Fusion Spring 2018 by Fusion Magazine

FUSION SPRING 2018

KENT’S LGBTQ MAGAZINE

EXPOSING THE FAÇADE OF PROGRESSIVISM

GROWING UP QUEER IN THE MIDDLE EAST

RIGHT TO WORK: LGBTQ SEX WORKERS SPEAK OUT WWW.OHIOFUSION.COM

TABLE OF CONTENTS THAT GAY GOVERNOR’S RACE: THE CANDIDATES IN COMPARISON

PREEXISTING PREJUDICE: MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS NEGLECT LGBTQ NEEDS

VIDEO GAMES ALLOW TRANS PEOPLE TO ESCAPE INTO REALITY

GATEKEEPING: 12 SYSTEMIC BARRIERS TO TRANS HEALTHCARE EXPOSING THE FAÇADE OF PROGRESSIVISM: ISRAEL, THE UNITED STATES AND THE DANGERS OF PINKWASHING

GAY MEN DETAINED AND TORTURED IN CHECHNYA: HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF RUSSIAN HOMOPHOBIA

RIGHT TO WORK: LGBTQ SEX WORKERS SPEAK OUT

ON-CAMPUS ORGANIZING FOR QUEER LIBERATION AND LABOR RIGHTS

KSU HEALTH INSURANCE NOW OFFERS TRANSGENDER COVERAGE FOR FACULTY AND STAFF

GAY MILLENNIAL ELECTED TO CUYAHOGA FALLS SCHOOL BOARD

GROWING UP QUEER IN THE MIDDLE EAST: AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT OPENS UP

LGBTQ-AFFIRMATION 40 IN CHRISTIAN SPACES: A UNIVERSITY PERSPECTIVE GENDER DISCRIMINATION IN PROFESSIONAL ENVIRONMENTS

COVER OUTTAKES 45 Cover Photo Illustration: Dustin Massengill

A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Dear reader, It’s been another rough year. The Trump administration has been systematically undoing the LGBTQ reforms undertaken by President Obama. Conservative Christian groups are still lobbying legislators to outlaw LGBTQ-inclusive sex ed or give a green light to discrimination. In February, another trans woman of color was killed in Cleveland. I’ll never forget how it felt last year when Trump and another Republican Congress were elected. As a trans person, I immediately feared losing access to healthcare. Then, I grieved with my family after hearing that someone had vandalized headstones in a Jewish cemetary where our relatives were buried. Hate continued to rise. But I hope I’ll never forget the wave of resistance that followed. Chelsea Manning, previously locked in solitary confinement in a men’s prison, is now running for U.S. Senate. The Republican-controlled Ohio statehouse allowed public hearings for the statewide LGBTQ nondiscrimination bill for the first time in over 8 years. Akron passed its own nondiscrimination law in April and Kent followed in August. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that it’s illegal to fire a woman because she’s transgender. We’re fighting back. And as we do, we’re igniting the embers of hope for every LGBTQ young person. We’re showing them that even if their parents, their school or their government isn’t there for them, someone is. As journalists, we have an imperative to share these stories--of progression and regression--with you all. As advocacy journalists, we intend to uplift marginalized voices and transcribe the struggles toward equality and liberation. And as editor, I strive to make Fusion more intersectional - to show how LGBTQ rights depend on the rights of people of color, how we can’t fight homophobia without fighting Islamophobia, how no one is free until everyone is. We are all interconnected. This brings me back to you, the reader. Without readers there are no writers. So, I’m deeply grateful to you for being a part of our work. I hope you enjoy it. In solidarity, love and respect,

MJ Eckhouse, editor-in-chief. 4

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Dear 2017, You ruined my stomach. You toughened my nails. You scraped my mind down a chalkboard in a loud piercing scream. You introduced me to a new kind of depression. The kind where I could feel my joy being hunted even when I was asleep. Too many times I was unable to change someone’s mind. Too many times I struggled to change my own. But you were also the year my MD spent half an appointment talking to me kindly about non-binary identities. You were also the year my therapist hung a BLACK LIVES MATTER sign on her office door. You were also the year my best friend taught 300 school bus drivers about gender and sexual diversity. 2017, the year I couldn't stop bawling for the whole world. The year every activist I know went through a yearlong break-up with hope. The year we didn’t stop working to get back together. 2017, I will remember you forever.”

— Andrea Gibson Poet

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FUSION 2018 STAFF Managing Editor: Ella Abbott Art Director: Alexis Scranton Photo Editor: Dustin Massengill

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Mike Kiczek Victor Baratt-McCartney Jamie Weaver

Designers:

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Photographers: Dustin Massengill Cameron Croston Julia Ryan

Writers:

MJ Eckhouse Ella Abbott Dustin Massengill Saxen Marten-Jensen Olivia Harold Regan Schell Pádraigín O’Flynn Ayden Aponte Natasha Gaj Marisa Shepard

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THAT GAY GOVERNOR’S RACE: THE CANDIDATES IN COMPARISON Words by Regan Schell Illustrations by Alexis Scranton

Ohio’s getting a new governor soon. The midterm primary is May 8 and the general election is November 6. Who are you voting for?

Democrats Platform/History:

- Voted multiple times for education reform (OnTheIssues, 2017)

- Focusing on “kitchen table economic issues” (cordrayforohio.com)

Richard Cordray: - Former Ohio Attorney General - Former Director of the Consumer Financial Protection - Bureau under Obama

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- Supported the rights of LGBTQ students

- Opposes “right to work” (The Blade, 2018)

- Wants to invest in public universities

- Wants to close gun law loopholes (The Blade 2018)

- Opposed the transgender military ban

- Helped create first human trafficking commission in Ohio (The Blade 2018)

Joe Schiavoni: - State Senator (dist. 33 - Youngstown area) Platform/History: - Has sponsored bills to prevent discrimination based on gender and sexuality (joeforjobs.com)

- Voted to restore Planned Parenthood funding - Opposed the Obamacare repeal

Democrats taxation of marijuana (The Plain Dealer, 2017)

- Supports uninhibited abortion rights

- Criticized NFL “take a knee” protests (Washington Examiner, 2017)

- Supports marriage equality - Voted for expansion of hate crime laws

- Scandal over sexually inappropriate Facebook posts (Ballotpedia, 2018)

- Voted against banning adoption by LGBTQ couples - Pushing for statewide assault weapons ban

Dennis Kucinich:

- Opposes for-profit charters and prisons

William (Bill) O’Neill:

- Former Mayor of Cleveland - Former U.S. Representative

- Proposes free college tuition for two years

- Ohio Supreme Court Justice

Platform/History:

(Kucinich.com)

- Supports “healthcare for all”

Platform/History: - Considers himself “pro-life” (Cincinnati Enquirer, 2018) - Supports legalization and

Republicans - Estruth was board member of the organization, Alliance Defending Freedom, which is defined as anti-LGBT hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (Cincinnati Enquirer, 2018)

- 100% rating with Christian Coalition - Voted YES on ban of same-sex marriage (2006) - Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes (2002)

- Supported Affordable Care Act repeal (marytaylorforgovernor.com)

- Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation (1996)

Mike DeWine:

- Voted to increase penalties for drug offenses (1999)

Mary Taylor :

- Attorney - Current Ohio Attorney General

- Supported “pathway to citizenship” for undocumented immigrants (2006)

- Current Ohio Lt. Gov. - Former state rep and auditor

Platform/History: (all from OnTheIssues)

- Has mixed reviews from the NRA on gun control (Politico, 2017)

- Has a 0% rating by NARAL Pro-Choice America

- Believes marijuana is a gateway drug (OnTheIssues, 2018)

Platform/History:

- Creating “private sector treatment system” for those addicted to opioids - Supports creating simpler, smaller tax forms - Opposes higher taxes on wealthy people

- Picked Nathan Estruth, former P&G executive, for running mate (Cincinnati Enquirer, 2018)

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PREEXISTING PREJUDICE: MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS NEGLECT LGBTQ NEEDS Words by Regan Schell Illustration by Alexis Scranton

n an age where lack of access to healthcare is an urgent problem, the LGBTQ population is often left out of the conversation.

According to the CDC, members of the LGBTQ population are at a significantly higher risk for health problems than heterosexual and cisgender people.

These problems may stem from a lack of nondiscrimination laws at the federal and state levels. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, 28 states have no explicit protections for transgender people. Ohio is one of them.

This is partly due to lack of comprehensive sexual education for LGBTQ people, but also directly related to the social inequality experienced by many in the community.

That means in 28 states, LGBTQ people can be barred from accessing many goods and services, including housing, public restrooms and healthcare.

For example, discrimination against LGBTQ people is associated with mental illness, substance abuse and suicide in that population, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Healthcare discrimination can take one of two forms. The first is the doctor who denies care or makes assumptions on their patient based solely on gender or sexual orientation.

The statistics report that LGBTQ youths are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide and more likely to be homeless due to discrimination from peers and parents.

The LGBTQ population also has higher rates of alcohol, tobacco and drug use.

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Kent State graduate student Benji Muskal was recently faced with a situation of the first type. On a Friday night not so long ago, he said, he had a sexual encounter with another man whom he met on a dating app and did not know well.

“

For instance, a lot of times people that are gay,” Ditlevson said, “if they go with a common cold to some medical practitioners, and then they share that they’re gay, the medical provider will automatically hop to, ‘this is a sexually transmitted disease. −Ken Ditlevson

director of KSU LGBTQ Student Center

“

According to Muskal, their condom broke during sex. Due to his cautious nature, Muskal decided to go to the emergency room to receive PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis), a drug that, when taken within 72 hours after possible exposure to HIV, exponentially lowers the risk of contracting the virus. Muskal went to the emergency room on Saturday morning and requested the drug. The first few people he talked to were supportive and understanding, reassuring him that he would soon be on his way, but things quickly soured after he was taken back to an exam room. “They started giving me the run around,” Muskal said. The doctor he spoke to claimed the emergency room did not provide the PEP service, even though every online resource on the matter instructs people to go to emergency rooms for treatment. The doctor then told Muskal that it was a “liability issue” for them to give him the medication he needed. When Muskal asked more questions, she first suggested that he go to the CDC – even though the CDC’s website does not list PEP as a drug they distribute – and then claimed she needed to speak to “people from infectious disease” without specifying what that meant. “She was gone from the room for 40 minutes,” Muskal said. When she came back, she “tossed” a prescription at him and told him he was able to leave. All in all, he spent two hours in the emergency room that Saturday morning.

