IS THIS a QUEER ISSUE? the Central Voice Garners Awards
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PERSPECTIVE: Scientology Do you self-censure tried to public affection? "cure" me PGS. 16 PGS. 19 REAL GAY NEWS. WE GIVE IT TO YOU STRAIGHT. THECENTRALVOICE.COM | NOVEMBER & DECEMBER 2018 | FREE REFLECTIONS: Ted talks about civil rights and the gay Trump vote CASH BAIL Ted Martin is a native Penn- sylvanian and a longtime activ- ist and non-profit professional. Martin has worked in several varied administrative and com- munications capacities over the past two decades. Most recently executive director of Equality PA for seven years, Martin reflects on the state of LGBT affairs for The Central Voice. Ted Martin Central Voice: What do you think of as your accomplishments while serving as executive director of Equality PA? Ted Martin: Serving as Executive Director of Equality PA was exhilarating, exhausting, eye-opening, fun, sometimes brutal and disappointing, and always an honor. This type of work is not for the faint of heart. In my seven years, I point to passage of 22 local nondis- crimination ordinances throughout Pennsylvania as a great victory. Working with citizen advocates to make their towns a place where it’s against the law to fire an LGBT person, or refuse them housing or a public ac- Please see TED MARTIN, page 21 IS THIS A QUEER ISSUE? By Louie Marven currently incarcerated in local jails, many (ap- proximately 20,736) of them have yet to be con- The Central Voice Margaret Goof, of the Justice Policy Center, victed of a crime and are sitting in a cell simply recently called on people to honor the legacy of because they cannot afford cash bail. Pride by bailing out LGBT people. The center During this summer’s Pride Festival of Central garners awards focuses on incarceration, juvenile jus- PA, I sat at a table for Dauphin County tice, and policing technology. 2019 marks INSIDE: Bail fund with others organizing locally The Pennsylvania the 50th anniversary of The Stonewall to end cash bail. I saw lots of familiar Riots. Her call to action couldn’t be faces from my days working at the LGBT NewsMedia Associa- Pennsylvania – more timely. Center of Central PA and made a lot of tion Foundation re- Bail at a glance cently announced this Mass incarceration disproportion- new friends. A consistent experience I ately impacts queer people in general had was noticing that most people didn’t year’s recipients of the Dauphin County Newspaper of the Year — and queer women in particular. While have a strong understanding of why we Bail Fund – honors. The awards queer women (defined as lesbian, bi- were there -- or what the cash bail system recognize top newspa- sexual, and women who have sex with Who gets help? is, and how it harms our communities. pers from the entire women) comprise only 3 percent of all One person even told me that she state. U.S. adult women, 42 percent of women in prison didn’t support our efforts to end cash bail because The purpose of this and 36 percent of women in jail are queer-iden- her daughter was addicted to drugs and needed contest is to recog- tified, goof wrote in a recent Advocate article. to be in jail. Where to even begin with that kind nize outstanding work Of the approximately 35,560 queer women Please see BAIL, page 20 across all departments Please see AWARDS, page 22 We give it to you straight. theCentralVoice.com is more than a general interest news website. We bring you LGBT politics, public policy, world affairs, analysis, art, theatre, .com CENTRAL PA'S LGBT NEWS SOURCE wellness and everything else that matters. Free content. No paywalls. No email sign-ins. No fake news. Political Updates | WORLD & NATIONAL VOICES and, at 38 at the time of his appointment, the country’s rights have come through activism and visibility. When INTERNATIONAL youngest prime minister. Then Varadkar welcomed states suppress LGBTIQ organizations, they are really Pope Francis to Ireland, a nation that has radically trying to stop LGBTIQ people from gaining basic hu- BERLIN: changed since the last papal visit, in 1979. At that time, man rights and equality.” homosexuality was still a crime. Now, the country’s Teen arrested for allegedly plotting bomb attack prime minister is gay. (Photo: Pope Francis is welcomed SWITZERLAND: A German teenager was arrested on suspicion he was by Leo Varadkar, Ireland's prime minister, at Dublin planning an Islamic extremist bombing attack in the Castle during his visit to Ireland. -Vatican/Reuters) Doctor says he can ‘cure’ homosexuality with pills Frankfurt area, prosecutors said Thursday, reported A doctor in Switzerland has come under fire for recom- David Rising. Frankfurt prosecutors’ spokesman Sinan GUATEMALA: mending a homeopathic conversion therapy treatment, Akdogan told The Associated Press the 17-year-old was reports Alex Bollinger. Jean-Yves