SGN December 13, 2013 - Section 1

Issue 50 Volume 41

Celebrating 40 Years!

FRIDAY December 13, 2013 FREE! 25¢ in bookstores & newsstands

President Obama’s speech at Nelson Mandela’s memorial

Sec 1 Pg. 12

Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

India recriminalizes Gay sex

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

see india page 9

REUTERS / Anindito Mukherjee

India’s Supreme Court said on December 11 that Gay sex should remain a crime, reversing a 2009 court ruling that decriminalized same-sex relations.

In the case of Kumar Kaushal v. Naz Foundation, the top court upheld Section 377, an 1861 law that forbids “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with man, woman or animal.” The law, passed by the British when they controlled India, makes Gay sex punishable by 10 years in prison.

In 2009, the Delhi High Court ruled that the law violates constitutional guarantees of equality, privacy, and freedom of expression, but the Supreme Court vacated the lower court ruling.

While it did not say definitively that Section 377 was constitutional, the Indian Supreme Court said that only Parliament can change that law. Legislative repeal of Section 377 is considered unlikely since the conservative Hindu nationalist party, Bharatiya Janata, seems poised to win upcoming parliamentary elections.

Anjali Gopalan, founder of the Naz Foundation that sued to overturn the law against Gay sex, said she was shocked by the ruling.

“This is taking many, many steps back,” Gopalan told BBC News.

“The Supreme Court has not just let down the LGBT community, but the Constitution of India.”

India’s national government filed contradictory briefs during the many years of legal wrangling around the case, although its most recent position was that Section 377 should be struck down.

Indira Jaisigh, an assistant solicitor general of India, said in a televised interview that she was surprised that the Supreme Court decided to punt on the underlying legal case, given the court’s longstanding reputation for judicial activism.

“They have never been deterred by the argument that the government, the legislature, or the executive has not done this or that on other policy matters,” she said.

A coalition of Indian LGBT rights groups condemned the decision and promised to keep fighting Gay rights activists wave flags and shout slogans as they attend a protest against a verdict by the Supreme Court in New Delhi December 11, 2013.

Atasha Manila sends help home English weddings Local drag entertainer participates in second benefit for Philippines relief effort

Louie Alfajora, was born in Danao City, Cebu, Philippines. He moved to the U.S. in November 2001 where he was reunited with his mom, dad and oldest sister.

Louie is known to few. His drag persona, Atasha Manila, however, is known to many.

As an entertainer, Atasha Manila is an audience’s dream; funny, fierce, and beautiful, Atasha is everything drag performers are most known for and then some. She understands physical comedy, “giving good face,” and when she hits her stride she can hold the attention and command the adoration of an audience like no other. But, just like it is for any entertainer or public figure, when the lights shut off and the audience shuffles home, the wig comes off and Louie Alfajora washes off Atasha.

While he is both a man and a female illusionist artist – his family called Louie, not Atasha, when they asked for his help. Without skipping a beat, Louie Alfajora donned Atasha Manila, to do what so many drag queens have done for so many years – raise money and awareness to help out those in

courtesy huffington post

facebook

Atasha Manila

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

to begin in March

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

The first Gay and Lesbian weddings can begin in England and Wales on March 29, 2014, UK Equalities Minister Maria Miller announced on December 10.

Beginning in June 2014, British couples will also be able to celebrate same-sex weddings in some British consulates and armed forces bases overseas, and in military chapels.

Same-sex marriages were initially scheduled to begin in sumsee manila page 6 mer 2014, but will now be able to

start months earlier, BBC News reported. Couples who wish to marry on the first day possible will have to post formal notice of their intentions by March 13.

“Marriage is one of our most important institutions, and from 29 March 2014 it will be open to everyone, irrespective of whether they fall in love with someone of the same sex or opposite sex,” Miller told reporters.

“This is just another step in the evolution of marriage and I know that many couples up and down see england page 9

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Seattle Gay News

December 13, 2013

Celebrating 40 Years!

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December 13, 2013

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Editor In Chief George Bakan Associate Editor Shaun Knittel Calendar Editors Mike Andrew and Rick McKinnon Travel Editor George Bakan Advertising Manager Marty Weisbrod Advertising Department Maggie Bloodstone, Tym Brown, Tim Moffett Executive Assistant Mike Andrew Staff Writers Mike Andrew, Miryam Gordon, Anthony Greer, Shaun Knittel, Albert Rodriguez, James Whitely Contributing Writers Rev. Barbara Allen, Eric Andrews-Katz, Madelyn Arnold, Maggie Bloodstone, Beau Burriola, Jessica Davis, Ron Anders, Jessica Price, Milton W. Hamlin, Scott Wittet, Nevin Jefferson, Jason A. Miller, Liz Meyer, Rod Parke, Don Paulson, Scott Rice,Leslie Robinson, Richard Kennedy, Rex Wockner

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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.

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

op-ed Love and Sex

by Beau Burriola SGN Contributing Writer Kev From the first moment we met, we fell into an immediate heart comfort, wrapping around each other in perfect humor and a wondrous, effortless existence. For weeks we laughed about everything, we basked in the warmth and enjoyment of simple proximity to one another and our histories and the more we discovered, the more we explored. We met one another’s friends and everyone approved. I could easily imagine years from now when our families would meet, or the trips we would take, or the birthdays we would celebrate – and I fell quickly into the certainty of that dream.

Moments away from you were filled with daydreams about the songs I’d write about you and the look on your face when I’d sing them.

So big and enveloping was our start that we ignored the seemingly small problem of sex. After all, we thought, it must be one

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

Ken Campbell / seattle gay news

of those things that shouldn’t be a problem eventually, least of all when the heart goes All In. But as effortlessly as our hearts were dancing a tango with the stars, our bodies were locked in an awkward one step, forced to dance one song too long. Each date put our hearts in deeper than our bodies were willing to go.

One morning, in the warmth of an embrace of hearts, barely touching one another, I faced the cold that was. For each dream of love there is a reality in sex and although the heart wants what the heart wants, you just can’t force the body to follow.

Sam What we had in common, more than anything else, was the people we knew. For weeks, we stumbled through our awkward jokes, clarified our misunderstandings and tried to inject warmth into our daily phone calls or text messages. Part of it was our different native languages and part of it was who we were, but in spite of our awkwardness, our attraction was obvious and elec-

trifying, so we continued. When we hit the bed, the whole world became clear and the effortless dance was so powerful that I fell into your existence as deep as I could go.

The moments away from you were so vivid in my mind that my body stirred at the faintest memory of a touch or sound and I spent my time daydreaming about the next time. But while our bodies were training for the Sex Olympics, the time spent in between clunked on in a bizarre deadness. We remained strangers and never quite stepped toward becoming familiar.

So big and enveloping was our attraction that we ignored all of the time out of bed and each date put our bodies in deeper than our hearts were prepared to go.

So one evening, in the fading warmth of our bodies’ embrace, I faced the cold that was. For every reality in sex there is a dream of love and although the body wants what the body wants, you can’t force the heart to follow. ************ I used to believe that if you found someone you loved, the rest would just be easy. It was the magic thing that made someone different from everyone else and the manifestation of that love would be sex that would stitch your souls together like the love-quote embroidered pillow on your bed.

I also used to believe that if you found someone who electrified you with every touch and kiss, that the electricity would find its way into your soul and you’d fall so deeply into that person that who they were would become part of you and manifest itself into a love that would merge you into one another against all difference.

But none of that is true.

We are all of us more than one person. We are hearts and bodies and minds and souls and everyone we come across potentially brings something out in us. There are times we want so badly for everything to work out that we force everything else against all logic, even up until the very moment when we know our efforts will fail. Eventually, the neglected parts of ourselves always rebel and reality wins out, leaving us a little heartbroken and hopefully, wiser.

“I’ve tried to become someone else for a while, only to discover that he, too, was me.” – Poet Stephen Dunn Beau Burriola is a thirty-something expat living in Belgium, rediscovering dating in a world of Different. beaubrent@gmail.com

December 13, 2013

Celebrating 40 Years!

Local news SOSea, Sinfinite, Fiat team up to spread holiday cheer

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Social Outreach Seattle (SOSea), the organization that I am founder and president of, is rooted in helping others. We do this by raising both awareness and money for causes that the community tells us are important to us all. During the holiday season, millions of Americans go without. They go without food, shelter, medicine and more.

While American consumerism reaches an all-time high – even on years as bad as the Great Recession of 2008 to 2010 – they are forgotten.

They aren’t forgotten by everyone, however. And within our capitalist society, not everyone subscribes to the notion of “take only, never give.” SOSea is proud to announce that we’ve teamed up with Fiat of Seattle at Southcenter and Sinfinite Events for Fiat of Seattle at Southcenter’s Holiday Drive on December 14 from noon to 5 p.m.

at Baltic Room (1207 Pine St.).

“Stop by and test drive a Fiat this Saturday at our pop-up location near Melrose and Pine on Capitol Hill and Fiat of Southcenter will donate $25 to YouthCare/Orion Center, SOSea or PAWS, in your name. You choose which charity will be the beneficiary,” said Sinfinite Productions in a press release.

“In addition to the test drive, we will be collecting gifts for the YouthCare holiday gift drive,” said Sinfinite. “These gifts will help homeless youth in one of the toughest times of the year. Nearly 40% of the homeless youth age 12-24 who seek help from YouthCare identify as LGBT.” Suggested gifts include (*any size): gift cards, new jeans & Carhartt work pants*, new boots and sneakers*, new socks and underwear*, hats, gloves & scarves*, coats*, fleece hoodies*, belts*, sleeping bags, backpacks, twin-size sheets and comforters, Mp3 players, headphones and earbuds, sleeping bags, backpacks, make-up &

State Supreme Court Justice Tom Chambers dies Voted in favor of marriage equality in Andersen case

file photo

mous court, finding that children in Washington’s foster care system have a constitutional right to be free from unreasonable risks of harm. The ruling prompted an overhaul of the state’s foster care system.

He was moved, he told Associated Press, by the story of one of the plaintiffs, a girl who graduated from high school with a 3.5 gradepoint average despite having been moved 22 times in seven years.

In a 2010 opinion, Chambers ordered a new trial for a Grant County boy convicted at age 12 of sexually molesting a young neighbor. Chambers wrote that the boy’s overworked public defender failed to investigate his case.

The boy was eventually exonerated, and the ruling led to new standards for how many cases public defenders can handle.

Washington Supreme Court Justice Tom Chambers Chambers was born in a small

by Mike Andrew house behind his father’s gas station in the SGN Staff Writer Yakima Valley, and grew up working on cars.

Retired Supreme Court Justice Tom He graduated from Washington State UniChambers died of cancer on December 11. versity and from the University of WashingHe was 70. ton School of Law, then spent three decades Chambers was one of four justices who in private practice before being elected to dissented in Andersen v. King County, the the court in 2000. He also served as presi2006 case in which the majority of the state dent of the state bar association.

