VOL. CLXVIII . . . No. 58,242 © 2019 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2019

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MILWAUKEE — Gregory Greiten was 17years old when the priests organized thegame. It was 1982 and he was on a retreat withhis classmates from St. Lawrence, a RomanCatholic seminary for teenage boys trainingto become priests. Leaders asked each boy torank which he would rather be: burned over90 percent of his body, paraplegic, or gay.

Each chose to be scorched or paralyzed.Not one uttered the word “gay.” They calledthe game the Game of Life.

The lesson stuck. Seven years later, heclimbed up into his seminary dorm windowand dangled one leg over the edge. “I reallyam gay,” Father Greiten, now a priest nearMilwaukee, remembered telling himself forthe first time. “It was like a death sentence.”

The closet of the Roman Catholic Churchhinges on an impossible contradiction. Foryears, church leaders have driven gay con-gregants away in shame and insisted that “ho-

mosexual tendencies” are “disordered.” Andyet, thousands of the church’s priests are gay.

The stories of gay priests are unspoken,veiled from the outside world, known only toone another, if they are known at all.

Fewer than about 10 priests in the UnitedStates have dared to come out publicly. Butgay men likely make up at least 30 to 40 per-cent of the American Catholic clergy, accord-ing to dozens of estimates from gay prieststhemselves and researchers. Some priestssay the number is closer to 75 percent. Onepriest in Wisconsin said he assumed everypriest is gay unless he knows for a fact he isnot. A priest in Florida put it this way: “A thirdare gay, a third are straight, and a third don’tknow what the hell they are.”

Two dozen gay priests and seminariansfrom 13 states shared intimate details of theirlives in the Catholic closet with The New YorkTimes over the past two months. They wereinterviewed in their churches before Mass,

GABRIELLA DEMCZUK FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

A Silent Crisis for Gay PriestsFearing Blame in Catholic Abuse Scandal

‘It Is Not a Closet. It Is a Cage.’

By ELIZABETH DIAS

Continued on Page A10

LOS ANGELES — Netflixcalled it “ ‘Roma’ ExperienceDay.”

On a Sunday in December, thestreaming giant rented twosoundstages on a historic movielot in Hollywood to evangelize for“Roma,” Alfonso Cuarón’s art filmabout a domestic worker in Mex-ico. Oscar voters perused a mu-seum-style exhibit of “Roma” cos-tumes. Mr. Cuarón and his crewsat for hours of panel discussions.

Breakfast? Lunch? Provided.There were “Roma” stickers, and“Roma”-stamped chocolates. At-tendees were even superimposedinto a “Roma” scene to share on-line.

All of it struck some voters asover the top. It was certainly a dis-

play of just how badly Netflixwants an Oscar — and how muchfaith it has put in the person be-hind the event, a strategist namedLisa Taback, to get it done.

Ms. Taback, 55, is an Oscar-campaign veteran who cut herteeth at Miramax with HarveyWeinstein in the 1990s and whoserésumé includes best-picture win-ners like “The King’s Speech,”“The Artist” and “Spotlight.” TedSarandos, Netflix’s chief contentofficer, called Ms. Taback “thebest of the best” when he namedher vice president for talent rela-tions and awards in July, addingthat he wanted to “expand anddeepen our efforts to celebrate theincredible creators and talent whobring their dream projects to Net-flix.”

The hiring went off like a sonic

Craving an Oscar, Netflix Turns to a Tireless Star: A New StrategistBy BROOKS BARNES

Netflix has spent an estimated $25 million to promote “Roma.”HUNTER KERHART FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A14

MUNICH — European leadershave long been alarmed that Pres-ident Trump’s words and Twittermessages could undo a trans-At-lantic alliance that had grownstronger over seven decades.They had clung to the hope thatthose ties would bear up under thestrain.

But in the last few days of aprestigious annual security con-ference in Munich, the rift be-tween Europe and the Trump ad-ministration became open, angryand concrete, diplomats and ana-lysts say.

A senior German official, whoasked not to be identified becausehe was not authorized to speak onsuch matters, shrugged his shoul-ders and said: “No one any longerbelieves that Trump cares aboutthe views or interests of the allies.It’s broken.”

The most immediate danger,diplomats and intelligence offi-cials warned, is that the trans-At-lantic fissures now risk being ex-ploited by Russia and China.

