SGN February 12, 2016 - Section 1

Celebrating 42 Years!

Issue 7 Volume 44

FRIDAY February 12, 2016 FREE!

SEC 2 PG 1

Seattle Gay News

Victory!

25¢ in bookstores & newsstands

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

The Washington state Senate voted down SB 6443, otherwise known as the “Bathroom Bill,” by the narrowest of margins on February 10.

The vote in the Republican-controlled Senate was 25 against and 24 in favor, with three Republicans voting No and two Democrats joining the rest of the Republicans to vote Yes. The bill would have repealed a recent ruling by the Washington State Human Rights Commission that Transgender individuals can use public restrooms that correspond to their gender identity. The measure would also have barred the Human Rights Commission from making any future rules about restrooms or locker rooms.

Republicans Steve Litzow, Andy Hill, and Joe Fain voted against the legislation, giving the No side its majority. All three come from King County districts and all three also broke ranks with their Republican colleagues to vote for marriage equality in 2012.

Conservative Democratic Senators Jim Hargrove and Tim Sheldon voted Yes. Both also voted against the 2012 Marriage Equal-

SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

25 votes defeat anti-Trans bill

law’s requirements clear for employers, businesses, and other places of public accommodation in regards to Transgender people, did not pass a full Senate vote on Wednesday.

Senators voted 25-24 to defeat SB 6443 and maintain the policy the Human Rights Commission approved last year, which says that owners of businesses and other public facilities can’t force Transgender people to use a bathroom or locker room that is inconsistent with their gender identity.

SB 6443, sponsored by Sen. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, cleared committee last week and reached the Senate floor on Wednesday where a trio of Republicans from the eastern part of King County (Sens.

Andy Hill, Steve Litzow and Joe Fain) supplied the votes that defeated the legislation.

“Legislation to create more uncertainty and reduce the rights of any minority does more to divide us than to bring equality,” Litzow said after the vote. “This provides our state with a powerful opportunity to educate more people about our Transgender community members and the struggles and disWashington State Capitol Building – northwestphotos.wordpress.com crimination they already face.”

In contrast, Democratic lawmakers, Sen. by Shaun Knittel ity Act. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, and Sen. Tim SGN Associate Editor Republican lawmakers, their conservaSheldon, D-Potlach, voted in favor of the tive Democratic allies, and right-wing preslegislation.

A controversial bill that would have sure groups like the Family Policy Institute eliminated the Washington State Human Rights Commission’s rules, which made the see sb 6443 page 4 see bathroom bill page 8 2006 Anderson-Murray anti-discrimination

FTC should stop Lasting damage seen in conversion therapy, LGBT teens who suffer Sen. Patty Murray says harassment

Lasting damage for LGBT teens linked to harrassment as teens – www.queerty.com

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

“It Gets Better” after graduation for LGBT youth.

Researchers followed almost 250 LGBT Patty Murray – q13fox.com LGBT teens who experience severe ha- youth in Chicago for four years. During that Sen. Patty Murray called on the Federal rassment can suffer from serious mental time, nearly 85 percent of the participants Trade Commission (FTC) to take “decisive health problems, a new study suggests. The had decreasing levels of harassment, about study directly challenges the notion that see patty murray page 4

see lgbt teens page 15

2 Seattle Gay News

February 12, 2016

Celebrating 41 Years!

SB 6548 To the Editor: Aside the fact SB 6548 is DOA, when it arrives, in the state House, it would be vetoed by Governor Inslee, and wouldn’t be overridden by two-thirds of the member-

ship of the House and Senate, it would also violate Section 1, Article 31 (Equal Rights Amendment) of the Washington Constitution. Washington’s ERA makes sex (gender) a suspect class, which requires strict scrutiny, by the courts, of any statute that has a disperate effect based on gender.

SB 6548 simply proves the right-wing of

the Washington Republican party is alive and well, and continues to legislate white, male, heterosexual, Christian privilege, under the law.

Sincerely, Steven L. Kendall Seattle

Find your softball team for 2016 at ECSA Field Day – February 13 The Emerald City Softball Association, the Northwest’s largest Gay-softball organization, invites players of all types to its Feb. 13 event The Emerald City Softball Association (ECSA) invites players of all types to find their team for 2016 at its annual Field Day event, Saturday, Feb. 13, at 10 a.m., at North SeaTac Park, S. 128th St. and 20th Ave. S., in SeaTac. With more than 550 active players, the Emerald City Softball Association is the Northwest’s largest LGBTQ-focused softball league and one of the largest Gay-sports organizations in the U.S. As a newplayer clinic and skills assessment, the Field Day is designed for players of all skill levels. Novices are strongly encouraged to attend, as are seasoned pros. Haven’t thrown a ball since childhood? You won’t be alone, league officials say.

“It’s a great chance to meet new people from throughout the Seattle area and see what the league is all about,” says James Neely, ECSA membership director.

Representatives from many of the ECSA’s 35+ teams will be on hand to introduce themselves and invite new players to their teams for the 2016 softball season, which runs from April 3 to June 12. Games are on

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Sundays at North SeaTac Park and Petrovitsky Park in Renton. After the season, the ECSA also holds the annual Emerald City Classic tournament in various Seattle-area locations, attracting teams from across the continent.

Field Day participants are strongly en-

couraged to bring a mitt and molded plastic cleats (no metal spikes). There is no cost and no RSVP required. Players can join the event on Facebook at bit.ly/ECSAFieldDay_2016 to stay apprised of event information.

In case of rain, Field Day will take place on Feb. 14, same time and place. Watch em-

February 12, 2016

eraldcitysoftball.org for updates.

About the ECSA The ECSA started in 1980 in Seattle as a group of friends playing ball and has grown to be a welcoming place for LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ players to partake in the competition and spirit of softball. It is now one of the oldest and largest Gay-softball leagues in the nation.

As a member of the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance (NAGAAA) – which represents more than 13,000 players in 43 member cities in the U.S. and Canada – the ECSA sends its top teams to each year’s NAGAAA Gay Softball World Series.

In August 2015 a record 11 teams represented Seattle and the ECSA in the World Series in Columbus, Ohio, with the Seattle Maulers placing third in the C Division. This year’s series – the 40th annual – is set for Aug. 15-20 in Austin, Texas.

The sense of community and support that players feel when they are a part of the league is what sets the ECSA apart from other organizations, Neely says.

To learn more about the ECSA or to get information on sponsoring the league or its teams, please contact marketing/communications director Tony Stasiek at marcom@ seattlegaysoftball.com.

Seattle Gay News 3

Sawant, Gender Justice League celebrate defeat of Transphobic bill in state legislature

Councilmember Kshama Sawant thanked the Gender Justice League and all activists who helped to defeat Senate Bill 6443 [on February 9], a bill intended to roll

back protections for transgender people.

Sawant celebrated the historic victory for trans rights and the victory against bigotry in the Senate:

“Congratulations to the Gender Justice League, trans rights activists, and everyone who joined them in the hard fought, brilliantly organized fight to defeat transphobic legislation in the Washington State Senate yesterday. This victory demonstrates how we can successfully fight back against bigotry and injustice when we are organized.”

“I will be donating $500 from my solidarity fund to the Gender Justice League to help continue the struggle for full equality,” Sawant added. Sawant only takes home $40,000 of her $117,000 Council salary a year, dedicating the remaining $42,000 after taxes to a solidarity fund to support social movements.

Danni Askini of the Gender Justice League echoed Sawant’s congratulatory support for the grassroots organizers who defeated the bill: “This victory is one that is shared by hundreds of transgender people, our families, and allies who mobilized across the state to defeat these harmful antitrans bills.

“Gender Justice League and the more

patty murray

forts to change sexual orientation are unlikely to be successful and involve some risk of harm.”

Patients who have been subjected to conversion therapy often experience depression or anxiety disorders or are involved in substance abuse, and some attempt suicide.

Murray noted that young people grappling with issues of sexual identity are especially vulnerable to psychological harm, and she said this is a reason why the federal agency should intervene to stop the practice nationwide.