The second, and arguably more insidious, form of healthcare discrimination is when health insurance companies make abstract determinations, such as whether gender-confirming surgery is “elective” or not, or outright denies coverage to the LGBTQ community. Trans people face unique barriers. Although the Affordable Care Act and Obama-era regulations prohibit “blanket exclusions” against transitionrelated care and require insurers to cover sex-specific treatments for trans people, such as prostate care for women or cervical care for men, the Trump administration has been chipping away at these protections. Frequently, lack of coverage for LGBTQ people stems from small but important rules written into health insurance policies, according to Amanda Leu, College of Communication & Information Diversity Outreach Coordinator at Kent State. “We’ve had issues with domestic partner benefits,” Leu said, referring to a rule written into a previous Kent State healthcare plan that did not extend coverage to the dependents of domestic partners in same-sex relationships. Leu continued: “There’s these little, nuanced aspects of healthcare policies ... they just don’t know this is an issue.” According to Leu, many committees that decide what to cover in employment-based plans do not include LGBTQ people, thus leaving gaps in the discussion about what to cover.

agree: training is key and it needs to be in person and hands on. “I think that all of the medical institutions really should have a solid course that looks at diverse communities,” Ditlevson said, “and maybe an entire class that would focus on that ... because when you learned through a book or through audio, it’s one thing, but when you actually interact with the community it can really open minds and really open people [to] being more accepting and better equipped with their work.” Benji Muskal agrees. He filed a complaint with a patient advocate of the hospital, who he said was “very apologetic” toward him and his situation, assuring him that his experience was not normal. An investigation was opened into the matter and, although Muskal said he was not told what the results were, he received a hand-addressed letter from the patient advocate assuring him that “changes had been made.” As for his life now, Muskal said it isn’t too different. He just worries about how someone else would have been treated in his shoes. “I’m 27, I’ve done this before,” Muskal said. “But what if it was someone else? Someone who was young or didn’t know how to advocate for themselves?” It’s a scenario that he hopes no one needs to go through ever again.

Ignorance from doctors and healthcare providers is a large issue, too, and is among the biggest reasons why LGBTQ individuals feel unsafe in medical settings. It’s also why many members of the community don’t seek medical attention at all. Ken Ditlevson, director of Kent State University’s LGBTQ Student Center, said that the care LGBTQ people receive is often based on harmful stereotypes of the community. “For instance, a lot of times people that are gay,” Ditlevson said, “if they go with a common cold to some medical practitioners, and then they share that they’re gay, the medical provider will automatically hop to, ‘this is a sexually transmitted disease.’” Ditlevson added although there have been large increases in HIV infection rates among AfricanAmerican and Latina women, the demographic most associated with the infection is still gay men and that influences care for everyone. As for how to fix these issues, Ditlevson and Leu FUSION MAGAZINE

VIDEO GAMES

ALLOW TRANS PEOPLE TO ESCAPE INTO REALITY From living vicariously through digital avatars to finding like-minded community, video games offer trans people more than just entertainment. Words by Dustin Massengill Illustration by Jamie Weaver

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assive Multiplayer Online (MMO) games and Role-playing games (RPGs) alike provide transgender youth the opportunity to discover and affirm their genders through avatar creation and living vicariously through prescripted storylines. Video games are played by 64 percent of Americans above the age of 13 according to a 2016 study by Nielsen. So, video games provide something for the majority of people. And because of the chance to safely explore gender, this is especially true for transgender individuals. Youth around the U.S. come to video games for hours of enjoyment and an escap e from the mundaneness of everyday life. However, for some, video games provide a much more important service. Genderfluid gamer Stanley Brown said that gaming is one of the most important things to him. “Video games are my life,” Brown said. “If I could play video games and get paid I would. They are a good stress reliever and a good muscle relaxer. It is everything to me.” Natalie Clayton, a game designer and TEDxAbertayUniversity speaker told University of Dundee, Scotland students her truth about being both a transgender woman and a gamer, in 2016. When Clayton was younger, she spent hours on the character creators of extreme sports games like Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding. In virtual spaces. she discovered that she much preferred representing herself as female. “Being able to explore different gender options, hair options, eye options, outfits. It was great to have these options to build up an ideal version of yourself,” Clayton said. Transgender youth and adults alike use video games to help explore and affirm their real genders. Karissa Trent, a writer at MMO Games and a transgender woman, has been involved with video games since her youth. “Early on, I didn’t use video games as an escape because it was the early ‘90s and we didn’t have many RPG’s floating around,” Trent said. “But later on, when I started playing MMOs and stuff, and realized you could make a female character in MMO and everyone is going to treat you like a female, unlike in real life.”

The gaming industry has had problems with diverse representation in games as well as workplaces for game developers. In a 2018 study on diversity in video games, the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) found that less than three percent of industry employees are transgender. The majority of the industry is cis men, 74 percent, but a large majority of respondents identified diversity as an important issue to work towards in the development industry, according to the same study from IGDA. The gaming community can also be very unfriendly to the LGBT community, especially to transgender individuals. In 2011, Bioware received some backlash for having gay relationship options in its game Dragon Age 2, a role-playing video game. However, the developers released a statement telling offended people to get over it. In 2012, the first LGBTQ gaming convention recevied its required funding in just four days and planned its inaugural meeting for the following year. It eventually became known as GaymerX. The convention received mostly positive feedback, but some people criticized the people who wanted the convention, saying they wanted to create problems in the gaming community. Despite the ups and downs, gaming is slowly adopting a more progressive tone and increasingly including diversity in video games. Representation of LGBTQ characters allows young LGBTQ gamers to find role models in the digital realm. “With video games like the Mortal Combat X and Street Fighter games having more gay characters like Chang or trans characters like Poison,” said Brown. “It is letting the younger youth know that it is okay to be yourself or that it is okay to be different.” “Even a non-gay character like Chun Lee [Street Fighter] who is very muscular, shows you that no matter what the norm is there will be people who don’t fit inside the box,” said Brown. Avid gamer and genderqueer individual Katie Lotko, a former Kent State student from Lakewood, was into skateboarding at an early age. Lotko used video games as an exploratory tool

in her gaming youth. “I liked playing the early Tony Hawk games and I would always play as Tony in the early versions,” Lotko said. “In the later games I would usually design my own character as a boy. I kind of always wanted to be one of the boys.” Video games, especially MMOs, also provide people with a sense of community and allow them to meet other trans and non-binary people with similar interests. “I get to talk with others in the LGBT community because they all did the same thing, they came to video games and it probably saved their lives,” said Trent. “A lot of us talk outside the game and sit in on Facebook groups together ... I have made some real connections.” In some cases, people are less social and they’re able to use video games as a catalyst to help them maintain the friends they already have. “I wouldn’t say I am antisocial, I just have a small group of friends,” said Brown. “That small group of friends that I have we all play games together. I guess it is a middleman.” However, not all communities are equal. Many people, especially younger gamers, learn the hard way about the realities of dealing with gaming communities. “I was a pretty terrible teenager in terms of socializing in the real world, and when I first went into my initial game community experience ... I was awful,” said Clayton. “I was too easily sucked in by others and when they found out I was transgender they would backlash hard.” People looking at video games for comfort or to explore themselves in a safe space, can look to single player video games. Games with character creators and outfit options can allow trans people the opportunity to understand themselves. Many of these people may be unable to discover their gender in a real world sense. The more social gamer can explore queer and trans gaming forums, conventions and in-game guilds designed to facilitate community. Websites, like TransGamers and QueersPlayGames, and conventions, like GaymerX, all can help connect trans people who want to learn about themselves and have fun in a safe and understanding community.

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GATEKEEPING: SYSTEMIC BARRIERS TO TRANS HEALTHCARE Words by Saxen Marten-Jensen Illustration by Mike Kiczek Photo by Dustin Massengill

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Between co-pays, deductibles and all the perils of for-profit healthcare, no one has an easy time seeking medical treatment. But if you’re transgender, it’s even harder.

lenty of people don’t like going to the doctor. But most people know that when they go, their medical provider will treat them skillfully and respectfully. People aren’t asked to prove they have the flu. Doctors and insurance companies don’t require patients to get letters from therapists proving that they have the flu, either. Usually, people just go to medical providers, get treatment and if they have insurance, it covers some or all of the cost. But what happens when you’re transgender seeking healthcare? In short, gatekeeping.

Also, these prerequisites strip trans people of their autonomy. These requirements tell the world that trans people don’t know who they are and suggest trans people may be mentally unstable and don’t know what is best for themselves.

Finding Providers, Letters, and Diagnoses Many healthcare providers don’t provide transition-related or even primary care to trans people.

What is Gatekeeping?

After finding a provider, many insurance companies require proof that a trans person, is indeed trans. Trans people must meet certain requirements to be considered “trans enough” for treatment. These requirements are time-consuming and expensive.

Gatekeeping is the use of medical and psychological prerequisites often put in place by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). Although the WPATH standards may be well-intended, they create extra barriers between trans people and healthcare.

Requirements include at least one letter from at least one therapist, though insurance providers may require more. These letters must verify that the trans person has lived as their true gender for six months to two years, depending on the provider, the insurance and WPATH standards.

These standards can require people to attend therapy or mental health assessments. For certain procedures, they also require trans people to live as their “new” gender for a specified amount of time. This may sound harmless, but therapy isn’t cheap and living as one’s real gender can be dangerous in transphobic environments.

For insurance coverage, patients may need a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. The American Psychological Association defines gender dysphoria as a conflict between a person’s assigned gender at birth and the gender a person knows themselves to be.

The standards intend to show medical providers that trans people’s identities are valid. But they become obstacles to lifesaving, gender-affirming care.

The ways trans people may experience gender dysphoria vary between individuals. And for genderqueer or non-binary people, proving that one is “trans enough” for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or surgery, can be even more

daunting and discouraging.

Trans Patients Speak for Themselves “In my local area the endocrinologists who work with trans folks have been known to deny HRT to non-binary folks they consider ‘not trans enough,’” said Martin T. from upstate New York, who declined to give his last name. Rafael Fontan of Florida, said a doctor refused to treat him based on “personal beliefs.” “After moving to Florida, I was unable to get hormone therapy through a doctor at the hospital near me due to his personal beliefs,” Fontan said. “Though he handles hormone therapy for cis males, he explained it’s totally different.” Fontan added that he was fully prepared for the appointment. “I also had all the prescription information, dosage, injection schedule, medical clearance and contact information for the doctor that had been taking care of me in Wisconsin.” A doctor’s personal beliefs trumped Fontan’s medical needs and barred him from accessing the care he needed. Eli Strong was interviewed for an article in Kaiser Health News about gatekeeping by insurance companies. He talked about how the gender marker on his health insurance information made it harder to access care. “I was afraid that my insurance company wouldn’t cover annual exams or anything having to do with FUSION MAGAZINE

organs that insurance companies deemed as nonmale,” Strong explained in the article. “I resented having to keep my insurance marker as female because the way I saw it, that simple marker shouldn’t determine what coverage I received,” Strong continued. “What should determine my coverage is whatever organs I currently have or conditions I am diagnosed with.” The Obama Administration issued a rule prohibiting insurance companies from using trans patients’ listed gender markers to deny genderspecific procedures such as hysterectomies. But the Trump Administration has been systematically reversing Obama-era regulations like this one.

