PORTLAND STATE VANGUARD
VOLUME 73 • ISSUE 30 • JUNE 4, 2019
INTERNATIONAL TAIWAN LEGALIZES GAY MARRIAGE • COVER PRIDE IS A PROTEST • NEWS REMEMBERING THE STONEWALL RIOTS
CRIME BLOTTER
May 28–31
DYLAN JEFFERIES MAY 28 Trespass Warning At around 10:09 a.m. Campus Public Safety issued an exclusion to a non-student in the Urban Center for repeatedly trespassing and “misusing the restrooms.” MAY 30 Invasion of Privacy At around 1:54 p.m. a PSU student reported to CPSO a man used his iPhone to take a video of a woman wearing a skirt as she walked up the stairs in Cramer Hall. According to the student who reported the incident, the suspect is a white male around six feet tall, thin, in his thirties and has short blonde hair. On the day of the incident, he was wearing khaki pants, a blue polo shirt and square-framed glasses. Following the incident, CPSO sent out an email urging students to be vigilant and aware of their surroundings.
MAY 31 Public Indecency Around 10:30 a.m. a student reported she had witnessed a man masturbating between Cramer Hall and the Smith Memorial Student Union. The man was described as a six-foot-tall white male with acne on his face and long reddish hair. On the day of the incident, he was wearing jeans and a dark jacket. Disorderly Conduct Between 8:30 and 8:45 a.m. a man in the Academic Student Recreation Center was preventing the elevator doors from closing and making verbal outbursts. At 10 a.m. a student reported that a non-student was making threatening gestures outside of the SMSU. At 7:50 p.m. an unknown subject disrupted an event. Trespass Warnings At around 8:22 a.m. CPSO issued three non-students trespass warnings for camping outside of the Simon Benson House.
CONTENTS COVER BY JOHN ROJAS AND DANA TOWNSEND
NEWS HILL TO HALL
P. 10
P. 4
INTERNATIONAL THIS WEEK AROUND THE WORLD 216 PEOPLE RESCUED FROM MEDITERRANEAN
P. 4
BOTSWANA LIFTS BAN ON ELEPHANT HUNTING
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COLLEGE REPUBLICANS INVITEE TALKS ON GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACY, NATURAL ROOTS
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WIKIPEDIA TAKES TURKEY TO COURT
P. 12
MONTGOMERY STREET CLOSED OFF FOR JUNE
P. 6
CITIZENS ELECT 751 EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBERS
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INTERNATIONAL TAIWAN FIRST COUNTRY IN ASIA TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE
P. 7
ARTS & CULTURE GARBAGE DAY: THE CHILLEST MOVIE ABOUT DEMONIC MAGIC EVER
P. 14
BRAZILIAN SUPREME COURT VOTES TO MAKE HOMOPHOBIA A CRIME
P. 7
COMICS
P. 15
COVER PRIDE IS A PROTEST, NOT JUST A PARTY
EVENTS CALENDAR
P. 16
P. 8–9
P. 3
STUDIES SHOW LYFT, UBER MORE EQUITABLE THAN TAXIS 50 YEARS SINCE STONEWALL
STAFF EDIT ORI A L EDITOR IN CHIEF Nada Sewidan MANAGING EDITOR Marta Yousif NEWS EDITORS Sophie Concannon Anamika Vaughan INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Madison Cecil ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Cervanté Pope OPINION EDITOR Taylar Rivers
ONLINE EDITOR Sangi Lama COPY CHIEF Hannah Welbourn CONTRIBUTORS Dylan Burdette Christina Casanova Chloe Dysart Andrew Gaines Amanda Guthu Dylan Jefferies Hana Nagura Emily Price Gregory Retz Marena Riggan PHO T O & MULTIMEDI A PHOTO EDITOR Bo Koering MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Huilyn Loo
PRODUC TION & DE SIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR John Rojas
A DV ISING & ACCOUN TING COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Reaz Mahmood
LEAD DESIGNER Dana Townsend
STUDENT MEDIA ACCOUNTANT Sheri Pitcher To contact Portland State Vanguard, email info@psuvanguard.com
DIS T RIBU TION & M A R K E TING DISTRIBUTION & MARKETING MANAGER Dylan Jefferies T ECHNOL OGY & W EB SIT E STUDENT MEDIA TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR Corrine Nightingale TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANTS Annie Ton
MIS SION S TAT EMEN T Vanguard’s mission is to serve the Portland State community with timely, accurate, comprehensive and critical content while upholding high journalistic standards. In the process, we aim to enrich our staff with quality, hands-on journalism education and a number of skills highly valued in today’s job market.
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A BOU T Vanguard, established in 1946, is published weekly as an independent student newspaper governed by the PSU Student Media Board. Views and editorial content expressed herein are those of the staff, contributors and readers and do not necessarily represent the PSU student body, faculty, staff or administration. Find us in print Tuesdays and online 24/7 at psuvanguard.com Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @psuvanguard for multimedia content and breaking news.
NEWS
STUDIES SHOW LYFT, UBER MORE EQUITABLE THAN TAXIS MAY 28–31 CHLOE DYSART
MAY 28: OREGON PUBLIC SCHOOLS NOW REQUIRED TO TEACH MATERIAL ON HOLOCAUST
Oregon Lawmakers unanimously voted to add mandatory Holocaust instruction to the school curriculum starting in the 2019–20 school year. This decision comes after new surveys show one in five American millennials surveyed were unfamiliar with the Holocaust, as well as the quadrupling of anti-Semitic incidents at K–12 schools from 2015 to 2017, according to The Anti-Defamation League. The bill is written in honor of Holocaust survivor Alter Wiener who died last year. Oregon will officially be the 11th state in the country to require Holocaust curriculum.
TAXI
MAY 29: TEMPORARY BAN PLACED ON FRACKING PRACTICES
The Oregon Legislature approved a temporary ban on the controversial oil exploration tactic known as fracking until 2025. Otherwise known as hydraulic fracturing, the practice involves injecting high-pressure liquids into underground rock to extract oil and gas. Environmental advocates in opposition to this practice claim it can contaminate groundwater and cause other potential environmental risks. The bill previously banned fracking for 10 years but was shortened to approximately five, where it passed 17-11. According to Statesman Journal, New York, Vermont and Maryland have already passed fracking bans, and Florida and New Mexico are considering banning the practice.
MAY 30: OREGON LOOKING TO REDUCE MARIJUANA PRODUCTION
The Oregon Legislature is attempting to reduce marijuana production by passing a bill that would allow the Oregon Liquor Control Commission more flexibility to deny new growing licenses based on supply and demand. As of January, OLCC estimates Oregon has six and a half years worth of supply of recreational marijuana. The OLCC attributes this to Oregon’s head start in the legal marijuana market, its rich climate and soil, as well as the long history of growing in Oregon. The bill is not only aimed at reducing surplus but also preventing unsold legal marijuana from going onto the black market. The bill passed the Senate and now heads to the House.
MAY 31: OREGON LUMBER COMPANY CUTS WORKERS BY 40%
The Stimson Lumber Company announced it would cut 60 jobs from its Forest Grove operations because of the state’s regulations and taxes. CEO Andrew Miller has since come out and said environmental permit fees, the Oregon Clean Fuels Tax, pending cap and trade legislation are responsible for the increase in cost that is forcing the company to cut workers. The company plans to move to Idaho and Montana where they can produce lumber for 5–6% less than in Oregon.
