SGN Mar 4, 2011 - Section 1

Issue 09 Volume 39

See section 2

Celebrating 38 Years!

FRIDAY March 4, 2011 FREE! 25¢ in bookstores & news stands

Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY

Seattle Pacific U. WISCONSIN REPORT – recognizes Haven LGBT voices rise in solidarity as official group Emily Stock/ The Falcon

The leadership of Haven, a student-led group at Seattle Pacific University

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

Pacific University (SPU) officials announced they would now allow Haven to meet on campus.

Haven is a student-led club After weeks of pressure from the local LGBT community, change. see haven page 24 org, and university alumni, Seattle

“Around the country, LGBT workers and our allies are standing in solidarity with the workers in Wisconsin,” said Pride At Work Executive Director Peggy Shorey.

“The right to collective bargaining is vital for all workers, and particularly so for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender workers and our families.”

Pride At Work, an LGBT labor organization affiliated with the AFL-CIO, is working with Wisconsin unions and LGBT organizations to build the ongoing protests against Gov. Scott Walker’s so-called “budget repair bill.”

The protests began after Walker introduced his bill on February 11.

The Republican governor says his bill aims at balancing the state budget. State workers and their supporters, however, accuse the governor of wanting to strip workers of their right to collective bargaining.

For Shorey, the right to join a union and bargain a contract with employers is key to securing the

rugglessue

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

Ray Vahey, co-president of Equality Wisconsin

rights of LGBT workers, especially where they are not protected by state anti-discrimination laws.

“Wisconsin state laws do not include protections against discrimination based on gender identity and expression, so a union is likely the only form of protection for Transgender workers,” she said

in a Pride At Work statement sent out on February 19.

Uniting under the slogan “We are one!” upwards of 100,000 people, many of them members of public employee unions and their families, have swarmed the Wissee wisconsin page 22

Alanda Spence

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

Alanda Spence, native of Auburn, WA, taps into her personal experience of being raised by a Gay father to play a controversial character in ABC’s hit show What Would You Do? Spence will depict being a Lesbian soldier on the episode set to air March 4.

In an episode inspired by the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the hit series uses hidden cameras to capture both positive and negative behavior of bystanders toward the ethical dilemma involving Alanda’s character.

“The nature of What Would You Do? is reality television, rather than episodic,” explained Alanda.

“I have worked on the show several times. Each episode features different topics, and the work is improvisational and my characters are never the same.”

“I didn’t have to go far for research,” she told Seattle Gay News.

“I just called home.” Alanda called her father, a Gay man and retired military officer.

Alanda says her dad came out as Gay when she was 6 years old, re-

file photo

photos courtesy alanda spence

Alanda Spence from Auburn More DOMA drama continues enforcement, asks What Would You Do? Government Republicans plan to defend it in court

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

Less than a week after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that President Obama had ordered him not to continue to defend the constitutionality of DOMA, the Department of Justice told a federal court that it will still enforce the law.

Holder issued a statement on February 23 saying that the president had concluded that DOMA was unconstitutional and that fedsee spence page 19 eral attorneys should no longer de-

proud to Be Different

We are conveniently located on-site at Lifelong AIDS Alliance below the Thrift Store.

fend it in court.

Nevertheless, Justice Department attorneys filed papers in federal court on February 28 saying that federal employee Karen Golinski may not add her wife to her health insurance policy.

In a further complication, Republican leaders in the U.S. House said they would reveal their plans to defend the constitutionality of DOMA on March 4.

see doma page 23

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Seattle Gay News

March 4, 2011

Celebrating 38 Years!

Visit us online www.sgn.org

March 4, 2011

Seattle Gay News

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Seattle Gay News

March 4, 2011

Celebrating 38 Years!

Seattle Gay News FOUNDED 1973

1605 12th Ave., Ste. 31 Seattle, WA 98122

Phone: (206) 324-4297 Fax: (206) 322-7188

MEMBER

e-mail: sgn2@sgn.org internet: www.sgn.org

2011

Deadlines

Classifieds - Thursday at noon Calendar - Tuesday 6pm Display Ads: Space Reservation - Monday 5pm Ad copy (non-camera ready) - Tues. 5pm Ad copy (camera ready) - Wed. 5pm Letters to the Editor - Tuesday 5pm Obituaries - Call the sGN office All others - Tuesday 5pm

Editor In Chief George Bakan Associate Editor Shaun Knittel

Repeal effort fails - NH marriages OK until 2012

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer

Efforts to repeal New Hampshire’s marriage equality law failed when the state’s House Judiciary Committee voted not to consider HB 343 and HB 437.

The unanimous 15-0 vote means that the measures may be revived when the legislature reconvenes next year.

The committee also unanimously rejected a third bill, HB 569, which would have replaced same-sex marriage with domestic unions for all adult partners, opposite-sex as well as same-sex couples.

Both supporters and opponents of marriage equality said they were disappointed in the committee vote.

“We are disappointed the Judiciary Committee did not defeat these bills today,” said Lew Feldstein, co-chair of Standing Up for New Hampshire Families, a group opposing repeal.

“Lawmakers just kicked the can down the road only to come back again next year to take up marriage yet again,” he said.

Cornerstone Action NH had lobbied for passage of repeal this year.

“While we would have preferred the legislature to take up these bills this year, we look forward to working with House Leadership and the new majority over the coming months to see that the state’s traditional marriage definition is restored next year,” said Executive Director Kevin Smith after the vote.

Republicans captured control of New Hampshire’s legislature in the 2010 election. Anti-Gay groups spent over $1.2 million to elect Republican legislators.

Nevertheless, Republican House leaders were not eager to open a debate on samesex marriage.

Some opponents of same-sex marriage were frustrated by the House GOP’s decision since two socially conservative groups spent more than $1.2 million to try and defeat Democratic governor John Lynch and elect GOP legislative candidates.

House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt decided that a divisive issues like marriage equality would distract from the Republicans’ priority to adopt a balanced budget, pass an education funding constitutional amendment, and renegotiate state employee pensions.

According to the Nashua Telegraph newspaper, House Speaker William O’Brien met privately with other Republicans on the

Visit us online www.sgn.org

dents favor marriage equality, a fact both political parties have publicly recognized.

“I do not believe the Democrats are in favor of reverting to civil unions, and I know the Republicans aren’t,” Republican Gregory Sorg said.

Lynch has promised to veto any bill reHouse committee to line up their votes. pealing same-sex marriage.

The New Hampshire marriage equality Last month, more than 700 Gay rights law passed in 2009, replacing a civil union supporters packed Representatives Hall to law which was enacted in 2007. call for the House to kill these bills.

Polls show most New Hampshire resi-

Editorial Assistant Nick Ardizzone Production William Creswell Calender Editors Mike Andrew and Rick McKinnon Travel Editor George Bakan Advertising Manager Marty Weisbrod Advertising Department Maggie Bloodstone Executive Assistant Mike Andrew Staff Writers George Bakan, Albert S. Rodriguez, Nick Ardizzone, Shaun Knittel, Miryam Gordon, Tim Peter Contributing Writers

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Back in 1983-84, I wrote a column for the Seattle Gay News entitled “Forever Yours” which focused on relationship issues and identity issues for Gay/Lesbian and Transgender people from perhaps a conservative point of view. It started because I read a letter from a young man in the paper saying he thought we should all only focus on everything Gay in our daily lives. Having only recently come out at the time, I did not agree and felt that did not make us very well-rounded individuals. As a result of that, the editor asked me to write a column from my point of view which represented another cross section of the community. I agreed, and the column was born from that.

Some of the articles were titled: “Affairs of the Heart,” “Is it for Real,” “Guess What, Mom, I’m Gay,” “What you Always Wanted to Know,” “Older Younger Relationships,” “The Odd Couple,” “The Mainstream of Gay Culture,” “Bars & Baths,” “No One Said it Was Going to be Easy,” “Reach Out and Touch Someone” and many more.

The articles, for the most part, were wellreceived and I still have a letter from the editor saying it was “one of the better things we have.” At the time, I was more or less a mentor for a circle of young college age friends and we all hung out together and got to know one another quite well. One day one of them commented about all of the drama in the group and how it was like a soap opera.

He joked and said I should write a column called “Gays of Our Lives.” I thought on this for a while and then thought that would be a lot of fun. Out of that came “Gays of Our Lives.” I wrote based on their lives and the ever-changing dynamics of their relationships. Names were changed to protect the innocent – not that any of them were innocent. It was fun and highly read.

However, after a while, because of my predictions about each relationship and where they were headed, everyone would

wait each week it came out to see where their relationships were headed. It became too much responsibility and by then, of course, they figured out who each person was. I finally ended that column. In the last one, I commented about each person and what I saw for their future.

Twenty-seven years later, it’s amazing how close those predictions were. Some of us have been trying to figure out who each person was. It has been suggested I write a one-time column “Where Are They Now?” We’d like to do a reunion but have lost track of most of them, but not all. Since that time, my life has gone through transitions as well and I more recently moved back in the area having lived in Hawaii for almost 10 years.

As I look out at the snow, I wonder why!

In any event, if any of you that are reading this remember being a part of all of that, I’d love to have you contact me. I can be reached at ableredy@aol.com . A reunion party would be a lot of fun. We have all gotten older and it would be fun to catch up.

And don’t worry, I won’t write anything unless you’re OK with it. Besides, I’d still use the names from the column I did. I hope to hear from you soon.

Dennis

Rev. Barbara Allen, Mike Andrew, Eric Andrews-Katz, Madelyn Arnold, Maggie Bloodstone, Beau Burriola, Jessica Davis, Ron Anders, Jessica Price, Milton W. Hamlin, Nevin Jefferson, Keen News Service, Jason A. Miller, Liz Meyer, Rod Parke, Don Paulson, Scott Rice, Leslie Robinson, Richard Kennedy, Romeo San vicente, Rex Wockner

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Nick Ardizzone, Nate Gowdy, Joseph P. Herron, Shaun Knittel National Advertising Rep. Rivendell Media (212) 242-6863 Website Designer Barry Thorsness/Digital Team Works Seattle Gay News is published weekly by Frogs and Ink, Inc. © 2011, Frogs and Ink, Inc., all rights reserved. Reprints by permission.

Publication of names, photographs or likenesses 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.

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In Loving Memory Of

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

March 4, 2011

Seattle Gay News

5

NATIONAL

by Rex Wockner SGN Contributing Writer slate.com

NEWS

INTERNATIONAL

NEWS

Irish support same-sex marriage Sixty-one percent of the Irish support legalization of same-sex marriage, according to a new Irish Independent/Millward Brown Lansdowne survey. Only 27 percent oppose it.

Support is strongest among young people, women, Labour voters, and Dubliners. It is weakest among people over 65 and farmers.

Ireland has a civil-partnership law that provides same-sex couples with many of the rights and obligations of marriage, but Gay campaigners say separate is not equal.

Trinidad and Tobago debates same-sex unions The Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago is in the midst of a debate about recognition of same-sex unions.

The matter arose when some senators objected to the fact that same-sex couples are excluded from proposed amendments to a American Foundation for Equal Rights lawyers Ted Olson (l) and David Boies law that pays a month’s salary to the next of Olson & Boies: kin of a civil servant who passes away.

Let California the question.

