SGN June 18, 2021 - Pre-Pride - Section 3

ISSUE 25

C E L E B R AT I N G

VOLUME 49

47 YEARS

F R I D AY

IN

JUNE 18 , 2 0 2 1

PRINT S E AT T L E ’ S L G B T Q I A + N E W S & E N T E R TA I N M E N T W E E K LY S I N C E 19 74

BRIANNA THOMAS Brianna Thomas, seeking to replace Lorena González on the City Council, speaks with the SGN She address LGBTQIA concerns, Black liberation, and challenges facing Seattle Photo courtesy of

by Renee Raketty SGN Contributing Writer Brianna Thomas, a candidate for an at-large Seattle City Council position, may not be a household name like her opponent, former 2017 mayoral candidate Nikkita Oliver, but she brings insider knowledge of City Hall and a diverse lived experience.

see BRIANNA THOMAS page 6

|People for Brianna Thomas

Hungary passes anti-LGBTQ bill

Bars sharing info about sexual orientation of gender identity with minors Photo courtesy of AP

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Hungary’s National Assembly approved new legislation on June 15 that would ban sharing information about sexual orientation or gender identity with minors.

The vote was a lopsided 157-1.

The bill was introduced by the rightwing Fidesz party, the ruling party associ-

ated with Prime Minister Viktor Orban. It also got support from the even more rightwing Jobbik party.

All the opposition parties — badly outnumbered by Fidesz — boycotted the session in protest.

“On this shameful day, the opposition’s place is not in the parliament but on the

see HUNGARY page 17

Transforming the scene: Byron Schenkman brings classical music to a modern audience Byron Schenkman – Photo courtesy of Byron Schenkman and photographer Gary Payne

by Carter Hemion SGN Contributing Writer Award-winning performer and artistic director Byron Schenkman unites audiences of all kinds through their ensembles.

Schenkman both revives centuries-old instruments with authentic repertoire and highlights today’s composers and performers from diverse backgrounds.

Schenkman has experience performing on the piano, fortepiano, harpsichord, and other traditional keyboard instruments.

They are the artistic director, pianist, and harpsichordist for ensemble Byron Schenkman & Friends. Schenkman also served as a founding member and codirector of the Seattle Baroque Orchestra. They have

see SCHENKMAN page 9

GREEN CARDS • VISAS • ASYLUM • CITIZENSHIP 1836 Westlake Ave N, Suite 302 Seattle, WA 98109

2

SGN

June 18, 2021

(206) 724-1940 olivielaw.com

Celebrating 47 Years!

www.gofundme.com/f/seattle-gay-news-needs-your-support-now • VISIT SGN.ORG ORIGINALLY SEATTLE GAY NEWS FOUNDED 1974 MEMBER

509 10th Ave E Seattle, WA 98102 (206) 324-4297 sgnpressflash@gmail.com sgn.org

2021

Deadlines Calendar | Tuesday at 6pm Display Ads Space Reservation | Monday at 5pm Ad Copy (non-camera ready) | Tuesday at 5pm Ad Copy (camera-ready) | Wednesday at 5pm Letters to the Editor | Tuesday at 5pm Obituaries | Call the SGN office All others | Tuesday at 5pm

Publisher Angela Cragin Editors SGN Staff Copy Editor SGN Staff • Richard Isaac Associate Editor A.V. Eichenbaum Advertising Maggie Bloodstone, Advertising Manager National Advertising Rep. Rivendell Media (212) 242-6863 Staff Writers Mike Andrew • Sara Michelle Fetters Contributing Writers Lindsey Anderson • Janice Athill Josephine Baird • Alice Bloch Maggie Bloodstone Kylin Brown • Sharon Cumberland Miryam Gordon • Carter Hemion Daniel Lindsley • Paige McGlauflin Jesse Monteagudo Tom Orr • Rod Parke • Tim Peter Jessica Price • Renee Raketty • Scott Rice Hannah Saunders • MK Scott • Mark Segal Gaysha Starr • Sarah Toce • Ed Walsh Social Media Manager MK Scott Cartoonist Ken Campbell Photographers Nate Gowdy • Renee Raketty Chris Rojas • MK Scott Production Mike Pham Website Designer Barry Thorsness / Digital Team Works SGN is published by Angela Cragin. © 2021. All Rights Reserved. Reprints by permission.

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

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

SGN welcomes unsolicited material, including letters to the editor, but reserves the right to edit or reject material. All rights revert to authors upon publication.

We assume no liability for loss or damage of materials, solicited or not. We invite feedback, please write.

And please play safe.

It is our policy that no money shall be refunded if you choose to cancel your ad. Credit will be given for the balance owed.

No exceptions.

In Loving Memory Of George Bakan

Scott Roger Alpert Cookie Andrews-Hunt James Arnold Steve Foiles Shaun Knittel James Leland Moore Don Paulson Randy Peters Lee Richeson Shaun Shelton Jim Tully

Follow SGN

Visit us online www.sgn.org

In this Issue

LOCAL NEWS 5 A&E • FILM • BOOKS 8 OP-ED 15 NATIONAL NEWS 16 INTERNATIONAL NEWS 17 June 18, 2021

SGN

3

www.gofundme.com/f/seattle-gay-news-needs-your-support-now • VISIT SGN.ORG This week in SGN history: 28 years ago

by MK Scott SGN Contributing Writer Over 47 years, the Seattle Gay News has covered thousands of stories that still resonate today. This week we look back at Vol. 21, Issue 25, published on June 18, 1993.

HOW teams up with bar owners Before there was Equal Rights Washington, there was the Citizens for Fairness/Hands Off Washington. Our dearly departed publisher, George Bakan, was a founding member and would talk about these years until his dying day.

In 1993, HOW was hard at work fighting the Citizens Alliance of Washington branch of the Oregon Citizens Alliance, to keep it from coming over state lines to propose an anti-LGBT referendum similar to Oregon’s Ballot Measure 9, which was defeated in November 1992.

In June 1993, SGN Staff Writer Tom Flint reported: In a stunning display of solidarity and service to the community, 24 Seattle gay and lesbian bars have coordinated a major educational event and fundraising drive on one of the busiest nights of the year, the Saturday before Pride Sunday.

Timberline owner Jim Detweiler was eager about the event and felt strongly about the threat from the Citizens Alliance and other traditional family values groups. “These seemingly mild-mannered fascist hetero supremacists in their suits and ties are extremely dangerous,” Detweiler said. “We’ve made it our mission to rise to the occasion and bring their war of hate to an abrupt halt for the sake of all freedom-loving Americans.”

Seattle City Councilmember supports HOW Flint also reported: “This is an important statement of uniform support for the civil rights of all Washingtonians”, said City Councilmember Sherry Harris. “Washington Citizens for Fairness [is] doing excellent work to ensure equal treatment for all of us.”

Update: HOW and other groups, such as Bigot Busters, was successful at fending of the OCA’s various attempts, but after the failure of I-677 in 1997 to protect LGBT from workspace discrimination, HOW slowly disbanded and made way for the creation of Equal Rights Washington in 2004.

Sisters honored at Pride kickoff Thursday night at Neighbors disco, the Seattle chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence was honored for their contributions to PWAs and AIDS awareness and education. Proceeds from the stunning June 17th event will benefit Bailey-Boushay House. In September an anniversary benefit by the Sisters is being planned to celebrate their six years of activism.

Mr. Drummer 1993 Seattle Generic Leather Productions announced Sunday night that Howard Miller is the 1993 Washington State Mr. Drummer and Chris Beckett is the 1993 Washington State Drummer Boy… This is the first year Washington state has held a Drummer Boy contest. The Drummer Boys appeared Saturday, June 12th at the Cuff to give a judged speech and then provided unjudged fantasy entertainment on Sunday night... The Drummer

4

SGN

competition was held at the Off-Ramp Cafe and Lounge.

Update: According to wsmlo.org, in 2002, the Washington State Mr. Drummer title had changed its name to NW LeatherSIR and NW LeatherBoy. Homophobes in Bellingham SGN Staff Writer Tom Flint reported: Kevin Tebedo, founder of Colorado for Family Values and prime sponsor of Amendment 2, held a community watch seminar at Lynden Christian High School in Lynden, Washington, near Bellingham. The seminar was titled “The Gay Agenda, Its Threat, and What Christians Can Do About It.” Tebedo urged pro-family Christians in this state to launch a Colorado-style campaign here. He told his audience that there could be no compromise or coexistence with homosexuals. More than 150 people attended the workshop sponsored by Bellingham Rev. Gary Small; and state Rep. Val Stevens, a religious right-wing politician. Washington state Sen. Ann Anderson sent a letter of congratulations to the YAC (Youth Action Coalition) for sponsoring the seminar.

Val Stevens’ anti-Gay rhetoric Stevens was the new state representative in the 39th District, a Republican, and bigot. She made an appearance at the Community Watch seminar in Bellingham. SGN Staff Writer Tom Flint reported: Stevens said Christians must be as persistent as the gay community, otherwise the gay/lesbian civil rights bill is going to pass in 1994. She explained that gays and lesbians don’t have any responsibilities and therefore can give all their time to passage of the bill.

“They don’t have family responsibilities, Stevens said. “They have a freedom that we don’t have. They have nothing else to work out, nothing else to think about. We have responsibilities, and we generally take those responsibilities very, very seriously.”

Stevens continued twisting the knife on our very own. “Cal Anderson, the homosexual representative from Seattle, asked to have a point of privilege in which he stood and spoke,” said Stevens. “I was tremendously offended to sit and listen to him as he used the Book of Ecclesiastes to justify his lifestyle as a homosexual and the need for this bill.”

Stevens ended her speech by warning her audience about homosexual child molesters. “This is a battle that we can’t lose… They want to remove all age-ofconsent laws.”

Update: Val Stevens managed to stay in the House for two terms and in the Senate for four. She dedicated her career to “strengthening Washington’s families” and was named the NFIB “Legislator of the Decade” in 2010 for her support of small business. Stevens retired in 2013.

Frank opposition in Seattle People who remember (or met) former Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank think he was our Gay champion in the US

June 18, 2021

Congress. Some would be surprised that a portion of the Gay community protested his visit to Seattle in 1993, as SGN Staff Writer JR Stone reported: Gays and lesbians believe that Rep. Barney Frank placed his head on a chopping block when he told the community he simply will accept the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ compromise on the military ban of homosexuals. Radicals turned furious and labeled him a traitor. Others stood by in dismay.... If nothing else, Frank has successfully divided the community on the issue.

Frank probably didn’t have a clue when he came to Seattle last Thursday that some in the community would confront him about his politics, but Queer Nation and ACT UP showed up and… called for Frank to go “back into the closet’ rather than take such a stand.

“I think there is a serious division in the community,” said Richard Isaac of Queer Nation Seattle.

Gay student vanishes in Bellevue Tom Flint reported that the family of 29-year-old Caldwell Agard asked the Gay community for help in locating their missing son. Agard had been missing since May 1.

Agard’s mother, Donna Adams, suspects that her son went out jogging on Sunday morning and something happened to him at that time. “I really suspect some sort of foul play. He had no history of depression or emotional problems, he didn’t drink or take drugs. I seriously doubt he would pick up a stranger for sex. We are just completely baffled by his disappearance. I don’t know if my son was gay. I don’t think he was, but if he was, I wouldn’t care. I know he had gay friends and was well liked by gay people. If anyone in the gay community recognizes him from this photograph or knows anything about him that might help us find out what happened to him, please let us know.”

Update: Agard’s body was found four months later in an overgrown area at the rear of American Garden and Nursery.

He had gone out jogging around Phantom Lake. The autopsy was inconclusive.

Bookstores vandalized by dyke group SGN Staff Writer Caitlin Sullivan reported that a group called Dykes against Porn …vandalized bookstores, including Capitol Hill’s Red and Black Books…

[They] were spray painted “Fuck on our backs” in protest of the selling of a lesbian sex magazine called On Our Backs.

The group also targeted Steve’s News on Broadway by slashing covers.

One group member, Sandy, was offended by [a] cover [with] an Asian woman in body paint with flames all around her. Akiko Carver, who shouted her speech through a bullhorn last Saturday in front of Red and Black Books, said pornography is no more than eroticizing hate propaganda.

This Week in SGN History

1993

“On Our Backs glorifies and promotes violence against Asian women; what it basically says is that white dykes should be getting off on setting Asian girls on fire.”

The magazine was contacted by the SGN in wake of the demonstration.

Spokesperson Melissa Murphy said she talked with model Dawn Wan, who had no problem with the cover. “It’s the flames added by On Our Backs to enhance the photo. She’s burning alive,” Sandy said.

Crossroads Learning Center hosts AIDS group Tom Flint reported: “There’s so much denial among people with HIV,” said Greg Whiting, People Curing AIDS coordinator. “Most people with HIV just don’t want to think about it until they’re forced to pretend nothing is happening, until so much damage is done to their immune system that they can’t ignore it anymore.” Whiting said people don’t have to die of AIDS; many people have survived for 15 years now, but so many people accept the established doctrine about AIDS. “But the sooner you begin taking care of your immune system, the more you are you can do a maintain your health, said Whiting.