Progress: Informed Consent and Local Resources All of these forms of gatekeeping ultimately stand between trans people and their access to healthcare. But where do we go from here? Instead of requiring therapists’ letters for hormone replacement therapy, some providers use a model of “informed consent.” Informed consent means that patients simply read about the effects of HRT, then sign a form, indicating that they understand and consent to the treatment. The Pride Clinic at Cleveland’s MetroHealth hospital network uses the informed consent model. Planned Parenthood, Canapi and Equitas Health provide LGBTQ-friendly healthcare services. Though these clinics may not directly prescribe HRT, they may provide referrals. TransOhio compiled a list of trans healthcare providers and counselors in Ohio which can be found at: transohio.org

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Trans people must meet certain requirements to be considered ‘trans enough’ for treatment.

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EXPOSING THE FAÇADE OF PROGRESSIVISM:

ISRAEL, THE UNITED STATES AND THE DANGERS OF PINKWASHING When governments use gay rights to hide human rights violations under an image of progressivism, can we consider it progress? Words by Pádraigín O’Flynn Illustration by Alexis Scranton

Openly gay figure skater Adam Rippon wins bronze at Winter Olympics. - Gay Times, February 2018 Tel Aviv Gay Pride parade is largest ever in Asia and the Middle East. - The Jewish Chronicle, June 2017

Homonationalism and pinkwashing describe how governments use an appearance of LGBTQfriendliness to show that they’re ‘modern’ and progressive.

Measure to Ban Discredited ‘Conversion Therapy’ Fails in New Hampshire. - New York Times, January 2018

Homonationalism and Pinkwashing: LGBTQ Rights as a Public Relations Move

Israel to Deport LGBT Asylum Seekers to Rwanda, Uganda Despite Likely Persecution. - Haaretz, March 2018

Steps taken by the U.S. and Israel to improve their image with regard to LGBTQ rights play into a concept known in academic circles as homonationalism. Queer theorist Jasbir Puar refers to homonationalism as the way in which “lesbian and gay liberal rights discourses…produce narratives of progress and modernity that continue to accord some populations access to citizenship…at the expense of the delimitation and expulsion of other populations.”

hen reading these headlines, one would likely expect the first two to come out of ‘progressive’ Western states that brand themselves as advocates for and champions of LGBTQ rights. The last two, however, would likely be attributed to African and Middle Eastern societies which Americans and Westerners tend to view as more regressive or socially conservative. All four headlines describe cases in the United States and Israel. These countries claim to be pioneers for LGBTQ rights. The U.S. sets the global standards for the LGBTQ rights other countries must have in order for the Western international community to recognize them as ‘modern.’

“Pinkwashing” refers to concealing human rights abuses behind the veil of ‘modernity’ signified by LGBTQ rights advancements. Basically, homonationalism and pinkwashing describe how governments use an appearance of LGBTQ-friendliness to show that they’re ‘modern’ and progressive. This appearance of progress and modernity distracts attention away from human rights abuses.

The “Brand Israel” Marketing Campaign In Israel, these human rights abuses include the colonization of Palestine and occupation of its native people. In the U.S., pinkwashing typically refers to obscuring American crimes against indigenous communities and governmental failure to address police brutality. Israel has been attempting to reframe its image. In 2005, Israel implemented its Brand Israel campaign, an attempt to rebrand the country as modern, rather than as a place known for religious conflict and violence. According to historian and activist, Sarah Schulman, the Brand Israel marketing campaign, intended to encourage the global gay community to view Israel as a gay tourist destination. Tel Aviv, one Israel’s largest cities, has come to be known as a ‘Gay Mecca,’ in part because of its annual large Pride parade. Israel prides itself on being ‘the only gay-friendly country in the Middle East.’

Human Rights Abuses: Segregation, Violence and Blackmail But what about the rest of the LGBTQ community – those who aren’t cisgender gay men? Specifically, what about LGBTQ Palestinians? Asking these questions erodes Israel’s ‘ Gay Mecca’ narrative.

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Israel prides itself on being ‘the only gay-friendly country in the Middle East.’

Israel’s colonization of Palestine and occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip is one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time. Since its establishment, the State of Israel has been ethnically cleansing Palestinians, expelling them from their homes, destroying their villages, relegating them to second-class citizens, imprisoning them without fair trials and killing them in the streets. Although these crimes don’t directly relate to LGBTQ issues, Israel also targets LGBTQ Palestinians for blackmail. Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) Unit 8200’s is considered one of the most gay-friendly units in the entirety of the IDF, according to Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper. But it’s especially adept at persecuting LGBTQ Palestinians. Unit 8200’s main role is intelligence. Ex-combatants have explained one of its tasks is collecting information on LGBTQ Palestinians, regardless of their innocence or guilt. Then, the IDF threatens to out these Palestinians as LGBTQ, blackmailing them for information. If they don’t comply, the IDF threatens to kill them. Clearly, Israel’s gay-friendliness only applies to one portion of their population – white Israelis.

In the United States: Liberty and Justice for All LGBTQ Americans? Just as Israel casts itself as the LGBTQ rights leader in the Middle East, the U.S. does so globally. Touting advancements such as marriage equality, the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and increasing 18

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rates of LGBTQ elected officials, America claims to be a safe haven for LGBTQ people. But this is far from true. Despite such advancements, discrimination persists against LGBTQ people, especially queer/trans women of color. Most states don’t outlaw discrimination against LGBTQ people. Other states have laws permitting businesses to refuse service to LGBTQ people. Conversion therapy remains legal in 41 states. LGBTQ youth face violence and are often kicked out of their homes. Yet somehow, the U.S. still manages to paint itself as leading the LGBTQ rights movement. This strengthens its credibility as a modern, ‘progressive’ society. But the U.S. uses its pro-LGBTQ credibility to hide that this progress doesn’t include the entire community.

Left Behind: The Black Pride 4 Arrests at Columbus Pride Last summer, four protesters, of dozens blocking the street, were arrested at the Columbus Pride parade. The protesters asked for seven minutes of silence in memory of Philando Castile, a black man from Minnesota who was killed at a traffic stop by Officer Jeronimo Yanez. Yanez had been acquitted the day before. The protest was “an effort to raise awareness about the violence against and erasure of black

and brown queer and trans people, in particular the lack of space for black and brown people at pride festivals,” explained the Black Pride 4 in a statement. Black Pride 4 members Wriply Bennet, Ashley Braxton, and Kendall Denton were convicted of six charges in February. Deandre Miles faces felony charges in a separate trial.

The Limits of Intersectionality The Black Pride 4 incident raised questions about the American LGBTQ movement’s intersectionality. Repeatedly, the movement focuses only on white, socioeconomically privileged members of the community. Additionally, the U.S. claims to be a global leader on LGBTQ rights, but refuses to condemn Israel’s neglect and violence against LGBTQ Palestinians. If our governments won’t condemn human rights abuses, then we must stand with our international comrades. Solidarity within the global LGBTQ community is more important than ever. We shouldn’t allow partial advancements to stall further progress, especially for the most marginalized among us. And we shouldn’t allow our own comfort to keep us from standing with our LGBTQ family around the world whose oppression goes unaddressed. From the U.S. to Palestine and beyond, let solidarity be our most powerful tool in the fight for liberation.

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—Hunter

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332-2437

GAY MEN DETAINED AND TORTURED IN CHECHNYA: HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF RUSSIAN HOMOPHOBIA For the LGBTQ community, Russia isn’t known only for hacking. But the brutal violence against gay Chechens wasn’t an isolated incident, it was part of a longer legacy of systematic homophobia. Words by Marisa Shepard Photo by Dustin Massengill Illustration by Stephen Francis

n April 1st, 2017, Russia’s anti-Kremlin newspaper Novaya Gazeta broke the story on what many have described as an organized massacre against Chechnya’s LGBTQ community. While investigating the story, Novaya Gazeta confirmed a torrent of rumors: the Chechen government was abducting residents and committing human rights abuses including torture and, in some cases, murder. Their campaign involved the mass detention of Chechens – primarily men – suspected to be gay or bisexual.

They ended up at a nondescript building. He was taken to a room where the leader of the operation, who Ali called “the boss,” was waiting. Using derogatory language, the boss interrogated Ali about men he knew to be gay. Ali denied knowing anything. Then, Ali was taken to the basement. He saw officers dunking prisoners’ heads in ice water, men with electric wires clipped to their ears and men and women being brutally beaten.

The catalyst for this incomprehensible cruelty? Gay and bisexual Chechens had the audacity to want to host a Pride parade.

Ali was tortured countless times. After each session, officers took him back to the boss and told him to give up the names of the gay men he knew. He never caved.

Abduction, Incarceration and Torture

Ultimately, Ali was left in a cell to starve for over a week. After his release, Ali managed to go into hiding. Like most other gay Chechen men, this wasn’t his first time being abducted and beaten for his sexuality.

The timing of Novaya Gazeta’s article allowed a government spokesperson to suggest that the piece was an April Fools’ joke. But the international community wasn’t fooled. The news grabbed the attention of the United Nations, western governments and Human Rights Watch. A New Yorker article by the Russian-American journalist, Masha Gessen, detailed the experiences of several victims of the massacre who were living undercover: Ali, a 30-year-old man from the Chechen capital received a phone call. He was told to get dressed because he needed to be “taken in.” Two police officers took Ali from his home. They 20

held his head down so he wouldn’t see where they were going.

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Not an Isolated Event: Placing the Massacre in Historical Context Chechnya is a part of the greater Caucasus, a region spanning across southern Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Caucasus are Muslim majority territories. Accordingly, many victims reported the government was motivated by their religious belief that homosexuality is a sin. However, this claim slanders the countless peaceful followers of Islam and overlooks LGBTQ

Muslims. The Chechen massacre is another instance of people using one specific religious view as an excuse for brutal homophobia. In reality, last year’s massacre wasn’t an isolated event nor unique to Chechnya. It was an escalation of the broader homophobia throughout Russia.

Regulation of Sexuality From Tzarist to Stalinist Russia In her book “Lesbian Lives in Soviet and PostSoviet Russia: Post/Socialism and Gendered Sexualities,” Scottish researcher Francesca Stella notes that the medical and legal regulation of homosexuality dates back to Tsarist Russia, when sexuality was considered a solely religious issue. Such laws, categories and stigmas set the precedent for institutionalized homophobia. However, after the 1917 revolution and establishment of the socialist state, views of sexuality, gender and family underwent drastic transformations. In its infancy, the Soviet Socialist Party redefined sexuality as a scientific and medical issue rather than a moral one. To separate government from sexuality, the party decriminalized homosexuality and sex work. Unfortunately, like other promising ideologies of the early soviet socialists, such as reproductive rights and free education, this progress was short-lived. In 1928, the Soviet Union fell into the hands of Joseph Stalin. Under Stalin, the country adopted a mutation of socialism, which rejected its ideol-

ogy of equality while maintaining its structure of total government control.

