1537 July 9, 2014

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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OBSERVER

Homosexual acts can attract Don’t miss Wingspan’s sentences of up to 14 years in prison Puertas Abiertas in Kenya though it is unknown on what charges the 60 have been held. brunch bingo this weekend Mississippi law TUCSON — Tucson Metro Chamber of Commerce (465 W. St. Mary’s Rd.) hosts Wingspan’s Puertas Abiertas brunch bingo this Sunday at 11 a.m.

The cash only event, emceed by Lucinda Holiday, costs $5 and features a brunch buffet with rainbow pancakes and bingo with entertainment and prizes.

Gov. Brown names two LGBT judges to Court of Appeal SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The attorney who led San Francisco deputy city attorneys in intervening in the federal challenge of Proposition 8 has been nominated to California’s First District Court of Appeal.

Gov. Jerry Brown announced June 28 that he would appoint Theresa M. Stewart to the post, making her California’s first openly lesbian appellate court justice.

Stewart worked in the City Attorney’s Office since 2002. She argued on behalf of the City and County of San Francisco in the cases that eventually brought marriage equality to the state supreme court in 2008, and then was part of the team of municipal attorneys who intervened in the case to counter Proposition 8.

The same day, Brown also appointed James M. Humes as the presiding justice of First District Court of Appeal, division one. Humes has served as an associate justice in division four since 2012.

Humes, a Democrat, was the first openly gay justice to serve on the California Court of Appeal.

Raid on gay bar in Nairobi, Kenya, nabs 60

legalizing anti-gay discrimination now in effect

JACKSON, Miss. — A Mississippi law that legalizes anti-gay discrimination on the grounds of “religious freedom” has come into effect.

Mississippi passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in April, which legalizes discrimination against gay and lesbian people based on religious beliefs.

The act, which bans authorities from placing a “burden” on “a person’s right to the exercise of religion,” and could be used to protect business owners who discriminate against LGBT people, was signed by Republican Governor Phil Bryant less than a week later.

The law has now come into effect, meaning that as of July 1, businesses in the state are effectively allowed to turn away or discriminate against customers on the grounds of their sexuality, if they claim to do so because of religious beliefs.

World of Beer and Gio Taco team up to host G3 TUCSON — This month’s G3 gay happy hour will be held at World of Beer and Gio Taco (350 E. Congress St.) this Friday from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

World of Beer features hundreds of bottled and draft beers and a fully stocked bar with a variety of tavern fare like giant pretzels, chicken wings, sandwiches and flatbreads.

Gio Taco features infused cocktails and gourmet tacos like duck mole, Korean short rib, and buffalo shrimp!

WEEKLY

by deciding hot button cases that the court has the power to avoid.”

Kopf pointed out that all five justices who decided in favor of Hobby Lobby are Roman Catholic males appointed

by Republican presidents.

“To the average person, this looks stupid and smells worse,” he blogged.

It doesn’t only appear that way to “the average person.” In 1990, the Supreme Court ruled that it could not give religious belief precedence over “the law of the land” -- which has basically been U.S. courts’ position for 250 years.

Wingspan community information TUCSON -- The Boards of Directors for Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation and Wingspan met again on Monday to further discuss the opportunities of a merger between both organizations.

They are carefully evaluating the details surrounding programs, staffing, physical location needs and financial position of both organizations.

The discussions are agreeable and cooperative with the intent to focus on solutions that best serve the community, clients and staff.

A note about the bar service: There will be no fewer than six bartenders on hand to make sure there aren’t long lines for drinks.

To facilitate this continuity of programming, Wingspan employees will be provided a temporary work space at SAAF’s offices.

Ghafla.co.ke reports the raid occurred, not over the club breaking “open hours rules” which regulate the time alcohol can be served but, because suspected homosexuals frequented the club.

Judge to Supremes: ‘STFU’ or you risk looking even stupider

Over the next several weeks, both boards will meet together and individually. It is expected more decisions will be made during this time.

We will continue to provide updates on our progress.

“Their crime — getting caught at a gay bar.”

According to the website, knowledge of the bar spread to elements in the government who “sent their security apparatus to harass homosexuals who were not even taking part in any buggery but rather enjoying their hard earned money.”

U.S. District Judge Richard George Kopf, a senior judge on the federal court for Nebraska and a Republican appointee, stated: “[T]his term and several past terms has proven that the court is now causing more harm (division) to our democracy than good

Judge Sedwick is a visiting judge and has not had a hard deadline for a ruling but may order oral arguments according to Knight.

Lambda Legal has also filed a suit challenging Arizona’s same-sex marriage ban.

Update:

NAIROBI, Kenya — Sixty people spent the night in Kenyan police cells over the weekend after Nairobi Police raided the popular night club, Club Envy, for serving LGBTI people.

A federal district judge, in fact, wrote last week on his personal blog that, “As the kids say, it’s time for the court to STFU.”

Continued from page 1 representing the Phoenix area) who had disparaged “gay marriage” in a speech.

As Elias Isquith of Salon expressed it, it’s now “only a matter of time before the only footnote to a Supreme Court decision is ‘LOL.’ “

There is parking at the Centro garage across the street.

LINCOLN, Neb. -- If you think the U.S. Supreme Court has crossed the River of No Return in making itself look ridiculous, you aren’t out on that limb by yourself.

Judge asked to rule on gay marriage ban before trial

While progressive bloggers have noted that similar decisions probably would have resulted from federal district courts if the Supreme Court hadn’t accepted the contraception case, Kopf’s reaction obviously entered new territory as far as comment on the court.

Both boards are committed to ensuring programs will continue during the process to minimize the impact on clients, staff and the LGBTQ community.

“While most were either going home to sleep after a night of debauchery or waking up and getting ready to go to church, some Kenyans were being welcomed by the state as guests in its accommodations at the central police station,” the website reports.

July 9, 2014

1830 E Broadway Blvd #124-215 Tucson, AZ 85719 www.observerweekly.com info@observerweekly.com Voice Mail 520-812-0909 Editor-In-Chief Bob Ellis Executive Editor Nicholas K. M. Pafford Senior Editor Greg Miller Assistant Editor Christine Beall Assistant Editor Christopher L. Pankratz Phoenix Area Distribution T-Media Promotion Send Classifieds, Inquiry Letters, etc to: info@observerweekly.com Publication of names or photos of any person or organization in the Observer Weekly is not to be construed as indication of the sexual orientation of such person, organization or advertisers or any employees thereof.

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July 9, 2014

OP-ED

OBSERVER

WEEKLY

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I’m going back to bi: Confessions of a former lesbian understood the tremendous conflict I had inside. “If I’m dating a woman and identify as lesbian then I just can’t be attracted to men — right?”

In reality, I have to accept that I am growing and changing. The kinds of people I spend time with have shifted over the years, my hairstyle and my body have definitely changed, and my attractions have changed.

Rebby Kern identified as bisexual for the first time when she was 13 years old.

When I came out as lesbian I felt I checked the box in ink, and now that I am dating someone who identifies as male I find myself needing to change my answer. I’m finding myself in a selfconflict just as difficult as when I came out as non-hetero.

When I came out as lesbian I finally felt that I could be honest with myself for the first time. My first pride experience was Santa Monica Pride 2011, and I marched down the street with my friends chanting, “We’re here, we’re queer, and we’re absolutely fabulous.” It was the first time I was really saying it out loud.

By Rebby Kern SHE WIRED I’m going to back to bi. And I’m positive someone wants to take away my gay card for it.

I was recently at a benefit gala and was catching up with a buddy. “So how is your dating life,” he inquired.

“Great! Been dating this guy for quite a while now,” I was nervous to say it aloud.

“A boy? But, I thought you only dated women.”

I have to ask myself why I’ve been so ashamed of my masculine attractions.

Most of the lesbian women I’ve talked to have been attracted to men in one way or another and accept it. My biggest fear was not being a “gold-star lesbian” — oh, the coveted gold star. Screw the gold star! I’ll wear my pink and blue star instead.

