News Sep 25, 2013 at 4:00 am

The City Missed Its Chance to Speak Up for Persecuted LGBT Russians—Thanks to You

Comments

1
Emulating Republican congressional obstructionists on global issues of substance is not a good look, Ms. Clark.
2
Ms. Clark, you may very well get Ed Murray as the next mayor, but you won't get to work with him for very long. Voters remember stuff like this. Shameful.
3
Can someone explain why Sally was needed? Couldn't the mayor just bring it to council for a vote?
5
It is not the City's mandate to support Russian gays. The City's mandate is to run the city.
6
It wasn't the City's mandate to support the end of apartheid and the release of Nelson Mandela but they did both. You're saying they shouldn't have?
7
You live in a country that has been at war for 12 years and no one seems to notice...do you think gay rights in Russia is some kind of hot topic among the citizens of the United States? Your myopic views are laughable, you think the world revolves around you and your "cause". Just another bunch of of suffer pigs, just like the rest of humanity.
8
@7: Hint- If all of humanity is your problem, it's your problem.
9
I agree with every single point in this article. Thank you, Dan Savage, for calling a spade a spade... or, to be more specific, calling Clark out as the wishy-washy, backbone-less "leader" that she is. Let's hope someone works up the nerve to run a real campaign against her next time. P.S. I am a lesbian who lives in Seattle. And I am voting for McGinn.
10
@9 - It's never too early to start looking for serious challengers.
11
Sally Clark - too afraid to make a statement and too much of a gutless coward to be elected to her position again.

Many of us out here (LOTS of us) will make sure that this is NOT forgotten once her term is up and she runs again.

Sally - you are a coward and shame on you. Seriously SHAME ON YOU.
12
I think it's really of question of whether the Seattle City Council wants to be dominated by Dan Savage and Dom Holden. The Stranger has been more aggressive and ham-handed than usual in its political grandstanding and it's wearing thin in City Hall. Electeds know that The Stranger's appeal is to a thin slice of the electorate, one that doesn't vote that often. McGinn's poor showing in polling, despite The Stranger's daily electioneering for him, is proof that The Stranger isn't as cool and powerful as it thinks. To The Stranger, Sally Clark is saying a firm and resounding "Meh."
13
@12 - ...at the expense of gay teenagers in Russia who are being raped and murdered in the streets. But hey, gotta score some political points at home, right, Sally? Much more important to send a message to that nasty bully Dominic Holden than to Vladimir Putin.
14
@13 == Sally Clark and everyone else in the world, except The Stranger and its commenters, know that a Seattle City Council resolution on gay bashing in Russia is completely meaningless. This is really a question of "who leads Seattle's gay agenda?" Dan and Dom want to think it's them. Problem is, that ain't so.
15
@14: Then why are Russian LGBT activists saying that U.S. pushback is making day-to-day life for Russian gays safer? Considering that, even if Savage and Holden are preening narcissists, why would anyone not do something ?
16
Someone make an open letter to her for this. I'd sign it (though I don't live in Seattle, but whatever), but there doesn't seem to be one yet.
17
Bah, can someone please explain how Sally was the only person who could bring this to city council? Seriously, I'm a Canadian living in Seattle and I'm confused on this. Why couldn't the mayor just suggest the motion and bring it to a vote? I think it's horrible that Sally won't bring it to a vote, but I'm confused on how she was the only power broker in this.
18
Then why are Russian LGBT activists saying that U.S. pushback is making day-to-day life for Russian gays safer?
Does the fact that they say it make it true? Has "U.S. pushback" - whatever that means - actually quantitatively and qualitatively made things better? Do the Russians really care what the City Council in Seattle think? Nope on all counts… It’s all politically correct hyperbole.

The City Council was elected to run the city. Wasting time on pointless resolutions does nothing to address the issues of Seattle.

It’s not “anti-gay”, it’s common sense.
19
Shocking, it almost sounds like Sally Clark's only real interest is Sally Clark.
20
#3 and #17: because she is the City Council president.
21
@18
So if someone is beating their child senseless in front of you, you wouldn't do anything because the parent will probably not change once he/she is out of your sight? "Common sense" is to speak up for people who don't have a voice. We never know what will be the one thing that helps. People are being hurt, threatened and probably worse. It is always important to say something when people are in trouble. Taking a stand against evil is never wasted energy.