JOHN ROJAS DYLAN JEFFERIES Portland State’s Transportation Research and Education Center invited Dr. Anne Brown—assistant professor in the Planning, Public Policy and Management program at University of Oregon—to discuss demographic equity in ride hailing services such as Uber and Lyft. The event was held May 31, as a part of PSU TREC’s ongoing Friday Transportation Seminars. Brown said she conducted two studies in an attempt to answer three questions about ride hailing services: Where are Lyft trips, who uses Lyft and is there evidence of discrimination in ride hailing and taxi industries? The studies were based in Los Angeles County, California. The first study Brown conducted, titled “Ride Hail Travel and Equity in Los Angeles,” sought to answer her first two questions. In the study, Brown tracked roughly 6.3 million Lyft rides over a three-month period to see where Lyft rides were taken and who was taking them. Brown concluded Lyft rides were taken in 99.8% of Los Angeles. “It’s pretty remarkable the spread of this service,” Brown said. Brown then shifted her focus to an audit study she conducted in order to see if discrimination was evident in ride hailing and taxi services. In the study, Brown said she “sent out young adults, University of California, Los Angeles students, all between the ages of 20 and 30, who dressed similarly. They were instructed to wear plain clothes, nothing too flashy...they all have 4.5 star ratings or higher on their Uber and Lyft accounts...and they were all standing at the same locations.” Brown said, for every trip, they recorded wait times: how long it took for a driver to be assigned and how long it took for the driver to reach them. They also reported cancelations.
The results, in Brown’s words, “were stark,” especially in the case of taxi services. “How do these wait times and cancellations vary across race ethnicity and gender?” Brown asked. “What I find is that there’s no difference between Asian, Hispanic or white riders — there’s no difference between men and women riders — but there are significant differences between black and white riders,” she said. According to Brown, “Black riders are 73% more likely to have a trip canceled on them compared to white riders” when using taxi services. Ride hailing services such as Lyft and Uber fared much better, with only a 4% difference between black and white riders for cancelations, and all riders ended up getting assigned another driver within 18 seconds after being canceled on. Brown concluded that, while ride hailing services do much better in terms of demographic equity compared to taxi services, there’s still a lot of work to be done. “What I want to emphasize, especially with these latter findings, is that technology isn’t a clean slate,” Brown said. “It doesn’t mean that we’re going to erase the decades and centuries of discrimination and injustices we have to date, but they are a tool.” Brown emphasized the importance of policy makers and city planners who will be instrumental in making sure, as transportation systems evolve, that they include all members of society. She referenced a few examples of independent nonprofits and other companies in cities like Seattle that are expanding the reach of ride hail services by accepting payment methods that don’t involve bank accounts and that can be hailed by landline phones. Since 2000, TREC has hosted over 450 seminars that feature local scholars who share their work regarding technology and transportation implementation.
PSU Vanguard • JUNE 4, 2019 • psuvanguard.com
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NEWS
50 YEARS SINCE STONEWALL
PSU AND PCC COMMUNITY HOST DRAG SHOW TO REMEMBER, CELEBRATE LGBTQ+ HISTORY
DRAG SHOW FEATURED AT PSU IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE STONEWALL RIOTS. GREGORY RETZ/PSU VANGUARD SOPHIE CONCANNON AND GREGORY RETZ In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots, the Pan African commons and the Queer Resource Centers of both Portland State and Portland Community College held performances May 31 in the Smith Memorial Student Union. The event featured a drag show by MC Miss Poison Waters and her friends, Nay Nay Leaks Cartier, T Kara Campbell Starr, Lexxus Lynn Phoenixx and Kourtney Capri Duv who are all local queer performers of color. “I think it’s so important that we are holding space to let people of color lead the dialogue,” said Angel Ramirez, who works for the multicultural center at PCC. “I feel a lot of the time, especially here in Portland, we like to think that we’re a progressive state—but it’s drowning out our communities of color and not really speaking about the things we face on a day to day.”
STONEWALL RIOTS
The 1969 riots at the Stonewall Inn inspired the formation of the Gay Liberation Front. Every June, cities all around the world hold pride parades near the anniversary of the riots. “[The Stonewall riots] galvanized trans and queer activists organizations and movements here and around the world, the stonewall riots are why we celebrate pride each June,” said Miss Poison Waters. On June 28, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn—a gay club in Greenwich Village—sparking a riot as the police arrested 13 people and attempted to force employees and customers out of the club. “When [the police] came to get us out of there, nobody moved,” said Miss Major Griffin Gracy in a video as she recounted the
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events leading up to the Stonewall riots. “All [of a] sudden, everybody was fighting.” The riots continued for approximately five days, spilling into the streets and involved hundreds of people. According to The Atlantic, fire hoses were turned on protesters, windows were smashed, barricades were created and parking meters were uprooted.
ERASURE
Some feel that the origins and organizers behind the riots have been forgotten. “I’ve seen some of the movies they’ve made about Stonewall, where they’ve cast white actresses to play a trans black woman, and that’s a kind of erasure we can’t stand for,” said Stephanie Diaz, a community member visiting from Pennsylvania. The 2015 film Stonewall received criticism for its primarily white cast and lack of gender variance. “Many trans and queer Black and Latinx people argue that the dominant white queer community rewrote and continues to control the narrative of Stonewall,” Miss Poison Waters said. “They say this is one of the reasons for the gulf between whites and themselves as a united front against homophobia and transphobia.” “I think that at this point in our history we’re starting to realize that we’ve told the story of Stonewall wrong for so long,” Diaz said. “[We] actually started to recognize the people who were really involved with it, so I think that this is a really interesting time for young LGBTQ+ people and older LGBTQ+ people to get together and actually start to learn our history.”
PEOPLE OF STONEWALL
Miss Poison Waters also took time to commemorate some of the major figures of the Stonewall riots. “Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a veteran of the infamous Stonewall riots, former sex worker and survivor of Attica State Prison transgender elder…has fought for over 40 years to create visibility and equity for trans women of color,” Poison Waters said. Sylvia Rivera was a transgender activists for gay liberation before the organization of the gay rights movement. In 1970, Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson founded the organization Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, an activist group for trans queer youth of color without homes. Johnson is credited with throwing the first brick during the Stonewall riots. Miss Poison Waters said of Sylvia Rivera, “One time when a New York City council was debating a gay rights bill behind closed doors, Rivera was arrested for trying to climb into a dress in high heels.” New York city announced last week that both Rivera and Johnson will be featured in a new monument placed near the Stonewall Inn. During the performances, attendees would shower the performers with cash, as is customary during a drag show, and the tips were donated to Portland Friends of Lesbian and Gays (PFLAG), Black chapter. PFLAG promotes the health and well-being of black, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer LGBTQ+ people. Red Hamilton, a student volunteer, said “this organization began as the first African-American chapter of PFLAG in the nation,” and helps through “support, education, organization and advocacy.”