In A&E news Signorile’s war on religion Michelangelo Signorile’s visit to Seattle was reported by Tom Flint. Signorile was in town to promote his book, Queer in America and said, “Gays and lesbians are thinking everything is getting better. We’ve got Clinton in there doing things, but why did this thing happen in Colorado or Oregon and now Washington and Idaho?

The community is confused, and they don’t understand that it’s all very much related…For 20 years we’ve been picking a fight and the Religious Right ignored us because they thought we weren’t relevant, but now they recognize that they’ve got an opponent [so] they’re really going to give us a fight. People who think we’ve won were wrong. We’ve just reached the stage where we can fight to see who wins.”

Seattle Men’s Chorus on the verge of greatness In 1993, the chorus was getting ready to perform a concert that was going to put them on the path of greatness. This was the concert that created an iconic, top-selling CD, plus a KCTS-TV special that was the general public’s first view of a Gay chorus: “Swellegant Elegance: The Music of Cole Porter,” hosted by Harvey Fierstein with special guest Diane Schuur. The special was aired on Channel 9 in September 1993 and was reaired in 2004 to commemorate the SMC’s 25th anniversary.

Update: Fierstein returned to the chorus in 1999 for its “Gentlemen Prefer Broadway” concert. Joining him was Broadway star Faith Prince.

Celebrating 47 Years!

www.gofundme.com/f/seattle-gay-news-needs-your-support-now • VISIT SGN.ORG

Local News

CC’s requires proof of vaccination “No mask, no problem”

by Josephine Baird SGN Contributing Writer CC’s, a Capitol Hill Gay bar, started requiring proof of vaccination on May 22.

According to a Facebook post made by the owner, Chris Daw on May 2, this action was prompted by the “confusion and frustration over what the right thing to do” was, and it seemed like the best way to keep their focus, which Daw described as “the safety of our employees and customers.”

Because all in attendance will be vaccinated, CC’s will have a new masking guideline: “no mask, no problem.” Customers will also not be required to socially distance. Daw hopes that through this action, people can feel safe while attempting to return to “normal,” post-COVID life.

Daw said the new requirement “is in protest to the latest masking (suggestion/ requirement) by the King County Public Health director, and the confusing burdens it places on businesses to comply.”

On May 20, King County public health officials issued a directive, urging residents to continue wearing face masks in indoor public settings, even if they had completed their vaccines. It is directives such as this that have frustrated Daw and other business owners, who are working their best to reopen in a safe way.

Although businesses have the ability to make their own decisions, the directive stated, “businesses that are open to the public are strongly encouraged to continue ensuring [that] their customers and employees wear face masks.”

While Daw hopes this will provide an incentive to get vaccinated, he does believe

Images courtesy of CC Attle's

that it is a personal choice. On his post he said, “Our decision to proceed this way was not based on the ideology of vaccinations and excluding those that haven’t received one. I am a firm believer in the individual’s right to decide what goes into their body and the choice not to!”

While printouts of a CDC COVID-19 vaccination record card, a Washington state certificate of COVID-19 vaccination, and a Washington state Immunization Information System record are all acceptable proof of vaccination, CC’s will be satisfied with a picture proving completion of the vaccine.

Pictures of vaccine cards must match the

name and date of birth of one’s legal ID; without this, patrons will be denied entry.

Some customers love this idea, others not so much. According to Tanya Basu, in a 2021 article in MIT Technology Review, some people are “weaponizing Yelp to punish bars that require vaccine proof.” These negative reviews can destroy restaurants and bars as they try to reopen in a safe way.

According to Basu, CC’s became familiar with this when they received an alert from Yelp after requiring patrons to show proof of vaccination for entry.

Daw believes this to be a decent solution for the time being: “The rule is only tempo-

rary until everyone agrees the state/county/ city can completely reopen without restrictions.” He is hoping there will be no other restrictions by June 30.

Because businesses have the right to choose whether they require proof of vaccination, CC’s serves as an example of one option. With many businesses struggling to figure out their next move is for safely reopening, one might question if this is the future direction of businesses in Seattle. As with anything COVID related, only time will tell.

BRIANNA THOMAS continued from cover

Thomas from her home in West Seattle about her candidacy and the her positions on the issues facing Seattle voters.

For the last five years, she has been the legislative aide and chief of staff to Council President Lorena González, who is vacating her seat to run for mayor. Her biography claims that she “led negotiations for Police Accountability legislation, the Surveillance Ordinance in collaboration with ACLUWA, and the Secure Scheduling Ordinance, providing greater worker protections for employees in restaurants and retail.” She also boasts she “established and stood up the City’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to ensure fairness and integrity in our law enforcement system,” among a list of other accomplishments.

Thomas in not new to campaigning. She was a campaign manager for Honest Elections in Seattle and a $15 minimum wage in SeaTac. She also served as the office manager at the Church Council of Greater Seattle and field director at the Washington Housing Alliance Action Fund.

In recent years, her efforts have garnered her awards and recognition. In 2014, the Washington State Democratic Party recognized her the Warren G. Magnuson “Activist of the Year.” The Institute for a Democratic Future gave her their “Excellence in Civic Engagement” award that same year.

She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington.

Thomas acknowledged she beat the odds as a biracial child living in rural Georgia and escaped the blatant racism and economic hardship she and her peers faced.

Thomas and six candidates are seeking to finish among the top two for the Position 9 seat in the August primary election.

The Seattle Gay News, in cooperation with the online media network Malcontent News (MalcontentNews.com), interviewed

Renee Raketty: Thank you for joining us.

Brianna Thomas: Thank you so much for having me. As a dedicated public servant and a young woman who grew up in Hephzibah, Georgia, in a trailer park, I assure you that I am almost as surprised as you are that I’m here.

Raketty: The rate of new HIV infections among BIPOC individuals in King County, especially among men who have sex with men and people who are Transgender, remain high when compared to the general population. What would you do as a member of the city council to help reduce these rates?

Thomas: Seattle has great resources, like Out of the Closet, Entre Hermanos, Gay City, Lifelong, and several Planned Parenthood locations, that provide HIV testing, as well as community health centers. Washington is also one of few states that pay for people to be on PrEP, but we can expand this funding now that there is a generic drug available, as opposed to just Truvada.

The issue with a lot of programs here is accessibility (leaving South Seattle out, as we too often do), cultural competency, funding, and a lack of community outreach. In the last two years, we have partnered with trusted messengers as we worked on both the 2020 census and COVID-19 vaccination outreach. We should be leveraging those relationships for all public health outreach.

As a city councilmember, I will work to prioritize those most impacted by this issue and listen to them to inform policy. We need to fund HIV prevention and treatment, and train those providers on Transgenderspecific care. City-run healthcare facilities should have regular antiracist, cultural competence, and Trans-specific nondis-

crimination trainings.

Everyone in Seattle should know that they have free access to PrEP and PEP and feel comfortable going to a clinic that provides it, and I will work with county and statewide elected officials to make that the case outside of the city as well.

Raketty: LGBTQIA youth are at greater risk for homelessness, sexual exploitation, and substance abuse. What can be done at the city level to support programs for LGBTQ youth and make Seattle a model among urban cities?

Thomas: The city can better provide sustainable funding to programs like Lambert House and Lifelong’s community outreach programs, because we know that community-based solutions like these work.

We must also support the development and expansion of shelter services for our LGBTQIA youth. Knowing that our young people are… facing the shocking trauma of being separated from their families for simply being who they are, we must ensure that our social safety net is prepared to meet them where they are, with services that respect their identities and ensure their safety.

I will work to develop comprehensive policies appropriately addressing the needs of Transgender youth interacting with the juvenile justice system, especially because we know that our youth are being incarcerated for self-expression or self-defense.

Seattle should also partner with universities and colleges in the city to enact comprehensive nondiscrimination policies, including access to housing and facilities, and [ensure] that staff are trained annually on providing culturally competent support for LGBTQ+ students.

We can also work with the school board to change the way we talk about sex education in our schools and to make sure teachers have adequate training so that Queer,

Transgender, and gender-noncomforming students feel safe and encouraged to show up authentically.

Raketty: As you know, Transgender individuals such as myself face hate and hostility on a regular basis. Last year was the deadliest on record for Transgender people, especially BIPOC women who are Trans. How would you address this as a member of the city council?

Thomas: I see three parts to this crisis: holding people accountable for their crimes, creating an affirming culture so that the hate and hostility stops, and supporting Transgender people with the necessary mental and general healthcare.

As we lower the police budget and fight for progressive revenue, we have to increase funding for the organizations that provide peer-to-peer outreach addressing antiTrans violence. We also know that community-based solutions that work to stop the school-to-prison pipeline and provide restorative programming with youth before they interact with the legal system are an effective way to lower crime rates.

The City can follow San Francisco’s lead by developing and funding programs like the Trans Economic Empowerment Initiative to help Trans folks find employment.

Seattle also needs to urgently address the disproportionate number of Trans people facing homelessness, and I will work to ensure that shelters and other service providers have specific guidelines and policies to provide equal access.

We have also got to have a real conversation about existing programs that purport to support our Trans neighbors. I have heard, repeatedly, that the “Safe Place” program the City runs doesn’t actually equate to members of the Trans community feeling any safer. Especially in neighborhoods like the Hill, which used to be a bastion for safe self-expression.

Visit us online www.sgn.org

June 18, 2021

SGN

5

www.gofundme.com/f/seattle-gay-news-needs-your-support-now • VISIT SGN.ORG

Local News

Photo courtesy of People for Brianna Thomas

BRIANNA THOMAS continued from cover

Something I’m particularly proud of in my last six years of working in City Hall was the legislation that banned conversion therapy for minors. This could not have been done without the amazing work of Trans activists and organizers.

Raketty: As you know, an independent press is vital to a free democracy, yet local newspapers are being swallowed up by large corporations. And community newspapers, such as the Seattle Gay News, are facing unprecedented financial pressures as a result of the pandemic. What can the City do to strengthen and encourage a robust independent press in Seattle?

Thomas: Independent press is so important, and it’s been very sad to watch community papers forced into closure nationwide. The impacts are far-reaching — not only is the job loss devastating for many but it also means there are fewer reporters to cover what’s really happening in our communities. And studies have proven that this results in lower civic participation and lower voter turnout. This is a crisis for our democracy.

Seattle is lucky to have community papers such as the Seattle Gay News, the South Seattle Emerald, the Capitol Hill Seattle blog, and our many ethnic/in-language newspapers, but our suburban and rural communities aren’t nearly as lucky.

Trans and Queer youth must be able to see themselves in the media they consume, which becomes less and less possible the further you are from urban centers. With the rise in digital ads, funding for papers has plummeted.

The City can also work with Seattle Public Libraries to continue educating young people on the importance of local, reliable news sources. Our libraries are an incredible resource for disseminating information on how to dissect media and preparing young people for careers in journalism.

6

SGN

And lastly, but certainly not least, elected officials must work to nurture relationships with our independent media outlets. I am so grateful for the weekly conversations I had with George Bakan. His passion for our community, innovative policy solutions, and real talk are deeply missed.

Raketty: Seattle is facing an ongoing crisis related to unhomed peoples. Washington state experience at 6.2% increase in homelessness during 2019 and 2020.

King County spends over $1 billion per year in public and private investment to support approximately 12,500 houseless people, with disappointing results. If you are elected to the Seattle City Council, how would you work to address this crisis?

Thomas: Thank you so much for the question. I think it’s a three-part approach.

You’ve got short-term, medium, and longterm approaches.

Short-term, we’ve got to get people inside. I’m impressed with some of the results we’re seeing around the hoteling programs and the partnership with the county there. We learned a lot during the COVID crisis about noncongregate shelter and a different methodology of getting folks inside, including the hotels, but we also have to expand our low- and no-barrier shelter, because we all know that abstinence doesn’t work, and that shouldn’t be a requirement for recovery and stabilization.

So, let’s get people inside and, meanwhile, let’s make sure we’ve got a workforce of service providers that don’t qualify for the services that they are bringing to the table. They need to have livable wages.

They need to have access to workforce housing. They also need to be supported and stabilized.

Long-term, we just got to build more housing. I think that’s incumbent upon the city to meaningfully invest in. We can’t just rely on high-road developers to bring us those three- and four-bedrooms that we know real families need near their workplaces. We’ve got to make sure that our housing stock reflects the diversity of needs

June 18, 2021

that we have in this community. My kingdom did not need to see another tower go up with a bunch of glamorized one-bedrooms.

Raketty: As a result of the ongoing COVID pandemic, economic recovery and development and addressing Seattle’s crumbling transit infrastructure, such as the West Seattle Bridge, are of great importance. Additionally, some express concern that jobs have left the downtown core and may have left Seattle permanently, and that workers will not return. The question then is threefold: How would you tackle the infrastructure issue? How would you stimulate the economic recovery and development? What concerns do you have about the loss of employers and workers in Seattle?

