in the place the couple was originally married, or in the place where they eventually reside?

Clearly, this direction would open the Supreme Court to additional suits in the coming years, with plaintiffs asking them to clarify their reasoning, and maybe what the court really wants is just to stall for time while it sorts out the underlying constitutional issues.

It could be that a majority of the court will agree that DOMA is unconstitutional, but will be unable to agree on why. That might DOMA AND STATES’ RIGHTS mean that the justices will write several The DOMA case is more straightforward concurring opinions rather than one which because it can be decided without even ad- speaks for the majority – an outcome that dressing the issue of LGBT rights. In fact, would almost certainly lead to further litigaseveral justices addressed the “states’ tion on the marriage issue. rights” issue and suggested that DOMA was

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northwest news

ARTSWEST – NEXT FALL ArtsWest (4711 California Ave. SW) presents Next Fall, a witty and timely story of two men in a committed, long-term relationship, and the family and friends that are a part of their lives. Cindy Bradder directs the Seattle premiere of Geoffrey Nauffts’ award-winning play. Runs WednesdaySunday, March 13-April 6. Tickets: 9080339 or www.artswest.org.

MOISTURE FESTIVAL MARCH 21-APRIL 14 www.moisturefestival.org R PLACE PRESENTS RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE MARCH DRAGNESS This month, R Place (619 E. Pine St), brings four RuPaul’s Drag Race alumni to Seattle for four weekends of March Dragness. The final weekend schedule: Lineysha Sparx, March 28, 29 & 30. 206-322-8828; www.rplaceseattle.com.

munity Hall (6532 Phinney Ave. N., in the brick building), The Righteous Mothers, four funny, philosophical female folk-rock musicians, one of the Northwest’s foremost musical performing groups for the past 26 years, will perform their zany original music, witty theatrics, and mind-boggling intricate vocal harmonies. The Righteous Mothers will grab your hearts and funny bones with songs about ice cream, labor pains, annoying dreams and Supreme Court decisions. They surprise and delight young and old, Gay and straight, male and female with their quirky humor and open hearts. Tickets: $16 general and $14 for Seattle Folklore Society and Phinney Neighborhood Association members, and seniors. www.brownpapertickets.com/event/338259 SEATTLE MEN’S CHORUS – “DANCING QUEEN – THE MUSIC OF ABBA” FRIENDS AND FAMILY PREVIEW PERFORMANCE On Saturday, March 30, at 8 p.m., at Renton IKEA Performing Arts Center (400 S. 2nd St., Renton), join the Seattle Men’s Chorus for a preview performance of their upcoming main stage concert to be held at McCaw Hall April 6 and 7. Audiences will see/hear the Chorus fine-tune songs and staging for the upcoming show, and have a unique opportunity to engage with artistic director Dennis Coleman, as well as members of the Chorus, in an after-show audience discussion. Tickets can be purchased by calling the SMC Box Office at 206-3881400 or at the Renton IKEA Center on the day of the preview concert. www.flyinghouse.org.

RAINBOW CITY BAND – QUINDECENNIAL On Saturday, March 30, at 7 p.m., at Edmonds Center for the Arts (410 4th Ave. N., Edmonds), Rainbow City Band and Orchestra will perform favorite selections from the past 15 concert seasons, including First Suite in Eb for Military Band by Holst; Variations on a Korean Folk Song

by J.B. Chance; Symphony No. 5 – Finale,

by Shostokovich; Irish Tune from County Derry / Shepherd’s Hey, by Granger; Bacchanale from “Samson and Delilah,” by Saint-Saens; Hoe-Down from “Rodeo,” by Copland, and more. Immediately following the concert, the celebration will continue as a swing dance party with music performed IMPERIAL COURT OF SEATTLE –

by Purple Passion Swing Band. Tickets: EASTER BONNET CONTEST $20-general admission; $15-youth/senior.

