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June 22, 2007 - Issue 25, Volume 35<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> <strong>gay</strong> <strong>newS</strong> <strong>pride</strong> ‘07<br />
‘07 Pride Celebrations
2 <strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
June 22, 2007
photos by Marcel Ray and SGN staff<br />
June 22, 2007 PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News<br />
3
NEXT WEEKEND - North Olympic<br />
Peninsula Pride Celebration<br />
Port Townsend, June 29-30<br />
Peninsula Pride Alliance is expecting a<br />
fabulously fantastic Family and Friends<br />
turn-out for the North Olympic Peninsula<br />
LGBT 2007 Pride Celebration. Surrounded<br />
by beach and mountains, fine food and<br />
quaint shops, with eagle always overhead,<br />
Port Townsend and Jefferson County are<br />
amazing places to tour. For overnight<br />
accommodations, we recommend The<br />
Jameshouse (http://www.jameshouse.com).<br />
Friday, June 29 at 6:30 pm, Peninsula<br />
Pride Alliance hosts a welcoming reception<br />
at 2333 San Juan Avenue (Quimper<br />
Universalist Unitarian Fellowship).<br />
Sensible Shoes launches into evening of<br />
entertainment at 7:30. Back for their 3rd<br />
Pride performance in Port Townsend,<br />
Sensible Shoes, an ensemble of the <strong>Seattle</strong><br />
Women’s Chorus, bring dynamic vocal<br />
energy and innovative staging to their<br />
performances. Proceeds from this event<br />
will fund LGBT anti-harassment training for<br />
school personnel in East Jefferson County.<br />
Interpretation services will be provided<br />
for deaf and hard of hearing. Tickets are<br />
$10 in advance and $12 day of show<br />
Saturday June 30, the North Olympic<br />
Peninsula Pride Celebration continues in<br />
downtown Port Townsend starting at 10:00<br />
am with our Peninsula Pride Business &<br />
Health Fair in the Pope Marine Building at<br />
100 Madison. Admission is free.<br />
Festie-goers can catch the 1:00 p.m.<br />
showing of Inlaws & Outlaws, the new film<br />
by Drew Emery that takes a humorous and<br />
wide-angled look at real relationships of all<br />
shapes and sizes. Whether straight or Gay,<br />
young or old, coupled or single, by the end,<br />
you’ll be rooting for them all ... and falling<br />
in love with love. Director/Producer Drew<br />
Emery will introduce the film and entertain<br />
questions following the showing. Proceeds<br />
for this event will benefit the Hearts +<br />
Minds Campaign. Inlaws and Outlaws will<br />
be shown at the Rose Theatre, 235 Taylor.<br />
Tickets are $5 in advance and $7 day of<br />
show.<br />
At 4:00 p.m. be sure to catch the Peninsula<br />
Pride Rally at Pope Marine Building 100<br />
Madison, featuring Senator Ed Murray &<br />
Marsha Botzer, Charming Entertainment,<br />
and Special Awards. Senator Ed Murray<br />
this year introduced and successfully led<br />
the effort to pass the historic Washington<br />
State Domestic Partnership law that will<br />
extend rights and protections to same sex<br />
couples. The Domestic partnership law<br />
will take effect in July. Marsha Botzer<br />
currently serves on the board of the Pride<br />
Foundation, is a founding member of The<br />
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender<br />
Community Center, and is a co-chair of<br />
the <strong>Seattle</strong> chapter of the Safe Schools<br />
Coalition. Admission to the rally is free.<br />
Peter Gritt, Port Townsend artist, will<br />
display his forever fabulous banners at the<br />
North Olympic Peninsula Pride Events and<br />
at the Port Townsend Food coop during the<br />
months of June and July.<br />
The North Olympic Peninsula Pride<br />
Celebration is made possible by generous<br />
funding from the Pride Foundation, a cast of<br />
hearty volunteers and local businesses, and<br />
is sponsored by Peninsula Pride Alliance.<br />
For more information, contact: info@<br />
peninsula<strong>pride</strong>.org or visit our website:<br />
www.peninsula<strong>pride</strong>.org<br />
A North Olympic Peninsula Pride<br />
Celebration press release<br />
4 <strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
June 22, 2007
Remembering the party has a purpose<br />
The world’s largest ever Gay Pride parade was marred by murder<br />
only hours afterward. For some, the day’s lesson wasn’t learned.<br />
by Chris Crain<br />
SGN Contributing Writer<br />
More than three million people gathered<br />
last weekend in São Paulo, Brazil, for the<br />
world’s largest ever Gay Pride parade. The<br />
sheer size and spectacle weren’t the only<br />
reasons the event was one I will never<br />
forget.<br />
Anyone who has been to Carnaval in<br />
Rio De Janeiro knows that Brazilians<br />
know how to throw a party. Gay Pride<br />
in São Paulo, a city of 20 million, is no<br />
exception. The parade down Avenida<br />
Paulista was a gigantic street party, with 23<br />
massive trailers, each sponsored by a Gay<br />
organization, nightclub or business, and<br />
souped up with a powerful sound system,<br />
decorations and spotlights — since the<br />
parade starts in the early afternoon and lasts<br />
for eight hours well into the night.<br />
This was not a parade like we are used<br />
to in the U.S., with floats and marchers<br />
in the street, cheered on by spectators on<br />
the sidewalks. This was a celebration for<br />
everyone, with no distinction between<br />
those of us on the trailers and the people<br />
dancing alongside in the streets and spilling<br />
over onto the sidewalks.<br />
Strangers danced — and occasionally<br />
locked lips — with strangers, Gay men<br />
partied alongside Lesbians, with the<br />
expected contingent of dolled-up drag<br />
queens and a healthy contingent of straight<br />
couples, with smiles on their faces as broad<br />
as the Gay participants.<br />
I wish the energy and the spirit of Sunday<br />
could be bottled and delivered back home<br />
to the U.S., where so many Gay Pride<br />
parades have begun to feel a bit stale, a<br />
bit stereotyped, and a bit adrift from their<br />
original purpose.<br />
Latin America in general, and Brazil in<br />
particular, still trails Europe in the U.S. in<br />
cultural acceptance of homosexuality, even<br />
if they’ve managed to achieve more rights<br />
than many of their American counterparts.<br />
Brazil is home to conservative Latin<br />
machismo and the largest Roman Catholic<br />
population in the world, so Gay Pride in<br />
São Paulo is still a vital opportunity for<br />
Lesbians and Gay men from smaller cities<br />
across the country — and elsewhere in Latin<br />
America — to feel free to be themselves.<br />