22
@18
So if someone is beating their child senseless in front of you, you wouldn't do anything because the parent will probably not change once he/she is out of your sight? "Common sense" is to speak up for people who don't have a voice. We never know what will be the one thing that helps. People are being hurt, threatened and probably worse. It is always important to say something when people are in trouble. Taking a stand against evil is never wasted energy.

23

@21/22

Your purpose-built scenario is unrelated to the question at hand.

A proclamation from the Seattle City Council about Russian domestic issues will have exactly zero impact on anyone except perhaps some warm fuzzy feeling here in Seattle. Certainly the Russians will not give a shit - even if they became aware of it.

On the other hand, the Seattle City Council could spend their time taking care of business here in Seattle.
24
WUS MCSHWIN COULD HAVE SAID "I AM. THE MAYOR AND I SAY RUSSIAN ANTI-GAY POGRAMS ARE WRONG" OR HE COULD DO WHAT HE DID.....DUCK DODGE AND DUMP.
25
A proclamation from the Seattle City Council about Russian domestic issues will have exactly zero impact on anyone except perhaps some warm fuzzy feeling here in Seattle. Certainly the Russians will not give a shit - even if they became aware of it.

Does the fact that you say it doesn't matter make it true? As soon as you can "actually, quantitatively and qualitatively" prove that no good will come of it, your argument will make perfect sense. Until then, all you have is a notion that the city council should stay mum on issues outside its purview which, given the Council's history of officially condemning apartheid and demanding the release of Nelson Mandela, is a notion already thoroughly compromised. So saying nothing in this particular case either means petty political infighting trumped doing the right thing or the Council has a queer rights problem. It's one or the other.
26
McGinn could have said that it's the poison of the Mayor's office and that he couldn't speak for the council. That would have been the logical thing to do. He wanted to make it a wedge issue, and he had the backing of The Stranger to make it one. To me, Sally didn't take the bait, and now there's a bunch of whining because it didn't pan out they way The Stranger and McGinn wanted.

McGinn tried to use the gay community to better his campaign. It's all he has. He knows that they are a community he'll have to sway because we vote, and Ed is running ahead. The ridiculousness of the whole situation, and the fact that people are so willing to exploit serious tragedies in Russia is enough to make me sick at the whole stunt. I've got no doubt that Sally Clark supports the LGBT community in Russia, just as she does here. She's just smart enough to know when the LGBT community is being played for political gain, and she won't participate in that. The Stranger and the McGinn campaign hold all if the blame for this in my book.
27
Trading in human rights for personal gain? ...hmmm...oh, that's right, no one at the Stranger would EVER do something like that. (AHEM!!)
29
Dan Savage has such sterling credentials when it comes to advancing women. He thought it just fine for them to be living naked furniture in sushi restaurants. This is why reading the Stranger is such a drag for people who either aren't gay men, or who've developed beyond simplistic thinking.

I'm glad most of the City Council doesn't imagine it is the UN.
30
@29: So gay men are inherently simple-minded and are therefore able to enjoy Dan Savage and the Stranger along with the plain-brained and the unevolved? As a (fairly complex, I'd say) thinker and a gay man and a fan of Dan Savage and the Stranger, I offer you this simple assertion: Fuck off.
31
Anyone that votes for this lady is doing a disservice to Seattle.
32

It's just possible that someone, somewhere in Russia might just slightly care about the opinion of Seattle on their laws, and so I guess it would have been better for the council to come out in opposition.

But in the end, it would really have been just a bit of back patting and self congratulation that someone, somewhere in Russia might just slightly care about. That it might actually sway Putin and his cadre, or anyone in power, is an absurdity. They know, and doubtless look upon with utter contempt, the vies of the US west coast on the matter. So the fact that it didn't happen should be pretty low on our priorities, and it shouldn't even by on the radar of gay and lesbian individuals in Russia, who are dealing with real problems that are not solved by a handful of politicians standing around and saying they care.
33
Guess she's changed her mind:

Explore recent attacks on LGBT rights in Russia & internationally & what we can do locally: http://t.co/OYfrW3oroa … #LGBTSea

— Sally Clark (@sallyjclark) November 15, 2013


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