“Perhaps most concerning are the effects of this harmful therapy on children and youth,” Murray’s letter says.

“Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) children and youth are at increased risk of suicide, substance use disorder, and engaging in other high-risk behaviors compared to their peers.

“Therapeutic support can be useful for children and youth who are LGBT or questioning their sexual orientation or gender identity, resulting in more confidence and acceptance, important elements of healthy child development.

“However, conversion therapy provokes guilt, anxiety, and societal rejection that negatively impact healthy development of children and youth, contrary to the claims of [conversion therapy] practitioners.”

The letter concludes that conversion

therapy is an “unfair, deceptive, and fraudulent practice” that should be banned.

A 2015 report by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration also concluded that conversion therapy is harmful.

“Directing the child or adolescent to conform to any particular gender expression or identity, or directing parents and guardians to place pressure on the child or adolescent to conform to specific gender expressions and or identities, is inappropriate and reinforces harmful gender stereotypes,” the report said.

Police Department to ask that the senators vote against moving the legislation out of committee and onto the floor for a full Senate vote.

Ritter’s testimony was powerful saying that, “In my 36 years in policing, both in Seattle and in Eastern Washington, I have never heard of, read about, or responded to any calls involving a Transgender person sexually assaulting anyone in the men’s or women’s restroom. Based on my experience, Transgender individuals are far more likely to be victims of crimes rather than the perpetrators of them.”

Ritter concluded, “Based on this, the City of Seattle would not support SB6443 or SB6548, as they would further expose Transgender individuals to increased harassment and assault that our current law was designed to stop.”

fully argued that supporters of repealing the administrative rule, which took effect December 26, wrongfully believe the rule will allow predators to more easily gain access to restrooms and locker rooms. They maintain that these fears are unfounded and prejudicial toward Transgender people.

In an email message to supporters on Wednesday evening, WA SAFE Alliance officials said, “To every single one of you who contacted your state legislators, attended and/or testified during the hearings, and shared your stories and this work – THANK YOU! For those of you that reached out to your own clients, constituents and lists and urged them to contact their legislators – THANK YOU!” Askini, who is also the executive director of the Gender Justice League, said to the Tacoma News Tribune that the bill’s failure in the Senate indicates to her that more people are listening to Transgender people when they say they need protections.

“We’re incredibly grateful that we saw today we have bipartisan support for the rights of Transgender people in the state of Washington,” Askini said. “I’m elated.”

Washington SAFE Alliance reminds us that the fight is not over yet. People still should remain engaged. There are still four bills left to defeat. If you are interested in doing your part, call your legislators in Olympia and demand that they preserve our state’s anti-discrimination law and oppose any bill that seeks to take away vital human rights we depend on, particularly for Transgender Washingtonians.

Kshama Sawant – Genna Martin/seattlepi.com

continued from cover

action” to stop conversion therapy, in a letter dated February 10.

In addition to Murray, the letter was signed by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Reps. Jackie Speier and Ted Lieu of California. Murray is the ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

The FTC is charged with regulating interstate commerce and has the authority to stop “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.”

In the letter, Murray cited an American Psychological Association finding that “ef-

sb 6443

continued from cover Sen. Ericksen argued, “Under this rule, practically, what can he do to be able to protect his members that are uncomfortable?”

Openly Gay Senator Marko Liias, DLynnwood, told reporters after the vote that he was disappointed the issue was debated on the floor if it was likely to fail.

During the debate, Liias argued that Transgender people aren’t “some nameless, faceless group.”

“They are our friends and neighbors, our children and our parents,” he said.

“They face tremendous challenges fitting into our society, and we should work to welcome them – not exclude them.”

In the House, efforts to repeal the Human Rights Commission’s rule have not succeeded either. House Bill 2782 that would ban people from entering gendersegregated bathrooms that don’t align with their male or female “anatomy,” or “DNA,” as defined by the bill, won’t receive a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee which is led by committee chairwoman Rep. Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma.

“To me, this is a lot about fear-mongering,” said Jinkins when asked why, as chair, she will not allow the bill to receive a hearing. “I do not believe that a legislative hearing about this bill will do anything but shed more heat and zero light on the issue. I do agree that community dialogue is really important as it relates to this bill but I am not in the business of holding hearings on bills that are trying to take away anti-discrimination rights from a class of people.”

4 Seattle Gay News

Still, the ramifications of these bills, whether they are being openly debated or not, reaches far beyond Olympia. In fact, Seattle’s mayor says he was happy to hear that the bill did not receive enough votes to become law.

Openly Gay Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, whose namesake is one-half of the 2006 Anderson-Murray Anti-Discrimination Laws, said in a statement sent to media following the vote, “I was pleased to learn that this extreme legislation was defeated in the State Senate. This bill is out-of-touch with Washington values. It would have turned back the clock on protections for the LGBTQ community that we fought so hard to achieve.”

“Transgender people are part of our families, our workplaces and our neighborhoods,” he said. “They must have the right to use public restrooms and other public accommodations that conform to their gender identity without fear of harassment, discrimination or violence.”

“Even as we defeat this misguided bill, we are reminded that we must remain vigilant,” said Murray, who before being elected as mayor of Seattle, spent two-decades as a lawmaker in Olympia in both the House and Senate. “We must always guard against erosion of those protections for transgender and gender non-conforming people in Seattle and throughout Washington.”

Leading up to Wednesday’s vote, Murray had sent Seattle Police Department LGBTQ Liaison Officer Jim Ritter, to speak on behalf of the City of Seattle, as well as to testify (in uniform) on behalf of the Seattle

February 12, 2016

Danni Askini, executive director of the Gender Justice League, wrote after the vote, “We did it. WE KILLED THE BILL. Thank all D’s except Sen. Hargrove and thank Sen. Hill, Sen. Litzow & Sen. Fain – all R’s who were with us.”

Askini is one of the founding members of the Washington SAFE Alliance, which took the lead on calling upon the LGBTQ and Allied communities to call lawmakers and urge them not to vote in favor of this, or any other, anti-Transgender bill. Since its inception, WA SAFE Alliance has grown in coalition partners, support, and influence.

That is something that is not expected to change after this win; if anything, it will bolster their ability to be the voice on the issue in our state, and possibly the region.

Washington SAFE Alliance has success-

than 134 other organizations in the Washington Safe Alliance united thousands of people against these bills and mobilized people to share their stories and explain the true struggles transgender people face.

“The defeat of SB 6443 sends a clear signal from the grassroots, discrimination against transgender people has no place in Washington State. Our trans brothers and sisters are worthy of our love and protection and are not to be feared.”

“This is unfortunately not the last we will see of these vicious attacks against transgender people. There are still 5 bills active in the Washington State Legislature, and it will continue to take bold leadership and grassroots commitment to ensure all transgender people in Washington State can live their lives safely, true to themselves, and free from discrimination.”

Courtesy of Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant

Celebrating 41 Years!

Washington SAFE Alliance celebrates protection of state’s anti-discrimination law for Transgender people

Senate votes 25-24 to defeat bill to repeal rules that protect Transgender Washingtonians OLYMPIA, WA – The statewide coalition, Washington Safety & Access for Everyone (SAFE) Alliance, celebrates the Senate defending the state’s 2006 anti-discrimination law and protecting all Washingtonians, especially transgender people’s, civil rights. A bi-partisan group of 25 senators voted yesterday to defeat SB 6443, which aimed to repeal Washington State Human Rights Commission’s rules clarifying the protections of transgender people under the Washington state law against discrimination.

“Our Senate has once again confirmed that transgender Washingtonians, and our families, can work, attend school, and shop without fear of discrimination,” shared Seth Kirby, Executive Director of Oasis Youth Center, “As a transgender man and youth advocate, I am grateful that our Senate is standing up for equality for everyone under the law.”

Senate Bill 6443 would have repealed the

recent Human Rights Commission rules and forbidden the Human Rights Commission from issuing new rules regarding gender-segregated public facilities in the future.

