1547 September 17, 2014

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September 17, 2014

Issue 1547

Rep. Orr two-stepped around SB 1062 vote By Rob Rowley STONEWALL DEMOCRATS

him stand on that and other issues.

In late February of this year, at the first anti-SB-1062 rally in Tucson, LD-9 state Rep. Ethan Orr (R) was proud to announce that he “did not vote for” 1062. Orr lied by omission. He forgot to mention that he did vote for it in its first reading and that while he didn’t vote for it in its final reading he also didn’t vote against it -- Orr reportedly left the vote and hung out in the lounge instead of taking a stand either way.

The two Democratic candidates running for the District 9 House seats are state Rep. Victoria Steele and Friese. Steele represents Legislative District 9 in north/central Tucson from Speedway to Ina, Sabino Canyon to Thornydale, and Friese is a trauma surgeon and professor of surgery at the University of Arizona Medical Center. I spoke with these two candidates, asked them a few questions and here is what they said:

At a Clean Elections debate between Orr and Dr. Randy Friese, Ethan once again tried to talk his way around the whole 1062 debacle and it made me wonder where the two candidates running against

Equality Arizona honors Tucson’s Scott Blades OBSERVER STAFF PHOENIX -- Tucson’s Scott Blades copped Arizona’s most prestigious LGBT award Saturday night, telling an audience of several hundred how proud he is to be part of “this amazing community.” Blades came north to accept Equality Arizona’s William S. MacDonald Lifetime Achievement Award. He was honored for 25 years of work, 20 of them with the Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network (TIHAN), which was kicked off on World AIDS Day in 1994.

Rob Rowley: Do the two of you support marriage equality? Victoria Steele: “I most definitely support marriage Continued on page 13

Scott Blades pictured here with his mother Gerry Cox (right), and Rebecca Wininger, Equality Arizona’s policy committee co-chair.

“So many people deserve Continued on page 16

Inside Senator SB 1070: Sterilize low-income Arizona’s first gay marriage legalized Page 12

Republicans on House committee vote to redefine marriage after all Page 4

New chain chooses Tucson to launch its first french fry hot spot

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women now! By R.D. Smith GUEST COLUMNIST

The only sitting Arizona Senate president ever to lose a reelection bid has come up with a new idea -- mandatory sterilization for low-income unemployed women. Russell Pearce, now the vice-chairman of the state Republican Party, told listeners on his radio show last week, “You put me in charge of Medicaid, the first thing I’d do is get Norplant, birthcontrol implants or tubal ligations.” Continued on page 7 UPDATE: Pearce resigns, page 3

Gallup: 70 percent in U.S. say they live in gay-friendly area A recent Gallup poll asked 100,000 people in 123 countries whether they live in a gay-friendly community. Among Americans, percent answered yes.

70

Facebook’s name policy disproportionately affects LGBTQ’s

Keep in mind that a poll earlier this year showed a higher percentage than that were positive that lesbians and gays had employment protection in all states.

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In other words, the best reason for polls to ask our straight neighbors about gay life is to find out how much they don’t know about us!

Chuzapalooza is back with the Absolute Worst Drag Show 3 Page 10

The country with the highest percentage believing their city is gay-friendly was the Netherlands, with 83 percent. Scoring the lowest were Uganda (2 percent) and Senegal (1 percent).

Russell Pearce

Justin Bieber’s strip gets mostly boos at Fashion Rocks OBSERVER STAFF BROOKLYN, N.Y. -Justin Bieber couldn’t wait to strip down to his Calvin Kleins during CBS’ nationally televised Fashion Rocks last week. Generally, we like that kind of thing in a guy. But maybe it wasn’t the best time for the Biebonbon to throw trousers to the wind, with all the negative press he’s been sucking up. He wasn’t a scheduled presenter, and when he walked onstage with model Lara Stone to introduce Rita Ora, much of the audience booed. What happened next seems to depend on which account you read or heard.

Some say that when he began stripping, the boos got louder. Some say that some of the boos turned to cheers. It’s obvious from a brief (we couldn’t resist that) video that quite a few people whipped out the cellphone to preserve the moment, whether they had been booing or cheering. Also, most of the people in the video’s background are smiling -- or maybe it’s slobbering. Bieber is 20, so he’s out of the age range to be the heartthrob of every 12-yearold girl (though he may still make a few 12-year-old boys throb!), and his recent growing pains have brought a series of negative mentions in the press. Still, it was pretty laughable Continued on page 3


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