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INTRODUCTIONS 2.26.2016 MEET RICK GUASco ⚫ 19
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ISSUE NUMBER 4, VOLUME 2 1 FEB 26 — MAR 11, 2016
LOS ANGELES
THE LOS ANGELES LGBT NEWSPAPER
LEGAL ⚫ 7
Subway chainstore violated civil rights, LA transgender woman claims INTERNATIONAL ⚫ 6
U.S. State Department exports marriage equality activism CALIFORNIA 2016 ⚫ 5
Thumbs up! Meet recently endorsed LGBT legislative candidates OPINION ⚫ 11
Ryan Reyes, partner of San Bernardino hero to AND THE NOMINEES ARE: VISIT THEPRIDELA.COM TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR Apple: help the FBI SUGGESTIONS FOR AN LGBT SUPREME COURT NOMINEE. SEARCH KEYWORD “NOMINEE”
Mr. President, it’s time for an LGBT pick for Supreme Court
⚫ The U.S. Supreme Court justice most hostile to equal rights for LGBT people has died, and Republicans vow to block President Obama from naming his replacement, escalating the nation’s already bitterpolitical civil war.
⚫ President Obama has nominated 10 openly LGBT federal judges during his presidency, and he has appointed hundreds of LGBT officials to various significant posts within his Administration.
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2.26.2016
LOS ANGELES
2
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2.26.2016 NATIONAL
UNEVEN JUSTICE
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LOS ANGELES
EQUALITY
⚫ 3
⚫ BY MATTHEW S. BAJKO
State of LGBT rights report depicts ‘unjust’ justice system for LGBT community Marriage and Relationship Recognition, Adoption and Parenting, Non-Discrimination, Safe Schools, Health and Safety, and Ability for Transgender People to Correct the Name and Gender Marker on Identity Documents vary greatly from state to state.
S
everal national groups this week released a r ep or t sa y i n g t h a t LGBT people, especially those of color, face disproportionate rates of incarceration and experience discrimination during and after custody. In a news release Tuesday for the report, “Unjust: How the Broken Criminal Justice System Fails LGBT People,” (http://www.lgbtmap. org/criminal-justice), Ineke Mushovic, executive director of the Movement Advancement Project, one of the organizations behind the report, said, “It used to be a crime to be LGBT in the United States, and while police are no longer raiding gay bars, LGBT people, especially LGBT people of color, are still disproportionately pushed into the criminal justice system. They are treated unfairly within the system and in correctional settings, and face extraor dinary challenges in rebuilding their lives.” The report cites research and analysis from recent years, including the National Inmate Survey. From 2011 to 2012, the report says,
pointing to the survey, 7.9 percent of state and federal prison inmates identified as LGBT. That’s far out of balance with the percentage of all American adults who say they’re LGBT. Citing Gallup, “Unjust” says that figure is 3.8 percent. Additionally, the report says, a 2015 survey of young people who were in seven juvenile detention facilities said that about 20 percent identified as LGBT or gender non-confor ming, while o n l y a ppr o x i matel y 5 to 7 percent of all young people say they’re LGBT or gender non-conforming. The report points to three ways the criminal justice system “fails LGBT people.” First, ther e’s “incr eased criminalization of LGBT people,” according to “Unjust,” which points to factors including discrimination in housing, workplaces, and families. Those situations mean LGBT people are more likely to face poverty or homelessness, which lead to “increased risk” of encounters with law enforcement. Next, LGBTs “are more frequently incarcerated and
IN THE MAP ABOVE DARK GREEN IS HIGH OVERALL POLICY TALLY (14 STATES + D.C.), LIGHT GREEN IS MEDIUM OVERALL POLICY TALLY (8 STATES), ORANGE IS LOW OVERALL POLICY TALLY (26 STATES) AND RED IS NEGATIVE OVERALL POLICY TALLY (2 STATES). THE FIGHT IS FAR FROM OVER.
treated harshly.” Among other concerns, there’s “unfair and inhumane treatment in jails, prisons, and other confinement facilities.” For example, the report says, “LGBT people are frequently placed in solitary confinement, and transgender people are regularly placed in facilities that do not conform to their gender identity.” In San Francisco, the sher iff’s department has been preparing to place transgender inmates in housing that matches their identities. Finally, according to “Unjust,” LGBTs face extra challenges to putting their
lives back together. “Rarely do probation, parole, and re-entry programs take into consider ation the discrimination that LGBT experience in many areas of life, including employment, housing, and public accommodations,” the report says. Among other recommendations, “Unjust” calls for working to eliminate discrimination against LGBTs in employment, housing, and other areas. It also urges education and training for institutional staff. Movement Advancement Project and the Center for American Progress co-authored the report, in
partnership with Forward Together, JustLeadershipUSA, and Advancement Project. In Tuesday’s news release, Laura E. Durso, senior director of the LGBT Research and Communications Project at the Center for American Progress, said, “As the nation continues to debate how to fix the criminal justice system, it is critical to explore solutions that will improve conditions and ensure fairness for everyone. That includes America’s nine million LGBT people who are at increased risk of having their lives and life chances destroyed by the current criminal justice system.”
