1569 February 18, 2015

February 18, 2015

We only waited six weeks for DuceyDouglastan to become a public pee fight. Yay, AZ!

Issue 1569

Whistlin' Dixie

Diane Douglas, the state’s new superintendent against public instruction, doesn’t want the public to know what she’s about to say Friday during a hearing, so she simply slides the media microphones away before continuing.

funding away from the schools she was elected to oversee.

OBSERVER STAFF PHOENIX -- Whatever state school superintendent Diane Douglas intends to prove with her political career, it’s hard to see how she plans to do it -- unless it’s driving even more

Inside This advice by Freud on how to cure a gay child might surprise you Page 15 Urban Outfitters sets off firestorm with pink triangle Page 7 Tucson’s 33rd annual Peace Fair & Music Festival is free, open to everyone and challenging poverty Page 7 AZ’s Rep. Salmon pushes more asshattery to bully people weaker than himself Page 10

NEEDED: A community conversation Page 4

Mexico: Another place being ruined by ‘American values’ Page 3

One: Celebrating her second month in office by getting into an open war with the governor. That erupted Continued on page 12

Ex-gay group's claims ruled to be consumer fraud

Same-sex couples and their supporters camp outside the Mobile, Ala., probate court during their three days of waiting to be issued marriage licenses. Judge Callie Granade specifically ordered the judge to issue licenses there, but as of Tuesday about 20 of the 67 counties still refused. Cornpone Chupacabra Roy Moore, chief justice of the state's Supreme Court, is still gathering information to put federal courts in their place!

Wingspan Dinner keynote: Striking reminder of fight ahead

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- A Hudson County Superior Court judge ruled last week that representing homosexuality as a mental disorder violates state consumer fraud law.

OBSERVER STAFF TUCSON – Attendees of the first Wingspan Dinner since the organization merged with the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation were treated to a night of awards recognition, entertainment, and a showstopping reality check from marriage equality plaintiffs Jennifer Hoefle-Olson and Kelli Olson.

Judge Peter F. Barsio Jr. made the ruling in a case involving Jews Offering New Alternatives for Healing, known as JONAH. The case will continue in order to determine whether JONAH actually made the fraudulent claim, but even if it did, New Jersey law allows discrimination to continue if it's religion-based.

As has often been stated since last year's Hobby Lobby ruling by the Supreme Court, it's hard to see how any law meant to protect the LGBT community can mean much, since almost all such discrimination is religion-based. The same is true for blacks and women.

But the Southern Poverty Law Center said the case is still "monumental" in light of Barsio's ruling.

"For the first time, a court has ruled that it is fraudulent as a matter of law for conversion therapists to tell clients that they have a mental disorder that can be cured," said David Dinielli, the SPLC's deputy legal director, in a press release.

Keynote speakers at Wingspans Annual Dinner Jennifer HoefleOlson and Kelli Olson believe marriage equality is not the biggest issue facing the LGBTQ community.

The two were invited to Continued on page 5

Democrats in Congress enjoy ‘thwarting’ right back

By R.D. Smith GUEST COLUMNIST I’ve often said that with the exception of Grijalva (Tucson’s own), Democrats in Congress have been pretty useless for 30 or 40 years now -- sitting on their asses except when they react to something the Republicans did.

So I have to admit I’ve enjoyed the past month.

I’d say there’s only one reason for Dems suddenly deciding they can speak up just like real congresscritters: Six Continued on page 4

And since Congress passed the flawed Obamacare bill, why doesn’t Congress just pass a correction?

Page 2

Arkansas bans cities, counties from protecting LGBTs LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The Arkansas House of Representatives passed a bill last week preventing cities and counties from protecting the rights of their LGBT citizens.

We’ve been down a similar highway before, of course.

In 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court tossed out a Colorado constitutional amendment because it “allows discrimination against homosexuals and prevents the state from protecting them,” thus rather blatantly violating the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.

Presumably, the 14th Amendment hasn’t changed, but LGBT allies may have to waste a lot of time and millions of dollars getting it reinstated here -and that’s assuming the wingnut judges don’t decide differently this time.

The Arkansas bill had already passed the state Senate, and Republican Gov. Asa Hutchison has said he’ll sign it, according to BuzzFeed News.

The bill’s original sponsor, GOP Sen. Bart Hester, told BuzzFeed the measure is intended to attract businesses.

The action came a week after Eureka Springs, an Arkansas tourist center, approved an LGBT-rights measure.

College student held in fatal shooting of Texas trans woman TYLER, Texas -- A 21-year-old student at Texas College has been charged with the murder of a 24-yearold transgender woman he had been dating, KLTV reported last week.

Carlton Ray Champion Jr. was charged last week with first-degree murder in the Jan. 26 shooting of Ty Underwood in North Tyler.

Electronic and video evidence indicated that Champion was meeting Underwood for a date at the time she was killed. Police said the two had been in a “brief relationship” before Underwood’s death.

OBSERVER Cruz’s only apparent motivation is to be an asshat, since only 13 states don’t have marriage equality and those states are in the process of adjudication -- presumably the U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide the 14th Amendment applies to citizens of those states as well.

Since the 2013 court decision striking down part of the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal government has recognized marriages based on where they were performed -- just as with any other marriage -- rather than where the couple lives.

Cruz was joined by 11 other Republican senators in introducing the measure, and Rep. Randy Weber of Texas introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives.

Similar bills were introduced last year but quickly went to that big congressional recess in the sky.

Tupelo, Miss., hot to ogle ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ TUPELO, Miss. -- This town serves as headquarters for the American Family Association, which last week branded the movie “Fifty Shades of Grey” as “essentially pornography” plus calling for theaters not to show it.

So what city, out of all the 50 U.S. states, is seeing the hottest advance ticket sales for this nasty film?

Tupelo, of course.

According to Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, Tupelo was the first city in the U.S. to sell out screenings of the movie.

“American Family Association, your town really wants to see ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’ and they really don’t care what you say about it,” Maddow added.

Advance tickets sales across the entire state of Mississippi are running at four times the normal pace.

Tickets in Arkansas, West Virginia and Kentucky also are unexpected hot items, but nowhere can compete with Mississippi.

The AFA is classified as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and also denounces any sexual activity outside marriage.

The couple had a minor argument via electronic messages earlier in the evening. Police believe Underwood may have been shot while trying to drive away from the meeting with Champion.

Gambian homophobe owns $3.5 million home in Maryland

She was a nursing assistant with plans to enter Kilgore College’s nursing program.

POTOMAC, Md. -- Virulently antigay Gambian President Yahya Jammeh owns a $3.5 million home in Potomac, Md., and the Human Rights Campaign made sure last week that his neighbors found out about it.

Champion is being held on $1 million bond.

Cruz introduces federal anti-LGBT marriage bill WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Wingnut U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz last week reintroduced the State Marriage Defense Act, which would prohibit the federal government from recognizing the marriages of same-sex couples who don’t live in marriage-equality states.

The gay-rights group took out an ad in The Gazette, a local newspaper that included a paragraph stating: “In November, he began rounding up people suspected of being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and throwing them in prison. Three of these people are still being held without access to lawyers, facing torture and fearing for their lives.”

The law Jammeh signed includes

WEEKLY

life imprisonment for repeat “offenders.”

The White House has suspended some trade advantages for Gambia over the homophobia of its government.