Of course, any event with more than three<br />
million participants will have its hiccups.<br />
Watching safely from the float for The<br />
Week, São Paulo’s legendary nightclub, my<br />
partner and I were at times worried for the<br />
surging mass of people below, where happy<br />
partiers could be caught up in a crush of<br />
humanity in the blink of an eye.<br />
Police presence was minimal — too<br />
minimal — so pick-pockets had themselves<br />
a field day. Pride organizers complained<br />
afterward that special observation towers<br />
and tents set up for the police were left<br />
empty, overcome by street revelers. The<br />
few police I saw simply stood and watched,<br />
and played no active role in controlling the<br />
A face in the crowd accidentally captured when I zoomed in<br />
on the crowd packed below from the float for The Week<br />
massive crowd.<br />
But the biggest problem is one familiar<br />
to those of us who have watched Gay Pride<br />
events in the U.S. change their focus over<br />
the years. This is supposed to be a parade<br />
with a purpose; the theme in São Paulo was<br />
ending racism, sexism and homophobia.<br />
But it appeared a bit lost amidst the<br />
bacchanalia.<br />
I have seen the same thing in Washington,<br />
D.C., where the political focus fell by the<br />
wayside in the 1990s as a (supposedly) Gayfriendly<br />
president took the White House<br />
and the worst of the AIDS crisis subsided.<br />
I knew an unfortunate corner had been<br />
turned the year Capital Pride organizers<br />
actually chose as keynote speaker Tammy<br />
Faye Bakker, who preached from the Gay<br />
Pride stage that homosexuality was a sin<br />
but we were all sinners.<br />
In São Paulo last weekend, too many<br />
missd the message. As the parade drew<br />
down, a Gay tourist from France was<br />
stabbed to death outside a Gay restaurant<br />
and bar only blocks from the parade<br />
route. He had just left a well-known Gay<br />
restaurant with some Gay Brazilians he had<br />
met earlier, when they were approached by<br />
three youths dressed as “skaters,” typical<br />
of local skinheads. Without a word or a<br />
demand for wallets, the Frechman was<br />
stabbed repeatedly in the abdomen.<br />
The next day, the Gay Brazilian who blogs<br />
in English under the name Made in Brazil<br />
wrote about the incident, and a number of<br />
other Gay Brazilians responded angrily that<br />
he shouldn’t cast Gay Pride in a negative<br />
light. Even as the mainstream media here<br />
picked up on the murder as a possible<br />
hate crime, local Gay websites — the only<br />
form of Gay press here — downplayed the<br />
tragedy or ignored it entirely.<br />
Ending homophobia had been the theme<br />
of the Gay Pride parade, but how quickly<br />
some of its participants forgot. Brazil’s Gay<br />
and Lesbian leaders haven’t managed yet to<br />
harness the energy of São Paulo’s massive<br />
Pride celebration — or at least make the<br />
message last once the music has stopped.<br />
Chris Crain is former editor of the<br />
Washington Blade, Southern Voice, and<br />
Gay publications in three other cities.<br />
He can be reached via his blog at www.<br />
June 22, 2007 PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
chris crain<br />
citizencrain.com<br />
Avenida Paulista, a huge avenue that runs through the heart of Sao Paulo’s business district,<br />
is the primary location for the annual Gay Pride Parade<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News<br />
5<br />
chris crain
Annual<br />
Run/Walk with<br />
Pride returns<br />
for 24 th year<br />
The <strong>Seattle</strong> Frontrunner will once again<br />
sponsor the 24 th annual Run/Walk with<br />
Pride event on Saturday, June 23 rd at Seward<br />
Park. The 4K Run/Walk participants will<br />
be on the paved path along the park, while<br />
the 10K Run participants weave up through<br />
the hilly park interior<br />
The Lesbian Resource Center organized<br />
the very first Run with Pride back in 1984.<br />
Like this year’s event, it was held at Seward<br />
Park during Pride Week and offered a 10<br />
kilometer race and a fun run. Over a hundred<br />
athletes participated including two in the<br />
wheelchair division. The beneficiary of the<br />
money raised by the event was the newly<br />
created <strong>Seattle</strong> AIDS Action Committee.<br />
The <strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News reported that the race<br />
was very successful “both for the socially<br />
challenged as well as the physically<br />
challenged participants.”<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Frontrunners began sponsoring the<br />
event in 1987. That year it was held on the<br />
4 th of July to coincide with a Lesbian/Gay<br />
Sports Festival also taking place. The fun<br />
run was standardized at 4 kilometers and<br />
walkers were added as an official category.<br />
In 2005 the event was renamed Run/Walk<br />
with Pride to celebrate the participation of<br />
all who wish to join in. Families and pets<br />
are more than welcome.<br />
Each year, the proceeds from the event<br />
have been awarded to a local non-profit<br />
LGBT organization. Last year the LGBT<br />
Health Center received over $5000.<br />
Other organizations that have received<br />
contributions in the past are Esoterics,<br />
the <strong>Seattle</strong> Gay Lesbian Chorus, Pride the<br />
Foundation Scholarship Fund, Rise and<br />
Shine, Bailey Boushay House, the Rainbow<br />
City Band, the Washington State Safe<br />
School Coalition and PLFAG.<br />
This year recipients will be Lambert<br />
House, a center for LGBT youth and their<br />
allies, and Team <strong>Seattle</strong>, which facilitates,<br />
provides and promotes opportunities for<br />
the LGBT community and their friends<br />
in all sports, at all levels of ability and to<br />
foster their physical and emotional health<br />
and well-being.<br />
Everyone is welcome; participants may<br />
pre register at www.seattlefrontrunners.org<br />
or register for an increased fee the day of<br />
the race.<br />
Registration opens at 7:30 a.m. The Race/<br />
Walk will begin at 9 a.m. Ribbons will be<br />
given to the top finishers in every five year<br />
age category in both the 10k/4K run and 4K<br />
walk.<br />
Courtesy of the <strong>Seattle</strong> Frontrunners<br />
6 <strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
June 22, 2007
Bend-It Festival at the Vera Project<br />
Gay Pride Weekend, Sunday, June 24th,<br />
w/Tender Forever, Your Heart Breaks, Chris Riffle, Lucy Bland<br />
Bend-It, the Vera Project,<br />
& Antarctic Records present:<br />
“The Bend-It Festival”<br />
w/Tender Forever,<br />
