Washington:
Is Macklemore in Trouble? Seattle-born music artist Macklemore responded in late September to
criticism after a viral video on social media showed him stating the words “F— America” onstage,
according to King 5 Reports. “My thoughts and feelings are not always expressed perfectly or politely,”
Macklemore, 41, whose real name is Ben Haggerty, wrote in an Instagram post. “Sometimes I slip up
and get caught in the moment. Saturday night was one of those times.” Mariners and others have
severed ties with the NW Treasure; will his apology work? Macklemore is a minority owner of the
Seattle Kraken and Sounders FC, and the two teams released a joint statement reading, “We are aware
of Macklemore’s increasingly divisive comments, which do not reflect the values of our respective
ownership groups, leagues, or organizations. We are currently evaluating our collective options on this
matter.”
Somebody is losing a cowardly fight over Capitol Hill’s rainbow bus stop and crosswalks. The Seattle
Department of Transportation and King County Metro said they were dispatching crews to assess
damage and make repairs as quickly as possible after vandalism targeted community crosswalks and a
colorful bus stop in the area, as reported by CHS. “We strongly condemn acts of vandalism to Capitol
Hill’s rainbow crosswalk and bus stop,” a spokesperson for SDOT told CHS. “These actions are
unacceptable and undermine the values of inclusivity and respect that our community upholds.” The
vandalism was a quick and sloppy job, with white paint spilled and splattered across the rainbow street
markings and the Pride-colored bus stop on 15th Ave E near E Republican. The rainbow Route 10 bus
stop was installed on the street for Pride 2022.
Workers at Cherry Street Coffee House shut down all four cafe locations on September 6 to put
pressure on their boss, Ali Ghambari, to meet their demands for improved working conditions and
better pay, according to The Stranger. Ghambari pushed his workers to their breaking point in July
when he testified at City Hall, apparently in favor of Council Member Joy Hollingsworth’s bill to retain
a “tip crediting” scheme (or “tip punishment” scheme) that allows businesses employing fewer than
500 people to pay workers below the standard minimum wage, as long as customer tips make up the
difference. The system, part of a decade-old compromise forged during the historic fight for $15, was
due to sunset in January, but Ghambari and other small business owners claimed that paying workers
more would force them to close stores. Now, workers have shifted the paradigm. They won’t let him
keep his stores open without the wage increase and then some.
Adrian Diaz was pushed out as Seattle police chief in part due to explosive accusations of gender
discrimination and sexual harassment detailed in an April civil complaint. However, a FOX 13 Seattle
investigation uncovered information that casts doubt on some of the allegations in the complaint.
Officer Valerie Carson is one of four female officers who lodged the complaint against the city of
Seattle and the Seattle Police Department (SPD), seeking $5 million in damages. Among other things,
Carson alleged that Diaz (who has since come out as gay) would walk into her cubicle without warning
because she believed he wanted to see her change clothes. FOX 13 Seattle sources opined that it’s
“ridiculous” that anyone would change their clothes in an open office cubicle when a bathroom was
available for that purpose.
Oregon:
Oregon libraries and schools saw a record number of requests to ban or restrict books in public libraries
over the past year, the State Library of Oregon says. The state received 151 book challenges in public
libraries, schools, and colleges between July 2023 and June 2024, according to data provided by the
Oregon Intellectual Freedom Clearinghouse. The previous record was 93, set during the 2022-2023
school year, KOIN 6 Reports. The State Library of Oregon defines a book “challenge” as “any attempt to remove or restrict access to a library material, service, or program based on the objection of a person
or group.” One of the challenged books is Flamer by former Seattle resident Mike Curato.
Click HERE for the full list.
A leading candidate for Portland mayor and current city commissioner responded to accusations that
she dinged a parked Tesla and walked away shortly afterward, NewsChannel 8 Reports. The incident
happened on September 13 when Commissioner Carmen Rubio pulled into a parking spot next to a
Tesla. She allegedly scraped the bumper and wheel rim with her Nissan Murano, then appeared to walk
away from the scene. The allegation came to light in an article from The Oregonian, which spoke with
the owner of the Tesla and obtained video and images of the damage. The owner said she became
concerned after seeing Rubio’s record of unpaid parking tickets and traffic violations over 20 years, as
well as having her license suspended six times, which was also reported previously by The Oregonian.
The Tesla owner told Rubio that she “didn’t have time to get an estimate” and that “friends told her the
cost would very likely be ‘north of $5,000,’ but that she would settle for less at $4,000 and asked for
payment via Venmo.”