Newest governor in Oregon openly bisexual woman SALEM, Ore. -- Now that Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber resigned due to a scandal engulfing his fiancee, his replacement is the first openly bisexual governor of a U.S. state.

Former Secretary of State Kate Brown, 54, was sworn in today. She “publicly identified herself as bisexual in the 1990s,” according to The Oregonian, a Portland daily newspaper.

February 18, 2015 Bradley Manning, sued the government for hormone treatment.

According to The Associated Press, transgender people “are not allowed to serve in the U.S. military, but Manning can’t be discharged from the service while serving her prison sentence.”

West Virginia town, population 5, enacts LGBT protections THURMOND, W.Va. -- A tiny West Virginia town, once a busy railroad town and these days a destination for outdoor enthusiasts, is now believed to be the smallest community in the U.S. with an LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance.

Welcome to Thurmond, population 5.

Brown was called back to Oregon from Washington, D.C., last week by Kitzhaber, who had decided to resign, then reversed himself, then resigned after all.

The town council voted last week to enact an LGBT-inclusive civil rights act modeled on the one in Charleston, the state’s capital and largest city.

Brown and her husband have been married for about 15 years, with two adult children from Little’s previous marriage.

“The big message was just, from the smallest town to the biggest town, West Virginians believe in equality,” council member Tighe Bullock told The Washington Post.

Mormon who served in Tempe booted out over progressive views LOGAN, Utah -- A Mormon podcaster who advocates progressive views was excommunicated last week, according to The Salt Lake City Tribune.

Continued on page 5

1830 E Broadway Blvd #124-215 Tucson, AZ 85719

John Dehlin reportedly refused to unpublish podcasts critical of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints positions on LGBT people and female clergy.

www.observerweekly.com info@observerweekly.com Voice Mail 520-812-0909

He first became a nonconformist in the church years ago while on mission in Guatemala. Rather than being disciplined at the time, he reportedly was allowed to finish out his service in Tempe, Ariz.

Executive Editor Nicholas K. M. Pafford

The church’s announcement said the local leader’s letter of excommunication did not mention the issues that are widely presumed to have caused the vote.

Assistant Editor Christine Beall

Dehlin wrote in July 2014 that he was expecting disciplinary action.

Military approves bill for Manning’s transition regimen LEAVENWORTH, Kan. -- The U.S. military earlier this month approved hormone-therapy treatment for Chelsea Manning’s transitioning to a woman.

“After carefully considering the recommendation that [hormone treatment] is medically appropriate and necessary, and weighing all associated safety and security risks presented, I approve adding [hormone treatment] to Inmate Manning’s treatment plan,” Col. Erica Nelson wrote in a Feb. 5 memo.

Manning is serving a 35-year sentence at the Fort Leavenworth Army prison after her conviction for leaking national-security secrets.

Manning, 26, formerly known as

Editor-In-Chief Bob Ellis

Senior Editor Greg Miller

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February 18, 2015

Commentary

OBSERVER

Mexico: Another place being ruined by ‘American values’

WEEKLY

Obituary

David Ray Woody passed on in Tucson at the age of 47, on Jan. 29 David moved to Houston in 1991, where he pursued his passion of the arts, working with Theater Under The Stars, the Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet. David also toured the country for many Broadway shows, including Disney’s The Lion King, serving as Puppet Master.

By R.D. Smith GUEST COLUMNIST This is a story that could begin with, “Once upon a time there was a little town in Mexico, surrounded by beautiful tropical mountains and obsessed with the music of the common people.”

But this is about a real town, with real people that I know, and I don’t want to imply that many of them don’t still live lives that are far from a fairly tale. And I’m about to say that their lives were better before they learned about satellite dishes and video games and many other things that so many of them still can’t have.

In this town, little boys (and some girls) have grown up for generations viewing music as their ticket to a better life. The town has produced so many successful bands that I’m sure if I tried to name them all, I’d leave out one of the most successful.

The serious point here is that these kids grow up extra-confident with music.

They’re sure they can do it because they know other kids who were just as poor as themselves and made it big.

It’s exactly like kids growing up in ghettos to the north viewing basketball as their ticket. They know it can be done because they know of other kids like them who did it.

That seems like such a simple thing: Knowing you can do it because other people just like you did it before you. Having a role model. So simple and basic, and yet increasingly rare in today’s world, I think.

Not so many years ago, one of the little boys in this town had nothing in the world but his mother. Of the many poor people in town, they were perhaps the poorest.

They went through a period where they had nothing to sell on market day but a few bunches of radishes. They’d

had only a few pesos to invest, and so they bought seeds to grow the quickest crop available -- radishes would begin a return on their investment after only three weeks.

The little boy’s mother thought it was a miracle that every radish always sold -- every single time.

But she accepted this miracle as a matter of course because she sincerely believed that God would help her with the only task she had assigned herself in this life -- raising her son with dignity.

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David is survived by his Mother, Dorothy Mae Webb of Tucson, Sister Dot, her husband Shane and their children Gabriel Lee and Julianna Ray Heard of St. Joseph, MO. He also leaves behind his fiancé, Colin Phillips of Tucson. He was preceded in passing by his Father, Ray Woody of St. Joseph.

David was born on Aug. 12, 1967 in Oklahoma City, OK. He graduated from Central High School, St. Joseph, MO, in 1985. David studied at Tarkio College where he graduated in 1990 with a B.A. degree in Theater Arts, with emphasis in design, scenic painting and music. He was engaged to Collin this past year.

His last tour took him to Macau, China where he worked as show and crafts lead for ZAIA, produced by Cirque Du Soleil.

David was a long time employee of Home Depot in Tucson, most recently as Kitchen Designer.

A celebration of life is scheduled for March 1 at 2 p.m., at Angel Valley Funeral Home, 2545 N. Tucson Blvd., with a reception to follow at 4 p.m. at Venture-N, 1239 N. Sixth Ave. A memorial will also be held in St. Joseph, MO, on July 18. All are welcome to attend and celebrate David’s life. In lieu of flowers the family asks that you donate to your local arts and theater.

Memorial

Homegoing Celebration for Pastor Paul Chambliss

On the other hand, the townspeople occasionally had informal meetings:

Pastor Paul passed away on Jan. 10.

“OK, then, today if it looks like she’ll have radishes that aren’t going to sell, Lupita Apodaca will buy them. Next time, somebody from my family will buy them, and then it’s Soledad Jimenez’s turn, then Maria de los Santos, and then we’ll get together again.”

The LGBQT community was close to his heart. He knew that this community is not excluded from God’s Love, and during his ten years at Cornerstone it was his desire to share the Good News of the Gospel with everyone.

The real “miracle of the radishes” was that this single mother was so esteemed by her neighbors that they conspired to make sure she continued to succeed in the eyes of her son.

We invite you to join us on Saturday as we celebrate Pastor Paul’s Homegoing. Officiating will be Pastor Tony Sirten, Church of the Living Water in Nashville, Reverends Evelyn and Dennis Schave of Phoenix and Karla Spence, Pastor, Cornerstone Fellowship.

You couldn’t make up a story that’s more descriptive of the Mexican people as I remember them.

There simply is no more enterprising group of people on earth, and they do it in the face of a social structure that’s designed to make sure the wealth stays Continued on page 6

There will be a Homegoing Celebration at Cornerstone Fellowship for Pastor Paul Chambliss on Feb. 21 at 12 p.m. Pastor Paul served as pastor at Cornerstone from 2002 until his retirement in 2012.