Your Heart Breaks,<br />
Chris Riffle, Lucy Bland!<br />
June 24th, 2007<br />
@ The Vera Project,<br />
Warren Ave N & Republican St<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Center (Northwest Rooms)<br />
Doors @ 12PM<br />
Programming begins at 1PM<br />
and ends at 7PM<br />
Bend-It Festival is All-Ages<br />
Bend-It is FREE to All<br />
Donations are welcome<br />
www.theveraproject.org<br />
www.myspace.com/bend_it<br />
www.antarcticrecords.com<br />
www.myspace.com/antarcticrecords<br />
Workshops include:<br />
Punk Rock Silk Screening<br />
Poetry<br />
Break dancing<br />
Zine Archive and Publishing Project<br />
Vegan Cooking<br />
Stitch and Bitch<br />
THE HEADLINERS<br />
Tender Forever:<br />
Melanie Valera is the throbbing heart<br />
and head philosopher of the solo band,<br />
Tender Forever. She cut her performance<br />
teeth on the street of her hometown of<br />
Bordeaux, France, covering sixties girl<br />
bands standards for money for a whole<br />
year as part of the Bonnies. Along with this<br />
enriching, character-building experience,<br />
this hyperactive lady started a long-distance<br />
electro-pop project with an American<br />
friend she had met on the very last day<br />
of her trip to S.F., CA. Garrison Rocks,<br />
a spontaneous love-at-first-sight band,<br />
endured and evolved, up until becoming<br />
a Franco-American orchestra including 3<br />
new members. The team performed about<br />
40 shows in 7 months, notably with Little<br />
Wings (K recs.) and Ted Leo (Lookout).<br />
Melanie keeps the world updated on<br />
all Tender Forever activities here: www.<br />
takemybreathaway.net<br />
Your Heart Breaks:<br />
The short bio:<br />
A bunch of dolphins playing instruments.<br />
The longer story:<br />
Your Heart Breaks began in Bellingham,<br />
Washington in 1999. The project has spread<br />
throughout the country, but resides in <strong>Seattle</strong><br />
when not on tour. At this point we have<br />
over 50 members and seven albums. We<br />
are on five record labels: Plan-it-x, MASA,<br />
KELP!, and Don’t Stop Believing, and Do<br />
It for the Girls Productions. It’s getting a<br />
little excessive, but the band is super tight<br />
right now. Steady members include Clyde<br />
Petersen, Karl Blau, and Steve Moore.<br />
The music is guitars and drums and<br />
werlitzer piano and bass. Lots of singing,<br />
a lot of stories to be told. That’s the main<br />
point, I think. To tell stories.<br />
Other [current and past] projects of YHB<br />
members include:<br />
The Milkcrate Rustlers<br />
The Pipe Makes a Tight Bong<br />
This Dyke is a Pipebomb<br />
Do it for the girls productions<br />
In Your Room (zine)<br />
Plan-it-x anniversary documentary<br />
Chris Riffle:<br />
Evidently, I wasn’t the only one enamored<br />
of Chris. Through my incessant phone calls<br />
to KUGS to demand they play one or the<br />
other of the two songs they had in their<br />
rotation, I found out that his songs were<br />
among the most requested.”<br />
Carey Ross – What’s Up Magazine. . . .<br />
Starting out opening for high profile acts<br />
like Death Cab for Cutie, Mary Lou Lord<br />
and Dub Narcotic Sound System Chris<br />
Riffle made a splash on the Bellingham<br />
music scene. A favorite of Bellingham<br />
radio stations, he got signed and recorded<br />
his first album but the record label went<br />
under before they ever released it. He has<br />
now released his own album independently<br />
and been resurfacing around local <strong>Seattle</strong><br />
clubs. . . .<br />
Acoustic folk pop with nods to Ben Lee<br />
and Elliott Smith with catchy vocals that<br />
carry the listener through all the ups and<br />
downs of life.<br />
www.myspace.com/chrisriffle<br />
Lucy Bland:<br />
The band’s name might be Lucy Bland,<br />
but their music is anything but. Hailing<br />
from the rain capital of the country, <strong>Seattle</strong>,<br />
June 22, 2007 PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
Washington, they let the rain inspire their<br />
music rather than drown them out. <strong>Seattle</strong><br />
is so intimately connected to water, its<br />
influence seeps into every aspect of life.<br />
We channel those long winters, the rainy<br />
days, and the ocean into our music. The<br />
band describes their self sound as indie<br />
with a splash of folktronic. Never heard of<br />
folktronic; never believed it could ever be<br />
combined with indie? All you have to do is<br />
give Lucy Bland a listen and all the burning<br />
questions in your heart will be answered. In<br />
songs like Brown Sky the band combines<br />
the lyrical qualities of indie with the beats of<br />
electronic. The result is a lush combination<br />
of genres that creates a world and keeps the<br />
listener hooked.<br />
www.lucybland.com<br />
www.myspace.com/lucybland<br />
BEND-IT!<br />
Bend-It is a <strong>Seattle</strong> festival celebrating<br />
our queer youth community. We stand<br />
for social justice, and liberal values that<br />
celebrate the diversity of life. We are about<br />
the deconstruction of social norms, and we<br />
live to further our progressive and loud<br />
culture. The Bend-It Festival highlights the<br />
artistic endeavors of local queer youth and<br />
hosts workshops to teach people more ways<br />
to express themselves. This yearly event<br />
has consistently created a hip, healthy, and<br />
productive options for people of any age<br />
around <strong>pride</strong>. www.myspace.com/bend_it<br />
ANTARCTIC RECoRDS<br />
Antarctic Records initially formed in<br />
2002 as an offshoot to a publishing project<br />
of a young Michael Yuasa who had spent the<br />
summer hitchhiking around the rural south<br />
and residing in Texas. Initially naming the<br />
project Antarctic Records to keep entries<br />
of lonely travelers’ highway shanties and<br />
three-day Greyhound journeys the project<br />
began to include music when a love for<br />
basement shows and pop culture was found<br />
in the many cites he traveled thru.<br />
Based in <strong>Seattle</strong> Antarctic Records also<br />
includes a promotional arm and runs Rock-<br />
Hustle.com, a music site that includes<br />
commentary, news, and artist interviews.<br />
Current Antarctic projects include Club<br />
Pop <strong>Seattle</strong>’s now long running indie smash<br />
and roll dance night, Bang Bang <strong>Seattle</strong>’s<br />
only go-go boy rock and roll night, tour<br />
managing in the UK and vinyl releases by<br />
the “Holy Ghost Revival,” “(1965/SONY<br />
UK)<br />
www.myspace.com/antarcticrecords<br />
www.antarcticrecords.com<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News<br />