⚫ 4
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2.26.2016 CALIFORNIA SACRAMENTO
LOS ANGELES
OUT CANDIDATES
⚫ 5
⚫ BY MATTHEW S. BAJKO
Thumbs up! SoCal LGBT legislative candidates endorsed
SABRINA CERVANTES 60TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT RIVERSIDE COUNTY
E
quality California and the LGBT lawmaker caucus in Sacramento have endorsed a number of the out Democratic candidates running for legislative seats this year. The California Legislative Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus, comprised of the Legislature’s seven out members, last week threw its support behind a dozen gay and lesbian candidates on the June primary ballot. The list, released Thursday, February 18, included a newcomer to the group of known out candidates running this year, Andrew Blumenfeld, who is seeking the Assembly District 43 seat. The incumbent, Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles), is termed out of office this year. At 25, Blumenfeld would be the youngest out candidate elected to the statehouse. To date, gay Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) is the youngest out state lawmaker, having won election two years ago at the
GREG RODRIGUEZ 42ND ASSEMBLY DISTRICT SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
TODD GLORIA 78TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT SAN GABRIEL VALLEY
BRIAN URIAS 48TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT SAN GABRIEL VALLEY
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SUSAN T. EGGMAN INCUMBENT STOCKTON
age of 31. “Having the support of such a prestigious group of legislators in our state not only humbles me, but continues to demonstrate the power of this campaign, its message, and the people – like you – are that making it all possible,” wrote Blumenfeld in an email to supporters. Blumenfeld, who was a registered Republican in college, recently finished a four-year term on the La Cañada Unified School District Governing Board. He is now one of five Democrats seeking Gatto’s seat along with one Republican candidate, attorney Mark MacCarley. Also running are Glendale City Councilwoman Laura Friedman and Glendale City Clerk Ardy Kassakhian; Rajiv Dalal , a former economic development adviser to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti; and Burbank High School teacher Dennis Bullock. The quintet of Democrats will be fighting to secure the state Democratic Party’s en-
dorsement at its convention this weekend in San Jose. The district encompasses Glendale, Burbank, La Crescenta, Montrose, La Canada Flintridge, and the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Atwater Village, East Hollywood, Franklin Hills, Hollywood Hills, Los Feliz, and Silver Lake. Four other non-incumbent out Assembly candidates also won backing from the legislative caucus, including two seeking to defeat GOP incumbents. They are Sabrina Cervantes, a lesbian who is trying to oust Assemblyman Eric Linder (R-Corona) from his 60th Assembly District seat centered in northwestern Riverside County, and Palm Springs resident Greg Rodriguez, a gay married father who is HIV-positive and running against Assemblyman Chad Mayes (R-Yucca Valley) in the 42nd Assembly District, which covers most of Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
The other two, who are running for open seats, are gay San Diego City Councilman Todd Gloria in the Assembly District 78 race and Bryan Urias , a gay man seeking the 48th Assembly District seat located in the San Gabriel Valley. The pair of incumbent out Assembly members seeking re-election this year – Low and lesbian Assemblywoman Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton) – was also endorsed by the LGBT caucus. The group also endorsed the two incumbent state Senators on the ballot this year: lesbian Senator Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton) and gay Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Los Angeles). Another caucus member, lesbian Assemblywoman Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), was endorsed in her bid for the 39th Senate District seat. Also endorsed were two out Senate candidates running in contested races for open seats. Gay San Francis-
co Supervisor Scott Wiener is seeking the 11th Senate District seat, and Katherine Perez-Estolano, a married lesbian Pasadena resident, is vying for the 25th Senate District seat. “As the only openly gay candidate in this race, and at a time when the LGBT community is losing representation in elected office, I am especially grateful for the support of the California Legislative LGBT Caucus,” wrote Perez-Estolano in an email to her supporters. In a statement announcing its list of endorsees, caucus chair Eggman noted that she is “heartened” to see so many individuals seeking legislative seats this election cycle and that the current out lawmakers “look forward to welcoming them” to Sacramento. “I am exhilarated by the number and caliber of out candidates running for the state Legislature,” stated Eggman. “We are proud to endorse individuals who hail from both coastal
and rural and southern and northern parts of the state and who reflect the rich diversity that California is known for.” EQCA ENDORSES OUT CANDIDATES EQCA, the statewide LGBT advocacy group, in recent weeks has endorsed all but one of the 12 known out candidates seeking a state legislative seat this year. Spokesman Jason Howe told the Bay Area Reporter last week that the organization’s political action committee is still analyzing the Assembly race that includes Blumenfeld. As for Joel Fajardo, a gay man and current mayor of San Fernando who had filed to seek the 39th Assembly District, he has reportedly suspended his campaign. EQCA is backing the incumbent, Assemblywoman Patty Lopez (D-San Fernando), in her contest against former Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, whom she 2016 OUT continued on p. 8
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JAPAN
MARRIAGE EQUALITY
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2.26.2016
LOS ANGELES
ADVOCACY
⚫ BY MATTHEW S. BAJKO
U.S. State Department exports marriage equality activism with Evan Wolfson visit to Japan People have expressed concern about transgender people facing harassment when they use public bathrooms that don’t match their perceived gender.
A
gay attorney who spent decades fighting for marriage equality in the U.S. is exporting the lessons he learned to LGBT advocates overseas. Evan Wolfson, who founded and served as president of Freedom to Marry, the notfor-profit agency which decided to close its doors once marriage equality was achieved, is in Japan this week on a trip sponsored by the U.S. State Department and local LGBT groups in the Asian country. His schedule will take him to four cities: Tokyo; Osaka; Sapporo, the capital of the mountainous northern Japanese island of Hokkaido; and Naha, the island capital of Okinawa Prefecture. His daily itinerary over the course of the 10-day trip is jam-packed with meetings, speeches, strategy sessions, and media interviews. “The U.S. Embassy here in Tokyo is working with local activists to arrange the visit and is contributing to the cost of the visit,” said Wolfson, who was reached by cellphone Friday, February 19 the morning after his arrival. “This is the second time I have been invited to speak in another country about the lessons about our Freedom to Marry campaigns as a guest of the United States govern-
ment.” In October Wolfson spent two weeks traveling to seven cities in three Western European countries during which he met with LGBT advocates and organizations; dined with local business leaders and members of parliament, as well as the U.S. ambassadors in Switzerland, Austria and Germany. “In Ger many and Austria there is significant debate about having a parliamentary bill in favor of Freedom to Marry. Also litigation is ongoing there,” he said. “In Switzerland there is right now an amendment being pushed by the more conservative political party that pretends to be about fixing the tax code in regard to marriage but really is smuggling in restrictions on same-sex couples. It is a Trojan horse amendment.” He dubbed the trip his “Rainbow Tour” and is refer ring to his Japanese visit on Twitter as the “Rainbow Tour II.” “As somebody who spent most of his life suing the gover nment, it gives me great pride our Freedom to Marry campaign and the progress America has made now puts our country on the right side of important human rights questions and setting a good example to others to respond
EVAN WOLFSON ADDRESSES JAPANESES MARRIAGE EQUALITY ADVOCATES AT THE UNITED STATES EMBASSY IN TOKYO.
