SGN November 27, 2015 - Section 1

Celebrating 41 Years!

Issue 48 Volume 43

FRIDAY November 27, 2015 FREE!

25¢ in bookstores & newsstands

Seattle Repertory Theatre’s

SGN critics agree: It’s amazing!

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Seattle Gay News

GSBA raises $775,000 at scholarship funding dinner

Greg Phelps – Photo by Team Photogenic

GREATER SEATTLE BUSINESS ASSOCIATION RAISES A RECORD $775,000 FOR SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM More than 800 guests attended the annual gala and auction to support LGBTQ educational scholarships

SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Four injured in drive-by shooting on Capitol Hill

The QFC grocery store on Broadway was the scene of a drive-by shooting on Sunday, Nov. 22 – Photo by Eric Seward via capitolhilltimes.com

The 2015 TASTE of GSBA culminated by Shaun Knittel Saturday, November 21 at the Sheraton Se- SGN Associate Editor attle Hotel, raising more than $775,000 for The GSBA Scholarship Fund. 100% of the Some would say that it’s been a long proceeds raised at the event will benefit LG- time coming as crime – in particular gang, BTQ and allied students from across Washgun and drug violence – has become more see gsba page 4 brazen and visible on Capitol Hill. On Sun-

Stronger Together World AIDS Day Breakfast on December 1 to feature Black AIDS Institute’s Phill Wilson as keynote speaker SGN Editor-in-Chief George Bakan and Center for Multicultural Health’s Vanessa Grandberry to be honored

On Tuesday, the community December 1, fighting HIV/ from 7:30 a.m.-9 AIDS, and spea.m. at the Washcial guest Phill ington State ConWilson, Founder, vention Center President and (8th Ave. & Pike CEO of the Black St.), the 12th AIDS Institute, Annual Stronwill give the keyger Together note speech.

World AIDS Day As a Breakfast will be reminder, attendheld to benefit ing the breakfast five Seattle area is complimenHIV/AIDS sertary, but this is a vice providers: fundraiser and Gay City Health donations to Project, Seattle your chosen orCounseling Serganization are vice, CareTeams, encouraged. All a project of Saguests will have Phill Wilson – lgbtweekly.com maritan Center the option to of Puget Sound, with support from Inspire make an all-organization contribution reYouth Project and Center for Multi-Cultural gardless of where they are seated. For more Health. The event will be hosted by Molly information and to pre-register, visit www.

Chen from KOMO-4. strongertogetherseattle.com. Walk-ins will This year, Seattle Gay News Editor-in- be welcome on a space available basis. For Chief George Bakan and Center for Multi- complete details and to pre-register, visit Cultural Health’s HIV/AIDS Health Edu- strongertogetherseattle.com. cator Vanessa Grandberry will be honored at the event for their grassroots work in see world aids day page 6

day morning, November 22, around 1 a.m., shots rang out by the QFC at Broadway and E. Pike St. in a drive-by shooting that targeted a group of people that had just been seen arguing with the driver and passengers in the vehicle a few minutes earlier on the see shooting page 3

Transgender Day of Remembrance held at City Hall

Illustration from 2015 Transgender Day of Remembrance program

Hall inside the Bertha Knight Landes Room (600 4th Avenue).

Social Outreach Seattle’s Mac McGregor welcomed the audience at 7 p.m. and inOn Friday, November 20, Seattle’s annual troduced City of Seattle Councilmember Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) Tom Rasmussen, who read a City of Seattle vigil was held for the first time at Seattle City

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

see Transgender day page 4

2 Seattle Gay News

November 27, 2015

Celebrating 41 Years!

Jonathan Katz, Ph.D., renowned art scholar/curator offers Cal Anderson Lecture at Evergreen State College The week after Thanksgiving will see the revival of a tradition at The Evergreen State College, the Cal Anderson Memorial Lecture Series. The series, which has brought such notable authors as Kenji Yoshino and Blanche Cook and filmmaker Wendy Jo Carlton to Olympia, honors Washington state’s first openly Gay state legislator.

Jonathan Katz, Ph.D., chair of the Art Department and director of Visual Studies Doctoral Program at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), prominent LGTBQ activist and co-curator of the exhibit currently at the Tacoma Art Museum (TAM), Art AIDS America, will spend November 30 and December 1 in the South Puget Sound discussing art, AIDS, LGTBQ issues and how they intersect.

On November 30, Katz will offer a talk to Evergreen students, faculty and the general public entitled “How AIDS Changed American Art.” The lecture will be held on the Olympia campus (2700 Evergreen

shooting

continued from cover sidewalk.

According to the Seattle Police Department report of the incident: “Gang Unit detectives are conducting the follow up investigation after four people were struck by gunshots.

“At approximately 1:00 a.m., officers responded to the intersection of Broadway and Pike, where witnesses reported hearing an argument between a group of people just before shots were fired. Witness reported that the shots came from a silver sedan that immediately fled the scene following the shooting. Four people were struck by gunshots and one person was struck by glass

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Pkwy NW, Olympia), in the Communications Building Recital Hall at 5:30 p.m. In this lecture, Katz argues that AIDS has been the great, albeit repressed, motor behind the development of American art over the last several decades. Instead of seeing AIDS as a tragic tangent in the formation of our common culture, Katz argues that strategies born of AIDS continue to guide American art even up to the present day.

The following morning Katz will lead students and faculty from Evergreen’s Tacoma Program and Olympia programs on a curated tour of the TAM exhibit, underscoring the argument in front of defining works of art.