I identified as bisexual for the first time when I was 13 years old. I kept a journal during that time and wrote about a friend I had. She had strawberry blond hair with the most beautiful smile I had ever seen. A mutual friend confronted me.

Am I allowed to go back?

“Are you going lesbo for her?”

I could feel his gaze through my body and felt the judgments flying. I was sure he was going to take away my gay card.

“So did I,” I said. “But he is kind and we’ve connected since day one. I’m happy.”

I was able to be honest in a queer setting. While I was in a lesbian relationship, I still had attractions, feelings, and fantasies about masculine folks.

It was clear that I fell somewhere in the middle of the spectrum and

I denied it and went home and wrote about how I really felt. All I ever wanted to do was to sweep her up like Link did Zelda and share the newly saved kingdom with her. It wasn’t what seemed “normal” in the world around me.

I started dating guys early on and wasn’t comfortable talking about my attraction to women in public until I was about 16. In college I felt free enough to have public relationships with women and talk about it.

When I started dating women I began to identify as lesbian, as it was most fitting — and best understood by community around me. Saying I was bisexual brought along too many misconceptions that I wasn’t able or willing to battle with. My sexual identity was interpreted as being less about love and more about sex.

My attraction to masculine characteristics didn’t just vanish when I finally became open enough to talk about my true attractions to women.

There isn’t a switch to turn on or off about who I’m attracted to.

My bisexuality doesn’t reflect how active my libido is, nor does it mean that I’m confused about my identity, though things such as birth control and human anatomy need to be considered as I embark on this road of my journey.

And I am. Thoroughly.

Robyn Ochs helped teach me more about myself that I could have ever researched on my own. At Campus Pride’s Camp Pride LGBTQ Leadership Academy 2012, Ochs was a featured speaker. It was revolutionary. Using the backing of the Kinsey scale, I learned about “breaking the binary.” There is a spectrum between heterosexual and homosexual attractions and behaviors.

So do I have to come out again?

Mainly I have to come to accept myself and love myself as I am. If I don’t, no one else will. Here it is, world: I’m bi — and I’ll go ahead and keep my gay card.

QUALITY THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE Relaxing~Invigorating true tantric experience Creating a safe space for men and women Call Marc at 881-4582 By appointment 7 AM-7 PM, Tue - Sat

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OBSERVER

WEEKLY

Children of same-sex couples are happier and healthier than peers, research shows household income, Crouch wrote.

However, on most health measures, including emotional behavior and physical functioning, there was no difference compared with children from the general population.

C r o u c h suggested the greater social cohesion among same-sex families comes from an equal distribution of work.

He said same-sex couples are likely to share responsibilities more equally than heterosexual ones.

By Lindsey Bever THE WASHINGTON POST Children of same-sex couples fare better when it comes to physical health and social well-being than children in the general population, according to researchers at the University of Melbourne in Australia.

“It’s often suggested that children with same-sex parents have poorer outcomes because they’re missing a parent of a particular sex. But research my colleagues and I published in the journal BMC Public Health shows this isn’t the case,” lead researcher Simon Crouch wrote on the Conversation.

Crouch and his team surveyed 315 same-sex parents with a total of 500 children across Australia. About 80 percent of the kids had female parents and about 18 percent had male parents, the study states.

Children from same-sex families scored about 6 percent higher on general health and family cohesion, even when controlling for socio-demographic factors such as parents’ education and

“It is liberating for parents to take on roles that suit their skills rather than defaulting to gender stereotypes, where mum is the primary care giver and dad the primary breadwinner,” he said.

But Benjamin Siegel, professor of pediatrics at the Boston University School of Medicine, said there are limits with such research. He told BU Today last year that none of the studies has been a randomized, controlled trial and that all studies on same-sex parenting are small since there aren’t as many same-sex parents.

school addressed to a “Mr.” and “Mrs.” to more harmful problems such as bullying at school. The greater the stigma a same-sex family faces, the greater the impact on a child’s social and emotional well-being, Crouch said.

However, according to a report published by the American Academy of Pediatrics last year that analyzed three decades of data, children raised by gay and lesbian parents showed resilience “with regard to social, psychological and sexual health despite economic and legal disparities and social stigma.”

“Many studies have demonstrated that children’s well-being is affected much more by their relationships with their parents, their parents’ sense of competence and security, and the presence of social and economic support for the family than by the gender or the sexual orientation of their parents,” said Siegel, co-author of the American Academy of Pediatrics report.

Amid the last year’s U.S. Supreme Court arguments over same-sex marriage, researchers found that the quality of parenting and families’ economic well-being was more important than sexual orientation.

“I can tell you we’re never going to get the perfect science, but what you have right now is good-enough science,” Siegel said. “The data we have right now are good enough to know what’s good for kids.”

July 9, 2014

Obituary In Memory Of Kris Lee Chambers Funeral services were held for Kris Lee Chambers, 38, who died on June 18 in Tucson. A Buddhist ceremony took place at Solar Culture and ended with dinner at Fluxx Studio and Gallery on June 25.

Kris was killed instantly when she was struck by a vehicle while riding her bicycle. Kris had been living in Tucson for the last seven years. She was a graduate of Burlingame Intermediate School and Burlingame High School.

She attended the College of San Mateo and graduated from the New College of San Francisco. She was a trained and qualified electrician and plumber. Most recently, Kris had been working as a professional massage therapist.

She is survived by her mother Sally Chambers Solari of Burlingame; her father Frank Chambers of Foster City; her stepfather Larry Solari of Burlingame; her sister, Kathryn Chambers of Phoenix; and her nephew, Tyler Chambers of Phoenix.

She is also survived by a wide circle of intimate friends in the Bay Area and Tucson area.

More than 300 people attended a vigil for her on June 24. Her mother stated that, “Kris was loved by so many people. Her death was terribly tragic and totally unnecessary. I treasure every moment we spent together.”

Donations in Kris’ memory can be sent to Bicycle Inter-Community Art and Salvage (BICAS), 44 W. Sixth St., Tucson, AZ 85705.

The University of Melbourne study also pointed out a problem facing samesex families: stigma.

According to the study, about two-thirds of children with same-sex parents experienced some form of stigma because of their parents’ sexual orientation. Despite these kids’ higher marks in physical health and social well-being, the stigma associated with their family structure was linked to lower scores on a number of scales. Crouch said stigmas ranged from subtle issues such as sending letters home from

Your face here

July 9, 2014

OBSERVER

WEEKLY

Summer blockbuster:

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Two new discoveries in ancient LGBT history OBSERVER STAFF While you and yours were enjoying the Fourth of July weekend some archaeologist around the world were making headlines. Two separate reports unearth evidence of LGBTs dating as far back as 2,900 BCE.

I love the way you hunt.

I love the way you gather.

He has described the inscriptions, which date to the fifth and sixth centuries BC, as “monumental in scale” and “triumphant.”

Despite the machinations of the Johnny-Come-Latelies, LGBTs have always been here. Some have always been queer. Why can’t they get used to it?

One inscription, believed to date from the mid-sixth century BC, states, “Nikasitimos was here mounting Timiona.” It lacks the invective and negative tone found in similar graffiti which describes hypothetical sex acts in insulting terms.

The Telegraph reports that in Prague, archaeologists have unearthed the 5,000-year-old remains of what they believe may have been the world’s oldest known gay caveman. Pink News reports archeologist have found on the Aegean island of Astypalaia, Greece, gay erotica and it’s “some of the oldest in the world.”

Vlachopoulos told The Guardian: “They claimed their own space in large letters that not only expressed sexual desire but talked about the act of sex itself. And that is very, very rare.”

First homosexual caveman found

“We know that in ancient Greece sexual desire between men was not a taboo. But this graffiti . . . is not just among the earliest ever discovered. By using the verb in the past continuous [tense], it clearly says that these two men were making love over a long period of time, emphasizing the sexual act in a way that is highly unusual in erotic artwork.”