Supreme Court ruled that Gay and Lesbian As a successful trial lawyer Chambers couples do not have a constitutional right to represented clients suing over product and marry. highway safety issues, and he helped win In retaliation for his vote for marriage money for nursing home residents who equality, right-wing judge Jeanette Burrage sought to return to their own homes. ran against Chambers in his next election, “Being a lawyer has afforded me many but he trounced her by 17 points. opportunities to make a difference and I Most of Chambers’ rulings indicated a have had a very, very rewarding career,” he firm commitment to individual rights. wrote. “I represented real people caught in In Braam v. State, for example, Cham- the grip of the law, usually through no fault bers wrote a landmark opinion for a unani- of their own.”

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nail polish, art supplies, African-American hair care products, dish sets, bath towels, kitchen appliances.

Also, throughout the hours of this event, be sure to pop inside The Baltic Room for even more holiday cheer!

Get your photos taken with Santa benefiting PAWS, holiday gift-wrapping benefiting Social Outreach Seattle, and coffee, tea, and treats will be available from Bauhaus Cof-

fee.

And in the evening from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., stop by Baltic Room for a hosted bar holiday cocktail reception from Fiat of Seattle as a special thank you to everyone who testdrives or donates a gift throughout the day.

Music will be provided by DJ Bret Law. All are welcome to attend; however, only the people who test drove a Fiat can benefit from the hosted bar service.

TAX LOOP HOLE UNFAIR This morning while listening to Amy Goodman on “Democracy Now” I learned something very disturbing. There is a tax loop hole which allows companies such as McDonald’s to write-off tens of millions of dollars paid to CEOs for performance, even when their performance results in losses for the company.

This, on top of those of us who are working for a living and those of us now retired but still paying top rates in taxes, make me very angry. This, on top of us in the middle having to subsidize low wage earners in the form of food stamps and housing subsidies is in deed another reason capitalism in its present form, has to go.

It has been obvious to me, starting with the presidency of Ronald Reagan, that none of our institutions, including the media, are working for the benefit of all the people, but are controlled by an elite who have only their best interest at heart. The fact that pensioners are now being asked to make major sacrifices, while those who made the decisions that have brought the country to the brink of financial melt down continue to accumulate more and more income and wealth for themselves, can only lead to a total break down of society.

There are many lessons in history to support this.

The latest polls showing that 52% of Americans now think we should mind our own business and stay out of the affairs of other countries give me some hope that people are finally coming to their senses and becoming aware that economic inequality is the major threat to our society and not social issues such as same sex marriage or abortion.

Common sense should tell us that any society which ignores fair treatment and economic security for all its people is eventually shooting itself in the foot.

One last point: History has clearly shown that violence including wars is no long term solution to any problem but only creates violent reactions which lead to more

problems.

December 13, 2013

George Whitaker Bellevue THE HANDSHAKE Regarding the handshake seen around the world: I fully support President Obama’s handshake with President Raul Castro of Cuba. It is a handshake President Mandela would have fully appreciated. It was a fitting addition to the tributes being afforded to the memory of the first black President of South Africa from the first black President of the United States. Any one having a problem with the gesture should take a good look in the mirror at him or herself.

I listened to the speeches given by President Obama, the President of Brazil and the President of Cuba and each pleased me very much. President Obama represented himself and this country quite well. He once again showed the world that he has a clear picture of the reality of the world as it is today. One can only hope that the media will use this opportunity to inform the public of why Cuba is held in such high esteem by the people of South Africa, that the media will report the other side of that fight.

I find it so hypocritical: [America’s] blind support of truly repressive governments, like that found in Saudi Arabia, which has so many obvious laws restricting the rights of women, homosexuals, religious freedom, etc., while putting all kinds of restrictions on Cuba, which has done far more for its citizens since the overthrow of an oppressive dictator who was supported fully by the United States, a country that restricted the rights of its citizens of African decent.

America is very afraid of any country which puts the rights of people above that of corporations, any country that allows all of its citizens a say in government policies, etc.

George Whitaker Bellevue

Seattle Gay News

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manila

continued from cover need.

On November 30, enlisting the help of some of Seattle’s best drag, burlesque, and live vocal entertainers, Atasha Manila and drag icon Aleksa Manila produced Coast to Coast, a benefit for the people of the Philippines affected by the deadly typhoon that ravaged the island weeks earlier.

For Atasha, the night was an emotional affair. After all, she is not only from the Philippines, but currently has friends and family living in an area of the islands that was hit by the record setting storm. Luckily, her family was evacuated to higher ground, where they remained safe and away from the massive waves that pounded the beaches near their homes by the water. However, their homes were already damaged by an earthquake that happened a mere two weeks prior to the typhoon hitting the islands.

The early morning hours of November 8, when the Typhoon Haiyan came barreling down on the Philippines, all Atasha could do was watch and wait for word of their safety or demise. Because when a typhoon that holds winds that set records – at least 3,976 people were killed and nearly 2 million displaced by the floods and winds up to nearly 200 mph – all you can do is hope, and pray, and try your damndest to survive.

“Knowing that I couldn’t help them during the storm made me feel worthless,” Atasha Manila told Seattle Gay News in an interview prior to the Coast to Coast benefit.

“I couldn’t do anything else but cry hysterically at work. I prayed with all of my heart for their safety.”

Atasha told SGN her relatives are known

Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines on November 6 causing catastrophic damage

for being easy going, supportive and caring.

“Everybody always pitches in to help when someone is in need,” she said. “Whether it’s food, medicine or shelter, we feel that you cannot afford to let anyone go hungry or be sick and without shelter – no matter how big or little we have, we will help.”

“My family is everything to me,” said Atasha. “They are my motivation and the reason why I work hard every day. Everything that I do is not just for me, but also for them. They give me hope and strength to fight through obstacles in life.”

Knowing that they have to struggle to find something to eat each day has kept Atasha grounded. She knew that what she had to do was turn her tears and sorrow into action – but she also knew she couldn’t do it alone. That’s when Aleksa Manila, Atasha’s drag mother, stepped in and helped mold the successful fundraiser.

“When my drag daughter (Atasha) approached me about doing something about the typhoon relief efforts in the Philippines, my quick response was a resounding ‘Yes!’ I wasn’t too particular of how we were going to do it, but just the fact that we were going to do something about it was enough to commit to it,” Aleksa Manila told Seattle

Gay News in a story published December 6.

“In a matter of days, she was able to gather close to 20 performers who were so generous and eager to help the cause. I couldn’t be happier,” she said.

Sometimes, when donations are received from charity events, people who are bigoted will literally turn away the patrons instead of accepting the gift and good sentiments.

Atasha says that, thankfully, “It doesn’t really matter if someone is Gay or straight; when it comes to Filipino traits and tradi-

cluding top U.S. and European brands, astounded the world and became a symbol of excess in the Southeast Asian nation, where many still walked barefoot out of abject poverty.

Now, due to the typhoon, millions of people have been displaced and help is still very much needed.

“Those millions of people affected by the typhoon are still hopeful and waiting for more help to come,” Atasha said. “Those people severely affected by the typhoon have lost everything. Now, many of them are forced to steal in order to provide food and shelter for their family. It is never too late to help.”

Coast to Coast raised nearly $3,000 and Atasha Manila donated the money directly to the people in need, instead of funneling it through a larger agency, who then would take a piece of the pie.

“I can’t thank the donors enough for their kindness and generous hearts,” she said.

“The donations made me feel so hopeful and happy knowing that they are going to be used by the people that need it the most.

I feel a heavy weight of guilt that was lifted off my back because of this.”

With the conversion of the U.S. dollar to the Filipino peso and the cost of living in the Philippines, the donation is enough to provide a meal for over 500 families on the islands.

“I know we can do more and I will do my best to help more,” she said.

On Sunday, December 15, from 4–6 p.m. at the Filipino Community Center (5740 Martin Luther King Jr. Way), Atasha will join producers Karl Reyes and Aleksa Manila for “Hands On: One Note At A Time,” a benefit for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan. There is a $10 suggested donation at the door. You can purchase tickets directly at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ event/519215.

“It’s been over 12 years since I’ve been back home and I am planning to go back and visit with my mom September of next year,” said Atasha.

“I miss my brothers, sisters and their kids so much. But I am thankful they are all alive,” she said, noting that for many other Filipinos, the case might not be the same.

“Filipinos are happy people. Though we struggle in life, we still try to live it happily every day.” tions, family is priority.”

“Being Gay is a part of who I am. The person I have become is with the help of the people that I surround myself with; they’ve molded me,” she said. “And even though I live in the U.S., I always hold near my heart, the people I left behind in the Philippines.”

Often, whenever people in Seattle talk about the Philippines, two things come up: “That lady with all of those shoes” or Lumpia (Philippine eggrolls that might possibly be the best food ever!). Obviously, there’s more to the people and culture than that. “Your readers should know that Filipinos are resilient, hopeful, intelligent, talented people, even though we are always underestimated.”

“Filipinos love to feed everybody, even if they only have a little,” she continued. “Filipinos are happy people. Though we struggle in life, we still try to live it happily every day.”

And as for, Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of dictator Ferdinand Marcos (the two were forced to leave the Philippines during a people’s revolt in 1986), otherwise known as, “that lady with all of those shoes,” Atasha says, “her husband was replaced by the first female president of the Philippines.”

Ferdinand Marcos’ rule was infamous; he died in exile in Hawaii in 1989. The widowed Imelda Marcos returned to the Philippines shortly thereafter. Her shoe collection however, is more widely known than his dictatorship. Her massive shoe collection, said to be in the region of 3,000 pairs, in-

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Seattle Gay News

December 13, 2013

Celebrating 40 Years!

national news

An LGBT hero and the people who tried to keep him in the closet Rep. Mike Fleck: PA’s first out lawmaker, one year later In his first interview with the LGBT press, Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Fleck (R-81st Dist.) spoke to PGN about the professional and personal whirlwind he found himself in after December 1, 2012, when he became Pennsylvania’s first openly LGBT state lawmaker, and the first out sitting Republican state legislator in the nation.

Fleck, who hails from and represents a rural area of Central Pennsylvania, came out in an interview with his local newspaper last year, making state and national history, and taking the next step in his own storied journey to self-acceptance.

Fleck, 40, was raised in Cromwell Township, about 80 miles west of Harrisburg, and still lives on the farm once owned by his ancestors.

“My farm here belonged to my grandfather and his grandfather before that,” Fleck said. “Family was always important to me, traditions and different things like that. I heard stories from all of my ancestors and it all just became family folklore.”

The area where he was raised is in the heart of Pennsylvania’s farm country, with the closest neighbors a mile away.

“It wasn’t like even in a small town where you have neighbors alongside you and everyone knows each other,” Fleck said. “It was a very rural community.”