Following his retirement, he moved to the Fort Worth, Texas area to be close to his family.

There will be a time of fellowship following the service.

Cornerstone Fellowship is located at 2902 N. Geronimo, Tucson.

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Community Voices

OBSERVER

WEEKLY

February 18, 2015

NEEDED: A community conversation

By Scott Blades Executive Director TIHAN

information.  Principal providers who are infectious disease specialists are likely well-informed about PrEP, but many HIV-negative people get their health care from generalists who may be less informed about PrEP.

I recently received a letter from Richard, a community member and friend, who is passionate about the issue of PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV). He wants to help bring more awareness and discussion about the topic here locally in Tucson and Southern Arizona.

What is PrEP? It’s a strategy that people who are HIV-negative can undertake to reduce the possibility that they will become positive for HIV. This strategy includes quarterly testing for HIV and other sexually-transmitted infections while taking medication (currently, Truvada, but other medications are now in clinical trials for approval as PrEP) to reduce the likelihood of getting HIV. I am printing Richard’s letter below in the hopes that it will help foster a broader community conversation about this important topic. HIV physician Dr. Linda Gorgos of El Rio Special

In other parts of the country, PrEP seems to be much better known, and there are campaigns to encourage discussion about using PrEP for risk reduction and as an HIV and STI prevention tool.

Immunology Clinic recently did a presentation on PrEP for TIHAN, and I know that SAAF, including executive director Wendell Hicks, has also spoken out about this issue as well.

299-6647 ext 202), or you can directly contact the letter writer, so that we can set up a community meeting and begin additional dialog about this topic.

Dear Scott,

The conversation is happening, but I agree with Richard: it’s time for a louder and broader and more intentional conversation.

If you are interested in being part of this conversation about PrEP, please contact me (scott@tihan.org or 520-

As I talk to people in Tucson about PrEP, I come away with these impressions:  People either don’t know what it is, or have very inaccurate ideas about the realities of PrEP.  People who are interested in PrEP don’t know where to go for

I don’t know how many new HIV diagnoses we see in Tucson each year, or whether that number is going up or down. I do know that the number for the U.S. as a whole hasn’t gone down in quite a while. It would surprise me if the Tucson trajectory is very different.

People are having sex, and there is an HIV risk reduction opportunity (PrEP) that is not well known or understood, and I want to help bring about more conversation and understanding so that Continued on page 13

Democrats in Congress Discrediting anti-gay enjoy ‘thwarting’ right back ‘documentary’ takes Continued from page 1

years of Republican thwarting got them angry enough they’ve decided to blast out a big loud “thwart” themselves.

up a state exchange (exchanges that were a nod to their non-existent “states’ rights” in the first place, by the way!).

It must really feel like relief to filibuster a Republican bill for a change, after six years when Republicans would even hold a judge nomination hostage for years.

So ... What is the Republican leadership doing to honor this support by the party’s rank-and-file? Maybe you’ve heard there’s a case before the U.S. Supreme Court right now aiming to cancel the insurance for those 6 million people because of a typo in the bill.

But that’s going to grow old quickly.

It’s still only reacting rather than influencing the agenda.

Why wouldn’t congressional Democrats do what Obama seems to be doing? Looks smart to me to set the stage for 2016 by EMPHASIZING every single thing the polls say voters want and the Republicans refuse to do -- and those things are many.

Six years of doing nothing has done nothing; why not try another tactic?

Full disclosure: I opposed Obamacare from the first day I found out that it was a retread of the old Heritage Foundation plan developed 20 years ago for Republicans when they were afraid Democrats would pass singlepay health care. (It took several years for Repubs to realize that Dems were not going to do a thing about anything, dontcha know.)

But even Obamacare is better than going back to the days of nothing, and the latest polls indicate that even most Republicans agree.

You’ll notice that a poll just showed most Republicans want the healthinsurance exchanges left alone, so about 6 to 7 million people can keep their insurance in states where asshat Republican governors refused to set

(And, by the way, we now know that three of the four plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case apparently don’t even have standing to sue in the first place -- if you already have VA health insurance, you damn sure don’t suffer damages by living in a state that has a federal exchange for Obamacare!)

Maybe you’ve also heard that House Republicans have now wasted time and taxpayer money on about 60 votes to repeal the whole shootin’ match. That’s why they haven’t had time to deal with things like roads or jobs.

And since Congress passed the flawed Obamacare bill, why doesn’t Congress just pass a correction?

Weeeell ... cain’t do theyat cawz somebody maht thaink Obama done won.

OBAMA would win? Six or seven million people get to keep their health insurance rather than soak the taxpayers for visits to emergency rooms and these morons are worried that some twit in Scratchmypecker Falls, Texas, might perceive that Obama somehow “got over?”

Why is there never an ISIS around when we need one?

all of five seconds

By TOWLEROAD Faith 2 Action films has put together a documentary about the persecution of Christians in the United States, specifically at the hands of those homosexuals who want nothing less than the complete and utter criminalization of Christianity in their fight for equality.

Janet Porter, who is bravely powering through her headaches, takes viewers through the attempts to “silence the truth” and thus the gospel and how to fight back with “what freedoms [they] have left.”

Hosting such great-thinking and credible luminaries as failed presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, historical revisionist David Barton, and criminal against humanity Scott Lively going on and on and on about how consequences for actions -- i.e., espousing bigoted and homophobic beliefs results in people

not voting for a candidate or patronizing a business -- are really the world conspiring to silence their beliefs.

One speaker practically froths at the mouth about the very idea of the “gay gene,” saying: Really?! Well name it for me. Number it. Because if there’s a gene that identifies homosexuality it would have a name, it would have a number, we’d know who the doctor was that found it.

OK. The genes thought to be responsible for homosexuality, at least in males, are: Xq28 on the X chromosome and was identified in 1993 by Dean Hamer; and 8q12, first signposted in 2005 on the 8th chromosome in research conducted by NorthShore Research Institute, headed by lead scientist Alan Sanders.

February 18, 2015 Continued from page 2

OBSERVER

John Sayles’ 1987 movie, “Matawan,” about a miners’ strike, was filmed in Thurmond.

New Orleans trans woman dies after multiple gunshots

Previously, the town of Vicco, Ky., with a little more than 300 residents, was believed to be the smallest U.S. municipality with an LGBT-inclusive civil rights ordinance.

NEW ORLEANS -- Penny Proud, 21, has become another statistic in the violence against transgender woman.

Pro-LGBT rights rally draws 700 against Brownback TOPEKA, Kan. -- More than 700 people turned out in very cold weather last week to protest Tea Party Gov. Sam Brownback’s removal of civil-rights protections from LGBT state employees.

Reporters noted that it was one of the biggest rallies at the statehouse in two years -- surpassing even rallies in better weather during last fall’s election campaigns.

Several Democratic elected officials attended, but no moderate Republicans (many of whom have openly opposed Brownback’s executive action) attended or even offered support.

One protester pointed out: “We want to make it clear to LGBT Kansans: Not every Kansan agrees with this. At all.”

S. Carolina Repub: Women are just a ‘lesser cut of meat’ COLUMBIA, S.C. -- No one seems to know exactly when South Carolina decided to secede from the 21st century.

State Sen. Tom Corbin, R-19th Century, would be one person to ask about it.