Moving Backwards Under Stalinist Rule The Stalinist era not only regressed on sexuality and gender. Stella notes that the ‘biological purposes’ of men and women were officially defined as fixed and as polar opposites. Straight families became the face of the USSR. This phenomenon was similar to the propagandizing of the nuclear family as the foundation of American values during the mid-20th century. Women were defined by their reproductive capabilities. The progress made by Bolshevik feminists in normalizing a woman’s right to sexual pleasure was squandered as Stalinist Russia reasserted the idea that female sexuality is only for childbirth, while men are naturally endowed with zealous libidos. But overall, human sexuality held a negative connotation in the Soviet Union. Soon, non-straight people weren’t considered citizens. By 1934, same-sex attraction was considered a criminal act for men and a mental illness for women. Due to low visibility, there’s still a myth that

lesbianism was rare in the Soviet Union. Of course, this is ludicrous. Women have always been attracted to women, regardless of locale or repressive governments. Today, female homosexuality in Russia is still overlooked – Chechnya almost solely detains non-straight men.

Improvements After Stalin Scholars of gender studies, Elena Zdravomyslova and Anna Temkina, note that after Stalin’s death in 1955, the Soviet population had its own “sexual revolution.” But unlike in the West, the sexual revolution wasn’t reflected in politics. It was limited to changes in private activity. During the 1970s, Dr. Viktor Kalnberz performed one of the world’s first gender confirmation surgeries. According to Russia Beyond, the procedure was kept secret for 20 years. Little changed until the late ‘80s, as the Soviet Union approached its demise. Male homosexuality was never decriminalized. Since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, homophobia has remained strong. Switching from socialism to a capitalism, the country witnessed

a return to the values of the Russian Orthodox Church, particularly under current President Vladimir Putin.

The Role of the Orthodox Church As Olga Khazan wrote in her 2013 article in The Atlantic, “Why Is Russia So Homophobic?”, most followers’ devotion to the Orthodox Church doesn’t come from faith. Instead, affiliation with the Orthodox Church is nearly synonymous with support of Putin. A staunch supporter of “traditional” Orthodox values, Putin believes a country’s leader defines its morals. The Orthodox Church also signifies anti-liberalism. Affiliating with the Orthodox Church makes sense for conservatives and Putin-supporters, or, in other words, most Russians. So, for most Orthodox adherents, accepting homosexuality is out of the question. Russia’s turbulent history and Moscow’s attempts to reinstate old values have fostered an environment for events like the 2017 Chechen massacre to take place. Despite claims from the government, Russia is more sociopolitically conservative than faithFUSION MAGAZINE

ful and more homophobic than moral. A toxic narrative produced a country that threatens gay Russians enough for them to flee as refugees. More than 20 Chechen men who were victims of the massacre now live in Toronto. One refugee participated in Toronto’s 2017 Pride Parade. Unfortunately, most are unable to flee their homeland to get to accepting places. But this doesn’t mean that LGBTQ Russians sit quietly and take whatever they get. Many activists continue resisting in the face of danger.

they’ve ever known. Even if it takes until 2112, there will always be people willing to endure anything to stay true to themselves and their communities. There will always be brave Russian citizens fighting for equity and progress. Nothing can make up for the lives lost in last year’s Chechen massacre. But there are Russians, both in-country and around the world, who fight tirelessly in the names of those murdered. Права ЛГБТ = права людини (LGBT rights = human rights).

The Russian LGBT Network provides social and legal services for LGBT Russians. Although the Moscow Pride Parade, which was “banned for 100 years” in 2012, typically results in arrests and violence, activists continue to fight for their right to celebrate their identities. Whether it means being detained, beaten, arrested and outlawed by a totalitarian government. Whether it means leaving the only home

“

Overall, human sexuality held a negative connotation in the Soviet Union. Soon, non-straight people weren’t considered citizens.

“

More than 20 Chechen men who were victims of the massacre now live in Toronto.

Chervlennaya

Nadterechnya

CHECHNYA Urus Martan Vedeno

The riots were an escalation of the broader homophobia throughout Russia.

Martan River

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RIGHT TO WORK: LGBTQ SEX WORKERS SPEAK OUT

“I’ve always been the dominant in my relationships, I’ve often ended up dating [submissives] whether I was looking for that kind of relationship or not, so I had a good deal of experience in that area,” Trusste explained.

Stigma around sex work is pervasive in and out of the LGBTQ community, but workers are using their voices to combat the misconceptions.

Trusste said she offers a range of services, “from light bondage to hardsports – shitting on people – literally.”

Words by MJ Eckhouse Illustration by Victor Barratt - McCartney

r. Eric Sprankle, professor of psychology and sexuality studies at Minnesota State University, wrote on Twitter last year, “If you think sex workers ‘sell their bodies’ but coal miners do not, your view of labor is clouded by your moralistic view of sexuality.” Moralistic views of sexuality pose an ongoing challenge to the LGBTQ community. Before marriage equality became legal in 2015, workers at a call center in Kent conducted political surveys, funded by right-wing organizations, asking respondents where they stand on “moral issues, such as abortion and same-sex marriage.” In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled against laws which criminalized consensual sex between men. Several decades prior, distributing literature about homosexuality was illegal. Now, gay rights have made significant legal and social advances. Trans people are the new political target of the “morality/culture wars,” but even 60 percent of Republican voters support trans people’s right to live free of discrimination. Despite these victories, there are still areas where some people’s ideas of morality dictate others’ livelihoods. Such is the case for sex workers. The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found that 12 percent of respondents did sex work and nine percent reported working in the sex industry that previous year. The Center for Disease Control (which in December was reportedly banned from using the word “transgender”) reports that some trans people may do sex work “because of discrimination and lack of economic opportunities.”

with others for personal or work reasons was never an issue,” said Trusste via email.

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There are 22 states without nondiscrimination laws for LGBTQ people. Administrative laws governing legal documents and sex-segregated facilities make hospitals, group homes, addiction rehabs, jails, prisons, immigrant detention centers and even traffic stops dangerous for trans people. Especially for those facing discrimination on multiple fronts, such as LGBTQ people of color, these systems create an environment of limited opportunity, where underground economies, such as drug sales or sex work, remain the most desirable options. Sex workers’ rights and concerns find no place in mainstream LGBTQ rights organizations. Foundations and corporate donors may not consider sex work to be an LGBTQ issue or may view sex work through a moralized lens. The LGBTQ rights movement gained ground when individuals shared their personal stories, allowing our cis- and heteronormative society to start regarding them as equally human. Sex workers could follow the same path. Here, several LGBTQ current or former sex workers explain how they got into the industry, their views on decriminalization and their experiences with clients. Cydoni Trusste, a 26-year-old trans lesbian from Brighton, England, started working as a professional dominatrix when she began dating a cis woman who worked as an escort. “I’m polyamorous, so my partner having sex

Even in the fetish industry, Trusste found being trans a liability. She used to openly work as a trans woman, but her clientele shrunk or consisted of men requesting services involving her genitals, which she doesn’t do. Since then, she stopped disclosing her trans status and noticed greater demand. Although she’s a lesbian, Trusste’s clientele is entirely male. “I am, in essence, playing a part or a character,” she said. Aside from gender, Trusste’s clients are notably diverse. “My clients have come from a few different backgrounds. I’ve seen people of all ages from 21 to 81,” she said. The men who pay her to dominate them also vary in whether they have experience as sexual consumers. She said some of them are married with kids and fear that their partners would judge them for their fetishes. However, the more seasoned clients don’t have such reservations. “Those that are not new to dominatrices have no shame in what they enjoy,” she said. “They accepted that they pay for pleasure a long time ago.” Trusste said there are several misconceptions about sex workers, including the belief that sexual abuse causes people to go into sex work, that they “lure men away” from their families or that they are all sex or drug addicts. “I do not stand on street corners,” Trusste said. “I don’t hunt men down. I have a profile online and they come to me. Also, I’m gay. I’ve met people who think I must be a sex and/or drug addict. I don’t regularly drink, I don’t take any drugs and doing this work has actually greatly diminished

my interest in sex. I have been to college and am about to go back to college again. We are educated people.” Trusste, who studied journalism in college, criticizes media for disseminating negative portrayals of sex workers. “While I understand that ‘if it bleeds, it leads,’” she said, “I also see that sex workers are viewed as collateral damage and if we get killed, we only have ourselves to blame. This viewpoint is taken from media and shared throughout society. Sex workers are everywhere. You probably held a door open for one today, passed one on the street or are friends with one but they won’t tell you because they are afraid of potential or proven ignorance on your part. Sex workers fall into the same area of rape culture, ‘we deserve what we get’ and that is, quite frankly, fucked up.” Negative perceptions of sex workers can dissuade victims of sexual violence from filing police reports or seeking medical help.

“

I think sexuality is a sacred, beautiful thing, to be cherished and shared in many ways, both personal and commercial.

−Lycha Rose

Trans Woman Sex Worker

it isn’t the law that holds people back from sex work,” she said. Many trans people do sex work after they face discrimination in traditional avenues of employment. Trans people are four times more likely than cis people to be unemployed. Also, many jobs don’t provide health insurance which covers transition-related care. Lycha Rose, the stage name of a trans woman from Delaware, got into sex work to earn some extra cash. She said she knew several other trans women who paid their rent and bills doing online cam shows.

“Sex workers need to feel like they can go to the police if something happens to them,” said Trusste. “They need to be able to trust their doctor and not fear being ignored because of how they were attacked.”

Rose mostly performs on live cam and films video clips for purchase. She also has a “crappy day job” in retail, through which she receives benefits.

Trusste believes the only difference between full service sex work and pornographic films is the presence of a camera.

“Honestly, working in retail feels way more degrading than sex work,” she said. “When I’ve had higher-income desk jobs in the past, those have sometimes also made me feel way more used.”

“If it’s consensual, it should be accepted, not punishable.” She said. She also compares sex work to another element of underground economies: drug use.

Although some people believe sex work is a last resort, something no one would actively choose, Rose, a musician and former professional actress, enjoys the creativity her work allows.

“In similar fashion to the legalization of drugs,

“I really get to put my creative background to

“

work, which is very exciting for me,” she said. “I also absolutely love making hot stuff, turning people on and indulging people in their fetishes. I think sexuality is a sacred, beautiful thing, to be cherished and shared in many ways, both personal and commercial.” According to Rose, the rate of pay is a common misconception about porn performers. “People think there’s big bucks in it,” she said. “Maybe for some, but not for most. If you have a mind for marketing, you will definitely do better, but it’s largely based on luck and looks. People also think it’s really easy. It’s a ton of work and is best for self-motivated, thick-skinned individuals.” She advises that people who decide to work in porn should not expect it to be a primary income source unless they exert “tons of effort.” Though Rose hasn’t done escorting or pro-domme work, she said those can provide steadier profits, “though with considerably more legal risk.” Rose, who is in recovery for alcoholism, also mentioned the perception about high rates of drug use. “People also think there’s tons of drugs,” she said. “Yet I don’t know of any studios that allow people to be intoxicated on set. Personally, I am a recovering alcoholic with over two years sober and I’ve never been put in an uncomfortable situation doing adult work – I can’t say the same for non-adult work.” Rose believes the public should realize that sex workers are skilled professionals. “We provide a form of skilled labor; we are also a type of consultant as well as a type of artist,” she explained. “Almost everyone I’ve worked with or spoken to in the industry wants to create good content or provide good services for their clientele – the adult industry is full of hard-working, talented entertainers. We want to be accepted just as any other type of entertainer.”