NEWS
‘A WORLD ON FIRE’
COLLEGE REPUBLICANS INVITEE TALKS ON GOVERNMENT CONSPIRACY, NATURAL ROOTS CHLOE DYSART Mike Ma, author of Harassment Architecture, spoke at the Portland State College Republicans spring event on May 31, discussing man’s divergence from nature as a result of government intervention. Ma is part of the Pine Tree Party, a newer development in conservative politics. The group focuses on returning back to nature and obeying natural law, with their motto being “An Appeal to Heaven.” Part of this ideology is the rejection of submission to others. “Those who don’t submit in a world of submission become the holy ones,” Ma said. The party’s goal according to Ma is to “mostly raise awareness about getting back to nature and becoming self sufficient.’’ This includes learning survival skills, as well as rejecting certain societal norms that go against natural law. Ma also discussed government conspiracies and their relation to natural law, emphasizing the food the government regulates. Throughout the speech, Ma routinely called those with dietary issues the “death walkers.” “I realized these people are something more than horrible,” Ma said. “These people are victims of the United States government and its abuse. What makes them the ideal creation? To put it simply, because they are the weakest. They require the most help, and they run to the government to receive it. It’s never real help, though.” Ma said he believes the diet that man was meant to consume consists of unprocessed dairy and meat and that the government regulates certain foods as a means of control. “There’s a reason that the government has banned raw dairy in [almost] every state. They want you weak because the weak rely on them; the weak don’t revolt; the weak pay their salaries,” Ma said. Ma also feels strongly against antibiotics and pointed to India as an example. ”Look at the Indians, so abusive of antibiotics that they only created super diseases. You don’t want to end up like the Indians, do you?” Ma said. Ma also added people wouldn’t need to take antibiotics if they made the right health choices. He is known as an antixenoestrogen activist, meaning someone who is against foods that contain estrogen, such as soy or flax. “In addition to killing gut health, soy also zaps testosterone, he said. “One of the worst ingredients found in ultra-processed foods is seed oil. Seed oils can cause obesity and increase the risk of chronic diseases like cancer.” In the middle of Ma’s speech, two individuals in ski masks threw soy milk on him, as well as setting off a noise-making machine. Ma resumed his speech shortly after. Another focus of Ma’s speech was the destruction of beauty and the loss of life as it used to be. “When you think about an artist, someone who truly understands touching asceticism, your brain should envision a physically fit male whose beliefs shouldn’t deteriorate the culture he creates,” Ma said. Ma went on to name historical artists such as Michelangelo and Beethoven and said he feels “no one even close to these figures exists in our time today.” This is what’s known to Ma as the anti-beauty, the creation of our society today that prevents people from being inspired
PORTLAND STATE COLLEGE REPUBLICANS HOSTED MIKE MA. BO KOERING/PSU VANGUARD and creating true artistry. “When we see anti-beauty, it kills the soul and the human spirit,” Ma said. Ma also spoke briefly on women, as he feels that they have also fallen victim to the destruction of beauty and that “fouryear colleges turn women into insatiable veteran whores.” “It’s your duty as a man to seek out the ones with even a touch of potential and to transform them, to in a way radicalize them,” Ma said. “More of a side mission actually, because you should never prioritize women.” When asked about these controversial comments, along with the consistent use of slurs throughout the speech, Ma responded, “For the most part, I believe what I say. Is it ramped
up a little? Sure, but at the base level, I’m only going to say things that I stand behind.” When asked about his ideal governing, Ma said there would be “no government, but obviously that would require a way smaller population.” Ma pointed to Native American groups and Greek civilizations as governments that would align with his standards of natural law. Though Ma said he feels that our world today is irreparable, he said “it becomes clear that our grand solution is simply a hard reset.” “What better place to embrace the ancestral embrace for chaos that in a world on fire?” Ma finished.
PSU Vanguard • JUNE 4, 2019 • psuvanguard.com
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NEWS
MONTGOMERY STREET CLOSED OFF FOR JUNE
SNAP!
SNAP!
VOLUNTEERS PAINTING ON THE ROAD BETWEEN BROADWAY AND 6TH DURING THE MONTGOMERY POP-UP. SOPHIE CONCANNON/PSU VANGUARD SOPHIE CONCANNON Portland State announced on May 31 Montgomery St. would remain closed until June 16. PSU sent out a poll the same day to gather student opinions on the potential permanent closure of the street. Previously on May 1, PSU—along with the Portland Bureau of Transportation—closed off Montgomery as part of a month-long initiative called the Montgomery Pop-Up Plaza Pilot Project—to determine if the street should remain closed and become a pedestrian-only space permanently. On the possibility of permanent closure, PBOT Interim Director Chris Warner said they would be “using a data-driven approach with traffic counts, surveys and other [forms of] public engagement that will better inform us as we test this street prototype.” According to the Portland Business Journal, the pilot project dates back to the 2009 Montgomery Green Street Plan which “aimed to create a walkable corridor from the West Hills to the Willamette River.” The Montgomery St. project hopes to expand the Green Street, creating a bigger pedestrian-only zone in the “heart of downtown [Portland].” To kick off the closure in early May, PSU hosted a pop-up plaza on May 1 on Montgomery St, located next to the Karl Miller Center and in front of the Urban Plaza. The street, closed to traffic and made into a pedestrian-only space on the same
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day, hosted booths and tables from local PSU groups like BikeHub, as well as a student arts fair with homemade goods and free food. Over the month of May, several groups and businesses held events and marketing activities in the walkway, including Campus Recreation, Green Zebra, Ben & Jerry’s and the Homelessness Research & Action Collaboration. According to the official press release, PSU said their goals for the pop-up plaza were to “explore the street’s potential as an active campus and community space,” as well as “create a successful precedent that will support the efforts to permanently close the street.” For the opening of the pop-up plaza, The Queer Resource Center was also recruited to help paint Montgomery St. with a mural for Pride Month. Volunteers from the QRC and other student groups hand-painted parts of the walkway with a rainbow design. “The QRC was invited to share the opportunity for students to submit street painting designs and submit events for the month of programming,” said Director of the QRC Kirsten Keith. Though the area “won’t be hosting organized events after today, the plaza will still serve as an outdoor community space through June 16,” according to Associate Campus Planner Elizabeth Hoekstra.
PSU Vanguard • JUNE 4, 2019 • psuvanguard.com
VANGUARD IS HIRING A PHOTO EDITOR, CONTACT MARTA YOUSIF AT
managingeditor@psuvanguard.com
INTERNATIONAL
TAIWAN FIRST COUNTRY IN ASIA TO LEGALIZE GAY MARRIAGE
BRAZILIAN SUPREME COURT VOTES TO MAKE HOMOPHOBIA A CRIME
CHRISTINA CASANOVA Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage which went into effect on May 24. Taiwan’s Constitutional Court ruled that same-sex couples had the right to legal marriage in 2017 and gave Parliament a twoyear deadline to create laws legalizing and protecting same-sex marriage. The new legislation was passed a week before the end of the two-year deadline. Lawmakers in the Taiwanese Parliament debated three bills before passing the most progressive option, according to BBC. The bill passed 66-27 and was the only option to use the word “marriages” over “same-sex unions” or “relationships.” The bill was also the only option to lay out limited adoption rights for couples of the same sex. “I’m very surprised—but also very happy,” Jennifer Lu, chief coordinator of rights group Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan, told BBC. “It’s a very important moment in my life. However, it’s still not full marriage rights; we still need to fight for co-adoption rights, and we are not sure about [foreign] and Taiwanese marriage and also gender equality education.” Since the beginning of the legislation process, conservatives in Taiwan have attempted to limit the extent of the bill, pushing for “same-sex unions” over marriages, according to CNN. In November 2018, 67% of voters were against
civil code marriage regulations being “used to guarantee the rights of same-sex couples to get married,” despite the large LGBTQ+ community in Taiwan. “It’s a breakthrough, I have to say so,” Shiau Hong-chi, professor of gender studies and communications at Shih-Hsin University in Taiwan, told NBC News. “I could not imagine that could happen in just a few years.” According to Pew Research, over two dozen countries have legalized gay marriage. The majority of these countries are located in Europe and the Americas. Two countries to legalize gay marriage in 2019 so far are Austria and Taiwan. “For me the outcome today is not 100% perfect, but it’s still pretty good for the gay community as it provides legal definition,” said Elias Tseng, a gay pastor who spoke to the Agence France-Presse news agency outside parliament. Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen publicly backed the passed legislation before the vote and praised its passing afterward. “We took a big step toward true equality and made Taiwan a better country,” she tweeted after the vote on May 17. On May 24, the first day same-sex marriages were officially legal, 526 couples were wed, according to Taiwan News. Among these were 185 male couples and 341 female couples.