Reportedly, Corbin recently “teased” Sen. Katrina Shealy (the only female member of the state’s Senate, by the by, and a member for two years) that “I see it only took me two years to get you wearing shoes.”

Apparently that was meant as an endearing “barefoot and pregnant” reference, and a staffer said Corbin “makes comments like that all the time.”

But this time Shealy took offense, and Corbin ended up saying, “Well, you know God created man first. Then he took the rib out of man to make woman.

And you know, a rib is a lesser cut of meat.”

If Shealy gives Corbin the response he deserves, we only hope she has a license to carry it.

WEEKLY

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Wingspan Dinner keynote: Striking reminder of fight ahead

Proud died after being shot multiple times at 1:30 a.m. on Feb.10, according to news reports.

BreakOUT!, a New Orleans LGBT youth-of-color activist group, condemned initial reports of the shooting for misgendering Proud.

Proud’s death was the sixth among transgendered women of color in the first six weeks of 2015.

The list includes Yazmin Vash Payne, 33, in Los Angeles; Ty Underwood, 24, in North Tyler, Texas; Lamia Beard, 30, in Norfolk, Va.; Lamar Edwards, 20, in Louisville, Ky.; and Taja DeJesus in San Francisco.

Trans former SEAL challenging top Dem in U.S. House race Kristin Beck, the first transgender former U.S. Navy SEAL, filed last week to challenge a top-ranking Democrat in the 2016 primary for U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland.

Beck will challenge longtime Rep. Steny Hoyer, who now serves as House minority whip.

"For the last two or three years, I have been watching Congress very closely," Beck told The Huffington Post, "and the reality is that the whole process has broken down and our representatives have simply dug in their heels."

Hoyer has been one of the more right-wing Democrats in Congress, including joining House Republicans last year to undercut regulations on the biggest banks.

Tempest DuJour congratulates winners of the “Retro Game Show Not-So-Newlywed Game” after the Wingspan Dinner. The spunky pair beat out the other couples in a tie-breaking dance off and took home edible underwear, chocolate sauce, a can of whipped cream, and some heavy duty jumper cables.

Continued from page 1 speak at the dinner under the theme of the evening “Celebrating Legalized Love!” And celebrate they did, with a slideshow of their personal commitment and marriage journey featuring many adorable photos of their twin daughters.

The two bright-eyed toddlers were part of the reason Jen and Kelli joined Lamda Legal’s case as plaintiffs against the state of Arizona. As their birth mother, Jen had full parental rights but Kelli lacked legal rights and responsibility for the children. Now that same-sex marriage is legal in Arizona, Kelli’s motherhood of the two is recognized and protected.

But both Jen and Kelli were explicit in their position that even though their marriage is to be celebrated and the right to legally marry is a tremendous accomplishment for this state, neither of the women believes marriage equality to be the biggest issue facing the LGBTQ community.

As Hoefle-Olson so eloquently put it “Wherever there are people there are LGBTQ people.” And every issue facing those people is an LGBTQ issue.

She listed among other issues equal protections in the workplace, housing protections, trans healthcare, immigrant and native civil rights, and transgender equality.

Along with the long list of examples wherein we are not yet free, the keynote speech also drew attention to an alarming possibility that after marriage

equality is achieved; many LGBTQ advocates will grow complacent and stop fighting. The couple asserted that we must continue to stick together until all people are free. They also cautioned against using marriage equality as an opportunity to assimilate blindly into the heterosexual institution of marriage without maintaining the rich culture of LGBTQ lifestyles which have developed through years of oppression.

The speech left the crowd of more than 400 attendees visibly moved. In the context of the evening, it brought attention to the ever-present need for Wingspan’s services in Tucson.

Since the community center merged with SAAF, many of its programs have been saved and expanded including the Wingspan Antiviolence Project and Eon Youth Program. Additionally, the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance has become its own non-profit. With Jen and Kelli’s striking reminder of the work left ahead, Wingspan’s viability and success at SAAF is increasingly relevant to the community.

The Wingspan Dinner was held at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort.

The Steve Hall Award was presented to Rick Jorgenson. The Godat Award was presented to Kent Burbank. The Jean Baker Community Ally award was presented to Richard Elias.

Entertainment was provided by “Ru Paul’s Drag Race” Season 7 starlet Tempest Du Jour who hosted a very special edition of “Retro Game Show Night’s Not So Newlywed Game.”

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OBSERVER

Georgia could become first state to ban glowin-the-dark humans

WEEKLY

February 18, 2015

5 percent of town arrested in raid for methamphetamines

CLAYTON, Okla. -- In a sweeping recommendation for local politics, 5 percent of the population of Clayton -- in one of the most rabidly Republican areas of the U.S. -- were rounded up last week as part of a massive methamphetamine raid.

The arrests capped an investigation that began in December 2013. In all, 43 people were arrested across the area.

"This group of defendants would sell significant quantities of crystal methamphetamine or ICE, as well as prescription drugs, in or around the town of Clayton, Oklahoma," said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

Clayton is in Pushmataha County near Sardis Lake and Oklahoma's famous Winding Stair Mountain.

Malaysia politician's sodomy conviction reaps condemnation Glow-in-the-dark pig snouts, just a small step away from human Glo-sticks.

OBSERVER STAFF ATLANTA, Ga. -- Republican legislators across America continue to bird-dog those jobs bills, one after another.

Oh, wait . . . What are they doing?

Well, in Georgia they’re discussing whether to prohibit glow-in-the-dark humans.

Now mind you, there is no known plan to produce glow-in-the-dark humans, but preventing them is a helluva sight more interesting than wasting time on stuff like job creation, highway maintenance ... well, you know: Those things are just not glamorous.

“We need to get out in front of the science and technology, before it becomes something no one wants,” his statement continues.

“The mixing of human embryos with jellyfish cells to create a glow-in-thedark human, we say not in Georgia. This bill is about protecting human life while maintaining good, valid research that does not destroy life.”

Translation: This bill is about making a cockup of both scientific research and the legislative process, all in the same Glo-stick.

Holy Moses Among the Jellyfishes . . . Has American come to this?

Rep. Tom Kirby’s bill is called The Ethical Treatment of Human Embryos bill, and basically prevents implanting human embryos in animals or vice versa. So far, so good.

Apparently so. Kirby’s bill has five other co-sponsors, so he isn’t the only one who’d rather deal with this than a crumbling bridge or highway.

“We in Georgia are taking the lead on this issue,” Kirby says on his website, not mentioning being so far out in the lead that nobody else realized there was an issue to be led.

Just remember: When it comes time to locate a major factory to produce glow-in-the-dark humans, Georgia Republicans were the first to say don’t bring those hundreds of jobs down here.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -The sodomy conviction of Malaysia's political opposition leader, upheld on appeal earlier this month, continues to bring negative reaction from around the world.

It was the final appeal for Anwar Ibrahim in last year's lower-court ruling.

A Malaysia Insider column in a Singapore newspaper pointed out that not only did the questionable court proceedings harm Malaysia's "already tarnished reputation," but the Swiss Foreign Ministry has announced that Switzerland will address Anwar's sodomy conviction at the next meeting

of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The U.S., UK and other major countries have condemned the conviction.

Ibrahim accused the judges of being "partners in crime" with Malaysia's governing party, which has a history of using authoritarian tactics to remain in control, The New York Times stated.