to,” said Wolfson, who left the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund in 2001 to launch Freedom to Marry. His legal fight to secur e marriage rights for the LGBT community in the U.S. dates back to the early 1990s when he and another attorney sued the state of Hawaii on behalf of three same-sex couples. The Hawaii Supreme Court’s 1993 decision that the state could not exclude the couples from its marriage statutes marked the first time a court issued such a ruling. But it also sparked a backlash, resulting in the 1996 passage of the federal Defense
of Marriage Act that defined marriage for federal purposes as the union of one man and one woman. The homophobic law also allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages legally recognized by other states. State level DOMAs were also passed across the country. Wolfson devoted the next two decades of his life devising ways to strike down the marriage equality bans and achieve legal victories in both state and federal courts. A key portion of DOMA was struck down in 2013, allowing the federal gover nment to recognize state-sanctioned
same-sex marriages, and last June the U.S. Supreme Court abolished it entirely when it ruled 5-4 that gays and lesbians had a constitutional right to wed. Following the victory, Wolfson and his cohorts at Freedom to Marry began to wind down the group. It re-launched last year as Freedom for All Americans, focused on battling anti-LGBT laws in statehouses and pressing for federal LGBT protections in housing, employment and other areas. They also wanted to ensure WOLFSON continued on p. 9
2.26.2016 LEGAL
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LOS ANGELES COUNTY
LOS ANGELES
TRANSGENDER LAW
⚫ 7
⚫ BY REBEKAH KEARN
Subway violated civil rights, LA transgender woman claims
Cabrera says the public humiliation caused her to suffer anxiety, depression, and emotional distress, and loss of wages and earning capacity. Subway refused to fire an employee who harassed her, accused her of stealing and intentionally called her “Sir”
A
Subway restaurant employee harassed a transgender woman by calling her “sir” and falsely accusing her of shoplifting, the woman claims in court. Paris Cabrera sued Soni Subway, Marwaha Group and Subway Development of Central Coast in Kern County Court on Friday. “I was surprised to hear it,” her Los Angeles-based attorney Steven Haney told Courthouse News. “I would like to have thought that we have progressed enough to treat people equally, that LGBT people could be treated fairly. “I’m embarrassed for Subway to have people working for it who see someone different and instead of serving them, they ridicule them. It’s a shame.” Subway, which touts its sandwiches as being lower in calories than traditional fast food fare, made headlines last year when its longtime spokesman, Jared Fogel, was convicted of pedophilia. “And now from the company that brought you a convicted pedophile as a spokesperson, there is the abhorrent conduct discriminating against the LGBT community that gives rise to this lawsuit,” the complaint states. Cabrera, 26, is a transgender person who identifies as female, and all her identification documents reflect this, according to the complaint. After buying gas at a Chevron station on Maricopa
Highway, Cabrera says, she went to the Subway next door to buy a sandwich for dinner. It was 8:30 p.m. on July 3 last year. First, though, she stopped by the gas station store to buy something. The complaint does not specify what. Though she was “nicely dressed as a woman,” wearing jewelry and makeup and a “womanly purse,” “augmented breasts,” and long hair, the employee at the counter insisted on calling her “’sir’ in an attempt to harass, embarrass and humiliate plaintiff. Plaintiff quickly and politely corrected Doe 1 that she was a woman and should be addressed as such,” the complaint states. Attorney Haney said he asked Subway for the employee’s name, but it refused to cooperate. All he and Cabrera know is that the employee is of Indian descent, he said. After making her purchase, Cabrera says, she headed to the Subway to buy a sandwich. But the harassing employee followed her and despite having just been corrected about her gender, said, “’May I see your receipt for that item, sir?’ When plaintiff again politely corrected Doe 1 by saying that she was a woman, Doe 1 began to laugh and he rudely stated ‘whatever you say, sir.’ Two other female Soni [Subway] employees, also of Indian descent, joined in the harassment by laughing and
PARIS CABRERA CLAIMS SHE WAS ACCUSED OF SHOPLIFTING WHILE BEING REPEATEDLY CALLED “SIR”
waving their hands in the air as they taunted plaintiff,” the complaint states. The man then falsely accused Cabrera of shoplifting, and though she denied it, he “persisted in harassing plaintiff by falsely publically accusing plaintiff of a crime,” according to the complaint. It continues: “Plaintiff fled the restaurant. Doe 1 followed her out and shouted, ‘Have a nice day, sir,’ as he continued to laugh. Plaintiff was in tears and could not safely drive her car for over thirty minutes. Her Independence Day weekend was ruined.” Cabrera says the public humiliation caused her to suffer anxiety, depression, and emotional distress, and loss of wages and earning ca-
pacity. Haney told Courthouse News he asked Subway to resolve the problem by fir ing the man, but it refused. “We tried to get Subway to accommodate us, but we were met with a brick wall. You’d think Subway would be more conscious of its publicity with Jared Fogel sitting in a prison cell for pedophilia, but it doesn’t seem to faze them,” he said. Cabrera says in her complaint that Subway’s lackadaisical approach to managing its franchises, its laissez-faire attitude toward training its employees, and its propensity to retain bigoted and prejudiced people “has caused Subway to be ruefully thought of as a company that does not pay
attention to details or the concerns and feelings of its customers.” Subway did not immediately return emailed requests for comment Friday afternoon. An employee who answered the phone at the restaurant where Cabrera says she was harassed said the manager was not available Friday, and asked Courthouse News to call back Saturday morning. That call received a similar response. Cabrera seeks punitive damages for gender discrimination, civil rights violations, sexual harassment, and negligent hiring. Attorney Haney is a partner with Haney & Young.
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MEDICARE
HIV MEDICATIONS
2.26.2016
LOS ANGELES
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HEALTHCARE
⚫ BY SETH HEMMELGARN
Kaiser moves HIV drugs off Medicare specialty tier
K
aiser Permanente recently decided to remove HIV drugs from its potentially high priced “specialty tier” for Medicare patients. The health care provider, which drew attention last year for temporarily making people pay more for the drugs than they had been, had already moved drugs off the top tier for many patients, but the drugs still remained in that category for many Medicare patients. In an email last week, Kaiser spokesman John Nelson said the company’s formulary team decided in January to move the HIV drugs from the HIV specialty tier, effective February 2. “Any Kaiser Permanente patient covered under Medicare and prescribed HIV therapies will not need to do anything differently – the change will happen automatically,” Nel-
son said. The development means that Kaiser no longer has any HIV drugs on specialty tiers for California members. Nelson wouldn’t say whether a vote had been taken or what the tally had been, but he said, “The discussion was thoughtful, robust, and patient-centered. “We here at Kaiser Permanente are extremely concerned about the ever-increasing drug prices being charged by the pharmaceutical industry,” Nelson said. “We are exploring several different ways to manage these costs for our patients and purchasers. However, managing pharmaceutical costs is becoming an increasingly difficulty challenge.” Beginning in January 2015, Kaiser added the specialty tier to its commercial small group and individual plans, and all high-
AT 25, ANDREW BLUMENFELD (PICTURED ABOVE) WOULD BE THE YOUNGEST OUT CANDIDATE ELECTED TO THE STATEHOUSE. PHOTO COURTESY FACEBOOK
priced HIV drugs and other specialty medications within those plans were put on that tier. The Pride LA sister publication, The Bay Area Reporter’s coverage of the change brought criticism to Kaiser, and last February the company took the drugs off the specialty tier for members of small group and individual plans. High-priced HIV medications and other specialty drugs had been in the specialty tier for Medicare members “for several years,” Nelson’s said. Out of the more than 11,300 patients with HIV prescriptions in 2015, only “about 1,500,” or 13.3 percent, are on Medicare plans in northern California, Nelson said in December. One patient, who didn’t want his name published, recently shared with the The Pride
LA a receipt showing that he’d paid more than $1,800 for 90 days worth of Reyataz, an HIV drug. He attributed the cost to Medicare’s infamous “donut hole,” or coverage gap. But even if he hadn’t been in that gap, his coinsurance still would have cost about $1,000. Kaiser’s retail price for the drug was almost $4,100. Before HIV drugs were taken off the Medicare specialty tier, Nelson said that for those on Medicare, it wasn’t accurate “to say that all patients pay more because a drug is in the specialty tier, compared to the brand tier.” He also encouraged the B.A.R. to look at other companies’ pricing, saying, “It will be very interesting to see if you find other health plans which are changing their Medicare formularies to move HIV drugs off the specialty tier.”
