SGN January 29, 2016 - Section 1

Celebrating 42 Years!

Issue 5 Volume 44

SGN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS Pages 6 & 7 in Section 1

Joe McDermott and Pramila Jayapal

Seattle Gay News

FRIDAY January 29, 2016 FREE!

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Bill to restrict flags on WA state ferries introduced after Pride flags flown last June

SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Hearing on WA state anti-Trans bill SB 6443: A first-hand account

Trans-inclusive bathroom – Lucy Nicholson/ Reuters

State Rep. Brad Klippert – Washington State House Republicans

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor State Rep. Brad Klippert introduced a bill

this week in Olympia that, if passed by the legislature, would mean that no other flag besides the Stars and Stripes, the Washington state flag and maritime signal flags will see ferries page 8

U.S. indicts ex-Rentboy.com CEO on prostitution charge

Jeffrey Hurant – John M. Mantel via pagesix.com

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

laundering charges – charges not previously filed against the company founder in a criminal complaint in August 2015. The threeJeffrey Hurant, 51, the former chief ex- count indictment by a federal grand jury in ecutive of the male escort website Rentboy. Brooklyn, New York has outraged Gay and com was indicted on Wednesday on a charge civil rights activists. of promoting prostitution and added money see rentboy page 13

by Brianna Schuman Special to the SGN

live as themselves because they “feel like” another gender. Gender Identity is closely held by every human on the planet, and It’s pretty clear that there is a fundamen- Transgender people live their lives every tal misunderstanding of what it means to be day as the gender we know ourselves to be.

Transgender among our opponents. Transgender people do not one day “decide” to see sb 6443 page 4

“Surviving and Thriving: AIDS, Politics, and Culture” A Traveling Exhibit of the U.S. National Library of Medicine

“It won’t kill you to spend time with a friend who has AIDS,” states a 1988 poster that shows a thin young man, alone in a blue room, with his head in his hands. The provocative poster, housed in a national collection of AIDS-related graphics, came from a time when misinformation and fear were almost as cruel as the disease itself to the thousands of AIDS/HIV sufferers. Too often, those diagnosed were shunned or even abandoned by family and friends.

This story and many others are docu-

mented in the free exhibit, “Surviving and Thriving – AIDS, Politics, and Culture,” at Collins Memorial Library, University of Puget Sound, from Monday, Feb. 8, until Sunday, March 20. The traveling exhibit of artwork, large poster panels, and memorabilia tells the stories of people who lived with AIDS, who died from it, or who were involved in tackling the national crisis.

The special Puget Sound exhibit will include artwork made by volunteers, staff, and see surviving page 7

2 Seattle Gay News

January 29, 2016

Celebrating 41 Years!

An open letter on anti-Trans bill SB 6443 Dear Senators Baumgartner and Braun: I am a transgender voter in Washington, and I strongly encourage you to vote against SB 6443. My genitalia should not be a subject of public debate, scrutiny, or regulation. They do not determine my character, or my propensity for acts of violence, which is typically the specious argument made by advocates of these types of “bathroom bills.”

I am not confused, and I don’t lurk in dark corners of public restrooms to exact my deep inner turmoil upon children.

Please demand data from anyone who tells you that transgender people are violent predators – there is none. When a society legislates from a place of frenzy and fear, it turns into a witch-hunt. That is how we arrived at things like Japanese internment camps. That is not what Washington stands

for anymore, and that is not the legacy that your legislative careers deserve.

Our state enjoys a well-deserved reputation as one of the safest and most accommodating states for LGBTQ residents. I was proud to be able to brag to my friends around the country that I was able to change my name with relatively little personal expense or legal hassle. In fact, Washington applies the practice of Common Law to many such legal proceedings, which allows any person who has used a preferred name for a certain period of time to officially adopt that as their legal name. I think that reflects the ethos of our state – live and let live.

Do you remember the book Everybody Poops? Perhaps you have read it to your children. A silly and lighthearted example, yes, but what if everybody was not allowed

to poop? What if you personally made other people not allowed to poop? I don’t mean to be crass, but that’s the reality many of your voters will live with if you pass this bill.

Many transgender people have endured extraordinary hardship in order to reach inner peace and live happily. Many have been estranged from their families, fired from their jobs, evicted from their homes, or physically assaulted, and yet have chosen to continue living their truths. Those people simply are not going to devolve and be forced into a box or a bathroom they have grown out of. Are you really going to try to stop us from using the bathroom?

Sincerely, Levi Pine

Memories still fresh on 30th anniversary of The Challenger disaster

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor On Thursday people around the world observed the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. NASA astronauts Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe died instantly after a booster engine failed and the shuttle exploded just 73 seconds after takeoff.

The entire nation watched live coverage of the widely anticipated launch. And, like many that were watching that sad day, I can remember exactly where I was and what was happening when disaster struck and one of the saddest days in modern space explora-

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tion was recorded in human history.

My kindergarten class at C.C. Ronnow Elementary in Las Vegas, like thousands of other classrooms across America, took a break from the lesson of the day to watch a live broadcast of the space launch. Currently space exploration is pretty exciting with all of the technological advances and real talk of actually sending man to Mars and so on. I don’t think that most Americans could tell you the names of the American astronauts in space right now, or even when they launched into orbit, let alone their return date. But back in the mid 1980s it was still pretty much a journey into the unknown; space seemed bigger and darker somehow.

So whenever a crew launched into space the

nation (and probably the world) paid attention. It was a happening and this mission in particular because of the uniqueness and diversity of the crew.

As we all sat cross-legged on the floor, the lights turned off so we could see the TV set better, each of our eyes fixed on the image of the rocket’s blast off with our little minds aflutter – suddenly, something went wrong.

When you are five or six years old you don’t really understand what really happened during moments of great disaster.

When Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after takeoff I remember thinking that it

January 29, 2016

Seattle Gay News 3

see challenger page 4

challenger continued from page 3

was all part of the whole thing and that the rocket ship was still headed for space and that what I was seeing was the part of the evolution where the launch rocket separates from the cabin. But then I heard the newsman say that something had gone wrong.

Again, I remember thinking that surely, whatever it was that went wrong couldn’t have meant death. After all, these were our astronauts headed into space in a NASA space shuttle. They were superheroes and everyone that is between the ages of 5-6 years old knows that superheroes do not die.

Then, the hesitation from the teacher as she went to shut off the TV set, but couldn’t.

With tears streaming down her face, not hysterical mind you, but certainly grief stricken, she watched and listened for the

important parts of the news so she could then relay it to us, throughout the day, so that our young minds could grasp the totality of what had just happened. You see, it is important to note that this all happened before 24 hour news, before YouTube and cell phone footage of people being shot, terrorists cutting off heads, and other horrible things that a world sick for images of violence now downloads and streams for entertainment existed. This was one of the first times, and I believe one of the last times, that millions of American children simultaneously watched death and destruction happen on live TV. And the truth is most of the students cried when they saw the teacher cry because they really didn’t know why they were upset.

But I was a precocious boy; I watched NBC nightly news like most kids watched cartoons so my mind was trained to listen to what the broadcaster was saying. So I

saw, heard, and understood what had happened once it was repeated in a clear report minutes after the accident occurred and the first initial shock wore off. I remember first thinking, “That astronaut that was a teacher ... her class must be really sad.”

As I sat among the rest of my classmates, many of them asking if they could go home (many parents actually did come and pick their kids up from school) I just kept thinking about the kids who knew that astronaut that had died and how that would be a very difficult thing to handle if my teacher had been killed like that on TV. I also remember thinking that space didn’t seem like it was meant for everyone and that maybe we shouldn’t send so many people at once just in case an accident would occur in the future.