Thomas: Excellent question. I also live on the island of West Seattle, so nobody wants that bridge fixed more than me. We also have bridges in Magnolia and the U District, all over the city, that need to be improved so they don’t fall into the Sound.

We can do that through apprenticeships and relationships with our union partners for an economic boost and engine. That way, as we build infrastructure and leverage federal dollars — this is how we got out of the Great Depression — that’s how we’re going to get out of this economic downturn.

In terms of business development in the downtown core, the way we use land now is based on a 10,000-square-foot model for somebody who is more of a national retailer coming in. Nobody’s going from their house or their garage or their Etsy shop to 10,000 square feet overnight.

So, let’s shrink those blueprints. Let’s make them 2,500 square feet, so smaller businesses can actually afford the rent. They can create good jobs for workers. Then, we use the leftover space in any of these developments to provide childcare. We know the city of Seattle has a real dearth of childcare and it’s egregiously expensive.

So, we [should] work to build a 15-minute neighborhood that means everybody’s got what they need right there in their neigh-

borhood. That’s economic opportunity, and that’s somewhere to make sure that you can get groceries, put your kids, and hang out with your seniors.

In terms of folks coming back to work, I think we want to. Humans are social creatures, and it’s going to be a little bit awkward. I don’t know about you, but making eye contact has been weird lately. I think we want to be together, and I think the revitalization of downtown and our neighborhood centers of commerce will help with the issues that we’ve seen around the city of having a reputation for not being very well kept. I think once we all get back in the groove of being together, we’ll get back in the groove of taking care of each other.

Raketty: As we saw with the protests related to the murder of George Floyd, police violence, and ongoing racial inequality, Seattle has earned a national reputation as a crime-ridden, dirty, and unsafe city. At one point, it was even labeled by the previous president as an “anarchist jurisdiction.” Do you agree with this view, and either way, how do you shift the perceptions of our city?

Thomas: We are not an “anarchistic jurisdiction,” but thank you for the question. I was complimented by that.

You know, Seattle has a history of protest, and that’s well within our rights, and it’s well within our culture. If you can’t go to Westlake and put your fist in the air and be pissed about something three times a year, we’re not doing it right.

I don’t think that protest against injustice equals destruction. I think there were a handful of folks who decided that dumpster fires were the thing for them that year, and I’d like to speak directly to their parents right now: “Please come get your children, please get them. You’re embarrassing us.

Everyone can see it.”

I think that what was most disappointing about that was that the violence was then coupled with the movement for Black liberation — implying that it is a violent movement. And nothing could be further

Celebrating 47 Years!

www.gofundme.com/f/seattle-gay-news-needs-your-support-now • VISIT SGN.ORG from the truth. The liberation of Black lives is not an assault, although it appeared to be so on our city for 63 days, because a handful of bad actors wanted to steal a narrative.

So, let’s not buy into that. That’s not who we are.

Raketty: How do you address racial inequality in Seattle?

Thomas: You have hard conversations with the 87% of the city that’s white, and you sit in the discomfort and you don’t shift the burden onto people of color, because, I assure you, we are plenty burdened. The people who are operating in a space of privilege, it’s incumbent upon them to educate themselves on how we got here and what being an ally looks like moving forward.

TLDR; you can’t call yourself an ally, somebody else has to give you that cool point. It’s more than book groups. It’s action. It’s what happens at work when you see that a woman of color is being spoken over. It’s what happens when you see that a Trans person isn’t getting the same opportunities for advancement. It’s each of us individually stepping up to the plate day by day.

And it’s incumbent on policy-makers to bring folks to the table to make sure we are using an intersectional lens on all the policies that we build, so people who have been most harmed by government violence are centered in conversations moving forward.

Raketty: Compared to other West Coast cities, such as Portland, San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Oakland, and San Diego, Seattle has the second highest cost per police officer, tied with Oakland, and the second highest number of officers per capita behind San Francisco.

Additionally, the average officer makes $153,000 a year before benefits, according to the Seattle Times.

Despite this large force and supporting budget, police report slow response times and claim the issue to be lack of staff. The police budget was cut approximately 18%, and staffing levels were adjusted to support roughly 1,325 officers if fully staffed.

How would you define “defund the police?” What is your position on that?

As a city councilmember, what would you do to restore the trust in the SPD? Thomas: Thank you for this question. I define “defund the police” as a call from community to right-size budget investments in systems that actually produce public safety.

We know that public safety, particularly for the Trans community, is not the same as a rainbow sticker on a cupcake shop. That’s not it. It’s actually having relationships that don’t end in more violence for people that are already experiencing trauma and are already vulnerable.

So, when I hear “defund the police,” I also hear “invest in community solutions.”

We have to do that in a way that has a 1-, 3-, 5-, and 10-year plan, because the last thing we need is to lose this political moment to a pilot project that is underfunded on the community side and then doesn’t produce the results that people are looking for, so we can wash our hands, say we tried it, and continue with business as usual.

I think where I stand personally on “defund” is [that] I hear the calls from community, but that doesn’t necessarily mean fewer officers. It means better-trained officers. It means culturally responsive officers. Quite frankly, it means [the Seattle Police Officers Guild] coming to the table to get a contract that allows the reflection of community’s expectations and values in that document.

So, until we get someone that’s willing to effectuate all of the changes we put in the 2017 police accountability ordinance — because not all of them got in there, particularly arbitration and discipline — then we aren’t going to be able to move culture forward in a way that is actually responsive to the calls of community.

Raketty: One of the many things COVID has shed light on is the ongoing mental health crisis in this country.

Seattle is not exempt from this. Recently,

Photo courtesy of People for Brianna Thomas

a man in the throes of a mental health crisis was fatally wounded by the Seattle Police Department near the Seattle waterfront. Some cities have implemented programs where unarmed teams of social workers respond to mental health calls. What would you do as a city councilmember to address the ongoing mental health crisis?

Thomas: I just had a Facebook interview with Sen. Manka Dhingra, who is an expert on this topic. I wish she were here to answer this for me.

The state has made some great investments this year in alternative responses. So we’re looking forward to, instead of having to call 9-1-1, being able to call 6-8-8 for the appropriate responder to show up when somebody is experiencing a crisis. And that responder should be someone, ideally, who also has a shared, lived experience with the person that they’re responding to.

We also need to make sure that our 9-1-1 operators are being trained in a way such that they are giving the correct information to whoever is responding, whether it is SPD or Health One or a community-based provider, so that their bias doesn’t enter the conversation, so that the information that our responders are getting doesn’t lead them to a particular outcome or a series of assumptions. I think it all starts at the point of impact and engagement.

Raketty: Housing affordability is a significant problem here in Seattle: 88% of Seattle’s land zoned for housing is zoned for single family units. Over the last five years, most of the new construction has been centered in the 12% that supports high-density housing. Developers and builders focus on small-footprint properties with minimal parking and luxury appointments.

Do you support changing our zoning rules for ADUs and more dense construction to alleviate the housing crisis?

What changes does Seattle regulations need to make? What would you support as far as construction of residential property?

Thomas: No more towers with marble

Visit us online www.sgn.org

countertops and studios. We don’t need any more those; we are super good.

Density doesn’t have to be terrifying.

It can be a duplex. It can be a triplex, it can be a detached infill unit on somebody else’s already single-family plot, so that the daughter or auntie who never got married has some where to age in place with some dignity.

I think we have to recognize our history of redlining, and we have to recognize our attitudes for the last 20, 30 years, around “not in my backyard.” It is now in your backyard, and it’s in your parks and it’s on your streets. That is part of what is exacerbating the homelessness crisis that we are facing right now.

So, we got to get real about the fact that density can look like a lot of different things. It doesn’t have to be terrifying, but we can’t allow our nostalgia for a Seattle that actually never was to overtake the real needs we have on the ground right now.

There’s a lot of ways to do it. It doesn’t have to be scary.

Raketty: Seattle has a reputation for having high taxes compared to other Washington cities. A number of initiatives have added incremental taxes to fund transit, homeless programs, education, and the general fund. These taxes are small on paper — such as the 2020 STBD Prop 1 voters approved that added 0.05% to the city’s existing sales tax. Most of these taxes are regressive, due to Washington state’s tax structure.

Will you pledge no new taxes on the residents of Seattle?

Thomas: No. No, I won’t. I will pledge to work my tuchus off to figure out how to turn the regressive tax system around. That may mean a new type of tax, but I absolutely agree that right now, relying on sales tax, which disproportionately impacts the working poor, is just not acceptable. We’ve got the most upside down tax structure in the country right now.

So, I think you will need a new tax structure to address that. I’d just like to remind folks that the city has tried nonregressive options on several occasions. I personally have the emotional scar tissue

June 18, 2021

from all three times. We did the employee hours tax, and [there was] the time we did the income tax. [We’ve had] discussions… around capital gains, which just passed at the state level.

One thing I’ve learned my five years working with the council is you have to pass a policy that (1) can be implemented, because if we don’t feel it, nothing happened, and (2) will stand up to a legal challenge.

Every time someone has a good idea that’s in alignment with our community’s values — we work a policy, we get it through, work in collaboration — and then, boom, lawsuit. If I’ve got a piece of legislation that’s tied up in litigation and I can’t actually implement it, again, nothing happens.

So these policies have to be done collaboratively and they have to be done with an eye to surviving legal challenges because — at this point — we have learned those are inevitable.

Raketty: What programs would you want to see cut if you are a member the city council?

Thomas: This is going to be hugely unpopular, but I think some of our commissions need restructuring. We have a lot of them. We got so many commissions, and I don’t know if people are getting a meaningful experience from them. I don’t know if 80 commissions is the answer. Maybe we take a look at it. Maybe we put some of them together. We align some of the mission and values, so that way they’re properly staffed, and commissioners actually have the support they need to meaningfully engage with council members, with the mayor, and with their community. So I think that we could... probably tighten that up. We got a little commission happy.

Raketty: Thank you so much for joining us today.

Thomas: Well, thank you so much, and I would be remiss if I didn’t make a pitch for some of your democracy vouchers, because I was the campaign manager that brought you that program!

Thomas’s campaign website is www.peopleforbrianna.org.

SGN

7

www.gofundme.com/f/seattle-gay-news-needs-your-support-now • VISIT SGN.ORG

Arts & Entertainment

PNB’s “Rep 6” video program delights and surprises men in dance belts (i.e., mostly naked) flexing muscles to misogynist music was a real turn-off for me.

But on second look, and with a little self-analysis, I realized that he-men flexing muscles to smarmy music was an ironic comment on an antiquated point of view.

Though Cerrudo is probably too young to have witnessed the glory days of male dominance over women as I did, he was born in Madrid, Spain — in a culture I love, but one that is also famous for bullfights, matadors, flamenco, and various expressions of male superiority.

Seen through the lens of Cerrudo’s irony, these dances — featuring pinwheel arms, fifth-position posturing, and power moves — become humorous, and the nudity becomes humbling, as though men can never live up to the pressures male dominance places on them.

Only in the final sequence, set to “That’s Amore,” did the dance abandon irony and become a testament to crazy love. The near-naked man (Lucien Postlewaite), with his jittering torso and airborne leaps into space, evoked the lavish, over-the-top amore of Cupid.

by Sharon Cumberland SGN Contributing Writer Pacific Northwest Ballet “Rep 6” Choreography by Alejandro Cerrudo, Christopher Wheeldon, Edwaard Liang McCaw Hall via streaming video June 10-14, 2021 Like many other Seattle dance lovers, I stopped attending live performances at Pacific Northwest Ballet after Kent Stowell’s “Cinderella” on January 21, 2020.

And though I prefer not to review videos of live performances (because virtual reality isn’t real enough for most performing arts, IMHO), I made an exception for PNB’s “One Thousand Pieces,” an electronic summation of their wonderful 2020 season.

That was on March 17 — the last day I went to a grocery store without a mask.

Like everyone else, the pandemic forced me to give up live performances of any kind — no PNB, UW Dance, Seattle Opera, Pacific Music Works, On the Boards, Seattle Shakespeare — not to mention museums, the aquarium, restaurants...

Instead, I devoted myself to working jigsaw puzzles, listening to audio books, and lamenting the loss of real, live artists doing wonderful things in the real world. My only chosen video consolation has been the Metropolitan Opera’s free nightly streams of its formidable performance library (which is still ongoing, folks — check it out!).

There must have been hundreds of opportunities for me to stay active as a digital viewer and reviewer for the SGN, but I was in “arts mourning.” And, to be honest, I was in such a desperate state of anxiety over the election, I could barely do anything but punch the Act Blue donation button every day.

But now, as the sun begins to rise on live performances again — thank you, Seattle, for being the most vaccinated city in the nation! — I feel Terpsichore has resumed her throne, along with the gods of music, drama, and visual arts.