On Sunday, March 31, from 3-5 p.m., www.rainbowcityband.com. with Easter parade at 4 p.m., at C.C. Attle’s (1701 E. Olive Way), the Imperial Court SEATTLE FOLKLORE SOCIETY – hosts their 2nd annual Easter Bonnet ConTHE RIGHTEOUS MOTHERS test with $50, $25 and $10 gift certificates On Saturday, March 30, at 7:30 p.m., from C.C. Attle’s as prizes. Contest entry at Phinney Neighborhood Center Com- is FREE. Easter eggs will be on sale during

14 Seattle Gay News

March 29, 2013

compiled by Rick McKinnon SGN Staff Writer

the contest with chances to win more C.C. information visit http://faculty.washington. gift certificates. Proceeds will benefit the edu/swittet/SGLBookClub/.

Court’s JC/Graytop Memorial Scholarship. www.facebook.com/ISCSORE. 2013 LIVING PINK PAGEANT On Saturday, April 6, cocktails & light RAINBOW CITY BAND hors d’ouevres at 6 p.m., pageant at 7 p.m., RECRUITMENT EVENT at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Want to play your elementary school, Center (1500 Broadway, Tacoma) join Mijunior high school, middle school, high chelle Millman (from KIRO-TV), at the school, college or later-in-life musical in- fundraising pageant and $10 art raffle to strument in a band or orchestra again? Want benefit the Carol Milgard First Look Vouchto march in some of the best parades in the er Program. Come celebrate and commemoSeattle area this summer? Then come to rate those warriors and survivors of breast Rainbow City Band’s recruitment event at cancer. Tickets: $25-adults; $10 youth.

The Grill on Broadway (314 Broadway E.) www.LeCherProductions.com/living-pinkon Tuesday, April 2, at 7 p.m. “Can’t play pageant. an instrument? Come anyways! We can have you spinning flags and twirling rifles SISTER SPIT in no time! What’s that? You’re completely On Saturday, April 6, at 8 p.m., Richard uncoordinated? Come anyways! We’ll have Hugo House (1634 11th Ave., just north of you volunteering and you’ll STILL get to E. Pine St.) presents Sister Spit, a Lesbianmarch in all the parades with us!” www. feminist spoken word and performance art facebook.com/RainbowCityBand; www. collective based in San Francisco. Tickets: rainbowcityband.com. $20-general admission; $15-Hugo House members. 206-322-7030; www.hugohouse.

SEATTLE GAY & LESBIAN org.

BOOK CLUB – THE GALLERY The Seattle Gay & Lesbian Book Club SEATTLE MEN’S CHORUS – meets every Wednesday from 6-7:15 p.m., “DANCING QUEEN – at Seattle Area Support Groups Community THE MUSIC OF ABBA” Center (303 17th Ave. E. at E. Thomas St.).

On Saturday, April 6, at 8 p.m., and SunIn April, the club is reading The Gallery day, April 7, at 2 p.m., at McCaw Hall (321

by John Horne Burns.

Mercer St.), join the Seattle Men’s Chorus One of the first novels to describe the psy- and special guest Leslie Jordon, for “Dancchological reality of the Second World War ing Queen – the Music of ABBA,” a “mashand achieve fame was John Horne Burns’ up” of comedy and music from the hit rock/ The Gallery, written when he was thirty and pop sensation, ABBA. With fab costumes, published a year after he was discharged in booty movin’ songs, side-splitting comedy, 1947. Burns died six years later of alcohol- what more do we need to say? ism. Though he left behind two other failed Tickets: $28, $38, $48, $58, and $68. novels and an unfinished fourth, The Gal206-388-1400; www.flyinghouse.org lery, is still in print 66 year later and still [NOTE: The Friends and Family Preview highly regarded. Taking place in Naples af- Performance will be held at the Renton ter the war, with a cast including both Amer- IKEA Performing Arts Center on Saturday, icans and Italians, both straight and Gay, it’s March 30. Out-of-town performances will an interconnected story sequence linked by be held on Saturday, April 13, at the Admithe Galleria Umberto, a meeting place for ral Theatre in Bremerton, and on Sunday, Gay hustlers.