7
Letter from Rome, Pride Day vs. Vatican<br />
by Judy Harris<br />
DIRELAND’s Rome correspondent<br />
ROME, June 16, 2007 – Arriving by<br />
plane, train and 200 special buses, over<br />
100,000 men and women converged today<br />
on the Eternal City for Gay Pride Day,<br />
with some optimists predicting twice that<br />
number. The anti-homophobia event, in<br />
open defiance of the Catholic Church, is<br />
being celebrated today, one week later than<br />
in other countries, to avoid its coinciding<br />
with President George W. Bush’s visit to<br />
Rome June 9.<br />
As Transgendered member of Parliament<br />
and LGBT rights activist Vladimir Luxuria<br />
of Rifondazione Comunista led the parade,<br />
slogans were chanted, among them: “Prodi,<br />
Prodi dove sei? Oggi Roma e’ tutta Gay”<br />
(“Prodi, Prodi, where do you stay? Today<br />
all of Rome is Gay.” ) Banners proclaimed,<br />
“For a more European Italy,” “Rights for<br />
All,” “More Freedom, Less Vatican,” and<br />
“Equality, Dignity and Secularism,” the<br />
official Rome Pride slogan. (In addition to<br />
Luxuria, there are two out Gay men and one<br />
out Lesbian in the Italian parliament, plus<br />
one openly bi-sexual MP: Alfonso Pecoraio<br />
Scario, president of the Italian Green Party,<br />
who marched today.)<br />
Today’s two-mile-long parade route<br />
studiously avoided all monuments of<br />
historic Rome save for the Coliseum,<br />
and never approached St. Peter’s Square.<br />
Beginning at 4 pm on this sultry Saturday,<br />
the paraders, with 40 floats and hundreds of<br />
colorful balloons, were snaking their way<br />
from Piazzale Ostiense toward the Aventine<br />
Hill and onward to the huge square in front<br />
of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, a<br />
major Roman Catholic landmark. This vast<br />
piazza traditionally hosts mass events, and<br />
indeed a rival rally, organized to promote<br />
the traditional family, attracted hundreds of<br />
thousands there on May 12.<br />
In a coup for the organizers, for the<br />
first time in Italian history the national<br />
government figures among Gay Pride’s<br />
institutional sponsors, who already included<br />
the governments of the Lazio region and of<br />
the province and city of Rome. This week,<br />
the government’s council of ministers<br />
formally voted to support Rome Pride. But<br />
a nervous Prime Minister Prodi ordered that<br />
no minister could march in the parade or<br />
ride on one of its colorful floats, but several<br />
cabinet ministers, including Paolo Ferrero,<br />
Minister for Social Solidarty, participated<br />
anyway. Addressing the crowd at its<br />
departure, Minister Ferrero said that, “The<br />
DiCo [civil unions] were in the coalition’s<br />
program, and the Union [the government<br />
political parties’ umbrella organization]<br />
took votes on this.”<br />
The delicate and controversial<br />
negotiations for government co-sponsorship<br />
of Rome Pride were negotiated by Equal<br />
Opportunity Minister Barbara Pollastrini<br />
of the DS party (Democratici di Sinistra),<br />
who began her political career in the local<br />
Communist party organization in Milan.<br />
However, watering down the significance<br />
of cabinet sponsorship, she explained that,<br />
“Sponsorship is limited to the cultural<br />
aspects related to the event, not to the event<br />
itself.”<br />
Many Pride marchers weren’t buying the<br />
government’s tepidity and its distancing<br />
itself from the demonstration. “”We are<br />
heteros, Gays, Lesbians and Bisexual and<br />
we want Romano Prodi to give the same<br />
rights to all. Where are all the promises<br />
the government made? Evaporated into<br />
nothingness?” one cross-dresser on a float<br />
told AFP.<br />
Many expected that the walkup to Gay<br />
Pride Day would turn into a frontal clash<br />
with the Church, but the Italian bishops<br />
were told in no uncertain terms that they<br />
are to keep a low profile and avoid conflict<br />
today. But others spoke for them, with<br />
government semi-sponsorship of Rome<br />
Pride the pretext which irritated the more<br />
rigidly Roman Catholic Church politicians,<br />
collectively known as “i teodem” (the theodemocrats).<br />
“This government discriminates against<br />
the family,” charged Isabella Bertolini, MP<br />
with Berlusconi’s Forza Italia conservative<br />
coalition. “The government sponsors Gay<br />
Pride but would not sponsor Family Day.<br />
What a terrible disgrace for the State.” She<br />
dubbed the trio of government ministers<br />
who openly support Gay Pride day<br />
“nothing but hypocrites -- they save face by<br />
supporting the event which they choose not<br />
to attend.” Echoing her words was Lorenzo<br />
Cesa, secretary of Casini’s UDC, who<br />
declared that “the support the government<br />
is giving to Gay Pride through its ministers,<br />
and which was not given to Family Day, is<br />
an insult to the Italian family.”<br />
Silvio Berlusconi excepted, the most<br />
prominent conservative leader in Italy<br />
today is Pier Ferdinando Casini, 52, of the<br />
Unione Democratici Cristiani (UDC). The<br />
Hon. Casini is a former president of the<br />
Chamber of Deputies and a front-running<br />
candidate to succeed Berlusconi as leader<br />
of Italian conservatives in the (at present<br />
still unlikely) case that Berlusconi bows<br />
out. Like most conservatives in Italy,<br />
Casini opposes legislation that would allow<br />
civil partnerships, even though he is on his<br />
own second family. His partner is Azzurra<br />
Caltagirone, the daughter of the powerful<br />
businessman cum publisher Francesco<br />
Gaetano Caltagirone. From his earlier<br />
marriage Casini has two children; with<br />
Azzurra he has one.<br />
Among today’s Gay Pride goals is the<br />
promised law on civil partnerships, but<br />
Prodi’s government itself is divided on the<br />
issue. Little progress has been made, and,<br />
as center-left cohesion dwindles, passage<br />
of civil unions seems more unlikely than<br />
ever.<br />
If security becomes an issue, clashes<br />
may erupt tonight in the Villaggio Italia<br />
park on the Via Tiburtina outskirts, where<br />
a benefit party to finance today’s event is<br />
organized. According to Rossana Praitano,<br />
spokesperson for Gay Pride Roma 2007,<br />
organizers arrived this morning to find<br />
walls of the park scribbled with swastikas<br />
and slogans like “La Roma fascista non vi<br />
vuole” (Fascist Rome does not want you).<br />
The Mario Mieli Club of homosexual<br />
culture and today’s event have been the butt<br />
of daily harassment by anonymous small<br />