Cal Anderson served from 1987 to 1995 in the Washington state legislature, first as a state representative and later as a state senator. He remained a public servant until his death in 1995 from AIDS. A Vietnam-era veteran, Anderson was awarded two Bronze Stars and four U.S. Army Commendation

Medals.

The Cal Anderson Memorial Lecture Series is a forum organized by Evergreen to capture the spirit of public policy reasoning and ideas that marked Cal Anderson’s career. Known in his later life for AIDS and equal-rights legislation, Anderson also worked tirelessly for campaign finance and regulatory reform, veterans’ issues, environmental protection and open access to government.

Art AIDS America is organized by Tacoma Art Museum in partnership with The Bronx Museum of the Arts with support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, and Gilead Sciences, Inc. The exhibit will run until January 10, 2016.

fragments from the nearby large glass windows from the grocery store that shattered.

Seattle Fire Department responded and transported the injured victims to Harborview Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

“Gang Unit detectives responded and processed the scene. Multiple shell casings were located in the intersection. This remains an active and on-going investigation.

The Gang Unit will conduct the follow up investigation.

“Anyone who may have information on this incident is asked to contact the Seattle Police Department.”

Seattle Fire reported three female victims were transported from the scene. According to radio dispatches, another victim

was reported in “red” condition – code for life-threatening injuries; however, the victim’s condition was downgraded after SFD said their medic crew determined the patient was hit by glass, not a bullet resulting in less serious injuries than first thought.

It was first reported that a fifth victim had been shot and killed; however that report was proven erroneous.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray met with East Precinct Captain Paul McDonough at the scene of the shooting Sunday morning, as well as community leaders later that night, to discuss making the neighborhood safer.

Police are still looking for the driver of the silver sedan, as well as the shooter and anyone else involved, and urge anyone that has information about the shooting to call them at (206) 625-5011.

November 27, 2015

Seattle Gay News 3

Courtesy of The Evergreen State College

City Council passes budget:

No money for expanded paternal leave or LGBT center

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The Seattle City Council passed its 2016 budget on November 23, with additional funding for homeless services, pre-apprenticeship programs for youth, free ORCA cards for low-income students, and diversion programs for young people in trouble with the law, but no new money for expanded parental leave or an LGBT community center.

In all, the Council added about $18 million to Mayor Ed Murray’s $5.1 billion proposed budget.

The Mayor pronounced himself satisfied with the result but did not openly take sides on some of the more controversial issues hashed out by the Council.

“This budget will support our efforts to manage our growing population, make the City safer, expand economic opportunity for youth, and respond to the current crisis

gsba

continued from cover ington state. As the largest and most successful LGBT chamber of commerce in the U.S., TASTE is the organization’s signature fundraising event, a black-tie evening of culinary delights, celebrity chefs, four-course gourmet dinner, entertainment from the incomparable Robbie Turner, and multiple auctions.

“Dressed in beautiful Cabaret-themed elegance, over 800 guests arrived at the Sheraton ready for an evening filled with incredible food, amazing wine, show-stopping entertainment and a laser focused purpose to raise money to ensure that our LGBT and allied students are supported and able to attend college,” said GSBA President and CEO Louise Chernin. “We are a community that understands adversity and we have learned how to take care of our own; we support each other’s businesses, we advocate for equality and we have the backs of our young people. That depth of support and generosity was in evidence all night as guests enjoyed each other and happily raised their paddles to raise a record amount of funds for LGBT and allied students.”

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proclamation acknowledging Transgender Day of Remembrance, and Councilmember Kshama Sawant, who also spoke at the event. TDOR Seattle organizer Melissa Batson then introduced the keynote speaker Aidan Key. Key is an educator, author, speaker, and community organizer. As a Transgender man active in LGBTQ rights, Key’s groundbreaking work includes developing policies and procedures for the equality of Transgender children in schools grades K-12.

Key’s work with K-12 schools includes challenging topics such as gender-neutral bathrooms, Transgender student athletic participation, locker rooms and privacy, disclosure, name and gender changes. His expertise on gender nonconformity in children has informed gender-inclusive policy work within the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), the Washington Intercollegiate Activities Association, and Seattle Public Schools.

Key authored the Trans Bodies, Trans Selves manual addressing the support and understanding of Transgender children. He coauthored, Gender Cognition in Transgender Children and has contributed to various

4 Seattle Gay News

of homelessness,” Murray said in a statement.

“Seattle has long been a leader in recognizing the civil rights of our employees and providing progressive employee benefits. I am pleased the Council is working with us to accelerate and expand our Workforce Equity Action Plan. We recognize that providing enhanced benefits, such as paid parental leave, is one tool to achieve workplace equity. Better recruitment and retention strategies, as well as improved training, could also help us address equity in terms of gender, race and with other traditionally underrepresented groups. The City will prioritize and fund those activities that will have the greatest impact citywide.”

The City Council voted to add some $5 million for emergency homeless services. In its November 16 budget committee meeting, the Council rejected a proposal by Councilmember Kshama Sawant to add an additional $10 million for emergency shel-

ters.

Sawant’s proposal to add $1.5 million for expanded parental leave for City employees – allowing 12 weeks instead of the current four – was also rejected by her colleagues.

In the November 16 budget committee meeting, Sawant’s proposal was deadlocked, with four votes in favor, four opposed, and Bruce Harrell out of town.

Harrell returned for the full Council vote and voted in favor of expanded leave, but Councilmember Sally Bagshaw inexplicably switched sides and voted against the proposal she had previously supported, sending the proposal down to defeat on a 5-4 vote.