So in tribute to the digital season I missed, here is a review of what I hope will be the last restricted-to-video performance at PNB, a selection of fascinating works by three of the dance world’s most prominent choreographers: Christopher Wheeldon, Edwaard Liang, and PNB’s resident choreographer, Alejandro Cerrudo. I confess to getting a little verklempt when McCaw Hall’s sparkling red curtain appeared on the screen. It was like seeing a beloved fairy godmother suddenly appear, waving her magic wand to take us back to the ball.

“Curious Kingdom” (2021 World Premiere) Choreography: Christopher Wheeldon Music: Maurice Ravel, Eric Satie, Edith Piaf Of the three dances in this program, Wheeldon’s is the most intriguing to me.

Wheeldon shows us his genius for combining classical ballet movement with elegant, intense body gestures in this truly fulllength dance, with nine sections of various solos, duets, and the ensemble. The opening sequence, with all five dancers moving in unison, lays out the universe of the entire dance, not only in terms of slow bending and flexing but in the constructions the dancers make with their bodies. There are very few of the leaps and twirls associated with classical ballet movement, yet Wheeldon fascinates the viewer with sinuous and graceful twisting, sudden turns, and constructs built

8

SGN

“Veil Between Worlds” (2021 World Premiere) Choreography: Edwaard Liang Music: Oliver Davis

Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer Lucien Postlewaite in Alejandro Cerrudo’s PACOPEPEPLUTO, which PNB is presenting as part of a triple-bill with world premiere works by Edwaard Liang and Christopher Wheeldon, June 10 – 14, as part of PNB’s all-digital 2020/21 season. – Photo by Lindsay Thomas

from movements close to the ground yet elevated in passion and originality.

I’m hard pressed to choose a favorite sequence, because each one was fascinating. But the first duet, in which the man and woman (Dylan Wald and Leta Biasucci) share a single pair of hot pink opera gloves was the most clear statement of the ideas working their way through the dance. As the duo entwines themselves, freezes in a sculptural construction, then unwinds to form a new construction, the arms in the pink gloves create a shape inside the larger shape. The viewer sees two ideas at once: the large form of the duet and the small form of the pink gloves that act as a frame.

This idea was extended in sequences using short gloves, bathing caps, and fabulous chiffon scarves — all in hot pink. It was a simple, complex, surprising, and brilliant device.

This is one occasion in which the costume designers (Harriet Jung and Reid Bartelme) deserve major kudos. The glossy unisex body suits and carefully selected pink accessories were essential to the brilliance of this wonderful new dance.

“Pacopepepluto” (2015) Choreography: Alejandro Cerrudo Music: Dean Martin/Joe Scalissi The real virtue of reviewing dance on video, I discovered, is the ability to go back and rethink your first impression — some-

June 18, 2021

thing you can’t do reviewing a single live performance. In the theater, you scribble notes in the dark, then go home and try to figure out what your little scrawls and diagrams mean. With video you can look at the same thing again and again — a great pleasure as well as a check on your inaccurate first impressions.

So it’s a good thing I could watch “Pacopepepluto” more than once, because on first viewing, I disliked it so much that the only positive thing I could say was that the guys (Christopher D’Ariano, James Yoichi Moore, and Lucien Postlewaite) looked great in their dance belts.

But on second thought, I realized that it wasn’t the dance I disliked but the smarmy mid-century songs of Dean Martin and Joe Scalissi. I was a girl when “Memories are Made of This,” “By the Chapel in the Moonlight,” and “That’s Amore” were popular, and I have vivid memories of how these suffocating images of love and marriage loomed over me and my sister like the theme songs to Housewife Prison. They reinforced widely held opinions about girls: “You will not be an engineer or a doctor; you will settle down and have kids and make casseroles for the rest of your life.”

If this sounds absurd, just ask your mother (or your grandmother). It was a real thing — and Dean Martin, along with the “Rat Pack” he ran with, were famous for their misogyny.

So on first look, three solo dances by

Edwaard Liang is a dancer-turned-choreographer who, in a long interview with PNB Artistic Director Peter Boal, described his artistic journey — from being a student at the New York City Ballet School, where he worked with Jerome Robbins, to stints on Broadway in Fosse and with Jiří Kylián at Nederland Dans Theater, where he began to learn its choreographic style.

Given this exposure to the very best in modern ballet, it’s no surprise that Liang’s work displays his debt to George Balanchine’s reworking of classical ballet movement, as well as Kylián’s tight, sculptural dance forms. Since all Liang’s masters rated music as the equal of choreography — dance anchored in music as opposed to “soundscapes” — it’s no surprise that “Veil Between Worlds” has a formality as fresh as the silken veil that floats dramatically through this beautiful work.

I was impressed with how his large composition for ten dancers expressed a complex idea with a simple visual device.

The idea is that we live in two worlds: our demanding, invigorating conscious lives, as well as a mysterious place, expressed here as a massive, billowing red veil that the dancers lifted, flung out, and disappeared through.

The mysterious world on the other side of the veil is the one we sense but normally can’t see. The very best expressions in art can lift the veil and cause us to experience the vast, benign reality of that other place — an experience most dance lovers have had as an indirect and unlooked-for benefit of the artists’ project.

Liang is very brave to announce his intention to show us this other reality. It’s an old-fashioned idea of the work of the artist, like Handel’s “Messiah” or Miton’s “Paradise Lost.” We can be grateful that he stepped up to the challenge, because he and his dancers have succeeded beautifully.

Though the time limit on seeing this video will have passed by the time you read this, there is one more digital performance, on June 18, to say farewell to dancers leaving the company this year. Then, on September 1, McCaw Hall opens again for the first in the PNB 2021-22 season, “Singularity,” a selection of Alejandro Cerrudo’s most important works.

Celebrating 47 Years!

www.gofundme.com/f/seattle-gay-news-needs-your-support-now • VISIT SGN.ORG

Bloomington Early Music Festival in 2019 – Photos courtesy of Byron Schenkman and photographer Gary Payne

SCHENKMAN continued from cover

taught courses and given lectures on their instruments and musical specialties and have been recorded on more than 40 CDs. Schenkman lives and works in Seattle. They took the time to open up about their personal background, proud career moments, and upcoming performances, which I am lucky to share here.

Background with music Schenkman grew up with classical music, studying to be a pianist from a young age. When they were 6 years old living in Chile, they watched a ballet performance of Copelia in an ornate 19th century opera house. They say, “I think my first love was ballet,” but their parents did not allow them to learn it at the time because of a negative belief that it would make them a homosexual. However, Schenkman was encouraged to play chamber music and at 11 years old in a summer camp they knew it would be their life. They say, “I was so happy, just with my people, and I’m always happy when I’m playing music with small groups of people.”

Classical music today Today, Schenkman works as the artistic director and a performer with Byron Schenkman & Friends. They say “the whole idea of it is inclusivity and about bringing people together” through classical music.

Schenkman’s work as a musician is centered around gender justice and anti-racism efforts in how they plan performances.

They say it is “redefining what classical music is, what chamber music is and who it’s for, and who gets to do it.” They recall that the first time they played music composed by a woman was not until graduate school, then performing a cantata by Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre. Schenkman notices that successful woman composers are “just left out of the history books and anthologies and concert programming,” which they aim to change by including women’s compositions in nearly every performance they can.

When planning repertoire, Schenkman juxtaposes traditional classical music with lesser-known pieces, sometimes commissioned from contemporary composers.

They “think of it like doing a puzzle” to put together an entertaining and theatrical performance. Listeners often expect traditional classical music, which they get, but Schenkman gives it “a smaller place in our concept of what music is” as they work to uplift more diverse composers as well.

Notable moments Traditional Baroque and Classical music is Schenkman’s forte. They “still feel like there’s something worthwhile and special about it” as an artist. Their face lit up at the opportunity to recollect highlights from playing antique keyboard instruments.

One of these notable career moments was recording with the National Music Museum on nine antique instruments. On “The Art of the Harpsichord,” they played period pieces on nine harpsichords created between early 16th and late 18th century. On another recording, they played compositions by Domenico Scarlatti on four keyboard instruments from the 18th

Visit us online www.sgn.org

century. They also say “playing music by Henry Purcell from London in the late 17th century on an instrument that was made in London in the late 17th century and knowing that Pursell himself could have sat at that instrument and played the those pieces… felt really special to me.”

Identities More personally, Schenkman’s identity is built on being Queer, Jewish, and a musician.

As a Queer person, they say, “I started coming out as gay when I wan 16, and … coming out is a lifelong process. I don’t think we’re ever completely out — we can become more and more out.” In the last ten years, as it has been more common to publicly identify pronouns and gender, Schenkman has come to feel most comfortable using they/them pronouns and living as non-binary. They say, “if I had grown up in a non-patriarchal society, I don’t know how I would have identified or if I would have had to identify at all,” but that today, Queer and non-binary fit them well.

They also say “faith is a really big part of my life.” Schenkman’s strongest guiding principle is that God gave people a broken world, so “we’re expected to work on it [and] we’re expected to do our part to repair the world.” As a performer, “music can be a force for healing and can be a powerful force for working to repair the world.”

Schenkman intends to serve others in every concert and recording. As a Jewish musician, they say “it’s to make some kind of difference, to make somebody feel something that they might not have been quite in touch with, to make people connect in ways that they haven’t been able to connect, [and] to empower people.” As a chamber

June 18, 2021

musician especially, there are no soloists or conductors, and performance is built on connections between musicians.

Current projects They continue to direct and play with Byron Schenkman & Friends, and their next season opens on October 17th, viewable for free online. It features Schenkman playing 17th century European music with violinist Ingrid Matthews juxtaposed with Coast Salish flutist and storyteller Paul Che oke’ ten Wagner. Together they work to change the myth that European colonists brought music to the region or that all Indigenous cultures are lost by highlighting the living Coast Salish culture. They say “there were all kinds of cultures going on here and some of them are actually still alive, and there are people still telling the stories and playing the music.”

Schenkman will be playing a program called “Bach, Bayreuth, and Buh-roke” with the Portland Baroque Orchestra. It will feature concertos by J.S. Bach and Wilhelmine von Bayreauth and premier a composition by Jamien Geter. Schenkman chuckles, saying “people might just come for the Bach concertos, but stay for the piece by the 18th century woman and the piece by the 21st century Black American,” bringing lesser-known music to the classical audience.

Follow Byron Schenkman’s work at byronschenkman.com or byronandfriends. org and see their future and previous performances on the Byron Schenkman & Friends YouTube channel.

SGN

9

BI-WEEKLY! FIND US WHEREVER YOU LISTEN TO PODCASTS! 10

SGN

June 18, 2021

Celebrating 47 Years!

www.gofundme.com/f/seattle-gay-news-needs-your-support-now • VISIT SGN.ORG

Arts & Entertainment

TikTok is having an impact on Queer creators

by Lindsey Anderson SGN Contributing Writer TikTok is quickly becoming one of the most influential apps in pop culture history.

It has the power to bring together crowds of thousands, to sway elections, to promote popular music, and to send masses to Target for the latest trendy find. It’s an app so powerful that the previous president attempted to get it banned after teens started messing with his rallies, claiming tickets online and never showing Appealing to the goldfish-like attention spans of Generation Z, TikTok allows users to create videos no longer than three minutes — and also sucks you in until you’ve been swiping for hours..

Yet many are still unaware of just how powerful TikTok has become.

“TikTok has been everything,” Queer creator Josh Jacobs said as we talked about the impact the app has had on his career, which he began as an artist on Etsy four years ago. “I am an artist, and I’ve always loved art,” he said. “My identity as a Queer person leaked into my artwork… and those turned into designs and prints.”

However, Jacobs began to struggle to make sales, especially from his rural Utah home. Dissatisfied with his day job, he made the life-changing decision to quit and focus entirely on his struggling Etsy shop. “The first few months after I quit my job, it was really kinda scary. I was just scraping by.”

Jacobs said that he began promoting his work on all social media platforms, from Twitter to Facebook to Instagram, but it wasn’t until he joined TikTok that business really began to take off. One of his videos on the app went viral, and now he’s gaining new followers every day and his business is thriving.

“Because of TikTok, I’ve been getting more attention to my stores, so I’ve been doing a lot better... In January I had 10,000 followers, and now I have 62,000 followers, which is pretty cool.”

“Before TikTok, my sales were very low,” he added. Now, every time I make a video that goes viral, [it means] immediate sales from my Etsy shop. Even if my videos aren’t about art, people still go to my profile, click the link, and find out about my shop, and it has led to more sales. Most of my success on Redbubble and Etsy has been because of TikTok.” Jacobs’ videos have continued to thrive since he launched a new clothing line on Redbubble. It features irreverent Pride merchandise, which he encourages members of the LGBTQ community to consider buying instead of pandering corporate merch.