It is hard to believe that this was 30 years ago. It doesn’t seem like “just yesterday” by any stretch of the imagination, but when I

am reminded of that day I can vividly see the classroom, the television, the teacher trying to hold back tears so we would all be less sad/scared, and having this overwhelming feeling that we all just witnessed something that nobody was prepared for.

Heavy stuff for a 5-year-old.

President Ronald Reagan postponed the State of the Union address planned for that evening and instead spoke to the country, saying, “We will never forget them nor the last time we saw them – this morning – as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye, and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.” Reagan also reminded the nation’s schoolchildren the price of discovery: “The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted. It belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we’ll continue to follow them.”

Downtown pickets target Wells Fargo exec for funding extremist groups Anti-Gay, anti-choice, anti-union groups got $54 million from Murdock Trust

“The Murdock Trust gave $54 million to right-wing extremist groups over the past 10 years,” Northwest Accountability Project staffer Heather Weiner told SGN. Among the groups funded by the Trust are several notoriously anti-LGBT organizations: • The Discovery Institute received almost $2 million. While it’s best known for promoting the idea of “intelligent design,” the group’s founder, George Gilder, denounced same-sex marriage as “a parody” and “an absurd concept.”

• The Heritage Foundation, run by anti-

Gay former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, got $1.5 million.

• Focus on the Family received $1.25 million.

• The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF; formerly the Alliance Defense Fund) received $600,000. ADF was founded by Focus on the Family CEO James Dobson with Campus Crusade for Christ founder Bill Bright, Crown Financial Ministries head Larry Burkett, D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries, Marlin Maddoux of International Christian Media, and American Family Association founder Donald Wildmon.

• The Portland Fellowship, a “conversion therapy” provider, got $212,000.

“Wells Fargo wants to be known as open and inclusive,” Weiner said. “Remember the lesbian ad they ran last year? It’s hypocritical for them to let one of their top executives fund right-wing groups.”

The Murdock Trust has also funded anti-choice “crisis pregnancy centers” to the tune of $1,547,200. These establishments pose as medical providers but are established to talk women out of having abortions.

The Trust also gave $765,000 to the antiunion Freedom Foundation, a group that seeks to eliminate paid sick leave, cut the minimum wage, and reduce public school

funding.

“The Freedom Foundation has a bad reputation,” said retiree Bonny Oborn, a member of the activist group Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action (PSARA).

“They back ‘right to work’ legislation. That’s the biggest issue for workers today.”

“It comes down to our values!” fellow PSARA member Sally Davis interjected. “If they don’t support progressive values, we want them out of our city.”

The Northwest Accountability Project has already held similar demonstrations at the Murdock Trust’s headquarters in Vancouver, Wash., and plans an action in Portland, where Wells Fargo exec Grubb actually works, on January 28.

“This is part of a larger movement,” Weiner told SGN, “that started in Wisconsin and Michigan. These right-wing funders come in, and the first thing they do is weaken unions. They fund anti-union work.

Then they have the way clear for their whole right-wing agenda.”

The Northwest Accountability Project has also launched an online petition on its website – nwaccountabilityproject.com/petition/ – asking the Murdock Trust to cease funding anti-Gay extremist groups.

es work in anti-discrimination laws. In order to be protected by the law, you must be a member of that class IN FACT. This is why we can say that the argument that the rule/ law will allow men to pretend to be Transgender and be protected under the law is not true. They would not be members of the Gender Identity/Sexual Orientation class, which would not entitle them to be protected under the law. Our opponents are invested in saying this will allow random men to claim to be women and be protected by the rules, which is simply not true. These WACs [Washington Administrative Codes] ONLY protect Transgender people under the law, not predators.

Our lawmakers are woefully inept at following what the various WAC rulemaking bodies like the HRC [Human Rights Commission] are doing. There has been a lot of complaining that they “weren’t notified” of the HRC’s rulemaking directly. The HRC followed the law in implementing these laws. It is the LAWMAKER’S responsibility to keep tabs on these notices and rules coming up. They are obviously woefully ill equipped to do their jobs.

Our opponents seem to also be under the false impression that these rules are new and unique to Washington state; that we are the first to implement them. That is simply incorrect. 17 states and 200 localities

have anti-discrimination laws on the books, which protect Gender Identity in a similar fashion. Gender Identity in Public Accommodation has been protected since 2006 under the RCW [Revised Code of Washington]. Public accommodation has always included locker rooms and bathrooms. This is not new; it merely codified specifics in order to ensure that the law is practiced uniformly across the state.

Overall, I would say this hearing showed me that we have a lot of education to do in the general public about Transgender issues.

Downtown picketers – Courtesy of Mike Andrew

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Forty pickets gathered in front of Wells Fargo’s downtown Seattle office building January 27, demanding that a top bank executive cut his ties with the Murdock Charitable Trust.

According to the Northwest Accountability Project, the group that organized the protest, Wells Fargo exec Jeffrey Grubb also sits on the Murdock Trust’s board of directors and helps decide where the trust’s money goes.

sb 6443

continued from cover Transgender women are women. Transgender men are men.

Speaking of Transgender men... I heard audible gasps of confusion from our opponents when Transgender men such as Aidan Key testified. I think it’s the first time many of them had ever actually seen a Transgender man before. This debate has been focused around “men in women’s bathrooms,” but has completely ignored the fact that Transgender men would also be highly affected by these bills.

It’s also very clear that the public is very under-educated about how protected class-

4 Seattle Gay News

January 29, 2016

Celebrating 41 Years!

Gay-owned Inay’s Asian Pacific Cuisine closes its Beacon Hill restaurant with one last drag show

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor Inay’s Asian Pacific Cuisine (2503 Beacon Ave. S.), a north Beacon Hill restaurant specializing in the food of the Philippines since 2007 will serve their last plate of food – and fish – a la drag superstar Atasha Manila – January 29. After nearly one decade of running the restaurant, openly Gay business owner and local Filipino icon, Ernesto Rios, better known as “Uncle Ernie,” says it is time for him to say goodbye to the business.

“Inay’s Says Good Bye! It has truly been a joy providing great home style Filipino food for everyone,” said Uncle Ernie on the restaurant’s Facebook page January 27. “Inay’s says ‘Thank You’ for the many years of love and support!”

“Our very Own Atasha Manila will end our goodbye with some of her favorite songs and performances throughout the years,” continued the message.

Indeed, local drag sensation Atasha Manila, has become as much a part of Uncle Ernie’s restaurant as the menu itself. Each Friday she performs an amazing one-person drag show. For well over two years she has honed her skill playing to a packed house. During the day, out of drag (and sometimes in drag, too!), Loui as he is known, worked as a server. It is inside Uncle Ernie’s restaurant that Loui created Atasha Manila.

“We all started somewhere, and I am very proud of where it all happened for me,” said Atasha Manila. “I was very fortunate to have such an amazing boss! Uncle Ernie pushed me to dream and to be happy!”

In fact Uncle Ernie was the person that encouraged Atasha to dress up and bought him some of his first drag outfits. A few weeks passed by and after getting used to being in drag, Atasha decided to do a performance. While serving food to the customers “I danced here and there to tunes on my iPod playlist from small speakers on top of a wall dividing the dining area and the kitchen of the restaurant,” said Atasha.

“After that I started performing for friends who came to eat at the restaurant. I would ask them to critique my performance and they would let me know what I needed to do to improve.”

A friend, Erica Asahan told Atasha, “It’s a little rough around the edges, it needs polishing but you’ve got potential and talent.”