The amendments reportedly will add unGays marry right now If the Prop 8 supporters ultimately are married opposite-sex partners and children American Foundation for Equal Rights found to have no standing to appeal Walk- born out of wedlock. lawyers Ted Olson and David Boies filed er’s ruling, then the 9th Circuit won’t hear The local group Coalition Advocating for a motion with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of the case. That would most likely allow the Inclusion of Sexual Orientation said it Appeals on February 23 asking that it im- Walker’s ruling to take effect and same-sex was surprised by the political debate and mediately lift its order preventing same-sex couples to marry again in California. had not considered proposing recognition marriages in California.

The federal standing question, however, of same-sex unions at this juncture, given That order, issued in August 2010, tem- could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme that local LGBT people have more basic porarily blocked an injunction from U.S. Court. So could a decision by the 9th Circuit concerns.

District Judge Vaughn Walker that barred to grant Olson and Boies’ request that it lift The organization suggested that the govfurther enforcement of Proposition 8. the stay on Walker’s injunction. ernment decriminalize Gay sex, address anWalker issued the injunction after finding It has been 207 days since Prop 8 was ti-Gay discrimination, deal with hate crimes that Prop 8, via which voters amended the found to violate the U.S. Constitution – and and homelessness, train homophobic police state constitution in 2008 to re-ban same-sex yet not one same-sex couple has been al- officers, and make schools safer for LGBT marriage, violates the U.S. Constitution. lowed to marry in California in those 207 people.

“The stay was originally ordered with the days because of actions by 9th Circuit judgunderstanding that the 9th Circuit would es.

Gay guesthouses rule swiftly on the case before it,” said Ol“After a full trial, the U.S. District Court investigated in U.K. son. “Now that the issue of the [Prop 8] ruled unequivocally that Proposition 8 vio- Following the recent case in which a proponents’ standing to appeal has been lates the Constitution’s guarantee of equal straight Christian couple were fined because referred [by the 9th Circuit] for analysis by protection under the law and harms thou- they refused to rent a room in their bedthe California Supreme Court, substantial sands of Gay and Lesbian couples and their and-breakfast to a Gay couple, the United additional, indefinite and unanticipated de- families,” said AFER Board President Chad Kingdom government now will investigate lays lie ahead. It’s unreasonable and decid- Griffin. “While the courts determine proce- whether Gay hotels and guesthouses have edly unjust to expect California’s Gay and dural questions, Gay and Lesbian families violated the same ban on discrimination Lesbian couples to put their lives on hold will continue to suffer. Life is not eternal – based on sexual orientation in public acand suffer daily discrimination as second- sometimes it is tragically short – and courts commodations. class citizens while their U.S. District Court should not act as if it were otherwise. Today Although there have been no complaints victory is debated further.” we are requesting the California Supreme against any Gay venue, the Equality and The huge delay was introduced into the Court to quickly resolve the issue of stand- Human Rights Commission said Gay-only case February 16 when the California Su- ing, and the 9th Circuit to allow marriages lodgings would be subject to similar legal preme Court agreed to answer a question to resume.” action if they were found to be violating the sent to it by the 9th Circuit. The federal law. court asked the state court if the people who Maryland Senate passes put Prop 8 on the ballot have any legal right, same-sex marriage bill Belarus president told under California law, to be in court arguing Maryland’s Senate passed a bill to legal- German foreign minister to overturn Walker’s decision. ize same-sex marriage February 24. The to turn straight The California Supreme Court’s answer vote was 25-21.

Last November in Minsk, Belarusian would be taken into consideration by the 9th “This is a historic and proud moment in President Alexander Lukashenko suggested Circuit judges when they decide whether to Maryland’s history,” said lead sponsor Sen. to German Minister of Foreign Affairs Guigrant the Prop 8 supporters federal “stand- Rob Garagiola. “I am ... confident that the do Westerwelle that he should cease being ing” to appeal. Those proponents need Free State will realize full marriage equality Gay. standing because everyone who was sued in 2011.”

Lukashenko recently acknowledged the in the federal Prop 8 case, including CaliThe bill now is being debated in the House incident, telling reporters that he dislikes fornia’s governor and attorney general, has of Delegates, where the vote could be close. “faggots” and confirming he told Westerrefused to defend Prop 8.

Gov. Martin O’Malley has vowed to sign welle “it is necessary to live a normal life.”

The problem in all this, for Olson, Boies the bill if it arrives on his desk.

Russian Gay activist Nikolai Alekseev exand AFER, is that in agreeing to answer the Maryland has a system similar to the one pressed surprise that there was little reaction 9th Circuit’s question, the California Su- that was used in Maine to overturn the Leg- to the incident from German Gay activists preme Court indicated that it won’t even islature’s legalization of same-sex marriage or the German government. hear oral arguments on the issue until Sep- there in 2009.

“To leave without reaction what Lukashtember at the earliest. AFER also has filed If enough voter signatures are collected, enko said is nothing else than setting a dandocuments asking the California Supreme a recently passed law can be subjected to a gerous precedent,” Alekseev said. “If he can Court to speed up its process for answering voter referendum and canceled out. The ear- bash verbally a German minister on his sexliest that such a measure could appear on a ual orientation, then why he would not do Maryland ballot is November 2012. it with all Belarusian LGBT people. People Same-sex marriage is legal in five states have to understand that their absence of re– Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New action can have some negative side effects Hampshire, and Vermont – and Washington, to others.”

D.C. Internationally, it is legal in Argentina, Portugal approves Belgium, Canada, Iceland, the Netherlands, pro-Trans policies Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Portugal’s Parliament on February 17 apSweden and Mexico (where same-sex mar- proved a law making life easier for Transriages are allowed only in the capital city sexuals. but are recognized nationwide).

Within a couple of weeks, those who want to change their name or legal sex can go to With assistance from Bill Kelley 6

Seattle Gay News

March 4, 2011

by Rex Wockner SGN Contributing Writer a civil registry office with medical proof of “gender identity disorder” and officials must process the changes within eight days.

There is no requirement of sex-reassignment surgery as a prerequisite to making the changes.

Alterations in the Marriage Registry, however, can be made only with written consent of the spouse or ex-spouse, and changes to a birth certificate of an individual’s adult child require the child’s approval.

Jamaican Gay bar raided Police raided the only Gay bar on the touristy Hip Strip in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on February 20, according to the Jamaica Forum of Lesbians, All-Sexuals and Gays, or J-FLAG. Around 20 officers kicked in doors, shouted anti-Gay slurs, beat and pistol-whipped patrons and made everyone leave, J-FLAG said.

As the customers fled, patrons of nearby straight clubs pelted them with bottles and rocks, J-FLAG said.

Ten of the raid’s victims sought medical treatment for injuries sustained in the attack, according to J-FLAG. There was a similar raid in early February at a Gay club in Kingston, the capital.

Officials have provided no explanation for either incident.

On February 25, Jamaican Gay rights activist Maurice Tomlinson received an emailed death threat after his letter to the editor about the raids was published in a local newspaper.

The signed e-mail said [sic throughout]: “listen battyman we in jamaica wont endorse r accept you faggots no matter what the fuck u guys try 2 say r do.....get that through ur thick skulls!!!!!!!!!!!! we have different culture n upbringing fr north americans or whomever else.....you should consider moving sumwhere there......in the meantime shut the fuck up r you will fucking die!!!!!!!!”

Tomlinson reported the e-mail to police and an official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He requested that the threat be publicized “just in case anything happens to me.”

Tomlinson is a legal adviser for the organization AIDS-Free World and also works with J-FLAG. Slovenian government proposes legalization of same-sex marriage Human Rights Watch on February 25 urged Slovenia’s Parliament to adopt a new Family Code proposed by the government that includes legalization of same-sex marriage and adoption.

“In recent years many European states have extended civil marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples,” said Boris Dittrich, acting head of HRW’s LGBT Rights Program. “The proposed Family Code is Slovenia’s chance to join others in Europe in enabling same-sex couples to participate fully in family life.”

Brazilian government launches homophobia helpline Brazil’s government launched a homophobia helpline February 19 to deal with complaints of anti-Gay discrimination and violence. Brazilians can dial 100 from any phone.

The launch ceremony featured an official from the nation’s Human Rights Secretariat, the Senate first vice president, São Paulo’s human rights secretary, and a federal congressman, among others.

The celebration ended with a March Against Homophobia along São Paulo’s Avenida Paulista. About 1,000 people joined in.

With assistance from Bill Kelley

Celebrating 38 Years!

NORTHWEST

NEWS

compiled by Rick McKinnon SGN Staff Writer

SAINT MARK’S CATHEDRAL HOSTS FORWARD TOGETHER SYMPOSIUM From Friday, March 4 to Sunday, March 6 at Saint Mark’s Cathedral (1245 10th Ave.), LGBT support groups will work together to promote education and heal broken relationships within families, the church, and local communities. Integrity at St Mark’s, the local chapter of the international group for Gay Episcopalians, has joined with Forward Together, Saint Mark’s fellowship of LGBT folk, to hold a three day symposium entitled Forward Together With Integrity.

The event is in honor of the historic 2009 General Convention, which sanctioned Gay marriage blessing and affirmed the ordination of Gay and Lesbian bishops. It will include prayer services and fasting, discussion groups, guest speakers, and late-night movies. We invite everyone to join us as you have time and interest to attend.

Registration beforehand is needed only for the Mennonite training on Sunday at 1 p.m. Register with Jim Bachmann at ForwardTogether@saintmarks.org. Registration cost for Sunday is $10, and seating is limited to 25.

For a full schedule of events and more information, visit www.saintmarks.org.

NUBIAN PRIDE KING & QUEEN PAGEANT On Sunday, March 6, at 6 p.m., at Neighbours Nightclub (1509 Broadway – entrance in alley between Broadway and Harvard off E. Pike St.), join King Philip Agape and Queen Diamond St. James as we celebrate the beauty and class of our African-American culture through pageantry. www.nubianprideproductions.org.

Triangle factory.

THE ELITE HOSTS FREE ASL LESSONS FOR BEGINNERS Have you ever wanted to learn basic American Sign Language? If so, you can get some beginning ASL instruction at the Elite (1520 E. Olive Way). The FREE lessons will be held every Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the loft.

SEATTLE EROTIC BALL MARDI GRAS CELEBRATION On Tuesday, March 8, doors at 8 p.m., at Trinity Nightclub (111 Yesler Way), enjoy Seattle’s biggest, sexiest Mardi Gras party at the Seattle Erotic Ball. Hosted by Sasha Scarlett with DJ Sonny Boy!, enjoy live circus and fetish performances, burlesque dancers, aerialists, fire dancers, stilt walkers, costume contests – “You are the party, so dress to thrill!” More than 1500 guests are expected.

Advance tickets: $15-general admission; $30-VIP – available at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/153061, www.SeattleEroticBall.com, Julia’s on Broadway (300 Broadway E.) and The Crypt (1516 11th Ave.). A percentage of all ticket sales will benefit Rise n’ Shine. www.risenshine. org.