“I think that a lot of queer culture is irreverent,” Jacobs explained. “And Pride… started out as a riot, as a protest, and it always has been. In modern-day rainbow capitalism… a lot of corporate designs are very family friendly. And so it’s almost like I’m queering it even further and taking all these family-friendly designs and saying, ‘No, Pride is not supposed to be a familyfriendly event. It’s about expression, people being able to be open about their sexuality and gender and not being ashamed to hide anything.’ So making irreverent, funny designs I think is a way to show that.”

If Jacobs’ videos are any indication, members of the LGBTQ community agree with him: Pride is a riot, and irreverent is in.

TikToxic Like Jacobs, Julia Hughes joined TikTok four years ago. “In 2018 I was leaving Austin, Texas, and I had just started getting on TikTok, because I missed Vine and I was not doing as well on Instagram, because Instagram is very hashtag based,” Hughes explained.

Images courtesy of Josh Jacobs

“I started doing it, and people started sending me money, because I volunteer a lot, so I started volunteering more, and I realized that I could make these historical videos I like making and seeing. I started making that content, and now I’m getting 2,000 new followers a day.”

Hughes now makes videos promoting Seattle’s historical architecture. “When people think of Seattle, they think of the Space Needle; they don’t think of the neo-Mayan banks and buildings, or the German-American banks that were built in the 1920s.”

She has found her niche showcasing Seattle’s unique culture to vast audiences around the world, but she has also found the darker side to TikTok. “I have had random strangers follow me and come to my home. I have had people call hotels I stay in and put the information on TikTok, where it will go viral. I sometimes open the app and have hundreds of thousands of people telling me to off myself, that I’m a terrible person. I’ve had my family called, their schools and jobs,” Hughes said.

Not only has she been the recipient of such hostility but she said she has also witnessed the app silence and oppress minority friends. Many have noted that the app is known for being against minorities who speak out against the government and any kind of sex work.

“There are severe guidelines, and they change regularly,” Hughes said. “One of my friends — her name is Hawk, she is also a lesbian — she had 1.4 million followers, and they removed her account for sexual content, but all she did was dance.”

Visit us online www.sgn.org

The app is also known for silencing members of the LGBTQ community. “Absolutely they suppress them. My viewership went down when I started talking about my sexuality. You can see it. You can literally scroll down and see it,” said Hughes.

Despite losing viewership for discussing her sexuality, Hughes, like Jacobs, is still a member of the Creator Fund, an elite side of TikTok that provides monetary incentives for creators to continue producing content.

“They pay you per viewership, and also you have the opportunity to have brand partnerships,” Hughes said.

TikTok for good Despite the apparent downsides of the novel app, TikTok still has the power to function for good. Maybe it is the larger sense of community that has been drawing Seattle-based creators to the app.

Hughes is the type of person who dedicates herself to her community. As she put it, “Community is kind of all we have here.

That’s kind of the Seattle thing.”

“It’s definitely a deep connection. There are people that have been following me since 2018. They have my phone number, we Facetime, it’s very real friendships, and community.” She elaborated, “I just moved into my new apartment and made an Amazon wishlist, and overnight, everything was bought.

“The power of the community is great, but that hate, it can turn on you like that.

The power of speech on that app is incredible, but at the same time, some people use it for the wrong reasons.”

The power of TikTok’s community is also

June 18, 2021

working to help small businesses, many of whom have been struggling over the last year.

Hughes uses her voice to help bring attention to some of those businesses. “I’ve been finding older business owners, especially older trans people… We don’t have a lot of older trans people to tell their stories, so finding those stories… and giving those people those voices they never had, it’s so huge.”

TikTok also has the power to unite, as Hughes said: “TikTok has this amazing megaphone way of saying, ‘Everyone meet here!’ We just saw it happen… [with a party] at Alki Beach. Hundreds of people showed up to the party, and it was all because of TikTok.” In a year during which we were starved for connection, TikTok filled a need, and now, it is continuing to provide a space for members of the LGBTQ community to come together and share information, products, and inside jokes.

And most importantly, it is a platform for activists to speak out on. “I’m seeing the gay community stand up and be activists more than I ever have before. It’s always the LGBTQ ocmmunity that reaches out first, that’s doing something,” Hughes said.

Whether TikTok has led to more good than bad is up for debate, but one thing is for sure, it’s having an impact. Whether it’s here to stay is an open question.

Jacobs’ TikTok is @queer_josh; his Etsy and Redbubble accounts are under artjoshua. His website is artjoshua.com.

Hughes’ TikTok is @hellcathysteria.

SGN

11

www.gofundme.com/f/seattle-gay-news-needs-your-support-now • VISIT SGN.ORG

Film

Pixar’s Luca an empathetic summertime gem

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN Staff Writer LUCA Disney+ Pixar’s latest animated gem Luca made me feel good. The film wasn’t anything unique. It did not do anything too unpredictable. It didn’t innovate the same way other efforts from the studio — hits like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, WALL•E, and Inside Out (just to name a few) — have in the past.

But none of that means Luca does not impress. It showcases a gentle heart and displays a level of empathetic grace that’s consistently enchanting. Director Enrico Casarosa and screenwriters Jesse Andrews (Me and Earl and the Dying Girl) and Mike Jones (Soul) treat their characters, as well as their audience, with intelligence and respect, delivering a story of acceptance, identity, and forgiveness viewers young and old are almost certain to be able to relate to.

Luca Paguro (voiced by Jacob Tremblay) is a 13-year-old boy who must spend the summer shepherding his family’s flock.

A chance meeting introduces him to fellow youngster Alberto Scorfano (Jack Dylan Grazer), and the two become instant friends. Alberto lives alone while his father is away and dreams of owning a Vespa, so he can hit the road and explore the world.

Luca, his thirst for knowledge impossible to quench, is inspired by his new friend’s ambitions and promises to do whatever he can to help make them a reality.

Oh. One more thing. Luca and Alberto are sea monsters.

Not that they would call themselves “monsters.” Far from it. But, out of the water and dry, Luca and Alberto can look like normal humans, allowing them to walk around the small fishing village of Portorosso with everyone none the wiser about their true form.

It is here they make friends with redheaded outcast Giulia Marcovaldo (Emma

Luca – Photo courtesy of Pixar

Berman) and her gruff fisherman father Massimo (Marco Barricelli), and the trio of youngsters make a pact to compete together in the town’s annual summertime race, the Portorosso Cup. Many of the expected hijinks ensue.

Luca and Alberto give everything to fit in as humans, even going fishing with Massimo, where they endure constant danger their true identity could be accidentally if they are splashed with water.

There’s also an older boy, Ercole Visconti (Saverio Raimondo), who wins the Portorosso Cup year after year and bullies Giulia, and he’s not above adding the two newcomers to his list of targets on the off chance that they could threaten his reign as champion.

Not much more happens. The film becomes an allegory for tolerance and understanding. Luca’s parents have to learn

that their son has his own dreams, free of their wants or desires for his future, while the inhabitants of Portorosso need to look into a mirror and understand the true monster is their own fear of the unknown staring back at them. That’s pretty much all there is to it.

You know what? That’s just fine. In fact, it’s borderline wonderful. Andrews and Jones have crafted a delightfully compassionate script rich in emotional honesty. They never shy away from the heavier or more heartrending travails fueling some of the decisions Luca, Alberto, and Guilia might make. In the same moment, they also allow their friendship to blossom in such a way that the trio’s ability to overcome these potentially disastrous obstacles is blissfully authentic.

It’s all rather beautiful, and when coupled with Pixar’s trademark extraordinary

animation and the superb vocal performances by the entire cast, let’s just say a cheerfully teary smile sat on my face for almost every second of the feature’s briskly paced 95 minutes.

For younger audiences, there’s so much for them to take away from Luca and Alberto’s journey. Even better, Casarosa refuses to allow the film to either preach or to talk down to them, each life lesson happening with such naturalistic subtlety that they appear almost as if out of nowhere.

Some movies exist as if solely to make the viewer feel good. They’re not masterpieces. They’re not game-changers. They don’t do anything unexpected. They just touch on basic universal themes that warm your heart and bring a smile to your face.

That’s Luca, and that’s wonderful.

The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard fires too many blanks

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN Staff Writer THE HITMAN’S WIFE’S BODYGUARD Theaters Still unable to get over the loss of his AAA bodyguard rating, courtesy of hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson), Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) takes a much-needed vacation. No guns. No violence. And most of all, no bodyguarding.

Just peace and quiet, nothing else — and by the time Bryce returns home, he’ll be free of the lingering trauma from his time spent dodging bullets with Darius.

Enter international con artist Sonia Kincaid (Salma Hayek), the hitman’s loving and all-too-violent wife, who forces Bryce to help her rescue Darius from a band of cutthroats. This inadvertently leads to the trio assisting Interpol in its pursuit of a mysterious international criminal bent on throwing the European Union into a financial crisis. Through it all, Bryce remains determined to not bodyguard and not kill anyone, a turn of events Darius is more than willing to make vulgar fun of at every opportunity.

I didn’t mind 2017’s The Hitman’s Bodyguard. It wasn’t great, but the comedy-action hybrid had its moments, and Reynolds and Jackson made a decent team.

But at nearly two hours, the film did try my patience, and while some of the major set

12

SGN

The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard – Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

pieces were impressive, others fell frustratingly flat, courtesy of some egregious overediting and a bizarre lack of focus.

Even though the film was a modest success at the box office, never in a million years would I have imagined there would be a sequel. Yet here we are, with the obnoxiously titled The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard being released into theaters today. It’s an equally idiotic action-filled monstrosity as its predecessor, wasting a star-studded supporting cast — which includes the likes of Antonio Banderas, Morgan Freeman, Frank Grillo, and Richard E. Grant — in service to a nonsensical scenario that’s as goofy as it is forgettable.

June 18, 2021

Director Patrick Hughes (The Expendables 3) returns to orchestrate all the mayhem, while Tom O’Connor (The Courier) is joined in the writers’ room by newcomers Brandon Murphy and Phillip Murphy.

What the group has come up with is a bunch of freewheeling hogwash. Problem is, almost none of it is amusing or enjoyable hogwash.

That’s a little harsh. Yet, for all the energy and chaos, for all the constant motion that Hughes throws up on the screen, there’s precious little happening that resonates. There is a ’90s throwback aura to much of this that’s undeniable. But as far as comparisons go, this sequel feels

more like Fled or Speed 2: Cruise Control than it does The Rock or Face/Off — and anyone who has sat through those first two will immediately understand that this resemblance is hardly complimentary.

There is an amusing flashback where Hayek and Banderas reignite some of that Desperado chemistry. Hughes also unleashes a violent sequence in a neonlit dance club that’s pretty terrific. But other than that, the majority of the action sequences aren’t anything to write home about, and the climactic triptych where Bryce, Darius, and Sonia all get to throw down, each with their own adversary, is particularly disappointing.

Reynolds and Jackson still have solid chemistry, and Hayek makes a fine addition to their comic partnership, stealing scenes right out from underneath both of them anytime the opportunity is afforded to her.

Banderas is having a blast, and even though I wish he had more to do, he still makes the most memorable impression. As for Freeman, I’m not commenting about him one way or the other, as his part in the proceedings shouldn’t be spoiled.

Fans of the first film might enjoy this sequel, but I’m not exactly sold on that being the case. The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard didn’t do much that I’d consider worthwhile, shooting far too many blanks and frequently missing the target the few times a live round was loaded into the chamber. There’s not a lot more to add, so I’ll leave things there and call it a day.

Celebrating 47 Years!

www.gofundme.com/f/seattle-gay-news-needs-your-support-now • VISIT SGN.ORG

Books

The rise of Phoenix: Seattle’s Queer comic and games store second Saturday of the month, Seattle gamers would meet up in the back of the store to share some of their most beloved board games and make new friends along the way.

The store also hosted a monthly feminist comic club. Every month, the group would pick a new comic to read and gather on the last Saturday to discuss and analyze it.

Both groups had to go on hiatus when the store closed last March, but with Phoenix Comics & Games rising out of the ashes, so to speak, the clubs are beginning to come back as well. Queer Geeks will be back in July, and while a set date is not lined up for the feminist comic club, Nassar has hopes it will follow suit.

by Lindsey Anderson SGN Contributing Writer In the heart of the Broadway business district sits an exciting shop, Queer-owned Phoenix Comics & Games, where patrons are greeted by larger-than-life superheroes flying across the walls on massive posters, and the shelves are lined with actionpacked art, from the illustrations of the comics to the beautiful designs decorating the boxes of board games to collectible figures.

“We aim for a casual, fun, and really accepting atmosphere... That’s what we shoot for,” explained owner and manager Nick Nassar, as he sat down to discuss some of what makes Phoenix so unique.

After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the store saw a significant drop in sales, largely due to the fact that the doors were forced to close for nearly a year. In order to keep sales up, Nassar even began personally delivering comics and games to patrons’ doorsteps, becoming a real-life superhero to so many who were trapped by boredom and fear indoors.

But this June, the place is bustling with new pride. As of June 1, Phoenix Comics & Games is officially back open and ready for business.

