SGN October 7, 2011 - Section 1

Celebrating 38 Years!

Issue 40 Volume 39

OctOber is Gay HistOry MOntH! Read the SGN throughout October for the best in Gay history!

Seattle Gay News

FRIDAY October 7, 2011 FREE! 25¢ in bookstores & news stands

SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Pentagon: Chaplains Seattle adds Trans health may officiate over care to employee benefits same-sex weddings

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

courtesy u.s. Navy

Captain Stephen Pike, chaplain of Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet, leads Sailors and embarked staff in prayer aboard the amphibious command ship USS Mount Whitney.

marriage is legal.

In two separate memos to the military services, top Pentagon ofOn September 30, the Pentagon ficials specify that such actions are issued guidance clarifying that permissible in the wake of the end military chaplains are allowed to to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” perform same-sex weddings, and that base facilities can be used for see chaplains page 21 such weddings in states where gay

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

The Seattle Office for Civil Rights announced Oct. 7 that for the first time, healthcare benefits offered to City employees will cover procedures for Transgender workers.

“Starting on January 1, 2012, transgender health care procedures will be included in all plans,” the statement said.

Seattle now joins San Francisco in offering Transgender healthcare benefits. San Francisco began offering these benefits to their employees, retirees, and their dependents in 2001.

The surprise announcement capped six months of negotiations between several City commissions, the Mayor, the City Council, and a coalition of city unions.

It was timed to coincide with the annual open enrollment period in which City employees choose their healthcare plans see transgender page 20

Obama headlines 15th Annual One Anchorage HRC National Dinner on Oct. 1 begins initiative drive

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) welcomed President Obama to its 15th Annual National Dinner, the largest HRC National Dinner to date, drawing more than 3,000 people to the Washington Convention Center on Oct. 1.

As usual, Obama was a slick talker, garnering several extended

moments of applause and making it clear that his administration would continue to fight for LGBT equality. This speech, not unlike the one at his first HRC National Dinner in 2009, was full of promise.

Obama joked about not speaking too long because he couldn’t compete with Cyndi Lauper (who was in the audience) and humorously called Lady Gaga the LGBT com-

for equal rights

Frank K.

Riccardo S. Savi

President Obama speaks at the HRC National Dinner.

munity’s “leader.” In addition, the president thanked HRC President Joe Solmonese for all the work he’s done as head of the large organization.

“What he has accomplished at the helm of this organization has been remarkable,” said Obama, “and I want to thank all of you for the support that you’ve shown this organization and for your commitment to a simple idea: Every single American – Gay, straight, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender – every single American deserves to be treated equally in the eyes of the law and in the eyes of our society.”

Obama recognized that, although there have been major advances in LGBT equality under his watch, there is a still a “long way to go in that struggle.”

“I don’t have to tell you how many are still denied their basic rights -- Americans who are still made to feel like second-class citizens, who have to live a lie to keep their jobs, or who are afraid to walk the street, or down the hall at school,” he said. “Many of you have devoted your lives to the cause of equality. So you know

Anchorage, Alaska

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

The One Anchorage campaign filed an application Sept. 1 with the Anchorage, Alaska, municipal clerk’s office to place an initiative on the April 2012 ballot asking voters to give LGBT Alaskans the same legal protections already provided to women and minorities in employment, housing, and pubsee obama page 21 lic accommodations.

On its website (www.oneanchorage.com), the group describes the Equal Rights Initiative campaign participants as “a diverse group of Anchorage citizens who believe in our Alaskan values of inclusiveness and fairness,” including “LGBT, faith, political, business, labor, and minority community leaders.”

10th AnnuAl Dungeness CrAb & seAfooD festivAl “home of the Dungeness Crab” october 8-9, Port Angeles, free Admission! www.crabfestival.org

see anchorage page 20

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Seattle Gay News

October 7, 2011

Celebrating 38 Years!

Visit us online www.sgn.org

October 7, 2011

Seattle Gay News

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Seattle Gay News

October 7, 2011

Celebrating 38 Years!

Visit us online www.sgn.org

October 7, 2011

Seattle Gay News

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Seattle Gay News FOUNDED 1973

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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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Victory in Kennewick

ited to such fanfare you would have thought the President was in town. Even with so much adversity I was impressed with the Students, parents, community mem- show of force and support by organizations bers and alumni of the Kennewick School District last week rejoiced in the school board’s decision to reverse their policy that restricted Gay-Straight Alliances in the district. This victory may seem small but it’s the small victories that often mean the world to someone.

The Kennewick School Board thought they had finally solved the GSA issue with the creation and implementation of the restrictive policy, but what they essentially did was poke a sleeping drag queen right in her tucked junk.

The community was angry, the community was disgusted, and the community sprang into action.

Right when the news broke I personally created a Change.org petition and started circling it around the internet. With the support of my friends and family in Seattle and Eastern Washington I was able to get more than 4,000 signatures in little over a month. The fun thing about Change.org is that every time someone including the Vista Youth signed the petition, the school board re- Center, PFLAG, ACLU, Mid-Columbia ceived an email letting them know. Imagine Pride, and Gay-Straight Alliances from the morning they logged in and received that other school districts. This is what the comfirst batch of emails. I bet it was a shock. munity needed; the school board’s decision Kennewick isn’t known for being the helped push members of the community to promised land for LGBTQ individuals. Sar- the point where enough was enough. ah Palin has family there and she once visThe catalyst for change is the moment

by Joshua Michael Rumley SGN Contributing Writer

when the systems in place no longer serve the entire community for which they were created. The systems in Kennewick were no longer serving the LGBTQ students or nurturing their development as productive members of the community. Change was the only answer and change was the end result the community sought - and achieved!

The students truly turned the tide on the issue with the school board in Kennewick.

It still amazes me how much has changed since I was in high school; I’m nearing my 10-year reunion. Some students today have such amazing self-confidence that allows them to speak out and to stand up for their rights as LGBTQ individuals. I knew I was Gay in high school but I was too caught up in watching Gay porn on AOL dial-up to realize that being Gay required anything else.

The school board swore up and down that the restrictive club policy was designed to create a level playing field for all student clubs in the district - to makes things equal.

I don’t believe being restricted has ever translated into being “equal.”

Dan Savage recently expressed the sentiment that the entire school board should resign and I couldn’t agree more. The board was working against the very students they were elected to serve, the same students who attended one board meeting after another to ask for support.

Our LGBTQ students need to be supported; they need to be told that they deserve to be treated equally in all matters of life. GayStraight Alliances serve the entire community and give a safe and inclusive environment for students to develop deeper understandings of themselves and the world. The Kennewick School Board, in the process of throwing the GSAs to the back of the bus, threw themselves under it. I think it’s time for new school board members in Kennewick, ones who reach out to their students when they ask for support instead of turning their backs on them.

“The systems in Kennewick were no longer serving the LGBTQ students or nurturing their development as productive members of the community.”

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

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

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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

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Seattle Gay News

October 7, 2011

Celebrating 38 Years!

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Less than one week after the House Appropriations Committee proposed slashing nearly $33 million in funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) along with a $1 billion cut to the Prevention and Public Health Fund, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) has tripled the House budget for defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in court.

The Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee released a draft fiscal year 2012 budget bill on Sept. 19 that calls for substantial cuts in funds for the CDC and the Prevention and Public Health office that pay for HIV prevention programs.

The measure is sponsored by Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-MT), chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, which oversees funding for AIDS programs.

Rehberg’s bill would restore federal funds for controversial “abstinence-only until marriage” HIV prevention programs supported by former President George W. Bush.

The draft bill also includes a provision that would ban federal funding for needle exchange programs aimed at curtailing the spread of HIV among intravenous drug users.

The Obama administration eliminated federal funding for abstinence-only HIV prevention programs while Democrats still controlled both houses of Congress, saying evidence-based studies showed that they

were ineffective in curtailing the spread of HIV. President Obama and the Democratic Congress also lifted a longstanding congressional ban on federal funds for needleexchange programs.

