SGN September 2, 2011 - Section 1

Issue 35 Volume 39

Celebrating 38 Years!

FRIDAY September 2, 2011 FREE! 25¢ in bookstores & news stands

PLEA ENTERED p. 4 NYC LESBIAN MAYOR? p. 6

AIDS MEMORIAL p. 18

Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Neighbours fighting Parents seek justice in attack dance tax while other on Transgender daughter clubs stay silent city-data.com

Tad and Cindy Anderson, the parents of a Ballard girl, are seeking justice after their daughter – whom they believe was beaten because she is Transgendered – was brutally attacked with a baseball bat August 16.

Tiva, whose age has not been released, was assaulted by another girl in Ballard at the intersection of 28th Ave. N.W. and N.W. 67th St., according to a police report.

The assault resulted in a serious head injury and, according to her parents, Tiva is emotionally fragile since the attack.

“She has learning disabilities that can make it hard to interact with her, and she is Transgender,” Tiva’s parents wrote in an email to neighbors, as originally reported by the My Ballard website.

“It probably should have been obvious to us a long time ago, but this turns out to be a dangerous combination. Transgender people see attack page 21

courtesy seattle.gov

several Seattle-area nightclubs, live venues, and bars that offer their patrons an “opportunity to dance.”

Trying to get anyone to go on record was like pulling teeth, as the owners and management of several popular venues feared retribution from the DOR. Owners feared that if they talked, the DOR would apply more pressure – and that pressure, according to more than one of the off-the-record bar owners, could put them out of business.

In some cases, the Neighbours Nightclub owners owed upwards

by Shaun Knittel of six figures.

Meanwhile, the DOR has conSGN Associate Editor tinuously maintained that the Last week, Seattle Gay News 50-year-old tax law (amended in reported on the ongoing attempts by the Washington State Departsee tax page 20 ment of Revenue to collect from

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

The Ballard Commons Park near the scene of the attack

jor push to try and pass a same-sex marriage law in Washington next year.

Currently, only six states – Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont – as well as the District of Columbia, issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Washington’s domestic-partnership law provides same-sex couples legal benefits similar to those of marriage.

Murray and Pedersen say they’re in early discussion but would have to run the idea by LGBT community leaders and other legislative colleagues before they make up their minds about a marriage equality bill when the next Legislature convenes in Olympia in January 2012.

“Over the past several years, the Legislature and the public together have been steadily building a bridge to equality for Gay and Lesbian families,” Murray told Seattle Gay News. “Gay and Lesbian families in Washington now enjoy the same state spousal rights that their married straight friends enjoy – except for the name ‘marriage.’

Though we have yet to realize full

by Shaun Knittel makers – Sen. Ed Murray and marriage equality, today that goal SGN Associate Editor Rep. Jamie Pedersen, both Gay lawmakers from the 43rd District Two key Democratic state law- in Seattle – are considering a masee marriage page 8

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

Joe Solmonese

HRC President Joe Solmonese “will not renew his contract, which expires March 31, 2012,” the HRC announced on August 27.

Solmonese has led the HRC since 2005.

Blogger Pam Spaulding of

proud to Be Different

We are conveniently located on-site at Lifelong AIDS Alliance below the Thrift Store.

courtesy hrc

State lawmakers and ERW Joe Solmonese to mull over Gay marriage push leave HRC in 2012

Pam’s House Blend broke the story on August 26, saying that she had learned “from a trusted source in a position to know” that Solmonese would leave HRC in December.

Before coming to HRC, Solmonese worked as chief executive officer of EMILY’s List, a prosee solmonese page 21

Call us at 206.568.2486

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Seattle Gay News

September 2, 2011

Celebrating 38 Years!

Visit us online www.sgn.org

September 2, 2011

Seattle Gay News

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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 Shaun Knittel 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, Anthony Greer 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

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Nick Ardizzone, Nate Gowdy, Joseph P. Herron, Shaun Knittel National Advertising Rep. Rivendell Media (212) 242-6863 Website Designer Barry Thorsness/Digital Team Works Seattle Gay News is published weekly by Frogs and Ink, Inc. © 2011, Frogs and Ink, 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.

Seattle Gay News welcomes unsolicited material, including letters to the editor, but reserves the right to edit or reject material. All rights revert to authors upon publication.

We assume no liability for loss or damage of materials, solicited or not. We invite feedback, please write.

And please play safe.

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.

Not guilty plea entered in fatal Seattle stabbings

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

Dr. Louis Chen, accused of killing his partner and their son, pleaded not guilty at his August 29 arraignment in King County Superior Court in Seattle.

Chen is charged with two counts of aggravated murder in the first degree, a charge that carries a sentence of life imprisonment without parole, or the death penalty.

According to court records, Chen admitted to stabbing Eric Cooper, 29, more than 100 times in the face, neck, chest, back, and hands, and their 2-year-old son (numerous cuts to his neck) at their First Hill apartment.

The King County Medical Examiner’s Office said on August 29, that Cooper and the boy died sometime on August 10 – one day before the bodies (and Chen) were discovered in the apartment.

Under Washington state law, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg would have 30 days from the time of arraignment to decide whether he will seek the death penalty. In

court August 29, Superior Court Judge Theresa Doyle granted a request from prosecutors and defense attorneys to extend until November 27 the deadline for prosecutors to determine whether to seek execution.

Chen’s attorneys said during the court hearing that because Chen and Cooper had moved to Seattle only last month, more time was needed to gather information on Chen and the victims.

At this point, Chen’s attorneys say they are confident the prosecutors would have no basis to pursue the death penalty against their client.

A man who is described as “Cooper’s friend” has stepped forward to talk with the Seattle Times. The man said Cooper had complained, in the days and weeks before the deaths, that an alcoholfueled Chen became “increasingly agitated, hostile, and paranoid about their plans to end the relationship.”

According to friends of both Cooper and Chen, the two had agreed to split up and share the parenting of young Cooper Chen.

The Times reports that law-enforcement

Chen is charged with two counts of aggravated murder in the first degree, a charge that carries a sentence of life imprisonment without parole, or the death penalty.

have spoken with a number of people who knew Cooper.

In the months and days leading up to the murder, Vernon O’Reilly Ramesar said he spoke with Cooper about Chen. The two men met online and, according to the Times, “communicated almost daily through Skype.” O’Reilly Ramesar lives in Trinidad.

According to his online friend, Cooper, who had never dated anyone other than Chen, was excited about the freedom that the split would provide him and was looking forward to getting a place of his own.

His friend described Cooper as “cheerful” and that he had the tendency to “pretend everything was hunky-dory.” Still, Cooper began to complain that things were becoming increasingly worse at home, going so far as to describe his life with Chen as “unbearable.”

Cooper told his friend that Chen had been functioning as an alcoholic for quite some time. He painted a picture of a man who could easily hide his drinking from colleagues, as he always seemed to keep busy.

But when Chen moved to Seattle, Cooper told O’Reilly Ramesar that with few obligations, he was drinking all the time.

It is alleged that Chen was controlling and sought to isolate Cooper from the outside world; he began accusing Cooper of trying to hack into his phone and email accounts.

The Times says that, according to Cooper’s friend, he began to feel like his only job was to take care of their toddler. O’Reilly Ramesar is quoted as saying that when Chen was intoxicated he would threaten to “leave Eric out in the cold.”

The two friends Skyped on August 9 and Cooper told his friend that things were getting really unpleasant at home.

The next day, the King County Medical Examiner’s Office says, Eric Cooper and Cooper Chen were murdered.

The 39-year-old Chen is an endocrinologist who recently moved to Seattle from Durham, N.C., to work at a medical center.

He’s being held without bail in the King County Jail.

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

4

Seattle Gay News

September 2, 2011

Celebrating 38 Years!

One arrested as anti- UW Medical Center gets top rating from HRC Gay fanatics protest Charlotte Pride Festival

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

The University of Washington Medical Center is one of 14 hospitals getting top honors in the HRC’s 2011 Healthcare Equality Index.

The 14 hospitals identified by the HRC are also among U.S. News and World Report’s “top hospitals.” Like the HRC, U.S. News issues a hospital rating every year.

The full list of HRC’s top-rated hospitals can be found online at www.hrc.org/hei.

HRC’s ratings are based on questionnaires completed by hospital administrators.

U.S. News and World Report ratings are based on data from nearly 5,000 hospitals in 16 adult specialties and 10 pediatric specialties, and are widely accepted as the official national healthcare ratings.

“This year’s U.S. News and World Report’s best hospital ratings demonstrate once again that providing quality healthcare goes hand-in-hand with healthcare free of prejudice and discrimination of any kind,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese.

“We congratulate these 14 top hospitals on this honor, and appreciate their dedication to healthcare equality for LGBT patients and families demonstrated by participating in the HEI.” The Healthcare Equality Index is an annual survey administered by the HRC Foundation. The HEI 2011 reported on the voluntary participation of a record 87 survey respondents, representing 375 facilities nationwide.

According the report, hospitals participating in the HRC survey were evaluated on four criteria – patient non-discrimination policies, visitation policies, cultural competency training for staff, and employment non-discrimination policies.

Although HRC relies on voluntary disclosure from the hospitals, they maintain rigorous standards, Tom Sullivan, deputy director of the HRC Family Project, told SGN in an email.

“Documentation is required for credit

on any HEI rated criteria,” Sullivan wrote.

“The policies are in writing. We follow up on any reported discrimination cases, but we emphasize training as a means to insure the values stated in the policy are put into practice.”