Instead, Bagshaw supported a substitute plan by Council president Tim Burgess to allocate an extra $78,000 for the city’s human resources department to study expanded leave and report back to the Council by July 2016.

A proposal to direct the City’s Parks

Department to figure out how to build an LGBT community center was also defeated in the November 16 budget committee meeting.

Brought by Kshama Sawant in response to multiple requests by LGBT residents – including the mayor’s LGBT hate crimes task force – the proposal for a community center was shot down when Councilmember Tom Rasmussen submitted a substitute motion for the Parks Department to see that their facilities were “safe and welcoming places” without specifically mentioning the LGBT community.

In the end, only Sawant voted against the budget package, as she did last year. “[O]n balance the budget differs little from previous years,” she said in a statement, “and fails to address the acute housing crisis, inadequate transit, and ballooning inequality and injustice permeating Seattle.”

The evening kicked off with silent auctions and small plates from GSBA member restaurants and caterers. Participants included Barrio, Sur 16, Hi Life, Two Tartes, Hook & Plow, Tuxedoes and Tennis Shoes, Café Yumm!, Ernest Loves Agnes, and Gordon Biersch. Wine lovers enjoyed the return of the Wine District, a special tasting area with 12 Washington winemakers pouring tastes from Bartholomew Winery, Browne Family, Canoe Ridge, Elsom Cellars, Fidelitas Winery, Five Star Cellars, Good Ridge Estate Winery, Laurelhurst Cellars, Nota Bene Cellars, Structure Cellars, Va Piano Vineyards, and Waterbrook.

Highlights of the Live Auction included: international trips to Spain, Tuscany, and Panama City; wine getaways to Napa, Walla Walla, and Prosser; Chefs’ Dinners; and a Wine Frenzy and Magnum Madness.

The centerpiece of the evening was an emotional speech made by GSBA scholarship recipient, Greg Phelps, who spoke about the impact the scholarship made on his life. Phelps was a GSBA scholar 20102013 who earned his Management Information Systems degree at Western Washington University (2014). He currently works as a Service Operations Center Analyst at Tableau Software in Seattle.

“When I turned 18, I was determined

to escape my hometown and make college a priority. But I didn’t qualify for financial aid, and with my strained family relationships, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to make it through college. With the money I had saved up in high school, I was bound to run out in my second year,” said Phelps.

“I was lucky to receive a GSBA scholarship, which allowed me to graduate in 4 years with almost zero debt. I was able to take the time to focus on career development, and a month before I graduated I was offered a position at Tableau Software. I’m proud to say that after only a year out of college I made my first donation to the GSBA scholarship fund of $150.”

In the 25 years of the GSBA Scholarship Fund, the organization has awarded more than $2.1 million to more than 350 students. In 2015, GSBA was able to support 48 students with $350,000 in educational scholarships.

ness development, connecting community through business, advocacy on both civil rights and business and promoting LGBT tourism through its Travel Gay Seattle initiative. GSBA invests in the next generation of leaders by sponsoring a Scholarship Fund, which has given out over $2.1 million in scholarships. For more information, visit www.TheGSBA.org.

blogs including Huffington Post and Welcoming Schools. Key is perhaps best known for creating the international Gender Odyssey conference in 2001, which has since grown to include the Gender Odyssey Family conference as well as the Gender Odyssey Professional conference providing instruction to medical, mental health, and education professionals.

Key’s speech at TDOR, “Fight Back” was a declaration of things that Transgender individuals do or can do to fight back against anti-Transgender sentiment, violence and hate. [Look for Aidan Key’s powerful speech reprinted in its entirety in this week’s SGN.] Captain Smartypants, a small ensemble made up from members of the Seattle Men’s Chorus, performed “Lean on Me” before the reading of the names, while Diverse Harmony, a chorus of LGBTQ and Allied youth, sang “True Colors” following the reading.

Batson led the reading of the names.

Since TDOR began, more than 3,000 Transgender people have been killed worldwide because of their Transgender identity. On Friday, Batson noted that about 300 Transgender individuals worldwide were murdered over the last 12 months because of the Transgender identity. The names of approximately 180 of those individuals were

selected by Batson to be read by those in attendance. When available, snapshots of the individuals taken when they were living their lives to the fullest were projected on the backdrop screen. After each name was read, which included the date and the circumstances of their death and their age, audience members responded softly “We will remember.”

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was established to memorialize those who have been murdered because of Transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held on November 20, around the world, to honor Rita Hester. Her murder in November 1998 inspired the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder, like most Transgender murder cases, has yet to be solved.

According to Batson, The Transgender Day of Remembrance serves several purposes.

• It raises public awareness of hate crimes against Transgender people, an action the mainstream media does not perform.

• It publicly mourns and honors the lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be forgotten. Through the vigil, we express love and respect for our people in the face of national indifference and even

November 27, 2015

About the Greater Seattle Business Association Established in 1981, the Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) is the largest LGBT and allied chamber of commerce in North America, with over 1,100 members.

GSBA is widely known throughout the Puget Sound region for its work on busi-

About the GSBA Scholarship Fund The GSBA Scholarship Fund was started in 1990 by two teachers who realized there was a huge need to support students who, because of their sexual orientation, were often discriminated against in school, disowned by their families and shunned by their friends. These were students who had the ability and drive to be successful in college, but who did not have the money or support to go to college. The GSBA Scholarship Fund was created to help these disenfranchised young people reach their educational goals. Over the years, the GSBA Scholarship Fund has expanded its reach and its mission and now awards scholarships to LGBTQ and allied students of any age.