Administration officials pointed to studies showing that providing clean syringes to intravenous drug abusers reduced their HIV infection rate. Officials said the studies also showed that clean needle exchanges did not result in more people becoming IV drug users.

The House Republicans’ measure also calls for zero increase in funding for Ryan White Act programs, including the financially struggling AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP).

With more than 8,500 people in nine states on waiting lists for life-saving AIDS drugs funded under ADAP, AIDS advocacy groups have declared the program in crisis, saying people with HIV could die if more federal funds aren’t allocated to the program.

Obama’s proposed budget includes a $63.9 million increase in overall Ryan White funding.

Meanwhile, Republican Speaker John Boehner’s office released details of a newly modified contract between the General Counsel to the House of Representatives and former Solicitor General Paul Clement, who has been hired by the House to defend DOMA since the Justice Department says it will no longer do so.

The new contract sets a cap of $750,000 for DOMA-related legal fees, but allows fees to be raised up to $1.5 million.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), the House sponsor of a bill to repeal DOMA, de-

Columbia City Bakery Sells ‘Equality Cookies’

courtesy Columbia city bakery

by Anthony Greer SGN Staff Writer Columbia City Bakery will celebrate its sixth anniversary on Friday, October 14, by donating every dollar spent in the bakery that day to three charities, including Equal Rights Washington.

Trinity Episcopal Church

“The community has really supported us from the start and a couple of years ago we realized on our anniversary that we wanted to give back, so we started with giving the profits away to a local food bank,” recalled Andrew Cleary, the bakery’s general manager. “Then, when domestic partnership was being discussed more, I suggested that

Rebecca Koenig

House Republicans slash AIDS funding, triple money to defend DOMA

Representative Denny Rehberg

nounced the move.

“In the current climate of Republicansponsored deficit hysteria, draconian spending cuts, and an ongoing recession … it is shocking and supremely hypocritical for the Republican leadership to spend additional taxpayer dollars on the unwarranted, unconstitutional, and unnecessary defense of DOMA,” Nadler said in a statement.

“It seems that the only jobs program the House is creating is one for high-priced lawyers to defend an unconscionable law.”

Seattle-area Congressman Jim McDermott (D) was also critical of Boehner.

“I’m appalled that the Speaker would pay over a million taxpayer dollars to defend a discriminatory law like DOMA,” McDermott told SGN. “He shouldn’t be spending time and mon-

ey defending a law that the Administration and the courts have found unconstitutional.

Our resources should be focused on jobs, foreclosures, and the economy – not on institutionalizing discrimination.”

An appropriations subcommittee in the Democratic-controlled Senate has approved its own budget bill that does not cut needle exchange funding and omits the abstinenceonly provisions included in the Republicansponsored House bill.

Although the Obama administration’s proposed budget calls for small budget increases for most HIV/AIDS programs, the bill approved by the Senate subcommittee contains no funding increases whatsoever.

The subcommittee did approve a $15 million increase for the Ryan White program, however.

we do a fundraiser for that, and we made what we coined ‘equality cookies.’ We did the ‘Equality Cookie’ a few years ago during the referendum campaign, which was a heart-shaped cookie with rainbows and the equality sign.”

This year, the entire day’s proceeds from everything they sell will go to the charities they’ve selected.

“We wondered at the time if we could handle it with giving away all of the money and what happened was people got on the light rail and came out and supported us and we’re doing quite well, and this year we’re doing our biggest fundraiser ever,” said Cleary. “And this year Evan, the owner, allowed me, our pastry chef, and our retail manager to each pick a charity to support that we felt benefitted our community.”

The other two charities that the proceeds will be donated to are Homeward Pet Adoption and the Seward Park Audubon Center.

“I chose to donate to Equal Rights Washington because the whole referendum process around our domestic partnership law really upset me. On the one hand, I am happy about the law. Its passage forced my partner’s employer to provide us with the same benefits other employees were enjoying for years, improving my personal quality of life,” Cleary said. “But the process really made me angry and I refuse to be grateful for something that is my right. There aren’t many great civil rights issues in our history that were ever held up to a vote, and it just isn’t fair. To be honest, I’m still angry and getting angrier. We need marriage equality now so that we truly move forward. I’m glad I’m in a position to use our business to that end.”

Columbia City Bakery expects to make upwards of $3,000 to split among the three charities.

In addition to their Equality Cookie fundraiser, the bakery makes 200+ donations every year.

“We get three requests a week, I would say, and we try to honor one of those every week. In addition to that, we donate our dayold baked goods to schools and food banks.

We don’t sell anything day-old. We donate it instead,” Cleary said.

“This is our biggest fundraiser of the year and not only that but I think it will be our biggest ever.

“We all have a lot of experience and we’ve learned what we don’t want a bakery to be and what we don’t want our business to be.

We strive to make our employees happy and produce great products. We want to have the best bread in the city and we believe we do, and our reviews tell us that we do. We hope to live up to those reviews.”

“We hope to be around for a long time and want to keep giving back as much as we can,” Cleary said. “We’re just grateful to be here doing what we do. We love seeing a line out the door. It makes us feel really appreciated and makes me really appreciate working here.”

Join us October 9 for the 12th annual Matthew Shepard Memorial Sermon with the Rev. Dr. Derek Penwell.

An Open and Affirming Congregation - Come join us! Sundays 8:00 and 10:30 - Wednesdays & Thursdays 5:30 Eighth Avenue & James Street, Seattle www.trinityseattle.org

Visit us online www.sgn.org

October 7, 2011

Seattle Gay News

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by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor A settlement was announced Sept. 30 in the case of Vanessa Adams, a Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) inmate at FMC Butner in North Carolina, who has gender identity disorder (GID). Adams sued BOP to receive appropriate treatment for her GID. Adams’ challenge to BOP’s treatment of Transgender prisoners has resulted in BOP ending its so-called “freeze-frame” policy, in which treatment for any person with GID is kept frozen at the level provided at the time he or she entered the federal prison system. In Adams’ case, this meant that because she had not received treatment for GID before being incarcerated, BOP refused to provide her with medically necessary care even though its own doctors diagnosed her with GID, told her about treatments available for GID, and knew about the seriousness of her medical condition.

“We applaud the BOP for getting rid of an unfair policy that has denied medically necessary care to many people. We hope that other state and county prison systems will follow BOP’s lead and eliminate discriminatory policies that are based on bias rather than medical need,” said Jody Marksamer, a staff attorney with the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

The change in policy was promulgated via

two memoranda, dated May 31, 2011, and June 15, 2010, from BOP’s medical director to all BOP chief executive officers.

The May memorandum ends: “In summary, inmates in the custody of the Bureau with a possible diagnosis of GID will receive a current individualized assessment and evaluation. Treatment options will not be precluded solely due to level of services received, or lack of services, prior to incarceration.”

The memo also states that “current, accepted standards of care will be used as a reference for developing the treatment plan.”

The memos have been distributed to all individuals in the prison system who have been diagnosed with GID, as well as to the medical staff treating these prisoners.

When the suit was filed on Feb. 24, 2009, Adams was at a federal prison in Florida.

There she was being denied medically necessary hormone therapy and prevented from otherwise expressing a female gender identity because she had not received this treatment prior to her incarceration. In a June 7, 2010, ruling, Federal District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro rejected BOP’s argument that Adams’ claim was moot because BOP had finally started Adams on hormone therapy.

Citing BOP’s consistently callous conduct toward Adams, the fact that BOP could stop her treatment at any time, and that BOP did not disavow its poli-

file photo

Federal Bureau of Prisons makes major change in Transgender medical policy

cy, Judge Tauro sent the case to mediation. With the Sept. 30 settlement, the parties jointly agreed to end the case.

Cassandra Capobianco of Florida Institutional Legal Services said, “It is critical not only for Vanessa’s health and safety but for the good of other prisoners that BOP’s policy has been changed.”

