1537 July 9, 2014

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July 9, 2014

Issue 1537

Only you can keep Tucson’s queer art space open: Fluxx By Kianna Davis FLUXX PRODUCTIONS Fluxx Studio and Gallery is a non-profit community arts space in downtown Tucson. We work with artists and local groups as a venue, and we host visual and performance art, private and public parties, workshops, meetings, film screenings and more. Some examples of the popular events we are affiliated with are Odyssey Storytelling, Out in the Desert LGBTQ Film Festival, Boys R Us shows, Eon Prom, the Official Pride After Party and Worlds AIDS Day. Fluxx is recognized as a safe space for all simply to be themselves, especially members of our LGBTQ community. In a heteronormative society, it can

Inside Two new discoveries in ancient LGBT history

be difficult to express our true selves when we are different. It is our mission to encourage open dialogue and communication about queer culture in order to bridge gaps of understanding, acceptance and change. Our goal is to increase visibility and promote the creation of queer arts and culture in Tucson. Fluxx strives to accomplish this by providing a platform for expression and exchange, and by building relationships with Tucson artists, businesses and groups inside and out of the LGBTQ community. Fluxx came into existence in 2004 to help individuals raise funds for the overwhelming price of transgender services. This started with art auctions and Boys R Us shows. We Continued on page 6

Judge asked to rule on gay marriage ban before trial OBSERVER STAFF PHOENIX -- The attorneys who have filed a challenge to Arizona’s same-sex marriage ban in January are asking federal judge John W. Sedwick to rule without a trial. They asked that the judge base his decision on arguments to be filed by each side before the case goes to trial. The suit relies on the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection and due process clauses.

Spain has the biggest; Turkey it’s not the size of -- not so much: But a Pride that matters

Masked Muslim women face each other during a Pride parade in Instabul, Turkey on June 29.

OBSERVER STAFF Large or small it’s not the size or your Pride but what your community does with it.

Billing the event as the biggest Pride parade in Europe, Pink News reports that more than a million people turned out.

Hundreds of thousands lined Paseo del Prado in the Spanish capital of Madrid on Saturday evening for the gay pride parade that comprised more than 50 organizations and 30 floats.

Organizers dedicated the parade to victims of discrimination in some 80 countries where gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals are punished, and in 10 countries by death.

“It is time to speak up for all those who cannot, so they can see that they are not alone in suffering, that we are fighting for their freedoms and for our own and that LGBT human rights are inalienable,” Boti G. Rodrigo, leader of the National Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals, was quoted by AFP as saying in a statement. Continued on page 7

Biden: marriage equality fulfills Declaration of Independence First Lady Michelle Obama, left, Malia Obama and President Barack Obama watch the Fourth of July fireworks from the roof of the White House.

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I’m going back to bi: Confessions of a former lesbian Page 3

Vaginal computer tracks fitness goals Page 15 Gay rugby team makes history by being first to play pro game Page 16

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals must first hear cases from Idaho and Nevada in September before the Arizona case could make it to trial. In an interview with the Observer, William Knight of Aiken, Schenk, Hawkins, and Ricciardi Law Offices, the legal team responsible for the filing, thanked the editors for making the newspaper’s archives available for research. An article from the cover of an April 1996 issue was referenced in the legal filing. The article quoted former Sen. Tom Smith (who at the time was a Republican legislator Continued on page 2

Photo: Pete Souza

PHILADELPHIA – On July 4, Vice President Joe Biden spoke at an Independence Day celebration giving a speech in Philadelphia comparing marriage equality to the Civil Rights Movement and called for greater marriage equality. According to The Hill, “[Biden] said he was reminded of two Philadelphias, one where the Declaration of

Independence was signed 238 years ago and the other in Mississippi where civil rights workers were murdered in June 1964, two weeks before President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act.” After saying that the two Philadelphias helped give meaning to the words “all men are created equal,” Biden reportedly said that marriage equality was the next battle

to expand the “notion that all men are created equal.” “You should be able to marry whomever you love,” he said, adding, “We have a lot more to do to fulfill the promise and meaning of the Declaration.” Biden jumped Obama on the gay marriage issue in 2012 by announcing his support for it on “Meet the Press” before

Obama officially came out in favor of it.


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