“Transgender people are part of the fabric of our communities. Yesterday’s vote affirms that civil rights, particularly transgender people’s civil rights, are a core value of Washington state,” said Danni Askini, Executive Director of Gender Justice League, a Washington SAFE Alliance partner. “We are grateful for the bi-partisan support in opposition to this bill. With this win we have a great deal to celebrate and will be prepared for what lies ahead.”

Five similar bills are still active in the Washington State Legislature, including four bills in the House of Representatives and Senate Bill 6548, which passed out of the Senate Law and Justice Committee last week.

Washington SAFE Alliance worked to

encourage Washingtonians to contact their state legislators, organize the community to attend public hearings, engage with friends and neighbors in communities across Washington about the bills, contribute letters to the editor and op-eds, and share stories and this work across multiple media channels.

The Washington SAFE Alliance is comprised of 126 organizations across Washington State, including Gender Justice League, Legal Voice, the Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA), Oasis Youth Center, Tacoma Rainbow Center, Pride Foundation, Ingersoll Gender Center, Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs, National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, SEIU 775, Planned Parenthood Votes NW, NARAL-WA, FUSE Washington, Center for Children and Youth Justice, ACLU of

Washington, Vadis, Spirit of Christ Community Church, Pierce County Community Youth Services, HopeSparks Family Services, Child Care Aware of Washington, UFCW 21, YouthCare, LGBTQ Allyship, OneAmerica, Northwest Law Advocates, Japanese American Citizens League, IRC/ WA Anti-Trafficking Response Network, Entre Hermanos, Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, City of Spokane Human Rights Commission, and Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane. See our full list at http:// www.wasafealliance.org/our-support-coalition-partners/ To learn more about the Washington SAFE Alliance, visit www.wasafealliance. org. On social media: https://www.facebook.com/WASAFEAlliance/ and https://twitter.com/WASAFEAlliance Courtesy of the Washington SAFE Alliance

Blowout!

Sanders “berns” Clinton in New Hampshire Trump wins on GOP side

ers.

Rochester, another blue-collar mill town, was also a Clinton stronghold in 2008, when she beat Obama by a 16-point margin. Sanders won Rochester by 21 points.

To cap the victory, the Sanders campaign announced it had raised $5.2 million in the 24 hours after his primary win, a number that has gone over $7 million as SGN goes to press.

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump beat their polling averages to emerge as the big winners of the February 9 New Hampshire primary.

On the Democratic side, the primary was a 22-point blowout for Sanders that left Clinton operatives openly speculating about a total reshuffling of the campaign.

Trump’s victory on the GOP side, coupled with the surprising second-place finish of John Kasich, caused New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina to abandon ship and suspend their sinking campaigns.

“Nine months ago, if you told somebody that we would win the New Hampshire primary, they would not have believed you.

Not at all,” Sanders wrote in a post-primary email to his supporters.

“Too bold, they would have said. Not enough money to compete against the billionaires. You showed them tonight.”

Not only did Sanders exceed his polling averages, he swept every region of the state and every demographic except for women voters over 65, who went for Clinton.

In fact, Sanders won women voters as a whole by 11 points, 55% to 44%. He won independent voters by nearly 50 points, 72% to 25%. And Sanders won young voters by 67 points, 83% to 16%.

Sanders captures 2008 Clinton voters Perhaps the most interesting statistic to emerge from New Hampshire shows Sanders capturing almost all the working-class

Bernie Sanders “berned” Clinton in New Hampshire – Reuters via cbsnews.com

voters that had been strong Clinton backers when she beat Barack Obama in New Hampshire’s 2008 primary.

Conversely, the voters that went for Obama now back Clinton, although in smaller numbers and with diminished enthusiasm.

Among voters making less than $50,000 a year, Sanders defeated Clinton by 33 points. In contrast, Clinton won those same voters by 15 points over Obama in 2008.

Among voters making more than $50,000, a group Obama won in 2008, Sanders’ margin of victory was only 17 points.

Similarly, Sanders won by 36 points among voters without college degrees, while winning college-educated voters by only 13 points. In 2008, it was Clinton who won voters without college degrees by 8 points, with Obama taking college graduates by 5 points.

While he swept almost every city and

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town in New Hampshire, Sanders didn’t fare much better than Obama in many of the state’s more upscale liberal areas.

In Hanover, home of Dartmouth College, Sanders ran just 281 votes ahead of Clinton, a margin of 6.5 points. Eight years ago, Obama won that same town by 1,500 votes, or 32 points. In the city of Portsmouth, another liberal enclave, Sanders performed only modestly better than Obama had, winning by 12 points in a city Obama took by 6 points.

On the other hand, in New Hampshire’s older post-industrial cities and towns, places that supported Clinton in 2008, Sanders won the day.

In Berlin, a struggling mill city in northern New Hampshire, Clinton was so strong in 2008 that her vote total actually exceeded that of Obama and the third Democrat in the race, John Edwards, combined. But this time, she lost the city by 13 points to Sand-

February 12, 2016

Bye-bye, Chris and Carly On the Republican side, Donald Trump rebounded after his loss in the Iowa caucuses to take 35% of the vote in New Hampshire, almost 20 points ahead of secondplace candidate John Kasich. Iowa winner Ted Cruz came in a distant third, with only 12% of the vote.

Jeb Bush, once thought to be the favorite in the race, barely kept his campaign alive by edging out Marco Rubio for fourth place.

Rubio, who had been rising in the polls, plummeted to fifth place after a disastrous debate performance only days before the primary.

Chris Christie, who had “bet the ranch on New Hampshire,” in the words of a campaign aide, and Carly Fiorina announced they were suspending their campaigns after the election results were announced.

Both Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio each suggested that the other should follow suit, as the Republican “establishment” seems to be running out of time to coalesce around a single candidate who is capable of beating Trump.

Seattle Gay News 5

Michigan Senate reaffirms unconstitutional sodomy law

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

Logan, the husky – AP Photo via dailymail.co.uk

Michigan’s Senate reaffirmed the state’s unconstitutional ban on sodomy on February 4, with a brief passage in a bill prohibiting cruelty to animals.

Known as “Logan’s Law” after a husky who was burned with acid by an abuser, the

measure included language forbidding “the abominable and detestable crime against nature either with mankind or with any animal…”

The passage was already part of Michigan law, and while not explicit, was interpreted as forbidding anal and oral sex between humans, as well as bestiality – practices that were commonly conflated in

American law under the general term “sodomy.”

The bill specifies punishment of up to 15 years in prison for a regular offender and up to life for “a sexually delinquent person” who commits sodomy.

Another section of Michigan law, passed in 1952, gives the following definition of “sexually delinquent”: “The term ‘sexually delinquent person’ when used in this act shall mean any person whose sexual behavior is characterized by repetitive or compulsive acts which indicate a disregard of consequences or the recognized rights of others, or by the use of force upon another person in attempting sex relations of either a heterosexual or homosexual nature, or by the commission of sexual aggressions against children under the age of 16.”

Michigan’s law against sodomy has been unenforceable since the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas. In that case, the high court ruled that consensual sexual conduct was part of the liberty protected by the substantive due process clause of the 14th Amendment.

Since Lawrence, only two of the 14 states that had sodomy laws in 2003 have repealed

them – Virginia and Montana. The rest remain on the books but can’t be enforced by state officials because any convictions would be overturned by federal courts.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Rick Jones, said the intent of his legislation had been distorted by liberal bloggers. The charge that it criminalizes consensual sex among adults is a “hoax,” he said.

Jones added he was well aware that Michigan’s sodomy law was invalid, but he kept the old language because removing it would have stirred up unnecessary controversy.

“The minute I cross that line and I start talking about the other stuff, I won’t even get another hearing,” he told the Detroit Free Press.

“It’ll be done. Nobody wants to touch it.

I would rather not even bring up the topic, because I know what would happen. You’d get both sides screaming and you end up with a big fight that’s not needed because it’s unconstitutional.”

The measure in likely to pass the Michigan House of Representatives, which is controlled by Republicans like the Senate is, and it will almost certainly be signed by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder.