ACTIVIST CHI CHIA-WEI WAS THE FIRST PERSON IN TAIWAN TO COME OUT AS GAY ON TELEVISION. COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
BRAZIL OUTLAWS DISCRIMINATION BASED ON SEXUALITY. COURTESY OF NEW INTERNATIONALIST ORGANIZATION HANA NAGURA The majority of Brazil’s Supreme Court decided discrimination on the basis of gender or sexuality should be punished under the same laws as racism on May 24. Six out of the 11 judges on the Supreme Court voted to make it illegal to discriminate people based on gender or sexuality. The remaining five judges will vote on June 5, but the decision will be enforced regardless of what the remaining votes are in favor for. According to The New York Times, Grupo Gay da Bahia, the group who defended the LGBTQ+ community in the court case, claim at least 420 LGBTQ+ individuals were killed in Brazil during 2018. That number is up to a minimum of 141 people since January. When Brazil declared racism a crime in 1989, the country also declared anyone found guilty could be sentenced to up to five years in prison. The Brazilian Supreme Court has decided this same punishment will be applied to any person found guilty of discriminating on the basis of gender or sexuality. The punishment for homophobia or transphobia will be the same as racism until Congress has crafted and approved legislation that deals with this specific form of discrimination, according to The New York Times. According to BBC, although same-sex marriage was legalized in 2013 and the right of LGBTQ+ couples to adopt was approved, many LGBTQ+ people still face discrimina-
tion in Brazil. The attempt to criminalize discrimination based on gender and sexuality has been under negotiation for almost 20 years. The resistance among conservative and religious groups in Congress has made it difficult to legislate the law, BBC reports. In Brazil, some have voiced concerns over Brazil’s current President Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro is a self-described “proud homophobe” who has repeatedly expressed critical opinions of the LGBTQ+ community. “Brazil can’t be a country of the gay world, of gay tourism,” Bolsonaro said, according to Crusoé magazine. “We have families.” The new court decision and coming legislation will protect the LGBTQ+ community from any future attempts by the government, including attempts made by Bolsonaro himself. According to Reuters, the new legislation would protect the LGBTQ+ community from violence and ensure fair access to education, employment and other services in stores and in the general public. President of the Niterói Diversity Group Felipe Carvalho said the decision was a “very important step” for the community. “This won’t end LGBT-phobia, but it opens a number of possibilities for us,” Carvalho told Reuters. The new court decision will be enforced once the remaining judges vote on June 5.
PSU Vanguard • JUNE 4, 2019 • psuvanguard.com
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COVER
PRIDE IS A PROTEST, NOT JUST A PARTY
VANGUARD EDITORIAL TEAM
For some people, Pride is a fun gathering that creates an opportunity to “safely” enjoy an environment filled with people who are like you. This isn’t the case for everyone. Pride began as a protest against police brutality, discriminatory legislation and the violence facing the community. The average life expectancy of a trans person is 35, gay conversion therapy is still legal in 36 states and homosexual relationships are still banned in 73 countries. There is no legitimate progress when the system and our government is still against us.
STONEWALL
The Stonewall riots occurred in 1969 outside the Stonewall Inn in New York City. The initial riot was the result of policemen invading a popular gay bar and arresting not only the patrons but also the workers. At the time, there was a law in New York that required everyone to wear at least three articles of clothing related to their “biological gender.” The uprising may have seemed to be a spontaneous protest, but it was an inevitable reaction to the perpetual police harassment and social discrimination suffered by the queer community in the 1960s. Although there had been other protests by queer groups, the Stonewall riot was perhaps the first time lesbians, gays and transgender people saw the value in uniting behind a common cause. In the context of the civil rights and feminist movements, the Stonewall riots became an awakening force.
PRIDE
The first Pride event was in 1970 in Washington Square Park. The event was held in June to commemorate the Stonewall riots that had occurred a year earlier. This Pride was not a party but a march that continued the fight activists such as Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera started. Johnson and Rivera were the leaders in the Stonewall riots and also founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR). As years progressed, Pride became more popularized and less exclusive to the queer community. In true capitalist fashion, companies have found a way to make a profit off the struggles and safety of the gay community. One of the first major endorsements that Pride had was an Absolut vodka campaign. This alcohol-fueled marketing set the precedent for companies to view Pride as an opportunity to prey on the celebration by amping their product. Instead of supporting the community by not affiliating with prejudice politicians and supporting harmful organizations that falsely embrace us, companies need to be held to a higher standard of allyship and dream of a world where LGBTQ+ people are genuinely supported and recognized. But unfortunately, bandwagoning of social rights sometimes needs to come before the genuine intent to support.
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“PROGRESS”
There has been some “progressive” legislation that ensured the basic rights of the queer community. These laws include work place equal rights, removal of all sodomy prohibitions laws and the legalization of gay marriage. In addition to this, homosexuality was also removed from the American Psychiatric Association list of mental disorders. In Washington, California and Maine, you can now select “X” as your gender marker if you do not identify with the common female and male binaries. This is a profound step in inclusion for nonbinary people. In addition to this, New York recently announced the construction of two new monuments that will be of Johnson and Rivera. These will be the first trans monuments in the country. Their goal of having these structures is to pay respect to the hard work and dedication they both put forth for the queer community.
JUNE 28, 1969
JUNE 28, 19
STONEWALL RIOTS
THE FIRST PRIDE
JUNE 1981
OCTOBER 1
AIDS EPIDEMIC BEGINS
DON’T ASK, DON’T
SEPTEMBER 20, 2011
JUNE 26, 20
LGBTQ+ people riot against the police raid of Stonewall Inn, a New York gay bar.