Fleck said he came up in a time when the social stigma surrounding LGBT identity was pervasive.

“As a child in the ’70s and ’80s, socially [being Gay] was just considered wrong. You didn’t see great, positive, prominent Gay men and women out there, especially not in rural communities. The locals here didn’t even think Liberace was Gay. My version of Gay in the early years was more of the flamboyance and drag queens – not that there’s anything wrong with drag queens, God bless ’em – but what I thought it meant to be Gay wasn’t anything I could relate to.”

Religion also played a role in his suppressing his burgeoning sexual identity as an adolescent.

Fleck was raised in an evangelical Christian family, and said he was exposed to pervasive anti-Gay messages rooted in religion.

“I grew up in a home where I was taught Gay people burn in hell,” he said. “No one wants to burn in hell.”

The lack of exposure to positive LGBT images, Fleck said, made his own recognition of his sexual orientation itself a struggle.

“I always knew I was different, I just certainly couldn’t identify my version of different as Gay,” he said. “I grew up where you get married and you have kids. That’s what you did. When it came to homosexuality, I didn’t know that I was not not Gay, if that makes sense. Whatever I felt, I just thought, you get married and you keep it in check and it goes away.”

So Fleck embarked on that journey.

He attended the evangelical Christian Liberty University, where he studied history and youth ministry. Upon his 1995 graduation, he went on to become a district executive for the Boy Scouts of America.

Fleck’s family had deep roots in the local Republican Party, and he recalled his interest in public office germinating from as young as age 9, when he would read the newspaper, especially the political section, to his grandfather, who was nearly blind.

Fleck was elected in 2006 after the retirement of his predecessor and took office the following January. He went on be re-elected three times, most recently in November 2012.

But, during that time, he continued to struggle with his sexual identity, a fight that nearly overtook him.

Fleck married in 2002 but, after several years, still wasn’t able to quell his same-sex attraction.

“I thought that it would be OK as long as I didn’t act on it, that it would go away. I made great strides professionally, I married my best friend and it was just always like that gnat in my ear: I knew it was there. I don’t think being Gay is a choice but I chose not to act on it and thought that, as long as I suppressed it with work and family and didn’t have to face facts, it would be OK. But after I got married, it was like, OK, this isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It didn’t go away. I like to tackle problems head-on.

So it was like, OK, this is a problem. And it wasn’t fair to my ex, nor to me. I became increasingly depressed and even suicidal.”

Fleck sought counseling from a number of sources over several years.

In a “last-ditch effort,” he attended a week-long intensive-therapy program several years ago that he likened to reparative therapy.

“I went in with an open mind and thought, ‘At the end of the week, I’m going to decide if I’m Gay or straight.’ That’s how I decide a lot of things: I want to make a decision and stick with it, live with it and move on. Deep down, I wanted to believe it was a choice and I could figure out how to continue as I

file photo

by Jen Colletta, Philadelphia Gay News

Pennsylvania Representative Mike Fleck

I at the time remotely think that made me Gay. But thinking back and remembering all of those experiences, I came out of that week finally seeing, ‘OK, I’m Gay. Now what?’”

Among the next things to consider, Fleck said, was the effect of his realization on his religious life.

“Reconciling my faith and my sexuality

“Reconciling my faith and my sexuality has, I think, been the biggest hurdle for me. You start questioning this one part of yourself, and then you’re stuck questioning everything you know.

Right down to, “Is God real?” was and choose not to be Gay.” But his initial encounters with fellow participants weren’t very encouraging.

“The first several people I met in my group-therapy sessions the very first day were like, ‘Oh, you’ll love this, it’s really helpful,’ and I’m like, ‘Wait, you’ve done this before?’ and they were like, ‘Oh yeah, this is my second time.’ But I was like, ‘I’m only doing this once, girlfriend.’”

Much of the week was spent in reflection on past experiences, Fleck said, which functioned the opposite of how it was intended.

“You spent a lot of time going back.

Something that desperately helped me was remembering things like when I was at the county fair when I was 12, I asked for a photo of Burt Reynolds instead of Farrah Fawcett, like my friends did, as my prize. That didn’t make sense to me back then, nor did

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has, I think, been the biggest hurdle for me,” Fleck said. “You start questioning this one part of yourself, and then you’re stuck questioning everything you know. Right down to, “Is God real?” I had been to the point where I had hit rock bottom and wanted to do myself in because I couldn’t come up with answers. But I finally got to the point where I saw that I never chose this, it was always a part of me.”

Once he acknowledged his orientation, he began to tell his loved ones. While he said he long expected rejection from his family, he was surprised by their acceptance.

He and his wife divorced in 2011.

“That was very painful,” he said. “You’re divorcing your best friend and not because you don’t love each other, but because it’s no longer practical to stay married. It wasn’t your typical divorce with the, ‘I want out of

December 13, 2013

this and I hate your guts.’ Not that that’s not painful, because divorce is painful no matter what.”

Although he came out in his personal life, to friends and family, in other ways he was immersed in his newfound closet.

“It wasn’t until I really accepted I was Gay that I became a closet case, because before then, I didn’t know I was really Gay.” He began dating his current partner and, while the pair would attend family events as a couple, he kept his sexual identity separate from his professional life, although he did tell some staffers.

However, in May 2012, Fleck said, he began to have the first stirrings toward his public coming-out.

“I was happy where I was in life; I had a great partner, a job I loved. I didn’t want to be some big poster boy for Gay rights, especially in a district where 80 percent of the people are opposed to same-sex marriage.

I thought I’d choose my battles carefully, finish out my term and let it go at that,” he said. “But then, President Obama came out for marriage equality. There were a lot of talking heads on TV at that time and I was watching Piers Morgan one night and he had Tony Perkins of Family Research Council on, who’s also a Liberty University grad. Piers asked him what he’d do if his son came home and said he was Gay, and Perkins said that would never happen because he raised him right. That was the first time I really got this pit in my stomach; it just made me sick. I saw that I wasn’t helping anyone by being in the closet. I’ve always been very private in my private life, even though I’m on stage every day, but this see fleck page 16

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international news

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Australia’s High Court struck down a territorial law allowing Gay and Lesbian couples to marry, and ruled that same-sex marriages performed so far are annulled. Their decision was announced December 12.

Australia’s Capital Territory, which includes Canberra, the country’s capital, passed a law in September allowing samesex couples to marry. The law went into effect on December 7, but it had already been appealed to the country’s High Court.

In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that the federal parliament – not state and territorial authorities – had the right to legislate about marriage, and whether the right was extended to same-sex couples.

“The Marriage Act does not now provide for the formation or recognition of marriage between same-sex couples,” the court said.

“That Act is a comprehensive and exhaustive statement of the law of marriage,” it added.

“Under the constitution and federal law as it now stands, whether same-sex marriage should be provided for by law is a matter for the federal parliament.”

The decision means that the 27 couples who have married in Canberra since the law came into effect will have their marriages annulled as unconstitutional.

Outside the court building, equality supporters wept when the court decision was announced.

Ivan Hinton told reporters on scene that it was “personally devastating” to have his marriage to partner Chris Teoh struck down.

“In less than a week we’ve been mar-

ried and we’ve been unmarried, at least on a legal level,” he told BBC reporters as he fought back tears.

“We’re still married. I’ve made commitments to Chris to spend the rest of my life with him, through sickness and through health, in the good times and in the bad. Today’s not particularly good.”

In spite of the emotional toll on couples whose marriages have now been annulled, veteran LGBT rights activist Rodney Croome said the case represented major progress.

“Although there’s been a defeat for marriage equality in the High Court today, this week we’ve seen a much greater victory,” Mr Croome told Associated Press.

“For the first time ever same-sex couples have married on Australian soil. That has been a huge step forward and one from which there is no return.”

Instead of “protests or politics, or even laws and the constitution”, Croome said, the passage of new marriage laws in the Capital Territory showed that same-sex marriage was about “love, commitment, family and fairness.”

The ruling also gave activists a clear path forward, Croome added, putting the ball squarely in the parliament’s court, and affirming “for the first time ever” that lawmakers “definitely” had the power to make same-sex marriage legal.

“Many people had assumed that until now, but it has never been declared by the court,” he said.

While the court decision might clarify who is responsible for passing marriage legislation, there seems little chance that a marriage equality bill will make it through

Andrew Taylor / AFP via Getty Images

Australian court voids Canberra marriages

Ivan Hinton (r) and Chris Teoh hold their certificate after being married at Canberra’s Old Parliament House in Australia, on December 7, 2013

Australia’s parliament any time soon.

Conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whose party won this year’s parliamentary election, campaigned against same-sex marriage. Even within the opposition Labor Party, which officially supports equality, powerful members – including former Prime Minister Julia Gillard – oppose it.

A marriage equality bill introduced in 2012, when Labor controlled parliament, failed by a vote of 98 to 42, with Prime Min-

ister Gillard voting against it.

Public opinion, on the other hand, has been trending in favor of equality. An August 2013 poll found that 65% of respondents supported legalizing same-sex marriage, up 8 points since December 2011, while only 28% were opposed (down 7 points).

Support was greater among women (75%) than men (55%), and greater among younger voters than older voters.

Threats keep Igor Kochetkov from Human Rights First Summit

LGBT organization Coming Out

Igor Kochetkov in 2011

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tacks on activists and ordinary members of the LGBT community. We regularly receive threats to our address by right-wing extremists (including threats of bombing offices and venues). State television spreads false information about the anti-Russian character of our work. Just a few days ago, we received information about planned provocations on the part of right-wing radicals against the organization (the Russian LGBT Network). We have to take these threats very seriously, so I had to stay in Russia for an urgent response to possible incident.

“Unfortunately, right-wing groups working against us are supported by individual officials. The Russian state is not responding properly to crimes motivated by ethnic hatred and homophobia. Criminal proceedings in such crimes are either not executed, or are investigated without the hate motive.

The State today is not our ally in the protection of human rights, but rather is looking for any excuses (real or fictitious) for complications or termination of the activities of human rights organizations. In the near future, we will make a more detailed statement on these issues. Once again I express regret my inability to participate in the “I am very sorry that I can not be with you. Summit, and I wish you every success.”

A Human Rights First news release. www.

The current situation around LGBT organizations is seriously complicated, with at- humanrightsfirst.org WASHINGTON, D.C. – Igor Kochetkov, Chairman of the Russian LGBT Network, last week issued a statement making clear that threats against the Russian LGBT Network are preventing him from foreign travel. The revelation came today in a statement issued by Kochetkov after he was unexpectedly unable to participate in Human Rights First’s second annual Human Rights Summit taking place earlier this week in Washington, D.C. Kochetkov was scheduled to participate as a panelist for several sessions during the summit, including one that would address Russia’s LGBT crackdown ahead of the Sochi Olympics. “Igor’s absence from our summit only reinforces the urgency of addressing the deteriorating human rights situation human rights defenders in Russia are facing,” said Shawn Gaylord of Human Rights First. “When these defenders’ voices are silenced by governments seeking to limit human rights, our organization and others have a responsibility to amplify their message and work to protect their rights at home and abroad.” The following is the full text of Kochetkov’s statement with slight grammatical edits:

Celebrating 40 Years!