Lawyers send out 1,200 notices in suit against Walmart Retail giant charged with denying insurance to same-sex spouses

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Lawyers handling a class action lawsuit against retail giant Walmart mailed out 1,200 notices to current and former Walmart employees on February 9. The court-approved notices ask people who were denied health insurance for their same-sex spouses to contact Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), which is helping to represent plaintiffs in the case.

The mass mailing is the next step in Cote et al. v. Walmart Stores Inc., scheduled for trial in November. The court will decide this fall whether to certify a class action.

“It is very important for anyone who receives the notice or who was affected by Walmart’s prior policy to contact lawyers for the proposed class,” said Peter RomerFriedman of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, also representing plaintiffs in the case.

“Our legal team is ready to help all of the workers whose rights are at stake in this proposed class action lawsuit.”

The lawsuit originated in a complaint by Jacqueline Cote, a longtime Walmart associate. Cote filed suit in July 2015, charging

6 Seattle Gay News

that Walmart’s refusal to provide health insurance to her spouse, Dee Smithson, prior to 2014 violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Because of Walmart’s policy, Cote and Smithson racked up more than $150,000 in uninsured medical expenses when Smithson was diagnosed and treated for ovarian cancer in 2012 and 2013.

“We now know that my wife Dee and I were not the only Walmart couples who were denied health care benefits prior to 2014,” Cote said in a statement. “I hope that all of my fellow Walmart associates will contact our legal team so that we can get justice for every single person who was affected.”

The notices being sent to current and former Walmart employees will inform them that lawyers for Cote and the “proposed class” are investigating claims against their employer and would like to speak with them.

The nearly individuals who are receiving the notices all enrolled a same-sex spouse in Walmart’s health plan after Wal-Mart changed its policy on January 1, 2014, and began providing health insurance to samesex spouses.

Many of these individuals worked for

February 12, 2016

Walmart faces new suit for denying insurance to same-sex spouses – Justin Sullivan/Getty

the company prior to January 1, 2014, during the period when Walmart denied insurance to same-sex spouses, and they may have claims against Walmart similar to Cote’s.

The notices also inform the recipients that Walmart employees can authorize Walmart to provide a range of contact, personnel, and health plan information to lawyers for Cote.

Former employees who left Walmart prior to the policy change in 2014, and who

were denied benefits for their same-sex spouses in prior years, were not included in the mailing but are part of the class, and lawyers would like to speak with them as well, GLAD said.

GLAD also emphasized that federal legislation is needed to protect LGBT employees.

“The large number of gay and lesbian couples who were impacted by Walmart’s prior policy highlights the need for strong federal anti-discrimination protections,” said GLAD staff attorney Allison Wright.

Celebrating 41 Years!

LGBT digital journalists revolt against GLAAD over Blog Award snub

anywhere on the list. The crucial voice of first-person LGBT voices has simply disappeared from the GLAAD Awards. This is a troubling message to send to the general public, to up-and-coming LGBT writers, and to the LGBT community itself.

In the spirit of a community in which every voice is an asset in our march to full equality, we ask that the ‘Outstanding Blog’ category be fully reinstated immediately. Please conduct a nomination process at once so that this critical error might be rectified before your 2016 awards dinner.

Also, announcing the winner of this category from the stage, unlike in year’s past, would also be a nice touch.”

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor The 27th Annual GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies will be held in Los Angeles on April 2 at The Beverly Hilton, and in New York on May 14 at the Waldorf Astoria New York.

Among the nominees are Academy Award nominees Carol and The Danish Girl; Golden Globe nominee Grandma; Film Independent Spirit Award nominees Appropriate Behavior and Tangerine; FOX’s hit drama “Empire” and Netflix’s “Sense8,” “Master of None,” “Orange Is the New Black,” and “Grace and Frankie”; Amazon’s “Transparent”; HBO’s “Bessie” and “Looking”; Logo’s “Banana” and “Cucumber”; ABC’s “20/20” for its Diane Sawyer inter-

tend the event,” he continued. “The group wouldn’t even give the winners a complimentary ticket to pick up the award off

and those who undertake this task typically do so without pay or recognition. They don’t grace the cover of magazines. They

view with Caitlyn Jenner; and musicians Troye Sivan, Adam Lambert, Miley Cyrus, Le1f and Brandi Carlile.

It is important to note that for the first time more than 50 percent of the nominations are Trans-inclusive.

Some of the magazines and newspapers receiving nods include Essence, The Advocate, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Time, Variety and The New York Times.

However, for the first time in five years, GLAAD has eliminated the Outstanding Blog Award and their decision has ruffled the feathers of some of the nation’s most in-

stage. It’s shameful.”

Browning does not find himself the lone wolf in this fight; several previous nominees and winners have joined together with editors and reporters from LGBT newspapers to protest the decision in an open letter published yesterday afternoon.

“As a signatory, it’s my hope that GLAAD reverses their decision, reinstates the award, and honors the winner publicly,” he said. “If you’re an independent blogger who’d like to be added to the open letter, let us know in the comments section and we’ll get you added.”

don’t get book deals. They don’t win Oscars. What they accomplish through their sacrifice of time and energy is the proper dissemination of information which serves to make our community stronger and better educated.

The ‘Outstanding Blog’ award bestowed

by GLAAD was one of the few ways LGBT bloggers have been given their due. The idea that these voices will now have to compete with larger and more powerful news entities such as The New York Times, MSNBC and Buzzfeed is unfair and, frankly, humiliating. The elimination of the ‘Outstanding Blog’ category implies that unless one is a celebrity or affiliated with a publication with a high profile and finances to match, you are held without regard in the LGBT media landscape, or at least as GLAAD sees it.

fluential independent LGBT bloggers.

Bil Browning, one half of the creators behind the influential LGBT blog Bilerico Project (now Bilerico Report on LGBTQ Nation), helped lead the charge five years ago to influence GLAAD to create the Outstanding Blog Award. The award was established after numerous complaints that the media watchdog favored large commercial enterprises over independent activist media.

Today, LGBT bloggers and journalists are in open revolt over GLAAD‘s decision to eliminate the Outstanding Blog award and Browning says “it’s particularly painful to see the organization sliding back into their pro-corporate stance.”

“As a two time nominee for best blog (Bilerico Project), I’ve always kept a wary eye on the award because, while they established the category, they never gave the award out on stage,” he said in a February 11 blog post at Bilerico Report.

According to Browning, GLAAD hosts three galas yearly to give out the awards but there was never room on stage for a blogger.

“GLAAD makes money hand over fist with those award ceremonies, but refused to help small bloggers making a minuscule amount of money for their daily efforts at-

The letter reads: “An Open Letter to GLAAD Regarding the 2016 Media Awards We, the undersigned, respectfully but strongly disagree with your decision to remove the category of ‘Outstanding Blog’ from the GLAAD Awards and with your rationalization behind this decision.

LGBT blogs and independent media play a crucial role in relaying information, providing new and diverse voices, and bringing attention to LGBT issues that have been overlooked and omitted by the mainstream media. Bloggers are the last truly independent voices of lived LGBT experience,

Visit us online www.sgn.org

Bloggers from HuffPost Queer Voices, The Seattle Lesbian, PamSpalding.net, Unicorn Booty, ThinkProgress.org and more are among the independent blogs that have signed onto the letter.

Alvin McEwan of Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters says the GLAAD Media Awards should help to elevate new leaders, “not push them away because of lack of notoriety or fame.”

“It’s not just solely about visibility, but also acknowledging and cultivating new spokespeople and leaders,” McEwan said.

“And you can’t do that by focusing specifically and only on prominent celebrities and national media.”

Mark King says that he was sincerely honored that his blog, My Fabulous Disease, was a 2015 Outstanding Blog nominee. “Although I couldn’t afford to attend the pricey event, I truly appreciated the fact GLAAD shined a spotlight on our work,” he said. “By eliminating the category, so many writers sharing their experience – as Bisexual, as Transgender, as someone living with

It is sadly ironic that GLAAD, an organization which prides itself on lifting up positive LGBT portrayals, has rendered grassroots LGBT voices invisible and unworthy of recognition. While an initial statement from GLAAD explained that bloggers are still welcome to compete with national outlets in other journalism categories, a simple fact speaks for itself: among the 2016 award nominees, there is not a single blog (or community-based LGBT outlet, for that matter) to be found

HIV – have disappeared from the recognition and visibility offered by the GLAAD awards.”