“Right now the X-Men line from Marvel is experiencing a really big boom,” Nassar informed me. The popularity of the expanding franchise has obviously not been lost on comic fans in Capitol Hill, and so a series of superhero comics selling big at one of the city’s most beloved comic stores is really no surprise.

Queer owned, Queer titles What might be surprising, however, are some of the other popular titles flying off the shelves. Nassar named Genderqueer by Mari Kopi as another of the biggest sellers, saying, “It’s a great coming-of-age story about someone that is nonbinary.”

Stocking their shelves with Queer stories is important to Nassar. “I think it’s a part of [our] identity. We are a Queer-owned comic bookstore, and we want that to be front and

Photo by Lindsey Anderson

center. We want people to know that’s what they’re getting into when they walk in here.

And quite frankly, it never fails to make people feel safe and welcome when they [do].”

The welcoming LGBTQ comic section sits proudly in the center of the business, with titles ranging from classic graphic novels like Fun Home to contemporary guides to different Queer identities. Nassar described the latter as “a series of books that are designed to be guides, if you are a genderqueer person, a Trans person, or nonbinary… they are quick and easy guides you can hand out.”

The wide array of comics and graphic novels offered at Phoenix showcases the growth the genre has undergone in the last several decades. Fantasy and action comics

are still very popular, but now comic stories for all types of readers are available, from self-help guides to memoirs and even a Queer tarot comic, Tabula Idem, which Nassar has recommened for our Queer summer book club.

“It’s a comic book anthology,” Nassar explained, “which means it’s a bunch of small short stories, and if you don’t like one particular art style, you can just move on to the next. It’s all themed around the tarot deck, or the major arcana of the tarot.”

Space for the community Phoenix also provides a space for many members of Seattle’s LGBTQ gaming and comic community. Before the pandemic, the store was the host to a monthly boardgame meetup called “Queer Geeks.” Every

Depth through art and writing One reason Phoenix has remained so beloved by members of the LGBTQ community is that the medium of comics itself is often misunderstood, not unlike the lives of Queer folks. For those who are not immersed in the comics community, these books may seem like childish or silly, like glorified picture books. They don’t hold the same academic prestige as prose novels — and yet they can carry the same depth.

“One thing about comic books that really sets them apart from prose books is that they use both art and writing to really help shape what the writer and artist want you to see,” Nassar said of the profound appeal of the artform. “There is a depth there that just takes extra time to develop in prose.

Oftentimes when someone is being super descriptive, you can get lost in it. In comic books, it’s there right on the page.”

So, if you are looking for a reading experience that bridges the depth of language and the beauty of art, take a walk down to Phoenix Comics & Games and pick up a copy of Tabula Idem or any of hundreds of other titles that might catch your eye and spark your imagination.

Phoenix Comics & Games can be found at 113 Broadway E. or online at shop.phoenixseattle.com.

A memoir of transitioning while evangelical

by Terri Schlichenmeyer Special to the SGN AS A WOMAN: WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT POWER, SEX, AND THE PATRIARCHY AFTER I TRANSITIONED PAULA STONE WILLIAMS © 2021 Atria Books $27.00 / $36.00 Canada 256 pages There are two sides to every story.

In politics, there’s left and right; in fairy tales, it’s good or evil. Guilty or innocent in court, salty or spicy at mealtimes, dog or cat among friends.

Sometimes you choose heads or tails, and at other times, as in As a Woman, a memoir by Paula Stone Williams, you can see both sides.

From the time he was very small, Paul Williams thought that he “should have been born a girl.” He wasn’t bitter about it — not when he was a teen, not even as an adult — but it lingered in the background of his life.

Oh, he had tried to tamp down his desires to dress in his mother’s clothes, but

Image courtesy of Atria Books

he couldn’t, though he knew it would anger her. She had caught him once wearing his grandmother’s cast-offs, and he never for-

Visit us online www.sgn.org

got her reaction. Even so, he ransacked her closet at least once a week during his adolescence, hoping his parents wouldn’t come home early.

His feelings of furtiveness were perhaps exacerbated by a family legacy of evangelical ministry. Every man he knew was a leader in their church; when he was young, it was assumed that he would follow their example, as if there were no other option.

And so, dutifully, he became a CEO in a “church planting” organization. He married a woman he genuinely loved, and they started a family.

But the urges didn’t go away. As his children grew and left the nest, Williams began to explore the possibility of letting out the woman he was inside. He confessed everything to his wife, started taking hormones, and asked for his wife’s silence until he made plans for a transition physically and at work.

He’d been at the organization for 35 years, and he was respected, although less than he believed. He was fired and humiliated.

Marriage in question, children shaken, job gone, he began to assess his life.

The world needed to know the truth.

June 18, 2021

And so, on July 29, 2014, Paula Stone Williams officially took to her blog...

If you come to As a Woman looking for a memoir, you’re going to be happy: most of the pages tell a tale of transitioning while immersed in a major evangelical organization, which are generally incompatible.

This is interesting, told in an unabashedly forward manner, as Williams resists minimizing her male past.

Dig deeper, though, and there’s more to this book: its look at how society regards the roles of men and women — from someone with experience of both — is funny and sharp-eyed, and could serve as a primerslash-warning for newly transitioning women.

It’s also fiery, sometimes the tiniest bit whiny, a little repetitious, and eyebrowraising with a dash of heated argumentstarter for zest.

In the end, As a Woman leaves a lot for female readers to agree with, as Williams’ observations are honed, hard, and honest.

Men, however — particularly cis men — might take umbrage at her observations, and give this book a little bit of side-eye.

SGN

13

Allyship - an organization of LGBTQ individuals fighting for economic and social justice. www.LGBTQAllyship. org, allyship@yahoo.com, (206) 279-8169.

American Veterans for Equal Rights - www.aver.us Another Gay Social Club! - www.meetup.com/AnotherGay-Social-Club/ Bellingham/Whatcom County - www.theslowlane. com/guide.html BiNet Seattle is a mixed gender, social group for Bisexuals, their partners & other Bi-friendly folks - www. binetseattle.org.

Bremerton/Kitsap County - www.outwestsound.org Capitol Hill Alano Club - www.chacseattle.org Cascade Rainbow Community Center (Mount Vernon) - (360) 840-8499 and on Facebook.

Central Washington University GALA Hotline: (509) 963-1994.

Channel Q 103.3 FM - LGBTQ+ Talk Radio Network News and information, pop culture and music. radio.com COLAGE unites people with LGBTQ parents and caregivers into a network of peers and supports them as they nurture and empower each other to be skilled, self-confident, and just leaders in our collective communities - www.colage.org DIFFA/Northwest (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS). (206) 763-8885; www.diffanorthwest. org DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & SEXUAL ASSAULT: Crisis Clinic, (206) 461-3222 (24 hour line); King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC) - 24-hour crisis line for information, support, & medical & legal assistance: 1-888-99-VOICE; Northwest Network support & advocacy for Bisexual, Trans, Lesbian & Gay Survivors of Abuse & Dating Violence, (206) 568-7777 (voice), 517-9670 (tty), www.nwnetwork.org; Pierce County Domestic Violence Helpline: Teresa, (253) 798-4166; Seattle Counseling Service for Sexual Minorities - offers on-going support groups for men: 323-1768; Seattle Police Dept Domestic Violence Unit, (206) 684-0330; State Wide Domestic Violence Hot Line, 1-800-562-6025. In an emergency call 911.

Report domestic violence and sexual assault.

Equal Rights Washington - (206) 324-2570; www. equalrightswashington.org Everett/Snohomish Cty - www.gaysnohomish.org Freely Speaking Toastmasters - www.freelyspeaking.org Gay City promotes wellness in LGBTQ communities by providing health services, connecting people to resources, fostering arts, and building community. Gay City Health Project’s Wellness Center provides anonymous & confidential HIV/STD testing. 517 E Pike St. More info or to schedule an appointment, (206) 860-6969. www.gaycity.org Gay & Lesbian National Hotline (GLNH): 1-888-THEGLNH (1-888-843-4564). Non-profit, peer-counseling, information & local resources telephone hotline for GLBT people across the country.

Generations Aging With Pride empowers elder LGBTQ adults to live with pride and dignity by promoting, connecting, and developing innovative programs and services that enhance belonging and support, eliminate discrimination, and honor the lives of older members of our community - (206) 393-3400; info@gapseattle.org; gapseattle.org GLSEN/WA - Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network - (206) 330-2099; www.glsenwa.org Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) - (206) 363-9188; www.thegsba.org HIV/AIDS Program, Seattle/King County Dept of Public Health, provides confidential/anonymous information about & testing for HIV/AIDS. (206) 205-7837. For a comprehensive list of HIV/AIDS service organizations see the GSBA Guide or visit www.thegsba.org or call Lifelong AIDS Alliance, (206) 328-8979.

Imperial Sovereign Court of Seattle & the Olympic & Rainier Empire - www.facebook.com/ISCSORE; www. imperialcourtofseattle.com Lambert House - (206) 322-2515; www.lamberthouse. org LGBT Library - 517 E Pike St. Open Mon-Fri 2-8pm; Sat 2-5pm. A wide range of fiction and non-fiction for the LGBT community and allies can be borrowed free of charge.

LGBT MS Connection - (425) 785-8593; lgbtmsconnections@comcast.net. Support group for LGBT persons with MS and their partners and their caregivers.

Sponsored by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Lifelong AIDS Alliance - (206) 328-8979, www.lifelongaids alliance.org Lion’s Main Art Collective - www.lionsmain.org MEN: Gay City: (206) 860-6969, www.gaycity.org; Knights of Mantra: (206) 329-0886, www.jetchapterkofm.com; Mature Friends: Gay men & women 40 & over, www.maturefriends.org; Northwest Bears: www. nwbears.com; The Olympians: www.TheOlympians. net; POZSeattle: www.pozseattle.com; Q-Squared: www.qsquared.org; Rain City Jacks: www.raincityjacks. org; Seattle Gay Couples: www. seattlegaycouples.org; Seattle Men in Leather: www.seattlemeninleather. org; Seattle Prime Timers: Gay & Bi men 40 & over, www. seattle primetimers.org; Tacoma Older LGBT: www. tacomaolderlgbt.org. (See also listings under Bisexual, Parenthood, People of Color, Transgender.)

MUSIC: Diverse Harmony: www.diverseharmony. org; Rainbow City Band: 1-866-841-9139 ext 2126; rainbowcityband@onebox.com; www.rainbowcity band. com; Seattle Men’s Chorus and Seattle Women’s Chorus: (206) 388-1408, (206) 323-0750. www.seattlechoruses.org.

Northwest Lesbian & Gay History Museum Project - gayhistnw@aol.com

14

SGN

community resources Northwest Rainbow Alliance for the Deaf - www. nwrad.org Olympia/Thurston County - www.RainbowCenterOly. org Out & Equal Workplace Advocates/Seattle Regional Affiliate supports the work of LGBT employees and the growing number of ERGs (Employee Resource Groups) making a difference within local companies, including Alaska Airlines, Amazon.com, Amgen, AT&T, Bank of America, Deloitte, Macy’s, Microsoft, Russell Investments, Safeco Insurance, Starbucks Coffee, Xerox. www.outandequal.org/affiliates/seattle Out & Proud Grays Harbor Coalition - http://outandproudgh.org PARENTHOOD: Families Like Ours provides a gateway for LGBT families interested in adoption & provides a network of safe placement agencies, training, support & resources: (206) 441-7602, www.familieslikeours. org; Family Works offers support, information & activities for LGBT families: (206) 694-6727, www.familyworksseattle. org; Gay Fathers’ Association of Seattle offers support groups & social activities: www.gfas. org; Proud & Loud Families - Northwest, www.meetup.com/proudand-loud-families-northwest, plfnorthwest@aol.com; Queer Parent Networking Dinners: (206) 568-7777, qpnd@nwnetwork.org, www.nwnetwork.org; Rainbow Families of Puget Sound: www.rainbowfamiliesps.org PFLAG is the national organization for parents, families, allies, and LGBTQ people united for equality with chapters in Seattle, Bellevue/Eastside, the Puget Sound region and across Washington state. PFLAG Seattle: (206) 325-7724, info@pflagseattle.org, and www.pflagseattle.org; PFLAG Bellevue/Eastside: (425) 483-6642, info@bellevue-pflag.org, http://community. pflag.org/PFLAGBellevue; PFLAG Pacific Northwest: www.pnwpflag.org; PFLAG Washington State Council: www.pflagwsc.org.

Peer Seattle (formerly Seattle Area Support Groups) is a non-profit organization that builds community and cultivates powerful, healthy lives by providing emotional support and personal development services to those affected by HIV/AIDS, the Queer communities, and those who love them. Our work is done in a spirit of safety, trust, inclusiveness, and celebration of individual differences.