Courtesy of the Greater Seattle Business Association

hatred. It reminds all people that we are their sons, daughters, parents, friends and lovers.

“The Transgender Day of Remembrance gives our allies a chance to step forward with us and stand vigil, remembering those who might otherwise be forgotten,” said Batson.

Mac McGregor gave the closing speech and reminded people to be kind to each other and love each other.

“Based on the turnout I think City Hall will have us back next year,” Batson said to the more than 300 people in attendance.

In addition to this event at City Hall, TDOR Seattle hosted events on Friday, November 20 at St. Hilda/St. Patrick Episcopal Church in Edmonds, and on Saturday, November 21 at Ravenna United Methodist Church and Bellevue First United Methodist Church.

TDOR Seattle thanked the following individuals and groups, without whom the ceremony wouldn’t have been possible: Tom Rasmussen, City of Seattle, Seattle Men’s/Women’s Chorus, Diverse Harmony, Aidan Key, Gender Diversity, The Emerald City Club, Seattle Trans* Life, Social Outreach Seattle (SOSea), Seattle LGBT Commission and Seattle Gay News.

Celebrating 41 Years!

Transgender Day of Remembrance 2015 FIGHTING BACK

by Aidan Key Gender Diversity Special to the SGN

[Following is Aidan Key’s keynote speech that he delivered at the Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil on November 20 at Seattle City Hall, Bertha Landes Room. Key is a prominent leader in Seattle’s Trans* community. Key founded Gender Diversity and the annual Gender Odyssey conference among other Trans* educational and support initiatives for the Trans* community and beyond.

See related article on the Transgender Day of Remembrance starting on the front page of this week’s SGN.] Fighting back means many things for many people. We may choose different ways but I firmly believe that, in one form or another, we all do it. I’d like to talk about a few of the ways we do this and acknowledge that this list is far from exhaustive.

Fighting back means finding our gender. No one else’s; just ours.

That might mean living five decades in one gender, and maybe only one in another. That may mean living male one day, female the next day.

Female one hour, and male the next. Fighting back means proudly claiming NO gender, both genders, a third, fourth, or fifth. Even within our own community, we may need to fight for this. For example, there is no such thing as living in our gender “part-time,” just complex choices about how, when, why and where we express our gender, This is our business and our business alone. And, honestly, we are all trans enough! We do need to fight in order to claim and name our own gender. We need to challenge those who so fiercely push back to understand that their resistance has to do with their discomfort, their fear, and that those feelings are theirs to own and understand. When someone says, “Are you a man or a woman?” why can’t a clear, truthful response be a singular YES! Or a “No, thank you!”

Fighting back means doing our best to help those who don’t understand find a way to understanding. Of course, not everyone – we are not saints! But, for those who love us, fighting back means having the courage to love them through this time. Forgiving them for being imperfect – and forgiving them for being scared. It means taking a long, deep breath to find patience we didn’t know we had and that we never imagined we’d ever need.

Fighting back may mean letting someone go because we simply must care for ourselves. Taking responsibility for the care of our heart, our resiliency, and our happiness? This is NOT a selfish act. We are NOT being selfish! Fighting back also means finding a way to forgive ourselves for sometimes feeling – deep down inside – that we are being selfish.

Fighting back also means telling someone (or is it EVERYONE?) that “I just am not going to answer that question anymore!”……… Or, we could say, (loudly, for example, in a crowded room) “Why do YOU NEED to know so much about MY GENITALS?” Fighting back means understanding that we are beautiful. Inside and out. We are

exceptional and amazing. If we don’t believe it, it will be difficult to convince others to do the same.

Fighting back means knowing we are sexy. ‘Cause we are! We are hot – others know it, we need to know it!

Advocating for tolerance alone is simply a willingness to accept crumbs – it’s not enough. We deserve love, acceptance, compassion, inclusion, and celebration. What we have to offer to others and ourselves is invaluable. Fighting back means requiring – not hoping for – a standard of interaction and engagement of which we are deserving – we must not accept anything less.

Fighting back might mean claiming or reclaiming your faith, no matter if the whole world tells you that you are not a child of

Fighting back means becoming solid at our core.

People who share their gender journey openly are also fighting back. Every day, every encounter can be a new moment of opportunity, one of education, one that inspires a profound shift. Rare is the person whose life is not changed when hearing of our courageous journeys.

Be an activist! Activism can take many forms and includes investing your time into a cause – any cause. What do you care about? Fighting back includes giving some of your time, a few of your dollars, or an infusion of your energy into some cause you care about. Sick of gender? Well, so am I, at times. Dig in to fight other battles too. Care about yourself and something greater than

Aidan Key – Photo courtesy of Aidan Key

God. Fighting back could also mean raging against God for creating a humanity that often will not recognize us – some of God’s most beautiful, amazing creations. Fighting back may also mean dispensing with God, and empowering ourselves to take the position of ultimate authority over our own lives.

Fighting back means using the bathroom. It really, really shouldn’t. But, today, it does. Fighting back means that we should view both sitting to pee and standing to pee as revolutionary, non-gendered acts! Peeing, in whatever way we want, in the bathroom that is safest for us, is fighting back.

The one that is safest FOR US! No one is reading off the names of people who died of fright because a trans person peed in the stall next to them!

Our most basic and human need to urinate should not be viewed as something akin to the need of rapists and pedophiles in finding their next victim.

For our own sanity, we must also recognize that every time someone asks, “What bathroom do you use?” that we are being challenged in our basic right to exist as a human being. We must recognize the micro-aggression that is present within this question.