GSBA PRIME TIME MIXER On Wednesday, March 9, from 5:30-7:30 p.m., at the Sorrento Hotel (900 Madison St.), come mingle with fellow GSBA members and guests while gazing over the city from the Top of the Town. Enjoy hors d’oeuvres and wine in the gracious atmosphere of this wonderful room in this landmark hotel. Cost is $10 members; $15 nonmembers; $10 students. RSVP requestHEART BREAKS OPEN ed. 206-366-9188; www.thegsba.org. The QUEER FILM FESTIVALS GSBA (Greater Seattle Business AssociaBENEFIT GALA tion) is Seattle’s LGBT Chamber of ComOn Sunday, March 6, from 6 p.m. to 11 merce. p.m. – Act I at Julia’s on Broadway (300 Broadway E.) and Act II at Broadway Grill SEATTLE GAY & LESBIAN (314 Broadway E.) – come out for an eveBOOK CLUB AT DUNSHEE HOUSE ning of fun, cocktails, food and a gala adThe Seattle Gay & Lesbian Book Club vanced sneak preview screening of the film meets every Wednesday at 6 p.m. at DunHeart Breaks Open (see SGN’s February 11 shee House (303 17th Ave. E. at E. Thomas edition for details). Proceeds from the event St.). All GLBTQ folks in the community are will send the cast and crew to the 2011 sea- welcome to participate in this FREE book son’s international Queer film festivals in club.

London and beyond. Visit www.heartbreakThe book for March is Dry by Augusten sopen.com for more information.

Burroughs.

For more information, e-mail nickdimarINTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY – tin@earthlink.net or contact Dunshee House “HONORING OUR FIERCE at 206-322-2437.

AND FABULOUS SISTERS” On Tuesday, March 8, from 6-9 p.m., at SEATTLE CENTER FESTAL: POCAAN (1609 19th Ave. just south of E. IRISH FESTIVAL Madison St.), join a broad coalition of femiOn Saturday, March 12, noon to 6 p.m., nist and other progressive activists for the and Sunday, March 13, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., second annual community event to honor the Irish Festival at Seattle Center’s Center women grassroots activists on Internation- House offers entertainment, exploration and al Women’s Day. During the first hour, an insights into the culture of Ireland. Shop for old-fashioned potluck dinner will provide authentic Irish products, create Celtic arts an opportunity for community members to and crafts and enjoy a weekend of non-stop socialize, network, and celebrate the soli- Irish music, award-winning dance and childarity of International Women’s Day. From dren’s activities. Festival-goers may trace 7-9 p.m., the coalition will present awards their roots in genealogy workshops, learn of appreciation to eleven grassroots women the Irish language and take in colorful culactivists whose work for justice, peace, and tural exhibits and contemporary Irish short human rights is all too often unrewarded. films. For a full event schedule, visit wwInterspersed between the tributes, local per- wirishclub.org. formers will entertain, including the Pinay choir, Sistah Drum, Marla S. Nonken and SEATTLE JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL musician and activist Jacque Larrainzar, MARCH 12-20 who will also emcee. POCAAN is a wheelNow in it’s 16th year, the annual Americhair accessible venue, and the program part can Jewish Committee’s Seattle Jewish Film of the event will be ASL-interpreted. Please Festival is a 10-day international cinematic do not wear fragrances. For more informa- exploration and celebration of Jewish life, tion, call 206-722-0729 or check out Seattle culture, identity and history that strives to International Women’s Day on Facebook. build bridges of mutual understanding beOrganizers invite all members of Seattle’s tween diverse groups in our Puget Sound progressive community to join them in hon- region. AJC-SJFF uses film to both entertain oring these unsung heroines of many local and educate the Jewish and general commumovements, and relaxing together in order nities about the complex issues facing the to build community and gather strength to Jewish people and world community alike, continue our efforts for change. In making while challenging conventional perspecthese connections we truly honor the sacri- tives. This year’s thematic programming is fice and the struggle of the workers of the “Building Bridges” of mutual understand-

Visit us online www.sgn.org

ing through cinema, dialogue, interfaith dialogue and cultural crossings in community and globally. The new “AJC Bridge Series” features four vibrant films and speakers, panelists and chances for audiences to build bridges in dialogue. www.seattlejewishfilmfestival.org.

RADICAL WOMEN CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY On Sunday, March 13, at 3 p.m., at New Freeway Hall (5018 Rainier Ave. S.), celebrate the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day, a tribute to female-led uprisings, strikes and protests from 1911 to 2011, with a lively overview of key events and personalities by activist and writer Tamara Turner, plus video clips, poetry and song. Door donation $2. Around-the-World Brunch served at 1:30 p.m. for $9 donation.

For more information, rides and childcare, call 206-722-6057 or email RWseattle@ mindspring.com. Everyone welcome.

Wheelchair accessible.

ARNALDO! PRESENTS “C’EST SI BON! – A TRIBUTE TO EARTHA KITT” On Sunday, March 13 at 6:30 p.m., at Julia’s on Broadway (300 Broadway E., at E. Thomas St.), join Arnaldo! for his special tribute to Eartha Kitt, his cabaret muse, with Bob Bruneau, musical director, and Bruce Phares, bass. Tickets: $15-advance purchase online at wwwbrownpapertickets.com/ event/155649; or $25-at the door by calling 206-334-0513 + 2 drink minimum.

Allyship will continue to fight for accessible health care and economic justice. We will begin a new focus area and start working with the homeless Queer youth movement. Come find out how you can get involved and make a difference for LGBTQ people in the Seattle area.

For more information, email allyship@ yahoo.com.

THREE DOLLAR BILL CINEMA’S 4TH ANNUAL DINNER & AUCTION On Friday, March 25, at 6 p.m. (doors at 5:30 p.m.), at Sodo Park (3200 1st Ave. S.), join Three Dollar Bill Cinema for “Velvet Goldmine,” their 4th annual dinner and auction. Enjoy silent and live auctions, appetizers, sit down dinner, hosted wine, non-alcoholic beverages, and some cinematic surprises! All proceeds from the auction will help further Three Dollar Bill Cinema’s mission to enrich, strengthen, and connect diverse communities by supporting and exhibiting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender film. Tickets: $125-regular; $100-members. www.threedollarbillcinema.org ALLYSHIP SEEKING VOLUNTEERS Allyship is an organization that does multi-issue organizing in the social justice community as out Queers and connects social justice issues within LGBTQ communities. For several years Allyship has been sponsoring a discussion series called “Queerly Classed,” as well as mobilizing for marches and actions, and building relationships in the labor, feminist, immigrant rights, housing and health care movements.

This year Allyship will be creating campaigns around health care, workers’ rights and Queer youth and is looking for volunteers to help with campaign research, social media, and outreach. For more information, including a description of tasks and time commitment for volunteer positions of researcher, social media assistant, and outreach assistant, email ladyking6k@yahoo. com or allyship@yahoo.com.

MUSIC OF REMEMBRANCE SPARKS OF GLORY: THE SEED OF DREAM On Monday, March 14, at 6 p.m., at the Good Shepherd Center (4649 Sunnyside Ave. N.), Music of Remembrance presents a free 90 minute chamber music concertwith-commentary, and a post-concert chat with composer Lori Laitman. Learn about the Vilna ghetto in Nazi-occupied Lithuania, where Yiddish poet and resistance fighter Abraham Sutzkever, “the greatest poet of the Holocaust,” was imprisoned, FORECAST: COMMUNICATING then hear five Sutzkever poems in Laitman’s WEATHER AND CLIMATE – song cycle, The Seed of Dream. Baritone ARTS & SCIENCE EXHIBIT AT Erich Parce will sing. Also on the program: WASHINGTON STATE Hungarian composer Laszlo Weiner’s Duo CONVENTION CENTER for violin and viola; Czech composer Pavel Through Saturday, April 9, EcoArts ConHaas’ String Quartet No. 3. www.musicofnections presents an arts and science based remembrance.org. exhibit, Forecast: Communicating Weather and Climate, at the Washington State ConGSBA BUSINESS LUNCHEON On Wednesday, March 16, from 11:30 vention Center (800 Pike St. – North and a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at Courtyard Marriot South Gallerias). Commissioned by the Pioneer Square (612 2nd Ave.), join GSBA American Meteorological Society for their members and guests for an intriguing look 91st AMS annual meeting at the WSCC at social media with special guest speaker, (January 24-27), the exhibit features the Hanson Hosein, Director of the Master of work of 36 regionally, nationally, and interCommunication in Digital Media at the nationally recognized artists based in WashUniversity of Washington. Come hear what ington State whose work has been inspired cutting edge technology your business may and/or informed by weather and climate.

Eight scientists from four states and two need to remain relevant and sustainable, what’s the latest and greatest technology countries collaborated with the artists for the exhibition. and what are the pitfalls of social media.

“I can say from personal experience that Cost is $34-members; $39-nonmembers; $34-students. RSVP requested at 206-363- working with an artist, you discover the 9188 or www.thegsba.org. The GSBA commonality between the sciences and the (Greater Seattle Business Association) is arts. The creative process is similar: both can end up looking at our world in way that Seattle’s LGBT Chamber of Commerce. no one has before, and both are compelled to communicate that insight to others,” com“THE BIG BAIL OUT” ments Peggy LeMone, 2010 AMS President FUNDRAISING BENEFIT and Senior Scientist Emerita at the National FOR RISE N’ SHINE On Wednesday, March 16, from 3 p.m. to Center for Atmospheric Research. “These 9 p.m., at Broadway Grill (314 Broadway scientist-artist dialogues give us a better E.) stop by the “jail” and make a financial chance of communicating this vision – and contribution to help volunteer “outlaws” through the arts we can avoid the barriers make “bail” to benefit Rise n’ Shine’s pro- people might have to learning something grams in support of kids affected by HIV/ new.”

Forecast works will range from docuAIDS. Drop in on the fun! www.risenshine. menting nature or science, to science inorg. forming and/or inspiring art, to co-equal science/arts collaboration. In addition to being ALLYSHIP CAMPAIGN KICK-OFF an exhibit that is exciting, interesting, and AND CELEBRATION On Wednesday, March 16, from 6:30-8:30 attracts new audiences, Forecast is designed p.m., at Rendezvous, Jewel Box Theater to engage scientists, artists, and the general (2322 2nd Ave), join us as we celebrate and public in cross-disciplinary dialogue on incommence our social justice campaigns for novative ways to communicate and under2011, with special performances by local stand weather and climate issues. www.box.

Queer burlesque and drag king performers net/shared/rgz4mos84j and silent auction by local Queer artists.

Suggested donation is sliding scale from $5 to $10.

March 4, 2011

Seattle Gay News

7

Groups nix Russian activist’s CA visit gayrussia.ru

Nikolai Alekseev

by Cynthia Laird Courtesy of the Bay Area Reporter Several California organizations have pulled the plug on their sponsorship of a visit to the Golden State by prominent Russian Gay rights activist Nikolai Alekseev after it was discovered that he posted an antiJewish remark on a blog that he owns.

Alekseev was to have appeared in San

Francisco at the LGBT Community Center Monday, March 7.

Alekseev said in a statement Tuesday that he still plans to come to California. On his Facebook page, according to a source, he posted, “It’s time to shake the Castro and I will do it. So that those who forgot what is Gay activism switch on their brain again and not conceal behind the name of Harvey

Milk.”

Equality California and Robin Tyler, of Robin Tyler Productions, were the main sponsors of Alekseev’s visit. But a broad range of organizations were also on board, including Congregation Kol-Ami, Jewish Community Relations Council, Get Equal, Christopher Street West, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Scott Long, formerly of Human Rights Watch and now a fellow at Harvard, captured the January 31 blog post on February 26. The specific quote from Alekseev (since deleted) reads: “The Jews and Mubarak ...

The Israeli Prime Minister urged Western leaders to support Egyptian dictator Mubarak ... And who after this are the Jews? In fact, I always knew who they were.” (Ellipses in original.)