Browning points out that independent bloggers don’t have the resources and cash that large corporations have but many of them, including Bilerico Project, led the charge on LGBT rights reporting in a way larger corporate sites can’t.

Pam Spaulding of Pam’s House Blend said, “It’s shameful, considering independent voices helped shape the political gains over the last decade.”

“We’ve reported from the streets, from the halls of power, and scooped larger media conglomerates,” he said. “We’ve raised hell and influenced the scope of national and state policies and politics. And we deserve better.”

February 12, 2016

Seattle Gay News 7

bathroom bill continued from cover

made restrictions on the civil rights of Trans people a key policy objective in this year’s legislative session. The defeat of SB 6443 is a major setback to those plans.

“Tears of happiness” Local LGBT activists reacted to the good news with jubilation.

“24 yays, 25 NAYS!!! YAYA YAYAYYAYAY,” Gender Justice League Executive Director Danni Askini Tweeted from the Capitol in Olympia.

Activist Brianna Schuman said she “cried tears of happiness” as she watched the Senate proceedings on TVW. “Transgender people are in a fight for our very existence to be recognized as our authentic selves,” she added. “These bills are nothing short of an attempt to erase our existence….

“Hearing the legislators opposing the bill speak and defend my right to exist and live as my authentic self was beautiful. Thirty-five years of fighting to figure out who I am was long enough. Today 25 legislators

in my state voted to strike down a bill to take away my rights, and in doing so they told me I matter. I exist. That is all I’ve ever wanted.”

“The struggle goes on” “We are grateful to the Senators who voted to preserve civil rights that have been law in Washington for a decade,” GSBA President Louise Chernin said.

“This bill would have been harmful to the LGBT population in general, but most especially Transgender Washingtonians. SB 6443 would have marked Washington as an unfriendly place to do business, and so this is a win for a community committed to diversity and respect.”

Chernin helped organize the SAFE Alliance in opposition to anti-Trans proposals in Olympia.

The Pride Foundation’s Kris Hermanns, who also was part of the SAFE Alliance, said she was “grateful for the bi-partisan support of 25 Senators who recognized the harm that SB 6443 would have caused to Washingtonians, especially Transgender people.

“Their courageous leadership affirms

that our state values dignity and safety for all by upholding existing anti-discrimination laws. And I am humbled by the transgender people and parents of transgender children who took great risks to share their powerful stories – they were critical in this win and will continue to be for what lies ahead.”

Ingersoll Center founder Marsha Botzer expressed “full thanks to all those who helped good sense and good law win against the blatant pandering to fear that brought this awful bill against us!

“Thanks to Representative Laurie Jinkins [who blocked SB 6443’s companion bill in the House]! To our community, the SAFE Alliance, Equal Rights Washington, to every person who took a stand with us, and to the three brave Republicans who voted with us!” Botzer continued.

“The struggle goes on, we know it will.

But we are correct to choose humanity over fearful dogma. We will win.”

“See you in November” “We are grateful that our oppositions’ baseless, fear-based attacks against the Transgender community failed in a Senate

that, today, valued justice and equity over partisanship,” Equal Rights Washington Executive Director Monisha Harrell said.

While SB 6443 has been disposed of, other anti-Trans legislation is still pending in Olympia, and Republicans are threatening to make Transgender rights an issue in the November election.

“It looks like the new ‘let men in women’s bathroom’ rule DOES apply to schools,” Rep. Matt Manweller of Ellensburg Tweeted. “Nice job, Dems. Repeal the rule now or we’ll see you in November.”

Harrell said that ERW was prepared to fend off future attacks on the LGBT community.

“Sessions like this are exactly why Equal Rights Washington maintains a strong presence in Olympia,” she said.

“The LGBTQ community cannot afford to be complacent about preserving our rights and continuing to fight for those who have yet to achieve equity. We know this battle isn’t over, and we remain prepared to stand our ground and protect our rights.”

Same-sex military couple marry in surprise Hawaii wedding

by Albert Rodriguez SGN A&E Writer Ever dreamed of getting married in Hawaii? The sound of ocean waves splashing against the shore. The smell of tropical flowers in full bloom. Baby blue sky, bright sun and palm trees swaying in the background.

Your closest family and friends in attendance, wearing Hawaiian print shirts and decorative leis.

For one couple, this dream turned real.

Christian and Shayne Alarid (née Barnes) were surrounded by lush scenery and their loved ones when they tied the knot recently on the island of Oahu. The men met while stationed in the Aloha State; Christian currently serves in the Air Force and will enter the Air Force ROTC program this fall at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and Shayne is enrolled full time at Hawaii Pacific University after completing his service in the Marines.

Although the pair was already engaged, the wedding itself was a surprise. Christian scheduled a photo shoot on the morning of November 12, 2015 at Spalding House, an extension of the Honolulu Museum of Art that overlooks the city from the hilly Makiki neighborhood. It was all a setup. The reason they were really there was for Christian to ask Shayne to marry him that day. In less than 10 hours, everything fell into place beginning with the couple checking into separate rooms at the Ilikai Hotel and Luxury Suites, an iconic property in Waikiki often used as a setting for TV shows and films, where they were welcomed by surprise

8 Seattle Gay News

guests – Christian’s cousin Audrey, chosen as his best woman, and Milan, a good friend of Shayne’s selected as his best man.

When the grooms finished getting ready, they were whisked away to a secret locale for their ceremony and reception.

The Kahala Hotel & Resort, nestled into the upscale Kahala district about 10 minutes from Waikiki, became the ideal spot for a beautiful afternoon wedding in Hawaii. Upon arrival at the hotel, Christian and Shayne were surprised with a few more family members and friends flown in by Alaska Airlines, who received each of them with hugs and tears.

“I really wanted my family there, actually”, says Shayne in a video posted by the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, as part of its #LetHawaiiHappen tourism campaign.

Following a traditional Hawaiian wedding ceremony on the manicured lawn of The Kahala Hotel & Resort, where many celebrities and top politicians stay when visiting Oahu, the newlyweds and their guests were treated to a reception with food, Hawaiian music and dancing under an illuminated tent. Christian and Shayne exchanged personal, handwritten vows to each other during the ceremony.

“Astonishing,” said Christian, when asked via email to describe the couple’s wedding in just one word.

“It was a blessing to be married in Hawaii.” he shared. “This state has an aura that is simply magical that I haven’t felt in any other state I have ever been in. Hawaii is a beautiful state, but what many people in the mainland do not know about Hawaii is that no matter where you go, there is this overwhelming sense of family and acceptance.

I am comforted in knowing that I can hold

February 12, 2016

Christian and Shayne Alarid – HVCB

my handsome husband’s hand while walking down the street and people give a gentle smile when they see us, and with that I feel at home, I am a part of the ‘ohana.” The word “ohana” means “family” in the authentic Hawaiian language.

The Alarids have been showered with congratulations and support by friends, family and also by their colleagues. “My military colleagues have been beyond supportive”, notes Christian. “They are like my family and accept Shayne as one of their own comrades.”

In just six weeks since it was posted online the video, titled “#LetHawaiiHappen: A Surprise Wedding,” has received over 350,000 views on YouTube. Christian admits to already being recognized from it.

“I actually had a friend who went back

to his home state of Colorado to visit his family and one of his family members excitingly wanted to show him a video about a gay surprise wedding in Hawaii. When she showed him the video, he told her that the guys in the video are actually his really good friends that he hangs out with all of the time. I had a couple more friends that told me a very similar story!”

The happy couple resides in Hawaii. The video can be seen on YouTube; simply type “#LetHawaiiHappen” or “surprise wedding” in the search engine, or subscribe to the “Hawaii” channel.

If you’re considering or interested in planning a Hawaiian wedding, whether it be on Oahu or Maui, or maybe the Big Island or Kauai, start by visiting the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau at hvcb.org.