Sullivan also indicated that the HRC’s definition of “family” includes all the legal relationships same-sex couples and their children might find themselves in.

“Our definition of family for visitation purposes does cover all relationships (spouses, D.P., etc.) which we feel all hospitals should consider because people traveling might use hospitals away from home,” and therefore couples in legally recognized relationships might find that they need medical care in states that do not afford recognition to same-sex relationships, Sullivan wrote.

“Also, hospitals must honor the visitation wishes of patients, which is not strictly linked to state sanctioned relationship recognition. In cases where a patient can’t communicate, we emphasize the importance of advance healthcare directives,” he added.

Sullivan did not comment directly on a case reported recently in SGN, where a Lesbian mother seeking E.R. treatment for her young daughter was confronted with questions she considered intrusive and inappropriate.

He did stress, however, that HRC recommends “visitation policies [that] grant samesex parents the same access as different-sex parents for visitation of their minor children.”

The HRC says it hopes its Healthcare Equality Index will help hospitals adapt to a more LGBT-inclusive environment.

“As facilities transition to more LGBTfriendly policies and procedures,” the HRC said in its announcement, “the HEI can serve as an organizational assessment tool by assisting hospitals in modifying their policies, and can help hospitals comply with Joint Commission standards addressing non-discrimination, and new [Department of Health and Human Services] regulations on visitation.”

The HRC says it hopes its Healthcare Equality Index will help hospitals adapt to a more LGBT-inclusive environment.

still out

LGBT supporter at the Charlotte Pride Festival

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer While thousands of LGBT folks and their friends celebrated Pride in Charlotte, N.C., on August 27, several hundred self-proclaimed Christians gathered to insult and intimidate the Pride marchers.

One person, the Rev. Philip “Flip” Benham, was arrested.

The Pride celebration and the anti-Gay counter-demonstration come at a time when the North Carolina legislature will be considering a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages.

The anti-Pride demonstration was organized by Dr. Michael Brown who claims he started his FIRE School of Ministry to “raise up a holy army of uncompromising spirit-filled radicals who will shake an entire generation with the gospel of Jesus by life or death.”

Many of Brown’s supporters wore red shirts printed with the slogan “Repent or Perish.”

Brown and an associate, Lou Engle, claimed on their website that the Charlotte Pride protest will have “a ripple effect around the nation” and begin the process of turning back LGBT rights.

According to the Charlotte Observer, several blocks of Charlotte’s South Tryon Street were closed to accommodate the large crowd of Pride celebrants. The annual Pride Festival is the largest fundraiser for the LGBT Community Center of Charlotte.

Although they closed the street to traffic, police also allowed Brown’s anti-Gay demonstrators to approach the Pride marchers.

Some reported being harassed and “prayed over” by red-shirted Christians who refused to comply with repeated requests to leave them alone.

Benham was arrested for violating Charlotte’s noise ordinance while reading from Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. He said the text explains God’s wrath against sinful humanity.

It was not Benham’s first run-in with Charlotte police. He has been arrested four times since January 2010.

In July, he was found guilty of stalking after he distributed hundreds of posters featuring a Charlotte doctor’s face and the words, “Wanted ... by Christ, to Stop Killing Babies.”

Prosecutors say Benham – a regular visitor to clinics where abortions are performed in Charlotte and across the nation – went to a Charlotte doctor’s home and inside his clinic to take pictures.

He is currently on probation for the stalking charge. It requires him to stay away from the doctor’s home and to stay at least 500 feet away from clinics where the doctor works.

But, says Benham, the court order does not prohibit him from speaking up at other public events.

In fact, he said, his group is already making plans to protest at the Democratic National Convention, which will be held in Charlotte next year.

The North Carolina legislature will be in session through January 2012. A proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages was filed in February, with hearings scheduled to begin in September.

In the weeks leading up to Charlotte Pride, Equality North Carolina, the state’s largest LGBT organization, helped to organize a series of marches and vigils against the amendment.

The Charlotte Observer, the state’s largest newspaper, published an editorial against the amendment on August 16.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE A TRAGEDY IN ANY COMMUNITY

An old saying comes to mind: “For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.’”

The recent domestic violence of two Gay Even so, I remember one of our nowpartners and their child is a tragedy almost deceased empresses had an expression: beyond belief.

“Here’s to life and to love, and the pursuit We know straight marriages can suffer the of it.” same fate – and probably more often – also brought on by unhappiness and alcohol or Leonard Larson drugs.

Of course, naysayers will say, “See, see?

Gay commitments and marriages will never work”. My rebuttal would be to look at your own lifestyles first – nearly every day, we read about domestic violence happening in one form or other. Gay couples deserve the same rights and benefits as everyone else, and unfortunately the success (or not) accorded everyone as well.

It is so sad to think what this Gay relationship could have been without destroying three lives. … One now will either linger in prison with his thoughts or more quickly receive the death penalty.

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

September 2, 2011

Seattle Gay News

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Lesbian frontrunner for mayor of New York

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

facebook

A Lesbian City Council member is emerging as the frontrunner to succeed Michael Bloomberg as mayor of New York in 2013.

Once considered a slam-dunk for former Congressman Anthony Weiner, the run to succeed Bloomberg became a wide-open race when Weiner got caught – quite literally – with his pants down.

In what the New York Times has called “the worst-kept secret in City Hall,” Bloomberg has been saying privately that he wants City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn to succeed him when he leaves office.

Quinn has served on the City Council since 2000, and has been speaker since 2006. She lives with her partner, Kim Catullo, in Chelsea, lower Manhattan.

She supported the controversial 2008 bill that overturned term limits for New York mayors, and allowed Bloomberg to run for an unprecedented third term.

So far, both Bloomberg and Quinn have tried to keep the mayor’s endorsement out of the headlines.

Jamie McShane, a spokesman for Quinn, told NYT, “She has never asked for, nor has he offered his support.”

A spokesman for Bloomberg said the same.

Nevertheless, Bloomberg has reportedly “made it plain in private conversations with other politicians and civic leaders that he prefers the City Council speaker.”

“There’s no question in my mind that of all the candidates, he sees Chris Quinn as far better for the city of New York,” said former Mayor Edward I. Koch, who said he had spoken to Bloomberg about the race to succeed him.

Koch made headlines himself recently when he endorsed anti-Gay Republican Bob Turner for Weiner’s Congressional seat.

The election is more than two years away, and New York’s mayors have typically not had enough political clout to name their successors. Nevertheless, Bloomberg will have opportunities to spotlight Quinn in the coming years, insiders say.

“You cannot anoint; you can influence, you can impact,” Mr. Koch said. “It is not an overriding endorsement that assures you of success.”

“He can arrange events, he can promote her for the next two and a half years, he can make her the ‘vice mayor’ so people will think she’s the No. 2 person in city government, which, to some extent, she is,” Koch protégé Henry J. Stern said.

On August 27, for example, Bloomberg had Quinn at his side as he updated reporters on preparations for Hurricane Irene.

This was considered a covert political endorsement, because Quinn has no operational responsibilities, unlike the city’s commissioners who were pushed into the background at the briefing.

Some observers believe Bloomberg’s support might prove to be a double-edged sword.

It might help, they say, with business leaders, white voters outside Manhattan, Independents, and Republicans, but it could hurt Quinn among liberals who opposed some of Bloomberg’s budget cuts.

It also remains unclear how much Bloomberg’s support will help Quinn with New York City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn fundraising.

Running for mayor of New York is expen- campaign can give no more than $4,950 to than $100,000, so he could help as a highend fundraiser, although Quinn has already sive. Bloomberg spent some $250 million of someone else for the 2013 campaign.

Bloomberg’s approval ratings are high- raised close to the public financing system’s his own money in three elections.

But even a candidate who self-finances his est among New Yorkers who make more spending limit for the Democratic primary.

EQCA: Teaching law opponents are “extremists”

by Rex Wockner SGN Contributing Writer

Rex Wockner

Head of Equality California Roland Palencia

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Seattle Gay News

September 2, 2011

The people who want to repeal California’s new law requiring teaching of LGBT history are “extremists” who persecute Gays, says Roland Palencia, head of Equality California.

Palencia’s organization hopes to keep the group “Stop SB 48” from collecting 504,760 valid signatures of registered California voters by mid-October.

The signatures would force a voter referendum on the teaching law, also known as Senate Bill 48, on next June’s ballot.

California law requires that social-studies curriculum include information on many different minority groups, but LGBT people were added to the list just this year.

In signing SB 48, Gov. Jerry Brown said, “History should be honest.”

“I think that one of the things that we’re going to take on is defining them [the opponents],” Palencia said August 25 in a telephone interview with five journalists.

“Who gets to paint whom?” he asked.

“We want to start engaging the conversation about painting them in the corner about how dangerous these people are to the people of California, and really expose their agenda – how these campaigns are persecution. ... We need to define them as the extremists that they are.”

Palencia said that despite the opponents’ rhetoric in the new campaign – and in the

2008 campaign to re-ban same-sex marriage in California – schoolchildren are not harmed by hearing about the existence of Gay and Lesbian people.

Indeed, it is people who want to ban Gay issues from schools who “are a danger to children and families,” he said.

EQCA has suggested that inclusive teaching about LGBT history will reduce antiGay bullying in schools.

On the same telephone call, EQCA’s communications director, Rebekah Orr, said the opposition is using “the same sound bites they’ve been playing for 20 years.”

Reminded that those old sound bites seem to work, Orr said, “We are going to have a richer set of input in terms of research and how to move communities and speak to them in culturally competent ways.”