Still frame from Molly Merryman’s documentary, “Red Umbrella Rights.”

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To increase acceptance and safety, Rose offered several specific suggestions for policymakers;

“Legalize prostitution. Illegalize police vice squads. Pass a regulation making it illegal for private payment processors, like PayPal, to discriminate against sex workers. Relax obscenity laws – if consenting adults want to do uncommon or conventional sexual things, film it and sell it to others, it shouldn’t be illegal.” Some Northern European countries have relaxed enforcement of anti-prostitution laws by only arresting the clients or “johns.” In sex work advocacy parlance, this is known as the “Nordic model” or “end demand.” Rose and Sprankle both oppose this practice. “I don’t like that idea very much, though I don’t escort, so my opinion probably doesn’t matter much,” Rose said. “It’s an intermediate step, possibly? I would worry that escorts would be afraid to report abusive behavior by johns, though, for fear of getting a reputation that would lose them significant business. I mean, that’s already the current situation, but legalizing prostitution while making being a john illegal wouldn’t improve that at all.” Sprankle took a harder stance. In 2015, he wrote on Twitter, “The Nordic model is not progressive. It’s punitive and stigmatizing. Paternalizing and shaming. Anti-intellectual, anti-sex and anti-labor.” Rose acknowledged that lawmakers are reluctant to support “things that make them seem personally attached to vice behavior,” like protections for sex workers. “I think a big part of the issue is that the American culture at large engages the sex industry in two-faced manner,” she said. “By day, most people make jokes about the sex industry, but by night, utilize the prevalence of the sex industry for entertainment – hence the popularity of sites like PornHub. When this country can outgrow its hypocritical Puritanical-Victorian cultural roots some more, I think the issue can be discussed in a more sincere, productive fashion.” For now, Rose believes sex workers’ best option for advocacy is to incorporate sex workers’ rights into other campaigns, such as STI testing access. Although women are more often associated with sex work, especially trans women, men also work in the sex industry. Xander White, a trans man from California, said his jobs in stripping and porn shoots were a “last hoorah of femininity” for him. After a friend suggested dancing, he thought he’d give

it a chance.

or turning tricks,” said Lord.

“It lasted because it was better money than I could make doing anything else,” he said.

Lord said dating a former sex worker helped him question his own assumptions and become more open and accepting.

In addition to the myth that all sex workers are female, White pointed out how many people incorrectly believe that all strippers have abusive dads. “Neither is true,” he said. “Really, most of the girls that I danced with had really good relationships with their dads, and so do I.” White agreed that consent should be the determining factor in criminality, for both workers and clients. “I think there definitely needs to be an advancement of the idea that consent is what really matters,” he said. “As long as there’s no pimp, or blackmail in either direction, there is no reason for sex to be criminal. I don’t think even the clients should be criminalized, as long as there was proper consent of everyone involved.” He added that sex workers can still be rape victims, regardless of the nature of their work. He believes that legalizing sex work would provide a safer environment for workers and clients.

“At first, it made me a little concerned,” said Lord. “I’m thinking about history and questioning whether or not this person has the same values I do.” Now, Lord thinks about sex work differently. “Who the hell has the right to tell anybody else how they’re able to earn a living,” he remarked. “Why is bringing somebody else pleasure considered illegal? It’s almost a ridiculous question when you reduce it that way.” Dr. Molly Merryman, Director of the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality at Kent State, agrees. “I adamantly believe that all aspects of the sex work industry should be decriminalized,” she said. “I think legalization is an artificial construction that’s thrown out there to break down the dialogue,” continued Merryman. “If you look at all of our professions, our professions are not legal-

Since his work was entirely legal, White admitted his experiences were “probably a bit different than someone whose work was not legal.” Like Rose, he also pointed out how he was paid better and treated with more respect as an erotic dancer than as a retail worker. However, he noticed similarities between the two fields, as well. “Both of them feel the same amount of like I’m selling my body and both of them require a lot of emotional labor,” he said. White quit performing when he entered a monogamous relationship. While some people quit sex work because of monogamous relationships, others quit for different reasons and later become involved with monogamous partners to whom they may decide to share their work histories. Tim Lord, a 2008 Kent State graduate, dated a man in 2012 who had previously done full service sex work after getting kicked out of his parents’ house. After Lord’s partner left his parents’ house, he started using crystal meth and doing sex work to fund his use. A couple years later, after he got sober, the man went to a bath house where he was raped. Subsequently, he contracted HIV. “I would have thought, when he told me he was [HIV] positive, I thought it was from the drugs FUSION MAGAZINE

ized. They just are not criminalized. And then, within that, you do have regulations.” In 2010, Merryman filmed a documentary about sex workers’ rights, called Red Umbrella Rights. Throughout that process, she met several sex workers and activists, including Carol Leigh (stage name Scarlet Harlot), who coined the term “sex work.” Merryman dedicated her film to Robyn Few, a sex work activist who founded Sex Work Outreach Project (SWOP) and started the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Few died of cancer in 2012. International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers emerged from the serial killer case of Gary Ridgway, also known as the Green River Killer. In 2003, Ridgway was convicted of 48 murders. Many of the victims were alleged to be sex workers. “During his trial, he ended up pleading guilty and in his admission statement, he said that he killed sex workers – he called them prostitutes – he very willingly chose prostitutes because one, he didn’t like them, and two, he liked to kill,” Merryman said. “He wanted to kill as many people as possible. And knew he could get away with killing prostitutes.” Sex workers had reported Ridgway to the police “early on,” Merryman said, but their concerns were dismissed. Merryman believes that decriminalizing sex work would allow sex workers to assist with other types of criminal investigations and crime prevention. “I think decriminalization is important not only for the rights and health of current sex workers, but I think it takes care of other criminal matters, for example, sex trafficking, which is again, it’s a whole other topic that would be a whole other interview, but where there is real sex trafficking happening, if we decriminalized sex work, sex workers could be an ally in stopping that from happening,” Merryman said. Several sex workers’ advocacy groups, such as SWOP, Desiree Alliance, Red Umbrella Project and Sex Worker Advocacy and Resistance Movement (SWARM) Collective emphasize the distinction between sex work and sex trafficking. Merryman agrees and notes that these different practices are often conflated. Merryman explained that sex trafficking is a smaller part of human trafficking in general. “Human trafficking is a significant problem,” 28

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she said. “The majority, though, of people who are trafficked by criminals are doing things like working in chicken slaughtering plants. They’re doing other kinds of work. They’re nannies, they’re housekeepers, they’re doing all that. And then, one small component of human trafficking is sex workers.” She added that immigration restrictions artificially inflate the reported numbers of sex trafficking victims. “If somebody is caught engaged in prostitution and they have a tenuous immigration status, it behooves them to say that they’ve been trafficked,” explained Merryman. “Because that’s the only way they’re going to get protection. So, we’re elevating the reported numbers because of other laws that we have.” Merryman also criticized myths about sex trafficking and how it happens. “We tend to create this really ludicrous notion of human trafficking, that it’s somehow these suburban, usually blonde, young women, who are abducted by usually non-white people that are trafficking them sexually,” she said. “Perhaps that has happened at some point, but if it has, it’s just that unusual, strange case.” In actuality, Merryman explained, most sex trafficking victims were abused by someone they knew personally. “Largely what we’re seeing with sex trafficking is child abuse and familial abuse,” she said. “In the same way that it’s difficult to talk about sexual assault without talking about domestic violence, those are the real kind of situations we see.” Merryma emphasized the difference between trafficking and sex work. “And that’s very different from sex work as a profession, where people are willingly, knowingly entering into a means of raising money,” she said. Again, the presence or absence of consent emerges as a crucial distinction. Sex worker advocates contend that if adults decide to make monetary payment a condition of their sexual consent, they should be permitted to do so. However, if someone is forced to perform sex acts for money, that is sex trafficking, which should remain illegal. É.F.K. O’Conghaile, a nonbinary person from Washington State, understands this distinction of consent firsthand. While they were homeless, a man offered shelter in exchange for sexual fa-

vors, then kicked them out after they declined, O’Conghaile said. “I was desperate for housing,” they said. “But I soon committed to the exile as I knew the alternative would have been to sacrifice my physical autonomy and personal dignity. By that point I hadn’t had, like, actual proper sex before and wasn’t comfortable sacrificing my physical insularity for another night on the hard floor or in his bed.” O’Conghaile slept outside in the rain instead of having sex with the man. However, they understand why many LGBTQ people choose to do sex work. “For me, it would hypothetically be the physical validation, of being desired for how my body looks and functions as-is,” said O’Conghaile. “In late high school, I came across trans cam girls and ‘traps’ and I was smitten, so maybe there’s a representation aspect to it, though nonsexual mentorship should take community priority. I guess for most people, the above-ground community doesn’t have many options for employment, intimacy, love and eroticism, but I suppose that’s slowly changing for some people.” O’onghaile also believes that criminalization of sex work is harmful. They think there needs to be “more awareness and humanity” around the topic and that sex workers’ rights would benefit from “militant and armed sex worker unions.” They also oppose the practice of criminalizing clients and argue that reducing the incidence of sex work requires reducing the economic poverty conditions which incentivize it. “Criminalizing the money flow is not helpful for sex workers, instead creating very similar poverty/ terror conditions that criminalize the sex worker in the first place,” they said. “Criminalization is unnecessary for clients who do not cause actual harm or violate contract of the worker. Instead, if people want to decrease the implicit individual need for sex work as a profitable enterprise, it would be necessary to eliminate poverty by increasing public housing, create livable mandatory minimum income and commit to an all-out attack on a sexually violent culture that objectifies and mutilates certain bodies.”

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ON-CAMPUS ORGANIZING FOR QUEER LIBERATION AND LABOR RIGHTS Kent Students take labor rights into their own hands with organized inclusivity for marginalized groups. Words by Ayden Aponte Photos by Dustin Massengill

“

Although representation doesn’t solve the problem, it can be really important for young people like myself. −Claire Bobel

eople often overlook the intersection between queer liberation and workers’ rights. Queer people’s involvement in the labor movement has been emerging since the ‘60s. Several groups on campus emphasize queer inclusion in labor struggles. The Kent branch of United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) aims to protect human rights against corporate abuse, on campus and around the world. In February, USAS members attended a national conference. There, they learned about new organizing techniques and ways to be more inclusive. The programming offered several ways for students to get involved in labor activism, such as joining unions or participating in grad programs or internships. The conference also held workshops, where attendees brainstormed labor organizing campaign tactics. USAS members emphasized why it’s necessary to build welcoming spaces within the labor movement for LGBTQ people. “I’ve been in a group before where the leadership was predominately cis, white, straight and male,” said Claire Bobel, USAS Campus Worker Justice Chair. “When a majority of leadership is that demographic, we got stalled, the organizing efforts of minorities got pushed to the wayside. Our voices were not being thought of.”