Ibrahim, 67, served six years on a previous sodomy conviction before winning an appeal in 2004.

Sodomy in Malaysia is rarely prosecuted although it remains illegal.

Mexico: Another place being ruined by ‘American values’ Continued from page 3 where it’s always been and the poor never have anything but each other to rely on.

Nowadays, the little boy who once helped his mother carry a few bunches of radishes to sell on the street has built a different life for the family: He has sold a million CDs. He built his mother a big house, but she never needed it. There’s a fancy car in the garage and her son pays one of the neighbors to drive her wherever she needs to go, but she still lives a simple life.

had nothing but a few radishes, and still they were the richest people in this marketplace.

We taught a generation of Mexican kids to want all kinds of junk they couldn’t have, and now we get all selfrighteous because some of them turned to selling drugs in order to get what we taught them to want.

On market days, she especially likes to walk down to the plaza and visit every stall, encouraging every vendor.

I’m sorry, but not every child gets a role model like the radish vendor provided for one little boy.

So we taught them to want all the things they can’t have; is that supposed to be better than a penniless woman who taught her son that he COULD succeed when all they could afford was a handful of radish seeds?

She probably remembers the glory days -- when she and her little boy

I’m sorry, amigo -- you’ll have to explain that one to me.

Where God's love for all is the good news!

In March -- messages focus on healthy communication

February 18, 2015

Page 7 OBSERVER WEEKLY Tucson’s 33rd annual Peace Urban Outfitters sets off Fair & Music Festival is firestorm with pink triangle free, open to everyone and challenging poverty

The Women’s International League for Peace, or “Raging Grannies” as they call themselves, sang at the Tucson Peace Center’s 21st Annual Peace Fair.

By Alice Whittenburg, Editor TUCSON PEACE CALENDAR The Tucson Peace Center is an umbrella organization for 150 of Tucson’s local peace, social justice, environmental, and labor groups.

Regular Peace Fair participants include the Women’s International League of Peace and Justice (celebrating its 100th anniversary this year), Move to Amend, Veterans for Peace, the American Civil Liberties Union, AZ4NORML, Jobs With Justice, Nuclear Resister, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Watershed Management Group among many others.

Newly formed organizations like $15 Now, Tucson United for Climate Action, and Friends of Rosa will also be on hand.

Learn what is happening in our community while you catch up with old friends and make new ones. There are free activities for the kids like a labyrinth, face-painting, and a whimsy parade.

The Culture of Peace Alliance will offer hands-on activities to entertain young fair-goers.

This year’s theme is challenging poverty. Growing income inequality

and stagnating working-class wages place many friends and neighbors in precarious financial positions. As a community, we seek answers to the structural problems that exacerbate poverty. We also offer an opportunity to enrich our lives through meaningful engagement and re-envisioning what constitutes true wealth on a planet undergoing massive ecological changes.

A raffle will award lucky winners dozens of prizes donated by local businesses, with names and gifts announced throughout the day.

Musical guests include Baba Marimba, Tucson’s Raging Grannies, One Heartbeat, Planet Jam, Charlie King, and other local performers.

A new mobile public address system will be on display; Tucson Peace Center’s member groups may now borrow it to amplify their message at rallies, parades, & events.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars: Peace Fair, Saturday, February 28th, 11am-4pm, at the Reid Park Bandshell.

See you there!

For further information visit tucsonPeaceCalendar.org or call Mary at 520- 30-3609 or Tom at 520- 400-4489.

Trendy retail clothier Urban Outfitters has set off yet another controversy, this time with a gray-striped T-shirt embellished with a pink triangle -- a design reminiscent of uniforms gay men were forced to wear in Nazi concentration camps.

Organizations from the Human Rights Campaign to the Anti-Defamation League expressed outrage last week.

"This is an affront to LGBT people,

Holocaust survivors, their families, and anyone with an ounce of humanity," said Fred Sainz, vice president for communications at HRC, in a press release.

While the LGBT community has turned the pink triangle into a symbol of pride, critics say the use of it with the striped background too definitely recalls the concentration-camp uniform.

Urban Outfitters has offered no comment.

OW

Page 8

OBSERVER

WEEKLY

February 18, 2015

The Wingspan Dinner

Phots by Observer Weekly

February 18, 2015

OBSERVER WEEKLY

Page 9

February 18, 2015 OBSERVER WEEKLY AZ’s Rep. Salmon pushes The success of ‘The more asshattery to bully Imitation Game’ has a people weaker than himself greater implication for

Page 10

the gay community

By R.D. Smith GUEST COLUMNIST Republicans in Congress have come up with another scheme for hazing people who qualify for food stamps, and Arizona’s Rep. Matt Salmon is leading the charge in the House of Representatives.

This latest undertaking would require using a photo ID to get benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Now, it’s been reported many times in regard to vote suppression that the elderly and extremely poor are less likely to have a state-issued ID or the means of getting one.

Aside from that, consider this: SNAP cards go to households, not individuals.

People in those households are not required to have the same last name, so how do you avoid people legitimately using the card from being refused or even accused of fraud?

For people who had a helluva time getting to the store in the first place and maybe using up their only free time for a matter of days, being refused is a much bigger deal than if Matt Salmon’s credit

card won’t go through for some reason.

I doubt if that’s a big concern to the congressman.

And how often do you see checkout lines that require the users of credit cards or debit cards to present an ID? Other than for buying booze, I’ve probably seen it happen a couple of times out of thousands.

So basically, why not just require food-stamp users to wear a flashing red light over their heads when they’re using the EBT card?

Of course, the big argument (translation: only argument) for requiring IDs is fraud, which is reportedly running about 1.3 percent in the SNAP program.

A store owner is usually the ringleader in those schemes.

So it’s safe to say that in real life, this can’t be very much about fraud because there isn’t very much fraud out there.

It’s about requiring something that people using food stamps are less likely to have.

It’s about making life even harder for the people at the bottom.

It’s about being a bully.

LOS ANGELES -- As the story of a little-known British World War II code breaker gears up for the Oscars as one of the top nominees, “The Imitation Game” has found a larger cause to fight for the rights of persecuted gay men.

Nominated for eight Oscars, “The Imitation Game” tells the story of mathematician Alan Turing, who worked with a secret group of government cryptologists during World War II to break Nazi Germany’s wartime code and saved countless lives.

Turing, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, went uncredited for his work and instead was persecuted on charges of homosexuality, a crime in 1952, and died a broken man in 1954.

He was posthumously pardoned in 2013

by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II. The film, distributed by The Weinstein Co, has sparked off a petition by the Human Rights Campaign, an organizing advocating for equal rights for the LGBT community, to pardon some 49,000 homosexual men charged under Britain’s gross indecency law that was repealed in 2003.

It has attracted more than 330,000 signatures including Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, who plays female mathematician Joan Clarke, as well as notable CEOs including Google’s Eric Schmidt and Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer.

“Alan’s own treatment by history had been so unfair,” said Graham Moore, Oscar-nominated for his “Imitation Game” script.

“We always hoped we could create a dialog around these issues of the treatment of gay men in society, about the historical persecution reaped upon them, and getting to be a part of these kinds of conversations is even more important.”

Made for a budget of $33 million,

according to BoxOffice.com, “The Imitation Game” has grossed more than $155 million worldwide since its November release.

It earned Oscar nods for Cumberbatch, Knightley, director Morten Tyldum and the coveted best picture prize, where it will contend against frontrunners “Birdman” and “Boyhood.”