bands of fascists,” Praitano said. (The late<br />
Mario Mieli, 1952-1983, was a brilliant<br />
young radical poet and the founding theorist<br />
of Italian Gay liberation in the early ‘70s.<br />
In 1971 Mieli launched Italy’s first Gay<br />
liberation group, FUORI! -- the Fronte<br />
Unitario Omosessuale Rivoluzionario<br />
Italiano. “FUORI!,” which also means<br />
“Come Out!” in Italian, was also the title<br />
of Mieli’s pioneering 1971 book of Gay<br />
liberation theory.)<br />
Pride spokesperson Praitano added,<br />
“Evidently the fascists feel protected<br />
because of the incautious statements made<br />
by some politicians. We are appealing to<br />
the Interior Minister Giuliano Amato and to<br />
the Rome Prefect Achille Serra to guarantee<br />
the personal safety and security of the<br />
participants.”<br />
Legal recognition of Gay and other civil<br />
partnerships in Italy, known here as Dico (de<br />
facto partnerships), was one of the unkept<br />
promises made by the faltering Center-Left<br />
government headed by Romano Prodi. In a<br />
draft bill presented to parliament on May 17<br />
and signed by over a dozen MPs from four<br />
progressive parties, the 22-year-old national<br />
Italian LGBT organization ArciGay wrote<br />
that, whereas progress on that front has<br />
been made elsewhere, “The reality in our<br />
country is different,” and went on to say<br />
that Italy lacks, among other things, antidiscriminatory<br />
legislation.<br />
True--and the stony silence being<br />
observed by the Church in Italy ignores<br />
the bullying and violence which continues<br />
against Gays, particularly young boys. Last<br />
April a 16-year-old, Matteo, tormented<br />
by his schoolmates in Turin for allegedly<br />
being too girlish, committed suicide.<br />
(Matteo’s needless death was cited in the<br />
European Parliament’s sweeping resolution<br />
on homophobia passed in April.) Last<br />
week the Italian press reported that another<br />
adolescent was beaten to a pulp by his father<br />
for being Gay--family values, as it were, in<br />
action.<br />
It is all the more sadly ironic, then, that<br />
the Church in Italy is not winning its battle<br />
in favor of its restrictive version of family<br />
values. The numbers of first communions<br />
and confirmations are in slight but constant<br />
decline, with the former shrinking from<br />
9.9 to 8.4 per thousand Catholics and<br />
the latter, from 22.2 to 8.6 per thousand,<br />
during the five years 1991-2004. The aging<br />
population is one reason, but so is “an<br />
increasing alienation from the Catholic<br />
religion, as numerous research shows,”<br />
according to researcher Silva Sansonetti.<br />
And the percentange of Catholic marriage<br />
is similarly shrinking, from 87.7% to<br />
79.5% for the same period (the most recent<br />
statistics available).<br />
Curiously, it was in the neighborhood<br />
of San Giovanni where, in 1581, a group<br />
of Portuguese Catholics founded what<br />
amounted to a male confraternity in which<br />
marriage rites were held. All were burned<br />
alive as punishment. What has changed in<br />
the centuries since then? According to a new<br />
book by University of Bologna Sociology<br />
Professors Marzio Barbagli and Asher<br />
Colombo, Omosessuali Moderni, published<br />
by the distinguished Il Mulino, Italy is<br />
among the last countries in Europe to have<br />
changed attitudes. The law and politics<br />
have lagged behind public perceptions of<br />
homosexuality, the authors demonstrate.<br />
For the record, the Church position on<br />
homosexuality was codified by John Paul<br />
II in a book he published: Theology of<br />
the Body, a compendium of his addresses<br />
between 1979 and l984. In it, the late<br />
pontiff maintained that, while homosexual<br />
attraction is not sinful, it “is more or less a<br />
strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic<br />
moral evil and thus the inclination itself<br />
must be seen as an objective disorder.”<br />
Since then the Church position has further<br />
hardened--not coincidentally, with the<br />
pedophile scandals which have rocked the<br />
Church in both the U.S. and Europe, from<br />
Ireland to Austria, and not excluding Italy<br />
itself.<br />
The following dispatch on Rome Gay<br />
Pride March was first written for the<br />
DIRELAND blog (direland.typepad.com)<br />
by Rome correspondent, Judy Harris.<br />
Permission has been granted to reprint it<br />
here, in the pages of the <strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News.<br />
A veteran expat journalist who wrote from<br />
Italy for years for TIME and the Wall Street<br />
Journal, Judy now writes for ARTnews and<br />
this month published a new book, “Pompeii<br />
Awakened: A Story of Rediscovery” (I.B.<br />
Tauris & Co. Ltd.).<br />
8 <strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
June 22, 2007
<strong>Seattle</strong> Black Pride<br />
launches new website<br />
Offering increased functionality and<br />
greater user compatibility<br />
The new website, www.seattleblack<strong>pride</strong>.<br />
org focuses on supporting the <strong>Seattle</strong> Black<br />
Pride organization by providing program<br />
content, point of contact information, and<br />
showing users how the website can be<br />
efficiently used. The new website includes<br />
project information, schedule of events,<br />
information about the organizations Annual<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Black Pride Event (July 19th-22 nd<br />
2007) and more. The site gives an exciting<br />
overview of the organizations past social<br />
and community building events. The site<br />
also gives detailed information on the<br />
journey <strong>Seattle</strong> Black Pride has taken since<br />
it’s inception in 2005.<br />
Take time to stop by and travel through<br />
the new and improved <strong>Seattle</strong> Black Pride<br />
Website, please email us your feedback at<br />
www.seattleblack<strong>pride</strong>.org.<br />
SBP Board President and founding<br />
member, Kiantha Duncan-Woods notes,<br />
“<strong>Seattle</strong> Black Pride (the organization) gives<br />
voice to the Black GLBTQ in Washington.<br />
We are more than an annual event we are a<br />
culture”.<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Black Pride is a not-for-profit<br />
organization that organizes the <strong>Seattle</strong><br />
Black Pride event in <strong>Seattle</strong> July 19 th -22 nd<br />
to commemorate and celebrate all lesbian,<br />
<strong>gay</strong>, bisexual and transgender individuals<br />
and groups.<br />
SBP welcomes participation of all,<br />
regardless of race, age, creed, gender,<br />