Straight German celebrities kiss to fight homophobia

Gauck, say they would boycott the Russian Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

It should be noted, however, that Germany’s presidency is largely ceremonial; Chancellor Angela Merkel oversees the government.

U.S. President Barack Obama rejected calls for the United States to boycott the Games, saying such a move would hurt American athletes who trained and sacrificed to qualify.

LGBT rights in Germany have been some of the most progressive and deplorable in Europe and in the world. During the 1920s, LGBT persons in Berlin were generally tolerated by society and many bars and clubs specifically catering to Gay men were opened. But during Adolf Hitler’s reign as

of the soldier(s) involved, while harassment or the abuse of functions is considered a transgression, as well as the performance of sexual acts in active service.

In Germany, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is illegal. Some states have anti-discrimination laws, including the constitutions of Berlin (since 1995), Brandenburg (since 1992) and Thuringia (since 1993), and Saxony-Anhalt in the public sector since 1997.

Germany is the first country in the world to include “gender identity” nationally in anti-discrimination laws. Transgender citizens have been allowed to change their legal gender since 1980.

Germany also became the first country in Europe to enact a law that allows German

“It is one thing to say Gay rights are human rights, but to actually stand up and take action in the public’s eye [is what] deserves credit.

What a creative and original way to get the point across.”

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor How far would your straight allies go to fight homophobia? Well, some of our allies in Germany went pretty far by making the unthinkable, “thinkable.” The editors at German GQ (Gentlemen’s Quarterly), GQ Deutschland, launched an exclusive photo campaign in which 13 well-known straight men from various industries are photographed together in intimacy for “Gentlemen Against Homophobia” for their January edition.

“The intolerance that homosexuals are still fighting against is shocking,” said José Redondo-Vega, GQ Germany’s Editor-inChief. “With #Mundpropaganda we wanted to give a clear sign in favor of a free society.”

Some of the German allies involved in the project include musician Herbert Grönemeyer, actors Ken Duken, Kostya Ullmann and August Diehl, members of the German hip-hop group Fettes Brot, and beach volleyball Olympic champion Julius Brink.

Monja Smith, a German citizen, commented on Instinct Magazine’s post about

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continued from cover for removal of all legal barriers to LGBT equality.

“It is a tragedy that this judgment forgets the vision of the founders of the Indian republic which was so eloquently captured by the Delhi High Court,” the groups said.

“By re-criminalizing LGBT persons the judgment ignores the spirit of inclusiveness which is the heart of the Indian Constitution as articulated by Jawaharlal Nehru…

“We proclaim that in spite of the judgment of the Supreme Court, the only way the LGBT movement will go is forward and the arc of history though long will turn towards justice,” their statement concludes.

“We pledge to continue this struggle with redoubled vigor till such time that Section 377 is consigned to where it belongs – the dustbins of history.”

The statement was signed by Voices Against 377, Alternative Law Forum, Adhikaar, and other petitioners including parents of LGBT persons, mental health pro-

the campaign, saying, “I am from Germany, and am very proud to say so right now! The people in the video are big names in Germany; truly known and well liked.”

“The idea is ingenious and everyone involved in this project deserves kudos,” she continued. “I say this, not because two straight men kissed in front of a camera, but because they truly showed backbone.

It is one thing to say Gay rights are human rights, but to actually stand up and take action in the public’s eye [is what] deserves credit. What a creative and original way to get the point across.”

In response to the campaign, GQ has received many requests that the editors of the U.S. publication start a campaign of their own.

“This story made me smile. They ‘get it,’” said a man who posted as Johnjon. “GQ should do the same photo shoot in the U.S.” LGBT RIGHTS IN GERMANY I have to admit, an American campaign would be pretty cool. But the truth is, we’d be playing catch up with our German counterparts; Germany became the first nation to have its head of state, President Joachim fessionals, academics, and law professors.

On the other side, S. Q. R. Ilyas, a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, which had filed a petition in the case asking that the lower court decision be reversed, praised the ruling.

“These relationships are unethical as well as unnatural,” Ilyas said. “They create problems in society, both moral and social. This is a sin as far as Islam is concerned.”

Legal experts said that Section 377 is rarely enforced in India, but the police sometimes use it to bully and intimidate Gay men and Lesbians. In rare cases, public health organizations that distribute condoms to help prevent the spread of HIV have had their work interrupted because such efforts are technically illegal under the law.

The US LGBT rights organization All Out also issued a statement condemning the Indian court’s decision.

“This is a sad day for India and for the world,” Joe Mirabella, Director of Communications for All Out, said. “No one should have to go to jail because of who they are or who they love. We stand in solidarity with India’s human rights community.

Visit us online www.sgn.org

Germany’s “supreme leader” in the ‘30s and ‘40s, LGBT persons became one of the most targeted victims during the Holocaust.

Although same-sex sexual activity between men was already made illegal under Paragraph 175 by the German Empire in 1871, Nazi Germany extended these laws during World War II, which resulted in the persecution and deaths of thousands of Gay citizens.

The Nazi extensions were repealed in 1950 and all laws criminalizing same-sex sexual activity between men were decriminalized in both East and West Germany in 1968 and 1969.

The age of consent was equalized in both East and West Germany in 1987 and 1988.

Gays and Lesbians are not banned from military service.

In 2000, First Lieutenant Winfried Stecher, an army officer demoted for being Gay, filed a lawsuit against former Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping. Scharping vowed to fight the claim in court, claiming that homosexuality “raises serious doubts about suitability and excludes employment in all functions pertaining to leadership.” However, before the case went to trial, the Defense Ministry reversed the discriminatory policy.

The German government declined to issue an official explanation for the reversal.

Nowadays, according to general military orders given in the year 2000, tolerance towards all sexual orientations is considered to be part of the duty of military personnel.

Sexual relationships and acts amongst soldiers outside service times, regardless of the sexual orientation, are defined to be “irrelevant,” regardless of the rank and function

citizens to choose to neither identify as male or female on their birth certificate, which has been said to specifically benefit hermaphrodites and intersex persons.

Although same-sex marriage is not yet legal in Germany, registered partnerships for same-sex couples have been legal since 2001 and greatly mirror Washington State’s former Domestic Partnership law and the Extended Domestic Partnership Law, because it provides the same rights that opposite-sex married couples receive.

Same-sex step adoption has also been legal since 2004; however, joint adoption has not yet been legislated.

Despite two of the three political parties in the German government being socially conservative on the issues of LGBT rights, Germany is often viewed as one of the most Gay-friendly countries in the world. Recent polls have indicated that a majority of Germans support same-sex marriage. In one 2013 poll, 87% of Germans viewed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, which was the second highest in the world following Spain.

Berlin, in particular, has been referred to by many publications as one of the most Gay-friendly cities in the world. The mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, is one of the most famous – if not the most famous – openly Gay man in Germany.

To see video footage from the GQ Deutschland photo shoot, visit http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=RkhvYintpJ0.

You can check out the #Mundpropaganda campaign online at http://www.gq-magazin. de/unterhaltung/stars/mundpropagandakuessen-kann-man-nicht-alleine.

“Sadly this ruling now brings the total number of countries that make it a crime to be [LGBT] from 76 to 77. It’s essential that we bring that number to zero. No person should have to sacrifice their family or freedom, safety or dignity, because of who they are or who they love.”

date.”

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of the LGBT rights group Stonewall, said he was “delighted” at the announcement.

“This historic step will mean that, for the first time, every Gay person in England and Wales will finally enjoy exactly the same rights as their heterosexual friends and family,” he said.

Under the terms of the marriage law enacted in July this year, the Church of England, which had objected to marrying samesex couples, is forbidden to perform Gay or Lesbian weddings. In November, however, a commission of seven Anglican bishops proposed that the church hold “blessing” ceremonies for same-sex couples who have been married in civil weddings.

Other denominations may “opt in” to same-sex weddings, but no religious institution is required to perform them Scotland, which has been internally selfgoverning since 1998, is not under the British marriage law, but a separate same-sex marriage law has passed an initial vote in the Scottish parliament and is expected to be enacted in 2014.

england

continued from cover the country will be hugely excited that they can now plan for their big day and demonstrate their love and commitment to each other by getting married.”

Miller added that she was “working hard” to ensure that couples who wanted to convert civil partnerships into marriages, and married people who wanted to change their legal gender while remaining married, would be able to do so before the end of next year.

Liberal Democratic Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg Tweeted “Great news that same sex weddings will happen from 29th March 2014 #savethe-

December 13, 2013

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Celebrating 40 Years!

Enchanting Romantic Home in Kirkland’s Yarrow Point Community Offered at $978,000

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Jayne DeHaan RE/MAX Metro Realty 206-963-3877 ladyj@jaynedehaan.com

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President Obama’s remarks at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in South Africa from the corridors of power, a boy raised herding cattle and tutored by the elders of his Thembu tribe, Madiba would emerge as the last great liberator of the 20th century.

Like Gandhi, he would lead a resistance movement – a movement that at its start had little prospect for success. Like Dr. King, he would give potent voice to the claims of the oppressed and the moral necessity of racial justice. He would endure a brutal imprisonment that began in the time of Kennedy and Khrushchev, and reached the final days of the Cold War. Emerging from prison, without the force of arms, he would – like Abraham Lincoln – hold his country together when it threatened to break apart.

And like America’s Founding Fathers, he would erect a constitutional order to preserve freedom for future generations – a commitment to democracy and rule of law ratified not only by his election, but by his willingness to step down from power after only one term.

Given the sweep of his life, the scope of his accomplishments, the adoration that he so rightly earned, it’s tempting, I think, to remember Nelson

voa

First National Bank Stadium Johannesburg, South Africa December 10, 2013 To Graça Machel and the Mandela family; to President Zuma and members of the government; to heads of states and government, past and present; distinguished guests – it is a singular honor to be with you today, to celebrate a life like no other. To the people of South Africa – people of every race and walk of life – the world thanks you for sharing Nelson Mandela with us. His struggle was your struggle. His triumph was your triumph.

Your dignity and your hope found expression in his life. And your freedom, your democracy is his cherished legacy.

It is hard to eulogize any man – to capture in words not just the facts and the dates that make a life, but the essential truth of a person – their private joys and sorrows; the quiet moments and unique qualities that illuminate someone’s soul.

How much harder to do so for a giant of history, who moved a nation toward justice, and in the process moved billions around the world.