Tyldum, the Norwegian director of 2011’s “Headhunters,” said while Scandinavian filmmakers such as himself hone their talents on American genre films, they bring a fresh aesthetic for underdogs such as Turing to Hollywood films.

“We’re very skeptical of people who are too perfect. We like flawed people,” Tyldum said. “The more shaded, flawed characters that are struggling, I think there’s something very relatable about that.”

Much of the film focuses on Cumberbatch’s portrayal of Turing’s nuances, vulnerabilities and strengths as an outcast among his peers.

Both Tyldum and Moore, who won best adapted screenplay at the Feb. 14 Writers Guild Awards, faced initial concerns from film financiers that a film about an unknown historical figure who commits suicide would be marketable to audiences.

“I love when people say ‘Imitation Game’ is such a crowd pleaser,” Tyldum said. “Yes, it’s a crowd pleaser but the guy kills himself. We’ve achieved something, it’s a beautiful challenge.”

Moore said he relished the challenge of making “an unmakeable project.”

“The whole goal of the film was to bring Alan Turing’s story to a crowd that wouldn’t otherwise have been exposed to his life and his work and his person.”

February 18, 2015

OBSERVER WEEKLY

Page 11

Hill’s bells -- are you frickin’ kiddin’ me? to kill LGBT job protections), a major demagogue against video games ...

“[H]ere in America we are waging a great and successful war. It is not alone a war against want and destitution and economic demoralization.

It is more than that; it is a war for the survival of democracy.”

Reportedly beginning in 1993, she has been active in “The Fellowship,” a secretive Dominionist (translation: Christian domination) group that holds meetings in gender-segregated “cells.”

-- President Franklin D. Roosevelt, accepting the 1936 Democratic Party presidential nomination

She has never spoken out about the Keystone XL pipeline, which tells you she doesn’t oppose it.

By R.D. Smith GUEST COLUMNIST

Why bother with the general election if we’re going to have a right-wing, Dominionist old-white-guy member of the Tinfoil Hat Caucus occupying the White House one way or the other? Just skip the tomfoolery and give it to the Republicans.

The 2016 presidential race apparently isn’t going to include discussion of marriage equality, because it looks as if that may be settled by mid2015.

But let’s hope it’s still in the back of the voters’ minds in the Democratic primary -- big, juicy, inescapable, and haunting the candidates at every whistle-stop.

In case you missed it, Hillary Clinton told NPR last year that “for me, marriage has always been a matter left to the states” and “I fully endorse the efforts by activists to work state by state.”

She knows very well it has never been a matter left to the states -- which was last proved in 1967 when the Supreme Court kicked the states to the curb over interracial marriage.

Aside from some obvious problems with the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause, though, that was her story and presumably she’s sticking to it.

Ted Cruz has already introduced a bill to limit recognition of the marriages already performed, what if the Supreme Court goes with a state-by-state approach?

Are you frickin’ kiddin’ me? The Democrats can’t find a single candidate who isn’t halfway aligned with the sworn enemies of the LGBT community?

But let’s say same-sex marriage isn’t the issue that blows your skirt up.

Just this month, it’s been reported that Hillary has 200 policy experts trying to come up with a way for her to say she’s shocked -- shocked, I tell you -that income equality is raping America’s middle and working classes, but a way to say that without offending the wealthy.

That’s also the story of Jeb Bush, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Lindsey Graham, Michele Bachmann, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Butch Otter (hey, he’s on the GOP’s “potential” list and we sooooo need that name in headlines) ...

Judging from the GOP candidates who’ve so far addressed income equality, that’s also the position of Bush, Paul, Christie, Perry, Cruz, Rubio, Walker, Huckabee, Graham, Bachmann, Carson, Fiorina, Otter ...

So despite a general “I’m for it” previously, back in 2013, Hill was right in there with the rest of the state’srights Republican wingnuts on marriage equality.

Are you frickin’ kiddin’ me?

Democrats from most of the 20th century would absolutely be genetically programmed to go after the perpetrators of a $16 trillion fraud on the working class -- like a cat after a fresh sardine.

James is a beautiful and dapper gentleman who lives in our FIV ward with his friends, Megan and S’Mores. He’s quiet, sweet and affectionate, and loves lounging on soft beds and cuddling in laps.

He’s only 1 ½, so has lots of love to give, for a very long time. Because he has FIV, he should be homed with other FIV kitties, or as an only kitty, however he doesn’t mind children and hasn’t any opinion about dogs!

James

Now you’re telling me they’re just going to roll over for another eight years?

Good luck on having an economy to worry about by that time. I wouldn’t be surprised if you wouldn’t even have a Democratic Party by then -- what would be the point in keeping it on life support?

Permanent war? As both a U.S. senator and as secretary of state, Hillary was among the most hawkish people in the federal government, bragging about being a big proponent of the U.S. drone warfare that’s reportedly killed 2,400 civilians and counting.

Among the others (and federal wannabes) with the same stance are Bush, Christie, Perry, Cruz, Rubio, Walker, Huckabee, Graham, Bachmann, Carson, Fiorina, Otter ... (Paul was at least squeaking out against permanent warfare until he began nudging a presidential run.)

Clinton has been a major promoter of fracking worldwide, a major suck-up to the banksters who caused the 2007 economic debacle, a major defender of NSA spying, a co-sponsor of the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (which failed in Congress thanks to other Democrats, but was designed

Sure, if no actual Democrat runs and you don’t want Cousin Itt in the presidency, you may end up having to vote for Clinton. So will I. But why wave the white flag a year before the fireworks start? You GOTTA be frickin’ kiddin’ me.

Page 12

As Clark Saw It

OBSERVER

WEEKLY

February 18, 2015

By Gary Clark Took six weeks for DuceyDouglastan

to become a public pee fight. Yay, AZ!

Zoe’s World

By Zoe

Continued from page 1 over Douglas firing two people that her own letter to the governor said she didn’t have the authority to fire without the concurrence of the Arizona Board of Education . . . that’s an unconventional beginning, to say the least.

united for once: Democrats thought Douglas was straight out of the Cuckoo’s Nest from the get-go and couldn’t believe Republicans elected her over a candidate that was widely recognized as Arizona’s first serious candidate to head public schools in many years.

Two: Using that letter to attack charter schools, the darlings of wingnut Republicans in this state. Political suicide by ego -- or so it would appear.

Douglas must see a path ahead that nobody else sees, or else she’s as politically astute as a pitcher of clabber.

Even before the election, Douglas was so reviled by establishment Republicans that some of them held their nose and endorsed the Democrat.

And there’s more to come: Gov. Doug Ducey immediately said the two Board of Education employees were not fired and should report to their desks Tuesday morning, after the Presidents Day holiday.

Doug MacEachern, longtime columnist at Phoenix’s Arizona Republic, sputtered:

Douglas quickly fired back that as far as she was concerned, it was still up to her to decide that, and she wasn’t so sure the two would be allowed back in the building on Tuesday.

After consulting with its attorneys behind closed doors, the board voted 7-to-1 (with Douglas alone supporting herself, as a voting member) to require Douglas to let employees resume their jobs Tuesday.

But Douglas, as superintendent, controls the building, and when you put a nut in charge, you may end up with someone blocking the “courthouse” door to stop reality from messing up the fantasy.