“We don’t have a silver bullet,” she acknowledged. “We have no illusions about the monumental task before us. ... We’re going to need to do much more robust pieces of research, and we will not be able to say anything definitive, certainly, until we’re done with that.”

EQCA’s Andrea Shorter said on the call that signature-gathering on the repeal referendum is taking place “within their base.”

“Their activities are largely behind the closed door of their churches,” Shorter said.

EQCA and other groups have launched a website to protect SB 48 at faireducationaction.com. The other side’s site is stopsb48. com.

Celebrating 38 Years!

NORTHWEST

NEWS

compiled by Rick McKinnon SGN Staff Writer

“THE BIG DYKE POTLUCK & SING ALONG” – A SPOOFEBRATION OF LESBIAN CULTURE On Friday and Saturday, September 2 and 3, door at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m., at Theatre Off Jackson (409 7th Ave. S.), Pidgeon Coop Productions presents “The Big Dyke Potluck & Sing Along - A Spoofebration of Lesbian Culture.” Must be 21+. Tickets: $10 advance; $15 at the door. www.brownpapertickets.com/event/192625.

For more information, visit http://pidgeoncoopproductions.com/events-calendar.

Pidgeon Coop Productions engages Queer performers in inclusive, innovative performance and raises funds for Queer organizations working towards social justice. They have made donations to the Femme Collective, arewemarried.com, Femmecast, Homoagogo, and Dirty Queer.

QSQUARED CAMP SEPTEMBER 2-5 Camp is held each year at a private retreat center nestled among towering trees with scenic trails and rivers. Stay in modern cabins with hot showers and modern conveniences or pitch your own tent and sleep under the stars. Meals are prepared by the onsite staff and are enjoyed family style.

CAMP is produced each year by the “Boyz in the Woods.” www.qsquared.org “MARDI GRAS WEEKEND” – TRIANGLE RECREATION CAMP AT BENDER CREEK SEPTEMBER 2-5 And Rocky Horror Picture Show party. www.camptrc.org BUMBERSHOOT AT SEATTLE CENTER SEPTEMBER 3-5 www.bumbershoot.org LAMBERT HOUSE SEEKS VOLUNTEERS Lambert House LGBT Youth Center is seeking volunteers. Email volunteer@ lamberthouse.org or call 206-322-2515 ext *817 for more information.

GSBA PRIME TIME EAST On Tuesday, September 6, from 5:30-7:30 p.m., at Hyatt Regency Bellevue (900 Bellevue Way NE), meet other GSBA members, nonmembers and guests for drinks and hors d’oeuvres on the Eastside. For more information, contact the GSBA at 206-363-9188; www.thegsba.org for more information.

There is no charge for this event.

THE ELITE HOSTS FREE ASL LESSONS FOR BEGINNERS Have you ever wanted to learn basic American Sign Language? If so, you can get some beginning ASL instruction at the Elite (1520 E. Olive Way). The FREE lessons will be held every Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the loft.

SEATTLE GAY & LESBIAN BOOK CLUB – MOFFIE The Seattle Gay & Lesbian Book Club meets every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Seattle Area Support Groups Community Center (formerly Dunshee House) (303 17th Ave. E. & E. Thomas St.). For September, the group will read the brand new South African novel, Moffie, by Andre Carl van der Merwe, about a frightened Gay white boy conscripted in the South African army. The story is set in South Africa about 20 years ago, and takes place during the Angola Bush

War. The author will be getting in touch with the club toward the end of September for a conversation about the book and to answer any questions. Following is a summary of Moffie: Nicholas van der Swart is a skinny, white nineteen year old drafted into the South African army to serve his two years mandatory military service, conscripted to fight for a country that degrades Gay men as “moffies,” where a kiss between men is violently punished. Brutalized by his father for being too gentle and sensitive, he’s bullied by his baboon-killing uncles and cousins who respect only the harsh masculine code of aggression and dominance. Nicholas keeps his real identity buried deep inside and lives in terror of being exposed, knowing that the thing his parents most despise is what he is.

From the sadistic fury of vengeful officers and body-crippling exercise drills to the spirit-breaking final physical tests and the terrors of combat, Nicholas somehow manages to psychologically survive, with the help of his best friend, Malcolm, and Ethan, the boy he adores, and Dylan, the lovely young poet from a wealthy family who falls in love with Nicholas.

Andre Carl van der Merwe skillfully recreates the emotional gauntlet Nicholas has to endure in his passage to adulthood. In an insane military world, Nicholas is tested to his limits. His ordeal makes compelling, first-rate reading.

All GLBTQ folks are welcome to participate in this free book club. For more information, email nickdimartin@earthlink.net, visit http://faculty.washington.edu/swittet/ SGLBookClub/ or contact SASG at 206322-2437.

“QUEER IT YOURSELF: BE IT, DO IT, MAKE IT” – WORKSHOP PROPOSALS BEING SOUGHT The Producer’s Collective is seeking workshop and performance proposals for the upcoming “Queer It Yourself: Be It, Do It, Make It” day-long conference to be held on Saturday, October 8, at Seattle University’s Pigott Auditorium. The conference seeks to provide a space for Queers and social justice artists to talk, collaborate, skill share and intellectualize about art and creativity. Two celebratory shows will be held that evening at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. at Seattle University’s Wyckoff Auditorium. Deadline for workshop proposals is Monday, September 8. Workshops will be 1-1/2 hours in length. Compensation for workshop presentations is free admission to the day-long conference.

The Producer’s Collective is a Queer-led production company dedicated to building a Queer artist community that values social justice that fosters art in the LGBTQ community, and challenges oppression while still being joyful and entertaining. The collective is an ambitious group of four, all artists raising the bar on art, community, creativity, politics and fun.

Examples of the kinds of workshops they are looking for: “Intellectualizing” – The Politics of Queer Performance, The Politics of Performing Gender, What Does Social Justice Art Look Like? What Is An Artist Community? Get Inspired: How Queer Artists Are Pushing the Envelope, Is Everyone an Artist? How to Embrace Your Artist Self, Body Positive in the Burlesque World, The Politics of Payment as an Artist; Racism in Queer Artist Community; How to be an Ally to Marginalized Artists.

“Art and Skill Sharing” – Drag Kinging 101, Burlesque 101, Learning How to Sing, Learning How to Make a Video, Video Edit-

Visit us online www.sgn.org

ing, Want to Be a Spoken Word Artist? Want to Be a Good MC? How to Create a Group Number, How to Start a Troupe, How to Produce a Show, Improv, Acting 101, Sketch Comedy, Scriptwriting, Self-Care as an Artist and Longevity/Sustainability as an Artist, How to Do Publicity.

Seattle has a long history of Queer artists who push boundaries around gender, sexuality, politics, sex, sexism, sizism, ablism, classism and racism. The Seattle LGBTQ community has been on the convergence of creativity and social justice for the last 20 years with productions such as “Fallen Women Follies” and Kaleidoscope Cabaret (a people of color production), Push: a Magazine of Queer Feminist Subversions - featuring LGBTQ writers, photographers and visual artists, Voices Rising (people of color and LGBTQ artists), Bend-It (art by youth, Bent (a Queer Writers Institute), and troupes like the Bamboo Clan, Milky Way, The Von Foxies and the Queen Bees.

Be part of this long Queer artist tradition.

Create a workshop, perform in the show, and attend the conference. Workshop presenters will be given first priority for performing in the shows.

For more information or to get a workshop application, please go to theproducerscollective.weebly.com.

a great deal on a winter coat!

GRACE GOSPEL CHAPEL REUNION, CONCERT & PASTOR APPRECIATION NIGHT On Saturday, September 17, join Grace Gospel Chapel (2052 NW 64th St.) as they welcome back former pastors who have served the church in the past 30 years to celebrate over 30 years of Grace in Seattle.

Find old friends, make new friends and tell your pastor what they mean to you! Hospitality hour with light fare, refreshments and dessert starts at 5 p.m. Concert with nationally touring contemporary Christian artist Shawn Aaron Thomas debuting his new album “Covered and Created” starts at 7 p.m.

For more information, call 206-784-8495 or visit www.gracegospelwa.org.

IMPERIAL COURT OF SEATTLE – WHITE TOWEL PARTY On Saturday, September 17, from 9 p.m. to closing, at The Cuff Complex (1533 13th Ave. at E. Pine St.), join the Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle and the Olympic and Rainier Empire for a fundraising party (undergarments required) to benefit the Youth Suicide Prevention Program. www.imperialcourtofseattle.com.