Born during World War I, far

Mandela as an icon, smiling and serene, detached from the tawdry affairs of lesser men. But Madiba himself strongly resisted such a lifeless portrait. Instead, Madiba insisted on sharing with us his doubts and his fears; his miscalculations along with his victories. “I am not a saint,” he said, “unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”

It was precisely because he could admit to imperfection – because he could be so full of good humor, even mischief, despite the

all persons live together in harmony and [with] equal opportunities. It is an ideal, which I hope to live for and to achieve.

But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Mandela taught us the power of action, but he also taught us the power of ideas; the importance of reason and arguments; the need to study not only those who you agree with, but also those who you don’t agree with. He understood that ideas cannot be contained by prison walls, or ex-

“There is a word in South Africa – Ubuntu – a word that captures Mandela’s greatest gift: his recognition that we are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eye; that there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others, and caring for those around us.” heavy burdens he carried – that we loved him so. He was not a bust made of marble; he was a man of flesh and blood – a son and a husband, a father and a friend. And that’s why we learned so much from him, and that’s why we can learn from him still.

For nothing he achieved was inevitable. In the arc of his life, we see a man who earned his place in history through struggle and shrewdness, and persistence and faith. He tells us what is possible not just in the pages of history books, but in our own lives as well.

Mandela showed us the power of action; of taking risks on behalf of our ideals. Perhaps Madiba was right that he inherited, “a proud rebelliousness, a stubborn sense of fairness” from his father. And we know he shared with millions of black and colored South Africans the anger born of, “a thousand slights, a thousand indignities, a thousand unremembered moments … a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people,” he said.

But like other early giants of the ANC [African National Congress] – the Sisulus and Tambos – Madiba disciplined his anger and channeled his desire to fight into organization, and platforms, and strategies for action, so men and women could stand up for their God-given dignity. Moreover, he accepted the consequences of his actions, knowing that standing up to powerful interests and injustice carries a price. “I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I’ve cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which

tinguished by a sniper’s bullet. He turned his trial into an indictment of apartheid because of his eloquence and his passion, but also because of his training as an advocate. He used decades in prison to sharpen his arguments, but also to spread his thirst for knowledge to others in the movement.

And he learned the language and the customs of his oppressor so that one day he might better convey to them how their own freedom depended upon his.

Mandela demonstrated that action and ideas are not enough. No matter how right, they must be chiseled into law and institutions. He was practical, testing his beliefs against the hard surface of circumstance and history. On core principles he was unyielding, which is why he could rebuff offers of unconditional release, reminding the Apartheid regime that “prisoners cannot enter into contracts.”

But as he showed in painstaking negotiations to transfer power and draft new laws, he was not afraid to compromise for the sake of a larger goal. And because he was not only a leader of a movement but a skillful politician, the Constitution that emerged was worthy of this multiracial democracy, true to his vision of laws that protect minority as well as majority rights, and the precious freedoms of every South African.

And finally, Mandela understood the ties that bind the human spirit. There is a word in South Africa – Ubuntu – a word that captures Mandela’s greatest gift: his recognition that we are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eye; that there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others, and caring for those around us.

We can never know how much of this sense was innate in him, or how much was shaped in a dark and solitary cell. But we remember the gestures, large and small – introducing his jailers as honored guests at his inauguration; taking a pitch in a Springbok uniform; turning his family’s heartbreak into a call to confront HIV/AIDS – that revealed the depth of his empathy and his understanding. He not only embodied Ubuntu, he taught millions to find that truth within themselves.

President Barack Obama speaks at the memorial service for former South African president Nelson Mandela at the FNB Stadium in Soweto near Johannesburg, Dec. 10, 2013.

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Celebrating 40 Years!

It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailer as well – to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you; to teach that reconciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cruel past, but a means of confronting it with inclusion and generosity and truth. He changed laws, but he also changed hearts.

For the people of South Africa, for those he inspired around the globe, Madiba’s passing is rightly a time of mourning, and a time to celebrate a heroic life. But I believe it should also prompt in each of us a time for self-reflection. With honesty, regardless of our station or our circumstance, we must ask: How well have I applied his lessons in my own life? It’s a question I ask myself, as a man and as a President.

We know that, like South Africa, the United States had to overcome centuries of racial subjugation. As was true here, it took sacrifice – the sacrifice of countless people, known and unknown, to see the dawn of a new day. Michelle and I are beneficiaries of that struggle. But in America, and in South Africa, and in countries all around the globe, we cannot allow our progress to cloud the fact that our work is not yet done.

The struggles that follow the victory of formal equality or universal franchise may not be as filled with drama and moral clarity as those that came before, but they are no less important. For around the world today, we still see children suffering from hunger and disease. We still see run-down schools.

We still see young people without prospects for the future. Around the world today, men and women are still imprisoned for their political beliefs, and are still persecuted for what they look like, and how they worship, and whom they love. That is happening today.

And so we, too, must act on behalf of justice. We, too, must act on behalf of peace.

There are too many people who happily embrace Madiba’s legacy of racial reconciliation, but passionately resist even modest reforms that would challenge chronic poverty and growing inequality. There are too many leaders who claim solidarity with Madiba’s struggle for freedom, but do not tolerate dissent from their own people. And there are too many of us on the sidelines, comfortable in complacency or cynicism when our voices must be heard.

The questions we face today – how to promote equality and justice; how to uphold freedom and human rights; how to end conflict and sectarian war – these things do not have easy answers. But there were no easy answers in front of that child born in World War I. Nelson Mandela reminds us that it always seems impossible until it is done.

South Africa shows that is true. South Africa shows we can change, that we can choose a world defined not by our differences, but by our common hopes. We can choose a world defined not by conflict, but by peace and justice and opportunity.

We will never see the likes of Nelson Mandela again. But let me say to the young people of Africa and the young people around the world – you, too, can make his life’s work your own. Over 30 years ago, while still a student, I learned of Nelson Mandela and the struggles taking place in this beautiful land, and it stirred something in me. It woke me up to my responsibilities to others and to myself, and it set me on an improbable journey that finds me here today. And while I will always fall short of Madiba’s example, he makes me want to be a better man. He speaks to what’s best inside us.

After this great liberator is laid to rest, and when we have returned to our cities and villages and rejoined our daily routines, let us search for his strength. Let us search for his largeness of spirit somewhere inside of ourselves. And when the night grows dark, when injustice weighs heavy on our hearts, when our best-laid plans seem beyond our reach, let us think of Madiba and the words that brought him comfort within the four walls of his cell: “It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”

What a magnificent soul it was. We will miss him deeply. May God bless the memory of Nelson Mandela. May God bless the people of South Africa.

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northwest news

Please see this week’s holiday events calendar in Section 2 for additional LGBTQ holiday related events.

RAT CITY ROLLER GIRLS – “BLACK EYED BALL” On Friday, December 13, starting at 7 p.m., at 1927 Events (1927 3rd Ave.), dive into the holidays by bringing back the past at the 2013 Black Eyed Ball. Rat City Roller Girls will be in full-swing with their prohibition-themed fundraiser. Featuring live music, burlesque, and many wonderful items up for auction! Tickets: $50. Proceeds from this annual fundraiser support the Rat City Rollergirls training facility, travel, and uniforms. www.ratcityrollergirls.com.

“LUCKY FRIDAY DECEMBER 13 FUNDRAISING HOLIDAY CABARET” WITH NEW YORK BISTRO CABARET AWARD WINNER ARNALDO! On Friday, December 13, doors at 6 p.m. for cocktails and dinner, showtime at 7:30 p.m., at Egan’s Ballard Jam House (1707 NW Market St.) please join Victor Janusz and Arnaldo Inocentes to raise funds for the survivors of Haiyan/Yolanda in Arnaldo’s home country the Philippines.

100% of your $25 will go directly to CalbigaWatch, a private organization managed by the citizens of Calbiga, Samar.

Egan’s has generously donated their venue so please come for Happy Hour and/or dinner to help support Egan’s.

Tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com/ event/524482. This event is almost sold out.

GAY CITY HEALTH PROJECT – AFFORDABLE CARE ACT/ OBAMACARE FORUM On Saturday, December 14, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., at the Calamus Auditorium at Gay City (517 E. Pike St.), Gay City Health Project invites you to learn about and sign up for Affordable Care Act health insurance coverage at this event. (See related article in this week’s SGN for complete details.)

There is no need to pre-register for this event. It will be important to know your Social Security number and income information, though, if you want to sign up for insurance at this event. There will be inperson assisters to help you navigate the process there. This event is FREE. www. gaycity.org. [NOTE: This meeting originally scheduled for December 7 has been rescheduled to December 14.]

“HANDS ON: ONE NOTE AT A TIME” TYPHOON HAIYAN RELIEF CONCERT On Sunday, December 15, at 4 p.m., at the Filipino Community Center (5740 Martin Luther King, Jr Way), join hosts Aleksa Manila and Karl Marx Reyes for an afternoon concert to benefit the victims of Typhoon Haiyan. Featured performers from Seattle’s Opera, Theater, Drag and Burlesque communities include: Julia Benzinger, Sarah Fletcher, Gabriel Gargari, Elizabeth Giesbers, Kimberly Giordano, Brandon Higa, Dana Johnson, Neil Jordan, Atasha Manila, David McDade, Danny Oakden, Shanghai Pearl, Nickolai Pirak, Emily Reisser, Eleanor StallcopHorrox, Kelly Vomacka, James Walters.

Tickets: $10. www.brownpapertickets.com/ event/519215.

just made me sick and it was the first time I had this recognition that I had evolved from, ‘Why me?’ to ‘How dare you? I have rights, too.’”

That weekend, he read a story about Obama’s evolution on the Altoona Mirror’s website that featured comments by a local Gay man. When he got into work Monday morning, however, he said he saw the hard copy of the publication and noticed it was accompanied by a photo of a drag queen cloaked in a pink boa.

“That really ticked me off,” Fleck said.

“That’s the only ‘Gay’ this area sees; it looks like Gay people are the go-go boys at Pride parades. They don’t see the people like me and the thousands, millions, of regular Joes who put on a suit and tie, go to work and come home to their partner. This was the first time I started to look at things and say, ‘Can I keep my job? Is it that important to me?’ And it was.”

Fleck reached out to Ken Mehlman, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, who came out in 2010. The two met for coffee several times last year, Fleck said, and discussed the implications of his public coming-out.

Mehlman connected him with several other sources, and he eventually met with officials at Victory Fund, which backs LGBT political candidates.

While Fleck was ready to come out last summer, prior to his November re-election race, the organization advised him to wait.

“I was running unopposed, so I didn’t see what the fallout would be. It’s a simple announcement of, ‘I’m Gay,’ and those who didn’t want to vote for me because of that didn’t have to. But Victory Fund frowned upon that and said, ‘No, no, you’ve got a lot of people in tough races, your colleagues, and this isn’t an issue in their race. You can’t come out and put them like a deer in headlights, have them be asked things like, “Your best friend just came out, where are you on equality legislation?” and have them

make any bad choices.’”