In a statement released Tuesday night, Alekseev said he did publish the comments, which he said were directed at the Israeli government.

“I was angry that anyone could support this dictator [Mubarak] as he was killing his own people. My comments appeared to blame all Jews for the actions of the Israeli government and its supporters,” he said.

Alekseev said he is a “strong believer” in human rights and equality for everyone, “irrespective of personal characteristics, whether it is sexual orientation, race, gender, national or ethnic origin, religion, or any other basis.”

Tyler said she saw Alekseev’s quote in English, not translated from Russian, before it was taken down. She said the groups organizing Alekseev’s visit were asked to wait for the activist to clarify his remarks, but that clarification never came.

“Andy Thayer a few days ago asked us to wait until we made a decision, as Nikolai was going to make a statement clarifying his misquotes around Jewish people,” Tyler said in an e-mail Tuesday to the Bay Area Reporter. Thayer, with Gay Liberation Network Chicago, has helped coordinate Alekseev’s visit to the United States.

Tyler said that Thayer called Monday afternoon and said Alekseev refused to make a statement but would “explain everything” when he got here.

“We said we had a lot of Jewish sponsorship to these events, plus other organizations

who fight racism and anti-Semitism. So yesterday at 4 p.m. we told Andy we were going to cancel,” Tyler said.

She said Thayer went to Alekseev’s hotel room in Chicago and told him the California visits had been canceled.

“Nikolai put out a statement last night saying he was canceling California, hours after he found out he was canceled,” Tyler said.

In fact, Alekseev, on his Facebook page, posted a lengthy note explaining that he was “highly pressured” by Tyler “in terms that are not acceptable.”

“I have experienced such a stress in the last hours than cannot even be compared with what I faced while being arrested and insulted by the Moscow police over the last years,” he wrote.

He alluded to being pressured into toning down comments about Gay organizations, what he called “Gay Inc.” “This restriction of my freedom of speech was not acceptable to me,” he wrote.

Tyler denied that.

“I never told him to tone down his comments on Gay Inc.,” Tyler said.

Alekseev was also critical of Long, saying that he waited “until I arrived in America to run his campaign because by attacking me, he was at the same time attacking the activists from Chicago who are also not his toys.”

Alekseev did not address the offending blog post in his Facebook note.

“There was no ‘campaign,’ and I don’t even know who the activists from Chicago are,” Long said in an e-mail Tuesday.

“Generalizations about a racial, religious, or ethnic group cross a line,” Long added.

“They’re wrong in themselves and they’re wrong when indulged by LGBT activists who have a responsibility to be true to their own values of equality and understanding.”

Long said he had nothing to do with the cancellation.

“I never spoke to Robin Tyler in my life,” he said. “I would have preferred, in fact, that Nikolai speak, and answer public challenges about what he wrote.”

The statement put out by the coalition that had organized Alekseev’s visit to California said, “Offensive remarks against a religious and ethnic group is at direct odds with the goal of our coalition.”

Celebrating Seattle’s Gay deaf community

by Anthony Greer SGN Contributing Writer

8

Seattle Gay News

March 4, 2011

Jason Tang

Between Tuesday nights at the Elite, Saturday nights at the Cuff, and Seattle Central Community College’s excellent ASL curriculum, the Gay deaf community in Seattle has become anything but silent.

“Deaf people all over the USA are aware that Seattle is very Gay/deaf friendly, so people move here for that reason. It’s a good community.” Michael Cooper, an ASL teacher at Bellevue College, said. He added that it’s not necessarily a perfect community, but compared to other cities, the Gay deaf community in Seattle is thriving.

Cooper emphasized he believes in the important of capitalizing the “D” in deaf. According to Cooper, the difference between a “Deaf” person and a “deaf” person is significant in deaf culture. “When you capitalize the “D” in Deaf, it means [you] take cultural pride in being Deaf. If you don’t capitalize it, it means the medical perspective on deaf people: that their ears need to be ‘fixed.’”

Cooper, who became deaf at age 1 due to fever, said deafness “is who I am. I am proud to be Deaf, and also proud to be Gay, so to me, my ears don’t need to be fixed. It is who I am, period.”

It is laughable to even suggest that Cooper’s inability to hear is a disability for him.

Despite it, Cooper has a “very active social life.” In fact, it’s so active that he sometimes finds it difficult to have peace. “As I get older, I have made a new rule. I go out two nights per weekend, but one night is my night. I stay at home by choice. My friends

are aware of that, but they don’t respect that.” He said. He then looked at his phone and laughed. “Another friend just texted me because he wants to go out tonight.”

Besides work and social engagements, Cooper also sometimes attends ASL lessons held at the Elite and taught by Foster Larson and Chris Eisele Tuesday nights and deaf LGBT nights at the Cuff on the first Saturday of every month.

There are also other events for the Gay deaf in Seattle to attend held by Northwest Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf, or NWRAD. This is a non-profit organization established in 1981 by Daniel Mansfield after he attended a Gay convention for the deaf in San Francisco. For more information on this and other events held by NWRAD, their website is www.nwrad.org.

“NWRAD is one of the many options for the deaf” LGBT community in Seattle, Cooper said.

Buddy Elledge, another member of the Gay deaf community, is part of a committee for the Seattle Deaf Film Festival, which is another event for the deaf scheduled to happen this year. The SDFF will “have movies that are made about deaf people,” Elledge said. “There are about 10-15 people, all deaf, who are working for the festival. Some are straight, Gay, and Bisexual. There’s a lot of diversity in the organization.” The goal of the SDFF committee is to have it take place in October of this year.

Elledge, a freelance graphic designer, was discovered to be deaf at age 1. He has a cochlear implant and can read lips and, unlike Cooper, he speaks more often than he signs.

Michael Cooper and Buddy Elledge

“There’s more than one way to communicate with a deaf person,” he said.

Elledge said that there are a lot of people on Capitol Hill that know how to interact with deaf people. He agreed that Capitol Hill is a great place to be a Gay deaf man.

“There’s a big, big deaf community here and it’s very easy to get around. Everybody knows people.”

This allows for the rest of the community to better understand the deaf community. “We are like any other people,” Elledge said. “Yes, we are deaf, but we are just like

any other people.”

Cooper agreed, and added that “Deaf people are proud to be Deaf, just like we as Gay people are proud to be Gay.” The deaf community is just as diverse as the Gay community. “Never assume that Deaf people are all the same.”

Cooper also said that the deaf community is a very patient and open-minded community, but would like others to be “patient in communicating with us. We don’t want to carry the burden of community. We would like to share the communication together.”

Celebrating 38 Years!

Local dancer works to teach and inspire SGN speaks with Jacob Rodvelt-Gamlieli of Action Dance and Performing Arts Academy

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor

ing with my mother at her dance school, Action Dance School, at the age of 2. My father made it difficult for me to have consistent dance training since he thought it was a ‘sissy’ activity. At certain times, I’d take secret dance classes with my mother to continue my training.”

“I truly began to blossom as a dancer once I left the small city of Bend and the tyranny of my father at 15,” said Jacob. “I joined a high school dance team and started a step dance team at my school. I jumped from a few dance classes a week to 15 or more dance classes a week. I joined the competition/ convention circuit heavily at that time and took classes with people you now see on the TV dance shows like Tyce Diorio, Brian Freedman, Mia Michaels, Cris Judd, Laurie Johnson, and the list goes on and on.”

Jacob specializes in tap dancing but has extensive training in ballet, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, contemporary, and step.

“I have recently started aerial training and hope to be performing that

by June,” he said.

One of Jacob’s best memories of dancing was when he competed in a tap solo competition at age 18. “I had choreographed it myself, and for myself. I was competing against my fellow dancemates, who also had solos. I was very nervous about how my choreography would go over with everyone as well as whether or not I would execute my solo technically correctly,” he said. “When I won first place, I remember feeling like I had finally stepped out of my family’s shadow and was ready to be recognized individually.

I still owe my family for my training and thank them for it.”

“That summer I took that solo to Las Vegas for the world championships, and took second place overall for tap,” he continued.

“Although I didn’t win first place, I still keep that trophy, out of the hundreds I have, next to my bed to remind me I should take risks

“The reason so many of us are in emotional, financial, and personal turmoil is because we are ignorant of who we are and what we want.”

Visit us online www.sgn.org

courtesy Jacob Rodvelt-Gamlieli

Jacob Rodvelt-Gamlieli is easy on the eyes; the man is absolutely gorgeous. He’s got a wonderful smile and a warm personality. I’ve not heard one bad word said about him, and for good reason: he is one of those guys that, at a young age, has figured out who he is and what he wants to accomplish, and sets about doing it in a way that is healthy for the heart and mind. In other words, everyone loves Jacob.

Like most Seattleites, I met Jacob through dance. You can see him go-go dance weekly at R Place. It is safe to say he is a fan favorite. But, as with most dancers, Jacob has a story. His is one of perseverance and love, art and teaching.

“At the age of 22, I quit my job as the dance coordinator for my local YMCA and left college to open my own dance school, Action Dance and Performing Arts Academy (1010 South 30th St., Tacoma, WA), following in the footsteps of my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and mother,” Jacob told Seattle Gay News. “I am the executive and artistic director of the school. We present two or three shows each season which showcase the talents of each class. I teach many of the classes at my dance school, but I am also responsible for all the other responsibilities of a small business owner, including things like marketing, social media, HR, accounts receivable, accounts payable, building maintenance, and more.”

Jacob says he’s been teaching “on my own in the classroom for eight years now. I work with dancers age 2 to grandma. Every age has its own teaching requirement. Children learn differently than adults do. I have grumpy days, and my students have bad days when things are difficult. I’ve found the common thread that allows me to get through to any student is to genuinely listen to them. They’re telling you what they need from you in one way or another. They won’t care what you have to say unless you care what they have to say. Knowing that I am influencing and making a positive difference in my students’ lives has saved me from some depressing points in my life. I wouldn’t give it up for anything.”

“I also currently teach at Camille’s Dance Edge in Edmonds and Cornerstone Studio in Bellevue,” said Jacob.

Jacob is easy to talk with, and is very kind. On the surface, one would never guess that he came from an abusive background.

“I was born in Eatonville. I lived in Puyallup until age 8, when we moved to Bend, Oregon,” Jacob told SGN. “At age 15, I ran away from my abusive father and moved in with my grandmother in Puyallup. My father was convicted of child neglect and assault. His jail time freed my mother to di-

vorce him without fear for her life and let her take my sister into a safer place. I’ve lived in the Seattle area since I was 15.”

Luckily for us, dancing is in Jacob’s blood.

“My Israeli grandfather was guest performing at Radio City Music Hall where he met my grandmother, who was a Rockette. They married and had my mother and uncle and opened one of the South Puget Sound’s first dance schools,” he recalled. “I began train-

more often and believe in myself.”

When you watch Jacob dance, you are witnessing someone do what they love. He makes it all look so easy. Still, there have been times when the gravity or enormity of a performance has humbled the accomplished dancer. “The last time I got nervous was when I performed at the Tacoma Dome for a Michael Jackson tribute shortly after his death,” he told SGN. “It was the biggest venue I had ever performed at live. We had just learned six full-length music videos to perform in a few days, and I was afraid of not living up to Michael Jackson’s fan’s standards. It all came out great on stage when the adrenaline hit.”

Jacob is proud of his job as a go-go dancer. “To me, go-go dancing is a

Jacob Rodvelt-Gamlieli

way to entertain people and to let go without having choreography or the limitations of a predetermined routine,” he said. “Go-go dancing is like getting paid to do my cardio, drink, and meet new people. I know it has a stigma attached to it, but I really don’t care.