Celebrating 41 Years!

Visit us online www.sgn.org

February 12, 2016

Seattle Gay News 9

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February 12, 2016

Celebrating 41 Years!

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February 12, 2016

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February 12, 2016

Celebrating 41 Years!

Calling out insensitive, anti-Semitic protest [at Creating Change]

by Mark Segal Philadelphia Gay News When I was a boy of 13, my grandmother took me to my first civil-rights demonstration to teach me about racism and social justice. She knew those issues well: Our family fled from the pogroms in Russia, others in our family perished in the Holocaust and Grandmom even fought for women’s rights.

On that day, I marched with Cecil B. Moore and Robert N.C. Nix. Five years later, in 1969, I’d be a member of New York’s Gay Liberation Front and, in the name of justice, we’d march with The Black Panthers to free Angela Davis from her arrest and detention, chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, House of D [New York’s Women’s House of Detention] has to go.” But … when I heard LGBT activists at the National LGBTQ Task Force’s Creating Change conference in Chicago [held January 20-24, 2016 in Chicago] using part of that slogan against our own community, it was a sad day. And it sickened me to the pit of my stomach.

Creating Change is the largest gathering of LGBT activists across the nation. Typically, all issues affecting our communities are discussed, with people being able to agree to disagree with respect. But a major controversy happened this year. And what usually is and should be a place for dialogue became unsafe. This incident was at the very least insincere, and at its worst antiSemitic.

A Wider Bridge, which promotes ties between LGBT Americans and Israel, was scheduled to have a reception at Creating Change. But some conference participants complained about an event featuring a group with ties with Israel. Presto, the Task Force cancelled the event. This led to a debate about anti-Semitism, apartheid and political correctness. Eventually, conference organizers did the right thing and reinstated the session. After all, this conference was about “creating change,” and change occurs with communication.

However, the event led opponents of Israel to protest; such protesters essentially urge people to boycott any LGBT event relating to Israel, not due to its LGBT laws, but because of how it treats Palestinians. They use terms like “apartheid” and “racism.”

Here’s what they don’t state. While Israel

is welcoming to LGBT people, Palestinian law criminalizes homosexuality. If you call the Palestinian Authority at their U.N. office and ask about LGBT rights, as I did, you’ll be treated to hang-ups (first call), laughter and a “Don’t you understand our culture?” question (second call) and finally, “We don’t talk about that.” A fourth call offered a phone number in the Palestinian state for me to call.

The protesters want us to support people who laugh at and criminalize us. They don’t explain that LGBT Palestinians escape to Israel for protection. It is so unsafe that the group fighting for Palestinian queer rights is located in Israel. Why? The Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip has declared homosexu-

Activists occupied public spaces in the Chicago Hilton on January 22, to protest the presence of an Israel lobby group in the National LGBTQ Task Force’s Creating Change Conference – Alex Shams

ality punishable by death. Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar has said, “You in the West do not live like human beings. You do not even live like animals. You accept homosexuality. And now you criticize us?”

I’ve visited and written about the region on many occasions. In fact, I spent time with the first out LGBT organization in Beirut, writing about lesbian women in Jordan and the oppression in Egypt, among other topics. I know the people on both sides well.

I was embraced in Beirut and spit on in Jerusalem.

I was at Creating Change to speak about my just-published memoir, which speaks of my numerous arrests and nickel rides fighting for social justice. In many of the cities on my book tour, a young LGBT person asks, “What can we do today to create activism?” So I appreciate many in that crowd

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at the protest who were there wanting to do something. Unfortunately, they weren’t given the facts. They were misled into what became an ugly anti-Semitic rally.

The first question we should ask protest organizers is: If you’re suggesting a boycott of Israel because of non-LGBT issues, why not speak out about Palestine’s antigay laws? Why not explain that many LGBT people have had to escape antigay violence in Palestine? If you were fair, the position should be boycott both, but instead you single out one. And that one place has become a safe haven for LGBT Palestinians. That is anti-Semitism, with a dose of self-hatred.

Supporting those who wish LGBT people ­– us – dead is the definition of self-hatred.

The next question to ask protesters is even simpler: Why are you not protesting the anti-LGBT position of the Palestinian state? Do you approve of the draconian laws of Putin’s Russia, or those of Uganda? Palestine is equally as, if not more so, antigay as those countries.

Then there’s the issue of racism. That same term has been used to describe our country by the “Black Lives Matter” effort.

Have you called for an international boycott of the United States? No, you single out one entity: Israel, the Jewish State. Yes, “Jewish.”

We all know why Israel was created, as a safe haven for Jews. We also know how Palestinians have fought Israel, at times suggesting it be wiped off the face of the earth, along with its people, the Jews. Yasser Arafat coined that into a slogan: “From the [Jordan] River to the Sea.” To Jews, that slogan

February 12, 2016

represents extermination. Now, imagine being a Jew in a room with 200 people outside banging on the doors yelling that slogan, or wrapping a Palestinian flag over the head of a Jew trying to make his way into the room. That is what happened in Chicago. Windy City Times did a great job of capturing most of the demonstration on video (ow.ly/XByz1).

Many of us would gladly protest Israeli treatment of Palestinians – I myself support a Palestinian state, the so-called “two-state solution” – but that is different than supporting the Palestinian government that wants you put to death if you’re LGBT and live on the Gaza Strip. But trapping Jews in a room yelling what is as close to a death slogan as there is. Does that conjure something? Look up “Kristallnacht.” Insensitive at the very least.

It’s great to see this generation wanting to protest injustice, but they need to understand the issues and the lessons of our early fight for equality. Fight first for our community’s rights, since if we do not, nobody else will. LGBT Palestinians can’t speak out in their homeland, and your protests only embolden those who keep them from speaking out.

The Task Force acknowledged its mishandling of the situation and said it will work to prevent future incidents. While they may have been unprepared, protest organizers are the ones who need to apologize – not just to those in that room who were forced to leave through a back door for safety, but to the entire LGBT community for their insensitivity and for supporting those who support our oppression.

The term these individuals use is “pinkwashing.” From this time on, pinkwashing equals self-hating anti-Semites.

We members of Gay Liberation Front have varied views on Israel and Palestine, but one thing we would never do is act with such insensitivity and suggest support for those who wish to put LGBT people to death or eradicate an entire race of people.

Shame on you! http://www.epgn.com/opinion/markmy-words/9931-calling-out-insensitiveanti-semitic-protest Mark Segal is the nation’s most-awardwinning commentator in LGBT media. His memoir And Then I Danced, Traveling the Road to LGBT Equality is available online or at your favorite bookseller.

Courtesy of Philadelphia Gay News

Seattle Gay News 13

Sleeping with the enemy: Gay billionaire backs Ted Cruz

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer In spite of Ted Cruz’s vocal opposition to LGBT rights, one of his biggest financial backers is Gay billionaire Peter Thiel.

Thiel, who cofounded PayPal and was an early investor in Facebook, has a net worth estimated by Forbes magazine at more than $2 billion. He has been close to Cruz since 2008, when he hosted Cruz and several other up-and-coming young Republicans at a swanky $1,000-a-room Miami Beach hotel.

In 2009, Thiel gave Cruz $250,000 to run for Texas attorney general. He also talked fellow billionaire Paul Singer into giving Cruz $25,000. Singer, whose son is Gay, has also been a financial backer of same-sex marriage and right-wing politicians.

That same year, Cruz attended another Thiel-sponsored retreat, this time at Reynolds Plantation in Georgia.

Thiel was also a major supporter of Cruz’s 2012 Senate campaign, giving $2 million to the Club for Growth, which in turn spent heavily on Cruz’s behalf. That

year, the Center for Responsive Politics reports, the Club for Growth spent $18 million on elections, with individual Club members donating another $4 million to campaigns.

Like Singer and the Koch brothers, Thiel identifies himself as a libertarian. In addition to his support for Cruz, Thiel was also a major donor to Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential super PAC. In his current presidential campaign, Cruz cited Thiel’s friendship at an April 2015 fundraiser at the home of two hotel owners whose properties cater to a Gay clientele.