Commemorating Sto woman Brenda Howa week-long festivities a and calls it “Pride.” Pride pop up in Chic and San Francisco the
TRUMP SHIT
Despite all the so-called progress, the Trump administration has dedicated itself to dismantling civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Trump and the politicians surrounding him have shown contempt for LGBTQ+ students, transgender troops and the entire population of over 10 million LGBTQ+ people in this country according to a research conducted by University of California, Los Angeles. From attempting to prohibit all-gender restrooms in schools to the trans military ban, we are in an era of vicious and targeted attacks. There is no safe space under the rule of this administarion when rights as basic as health care are being compromised. Trump has called for the ban of same-sex couples adopting or fostering children and a reinstated exclusive defintion of gender. “There is a systematic and sinister erasing of LGBTQ+ protections and policies happening at the hands of this administration,” said Zeke Stokes, chief programs officer at GLAAD. “Now more than ever, it’s vital LGBTQ+ Americans and marginalized communities raise their voices and tell their stories. The LGBTQ+ community will not go into hiding, and we will not be silenced.”
AIDS has claimed over 700,000 lives since people began reporting cases in June 1981.
Former President B nally pushed this con lift the ban on homo the military. Howeve couraging people to a selves, this bill encou be quiet, heightenin within the ranks.
LGBTQ+ TODAY
There have been isolated events of “progress” in this country for the LGBTQ+ community. Individual states have utilized their right to enforce laws in support, but our presidential administration has done the opposite. In times of such blatant attacks, Pride should be celebrated and executed with purpose. We must remember the fight of those before us and not get caught up in this idea of “progress.” We must remember that there is still a fight. Our trans brothers and sisters, nonbinary people and all of the members of the queer community deserve better than monuments and false inclusion. Dylan Burdette and Taylar Rivers contributed to this report.
REPEALING DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL
Homosexuals are allowed into the military and out of the closet. “It is time to recognize that sacrifice, valor and integrity are no more defined by sexual orientation than they are by race or gender, religion or creed,” Obama said.
LOVE WINS!
Same sex marriage is the United States.
, 1970
RIDE PARADE
g Stonewall, bisexual Howard helps organize ities around the march ride.” Celebrations of Chicago, Los Angeles co the same year.
ER 1, 1993
ON’T TELL
nt Bill Clinton origiis controversial bill to homosexuals entering owever, instead of ene to actually be themencouraged people to tening discrimination s.
, 2015
age is legalized across s.
COVER
DECEMBER 1973
NOVEMBER 1977
JUNE 25, 1978
1981
HOMOSEXUALITY (KIND OF) REMOVED FROM THE DIAGNOSTIC STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS
HARVEY MILK ELECTED
GAY FLAG CREATED
LGBTQ+ MARKETING BEGINS WITH VODKA
AUGUST 1999
JUNE 2, 2000
MAY 17, 2004
JUNE 1, 2009
TRANSGENDER PRIDE FLAG CREATED
USA SAYS: “IT’S PRIDE!”
SAME SEX MARRIAGE
USA SAYS, “IT’S PRIDE!” AGAIN, BUT MORE INCLUSIVE THIS TIME
Homosexuality is no longer deemed a diagnosable illness. However, this is not the end all and be all of LGBTQ+ mental health debates. Homosexuality did not leave the DSM completely until 1987. The World Health Organization only depathologized homosexuality in 1992. This is an ongoing struggle.
Transgender woman Monica Helms designs the Transgender flag, using light blue, pink and a white stripe “for those who are transitioning or consider themselves having a neutral or undefined gender.”
Harvey Milk is the first openly gay elected official in California before his assassination in 1978.
Clinton is the first president to recognize June as “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month,” commemorating the Stonewall Riots
Gilbert Baker designed the first Gay Pride flag with eight stripes, including pink and turquoise. The flag was later changed to the more marketable six stripes.
Massachusetts becomes the first state to legalize same-sex marriage.
JUNE 30, 2016
JUNE 27, 2017
APRIL 12, 2019
TRANSGENDER MILITARY BAN LIFTED
NONBINARY IDENTIFICATION
TRANSGENDER MILITARY BAN REINSTATED
The ban on transgender individuals from serving in the military is lifted.
Rather than “M” or “F,” nonbinary people in Washington, D.C. can now opt for an “X” gender marker on their identification or driver’s license.
Absolut becomes the first brand to target the LGBTQ+ community by placing advertisements in popular gay magazines, The Advocate and After Dark.
Former President Barack Obama adds “bisexual” and “transgender” to the list of people who could claim pride, regardless of who had been attending pride for decades.
President Donald Trump reinstates the ban on transgender people from serving in the military. This step backward is in direct opposition to the 2016 decision that trans people would be allowed to serve.
PSU Vanguard • JUNE 4, 2019 • psuvanguard.com
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INTERNATIONAL
THIS WEEK
around the
WORLD
May 26–June 1
2 3 5 4
1
1
May 26–27
BRAZIL
Prison riots across four different jails in Brazil left almost 60 people dead in two days. According to The Independent, the first riot broke out around noon on May 26 at the Anisio Jobim Prison Complex when inmates began fighting during visiting hours. Before security forces were able to regain control, 15 people were killed by strangulation or stabbed using sharpened toothbrushes as visitors looked on. The following day, another 42 inmates across three other jails were found dead in their cells by asphyxiation from either sheets or force, The Guardian reports. Brazil’s authorities have blamed rivalling Amazon mafia members, with reports claiming the parties involved are the Zé Roberto da Compensa and João Pinto Carioca. Brazil’s overcrowded prisons have also been noted as a contributing factor. TeleSUR reports Brazil has the third largest prison population at over 700,000 people—twice the size of the country’s prison capacity. 2
May 28
JAPAN
The East Asian country known for having one of the lowest crime rates in the world experienced a rare episode of violence this week when a man in the city of Kawasaki went on a rampage, attacking a crowd with a knife, The Japan Times reports. According to police reports and eyewitness accounts, the suspect—identified as Ryuichi Iwasaki—approached a group of people,
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including a number of children, who were waiting at a bus stop as they made their way to Caritas Elementary School. Iwasaki then began attacking people using knives in both hands. Two people were killed in the attack, identified as 11-year-old Hanako Kuribayashi and 39-yearold Satoshi Oyama. Both victims sustained deep wounds to the neck. Oyama, who was accompanying his child on the way to school, is believed to have attempted defending the children due to wounds sustained in the back and shoulders as well. An additional 17 people including 15 of the children were injured in the attack, many of whom sustained neck wounds. The suspect later died from a self-inflicted stab wound to the neck. 3
May 29
ISRAEL
The Knesset voted 74-45 on May 29 to dissolve itself just over a month since it was formed when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to create a governing coalition by the midnight deadline; this will be the first time in Israeli history that a prime minister has failed to do so. The Times of Israel reported the failed coalition was due largely to a division between ultra-Orthodox parties and the secular Yisrael Beytenu—all of which Netanyahu needed to form his coalition—specifically in relation to a Defense Ministry bill centered on drafting ultra-Orthodox Israeli Jews into the military. Former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman required terms of the draft to remain if he and
PSU Vanguard • JUNE 4, 2019 • psuvanguard.com
his party were to form a coalition with Netanyahu’s Likud, while ultra-Orthodox parties required more liberal terms, thus creating a deadlock. Israelis will return to the polls once again on September 17, five months after the country’s snap elections in April.