“BOP’s freeze-frame policy trapped Transgender prisoners in despair, leading often to

depression, suicide attempts, and in many cases, serious self-harm, as was the case with Vanessa,” said Jennifer L. Levi, director of the Transgender Rights Project of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD).

In addition to GLAD, Adams was represented by Florida Institutional Legal Services (FILS), the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Bingham McCutchen LLP, and Allyson Kurker.

Special to SGN from Pride At Work

country since the 1920s. While the “Great Recession” is over for the 1%, the rest of us are living with staggering rates of unemployment and poverty, foreclosures and homelessness, trade policies that further impoverish workers in Third World countries creating massive forced migration, tax policies that reward the outsourcing of our jobs, financial deregulation that allows banks to treat our economy as if it were their private casino, attacks on workers’ rights and unions, killing cuts to our social safety net, environmental degradation, and a significant loss of democracy.

“Labor, youth, seniors, the poor, and immigrants - the 99% - must raise their voices and call the question on what type of society we want to live in. It is time for us to create an economy and a political system that is based on a concept of shared prosperity.

“Next week, October 10-14, Labor has declared a week of action around the country to speak out for jobs and a fair economy.

We would like to join with you in some joint actions to raise our voices together.

“Thank you for taking to the streets and raising your voices in a peaceful and poignant way. Thank you for the values and principles that you are standing up for.”

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and SEIU President Mary Kay Henry also issued strong statements of support for the Occupy Wall Street protests, now in their third week.

Pride At Work is an LGBT labor organization affiliated with the AFL-CIO, and including members of AFL-CIO, Change To Win, independent unions, and non-union allies.

Labor backs Occupy Seattle On October 5, Lynne Dodson, SecretaryTreasurer of the Washington State Labor Council, read a strong statement of support to the people of Occupy Seattle gathered at Westlake Plaza.

The letter read: “On behalf of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, and our 500 affiliated local unions and over 400,000 union women and men we want to express our solidarity with “Occupy Seattle” for standing up for and speaking out on behalf of the 99% who have victimized by corporate and political decisions that put the interests of corporate America and Wall Street before the people.

“We welcome your voices to ours in identifying the corporate billionaires and bankers as the ones who brought our economy to its knees and have created the most gross distribution of income and wealth in this

Rich Full-Bodied Cafes Savory Homestyle Soups & Sandwiches 8

Seattle Gay News

October 7, 2011

Celebrating 38 Years!

two Irish women who defied convention way before their time, eloped and lived as a married couple to be visited by the celebrities of the day.

All GLBTQ folks are welcome to particicompiled by Rick McKinnon pate in this FREE book club. For more inSGN Staff Writer formation, email nickdimartin@earthlink. net, visit http://faculty.washington.edu/ BORN THIS WAY KAFE two continents in the Arab world. The 2011 swittet/SGLBookClub/ or contact SASG at FOR URBAN QUEER TEENS theme, “Al Noor: Illuminating the Faces 206-322-2437.

AT CAL ANDERSON PARK of Arab Culture,” invites visitors to dance On Fridays, 5-9 p.m., at Cal Anderson to Arab music, play backgammon, and en“COMING OUT LOCAL” – Shelterhouse (1635 11th Ave., one block gage in the culture through exhibits, films, A DINNER, DISCUSSION & north of E. Pine St.), Seattle Parks & Rec- children’s music, dance workshops and AUCTION FOR reation hosts Born This Way Kafe, a wel- panel discussions on Arab history and curOUT FOR SUSTAINABILITY coming place where LGBTQ youth, friends rent affairs. Food vendors will offer Middle On Thursday, October 13, from 5:30-10 and allies (ages 13-19) can gather, be them- Eastern fare, including Moroccan and Alge- p.m., at 415 Westlake (415 Westlake Ave. selves, and have fun. Meets every Friday. rian food and traditional favorites of falafel N.), join OUT for Sustainability for their For more information and to help make it and shwarma sandwiches. For a full event third annual “Coming Out Local” dinner, happen, contact Randy at Seattle Parks, 206- schedule, visit www.arabcenterwa.org. discussion and auction, featuring a con883-6110 txt/phone, email randy.wiger@sescious and tasy, multiple course, locally attle.gov or google “SeattleParksCOD.” sourced feast, with inspiring speakers and “ICON: A CELEBRATION an auction of goods and services from local OF DRAG, ART & LIFE” – VETERANS & SOLDIERS LGBTQ celebrating businesses.

A BENEFIT FOR SPEAK OUT AGAINST WAR Doors open for wine tasting at 5:30 p.m.

SEATTLE COUNSELING SERVICE On Friday, October 7, at 7:30 p.m., at New On Sunday, October 9, at 5:30 p.m. (VIP Dinner will be served at 7 p.m. Seattle City Freeway Hall (5018 Rainier Ave. S.) veter- reception with hors d’oeuvres and live en- Councilmember Sally Clark will be the ans and soldiers speak out against war on tertainment plus dinner and show), 6 p.m. keynote speaker. GSBA executive directhe 10th anniversary of the U.S. incursion (general registration includes dinner and tor Louise Chernin will be honored for her into Afghanistan. Army Reservist LeAnna show), 7 p.m. (ICON! begins) at the Grand community service. Tickets: $65 at www.

Waldbauer, who has served in Iraq, Navy Hyatt Hotel (721 Pine St.), join Seattle’s brownpapertickets.com/event/194058. veteran and labor organizer Steve Hoffman, celebrated entertainer and social activist www.outforsustainability.org. and Gulf War conscientious objector Warren Aleksa Manila and friends for “Icon: A CelDavis will examine the human and econom- ebration of Drag, Art & Life” – a benefit for COLUMBIA CITY BAKERY ic costs of U.S. military actions, including Seattle Counseling Service. Featuring live SIXTH ANNIVERSARY PARTY the rise of anti-war sentiment and suicide entertainment from Jennifer Wagner, Arnal& COMMUNITY FUNDRAISING rates among the troops. Doors open at 6:30 do! Drag Chanteuse with Victor Janusz, and BAKE SALE p.m. Door donation $3. Hearty snack plates Jinkz Monsoon. To celebrate the glamour On Friday, October 14, from 7 a.m.-7 p.m., for $7. Sliding scale for students, strikers and history of the ‘80s are Isaac Scott and Columbia City Bakery (4865 Rainier Ave. and the unemployed. Sponsored by Free- Ryan Stone of Julia’s on Broadway’s “Le S.) will celebrate their sixth anniversary by dom Socialist Party. For more information, Faux,” plus Nina Maxwell, Diamond St. donating 100% of their sales dollars for that call 206-722-2453 or email FSPseattle@ James, Gaysha Starr and the reigning Queen day to three local community organizations mindspring.com. Wheelchair accessible. of Burlesque, Miss Indigo Blue. Plus sur- selected by their management team. This prise performances. Tickets: $100-general year’s beneficiaries are Equal Rights WashSISTAH SINEMA – admission; $125-VIP admission. Advance ington, Seward Park Audubon Center, and FINDING JULIET tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com/ Homeward Pet Adoption Center.

AND ROBIN’S HOOD Two years ago Columbia City Bakery event/200461. For more information, visit On Friday, October 7, at 8 p.m., at Chao www.seattlecounseling.org/ICON or 206- supported the Approve Ref. 71 campaign by Bar & Bistro (12th Ave. & E. Pike St.), 323-1768. baking and selling their Equality Cookies Sistah Sinema will screen Finding Juliet in support of Washington state’s Domestic

by Kanithea Powell followed by Robin’s Partnership Law. GSBA PRIME TIME Hood by Sara Millman. Both directors will “PINK $ EXPO” be on-hand during the Q&A following the THREE DOLLAR BILL CINEMA – On Wednesday, October 12, from 4-8 screenings. After the movie, stay for a night p.m., at Herban Feast - SODO Park (3200 SEATTLE of gaymes, streaming neo-soul music, and 1st Ave. S.) join GSBA members and friends LESBIAN & GAY FILM FESTIVAL Chao’s amazing happy hour menu until 1:30 for “Pink $ Expo.” Enjoy refreshments, OCTOBER 14-23 a.m. Tickets: $5. Sistah Sinema = black, wo- good conversation and browse the tables www.threedollarbillcinema.org myn, queer, film. of GSBA exhibitors at this beautiful venue.