PRAGUE, Czech Republic — A male body — said to date back to between 2900-2500BC — was discovered buried in a way normally reserved only for women of the Corded Ware culture in the Copper Age. The skeleton was found in a Prague suburb in the Czech Republic with its head pointing eastwards and surrounded by domestic jugs, rituals only previously seen in female graves.

“From history and ethnology, we know that people from this period took funeral rites very seriously so it is highly unlikely that this positioning was a mistake,” said lead archaeologist Kamila Remisova Vesinova.

“Far more likely is that he was a man with a different sexual orientation, homosexual or transsexual,” she added.

According to Corded Ware culture which began in the late Stone Age and culminated in the Bronze Age, men were traditionally buried lying on their right side with their heads pointing towards the west, and women on their left sides with their heads pointing towards the east. Both sexes would be put into a crouching position.

The men would be buried alongside weapons, hammers and flint knives as well as several portions of food and drink to accompany them to the other side.

University of Ioannina, has been working on the Aegean island of Astypalaia for four years. He reports finding inscriptions describing gay male sex alongside large phalluses carved into the rock.

Archeologists believe they have discovered a “transsexual” or “third gender grave” in the Czech Republic.

Women would be buried with necklaces made from teeth, pets, and copper earrings, as well as jugs and an egg-shaped pot placed near the feet.

“What we see here doesn’t add up to traditional Corded Ware cultural norms. The grave in Terronska Street in Prague 6 is interred on its left side with the head facing the West. An oval, eggshaped container usually associated with female burials was also found at the feet of the skeleton. None of the objects that usually accompany male burials such as weapons, stone battle axes and flint knives were found in the grave.

“We believe this is one of the earliest cases of what could be described as a “transsexual” or “third gender grave” in the Czech Republic,” archaeologist Katerina Semradova told a press conference on July 1.

She said that archeologists had uncovered an earlier case dating from the Mesolithic period where a female warrior was buried as a man.

“Few Greek islands have been properly explored or excavated and these findings are testimony to why it is so important that they are.”

She added that Siberian shamans, or latter-day witch doctors, were also buried in this way but with richer funeral accessories to appropriate to their elevated position in society.

The inscriptions are also believed to be an important indicator of early literacy rates in Greece.

“But this later discovery was neither of those, leading us to believe the man was probably homosexual or transsexual,” Semeradova said.

Homosexual relationships have long been recognized as an integral part of Ancient Greek culture, where sexual power was defined not by the gender of the participants but by the roles of penetrator and recipient.

The Corded Ware culture takes its name from the frequent use of decorative cord impressions found its pots and covered much of North, Central and Eastern Europe.

Greece: Newly discovered gay erotica ‘some of the oldest in the world’

By Ashley Chhibber PINK NEWS Dr. Andreas Vlachopoulos of the

Ancient Greek commentators saw in the earlier literature of Homer’s Iliad a gay relationship between heroes Achilles and Patroclus which matched on to elements of their own society, such as the Sacred Band of Thebes, an army made up of pairs of gay lovers.

The term “lesbian” derives from an ancient Greek female poet, Sappho of the isle of Lesbos, who wrote about her love for other women in her close circle of friends.

July 9, 2014 OBSERVER WEEKLY Gay men and the Only you can keep Tucson’s presidents who loved them queer art space open: Fluxx

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Part 2

By James Kirchick THE DAILY BEAST Presidents have long had gay advisers. But it’s only recently that the leader of the free world has felt secure enough to let it be known that he’s friends with friends of Dorothy.

Lyndon B. Johnson and Walter Jenkins Decades before Idaho Senator Larry Craig’s political career would end in shame over a foot-tapping scandal in an airport restroom, there was the sad case of Walter Jenkins. Lyndon B. Johnson once referred to Jenkins as “my Vice President in Charge of Everything.”

Jenkins joined Johnson’s employ at the age of 21 when the latter was a congressman, and served alongside him for his entire adult life. On October 7, 1964, Jenkins attended a Newsweek magazine party celebrating the opening of its bureau in Washington, D.C. Tipsy, he walked to the YMCA near the White House.

The bathroom, a notorious cruising scene at the time, was under surveillance by D.C. police, who arrested Jenkins and his sex partner almost immediately after the two entered a toilet stall. Hoping the matter would go away (he had been arrested, in the same bathroom, in 1959), Jenkins pleaded guilty to the charge of lewd conduct and didn’t even hire a lawyer. But the story inevitably broke in the press. “There can be no place on the White House staff or in the upper echelons of government for a person of markedly deviant behavior,” remarked the now-stridently pro-gay New York Times editorial board. Jenkins promptly resigned and checked into a hospital for “exhaustion.”

Richard Nixon and -- nobody Thanks to recently released transcripts of Richard Nixon’s White House conversations, we know for sure what had been long-suspected: that in addition to blacks, Jews and other minority groups, Nixon wasn’t particularly fond of gays. Discussing the popular television program All in the Family, Nixon was incredulous at a positive portrayal of gay characters.

“They were glorifying homosexuality!” he exclaimed in a 1971 conversation with advisers John Ehrlichman and Bob Haldeman. “You ever see what happened, you know what happened to the Greeks? Homosexuality destroyed them. Aristotle was a homo. So was Socrates.” After Ehrlichman, ever the obsequious minion, egged on his boss by remarking that the Greek philosopher “never had the influence that television has,” the pseudo-historian president replies indignantly that, “The last six

Roman emperors were fags. You see, homosexuality, immorality in general, these are the enemies of strong societies. That’s why the communists and the left-wingers are pushing it.

They’re trying to destroy us.”

With these views, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Nixon did not have any known, openly gay friends or advisers.

But a 2011 book speculates that Nixon may have had a gay affair. In Nixon’s Darkest Secrets: The Inside Story of America’s Most Troubled President, author Don Fulsom speculates that Nixon had a relationship of a “possibly homosexual nature” with his best friend, Charles “Bebe” Rebozo. Fulsom proffered little evidence to buttress his claim; a former Time magazine reporter who claimed to have seen the men holding hands under a dinner table, another journalist who saw Nixon put his arm around Rebozo “the way you’d cuddle your senior prom date.” Mark Feldstein, author of another book about Nixon and a journalism professor at the University of Maryland, attributed this most improbable of historical outings as the result of gossip refracted through the controversies of our cultural moment, coming as it did amidst a time when “homosexuality has come out of the closet and same-sex marriage has become a prominent part of the legislative agenda in many places.”

Gerald Ford and Oliver Sipple Gerald Ford and his gay best friend sealed their bond on September 22, 1975. On that day, five-time divorcee Sarah Jane Moore pulled a gun on the president as he exited the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco (it was a bad month for Ford, just three weeks earlier, another disturbed woman, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, tried to assassinate him in Sacramento, but a Secret Service Agent forced the gun from her hand).

Had Oliver Sipple not grabbed Moore’s hand as she fired, directing the bullet away from the president, Ford likely would have been gravely injured, if not killed.

Sipple’s homosexuality was revealed by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen, who had heard the ex-Marine was a friend of Harvey Milk, an openly gay man then running for a seat on the city’s Board of Supervisors. In the Mayor of Castro Street, his biography of Milk, author Randy Shilts reported that that the budding politician thought the world should know of Sipple’s sexual orientation so that “for once we can show that gays can do heroic things.”

That a gay man would save a president’s life was ironic. Just three Continued on page 12

Continued from page 1 simultaneously sought to promote the creation of queer art and culture through the use of visual and performing arts, live storytelling, LGBTQ film festivals, queer slam and poetry, and other programs which encourage critical thinking and communication. Art makes all this possible because it is a universal language that celebrates multiple perspectives, breaks down barriers and enhances cultural appreciation and awareness. Since its inception, Fluxx has grown to become the first and only queer art space in Tucson.