But once he had decided to go public, Fleck said, the wait was tough.

“It was difficult because it’s like, once you’re ready to come out, you’re just ready.

So it got to be the week after the election, and I didn’t want it to look like I’d waited until the day after, but by mid-November, I was like, ‘OK, it’s time, let’s do it.’ And I still got, ‘No, the timing’s not right, are you sure?’ All late summer and early fall, I’d put the whole election date as what I was aiming for, so when it passed, each day was tougher. But I finally wanted to do it on my own terms, and tell my story to my local press and leave it at that.”

So the last week of November, Fleck sat down with a reporter friend of his from the Huntingdon Daily News. He then personally contacted a list of about 60 people – extended family, friends and campaign volunteers – to tell them the news before the publication of the story December 1.

Once the article hit the Web that day, it quickly went viral.

Fleck said he was unsurprised that the story took off as it did – with details such as his background with the Boy Scouts, his education at a Jerry Falwell-founded college and his status as the nation’s only out Republican state lawmaker.

Responses came rolling in quickly, and were largely positive.

“I heard from more Republican legislators than from Democratic legislators and that’s OK because those are the people I’m in caucus with,” he said. “I heard from all the female legislators with the exception of one, and she and I are not close. I heard from everyone under age 45. I heard from everyone in progressive districts. And the people I didn’t hear from were people like Daryl Metcalfe, but we know where he stands. We weren’t that close prior to my coming-out. But the negatives were minimal, surprisingly. Most of the fear I had was from myself, built up in my head. It was like my coming-out in my personal life; I didn’t think my evangelical family would accept me, and they did. It’s that internalized fear that wasn’t valid.”

After his coming-out, a constituent wrote

16 Seattle Gay News

December 13, 2013

fleck

continued from page 7

compiled by Rick McKinnon SGN Staff Writer

PRIDE FOUNDATION – YEAR END CELEBRATION On Monday, December 16, at 5:30 p.m., the Pride Foundation (2014 E. Madison St., Suite 300) invites you to attend their year-end event to celebrate what we have achieved as a community in 2013. This casual community gathering is FREE and open to the public. The Pride Foundation would like to share their gratitude for your commitment to equality and the Pride Foundation. Please RSVP to Christina Rocks, christina@pridefoundation.org. www. pridefoundation.org

All GLBTQ folks are welcome to participate in this FREE book club. For more information, visit http://faculty.washington. edu/swittet/SGLBookClub/.

RADICAL WOMEN – “UMM KULTHUM: A VOICE LIKE EGYPT” On Thursday, December 19, at 7:30 p.m., at New Freeway Hall (5018 Rainier Ave. S.), Radical Women presents “Umm Kulthum: A Voice Like Egypt,” an awardwinning documentary on the life of the legendary female singer (c. 1904-1975) who became an inspirational symbol for the entire Arab world. The one hour film, released in 1996, also provides a glimpse into Egypt’s revolt against British colonialism and the early years of the Nasser regime.

Post-film commentary by Egyptian feminist and writer Jacinthe Ahmed Assaad. $2 door donaton; dinner with vegan option available at 6:30 p.m. for an $8.50 donation. 206-7226057. Everyone welcome. Wheelchair accessible.

NORTHWEST NETWORK RESPONDS TO HATE & BIAS RELATED VIOLENCE On Tuesday, December 17, from 6:308 p.m., at Queer Youth Space (911 E. Pike St.), the Northwest Network’s Voices in Power (VIP) Program invites our communities to a conversation to discuss anti-LGBT hate and bias related violence.

This evening’s program is titled “Community Action: Hate Violence – Intersections: Race, Poverty, Urban Renewal/GenQUARE ARTS PROJECT – trification.” This event will look at impor“BEARING WITNESS: tant intersections when talking about hate A QUEER YOUTH OF COLOR violence, including issues of race, class, PERFORMING ARTS SHOWCASE” homelessness, and gentrification/urban reOn Thursday, December 19, doors at newal. www.nwnetwork.org.

6:45 p.m., show at 7 p.m., at Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute (104 17th SEATTLE GAY & LESBIAN Ave. S., at E. Yesler Way), join the Quare BOOK CLUB – Arts Project for this FREE showcase, feaTHE DEVIL IN LOVE turing performances by local Queer Youth The Seattle Gay & Lesbian Book Club of Color sharing their stories and exploring meets every Wednesday from 6-7:15 p.m., their art, creating space and opening a door at Seattle Area Support Groups Community for discussion and awareness in the commuCenter (303 17th Ave. E. at E. Thomas St.). nity. More details on Facebook. Sponsored In December, the club will discuss The by the Seattle Parks Department.

Devil in Love, a new three-volume Gay fantasy like no other by Nick diMartino. a letter to the editor of his local paper using Fleck’s story to discuss the state’s lack of an LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination law, noting he could be evicted from an apartment for his admission.

“I had so many people ask me if that was true, and I was like, ‘Yeah, we’re not a recognized class,’ and that surprised so many people. Whether people agree with your socalled lifestyle – I don’t care for that terminology because it’s not a choice – but even those people who don’t approve don’t feel it’s right to discriminate,” Fleck said, noting that he has already seen the effect of his coming-out on the level of attention to LGBT issues in his district. “I’m out there, but I’m not waving a flag. I’m just living my life. People know I’m Gay and they’re seeing it doesn’t define who I am; I’m still the same person and I think they’re coming to grips with that.”

He said he also believes his coming-out can be used as an example – especially if he is re-elected next year – to his colleagues whose districts are traditionally conservative that they can support LGBT-rights issues without political repercussions.

However, he said he doesn’t see HB 300 advancing until Metcalfe, who had pledged to block the measure, no longer chairs the House State Government Committee.

[Pennsylvania General Assembly House Bill 300 seeks to amend that state’s Human Relations Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in housing, employment and public accommodations.]

Fleck has been a strong supporter of LGBT-inclusive anti-bullying legislation, although he noted it has been “pigeonholed” as a Gay-rights measure, which he said has made some lawmakers squeamish about getting onboard.

Relationship recognition for same-sex couples, Fleck said, will likely be achieved through the courts, unless the state elects a governor who makes the issue a priority.

Fleck asserted that, while his coming-out has not swayed his allegiance to the Republican Party or to his rural district, both have work to do to fall in line with the rest of the country on LGBT issues.

“The Republican Party has to get past this. Otherwise, I fear for the future of our party. The younger generation is certainly very supportive, and to be attractive to the 20- and 30-year-olds, you can’t discriminate. The Republican Party has had as its platform for decades small government, and I look at this as the number-one issue when it comes to small government: You may not agree with it, but stay out of my bedroom life. Saying you’re for smaller government but that you’re perfectly fine with me not having the same rights doesn’t make sense.

But I think people are starting to see how hypocritical that sounds and are beginning to evolve.”

Next November’s election will be telling as to how far Fleck’s district has evolved.

Even if he isn’t re-elected, Fleck said, he would continue to press for LGBT reform.

“I think as far as civil rights go, I could even have a much bigger impact if I wasn’t in office. I would have a platform, given my unique background and my resume and where I come from. I think I could have a broader impact,” he said. “But I’ve always wanted to be in politics since I was a kid.

Now I’m here, it’s different than what I envisioned. But I’m taking it one term at a time. If I get re-elected, I’ll decide where I go from there.”

While Fleck acknowledged the historymaking nature of his pronouncement, and said he is eager to have an impact on the state’s LGBT-rights movement, he wants to make his political mark based on more than the LGBT title.

“I hope that when my obituary is written someday, they’ll focus on the fact that I brought about sweeping education reform or massive development in Central Pennsylvania. I’m a proud Gay man. I know that’ll be in there, that I’m Pennsylvania’s first openly Gay legislator, and I’m OK with that. But for me the title’s not important.

Yes, I’ll have a footnote in history because of it, but I also want to be remembered for what I’ve done.”

Reprinted with permission from Philadelphia Gay News, www.epgn.org.

Celebrating 40 Years!

SPORTS

German President and EU Commissioner will boycott Sochi Olympics

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

divsi

German President Joachim Gauck has informed the Russian government that he will not attend the Sochi Olympics, according to reports in Der Spiegel newsweekly.

The move “is understood to be a response to the Russian government’s violations of human rights and harassment of the opposition,” Der Spiegel noted.

Two days later, on December 10, Gauck was joined by Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Justice, Citizenship, and Fundamental Rights.

“I will certainly not go to Sochi as long as minorities are treated the way they are under the current Russian legislation,” Reding tweeted in reference to Russia’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” laws.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Barack Obama have gone on record opposing the idea of a boycott of Russia’s Winter Olympics, although both

have criticized Russia’s anti-Gay policies.

Gauck is a longtime critic of Russia and a supporter of LGBT rights. Since becoming German President in 2012, he has repeatedly criticized the Russian government’s “air of imperialism,” and the “deficit of rule of law” in that country.

In June, a scheduled meeting between Gauck and Russian President Vladmir Putin was cancelled – officially because of scheduling problems, but reportedly because Gauck was growing increasingly uncomfortable with Putin’s authoritarianism.

A Lutheran pastor from the former German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, Gauck played an active role in the antiCommunist protest movement before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of the two Germanys. Gauck also led the commission investigating the crimes of the East German secret police – the Stasi – and its relationship to the Soviet KGB, of which Putin was a member.

LGBT rights are one of Gauck’s particular

to equal marriage rights for Gay and Lesbian couples.

Reding is also a veteran advocate for human rights, especially those of European minority groups, and she is not shy about expressing her views.

As an EU Commissioner she clashed with both the current and the former Presidents of France, Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy, over French deportations of Roma immigrants. Reding compared them to Roma deportations carried out by the Nazis in the 1940s.

Until Gauck and Reding announced their plans to boycott the Sochi Olympics, the idea of a boycott had been promoted mainly by celebrities like Lady Gaga, Harvey Fierstein, and actor Stephen Fry. In an open letter in June to the British prime minister and the IOC, Fry said “an absolute ban on the Russian Winter Olympics of 2014 in Sochi is simply essential.” Prime Minister Cameron, however, ruled out a boycott, arguing that anti-Gay prejudice would be better tackled by presence rather than absence.

The endorsement of two prominent world political leaders may give the boycott idea a new lease on life, however, although time to organize it is short. The games are scheduled to begin February 7, 2014.

German President Joachim Gauck

causes. In a statement to the United Nations Human Rights Council last year, Gauck said that he was “encouraged” by “debates about equal rights for LGBT people in more and more countries worldwide.”

He has also said that Germany, where civil partnerships are legal but same-sex marriage is not, needs to have “a proper discussion in our society about the next steps for equality.” Chancellor Merkel is opposed

health and medicine

Truvada: The once daily pill to prevent HIV that no one is taking

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor For over 30 years HIV/AIDS has been with us. That’s quite a while. And it’s killed a lot of people.