2016 OUT continued from p. 5
Zbur added that “a key priority” for EQCA is “to maintain a strong LGBT caucus in the state Legislature, and we are enthusiastic in our support of Katherine as an extraordinary LGBT candidate.” Two of the current LGBT legislative caucus members are termed out of office this year and will be leaving the Legislature: Leno and gay Assemblyman Rich Gordon (D-Menlo Park). The caucus’ remaining five members are all expected to easily win election come November. Among the other races, Blumenfeld and Perez-Estolano could see their bids end in June if they do not survive the primary election, where the top two vote-getters advance to the fall general election. The other quartet of out candidates is expected to survive the June primary and compete in November.
LGBT candidates endorsed
defeated two years ago. The most recent endorsement from EQCA came February 8 for Perez-Estolano. She was the last of the 11 out candidates EQCA is so far backing. “Katherine’s public and civic service demonstrate a deep commitment to improving the lives of everyone in all of California’s diverse communities. Her extensive experience in government, through appointed positions at state and local levels, has more than prepared her for leadership in Sacramento,” stated EQCA Executive Director Rick Zbur . “She is one of the rising stars of the LGBT community and we believe she will be a strong advocate for LGBT people and for all the communities of which we are a part.”
2.26.2016
Marriage Equality’s Ambassador
⚫ 9
A REFRESHING COLLECTION OF MUSIC AND FILM TO WELCOME IN SPRING!
FILM SERIES
THE SOUL OF ISRAEL
HONORING MIKE NICHOLS March 12, 2016
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FAMILY CONCERT
CLASSICAL MUSIC @ THE WALLIS
DAN ZANES & FRIENDS March 13, 2016
WOLFSON continued from p. 6
the lessons and strategies lear ned from the marriage equality fight were not lost. Thus, the staff’s last task was to write down all the things they learned in winning marriage so that it could be shared with other progressive campaigns. “We are seeing tremendous eager ness on the part of many organizations and many different causes and many countries to learn the lessons from the successful Freedom to Marry campaign in the U.S. and adapt them to other fronts,” said Wolfson. “I am spending a lot of my time now, and will even more over the months ahead, advising and assisting a whole variety of movements in the U.S. and over seas as they push forward.” The international trips are one way for Wolfson to achieve that goal on a global scale. “Japan does not yet have the freedom to marry or any national level recognition of same-sex relationships. Nor does it have a clear national non-discrimination law,” noted Wolfson. “While Japan also doesn’t have some of the most negative features other countries have, it is lagging behind other leading pluralistic democratic rule of law countries now. There is a lot of progress still to be made, particularly given Japan’s constitution has strong guarantees in favor of individual freedom and equality for all.” His trip began just days after a member of the Suginami Municipal Assembly in Tokyo made headlines for saying gay, lesbian and bisexual people refer to themselves so out of “per sonal taste” and thus are not worthy of support by municipal governments, according to a story posted online by Japan Times. Suginami Ward Assemblywoman Yumi Kobayashi, 27, was quoted as saying during an assembly session February 15 that such sexual minorities are “fundamentally different” from transgender people, “who are clearly
LOS ANGELES
JENNIFER KOH & SHAI WOSNER March 26, 2016
310.746.4000 | TheWallis.org/Spring 9390 N SANTA MONICA BLVD BEVERLY HILLS CA 90210
ADVERTISING SALES POSITIONS: THE PRIDE LA HAS OPENINGS EVAN WOLFSON IS TAKING THE FIGHT FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY GLOBAL
disabled and should be legally protected” but questioned whether it’s “medically clear” if lesbian, gay, and bisexual people “are disabled or not.” The story also quoted Kobayashi as asking, “Is it really necessary for local governments to spend a lot of time and money on issues relating to sexual orientation or personal taste?” The U.S. Embassy in T okyo did not respond to a request for comment about Wolfson’s visit made via its Twitter account. Nor did embassy officials or the president of the Equal Marriage Alliance, a local Japanese group that just celebrated its second anniversary, respond to requests for comment forwarded to them by Wolfson. The embassy did offer a live feed of a talk Wolfson gave Monday, February 22 via its YouTube page that it also promoted via its Twitter account. Later this year Wolfson has been invited to meet with marriage equality counterparts in Australia. He is also talking with people in Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam fighting for LGBT rights. “I feel very excited that people know the campaign we had in the U.S., with all its stumbles and successes, offers real lessons that can be adapted to work on other fronts and other countries,” said Wolfson.
EMAIL troy@smmirror.com for details.
⚫ 10
PRIVACY
TECH AND TERRORISM
2.26.2016
LOS ANGELES
>
IPHONE ENCRYPTION
⚫ BY TROY MASTERS
Apple’s Tim Cook hires Prop 8 lawyer Ted Olson to fight FBI terror probe
IN WHAT IS SHAPING UP TO BE THE MOST IMPORTANT PRIVACY CASE OF OUR TIME, APPLE HAS HIRED TED OLSON, THE FORMER SOLICITOR GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES. OLSON IS FAMOUS FOR HELPING OVERTURN PROPOSITION 8.
Apple is expected to argue in federal court that code should be protected as speech.
