Issue 24 Volume 37
Celebrating 36 Years!
FRIDAY June 12, 2009 FREE! 25¢ in bookstores & news stands
PRIDE EVENTS p. 3
CHICKEN SOUP BRIGADE P. 3
tony awards p. 30
Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Seattle Out and Proud Washington Gay Pride settles with City begins in Centralia Shaun Knittel
by Shaun Knittel SGN Staff Writer
by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer Seattle Out and Proud (SOAP), the non-profit organization that produces Seattle’s annual Pride Parade, has reached a settlement with the City in a lawsuit resulting from the group’s 2006 Pride festival at Seattle Center. The agreement calls for SOAP to pay the City $85,000 in yearly installments, beginning this year and
ending in 2014. Payments would be due September 1 of each year, and if SOAP pays on schedule the City will waive all interest and penalty charges due on the debt. The agreement allows the City to collect most of the initial charges due for SOAP’s financially disastrous 2006 Pride festival at Seattle Center, but also relieves SOAP of see soap page 15
If you drive 95 miles south of Seattle for roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes, you’ll find yourself in Centralia, Washington – a location that does not pop into one’s mind when thinking about Gay Pride. Still, for the third year in a row, in the face of threats and intimidation, the Centralia College Gay and Straight Student Alliance Network (GSA) held the Lewis County Pride Celebration Friday, June 5, at the college clock tower from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. What began as an SGN road trip turned into an afternoon of true grassroots LGBT Pride. The celebration, with barely 100 people in attendance, brimmed with so much Gay Pride you would have thought 10,000 people were there. The Pride celebration was easy for us to find, as rainbow colored balloons and flags lined booths surrounding a stage set up near the clock tower. A DJ played dance music and people munched on pasta and bread. The Pride celebration had a backyard barbeque feel to it. The day’s events included an opening ceremony, guest speakers, a book reading about Gay Seattle,
Apartment near Wildrose raided by police ERIKA SCHULTZ
At 12:37 a.m., several police cars and a SWAT vehicle blocked a section of 11th Avenue, just south of E. Pike Street. Police entered the building on the southwest corner of 11th and E. Pike. An officer announced over a loudspeaker that police were there to serve a search warrant. The Wildrose is a popular Capitol Hill Lesbian bar. The bar rests above The Hot House women’s spa, which occupies the basement of the complex. Within the first few minutes of the raid, two men were arrested – including one who had been drinking with friends inside the Wildrose who came outside to see what was going on. According to witnesses on the scene, the man began to walk west on Pike Street, but was taken into custody after police ran after him. Over the next hour, two women and 13 men were escorted from Police lead away a suspect from the raid the basement unit and led away in by Shaun Knittel and The Hot House women’s spa zip-tie handcuffs. The arrested inon Capitol Hill the morning of dividuals were loaded onto a bus SGN Staff Writer June 11, arresting more than a doz- that was serving as a temporary The Seattle Police Department’s en people – mostly men – while vice squad raided a unit in a build- executing a search warrant as part see raid page 15 ing that houses the Wildrose bar of an ongoing investigation.
Pride festivities begin in Centralia
several song and dance performances, including belly dancers, the crowning of Mr. and Miss Gay Lewis County, and a closing ceremony. Zac Letts, a 20-year-old from Seattle, drove to Centralia to support his best friend, 21-year-old Aaron Evans, who was scheduled to sing and perform a pop music routine. The two Gay men have been friend since they were 10 years old, and came out to each other years ago. “I think Pride celebrations like this one are good because a lot of people under 21 years old don’t
have the opportunity to do a lot within the Gay community,” said Letts. “When you are young you can’t go in the bars and there isn’t much to do to really feel like a part of the community.” Evans agreed with his friends and added, “I’m just glad everyone is having a good time today. I mean, it’s 2009, right? Everyone knows at least one Gay person. It’s good to see everyone being more open.”
by Shaun Knittel SGN Staff Writer
In court papers, the administration said the appeals court ruled correctly in this case when it found that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is “rationally related to the government’s legitimate interest in military discipline and unit cohesion.”
see centralia page 15
U.S. Supreme Court won’t hear “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” case
The U.S. Supreme Court turned down a challenge to the Defense Department policy forbidding Gays and Lesbians from serving openly in the military on June 8, granting a request by the Obama administration.
see dadt page 13