Even the normally gloomy Rus-sian foreign minister, Sergey V.Lavrov, happily noted the strains,remarking that the Euro-Atlanticrelationship had become increas-ingly “tense.”

“We see new cracks forming,and old cracks deepening,” Mr.Lavrov said.

The Europeans no longer be-lieve that Washington will change,not when Mr. Trump sees tradi-tional allies as economic rivalsand leadership as diktat. His dis-taste for multilateralism and in-ternational cooperation is a chal-lenge to the very heart of what Eu-rope is and needs to be in order tohave an impact in the world.

But beyond the Trump adminis-tration, an increasing number ofEuropeans say they believe thatrelations with the United Stateswill never be the same again.

Karl Kaiser, a longtime analystof German-American relations,said, “Two years of Mr. Trump,and a majority of French and Ger-mans now trust Russia and Chinamore than the United States.”

Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, aformer adviser to the Germanpresident and director of theBerlin office of the German Mar-shall Fund, said, “If an alliance be-comes unilateral and transac-tional, then it’s no longer an alli-ance.”

There were signs that not allAmerican and European leaderswere willing to surrender the alli-ance so easily.

To show solidarity with Europe,more than 50 American lawmak-ers, both Republicans and Demo-crats — a record number — at-

Rift in AllianceLeaves EuropeFuming at U.S.

Russia and China MayExploit Strained Ties

By STEVEN ERLANGERand KATRIN BENNHOLD

Continued on Page A8

SAN FRANCISCO — Busi-nesses and government agenciesin the United States have been tar-geted in aggressive attacks by Ira-nian and Chinese hackers who se-curity experts believe have beenenergized by President Trump’swithdrawal from the Iran nucleardeal last year and his trade con-flicts with China.

Recent Iranian attacks onAmerican banks, businesses andgovernment agencies have beenmore extensive than previouslyreported. Dozens of corporationsand multiple United States agen-cies have been hit, according toseven people briefed on theepisodes who were not authorizedto discuss them publicly.

The attacks, attributed to Iranby analysts at the National Securi-ty Agency and the private securi-ty firm FireEye, prompted anemergency order by the Depart-ment of Homeland Security dur-ing the government shutdown lastmonth.

The Iranian attacks coincidewith a renewed Chinese offensivegeared toward stealing trade andmilitary secrets from Americanmilitary contractors and technol-ogy companies, according to nineintelligence officials, private secu-rity researchers and lawyers fa-miliar with the attacks who dis-cussed them on the condition ofanonymity because of confidenti-ality agreements.

A summary of an intelligencebriefing read to The New YorkTimes said that Boeing, GeneralElectric Aviation and T-Mobilewere among the recent targets ofChinese industrial-espionage ef-forts. The companies all declinedto discuss the threats, and it is not

clear if any of the hacks were suc-cessful.

Chinese cyberespionage cooledfour years ago after PresidentBarack Obama and President XiJinping of China reached a land-mark deal to stop hacks meant tosteal trade secrets.

But the 2015 agreement ap-pears to have been unofficiallycanceled amid the continuingtrade tension between the UnitedStates and China, the intelligenceofficials and private security re-searchers said. Chinese hackshave returned to earlier levels, al-though they are now stealthierand more sophisticated.

“Cyber is one of the ways adver-saries can attack us and retaliatein effective and nasty ways thatare well below the threshold of anarmed attack or laws of war,” saidJoel Brenner, a former leader ofUnited States counterintelligenceunder the director of national in-telligence.

Federal agencies and privatecompanies are back to where theywere five years ago: battling in-creasingly sophisticated, govern-ment-affiliated hackers fromChina and Iran — in addition tofighting constant efforts out ofRussia — who hope to steal tradeand military secrets and sow may-hem. And it appears the hackerssubstantially improved theirskills during the lull.

Russia is still considered Amer-ica’s foremost hacking adversary.In addition to meddling widelyand spreading disinformationduring United States elections,Russian hackers are believed tohave launched attacks on nuclearplants, the electrical grid and

Hacking of U.S. NetworksTraced to China and Iran

Renewed Strikes on Banks and Agencies AreSeen as Reaction to Trump’s Policies

By NICOLE PERLROTH

Continued on Page A8

Shortly after Senator BernieSanders suffered a crushing lossin South Carolina’s Democraticprimary in 2016, his campaign’sAfrican-American outreach teamsent a memo to top campaignleaders with an urgent warning.