“So here I am in full drag serving food in drag in fluorescent lighting,” says Atasha, laughing, “And, yes, bitch, in heels!”

Like many drag queens before Atasha Manila, nobody at home knew about the transformation that would take place once inside the safety of Inay’s. “I hung my dresses on a hook in the office,” recalls Atasha. “I would beat my mug at the salon next door.”

Atasha says her drag took over the

whole little office at Inay’s. “And then one day I came into work and saw a surprise.

The storage area had been cleared out and made into my drag closet! I saw my garments hung up for me and all of my shoes were on shelves!”

Eventually, Atasha Manila began to headline the Friday drag show and business was booming while Atasha’s drag star was on the rise.

“This whole experience has brought me so much happiness and I’ve met some of the most amazing people,” said Atasha Manila.

Atasha, under the watchful eyes of Uncle Ernie and others, has gone on to win several drag competitions, serve on the board of both U.T.O.P.I.A. Seattle and Pride ASIA, and produce a fundraiser to raise thousands of dollars in disaster relief funds after the Philippines suffered destruction in a 2013 typhoon. She has appeared in the annual Seattle Counseling Service (SCS) Gala and fundraiser ICON, in several shows for Social Outreach Seattle (SOSea), many Pride ASIA and U.T.O.P.I.A. events, on stages at Neighbours Nightclub, R Place and more.

It is safe to say that Atasha Manila is one of the most sought after and booked drag entertainers in Seattle and for good reason – she is extremely talented. Blending comedy with beauty, laughter with sass, and able to dance the house down, Atasha Manila is a sure bet as a crowd pleaser, day or night, in fluorescent or stage lights, and always in character.

Inay’s is also where Atasha Manila met “the best drag mother who has also become the greatest mentor ever – Aleksa Manila.”

The two are inseparable and together they have raised thousands of dollars for the community, brought Asian and Pacific Islander culture to audiences young and old, LGBTQ and allied, and continue to project a great example of drag without drama, which is why people are always happy to see them when they show up at all the shows.

The icing on the cake for Atasha, Inay’s is also where the drag star met Atasha’s Goddrag mother, Arnaldo! Drag Chanteuse!

The three have become like family in and out of drag, which is fitting because Inay’s is all about family. After all, inay means “mother” in Tagalog and Uncle Ernie named his restaurant to honor his mother, whom he bought a restaurant for over a decade ago.

Ernie’s family moved from the Philippines to Hawaii in the 1970s, then to Seattle in 1978. He worked in a hospital and went to beauty school until he saved up enough to buy a house and buy his mother a restaurant. His mother cooked for her 11 children, “bunch” of grandchildren, and father as well as others in the neighborhood.

And it was a natural thing for her to run a Filipino restaurant in Seattle; which she did until 2001 when she passed away. Then, in 2007, Uncle Ernie opened Inay’s to continue the family tradition. In many ways, say

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Atasha Manila photo album – Courtesy of Shaun Knittel

people close to Uncle Ernie, a flamboyant character who is always smiling and joking and full of campy energy, he has continued more of a legacy than just food – Uncle Ernie has been somewhat of a parental figure to many people in the neighborhood and Filipino community, mentoring them over the years.

Uncle Ernie was able to do something that many LGBTQ-owned businesses fail to do off of Capitol Hill – make the business work. He did so, with the help of staff over the years, by providing great food at a reasonable price and creating community where one was needed. Inay’s will go down

as one of the greats in Seattle’s LGBTQ history, Beacon Hill history, and as a staple in the local Filipino community.

“Inay’s Asian Pacific Cuisine is the little jewel in the heart of Beacon Hill that will close its doors and I’m sad to see it go,” said Atasha Manila. “But I am excited to see where the universe takes us all next!”

Seattle Gay News would like to thank Uncle Ernie and everyone at Inay’s for creating such an amazing and safe space for so many in our community over the years and we wish Uncle Ernie and Atasha Manila all the best in their future endeavors.

January 29, 2016

Seattle Gay News 5

SGN exclusive interview: County Council Chair Joe McDermott, candidate for Congress

King County Councilmember Joe McDermott – www.westseattleherald.com

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer “The opportunity to serve in Congress is not something I take lightly,” King County Council Chair Joe McDermott told SGN in a recent phone interview.

McDermott threw his hat into the congressional ring January 20, saying he would

6 Seattle Gay News

run to succeed retiring Rep. Jim McDermott.

Rep. McDermott – no relation to Council Chair McDermott – has represented the 7th Congressional District since 1989. His retirement creates a rare open seat, which so far has attracted three declared candidates and much interest from the political class.

January 29, 2016

In his announcement, Joe McDermott stressed his experience as a legislator, representing the 37th Legislative District as a representative and later a senator, and now as a member of the King County Council.

“I have 15 years of experience in the legislature and the county council,” he told SGN, “working for campaign finance reform, civil rights, marriage equality, and protections for the Trans community.”

“With effective bipartisan support!” he added.

During his time in the legislature, McDermott, who is Gay, worked to legalize same-sex marriage and also sponsored a bill to add protection for Transgender people to the state’s hate crime statute.

He also sponsored a bill to allow public funding of political campaigns for local offices. Campaign finance reform on the federal level will be one of his signature issues in the congressional campaign, he says.

While McDermott acknowledges the challenges of being in the minority party in Congress, he believes he will find allies even among Republicans.

“The big problem with Congress is the influence of money,” he said. “That’s why we have to repeal Citizens United.

“A change in the Supreme Court would be one avenue to pursue. The legislative avenue would be a constitutional amendment.

Already 16 states have expressed a desire to have the Constitution amended.”

The two-thirds majority needed to pass a constitutional amendment seems unlikely, but McDermott insists he is optimistic.

“I think we’re all locked into the same game,” he explained. “Nobody likes being so dependent on big campaign donors.

There’s an avenue to build support [among Republicans].

“It would be a way to put the middle class and the 99% back into the political arena.”

As chair of the Seattle King County Board of Health, a job that is filled by a County Council member, McDermott led efforts to classify gun violence as a public health emergency, and gun control is also on his list of campaign issues.

“We need to hold gun manufacturers liable for the violence done with their products,” McDermott insisted. “There are 30,000 people gunned down every year, and that’s unacceptable.”

McDermott was not the first candidate to jump into the 7th District race; 43rd District Rep. Brady Walkinshaw got in even before Rep. McDermott decided to retire and now has a solid $300,000 campaign war chest and a host of endorsers.

Nevertheless, McDermott says he is not dismayed.

“The race changed cataclysmically when Congressman McDermott announced he was not running,” he told SGN. “I did not want to challenge Congressman McDermott, because he’d been such a leader on issues that affect our community – especially HIV/AIDS. “I think I’m a strong contender. I know one of the candidates had a head start, but I’m confident that my experience and my record will get support.

“I met with the King County Democrats’ executive board Tuesday [January 26], and I’m pleasantly surprised with the amount of support.”

Celebrating 41 Years!

SGN exclusive interview: State Senator Pramila Jayapal, candidate for Congress

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer State Sen. Pramila Jayapal announced on January 21 that she will run for the 7th Congressional District seat being vacated by long-time incumbent Jim McDermott.

In the campaign announcement posted on her website, Jayapal describes herself as an immigrant, a parent, and an activist. In an interview with SGN, she said her experience as an activist is what shapes her politics.

“The most important thing is my 25 years working in the movement. That’s the most powerful thing in my candidacy,” she explained.

Jayapal founded the immigrant rights group Hate-Free Zone, now called OneAmerica, in 2001 and served as its executive director until 2012.