More to come, obviously, but pretty much everybody in Arizona politics is

Now the Repubs are apoplectic than the Democrats.

more

“There is no firmer expression of hostility to the conservative vision of education reform than rejecting charter schools. As . . . a . . . conspiracy, for love of heaven.

“Douglas can expect zero Republican support at the Legislature (or, to say the least, from the governor) after this.

“Douglas ran for her office to defeat Common Core. If, in fact, her boat traveling up this river was provisioned by her compatriots back at the hothouses of district meetings, then they’re the only political friends she’s got left.”

You can’t alienate everybody in the state quicker than this!

To top it off, three former superintendents of public instruction publicly sided with the board, while one -- John Huppenthal, the Internet troll defeated by Douglas in last year’s GOP primary -- publicly supports Douglas.

“It’s bizarre and outrageous and offensive and she should apologize to all she’s offended,” Glenn Hamer, president and chief executive of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told The New York Times.

It’s hard to see what else all these people expected.

When you have a candidate so disdainful of the public that even during her campaign her website states under “My Record” simply “Check back later,” who could have thought she cared about qualifications?

Maybe even worse is a superintendent of public instruction whose disdain for education was perfectly clear on the website, when she stated about her own learning: “I did it on my own, for my own edification, rather than through a college of ‘education’ in order to add letters after my name.”

This woman is so anti-education she not only opposes it for herself, she’s going to do her damndest to make sure your kids don’t get one, either -- at least not in an Arizona public school.

But the Observer told you that before. You never listen.

February 18, 2015

OBSERVER WEEKLY

Page 13

NEEDED: A community conversation Continued from page 4 people can make their own decisions.

Let me try to summarize why I’m energized about PrEP. Here are some bullet points: • Roughly 50,000 new HIV diagnoses per year in the U.S. This hasn’t gone down for years.

• In the last decade for which we have data (2001-2011), the number of new HIV diagnoses was UP 132.5 percent in young MSM (men who have sex with men), even though the overall number was not.

• If nothing changes, in a few decades something like half the men who have sex with men in the U.S. will be living with HIV. Those most affected will be young, poor, and persons of color.

• About 20 percent of the roughly 1.2 million people in the U.S. who are current living with HIV don’t know they’re positive, and only about a third of those who do know they are positive are in treatment and their viral load is fully suppressed.

• About a quarter of the gay and bi men in a 2014 Kaiser Family Foundation study say that

they use condoms all the time.

About a quarter say they never do. The rest: sometimes. Another recent study put the proportion of “all the time” condom users at closer to 16 percent. So we know most gay men are not always using condoms — that’s a reality that — like it or not — we have to deal with.

• PrEP is proven efficacious in preventing new infections. iPrex: no new infections in people who took Truvada at least 4X per week. Kaiser in SF (late 2014): 500 people on Truvada/ PrEP, no new infections.

• Side effects of the PrEP medical Truvada are usually minimal and transient. Most health insurance programs cover PrEP. Programs from drug manufacturer Gilead provide further assistance for those who are uninsured and those with high co-payments. For many, cost of PrEP does not have not to be a factor.

• The CDC’s PrEP protocol requires quarterly re-tests for HIV and other STI’s. This is far more frequent than most MSM now test, and a chance to catch and treat more STD infections earlier. PrEP is not just about Truvada.

• People who use condoms consistently will probably continue to do that. For people who don’t consistently use condoms, PrEP is an additional resource: a powerful form of harm reduction.

• The idea that safer sex can include anal intercourse without condoms is very hard for some people to accept, not just for people who survived the worst of the epidemic in the ‘80s and ’90s, but for those whose information and attitudes come from those survivors.

• I’m not arguing that everyone should be on PrEP, but I do think everyone who is sexually active should be aware of it.

I have the impression that the various local agencies and HIV providers are not talking to the public about PrEP. I have the impression that the Pima County Health Department and other community health providers are not talking publicly about PrEP. I know that TIHAN and SAAF and perhaps other organizations regularly do presentations about HIV. I don’t know what the current outline for these presentations include. If these presentations don’t contain information

about PrEP, I think they should.

Maybe I’m completely off base.

Maybe my impressions are completely idiosyncratic and the reality is quite different. There are situations in which I’m happy to be proven wrong, and this would certainly be one of them. If someone here in Tucson is taking the lead to get out information about PrEP, you’d surely know about it. If not, I’d like to play a role in getting local people and organizations to talk to each other and start being more proactive about PrEP education and outreach. Can you help me get this ball rolling?

Tell me how I might proceed.

Richard Muller rlmuller@gmail.com Richard, thanks for sharing your passion and for hopefully catalyzing more conversation within our community about keeping ourselves healthy and well. There is some conversation, but I hope that your letter sparks even more. I hope we hear from lots of community members interested in exploring these important issues!

OW

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.

To volunteer, call Mark Rosenbaum For support services, call a Link Specialist For more information, events, or to donate, visit www.tihan.org

OBSERVER WEEKLY

Page 14

Monday 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 11a.m.-2a.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-2am. Free Music.

Free WiFi 2 for 1 Original Everything Happy Hour 5-6 pm.

Friday BRODIES TAVERN - Get the Party Started Friday 7 p.m. - 2 a.m. $3 Malibu Rum Black-House Long Islands-Pucker Vodka, Margaritas on tap-XX Pints IBT’s - 11a.m.-2a.m., Flawless Fridays featuring “Absolutely Flawless” Drag Show hosted by China Collins @ 9 p.m. DJ Import Inside after the show, Million$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 Noon-2am. Free Music. Free WiFi 2 for 1 Original Everything Happy Hour 5-6 pm.

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

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 - 11a.m.-2a.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-2am. Free Music. Free WiFi 2 for 1 Original Everything Happy Hour 5-6 pm.

BRODIES TAVERN - Whiskey Wednesday 7-2 a.m. $3.25 Jack-Jim Beam-JamesonFireball-Makers Mark-Johnny Walker Red IBT’s - 11a.m.-2a.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.

VENTURE-N - Open Noon-2am. Free Music. Free WiFi 2 for 1 Original Everything Happy Hour 5-6 pm.Dave’s $3.50 Margaritas and Long Island Iced Teas

BRODIES TAVERN - Customer Appreciation 7-2 a.m. Two-for-One Well-Domestic Bottles, Margaritas on Tap House Kasiz Shots IBT’s - 11a.m.-2a.m. Therapy every Thursday. All Day *2-4-1 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 Noon-2am. Free Music. Free WiFi 2 for 1 Original Everything Happy Hour 5-6 pm. 4.00 Titos/Absolut, Cosmos/Martis from Dan G

Saturday BRODIES TAVERN - Back Pocket Sabado Latino 7 p.m. - 2 a.m. $3 Magaritas on tap-Corona Bottles, $3.25 Latin Beers-XX Micheladas, $1 Tequila Shots-Corona Ritas IBT’s - 11a.m.-2a.m., Karaoke on the Patio 5 - 8 p.m., “Saturday Night Starlettes” drag show Hosted by Janee Starr 9pm, Million$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 Noon-2am. Free Music. Free WiFi

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.

sources

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 UMC-North, 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.

4 p.m.

LGBTQA Support Group.

LGBTQ Affairs Office, UA Student Union level four.

SAGA Desert Boyz for trans masculine folks 3rd Tuesdays

7-9 p.m.

Wednesday 3-8 p.m.