LIFELONG AIDS ALLIANCE – 25TH ANNIVERSARY SEATTLE AIDS WALK & 5K RUN On Saturday, September 24, join Lifelong AIDS Alliance and concerned and caring community members from all walks of life for the 25th Anniversary Seattle AIDS Walk & 5K Run. The event will be held at Volunteer Park (14th Ave. E. & E. Prospect St.) with day-of registration, donation drop-off and T-shirt pick-up from 9-9:30 a.m. The stage program will take place from 9:30-10 a.m. The run begins promptly at 10 a.m., SEATTLE VOLLEYBALL CLUB – followed by walkers at 10:05 a.m. The afEMERALD CITY CAT FIGHT ter party at the park will be held from 10:30 TOURNAMENT a.m.-1 p.m. For complete information on SEPT 9-11 Seattle Volleyball Club hosts the Emerald how you can participate as a walker, runner, City Cat Fight tournament featuring fierce donor or volunteer, visit www.SeattleAIDand friendly competition amongst LGBT SWalk.org or call 206-328-8979. volleyball teams from around the U.S. and MR. & MISS GAY Canada. Team registration will be held on ASIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER Friday, September 9, from 7-10 p.m., at R PAGEANT Place (619 E. Pine St.). The tournament On Saturday, September 24, door at 5:30 spikes off on Saturday, September 10, from 8am-6pm, at Garfield High School Gymna- p.m., pageant at 7 p.m., Neighbours Nightsium (400 23rd Ave.) and Garfield Commu- club (1509 Broadway) hosts the Mr. & Miss nity Center (2323 E. Cherry St.). Saturday Gay Asian/Pacific Islander Pageant with evening, players will gather at Purr (1518 competition categories in National Cos11th Ave.) for the “Seed Party” to allow tume, Swimsuit, Talent, Formal Wear and players from competing teams to meet one Q&A with $250 cash prize to both Mr. & another off the court. On Sunday, the tourna- Miss API 2011. This is sure to be a hot show! ment continues from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. at Rain- Tickets: $15-advance; $18 at the door. www. ier Community Center (4600 38th Ave. S.) brownpapertickets.com/event/196920. For and Garfield High School Gymnasium (400 contestant sign-up, program advertising or 23rd Ave.) from 8am-6pm. (See related ar- sponsorship information, email gaysha@ ticle in this week’s SGN for information on gayshastarr.com or teriyakitemple@aol. com. Partial proceeds to benefit the Youth how to get involved in SVC’s fall league.)

Suicide Prevention Program.

IMPERIAL COURT OF SEATTLE – THE SEATTLE AIDS MEMORIAL: KING & QUEEN 30 YEARS OF SORROW, OF HEARTS PAGEANT COMFORT & HOPE – On Saturday, September 10, door at 6 A MULTI-FAITH OBSERVANCE p.m., show at 7 p.m., at Neighbours UnIN READINGS, derground (1509 Broadway), join King SONG AND CANDLELIGHT of Hearts 33 Patrick Lucey and Queen of On Saturday, September 24, at 7 p.m., at Hearts 33 Jackie Scott and the Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle and the Olympic St. Mark’s Cathedral (1245 10th Ave. E.), and Rainier Empire for an evening of fine join the Seattle Choral Company and Seattle drag entertainment and the selection of the area religious communities for this multiCourt’s new King and Queen of Hearts. $7 faith service observing 30 years of sorrow, suggested donation at the door. www.impe- comfort and hope in the face of AIDS. www. saintmarks.org. rialcourtofseattle.com BETWEEN THE COVERS: LGBT BOOK CLUB – NAKED On Saturday, September 9, at 2 p.m., at Kaladi Brothers Coffee Green Room (511 E. Pike St.), join Gay City staff and community members for a discussion of David Sedaris’ Naked, a collection of hilarious and poignant reflections on his quirky life.

The book is available at Gay City’s LGBT library.

“INJUSTICE AT EVERY TURN” – SEATTLE LEATHER DADDY & COMPREHENSIVE DADDY’S BOY 2011 TRANSGENDER WINTER COAT SALE DISCRIMINATION STUDY On Saturday and Sunday, September 17 SHARES TWO and 18, from noon-4 p.m., at R Place (619 PERSONAL STORIES E. Pine St.) join Seattle Leather Daddy and ON “IN THE LIFE” Daddy’s boy 2011 for a winter coat sale of http://www.itlmedia.org/html/other/Inunclaimed coats collected from local bars’ coat checks. Proceeds from the sale will justice%20at%20Every%20Turn.html benefit the Chicken Soup Brigade, Lifelong AIDS Alliance’s food program. Stop by for

September 2, 2011

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7

Iowa Senate leader will block anti-Gay marriage bill

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

“I’m not going to waver from that.”

Meanwhile, Iowa’s Republican Governor Terry Branstad said on August 29 that “there’s no connection at all between Iowa’s debate over gay marriage rights and the death of Waterloo teen Marcellus Andrews.”

“I think it’s inappropriate to try to link these two,” Branstad added.

Andrews was killed in a brawl outside a friend’s house on August 19. His killers repeatedly called him “faggot” and other anti-Gay slurs both before and during their attack on him.

riage and think it’s a mistake to try to change that.” continued from cover Swecker said he would expect strong opposition to Gay marriage in his caucus.

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown (Dis more achievable and closer to reality than Spokane) told SGN she supports the passage of marriage equality in Washington because ever before.”

Murray was the prime sponsor of land- she views the subject as a “fairness and somark Gay-rights legislation approved by cial justice issue.” Still, she alludes the Legislature in 2006 and a domestic- that the future of a legislative win may not be a clear one. partnership law that passed in 2007.

“Public opinion is inOver the past 15 years, there has also been a significant shift in the country’s view to- creasingly in favor for marriage equality,” ward marriage equality, said Murray.

“Maintaining this momentum and con- she said. “Whether tinuing a positive public discourse for full or not that transequality will be key in the success of any lates into 25 legislation or initiative we undertake,” he votes remains to be seen.” told SGN. In addition, Rep. Pedersen told SGN that he is confident that the House has enough votes Brown pointed to support a marriage equality bill. “The out that, historiHouse Democrats have been very strongly cally, it takes supportive of LGBT civil rights,” he said. the Legislature “We will likely have one or two Republican more than one go-around in orvotes as well.”

But support for Gay marriage is not the der to pass major same in the Senate. “We have historically LGBT equality had and continue to have a slimmer major- bills. “I voted on the ity in the Senate than the House,” admitted anti-discrimination Murray. “We do not have enough votes in bill my first year as a legthe Democratic Caucus in the Senate to pass islator in 1993,” she said. marriage equality. Approval will require a “That bill was not successfully bipartisan vote, with some Republicans vot- passed until years later when I was in the Senate. It takes time and work from the ing for it.”

Democrats currently hold a 27-22 major- grassroots up through the legislative process ity in the Senate and a 56-42 advantage in on an issue like this.”

Brown is referring to House Bill 2661, the House.

Still, records show that state Sens. Jim a Gay-rights law that took the Washington Hargrove (D-Hoquiam) and Tim Sheldon Legislature 30 years to pass. The measure (D-Potlach) voted against both the Gay- added sexual orientation to an existing state rights and domestic-partnership bills. Sen. law that banned discrimination by race, sex, Brian Hatfield (D-Raymond) also voted religion, national origin, marital status, and against the domestic partnership bill. So, other categories. as Murray pointed out, a bipartisan vote is ELECT A DEMOCRAT needed. A vote that may be easier said than FOR GOVERNOR done.

Washingtonians will elect a new governor Republican Sen. Dan Swecker told the Seattle Times, “I think primarily the Repub- in 2012. Essential to the same-sex marriage licans, but [also] some Democrats, tend to push in Washington, say lawmakers and adsupport the traditional definition of mar- vocates, is the election of Jay Inslee, a Dem-

ocratic congressman running for governor.

He is running against Republican candidate Rob McKenna, Washington state attorney general.

“Jay Inslee supports marriage equality.

Rob McKenna voted against domestic partner benefits as a member of the Bellevue city council,” said Rep. Pedersen. “I think that says it all. Few people can remember what it was like to have an unfriendly governor in office.

We don’t want to find out.”

Current Governor Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, has signed all pro-Gay legislation sent to her desk.

“A Democrat in the governor’s office is critical for our priorities as a movement,” Sen. Murray said.

“Congressman Inslee is the first candidate for that office in the history of the state to openly support marriage equality. Losing this key advocate and control of that office would be a drastic step backwards. Make no mistake; his opponent has never been a supporter of the LGBT community.”

Who is in office makes an incredible difference and how we do our electoral work can influence outcomes on marriage equality, and other issues important to the LGBT community.

“In 2012 there will not be an incumbent in the race for governor, attorney general, and secretary of state races,” Josh Friedes, Equal Rights Washington marriage equality director, told SGN. “Even in the best-case scenario where we pass a marriage equality bill during the 2012 session, it will be

the statewide officers elected in 2012 who implement the new law and defend the new law against legal challenges and future attempts to undermine or repeal the law.”

Equal Rights Washington (ERW) is the state’s main LGBT advocacy group and will be in the trenches and leading the charge if the lawmakers decide to push wholeheartedly for same-sex marriage. In fact, the organization has already begun a statewide education campaign in support of marriage equality.

“We are already seeing sharp contrasts in how candidates are approaching the issue of marriage equality,” said Friedes. “In no race is this clearer than the race for governor where Jay Inslee has spoken out passionately in support of marriage equality. The way in which he is able to relate the important role marriage has played in his own life and understand the legal, emotional, and social hardships LGBT couples suffer in the absence of the legal right to marry really reflects his passionate support for and personal commitment to LGBT equality.”

“By contrast, Rob McKenna’s recent statements on marriage equality can be most generously characterized as ignorant, wrong, and harmful,” he said.

According to Friedes, so far, the LGBT community is backing Inslee. “Not only should marriage equality supporters be contributing to the Inslee campaign now because early money makes a big difference in campaigns, we must also be making sure that our friends, family, and neighbors know that Inslee is the choice of the civil rights community,” he said. “We need to be talking about Inslee in our Facebook posts and in conversations. There is a myth that McKenna is a moderate. It is our job to dispel this myth.”

“In Washington state, we are blessed that so many legislators – Gay and non-Gay – care passionately about LGBT civil rights,” Friedes told SGN. “I can think of no other state that has an openly LGBT legislative delegation that is as large and well-respected as ours.”

Sometimes this delegation overshadows the even larger number of straight legisla-

Iowa Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal says he will block a bill in the Iowa Legislature to refer a ban on same-sex marriage to voters.