May 30 4
PHILIPPINES
More than five years after it arrived in the Southeast Asian archipelago, the Philippines sent some 1,000 tons of rotting waste back to Canada on May 30. According to The Philippine Star, between 2013 and 2014, 100 containers amounting to 1,500 tons of garbage and non-recyclable plastic was mislabeled as recyclables and shipped to the country. The situation created a diplomatic row between the two countries, and on May 15 President Rodrigo Duterte recalled its Canadian ambassador when Canada failed to meet its deadline on the matter. Teddy Locsin Jr., Philippines’ secretary of foreign affairs, tweeted a photo of the ship M/V Bavaria as it embarked from the port of Subic for Vancouver carrying 69 of the containers, with Canada bearing the $1.14 billion expense, VICE reports. The situation highlights a growing issue in which less developed nations are increasingly pushing back against Western countries shipping contaminated products which cannot be recycled and therefore end up in landfills in the destination countries. In a similar situation, Malaysia’s Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin declared on May 28 the country planned to ship
about 3,000 tons of waste back to their respective countries. “Malaysia will not be a dumping ground to the world,” she said via Business Insider. “Even though we are a small country, we can’t be bullied by developed countries.” 5
May 30–June 1
SAUDI ARABIA
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation—a 57-member intergovernmental organization consisting of mainly Islamic and Muslimmajority countries “[endeavoring] to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslim world in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony”—met in the holy city of Mecca for an emergency summit on May 30. The summit was called amid escalations between both the United States and the Arab Gulf states with Iran and rumors of a long-awaited IsraelPalestine peace plan from the Trump administration, which the Palestinian Foreign Minister called a “Surrender Act.” At the conclusion of the summit on June 1, Middle East Eye reported the OIC denounced the U.S. transfer of its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem last year. It called on member countries to boycott countries involved and reasserted its position against illegal Israeli actions in the Palestinian Territories and the U.S. recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory. Additionally, Saudi Arabia received support from the organization regarding tensions with Iran as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani abstained from the summit.
INTERNATIONAL
216 PEOPLE RESCUED FROM MEDITERRANEAN NUMBER OF MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES TO EUROPE CONTINUES TO RISE
APPROXIMATELY 216 MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES WERE RESCUED FROM THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA AND TAKEN TO MALTA. COURTESY OF DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS AMANDA GUTHU Approximately 216 migrants and refugees were rescued from two dinghies in the Mediterranean Sea and taken to Malta by an armed forces patrol boat on May 25. At least four children and one pregnant woman were among the rescued. A total of 12 boats holding migrants and refugees arrived at Sicily, Sardinia and Lampedusa between May 23 and May 25. Maltese armed forces said good weather conditions led to an increase in the number of migrant departures from Libya, Tunisia and Algeria, according to Al Jazeera. Due to Italy’s location in the Mediterranean and status as a European Union member, it is the destination for many migrants and refugees. In 2016, Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy’s right-wing nationalist party, “spearheaded the new government’s anti-immigration stance, turning away humanitarian rescue ships from Italian ports” in response to large influx of Sub-Saharan migrants from North Africa, according to BBC. More than 500 migrants have reached Malta this year, while 1,425 have made it to Italy. The number of migrants and refugees who set course for Malta has increased in recent years, but the numbers are especially high as a result of Italy refusing to accept any more refugees or migrants.
So far in 2019, 15,459 migrants and refugees have “risked their lives reaching Europe,” according to The UN Refugee Agency. 427 more have died while attempting to reach their destination. These numbers are still expected to stay significantly lower than the over 1 million migrants and refugees of 2015. Malta appealed to the EU in 2018, seeking assistance in dealing with the high flow of migrants and refugees, but an agreement has yet to be made. Instead, a new solution is agreed upon for each individual rescue. When 62 migrants were rescued by Maltese forces on April 9, for example, the EU decided to relocate them throughout other EU member countries. The 62 migrants were moved across Luxembourg, Germany, France and Portugal. According to Al Jazeera, in response to Malta’s claims that there are too many refugees for the small country to take in, Salvini said, “It’s [Malta’s] problem, they must deal with it.” In a press statement released in April, the Maltese government said, “Once again, the European Union’s smallest state has been put under pointless pressure in being tasked with resolving an issue which was not its responsibility.” It is yet to be known what will happen to the 216 people rescued on May 25.
HUMAN-ELEPHANT CONFLICT BOTSWANA LIFTS BAN ON ELEPHANT HUNTING EMILY PRICE Botswana, home to almost one third of the world’s African elephant population, recently lifted a ban on elephant hunting. Approximately 130,000 wild African Elephants reside in the country, some of which are classified as “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. The Great Elephant Census found a 30% decrease in the total elephant population with an average decrease of 8% a year. The census also states that approximately 84% of all elephants were living in protected sanctuaries. The ban on elephant hunting in Botswana was first introduced in 2014 by former conservative President Ian Khama, but the now ruling Botswana Democratic Party overturned it, stating elephant populations “have become unmanageably large in some areas.” Al Jazeera reports the committee—set up in June 2018 to discuss possibly lifting the ban— recommended “a legal framework that will enable the growth of a safari hunting industry and manage the country’s elephant population within the history range.” Legislators determined the elephant population had increased enough to lift the ban as of May 22. They claim the elephants are now affecting local farmers, but researchers and conservationists say evidence does not support these claims. “The government of Botswana has taken a decision to lift the hunting suspension,” Botswana’s Environmental Ministry said in
a statement, according to Al Jazeera. “The ministry would like to reiterate that it will work with all stakeholders to ensure that reinstatement of hunting is done in an orderly and ethical manner. According to lawmaker Konstantino Markus, the recovering elephant populations have negatively impacted farmers by trampling crops. “This harvest loss leaves the community with fewer options to take care of their households, while perceptions of local communities toward wildlife conservation have changed since the hunting ban,” he told Reuters. African governments disagree over what is the best solution to elephant hunting and ivory sales. Some countries, such as Zimbabwe, allow trophy hunting while others, like Botswana, argue lifting restrictions would allow profits from ivory sales to fund conservation efforts. Mike Chase, director of Elephants Without Borders, argues the evidence lawmakers are using is false, and there has not been any significant increase in the elephant population, according to The Washington Post. “The new arguments for hunting are all wrong—population control, decrease in human-elephant conflict, lots of money for local communities,” Chase told The Washington Post. “What facts are those based in? The reality is that elephant numbers are not growing massicaly, nor is the incidence of human-elephant conflict.”