gender identification, HIV status, national<br />
origin, physical or mental developmental<br />
ability, religion or sexual orientation.<br />
To contact <strong>Seattle</strong> Black Pride: (206)<br />
324-1520; info@seattleblack<strong>pride</strong>.org;<br />
www.seattleblack<strong>pride</strong>.org<br />
We’re on the net at www.sgn.org<br />
June 22, 2007 PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News<br />
9
For your next trip to Hawaii come to the East side of the Big Island<br />
Experience the true spirit of Aloha<br />
Enjoy the privacy of an entire home for the price of a hotel room<br />
10 <strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
June 22, 2007
Pride in Tijuana, Mexico!<br />
Tijuana’s 12th Gay/Lesbian Pride March<br />
hit the streets Saturday, June 16, at 3 p.m.<br />
Participants gathered in front of the<br />
community-based Alliance Against AIDS<br />
(ACOSIDA) Clinic at 7648 Calle 1ra, five<br />
blocks west of Avenida Revolución.<br />
There never have been any anti-Gay<br />
incidents at the Tijuana parade, and the<br />
marchers – many of whom are drag queens<br />
or Transsexuals – always are rewarded<br />
with a persistent polyphony of cheers,<br />
whistles and whoops.<br />
rEX WOcKnEr rEX WOcKnEr rEX WOcKnEr<br />
Special to the SGN from Rex Wockner<br />
June 22, 2007 PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
rEX WOcKnEr<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News<br />
11
on the net @ www.sgn.org<br />
12 <strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
June 22, 2007
June 22, 2007 PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News<br />
13
14 <strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
June 22, 2007
June 22, 2007 PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News<br />
15
16 <strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
June 22, 2007
Vancouver Pride – June 30 to August 5:<br />
Official “Pride in the City” events<br />
The <strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News brings you this sneak peak of Offical Vancouver “Pride in the City” events. For additional information<br />
on these events and new additions for the 2007 “Pride in the City” season, visit www.vancouver<strong>pride</strong>.ca.<br />
SATuRDAY, JuNE 30<br />
East Side Pride Festival<br />
Saturday, June 30<br />
11:00am to 5:00pm<br />
at Grandview Park<br />
Come out and help the VPS kick off our<br />
Pride Season by celebrating East Side Pride<br />
in the heart of the city. This Festival will<br />
feature something from the very young<br />
to the young at heart and everybody in<br />
between, including the Dog. East Side Pride<br />
Festival will feature live entertainment on<br />
or festival stage, great food, and variety of<br />
vendors from all over. Our focus will be<br />
to showcase more of a local artisan with<br />
a dedicated open market for new and nonretail<br />
vendors. This is your opportunity to<br />
catch up with old friends and make new<br />
ones. Stop by the VPS tent to buy your<br />
Pride merchandise and memberships.<br />
East Side Pride Dance<br />
Saturday, June 30 - 8:00pm to 1:am<br />
at Wise Hall<br />
This Saturday night dance will include<br />
entertainment and dance music! Space is<br />
limited, so act quickly and get your tickets<br />
for this memorable night! $7 in advance<br />
or $9 at the door all proceeds to VPS<br />
fundraising.<br />
SATuRDAy, JuLy 14<br />
Picnic in the Park<br />
Saturday, July 14 - 11:00am to 7:00pm<br />
at Brockton Oval – Stanley Park<br />
Bring the kids, families, bring the dogs,<br />
bring your old high heels for the toss.<br />
Whether you just watch or participate, you<br />
don’t want to miss this. Tug-a-wars, drag<br />
races, live entertainment, and a beer garden!!<br />
Plenty of food and plenty of FUN!<br />
SATuRDAy, JuLy 21<br />
Gayday at Playland<br />
Saturday, July 21 - 12:00pm to 8:00pm<br />
at Playland at the Pacific<br />
National Exhibition Grounds<br />
Back again for its second year Gayday at<br />
Playland is open to the public so make sure<br />
you wear your RED shirts and get a Gayday<br />
Play-pass. Your all day pass will get you<br />
unlimited regular rides, access to the picnic<br />
grounds where live and drag performances<br />
will entertain the crows throughout the day.<br />
Bring the family & bring the friends but be<br />
prepared to leave your stomach.<br />
SuNDAy, JuLy 29<br />
Dine with Pride<br />
Dinner & Silent Auction<br />
Sunday, July 29 6pm to 8:30pm<br />
at Pacific Crab Company on Denman<br />
June 22, 2007 PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
Returning to the Pride Season, this small<br />
but upscale event will feature a preset<br />
menu, silent auction of donated items from<br />
the community as well as this year’s artist<br />
interpretation of the “Pride in the City<br />
logo” by John Ferrie to be auctioned off.<br />
Our International Grand Marshall’s will<br />
be present for you to meet and share their<br />
experiences with. This is a ticketed event<br />
and seating is limited to 100 persons.<br />
THuRSDAY, AuGuST 2<br />
Vancity Theatre presents<br />
European Prides in Conflict<br />
Screening & Dialogue<br />
7pm-9:30pm, Thursday, August 2<br />
at Vancity Theatre<br />
In cooperation with Out on Screen, the<br />
Vancouver Pride Society will present an<br />
international perspective on Pride Events<br />
with the GLBT community. Representatives<br />
from Moscow Pride & Warsaw Pride will<br />
speak on the current situation in those<br />
regions. A graphic film on the challenges of<br />
Eastern European Prides and the community<br />
turmoil that has transpired over the past few<br />
years will demonstrate how fortunate we<br />
are in Canada. The evening will close with<br />
the Film “At the Rainbows End”. This will<br />
be a ticketed event and seating is limited to<br />
150 persons.<br />
FRIDAY, AuGuST 3<br />
Official Pride Weekend Launch<br />
Friday, August 3 - Noon to 1:30pm<br />
at Art Gallery,<br />
Georgia Street – Downtown<br />
Kicking off the biggest weekend of the<br />
summer season, Vancouver Pride takes<br />
it downtown in the heart of the financial<br />
& shopping district to have Mayor Sam<br />
Sullivan present the City Declaration for<br />
“Pride in the City” 2007. This rally will<br />
showcase the Parade Grand Marshall’s,<br />
speeches by several prominent political and<br />
community representatives to the GLBT.<br />
Photo-ops for all…<br />
SATuRDAY, AuGuST 4<br />
Terry Wallace Memorial Breakfast<br />
Saturday, August 4<br />
9:00am to 1:00pm<br />
at Davie Street and Bute<br />
In its 4th year, we take it to the street<br />
and we celebrate Terry Wallace, one of the<br />