In an interview with the Associated Press last week, Gronstal said he knows his stand against putting a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot could hurt him with some constituents, but he was willing to take the risk.

Gronstal made a similar commitment during the last legislative session, which began shortly after voters removed three of the Iowa Supreme Court justices who ruled in 2009 that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage.

“I’m not going to put discrimination into the state’s constitution,” said Gronstal, a Democrat from Council Bluffs.

Gronstal said he believes his position on marriage equality will attract as many voters as it repels.

“I hear some people who obviously don’t like my position, but I hear lots of people who do like my position,” Gronstal said. ”My read is the public at large is changing pretty significantly,” Gronstal added. “It used to be that if you’re under the age of 30, two-thirds of you were probably fine with Gay marriage and if you were over 50, twothirds of you were against it.” ”Now,” Gronstal said, “more like twothirds of the people under 40 are fine with

marriage

AP Photo

it.”

Iowa Senate rules give Gronstal the sole power to schedule debates, and unless his fellow Democrats opt to remove him from his post or he changes his mind, his decision will push off a statewide marriage vote for at least several years.

Democrats currently hold a narrow 26-to24-seat majority in the Senate.

To amend the Iowa Constitution, lawmakers elected in two consecutive elections would need to approve the amendment, meaning votes would be required in 2013 and 2015 at the earliest.

Unless the state then called a special election, the matter could not go to voters until 2016.

While the measure is expected to pass in the Republican-controlled House, Gronstal said he is confident the measure won’t be taken up in the Senate. ”We staked out our position on that issue during the [last] session and I don’t think there’s a lot of room for doubt about where people stand on it, so if the House decides to pursue it again, I don’t think the outcome will be significantly different,” said Gronstal.

Republican Senator David Johnson said his party will take up the issue again in the upcoming session. Republicans will frame the issue as a matter of letting voters decide, he said. ”The whole issue is should we put this out there and let Iowans decide,” Johnson said.

Iowa Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal

“We do not have enough votes in the Democratic Caucus in the Senate to pass marriage equality.

Approval will require a bipartisan vote, with some Republicans voting for it.”

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TRADITIONAL TECHNIQUES MAY NOT BE ENOUGH Marriage equality really is different from most other issues. Many traditional campaign techniques don’t work – or, at least,

is to you than asking for help!”

ERW has announced they are increasing their outreach to the LGBT community to help us become more effective and efficient advocates.

“I myself am doing much more traveling around the state then I have been able to do in the past,” said Friedes. “In the next two weeks, I’ll be in Vancouver, the east-side suburbs of Seattle, and the San Juan Islands meeting with LGBT and non-LGBT individuals and organizations to discuss our important work. Through the fall months, expect to see organizing meetings all across the state similar to the meetings organized at the start of the Approve 71 campaign. Our plan is to soon bring on field organizers who can engage organizations, business, labor, houses of worship, and LGBT and allied individuals in key areas across the state.”

“We need to stay focused on telling the stories of the lives of LGBT families and the problems we face in the absence of marriage equality,” he said. “We need to communicate these stories to our elected leaders, to our social networks and through the media. While we need to pay attention to what our opponents are doing, we need to remember that ultimately this is about strengthening families and ending discrimination, not about defeating an opponent. After all, we are winning because people who once saw marriage equality as a bad thing now see it differently. We got this support not by demonizing our opponents, but by having the courage to come out and have public civil Senator Ed Murray conversations even when they were predominantly straight allied organizations personally painful.” to discuss what this will look like. “Success MUCH MORE WORK will require the engagement of organized TO BE DONE labor, large and small business, faith comThere is, of course, a great deal more in munities, social service providers, civic and arts organizations, and the entire LGBT the works, but ERW does not want to release too much because marriage equality community,” said Friedes.

According to ERW officials, opponents have begun to read everything the second way people move they write and say publicly.

“Our emails to our membership seem to toward support for marriage equality is by direct interaction keep ending up in fundraising emails to radical right organizations,” Friedes said. with LGBT people.

“While being out is the great- “They are so freaked out by what we are doest transformative act LGBT ing. They can see the writing on the wall. people can undertake in the They can read polls just like we can and they struggle for LGBT equality, we know we have personal stories on our side. can always learn to be better They see opposition to marriage equality advocates for our own rights,” crumbling and they understand that an issue Friedes told SGN. “While that was their wedge issue in the 2004 elecLGBT people are increasingly tions may be our wedge issue in 2012. Our out, we seem less willing to be opponents are being smart about one thing: out about our families and our They are focused on raising money, and so, needs. Here again it really does too, must we be.”

Lastly, Friedes said that “The key to being come down to conversations – although these conversations successful in achieving marriage equality can sometimes even be non- in Washington state will be harnessing all available resources in a coordinated manverbal.”

For example, ERW officials ner.”

“I have experience working in several say they find that many people who are willing to support states, and to me, what makes Washington marriage equality don’t think state so exciting is that we have diverse cothe issue is important to their alitional resources,” he said. “And when Gay friends or family members I say ‘coalition,’ I mean that term in the because their Gay friends and broadest sense.”

“We have a talented openly Gay elected family members are not talking leadership that drives the Gay civil rights to them about the issue.

“So whether it is direct con- agenda in the legislature in a way that is the versations, the ‘I do support envy of almost every other state,” he conmarriage equality’ bumper cluded. “We have a well-organized choice sticker on your car, inviting and women’s advocacy community that has your friends and family to a a history of being dedicated to LGBT civil marriage equality fundraiser, or asking them rights, and we have strong allies in labor, to contact their legislators in support of mar- business, and faith communities with esriage equality, it’s imperative that LGBT tablished networks. And Washington state people convey to their straight friends and has a variety of strong LGBT organizations family members that marriage equality including the Pride Foundation, the GSBA, is important to them,” said Friedes. “ And and others that frequently do not exist in then take it to the next step and really try to other states. It will be the effective coordiengage your straight social network in mar- nation of all these assets and then filling in riage equality advocacy. There is no better the gaps that will make our collective camway of conveying how important the issue paigns a success.” tinued. “While conversations with Gay people seem somewhat more effective, conversations with straight people are surprisingly compelling. Given that 95% or so of Washington voters are straight, we must increase our efforts to engage our straight allies in our educational work.”

For several months, ERW has been engaged in conversations with a variety of

shaun knittel/seattle Gay News

GRASSROOTS APPROACH “The big picture in all of this is that the role of the grassroots movement and the communication that legislators get from their constituents will be a very important part of the process,” Senate Majority Leader Brown told SGN. “In a state like ours, with initiatives and referendums, an issue like this will almost certainly come down to who wins public support.”

Murray echoes that sentiment, telling SGN that two “major deciding factors” in deciding whether or not he and Pedersen will push for a marriage equality bill ride on “whether we can secure a bipartisan vote in the Senate and win on the ballot.”

“We need to feel confident that we can assemble the coalition and the resources to defend a bill at the ballot box if we need to before we decide to start this fight now,” Pedersen said. “Yes, I think we can win, but it will take a lot of money and work by our community. So the question is really whether we – the larger community – are willing to engage with our time and money to make this happen.”

Pedersen said he encourages SGN readers to “give generously to Equal Rights Washington and Fighting for the Majority [which raises LGBT money for House and Senate Democrats]. Those are the most important steps that people who want marriage equality in 2012 can take right now to make it happen.”

ERW officials said that the work they need to do to help secure marriage equality is “going to cost a great deal of money.”

“There is no getting around this,” said Friedes. “We have to assume that if we are successful in passing a marriage bill that our opponents will try to repeal the law just as they did with the domestic partnership law. In essence, we are really talking about raising the funds for three campaigns. The first campaign is the campaign to pass the marriage equality bill, and this means funds for professional and grassroots lobbying and organizing. The second campaign will further increase the share of voters who support marriage equality and this also means field organizers and a very expensive communications plan. And lastly, of course, would be a ballot campaign to prevent a bill from being repealed. The campaigns overlap and complement each other but they are not the same.”

A great deal of money has already been raised and spent, he said, and ERW must be prepared to raise and spend more money than ever before.

“I do think it is important to see the work to come as an extension of the work that was done to pass the domestic partnership laws and retain the law through the Approve 71 campaign,” said Friedes. “Through this

work a great deal of experience has been gained, infrastructure developed in the form of a robust coalition, strong relationships, and technology. But we also must not kid ourselves; experience in other states has shown that marriage-equality battles are much more expensive and intense than campaigns to secure domestic partnerships and civil unions.”

Friedes says people often underestimate the cost of running campaigns because they don’t see the hidden costs.

“Effectively coordinating the activities of hundreds of organizations, unions, houses of worship, and businesses requires staff,” he said. “The coalition and individuals require materials and support to engage their networks. This is expensive with respect to staffing, technology, and printing. Meeting the needs of the media and bloggers requires staff. Coordinating thousands of volunteers who do everything from door knocking to phone banking to public speaking requires staff and expensive technology. We get an incredible amount of resources donated and in-kinded to us, but the bottom line is campaigns are expensive.”

Presently, ERW is focused on raising money to hire political organizers and pay increased lobbying expenses, he said. They are also seeking grants from a variety of sources to conduct their educational work. In addition, they are engaged in conversations with national partners including the Human Rights Campaign and Freedom to Marry about how to raise more funds.

Nate Gowdy/seattle Gay News

tors who also champion LGBT civil rights.

Many of these legislators have very close relationships with LGBT people that make the issue deeply personal for them.