We know from experience that rent-paying revenue is earned over the weekends at evening entertainment events. These events often come hand-in-hand with alcohol. We have experienced a significant loss in these events since the absence of beer and wine at the studio. We know we need a beer and wine license in order to continue to attract artists, event producers and private parties to the space.

The challenges we face in getting a beer and wine license are the renovating the space and getting the green light from the city. Our main bathroom and entrance need to be renovated to be made ADA compliant. We need to raise money for a beer and wine license — this type of license can cost anywhere from $5-10k. And we need to generate enough revenue to maintain our monthly

expenses during this process to keep the studio open in process. It will take $50,000 to cover the costs of these road blocks and put us on our way to remaining a staple in the community.

This is where you come in. We are currently running an Indiegogo campaign to help us reach our goal.

Indiegogo is an online crowd-funding venue for people and entities seeking to raise funds for an idea, charity or start-up business. Campaign owners can offer gifts in the form of tangible items or intangible services to contributors. The site’s goal is to empower anyone that has an idea to be able to raise the funds and amplify their goal. We also have pop-up fund-raisers. A few have been: La Cocina’s Queer Dance Night, Moist Heat; a drag cabaret by the Tucson Monsoon Women’s football team, and dinner at Chuy’s. (We are working on more to come during the next couple months.)

Readers can help by purchasing one or more of our many great perks that are a part of the Save Fluxx Campaign such as queer art by Rae Strozzo or Rachel Castillo, hip hop dance lessons, a gym membership, a wine or movie basket, a personal chef and much more. They can also help by coming to our events or by renting our space!

Visit www.fluxxproductions.com for more info about events, our space, and our campaign.

July 9, 2014

Community Voices

OBSERVER

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Getting involved to support your community and benefit yourself too! many more, are available. The first step is attending a TIHAN Volunteer Orientation and learning more about TIHAN, HIV/AIDS, and our process of getting started as a volunteer.

By Scott Blades Executive Director TIHAN The beauty of volunteering is that it benefits the people we serve, but it also benefits the volunteer. You make a difference, have fun, and meet great people as you grow your skills and experience. Volunteering can be lifealtering work — I know it has been instrumental to me in my life!

Our next Volunteer Orientation will take place on Saturday from 8:30 a.m.12:30 p.m. at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (2331 E. Adams St., near Speedway and Tucson Blvd.).

The cost of the orientation is $17 per person to cover the costs of food and materials (but we have scholarships available if the $17 is a hardship for you). If you are interested in attending or if you would like more information please contact us at 520-299-6647 or volunteercoordinator@tihan.org.

Right now, TIHAN has a number of great volunteer opportunities, and one is sure to interest you. Here are a few examples of needs in the community that you can help address.

Are you someone who loves to meet and greet people? Could you answer phones and be a part of the behind the scenes crew that makes it all run at TIHAN? Our volunteer receptionists help enhance the public’s impression of TIHAN by being friendly, courteous and efficient. They direct people to the appropriate staff person and handle light office tasks as needed. You will be working with our phone system, computer system and some data entry.

Would you like to work directly with people living with HIV who we serve by connecting them to the information and resources needed to answer their questions and fulfill their support needs?

Do you have computer skills and love to have conversations with people?

You would be perfect for being a link specialist volunteer!

We have opportunities for people who like to create a clean and welcoming environment for TIHAN staff, volunteers, and CarePartners. We are

seeking volunteers to help clean our office on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis — things like mopping, sweeping, vacuuming, bathrooms and kitchen. We WANT you to join us!

Perhaps you are someone who likes to work with computers and enjoys entering information into a database?

Are you very detail-orientated, someone who catches what others may have missed and notices small changes to information? Have some experience with Excel spreadsheets?

Then contributing as a data entry volunteer at TIHAN is the place for you!

And another great volunteer opportunity to help your community and

have fun while do it: helping at Poz Café, our monthly lunch program for people living with HIV. We have opportunities for volunteer to work together to prepare a great meal, serving the food, helping set up tables, and being a floor manager at Poz Café. (Experience in food service helpful but not required.)

Do you like to socialize with all different personalities while making a difference and having fun? Are you available on the third Thursday of the month from 8:45 a.m.-2:30 p.m., with several hours of that time on your feet? Then perhaps being a Poz Cafe volunteer is the right fit for you.

Also, after attending the volunteer orientation, there’s another great training to build upon your knowledge and skill set. On July 22, from 1:00-5:30 p.m., we will hold “Care and Support Training” at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. This training, free of charge, is for any volunteer interested in working directly with CarePartners. You will learn about topics such as empathy and active listening, cultural competency, boundaries, and more details about specific volunteer opportunities working directly with people living with HIV. TIHAN strives to find ways that you can help make a difference in a way that is meaningful for the community and to you as a volunteer seeking to offer your time and talents. I hope you will get involved and find out how you can benefit others and yourself too! Hope to see you at our Volunteer Orientation on July 12.

All of these volunteer roles, and

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

Continued from page 1 Worlds away, in Turkey, The Huffington Post reported last week on a much smaller, but in no way less important, Pride.

The Turkish street festival in the predominately Muslim country has been

touted as the largest LGBT celebration in the Muslim world.

traditional Islamic values. (In Turkey, 99 percent of the population is Muslim.)

Amid a sea of rainbow flags, tens of thousands of gay rights supporters and LGBT community members came together to promote equality at Istanbul’s gay Pride parade.

According to a 2011 World Values Survey, 84 percent of Turkish respondents stated they did not want to live near members of the LGBT community. What’s more, LGBT hate crimes in Turkey are reportedly the highest of any nation in the Council of Europe, the Daily Beast reported, citing advocacy groups.

“In Turkey, we all have difficulty exercising our rights,” parade participant Aykut Yanak told the Agence FrancePresse. “This is why we must fight and why we all walk together today.”

Though same-sex relationships are not illegal in Turkey, intolerance runs rampant in the nation, often due to

In recent years, some of the nation’s top officials have given controversial remarks against homosexuality.

Last year, Prime Minister Recep

Tayyip Erdogan was quoted by Turkish news outlet Hürriyet as saying that being gay is a “sexual preference” that goes against the culture of Islam. In 2010, Turkey’s Minister for Women and Family Affairs, Selma Aliye Kavaf, said “homosexuality is a biological disorder, a disease.”

Earlier this year, the Turkish government announced plans to segregate LGBT criminals from other prisoners by housing them in a separate jail. Gay rights activist Murat Koylu told the AFP the move was “a medievalage practice” and that “the government has once again chosen to ostracize homosexuals.”

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July 9, 2014

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OBSERVER

Iranian poet blacklisted for being gay

By Nina Strochlic THE DAILY BEAST

The women, 52-year-old Trudy Kitzmiller of Mount Storm and 45-yearold Kristen Skinner of Ranson, along with the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund are calling on the state agency to allow transgender women to update the names and photographs on licenses to reflect “their true selves” and without facing discriminatory treatment.

As an openly gay author in a country where homosexuality is punishable by flogging and execution, Feili made no attempt to hide the sexual undertones in the writing that had so angered Iranian’s authorities. Four years before that March day, Feili had published “I Will Grow, I Will Bear Fruit…Figs.”

Chapter one begins unsubtly: “I am twenty one. I am a homosexual. I like the afternoon sun.”

During the two-year authorization period for that book, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance removed two poems and promptly stuck his name on the list of banned authors, effectively barring him from ever publishing in Iran again.

But it wasn’t until later that the real trouble began. Five years and another book after that, he was ready with his latest novel, “I Will Grow, I Will Bear Fruit…Figs,” a tale narrated by a homosexual boy. Unable to publish anything in Iran, he found a German publishing house that wanted the work.

At this same time, in 2010, his family and community was finding out that he was gay.

Retribution was swift. He was fired from his job as an editor at a publishing house, and his sister was also let go.