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USAS Campus Worker Justice Chair

The conference also included caucuses, which are spaces created specifically for minority voices. “The caucuses were supposed to bring not only leadership, but making sure that they were really focusing the views and needs of folks from all different identities,” explained Brianna Foraker, the USAS faculty advisor. “The caucuses provide an opportunity to reflect on what we can be doing to be better.” Queer workers themselves, these USAS leaders discussed how the separation between being queer and being workers represents a struggle for many people. “Working in a place that is very straight, mostly white and cis, it is really limiting to what you feel comfortable with,” said Foraker. Bobel explained the importance of LGBTQ representation in the workplace. “One of my favorite jobs was working at a food truck and my bosses were two women in a relationship,” said Bobel. “And although representation doesn’t solve the problem, it can be really important for young people like myself. Those two people, even though I wasn’t out to them, were really supportive and they helped me understand myself.” Nico Rushh agreed that representation matters

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and they mentioned the importance of intersectionality. Rushh is the secretary of PRIDE! and vice president of Threads, the student organization for LGBTQ people of color. According to Rushh, it isn’t enough to have people in leadership who represent different groups, but those leaders must understand why intersectionality is important. When people can’t relate to what’s being discussed, or they never see their struggles addressed, it makes them not want to get involved, Rushh explained. Another student group which prioritizes an intersectional view of queer and labor rights is Kent State’s Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) branch. The group describes itself as a “multi-issue, intersectional organization based on democracy, solidarity, liberty, justice and equality.” A co-chair of YDSA explained the group’s role in the queer labor movement. Fearing workplace discrimination, she spoke on condition of anonymity. “We’re still very early in our movement… but we do our best,” the co-chair said. “We’ve been trying to work with SJP [Students for Justice in Palestine], for a queer and Palestinian solidarity event. We haven’t reached out to USAS yet but we would like a queer worker solidarity meeting.”

“We also want to not only reach out on campus, but in the community,” she added. The co-chair also mentioned that the national DSA supports a healthcare policy of “Medicare For All.” She explained how the policy could positively affect queer people.

This discrimination is currently legal in most of Ohio, though 19 cities have passed local ordinances enacting nondiscrimination protections.

“[Medicaid For All] lets queer people live their lives more freely, without having to worry about ‘how am I gonna pay for this, how am I going to go to the hospital?’” the co-chair said. “It also helps if you lose your job or have to work a job that typically wouldn’t provide healthcare. And even for people who have well-off families, people can be disowned. It promotes this stability, where people don’t have to live their lives in constant fear that they’ll have their ability to be treated stripped away from them.” The co-chair also explained how House Bill 160, also known as the Ohio Fairness Act, could influence queer workers’ struggles. House Bill 160, sponsored by State Rep. Nickie Antonio, the only openly gay legislator in the Ohio General Assembly, would prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ people in employment, housing and public accommodations. This discrimination is currently legal in most of Ohio, though 19 cities have passed local ordinances enacting nondiscrimination protections. “I think [House Bill 160] is a step in the right direction but even if you don’t get fired there is still a social stigma that is never going away,” she said. “I hope it’s not something where once the legislation is passed that everyone thinks its over, the fight never ends.” Currently USAS meets every Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Student Center, room 302. YDSA holds their meetings on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the Student Center, room 316. PRIDE! meets every Thursday at 8 p.m. in the student center Governance Chambers. And Threads meets every other Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Student Multicultural Center.

Brianna Foraker, USAS’s faculty advisor, and Claire Bobel, USAS’s Campus Worker Justice Chair.

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KSU HEALTH INSURANCE

NOW OFFERS TRANSGENDER COVERAGE FOR FACULTY AND STAFF After years of advocating, Kent State faculty and staff finally won a healthcare policy which covers transgender people’s care. Words by MJ Eckhouse Photo by Julia Ryan

ent State‘s health insurance plans will now cover transition-related healthcare services, according to an October announcement posted to Facebook by Spectrum, Kent’s LGBTQ faculty and staff group. The news came from an email from F. Jack Witt III, Kent State’s Vice President for Human Resources. Amanda Leu, who runs Spectrum’s Facebook page and works as the College of Communications and Information Diversity Coordinator, commended the decision. She worked on a committee of faculty and staff members who discussed the policy improvements with university administrators. “This has been an ongoing process for a few years and we are very excited to finally have transinclusive healthcare policies at the university,” Leu said via email. The committee has not yet seen the specific details of the policy change, Leu added. “However, any trans-inclusive policy changes are a huge step in the right direction,” she said. “Previously, there were specific exclusions listed in the faculty/staff healthcare policies that said that any procedures related to ‘transsexualism’ were not covered under any of the healthcare plan options.” Leu explained that a subcommittee of Spectrum

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members researched various policies and other information about trans healthcare. They sought input from contacts at Ohio State University, Case Western Reserve University and Ohio University, which had already implemented transinclusive health insurance policies. When faculty and staff members shared their own personal stories about accessing trans healthcare, that “really helped put things into perspective for the administration,” wrote Leu. She continued, “For me personally, I have been trying to get top surgery for over a year and I was never able to get it approved with the old health insurance policies. I tried a few different things, but I was denied every time. I am very excited to take advantage of the new coverage at the beginning of the year, and again, I am really looking forward to seeing the actual policies once they are released.” Erica Pelz, another member of the committee which advocated for the healthcare policy, agreed. Pelz, the Facilities Mechanical Systems Specialist for Laboratories, said she believes putting a human face to the issue helped demonstrate its importance. “I think what really got the ball rolling was that I was willing to stand up and be counted, to say, look, this [lack of coverage] affects real people in a negative way and I’m one of them,” Pelz said.

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I have been trying to get top surgery for over a year and I was never able to get it approved.

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−Amanda Leu

CCI Diversity Coordinator

In October, Pelz received the news in the email from Vice President for Human Resources Witt, and she was overjoyed. “I was in ISB [Integrated Science Building] and I let out a ‘woohoo’ that echoed down the hallway,” she said. “I hope I didn’t disturb anybody’s class but I was just so, so overwhelmingly happy that it had happened.” Although Pelz may personally benefit from the healthcare access, she said her motivation was to give back to the trans community and to help others. “When I started this, I didn’t think this was going to be something that would really even help me,” said Pelz. “That wasn’t my intention. It may, but my concern was more of the people who come after me. I want them to have access to better care than I did, I want them to have access to care earlier than I did.”

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Gay Millennial Elected to Cuyahoga Falls School Board Words by MJ Eckhouse Photos by Cameron Croston

n November, LGBTQ candidates prevailed in state and local elections across the country. This includes Anthony Gomez, a 27-year-old deputy clerk of courts, who celebrated his election to the Cuyahoga Falls School Board. Gomez spoke to OhioFusion.com in November about his campaign and his motivation to serve his community as a school board member. Fusion: What’s the story of how you decided to run for school board? Anthony Gomez: Well, I’ve been involved with my school district since I was 15 years old. Because, my freshman year of high school, we had a huge financial crisis and 60 percent of my freshman teachers got laid off. I was really angry about that, so I emailed our superintendent at the time and said, “what can I do?”. He said, “help us get our levy passed,” so I got involved, got that levy passed. When he formed a committee, I got on that committee. That committee was for our district to become ‘excellent’ rated by the state of Ohio. We accomplished that my senior year as I was leaving. And then I kind of followed everything that happened between now

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and then, but wasn’t as involved because I was going to college – I actually studied to be a priest for five years – so that was interesting, that’s a whole ‘nother life story. I left there in 2015. I knew I was going to come back home and that I wanted to get involved in local politics again and I got reconnected with all the same people. It didn’t feel right to run that year because I was transitioning back to normalcy and healthier life. So, this year was the first opportunity I really had to run for office. I always knew I wanted to run for school board. Because I’ve got a passion for that. I know the history, I’ve been involved for so long, I can see what’s going on. There were seven people running for three seats, it was the most contested school board race in Summit County. I started in April because I knew it would be a hard fight. I pulled petitions at the end of April, started meeting with people. The first thing I did was to get to know as many PTA presidents as I could, because I know they’re the people who are going to talk to people. I started that last school year and then all summer long, dug in, got informed, got petition signatures, which is the worst part of the process. Because you don’t know – people can tell you they’re registered to

vote and to find out they’re not, you’re super worried. School board doesn’t file until August. Once I knew my petitions were good, I was like, “I’m going to start spending money on the yard signs, get the campaign literature.” F: Why did you run for school board? Why not city council? AG: Just because the schools are always what I’ve been most interested in. I know a lot about what’s going on in our city, I’ve helped a lot of city council people get elected over the years. But my passion is education, making sure that education is equitable for all. Making sure that there’s diversity in our schools and we recognize it. One of the big things I want to do is get more diversity in our hiring process. Because Cuyahoga Falls is known for being a very white area – I was asked by an African – American woman in Akron, she goes, “Why do you think there aren’t more of my people teaching in our schools?” And I said, “Do you think that they feel comfortable?” And she said “no.” I said, “I think we just found our answer.” I want people to feel like it’s okay to be different. So, I ran in the difference that I am. I’m gay, I’m

kids that there’s a whole world of people out there that disagree with you and now’s the time to learn to live with them. F: What were the biggest challenges you had on the campaign trail? AG: I think the biggest challenge was getting people to realize that I knew what I was talking about. Because I’m young. I went to one lady’s house and she just looked at me, she goes, “Start talking about school stuff,” and I start talking. She goes, “Okay, you actually know what you’re talking about, I’ll vote for you.” Being young, people think certain things about my generation of people that aren’t true. I’ve found that Millennials are probably the best human beings that there are because we don’t care about all those other things that generations above us want to use to define and divide one another. F: Like what?

young and my last name’s Gomez, I’m Mexican, too. I tried to embrace that as much as possible. We have a large Nepali population in our district. We have a lot of African-American people that a lot of people don’t want to acknowledge that we have, unfortunately. So, we have a lot of of diversity. We had a male cheerleader two years ago. I was excited about that. There’s a lot of things happening that a lot of people don’t want to recognize that are happening, and I want to highlight those things because I want people to feel comfortable being who we are. One of our PTA presidents is an African-American woman now. I’m super thrilled about that. People didn’t believe me when I told them that. They’re like “really?” I’m like, “Yes, isn’t that exciting?” F: I’ve seen a number of trans people talking about running for school boards because of the Gavin Grimm lawsuit last year, the whole “bathroom” issue. So, that comes to mind with seeing more LGBTQ people in school board races. AG: That’s something that I want to look at. I want to contact Gwen [Stembridge] and see if they [Equality Ohio] have sample school board policies. I know they have sample legislation for

cities and municipalities. But I want to see if they have sample – we call it policy in the school board world – if there’s sample policy that we can do both for hiring and for our students, to make sure our students are protected. F: Do you know what kind of policy Cuyahoga Falls already has? AG: We have something but it’s not strong. And it only applies – I think – to the students and not to the hiring process. So, I want to do more about that. No matter who the kid is and what they believe, I want them to feel comfortable to come to school every day. They did a study of just the middle schools. I think it was like 12 percent of students feel unsafe coming to school everyday. And that’s just self-reported. So, that’s scary to me, that we have that many kids that are afraid to come to school for whatever reason it is. So, we have to do better to make them feel safe. I already had one parent complain to me because there was an allegation that a kid got suspended for wearing a “make America great again” hat outside of school grounds. I don’t know that that’s true, I don’t think it’s true. But I said to her, that’s not okay either. If you want to think that, you get to think that. We need to educate