April 21, at the Washington Center for the All GLBTQ folks are welcome to par- Performing Arts in Olympia.] ticipate in this FREE book club. For more

Celebrating 40 Years!

Waiting for history

What the Supreme Court marriage cases will mean for equality majunznk

This last point gives me some perverse pleasure as, for once, I’m in line with my rightwing brothers and sisters on a point of law.

(Wait, where are you guys going?)

States will then be free to do what they want with regard to marriages within their own borders, but they may also be compelled to recognize legal marriages of any stripe that happened in other states. Oh, watch the fur fly!

Prop 8 will be overturned too, but the ruling will probably apply only to California.

California is unique among states with mar-

these cases because they’re ready to address the substantive questions they raise for the first time in our history.

Second, the Court could split the baby by applying Prop 8 to a broader swath of states with laws like California’s, in which all the rights of marriage are accorded except for the term “marriage.” There are currently eight such states, but I think this outcome is also unlikely because it will create a disincentive for states down the road to offer full civil unions (or “marriage in all but name”).

So no, I don’t think we will have the sat-

“Do you think they’re going to legalize same-sex marriage or strike it down?”

My answer is, “Neither.” riage bans in that it did have real same-sex marriage and then the voters stopped it. In our legal history, there has never been much tolerance for the yanking away of existing rights. In laypersons’ terms, it’s just mean.

isfaction of knowing that our marriages and our lives have full value under the law as a direct result of these cases. But as laws move forward, so too does public opinion, which has already changed dramatically in the last year alone. It’s not time to celebrate OTHER POSSIBLE OUTCOMES just yet, but perhaps it’s time to start looking There are a few dark-horse possibilities for a fabulous party outfit. too. The Court could punt on one or both of these cases through a technicality called Abby Dees is a civil rights attorney“standing.” This means essentially that the turned-author who has been in the LGBT parties to the case don’t have a direct stake rights trenches for 25+ years. She can be in the outcome, and so the entire case is reached through her website: queerquesmoot. Such a decision would be quite a cop- tionsstraighttalk.com. out. I believe the Supremes agreed to hear

by Abby Dees SGN Contributing Writer

orientation will now be held to the same rigorous scrutiny as gender or racial discrimination.

Court-watchers aren’t betting they will go this far, and neither am I. The Supremes have never been fond of being on the cutting edge. For example, in the pivotal cases about racial discrimination (segregation in the ’50s and interracial marriage in the ’60s) most states were already clear that such unfounded distinctions between people were wrong. The Court’s ruling affected only the minority of states that were unwilling to get with the program.

But right now, 41 states still limit marriage to heterosexual couples. I would be shocked – albeit thrilled – if they changed this in one fell swoop. Nope, nothing so tidy.

This week, as the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of Prop 8 and DOMA, I’ve heard the following question a lot: “Do you think they’re going to legalize same-sex marriage or strike it down?” My answer is, “Neither.”

There is so much nuance in these cases having to do with centuries of legal analysis, states’ rights, and a fair amount of dry legal technicalities that I doubt this issue – one that seems so very simple to us – will be decided simply.

First, existing same-sex marriage rights will not – indeed, cannot – be struck down.

The most the Supremes can do is uphold existing bans and say that the states and the federal government are free to decide on THE LIKELIEST SCENARIO marriage equality for themselves. Pretty Instead, I think it’s going to come down much how things are today, only with the like this: blessings of the nation’s highest court.

They will strike down DOMA, opening the door to federal marriage recognition.

THE BEST-CASE SCENARIO There’s also a slim chance that the Su- Not because of inequality, but because it premes will rule that same-sex marriage is smacks of overreach by the federal governlawful across the board. This would mean ment into a domain – marriage law – that not only that same-sex marriage rights has always been the domain of the states. would be the law of the land, but also that And we all know how much conservatives any discrimination on the basis of sexual hate government meddling in state affairs.