We can fight back by living stealth – by allowing this high profile transition chapter of our gender story to become just one part of our full life’s story. A chapter we’ve already read – already lived. But, let’s make sure that this private aspect of who we are does not become a source of shame or fear.

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yourself.

Fighting back should mean that we stop…fighting…each…other. We, who fight with the world for the basic right to declare gender authenticity – in whatever ways we hope to manifest – should allow others the same courtesy. We are family, which means we may have deep love for some of us – while absolutely disliking others. But our family needs to stick together.

We need to look out for each other. Fighting back means knowing when and where to lay down the sword.

Fighting back means knowing, preparing, and being hyper aware that… Every.

Single. Moment when we disclose our truth – or where that truth is discovered by others – is a truly dangerous moment. We can only guess at how many of those who have lost their lives in this last year, and the year before that, and the year before that – how many of them lost their lives in that very moment of discovery or disclosure. That moment when our personal truth was perceived by others to be so disruptive, so foundation-shaking, that nothing short of incredible violence seemed to be a viable option.

Fighting back means that the murder of a trans woman is NEVER justified by assigning blame on her lifeless, brutalized body. There is no such thing as homicidal panic induced by seeing a woman’s penis!

Fighting back means that for every single person that we ever mentor, every person we encounter who is raising a transgender child, for every single person that we

November 27, 2015

work with, study with, play with, we need to make sure that they understand these moments of disclosure puts our lives on the line.

Fighting back means actually allowing our minds to spiral out of control with rage and grief when we hear about the rape, at gunpoint, of a trans boy. A child who subsequently was forced into years’ of self-hating silence because his abuser threatened to tell everyone that he wasn’t really a boy if he spoke up.

Fighting back means railing against the false notion that the pursuit of our authentic selves is an act of deception. Our gender is not for anyone else to define. It is not between our legs. Gender is in our hearts, our minds, within our very soul. To those who would say, “But, you are not really… a man, a woman…” we should say, if the mood strikes us, Fuck Off! Fighting back means showing up, hearing and participating in the reading of the names this evening. Hearing their names, not so much the names given to them at birth before anyone knew anything about them, but the names that they chose for themselves to describe the reality of their identity. To honor the people – most of them women, most with brown skin – who were brutally slaughtered, just within this past year alone…simply for living their truth.

Fighting back means sitting in this room with others while we collectively experience the heartache, the rage, and despair.

To feel, for just a few moments, the terror they all surely experienced in the time leading up to their death.

To ponder together the impossibility and disbelief at the acts of sheer ugliness that can come our way.

Fighting back means that we sit here to witness and honor those who are gone.

To hold – or even relive in their name – just a fraction of the trauma and horror experienced by all those whose lives were so abruptly ended – even this takes courage!

Fighting back means not letting the killers win. They take our lives. Let’s do our best to not give them the satisfaction of increasing those numbers by offering our help. Let’s not do their dirty work – not serve as accessories – by taking our own lives. Sometime, it may feel as if there is no other choice. Fighting back means that if we lose someone to suicide, that we forgive them. We love them. And we fight back for them and for our grief.

Fighting back means that we allow ourselves to grieve for the little boy, the little girl, the little child within ourselves that was not acknowledged nor embraced. Not by others and maybe not even ourselves. It means having a clear understanding that it is not too late to honor, celebrate, and love that child. Fighting back means that we strive every day to reclaim our innocence.

And sometimes, fighting back may mean just stepping outside our home. That is assuming that we have a home – far too many of us don’t. Let me say that again.

Fighting back, on some days, may simply mean that we have found the courage to step outside the door.

Fighting back means living – and I mean really living, fighting, celebrating, and breathing – long enough to see a different day. Like today!

Seattle Gay News 5

2015 election certified: City Council District 1 goes to recount

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The 2015 election has been certified by King County election officials, but one Seattle City Council race is still up in the air.

As of November 24, Lisa Herbold was 39 votes ahead of her rival, Shannon Braddock, for the City Council seat representing District 1 (West Seattle and South Park).

Braddock led on election night, but as new ballots were counted, the lead seesawed back and forth, with Herbold ending up ahead.

Herbold is the long-term legislative aide

to City Council veteran Nick Licata, who did not run for re-election and will retire from the Council at the end of the year.

Herbold’s supporters hope she will carry on Licata’s progressive legacy.

Her opponent, Shannon Braddock, was legislative aide to King County Councilmember Joe McDermott.

The District 1 race now goes into an automatic recount, with final results expected

by December 7.

Meanwhile, one City Council winner has already been sworn in. Lorena Gonzalez, the runaway winner for at-large Position 9, took office as soon as the election was cer-

tified. The term of John Okamoto, the temporary replacement chosen by the Council when Sally Clark resigned, expired as soon as Gonzalez was declared the official winner.

Gonzalez is the first Latina City Council member.

The only surprise in the 2015 election came in Seattle City Council District 2, where incumbent Bruce Harrell only narrowly defeated challenger Tammy Morales.

Despite coming out of the primary well ahead of his challengers, Harrell won reelection by only 344 votes.

In District 3, Kshama Sawant easily beat back a challenge from Urban League CEO

Pamela Banks to win re-election. Sawant ended up more than 12 points, or 3,743 votes, ahead of her rival.

In District 4 Rob Johnson beat Stonewall Democrats activist Michael Maddux, and in District 5 Debora Juarez swamped Sandy Brown. In Districts 6, 7, and 8 the incumbents – Mike O’Brien, Sally Bagshaw, and Tim Burgess, respectively – won easy victories.

The new councilmembers will be sworn in January 1.