It still kills a lot of people.

At the height of the epidemic in America, HIV meant (to mothers whose sons were brave enough to come out as Gay to them) death. Being Gay to me meant you would get AIDS and die. That’s it. It was an absolute. At least that’s the way that mothers – and I would imagine a pretty fair share of fathers – thought in the mid-later 1980s and early ‘90s. There was stigma, employment discrimination, healthcare professionals who let patients die without dignity or last rights. It was Hell for all intents and purposes.

We wished for a cure. But that didn’t work. We prayed for a cure … that didn’t work either. Then, along came AIDS, Inc. and we tried to pay for a cure, but at least on the onset anyway, no matter how much money we threw at AIDS, AIDS didn’t move. It couldn’t be bought out. AIDS doesn’t have a price it would seem.

But what if I told you there was a pill that already exists and is safe, effective, and FDA approved that exists that can prevent HIV? What if I told you that most health plans cover its cost? And what if I told you

that you could take said pill when you are negative – to stay that way regardless of whom you have sex with? Sounds great doesn’t it? Well, there really is a pill that can do all of those things. But you’re not taking it, are you? The big question is “why not?”

TRUVADA Truvada, a little oval blue pill, taken once daily – not to treat HIV, but to keep men who have sex with men (or other at-risk populations) from getting HIV, was approved last year by the FDA as a prophylactic against HIV. That approval came on the heels of a groundbreaking study in 2010, called iPrEx, that found that HIV-negative Gay men who faithfully adhered to a one-a-day regimen of Truvada reduced their risk of getting HIV by more than 99%.

If it sounds too good to be true; it’s not.

Truvada exists.

Truvada, or PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), as the regimen is called, can help you remain HIV-negative and lead a sex life with less anxiety. Which is exactly what has Truvada critics up in arms; they are afraid that Gay men will stop using condoms and use the pill as a safety net from using a condom. But all of that is theoretical bullshit.

There isn’t any way to prove that that would happen. And what if it did? Well, who cares then? If the pill works as good as they say it does…. But let’s just be honest here. Gay

Visit us online www.sgn.org

had 76% risk reduction. Grant says that experts still aren’t certain exactly how little, and at what intervals, one can use PrEP to have it still be effective, which is why one pill daily is currently recommended.

There is also validity to fears about barebacking. Even if PrEP protects against HIV, condomless sex still invites other STDs. men who talk about bareback sex are stig- Some, like syphilis, gonorrhea, and herpes, matized. Even though people are doing it, are fairly easy to treat. nobody seems to have any knowledge of it, whenever asked. (Did we learn nothCONDOM GENERATION ing from the past thirty years fighting this I was born in 1980. I remember how thing? Silence kills).

AIDS scared everyone shitless. And I reThe truth is that PrEP comes with risks. member how little information my parents Truvada can cause stomach upset in the first gave me about AIDS in 1992; I was twelve weeks of taking it. The drug, though low and my Uncle John had moved back to Las on side effects as HIV meds go, has been Vegas from (you guessed it) San Francisco. linked to mild kidney and bone problems in He had this terrible thing called AIDS and a small percentage of HIV-positive takers. I was not allowed to drink out of the same However, Dr. Robert Grant, a professor at cup as he, be alone with him, and eat food the University of California, San Francisco, that he had physically touched and more. and head of the iPrEx study, says he saw It freaked me out. That’s pretty heavy for a only mild side effects in his HIV-negative youngster. Especially since I was beginning

Truvada, or PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) can help you remain HIV-negative and lead a sex life with less anxiety. Which is exactly what has Truvada critics up in arms. participants. Among the dozen or so men on PrEP with whom I spoke for this story, some of whom had taken PrEP for more than a year, none reported serious side effects.

It’s true that if someone takes PrEP spottily, they lower the amount of the drug in their body, exposing themselves to a higher risk of contracting HIV. There is also the possibility of developing resistance to Truvada, thus losing it as an HIV treatment option.

Granted, Truvada is just one among many HIV treatment options. Moreover, Grant says that the only people in the iPrEx study who developed Truvada resistance were a few whose HIV infections were not picked up during the initial screening process.

The more you adhere to the recommended daily dosage of PrEP, the closer to 100% protection you get. According to Grant, those in the study whose blood levels indicated they used PrEP four times a week still had a 96% risk reduction. Those with blood levels showing they used PrEP twice a week

to feel the same way my uncle felt about other males. I liked them. I wanted to kiss a boy. But I couldn’t, because if I did, I would catch “it” and that wasn’t something I was willing to do.

As 1992 became 1993, Uncle Johnnie (as we called him) became ill. He was in and out of the hospital all the time. He would get fevers and never had any energy. He lost a ton of weight and literally wasted away in front of us. Strange sores began to show up all over his body and my grandmother would cry a lot.

John Knittel died soon thereafter, on Christmas day 1994; my grandmother’s favorite holiday. We were told that he passed away in his sleep. “He died peacefully,” they said. “He didn’t feel anything,” they lied. I found out, years later, that he had done what so many men had done back then. He died by suicide. It was too much to

December 13, 2013

Seattle Gay News 17

see truvada page 20

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer After Nelson Mandela retired from the presidency of South Africa in June 1999, he began an entirely new career as an AIDS activist.

Taking on HIV/AIDS is a tough challenge anywhere, but particularly so in South Af-

file photo

Nelson Mandela: AIDS activist Gay man, to South Africa’s High Court in 1995, and to the Constitutional Court in 1999. Cameron was the first Director of the AIDS Law Project, and he is the author of Defiant Desire – Gay and Lesbian Lives in South Africa, as well as several legal texts.

In response to Cameron’s criticism, Mandela himself admitted he had not done enough to control AIDS, leaving the issue

“The only way to make [HIV/AIDS] appear like a normal illness like tuberculosis, like cancer, is always to come out and say somebody has died because of HIV/AIDS, and people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary.” rica. In the year Mandela left the presidency, it was estimated that one in ten South Africans was HIV-positive. The situation today is even worse, according to UNAIDS, the United Nations agency charges with monitoring the disease. Some 18% of South Africans are estimated to be HIV-positive, approximately 6 million people.

As President, Mandela was criticized – even by some of his associates like judge and AIDS activist Edwin Cameron – for neglecting the epidemic.

Mandela appointed Cameron, an openly

for his Deputy President Thabo Mbeki to deal with.

Mbeki, who succeeded Mandela as President in 1999, was an HIV-denier, who believed that AIDS was concocted by European pharmaceutical companies to sell highpriced drugs to Africans. Mbeki’s Health Minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, became notorious for recommending that HIV patients adopt a regimen of traditional African remedies, like beets and garlic, rather than taking antiretrovirals.

Through the Nelson Mandela Foundation,

18 Seattle Gay News

December 13, 2013

Nelson Mandela

which he founded soon after stepping down from the Presidency in 1999, Mandela campaigned for Mbeki’s government to provide appropriate medications for HIV patients.

Meanwhile, AIDS activist Zackie Achmat, like Mandela a member of South Africa’s ruling party, the ANC (African National Congress), also called on the ANC to formulate science-based HIV policies, and oust the Health Minister.

In a stinging rebuke to Mbeki, the South African cabinet passed a formal resolution in 2002 stating explicitly that AIDS was caused by HIV. In 2003 the cabinet voted that the government should provide antiretrovirals to HIV patients, and instructed Tshabalala-Msimang to carry out the order.

In 2005, Mandela revealed that his son Makgatho died of AIDS. When Makgatho’s wife died less than two years earlier, the

cause of death was listed as pneumonia, but family members later said the pneumonia was a complication of HIV infection.

In speaking about his son’s death, Mandela called for open discussion of the disease.

“Let us give publicity to HIV/AIDS and not hide it,” he said, “because the only way to make it appear like a normal illness like tuberculosis, like cancer, is always to come out and say somebody has died because of HIV/AIDS, and people will stop regarding it as something extraordinary.”

The current South African President, Jacob Zuma, who ousted Mbeki in an ANC power struggle in 2008, was publically tested for HIV in 2010, and urged all South Africans to be tested. Zuma, however, has been quoted making anti-Gay remarks, for which he subsequently apologized.

Celebrating 40 Years!

Aggressive new HIV strain found in West Africa She added that recombinant strains appear to be more aggressive than their parent strains.

“The good news is that as far as we know Researchers from Lund University in Sweden have discovered an aggressive new the medicines that are available today are strain of HIV in patients in Guinea-Bissau equally functional on all different subtypes on the west coast of Africa.

Patrik Medstrand, Professor of Clinical Virology at Lund University said it is highly likely that there are a large number of circulating HIV strains about which we know little or nothing.

One of the hallmarks of the newly identified strain is the speed with which the infection develops. Untreated, it reportedly causes progression to AIDS in about 5 years, as opposed to some eight years for most other HIV strains.

The findings were published in the Jour- of variants,” she added.

An HIV-positive diagnosis changes to nal of Infectious Diseases.

The HIV strain, identified as A3/02, is a AIDS when the patient’s white blood cell recombinant, or fusion, of two previously count dips below 200, according to the known strains, which are common in West Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Africa. Angelica Palm, one of the authors of (CDC).

Phalguni Gupta, a professor of infectious the study, told GhanaWeb that recombinant strains occur when a patient is infected by diseases and microbiology at the University two different HIV strains, whose DNA then of Pittsburgh School of Graduate Health, fuses to produce a new strain of the virus.

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

told BBC News that most clinicians also consider a diagnosis of AIDS when a patient with HIV develops a serious infection such as pneumonia, cancer, or a wasting syndrome characterized by severe weight loss, diarrhea and high fever.

Untreated, it reportedly causes progression to AIDS in about 5 years, as opposed to some eight years for most other HIV strains.

In poorer regions such as West Africa, tuberculosis is the leading cause of death among people with HIV. Gupta cautioned that it was misleading to say that this new strain was the most aggressive form of AIDS yet known.

“There are some HIV types here in the United States that take as little as two years to develop into AIDS,” he noted.

That information is particularly troubling in light of a new CDC report that found that since 2005, there has been a 48% increase in unprotected anal sex in the U.S. among men who have sex with men. Men who engage in risky sexual behavior are often unaware of their positive HIV status, the report found.

So far the new HIV strain seems confined to West Africa, but health officials fear that recombinants are becoming more common and could start to spread globally, especially to highly mobile regions such as Europe and the United States.

Gupta said the new West African strain needs to be monitored to see if it transmits more readily than other types of HIV. This is a question the researchers have not yet explored.

An estimated 34 million people globally have been diagnosed with HIV, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Since the epidemic began more than 30 years ago, the infection has claimed more than 33 million lives, the CDC estimates.

More than 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with the infection but nearly one in six is unaware they are infected.