AG: Are you gay, are you young, did you vote for this person, is that how you feel, are you emotionally-driven, are you fact-driven, are you data-driven? They want to find all these things and use them to divide. And what I always tell people is it wasn’t me as an 8-year-old demanding a participation trophy, it was the parents of the other 8-year-olds demanding we get partcipation trophies – and I don’t care! We didn’t care. I didn’t want it. And so, they try to blame that. We’re the participation trophy generation, we’re the generation of, we feel like we deserve everything. I’m like, our parents told us we could be whatever we wanted to be. And we grew up and found it wasn’t true. But we had this optimism until that point that reality hit us in the face. The financial crisis, when you realize, which when I graduated, and you realize, you really can’t. You can only be what’s within your world of socioeconomic advancement. And being gay wasn’t easy either. It wasn’t that bad, it was better than I thought it would be. But I did have one lady who told me she’s a God-fearing woman that wasn’t sure if she could vote for me because I sounded gay. And then I had one guy just scream “faggot” at me as he’s walking down the street. I’m like, I didn’t even realize I was that gay. I didn’t know that just walking he could tell. F: What would you tell somebody who’s considering running for office, especially a young LGBTQ person? AG: I’d say go for it. The biggest lesson I’ve learned, and that lesson I’d give to anyone, is that if you put your name on the ballot, just be who the hell you are. Don’t hide any part of who FUSION MAGAZINE

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No matter who the kid is and what they believe, I want them to feel comfortable to come to school every day. −Anthony Gomez

Cuyahoga Falls School Board Member

you are, be who you are. Because the majority of people will love you for it and the people that never loved you will reveal themselves to you. And to be 27 and to have learned that lesson already, honestly, do it at 18. Find it out at 18, it’s the most freeing experience of my life to know how many people will have your back and also, we have folks that never really did. So, I say go for it. I never expected to win. I didn’t think I had a chance in hell. And look at me now. So, you never know what will happen. But people see dedication in you if you are a dedicated person. People see kindness in you if you are a kind person. I think people in my generation have those attributes more than people want to give them to our generation as a whole. And if you put yourself out there, people will see you for who you are and they’ll love you because of it. F: Explain the recount to me? AG: So the state of Ohio, the law governing elections says that if it’s less than one half of one percent separating you, there’s an automatic recount. So, myself and the guy that came in fourth place are separated by .23 percent, which is 49 votes. But, our election process is such that, in Summit County at least, we vote on paper ballots and they scan them through. And it’s like 99.999 percent accurate, so I have no worries that that amount will change. But the only thing is that there’s late absentees and provisional votes. But provisional ballots tend to come from less wealthy areas which is where I did the best. So, I’m pretty confident. F: What do you think about the future of LGBTQ rights in Cuyahoga Falls? AG: We have a mayor that is a Democrat and we were able to win back control of city council. And I know one of the things that the Democrats on city council want to do is file and pass a nondiscrimination ordinance. Partially because I’ve been bothering them about it for a while. I know that they generally believe in it but I’ve also been bugging them for a while, like “if you get the majority, you need to do this. If you win,

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you need to do this.” And they’re like, “well, we’re going to do environment,” I’m like, “you also need to do this.” So, it’s going to happen, I’m very confident. We had a fight under the former mayor, of 28 years, very conservative Republican. Two people that were married in Washington DC at the time, two men. We didn’t have gay marriage in Ohio yet. So, they were married in DC, they came to the natatorium and tried to get the family rate and they were told that their marriage license was not valid and therefore could not get the family rate. One of the first things the new mayor did was change that. F: Would you say that things have improved since then? AG: I think so. I think that people are more willing to be out in Cuyahoga Falls now, too. Seeing more people who have lived there for a very long time be like, “hey, we’re gay! We’re not just roommates.”

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GROWING UP QUEER IN THE MIDDLE EAST: AN INTERNATIONAL STUDENT OPENS UP Words by Ella Abbott Photos by Dustin Massengill

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Local

From Ghana to the Middle East to the U.S., a Kent State student shares how she went from the anguish of internalized homophobia to the contentment of self-acceptance.

rowing up, I just didn't know who I was. I was who everyone else wanted me to be, but I just wasn’t who I was meant to be.” This sentiment may be a familiar one to LGBTQ youth who grew up without being able to discover their sexuality, but for Jaqueline Torto, it could be a life or death situation. Torto was born in Ghana but moved to a country in the Middle East at a young age. She spent the rest of her youth there before coming to Kent State in 2014 to study psychology. Now a senior, Torto is out as a member of the LGBTQ community. She has also served the international community as the International Student Senator for Undergraduate Student Government. While state-sanctioned violence isn’t specific to Middle Eastern countries, many countries in the Middle East consider homosexuality a crime punishable by jail time or death. Due to the taboo nature of being queer in her country, Torto is only out to a select amount of people. “But, I’m out here (in Kent),” Torto said. “I’m

out to my friends. But, I’m just not out to my family at home.” Viewing homosexuality as worthy of repression isn’t specific to the Middle East, despite popular misconceptions that Middle Eastern nations are uniquely homophobic. Remaining closeted may also be a familiar situation for queer Americans. In the United States, many LGBTQ youth find themselves in danger of violence, homelessness and homophobic sentiment just for being open about their sexuality. In 2017, the Human Rights Campaign tracked at least 28 instances of fatal violence against trans people in the U.S. Only a few months into 2018, they already know of at least six transgender individuals who were killed. While the U.S. government may not sanction this violence as outwardly as Middle Eastern governments, it can make the thought of coming out daunting for many Americans. For people who grew up under especially oppressive regimes, this fear can be heightened. Torto said she has many queer friends here in Kent and interacts with many international students, but rarely sees the two groups intersect.

“I don’t think I have queer international friends that are actually out,” she said. “I mean, I try not to judge people or try to out people, but sometimes some of [the international students I meet] talk like they are [queer] and I’m like, ‘you know what? I’m here, I’m gonna wait. I’ve been there.’” In February, Haaretz released a piece called “What it’s like to be gay in Gaza.” In it, the subject of the article, going by the name Jamil, mentions that he doesn’t know any lesbians because it’s even more difficult for women to explore their sexuality in Gaza. “There are too many restrictions on girls, things that are controlling them,” Jamil told the publication. “Women don’t dare to talk about those things, even among themselves.” In the U.S., religious texts like the Bible can be twisted into supporting homophobic ideas. Similarly, the Koran can undergo the same treatment in countries where Islam is the most common religion. In 2016, following the shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Doha News published a piece written by an anonymous Muslim man titled “What it’s like to be gay and Qatari.” In FUSION MAGAZINE

it, the man - going by the name Majid - writes about the homophobia he witnessed in his country following news of the shooting. Majid laments the intersection of his faith and his sexuality, writing: “I am in constant turmoil and anguish – how do I reconcile who I am with my faith that says I shouldn’t exist? I am the worst of the worst, I am vermin.” Torto, too, has had to work through internal homophobia fostered by living in a society that believes you shouldn’t exist. “I used to be very homophobic, which is very hard on myself considering that I’m also a part of the community,” Torto said. “It’s just hard ‘cause I learned to hate myself.” Internalizing homophobia, as well, is not specific to people who grew up in the Middle East. American LGBTQ youth often grow up in households and communities that won’t accept them, which can lead to internal hatred. Without a support system, young people may struggle to reconcile this self-hatred. According to the Trevor Project, “each instance of LGBT victimization, such as physical or verbal harassment or abuse, increases the likelihood of self-harming behavior by 2.5 times on average.” A December 2016 article published by the New

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York Times, titled “Coming Out in Lebanon,” profiled six LGBTQ people living openly in Lebanon. One of the women, Joyce Kammoun, spoke with the Times who referred to her coming out as a “struggle and a slow process.” “Internal homophobia, I think, is worse than anything because it’s the virus within,” Kammoun said in the article. In May, Torto will graduate with a degree in psychology. She intends to stay in the area to pursue her masters. As for going home, Torto says she’s “not ready to go home.” “I haven’t been home since I came here as a freshman,” she said. “It doesn’t really bother me. I mean, I miss my family, but then again, I get to be happy.” Returning to the country where she grew up isn’t out of the question, though. Torto intends to return home sometime after her graduate studies to try to create change in the mental health field there. “That’s something that really bothers me,” she said, referring to the way mental health is overlooked. “Growing up, I just had to deal with it on my own and I recently just got help and it feels great, you know? And I want to do that for other people back home.” Torto believes that coming to Kent helped her become more confident about her sexuality,

instead of trying to be the person that people expected of her. “No one can come up to me and tell me who I am because no one knows me more than I know myself,” Torto said. “Coming here helped me unlearn that hatred and I actually started to love myself more.”

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Coming here helped me unlearn that hatred and I actually started to love myself more.