According to Willamette Week, when gay activist and artist Eric Marcoux passed away in January at the
age of 94, he left the Northwest Thurman Street home he built with his husband, Eugene Woodworth
(whom he was with for more than 60 years and legally married eight days before Woodworth passed
away in 2013) to his Buddhist students. Marcoux also left behind a collection of nearly 500 artworks
spanning paintings, pottery, and stained glass. Missy Capone, founder of the creative agency Capone
Cousins, announced that Marcoux’s estate will host an in-person and online auction of Marcoux’s work
on October 5–7. Capone says there will be works of art available at every price point, starting at $25
and climbing into the thousands. After the auction, a deeper estate sale managed by Stumptown Estate
Sales will open to the public on October 12–13 before the house goes on the market at the end of
October through Deb Kemp Realty. Proceeds from the art auction will benefit numerous causes,
including the Cascade AIDS Project, Friendly House, the Portland Queer Documentary Film Festival,
and Seraphim, a biographical documentary about Marcoux that will screen a preview version at the
Portland Queer Film Festival in mid-November at Cinema 21.
Willamette Week also reports that endorsements issued this month by the political arm of Basic Rights
Oregon, the foremost Oregon nonprofit aimed at elevating LGBTQ+ voices, are getting pushback from
some queer candidates running for Portland City Council. This is because the organization’s political
action committee endorsed mostly non-LGBTQ+ candidates across all four of Portland’s voting
districts, despite there being five other candidates who identify as queer that qualified for matching
taxpayer funds. One such candidate is Elana Pirtle-Guiney, who worked for the union AFL-CIO for a
decade and then for former Gov. Kate Brown for six years. Incumbent Commissioner Dan Ryan, who is
running in District 2, says that Basic Rights Oregon has “clearly lost sight of their mission on who they
serve.” “The fact that BRO failed to endorse a gay elected [official] who has lived for 40 years with
HIV is unimaginable,” Ryan says. Basic Rights Oregon says it stands by the endorsements made by its
PAC board.
The “Coraline’s Curious Cat Trail” caper has come to a happy conclusion, according to a press release
from the Portland Metro Chamber and Downtown Portland Clean & Safe. The “Keep Portland Weird”
cat statue, part of an installation of artist-decorated feline figures in the Portland area, was reported
missing Saturday from its location at Tom McCall Waterfront Park, near Saturday Market, as reported
by The Oregonian. UPDATE: It turns out this wasn’t a case of cat-napping, but of miscommunication. Mark Wells, executive director of Downtown Portland Clean & Safe, said in an emailed message that
“Downtown Portland Clean & Safe was notified today that the ‘Keep Portland Weird’ unicorn cat
statue was removed from its base at Tom McCall Waterfront Park earlier this weekend by a city of
Portland parks employee. We are told the statue was not secure at its base and was taken to a city
maintenance yard for safety reasons, where it remains today.”
Sad News to Report: The death of author Tom Spanbauer has left us. Writes his husband Sage Ricci:
“Dear Friends, on Saturday, September 21, 2024, my beloved husband and best friend, an astonishing
literary talent, adored brother, uncle, and teacher, left us all to continue his exquisite dance beyond
what his body could maintain. After years of struggling with Parkinson’s Disease, he passed from heart
failure…”
RIP, Tom.
Montana/Wyoming
A Wyoming parole board has denied an application for a commuted sentence for one of the killers of
Matthew Shepard, according to The Daily Mail. The board denied the petition filed by Russell
Henderson, one of the two men convicted of murdering the 21-year-old gay man in 1998. Shepard was
kidnapped, beaten, and murdered by Henderson and his accomplice, Aaron McKinney, in October 1998
in Laramie, Wyoming. Henderson has already served 25 years for the murder.
Idaho:
Matthew Allison, a 37-year-old man from Boise, Idaho, has been indicted in a federal lawsuit accusing
him of being part of a transnational terrorist plot to kill lawmakers and commit hate crimes. Allison is
allegedly the leader of the Terrorgram Collective, a white supremacist group that planned terrorist
attacks against Black, Jewish, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ communities, as reported by LGBTQ Nation.
He allegedly helped organize a shooting that killed two people outside a gay bar in Slovakia, planned
an attack on a New Jersey energy facility, and encouraged a man who stabbed five people in a mosque
near Turkey. They both face 15 felony counts, including conspiracy, soliciting hate crimes, sending
bomb-making instructions and providing material to support terrorists.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador has challenged guidance from a major medical organization
regarding its support for gender-affirming care for children and teens. According to the Idaho
Statesman, the letter, signed by Labrador and attorneys general from 20 other states, accused the
American Academy of Pediatrics of potentially violating state consumer protection laws by
disseminating “misleading and deceptive” information. He accused the organization of sacrificing the
well-being of children by supporting “unproven treatments” that could cause “permanent damage.” “It
is shameful that the most basic tenet of medicine—do no harm—has been abandoned by professional
associations when politically pressured,” Labrador stated.