EARSHOT JAZZ FESTIVAL Cost: $10-GSBA members, $15-nonmem“QUEER IT YOURSELF: OCT. 14-NOV. 6 bers, $10 students. RSVP to 206-363-9188; BE IT, DO IT, MAKE IT” www.earshot.org www.thegsba.org.

On Saturday, October 8, from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., with registration at 9:30 a.m., at SeMOUNTAINS TO SOUND POZ SEATTLE attle University, Pigott Building, Rooms GREENWAY TRUST “COMING OUT” SOCIAL 202, 203 and 204 (12th Ave. & E. Marion FALL TREE PLANTING On Wednesday, October 12, from 6-8 St.), attend a day-long conference for Queer p.m., at The Cuff Complex (13th Ave. & The Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust artists in the Northwest. The “Queer It Your- E. Pine St.), join POZSeattle members and will be hosting a series of native tree and self: Be It, Do It, Make It” conference will supporters in the downstairs bar for social- shrub plantings starting Saturday, October provide a space for LGBTQ artists to talk, izing, to catch-up with old friends, to make 15, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., and continuing on weekcollaborate, skill share and intellectualize new ones, and a whole lot of fun. There will ends into December. Volunteers are invited about art, creativity and social justice. Cost be light finger food to share. This event is to help with the project at Seattle and King is $10, but no one will be turned away for FREE of charge (except for the cost of bev- County locations throughout the greenway. lack of funds. SU students, staff and faculty erages) and is for all HIV-Positive men, The kick-off on Saturday, October 15, at get in free. their friends and family, regardless of age, Lake Sammamish State Park, will feature To celebrate the conference, organizers shape, size, gender, or color. POZSeattle is a food, music and booths plus plenty of trees will also present a Queer artist showcase, volunteer social organization run for and by to plant. You can sign-up for a full day or with shows at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., at the Seattle-area HIV-Positive guys. For more half-day of tree planting. For more informaWyckoff Auditorium on the Seattle Univer- information and to be added to the POZSeat- tion and to sign-up, visit www.mtsgreensity campus. Cost is $10 in advance or $12 tle event promotions email list, email info@ way.org and look under the VOLUNTEER at the door. pozseattle.org or visit www.pozseattle.org. menu for Tree Planting.

Advance tickets for the conference and the showcase are available at www.brownSEATTLE CENTER FESTAL – SEATTLE GAY & LESBIAN papertickets.com/event/200477.

TURKFEST BOOK CLUB – THE LADIES This event is presented by The Producers’ OCTOBER 15-16 The Seattle Gay & Lesbian Book Club Collective. www.theproducerscollective. meets every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Seattle On Saturday and Sunday, October 15 weebly.com.

Area Support Groups Community Center and 16, from noon-7pm, at Seattle Center’s (formerly Dunshee House) (303 17th Ave. Center House, savor a cup of Turkish coffee SEATTLE CENTER FESTAL – E. & E. Thomas St.). Women members have or tea and enjoy a taste of Turkish cuisine, ARAB FESTIVAL been requesting a book about women, so while you experience how the Ottoman culOCTOBER 8 & 9 the October selection is an elegant novel ture influenced Balkan food, music, dance, On Saturday and Sunday, October 8 and 9, based on the very real, non-fiction, love of customs and language. Enjoy outstanding from 11 a.m.-7 p.m., at Fisher Pavilion and two women in the 1770s. Doris Grumbach’s musical and dance performances. TurkFest Seattle Center Pavilion, the Arab Festival The Ladies is her telling of the true story of offers entertainment, exploration and inoffers exploration and insights into the rich Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby who sights into the culture of Turkey. For a full and complex cultures of 22 countries and became known as the Ladies of Llangollen, schedule of events, visit www.turkfest.org.

NORTHWEST

NEWS

ROSEHEDGE/ MULTIFAITH WORKS – SHANTI TRAINING & CARETEAM TRAINING Rosehedge/Multifaith Work is seeking volunteers for their Shanti and CareTeam programs. The next Shanti Training will be held over two weekends, October 1516 and October 22-23. The next CareTeam Training will be held on Saturday, October 22. For more information, contact Cherie Schumacher, Volunteer Program Director, 206-787-8412 or cherie@rosehedge.org.

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. In addition, they unite communities of compassionate care with people living in isolation and loneliness.

COMMUNITY ALLIANCE FOR GLOBAL JUSTICE – 10 YEAR CELEBRATION! On Saturday, October 15, from 7-10 p.m., at Historic Washington Hall (152 14th Ave., just north of E. Yesler St.), Community Alliance for Global Justice (CAGJ) celebrates 10 years of local organizing for justice in the global economy. Join CAGJ as they celebrate 10 years of accomplishments and take stock of broader social movement victories and get psyched for the next 10 years. Share your favorite activist stories, enjoy tamales, rice and beans, horchata and spirits, hear from CAGJ’s founding director, Jeremy Simer, and dance the night away. With special musical guests: Seattle Fandango Project and Gravity Kings. $5-$20 sliding scale donation. Catering by El Rodeo: A Taste of El Salvador.

FALL MAPLE VIEWING WITH BUTOH EVENT AT JAPANESE GARDEN On Sunday, October 16, from 11-3pm, the Washington Park Arboretum presents a special Fall Maple Viewing Event at the Seattle Japanese Garden (just north of the Arboretum’s south entrance, Lake Washington Blvd. E. & E. Madison St.). From noon1 p.m., five roving rogue ronin (Japanese samurai) butoh performers will be moving through the garden. Admission: $6-general, $4 seniors/students.

“LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!” – THE 2011 LESBIAN & GAY BAND ASSOCIATION CONCERT AT MCCAW HALL On Sunday, October 16, at 3 p.m., at McCaw Hall (321 Mercer St.) Seattle’s Rainbow City Band hosts the 2011 Lesbian & Gay Band Association Concert, “Lights, Camera, Action!” featuring music from the cinema – from silent film to contemporary blockbusters, from quiet romance to thrilling adventures – performed by a 200 member symphonic band comprised of LGBT and allied musicians from around the country.

Tickets: $25-$45. Rainbow City Band is offering SGN readers a 25% discount through Ticketmaster. Go to www.LGBA2011.org, click on BUY TICKETS and you’ll be taken to the Ticketmaster website. Enter the promotional code RCBLCA under “enter offer code/password” on the Ticketmaster order form to receive the discount.

HEINEKEN CITYARTS FEST2011 OCTOBER 20-22 www.CityArtsFest.com NATIONAL DAY OF PROTEST TO STOP POLICE BRUTALITY On Saturday, October 22, at 2 p.m., at Westlake Plaza (4th Ave. & Pine St.), join the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality. Wear black in memory of people murdered by law enforcement. Organized by the October 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. 206-264-5527; oct22seattle@hotmail.com, october22.org.

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If you’re in crisis or need someone to talk to there is help: o National Suicide Prevention Hotline

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James Buchanan: America’s first Gay president?

by Timothy Cwiek Special to SGN Courtesy of the National Gay History Project More than 150 years before America elected its first black president, Barack Obama, it most likely had its first Gay president, James Buchanan (1791-1868).

Buchanan, a Democrat from Lancaster County, Pa., was the 15th president of the United States, and a lifelong bachelor. He served as president from 1857 to 1861, tumultuous years leading up to the Civil War. Historian James W. Loewen has done extensive research into Buchanan’s personal life, and he’s convinced Buchanan was Gay. Loewen is the author of the acclaimed book Lies Across America, which examines how historical sites inaccurately portray figures and events in America’s past.

“I’m sure that Buchanan was Gay,” Loewen said. “There is clear evidence that he was Gay. And since I haven’t seen any evidence that he was heterosexual, I don’t believe he was Bisexual.”