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−Jaqueline Torto KSU Student

Local

LGBTQ-AFFIRMING STUDENT GROUPS AT CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITIES What’s it like to start an LGBTQ student group at a Christian college? Students from three northeast Ohio Christian schools explain. Words by Natasha Gaj Photo by

Dustin Massengill

s there a place for LGBTQ people and allies who practice Christianity? Despite the belief that you can’t, LGBTQ Christians exist and they’re able to live without self-hatred or spreading hate towards the queer community. LGBTQ affirming is a term commonly used to describe Christianity that does not condemn queer people as sinners. Since the Bible has multiple different interpretations, LGBTQ affirmation typically either reinterprets specific Bible verses which homophobic Christians use to justify bigotry or deems those verses as irrelevant when they contradict the ideology of “loving thy neighbor”. Madalyn Staudt is a sophomore museum studies major and history major at Walsh University, a private Catholic college in North Canton. Being an LGBTQ-affirming Catholic, she and her peers are currently establishing a monthly dineand-chat called the “Walsh LGBTQA Family Dinner” for students, faculty and community members who are LGBTQ or allies. Though Walsh University is a Catholic institution, people of different beliefs are welcomed, as well. “Walsh prides itself on its diversity, so they’ve been pushing to stop any kind of discrimination or bullying on campus,” said Staudt. “It isn’t tolerated at all, and unlike in high school they actually take care of it.” The dinner is growing, now with about 25 attendees, but it has faced limitations. Before the

Walsh LGBTQA Family Dinner was approved, there were 14 previous attempts to initiate an LGBTQ organization at Walsh University. “The conditions at first were we weren’t allowed to advertise, everything was through word of mouth or invitation only, so we couldn’t send out emails, we couldn’t put up posters,” Staudt said. “We didn’t have a name really at first, either.” The dinner is still not recognized as a Walsh organization. With the obstacles students at Walsh face, will their dinner survive? LGBTQ groups are not always received well at Christian affiliated institutions. In 2010, a student of Walsh’s Evangelical rival school, Malone University, attempted to start an LGBTQ support group called MU Safe Space. There was significant pushback, according to the group’s founder and graduate of Malone, Sam Smith. Smith said the university didn’t allow the group to be a campus approved organization. It briefly ran until it disbanded in 2014 for unknown reasons. “There’s a lot of queer students at Malone, there always will be and as far as I know they don’t have a group anymore, they don’t have a place to go,” Smith said. Another Catholic institution in northeast Ohio, John Carroll University (JCU), initiated an LGBTQ club called Allies. Unlike Malone’s group, Allies has been recognized as a JCU organization for almost two decades as a group for LGBTQ

students and supporters to discuss LGBTQ topics and issues. Justin Spayde is a freshman political science major and communication major who is starting his first year at JCU as treasurer of Allies. “I joined at the beginning of last semester because a lot of the people here are not the most open-minded,” Spayde said. “And because of that I kind of wanted to seek out people that I knew would have similar viewpoints and experiences as I did.” Not only has JCU’s Allies been successful, but it hosts a drag show for the whole school every fall semester. Two drag queens who graduated from John Carroll and were involved in Allies performed at Kent State’s Queen Esther’s Ball, put on by Hillel and the LGBTQ student center in March. Allies isn’t the only LGBTQ program at the university. Q@JCU is essentially the faculty version of Allies and Safe Zone is a program to train faculty on how to create safe spaces and appropriately address homophobia. Director for the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion at John Carroll and Allies’ advisor, Salomon Rodezno, said he believes these types of programs and groups allow people to acknowledge their identity. “I think it’s important for representation, I think it’s important in terms of legacy.” Rodezno said. FUSION MAGAZINE

“I always remind students that the work they’re doing right now isn’t going to benefit them, but it’s going to benefit the students that come after them and that can be very inspiring for students.” The reason for John Carroll’s higher number of established LGBTQ spaces and resources may have to do with their Jesuit roots, according to Elizabeth Stiles, the faculty advisor of Allies. “The Jesuits are a real interesting group, and I think in the Jesuits, there’s probably a lot more free-thinking, intellectual thought that goes on,” Stiles said. “I do think there is that tradition of trying to be open to other points of view to educate yourself.” The differences between Walsh, Malone and John Carroll could also be linked to the schools’ 42

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non-discriminatory policies. While Walsh and John Carroll prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, Malone leaves it out. John Carroll only added it a few years ago, after protests held by students. Colleges have recently been adding “gender” or “gender identity and expression,” to prohibit discrimination against trans students, but none of the three schools do so. No policy protection could mean little to no inclusivity and a hostile environment for LGBTQ people. Since Walsh openly provides protection from harassment, it may be more capable of sustaining an LGBTQ group. According to Staudt, the Walsh LGBTQA Family Dinner is making slow progress. During their meeting on Febru-

ary 15, President of Walsh University Richard Jusseaume attended to show his support. “It’s still an experiment. We’re only a year and a half in, there’s still a lot we have to do and we’re still trying to figure out what we can do,” Staudt said. “I’m just happy that we have it. It’s really cool that it’s happening now, even with the current political climate. It’s not like LGBTQ students at Walsh are a new thing.” Christian-affiliated colleges are not the only places where LGBTQ-affirming Christianity is addressed. Miami University is a public university in Oxford, Ohio but Christian students have created a group to allow their faith and LGBTQ interests intersect. Victoria Slabinski, a junior social justice studies major and music major at Miami, is the founder and

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It’s going to benefit the students that come after them and that can be very inspiring.

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−Salomon Rodenzo

Director for the Center of Student Diversity and Inclusion

current president of Progressive Christian Students.

roles we’re supposed to follow.”

“I started it because before that, I used to be involved with some other Christian organizations on campus,” Slabinski said. “The reason I left is because, while I found great people in them, over time I started to be aware that there were a lot of messages about gender roles and divinely ordained different roles for men and women that I didn’t agree with. In addition with that, there were not directly anti LGBTQ messages, but they were very much there implicitly.”

While Progressive Christian Students is not explicitly LGBTQ, they occasionally focus on LGBTQ affirmation. One meeting was a collaboration with Miami’s LGBTQ club, Spectrum, where the topic was queer saints.

Initially believing she was the only one who felt this way, Slabinski soon found other Christian students who didn’t participate in religious clubs for the same reason. She started her own Christian organization in the fall of 2016 for students who want a “faith community that is LGBTQ+ affirming and doesn’t uplift the idea of gender

Slabinski is actively bridging the divide between Christianity and LGBTQ acceptance in other ways. She is a leader of an LGBTQ Christian cohort called “The Reformation Project.” According to its website, “The Reformation Project selects a cohort of LGBTQ Christians and allies to educate and train about the history, theology and intersections of LGBTQ inclusion in the church.”

converse online together to equip themselves for discussion with non-affirming Christians. Whether it’s through Christian institutions, organizations or leadership cohorts, LGBTQ affirming Christianity is emerging in many forms. “I think there’s this false divide in society that tends to present Christians and members of the LGBTQ+ community as two distinct groups that are opposed to one another,” Slabinski said. “Which erases the fact that there are people who identify as both Christian and LGBTQ+ and it’s fairly recently that conversations about that intersection are becoming more well-known.”

Slabinski is one of 35 leaders who study and FUSION MAGAZINE

GENDER DISCRIMINATION

IN PROFESSIONAL ENVIRONMENTS Words by Olivia Herold Photo by Dustin Massengill

he only male in a room full of talented women. Vinnie Tharnish, a sophomore fashion design major, was a nervous wreck when his professor called him out to explain how “brave” he was to be a male in a fashion class saying you’re the only guy in the room. Tharnish was mortified after the class roared in applause for him for being a male fashion major. “That was my first class as a freshman and I was completely embarrassed.” With careers in fashion, your mind might immediately go to women since the typical consumer of fashion is women. You might be able to recall a few famous fashion designers who happen to be men but it’s still a profession and major that is influenced by women. Tharnish said one obstacle men in the field face is the idea that because they are male, they are expected to make sexualized garments for women and work from a sexual viewpoint. “Oftentimes in classes I’ll create garments that don’t have anything covering the bust area, because the ‘women must have their breast exposed’ and I’m assumed to be a pervert and I’m just like, no that’s just the style,” Tharnish said. “But they take it as ‘oh, men just being men, they can’t separate (their) mind from their penis.’” This experience is not isolated to students, with many people in professional fields becoming marginalized or passed over for jobs and promotions due to their gender or sexuality. Today, many careers and majors are still gender exclusive. A study composed by Planet Money in 2014 showed just how big the gender gap is among majors. Women dominate the health and education careers and men dominate the computer science and engineering fields.

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In 2011, a study done by the Williams Institute found 15 to 43 percent of gay and transgender workers have experienced some form of discrimination on the job, while 8 to 17 percent of them report being passed over for a job or fired because of their sexual orientation or gender. In 2015, the U.S. Transgender Survey reported 30 percent of respondents had been fired, denied a promotion or experienced some other form of mistreatment in the workplace due to their gender in the year prior. The survey also pointed out the increased rate of poverty among transgender individuals, 29 percent compared to 12 percent in the U.S. population, is heavily due to the increased unemployment rate among trans people. While the general population had an unemployment rate of 5 percent, trans respondents showed triple that with a 15 percent unemployment rate. There is a lack of study into these increased rates that trans people face and even less that focuses specifically on non-binary people. Women in sports journalism are often looked down on because the field is heavily populated by men. Not only do they face discrimination from the public but in their own work place where many aren’t allowed to do large portions of their jobs because they are women. In 1978, Melissa Ludtke, a reporter for Sports Illustrated sued the New York Yankees for banning her from the locker room. A judge declared banning women in locker rooms as a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. This brought a light to women in sports broadcasting but some believe it’s still not enough.

The Sports Director of TV2, Starr Bodi, is a junior at Kent State. She said she feels sports journalism has begun to focus too heavily on a woman’s appearance as opposed to her knowledge of the sport. “Which is really important in this industry and in sports,” Bodi said. “You need to know your stuff very quickly.” Bodi also said that women in sports still fight against the belief that they won’t do the job as well as men. “Women are kind of frowned upon,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s because it’s always been like that in our society that women, you know, can’t do the same job as a man, or as men would.” For Bodi, the importance is in a reporter’s passion and knowledge, not their gender. “I believe that women can be just as involved

as men are and they do have the same knowledge and the same research and the same facts but it’s just the people and how they go about it that are going to stick out,” she said. The #MeToo movement comes full circle to women and men being objectified and harrassed in their workplace and not being taken seriously or seen as an equal. This has a lot to do with why many people leave their jobs and move on to jobs that aren’t what they planned. The Director of Women’s Studies at Kent State, Suzanne Holt, said people have been asking for a long time why women don’t gravitate towards jobs in engineering, mathematics or science. Holt says data shows a lot of these places are more hostile to women.

said. “I think something on the most primal level of functioning reads hostility and doesn’t really want to experience it daily.” Although Kent State is considered an openminded and accepting campus, that doesn’t mean that some of the majors here aren’t still dominated by one specific gender. Just like campuses all over the country. Denise Lee is a professor at Kent State who has also started five of her own businesses. Lee has worked in the medical and home building industries, both of which she described as male dominated.

“You could probably have a guy in the nursing

“I experienced problems being a female in the business world when I was younger more than I do now,” Lee said. “So I say, having had a 30 plus year career, things are definitely getting better. Are we there yet? No.”

department and he’s not going to feel hostility the way a woman in engineering might,” she

However, Lee didn’t see this as a disadvantage. She saw being female in a male business

world as more or less a ‘bonus.’ “I was quite worried when we had the homebuilding business, the fact that I was female would be a hindrance,” she said. “I can honestly say I don’t think it was at all.” Lee said people evaluated her based on her skill and experience, rather than on the fact she’s a woman. “In some cases, I really think being a female was an advantage in the construction industry because, I felt like, and this could be an unjustified statement, but I felt like people trusted me more,” Lee said. “Because I was female, it really turned into a bonus.”

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COVER OUTTAKES Photos and Words by Dustin Massengill

The photos I shot are illustrative of the positive experience of some sex workers. The goal of the images was to showcase the theme of the sex workers article. Creating images that honestly capture the experiences of sex workers while using non workers created trials. The models comfort in their exposed bodies and each other eased as the night went on.

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