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March 29, 2013

Seattle Gay News 15

health and medicine

Mohamad Itani / Getty Images

The tooth of the matter

Tulsa dentist may have exposed 7,000 patients to HIV, officials say Board of Dentistry, said in an interview. “To my knowledge, this has never happened before as far as a public notification of a [hepaOklahoma health officials have urged the titis C] case involving a dental office.” patients of a Tulsa dentist to get hepatitis and HIV tests after shutting down his office.

IMPROPER HYGIENE As many as 7,000 people made have been The Oklahoma Board of Dentistry said its exposed, they said. inspectors discovered multiple sterilization

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

“This is an unprecedented event, to my knowledge, this has never happened before as far as a public notification of a [hepatitis C] case involving a dental office.”

State and county health inspectors went to Dr. W. Scott Harrington’s practice after a patient with no known risk factors tested positive for both hepatitis C and HIV. They found the dentist’s employees using dirty equipment, reusing needles, and administering drugs without a license.

Harrington voluntarily closed his offices and is cooperating with investigators, said Kaitlin Snider, a spokeswoman for the Tulsa Health Department. He faces a hearing April 19 and could lose his license.

“This is an unprecedented event,” Susan Rogers, executive director of the state

infractions at Harrington’s offices, including the use of a separate, rusty, set of instruments for patients who were known to carry infectious diseases.

“The CDC has determined that rusted instruments are porous and cannot be properly sterilized,” the board said in a 17-count complaint against the dentist.

According to the complaint, a device used to sterilize instruments wasn’t working properly. A test is supposed to be performed monthly and sent to a lab to determine that the equipment is successfully sterilizing instruments, but “no such test had ever been

performed in the six years one dental assistant had been working at the office,” the complaint said.

In addition, the doctor apparently used outdated drugs, with one vial carrying an expiration date of 1993, officials said.

The report also noted that a drug cabinet was unlocked and unattended during the day, and that dental assistants, rather than trained specialists, administered IV sedation for procedures.

OLDER RECORDS MISSING Officials are sending letters to about 7,000 people who are known to have been Harrington’s patients, but they admit that information for patients before 2007 is missing. The letters urge the patients to be tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV. “It’s uncertain how long those practices have been in place,” Snider said. “He’s

been practicing for 36 years.”

Harrington could not be reached for comment Thursday. A message at his Tulsa office said it was closed and the doctor’s answering service referred callers to the Tulsa Health Department. Phone numbers listed for Harrington were disconnected. A message left with Harrington’s malpractice attorney in Tulsa, Jim Secrest II, was not immediately returned.

Harrington’s practice in Tulsa is in a tony part of town, on a row of some of the city’s most upscale medical practices. The whiteand-green stucco, two-story dental clinic has the doctor’s name in fancy letters on the façade.

Harrington told officials he leaves sterilization and drug procedures to his staff.

“They take care of that, I don’t,” he told the health board.

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magazine in an exclusive interview. “But I don’t want to bring my daughter into a world where I’m not comfortable telling everyone who I am and who her mother is.”

Wolfe, 39, and Gosk, 40, are already being called NBC’s “Lesbian power couple.”

The two have been together for three years but say that their schedules have made starting a family difficult. Gosk, as a foreign Jenna Wolfe (l) and Stephanie Gosk correspondent for the netby James Whitely work, travels frequently.

SGN Staff Writer WEDDING BELLS IN FUTURE? NBC News correspondent and Weekend Wolfe, who is carrying the child, underToday anchor Jenna Wolfe came out as a went artificial insemination with an anonyLesbian this week on national TV, announc- mous donor. ing that she and her partner, fellow NBC “We ‘rock-paper-scissored’ it,” said News correspondent Stephanie Gosk, are Wolfe. expecting a child together.