T
im Cook, the out gay man who leads the world’s wealthiest company as CEO of Apple, Inc., has hired Republican lawyer turned gay rights hero to represent the company against government pressure to unlock the iP-
hone of one of the San Ber nardino terrorist. A U.S. judge in Riverside earlier this week ordered Apple to help with the San Bernardino investigation by creating a bypass around iPhone’s built-in security protections. Gunman Syed Rizwan Farook used an iPhone 5c . The iPhone is rendered useless after multiple password attempts unless the computer to which it was last backed up to is available. Apple software was expressly updated in 2014 to do so and the com-
pany went to great pains to ensure customer phones could not be accessed in any other manner. A technical security expert says the government is asking Apple “to modify the IOS so as to allow them to use DFU or Device Firmware Upgrade mode thereby allowing the phone to be restored from any state.” Farook and his wife,Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people and wounded 22 others before dying in a shootout with police. Ted Olson and his law partner Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr, are best known to LGBT folk for successfully challenging California’s Proposition 8, a voter initiated law that banned gay marriage in California, before the Supreme Court. They are also known for successfully arguing on behalf of George W. Bush in the Supreme Court case that decided the 2000 presidential election. Cook has said that obeying the order sets a danger ous precedent and could compromise the security of billions of customers. “Up to this point, we have done everything that is both within our power and within the law to help them,” he said in a post the Apple corporate website. “But now the U.S. government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create.” Tim Cook explains what he feels the government is asking:
“Specifically, the FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone oper ating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation. In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession.” “The FBI may use different words to describe this tool, but make no mistake: Building a version of iOS that bypasses security in this way would undeniably create a backdoor. And while the government may argue that its use would be limited to this case, there is no way to guarantee such control.” Edward Snowden, in a post on Twitter, said “The @FBI is creating a world where citizens rely on #Apple to defend their rights, rather than the other way around.” While iCloud backups of the phone were make sporadically until a few weeks before the terrorist attack, according to sources, the government is obviously seeking information that is more in keeping with events of the day or just preceding it. The case strikes close to Olson’s heart. His wife, Barbara, a prominent and outspoken conservative, was killed on September 11, 2001 when American Airlines flight 77 crashed into the World Trade Center in Manhattan.
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2.26.2016
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SAN BERNARDINO TECH AND TERRORISM
⚫ BY RYAN REYES
LOS ANGELES
⚫ 11
OPINION: APPLE AND TERRORISM
Partner of San Bernardino hero to Apple: help the FBI
RYAN REYES APPLAUDS PRESIDENT OBAMA DURING HIS 2016 STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
W
hen my partner Daniel Kaufman was killed in the terror attacks in San Bernardino I never really imagined a “right-to-privacy debate” might interfere with getting to the bottom of what happened. I am all about the right to privacy. I am a gay man who is HIV positive, a Pagan by faith, a slut in most people’s eyes, lover of diversity and someone who has fought against oppression and for equality all of his life. So when Apple demanded a court order before helping the FBI open the iPhone of shooter Syed Raheel Farook, I was okay with that. I did not feel threatened by the FBI’s request for assistance from Apple in retrieving data from the phone that was otherwise unattainable from old iCloud backups. Of course the FBI needed to know what else was on the phone in the days and hours leading up to the massacre. Apple rightly demanded a formal court order for the request and the FBI got one. But when Apple got the court order and refused I took it personally. Apple’s refusal after the FBI got a court order is not only harmful to the investigation, it is an appalling marketing move that pits the Apple brand
against justice. That Tim Cook would choose to make himself look like some kind of hero, a martyr or victim is disgusting! His refusal to help is nothing more than anti-government propaganda (which, I would typically be all for). In instances such as this, companies, especially American companies, have a very real obligation to aid in the safety of this country. Failure to do EVERYTHING that they can or that they are asked to do can result in very dire consequences. I understand people’s concerns in this case: If Apple complies than an ever-encroaching government is reaching even deeper. If they create a tool that allows access to highly encrypted personal data it eventually exposes all of us. If the government gets its way it will be a rapid nose dive toward a more Orwellian future. And that’s the tip of the iceberg. However, the government is requesting, not demanding or forcing compliance. Maybe Apple wants to push this debate to clarify archaic laws that rule the intersection of technology and privacy. I don’t think this is the right case. So, before you click away from this article assuming I feel this way because I lost my boyfriend in the attack, let me correct you. I have always felt this way. Since I am just a normal person that leads a very normal life, my voice has never been heard on the topic. It is only because of my involvement in the events that took place on December 2, 2015 that I have been thrown into the spotlight and have been asked my opinion on matters. Tim Cook claims that Apple has been helping with the investigation in every single way. I find this hard to believe because the only way Apple could help would be by unlocking the phone. Even if there were other instances where Apple was helping with this particular investigation, why would the tune suddenly change when it came to unlocking a device? Call logs, voice mails and text messages would have been acquired through the carrier (Verizon, Sprint, ATT, etc) and not through Apple (food for thought). Tim Cook has stated that this will
undermine security and eluded to the idea that all people will be targeted for government hacking of their devices. This just is not the case. Let us not forget that prior to 2015 Apple has had a long standing record of helping law enforcement break into devices during their investigations. Even for things as minor (compared to terrorism) as drug charges. So why the sudden change in direction when it comes to terrorism and possibly protecting the lives of other innocent people? Tim Cook says he is concerned that complying with the court order will enable hackers to access people’s phones. That is already happening. I believe the lady doth protest too much. Apple needs this debate to protect the veneer of product security invincibility. Any hacker will tell you If there is a will, there is a way and Apple is a favorite target. The government is taking a more honest approach than Apple. The government could simply hire a hacker but they have chosen to obey legal norms in this case. Witness the court order. Tim Cook should be praising them rather than trying to tear them apart with his anti-government rhetoric. Even if it were the case that it is impossible to hack into an iPhone, Apple should offer to engineer retrieval of data in instances of national security. If Apple is arguing that it is impossible then they take us, and their shareholders, for fools. Cell phones (especially those produced by Apple) are far less phone and far more miniature computer. In ANY investigation, one of the first things seized is going to be the computer. When you look at it from this perspective, the FBI has every right to be looking into Farook’s iPhone. Period. For those that are in support of Apple, I pose these question: would you still feel the same way about it if YOU had lost someone in the attack? How would it make you feel to hear someone tell you that the privacy of a dead terrorist is more important than the possibility of finding out more details about what happened to your loved one? Would you feel guilty if someone
else got hurt because there were more people tied to Farook that had not been caught and who later decided to move forward with more attacks? Personally, I hope you never have to answer those questions. If that happens I will be sure to remind you that privacy is far more important than your peace of mind. Hopefully that will comfort you in your grieving. Should another attack happen that could have been prevented by having the information from the phone, I feel that Tim Cook and Apple should be held accountable right along with anyone else involved. By actively fighting against releasing possible life saving information, Tim Cook has not only aligned himself and Apple with the true threat to security and safety, but has added his name and the company’s brand to the list of the true threats. This whole thing has made me question my own personal loyalty to Apple. I myself own an iPhone and an iPad mini. My Mother owns an iPhone, iPad and iPad mini. I have tons of family and friends that own Apple products. The vast majority of us are starting to reconsider our choice of product because of this. Up to and including the possibility of trashing them. If this continues on the path that it is, it could very well result in such a thing. As well as me using whatever means needed to organize full blown protests in front of Apple locations and boycott of their products. I already have plenty of people willing to stand behind me on this and I am always willing to accept more. In the short end of it, it boils down to this: terrorists have no right to privacy. Dead people have no right to privacy. Dead terrorists CERTAINLY have no right to privacy. Unlock the phone and check your ego at the door Tim Cook. You are part of the problem, not the solution. Think Differently! Ryan Reyes was hosted by the Obama’s as a guest at the White House and at the State of the Union after he spoke out passionately in defense of the Muslim community. He lives near San Bernardino, California.