“The margin by which we lostthe African-American vote hasgot to be — at the very least — cutin half or there simply is no path tovictory,” the team wrote in thememo, which was reviewed byThe New York Times. Mr. Sandershad won 14 percent of the blackvote there compared with 86 per-cent for Hillary Clinton, accordingto exit polls.

Over seven pages, the team out-lined a strategy for winning blackvoters that included using socialmedia influencers and having Mr.Sanders give a major speech ondiscrimination in a city like St.Louis or Cincinnati.

Mr. Sanders’s inner circle didnot respond.

In a campaign in which Mr.Sanders badly needed his mes-sage against inequality to catchfire with black voters, the senatorfrom Vermont and his senior lead-ers struggled to prioritize and ex-ecute a winning plan to build theirsupport. Top aides lost faith intheir African-American outreachorganizers, whose leadership wasreplaced and whose team mem-bers were scattered across thecountry. Initiatives like a tour ofhistorically black colleges anduniversities fizzled; Mr. Sanderseven missed its kickoff event.

As Mr. Sanders prepares to an-nounce another run for the WhiteHouse as early as this week, his

Sanders’s TaskFor Black Vote:Fixing Damage

By SYDNEY EMBER

Continued on Page A13

HASAKA, Syria — More thanfour years ago, the Federal Bu-reau of Investigation appealed tothe public to help identify the nar-rator in one of the Islamic State’sbest-known videos, showing cap-tured Syrian soldiers diggingtheir own graves and then beingshot in the head.

Speaking fluent English with aNorth American accent, the manwould go on to narrate countlessother videos and radio broadcastsby the Islamic State, serving asthe terrorist group’s facelessevangelist to Americans andother English speakers seeking tolearn about its toxic ideology.

Now a 35-year-old Canadian cit-izen, who studied at a college inToronto and once worked in infor-mation technology at a companycontracted by IBM, says he is theanonymous narrator.

That man, Mohammed Khalifa,captured in Syria last month by anAmerican-backed militia, spoke inhis first interview about being thevoice of the 2014 video, known as

Canadian FaceBehind a VoicePromoting ISISBy RUKMINI CALLIMACHI

Mohammed Khalifa says henarrated a brutal ISIS video.

IVOR PRICKETT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A6

As China detains vast numbers of Ui-ghurs and other Muslims, their rela-tives are demanding answers. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-8

Keeping Track of the MissingThe Atlanta rapper, facing deportation,talks with Jon Caramanica about grow-ing up in London, his arrival in Americaand what lies ahead. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-8

21 Savage Speaks Out

Amazon has pulled the plug on itsQueens campus, but Google plans todouble its work force in the city, andFacebook, Apple and other companiesare also expanding. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-6

New York City’s Tech BoomFor the Islanders this season, bouncingbetween two home arenas has not hurttheir win-loss record. PAGE D2

SPORTSMONDAY D1-7

Twice the Home IceEfforts to grant elements of nature legalrights have been around for decades.It’s a strategy voters in Toledo, Ohio,are being asked to weigh. PAGE A9

NATIONAL A9-14

Legal Rights for Lake Erie?

The police charged a second man withmurder over a robbery that led to thekilling of a detective. PAGE A16

NEW YORK A15-17, 20

More Charges in Officer’s Death

Bill de Blasio PAGE A19

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A18-19

In a country where wealth usuallycomes from mining or banking, thebillionaire co-founders of Atlassian area new kind of household name. Andthey’re getting into politics. PAGE B1

Australia’s Uncommon MogulsAfter three late wrecks wiped out morethan half the field, Denny Hamlin wonthe event for the second time. PAGE D4

Chaotic Finish at Daytona 500

Medicaid abortion coverage is requiredonly in certain, limited circumstances,but some states don’t provide it. PAGE A14

States Flout Abortion Rules

Israel’s prime minister wants to pro-mote shared interests, but the past hasbeen a stumbling block. PAGE A5

Israel Reaches Out to Poland

Late EditionToday, cloudy, morning showers inareas, high 42. Tonight, partlycloudy, cold, low 23. Tomorrow,sunny to partly cloudy, a colder day,high 36. Weather map, Page D8.

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