When people get to know me beyond the dance floor, they realize I’m not the stereotypical go-go dancer. I remember one of my favorite lines from one of my friends when I was first getting to know him, he said, ‘Wow, I thought you were just a whore because of the go-go dancing, but you have a real house, drive a nice car, and have a real job. I’m impressed!’”

“I am thankful for the Seattle scene. I love walking into a bar knowing that I’ll have friends inside. You’re not going to be guaranteed that in Los Angeles, New York City, or even San Francisco,” he said. “R Place, Rick and Steve [owners], Floyd [manager], and Eric [assistant manager] have always treated me with respect and made me feel welcome and appreciated. R Place is where I call home, and I’m happy with the constant improvements R Place makes to the venue. I

am also proud of the work R Place and Lady Chablis have done for our community. I’ve seen many go-go dancers come and go over my almost three years of go-go dancing at R Place. I’ve had disagreements with some, dated one, but right now I’m extremely happy with my main go-go colleagues: Julio, Manny, Mark, and Jaquan.”

Jacob told SGN he doesn’t know what life would be like without dancing. “It’s something I’ve always done for as long as I can remember. I continue to dance because it’s a great physical workout. Mentally, it’s stimulating, because as a student you’ve got to remember sequences of moves, and dance also allows me to be artistic, which is good for the soul,” he said. “We’ve got a whole package going on of body, mind, and soul.

I teach because I know the influence I make is lasting and positive. Most teachers work with children for a year before they send them off to the next grade level.

I’ve had students for eight years and have supported them and their dreams through half their life.

I know I’m making a difference.”

“I’d like to offer adult classes in Seattle this summer in hip hop, tap, and whatever else there is a desire to be taught and learned. Hopefully this article will help get the word out about that,” he said.

“I’ve worked with other performers and venues for choreography such as Julia’s on Broadway and drag queen performers for their numbers,” said Jacob. “I love doing gigs on the side as a way to help people out and let a little more of my adult choreography express itself. I volunteer myself when possible.”

“I also sit on the board for a nonprofit which promotes youth in dance in Tacoma,” he said. “We had a successful teen urban dance program last year. This year we’re focusing on all ages of youth by relaunching our Adopt-a-Student program.

Basically, for $25 a month, you sponsor a child to dance in Tacoma. I’ve promised to personally match every dollar raised – up to $750 a month – with my personal funds.”

A link to participate in this program can be found at washington.actiondance.com.”

“I don’t like to give advice unless it’s asked for, but I would like to share my philosophy and my belief that each of us can create the life we desire,” said Jacob. “The reason so many of us are in emotional, financial, and personal turmoil is because we are ignorant of who we are and what we want. Peace and serenity continue to elude us because we spend our time trying to please everybody else and because we judge ourselves by standards set by others. To transform our lives, we must first be willing to accept responsibility for its current condition. Any person with courage, who knows what he or she really wants to do, can change his or her life from failure and boredom to success and contentment.”

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Seattle Gay News

9

Cricketer Steven Davies says he is Gay Mughal

“I feel now is the right time to be open about my sexuality. Those close to me have known for a while and have been nothing but supportive and understanding,” he continued. “I’d like to thank Surrey and the ECB, as well as the England players and coaching staff. They have all offered me their full backing from the moment I told them.”

Davies made his England debut in 2009 after first appearing for Worcestershire at the age of 18. Davies is a wicketkeeper-batsman for the county of Surrey and has played in 13 limited-overs internationals from England.

“My focus now is to play the best cricket I can for Surrey and get back into the England side,” said Davies. “I am still the same person and I want to be remembered as a good cricketer, and as a Gay cricketer.”

It is rare for sportspeople to come out while still playing, and the closest precedent in cricket was Alan Hansford, a player with English county Sussex who admitted he was Gay after retiring in 1992.

Davies says he was inspired by the example of Welsh rugby star Gareth Thomas, who revealed he was homosexual two years ago.

“It just showed me it can be done,” he said. “He was brave enough to stand up and say who he was.”

“It was a very courageous thing to do,” he concluded, “so if I can help anyone else like he helped me, then that would be great.”

Cricketer Steven Davies

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor International cricket player Steven Davies came out over the weekend making him the first active professional cricketer to announce he’s Gay. Davies says he has received nothing but support from his English colleagues and team bosses after he made the announcement.

“I’m comfortable with who I am, and happy to say who I am in public,” said Davies.

GetEqual reacts to President Obama’s DOMA decision

by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer The Queer activist organization GetEqual has been very critical of what they consider the Obama administration’s inaction on LGBT rights.

GetEqual activists have picketed the president’s public appearances and disrupted his speeches.

SGN recently contacted GetEqual for their reaction to President Obama’s decision not to continue to defend DOMA in federal court. GetEqual Managing Director Heather Cronk responded to e-mail questions from SGN. SGN: First, we’d like your general impression of the Justice Department’s announcement.

Heather Cronk: The Department of Justice’s announcement was a real surprise – a very positive real surprise. For the past two

10 Seattle Gay News

years, LGBT advocates have continually called on the president and the DOJ to stop defending this discriminatory law in the courts, and we’re thrilled that they’ve done so.

SGN: In the past, you’ve been critical of the president, and you’ve picketed his public appearances because of lack of action for LGBT rights. Does this announcement make you rethink your view of Obama?

Cronk: We’ll continue to be critical of the president, but that shouldn’t be interpreted as not liking the president. While he was a senator, he was supportive of marriage equality, and when he decided to run for president he publicly changed that view.

We believe that he should be able to wrestle with issues in the same way that the rest of the country wrestles with issues – what’s unfortunate is that he’s doing so at the expense of others’ lives.

SGN: Why do you think this happened now?

Cronk: The president is starting to gear up for the 2012 elections and knows that he has to make hard choices. It’s refreshing, politically, to see this move as one of the first of that campaign – cementing that the LGBT community has flexed muscle over the past year or two that has made it a powerful political force. We’ll continue to flex that muscle in order to provide the president with whatever political cover he needs in order to take a stand for equality.

SGN: What influences do you think brought this about?

Cronk: It would be remiss to guess what was happening in the president’s head or in the West Wing’s corridors. I hope that the

March 4, 2011

White House and the DOJ made a political calculation but, further, I hope that the people involved have made a moral calculation that they will continue to abide by.

SGN: How much would you credit your own activism for this? How about HRCstyle lobbying?

Cronk: It takes all kinds to achieve change. Certainly, LGBT advocacy groups that have been working inside the suites of power have had an impact, as have those of us who are taking action on the streets.

GetEQUAL’s job is to provide outside leverage that those inside can use to make political calculations. I hope that was the case here and suspect that the work of GetEQUAL, combined with the powerful

work of LGBT bloggers and other advocates, all contributed to this change.

SGN: Do you see any contradiction between a lawsuit-based strategy and one based on in-the-street activism?

Cronk: I see no contradiction at all between legal strategies and street-based strategies for change – in fact, I see them as both necessarily dependent on one another, as well as advocacy, lobbying, research, direct service … the list goes on and on. All of these forces work together to create change – I hope that our movement is sophisticated enough to see value in all of these approaches, and that we’ll all continue to get better at working together both openly and behind the scenes to get equal.

HRC Seattle holds bowling event and fundraiser

by Shaun Knittel SGN Associate Editor On February 27, The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Seattle held their 9th annual bowling event and fundraiser, “Bowling for Equality,” at The Garage on Capitol Hill.

The event is HRC Seattle’s second-largest fundraising event and was a complete success. HRC Seattle officials told SGN that nearly 300 people were in attendance.

The bowling fundraiser was split into three two-hour time frames, with prices ranging from $40 (included bowling, annual membership to HRC, light appetizers, and bowling shoes) to $70 VIP tickets (gourmet hors d’oeuvres, a complimentary drink, free pool within the downstairs VIP bowling lane, DJ, and more).

According to HRC Seattle officials, events like Bowling for Equality are important because it affords the group an opportunity to educate the public about the issues facing the LGBT community.

“The money raised will go to HRC national,” said Josh Nelson, membership and community events co-chair, “which invests

strategically in the campaigns of political candidates who will support pro-equality legislation.”

Nelson told Seattle Gay News the organization has plans to march in the annual Seattle Pride Parade and will also have a booth at Seattle PrideFest 2011 at Seattle Center.

The next major HRC Seattle event is the organization’s biggest fundraiser: the 12th Annual Pacific Northwest HRC Dinner in September.

HRC envisions an America where Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people are ensured equality and embraced as full members of the American family at home, at work, and in every community. Seattle Human Rights Campaign advocates on the behalf of Seattle LGBT community, mobilizes grassroots actions in our community, invests strategically to elect fair-minded individuals to office, and educates the public about LGBT issues.

For more information about HRC Seattle, including upcoming events, volunteer and donation opportunities, and latest news, visit the organization online at www.seattle. hrc.org.

Seattle International Women’s Day Coalition honors unsung local activists

by Tina Gianoulis Special to the SGN The Seattle International Women’s Day coalition will honor local activists with a community appreciation event on March 8, recognizing this year as an important anniversary in women’s history.

Almost 100 years ago, on March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City ’s garment district caught fire. Because of insufficient safety precautions, careless management of hazardous materials, and restrictive work practices such as locking exits, 146 workers were killed – 129 of them women between the ages of 16 and 23. Their bodies were so badly damaged that the last six victims were only identified in 2010.

Devastating as it was, the Triangle fire was a galvanizing point for International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union and the struggle for humane conditions for factory workers. Even Frances Perkins, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s secretary of labor and the first woman appointed to a cabinet position, dated her lifelong devotion to the cause of workers’ rights from the day she witnessed the terrible tragedy at Triangle. The Triangle fire and the public outcry it inspired also infused new energy into International Women’s Day, which had been established nationally in 1909 and internationally in 1910 as a day to honor the struggle for women’s rights.

As International Women’s Day 2011 approaches, we have no shortage of atrocities to fire our resistance movements. Attacks on labor, the erosion of women’s right to control their bodies, and ever-deeper cuts in vital social programs in order to expand immoral wars have the power either to de-

moralize us as activists or to increase our determination to resist corporatization and militarization and build the sort of society we want to live in.

In this spirit of resistance, a broad coalition of feminist and other progressive activists have come together to host the second annual community event to honor women grassroots activists on International Women’s Day on March 8. The event, titled “Honoring Our Fierce and Fabulous Sisters,” will take place from 6-9 p.m. at POCAAN (1609 19th Ave.), just south of Madison St. During the first hour, an old-fashioned potluck dinner will provide an opportunity for community members to socialize, network, and celebrate the solidarity of International Women’s Day. From 7-9 p.m., the coalition will present awards of appreciation to 11 grassroots women activists whose work for justice, peace, and human rights too often goes unrewarded. Interspersed between the tributes, local performers will entertain, including the Pinay choir, Sistah Drum, Marla S. Nonken, and musician and activist Jacque Larrainzar, who will also emcee. POCAAN is a wheelchair-accessible venue, and the program part of the event will be ASL-interpreted. Please do not wear fragrances. For more information, call (206) 722-0729 or check out Seattle International Women’s Day on Facebook.

Organizers invite all members of Seattle ’s progressive community to join them in honoring these unsung heroines of many local movements, and relaxing together in order to build community and gather strength to continue our efforts for change. In making these connections, we truly honor the sacrifice and the struggle of the workers of the Triangle factory.

