Celebrating 40 Years!
Issue 19 Volume 41
FRIDAY May 10, 2013 FREE! 25¢ in bookstores & newsstands
Seattle has a drag superstar Page 25 in the house
Seattle Gay News
Eleven and counting!
SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Delaware enacts marriage equality doug denison
A crowd at Legislative Hall in Wilmington witnesses Delaware Governor Jack Markell sign HB-75 into law legalizing same-sex marriage.
who packed the Senate chamber galleries cheered as the result was announced. Delaware has become the The state’s House of Represen11th state to legalize equal mar- tatives passed the bill on April 23. riage rights for Gay and Lesbian couples. Governor Jack Markell SPONSOR COMES OUT signed the new law on May 7, only In a surprise twist, Delaware minutes after it was passed by the Sen. Karen Peterson, the bill’s state Senate. sponsor, came out as a Lesbian “I do not intend to make any during the debate. of you wait one minute longer,” “We are what God made us. We Markell told onlookers as he don’t need to be fixed – we’re not signed the bill. broken,” she said. “If my happi“Delaware should be, is and will ness somehow demeans or diminbe a welcoming place to live and ishes your marriage, you need to love and to raise a family for all work on your marriage.” who call our great state home,” he Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund added. CEO Chuck Wolfe tweeted his The law will go into effect July congratulations to Peterson. 1. “Congratulations to Sen. Karen The vote in the Delaware Sen- Peterson, who just became the 1st ate was 12-9, with one Republican openly LGBT state lawmaker in joining 11 Democrats to pass the Delaware,” he wrote. measure. Two Democrats voted Lambda Legal applauded pasNo with the eight remaining Republicans. Close to 200 supporters see delaware page 9 by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
LGBT protections proposed Minnesota House marriage bill for federal immigration bill passes Supporters confident of victory Leahy amendments would be first official exception to DOMA
in Senate next week
Glen Stubbe / Star Tribune
Mark Wilson / Getty Images
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
Senate Judiciary Committee chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced two amendments to the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill on May 7, providing protections for binational same-sex couples. The first amendment creates a new category of “permanent partners” to allow Gay and Lesbian U.S. citizens in a “long-term committed relationship” to sponsor their foreign partners for a green card. Opposite-sex spouses are already entitled to that protection under existing law, but protections for same-sex couples have been left out of the Gang of Eight bill. A second Leahy amendment “provides equal protection to lawAdvocates for both sides chant, sing and plead as the fully married binational same-sex Minnesota House takes up the same-sex marriage bill in St. Paul. couples that other spouses receive by Mike Andrew It didn’t work. Minnesota’s under existing immigration law.” House of Representatives passed SGN Staff Writer the marriage equality bill on May A ‘MASTER STROKE’ The anti-Gay hate group Fam- 9, by a comfortable margin of 75 “For immigration reform to be truly comprehensive, it must in- ily Research Council asked its to 59. Hundreds of people on both clude protections for all families,” followers to pray for “divine inLeahy said in a statement. “We tervention” to prevent the Minne- sides of the issue rallied at the sota legislature from passing a bill giving the state’s Gay and Lesbian see minnesota page 20 see immigration page 9 couples equal marriage rights.