founders of Vancouver Pride with a fantastic<br />
Pride Breakfast. Bring your appetite!! We<br />
respectfully request a donation. Lets keep<br />
the tradition alive.<br />
SuNDAY, AuGuST 5<br />
29 th Annual Pride Parade<br />
Sunday, August 5 - 12:00pm to 2:30pm<br />
at The West End – Denman & Davie<br />
The Vancouver Pride Society & Vancity<br />
Present the 29th annual Vancouver Pride<br />
Parade. Join us in bringing together the<br />
dynamic people and cultures of the city!<br />
Celebrating our 29th year, we invite you<br />
to come out and experience the vibrant<br />
life and diversity of the Vancouver Queer<br />
community. Parade participants are invited<br />
to register early, as space is limited to the<br />
first 140 entries. If you plan on being one<br />
of the over 300,000 spectators, get you<br />
viewing spot early to catch all the action.<br />
Pride Day Festival<br />
Sunday, August 5 - 12:00pm to 6:00pm<br />
at Sunset Beach Lower Bowl<br />
& Parking lot<br />
Keep the celebrations going after the<br />
parade! Come soak up the energy and be a<br />
part of largest Pride event in the Vancouver.<br />
There is something for EVERYONE:<br />
Food, retail, community groups, sampling<br />
vendors, a kids and youth zone. NO ONE<br />
goes away empty handed from this party!<br />
We will kick off the day with an acoustic set<br />
for those wanting a relaxed start to the day<br />
from noon to 2pm then the party kicks into<br />
high gear Featuring live entertainment from<br />
2pm to 6pm on our high energy stage, music<br />
to the ears as well the eyes. The Festival is<br />
something not to be missed, the true crown<br />
and glory to end <strong>pride</strong> season. And best of<br />
all its FREE to everyone.<br />
Pride Youth Dance<br />
Sunday, August 5 - 9:00pm to 1:00am<br />
at West End Community Center<br />
Hosted by one of the youth community<br />
groups, this up to 18 years of age dance<br />
party is a supervised no nonsense good<br />
time. Friends & allies of the GLBT youth<br />
community come together and celebrate<br />
Pride in a safe, no drug or alcohol<br />
environment. This will be a ticketed event<br />
and ID will be required of all persons<br />
wishing to enter.<br />
Printed by permission<br />
of Vancouver Pride Society<br />
sgn.org<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News<br />
17
For more information:<br />
www.seattledykemarch.com<br />
18 <strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
June 22, 2007
• Travel Guides<br />
• Travel Literature<br />
• Green Trail Maps<br />
• Tilley Hats<br />
• Eagle Creek Packs<br />
• Electronic Language<br />
Translators<br />
...and Much More!<br />
206-842-4578<br />
287 Winslow Way. E., Bainbridge Isl., WA 98110<br />
June 22, 2007 PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
Second annual<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Black Pride<br />
Mark your calendars for the second<br />
annual <strong>Seattle</strong> Black Pride (SBP). “This Is<br />
Why We’re Hot” is this year’s theme, and<br />
incorporates a celebration of wisdom, unity,<br />
leadership, <strong>pride</strong> and endurance within our<br />
Black GLBTQ community.<br />
Join SBP for 4 days, July 19-22, for<br />
culture, education, enlightenment and<br />
entertainment. We are celebrating with<br />
performances by the very best local and<br />
out of state talent, guest speakers/town hall<br />
discussions, educational workshops, live<br />
performances, Old School dance party and<br />
the big “This is Why We’re Hot” dance<br />
party, family barbecue and our second film<br />
festival showcasing cutting edge features<br />
and short films focused on our people of<br />
color and diversity.<br />
SBP Board President and founding<br />
member, Kiantha Duncan-Woods notes,<br />
“<strong>Seattle</strong> Black Pride gives voice to the<br />
Black GLBTQ in Washington. We are more<br />
than an annual event we are a culture; that<br />
culture is celebrated during this event.<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Black Pride offers the community a<br />
space to highlight and recognize<br />
the beauty and strength within<br />
our Black GLBTQ community.<br />
We are making history here in<br />
Washington and this is just the<br />
beginning.”<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Black Pride is a not-forprofit<br />
organization that organizes<br />
the SBP event in <strong>Seattle</strong> to<br />
commemorate and celebrate<br />
all Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and<br />
Transgender individuals and<br />
groups.<br />
SBP welcomes participation<br />
of all, regardless of race, age,<br />
creed, gender, gender identification, HIV<br />
status, national origin, physical or mental<br />
developmental ability, religion or sexual<br />
orientation.<br />
Duncan–Woods adds, “<strong>Seattle</strong> Black<br />
Pride is so much more than a party, it’s an<br />
experience. It offers a sense of belonging<br />
to the bigger picture for Black GLBTQ<br />
people”.<br />
Complete schedule/highlights listed on<br />
www.seattleblack<strong>pride</strong>.org.<br />
A <strong>Seattle</strong> Black Pride press release<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News<br />
19
W.E.T. presents<br />
Hero<br />
The premiere production from<br />
the Queer Teen Ensemble Theatre program<br />
Hero<br />
Written & Performed<br />
by Kalila Griffin and Koe Sozuteki<br />
Directed by Rhonda J. Soikowski<br />
June 21 – 24, 2007<br />
Thursday through Sunday at 8pm<br />
WET Theatre<br />
609 19th Ave E at E Mercer St<br />
SEATTLE, WA –Washington Ensemble<br />
Theatre (WET) is proud to introduce the<br />
premiere of QTET: Queer Teen Ensemble<br />
Theatre - a new program giving voice and<br />
artistry to LGBT youth in the community.<br />
What does it mean for a fairy tale to have<br />
two princesses? Can you still be a hero if<br />
you’re wearing the dress? Led by WET<br />
Associate Artist Rhonda J. Soikowski,<br />
emerging teen playwrights Kalila Griffin<br />
and Koe Sozuteki give voice to what it<br />
means to be young and ‘out’ in <strong>Seattle</strong>.<br />
HERO. explores LGBT perspectives on<br />
identity as two young women go on an<br />
adventure to discover how the girl can save<br />
the girl and live happily ever after.<br />
HERO. is the flagship production of<br />
Queer Teen Ensemble Theatre, a new citywide<br />
teen program which WET will offer<br />
annually as part of the theatre’s educational<br />
outreach programming. Though a generous<br />
grant from the Mayor’s Office of Arts<br />
and Cultural Affairs, WET was able to<br />
offer LGBT teenagers full scholarships to<br />