“OneAmerica was founded to provide push-back to the post-9/11 us vs. them narrative,” Jayapal explained. “But it’s bigger than that. There is discrimination on so many levels. Racism, sexism, genderism, homophobia. We wanted to show that America is made up of everybody.”

As head of OneAmerica, Jayapal was as good as her word, leading her organization to endorse marriage equality in spite of reservations among its conservative African and South Asian constituents.

Jayapal describes her life as “the perfect American dream story.”

Born in India, she came to the United States at 16 to go to college, earning a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and a master’s in business administration from Northwestern University in Chicago. After a short stint in

surviving

continued from cover advocates of Pierce County AIDS Foundation (PCAF), which has partnered with Collins Library. It will also include works by Puget Sound art students, who led a workshop at Tacoma Art Museum and designed a series of woodblocks that reflect HIV and its effects on individuals and communities.

A section of the famous NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on display.

The quilt was started in 1987 by a group of San Francisco strangers to document the lives of people whom they feared history would neglect. As the quilt traveled the country, it grew, and today it consists of more than 48,000 three-by-six-foot panels. The section on display is in memory of Scott McDowell, a prominent ceramics artist who grew up in Tacoma. Several pieces of McDowell’s pottery will be part of the exhibit.

In addition, the public is invited to a special free reception: “Surviving and Thriving: AIDS, Politics and Culture” public reception on Wednesday, February 24, 5-6 p.m., at the Collins Memorial Library exhibit

business, she turned to a career in social activism.

“I’ve spent my life fighting for other people to have the American dream,” she says, “so you know I won’t just say a bunch of things, I’ll work to get things done.”

While she has been in elected office for only a year, she has worked closely with members of Congress, including Jim McDermott – the man she is running to succeed – on immigration reform legislation.

“I have more experience working with Congress than any other candidate in this race,” she says.

“I’m also the only one who has experience being in the minority,” she adds. As a Democrat in a state Senate controlled by Republicans, Jayapal has a keen appreciation for the challenges she will face in Congress, if elected.

“When I started working on immigration in 2001, it was not a popular issue,” she recalls. “There were plenty of people who voted against reforms. Even some of our friends were not with us. But I’m always surprised at the support you get from people you didn’t think would be with you.

“So in Congress there’s the Progressive Caucus. That’s 74 people. Maybe two-thirds are what we would call progressive here in Seattle. But representatives from other cities are also extremely progressive, so you’d have a built-in caucus that might be more cohesive.”

Asked what she believed she could achieve as a congressional Democrat, even with a cohesive urban progressive coalition, Jayapal replied: “A lot of elected think their only duty is to pass legislation, but really you have three things to do.

“First, to stop bad stuff and find opportunities to pass good things. That’s a very

space, 1st floor, University of Puget Sound (1500 N. Warner St., Tacoma WA) The reception will give visitors the opportunity to view the exhibit and to hear from members of the community about the impact of AIDS. Janet Marcavage, associate professor of art and art history, will discuss the prints made by her students. Student dramaturg Adrian Kljucec ’17 and Jess K. Smith ’05, assistant professor of theatre arts, will provide research about the hit Broadway play RENT, which will open at Puget Sound on Friday, February 26. RENT tells the story of a group of young artists living in New York City under the shadow of HIV/ AIDS. Members of Pierce County AIDS Foundation also will be on hand to share personal experiences and to provide information on their community outreach programs.

Visitors are asked to bring a canned food item as part of a food drive for the Emergency Food Network. The food collection will continue throughout the exhibit.

“Surviving and Thriving,” the title for the traveling exhibition from the U.S Na-

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State Senator Pramila Jayapal – rainiervalleypost.com

different task when you’re in the minority.

“Second, people want to be inspired.

People want to see that yes, government does speak for you. Jim McDermott had huge approval in the 7th District because he said things that reflected our values.

“There are so many things wrong. How do you change that? Being in Congress is not just about good votes. It’s about building the movement to do big things.

“And third, constituent services. People call into my [State Senate] office with so many problems – they can’t access services, they weren’t hired because they have a Muslim name, many issues – and in the state legislature you only have one staff person to help you. I’ll be excited to have a congressional staff.”

As a state Senator, Jayapal will also have a vote on several anti-Trans bills now pending in the legislature.

“The Senate bill [SB 6443] may pass [the Senate],” she said. “We’ll have to work our tails around that. This is the new wedge issue, now that marriage is done.

“What bothers me most is that they’re using the safety issue. It implies that if you’re Trans, you’re a pervert.

“I’m very familiar with how words are used around racism and nativism. They are trying to attack the character of Trans people and inspire fear in other people. It’s no different from immigration.

“I don’t see it passing. At least it will be blocked in the House. And we can use the opportunity to educate people.”

tional Library of Medicine, comes from a 1987 book that promoted the idea that people could live with AIDS, not just die from it. The colorful posters and other items capture the public health messages of the day, including how to prevent the spread of AIDS, how to care for people, and how to talk to children about the disease.

Some of the posters are shocking. Some are moving. Some are educational. In their original lives, pasted on bus stops, on the sides of buildings, or in doctors’ waiting rooms, the documents provided a picturecard template of how society can react to a perceived calamity.

For directions and a map of the University of Puget Sound campus: pugetsound. edu/directions For accessibility information please contact accessibility@pugetsound.edu or 253879-3236, or visit pugetsound.edu/accessibility.

To see the full exhibit at the U.S. National Library of Medicine visit: https://www. nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/survivingandthriving/index.html

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND University of Puget Sound is a 2,600-student, national undergraduate liberal arts college in Tacoma, Wash., drawing students from 47 states and 12 countries.

Puget Sound graduates include Rhodes and Fulbright scholars, notables in the arts and culture, entrepreneurs and elected officials, and leaders in business and finance locally and throughout the world. A low studentfaculty ratio provides Puget Sound students with personal attention from faculty members who have a strong commitment to teaching and offer 1,200 courses each year in more than 50 areas of study. Puget Sound is the only national, independent undergraduate liberal arts college in Western Washington, and one of just five independent colleges in the Northwest granted a charter by Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s most prestigious academic honor society.

January 29, 2016

Seattle Gay News 7

Courtesy of the University of Puget Sound

State Senator Pam Roach kicked off Human Trafficking Task Force Charged with abusive remarks toward victims

off the state’s Human Trafficking Task Force after using abusive language toward trafficking victims.

Lt. Gov. Brad Owen – acting in his ca-

pacity as president of the state Senate – removed her in a letter sent January 26.

“You attacked agency staff, persons both present and absent, stakeholders, and persons who have miraculously survived being victims of trafficking,” Owen wrote to Roach.

State officials attending the meeting with Roach “described their staff as ‘visibly shaken’ by your attacks,” Owen added.

Owen was “horrified” at the abuse Roach heaped on young victims of the human trade, he said.

“Among other fictions, you claimed that sexually trafficked and homeless youth are deliberately trying not to fit with their families by tattooing their faces and getting piercings,” Owen wrote.

“Without any apparent basis you minimized the exploitation of sexually trafficked minors by alleging that they probably spend their money on drugs and asked if the labor-trafficked persons were ‘illegals.’ “ Owen told Roach she should have no further contact with the Task Force, its staff, or victims working with it.

“I further direct you to engage in no retaliatory actions against any persons as-

sociated with or having any connection whatsoever with the Human Trafficking Task Force, and to refrain from any further meetings,” he wrote.

Roach, a Republican, is the most senior member of the state Senate and is notorious for her unstable personality.