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LOS ANGELES
2.26.2016
2.26.2016 JUSTICE
CALIFORNIA
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LOS ANGELES
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TRANSGENDER
⚫ BY SETH HEMMELGARN
Trans ex-inmate settles case against CA California agreed to drop its challenge to an order that could have provided her with state-paid sex reassignment surgery.
A transsexual woman who was recently released from a California prison after working to get the state to provide her with gender-affirming medical care settled her case this week against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Michelle-Lael Norsworthy, 52, who’d been convicted of second-degree murder, was incarcerated for nearly 30 years before she was paroled in August. In April, a federal judge ruled that the state had to provide Norsworthy with “gender-confirmation surgery,” Transgender Law Center, an Oakland-based nonprofit helping Norsworthy, said in a news release announcing the settlement Tuesday, February 23. Officials fought the judge’s order, but TLC said the state “has dropped its request that the court vacate its April ruling and has agreed to provide almost half a million dollars to cover attorney’s fees and costs. That means that the ruling will continue to stand as significant legal precedent that other courts across the country will look to when considering cases involving transgender people and health care.” Norsworthy stated, “This settlement is a message that transgender people’s medical needs are real and cannot be dismissed by the state just because of who we are.” The settlement was announced the same day that several agencies released a new report showing how the criminal justice system disproportionately targets and harms LGBT people (see page 3).
MICHELLE-LAEL NORSWORTHY, COURTESY FACEBOOK
It also came just after Norsworthy launched a Gofundme campaign to raise $30,000. On the site, she says she’s homeless, questions where her “supporters” are, and says, “I feel abandoned and alone.” (She had brought in only $5 by Tuesday, a week after her page debuted.) But in an interview, Norsworthy said she’s staying at HealthRight 360, a San Francisco nonprofit where she’s receiving job training and other services, and she said TLC has been “giving me plenty of help.” She was initially reluctant to say specifically where support had been lacking, but after being asked wheth-
er it was Transgender Gender Variant Intersex Justice Project, a San Francisco nonprofit that helps people who’ve been incarcerated, she said it had been that group. “They haven’t been helpful at all,” Norsworthy said. She said she asked for some direction on “the bare essentials,” like how to use a Clipper transit card, but there was no assistance except for TGI Justice Executive Director Janetta Johnson giving her $10. TGI Justice Executive Director Janetta Johnson, shown speaking at a Black Trans Liberation rally in August. Photo: Rick Gerharter Among other complaints, Norswor-
thy, who’s white, said TGI Justice’s “broad title” implies that it’s “not just one specific group” that it aims to help, but it’s actually geared toward African-Americans. She also feels the program has downplayed the significance of her case, and she worries that inmates looking for legal guidance may incorrectly rely on a different case that TGI Justice has promoted. When first asked by a white male reporter from the Bay Area Reporter about Norsworthy’s comments, Johnson, who’s black, said she had “no response,” but then said, “White folks doing what white folks do. That’s my response.” Soon after the first interview, Johnson called back and said that Norsworthy’s claims were “a lie.” “I would expect a cis white male and a white transgender woman to get together and talk shit” about “a blackled organization. ... You all just get your KKK asses together and come up with a conspiracy.” She also told the reporter, “You’re the biggest shit stirrer in our community.” After several similar comments, she added, “Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you. ... Go fuck yourself.” Not long after that, Danielle West, TGI Justice’s development director, called the B.A.R. to ask about the conversation with Johnson. She followed up with an email saying, “What I know as a white woman of trans experience in an organization led by formerly incarcerated black transgender women, is that our organization works strategically for economic and racial justice for everyone, and like many organizations, [TGI Justice] utilizes our resources to best live up to our vision.” Norsworthy said in a Facebook exchange Tuesday that she’s not getting any money from the settlement. “It’s all going to charity,” she said. “People who really need the help.” However, she’s still keeping the Gofundme page (https://www.gofundme.com/ddwyw5rx). She predicts she’ll be homeless again.
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2.26.2016 IN THEATERS NOW
LOS ANGELES
⚫ 15
MOVIE PICK
⚫ BY JOHN PAUL KING
“Mustang” makes a run for freedom “The film’s biggest challenge to the culture it portrays… comes… in the very act of exposing it to a larger world.”
T
hough director Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s debut feature is officially French, it was filmed in Turkey, with Turkish actors, and tells an entirely Turkish story. It was backed by money from both France and Turkey, but also from Germany and Qatar.
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Regardless of how many nations may lay claim to it, “Mustang” is a film that rightly belongs to the world. Set in a small village on the coast of the Black Sea, it focuses on five young, orphaned sisters who are being raised by their grandmother and uncle. One day after school, the girls decide to walk home along the beach, stopping on the way to play in the waves with a group of male schoolmates. Though their frolic is innocent, they are seen by a neighbor who deems it indecent and reports it to their family. To avoid a scandal, the girls’ uncle turns them into virtual prisoners in their own home. Kept behind locked doors, removed from school,
DANIEL BERGERON DIRECTOR DENIZ GAMZE ERGÜVEN AND THE CAST OF “MUSTANG” PHOTO BY DANIEL BERGERON
and made to wear drab clothing, they find themselves being groomed for the sole purpose of becoming suitable wives. It’s a traditional destiny for MUSTANG continued on p. 18
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SUPREME COURT OBAMA’S CHOICE
⚫ BY LISA KEEN
2.26.2016
LOS ANGELES
REPLACING SCALIA
LGBT-hostile republicans vow to block Obama SCOTUS pick T
he U.S. Supreme Court justice most hostile to equal rights for LGBT people has died, and a threat by Republicans in Congress to block President Obama from naming his replacement promises to escalate the nation’s already bitter political civil war. News broke early Saturday evening that Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead earlier in the day in his hotel suite at a private resort in west Texas, sending shockwaves through the legal community and the current field of presidential candidates. Within hours of news of Scalia’s death, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement saying the Senate should not consider a nominee “until we have a new President,” and during Saturday night’s GOP debate, most of the remaining six candidates agreed. But President Obama made clear that he intends to fulfill his duty to name a replacement, and LGBT legal activists have good reason to feel confident that President Obama will nominate someone who will recognize the right of LGBT citizens to enjoy the protections of the U.S. constitution. Many political observers say they believe it is unlikely that Congress will allow the seat to remain open for the 12 months or more it would take for a new president to assume office. And it’s a big gamble for Republicans to presume that the GOP’s eventual presidential nominee will win in November. If Congress does stall the nomination process, the Supreme Court will operate with eight justices. That scenario could potentially improve chances of positive outcomes on LGBT -related cases, given that Justice Anthony Kennedy often votes with the court’s more liberal wing on LGBT cases. “It is already apparent that one result of Justice Scalia’s passing will be to focus public attention on how important the Supreme Court is to the lives of all Americans, which I think is a good thing,” said Jon Davidson, national legal director for Lambda Le-