“There are also legislators who generally support LGBT civil rights but have less of a nexus to the issue and some who are still undecided,” Friedes pointed out. “These legislators will be watching very closely how we support Inslee. These legislators need to know that if they stand with us they will get the support they need and deserve if they are threatened by the radical right’s electoral efforts. Therefore, supporting statewide candidates who are in competitive races where there is a sharp contrast between the candidates is important. Now is the time where we must make it clear that we are loyal to our friends and will work to protect them, and those who oppose LGBT civil rights will realize that there is a price to be paid for being on the wrong side of history and denying people their constitutional rights.”

Representative Jamie Pedersen

not in the same way. This means ERW has to engage people in a more direct way than in a traditional campaign, which often relies principally on issue television advertisements, for example, said Friedes.

“People change their positions on marriage equality through two primary ways.

First, our research shows that people change their opinions as a result of conversations with friends and family members,” he con-

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Seattle Gay News

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10 Seattle Gay News

September 2, 2011

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Seattle Gay News 15

Mexican activists stage first national march against anti-Gay hate crimes

Francisco Olvera

The national march against anti-Gay hate crimes was held August 13 in Mexico City.

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer On August 13, Mexican LGBT activists and straight allies marched from the office of Mexican Attorney General Marisela Morales to the Zócalo square in the center of Mexico City to protest anti-Gay hate crimes.

Organizers said it was the first national demonstration against hate crimes, although it follows a similar march in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, on July 1.

The murder of activist Christian Sánchez

on July 23 sparked the demonstration in Mexico City.

Sánchez, was a well-known activist in the largest left-wing party, the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), and a member of la Coordinación de Diversidad Sexual del PRD (the Coordination of Sexual Diversity of the PRD), the party’s LGBT group.

He was found dead in his apartment in the neighborhood of Tlatelolco on July 23, with nearly 100 stab wounds.

The Guerrero demonstration followed the murder of activist Leija Herrera, who was found in stoned to death on May 4.

According to LGBT rights activists, more than 700 people have been killed in Mexico this year because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Activists say that most murders of LGBT people outside Mexico City go unreported.

Activists in Puebla state have reported at least 10 hate crime murders of LGBT people since 2005. In July, five Trans women were reported murdered in Chihuahua state.

The Mexico City march was led by the Sánchez family, with local activists and legislators participating.

Representatives of Amnesty Internation-

al, the National Association of Democratic Lawyers, Agenda LGBT Foundation, Project 21, the Gay and Lesbian Business Association, and Mexican ProDiana Association also attended.

Protesters called on Mexican federal authorities to confirm that they will treat the murder of Sanchez as an anti-Gay hate crime and punish those responsible “in exemplary fashion.”

They also demanded that the case be transferred to the National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED), the agency charged with dealing with hate crimes against minority communities.

Daniel Sánchez Juarez, the victim’s brother, read a statement on behalf of the organizing committee to demand that all hate crimes in Mexico “are rigorously defined [to include] homophobia, Lesphobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia.”

They demanded a federal law to “prevent and punish homophobic, anti-diversity, anti-progressive, and intolerant behavior that generates an environment conducive to hate crimes.”

Organizers also demanded that CONAPRED “launch in full force a national campaign against violence against the LGBT community; it has become urgent that all states have hate crimes laws in the their penal codes.”

Linked to this was a demand that murders of LGBT people can no longer be excused as “crimes of passion.”

Another of the demands was a campaign to raise the awareness of police officials on issues of sexual diversity, and the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate and try hate crimes.

Following the march, a contingent met the attorney general of Mexico City, Gabriel Hernandez, to demand a report on the progress of his investigation of the Sanchez murder.

Activists also requested a meeting with federal attorney Miguel Ángel Mancera.

Moscow Pride mocks Russian authorities, applies for permits 100 years in advance

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

Niko111

Saying they look forward to a “Gay century,” organizers of Moscow Pride have applied for parade permits for the next 100 years – from 2012 through 2112.

They told Russia Today that their aim is to expose what they call the “absurdity” of the laws used by Russian authorities to deny them permits for Pride events.

The legal loophole that activists are trying to exploit stipulates that applications to hold a demonstration should be filed with local authorities no less than 45 days before the

event.

The law does not prohibit filing requests earlier, even 100 years earlier.

All the projected Pride events are to take place on Bolotnaya Square in central Moscow, on a small island in the Moskva River right next to the Kremlin.

Two dates have been chosen for Moscow Pride celebrations in 2012 – March 4, coinciding with the first round of presidential elections, and May 27, the anniversary of the ban on criminal prosecution against LGBT people in Russia.

From 2013 through 2112, Moscow Pride will be held on the Saturday closest to May 27.

Russian LGBT rights activists have been applying for permission to hold a parade in Moscow for several years without success.

Former mayor Yury Luzhkov was an outspoken enemy of the LGBT community, on one occasion branding Moscow Pride “satanic.”

When Sergei Sobyanin replaced Luzhkov in 2010, the LGBT community said they hoped for change. The new mayor, however, deemed Pride events “unnecessary.”

The last attempted Moscow Pride was dispersed by police in Moscow on May 28.

More than 60 people, including supporters of LGBT rights and their opponents, were detained.

Attorney and LGBT activist Nikolay Alexeyev at the European Court of Human Rights in 2010

In July 2011, Russia was forced to pay 30,000 euros in compensation to Moscow Pride organizers because of Moscow’s decision to ban Pride marches.

The fine was issued by the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that the decision to repeatedly ban Pride parades in 2006, 2007, and 2008 was unlawful.

While not a member of the European Union, Russia is a member of the Council of Europe and a signatory of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Russian authorities have not yet responded to the request for 100 years’ worth of permits.

Attorney and LGBT activist Nikolay Aleksev said that an official response can be expected within two weeks.

“I think they will try to look for ways to ban it without looking stupid,” Aleksev told Russian Times. “But in this situation it would be really hard not to look stupid.”

“I’m really looking forward to such headlines as ‘Moscow authorities ban Gay Pride parades for 100 years.’ The entire world will be laughing at this, including the judges from the European Court. The Council of Europe will have to take steps to pressurize the Moscow authorities into allowing such an event to take place.”

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nack athens photography

Seattle Volleyball Club HIV/AIDS activists file looking for new recruits complaint against porn producer

by Joshua Michael Rumley SGN Contributing Writer This has been a major year for LGBTA sport events in Seattle. There have been rugby tournaments, soccer matches, and softball championships, and now it’s time for volleyball season. The Seattle Volleyball Club (SVC), the Northwest’s largest LGBT volleyball league, is looking for a few good men and women to start teams and compete in the fall 2011 and winter 2012 seasons.

“It’s our goal to bring the joys and challenges of volleyball to as many players as possible,” said Eric Goemer, SVC secretary.

“Seeing people show up each week after work pumped to play makes what we do all the more worth it.”

The SVC consists of four different divisions to allow players of all skill levels to compete. Whether it’s a player’s first time stepping on to the court to serve or an advanced player’s new season of spiking fear into their opponents, there is a team for them. This year, SVC expects to have more than 200 players in 28 different teams competing for ultimate volleyball glory.

Don’t let not belonging to a team stop you from participating this season; the SVC has a matchmaking tool to help single players find teams to join.

“The matchmaker tool allows registered members of the SVC website to place ads stating whether they are a player looking for a team or a team captain looking for players,” said Goemer.

The fall 2011 season starts on September 19. Players of all experience levels are encouraged to attend one of the SVC preseason skill clinics which will teach the fun-

damentals of volleyball and allow players to compete in scrimmages. The skill clinics will be held at Garfield Community Center (2323 E. Cherry St.) at 7 p.m. on September 6 and 13. The skill clinics also help league officials determine what division you should be playing in.

League play for Divisions 1 and 2 will be held on Wednesdays at the Rainier Community Center (4600 38th Ave. S.) from 7-10 p.m. Divisions 3 will be held on Tuesdays at Yesler Community Center (917 E. Yesler Way) from 7-10 p.m., and Division 4 will be held on Tuesdays at Garfield Community Center from 7-10 p.m.

The SVC charges a $60 fee per player and a $150 fee per team joining the league. The fees must be paid before September 9 to avoid a $20 surcharge per player and a $50 surcharge for each team.

The SVC is excited to kick off the fall 2011 season with the largest LGBT volleyball tournament in the Northwest, the Emerald City Cat Fight (ECCF). The tournament starts on September 9 and runs through September 11. Spectators are welcome.

Thirty teams from across the U.S. and Canada will be descending upon Seattle to compete in round robin and elimination rounds to determine which teams will face off for the ECCF championship. The ECCF is the first stop in the Triple Tiara tournament series. The best placing team from the ECCF and the Triple Tiara tournaments in Vancouver B.C. and Portland, OR, will be awarded the Triple Tiara.

The opening ceremony for the ECCF will be held at R Place on September 9. This will be the opportunity for teams to register for the tournament. Registration will be on the third floor dance floor from 7 to 10 p.m.

On September 10, the tournament will be held at the Garfield High School gymnasium (400 23rd Ave.) and Garfield Community Center from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Also on September 10, Purr will be hosting the “Seed Party” which will allow players from competing teams to meet one another off the court and size up their competition in a fun and relaxed atmosphere.

On September 11, the tournament will continue at Rainier Community Center 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the Garfield High School gymnasium 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“SVC gives people the opportunity to be active and be social at the same time. For me, I enjoy the fact that I can get a workout playing volleyball, and have fun doing it. It makes it a lot easier to live an active lifestyle when that lifestyle includes friends,” said Goemer.