In 2003, Republican Senate colleagues recommended that Roach seek mental health counseling after she brandished a pistol at a staff member. In 2008, she was warned not to have contact with Senate staff after many complained of abuse by her.

She was barred from the Senate Republican caucus in 2010 and only allowed back in when Republicans needed her vote to capture control of the chamber in 2012.

Roach is also a co-sponsor of two of this year’s crop of anti-Transgender bills. SB 6443 would repeal the state Human Rights Commission rules on restroom access and forbid the commission from making any rules at all regulating restroom use. SB 6548 would prevent Trans residents from accessing restrooms that correspond to their gender identities.

Klippert says that ferries owned by the citizens of Washington state should refrain from any partisan actions and he considers flying the pride flag a partisan act. The reason? Nearly 54 percent of Washington voters approved Referendum 74 in 2012, keeping the law that made same-sex marriage legal in the state. But 62 percent of Benton County residents rejected the initiative. Voters in only one Eastern Washington county, Whitman, favored the measure.

However, Ian Sterling, spokesman for Washington State Ferries said that marriage equality had nothing to do with the agency flying the rainbow pride flag; nor did the Supreme Court decision granting marriage equality to all 50 states. Sterling says Washington State Ferries had been asked to fly the flag on vessels that serve Seattle in

honor of Seattle’s Pride weekend. Because it is one of the city’s largest community events, he says the agency agreed.

Last year, according to its website, Seattle PrideFest 2015 was attended by 200,000 people.

According to Klippert, when he heard the state ferry system was flying the rainbow pride flag last summer, he contacted Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, the ranking minority member of the House Transportation Committee, and together they called the director of the Washington State Department of Transportation and the director of the ferry systems to ask that they be taken down.

The answer was no.

Klippert filed the bill because “a simple, polite phone call was not enough to stop the behavior,” he said.

Klippert, a Benton County Sheriff ’s deputy and school resource officer in Benton City, is the only sponsor listed on the bill as posted on the state website. He told the Tri-City Herald he wanted to get the bill introduced as early as possible, rather than spend time adding sponsors, because the legislative session is scheduled for just 60 days.

It is no secret that Klippert is not a friend to the LGBTQ community. He is also sponsoring a bill that would retroactively protect businesses that choose not to provide services for same-sex marriages and he is one of dozens of co-sponsors on another bill intended to override a state rule that requires that Transgender people be allowed to use public restrooms and locker rooms for the gender by which they identify.

State Senator Pam Roach – pamroach.com

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer State Sen. Pam Roach has been kicked

ferries

continued from cover fly over state ferries.

The Kennewick Republican told the TriCity Herald on Wednesday, “I have no problem with the Seahawks flag. People across all policy beliefs support our Seahawks, but that is not true for Gay pride flags.”

Klippert’s bill would end the state ferry system’s practice of occasionally flying other flags, such as the 12th flag and, as Klippert referenced, the LGBTQ rainbowcolored flag symbolizing Gay pride.

Last June, while the U.S. Supreme Court mulled over whether or not marriage equality was a civil right in the U.S., the rainbow pride flag was flown on the two ferries serving Seattle to Bainbridge Island and Seattle to Bremerton.

8 Seattle Gay News

January 29, 2016

Celebrating 41 Years!

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January 29, 2016

Seattle Gay News 9

10 Seattle Gay News

January 29, 2016

Celebrating 41 Years!

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January 29, 2016

Seattle Gay News 11

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Seattle, Wa 98122 (206).325--.3992 www.mossalley.com Seattle’s most progressive auto shop!

12 Seattle Gay News

January 29, 2016

Celebrating 41 Years!

Gay man sues pension plan for spousal benefits

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer A Gay man in San Francisco is suing a union pension fund and its board of trustees to get benefits owed to him as the survivor of his spouse, who was a union member.

Robert Pritchard, the surviving partner, met his husband, Thomas Conwell, in 2005.

They immediately fell in love, he says, and married in 2008.

Conwell worked at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel, was a member of the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 39, and was entitled to benefits under the IUOE 39 pension plan.

When Conwell died of a brain disease in 2012, Pritchard applied for spousal survivor benefits. According to the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), which is representing Pritchard, the IUOE 39 pension plan defined “spouse” as “a person to whom a participant is legally married,” and Pritchard qualified as such a person.

But even though the two were legally married, the pension plan refused to provide a spousal benefit to Pritchard “solely because both spouses were men,” NCLR charges.

In November 2015, the pension plan’s

board of trustees denied Pritchard spousal benefits, citing DOMA, which was in effect when Conwell died.

Of course, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down DOMA in June 2013. “But DOMA, even while it was in effect, did not prohibit the payment of the benefit,” the NCLR says. “And federal law requires retirement plans such as this one to recognize the legal marriages of same-sex couples for purposes of survivor benefits.”

“My husband’s death is the worst thing that has ever happened to me,” Pritchard said in a statement.

“To be denied his pension benefits while I mourned his loss and tried to heal from the hole that was left when he died wasn’t only demoralizing, it was dehumanizing.

My family is just like all other families, and no one should be denied rights because of who they are.”

“Tom worked for many years to earn a pension benefit that would protect himself and his family,” he added. “All I’m asking is that the plan and the board of trustees do the right thing and recognize our marriage, just as they recognize all other marriages.”

Julie Wilensky, the director of the California office of the Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC), which

Robert Pritchard (l) and his late husband Thomas Conwell – National Center for Lesbian Rights

is also representing Pritchard, said that the pension plan’s decision to deny Pritchard benefits had no justification under federal law.

“Federal law requires pension plans to follow their terms, and Robert was Thomas’s spouse at all times under the clear language of the plan,” she insisted.

NCLR senior staff attorney Amy Whel-

an said DOMA could not be used to defend the plan’s decision.

“The board of trustees needs to follow its plan and provide this much-needed benefit to Robert,” she said. “While DOMA has been the source of extreme discrimination against LGBT people and their families, it provides absolutely no defense in this case.”

Texas grand jury clears Planned Parenthood, indicts accusers

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

A grand jury in Harris County, Texas, has cleared Planned Parenthood of charges that it illegally sold tissue from aborted fetuses and instead indicted the group’s accusers.

The grand jury probe began in August 2015, after the anti-choice group Center for Medical Progress released videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood employees discussing costs of preserving fetal tissue for research.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and other leading Republicans charged that Planned Parenthood was profiting by aborting fetuses and then selling their tissue.

Planned Parenthood responded that the videos had been shot under false pretenses and then edited to make the group look bad. A grand jury was then called to investigate the allegations against the women’s health organization.

As it turned out, the grand jury decided to indict the videographers, David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, on charges of tampering with a governmental record, a second-degree felony that carries a punishment of up to 20 years in prison.

rentboy

continued from cover Easy Rent Systems, Inc. did business as Rentboy.com, and was also named a defendant. However, the indictment did not name six former employees who were arrested along with Hurant in August when authorities seized the Gay website. But a spokeswoman for Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Robert Capers did say that a criminal complaint against the former employees remains pending.

The case prompted criticism and has

cording staff and patients at least 65 times over the last eight years.

The organization charged that Daleiden and others used aliases, obtained fake government IDs, and formed a fake tissue procurement company in an effort to gain access to private areas and record private conversations to be deceptively edited to create a false impression.

The second indictment for Daleiden suggests that the grand jury found that he went too far in trying to entrap Planned Parenthood employees into admitting they were selling fetal tissue. He is charged with the class A misdemeanor of intentionally offering to buy or sell a human organ, including fetal tissue. If convicted, the maximum punishment is a year in jail.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement that the state attorney general and the Health and Human Services Commission still are investigating the videos.