gal. Davidson said he expects history will judge Scalia “quite harshly” when it comes to the rights of LGBT people, women, and people of color. Davidson’s colleague, Jenny Pizer, Lambda senior counsel, said Scalia’s “contempt for gay people will look increasingly anachronistic — and disturbed — over time.” “I believe his strongest influence has been as a trumpeter, calling to rally the Religious Right,” said Pizer. “His intemperate tone has seemed intended to inspire anger and alarm among those working for reactionary causes….[G]iven how frequently his dissents have been cited as authority by the lower courts, he certainly has had influence in slowing LGBT legal progress that way, as well as by motivating political outrage against, and defiance against, liberal court decisions.” Justice Scalia was the current Supreme Court’s most staunch conservative, and one who often wrote dissenting opinions to the court’s most historic rulings on LGBT -related cases. Scalia always voted against the interests of gay people in cases before the court –from the 1987 decision, 5 to 4, allowing the U.S. Olympic Committee to ban Gay Games from calling itself the Gay Olympics, through the unanimous decision in 1995 to allow St. Patrick’s Day parade organizers in Boston to exclude a gay contingent, and the 5 to 4 decision in 2000 to allow the Boy Scouts of America to revoke the membership of an Eagle Scout because he was gay. What really marked him as anti-gay was his vigorous complaint in dissent in 1996 to a 6 to 3 majority opinion in Romer v. Evans –a majority opinion that struck down a Colorado law that had barred any political subdivision in the state from prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. Scalia derided the majority for saying the state law was driven by “animus.” “Of course it is our moral heritage that one should not hate any human being or class of human beings,”
wrote Scalia. But, he said, “one could consider certain conduct reprehensible–murder, for example, or polygamy, or cruelty to animals–and could exhibit even ‘animus’ toward such conduct. Surely that is the only sort of ‘animus’ at issue here: moral disapproval of homosexual conduct….” In 2003, Scalia led the dissent against a 6 to 3 majority in Lawrence v. Texas, which had struck down state laws banning consensual intimate relations between adult persons of the same gender. Scalia said the Texas law, which made it a felony for two adults of the same sex to engage in sexual relations in the privacy of their bedroom, simply sought “to further the belief of its citizens that certain forms of sexual behavior are ‘immoral and unacceptable’.” Other such behaviors, he said, included “fornication, bigamy, adultery, adult incest, bestiality, and obscenity.” Almost 10 years later, in response to a question at an appearance before an audience at Princeton, Scalia suggested he made such extreme comparisons because they were “effective.” “I don’t apologize for the things I raised. I’m not comparing homosexuality to murder. I’m comparing the principle that a society may not adopt moral sanctions, moral views, against certain conduct — I’m comparing that with respect to murder and that with respect to homosexuality.” And Scalia led the dissent in other major LGBT -related cases before the Supreme Court: U.S. v. Windsor, which in 2013 struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act (“…even setting aside traditional moral disapproval of same-sex marriage (or indeed same-sex sex), there are many perfectly valid—indeed, downright boring—justifying rationales for this legislation.”) And in the most recent LGBT case, Obergefell v. Hodges last year, Scalia led the dissent once again, saying he thought the national public debate over marriage for same-sex
couples was “American democracy at its best.” Because Scalia was in dissent on landmark LGBT decisions in recent years, his hostility to LGBT people was held in check to some extent. But he was still seen by LGBT legal activists as an unapologetic rabble rouser for lower court judges and right-wing political figures who shared his disdain for LGBT people. “His opinions about LGBT people were particularly harsh, and he wrote about them in openly disparaging terms that perpetuated the most damaging and vicious stereotypes,” said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “One that particularly stands out is his dissent in Lawrence, when he wrote that “Many Americans do not want persons who openly engage in homosexual conduct as partners in their business, as scoutmasters for their children, as teachers in their children’s schools, or as boarders in their home. They view this as protecting themselves and their families from a lifestyle that they believe to be immoral and destructive.” [B]y voicing such extreme views,” sid Minter, Scalia “gave a stamp of legitimacy to anti-LGBT bias and other deeply reactionary positions and, in that way, pulled the Court’s jurisprudence to the right.” “Justice Scalia was a gleeful and influential political culture-warrior as well as … a towering figure who cast a dark shadow on the law and on the lives of many Americans,” said Evan Wolfson, who headed up the national Freedom to Marry group. “More than just a dependable “No” vote on the constitutional and civil rights of gay people and others, he reveled in disparagement and incendiary attacks that influenced many judges, politicians, and lawyers, and epitomized the prejudices and exclusion we were working, fortunately with some success, to overcome.” President Ronald Reagan nominated Scalia to the U.S. Supreme Court bench in 1986.
2.26.2016
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⚫ 18
LOS ANGELES
2.26.2016
“Mustang” is about freedom MUSTANG continued from p. 15
the young women of their community, but these free-spirited girls (particularly the youngest, Lale) bristle against it, and they begin to seek every opportunity they can find to escape. The screenplay for “Mustang” was co-written by Ergüven with fellow filmmaker Alice Winocour. They met at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011, where Ergüven was trying unsuccessfully to develop a planned film project about the Los Angeles riots. Winocour suggested trying something on a smaller scale, and the two began to collaborate on the script. Ergüven who is French but Turkish-born, had experienced a incident similar to the one which begins “Mustang,” in which she was punished by her family for her unwitting violation of gender mores, and with this memory as a point or entry, the two women crafted a delicate story which is at once a coming of age tale about girls on the brink of womanhood and a passionate exclamation against the subjugation of femininity within the deeply conservative traditions of male-dominated cultures. That doesn’t mean that the resultant film is a dour or depressing affair, though. On the contrary, the heavy-sounding political subtext within “Mustang” is all the more powerful precisely because Ergüven keeps it from dominating her movie. Instead of making the story a vehicle for feminist rhetoric, she crafts it almost as a contemporary fairytale; her protagonists are more like captive princesses than victims of societal oppression. This is largely achieved by point-ofview; Lale serves as the movie’s occasional narrator, which places her at the center of the proceedings and allows even the darkest elements to be perceived with the freshness of innocence rather than the self-righteous anger of experience. Through this prism, the bars to the girls’ freedom (both physical and metaphorical) are obstacles to be overcome instead
of instruments of oppression, allowing an undercurrent of hope to pull us through the bleakest moments towards the promise of inevitable freedom. Lale is frustrated, but never despairing, and the strength of her determination keeps the film from becoming a lament. It’s not just Lale, though. All of the five sisters, in their own way, represent the rebellious, wild nature suggested by the film’s title (“Mustang” was chosen from the list of all the names for wild horse the world over). They defiantly confront the neighbor who has accused them of immorality, they tear off their dowdy garments with relish when left in private, and they continually find ways to challenge and undermine the dictates of their stern guardians. Nor are they alone in their dismissal of conservative strictures; there are several figures throughout the film who stand apart from the repressive traditions of this community, thoughlike the sisters- we are only offered relatively brief glimpses of this alter native viewpoint. The film’s biggest challenge to the culture it portrays, though, comes from Ergüven herself; she rebels against it in the very act of exposing it to a larger world. Not only does she show us things that rattle us to the core of our western sensibilities (such as a scene in which a young woman is taken to a doctor in the middle of the night because she has failed to prove her virginity by bleeding during the consummation of her marriage), but she defies its cultural mores by frankly presenting subject matter it views as “indecent.” Crude language, semi-nudity, the suggestion of sexual abuse- all these are among the reasons her film has sparked outrage in her native Turkey. It has also sparked an equal amount of admiration, and that is proof enoughas if any were needed- that “Mustang” is a timely work of cinema, striking a strong chord in a world still hungry for freedom.