More information about the Seattle Volleyball Club and the Emerald City Cat Fight can be found at seattlevolleyballclub.com.

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The AIDS Healthcare Foundation – an HIV/AIDS service and activist group – announced on August 31 that it was filing a complaint against Brazzers, a porn production company based in Florida.

AHF charged that Brazzers knowingly violated health and safety rules requiring condom use by its performers.

Brazzers was widely reported to be the employer of the latest porn performer to test positive for HIV. According to Business Wire, the male performer had worked with as many as a dozen women performers – all without condoms.

Business Wire says that the Florida example is thought to be the 23rd porn industryrelated HIV case since 2004.

In response, porn producers in Los Angeles promised to shut down production pending an investigation of the case.

Unlike California, where previous occupational safety complaints against the porn industry have been filed, the state of Florida does not have an occupational safety and health department.

However, there is a “sanitary nuisance” law in the Florida statutes. AHF believes that unprotected sex in a commercial setting should, arguably, fall under the definition of a “sanitary nuisance,” since Florida law defines it as “any act … by which the health or life of an individual, or the health or lives of individuals, may be threatened or impaired, or by which or through which, directly or indirectly, disease may be caused.”

Allowing performers to have unprotected sex with an HIV-positive performer would certainly fit the definition in Florida law, AHF says.

“When will it end? This is yet another suspected case of HIV infection in the adult film industry. Given the wide reports, and given that Brazzers affirmatively states they do not use condoms – a violation of both state and federal health statutes – it makes sense to investigate them in the hopes of putting an end to further infections,” said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

AHF also charged that a group called the Free Speech Coalition has obstructed the investigation of previous complaints against

the porn industry and should not be allowed in intervene in the Florida case.

According to AHF, FSC is a porn industry front group.

“FSC is an advocacy group, they are not authorized to do these health investigations, and they are not qualified,” Weinstein said.

“The pattern of non-cooperation that has characterized the industry and led to the current situation is continuing. It is the responsibility of Los Angeles County, which has not issued any statement to this point, to demand cooperation from the adult industry.

Even though the initial exposure took place in Florida, the shutdown in L.A. constitutes a major public health event under the law. We are also reaffirming our call on the City of Los Angeles to stop issuing new permits [to porn companies].”

Many public health organizations have called for mandatory use of condoms in adult films, including the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, the California Conference of Local AIDS Directors, the California STD Controllers Association, the National Coalition of STD Directors, the National Association of City and County Health Officials, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and the California Medical Association.

AHF claims to be the largest non-profit HIV/AIDS healthcare provider in the country. It currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 182,000 individuals in 26 countries worldwide in the U.S., Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, and the Asia Pacific region.

AHF charged that Brazzers knowingly violated health and safety rules requiring condom use by its performers.

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Seattle Gay News 17

Seattle AIDS memorial announced file photo

St. Mark’s Cathedral

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor St. Mark’s Cathedral (1245 10th Ave. E.) will host the Seattle AIDS Memorial, “30 Years of Sorrow, Comfort, and Hope” on September 24, at 7 p.m. The memorial commemorates the 30th anniversary of the first HIV/AIDS diagnosis as well as the 25th anniversary of the first AIDS Walk in Seattle.

“The event, which is free and open to all, offers a multi-faith observance through readings and song,” said Liz Sloat, a spokesperson for St. Mark’s.

“We want to pause and reflect on this milestone,” said the Reverend Rebecca McClain, canon missioner at St. Mark’s, “and do so in a way that observes but also transcends our shared grief and individual losses.”

Describing the multi-faith nature of the

observance, she explained, “It’s a testament to the journey that communities of faith have made on HIV/AIDS issues that so many representatives of religious traditions and denominations can come together in support of the Seattle AIDS Memorial.”

Specifically, the Seattle AIDS Memorial will feature sacred readings from Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist traditions along with selections of contemporary poetry and a time of candlelight remembrance, according to the Reverend Earl Grout, Deacon at Saint Mark’s Cathedral.

Detailing the featured artists at the event, Deacon Grout said, “We are thrilled to include the Seattle Choral Company, our region’s leading symphonic chorus with over 100 volunteer singers, numerous professional instrumentalists, and distinguished performing artists from around the Pacific

Northwest. We’re also delighted to include Dr. Melvin Butler, director of music at Saint Mark’s Cathedral, on solo viola, and coloratura soprano Lynne Markova, who will perform the Adagio by Tomaso Albinoni.”

With a program structured into three movements (sorrow/mourning, solace/ comfort, and hope) punctuated by candle lighting, the diverse readings will incorporate Rumi, W.H. Auden, Thich Nhat Hanh, Mary Oliver and selections from Angels in America.

One major participant in the Seattle AIDS Memorial’s program is the Seattle Choral Company, regarded as the Pacific Northwest’s leading symphonic chorus and renowned for diverse and engaging choral experiences. Founding conductor and artistic director Freddie Coleman noted, “When we heard that the Seattle AIDS Memorial

would offer solace through song as well as readings, the Seattle Choral Company had to be part of the program. Nurturing community through music is central to who we are.”

The Seattle AIDS Memorial also affords attendees the opportunity to make a contribution of any size, if they so choose, to support two well-regarded local HIV/AIDS organizations. Lifelong AIDS Alliance is committed to preventing the spread of HIV, and to providing practical support services and advocating for those whose lives are affected by HIV and AIDS. Rosehedge/Multifaith Works serves vulnerable men and women living with HIV/AIDS by providing housing, compassionate health care, and supportive services that enhance the quality of their lives, and additionally unites communities of compassionate care and inclusive spirituality with people living in isolation and loneliness.

Lifelong AIDS Alliance’s chief executive officer Randall Russell commented, “The Seattle AIDS Memorial brings to a close an important day for everyone concerned about HIV/AIDS in our community. Earlier that day, thousands of fundraisers will turn out for the 25th Anniversary Seattle AIDS Walk. The Walk is by design a joyous and empowering event. The Memorial reminds us that too many have already had their own journey cut short and that thousands more in our own community remain at risk.”

Rosehedge/Multifaith Works’ executive director Arthur Padilla said, “Our association with the Seattle AIDS Memorial’s multi-faith observance hearkens back to our faith-based approach, and we couldn’t be prouder to be affiliated with the dynamic program of speakers and musicians creating a community of caring.”

St. Mark’s is the cathedral church for the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia and the seat of its Bishop, the Rev. Gregory Rickel.

St. Mark’s is also a parish church, home to Christians who seek to practice open hospitality, extending a welcome to all. A prominent landmark in Seattle for decades, it serves as a commons where issues of justice and faith are explored. St. Mark’s is the home of great liturgical music including the ancient service of Compline, which every Sunday evening provides a time of spiritual reflection for the hundreds who gather at the cathedral and the thousands more who listen on KING-FM (98.1).

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September 2, 2011

Celebrating 38 Years!

A touch of the divine in Florida

by Leslie Robinson SGN Contributing Writer Whether or not you’ve heard of Jerry Buell, in a few minutes you’re going to find it hard to forget him.

Buell is a public high school teacher in Mount Dora, Florida, who posted on Facebook that he “almost threw up” when he heard about New York’s legalization of Gay marriage. He said same-sex unions were part of a “cesspool,” and called them a “sin.”

In other words, he holds mild opinions on the subject.

A U.S. history instructor, Buell was suspended from the classroom and reassigned, the Orlando Sentinel reported, while the school district investigated whether he violated an ethics policy that calls for educators to value the “worth and dignity of every person.”

Even those persons who make you want to

toss your cookies.

Buell said his Gay students “know that I don’t hate them. I love them.” He said his Facebook post didn’t spring from hatred. “It was about the way I interpret things.”

Indeed. He interpreted Gay marriage rights as cause for Dramamine.

The ACLU stated Buell had the right to say what he pleased. The mega-conservative Liberty Counsel also argued for Buell’s right to off-gas on Facebook.

After a weeklong investigation, the Lake County Schools superintendent reinstated him. A “written directive” was put in his file, but so far it’s unknown whether the directive is a reprimand, a warning, or a recipe for sponge cake.

A nanosecond after Buell was reinstated, a new controversy arose. The school district turned its attention to whether he monkeyed around with the constitutional separation of church and state.

On his syllabus, Buell included this heads-up to students: “I teach God’s truth, I make very few compromises. If you believe you may have a problem with that, get your schedule changed, ‘cause I ain’t changing!”

And on a different document Buell labeled the classroom his “mission field.”

Call me crazy, but I think a wee bit of his faith has crept into the fella’s teaching.

By way of another tiny hint, Buell wrote on his school webpage that he tries to “teach and lead my students as if Lake Co. Schools had hired Jesus Christ himself.”

What does that mean? Does Buell hand out loaves and fishes in the cafeteria? Is he given to healing the sick in the school nurse’s office? Perhaps he trots down to the biology class to raise dissected frogs from the dead. Or, when the swim team isn’t hogging it, he walks on the pool.

I would think God would command a higher salary than the school system could afford. On the other hand, wouldn’t Jesus teach for free? And have no need of a 401(k)?

At any rate, I can report that last year Buell was named Mount Dora High School’s Teacher of the Year. He wasn’t named Deity of the Year.

A lawyer from the Liberty Counsel is representing Buell, and the organization staged a rally at which, fighting tears, Buell said, “I’m a social studies teacher, and I knew what the heck I was doing.”

I should hope so. If he wants to reek of divinity, being all-knowing is a basic require-

ment.

“There’s a thing in this country called the First Amendment,” he told the crowd.

“I firmly believe in the right to express my opinions passionately.”