Thiel’s friends Adam and Tara Ross are the primary funders of Stand for Truth Inc., a pro-Cruz super PAC. The Rosses have reportedly given $1 million of the $2.5 million the super PAC has raised to date.

The money is being spent on negative TV ads targeting Marco Rubio and Donald Trump.

While Thiel has not explicitly endorsed any candidate in the 2016 presidential race, he has said he admires Cruz’s intelligence.

Peter Thiel – www.post-gazette.com

“Well, I think he’s very smart,” Thiel said of Cruz. “I think one of the challenges we have in the Republican Party is … our representatives, our senators are somewhat lower IQ than the people on the other side.

So I think there is something to be said for getting some really smart people in there.”

Singer has announced his support for Cruz rival Marco Rubio.

Cruz is a pussy, Clinton is evil, Trump says

Trump followed up with an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe TV show the next day, during which he said Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was “in a certain way, evil.”

Cruz has become Trump’s favorite target since Cruz beat the billionaire in the Iowa

Republican caucus. When Trump mentioned Cruz at a February 8 rally, a woman in the crowd shouted something.

“She just said a terrible thing,” Trump said with a smirk. “You know what she said?

Shout it out.”

The woman shouted again but still couldn’t be heard throughout the cavernous arena.

“OK, you’re not allowed to say and I never expect to hear that from you again,” Trump said. “She said – I never expect to hear that from you again! – she said: ‘He’s a pussy.’ That’s terrible.”

The crowd burst into laughter, followed by cheers. Trump beamed.

“What kind of people do I have here?” he laughed. “What do I have?”

The next day, Trump campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson appeared on CNN to defend Trump.

“Donald Trump has single-handedly brought back the freedom of speech,” she said. “[T] he fact that Donald Trump is out there saying what he thinks and means is important,” she added.

“He’s not controlled. He’s not polling.

He’s not testing messages like so many other candidates are. He’s just being himself with voters.”

Pierson was previously known for an inflammatory tweet she posted during the 2012 presidential campaign, when she was working on Ted Cruz’s successful Senate run.

“Perfect Obama’s dad born in Africa, Mitt Romney’s dad born in Mexico. Any purebreeds left?” she tweeted.

Trump also insulted Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton during a TV appearance the day after the “he’s a pussy” remark.

Asked to play a word association game

by Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski, Trump responded to the prompt “Hillary Clinton” by saying, “In a certain way, evil. In a certain way, evil.”

In the same segment, Trump also described former governor Jeb Bush as a “loser,” retaliating for a similar comment Bush made about him the day before.

Trump called Cruz “nasty” and Marco Rubio “confused,” and he described himself as “brilliant.”

and post-traumatic stress disorder) were those who suffered moderate harassment (such as having things thrown at them) that increased over time and those who had continuously high levels of harassment (such as physical or sexual assault) during the study.

“With bullying, I think people often assume ‘That’s just kids teasing kids,’ and that’s not true,” said study author Brian Mustanski, director of Northwestern University’s Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health and Wellbeing in Chicago.

“If these incidents, which might include physical and sexual assaults, weren’t happening in schools, people would be calling the police,” he said in a university news release.

“You can’t equate someone giving you a dirty look with someone physically assaulting you. Victimizations that are more severe are going to have bigger effects. We scored them in a way that represented that, and we saw they had a profound effect on mental health rates over time,” Mustanski explained.

“We were happy to see that for most kids, the levels of victimization were lower overall or decreasing over time. But we were struck by how severe it was for some of these kids who were getting highly victimized over their four years of high school,” Mustanski said in the news release.

“If that’s your experience for several years of high school, you can imagine how scarring that would be,” he added.

The findings were published recently in the American Journal of Public Health.

Donald Trump – Reuters/telegraph.co.uk

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Donald Trump continued his classy run for the Republican presidential nomination, calling rival Ted Cruz a “pussy” at a pre-primary event in New Hampshire.

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10 percent had significant increases in harassment, and about 5 percent had consistently high levels of harassment.

The study found that females were more likely than males to have decreasing levels of harassment during the study period, and males were more likely to be subjected to physical and verbal assaults.

LGBT youth at greatest risk for lasting mental health problems (such as depression

14 Seattle Gay News

February 12, 2016

Celebrating 41 Years!

Department of Education answers HRC’s call for greater transparency on anti-LGBT religious exemption requests To help increase transparency and accountability, Department of Education will publish list of educational institutions who have sought and/or received an exemption from federal law seeking the right to discriminate against LGBT students WASHINGTON, DC – On January 20, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization praised a decision from the U.S. Department of Education to publish a searchable database in the coming months of educational institutions who have sought and/ or received an exemption from federal civil rights law in order to discriminate against LGBT students. To help increase transparency and accountability, HRC called on the Department of Education in December to take action in light of this growing and disturbing trend by some religious colleges and universities.

“We have been alarmed by the growing trend of schools quietly seeking the right to discriminate against LGBT students, and

not disclosing that information publicly,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “We are encouraged that the Department of Education is answering our call for greater transparency to help ensure no student unknowingly enrolls in a school that intends to discriminate against them. We believe that religious liberty is a bedrock principle of our nation, however, faith should never be used as a guise for discrimination.”

HRC first called on the Department of Education to take action in a comprehensive report released in December called “Hidden Discrimination: Title IX Religious Exemptions Putting LGBT Students at Risk.” In the report, HRC spotlighted 56 colleges and universities based in 26 states across every region of the country – which collectively have nearly 120,000 students – that have requested religious exemptions under Title IX since 2013. These institutions have utilized a little-known provision in the law that allows educational institutions controlled by a religious organization to request an exemption from full compliance with the law if “application of the law would conflict with specific tenets of the

religion.” Specifically, HRC called on: • The Department of Education to require schools to publish comprehensive information about the scope of the exemption they received and the way in which Title IX still protects students; • The Department of Education to regularly report which educational institutions have been granted Title IX religious exemptions, the scope of those exemptions, and ensure the information is provided on the individual schools’ landing page as part of College Navigator; and • Congress to amend the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) governing statute to require OCR to annually report the number of Title IX exemptions that were requested, granted, and denied. LGBT students face discrimination and harassment at an alarming rate.

While the Department of Education has little discretion to deny these requests for exemptions, religiously controlled educational institutions should not be exempt from full transparency.

According to a 2010 study, lesbian, gay, and bisexual college students are nearly

twice as likely to experience harassment when compared with their non-LGB peers, and are seven times more likely to indicate the harassment was based on their sexual orientation. In the 2011 National Transgender Discrimination Survey, one-fifth of transgender students reported that they were denied gender-appropriate housing, and five percent reported outright denial of campus housing. LGBT college students also suffer from higher rates of sexual assault and misconduct on America’s campuses; transgender and gender nonconforming students report one of the highest rates of sexual assault and misconduct.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. HRC envisions a world where LGBT people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community. www.hrc.org.

Courtesy of the Human Rights Campaign

Despite backlash, LGBTI people make global gains; worldwide trend towards greater rights for sexual and gender minorities

by Peter Tatchell Peter Tatchell Foundation The last few years have witnessed an unnerving backlash against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in twenty countries, including Russia, Morocco, Uganda, Brunei, Syria, Nigeria and The Gambia.

This escalating repression has included more vigorous enforcement of long-standing laws criminalising same-sex relations; resulting in highly publicised arrests in several countries, including Cameroon, Egypt and Senegal.

Nearly 80 countries still have a total prohibition on same-sex relations. Over half of them are members of the Commonwealth.

Their homophobic laws were imposed by Britain in the nineteenth century, during the era of colonialism, and retained after independence.

The penalties for homosexuality include 25 years jail in Trinidad and Tobago and 20 years plus flogging in Malaysia. Several Commonwealth countries stipulate life imprisonment: Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Pakistan, Uganda, Bangladesh and Guyana.

There have also been new laws enacted in some countries, most excessively in Nigeria, which has outlawed LGBTI organisations, fundraising and public advocacy – and even gay-focused HIV prevention, and LGBT-themed books and movies.