Bonnie Violet Quintana worked for months to organize Idaho’s first official march for transgender
rights and visibility during the Boise Pride Festival. Having attended trans marches in other states, she
hoped for one in Idaho with massive attendance to show trans people there is widespread support. “As
trans people … what we need to do is really intentionally carve out places and make spaces and
moments in which we can really just be in the joy of things,” she told the Idaho Statesman before the event. Her vision came to fruition as several hundred demonstrators flooded the streets for the march.
A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction to stop an Idaho bill that banned gender-affirming care
in state prisons, effectively allowing incarcerated trans Idahoans to receive hormone therapy once
again, as reported by LGBTQ Nation. “Plaintiffs’ Motion for Temporary Restraining Order, Provisional
Class Certification, and Preliminary Injunction is hereby GRANTED. The court certifies the protected
class of all incarcerated persons in custody of the [Idaho Department of Corrections] who are, or will
be, diagnosed with Gender Dysphoria and are receiving, or would receive, hormone therapy,” wrote
Judge David Nye of the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho in Robinson v. Labrador. “The
Court enjoins enforcement of [H.B. 668]’s prohibition on the use of state funds for providing hormone
therapy as against the class while this lawsuit is pending.” The bill, H.B. 668, banned the use of public
funds for any gender-affirming procedure, including hormones and surgeries. Republican state
lawmakers in the House State Affairs Committee sponsored the bill, which was signed into law in
March by Gov. Brad Little (R).
House Bill 710 went into effect in Idaho on July 1, allowing libraries to be fined $250 or face potential
lawsuits for providing minors with material that features “sexual conduct.” “Sexual conduct” is defined
as “any act of masturbation, homosexuality, sexual intercourse, or physical contact with a person’s
clothed or unclothed genitals…” according to The Arbiter. Jessica Dorr, Director of Boise Public
Library, described the process of making adjustments in response to the bill while staying true to the
library’s culture and current policies. In reference to House Bill 710, Dorr shared the criteria board
members wanted staff to consider. “They [the board] wanted to ensure we were looking at all laws that apply to libraries, not just this one — there’s a framework for how libraries select materials, and they wanted us to be really aware of all the legislation that applies to libraries,” Dorr said. “They asked us to be really transparent with the public. What are the issues that are here? … They also emphasized the importance of protecting the First Amendment right to freedom of expression and the right to read, along with the core values of the Boise Public Library.” With those values in mind, Dorr and the staff created a new policy to address potential requests for reconsideration.
An Idaho bar told The NBC National Desk that it plans to once again celebrate “heterosexual
awesomeness month” in June 2025. Mark Fitzpatrick, owner of Old State Saloon in Eagle, Idaho, says
his bar invites open discussions of religion and politics. His saloon is known for hosting events such as
“conspiracy theory trivia” and Sunday Bible study for people who “don’t feel comfortable in church.”
Last June, Old State Saloon honored its heterosexual patrons by dubbing the celebration “heterosexual
awesomeness month,” offering free “beer for breeders” and discounts for heterosexual couples and
women. The bar faced backlash for hosting the celebration during Pride Month, but Fitzpatrick told
TND he has nothing against the LGBTQ+ community. “We did have some vandalism,” Fitzpatrick
said. “A sign was stolen from out front, and someone urinated on our delivery vehicle out back one
day. Things like that weren’t too major.”
California:
California’s Proposition 3 puts marriage equality back on the ballot in November 2024, giving voters
the chance to remove the state’s old ban on same-sex marriage from the constitution. The proposition
seeks to change California’s state constitution, which currently contains language stating that marriage
is between a man and a woman, as reported by LGBTQ Nation. Although Proposition 8, which banned
same-sex marriage, was overturned by federal courts in 2010, it still remains in the California
constitution. State Assemblymember Evan Low (D) and State Sen. Scott Wiener (D) introduced
Proposition 3 in 2022.
Trevor Chandler, a longtime LGBTQ+ rights activist and new public school teacher, is facing off
against at least seven other candidates in his race for supervisor in San Francisco this November, a not-
unheard-of number in the politically engaged Democratic stronghold, as reported by LGBTQ Nation.
Chandler won his first election in April when he secured a seat on the San Francisco Democratic
County Central Committee, a title that has become a perfect cudgel for conservatives and Fox News
anchors to describe the unapologetically progressive city as a failed communist state. Chandler
mentioned his attacker: “There was a preliminary hearing, and so I gave my testimony. I did not ask for
this, but the DA’s office, upon seeing all the evidence, asked for a hate crimes distinction as well as a
felony. However, the judge in this case, for whatever reason, removed both the hate crimes and
downgraded it to a misdemeanor. I don’t know much more about him. I saw him in court. He is still
being held in jail until another court appearance because he’s considered a safety risk. Clearly, the court
acknowledges that this person poses a certain level of danger to the public, given his mental state.”