The groups that are most susceptible to HIV infection in Western countries are men who have sex with other men, heterosexuals and people who use IV drugs. Although all races and ethnic groups are susceptible, African Americans remain disproportionately affected.

Elsewhere in the world, AIDS is the number one killer of women and girls of childbearing age, according to WHO.

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December 13, 2013

Seattle Gay News 19

Kiki with D Confused heart

by D Smith SGN Contributing Writer Dear Kiki With D, I am a married woman in my mid-40s. My husband and I met when we were undergrads. At the time, I was wrestling with the fact that I was probably a Lesbian. I had just started to date women and found an emotional and sexual connection I had never felt with men.

Then along came my husband. He was extremely bright and funny. He was outgoing and athletic; I was quiet and studious. He had a string of women running after him, while I did not have members of either sex running after me. We became great friends, and I really adored him. One night he kissed me, and the rest is history. I had told him I

had an interest in women, but the truth was that I fell very much in love with him and was attracted to him. We were married more than 20 years ago.

He is a great husband and father. He has a great career and has been extremely supportive of my career. He pitches in around the house and is as adoring today as he was when we met.

Things are more challenging for me. I ignored any feelings I had for women for years. After all, I was a married woman, and it doesn’t matter the gender because I made a vow to my husband. The problem is that something inside me is changing. I just don’t find my husband attractive any more.

I want to, but I really don’t. I notice women everywhere. I feel silly writing this, but I buy Lesbian fiction and hide the books from my

call it a crisis).

If you were 100 percent straight, you’d probably still be having fantasies about people other than your husband. You’d just be thinking about men.

My advice is to tell your husband about these fantasies – not to make him feel bad, but to involve him. Talking it out might give him his own real estate in your private world. You don’t have to say, “I’m not thinking about you anymore;” just say the truth: “I’m thinking about pretty girls.’’ The conversation could get interesting. It could bring him into the part of your brain that you have been hiding under the bed (that’s where I assume the Lesbian fiction is kept).

At the end of the day, you don’t seem like you want to leave your husband. And really, that’s the only other option here.

You said that he’s been a great friend to you and that he knows about your attraction to women. Let him in on what’s happening in your head. And maybe loan him some books. Do you really think that any of this will shock him? I don’t. I think that the Dear Confused in Burien, more you tell him, the more he becomes a You were physically attracted to your hus- part of the story. band for a long time. That’s excellent – and Hope this helps. Remember be true to very, very important. you, love yourself, encourage yourself and The fact that you were attracted to him others. – D for years means that you’re probably experiencing what many people deal with after Life problems bring you down? Have 20 years of marriage: bedroom boredom. a burning question? Can’t tell your girlFantasies about other people. FOMO (fear friend? Hit me up! E-mail KikiWithD@ of missing out). Midlife questions (let’s not gmail.com. husband. I’m always extra friendly around Gay women, thinking one of them will certainly notice that even though I’m not wearing the uniform that I’m part of the team. At night when I close my eyes I see women’s bodies. It’s driving me crazy and driving a wedge in my amazing marriage.

Anything I say to my husband is going to make him feel inadequate or bad. I realize he’s not the problem; I am. I’ve tried to tamp down this overwhelming desire for women, but sometimes it’s all I can think about. I should note that I’ve never cheated on him.

I keep telling myself that I have to control myself. I made my choice back when I was 22, but it’s hard to understand the consequences of the life choices we make when we are young.

So, wise D, how am I supposed to handle this? I’m afraid I will meet the right (or wrong!) woman and end up cheating. I’m also afraid I’ll never meet the right woman and spend my life with this unrequited longing. – Confused in Burien

truvada

continued from page 17 face. For him. For us. But mostly, for him.

Either way, he was gone and I remember being really angry about that when the first protease inhibitor got approved by the FDA on December 6, 1995 – less than one year after he died. For the first time in a long time, AIDS looked like it could be beat and my uncle was already gone. Life is cruel sometimes. Nobody knows that better than the AIDS generation.

Protease inhibitors (PIs) are a class of antiviral drugs that are widely used to treat HIV/AIDS and hepatitis caused by hepatitis C virus. Protease inhibitors prevent viral replication by selectively binding to viral proteases (e.g. HIV-1 protease) and blocking proteolytic cleavage of protein precursors that are necessary for the production of infectious viral particles. Given the specificity of the target of these drugs, there is the risk, as in antibiotics, of the development of drug-resistant mutated viruses. To reduce this risk it is common to use several different drugs together that are each aimed at different targets. Nobody can deny that it was the game changer of all time.

Why tell you about Uncle Johnnie? Because I am 33-years-old and I have never known a world where sex couldn’t kill me.

We are the first generation to ever to be told

Legal Services

to use condoms – forever. And guess what?

My peers aren’t listening. Condoms are not used as widely as some would hope. Studies since the 1980s have consistently shown that Gay men forego condoms up to half the time, depending on the situation, for reasons ranging from “the heat of the moment” to alcohol and drug use to a plain old dislike of how condoms feel.

With all the “nice” messaging around HIV/AIDS treatment (instead of real messaging around prevention) younger guys aren’t afraid of AIDS – or anything for that matter. It is the millennial world; we are just in it.

Last Wednesday, the CDC published a report noting that barebacking, or unprotected anal sex between men, is on the rise, increasing almost 20 percent between 2005 and 2011. The news prompted a concerned outcry from public-health experts. HIV/ AIDS activist veterans seemed dismayed; some even warned of “a new AIDS epidemic.” (That’s odd, seeing as how the old one isn’t over.)

Traumatic memories of the 1980s are fading from generational memory. The horror stories and haunting images convinced a generation of Gay men – my generation – to wear condoms. Now, with the odds stacked against infection, the question is no longer “why risk it?”– it’s “why not risk it.”

It is important to note, also, that many HIV-positive people don’t know their status

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or are in denial about it. That can translate into a high likelihood of infection. Even those on an antiretroviral regimen can easily miss a few doses and become infectious again.

HIV is treatable; but it’s also complicated and expensive. In short, HIV is a disease that no rational person would ever wish to have.

“That task is made more urgent by a rather inconvenient truth: Bareback sex feels better for both partners. At some point, almost every Gay man will learn this fact – so why lie about it?” asks Mark Joseph Stern, a contributor for Slate Magazine. “If we don’t give Gay men the promise of the reward, a foreseeable end to the hassles of condoms, they’re bound to get frustrated and either slip up or give up. Giving men the goal of a committed relationship – and with it, the perk of unprotected sex – might convert barebacking from a forbidden fruit to a reward worth working toward.”

“This is not to say that monogamous barebacking doesn’t carry some risk,” he continues. “Just as condoms can break, so too can partners cheat or misrepresent their HIV status. But you don’t hear these arguments trotted out as a reason for monogamous straight couples to use condoms – and for good reason: They’d be plainly insulting.

Any couple in a committed, monogamous, long-term relationship has earned the right to stop using condoms, if they so choose.

Let’s stop viewing bareback sex as a rash, shameful mistake and acknowledge what it really is: not a deplorable blunder, but a prerequisite of commitment.”

BAREBACK BROTHERHOOD The adoption of safe sex practices in the age of HIV is a key part of our liberation.

Yet in the past five years, HIV infection rates have increased, and barebacking has becoming somewhat “mainstream” among Gay men.

“For evidence, Gay-centric underwear brand Andrew Christian prominently featured bareback porn star Antonio Biaggi in a recent promotion,” Queerty.com editors posted recently. “Perhaps exacerbating the trend is the increased popularity of hookup apps like Grindr and sites like Adam4Adam – a recent study found that nearly 50% of men who used hookup apps engaged in barebacking. Then, earlier this year we reported on a Facebook group that glorified unprotected sex. It had over 20,000 followers, but the Facebook powers-that-be subsequently (albeit temporarily) shut ‘er down.”

There is a so-called “Bareback Brotherhood,” operating openly on Twitter. The Brotherhood is an online social community that claims to have over 6,000 members worldwide, and nearly as many Twitter followers, dedicated to the glorification of raw sex.

According to its mission statement, “The Bareback Brotherhood…stands a beacon [sic]. The Bareback Brotherhood is as [sic] a social group of men around the globe from all walks of life. We agree on one thing – sex between men without barriers is natural and a legitimate choice. As consenting adults, skin-to-skin intimacy should be a choice that is not demonized or marginalized. The Bareback Brotherhood advocates on behalf of raw sex, knowing that many men engage

but hide. The Bareback Brotherhood is a group without judgment and with mutual respect for all, no matter sero-status – positive, negative or unknown. Fuck more. Fear less. Regret nothing.”

According to Queerty.com, “While that last bit makes for a good rallying call, there’s nothing particularly noble about bareback sex. It’s not some revolution or revelation. Rather, in advocating raw sex, they are in fact advocating unnecessary risk taking, which for some has become a turn on. We don’t purport to be the moral compass of the LGBT community, but we’re big believers in condoms because your health is just generally something you don’t want to fuck with. Contracting HIV is no longer a death sentence, nor should having HIV be a stigma. And it is true that scientists are closing in on a cure.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, men who have sex with men remain the population most heavily affected by HIV infection.

The report says, “Comparing 2008 to 2010, the number of new HIV infections among MSM increased 12% from 26,700 in 2008 to 29,800 in 2010, with a 22% increase among MSM aged 13–24 from 7,200 in 2008 to 8,800 in 2010. Although MSM represent about 7% of the male population in the United States, in 2010 MSM accounted for 78% of the new HIV infections among males.”

Are groups like the Bareback Brotherhood partly to blame for glamorizing unsafe sexual practices? Is there a lack of awareness as to the risks involved, particularly among young people?

Nope. Research has shown that millennials don’t care about getting infected with HIV. There exists complacency over the threat of HIV/AIDS. That same hookup app study found that 47% of respondents who engaged in unprotected sex were knowledgeable about HIV and were afraid of getting infected. Their reasons for not using condoms then? Nearly 85% claimed “with condoms it does not feel the same” and nearly 74% did it just for kicks.

So, bringing this full circle – we know HIV/AIDS infections among men who have sex with men are on the rise. We know that barebacking has become more mainstream than many people thought. So, why then, isn’t Truvada on every shelf in every Gay man’s house?

It is difficult to know exactly how many guys in the U.S. are taking PrEP. Cara Miller, a rep for Gilead, the company that makes Truvada, said she couldn’t pinpoint such numbers because the company doesn’t know who is being prescribed Truvada in combination with other HIV drugs – which is necessary for treating HIV – and who is getting Truvada alone for PrEP purposes.

PrEP comes along at a moment when it could potentially help reverse a 22% rise in HIV rates in young Gay men in recent years. The CDC recently calculated that, if HIV infections continue to rise at current rates, half of all young Gay men will have HIV by age 50.

December 13, 2013

Seattle Gay News 21

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