He soon noticed his email and social

West Virginia DMV refused to photograph two transgender women in makeup Two West Virginia transgender women claim that staff at Division of Motor Vehicles locations in the state used offensive language and ordered them to remove cosmetics and wigs before taking driver’s license photos.

By the time Feili emerged from 44 days in a shipping container in Iran this March, he had survived his third and longest stint in captivity. Despite the unwarranted detentions, being fired from his job, and the constant harassment of his friends and family, the 29-yearold poet and writer was determined to remain in the country of his birth.

Feili began penning classic love poems when he was 15. By the time they were compiled and published in The Sun’s Platform in 2005, when he was 19 years old, the book would be his first and last to be released in Iran.

July 9, 2014

By Tony Merevick BUZFEED

TEHRAN, Iran -- Payam Feili has been forced into exile by the regime in Tehran for allusions to homosexuality in his work.

Already blacklisted in Iran due to previous works, Feili had been seeking outside publishers for the novel. He became connected with an IranianIsraeli woman who agreed to translate his work into Hebrew (it will be released in Israel in the coming months). In a country that needs much less evidence to label someone an Israeli spy, this was fuel for constant government harassment.

WEEKLY

Payam Feili is an openly gay author in a country where homosexuality is punishable by flogging and execution.

media accounts were being hacked, presumably by the government. At one point, he was on his brother’s Gmail and saw his own account signed on.

“Who are you and what are you doing with my account?” he messaged on the chat platform. “Shut up,” the hacker responded, using a Farsi colloquialism.

He told Feili he would return it if he was a good kid, which he did. “They were trying to find out who I was in touch with,” Feili remembers.

Not long after, the Iranian woman who had connected him with his German publisher was interrogated and threatened. One translator he was working with for an earlier book was threatened so much he dropped out.

“After that, anybody I wanted to work with inside Iran, they would go to him, threaten him, and stop the work between us,” Feili remembers. Soon his friends received the same visits.

Kitzmiller told BuzzFeed her experience at the Martinsburg DMV office on May 10 was “humiliating,” “wrong,” and “dehumanizing.” Despite having brought court documents verifying her legal name change and a letter from her physician which states she was in their care for gender transition treatment, staff allegedly called her “it” and told her to remove her wig, makeup, and jewelry before they would take her photo, according to TLDEF. “As a transgender woman, I have overcome a lot of obstacles to become my true self,” she said. “The DMV staff not only denied me the right to appear in my license photo as myself, they dehumanized me. I left the DMV depressed and I still have my old driver’s licenses with an incorrect name and a photo that doesn’t even look like me.”

Skinner faced similar discrimination when she visited the Charlestown DMV on Jan. 7, saying staff at the office told her men cannot wear makeup for license photos and was also told to remove her wig and false eyelashes — even though she wasn’t wearing either. She ended

“My personal life had basically reached a dead end and the pressures on me were intolerable,” he says. “All people were scared to be in contact with me. I was even left alone by my friends— being in touch with me was causing trouble for them so they would stop.”

For the last few years, he said, he had few associates left and was desperately lonely. “I was almost always cast out of society, starting from elementary school all the way up to the time I was basically living alone,” he says. In school, he was attacked so badly that he dropped out and was homeschooled for his last years before graduation.

Kristen Skinner

up taking the licenses photo, but claims it does not reflect her daily appearance.

“It has taken me a long time to become the woman that I am today, and it has not been easy,” Skinner said in a statement. “The DMV treated me horribly. I was simply trying to update my driver’s license to reflect who I truly am as a transgender woman. Instead I was told to alter how I normally appear so that I would look like a man and was called ‘it’ in the process.”

In a letter to the DMV, TLDEF executive director Michael Silverman said the DMV restricted Kitzmiller’s and Skinner’s freedom, saying, “Forcing them to remove their makeup and other items that facilitate a female gender expression before allowing them to take their driver’s license photos restricts their free speech rights in violation of state and federal constitutional protections.”

Additionally, Silverman made clear the women are attempting to change their names and take new photos for their driver’s licenses, and are not trying to change the gender marker — “M” or “F” — on the licenses, which under the state’s existing policy, would require “invasive surgical procedures,” he said. “The state of West Virginia may not recognize them as women on their licenses, but it’s not allowed to tell them how to express who they are.”

Kitzmiller said she hopes the DMV will respond by allowing her to change her name and photo, and will not make another attempt to do so unless invited back.

“I cannot go through that humiliation again,” she said. “No human being, no matter what they look like or who they are, should have to suffer humiliation like that.”

This beautiful lady was rescued from PACC and gave birth to some beautiful babies! The babies are all weaned, and ready to go home, so we’re trying to find her a forever home, too! Katerina is a gorgeous Russian Blue, who just turned 1! She’s a little shy, but warms up quickly, and would make a great companion in a quiet home. Give us a call, or come down and meet this sweetheart.

Katerina

July 9, 2014

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Nevada might get its first transgender legislator — the real news: she’s a Republican

By Whip Villarreal LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL CARSON CITY, Nev. — Lauren Scott, a civil rights activist and Air Force veteran who served during Operation Desert Storm, soon could become Nevada’s first openly transgender state legislator.

She is running as the Republican candidate for the Assembly in Reno’s District 30.

Scott, 50, acknowledged that a transgender GOP candidate running for office is a bit of an anomaly.

“It’s like an oxymoron,” she said. “I know that, but there are a lot of people

who are like myself and want a job, want to pay their bills and want to see business grow, and they also happen to be gay.”

from “the good ol’ boy” politics and the “same old same old.” She believes she can work closely with Republicans to encourage them to vote on a much more moderate platform.

Though she is open about being transgender, she does not make that an issue in her campaign.

Scott believes that there is a misconception about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community.

She said that misconception is that they go out to gay pride parades and wear feather boas and are hard-line Democrats who are pro- taxes and prounions.She said not everyone in the LGBT community is like that, including herself.

The theme of her campaign is to get Nevada working again. Scott said her goal if she is elected is to lower taxes, lower energy costs, attract new businesses and create jobs.

She supports medical marijuana and opposes the proposed business margins tax to fund education. The tax proposal is on the Nov. 4 ballot.

She said it is time to move away

She will face an uphill battle in her campaign. Scott is running for office as a Republican in a district in which Democrats have a 13-percentage-point edge in registered voters.

Lauren Scott

Protest at prison-themed Pride party turns violent Armory facilities manager Andrew Harvill confirmed that protesters “’used a slingshot to propel objects at security,’ and punched and spat in the face of the Armory’s manager of security.” Four of the six originally arrested have been released on bail.

By Matthew Tharrett QUEERTY SAN FRANSISCO -- At least a half dozen “highly militant” LGBT protesters were arrested and threatened with felony assault charges for their involvement in a violent protest that formed in response to the “Prison of Love” party outside the Kink.com Armory building in San Francisco on June 28.

As you may recall, a handful of angry bloggers and DIY social media activists were offended by the event, a prison fantasy themed dance party marketed largely toward gay men, alleging that it “trivialized” the LGBT incarceration rate and profited from “genocidal practices.” The sentiment was kicked off by a Jezebel blogger known as Kat Callahan, who incorrectly identified the “problematic” event as being one officially-sanctioned by San Francisco Pride.

According to sources, around 150 people belonging to an activist group called “Gay Shame” arrived at the Armory to protest around 10 p.m.

The protests quickly turned violent as a handful of “unruly” activists began throwing eggs at security guards, spitting on partygoers at the scene, and launching “metal objects” with slingshots at those across the picket line. In a statement to the paper, Kink.com CEO Peter Acworth said the “protesters were largely peaceful,” but “at least a dozen were highly militant.”