Henry, a French arrested by Hesse state police Sept. 1 and ordered held Anti-marriage-equality bill could pass Congress doctor who practices medicine in Geneva, published an by a judge on suspicion of preparing a serious act of An anti-marriage-equality bill could advance through article on his website in 2009 about treating homosexu- violence. The information leading to the arrest, pro- Guatemala’s unicameral Congress. Bill 5272, the Law ality with homeopathy. The article stresses that homo- vided by the United States, indicated the suspect was to Protect Life and Family, explicitly forbids marriage sexuality is not a disease, but a symptom of a deeper planning to attack a gay nightclub in Frankfurt and a equality (marriage is already defined in law as between a problem of denying the differences between the sexes. Catholic church in the city, according to an official with man and a woman), in direct contradiction of the Janu- “The homosexual believes that the difference between access to intelligence information, who discussed it on ary marriage-equality ruling by the Inter-American the sexes means nothing to him (there are two?!),” Henry condition of anonymity. (AP) Court of Human Rights, which is binding on Guatemala. wrote. “So homosexuality is an escape from the reality The bill also effectively curtails the state’s ability to of the differences in the sexes that everyone must live INDIA: promote sexual and reproductive health and education, with.” Henry goes on to cite depression and suicide as effectively forbidding talk of sexuality not aligned with possible results of homosexuality, never considering Is gay culture global? heterosexuality. that perhaps it’s homophobia that is more responsible The Indian Supreme for them. Henry’s suggested treatment for male homo- Court decriminalized TAIWAN: sexuality is Argentum nitricum (for chronic infidelity), homosexuality. A Pulsatilla (for immaturity), and Platina (for troubles court in Trinidad and Gay marriage faces new hurdle with referendum related to seduction and domination). For lesbianism, Tobago found colo- Conservative cam- the doctor recommends Lachesis (for domination and nial-era laws banning paigners on Aug. 28 jealousy), Sepia (to accept one’s femininity), and Natrum gay sex to be uncon- threw a roadblock in muriaticum (for anxiety and disliking being touched). stitutional. And late the path to legalising last year, Australia same-sex unions in became the umpteenth state to legalize same-sex mar- Taiwan, proposing a NATIONAL riage. There is a slow-motion avalanche going on. public vote on the is- Thirty-five of the 63 Commonwealth countries, mostly sue and saying any God makes people gay to punish us in Africa or the West Indies, still make homosexual acts reforms would jeop- Ed Brayton reports a criminal offence. Some countries, including Nigeria ardise “family val- for Patheos that most and Uganda, have even tightened their anti-gay laws. ues”. Taiwan’s top court ruled in May 2017 that prevent- Christian right bigots The ultra-conservative Malaysian state of Terengganu ing same-sex marriage was unconstitutional and gave argue that God is go- lashed two women six times with a cane and fined $800 a two-year deadline for its legalisation - which would ing to destroy us be- for ‘trying to have sex’. - Gwynne Dyer make the island the first place in Asia to do so. But cause we tolerate ho- there has been little progress on the issue since then, mosexuality, but with President Tsai Ing-wen saying society is still di- EUROPEAN UNION: “Coach” Dave vided on the issue. (Photo: AFP/Sam Yeh) Daubenmire says Global backlash against conversion “therapy” that’s true, but that Georgia Voice’s Joshua Chen reports that LGBTQ NIGERIA: homosexuality it- identities have historically been misclassified due a self IS God’s punish- Nigeria police arrest 57 men for having gay sex “…combination of fear, stigma, and misunderstand- ment. The line from ing,” said Dr. Jennifer Conti, a fellow at Physicians for Police in Nigeria have raided a hotel and arrested 57 men the Princess Bride comes to mind: “Truly you have a Reproductive Health. In 2001, a report from then-U.S. on suspicion of having gay sex reports Josh Jackman dizzying intellect.” Daubenmire said that “the devil has Surgeon General David Satcher stated that “there is for Pink News. In Nigeria, people convicted of having seized control of most of our churches” so that they no valid scientific evidence that sexual orientation gay sex can spend up to 14 years in prison – apart from now tolerate homosexuality, which has caused God to can be changed.” Medical thought around the globe is in 12 northern states with Sharia law, where they are wash his hands of this nation and allow his judgment changing as well. The European parliament recently stoned to death. This is the second such police action to fall on us.