(206) 322-2437; www.peerseattle.org PEOPLE OF COLOR: AARTH (African American Reach & Teach Health Ministry), (206) 850-2070, www.aarth.org; Asian/Pacific Islander Queer Network Program at API Chaya, (206) 467-9976; Center for MultiCultural Health, (206) 461-6910, www.multiculturalhealth.org; Entre Hermanos, GLBT Latinos/as, (206) 322-7700, www.entrehermanos.org; Ile LaiLai, (206) 781-3565, iya@ilelailai.org; Men of All Colors & Cultures Together (MACCT), (206) 923-8313, macctseattle@yahoo.com, www.macctsea.org; Northwest Two Spirit Society, https://www.facebook.com/ groups/nw2spiritsociety/, Nubian Pride Productions, nubianpride@gmail.com; People of Color Against AIDS Network (POCAAN) offers rapid HIV testing, M-F, 10am-5pm, (206) 322-7061, www.pocaan.org and on Facebook; QBASS - Queer Black Alliance of the South Sound, (253) 256-1846, weareqbass@gmail. com; Sistah 2 Sistah, LBT women of African descent, (206) 322-7061, (206) 255-8951; Somos Seattle, somosseattle.org; Trikone-Northwest, GLBT South Asians, (425) 985-4376, www.trikonenw.org; Two-Spirit Honor Project, 1-866-685-0164; U.T.O.P.I.A. Seattle, www.utopiaseattlewa.org; VietQ Greater Seattle, vietqorganization@gmail.com Pierce County AIDS Foundation - (253) 383-2565; www.piercecountyaids.org Pride Foundation - (206) 323-3318; www.pridefoundation. org Pride Lives - www.facebook.com/PrideLives/ Pride Radio 93.3 HD2 Project NEON is a program of Seattle Counseling Service providing FREE information & services to Gay & Bi men to reduce health risks associated with methamphetamine use. (206) 323-1768. www.crystalneon.org Public Health-Seattle & King County Online Comprehensive Health Information for Sexual Minorities: www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/personal/ glbt.aspx Q Law: The GLBT Bar Association of WA - (206) 682-6711; www.q-law.org Q Law GLBT Legal Clinic - (206) 235-7235.

Queer Geek! - queergeekseattle.org Rainbow Center - Resource Center for Tacoma/Pierce County LGBTIQA community. Through education, advocacy and celebration, the Rainbow Center expands resources, and safe space for the LGBTQIA community.

June 18, 2021

Sponsors Tacoma Pride Festival. (253) 383-2318, www. rainbowcntr.org SEAMEC interviews, researches & rates candidates for public office on issues of concern to the LGBT community. www.voteseamec.org Seattle Area Support Groups & Community Center (SASG) i- SEE LISTING for Peer Seattle.

Seattle Bisexual Women’s Network - BiSeattle.wixsite. com/SBWN and on Facebook.

Seattle Counseling Service for Sexual Minorities is a community mental health service for GLBT persons & their families providing comprehensive mental health services on a sliding scale. (206) 323-1768.

Seattle LGBTQ Commission - (206) 684-4503. www/ seattle.gov/lgbtq Seattle Out & Proud - (206) 322-9561; www.seattlepride.org Seattle Police Department Sexual Minorities Community Advisory Council: kim.bogucki@seattle.gov Seattle PrideFest - www.seattlepridefest.org Servicemembers Legal Defense Network - (202) 328-3244; www.sldn.org Sex Workers Outreach Project - https://seattle. swopusa.org Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, The Abbey of St. Joan - (206) 860-3666; www.theabbey.org Snohomish Health District HIV/AIDS Program provides free confidential/anonymous HIV counseling & testing 9am-5pm Monday-Friday, until 7pm Tuesdays.

(425) 339-5298.

South Sound Q Calendar - LGBTQ events in Tacoma, Olympia & Sound Puget Sound area; www.SouthSoundQCal.com Spokane/Inland Northwest - www.outspokane.com; www.stonewallnews.net SPORTS & RECREATION: Bent Car Guys: www. bentcarguys.org; Border Riders Motorcycle Club: www.borderriders.com; Bottom Dwellers Scuba Club: www.bottomdwellers.org; Capitol Hill Cyclers: join their Facebook group or email capitolhillcycling@ groups.facebook.com or jordan.l.simonson@gmail.com; Cascade Flag Football: www.cascadeflagfootball.org; Cascade Flyers: www.cascadeflyers.org; Emerald City Mudhen Rugby: www.mudhenrugby.com; Emerald City Softball Association: www.emeraldcitysoftball. org, www.eteamz.com/womensecsa; Ethyl Forever Car Club: ethylforever@hotmail.com; Festival of the Babes: www.festivalofthebabes.com; Olympic Yacht Club: www.oycnw.org; OutVentures: outdoor education & recreation activities, www.outventures.org; Pacific Northwest Gay Rodeo Association: www.pacificnwgra.org; Puddletown Squares: www.puddletownsquares.org; Rain City Soccer: www.raincitysoccer.org; Rain Country Dance Association: a country-western dance organization catering to the LGBTQ community but open to all, www.raincountrydance.org; Sea Dawgs: LGBT ice hockey - SkateSeaDawgs@gmail.com and on Facebook; Seattle Frontrunners: www.seattlefrontrunners.org; Seattle Gay Basketball Association: www. seattlegaybasketballassociation.com; Seattle Orca Swim Team: www.orcaswimteam.org; Seattle Otters Water Polo: www.otterpolo.com; Seattle Quake Rugby: www.quakerugby.com; Seattle Tennis Alliance: www. seattletennisalliance.org; Seattle Unified Bowling Association (SUBA): magee98106@aol.com, www. teamseattle.org/bowling.htm, www.theprideleague. com, Century 21 League; Seattle Volleyball Club: www.seattlevolleyballclub.com; Ski Buddies: www. skibuddies.org; Team Seattle Gay Sports Network is an umbrella organization for a wide range of local GLBT sports activities, (206) 367-4064, www.teamseattle.org (see website for comprehensive list of sports clubs); Triangle Recreation Camp at Bender Creek: recreational camping for GLBT folks. Must be 21; ID required. trc@ camptrc.org, www.camptrc.org, 1122 E Pike St #1069, Seattle 98122-3934.

Strength Over Speed - www.strengthoverspeed.org Tacoma/Pierce County - Rainbow Center, 2215 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, a resource center for the LGBTIQA community of Pierce County, (253) 383-2318, www. rainbowcntr.org Three Dollar Bill Cinema - TWIST: Seattle Queer Film Festival; Translations: Seattle Transgender Film Festival; Outdoor Cinema at Cal Anderson Park. www. threedollarbillcinema.org TRANSGENDER: Emerald City Social Club: (425) 827-9494; Gender Alliance of the South Sound: www.

SouthSoundGender.com; Gender Diversity: www. genderdiversity.org; Gender Justice League: www.genderjusticeleague.org; Gender Odyssey: www.genderodyssey.com; Hermanos Trans Latino & Foreign-Born

Support Group: (206) 322-7700; Ingersoll Gender Center: (206) 329-6651, www.ingersollcenter.org; Lion’s Main Art Collective: www.lionsmain.org; The New BoyZ Club: www.olympiaftmgroup.webs.com; Olympia Trans Discussion Group: www.facebook.com/pages/ Olympia-Trans-Discussion-Group/262449878114; [trans] ACTION: Trans* & Gender Non-Conforming Sex Workers’ Support Group - a safe, peer-led space. mail@utopiaseattle.org; TRANSform Washington: transformwashington.com; Trans Resource & Referral Guide: kctransguide.org; Trans Women of Color Solidarity Network: Funding the collective liberation of Trans women of color – https://m.facebook.com/ TWOCSolidarityNW/; Washington Gender Alliance: (360) 445-2411, www.washington genderalliance.com WOMEN: Aging Ballard Lesbian Exchange (A.B.L.E.): We are Lesbians 60 years (generally) and up, living (mostly) in the north half of Seattle. The purpose of the group is to connect, socialize and support each other. ruthemilyvogel@gmail.com; Aging Lesbians in South Seattle (ALISS) - Lesbian Group at the Southeast Seattle Senior Center. This is a gathering primarily for Lesbians but all are welcome to attend. Kate, (206) 722-0317; www.sessc.org; BABES: support groups for HIV+ women. (206) 720-5566, 1-888-292-1912; Coming Out Women Support Group of Tacoma: www. comingoutwomen.org; Festival of the Babes: www. festivalofthebabes.com; Mature Friends: Gay men & women 40 & over, www.maturefriends.org; Puget Sound Old Lesbian Organizing for Change: http:// psoloc.org, (253) 777-3357; Older Lesbians Organizing for Change/WA State Chapter: gloria@oloc.org, mary@oloc.org, www.oloc.org; Pacific Northwest Lesbian Archives: www.pnwlesbianarchives.org; RainshadowWomen: RainshadowWomen@aol. com; Seattle Bisexual Women’s Network: BiSeattle. wixsite.com/SBWN; Seattle Girls of Leather: www. sgol.org; Tacoma Lesbian Concern (TLC): www.tacomalesbianconcern.org; Tacoma Older LGBT: www. tacomaolderlgbt.org; Women of West Seattle (WOWS): a fun, member-driven social group for Lesbians, http:// groups.yahoo.com/group/womenofwestseattle; YWCA Women’s Health Outreach: providing low or no-cost mammograms for income eligible 40+ LBTQ individuals. Follow us at http://lbtqhealth-ywca.blogspot.com, twitter.com/ingridWHO or email lbthealth@ywcaworks. org, (206) 461-4493. (See also listings under Bisexual, Parenthood, People of Color, Transgender.)

YOUTH: B-GLAD (Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Trans & Questioning Adolescent Drop-In Group): Youth Eastside Services offers many programs for GLBT youth, including B-GLAD, (425) 747-4937; Coyote Central: www.coyotecentral.org; Diverse Harmony: www.diverseharmony. org; GLSEN/Washington State (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) & Washington State GSA (Gay-Straight Alliance) Network: GLSEN works to create safe schools for LGBT students. WA GSA Network supports youth-led GSA’s to fight harassment & homophobia in Washington state schools. (206) 330-2099; www.glsenwa. org; www.wagsa.org. GLOBE (GLBTQ Loving Ourselves, Becoming Empowered): a support group & HIV/STD prevention program for GLBTQ youth, 14-20, in Everett, (425) 263-2908, www. globeyouth.org; It Gets Better Project: www.itgetsbetter.org; Lambert House: an activities & resource center for LGBT youth, 14-22, 1818 15th Ave @ E Denny Way, with additional support groups organized in smaller towns throughout King County, (206) 322-2515, www. lamberthouse.org; Lifelong HEYO (Health Education Youth Outreach): for LGBTQ youth, ages 16-24: (206) 957-1665; www.llaa.org/HEYO; www.MatthewsPlace. com; The Mockingbird Society: (206) 323-KIDS (5437), www.mockingbirdsociety.org; New Horizons: social services and shelter for homeless youth, 2708 3rd Ave (in Belltown), (206) 374-0866, http://namin.org; Oasis Youth Center: for GLBTQ youth, ages 14-25, in Tacoma, (253) 671-2838, www.oasisyouthcenter. org; OKAY! LGBTQ+ Outreach for Kent Area Youth: (253) 859-0699 ext 3034. OKAY! is an open support group for youth ages 13-19 who identify as LGBTQ+. A program of Kent Youth & Family Services; OUT There Adventures: www.outthereadventures.org; Parents, Family & Friends of Lesbians & Gays (PFLAG)/ Puget Sound: (206) 325-7724, www.seattle-pflag.org; Pizza Klatch: weekly lunchtime support groups for LGBTQ youth in Thurston County, www.pizzaklatch. org; Prism: for LGBTQ youth, 14-21, in Puyallup Cherise.Alexander@ multicare.org; www.facebook. com/PuyallupPrism; Proud Out Wonderful (POW!): for LGBTQ youth, 13-21, in South King County, (206) 326-9112, www.facebook.com/proudoutwonderful; Q Youth Resources: in Kitsap County - (360) 698-3335; www.kchaf.org; Roots Young Adult Shelter: 1415 NE 43rd St., (206) 632-1635; www.rootsinfo.org; Safe Schools Coalition: www.safeschoolscoalition.org; (206) 451-SAFE, (206) 451-7233 (non-emergency), 1-877-SAFE-SAFE (1-877-723-3723) (crisis line); Seattle Young People’s Project (Queer Youth Resource Board): (206) 860-9606, www.sypp.org; Street Youth Ministries (SYM): (206) 524-7301 ext 111; www. streetyouthministries.org; Teen Link: (206) 461-4922, 1-888-431-TEEN; The Trevor Project: 866-4-U-Trevor; www.thetrevorproject.org; True Colors - Connecting LGBTQ Teens: in Shoreline, (206) 362-7282 x 8018, lbagley@chs-nw.org; The Vera Project: fuels personal & community transformation through collaborative youthdriven engagement in music and art. (206) 956-8372; theveraproject.org; Vista Youth Center: for LGBTQ, questioning and allied youth, ages 14-21, in Kennewick, (509) 396-5198, www.vistayouthcenter.org; YouthCare/ Isis Program (Transitional Living Home for LGBTQ Young Adults, 18-22): (206) 522-8412; YouthCare/ Orion Center Young Adult Shelter: 1828 Yale Ave @ Stewart St. (206) 622-5555; Youth in Focus: (206) 723-1479; www.youthinfocus.org; Youth Suicide Prevention Program (OUTLoud-GLBTQ): (206) 297-5922, ext 116, 1-800-273-TALK, www.yspp.org

Celebrating 47 Years!

www.gofundme.com/f/seattle-gay-news-needs-your-support-now • VISIT SGN.ORG

Op-Ed

Two Birds Responds Editor’s Note: In our May 28, 2021 issue, we published an Op-Ed by Janice Athill titled “Are Seattle tattoo shops avoiding Black clients?” in which the author details an experience she had at a local tattoo parlor. The following is the owner of that tattoo parlor’s response, unedited. -A.V. Eichenbaum, Associate Editor To Janice: We are deeply sorry that you had this experience at our shop. We have always made it our mission to provide a safe space

for all to get quality tattoos and excellent customer service, and when advising people about tattoo work we try to come from a place of respect for the client and care for their expectations rather than a place of prejudice. My husband’s comments do not reflect the policies of the shop, and as a result of this incident has been fired from working the front desk. I apologize for not being a better ally and accept responsibility for not better educating and training him before letting him be the face of the shop and for not adequately showcasing the diverse clientele that we have and

the experience we have with varying skin tones. We are making changes to our training schedule to address this issue more prominently in the future and ensure that it will not happen again.