Witnesses say the arrests happened shortly before midnight down the street at the 16th Street Mission BART Plaza, where security guards had followed the protesters in an attempt to identify the provocateurs to police. Witnesses say

Earlier last month, Acworth acknowledged that he had tried to communicate peacefully with protesters to find a middle ground. “I realize that Pride is both a celebration of LGBTQ identities and historically a time when serious issues that affect queer communities are highlighted,” he wrote in an open letter on his blog. “Had I thought that a prison fantasy party would detract from the very serious issue of the prison industrial complex in this country, I would have insisted on another theme.”

Protestors object to a prison-themed dance party seen to fly in the face of disproportunate queer incarceratoon rates.

the protesters turned violent upon their arrest because they felt unfairly targeted by police.

According to San Francisco Police Department spokesman Albie Esparza, a security guard followed the protesters down to the plaza, though for the purpose of identifying the offenders when the police arrived. One protester reportedly threw a metal object and made threats toward a security guard during the protest, both of which are being charged as felonies, while another allegedly threw an egg and spit on a security guard. When the police attempted to arrest the protester for the alleged felonies, Esparza said two other protesters tried to intervene. They were arrested and charged with lynching — a violation of Penal Code 405a, defined as “the taking by means of a riot of any

person from the lawful custody of any peace officer.”

Two other protesters were cited for interfering with an officer and resisting arrest, and released, according to Esparza. The protester who allegedly threw the egg was cited for battery and released.

In a follow-up email, Acworth added: “I attempted to negotiate directly with the crowd, but this proved unsuccessful.

This was frustrating, because I agree with the underlying issue that we are in need of prison reform . . . Had it been possible to change the theme, we would have done so.”

Meanwhile, it appears that everything inside the Armory went off without a hitch.

Remember to send in your wedding announcements and photos to info@observerweekly.com so we can print them here for all the world to see.

Donations accepted.

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Anti-gay archbishop faced with man-on-man scandal

WEEKLY

Gay men and the presidents who loved them

Continued from page 6 years earlier, newspaper columnist Jack Anderson revealed that the Secret Service had compiled a list of 400 organizations that it monitored “to prevent political assassinations.” On the list: the Gay Liberation Front.

Ronald Reagan and Rock Hudson Ronald and Nancy Reagan became friends with many gay people during their years in Hollywood. One of the most prominent was Rock Hudson, the matinee idol whose public image as a heartthrob disguised his homosexuality.

In 1984, Hudson was diagnosed with HIV, a fact that he would not disclose until over a year later. This was at a time when the disease had just begun to ravage the gay community and many were criticizing the Reagan administration for its slow response to the epidemic. The following July, Hudson traveled to Paris for medical treatment and announced, through a publicist, that he had AIDS.

By Adrian Garcia GAILY GRIND SAINT PAUL, Minn. -- A Roman Catholic archbishop in Minnesota who has been one of the church’s most vocal opponents of gay rights is -- drum roll please -- the target of an investigation into allegations that he has a history of “inappropriate sexual conduct with seminarians, priests, and other men.”

“Saint Paul and Minneapolis Archbishop John Nienstedt, the guy who spearheaded a mass mailing in 2010 of 400,000 anti-gay DVDs, and created a special “marriage prayer” which he asked the state’s Catholics to recite during Mass in an effort to create support for the anti-gay amendment on Minnesota’s ballot in November, also told the mother of a gay son that she should reject him or risk burning in hell, according to a recently-surfaced letter.”

bound in conscience to believe this teaching. Those who do not cannot consider themselves to be Catholic and ought not to participate in the sacramental life of the Church.

“Indeed, some might find this is a hard saying but many of Jesus’ teachings were likewise received as such. I urge you to reconsider the position that you expressed in your letter. Your eternal salvation may well depend upon a conversation of heart on this topic.”

Slate reports that Commonweal, a Catholic magazine based in New York, first reported the investigation: Nienstedt, 67, said in a separate statement that the allegations “are absolutely and entirely false” and he said, he himself authorized the internal investigation, which he called “independent, thorough.”

Wrote Nienstedt: “I write to inform you that the teaching of the Catholic Church on homosexuality, as described in paragraphs 2357 and 2358 and 2359 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church is rooted in Scripture and based on the Natural Moral Law. It, therefore, shares in God’s revelation to us. Catholics are

“The allegations do not involve minors or lay members of the faithful, and they do not implicate any kind of illegal or criminal behavior,” Nienstedt said. “The allegations involve events alleged to have occurred at least a decade ago, before I began serving in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.”

July 9, 2014

While President Reagan made no official statement about his friend’s illness (his first public reference to the disease was in September 1985, over two years after its existence had been reported on by The New York Times), he called Hudson at the hospital in Paris and his wife phoned thenFrench President Francois Mitterand to guarantee that her friend was receiving top-notch treatment. A 2003 television docudrama initially planned to air on CBS, The Reagans, portrayed Reagan as a virulent homophobe who tells Nancy, in a conversation about AIDS patients, “They that live in sin shall die in sin.” When the script leaked, Hudson’s former lover Marc Christian wrote an open letter to CBS television President Les Moonves, explaining, “The notion that President Reagan was a homophobe strikes me as silly beyond belief… The point is Reagan could have ignored Rock’s illness and didn’t.”

George H.W. Bush: First President to serve as witness to same-sex marriage George H.W. Bush effectively became the fourth sitting or former U.S. President to endorse gay marriage (following presidents Carter, Clinton and Obama) when, with his wife, Barbara, he served as an official witness at the wedding of Bonnie Clement and Helen Thorgalsen. (This leaves his son, George W. Bush, as the only living expresident not to support gay marriage.)

His office tried to downplay any attempt at deciphering a political message from the event, with a representative issuing a statement that the Bushes “were private citizens attending a private ceremony for two friends.” The lesbian pair owns a general goods store in Kennebunkport, Maine, where the Bush family has long maintained a vacation residence.

Part 2

Bill Clinton and David Mixner David Mixner met Bill Clinton in 1969 when the two men were young activists in the anti-war and civil rights movements, and was immediately entranced. “His extraordinary talent for ‘connecting’ was irresistible,” Mixner wrote in his memoir, Stranger Among Friends. From that moment, Mixner dedicated himself to Clinton’s political career, working on his every election from a 1974 congressional race to his 1992 presidential victory. But Mixner would come to feel betrayal almost immediately once Clinton passed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” regulation banning openly gay people serving in the military, after having specifically promised to lift such restrictions. Mixner protested the law and was arrested outside the White House. The two later made amends, but Mixner supported Barack Obama over Clinton’s wife, Hillary, in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary.

George W. Bush and Charles Francis Charles Francis came out to his friend, then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, in a letter. His brother had served as Bush’s campaign chairman and Francis figured he could leverage his personal connection to the governor to help further the cause of gay rights among Republicans. “The day he got the letter, he called me,” Francis told Out magazine in 2001. “Our friendship couldn’t be stronger.” Francis famously organized a meeting for Bush with a group of gay Republicans (dubbed “The Austin 12”) during the 2000 presidential campaign, from which Bush emerged saying he had become “a better person.”

Francis later founded the Republican Unity Coalition, a group of gay and straight Republicans that claimed Mary Cheney and former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson as members.

But, like Mixner, Francis’s friendship with a president would be tested once politics entered the fray. In 2004, Bush endorsed a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage—leading many of the prominent gay Republicans who met with him four years earlier to renounce their support for his re-election. “The stampede you hear will be 1 million gay voters who voted for President Bush— gone, and their families gone, and their friends gone,” an indignant Francis told the San Francisco Chronicle that year. Francis dropped his GOP registration and has since reconstituted the Washington Mattachine Society, one of the country’s first gay-rights organizations, dedicated to “archive activism” that exposes, through official documentation, the federal government’s historic persecution of gay people.

July 9, 2014

OBSERVER WEEKLY

Page 13

Two arrested in illegal Joan Rivers: Barack Obama’s Japanese fetish shoe sale gay and Michelle is a ‘tranny’

By Lauren Duca HUFFINGTON POST Joan Rivers took her “jokes” too far yet again this week, when she hurled a trans slur at the first lady, shortly after officiating a gay wedding at a book signing for “Diary of A Mad Diva.”