“She [the baby] made the first four “I have some big news – this is actually months brutal for me … B-R-U-T-A-L,” big for me. I’m actually pregnant. I’m quite Wolfe wrote in her first blog post about her pregnant, in fact. My girlfriend Stephanie pregnancy. “There were days when all I Gosk, who works here also at NBC, we’re could eat were Saltine crackers, Apple Jacks expecting a baby girl at the end of August,” dry cereal, and plain pasta. Let’s just say I Wolfe told Today host Matt Lauer on March have a newfound respect for any woman 27. “Stephanie’s extremely adventurous, anywhere who tells me they’ve experienced she’s been all over the world. And you know morning sickness.” me, there’s not a building I haven’t jumped Gosk and Wolfe said they intend to maroff of. So for us, this is nothing like that. ry, but for now the child is their first priorThis is the adventure of a lifetime.” ity, especially given their busy schedules.

“This is the most exciting thing that has Wolfe, who is due August 27, said that ever happened to us,” Wolfe told People she’ll be blogging about her pregnancy.

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March 29, 2013

Seattle Gay News 17

Go Greyhound!

by Ed Sikov SGN Contributing Writer “I can’t believe you’re serving us a drink named after a bus line.”

This was going to be a long night. Craig was in one of his moods, and it seemed as though nothing anyone could say or do was going to make things any better. “It’s not named after a bus line,” I snapped. “It’s a classic cocktail named after…” I had to stop in mid-sentence because I had no idea why the drink is called a Greyhound.

“There! You see?” Craig cried triumphantly. “It was named after a bus line! How

Dan looked stricken. He knew Craig was right. Fortunately for us, Craig paused and reached for the glass I was proffering, took a big gulp, and suddenly looked like he’d just been given the keys to Heaven. “This is good,” he announced. “What’s in it?”

I had a momentary urge to make up a list of fake ingredients, but I chose the path of honesty instead. “Vodka and grapefruit juice, with a hint of orange Curaçao. It’s basically a Screwdriver with a citrus cousin.”

Craig polished off his Greyhound in just shy of 90 seconds and asked for another.

Dan glared at me as if to say “Don’t you dare,” but the drink seemed to be taming

Craig polished off his Greyhound in just shy of 90 seconds and asked for another. Dan glared at me as if to say “Don’t you dare,” but the drink seemed to be taming Craig’s inner rhinoceros, and I was glad to serve him anything as long as he stopped being so obnoxious. very Middle America of you, woman of the masses! You think just because you’re serving a drink named after a bus line you’re connected to ‘the people.’ Well, you’re not.

You’re still a prissy little snob.”

“Craig, dear,” I began in my calmest available tone. “We love you and all that, but shut the hell up. Do you want a Greyhound or don’t you? That’s what the bar is serving this evening, and if you don’t like it, you can shove it up your …”

“Ladies,” Dan interrupted. “Ladies, please!”

“You’re no better,” Craig said turning his venomous attention to Dan. “In fact, in certain ways you’re worse.”

“Oh, yeah? Name one,” Dan challenged.

“First of all, your many Harvard degrees are tiresome, especially when you bring them up, which is once a day if we’re lucky.”

Craig’s inner rhinoceros, and I was glad to serve him anything as long as he stopped being so obnoxious.

“Am I obnoxious?” Craig asked in an abrupt change of disposition.

“I wouldn’t say ‘obnoxious,’” I said, lying through my teeth. “You’re, you’re, um, opinionated.”

Craig looked pensive, as though he’d just been handed an enormous box of assorted chocolates and was deciding which one to start with. “I just say what I feel,” he said mildly.

“That you do,” I concurred. “That you do.” on the quality of juice you use. Tropicana makes a delicious grapefruit juice that tastes THE GREYHOUND almost freshly squeezed. All you do to make Absolut premium vodka this cocktail is pour the Absolut over some Grapefruit juice ice and fill the glass with grapefruit juice.

Orange Curaçao (a small splash, optional) If you decide to add the Curaçao, do it after Like the Screwdriver, much depends the vodka but before the juice. (It mixes bet-

ter that way.) Stir and serve.

Ed Sikov is the author of the e-book The Boys’ and Girls’ Little Book of Alcohol, a novel with recipes based on his Cocktail Chatter column.

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Seattle Gay News 19