This all being said, I agree with the article and support bringing up the topic. It’s something that has been plaguing the tattoo industry for too long. For decades, widespread racism, sexism, homophobia & transphobia have all been huge problems for the tattoo industry and only in recent times have we seen anyone taking accountability for it and striving to heal and make

changes. When we opened Two Birds Tattoo 11 years ago, we felt there was a real need in the tattoo industry to create safe, welcoming inclusive spaces. This stemmed from our own experiences with sexism as women in the tattoo industry. It is our hope to continue to grow and understand our diverse and vibrant clientele and provide the best service we can.

Suzy Todd Owner, Two Birds Tattoo

Sponsored Content

Building hope and a healthier future during our dual HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 pandemics

by Dr. Colin Fields Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington’s HIV/PrEP and Gender Health Programs Forty years ago, on June 5, 1981, the CDC shared troubling reports of a rare, severe lung infection in five previously healthy Gay men. We know today that this was the start of the AIDS epidemic, a period of enormous suffering in the LGBTQIA+ community, with ongoing ripple effects across our country and the world.

Occasionally, my patients at Kaiser Permanente ask me, “Is HIV still a thing?” and I have to tell them it absolutely is. In this era of COVID-19, we unfortunately have two simultaneous viral pandemics right now.

When a COVID-19 outbreak trapped passengers onboard a returning cruise ship off San Francisco last year, some of my older patients remarked how emotional it was to observe the parallels between an isolated group of people so quickly and publicly stigmatized during the virus’s initial outbreak and the Gay community’s experience during the AIDS epidemic.

Although we still have a long way to go as a society to address the fear and discrimination that can accompany the emergence of any new virus, medical care for patients living with HIV has evolved significantly since 1981. Today, living with HIV/AIDS is comparable to monitoring and managing many chronic health conditions. In addition to the landmark development of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) almost a decade ago, this year we saw the appearance of the first long-acting injectable antiretrovirals.

King County has been an impactful global leader in the fight against HIV/ AIDS, one of the few places in the world that has met the United Nation’s 90-90-90 target, and one of the earliest and most successful adopters of syringe exchange and HIV PrEP programs. Kaiser Permanente is proud to be part of this region’s collective effort to combat the virus, and we are committed to continuing to support our patients who are at risk for contracting HIV or already living with it.

One way we’ve supported our communities most at risk is to expand our PrEP program in the past year to better serve patients who live in areas of Wash-

Dr. Colin Fields with a patient – Photo courtesy of Kaiser Permanente

ington state without reliable, high-quality access to care. Providing more virtual care options, including video visits with a provider, has helped us reach patients who can benefit from PrEP but may not otherwise have access to the preventive care they need.

The 40-year legacy of AIDS is still with us, but modern medicine is continuing to evolve to deliver quality, inclusive care that meets the needs of diverse populations, where it has historically fallen short. Every patient, whether they’re facing a diagnosis

Visit us online www.sgn.org

of HIV or of COVID-19, deserves the same high-quality care and a relationship with their doctor that supports their total health and well-being.

When I travel around Capitol Hill, I pass the AIDS Memorial Pathway (AMP), a public art project under development around the Capitol Hill light rail station. The AMP is just one reminder of the importance of understanding and honoring our community’s history as we continue to build a healthier future.

June 18, 2021

Dr. Colin Fields is the medical director of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Washington’s HIV/PrEP and Gender Health Programs. His practice includes care for adolescents, adults, and LGBTQ youth, as well as HIV and PrEP management.

SGN

15

www.gofundme.com/f/seattle-gay-news-needs-your-support-now • VISIT SGN.ORG

National News

National news highlights

“Lighten up, you guys,” Pope tells US bishops

Vatican says don’t deny Joe Biden communion

by Daniel Lindsley SGN Contributing Writer DOJ statements on discrimination ABC News brought forth the voices of LGBTQ activists on June 11, as they addressed the Department of Justice’s statements seemingly in favor of religious protections under Title IX, which allegedly allow even government-funded religious colleges and universities to discriminate against minorities. LGBTQ activists emphasized that the statement goes against President Joe Biden’s promises to protect their community, and although the DOJ has amended its initial wording, the statement’s relation to Hunter v. the US Department of Education case — which is over the religious exemptions in question — has activists doubting the DOJ’s commitment to the prosecution.

Equality Act in the Senate CBS News reported on June 10 that the Equality Act, which would provide legal protections for LGBTQ people, has made its way to the Senate. Considering that 29 states lacking such laws, and protections differing in the states that do have them, the bill would provide nationwide protections in the realms of federal programs, housing, employment, education, and the like. With the Senate split evenly between the two major parties, Democrats would have to win over at least ten Republicans to pass the bill (with a 60-40 vote).

Republican lawmakers seem concerned about the bill’s effects on religious freedom, while a recent poll by the Public Religion Research Institute showed that 76% of Americans and 62% of Republicans support such anti-discrimination laws.

16

SGN

Photo courtesy of AP

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Pope Francis has warned US Catholic bishops not to deny Joe Biden communion when he attends his weekly Mass.

The Pope’s warning came via a letter from Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, addressed to Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

Any new policy “requires that dialogue occurs in two stages: first among the bishops themselves, and then between bishops and Catholic pro-choice politicians within their jurisdictions,” the letter said.

It also laid out liberal guidelines for dealing with politicians who support reproductive choice.

The bishops are scheduled to meet June 16 through 18, and the proposal to formally bar the president from taking communion is on their agenda.

According to the New York Times, the proposal is being pushed by notoriously conservative Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco. Among the complaints against Biden is his support for reproductive choice and marriage equality — both of which Cordileone abhors.

Biden, the first Roman Catholic to occupy the White House since John F. Kennedy, is a devout Catholic who attends Mass every Sunday.

June 18, 2021

He has previously been denied communion by priests acting on their own authority. A vote by the USCCB would add an extra layer of authority to the ban.

Holy Communion is an important sacrament in the Catholic Church, because it is believed to be the actual body and blood of Christ. Receiving it represents an individual’s oneness with Christ and the Church.

Biden is not the only politician to be denied communion by priests — although he would be the first one to be barred by a vote of the USCCB, if that occurs.

Sen. Ted Kennedy and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo have also been barred from communion, and for similar reasons. Like them, Biden has simply sought out friendly priests to administer the sacrament.

John Kelley, the Biden staffer who was in charge of finding those friendly priests for Biden during his 2008 campaign for vice president, told the Washington Post that taking part in worship led by local priests is important to Biden, and doing so in public, not tucked away in a private Mass, is vital to him.

“They felt, and they were right, that he wants to go to church and should have the right to. He wants to worship with his community. His understanding of the Eucharist was it shouldn’t be done hidden in private.

I very much felt the Eucharist was being weaponized,” Kelly said.

Hardline conservative clergy seem determined not to compromise on this

issue, however.

“Holy Communion signifies we are one with God, each other, and the Church. Our actions should reflect that,” said Reverend Robert E. Morey, a priest in Florence, SC, who actually refused to give Biden communion in 2019.

Bishops, perhaps more attuned to the political implications of denying sacraments to a sitting US president, have been more circumspect.

“Because President Biden is Catholic, it presents a unique problem for us,” Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City told the Associated Press.

“It can create confusion... How can he say he’s a devout Catholic and he’s doing these things that are contrary to the church’s teaching?”

According to a March 2021 Pew Research Centre poll, 67% of Catholics think Biden should be allowed to receive communion. However, 55% of Republican Catholics wanted to bar him from the sacrament.

According to the New York Times, there are 280 voting bishops sitting on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Seventy of them have written to Archbishop Gomez, urging him to postpone the vote until they can meet in person for more discussion. However, this was rejected, and the USCCB is reportedly pushing on to vote on Cordileone’s proposal.

Celebrating 47 Years!

www.gofundme.com/f/seattle-gay-news-needs-your-support-now • VISIT SGN.ORG

International News

Photo by Marton Monus / Reuters

HUNGARY

continued from cover streets,” Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony wrote on Facebook.

Human rights groups denounced the bill, saying that the law could be used to stigmatize and harass residents because of their sexual orientations and gender identities.

Thousands of LGBTQ activists and allies held a protest in Budapest on June 14 in an unsuccessful effort to stop the legislation from passing.

More than a dozen local organizations,

including Amnesty International Hungary and LGBT rights organizations, argued in a statement after the vote that the legislation is not in line with Hungarian society, which is largely accepting of LGBT people. “(It) also clearly infringes the right to freedom of expression, human dignity, and equal treatment,” the statement said.

Dunja Mijatovic, the commissioner for human rights at the Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human rights body, also asked Hungarian lawmakers to reject the legislation, saying it reinforced prejudice against LGBTQ people.

Lawmaker Gergely Arato, of the Democratic Coalition parliamentary grouping,

International news highlights

by Daniel Lindsley SGN Contributing Writer

Francis Mascarenhas / Reuters

Visit us online www.sgn.org

said the measure violates the standards of parliamentary democracy, rule of law, and human rights.

Government spokespeople said the bill was necessary for “the protection of children” from alleged LGBTQ pedophiles.

Csaba Domotor, the Fidesz state secretary, noted that the legislation includes the introduction of a searchable registry of convicted pedophiles.

“Pedophiles won’t be able to hide any more — there are similar solutions in other countries, too. The criminal code will be even more strict. Punishments will be more severe. No one can get away with atrocities with light punishments and parole,” he said.

India: Far-reaching court case Reuters reported on June 7 that Judge Anand Venkatesh of India’s Madras High Court ruled in favor of a Lesbian couple who had complained about police harassment. The ruling went beyond the case itself, ordering state and federal officials to eliminate discrimination against the LGBT community and its members. The order, which requires officials to report on their plans to comply, recommends establishing genderneutral restrooms in schools and colleges, transferring gender-noncomforming and Trans inmates to separate housing, and training police officers in LGBT sensitivity.

Officials in other EU countries condemned Hungary’s action.

“Today’s decision in #Hungary’s parliament represents another severe state discrimination against #LGBTIQ people,” Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Roth of Germany tweeted June 15 after the new legislation passed.

“This law goes against everything we regard as our common European values.

Full solidarity and support for LGBTIQ people in Hungary.”

Ireland: Pride stamps LGBTQ Nation reported on June 11 that Ireland has joined a number of other countries in printing Pride stamps for its postal service, in addition to T-shirts, stickers, and other merchandise bearing “Bród,” the Irish word for pride. The proceeds of the stamps’ sales will go to LGBTQ organizations.

LGBTQ Nation also noted that Ireland was the first nation to legalize same-sex marriage by public referendum. The United States lacks Pride stamps, although there was a series of stamps with LGBTQ icons in 2016.

June 18, 2021

SGN

17

It’s time to start healing.

Therapeutic massage ~ Acupuncture ~ Hydrotherapy Outdoor spa pool, sauna, sundeck and locker room are open for private rentals by appointment.

- Household pod of one to five persons 90 minutes for $150

- Solo Soak One person - 60 minutes (Tues/Wed only) for $50

Open Mon. - Sat., 10am-8pm

Sacred Rain Healing Center

1100 NW 50th St. Seattle ~ 206.789.6288 ~ sacredrainhealing.com ~ info@sacredrainhealing.com

18

SGN

June 18, 2021

Celebrating 47 Years!

Happy Pride!

Visit us online www.sgn.org

June 18, 2021

SGN

19