participate in this new ensemble theatre<br />
project. Using the WET model for<br />
ensemble-generated new works, the students<br />
collaboratively produced a production<br />
based on their own experiences surrounding<br />
identity. With statistics showing that 9%<br />
of high school students identify as Gay,<br />
Lesbian, Bisexual or Questioning, WET is<br />
proud to offer a place for these emerging<br />
voices to express their struggles, triumphs<br />
and unique perspectives on the stories they<br />
tell best – their own.<br />
ARTIST BIoS:<br />
Rhonda J. Soikowski<br />
(Director; Associate Artist)<br />
Rhonda has been acting, directing and<br />
generating new work in collaborative process<br />
for ten years. She holds a BFA in Acting<br />
with an Original Works emphasis from<br />
Cornish College of the Arts, is an Associate<br />
Artist with Washington Ensemnble Theare<br />
and an Alumni Member of DirectorsLab<br />
Chicago. <strong>Seattle</strong>-premiered new work’s<br />
under her direction include The Show, a one<br />
man show with Troy Misklevitz at both On<br />
the Boards and WET, A Day in Dig Nation,<br />
a one man show with Michael McQuilken at<br />
Re-Bar, Fellow Passengers, an adaptation<br />
of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol<br />
for three actors at Strawberry Theatre<br />
Workshop and Split, a one-act play by Jen<br />
Grigg produced by EXITheatre. She was<br />
also involved in the generative process<br />
as an actor for the creation of both Paper<br />
Airplane and Extropia with former <strong>Seattle</strong><br />
Arts collective Collaborator. Rhonda has<br />
taught theatre arts at Cornish College,<br />
Lake Washington Girls Middle School and<br />
North Lawndale Charter High School in<br />
Chicago. At WET Rhonda has appeared<br />
in Swimming in the Shallows directed by<br />
Katjana Vadeboncoeur and most recently<br />
in Iphigenia in Aulis directed by Lathrop<br />
Walker. For more information on Rhonda<br />
visit www.soikowski.com.<br />
Jessica Trundy (Project Manager)<br />
Jessica is a <strong>Seattle</strong> based lighting designer<br />
for theatre, dance and opera. Recent designs<br />
include Bust by Lauren Weedman at the<br />
Empty Space Theatre, Zoe Scofield’s there<br />
ain’t no easy way out at On The Boards, and<br />
Plainsong and House of Spirits for Book-it<br />
Repertory Theatre. She received her MFA<br />
from the University of Washington, and her<br />
BA from the University of California, Santa<br />
Cruz. Visit www.jessicatrundy.com for<br />
images of past and current designs. Jessica<br />
works administratively at WET in the<br />
production department. Her recent designs<br />
at WET include Iphigenia in Aulis, Crumbs<br />
are also Bread, What is Sexy?, and Crave.<br />
Kalila Griffin (Writer/Performer)<br />
Kalila is a sixteen year old high school<br />
student going into her junior year. She enjoys<br />
acting, writing, and photography. She has<br />
had a great experience working with QTET<br />
at the Washington Ensemble Theater. She is<br />
also very happy to have been able to work<br />
with the talented dynamic duo, Rhonda J.<br />
Soikowski and Jessica Hatlo. She would<br />
like to thank her parents for driving her to<br />
rehearsals and Rhonda for coming back to<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong>.<br />
Jessica Hatlo (Assistant Director)<br />
Jessica is a writer, director and performer<br />
from San Jose, California. She is currently a<br />
senior at Cornish College of the Arts seeking<br />
a Theater BFA with an emphasis in Original<br />
Works. Her recent acting credits include<br />
Mrs. Peachum in The Beggars Opera,<br />
The Virgin Mary in The New Playwright<br />
Festival’s workshop of Mechanical Angels,<br />
The Buttonmoulder in Peer Gynt, and<br />
Rachel in the sophomore ensemble Nest at<br />
Cornish. Jessica’s recent directing credits<br />
include She Bit Me by Suzan Lori Parks<br />
as a part of <strong>Seattle</strong>’s 365 project. Her other<br />
projects this summer include her 4th year as<br />
part of the <strong>Seattle</strong> Center Academy, a unique<br />
summer arts program for 7th & 8th graders,<br />
and developing The Bird Flew Theater<br />
Co.- a women’s original works ensemble<br />
of which she is a founding member. She is<br />
thrilled to be the co-pilot for QTET’s first<br />
year and gives a special thanks to Rhonda J<br />
for helping her get WET.<br />
Koe Sozuteki (Writer/Performer)<br />
Koe is a seventeen year old genderqueer<br />
pansexual individual. Koe grew up<br />
polyamorous and sex positive which she<br />
reports played a large part in shaping her<br />
into the awesome person that she is today.<br />
Over the last year and a half Koe has made<br />
quite an impact in the LGBTQ Youth<br />
community here in <strong>Seattle</strong> by organizing<br />
dances, lobbying on issues that effect the<br />
community, raising awareness through<br />
panels at local high schools and celebrating<br />
her own queerness by attending the<br />
LGBTQ Camp Ten Trees and through drag<br />
performances as ‘Lady Koko Divarms.’<br />
Koe recently received MPowerment’s<br />
Upcoming Queer Youth Activist of the Year<br />
award and the LGBT Center’s Cherry award<br />
for outstanding Queer youth activism. She<br />
believes that by having a good time with<br />
her identity she is filling a void for people<br />
who aren’t comfortable being themselves,<br />
to whom she says “Hey, voyeurism is<br />
participation.”<br />
WASHINGToN<br />
ENSEMBLE THEATRE (W.E.T.)<br />
is committed to the creation of relevant,<br />
immediate and bold theatrical events.<br />
Through collaborative artistic leadership<br />
and decision-making, W.E.T. empowers<br />
artists to have a daring voice in the creative<br />
process and in the global community.<br />
Currently, W.E.T. is under the umbrella<br />
of Theatre Puget Sound as a non-profit<br />
organization in the state of Washington.<br />
www.washingtonensemble.org<br />
Tickets are $10, available at the door or<br />
in advance through Brown Paper Tickets.<br />
For ticket orders call 800-838-3006 or visit<br />
www.brownpapertickets.com.<br />
20 <strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
June 22, 2007
June 22, 2007 PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News<br />
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22 <strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
June 22, 2007
June 22, 2007 PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
<strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News<br />
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24 <strong>Seattle</strong> Gay News PRIDE ‘07 Celebrations<br />
June 22, 2007