Incumbent Councilmember Tom Rasmussen did not run for re-election, and his colleague Jean Godden lost her bid for reelection in the primary.

King County officials against anti-refugee hate Mayor, County Exec, Congressmen hold press conference

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer King County’s leading elected officials stood in solidarity November 24, opposing anti-refugee rhetoric.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, King County Executive Dow Constantine, and Seattlearea Reps. Jim McDermott and Adam Smith held a joint press conference at Seattle Center’s 9/11 Garden, next to Fisher Flag Pavilion, to announce “that Seattle and King County remain a tolerant, welcoming, and compassionate region with a long history as a safe haven for those seeking safety.”

Joining the elected officials were Jorge Barón of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, Arsalan Bukhari from the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Washington, and Fe’ Lopez, of OneAmerica. All are activists for immigrant rights.

“What’s ironic about today is that in two days we’re about to celebrate a holiday,” McDermott said. “That holiday is when a bunch of immigrants, religiously persecuted pilgrims, came to this country and were welcomed into the United States by Native Americans. The celebration is about the fact they helped them to keep from starving in that winter in Massachusetts.”

Constantine wrote an open letter signed by 10 other county executives across the

world aids day continued from cover

More than thirty years into a worldwide epidemic, HIV/AIDS has had a devastating impact on our community. While the number of new cases has declined, hundreds of people in our community are still diagnosed with HIV every year. More than 12,000 people are living with HIV in Washington state, 60% of whom live in King County. Since the start of the epidemic, more than 6,500 people in Washington state have died as a result of the disease.

At the same time, our community’s progress in responding to HIV has been remarkable. 92% of Gay men living with HIV in King County have been diagnosed. Of those people, 74% are virally suppressed, meaning that they are engaged in treatment sufficient to bring their viral load to undetectable levels, making it nearly impossible for them to transmit the virus to others. The rate of new HIV diagnoses in King County is down 23% from 10 years ago. These numbers are extraordinary, the best of any city in the United States and quite possibly the world.

We’ve achieved these extraordinary results by working together. It’s through the combined efforts of agencies like ours, and

6 Seattle Gay News

country, welcoming Syrian refugees.

“Local elected leaders from across the country are joining me to welcome refugees fleeing war and tyranny,” Constantine said in a statement. “We stand united as America’s metropolitan regions to uphold our tradition of compassion and the recognition that we are a proud nation of immigrants.”

Meanwhile, Washington’s two senators

and all six of its Democratic congressmembers joined with Gov. Jay Inslee to issue a statement urging the state’s residents to “reject fear and panic” and “remember the long-standing history of Washington state serving as a place of refuge, making us one of the most inclusive and diverse states in the country.”

“Washington state will continue to pro-

through your generous support, that we’ve been able to make a difference.

Last December, Governor Inslee and the State of Washington presented us with a challenge to reduce the rate of new infections in Washington state by 50% by the year 2020. By continuing to work together to provide a wide spectrum of services in support of reducing new infections and improving the quality of life for those at risk of becoming infected and those currently living with the disease, we can achieve this goal. But we need your support to do it.

That is why five of Seattle’s preeminent non-profit AIDS services providers have joined together in a powerful collaboration: the 12th Annual Stronger Together World AIDS Day Breakfast. The largest benefit of its kind in the Northwest, the breakfast is a fundraiser for Gay City Health Project, Seattle Counseling Service, and CareTeams, a program of Samaritan Center of Puget Sound, with support from Inspire Youth Project and Center for Multi-Cultural Health.

This breakfast is an opportunity for you to make the strongest impact you can by supporting this entire network of AIDS service providers in Seattle. Last year the event brought in over $100,000 for the combined agencies, which provided those living with HIV/AIDS care, support and most impor-

tantly – hope.

Join us this year to remember those we’ve lost, to help those who are living with HIV/AIDS, and to celebrate the power of our community in making a difference.

Your support will help change lives.

November 27, 2015

Keynote Speaker Phill Wilson Phill Wilson is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Black AIDS Institute. Prior to founding the Institute, Wilson served as the AIDS Coordinator for the City of Los Angeles from 1990 to 1993, and the Director of Policy and Planning at AIDS Project Los Angeles from 1993 to 1996. He was cochair of the Los Angeles County HIV Health Commission from 1990 to 1995, and was an appointee to the HRSA AIDS Advisory Committee from 1995 to 1998.

Wilson was the coordinator of the International Community Treatment and Science Workshop at the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th International AIDS Conferences in Geneva, Switzerland; Durban, South Africa; Barcelona, Spain; Bangkok, Thailand; and Toronto, Canada.

Wilson was the co-founder of the National Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum and the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention. He has been involved in the founding of a number of other AIDS service organizations and community-

mote freedom and be a beacon of hope,” Inslee insisted. “We will not succumb to fear or those who try to turn us against those most in need of our help.”

“In Washington state, we understand that immigrants and refugees who come to build better lives for themselves and their families make our state stronger, more vibrant, and more prosperous,” Sen. Patty Murray said.

“We believe that in Washington state, and everywhere, people should be free from hatred and violence no matter where they came from, what their immigration status is, who they love, or where they live.”

“The refugee resettlement program is the most scrutinized path of entry into the United States. It involves multiple background checks and can take years,” Sen. Maria Cantwell added. “We should remain diligent in our refugee screening, but we must not forget that these people are victims of war and unspeakable violence.”

“Today, we say to the diverse community of Washington state, comprised of many immigrants and refugees: we stand with you,” Rep. Adam Smith said. “Whether you worship in a mosque, a synagogue, a church, or not at all, you are welcome here.”

