Issue 19 Volume 38
Celebrating 37 Years!
FRIDAY May 7, 2010 FREE! 25¢ in bookstores & news stands
Jinkins kickoff p. 16 CLASSIC PETER PAN p. 31
SMARTYPANTS p. 25
Seattle Gay News SEATTLE’S LGBT NEWS & ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Lesbian couple legally SGN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW married in Texas Barney Frank talks – 30 years by Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
A Lesbian couple has been legally married in Texas – even though same-sex marriages are constitutionally prohibited there – thanks to an apparent loophole in Texas state law. Sabrina J. Hill and her longtime partner, Therese “Tee” Bur, were legally married May 3 in San Antonio. S.M. STANFILL
“It’s a weight lifted,” Hill told the El Paso Times newspaper. “Now the federal government and state government recognize our love.” “It did strike me. We have been living so covertly, being careful not to express public displays of affection, and then we were standing in front of a judge saying, ‘You may now kiss your bride,’” Bur said. “A public display of affection – it is so validating.” The complication is that Hill was born with both male and female sex organs. She is identified on her birth certificate as male, and it is this fact that got the couple legal permission to marry. Hill was raised as a male and served in the Army, but when she was 28 a medical exam revealed that she had ovaries. Hill underwent sex reassignment surgery in 1991. She has been with Bur for 17 years. They applied for a marriage license in El Paso in February. The county attorney there declined to issue one immediately,
in Congress by Scott Rice SGN Contributing Writer
Barney Frank was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, just across Kill Van Kull from Staten Island. He’s a Harvard-educated elder statesman, head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, a self-deprecating funnyman, an irascible curmudgeon who just turned 70, an eloquent speaker, the consummate politico, an effective compromiser, a hopeless romantic, and he’s one of only three openly Queer current members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Barney Frank, for better or worse, belongs to us. Frank came out in 1987, not amid scandal, but partially because he was becoming more and more well-known and partially because a closeted colleague’s death prompted unseemly speculation regarding the colleague’s sexuality which Frank simply wanted to avoid. On January 31, 2011, Frank will mark 30 years as a member of Congress. see TEXAS UNION page 9 Over the years, Frank has wit-
nessed scandals, brokered deals, and become an architect of history. He’s also been a Queer role model and icon who has worked hard to carry himself with dignity while never taking himself too seriously. I still remember hearing about the congressBarney Frank in his D.C.office man who came out back in 1987. I was just beginning my journey as an out do just that. We’re no longer satGay man living in Austin, TX. isfied with having separate comFrank’s gesture meant a great deal munities in Queer ghettos where to us back then, as my peers and we could live in relative safety I struggled to come to terms with and drive up real estate prices via our sexuality under the dark cloud tasteful gentrification. No, now we of the early days of the pandemic. expect nothing less than full equalIt meant that we all could take our ity in employment, housing, marplace at the table if we chose to do riage, military service, and parenting rights. so. And Frank has been there the enThese days, the Queer community is more impatient than ever to see BARNEY FRANK page 8 MARLON REIS
Male-to-female Transgender bride designated “male” on birth certificate
Hawaiian legislature OKs civil unions nisms as spouses for securing parent-child relationships, access to family court,and clear duties to In a surprise vote on the last day pay child support and alimony as of its legislative session, the Ha- spouses must, and other vital prowaii House of Representatives le- tections.” galized civil unions for both samesex and opposite-sex couples. The April 30 vote on HB 444 was 31-20. Hawaii’s Senate passed the legislation January 22, by a margin of 18-7. The bill provides that partners The measure now goes in a civil union “have all the same to Hawaii’s Republican Goverrights, benefits, protections, and nor Linda Lingle for her signature. responsibilities under law, whether She has not said if she will sign or derived from statutes, adminis- veto the measure. trative rules, court decisions, the She must decide by July 6. If she common law, or any other source does not take action, the bill will of civil law” as do married spous- become law without her signature es. and will take effect immediately. The measure also provides recThe bill’s majority in the Senate ognition of civil unions and same- is more than two-thirds and theresex marriages contracted in other fore veto-proof, but supporters jurisdictions where they are legal. in the House could not override a “All unions between two indi- Lingle veto unless they were able viduals not recognized [as mar- to persuade some representatives riages] under section 572-3 shall to switch sides. be recognized as civil unions proIf Lingle signs the bill, Hawaii vided that the relationship meets will be one of six states that allow the eligibility requirements of this civil unions, including marriage chapter,” the bill says. benefits without marriage equalAccording to Lambda Legal, ity. Hawaii’s civil unions will offer Five states and the District of couples “the same legal mecha- Columbia allow same-sex marby Mike Andrew SGN Staff Writer
riages. April 30, the day after HB 444 passed the Hawaii House, the governor’s office was swamped with phone calls and e-mails from both supporters and opponents of same-sex relationships. Equality Hawaii, the state-
wide LGBT rights organization, called on supporters to send thankyou notes to legislators who supported HB 444, and to urge the governor to sign it. Opponents from religious groups also called for a phone-in campaign rather than large-scale demonstrations against the bill. HB 444 was generally assumed to be dead for this year, until the House Majority Leader, who is Gay, revived it. A version of the measure providing only for same-sex civil unions originally passed the Hawaii House in February of last year. A Senate version, amended to include opposite-sex couples, passed
in May 2009. The bill was carried over into the 2010 legislative session, and passed the Senate again in January. It then went back to the House for final approval, but House Speaker Calvin Say moved to postpone action indefinitely. He was reportedly reluctant to take up controversial legislation in an election year. Say’s motion was carried by voice vote and the measure was considered
As Oshiro moved to bring the measure up for a vote, he also came out to his House colleagues. He later told reporters he does not usually discuss his sexual orientation, but felt it was important in light of the vote. “It was really heartwarming to me, to know that at the end of the day people are willing to do what they need to do, do what they came here to do, and not just worry about keeping their jobs,” Oshiro told KITV News. Oshiro will face Gary Okino, a conservative Honolulu city council member and civil unions opponent, when he runs for reelection this fall. A 1993 decision by the Hawaii Supreme Court held that the state’s refusal to grant same-sex couples marriage licenses was discriminatory. In 1998, however, votdead. ers approved the so-called I t “defense of marriage” conwas restitutional amendment which vived gave the State Legislature powon a er to reserve marriage to oppositemotion sex couples. by House The legislature subsequently Majority Leader Blake passed a law prohibiting same-sex Oshiro and proceeded to a vote marriage. That law remains unwith only hours left in the 2010 changed by HB 444. legislative session.
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