“Nothing about today’s announcement in Harris County impacts the state’s ongoing investigation,” Abbott said. “The state of Texas will continue to protect life, and I will continue to support legislation prohibiting the sale or transfer of fetal tissue.”

Daleiden, who posed as someone interested in trading in fetal tissue in order to shoot the video sequences, received an additional misdemeanor indictment under the law prohibiting the purchase and sale of human organs.

Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson announced the surprising indictments Monday after a two-month investigation.

“We were called upon to investigate allegations of criminal conduct by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast,” said Anderson, a Republican.

“As I stated at the outset of this investigation, we must go where the evidence leads us. All the evidence uncovered in the course of this investigation was presented to the

grand jury. I respect their decision on this difficult case.”

A spokesperson for the Houston branch of Planned Parenthood said the news made the organization feel “vindicated.”

“It’s great news because it demonstrates what we have said from the very beginning, which is that Planned Parenthood is following every rule and regulation, and that these people came into our buildings under the guise of health when their true intentions were to spread lies,” said spokesperson Rochelle Tafolla. “We’re glad that these extremists have been indicted for breaking the law.”

The national organization of Planned Parenthood had said in a letter to Congress that Daleiden was involved in secretly re-

some asking why prosecutors are targeting the service after it had operated transparently for nearly two decades.

Rentboy.com was founded in 1996. Authorities allege it became the largest online male escort website in the nation and even hosted an annual escorts’ awards show called the Hookies.

The website carried disclaimers saying its advertisements for escorts were for companionship and not sexual services.

But authorities say Rentboy.com was intended primarily to promote prostitution.

Escorts paid at least $59.95 per month and up to several hundred dollars to advertise on Rentboy.com, which attracted 500,000 unique visitors daily and generated more than $10 million from 2010 to 2015, prosecutors said.

The new indictment said Rentboy also offered an advertising discount to escort agencies and, despite policies banning escorts aged below 18, did not verify their ages.

Hurant’s attorney, Michael Tremonte, said he would contest the charges and

looked forward to “full vindication at trial.”

“The government’s charges against Mr. Hurant are unwarranted. He ran his business openly for nearly 20 years, and it makes no sense to single him out for criminal prosecution,” Tremonte said.

Critics of the case also include The New York Times. The newspaper said, in an editorial last August, prosecutors had not justified shutting down “a company that provided sex workers with a safer alternative to street walking or relying on pimps.”

January 29, 2016

Seattle Gay News 13

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EEOC finds for Trans woman in bathroom suit

EEOC finds in favor for Trans woman in bathroom suit – Getty Images

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer A Transgender woman has received $115,000 from a former employer who prevented her from using the appropriate restroom after a federal civil rights agency ruled in her favor.

Britney Austin went to work for the Deluxe Corporation, a financial services company, in their Phoenix, Ariz., branch office in 2007. In 2011 she began to transition to her female gender identity.

During her transition, she was denied

the right to use the women’s restrooms at work and was also subjected to hurtful comments from colleagues, she charged.

Some co-workers also continued to use male pronouns when referring to her.

Her employer also failed to change Austin’s name and sex on company records, saying it would only do so if she underwent sex reassignment surgery. However, their health insurance package denied her request for transition-related medical services.

Austin’s stint at Deluxe came to an end in July 2011 when the company closed its Phoenix offices, resulting in several job

losses.

Austin filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which found in her favor.

Her employer violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by subjecting Austin to a hostile work environment and disparate treatment because of her sex, EEOC said.

“A long-term, well-respected employee should not be rewarded for her years of dedicated service by being forced to face the indignity and danger of using a restroom inconsistent with her gender identity, simply because a company’s management subscribes to sex stereotypes and believes coworkers may feel uncomfortable,” Rayford O. Irvin, district director for the EEOC’s Phoenix district office said in a June 2015 ruling.

After the EEOC decision upholding her claim, Austin’s attorneys and Deluxe agreed on the $115,000 sum, including $2,254.40 in back pay, $72,783 in damages, and $39,962 in attorney’s fees and expenses.

“This settlement sends a strong message,” Austin’s attorney, Jillian Weiss, said. “No one should face harassment and bias in the workplace, simply for being transgender.

“We applaud our client, Ms. Austin, for having the courage to speak out, take action, and bring change.”

“Transgender people should never face the bias I endured in the workplace,” Austin said in a statement. “We should be able to earn a living and provide for our families without fear of discrimination for being who we are.

“I am so relieved to come to this settlement with my former employer, put this case behind me, and move on with my life.

I hope by standing up for my rights I will help improve the workplace for other transgender employees in the future.”

In a long statement responding to the ruling, a spokesperson for Deluxe said the corporation was “pleased” to have resolved the lawsuit and would no longer discriminate against its Trans employees.

“Like others, Deluxe Corporation’s policies and practices have evolved over time,” the company said.

“Even before this settlement was reached, Deluxe ensured that transgender employees are permitted to use the restroom of their choice, while also ensuring that its national health plan did not contain blanket exclusions that impact transgender employees.

“Deluxe will continue to lead in the areas of diversity, inclusion, dignity, and equal employment for all employees, including transgender employees.”

The Elton John AIDS Foundation awards more than $5.4 million in new grants Foundation ups its commitment to challenging HIV criminalization laws, addressing the needs of Transgender individuals, and increasing access to prevention and treatment NEW YORK– The Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF), a leader in the global effort to end AIDS, on January 27, announced a new series of grants totaling more than $5.4 million to support organizations addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in critical and innovative ways. This is one of the Foundation’s largest grant cycles to date and brings EJAF’s total grant investments for 2015 to over $9.8 million, a 40% increase over the Foundation’s investments in 2014.

“With this final grant cycle of 2015, our Foundation makes its largest commitment to ending HIV/AIDS in the 24 years of our work,” said EJAF Chairman David Furnish.

“All of us at EJAF recognize that the latest scientific breakthroughs in preventing and treating HIV – including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and definitive proof that Treatment IS Prevention – have afforded us a unique opportunity to make real and lasting change in the course of the epidemic.

We believe that today calls for big gestures and bold statements to transform the biomedical progress we’ve made into tangible differences in people’s lives.”

In this grant cycle, the Foundation renewed 38 grants and funded 32 new organizations. These grants demonstrate EJAF’s continued investment in health programming and activism for LGBT people, Black Americans, HIV-positive prisoners and parolees, sex workers, women, and young people. Among the grants being funded are: • Over 25 grants to programs led by or specifically serving Transgender people.

Because of stigma and discrimination, Transgender people face higher than average rates of poverty and unemployment and frequently do not have access to the health care they need. EJAF is therefore making a major investment in Transgender organizing for rights and health care as a strategy toward improving HIV-related health.

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• Nine programs tackling the unsound and unjust laws that erroneously criminalize HIV-positive people for potentially exposing others to HIV, even when risks are minimal. If you have sex while HIV-positive, or even propose sex to someone, that’s a crime according to laws in many states, passed in the HIV panics of the 1980s.

These grants include four national organizations (Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, the Center for HIV Law and Policy, Desiree Alliance, and the Positive Women’s Network), and five organizations working for state-level legal changes in Georgia, Louisiana, and North Carolina. EJAF believes many of the state laws criminalizing potential HIV transmission can and will be changed during the coming years, thereby preventing the unjust incarceration of innocent people and removing disincentives for people to know and disclose their HIV status.