Expressing his religious opinions so passionately in a public school might strike you as a clear violation of the separation of church and state, and you might think those opinions are a threat to LGBT students, as well as other types of students.

But the rules are different for God’s stand-in. Buell’s position is stressful – he must teach history, figure out who’s skipping class, and model holiness all at the same time. Uneasy lies the head that wears a halo.

Leslie Robinson almost titled this column “Syllabus on the Mount.” Email her at lesarobinson@gmail.com, and revel in her blog at www.generalgayety.com.

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September 2, 2011

Seattle Gay News 19

White House honors GLSEN, Trevor Project

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The White House honored GLSEN and the Trevor Project as “Champions of Change” in a ceremony on August 21 for their work helping to prevent youth suicides.

The Champions of Change, Winning the Future Across America initiative “profiles individuals and organizations that are helping the country rise to the challenges of the 21st century.”

The award ceremony was timed as a leadin to National Suicide Prevention Week, which begins September 4.

Other honorees included the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Blue Star Families, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, Suicide Awareness Voices of Education, the Suicide Prevention Action Network, the Suicide Prevention Resource

Center, and the National Institute of Mental Health.

GLSEN was represented at the ceremony by executive director Eliza Byard and public policy manager Alison Gill. The Trevor Project was represented by interim executive director David McFarland.

GLSEN works in K-12 schools to reduce anti-LGBT bullying, harassment, and violence, and to organize Gay-Straight Alliances among students.

For some 20 years, GLSEN’s “Safe Space” initiative has helped increase visible support for LGBT and questioning students.

In 2011, GLSEN was selected for a fiveyear CDC-DASH grant as part of CDC’s Safe Spaces Initiative and national HIVreduction strategy. GLSEN provides technical assistance and professional development support to school districts nationwide, as well as to federal agencies working on the

issues of bullying prevention, civil rights, educational access, and public health in our continued from cover schools.

“This White House recognizes the amazing work that the staff. Volunteers, and stu- the 1990s to include physical fitness facilident leaders of GLSEN have done for more ties) is nothing new and that they’ve been than two decades to alert the nation to the collecting the tax from dance clubs since the ways that anti-LGBT bias in our schools is 1970s. In short, if you offer the opportunity a serious barrier to both educational excel- to dance – or even promote the opportunity lence and individual well-being,” Byard to dance (in some cases) – you must pay the said. piper.

“I and my colleagues are dedicated to The DOR maintains the club owners and identifying and implementing solutions to managers knew about the tax, and the club the problem that work for schools and for owners say they did not. The situation pits students, instilling hope and staving off de- the DOR’s word against the clubs’ word. spair. It is gratifying to gain this kind of rec- It’s a mess, and stuck in the middle is – you ognition for our efforts to create better, safer guessed it – you, the consumer, who might schools for all.” have to begin paying higher door charges The Trevor Project was founded in 1998 (the actual piece of the pie being taxed) in in West Hollywood by James Lecesne, Peg- order for the clubs to afford the 9.5% tax. gy Rajski, and Randy Stone – creators of the Out of this battle over dancing and taxa1994 Academy Award-winning short film tion, Neighbours Seattle has stepped forTrevor. ward to fight.

The film told the story of a Gay 13-yearThe popular nightclub’s lawyer says they old boy who is rejected by friends because are threatening to sue. Mark Kimball of of his sexuality, and makes an attempt to MDK Law Associates says Neighbours is take his own life. prepared to fight the DOR’s money grab by The Trevor Lifeline became the first na- filing a lawsuit in King County or Thurston tion-wide round-the-clock crisis and suicide County within the next six months. prevention helpline for LGBT youth. The Neighbours’ lawyers say that taxing the Trevor Project also provides online support opportunity to dance in nightclubs, some to young people through its website, and live venues, and bars is wrong, and that takmakes resources available for teachers and ing the position that a live band is somehow parents. different than a DJ is wrong. In fact, they’ve After the White House ceremony, Byard, gone as far as calling it “unconstitutional.”

Gill, and McFarland met with Obama adWhat Kimball is referring to is the fact ministration officials to discuss priority set- that, according to DOR officials, not every ting and suicide prevention strategy. event that features dancing must pay.

The U.S. Department of Education will Here is where the logic becomes a bit convene a national anti-bullying conference murky: The DOR says that they do not apply at the end of September. the tax to live venues such as Key Arena, the Gorge, and the Moore because the primary

tax

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Celebrating 38 Years!

purpose of paying for a ticket is to watch a concert, not dance. The club owners – and Neighbours’ lawyers – are arguing that people do, indeed, dance at concerts.

Kimball also pointed out that the state had audited the business at least twice since it opened in 1983 and never mentioned the tax. It wasn’t until last year, when the state audited Neighbours for a third time, that the state said they had to pay the tax. Kimball said it is not fair for the DOR to go back and say that they are now going to treat the clubs differently than they have for the past 20 years. Kimball said the legislature can make that distinction, but has yet to do so.

Neighbours will enter its 29th year as a popular Gay club on September 5. It wasn’t until 2010 that they were told to pay the tax.

According to Mike Gowrylow, a spokesperson for the DOR, state auditors have checked 13 Seattle venues for the dance tax over the past 20 months. He said that eight of the 13 venues were paying the tax, while five clubs were in noncompliance.

Several representatives – including some lawyers – were present at an August 30 meeting with the DOR. At the meeting, according to a club manager who spoke on the condition of anonymity, DOR representatives heard arguments from several of the taxed venues as to what direction they wanted to go. Some venues are asking for the retroactive tax to be dropped and say they will pay it going forward, while others – such as Neighbours Seattle – say they don’t believe they should have to pay the tax at all.

Tiva did not go to the hospital until a few crime, but what Tiva’s parents do know is that the attacker is a white female and they days later, according to the police report. believe she may hang out around the skate bowl at Ballard Commons Park.

THE ATTACK Seattle police spokesman Mark Jamieson Tiva was questioned, post surgery, about the attack on August 20 by SPD officer said the case is not being investigated as a John Schweiger, who said the victim was hate crime because Tiva did not tell police “drifting in and out of sleep during the in- she was attacked for being Transgender. He said he did not know if police planned to interview.”

According to Schweiger’s report, Tiva terview Tiva again about the incident.

Although the case is currently listed as was walking home when she was attacked and was “dressed in female clothing at the inactive with the SPD, spokesman Sean Whitcomb said the case was active and is time of the attack.”

A female accompanied by a male began under investigation. He said the case is befollowing Tiva, who told police the girl was ing investigated as a violent crime and if it is determined there was bias involved in the carrying a baseball bat.

Tiva stated that when she crossed the crime, it is then up to the prosecutor to destreet at 28th and 67th, the female came up termine whether to add bias to any charges alongside her and said, “I don’t want to see – which would elevate the charge under hate crimes laws. you around the skate bowl anymore.”

Tiva’s parents are asking anyone with inThe female then struck Tiva on the right side of the head with the baseball bat. Tiva formation about the crime to call the Seattle continued to her residence, where after sev- Police at 206-625-5011 and reference case eral days the severity of the injury became number 2011-273665. apparent.

IN SEARCH OF JUSTICE As a result of the attack, Tiva had sustained a subdural hematoma. According to the on-duty nurse at the time of Tiva’s questioning, the symptoms of such an injury appear slowly and it can be fatal if not attended to. A portion of her skull was removed for treatment of the injury. Tiva is expected to make a full recovery.

“Cindy and I are trying to assemble a team to help with her recovery,” Tad Anderson told My Ballard. “To keep her safe in the future, and, generally, to try to rebuild her self-confidence and trust in others.”

“Tiva is very reluctant to talk about the continued from cover incident to us [her parents],” Tad Anderson said. “We have learned through others that the woman who attacked her was also haare the most likely to be harassed, and Tiva rassing her for dressing in female clothing, is particularly vulnerable due to her limited saying, ‘You should not be wearing those social skills,” the email said. clothes’ (or words to that effect).”

While the attack happened on August 16, There is very little information about the

attack

solmonese continued from cover

perience and a complete privilege,” Solmonese said in the HRC’s August 27 statement.

“I could not be more proud of our staff, our volunteer leadership and of the extraordinary progress we’ve made together as a community. … HRC has never been stronger and after nearly seven years, this is the right moment for me to move on,” he said.

HRC said its membership grew from 750,000 to “more than 1,000,000” under Solmonese’s leadership.

HRC Foundation Co-Chair Anne Fay called Solmonese an “outstanding leader” and credited him with putting HRC in “the best place the organization has ever been.”

HRC says it has formed a search committee to find a replacement for Solmonese.

Hilary Rosen, interim HRC director before Solmonese took over and former partner of HRC Director Elizabeth Birch, said the new HRC head should be both a “visionary” and a “political strategist.”

“Elizabeth [Birch] was a visionary who shone a light to the straight world at a time when we were more invisible,” said Rosen.

“Joe was a political strategist at a time when we had a president and a Congress who wanted to work with us to get things done.

The next leader,” said Rosen, “will have to be able to do some of both.”

choice PAC. Solmonese also worked for former Massachusetts Governor and one-time Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, and Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.).

There has been speculation that Solmonese would take a post either in the White House or in President Obama’s reelection campaign, but he has so far declined to say what his future plans might be.

Solmonese would say only that he was exploring “new professional possibilities” that might include “ensuring President Obama is reelected for a second term.”

“Leading HRC has been an inspiring ex-

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Seattle Gay News 21

22 Seattle Gay News

September 2, 2011

Celebrating 38 Years!

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Seattle Gay News 23