California Democratic Assemblymember Evan Low has launched an expected bid for Congress,
jumping into the race to replace longtime Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), who is not seeking reelection in
2024, as reported by The Hill. Low, 40, would be the first openly LGBTQ congressman to represent the
Bay Area and the fourth openly LGBTQ person elected to Congress from California. His endorsements
include several sitting members of Congress, including Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna, Judy Chu, and
Mark Takano. In an interview with Politico ahead of the announcement, Low described himself as a
“fighter” and expressed his preparedness to defend LGBTQ rights in Congress. He denounced House
Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) conservative record on LGBTQ rights, which has put some civil rights
advocates on high alert. “The best way to combat that is to send more openly LGBT individuals to
Congress,” Low stated.
A queer Thai man walking home early on September 17 to his apartment in San Francisco’s Tenderloin
District was repeatedly punched in the face as his attacker allegedly shouted racist slurs. “I was in
shock,” the victim, Pat Karaphat, told Ethnic Media Services. He described his attacker as a tall,
heavily-built man. The former boxer, who is 5’4” and slight of build, said he wanted to fight back but
thought he saw a knife in the assailant’s hand. “He kept repeating ‘f!king Asian,’ ‘f!king monkey,’”
Karaphat recounted. The assailant did not demand money or attempt to rob him. Karaphat believes he
was attacked because of his race and sexual orientation, though the assailant did not shout any
homophobic slurs. Once in his apartment, Karaphat called 911, and the San Francisco Police
Department arrived within five minutes.
A search is underway for a trio of suspects involved in an incident Thursday in which a man hurled a
homophobic slur at employees in a Roseville restaurant after ripping down an LGBTQ+ Pride flag. He
then returned with two others to assault the employees at night, police said. Roseville police officers
were called to a business at about 10:15 p.m. in the Highland Reserve Marketplace shopping center on
the 10000 block of Fairway Drive for a report of an assault, according to Lt. Chris Ciampa, a spokesman for the Roseville Police Department, as reported by the Sacramento Bee. A man entered the business to pick up a delivery order when he noticed a Pride flag hanging inside. He ripped down the flag and threw it on the ground, Ciampa said. Business managers and employees attempted to confront the suspect when he yelled a homophobic slur and left the premises, police reported. However, the unidentified suspect reportedly returned with two other men and began a physical altercation with two employees. One victim suffered facial injuries and was hospitalized, Ciampa said.
The Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD) is responding to pushback it received over the
LGBTQ club that created controversy on an elementary school campus last spring, as reported by CBS
News. EGUSD now requires parents of T-K through 6th graders to sign a permission slip before their
child can join a club on campus. “I was thrilled,” said Pamela, a parent at Pleasant Grove Elementary
School. “I feel like us parents were heard.” Many parents, like Pamela, stated that the issue was not about the topic of the club, but rather the lack of transparency. The cease-and-desist letter sent to EGUSD in March 2024 gave the district two options: stop the LGBTQ clubs at elementary schools altogether or create an “opt-in” policy.
San Francisco is getting a new bar that will feature women’s sports. The bar is still in its planning
stages, as reported by ABC 7. It will be called Rikki’s, named after Rikki Streicher, a San Francisco
LGBTQ leader who founded the Gay Games Federation in 1982.
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF) and the Los Angeles LGBT Center announced that their
long-running fundraising event, AIDS/LifeCycle, will come to an end after a final ride in June 2025,
according to PrideLA. The event, which has raised over $300 million in its 30-year history, has been a
major source of support for HIV services provided by both organizations.
Grateful to be alive, longtime gay and AIDS survivor Cleve Jones is planning an “epic” party for his
70th birthday this fall. The event will also mark the debut of the Cleve Jones Community Fund, which
will help support the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the AIDS Memorial Quilt, both of which he
co-founded decades ago, as reported by BAR. Horizons Foundation, the Bay Area’s 43-year-old
LGBTQ community foundation, will administer the community fund, according to a news release.
Jones’ birthday party will take place on Friday, October 11, which is his actual birthday as well as
National Coming Out Day, at the Hibernia in San Francisco. The celebration will raise funds for the
AIDS Foundation and the National AIDS Memorial Grove, which oversees the quilt. Happy 70th,
Cleve!
Queer professionals, business owners, and entrepreneurs have formed Sonoma County’s first official
LGBTQ+ chamber of commerce, as reported by Press Democrat. Professionals with Pride Chamber of
Commerce started as a monthly afternoon meetup for professionals and entrepreneurs in Santa Rosa.
As the group grew, the need for an official chamber of commerce became apparent to its members.