By Mikey Smith THE MIRROR

charged with assisting in causing a public nuisance.

KYOTO, Japan -- Police recently arrested two men in Kyoto for selling shoe-mounted cameras online which let voyeurs secretly photograph the underwear of unsuspecting women.

According to police, the two men sold the shoes between October last year and March to at least three customers knowing they would be used to take pictures of women’s underwear.

Hidden shoe cameras designed to take pictures up women’s skirts have been banned as cops crack down on peeping Toms.

Upskirt pictures are a popular fetish in the country, with millions searching for the images online.

Takahiko Naito, 25 and Atsuko Sonoda, 24, who operated a website called Camouflage Camera, were

The shoes, which sell for 27,600 Yen each, ($270) have a lens in the toe which is triggered by remote control.

Inquiring about the impromptu ceremony, an unidentified reporter asked controversial octogenarian when we will have a gay president, to which she replied, “We already have it with Obama, so let’s just calm down.”

She then goes on -- unprompted! -to say “You know Michelle is a tranny.”

When the reporter attempts to clarify, she responds: “A transgender. We all know.”

Refusing calls to apologise, she said in a statement to CNN: “I think it’s a compliment. She’s so attractive, tall, with a beautiful body, great face, does great makeup.

“Take a look and go back to La Cage Au Follies [sic]. The most gorgeous women are transgender . . .

Stop it already . . . and if you want to talk about ‘politically correct,’ I think this is a ‘politically incorrect’ attack on me because I’m old, Jewish, a woman and a ‘hetty’ -- a heteosexual . . . and I plan to sue the reporter who, when he turned off his camera, tried to touch me inappropriately on the ass -- luckily he hit my ankle. Read the book . . . if you think that’s silly, wait [until] you see what I say about FDR and Eleanor!”

The investigation into the web retailer was launched in February, after a customer was arrested for taking upskirt photographs of a schoolgirl.

Naito admits to the charges, but Sonoda told police he didn’t know what customers were going to do with the cameras.

We are constantly looking for caring and fun volunteers!

Please call TIHAN office for information of next Volunteer orientation 520-299-6647 ext. 204 or volunteercoordinator@tihan.org Contact Alicia Talerico, Office and Volunteer Coordinator

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OBSERVER WEEKLY As Clark Saw It

Monday 12-3 p.m.

4-5:30 p.m.

4:30-6:30 p.m.

6:30-7:30 p.m.

7-9 p.m.

7-10 p.m.

7-8:30 p.m.

7-9 p.m.

6 p.m.

Tuesday 3-8 p.m.

4 p.m.

7-9 p.m.

Wednesday 3-8 p.m.

12-1 p.m.

3-4:30 p.m.

4:30-6 p.m.

6:30-7:30 p.m.

7-9 p.m.

7:30p.m.

Thursday 3-8 p.m.

4-5:30 p.m.

5:30-6:30 p.m.

6 p.m.

6:30-7:30 p.m.

7 p.m.

7-9 p.m.

7-10 p.m.

Friday 4 p.m.

SAAF’s MSHAPE Lounge offers mens health resources LGBTQA Support Group. LGBTQ Affairs Office, UA Student Union level four.

SAGA Desert Boyz for trans masculine folks 3rd Tuesdays SAAF’s MSHAPE Lounge offers mens health resources Pink Triangle AA Meeting, 439 N. Sixth Ave. Everyday.

Gender Spectrum support Group. UA Campus Health Service Building Room C312. $5 TMC Hospice LGBTQ Grief Support Group. 1st and 3rd Wednesdays, Peppi’s House Chapel, 2715 N. Wyatt Drive. RSVP at: 520-324-2438.

Wednesday Night Christian Bible Study, Cornerstone Fellowship Social Hall, 2902 N. Geronimo Ave. Weekly Bears Coffee at Crave, 4530 E. Broadway Blvd.

Yoga at Fluxx $5 suggested donation.

Saturday 2:30-4:30p.m.

2nd Saturdays

Bears of the Old Pueblo Potluch 2nd Saturdays 520.444.2275 Transparents For parents of trans kids. RSVP SAGA to attend.

11a.m 2-5 p.m.

2:45 p.m.

Zoe’s World

By Zoe

SAAF’s MSHAPE Lounge offers mens health resources Support Group for Transgender Survivors of Sexual Trauma, SACSA, 1600 N. Country Club Queer People of Color & Two Spirit support group. African American Student Affairs MLK Center, 1322 E. 1st Street.

Write Now! a writer’s group open to all at Revolutionary Grounds 606 N. 4th Regardless of… NA LGBT Meeting, Trinity Presbyterian Church, 400 E. University Blvd.

Weekly Meditation Classes in Central Tucson, cost: $10, Kadam Meditation Center Arizona 1701 E. Miles St. SAGA Desert Partnerz for cis-gendered 4th Thursday Triangle Tribe, Men’s Support Group. Call 520-398-6826

5:30-6:30 p.m.

6:30 p.m.

10-12 p.m.

By Gary Clark

Mah Jongg Mondays Himmel Park Library. Ages 50+, 1035 N. Treat.

In Our Own Voices, Women’s therapy group for survivors of sexual trauma, SACSA, 1600 N. Country Club, 520.327.1171 Cancer Support Group for LGBT People, Arizona Cancer Center at UMCNorth, Rm 1127, 3838 N. Campbell Ave. 520.694.0347 Regardless of… NA LGBT Meeting, Trinity Presbyterian Church, 400 E. University Blvd.

SAGA General for trans forlks and allies 1st Monday SAGA Desert Girlz for trans Femanine folks 2nd Monday Reveille Men’s Chorus Open Rehearsal, Rincon Congregational Church, 122 N. Craycroft Tucson Women’s Chorus rehearsal.Call for details: 520.743.0991 Desert Girlz meeting at Wingspan PFLAG en Español Meets the 1st Monday of each month at Fortin de las Flores: 243 W. 33rd St.

Wingspan’s Eon Youth Program New Youth Orientation Fridays at 4p.m.

Youth Center Open M-F Oasis LGBT Social Group. Email oasis.wingspan@gmail.com Bingo at MCC Every Friday call 207-9354 for info.

Sunday 9-11 a.m.

10-11.30 a.m.

July 9, 2014

Co-ed Softball, all abilities welcome. Oury Park, 600 W.St. Mary’s Advice For Life & Prayers for World Peace. Buddha’s teachings, Kadampa Meditation Center Arizona 1701 E. Miles St. LGBT Buddhist Meditation Group meets every Sunday at The Three Jewels, 314 E. 6th St. in Tucson. Meditation sessions with readings, recordings, and discussion. Welcoming to all.For information call Jim at 520-884-4218.

Zumba at Fluxx. $5 suggested donation.

Mamasitas! Men’s Sports club at Menlo Park The New Men’s Massage Group. June 15 @ 4p.m. Call Marc at 881-4582 to sign up. Or email bleu55@gmail.com in advance. It’s a great place to meet men. Safe, non-sexual but very sensual and a little erotic. Donation.

3-5p.m.

Men’s Social Network “H” Club open to entire LGBTQ community. This is a fun discussion, learning and participation group meeting for discussions on major words beginning with the letter “H.” Doesn’t meet the 1st Sunday of the month.

5:30 p.m.

Puertas Abiertas Latin/Hispanic LBGTQ/Ally support group meeting at Wingspan 430 E 7th St – every 3rd Sunday of the month at 5:30pm.

Classifieds

THEATRE PROPS WANTED:

Non-profit theatre needs props for upcomming production of Les Miserables. Rolling staircases, reproduction weapons, and miscellaneous props needed. Any donations appreciated. Willing to borrow and return.