Celebrating 38 Years!

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Celebrating 38 Years!

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Celebrating 38 Years!

photos courtesy alanda spence

Alanda and her father, Stephen Spence

spence

continued from cover sulting in her parents getting a divorce. “So I grew up going to Pride Parades and hanging out on Capitol Hill,” she said.

“As with any divorce, the time was difficult for everyone in the family. My mother and older siblings understandably took their time of emotional estrangement to deal with the situation,” Alanda recalled. “But because I was so young and couldn’t fully grasp the definition of Gay, I didn’t take that time to consciously distance myself from my father. I think that time is actually why he and I are so close.”

Alanda was adopted. “My father is not my biological father. My parents, Stephen Spence and Jeanee (now Jack), had two children of their own before they adopted me,” she explained. “My sister, Alisa Santi, is the oldest; my brother, Justin Spence, is the middle child, and then me. Dad was stationed in Omaha, Nebraska when he and my mother began to dabble in foster parenting. They’d recently had an older foster child run away when they got a call about a six-week-old infant left in the hospital.

They weren’t so interested due to the stress of the last foster child, but agreed to house me until they could find other arrangements.

And that was that. They fell in love with me, sought out parental rights, and the adoption was final when I was 2 years old. So, my family is all Caucasian, primarily Scottish and Irish, while I am half Thai and half African American.”

“My dad had newly become the black sheep of the family – and I was the literal black sheep,” she said.

Alanda says that despite the rest of the family distancing themselves from her father, the two of them bonded.

“It was a couple more years before I really understood what homosexual meant, so to my 6-year-old mind, dad was still just my dad,” she said. “The band-aids still went on scraped knees, talking back still got me punished, and nighttime tuck-ins were no less filled with love. Dad had moved 10 minutes away, but was still at every soccer game, every baton competition, and school play.”

“Heterosexual or homosexual parents … divorces are just tough. And I got really lucky with two parents that wanted to make sure their children were raised by their two parents,” she continued. “If any scenario could’ve gone Jerry Springer, this one

could have! But my parents are really amazing people and even though they divorced, they raised their children with civility and respect for each other.”

To this day, Alanda and her father remain very close. “I’d say we’ve grown closer over the last few years because I’ve turned to my father for research as I’ve taken on more Gay roles. I did a lot of research to play the young Lesbian, Inez, in the short film La Soledad. The subject matter of that film really focuses on one’s time of discovery of homosexuality; when you know you have these feelings about the same sex, but you’re existing in that gray area of ‘Is this admiration or attraction? Experimentation or legitimate feelings?’ During that production, I learned more about my father’s coming out than ever,” she said. “But it’s a different understanding of the situation when you’re an adult. You can see the confusion and pain that gets hidden from you as a child. Conversely, as an adult, you can understand the relief and freedom to finally be living honestly. My growth in understanding of what it meant for dad to come out has only earned him more compassion and respect in my eyes.”

“It’s funny, though. … People think having a Gay dad must be some magical experience, like I’m gifted with a heightened pop culture-inspired social status,” she added.

“But really, he’s just a dad. I’m getting married in a few months and no, my father isn’t planning the whole thing, picking out my dress, running around ordering flowers. Not all Gay men are ‘just Jack!’ My dad is doing what most dads do: writing checks and getting nervous about his father/daughter dance with his baby girl.”

When it comes to discrimination from people who don’t believe that Gays and Lesbians should raise kids, Alanda has a

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strong opinion of them. “In a word: Bullshit.

Frightened statements made by individuals desperately hoping their own children don’t ‘become Gay’ because then they’d feel at fault. For that statement to be truthful it would have to work the other way around: If you’re Gay, then one of your parents made you that way! And all the Gay people I know have straight parents.”

“But – to answer in relation to my upbringing and what I was personally taught – I wasn’t allowed to be Gay,” she joked.

“I played softball growing up and drove the family pickup truck, and the running family joke was my father telling me I wasn’t allowed to have a mullet and date women. But in all seriousness, my father has told me that he would never wish the confusion, pain, stress, and ridicule that he had experienced due to being Gay upon any of his children.

He wants only us to have happy, love-filled, prosperous lives, as any parent wants for their children. Ultimately, we were encouraged to follow our hearts, be they straight or Gay, and in this case all of his kids are happily heterosexual. He knows that being Gay comes with scrutiny, so if I was encouraged in any direction it was toward the most socially acceptable option: being straight.

Although had I felt otherwise, I am confident my parents would have been equally accepting.”

When it came to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and her father’s career, Alanda says that her father tried his best to explain. “I remember having a special talk with my father when the divorce first came about about the word ‘Gay.’ I think my mother had asked him to explain the situation to me when it was clear my young mind had no idea what Gay meant,” she said. “And I clearly remember him saying ‘You know Alanda, Gay also means happy.’ It was explained to me that there are different types of love and ‘Daddy would always love mommy in a special way, but it was OK for daddy to love men in a different way.’”

She said she remembers thinking that being Gay meant that “you were just nice to everybody.”

“Men loving men was OK, women loving women was OK, and women loving men was OK – they were all just different types of love. Again, this is what I was taught,” she continued. “Because when you’re a child and emotional situations are too heightened for you to understand on your own, you look to your parents to teach you what you’re supposed to feel.

And both my parents taught me that being Gay was fine, it wasn’t weird, it wasn’t unhealthy or unnatural – it was just different, as in another option.

And for me, being a little black girl in a white family, I knew all about being comfortable with different.”

As for publicly discussing his sexuality, that didn’t happen so much as a young child. “I mean, I still had a mommy and a daddy, so I could still refer to them as such and it was perfectly acceptable socially. And as far as sexual orientation goes, at 6, I didn’t know what sex was, let alone how to speak about my parents’ preferences,” she said.

“But it did come up when I was a bit older, around 11 or 12 years old,” Alanda recalled.

“My dad simply said, ‘You don’t have to tell anyone.’ My dad could carpool, host a sleepover, meet at parent/teacher conferences, and none of those things ever had to involve ‘My dad is Gay’ in the subject matter.

“In time, I told close friends, and they were fine – and why wouldn’t they be?

They’d grown up with him being Alanda’s dad, so why would that change? However, I did become a good judge of character at

a young age as a result of this. As kids get older, comments randomly come out using Gay references in a negative sense, and I learned quickly to simply not share my family secret with them.”

“As for the military brass,” she said, “we just didn’t go to many military functions.

Dad never allowed himself to open up his personal life to his fellow soldiers. With DADT, he couldn’t. He couldn’t risk being friends with any of the soldiers, or even just going out for beers with the gang, because friendship leads to openness, and open was something he couldn’t be on base. So we stopped by to pick up shopping at the BX, grab things from the office, but that was it.

So I never knew he wasn’t ‘out’ on base as he was in his personal life.”

Alanda says that she believes that Americans are becoming more accepting of the LGBT community. “The climate is changing. Slowly, but I hope surely. Prop 8, DOMA, DADT – it’s just heartbreaking.

And during a time when I am considering my own nuptials, I really don’t want to give the validation of my love for my fiancé to a state that doesn’t accept my father’s love for his partner,” she said. “I’ll do what I can based on my geographical realities, but in the least I’ve sought out an officiant that is supportive of same-sex unions. In terms of the repeal of DADT, I am so thankful that it will alleviate the official discrimination so soldiers of the LGBT community don’t have to live in fear of losing their military careers. And for many soldiers, their military career is their way of life, way of thinking, and whole world. And I can only hope that it will in some way positively impact the unofficial discrimination amongst the troops.”

Currently, Alanda is working on more projects geared towards the LGBT audience.

“I produced and played the leading role of Inez in the short film La Soledad. I am currently in post-production for that project and hope to complete it by the end of the year.

La Soledad is the story of a teenage romance between two girls, Soledad and Inez. Being raised a part of a Hispanic family in NYC, Sole struggles against homophobia within her culture and family,” she explained. “The Morales family loves Sole, yet have a growing discomfort in her ‘friendship’ with Inez.

As Soledad struggles to define herself, investigate her feelings, and fight for love, Soledad’s family each react to her relationship in different ways – some more forgivable than others. “ Alanda recently completed work on an indie film called We Are the Hartmans that will appear on the festival circuit. “In this project, I play a nurse to an ailing Richard Chamberlain. It was an amazing opportunity to work with Mr. Chamberlain, he’s just a sweet man. Some old friends from NYU, director Laura Newman (of irREVERENT Films) and actor/producer Ben Curtis (formerly known as The Dell Dude) made the film, so it was a lot of fun getting to spend time on set with old friends,” she said.

“I am always eager to help the LGBT community,” said Alanda. “As much as one might have hometown pride, I feel that way about the LGBT community. Of course, one side of me was raised in your standard, runof-the-mill suburbia. The other side of me has been positively colored by my experience of being raised as part of the LGBT community. If, in my craft, I am able to help raise that bar of social understanding of the LGBT community and their need for equality, I’d jump on it. And so I did when ABC offered me this opportunity. Moreover, I was excited to get the privilege to honor my father in my own way.”

March 4, 2011

Seattle Gay News 19

“Because when you’re a child and emotional situations are too heightened for you to understand on your own, you look to your parents to teach you what you’re supposed to feel. And both my parents taught me that being Gay was fine.”

Dr. J: Will a pill a day keep HIV away?

by Dr. Joanne Stekler Special to the SGN Joanne Stekler, MD, MPH, is deputy director of community services for the HIV/ STD Program at Public Health – Seattle and King County. She is also an internal medicine and infectious disease physician at Harborview Medical Center, and assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of Washington.

This is part of a series of articles focusing on HIV and other STD prevention and care topics for Gay/Bisexual men and Transgender individuals in Seattle and King County.

Last year, a new study showed that HIVnegative men and Transgender women who have sex with men can decrease their chances of getting HIV with two medicines usually used to treat HIV: tenofovir and emtricitabine.

This idea of using HIV treatment meds to prevent HIV transmission isn’t new. In the early ’90s, researchers found that giving AZT to women who were HIV-positive and pregnant greatly reduced the number of babies who got infected.

A few years later, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended HIV treatment meds for anyone who is exposed to HIV through sex or sharing needles. This recommendation came from data showing that health-care workers who took postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) after a needle stick had an 80 percent lower chance of get-

STDs that aren’t prevented by PrEP. In the next few years, you’ll start to see some answers (and probably more questions) as we get results from other studies.

In the meantime….

If you’re a guy who has sex with other guys, you can get tested for HIV and other STDs at Public Health’s STD Clinic, Gay ting HIV compared to people who chose not City, the baths, and at your doctor’s office. to take it.

So now there’s evidence that taking HIV treatment meds before exposure (pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP) can also decrease a person’s risk of getting HIV. In last year’s study, called iPrEx, researchers found that PrEP decreased new HIV infections by 44 percent. In people who took their daily meds more than 90 percent of the time, by Mike Andrew PrEP reduced the risk of infection by 73 per- SGN Staff Writer cent. But note that the protection from PrEP Half of adult men in the U.S. population wasn’t perfect – 36 people in this study still got infected with HIV even though they may be infected with HPV (human papillomavirus), according to a new study released took PrEP. These really are exciting findings, but on February 28.

The study was funded by the National there are many issues to work out before we can say that PrEP should be given to Bi Cancer Institute and appears in the current and Gay men in Seattle. PrEP might make it issue of The Lancet.