According to Loewen, Buchanan shared a residence with William Rufus King, a Democratic senator from Alabama, for several

In 1844, when King was appointed minister to France, he wrote Buchanan, “I am selfish enough to hope you will not be able to procure an associate who will cause you to feel no regret at our separation.”

Loewen also said a letter Buchanan wrote to a friend after King went to France shows the depth of his feeling for King.

“I am now solitary and alone, having no companion in the house with me,” Buchanan wrote. “I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them. I feel that it is not good for man years in Washington, D.C. Loewen said contemporary records in- to be alone; and should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid dicate the two men were inseparable, who can nurse me when I am and wags would refer to them sick, provide good dinas “the Siamese twins.” ners for me when I Loewen also said am well, and not Buchanan was expect from “fairly open” me any very about his ardent or relationromantic ship with affecKing, tion.” causi n g

some colLoeleagues w e n to view said their the men as relationa couple. ship – though For example, interrupted due to Aaron Brown, a foreign-service obliprominent Democrat, gations – ended only with writing to Mrs. James K. King’s death in 1853.

Polk, referred to King as BuchIn the late 1990s, Loewen visited Wheatanan’s “better half,” his “wife,” and “Aunt land, the mansion in Lancaster, Pa., where Fancy … rigged out in her best clothes.”

Buchanan spent his later years.

Loewen said he asked a staffer at Wheatland if Buchanan was Gay, and the reply was: “He most definitely was not.”

Loewen said the staffer pointed to a portrait of Ann Coleman, the daughter of a $ wealthy iron maker, whom Buchanan was engaged to briefly 1819, shortly before she any size pizza committed suicide.

700 East Pine St., Seattle However, Loewen scoffed at the staffer’s HOMEMADE suggestion that the brief engagement to HAND TOSSED Coleman proved Buchanan was heterosexual.

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Loewen said Buchanan showed little interest in Coleman, appeared more interested in her fortune, and possibly contributed to her suicide due to his emotional detachment.

Patrick Clarke, the director of Wheatland, said the staff now takes a neutral stance on Buchanan’s sexuality.

“There’s no solid proof that Buchanan was heterosexual, nor is there solid proof that he was homosexual,” Clarke said. “If we ever come up with a smoking gun that proves it one way or the other, I would definitely encourage our staff to share it with the public.”

But, he said, Ann Coleman’s portrait no longer is displayed at Wheatland.

The tours focus mainly on the mansion’s décor and activities that took place there during the later years of Buchanan’s life, he added.

Wheatland also has about 45 volunteer tour guides, and to Clarke’s knowledge, none of the guides is openly Gay. “The volunteer guides who we train to share the history of James Buchanan’s life and times are directed to take a neutral stance regarding [his] sexual preference,” Clarke said.

But Clarke said he wouldn’t object if a volunteer offered a personal opinion that Buchanan was Gay, if asked by a visitor.

“When you have 50 minutes to take people through a nine-room house, there’s only so much you can discuss,” Clarke said. “But if the question is raised, the guide may express a personal opinion.”

Loewen said many historians rate Buchanan as one of the worst U.S. presidents.

Buchanan was part of the pro-slavery wing of the Democratic Party, and corruption plagued his administration.

But Loewen said those flaws shouldn’t discourage members of the LGBT community from acknowledging Buchanan’s status as a Gay man.

“Lots of Gay people have been exemplary,” he said. “Let’s look at Walt Whitman.

For my money, he’s the best poet in the history of the country. But we also have to acknowledge the failures. If we only admit that really great people are Gay, what kind of history is that? And how is that believable? It’s ridiculous. We have to tell it like it was.”

As a heterosexual male, Loewen added, he has no hidden agenda in outing Buchanan.

“I’m not Gay,” Loewen said. “I don’t run around trying to find Gay folks or black folks underneath every rock. But I’m not going to ignore clear evidence.”

Timothy Cwiek holds a bachelor of arts degree in U.S. history from West Chester University. He has written for Philadelphia Gay News since the late 1970s and has written freelance articles for numerous publications on topics such as the Lincoln assassination, the Kennedy family, the shootings at Kent State University, first ladies, and the macrobiotic movement.

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October 7, 2011

www.sgn.org Celebrating 38 Years!

William Rufus King: First Gay U.S. vice president?

by Lou Chibbaro Jr. Special to the SGN Courtesy of the National Gay History Project William Rufus DeVane King, the 13th U.S. vice president, has the distinction of having served in that office for less time than any other vice president.

He died of tuberculosis on April 18, 1853, just 25 days after being sworn into office on March 24, 1853, according an official biography of King prepared by the Office of the Historian of the the U.S. Senate.

Other historians have speculated that King holds yet another distinction – that of being the first Gay U.S. vice president and possibly one of the first Gay members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

King (1786-1853) represented North Carolina in the U.S. House for six years beginning in 1811 and later served as a senator from the newly created state of Alabama from 1819 to 1844, when he became U.S. minister to France.

He returned to the Senate four years later, in 1848, and served until his election as vice president in 1852 on the ticket of Franklin Pierce.

A lifelong bachelor, King lived for 15 years in the home of future U.S. President James Buchanan while the two served in the Senate. Buchanan, also a lifelong bachelor, is believed by some historians to be the nation’s first Gay president.

“They certainly didn’t have the word ‘Gay’ back then,” said Paul F. Boller Jr., professor emeritus of history at Texas Christian University and author of several books on presidential politics, including the book Presidential Campaigns: From George Washington to George W. Bush.

In a telephone interview, Boller said Washington insiders at the time speculated over whether King and Buchanan’s wellknown close friendship had evolved into a romantic relationship.

“I don’t think the word ‘homosexual’ was used either,” Boller said. “So they’d sort of use the term ‘a little feminine’ and all of that.”

Boller and historian Jean H. Baker, professor of history at Maryland’s Goucher College and author of a biography of Buchanan, each cite reports that President Andrew Jackson referred to King as “Miss Nancy” and “Aunt Fancy.” Aaron V. Brown, who became U.S. postmaster general while Buchanan was president, reportedly referred to King as Buchanan’s “wife.”

Baker reports in her Buchanan biography that King’s and Buchanan’s nieces reportedly destroyed their uncles’ correspondence with each other, fueling speculation that the two men were in a Gay relationship that their families wanted to conceal.

In one letter that survived, Buchanan expressed sadness over King’s departure from his house in 1844 to become the U.S. envoy to France.

“I am now solitary and alone, having no companion in the house with me,” Buchanan wrote. “I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them.”

King’s relationship with Buchanan, who was from Pennsylvania, could have been a factor in Buchanan’s sympathy for the South during Buchanan’s tenure as a senator and later as president from 1857 to 1861.

Most accounts by historians of King’s political career portray him as a moderate

Trinity Episcopal Church

The biography quotes a fellow senator as having this to say about King: “He was distinguished by the scrupulous correctness of his conduct. He was remarkable for his quiet and unobtrusive, but active practical usefulness as a legislator. … To his honor be it spoken, he never vexed the ear of the Senate with ill-timed, tedious or unnecessary debate.”

The Encyclopedia of Alabama reports in a 2003 article that rumors circulating in Washington about King’s sexual orientation Southerner who supported slavery while increased as his close friendship with Buchemerging as a strong unionist. King voiced anan became widely known.

“Neither man ever married, and by opposition in the Senate to calls by 1836 they were sharing a resisome of his fellow Southerndence in Washington,” ers for the South to sethe encyclopedia arcede from the United ticle says. “Any States during the negative reactense decade tions to their prior to the relationCivil War. ship ap“From pear to such

a calamity may God in His mercy deliver us,” King wrote in expressing opposition to the growing calls for secession.

King was born in 1786 in Sampson County, N.C., to a family of wealthy planters. His father owned more than two dozen slaves, the Office of the Senate Historian reports in its biography of King.