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2.26.2016 PEOPLE
TALKING POINT
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LOS ANGELES
HIV ADVICE
⚫ 19
⚫ BY RICK GUASCO
Don’t let HIV treatment fatigue or fear undermine your health
There are many reasons a healthy HIV patient may develop a desire to take a break from medication therapies. If that’s you it may be time to see your doctor.
L
ast October, I came out. Everyone who knows me was surprised. Although I’ve been openly gay most of my adult life, and I’ve been HIV-positive since 1992, I have only been on treatment for a very short time. Three years ago, I fell out of care completely and was no longer on meds. You’d think I would know better. I’m a fairly intelligent person, even if also opinionated and stubborn. Plus, I work for Positively Aware, an HIV treatment magazine, so you’d think I would be more, well, _aware_, of the importance of HIV treatment. Except that I had become tired and afraid. I think that as long as I have lived with HIV, I’ve always lived with some measure of fear. It didn’t matter how healthy I was, or how sick I felt, fear has always lurked in the background. In the summer of 1992, I developed blotches on my skin. The purplish spots continued to blossom, about five new ones a week. When the fear became too much, I got tested that December: I was HIV-positive – and the spots were likely Kaposi sarcoma (KS), an opportunistic infection that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had labeled as an “endstage AIDS-defining illness.” “Good luck,” my post-test counselor said as he handed me three publications. Kaposi sarcoma is a disease in which malignant tumors can form in the skin, mucous membranes, lymph nodes and other organs. Chemotherapy was the standard treatment for KS, but it often killed the weakest patients, and it seemed I was next. The fear of KS was overwhelming.
RICK GUASCO EXPERIENCED A FULL RETURN TO AIDS DIAGNOSIS AFTER HE STOPPED TAKING HIS MEDS. TODAY HE IS BACK TO FULL HEALTH.
More than 100 lesions covered my body, 50 on my head alone. I looked like I had two black eyes and a swollen lip. I began reading the three handouts I’d been given, all of which were published by Test Positive Aware Network (TPAN), an AIDS service organization in Chicago where I live. One of them was Positively Aware. The more I read, the more my fear subsided to a level where I could think. That’s when I realized information was the key to getting a grip on my situation. I discovered a clinical trial that used interferon, a known cancer-fighting drug, to treat KS. But I’m so afraid of needles, it took more than two weeks before I could bring myself to begin the daily course of a self-administered injection of interferon into my upper thigh. Whenever I jabbed myself, I would close my eyes and look the other way. Imagine having the body aches of the flu – every day. That was the major side effect of interferon. At its worst, I would rock back and forth at my desk, like someone experiencing withdrawal. But the interferon worked. Within two years, nearly all the lesions were gone. In 1997, protease inhibitors, the first class of effective HIV drugs, ap-
peared. But soon afterward, HIV patients began to report side effects from the long-term use of these medications and from having lived so long with the virus. Some people experienced a redistribution of body fat, giving them gaunt-looking faces, or swollen bellies, or the appearance of a slight hunchback. So, quite frankly, I was grateful for my interferon side effects. Having had a disfiguring disease, I have become self-conscious about my appearance. My KS treatment was apparently keeping me healthy enough that I thought I could justify skipping HIV treatment. After my insurance no longer covered interferon, I stopped taking it. For a few years, I coasted. I “felt healthy enough” to refrain from HIV treatment. Then in 2011, a familiar purplish spot appeared, just below my left ankle. My KS was back. Once again, fear took hold. As months went by, I looked on as the spot slowly grew. It was only the fear that another spot might soon appear that made me see a doctor. A biopsy confirmed the diagnosis. These days, the only treatment for KS is to go on HIV medication. Reluctantly, I did, going on one of the
first single-tablet regimens. The spot began to shrink, then disappear, and my viral load and T -cell count improved. The side effects came with almost the first pill. Repetitive dreams nearly as bad as those from interferon. And during the day, a depression was beginning to settle in. I was afraid that this was my new normal. I struggled for 11 months. My meds had been covered by the state ADAP program, and my job’s insurance was about to kick in. However, the paperwork transitioning me from ADAP to private insurance had gotten lost, and I now had no way to pay for my refill. This only seemed to add insult to injury, so I walked away from treatment. I was afraid, however, of being called irresponsible – or a hypocrite. I told myself that my healthcare (or lack of it) was a personal decision. After all, I still “felt healthy enough.” But old fears lingered. Once, I had been afraid I wouldn’t live to see 30; having passed 50, I was starting to fear what might lie ahead. My fears led me back to when I first faced KS. I’d made it this far; I was damned if I was going to die like it was 1985. That’s when I decided to get back onto treatment. Four weeks later, my numbers had already significantly improved. And this time, the side effects have been negligible. No one wants to admit to being afraid. Fear can make you feel helpless and isolated. But the truth is, you are not alone. If you learn how to use it, fear can be a good thing. It can remind you that there is something more important than fear. Rick Guasco has been Creative Director of Positively Aware since 2010. He occasionally posts on Facebook about his return to HIV treatment. Positive Thoughts is a project of Plus, Positively Aware, POZ, The Body and Q Syndicate, the LGBT wire service. Visit their websites – http://hivplusmag. com, http://positivelyaware.com, http://poz.com and http://thebody. com – for the latest updates on HIV/ AIDS.
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LOS ANGELES
2.26.2016