Anna Giuliano of the H Lee Moffitt Canmore likely that people who become infected get a drug-resistant strain of HIV. There cer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, may be long-term side effects from taking Florida, and her colleagues studied HPV it that we don’t know about yet. And then infection rates among more than 1,100 men aged 18 to 70 in the United States, Brazil, there’s the issue of cost.

If you have a doctor and insurance and and Mexico.

“We found that a big proportion – about you’re interested in PrEP, you should talk with your doctor to see if taking it is an op- 50% – of men have genital HPV infection tion for you. We don’t know yet if insurance of one type or another,” Giuliano said in an will cover the costs of PrEP. If you wanted to ABC News interview.

HPV is a common sexually transmitted pay for it yourself, it would cost more than $10,000 per year just for the medicines. If virus that can cause a number of different you don’t have insurance or your own doc- cancers in men and women.

HPV infection is best known as the pritor, there may be other options in the future.

You should also know that it’s not certain mary cause of cervical cancer, the second if taking HIV meds other than those used in most common cancer in women worldwide. the iPrEx study would work to prevent HIV But various strains of HPV also cause anal, infection. Nor is it clear that PrEP would penile, head, and neck cancers.

“I’ve been studying HPV in women for work if it’s taken with other drugs such as Viagra and crystal meth for a party week- many years ... but I realized that we knew end. So please don’t take HIV meds if they almost nothing about HPV infections in men,” said Giuliano. haven’t been prescribed for you.

“The biology seems to be very similar [to And remember, PrEP holds some promise, but it didn’t completely prevent HIV infec- women],” Giuliano said in a separate intertion in the iPrEx study. This means that other view with Reuters news service. “What is things you are already doing to prevent HIV different is men seem to have high prevatransmission – like using condoms, having lence of genital HPV infections throughout fewer sex partners, getting tested for HIV their lifespans.”

She said it appears that women are better if you’re HIV-negative, and talking about HIV with partners – will continue to be key able to clear an HPV infection, especially as in preventing the spread of HIV and other they age, but men do not appear to have this same ability.

Independent experts who were not involved in Giuliano’s study say the sample size is small and recruitment was limited, so the men in the study may not accurately represent the populations of the three countries.

Nevertheless, they say the findings may have important public health implications.

Anal cancer is one of the less common types of cancer, with an estimated 5,300 new U.S. cases diagnosed each year, but the incidence is increasing.

Although it is relatively rare, anal cancer

For hours and locations, call 206-296-4649 or go to www.kingcounty.gov/health/hiv. If you’ve had unprotected sex within the last 72 hours with someone who is HIV-infected, you should call the Madison Clinic (206744-5100) to make an appointment to talk to a provider about post-exposure prophylaxis.

And you can read more about PrEP at www. cdc.gov/hiv/prep.

Half of adult men may have HPV, new study finds

affects men who have sex with men and people living with HIV at a significantly higher rate than the general public.

According to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, Gay and Bisexual men are about 20 times more likely to be diagnosed with anal cancer than the general population.

That likelihood is almost 40 times higher for men living with HIV. Although anal cancer affects women at a higher rate than men, health outcomes are considerably poorer for men, especially African American men.

According to the National Cancer Institute, the five-year survival rate among white women is approximately 71%, compared to only about 62% for white men.

Among African American men, the survival rate drops significantly to roughly 51%.

“The great majority of men don’t know they’re infected,” said Dr. Carlos del Rio, chair of the Department of Global Health at Emory University in Atlanta.

In December, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Merck’s Gardasil HPV vaccine for prevention of anal cancers in both men and women, based on studies showing Gardasil was effective in men who have sex with men, a group that has a higher incidence of anal cancer.

Gardasil had sales of more than $1 billion last year.

Currently, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends Gardasil vaccinations for girls and women between the ages of 11 and 26, but not for boys and men.

While doctors are permitted to use the vaccine for boys and men ages 9 through 26, U.S. health officials so far have declined to recommend routine vaccination for males.

Giuliano said that her study indicates that men need to be much more aware of the risks of HPV, and also could help determine whether widespread vaccination of men and boys is a cost-effective option.

Dr. Anne Szarewski of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine in London agreed. “[The study] must surely strengthen the argument for vaccination of men, both for their own protection, and that of their partners,’’ she told Reuters.

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March 4, 2011

Celebrating 38 Years!

Meet the Seattle United Soccer League’s Tom Abrams Courtesy Seattle united Soccer League

Tom plays as much soccer during the week that he can, whether it is Sundays on Seattle Stonewall FC or Tuesday nights playing for R Place Hydro. He has a gift, and Tom’s team definitely is at an advantage. He has played for teams that have traveled the globe, and to several world championships. He plays in many leagues right now, and is adjusting his schedule to fit the Seattle United Soccer League in. He is very gether is important to Tom. excited to play and be a part of this league.

As a child, Tom learned to It’s new and he hopes to meet new people play organized sports, just like and play against his friends on Saturdays. other kids his age. He’s been playing organized soccer since he was 6 years old.

Tom moved to Seattle from Los Angeles for a boyfriend. He actually moved his ex-wife and son up here at the same time.

He is one of the fortunate ones to have a great relationship with

by Mike Andrew his ex-wife.

“We will always stay in the SGN Staff Writer same city as our son, Ayden, no matter who we are with,” said Anti-Gay bills being considered by the Tom. Wyoming state legislature have run into In California, there weren’t trouble and may not pass before the legislaany organized Gay soccer ture adjourns March 3. leagues like there are in Seattle.

A bill that would prohibit Wyoming from But there was a Gay Volleyball recognizing same-sex marriages performed League which he played in. in other jurisdictions stalled in the state SenThat’s how he met his boy- ate because the Senate version of the bill did friend. They met as he was play- not agree with the House version. ing at the Volleyball Nationals Wyoming’s House of Representatives in Vancouver, and his boyfriend passed a bill to invalidate same-sex marriagwas playing on a team from Se- es, civil unions, and domestic partnerships, attle. and prohibit Wyoming courts from resolvAfter arriving, Tom didn’t ing disputes between same-sex couples. play soccer right away. He soThe Senate then amended the House bill cialized and made a network of to allow couples in civil unions from other friends playing in the Seattle jurisdictions to use the state’s court system Gay Volleyball League. After to resolve their differences. making the Northwest his new A conference committee of Senators and home, Tom first played in a House members struck a surprise last-mingym. Rather than taking shots ute deal on March 1, allowing the measure on goal, he was setting and spiking a vol- to go forward. leyball until he found out there was a Gay The six-member committee punted on soccer organization in Seattle. That is when the two most contentious issues surroundTom joined the local club and started focus- ing the bill: civil unions and court access for ing on sharing his talent with his feet on a same-sex couples. soccer field with less-skilled players.

By a 4-2 vote, the committee narrowed You can tell immediately that Tom is gift- House Bill 74 to invalidate only same-sex ed with his soccer cleats and with his voice. marriages from other states and countries.

He now mentors younger athletes and disThe changes must now be approved by plays his ability graciously. You see him as a the House, then by the Senate before the counselor of the game. He is a positive ma- legislature’s scheduled adjournment. ture role model in a more youthful activity.

The bill is likely to face the most opposiThe club Tom plays in primarily consists of GLBT soccer teams that play in outside organizations, such as GSSL, Co-Rec, and Indoor. These leagues compete against straight teams. The Gay boys enjoy whupping some straight boys’ butts and then celebrating afterward socially.

Tom was excited to hear about the Seattle United Soccer League. There had been times that he played against other Gay teams in Co-Rec, and he thought it was a blast to play against friends in the community! “I’m very excited to play with all my friends, and meet new ones as well!” he says.

Tom Abrams

by Seattle United Soccer League Special to SGN You wouldn’t be able to notice by working side-by-side with him. You wouldn’t notice watching him play soccer on Seattle Stonewall FC. You wouldn’t notice by the way he enjoys cars and likes driving his tricked-out Nissan 370Z. You wouldn’t notice it by the way he talks to and interacts with his friends. You wouldn’t notice by the way he walks or runs. All you would notice is that Tommy Abrams is an ordinary guy, but the reality is far from it – he is extraordinary.

Out of everything that makes us mortal, the spirit of competition is one of our most enduring traits. That spirit motivates us, it inspires us, challenges us, and engages us.

The motivation to improve while learning new fundamentals of a team sport and being able to share a new experience with other friends allows each of us to interact and unite competitively and socially. Players have different skill levels and different backgrounds. Bringing that diversity to-

Like the World Cup or the NBA/NFL lottery, the Seattle United Soccer League is different than most because there is a draft.

You don’t get to choose your teams; you are randomly selected into one by a lottery, while the top 24 premier players are drafted onto the different clubs.

“I think it provides a great venue to meet new players and play against teams that are not stacked,” stated Tom. For more information and to register for the spring league, visit www.seattleunitedsl.com. League lottery and draft March 25; Jamboree March 26.

Anti-Gay legislation stalls in Wyoming

tion in the Senate, which passed its version of the measure by a slim 16-14 margin. The House passed its version 32-27.

Supporters of the legislation said it would resolve a conflict in Wyoming law, which defines marriage as a contract “between a male and a female person” but also recognizes any valid marriage performed outside the state.

In November, a Wyoming district court judge refused to grant a divorce to a Lesbian couple married in Canada, on the grounds that the state does not consider them married in the first place.

The couple has appealed the case to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

A proposal that would have asked Wyoming voters about amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage died after the House missed a procedural deadline.

The Wyoming House adjourned on February 25 without taking action on the proposed amendment. It had previously passed the Senate.

Passing the measure would have required a two-thirds vote in both houses, and House Republican leaders told reporters they thought it would be a waste of time to debate a bill that lacked the necessary votes to pass.

Had it passed, the amendment would have gone to the voters in 2012.

A Democratic bill to allow same-sex civil unions was killed by a House committee in January.

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wisconsin continued from cover

consin state capitol in Madison. Democratic state senators have left the state, effectively bringing the state’s budget process to a halt.

The protests have electrified the country and put new backbone into a progressive movement that had been reeling from losses in the 2010 elections.

In this state, 2,500 people, led by Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) members in their trademark green shirts, rallied in Olympia on February 26 in solidarity with Wisconsin workers, completely overwhelming 150 Tea Party members who gathered to support Walker.

SGN spoke recently with four LGBT activists in Wisconsin about their experiences, and the impact Gov. Walker’s “budget repair bill” will have on their lives.

Laurie Marks, state employee Not all state employees who will be hurt

by Gov. Walker’s bill are union members.

Laurie Marks and her partner are employees of the University of Wisconsin (the other UW), but not members of AFSCME, the union that represents many university employees.

Nevertheless, she tells SGN that if Walker’s proposals pass, “my family will really be impacted.”

“If [Walker’s bill] passes, it will cost us

an extra $450 or $500 a month,” she says.

“Health insurance will go up $120 and the pension contributions will increase by 12.8%.”

Marks and her partner have two young children, and her wife’s salary “barely covers daycare,” she says.

“I’m really scared they will take away domestic partner benefits,” Marks tells SGN. “In Wisconsin, we have no second parent adoption,” putting the children’s health insurance at risk if the couple loses domestic partnership benefits.

Since Marks works weekdays, she has been able to get to the demonstrations at the capitol only on weekends.

“There was a marked difference last Saturday [February 26, when unions went allout to mobilize a response to expected Tea Party rallies]. There were tens of thousands of people! It was just massive!”