It says King attended an elite preparatory school before attending the University of North Carolina, where he studied law. Following a legal apprenticeship, he was admitted to the state bar in 1805 and began a practice. He served in the North Carolina Legislature from 1808 to 1809, won election in 1810 to the U.S. House, and began serving as a congressman in 1811 at age 25.

He resigned from the House in 1816 to enter the world of diplomacy by taking a job as legation secretary for William Pinkney, who was appointed by President James Monroe as U.S. minister to Russia in St. Petersburg.

King returned to the U.S. in 1818, when he moved from North Carolina to the territory of Alabama, becoming one of the leaders of the Alabama statehood movement.

The Senate historian’s biography says King purchased 750 acres of land in Alabama and established a plantation. He later joined others to form a land company that founded the town of Selma, which King reportedly named. In December 1819, he became one of Alabama’s first two U.S. senators.

As a moderate Democrat, King became an early supporter of Andrew Jackson’s quest to become president, the Senate biography says. It quotes an unnamed critic of King as describing him as a “tall, prim, wig-topped mediocrity,” noting that King wore a wig “long after such coverings had gone out of fashion.”

h a v e had little effect, and the men continued with their living arrangement and their work as legislators.”

By 1840, newspapers in Alabama supportive of the Democratic Party, of which King was a prominent member, promoted King as a vice-presidential running mate for incumbent President Martin Van Buren. Although King received little support outside Alabama for the vice-presidential nomination, he continued to position himself behind the scenes as a possible vice-presidential candidate for the next two decades, the Encyclopedia of Alabama reports.

The Senate biography of King says President John Tyler interrupted King’s vicepresidential ambitions in 1844 when he nominated him to become U.S. minister to France and the Senate quickly confirmed the nomination by a lopsided margin.

The bio says King succeeded in his main mission to persuade France not to oppose U.S. plans to annex Texas, which the U.S. acquired following the Mexican-American War. King returned to the Senate in 1848, two years after completing his service in France.

In July 1850, King became the de facto U.S. vice president when President Zachary Taylor died in office and then Vice President Millard Filmore became president, leaving the office of vice president vacant.

King’s Senate colleagues responded by unanimously selecting him as president pro tempore of the Senate, which normally would have placed him third in line to become president. With the vice president’s post vacant, King emerged as first in line to become president if Filmore were to die in office.

In 1852, after years of vying for the vicepresidential nomination, the constellations

appeared to be in perfect alignment with Democratic Party politics for King’s longtime dream. After nominating Franklin Pierce for president on the 49th ballot, the Democratic Convention, convening in Baltimore, nominated King as Pierce’s running mate. In the ensuing months, King campaigned aggressively for the Pierce-King ticket, playing some role in Pierce’s victory in November 1852.

But biographers report that King’s coughing spells became increasingly frequent and painful, leading to a diagnosis of tuberculosis. By December 1852, King described himself to friends as “looking like a skeleton,” the Senate biography reports. Later that month he resigned from the Senate and made arrangements, at the advice of his doctor, to spend the winter in Cuba, where the warm, tropical climate would hopefully help him regain his health.

In early February 1853, King realized his condition was getting worse and he would not be well enough to travel to Washington in time for the March 4 inauguration ceremony.

Upon learning of King’s deteriorating health, Congress took the unusual step of passing a law allowing him to take the oath of office for vice president on foreign soil.

“On March 24, 1853, near Matanzas, a seaport town 60 miles from Havana, the gravely ill statesman, too feeble to stand unaided, became the nation’s 13th vice president,” his Senate biography says.

King boarded a ship to return to the U.S. in April 1853 and arrived home at his Alabama plantation on April 17. He died one day later at age 67.

David Durham, a University of Alabama professor of law and history, said in a September 9 interview that it remains an open question whether King was Gay. Durham said it’s also uncertain but a strong possibility that King played a role in shaping Buchanan’s policies and views on the issue of slavery in the years leading up to the Civil War. “I don’t think anybody can prove it one way or the other,” he said in discussing King’s sexual orientation.

“A lot of the speculation comes from misinterpreting, I think, 19th-century lifestyles, where men commonly slept in the same bed and thought nothing of it,” Durham said.

“And the kind of terms of affection used in letters and correspondence between males – in our society now it’s like, ‘Umm, that’s very interesting.’ But they thought nothing of it and it didn’t mean there was some kind of romantic attachment,” he said.

“But that’s not to say that there wasn’t,” Durham added.

Lou Chibbaro Jr. has reported on the LGBT civil-rights movement and the LGBT community for more than 30 years, beginning as a freelance writer and later as a staff reporter and currently as senior news reporter for the Washington Blade. In 2011, Chibbaro became the first reporter from the LGBT press to be inducted into the Society of Professional Journalists D.C. Professional Chapter’s Hall of Fame and received the Justice for Victims Crime Award from the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia in 1998. He received a bachelor’s degree with a double major in biology and political science from the State University of New York at Brockport.

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Seattle Gay News 17

Serbian police ban Gay Pride and anti-Gay demo Pride organizers respond with flashmob Six anti-Gay extremists arrested AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic

in to threats.

“It is totally unbelievable that police have not clamped down against the extremists,’’ said Pride organizer Goran Miletic. “We have spent four months preparing the Gay Pride march, and the authorities have done nothing.’’

But human rights minister Milan Markovic told reporters that if the events were held as planned, many people could have been killed.

“It’s far from the truth that the state has capitulated and that hooligans are more powerful than the state, that’s complete nonsense,” Markovic said.

The ultranationalist Obraz group celebrat-

Seychelles and Palau agree to decriminalize Gay sex

By Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

A woman and a child walk in front of Serbian riot policemen cordon in downtown Belgrade.

By Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Serbian police announced Oct. 1 that they would not allow either a Gay Pride march or a right-wing anti-Gay demonstration scheduled for the following day in Belgrade, the Serbian capital.

Pride organizers immediately responded with a flashmob in downtown Belgrade.

Several dozen LGBT Serbians blocked a street and displayed a banner reading “Ljubav. Normalno” or “Love. Normal.”

Police said they feared they would be unable to control mass violence if the competing events were allowed to take place.

“The Gay pride march and the anti-Gay protest planned in Belgrade today have been banned to avoid bloodshed,” Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said in his official announcement.

Serbian president Boris Tadic approved the ban, saying it was imposed to “prevent violence and the possible loss of lives.’’

Although both events were cancelled, riot

police were deployed across Belgrade and other Serbian cities over the weekend to prevent trouble.

On Oct. 3, Serbian authorities announced that they had arrested six people for plotting to attack the Pride march, Some of those arrested were found with ski masks and baseball bats, police said.

Serbian authorities allowed a Pride march in 2010, for the first time in 10 years.

Some 20,000 ultra-nationalist and neoNazi demonstrators turned out to protest it, however. More than 100 people were injured in clashes between anti-Gay extremists and police. Cars were burned and shops were looted.

The embassies of several Western countries, including the United States, were set on fire.

Police said that this year, they were told that extremists planned to burn buildings in Belgrade to disrupt the Pride march.

Pride organizers were unwilling to cancel the event and accused authorities of giving

ed the ban on the Pride march as a “victory for the Serb patriots.’

Obraz is an ultra-nationalist organization linked to right-wing figures in the Serbian Orthodox Church. They organized the 2010 anti-Gay rallies that resulted in rioting in central Belgrade.

Obraz also opposes Serbian membership in the European Union, the main foreign policy goal of Serbian president Tadic.

Serbian accession to the E.U. would entail a commitment to “take appropriate action to combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age, or sexual orientation,” as specified in Article 19 of the Treaty of Amsterdam.

Two small island nations – Seychelles, near Madagascar, and Palau, in the South Pacific – have told the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) that they will decriminalize same-sex relations.

Seychelles said it will also prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The commitments were made as part of the UNHRC Universal Periodic Review Process, a review of the human rights records of all 192 U.N. members conducted every four years.

The process gives interested non-governmental organizations (NGOs) an opportunity to question the policies of U.N. member states.