According to King County officials, between 100 and 200 Syrian refugees will arrive next year in Washington state, and about two-thirds are likely to settle in King County. based organizations, including the Chris Brownlie Hospice, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the National Minority AIDS Council, the Los Angeles County Gay Men of Color Consortium, and the CAEAR Coalition.

The Ford Foundation named Wilson one of the 20 award recipients for the Leadership for a Changing World, in 2001. He was a member of the U.S. delegation to the 1994 World AIDS Summit in Paris, and has worked extensively on HIV/AIDS policy, research, prevention, and treatment issues in Russia, Latvia, the Ukraine, the UK, Holland, Germany, France, Mexico, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, India, and Botswana.

He has published articles in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, LA Weekly, Essence, Ebony, Vibe, Jet, POZ, HIV+ and other periodicals.

Wilson is a recent recipient of the Delta Spirit Award from the Delta Sigma Theta Los Angeles chapter. He was given the Discovery Health Channel Medical Honor in July 2004 and was recently named one of the “2005 Black History Makers in the Making”

by Black Entertainment Television.

Wilson holds a BA in Fine Arts from Illinois Wesleyan University. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

Courtesy of Stronger Together Seattle

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Vancouver rally targets funding for anti-Gay hate groups

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer A November 17 demonstration in Vancouver, Washington, targeted the Murdock Charitable Trust for funding extremist antiGay organizations.

The rally in front of the MJ Murdock Executive Plaza Building was organized by the Seattle-based Northwest Accountability Project.

The trust is one of the largest charitable organizations in Washington. According to the wishes of its founder, MJ “Jack” Murdock, it supports Christian as well as secular organizations.

“While many of the groups funded by the Murdock Charitable Trust are valuable organizations that provide critical services to our communities, we have been deeply troubled to learn of the growing list of extremist, intolerant organizations also funded by the organization,” said Andrew Biviano, Founding Board Member of the Northwest Accountability Project.

“The Northwest Accountability Project is dedicated to shining a light on right-wing extremism and the moneyed special interests behind it, as they attempt to bring an agenda of hate and division to Washington and Oregon,” the group’s website says.

Among the extreme right-wing groups receiving money from the Murdock Trust

are: • The Alliance Defending Freedom, cofounded by James Dobson. Dobson has suggested that AIDS is one way God punishes the LGBT community for immorality and has supported Gay conversion therapy.

The ADF helped draft SB 1062 in Arizona, which would have allowed businesses to discriminate against the LGBT community.

• The Portland Fellowship, the only organization in Oregon to offer Gay conversion therapy, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Fellowship claims that same-sex attraction “stems from relational wounds and dysfunction.”

• The Heritage Foundation’s DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, where a

key staff member has called same-sex marriage “a lie” and has advocated for Gay conversion therapy.

• The Freedom Foundation, an extremist organization that opposes minimum wage laws, paid sick leave, and funding for education.

• The Discovery Institute, whose founder, George Gilder has called same-sex marriage “a parody… an absurd concept.”

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.

Arkansas must record both same-sex parents on birth certificates, judge rules

Arkansas must list both same-sex spouses on birth certificates – comstock/Stockbyte/Getty Images

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The state of Arkansas must list the names of both same-sex spouses on the

birth certificates of their children, a judge ruled November 23.

Arkansas Circuit Judge Tim Fox said his decision applied only to the three Lesbian couples who were plaintiffs in the suit be-

fore him, but he added that he would consider applying his ruling to all same-sex couples in Arkansas when he issues a written decision in the case.

The couples had sued to overturn a decision by the Arkansas Health Department’s Vital Statistics Bureau to identify only one of each set of spouses as the legal parent of their respective children.

The couples charged that the state was violating their constitutional equal protection rights by denying them the same treatment afforded opposite-sex couples, including unmarried opposite-sex couples.

The couples, all married, filed suit after the U.S. Supreme Court made samesex marriage legal nationwide in its June Obergefell decision.

The state resisted on technical grounds, claiming that the issue was not same-sex marriage but long-established regulations governing the identification of biological and adoptive parents on official documents.

Standing policy can be changed only by the Arkansas Health Board or by the legislature, Arkansas’s attorneys said.

Attorneys for the Lesbian plaintiffs said that Fox would likely expand his ruling to include all married same-sex couples in the state.

“He made it pretty clear where he’s going,” said attorney Cheryl Maples. “It’s another step forward for gay couples, and I’m sure the next step is right around the corner.”

A spokesman for Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said she would await the judge’s ruling on the broader question before deciding whether to appeal.

The same issue was settled in Kansas this past October without court action. Kansas state officials said they would not wait to litigate a suit brought by the ACLU but would immediately begin issuing two-parent birth certificates for the children of same-sex spouses.

Transgender widow wins husband’s death benefits after 5-year battle

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer After a five-year legal battle, Transgender activist Nikki Araguz Loyd has finally won the rights to her late husband’s death benefits.

Her husband, Thomas Araguz, a firefighter, died in the line of duty, and she then claimed his city death benefits as his legal widow.

Loyd’s claim was contested by her mother-in-law – who never approved of her son’s marriage to Loyd – and her husband’s ex-wife. They launched legal proceedings against Loyd on the day after her husband’s funeral, hoping to get his benefits for themselves.

They also prevented her from seeing her stepchildren, the offspring of Araguz’s first marriage, Loyd said.

A judge in Texas, where the Araguzes lived, invalidated their marriage on the

grounds that Loyd was actually a man and therefore not able to marry Araguz, another man. The judge then awarded Araguz’s death benefit to his mother and children.