“Oh my God!” she exclaimed. “There was no way we could even get into the capitol. It’s hard for me even to describe it. I’ve been an activist for 20 years and I’ve never seen anything like this before!”

Marks says she was overwhelmed by the diversity of the protestors gathering in Madison.

“There are so many segments of public workers this is going to impact. University workers – there are 26 schools in the system – and students, and a whole array of people who provide all these other services.”

For Marks, the experience has changed her view of unions.

“There have been efforts in the past to unionize the [UW] staff,” she says. “I wasn’t against it, but I was never that enthusiastic about it. For folks like me, this has been an eye-opening experience. I get it now. I get it now.”

Ray Vahey, co-president of Equality Wisconsin Ray Vahey is no stranger to political activism.

“I’m old,” he chuckles. “Seventy-two.

I can remember the old Eleanor Roosevelt style of progressive politics.”

As an activist with Equality Wisconsin and the group’s co-president, Vahey says he has tried to build alliances among diverse communities, an effort that is paying off now as groups mobilize their members to go to Madison.

“Equality and economic justice are intertwined,” he says. “We’ve reached out to the Latino community and the African American community. And we’ve been supporting labor groups for a long time.”

Vahey tells SGN that his group’s relationship with organized labor goes back several years, to the campaign against a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

“We had the amendment in 2006, and we were well supported by labor,” he recalls.

“We lost that one, but it was the beginning of a very good relationship.”

“In 2004, Milwaukee city workers won domestic partner benefits,” Vahey contin-

ues. “AFSCME did that. [Walker’s] bill would eliminate the ability for labor to negotiate agreements like that.

“Today we have 11 smaller communities where workers get domestic partner benefits. That would be gone. The far right has just pushed the envelope too far!”

Vahey says he appreciates the 14 Democratic senators who left the state to prevent passage of Walker’s bill, and hopes they will set an example for other Democrats.

“I continually see cases where Democrats run away from their liberal and progressive roots,” he says. “It’s good to see them do the right thing.”

Jacqueline Lindo, Equality Wisconsin organizer Jacqueline Lindo works part-time as an organizer for Equality Wisconsin. SGN spoke to her by phone as she was on her way to a rally at the state capitol building.

“Today [March 2] they reopened the capitol,” after the governor ordered it closed to the public, she told SGN. “We’re going down to protest the governor’s speech.”

“It’s been really good energy,” Lindo says, describing the scene at the capitol in the past weeks.

“People have been peaceful and considerate. Even the police have been helpful and polite. It’s really orderly. There’s a wellorganized system to provide for the needs of the people there.”

“A student organization set up in the rotunda, and they had an open mic for people

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to speak. State workers just got domestic partnership benefits a couple of years ago, and they’re all worried they’ll lose them.”

“I went to the bathroom in the capitol and they had signs posted. ‘Please do not graffiti the bathrooms.’ It was sweet!”

Lindo believes Walker and Republican legislators are motivated by narrow partisan interests.

“Unions support Democratic candidates,” she says. “Disable the unions and you make it a lot harder to raise money for Democratic campaigns.”

Asked how Walker’s bill would impact her personally, Lindo worried that it might have wider repercussions for all public sector workers.

“My wife works for the City of Milwaukee,” she tells SGN. “City employees’ bargaining rights are in danger, too.”

“Domestic partner benefits have been a saving grace for me as a Type 1 diabetic,” she adds, explaining that she might not get health insurance at all if she were not covered under her wife’s policy.

“Union rights are Gay rights are minority rights,” Lindo insists. “Every time there’s union busting, it affects everyone.”

Katie Belanger, Fair Wisconsin executive director “Fair Wisconsin was the first LGBT organization in the country to stand in support of our unions,” Katie Belanger says proudly.

The organization has been fighting for LGBT rights for 16 years, she says.

“We led the fight against the [anti-marriage] amendment in 2006, and in 2009 we won the domestic partnership registry.”

Belanger tells SGN that her organization’s alliances with labor unions go back to those campaigns.

“The unions were with us every step of the way,” she says. “On the amendment, on the domestic partnership registry. This is our way to thank them, and stand up for their right to exist.”

Belanger has gone all out to organize support for protesting workers, even organizing a special LGBT contingent to march to Wisconsin’s capitol.

“We had our own rally with Tammy Baldwin [Madison’s openly Lesbian Congressperson] on Saturday [February 26],” she says. “Then we marched to the capitol to join the unions. More than 300 of us. It was

really amazing!”

Belanger says her group is also organizing a recall effort to remove Republican lawmakers who support Gov. Walker’s agenda.

“We’ve sent e-mails to more than 10,000 of our members,” she tells SGN. “We want them to contact their legislators. And if the legislators don’t listen to their constituents, then we should recall them.”

“We’re not going to go away, and we’re not going to stop,” she adds.

While she confesses that she finds it “frustrating that elected officials will not listen to the voices of the people,” she says she is optimistic that Wisconsin workers will ultimately win.

“I think this movement will drive the agenda,” she predicts, “whether it’s through recall or in the 2012 election. There’s a massive shift in how people think about Wisconsin politics. People are ready to take their government back.”

doma

continued from cover Golinski vs. OPM Karen Golinski, a lawyer who works for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, asked in 2008 to add her wife to her family health insurance plan.

The Chief Judge of the 9th Circuit, Alex Kozinski, acting as a court administrator, ordered Golinski’s insurance carrier to provide the benefits.

However, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management instructed the insurance carrier not to comply because DOMA prohibits the federal government from recognizing Golinski’s same-sex marriage.

Golinski then sued OPM to enforce Kozinski’s order.

In its February 28 filing, the Justice Department stated that President Obama told executive agencies to enforce DOMA until Congress repealed it or a federal court struck it down – even though the administration would no longer defend its constitutionality in court.

Federal District Court Judge Jeffrey White need not decide the law’s constitutionality to resolve the Golinski case, Justice Department attorneys said.

According to the Justice Department’s

filing, Kozinski’s order is not enforceable through the kind of lawsuit Golinski filed.

Jennifer Pizer, one of Golinski’s attorneys, said it would have been much more “helpful and consistent” with President Obama’s views on DOMA if the Justice Department had taken the position that Golinski could enroll her wife in the family health plan.

“That is the correct answer in this case,” Pizer said.

Republicans Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said on February 28 that Speaker John Boehner would reveal his own plan for defending the constitutionality of DOMA. “I stand by [Boehner’s] commitment to make that happen,” Cantor (R-Va.) said at a press conference.

Cantor promised Boehner would outline his plans in detail on March 4.

When pressed on what House Republicans planned to do, Cantor was evasive.

“I think you’ll see that on Friday,” Cantor said.

In a taped interview released the same day, Boehner (R-OH) said the Republicancontrolled House could appoint a special counsel to defend DOMA, a suggestion first made by former U.S. Senator and now Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum.

“It’s an option being considered,” Boehner said during an appearance on The Christian Broadcasting Network. “I’d be very surprised if the House didn’t decide that they were going to defend law.”

Boehner added that his office is currently researching several legal options and seeking feedback from other Republicans to determine how to proceed.

“I’m really disappointed in the president and the Department of Justice in the fact that they’re not going to defend a law that Congress passed overwhelmingly. It’s their responsibility to do that,” Boehner said.

“But if the president won’t lead, if the president won’t defend DOMA, then you’ll see the House of Representatives defend our actions in passing a bill that frankly passed overwhelmingly.”

LGBT reaction LGBT activists immediately accused Republican leaders of hypocrisy.

“Republican leaders have been claiming to want to focus on the economy, yet their insertion into this case would represent a hypocritical departure from that position,” said HRC spokesperson Michael ColeSchwartz.

Anticipating that Republicans will mount a rigorous defense of DOMA, HRC has taken steps to fight back, Cole-Schwartz said.

The group has sent e-mail alerts to thousands of its supporters, launched a petition seeking to block the House from intervening, and has been consulting with Congressional allies to develop a strategy.

“We’re all prepared for [Republicans] to intervene in some way,” Cole-Schwartz said. “The question is how do they do it, how do they roll it out, and what kind of political hay they want to make of it?”

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Seattle Gay News 23

sexuality.

On January 25, SPU administrators decontinued from cover nied the group the right to meet on campus and refused to recognize them as an official where SPU students discuss issues sur- club. The decision sparked a backlash from rounding the intersection of sexuality and the Seattle LGBT community; in the weeks religion, with a particular focus on homo- following the discriminatory decision, a letter-writing and petition campaign began where Haven supporters urged SPU officials to change their ways.

Now, nearly one month after Haven was told to hit the road, SPU officials have changed their tune.

On February 24, Dr. Les Steele, associate vice president for academic affairs, called a meeting between the Human Sexuality Advisory Group (HSAG) and Haven leadership. At the meeting, Dr. Steele presented Haven with an outline of how SPU would treat the group.

“Our goal is to respond to the need of our students to have ‘safe space’ for conversations regarding human sexuality, including sexual orientation,” Steele told Haven leaders. “Haven has been one such space among others.”

According to SPU senior Caleb Richmond, co-leader of Haven, the group was given an outline titled “Moving Forward with Haven and Conversations Regarding Human Sexuality.”

In the outline, Dr. Steele announced, “Haven becomes a formal group with full rights to reserve space and advertise on campus.”

haven

In addition, Steele stated, “Student leaders do not need to personally agree to the Human Sexuality Statement, but must agree to respect the statement as the University’s position.”

According to Dr. Steele, Haven will now fall under the auspice of HSAG. “While HSAG is responsible to advise on the totality of human sexuality programming, we ask them to focus on assisting Haven to become a safe space for the discussion of sexual orientation,” Steele wrote in an outline to Haven leaders and HSAG. “We also ask HSAG to help us keep alive other safe spaces for all aspects of human sexuality.”

“We spent a long time discussing how this would all play out in a practical situation, such as week-to-week meetings,” Richmond told SGN. “HSAG indicated that they did not want to be an approval group, but rather a resource and advising group.”

Richmond says that HSAG “does not exist just for Haven, but as a comprehensive umbrella for coordinating the campus discussion on sexuality, including sexual identity conversations and [conversations on] heterosexual practices and behaviors.”

“This is a very big move for the SPU administration,” he continued. “Dr. Steele is basically handing over the reins completely to HSAG and washing his hands of this. He offered an apology of sorts for any confusion of motives and for causing people to feel silenced. He said he has been trying to

work to please multiple constituencies, but he has heard the voice of Haven.”

Steele also said he wants to “move forward with trust and respect with Haven.”

“In that light,” said Richmond, “Haven wants to show the same trust and respect for SPU. HSAG really does seem to have the best interests of the student body in mind.”

This is the most progress Haven has ever made with the University.

“We are now a formally recognized group and we have not only the right to reserve rooms, but advertising rights on campus, which has been a major battle for the last four years,” Richmond points out. “This is definitely the result of the enormous outcry from the student body, the support from the faculty and staff, and constant alumni efforts for the last month, and the community disapproval of last month’s decision.”

What Haven does not have in the new agreement is club status. At SPU, a club is a formally organized student group that has approval and funding from the student government.

“We are not terribly concerned about the funding aspect, but there is a lot of symbolism involved in being approved by our peers and by going through the official steps that are supposed to happen,” said Richmond.

“Club status is still our long-term goal.

However, there are other formal groups on campus that are not clubs, so this is not totally unprecedented.”

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