DANA TOWNSEND
PSU Vanguard • JUNE 4, 2019 • psuvanguard.com
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INTERNATIONAL
WIKIPEDIA TAKES TURKEY TO COURT
JOHN ROJAS MADISON CECIL Wikipedia filed a lawsuit against Turkey with the European Court of Human Rights regarding the ban on the website that has been in place since April 29, 2017. The current block, which extends to all language versions of Wikipedia, was first discovered when several users in Turkey could no longer access the website. According to the Wikimedia Foundation, it affects 80 million people and is the most extensive block ever imposed on Wikipedia. The ECHR is an international court originally established after World War II in order to enforce the regulations laid out during the European Convention on Human Rights. The court has an “obligation to respect human rights” in a variety of ways, including free access to news and information. Turkey was present at the convention and agreed to the terms. According to The Middle East Eye, The Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Authority later confirmed the ban, saying, “After technical analysis and legal consideration based on the Law Nr. 5651, an administrative measure has been taken for [Wikipedia].” The Middle East Eye also reports Turkey has accused Wikipedia of a “smear campaign” despite most of the content being generated and created by individual people across the world—not the Wikipedia staff. No further reasoning was ever provided for why access to Wikipedia was blocked in Turkey. According to BBC, many residents have found ways around the block by using mir-
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PSU Vanguard • JUNE 4, 2019 • psuvanguard.com
ror Wikipedia URLs or Virtual Private Networks, known as VPNs. These roundabouts are not available to every resident, however, and some have reported VPNs are now being blocked as well. “We are taking this act as a part of our continued commitment to knowledge and freedom of expression as fundamental rights for every person,” the Wikimedia Foundation said in a statement. “We are doing so only after continued and exhaustive attempts to lift the block through legal action in the Turkish courts, good faith conversations with the Turkish authorities and campaigns to raise awareness of the block and its impact on Turkey and the rest of the world.” The Wikipedia block case was previously heard in a Turkish domestic court, which upheld the ban. The company never heard back from the higher Turkish courts when they appealed their case despite it having been almost two years since the appeal was filed. “Wikipedia is a global resource that everyone can be actively part of shaping,” said Katherine Maher, Wikimedia Foundation executive director. “It is through this collective process of writing and rewriting and debate that Wikipedia becomes more useful, more comprehensive and more representative. It is also through this process that we, a global society, establish a more comprehensive consensus on how we see the world.” In March 2018, the Wikimedia Foundation launched a campaign called “We Miss Turkey” in an effort to lift the block on
the website. The campaign calls for people to comment on the block and how it affects their lives. “We from Holland also miss sharing knowledge with Turkey and learning from Turkey,” one person tweeted in response to the “We Miss Turkey” campaign, according to the Wikimedia Foundation. “We hope the government of Turkey will soon restore access to Wikipedia in Turkey.” Wikipedia is not the first website to have been blocked by the Turkish government. Twitter was blocked in 2014 when Turkish officials cited a court order that mandated the government apply “protection measures” to the website. Twitter reports reveal the Turkish government makes significantly more removal requests than any other country in the world. The reports say Turkey made over 4,417 total legal requests between July and December 2018, which is nearly half of the total legal requests Twitter received during the same time frame. YouTube and Facebook have both been blocked in Turkey for several years as well. YouTube’s block was lifted in 2010. According to Reporters Without Borders’ 2019 World Press Index, Turkey is ranked 157 out of 180 countries for press freedom. “Censorship of websites and online social media has reached unprecedented levels and the authorities are now trying to bring online video services under control,” according to the report. Wikipedia is also looking for ways to lift the website block in China, which now blocks all language editions as of May 2019.
INTERNATIONAL
CITIZENS ELECT 751 EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT MEMBERS MADISON CECIL Citizens from the 28 European Union member states voted to elect 751 European Parliament members from May 23–26 in the world’s second largest democratic exercise in history. The European Parliament is the only EU institution directly elected by the citizens, according to Deutsche Welle. Parliament is in charge of everything from adopting and amending EU laws to regulating the €160 billion annual budget. Each of the 28 EU member states gets a number of Parliament members, or MEPs, directly proportional to their population. Germany, which has the largest population in the EU, has 96 seats, while Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta have the least representation, with six seats each. The total 751 available seats is set to decrease to 705 after Brexit, according to Deutsche Welle.
VOTER TURNOUT
Deutsche Welle contributes the Green’s success to their focus on climate change, which is a growing issue among young people. “All the parties suddenly put climate protection on their posters a few weeks ago,” Green Party leader, Annalena Baerbock told German broadcasting outlet ARD. “This climate protection campaign needs to be reflected in the agenda of the parties.” The lack of focus on climate change was an ongoing issue throughout other countries as well. In the Netherlands, the Green Party won three out of the available 26 seats. According to The Guardian, Bas Eickhour, an MEP for the Netherlands and Green Party member, said the election placed “a great responsibility” on the party because “the voters have given [them] their trust.”
“Our voters, especially the younger generation, for many of whom we are now their first choice, are deeply concerned about the climate change crisis, and they are pro-European—but they feel the EU is not delivering,” Eickhout told The Guardian. “They want us to change the course of Europe.” One of the most significant changes in the elections in May was the shift away from the right and left-centered political parties. This shift has led several politicians to call for bipartisanship within the European Parliament. “We are facing a shrinking center,” Weber told Reuters. “When I look to the figures, I don’t see a majority against the liberals, I don’t see a majority against the socialists, I don’t see a majority against the European People’s Party. So what I would ask us to do is to join our forces to work together from now.”
Voter turnout was the highest it has been in two decades, with a final overall turnout of over 50%, though this number varied significantly across different member states. “People went to vote, they participated,” Manfred Weber, the Christian Democrat who is set to lead the European Commission for the European People’s Party, told Deutsche Welle. “They used their right to vote to decide about the future of Europe, and that gives the European Parliament much more credibility and legitimacy for the future of the continent.” Despite compulsory voting in Bulgaria, the country’s turnout was 30.83%, the lowest turnout rate since 2007. The United Kingdom, on the other hand, had its highest voter turnout rate since 2004, with 36.9% of eligible voters showing up to the polls. This EU election cycle will play a significant role in the UK’s future in the Union due to Brexit negotiations still taking place. According to EuroNews, The Brexit Party won a majority of the UK’s available seats with 31.69% of the votes, with the proRemain Liberal Democrats coming in second at 18.53%. The current ruling Conservative party placed fifth with only 8.68%. “So this is what total annihilation feels like,” Conservative Party member Daniel Hannah told The Telegraph. “I can tell you now that the Conservatives have been wiped out.”
“THE GREEN WAVE”
The Green Party, a pro-environment and pro-EU party, took a surprising percentage of the votes this year throughout all 28 EU member countries. In a “Green Wave,” the party won 20% of Germany’s vote and came in second. The Green Party won 16% of the vote in Finland, 13.47% in France and 12% in the UK. Out of the available 751 seats, the Green Party walked away with about 70, up from 51 seats in the 2014 elections, according to Vox. Deutsche Welle reports young voters played a major role in the Green Party’s success in Germany. Approximately 36% of first-time voters were in favor of the Greens, which is three times as many first-time voters in favor of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrat Party. The Christian Democrats allied with the Bavarian Christian Social Union Party for the European Parliament elections, but despite their partnership, this was the conservatives’ worst in history. The two parties still hold a majority of the seats in the European Parliament, but took away only 28.7% of the vote.