• Seven grants for programs providing HIV testing and services for sex workers or engaging in activism to protect the health and civil rights of sex workers and advocate for changing outdated policing practices, including the confiscation of condoms and medications for HIV prevention.

• Several grants to expand the use of home-based HIV testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Home-based HIV testing offers people a way to test for HIV in a place and a time that is convenient to

January 29, 2016

them. PrEP is the one-pill-a-day that prevents HIV so people can protect themselves against the virus. Both of these approaches have tremendous potential to help people learn their status and prevent HIV infection, especially in rural areas and underserved communities that face high risk of a resurgence in HIV due to factors like pervasive poverty and drug addiction.

• Three new grants for HIV-related activism in South Carolina, a Southern state with an out-of-control epidemic where EJAF deliberately sought to increase its presence in 2015.

• Two new grants focused on health services for Gay men and migrants in Tijuana, Mexico.

• Three grants to organizations specifically addressing the unique HIV prevention and treatment needs for women and girls.

“This year’s grant application process yielded more innovative and creative ideas than ever before,” EJAF’s Executive Director Scott Campbell added. “We believe this is in part because of increasing momentum toward ending the AIDS epidemic. The incredible projects proposed by EJAF’s 2015 grantees reinforce our conviction that an end to HIV/AIDS will happen in our lifetime. When faced with the leadership and boldness our grantees brought to us this year, the only thing to do is to say yes. At EJAF, we are fully committed to work tirelessly in the months and years ahead to

raise the funds necessary to sustain this significant increase in our annual grant investments.”

In addition to the 70 grants announced in this grant cycle, EJAF awarded more than 50 grants earlier in 2015. EJAF has been recognized as one of the largest HIV funders in the Southern U.S., one of the leading HIV funders in the Caribbean, and one of the nation’s largest funders of LGBT health programs and Black LGBT organizations.

ABOUT EJAF At the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF), we believe that AIDS can be beaten.

We act on that belief by raising funds for evidence-based programs and policies, and also by speaking out with honesty and compassion about the realities of people’s lives.

Sir Elton John created EJAF over twenty years ago, first in the United States in 1992 and then in the United Kingdom in 1993.

Through hard work and with the help of our network of kind and generous friends and supporters, the two foundations together have raised more than $349 million over the past two decades to combat stigma, prevent infections, provide treatment and services, and motivate governments to end AIDS. The U.S. foundation focuses its efforts on programs in the United States, the Americas, and the Caribbean, while the U.K. foundation funds HIV-related work in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Join us in speaking out, taking action, and contributing to our efforts to achieve a world without AIDS. For more information and for a complete list and descriptions of EJAF’s 2015 grantees, please visit www.ejaf.org.

American Airlines is the official airline of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Courtesy of the Elton John AIDS Foundation

Celebrating 41 Years!

Trans representation continues on popular television network MTV

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

MTV’s “True Life” is not known for shying away from LGBTQ topics. Some groundbreaking episodes include “I’m Genderqueer” and other episodes which challenge the social norm include “I’m a Gay for Pay Pornstar.”

The newest episode, however, “I Have a Trans Parent,” is inspiring as it hopes to educate the public about the children of Transgender people by looking at the subject with much needed social commentary around Trans issues.

The MTV “True Life” episode focuses on Kiara and Jeremy. Kiara is a young woman in the South who struggles to use gender appropriate pronouns with Kelden who wishes to be referred to as “Pops.” Jeremy’s parent, Jessica, has been disowned by Jeremy’s siblings and her mother. Although Jeremy is soon leaving for the military, he and Jessica are determined to reunite their

family.

This episode of “True Life” was developed by “Look Different,” MTV’s campaign “to help drive a meaningful conversation on race, gender and LGBT bias and inspire audiences to take a stand.”

While shows like “I Am Caitlyn” and “Transparent” have helped to open doors for programming geared toward the Trans community, there is still an essential need for Trans representation advocates feel.

Last year, in particular, saw a rise in Transgender programming as a greater breadth of Transgender women’s stories was given visibility.

“Not only did viewers get to watch authentic depictions of life as a Trans woman via reality shows such as ‘I Am Caitlyn,’ ‘I Am Jazz,’ and ‘Becoming Us,’ but some of the best narrative storytelling on television revolved around stories of fictional Trans women on ‘Transparent’ and ‘Orange Is the New Black,’” said Rebecca Raber at TakePart.com. “These different types of

shows showcased many diverse facets of Transgender life – dealing with puberty as a gender nonconforming person, coming out as Trans to your family late in life, dealing with bigotry, navigating dating.”

“The shows illustrated that there is no one monolithic Trans experience,” she continued. “In a world where Trans women (especially Trans women of color) are more likely to be victims of violence, these depictions hopefully helped create some muchneeded familiarity with, empathy for, and understanding of a rarely seen and underserved community for those who were previously ignorant.”

According to a recent Pew poll, nearly 90% of Americans say they personally know someone who is LGB. However, according to a recent Harris poll, only 16% of Americans say they personally know someone who is Transgender, which has doubled from the 8% who said so in 2008. The same poll showed that while 27% of Millennials say they personally know someone who is

Transgender, only 9% of Americans over 45 say the same. Given this reality, Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the nation’s LGBT media advocacy organization says most Americans learn about Transgender people through the media.

GLAAD’s staff, which has included Transgender people for over 15 years, is committed to working with the media to fairly and accurately tell the stories of Transgender lives. GLAAD works with national news outlets, TV networks, film studios and Spanish-language media to include real stories about Transgender people. GLAAD also works closely with Transgender people and Transgender advocacy groups to raise awareness about Transgender issues. In addition, GLAAD provides free media trainings to empower Transgender people to share their stories.

Young Protectors: Engaging the Enemy comes out on top of Kickstarter fundraiser a champion

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor People raise money through online fundraising sights like Kickstarter for all manners of things. And sometimes, much to the delight or chagrin of the public, the cause or project or whatever it might be, actually raises or, in some cases, exceeds the fundraising goal and becomes a reality. Well, fans and advocates of anti-LGBTQ bullying are smiling as news that Young Protectors: Engaging the Enemy, a Kickstarter fundraising effort to turn a successful web comic into a printed graphic novel has raised its goal amount almost ten times over.

The graphic novel centers around a young Gay hero and a team of his superpowered friends pitted against an older Gay villain. Author Alex Woolfson originally released the comic online and began a crowd-

mary.

The paperback graphic novel is available for pre-order, along with Kickstarter incentives, including trading cards, a special character-based “Spooky Cap,” and over forty full-color 11”x14” prints featuring the heroes and villains of The Young Protectors in “thrilling action and sexy romantic

scenes” at https://the-young-protectorsvol-1-0.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders.

The estimated shipping date is sometime in February. More than 2,000 people have preordered the paperback graphic novel.

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Seattle Gay News 15

funding effort to raise $14,000 to bring his story to traditional comic life and ended up raising over $133,000 at the end of its 30day run.

The book’s summary reads, “Kyle – a closeted, teen superhero who can control fire – has finally summoned up the courage to enter a local Gay bar. It’s his very first step towards accepting himself. Unfortunately for him, his very next step out of the bar places him face-to-face with The Annihilator, the most dangerous supervillain in the world. And the price that The Annihilator demands to keep Kyle’s secret will lead Kyle down a path fraught with danger, adventure and unexpected romance.”

“It’s a path that will force Kyle to question what it really means to be a hero and will ultimately thrust him and his young teammates into an epic conflict against vastly superior foes,” concludes the sum-

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GLAAD’s “Accelerating Acceptance” report provides snapshot of Americans’ feelings about LGBT issues

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) released its annual “Accelerating Acceptance” report on January 20, a survey conducted on GLAAD’s behalf

by Harris Poll, which reveals a startling level of complacency and ambivalence among Americans on LGBT issues.