Costumes also needed. madpropsdesigns@yahoo.com

VINTAGE/CHIC VANITY/ DESK

Fun upcycled antique vanity with five drawers and sasy elcectic knobs. In shabby-chic but sturdy condition, recently repainted in perywinkle gray.

Ideal for TV stand or statement piece. $40 O.B.O. madpropsdesigns@yahoo.com

July 9, 2014

Monday

OBSERVER Tuesday

WEEKLY Wednesday

BRODIES TAVERN - Service Industry Night 7 p.m.- 2 a.m. $2.50 House Well, Long Islands, Margaritas on Tap, $3 16 oz. BudBud Light-Mic Ultra Cans, Fireball Shots.

IBT’s - Happy Hour 12 - 9p.m. Taking Back Mondays hosted by Diva featuring *3-4-1 Well Vodkas (Regular, Grape & Cherry) 9 - Close. Karaoke Inside or Lounge on the Patio 9 p.m.

VENTURE-N - Open noon. Free pool noon-4 p.m. Free music, WiFi Noon-2 p.m.

BRODIES TAVERN - Two Buck Tuesday 7 p.m. - 2 a.m. $ 2 House Well, Fire Eater Shots, $2 Margaritas on Tap, $2 Long Islands IBT’s - Happy Hour 12 - 9 p.m.; Taco Tuesdays. $1 Tacos. Drink Specials 9-Close: Mix-n-Match Mexican Beer Special, Tequila Specials (Patron $6, Milagro $4.50, Hornitos $4, Cuervo $3.50), Million$DJ Inside 9 p.m.

VENTURE-N - Open noon. Free pool noon- 4 p.m. Free music, WiFi noon- 2 p.m.

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

BRODIES TAVERN - Get the Party Started Friday 7 p.m. - 2 a.m. $3 Malibu Rum Black-House Long Islands-Pucker Vodka, Margaritas on tap-XX Pints IBT’s - Happy Hour 12 - 9 p.m., Flawless Fridays featuring “Absolutely Flawless” Drag Show hosted by China Collins @ 9 p.m. DJ Import Inside after the show, Million$DJ on the Patio 9pm. GoGo Boys @11p.m.

LOOKS - 6 p.m. to Close, Karaoke 8-12, $3.50 Absolute Lemon Drops, $5 Jamesons VENTURE-N - Open 10 a.m. Free pool 10-4, Free music, WiFi 10 a.m.- 2 a.m.

BRODIES TAVERN - Back Pocket Sabado Latino 7 p.m. - 2 a.m. $3 Magaritas on tap-Corona Bottles, $3.25 Latin Beers-XX Micheladas, $1 Tequila Shots-Corona Ritas IBT’s - Happy Hour 12 - 9 p.m., Karaoke on the Patio 5 - 8 p.m., “Saturday Night Starlettes” drag show Hosted by Janee Starr 9pm, Million$DJ on the Patio 9 p.m., DJ Import Inside after the drag show.

LOOKS - 6 p.m. to Close, $3 Flaming Shots From Hell, $5 Bombay Saphires VENTURE-N - Open 10 a.m. Free pool 10.a.m. - 4 p.m. Free music

BRODIES TAVERN - Funday 7 p.m. - 2 p.m. $2.50 House Well, $3 House Long Islands, Tap Magaritas, $1 House Kasiz Shots, $1.75 Domestic Pints IBT’s - Happy Hour 12-9 p.m., Karaoke 4-8:30 p.m. “Cheap Ass Sunday’s” 9-Close feat. 2-4-1 Drinks and Bottle Beer (exclude top shelf, wine & draft), Karaoke Inside 9pm; DJ Sid the Kid on the patio 9 p.m.

VENTURE-N - Open noon. BBQ Burgers or Hot Dogs, Fries. Free Pool Noon-4 p.m.

Free Music, WiFi noon-2 a.m.

BRODIES TAVERN - Whiskey Wednesday 7-2 a.m. $3.25 Jack-Jim Beam-JamesonFireball-Makers Mark-Johnny Walker Red IBT’s - Happy Hour 12 - 9 p.m., “Viva La Diva” Drag Show Hosted by Diva at 9.

“Whiskey Breath” Drink Special Every Wednesday 9-Close. $2 Well, $3 Call, $4 Select Top Shelf Whiskey and Scotch Blend Whiskies. Million$DJ Inside after the drag show. Party with DJ Import VENTURE-N - Open noon. Free pool noon-4 p.m. Free music, WiFi noon-2 a.m.

Page 15 Thursday BRODIES TAVERN - Customer Appreciation 7-2 a.m. Two-for-One Well-Domestic Bottles, Margaritas on Tap House Kasiz Shots IBT’s - Therapy every Thursday. All Day *24-1 Drink Specials (excludes top shelf, wine & draft). Million$DJ Inside at 9 p.m., DJ Sid the Kid on the Patio 9 p.m. GoGo Boys @11 p.m.

LOOKS - 6 p.m. to Close, Happy Hour 6-8, $3 Southern Comforts, $5 Long Islands VENTURE-N - Open 10am. Free pool 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Free music, WiFi from 10 a.m.

Vaginal computer tracks fitness goals from within

By Oliver Wainwright THE GUARDIAN Wearable technology conquers the final frontier with KGoal, a device to help women the world over exercise their pelvic floor muscles better. Wearable tech can already stream the internet straight to your face, vibrate around your waist when you’re slouching and track your health using only your wrist. Now, gadgets are getting even more intimate and attempting to conquer the final frontier: the vagina.

Recently launched on Kickstarter, the KGoal Smart Kegel Trainer, produced by San Fransisco-based sexual health startup Minna Life, describes itself as a “Fitbit for your vagina,” an interactive device to guide, measure and track pelvic floor muscle exercise. It takes the form of a squeezable silicone pillow, connected to a smartphone app, that measures your “clench strength” and feeds the data back to a smartphone app via Bluetooth.

It also has an internal motor for “real time vibrational biofeedback.”

“Pelvic floor muscles are one of the most important, yet least appreciated, parts of the body,” says the product’s designer, Grace Lee, in the promotional video. “But many people never think about exercising them.” Running from the pubic bone to the base of the spine, the sling-shaped muscles hold the bladder and urethra in place, controlling urination. Critically important during and after pregnancy, they can often be damaged during childbirth, leading to incontinence and reduced pleasure during sex.

“30% of women need direct feedback to perform a pelvic floor muscle contraction correctly,” says the company’s pelvic floor specialist Liz Miracle. “People come to me and say ‘I didn’t do my exercises because I couldn’t see what was happening and I didn’t know what was going on,’ so they often just give up.”

By flashing its pink light, vibrating and charting your progress on the app – soon to come complete with games – the KGoal aims to change all that. “It’s like having a gym, a physical therapist and a tracking system in the palm of

your hand,” says Lee. Or inside your vagina, as the case may be.

The biggest challenge in developing the product was “fine-tuning the human interface and ergonomics of the device,” Minna Life’s appropriately named Jon Thomas told Wired. “By that I mean the product shape and feel. Because KGoal must fit a wide variety of anatomies, it was a challenge to make the product both functional and comfortable across the full spectrum of our users.”

Vagina tracker . . . the KGoal Smart Kegel Trainer can monitor pelvic floor exercise with real-time feedback.

Page 16

OBSERVER WEEKLY

July 9, 2014

Pride in Asian places Gay rugby team makes history by being first to play pro game QUEERTY The Sydney Convicts made history by becoming the first gay rugby union club to play at a professional match.

On July 6, the team went head to head with Macquarie University for a “curtain raising” game before two professional teams compete.

The event was held in part to combat homophobia, and it’s a great opportunity for the sports community to put differences aside and come together for a love of the game.

Nick Phipps, who plays for the Australian national team, said: “Sport is such a beautiful thing and in this day and age, there should be no discrimination at all.

After getting to know some of the boys who play for the Sydney Convicts, they’re really good fellas and we want to help them as much as we can.”

Random rugby hottie bending at the waist.