Although Loyd’s Texas driver’s license and her California birth certificate both identify her as a woman, Texas state law recognizes only the gender assigned at birth, not the one determined by individuals themselves.

After the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriages in their Obergefell ruling, Loyd appealed the Texas court’s decision, since her gender was now no longer an obstacle to being legally married and therefore ceased to be an issue in the case.

Loyd has remarried and said on her Facebook page that she looked forward to moving on with her life, her new husband, and his two children – whom she hopes to adopt.

“Done and done,” she wrote. “All is at it should be. Now to ride into the sunset, hap-

Visit us online www.sgn.org

Thomas Araguz and Nikki Araguz Loyd – Courtesy of Nikki Araguz via dailymail.co.uk

pily ever after!”

She does plan to continue her activism,

she added, so that similar problems don’t befall others in her situation.

November 27, 2015

Seattle Gay News 11

Thank God! White Christians no longer a majority

Altered image taken from radicallychristian.com

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer White Christians now make up less than half of the U.S. population, according to the new Pew Research Center Religious Landscape Survey.

Pew found that only 46% of American adults identify as white and Christian, down from 55% in 2007 and more than 80%

in 1944. As late as 1984, white Christians accounted for just under 70% of the U.S. population.

According to Pew’s merge of data from other polls, white Christians lost their majority position sometime in 2012 or 2013.

While their share of the U.S. population as a whole has declined rapidly in the last decade, white Christians still make up a large share of Republican voters. In fact,

with 69% of white Christians identifying as Republicans, they make up as large a portion of the Republican Party as they did 30 years ago when Ronald Reagan was president.

In contrast, only 41% of white Christians identify as Democrats, a fact which has implications for the political strategy of both major parties.

“After 2004, when George W. Bush was re-elected, there was a lot of discussion about the Democrats’ ‘God problem,’ and the thinking was Democrats needed to close the religion gap,” says Gregory Smith, associate director of research at Pew. “But at the same time, we were watching this group of ‘nones’ – unaffiliated with any religion – who were both growing in the population as a whole and voting very strongly Democratic. There has been less discussion of the Democrats’ religion problem since then.”

While the Republican Party continues to rely on its white Christian loyalists, the Democratic coalition has evolved into a three-legged stool that divides almost evenly between white Christians, non-white Christians, and those from all races who identify either with a non-Christian faith or with no religious tradition at all.

Most Americans who don’t identify with any religious faith – a rapidly growing

group – now align with Democrats, Pew found.

In 2012 Republican candidate Mitt Romney carried 14 of the 15 states where white Christians made up at least 30% of the population, while Pres. Obama carried 15 of the 16 states where they accounted for less than 20%.

In the 18 so-called “blue wall” states, which Democrats have carried in the past six presidential elections, Christians of any race are overrepresented in only three, and Christians who identify as “evangelical” are especially scarce.

The downside for Democrats is their loss of congressional power and state offices, even as their ability to win the White House has seemingly been enhanced.

In the heartland states, ranging from the South through the Great Plains, white Christians usually exceed their national share of the population, and evangelical Christians in particular often outnumber the religiously unaffiliated by more than 2 to 1. In the 15 states where evangelical Christians equal 30% of the population or more, Democrats now hold just five of the 30 U.S. Senate seats.

1.2 million Americans should be on PrEP, CDC says, but only 21,000 are

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer About 1.2 million Americans should be on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) medications, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDD) said in a study released November 24, but only about 21,000 are.

After studying risk profiles for different demographics, the CDC determined that one in four Gay and Bi men should be taking PrEP, along with one in five IV drug users, and one in 200 straight adults.

Taken once a day, Truvada, used as a PrEP drug, can reduce the chances of HIV transmission by 92%, the CDC said. For IV drug users, PrEP can reduce the risk of HIV infection by more than 70%.

The CDC found obstacles to the use of PrEP, however.

First of all, a recent study showed that 34% of primary care practitioners had not even heard of PrEP. Second, among communities at the highest risk for HIV, stigma and discrimination remain huge barriers to receiving preventive care.

12 Seattle Gay News

In the United States, for example, young African-American and Latino men are far less likely to be on PrEP than other groups, despite the fact that both populations are disproportionately affected by HIV. In 2010, the most recent year numbers were available, African-Americans made up 44% of all new HIV infections, and Latinos 21%.

Even in the Gay community, PrEP has sometimes been stigmatized for supposedly promoting promiscuity. AIDS Heathcare Foundation CEO Michael Weinstein, for example, controversially labeled PrEP as a “party drug” and continues to insist that only condoms afford reliable protection against HIV infection.

“The stigma and discrimination are huge,” Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC, a global HIV-prevention group based in Harlem, told BuzzFeed News.

“We’ve seen this for 35 years; delivering prevention and treatment is the hardest part.

And the people who are hardest to reach are the ones who most need it.”

“PrEP is not just a pill – you need a solid healthcare system, you need to promote it and educate,” Warren added. “The pill is just a part – you need the whole ecosystem.”

November 27, 2015

Study reveals a lot more Americans should be on Truvada – Justin Sullivan / Getty Images via pbs.org

Nevertheless, HIV activists believe that as demand for PrEP increases, some of the barriers to access will fall.

“There’s a large gap in the number of people who are accessing PrEP currently,” Jonathan Mermin, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD,

and TB Prevention, told BuzzFeed. “But we think the demand for PrEP has reached somewhat of a tipping point.”

Truvada was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a treatment for HIV infections in 2004 and as a PrEP medication in 2012.

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