The survey – fielded online from October 5-7, 2015 among 2,032 adults ages 18 and older – also shows growing levels of acceptance among non-LGBT Americans.

“Complacency is the enemy of social

progress,” said GLAAD CEO & President Sarah Kate Ellis. “2015 was a monumental year for the LGBT community, but marriage equality is a benchmark – not a finish line. The hard work of legislative change must go hand in hand with that which cannot be decided in a courtroom: changing hearts and minds.”

Among the survey’s key findings:

• Perhaps because marriage equality was so widely covered by the media in 2015, half (50%) of all non-LGBT Americans are now under the false and potentially dangerous impression that “gay people have the same

rights as everybody else.”

• Further, many Americans are unconcerned by or unaware of LGBT issues. Over a quarter (27%) of non-LGBT Americans say that violence against transgender people is not a serious problem. This, despite the fact that at least 21 transgender women, mostly women of color, were murdered in the U.S. in 2015.

• Similarly, 37% of non-LGBT Americans say that homelessness among LGBT youth is not a serious problem. According to The Williams Institute at UCLA, however, approximately 40% of all homeless youth identify as LGBT.

• Roughly a third of non-LGBT Americans profess no strong opinion about important LGBT issues. Interestingly, this ambivalence appears across segments, including allies.

• Still, Americans are also growing more comfortable with LGBT people. In fact, in most situational questions surveyed (6 of 7), Americans report less discomfort with LGBT people than was reported the previous year.

The full report is available at: http:// glaad.org/acceptance.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation files federal lawsuit against Gilead to invalidate patents on key AIDS drug Legal action, filed on Tuesday, January 26 in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, asserts that, “ … Gilead manipulated the patent system and engaged in anticompetitive practices to prevent economical access to …” Tenofovir, a key component in Genvoya, Gilead’s four-in-one Fixed Dose Combination (FDC).

AHF lawsuit also names Japan Tobacco Inc. and Emory University and asserts anticompetitive violations of the Sherman Act. In 2013, Gilead unsuccessfully sought U.S. patent extension on Stribild, a similar FDC that also included Tenofovir, which was first synthesized over thirty years ago in the Czech Republic.

LOS ANGELES – AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday, January 26 against Gilead Sciences Inc. seeking to invalidate patents on key AIDS drugs held by the Bay Area drug maker. The legal action was filed today in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, [Case # 3:16-cv-00443] and concerns Tenofovir, a key HIV/AIDS drug which was first synthesized over thirty years ago in the Czech Republic. Tenofovir is a component in Genvoya, Gilead’s fourin-one Fixed Dose Combination (FDC) to treat HIV/AIDS patients as well as Gilead’s similar predecessor FDC, Stribild.

AHF’s lawsuit also names Japan Tobacco Inc. and Emory University and asserts anti-competitive violations of the Sherman Act,15 U.S.C. §§ 1 & 2.

AHF currently cares for over 575,000 HIV/AIDS patients in 35 countries and purchased millions of dollars of antiviral drugs from Gilead in 2015 alone. In its legal filing, AHF asserts that: “In a relentless effort to maximize its profits, Gilead manipulated the patent system and engaged in anticompetitive practices to prevent economical access to TAF – an antiviral agent used in the treatment of HIV. TAF is not a new compound. TAF is a prodrug [1] of the compound Tenofovir, which was first synthesized over thirty years ago in the Czech Republic. Nor was TAF the first prodrug of Tenofovir. Several years before Gilead obtained a patent on

16 Seattle Gay News

TAF, Gilead had patented a similar prodrug called Tenofovir Disoproxil (“TDF”).

Despite similarities between TAF and TDF and the weakness of the patents covering TAF, Gilead illegally seeks to extend the period of patent exclusivity for drugs incorporating Tenofovir by decades.

Gilead’s attempt to extend the period of patent exclusivity for drugs incorporating Tenofovir arises from Gilead manipulating the patent system, entering into a licensing agreement with Japan Tobacco, and using a preexisting patent licensing agreement with Emory University to block entry by potential competitors and prevent competition.

Gilead’s actions have directly harmed AHF, which in 2015 alone purchased millions of dollars of antiviral drugs from Gilead.”

“In 2013, Gilead unsuccessfully petitioned the FDA for a patent extension from three to five years on Stribild – which at $28,500 per patient, per year when it was introduced in January 2013 was the most expensive fixed-dose first-line combination HIV/AIDS therapy on the market,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “In November 2015, after the FDA approved Gilead’s Genvoya, we said the updated combination, with admittedly fewer potential side effects, was also developed as a means to extend prior patent protections. We believed then – as now – that Gilead is trying to monopolize the market by price gouging on its HIV/AIDS treatments, actions that severely diminish access to these lifesaving medications and serve as catalyst for our legal action today.”

“Gilead’s illegal acts prevent people liv-

January 29, 2016

ing with HIV/AIDS from accessing lifesaving treatment and cost the public billions of dollars because of Gilead’s unwarranted monopoly,” said Daniel Hipskind, AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s attorney from the firm Olavi Dunne LLP. “Gilead must stop manipulating patent and FDA law in order to charge exorbitant prices for HIV drugs.”

“This case sends a message to the pharmaceutical industry. Gilead shouldn’t be able to line its pockets by manipulating access to its HIV drugs,” said Dorian Berger AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s attorney from the firm Olavi Dunne LLP. “It is illegal to block access to lifesaving drugs by manipulating the law and through this legal action we intend to hold Gilead accountable.”

According to a New York Times article at the time of Genvoya’s approval by the FDA in November 2015, Genvoya “…contains the same four drugs as Stribild, but with the tenofovir disoproxil fumarate replaced by tenofovir alafenamide. The new form of the inhibitor, Gilead said, enters cells where HIV replicates more efficiently, resulting in 91 percent less tenofovir in the bloodstream. That should make the pill less likely to cause kidney damage or loss of bone density…”

In response to FDA approval of Gilead’s Genvoya, the Indian online news site “The Hindu” published a November 8, 2015 article titled, “Magic Pill, or Just an Old Cocktail?’” The article noted: “There are two things one needs to know about this drug.

First, it is not a new drug. It is a combination of four old drugs – elvitegravir, cobi-

cistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide (TAF). This is called a Fixed Dose Combination (FDC).

And while FDCs are good for improving adherence among patients, this is no magic pill. ‘Technically, this is simply not a breakthrough. No new drug has been discovered – older drugs have been brought together in the FDC form. This is important as it improves compliance, which is a great thing but to call it a breakthrough is a stretch,’ said Dr Manish Kakkar, a public health specialist in communicable diseases at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI).”

In January 2013, shortly after the FDA approved Stribild, the Fixed Dose Combination that Genvoya is now based on, Gilead filed a citizen’s petition with the FDA seeking an extension on its patent protection on Stribild from three years to five years.

In October 2014, the FDA denied Gilead’s petition for the patent extension.

AHF’s lawsuit, which demands a jury trial, seeks “Declaratory Judgment of Patent Invalidity and Violation of the Sherman Act ,15 U.S.C. §§ 1 & 2.

ABOUT AIDS HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 575,000 individuals in 35 countries worldwide in the U.S., Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www. aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www. facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare [1] Prodrugs are medicines that are converted into their active form once they are processed inside the body. In the case of TAF, it is taken orally and after absorption it passes into the blood.

Courtesy of AIDS Healthcare Foundation

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