Lesser repression involves restrictions on media coverage of LGBTI issues and on the foreign funding of LGBTI groups, as happens in Uganda.

In these backlash countries, LGBTI people are increasingly demonised and

scapegoated by demagogic politicians and fundamentalist clerics as a cheap way to win popular support. At the start of 2016, a spokesperson for Malawi’s opposition party, Ken Msonda, sought to bolster his profile and win bigoted votes: “Arresting them (LGBTIs) won’t address this problem because sooner or later they are being released on bail. The best way to deal with this problem is to kill them!”

Anglican churches in Nigeria and Uganda have contributed to the witch-hunting atmosphere; supporting draconian new anti-gay laws.

To the delight of many governments, having an “enemy within” has conveniently distracted public attention from economic failings and corruption.

Hate rhetoric is fueling homophobic mob violence – sometimes perpetrated by right-wing death squads – especially in Honduras, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and El Salvador. Six Honduran LGBTI activists have been assassinated since last summer.

A disproportionately high number of victims of anti-LGBTI violence are transgender people. The Trans Murder Monitoring project reports that over 1,300 trans and gender-diverse women and men were murdered in Latin America from 2008 to 2014.

In recent years, the Indian and Singaporean courts have upheld the criminalisation of same-sex relations, and Burundi has outlawed homosexuality for the first time in its history.

Islamic State in Syria is targeting LGBTIs for execution, mostly by being thrown off tall buildings. In neighbouring Iraq, Shia militias are also waging a terror campaign against LGBTIs.

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Despite this bleak picture, in the overwhelming majority of the world’s 193 countries, the trend is towards ever greater LGBTI acceptance and equality.

In recent years, we’ve seen the decriminalisation of gay sex in Palau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Northern Cyprus and Mozambique. The Seychelles has pledged to repeal its anti-gay laws; though it has not yet done so.

There are legal challenges to the ban on same-sex relations in Jamaica and Belize.

A Ugandan court annulled the notorious Anti-Homosexuality Act, albeit on a technicality. The new bill to replace it has never been legislated.

Vietnam lifted the ban on same-sex marriage in 2015, as a prelude to its expected eventual legalisation.

The Botswana courts have for the first time recognised the right of an LGBTI organisation to be registered and the Indian Supreme Court has upheld the rights of the trans community.

Helem, Lebanon’s LGBTI group, has operated for over a decade; hosting the first LGBTI centre in the Arab world. Taiwan has just elected its first women president, a supporter of same-sex marriage, in a country where marriage equality now has more than two-thirds public support.

The first openly lesbian cabinet Minister has taken office in South Africa; and two men who were prosecuted for being gay in Zambia were acquitted at their trial.

Both the United Nations Human Rights Council and the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights passed resolutions in 2014 calling on all countries to protect their LGBTI communities from discrimination and violence.

Research by the Williams Institute has found rising global acceptance of same-sex relations, including in developing countries: “Latin America acceptance of homosexuality ranges from a high of 34% in Uruguay to a low of 2% in Ecuador. On the legal recognition for marriages for samesex couples, Uruguay has the highest level of support at 57% while Guatemala has the lowest level of support at 12%.

In Africa, acceptance of homosexuality ranges from a high of 38% in South Africa to a low of 2% in Ghana.” These figures are still quite low but nonetheless a big improvement on a decade ago.

In this context of majority progress, backlash is a minority blip in the overall worldwide trajectory towards LGBTI equality. It is a reaction to the positive gains won by brave, determined LGBTI human rights defenders, many of whom risk their liberty and lives. If we were not winning there’d be no backlash. I see backlash as a backhanded compliment.

LGBTI freedom has been long delayed but it cannot be denied.

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Seattle Gay News 15

Peter Tatchell is a human rights campaigner: www.PeterTatchellFoundation.org This article first appeared under the title Where are we now? The global outlook for LGBTI rights in the The Guardian – London, UK – 8 February 2016 – READ & COMMENT: http:// gu.com/p/4gebz/stw (edited) Courtesy of the Peter Tatchell Foundation – Speaking Out for Human Rights

HIV+ to HIV+ organ transplants OKed

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

The United Network for Organ Sharing – the group authorized by Congress to manage organ donations – has approved a plan by Johns Hopkins University to begin transplants from HIV-positive organ donors to HIV-positive recipients.

“This is an unbelievably exciting day for our hospital and our team, but more importantly for patients living with HIV and endstage organ disease. For these individuals, this means a new chance at life,” Dorry L. Segev, an associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a statement.

Until 2013, use of organs from HIVpositive donors was illegal. Then the HOPE Act, or HIV Organ Policy Equity Act, was passed by Congress and signed into law.

The HOPE Act allows HIV-positive-toHIV-positive organ transplants.

According to Segev, as many as 600 new transplant patients could be accommodated under the HOPE Act. Some 122,000 are on

the transplant waiting list at any particular time, and thousands of patients die every year while awaiting new organs.

Johns Hopkins said it is ready to perform the transplants immediately, as soon as patients are identified. The university hopes to be the first in the world to perform an HIV-positive-to-HIV-positive liver transplant and the first in the country to do an HIV-positive-to-HIV-positive kidney transplant.

South Africa has been allowing HIVpositive-to-HIV-positive kidney transplants for several years and has seen good outcomes.

Using organs from HIV-positive donors had been banned in the United States because the virus has been known to “hide” in patients’ organs in a latent form. However, transplanting organs to an HIV-positive recipient carries no risk of spreading the virus.

The United Network for Organ Sharing was established by Congress in 1984 to manage organ donation and to set policies on testing, transport, and other protocols to

HIV+ to HIV+ organ transplants oked – NHSBT via metro.co.uk

ensure the safety of the recipient.

U.S. rules governing organ procurement, patient eligibility, ranking of wait lists, and accreditation of hospitals that can

perform transplants have been criticized for being unnecessarily complex.

Iranians invent app to evade morality police

Iranian app “Gershad” – www.engadget.com

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Iranian developers have invented a new app that allows users to alert each other to lurking “morality police.”

Called “Gershad” – a contraction of the Farsi name for the morality police, “Gasht-

16 Seattle Gay News

e-Ershad” – the app is available from the Google Play Store.

Iran’s morality police are charged with making Iranian citizens – particularly women – comply with the regime’s interpretation of Islamic social norms.

For example, the morality police must ensure that women wear their headscarves correctly. Young women who wear their

February 12, 2016

scarves pushed back on their heads, revealing their hair, can be stopped by the morality officers and reprimanded. Women who wear tight clothes or show their arms or ankles are also subject to the morality police.

If morality officers see a young man and young woman walking together, they can stop the couple and make them prove they are married or related. If they can’t, the couple is subject to arrest.

According to official figures, in 2014 the morality police stopped 3.6 million women for cases of “badly worn” headscarves.

Some 180,000 women were arrested, and 18,000 were sentenced by a court for violations of Islamic morality.

Iranian authorities also estimate that they stopped 40,000 cars because the women inside were allegedly wearing “inappropriate clothing.”

“Everyone knows to what extent we are humiliated by the morality police,” the app’s online blurb reads.

“Many websites are full of photo and video evidence of the humiliations that young women in particular undergo. The Gershad app is a peaceful way to minimize the risks and to bring us back a little freedom.”

The way the app works is simple. If a user sees an officer of the morality police in the street, he or she can upload the officer’s location to the app, warning other users to take evasive action.

The app has built-in checks to make sure that users are sharing credible information.

For example, users have to activate their GPS and can only upload the location of officers who are within a one-kilometer radius of their location.

Users can also see how many other people have identified an officer at a particular location. The more people who report that officer, the more trustworthy the alert becomes.

Finally, a user can also enter his or her favorite neighborhoods and receive specialized alerts when a police officer shows up there.

According to France 24 website, since Hassan Rouhani became president of Iran in 2013, there has been a decrease in the number of morality police seen on the streets. Nevertheless, morality police are not under the jurisdiction of the civil authorities, but answer to Iran’s religious leaders as well as to the country’s Minister of the Interior.

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