The Seychelles representative noted that although the country’s penal code currently forbids what it calls sodomy, “this provision has never been applied against anyone.”

When challenged to specify a timeframe for changing the penal code, Seychelles’ Second Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Sandra Michel, answered that “the change of relevant laws will come pretty soon, as the government and civil society want so.”

The Seychelles sodomy law is a relic of the British Empire. The country became independent in 1976.

Palau was a colony successively of Spain (until 1899), Germany (1899-1914), Japan

(1914-1944), and the United States (from 1944 until independence in 1978).

The Solomon Islands said they would consider budgeting for a national consultation on decriminalizing same-sex relations.

Papua New Guinea claimed it is already consulting.

Other countries told the U.N. that they would not be decriminalizing.

Sierra Leone claimed it had no need to do so, as there is “no discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation” in that country.

Singapore said its “conservative society” would not permit decriminalization.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines said that sodomy laws “all enjoy wide popular support in the State and there is no legislative appetite to repeal any of these provisions.”

Also rejecting decriminalization was Suriname, which stated, “Debate with religious authorities and other groups regarding the extension of special rights to LGBT individuals is necessary.”

Samoa also cited Christianity and “cultural sensitivities” but claimed that its courts would throw out discriminatory cases.

No NGOs bothered asking the Somali or Sudanese governments about LGBT issues.

LGBT activists hope to get the issue of decriminalization onto the agenda of the upcoming British Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit scheduled for Oct. 28-30.

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October 7, 2011

Celebrating 38 Years!

Saving critical family planning programs and taxpayer money

by Elaine Taylor Rose and Lauren B. Simonds, M.S.W. Special to the SGN The latest revenue forecast puts Washington state even further in the hole, prompting Gov. Chris Gregoire to call for another round of cuts. But not all budget reductions will save the state money.

Further cuts to the state’s family planning programs will result in millions of dollars in unintended pregnancy-care costs. Far from alleviating the ongoing budget crisis, cutting family planning funding will only exacerbate the state’s financial problems.

The task that lies before the governor and our state legislators is certainly unenviable, especially coming on the heels of several rounds of steep, painful cuts to critical programs and services. These are difficult decisions, with the effects felt most acutely by those most in need.

But one budget decision should be refreshingly easy: preserving funding for

family planning care. For every dollar cut from publicly funded family planning services (which include birth control, annual exams, and other basic reproductive health care), the state accrues $4.10 in new unintended pregnancy care costs that year. When women lose access to contraception, taxpayers pick up the tab.

There is ample evidence of the disastrous effects that family planning cuts have on the state budget, to say nothing of the health risks imposed on low-income and marginalized women and families. Funding for family planning already has taken dramatic and disproportionate hits. Since 2005, nearly $16 million per year in public funding has been cut from Washington’s low-income family planning programs because of state and federal reductions.

Earlier this year, the final state budget cut Department of Health family planning funding by more than $2 million, which will eliminate basic reproductive health-care services for nearly 10,000 women, costing

taxpayers more than $9 million in new unintended pregnancy care costs.

Six out of 10 women who receive care at a family planning health center do so as their primary source of health care for annual exams, birth control, and life-saving cancer screenings. With more and more families slipping into poverty, family planning programs are an increasingly critical safety net.

An unintended pregnancy can result in poor birth outcomes, family hunger, homelessness, or expensive long-term dependence on publicly funded programs. But when women are able to plan if and when they become pregnant, they are more likely to complete their education and find and retain employment. The result is healthier women and families.

The state funds many worthy programs.

It’s a tragedy that financial reality compels budget writers to pit services against one another. It has become painfully clear that the only way to break the cycle of cuts is to bring revenue options into the discussion.

But if nothing else, state agencies, legislators and the governor must make strategic budget decisions about cuts in the coming weeks.

We have the rare opportunity to save critical programs and taxpayer money at the same time. Family planning programs, like so many others, are already making do with less. It’s incumbent upon the state’s leaders to preserve remaining family-planning funds, for the health and lives of women, their families, and for the state’s bottom

line.

Rose is CEO of Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest. Simonds is executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Washington. Copyright 2011 by the Washington Forum.

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Seattle Gay News 19

one should live in fear that they can be fired for reasons having nothing to do with their continued from cover job performance.”

The Equal Rights Initiative simply proArliss Sturgulewski, a former state senator vides the exact same legal protections to and Republican gubernatorial candidate, is Gay and Transgender Alaskans that we althe initiative’s official sponsor and co-chair ready provide to women, minorities, and of the One Anchorage Campaign. Former others, including on the basis of age, disAlaska Gov. Tony Knowles is the alternate ability, marital status, and religion.

“No one should be discriminated against sponsor and co-chair. Other co-sponsors include Alaska Constitutional Convention solely because they are Gay or Transgendelegate Vic Fischer, former First Alaskans der,” One Anchorage officials told SGN. Institute President and CEO Janie Leask, “But, under current federal, state, and local the Rev. Michael Burke of St. Mary’s Epis- law it is perfectly legal to fire or refuse to copal Church of Anchorage, and leaders of hire someone because she is a Lesbian, for reasons having nothing to do with her work Alaska’s LGBT community.

“In Alaska, we have a live-and-let-live at- performance or job qualifications.”

Co-sponsor Burke added: “In Anchortitude,” said Sturgulewski. “However, under current laws, a woman could be fired from age, we believe that all residents should be her job solely because she is a Lesbian. No treated fairly and equally by our laws. This initiative ensures that Gay and Transgender Alaskans who work hard and play by the rules will have the exact same legal protections as other Anchorage residents.”

In 2009, the Anchorage Assembly passed a very similar ordinance by a vote of 7 to 4, but the mayor vetoed it.

Alaska’s LGBT community has been working since then to address the absence of federal, state, or local laws protecting them against discrimination. Leaders of the campaign include Alaskans Together (the statewide LGBT advocacy organization) and representatives of groups such as Identity, Inc. (Anchorage’s LGBT organization and community center), the ACLU of Alaska, and PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbi-

anchorage

ans and Gays).

Campaign supporters will have until Dec. 12 to collect the necessary signatures of registered voters needed to place the initiative on the April 3, 2012, ballot.

“Once we’ve got the correct number of signatures, and they are verified, we will begin an official campaign,” Trevor Storrs, One Anchorage campaign chair, told SGN. “We do expect some level of pushback. In the past, we’ve had some pushback from the Anchorage Baptist Temple.”

Storrs notes that Anchorage is nothing like Cicely, the small Alaskan town depicted on the TV show Northern Exposure. “We are an urban center,” he said. “Everyday life for LGBT Alaskans is just everyday life. However, we do not have equality. That is what this initiative is all about. We are secondclass citizens and, when you look at that, you will find that individuals here in Anchorage have experienced discrimination – both direct and indirect.”

A ballot initiative can be expensive, time consuming, and difficult, said Storrs, but he maintains that One Anchorage is up for the challenge.

“We are approaching this campaign in a strategic manner,” he said. “We truly believe that the popular vote will happen and we will win.”

transgender continued from cover

“People are skeptical of government,” LGBT Commission Co-Chair Tiffany Nelson told SGN in an interview, “but they did the right thing – and in a timely way!”

Agreement on the changes had been reached some time ago, Nelson said, “but the City said ‘Let’s wait till the open enrollment period’” for the formal announcement.

“It’s interesting, when we first met with the [City’s] H.R. department last spring, my goal was to have this done for open enrollment,” Nelson chuckled. “Everyone said,

‘Oh, it just can’t happen that fast.’”

Nelson credited the “concerted efforts” of five City commissions – the LGBT Commission, Commission for People with Disabilities, Human Rights Commission, Women’s Commission, and the Immigrant and Refugee Advisory Board.

She also noted that Council members Bruce Harrell, Sally Clark, Tom Rasmussen, and Mike O’Brien wrote letters of support for the proposal to make employee health care plans Trans-inclusive.