SWEDEN’S GREEN PARTY DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER ISABELLA LÖVIN SIGNS CLIMATE LAW IN 2017. COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
PSU Vanguard • JUNE 4, 2019 • psuvanguard.com
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ARTS & CULTURE
GARABGE DAY THE CHILLEST MOVIE ABOUT DEMONIC MAGIC EVER
ANDREW GAINES
I get most of my understanding of the occult and devil worship from two very reliable sources—fantasy books/movies and an ironic appreciation for Jack Chick tracts. Basically, if you’re not James Earl Jones worshiping an evil snake god or a kid who is about to kill his sister in a DnD-induced frenzy, I’m lost already. Going into Hollywood Theatre’s screening of veteran network TV director Bruce Kessler’s flick Simon, King of the Witches, I was expecting a whole lot of sex, violence and weird ritual scenes. All three of those critical elements are present in some capacity, but the movie is way more laid back and charming than I anticipated. There isn’t much of an overarching plot in the movie, but the setup is this: Simon Sinestrari is a warlock—one of the few true magicians on earth. He lives in a storm drain, practices the dark arts, has a penchant for ascots and tries to keep to himself. About a minute into the movie he gets arrested for loitering and meets a young gigolo named Turk in prison. After they get out of jail, Turk agrees to show Simon the glamorous world of 1970s socialites while Simon shows Turk the not-so-glamorous damp world of magic. With this framework set up in the opening minutes, the film lazily moves from plot point to plot point as the duo get into various
odd situations such as putting a death curse on a man who wrote Simon a bad check and getting patronized by an old Wiccan lady who doubts Simon is the real deal. The third act pits Simon against a corrupt district attorney and his favorite narc, which is unfortunately the point where the movie stops being a chill, humorous ride through magical realism and starts becoming an incoherent mess. Characters barely mentioned before pop into the plot with great significance and the film attempts to recreate the “Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite” scene from 2001 on a microscopic fraction of the budget. A messy third act aside, the film is a great time. Andrew Prine’s performance of the titular character is fantastic and nuanced, depicting Simon as an easily irritated genius who’s not used to dealing with human affairs. The movie works around being incredibly low budget by depicting magic as a mostly invisible, unknowable art. The film has a great dry sense of humor that helps the audience see Simon as a pretty alright dude to hang out with. It’s not the sort of raving, terrified hysteria I typically like from my films about outsider cultures—see 1970’s I Drink Your Blood and its rampaging horde of bloodthirsty hippies— but it’s a real good time.
DANA TOWNSEND
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COMICS
DANA TOWNSEND
PSU Vanguard • JUNE 4, 2019 • psuvanguard.com
Hannah Welbourn
June 4–10 ART
MUSIC
FILM & THEATRE
COMMUNITY
TUE JUNE 4 WED JUNE 5 THU JUNE 6 FRI JUNE 7 SAT JUNE 8 SUN JINE 9 MON JUNE 10
WAYNE JIANG & DEB STONER LAN SU CHINESE GARDEN 10 A.M.–7 P.M. FREE New works from Wayne Jiang and Deb Stoner are on display until July 31.
CITIZEN, KNUCKLE PUCK WONDER BALLROOM 7 P.M. $20–22 Sadasses who love Midwest emo, this one’s for you.
‘NATIVE GARDENS’ PORTLAND CENTER STAGE 2 P.M., 7:30 P.M. $25 Cultures clash in this comedy about neighbors feuding over a prized garden.
HAWTHORNE FARMERS MARKET OPENING DAY 1844 SE CESAR E. CHAVEZ BLVD 4 P.M. FREE More than 60 local vendors will be at the opening day of this market, with acoustic group Strumshine providing live music.
“FOR THE SEVENTH GENERATION” ELISABETH JONES ART CENTER NOON–5 P.M. FREE This project features a two-foot by one-mile panoramic mural representing the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, dedicated to ocean protection.
KPSU DJS KELLY’S OLYMPIAN 8 P.M. FREE • 21+ Kelly’s features a live DJ from KPSU every Wednesday. This week, it’s DJ Gray.
PORTLAND HORROR FILM FESTIVAL 2019 HOLLYWOOD THEATRE 6:30 P.M., THROUGH JUNE 8 $20 The opening line-up for this four-day film festival will feature premieres of Stay Out Stay Alive and Satanic Panic.
SATANARAOKE HIGH WATER MARK 9 P.M. FREE Pretty much exactly what it sounds like.
“THIS PLACE” WATERSTONE GALLERY NOON–6 P.M. FREE Local painter Shawn Demarest’s exhibition features “urban street scenes with a twist.”
HOLOCENE’S 16TH BIRTHDAY: LICENSE TO VIBE HOLOCENE 8 P.M. FREE • 21+ To celebrate the warehouse venue’s 16th year of business, admission is free and Amenta Abioto and Chong the Nomad are headlining.
‘THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA MCBRIDE’ THE SANCTUARY AT SANDY PLAZA 7:30 P.M. $20 An Elvis impersonator down on his luck tries drag—and loves it.
PSU BBQ! GREEN ZEBRA ON BROADWAY 11:30 A.M. FREE Green Zebra will be serving hot dogs, burgers, veggies and fruit as a thank you to their supporters.
8TH ANNUAL RECYCLED RAIN PROJECT FORD GALLERY 9 A.M.–6 P.M. FREE The medium for this group exhibition is collected rainwater and has a focus on human’s water usage.
MONO, EMMA RUTH RUNDLE ALADDIN THEATER 9 P.M. $18–20 Experimental melodic outfit Mono will grace the stage with their presence at this all-ages show.
URBAN TELLERS THE OLD CHURCH 8 P.M. $15–20 Locals tell their true stories in this series hosted by Lynne Duddy and Lawrence Howard. Friday’s show is the last of the season.
REMOTE.LY’S LATTE ART THROWDOWN REMOTE.LY 7 P.M. FREE Local baristas are invited to compete for the best latte art skills. Free Ecliptic beer will be provided for guests, so that’s a plus.
“AGOG” ORANJ STUDIO 9 A.M.–5 P.M. FREE Abstract works by Renée Zangara will be on display until June 30.
NORTHWEST QUEER CHORUS PRIDE CONCERT ROSE CITY PARK METHODIST CHURCH 7:30 P.M. $10–12 Celebrate pride with an inspiring and uplifting concert honoring the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.
‘THE SECRET OF NIMH’ (1982) HOLLYWOOD THEATRE 7 P.M. $7–9 Intelligent rats team up to save a widow mouse and her family in this 1982 animated classic shown in 35mm.
Q MAKERS MARKET Q CENTER NOON–4 P.M. FREE More than 80 multicultural businesses will be at this marketplace for Portland’s diverse entrepreneurs, artists and vendors.
“SELF PORTRAIT PARTY” WOLFF GALLERY 11 A.M.–6 P.M. FREE Artist Rachel Mulder used mediums from etching to human hair to create this exhibition.
LEWIS CAPALDI, SAM FISCHER ROSELAND THEATER 8 P.M. $22.50–25 Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi will be at the Roseland with his debut album, Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent.
‘BEIRUT’ SHOE BOX THEATER 2:30 P.M. $15–25 This dystopian play is fitting for the times.
DRAGON BOAT RACES TOM MCCALL WATERFRONT PARK 8:30 A.M. FREE It’s that time of year again. Cheer on your favorite teams at this allday event part of Rose Festival.
OLIVER KLINK CAMERAWORKS GALLERY 9 A.M.–5 P.M. FREE This exhibition is a series of photographs taken from Klink’s book, The Soul of the Bürkitshi, about women in Mongolia hunting with eagles.
BLOSSOM PORTLAND CENTER STAGE 7 P.M. $15–35 This concert and album release party for local R&B artist Blossom is sure to be packed, so get there early.
‘ROCKETMAN’ MCMENAMINS MISSION THEATER 12:15 P.M., 3:30 P.M., 7:15 P.M., 10:30 P.M. $7–10 Taron Egerton stars in this biopic about Elton John’s breakthrough years.
NEW OREGON BREWERIES SHOWCASE BAILEY’S TAPROOM NOON NO COVER Part of PDX Beer Week, this showcase introduces you to more than 10 breweries (and a cidery!) and over 20 brews.