SAAF’s MSHAPE Lounge offers mens health resources

12-1 p.m.

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.

3-4:30 p.m.

4:30-6 p.m.

6:30-7:30 p.m.

7-9 p.m.

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 - 11a.m.-2a.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-2am. Free Music. Free WiFi

Two Spirit support group.

African American Student Affairs MLK Center, 1322 E. 1st Street.

6 p.m.

Write Now! a writer’s group open to all at Revolutionary Grounds 606 N. 4th 6:30-7:30 p.m. Regardless of… NA LGBT Meeting, Trinity Presbyterian Church, 400 E. University Blvd.

7 p.m.

Weekly Meditation Classes in Central Tucson, cost: $10, Kadam Meditation Center Arizona 1701 E. Miles St. 7-9 p.m.

SAGA Desert Partnerz for cis-gendered 4th Thursday 7-10 p.m.

Triangle Tribe, Men’s Support Group. Call 520-398-6826

3-8 p.m.

SAAF’s MSHAPE Lounge offers mens health resources

4-5:30 p.m.

Support Group for Transgender Survivors of Sexual Trauma, SACSA, 1600 N. Country Club Queer People of Color &

5:30-6:30 p.m.

Ajia Simone, Owner 426 E. Ninth St. 520.624.8400

10-11.30 a.m.

10-12 p.m.

2-5 p.m.

2:45 p.m.

Friday 4 p.m.

5:30-6:30 p.m.

6:30 p.m.

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 John 975-3166.

2nd Saturdays

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

Sunday 9-11 a.m.

Co-ed Softball, all abilities welcome. Oury Park, 600 W.St. Mary’s

Advice For Life & Prayers for World Peace. Bud dha’s teachings, Kadampa Meditation Cen ter Arizona 1701 E. Miles St. LGBT Buddhist Medita tion 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 info call Jim at 520-884-4218.

Mamasitas! Men’s Sports club at Menlo Park The New Men’s Massage Group. Sept 21 at 4 pm. 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.

Saturday

Thursday

SAAF’s MSHAPE Lounge offers mens health re-

Sunday

2:30-4:30p.m.

Tuesday 3-8 p.m.

February 18, 2015

February 18, 2015

OBSERVER

WEEKLY

Page 15

Pop’s Lesley Gore of This advice by Freud on ‘It’s My Party’ dies at 68 how to cure a gay child might surprise you

By Joseph Patrick McCormick PINK NEWS Some assume positions on controversial issues such as gay “cure” therapies evolve over time. This letter from Sigmund Freud written in 1935 may debunk that.

The famed father of psychoanalysis wrote an amazing and eloquent response to one parent’s concerns over having a gay child.

Lesley Gore

OBSERVER STAFF NEW YORK CITY -- Lesley Gore, a major pop-music icon of the 1960s, died of lung cancer Monday in her native New York City.

As a teenager, she became an overnight sensation with “It’s My Party” in 1963, followed by a string of hits. Younger audiences also might remember her for hosting episodes of “In the Life,” the PBS series on LGBT issues, beginning in 2004.

Gore also scored hit recordings with an early feminist anthem, “You Don’t Own Me,” and a follow-up to “It’s My Party” titled “Judy’s Turn To Cry.” She was the first to record a hit song

(“Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows”) written by Marvin Hamlisch, who went on to compose several of the most popular movie themes ever. She was one of the first to team up with producer Quincy Jones, a partnership that sold 4 million records.

She appeared twice in TV’s campy 1960s “Batman,” playing Pussycat, one of Catwoman’s henchpersons.

And she landed an Oscar nomination for 1980’s “Out Here On My Own,” from her score for the hit movie “Fame.”

Although she never married her partner, jewelry designer Lois Sasson, they were together for about 30 years.

OW

In the letter he writes that being gay ”is nothing to be ashamed of,” that it “cannot be classified as an illness” and names Plato, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci as “several of the greatest men,” who were gay.

Continuing, he considers the case of whether he could make the child into a “normal heterosexual,” but instead of “treatment,” recommends “analysis,” to “bring him harmony, peace of mind.”

Despite still contemplating the idea that gay “conversion” therapy is possible, Freud seems well on his way to deeming it dangerous, not to mention that this was published years before other similar opinions and studies on the issue.

The World Health Organisation still classed homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1990.

The letter, originally written in 1935, was given to Alfred Kinsey, and was later reproduced in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 1951.

It is currently available to see at the Museum of Sexology exhibit on at the Wellcome Collection in London.

is a homosexual. I am most impressed by the fact that you do not mention this term yourself in your information about him. May I question you why you avoid it? Homosexuality is assuredly no advantage, but it is nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation; it cannot be classified as an illness; we consider it to be a variation of the sexual function, produced by a certain arrest of sexual development. Many highly respectable individuals of ancient and modern times have been homosexuals, several of the greatest men among them. (Plato, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, etc). It is a great injustice to persecute homosexuality as a crime – and a cruelty, too. If you do not believe me, read the books of Havelock Ellis.

By asking me if I can help, you mean, I suppose, if I can abolish homosexuality and make normal heterosexuality take its place. The answer is, in a general way we cannot promise to achieve it. In a certain number of cases we succeed in developing the blighted germs of heterosexual tendencies, which are present in every homosexual in the majority of cases it is no more possible.

It is a question of the quality and the age of the individual. The result of treatment cannot be predicted.

What analysis can do for your son runs on a different line. If he is unhappy, neurotic, torn by conflicts, inhibited in his social life, analysis may bring him harmony, peace of mind, full efficiency, whether he remains a homosexual or gets changed. If you make up your mind he should have analysis with me — I don’t expect you will — he has to come over to Vienna. I have no intention of leaving here. However, don’t neglect to give me your answer.

Sincerely yours with best wishes,

The full text of the letter is available to read below: Dear Mrs [Erased], I gather from your letter that your son

Freud P.s. I did not find it difficult to read your handwriting. Hope you will not find my writing and my English a harder task.

Page 16

OBSERVER WEEKLY

February 18, 2015

Heaps of sand hearken gay volleyball season PHOENIX – The gays (and LBTQ’s) are at it again raking mounds of fresh hot sand to start the 2015 season of the Arizona Gay Volleyball Association’s tournament season which begins this week.

Games are played at Indian Steele Park, off Central Ave. and Farrington Lane just north of Indian School Rd. (300 E. Indian School Rd.) at The Wyndham Gardens (formerly The Radisson Hotel City Center) as well as Phoenix Place Hotel, located off Second Ave. just north of Osborn Rd. (3600 N. Second Ave.) or at the Margaret T. Hance Park off Central Ave. and Culver Street above the I-10 freeway (1134 N. Central Ave.)

This athletic bombshell makes some of us at the Observer long for a cool glass of whatever she’s having after she gets done shovelling all that sand at the AZGV practice court.

The purpose of AZGV is to foster local, regional, national and international sports competition predominately for gays, lesbians and anyone dedicated to promotion of the amateur athletic experience. Its also for persons of all skill level and abilities regardless of sexual orientation, gender, race, creed, religion or national origin.

AZGV offers and organizes three levels of outdoor, sand volleyball play: A, B, and C divisions in a six-man format as well as A/B and B/C divisions in a four-man format.

The only thing missing from the sand play are the mano a mano and menage a trois levels. Maybe next year. ; )

Photo: Facebook