Nelson told SGN she was most surprised by the strong support the proposal got from the unions that represent City employees.

“When we met with the union reps on the healthcare committee – at first I was reluctant to meet them – all these straight white guys from the union. But they were extremely supportive. It was a wonderful surprise for me!” she said.

“This is a great example of the important role the Commissions can play to change City policy,” said Julie Nelson, director of the Seattle Office for Civil Rights, which provides staff support to all five commissions.

“As we continue to work for social justice, I look forward to more collaboration with our Commissions to create greater equity in City government.”

“I am so pleased to see our policies reflect our values; our value that we will not discriminate based on one’s sexual identity.

We encouraged our Health Care Committee to remove health care exclusions for the City of Seattle’s transgender employees and they did,” City Council member Bruce Harrell said in a statement to SGN. “I was pleased to work with our City’s five Civil Rights Commissions, in particular, the LGBT Commission, to help ensure that our Transgender employees can now get the coverage they need.”

Acknowledging that some people in City government were taken aback to find that health benefits for Trans employees were not already provided, City Council mem-

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October 7, 2011

Celebrating 38 Years!

ber Tom Rasmussen told SGN that “sometimes we learn only when a lack of policy is brought to our attention. I’m glad the City responded quickly.”

Veteran activist Marsha Botzer, co-founder and co-chair of Ingersoll Gender Center, told SGN she was “thrilled” with the announcement.

“I appreciate the City doing this,” Botzer said. “I really want to credit the commission, and especially the new, intensely active members – they reached out to older activists and made it all come together.”

The story began on March 23, when the five commissions wrote to Harrell, chair of the Council’s Energy, Technology and Civil Rights Committee, urging the City to amend the health plans offered to its employees so they would include treatments necessary for Trans employees.

The existing benefit plan for City employees excluded coverage for what it termed “sex change.”

This was defined in the plan as “Any treatment, drug, service, or supply related to changing sex or sexual characteristics, including surgical procedures to alter the appearance or function of the body; hormones and hormone therapy; prosthetic devices; and medical or psychological counseling.”

The commissions pointed out that City employees denied health care coverage because of their gender identity could develop debilitating secondary medical conditions, be at higher risk for suicide, and experience increased psychological distress.

Insurance companies might also try to exclude other basic medical and psychological care that they might attribute to the employee being Transgender, they said.

“Many of the Transgender individuals we know describe this as common practice and affirm that it has happened to them,” the commissions said in their March 23 letter to Harrell.

“They describe that once the term ‘Transgender’ is in the chart, mental health, steroids, or procedures are universally denied.

This experience is unfair, especially as nonTransgender patients do not have to prove medical necessity for any number of health care services. This exclusion should be removed …

“The current climate of marginalization and exclusion will only change if the City requires inclusivity from their plans and carriers and then urges other organizations and vendors to do the same. Transgender benefits are not cost-prohibitive, and planned inclusion is simply the right thing to do.”

chaplains continued from cover

In one memo, dated Sept. 30, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Clifford Stanley writes that military chaplains “may participate or officiate any private ceremony” provided local or state law doesn’t prohibit such ceremonies.

The guidance further clarifies that chaplains are not required to participate in a private ceremony if doing so is contrary to their religious beliefs. Additionally, the guidance says a chaplain’s participation in such ceremonies doesn’t constitute an endorsement of the ceremony by the Pentagon.

In another memo, dated Sept. 21, Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson says the determination on whether to use a military base facility for a private function should be made on “a sexual-orientation neutral basis” as long as such use isn’t prohibited by local or state laws.

Johnson adds that such ceremonies won’t be official activities of the Pentagon, and the act of making base facilities available does not constitute an endorsement by the Defense Department.

LGBT advocates celebrated the memos from the Pentagon as the declaration of Gay service members’ right to marry.

The Forum on the Military Chaplaincy, a group led by retired military chaplains, hailed the announcement that the Pentagon would allow chaplains to conduct any ceremonies permitted by their faith in military chapels.

Chaplain Colonel Paul Dodd, U.S. Army (Ret.), issued a statement on behalf of the Forum on the Military Chaplaincy. Dodd, founder and co-chair of the Forum, served 31 years as an Army chaplain, including a tour as command chaplain for the Army Medical Command.

“This is an affirmation of the pluralism, respect and commitment to America’s troops - all of them - that has always been a hallmark of our military chaplains,” said Dodd. “The Pentagon has rightly concluded that chaplains must continue to have the freedom to conduct wedding and religious rituals according to the dictates of their faith, and that of their service members. It was a bold and historic movement to secure the free exercise of religion for all of America’s troops, and to protect the historic role of military chaplains to perform and provide for the religious needs of our service members.”

The Forum on the Military Chaplaincy advocates for a “professional and pluralistic” military chaplaincy, representing all faiths and supporting all troops, including those who are LGBT. The Forum provided input to the Pentagon’s Working Group on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal Implementation.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) – the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights organization – praised the Pentagon’s decision to allow military chaplains to perform wedding ceremonies in jurisdictions where they are legal, and when performing such weddings is consistent with their faith traditions “We applaud the Department of Defense for protecting the religious freedoms of all military chaplains,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “As we move into a new era of open service, today’s decision by the Department of Defense ensures that all military families, including Lesbian and Gay military families, have equal access to military facilities.”

Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, said the guidance “strikes the right balance” between allowing Gay service members to marry and respect for religious beliefs.

“We are pleased the Department of Defense has made it clear that a military chaplain is allowed to perform any lawful ceremony that is consistent with his or her beliefs and is not required to perform a ceremony that is inconsistent with those beliefs,” Sarvis said. “We are also pleased that access to military facilities will be granted on a sexual-orientation-neutral basis.”

Sarvis continued, “The guidance issued today strikes the right balance between respecting the faith traditions of chaplains and affording all service members the same rights under current law. This is another logical step in the direction of full equality for Gay and Lesbian service members, and we hope the Department will continue to move down that path.”

Congress,” he said. “We had to hold a coalition together. We had to keep up the pressure. We took some flak along the way. But with the help of HRC, we got it done. And ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is history. And all over the world, there are men and women serving this country just as they always have -- with honor and courage and discipline and valor. We got it done. All around the world, you’ve got Gays and Lesbians who are serving, and the only difference is now they can put up a family photo. No one has to live a lie to serve the country they love.”

Stopping short of endorsing same-sex marriage, Obama vowed, once again, to get rid of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). “I vowed to keep up the fight against the so-called Defense of Marriage Act. There’s a bill to repeal this discriminatory law in Congress, and I want to see that passed,” he said. “But until we reach that day, my administration is no longer defending DOMA in the courts. I believe the law runs counter to the Constitution, and it’s time for it to end once and for all. It should join ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ in the history books.”

Before asking the audience to help him get the economy back on track, Obama touched on LGBT youth. “…We also have to keep sending a message to every young person in this country who might feel alone or afraid because they’re Gay or Transgender - who may be getting picked on or pushed around because they’re different,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure they know that there are adults they can talk to; that they are never alone; that there is a whole world waiting for them filled with possibility. That’s why we held a summit at the White House on bullying. That’s why we’re going to continue to focus on this issue.”

“This isn’t just ‘kids being kids.’ It’s wrong. It’s destructive. It’s never acceptable,” he continued. “And I want all those kids to know that the President and the First Lady are standing right by them every inch of the way. I want them to know that we love them and care about them, and they’re continued from cover not by themselves. That’s what I want them to know.” what we have to do; we’ve got more work Whether you support Obama or not, or ahead of us.” think he’s not done enough for the Gay comObama appropriately spoke of the strug- munity, he’s pledged once again to continue gle to repeal DADT – a momentous win for fighting for LGBT equality. With an election the LGBT community and the president. year looming, Obama – due mainly to the “Many questioned whether we’d succeed in economy – has a tough campaign ahead for repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’ And, yes, reelection. Will the Gays turn out the vote it took two years to get the repeal through for Obama? Only time will tell.

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