CityBeat | May 29, 2024

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CONTRIBUTING

that day and each charged with trespassing and “conspiracy while wearing a disguise,” a felony charge for wearing medical face masks while protesting. If the latter charge seems strange, that’s because it is. The Ohio law was created in 1953 in response to ongoing violence by the Ku Klux Klan, saying it is a felony to commit a crime, including misdemeanors, with two or more people “while wearing white caps, masks or other disguise,” according to Ohio Revised Code 3761.12. Ohio is one of 15 states with such anti-mask laws still on the books, according to the Free Speech Center at East Tennessee State University.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sent a letter to Ohio university presidents on May 6 saying he could use the law in response to recent pro-Palestinian student protests seen across the state.

“I write to inform your student bodies of an Ohio law that, in the context of some behavior during the recent pro-Palestinian protests, could have that effect,” Yost said in his letter.

Felony Disguise Charges Dropped Against Xavier Pro-Palestinian Protesters

The 1953 “anti-disguise” law was written to curb the KKK. Now, Attorney General Dave Yost is using the law to crack down on pro-Palestinian protesters.

BY MADELINE FENING

Two pro-Palestinian protesters who were arrested on Xavier University’s campus nearly faced felony charges for demonstrating, but not for the reasons you might expect. The arrests

On Saturday, May 11, Sophia “Soup” Dempsey, an XU student, and XU alum Julia Lankisch, both 22, were arrested by campus police around 7:30 a.m. outside the Cintas Center where a graduation commencement was set to begin a few hours later.

“They were holding a Palestinian flag by this statue, and that was about it,” said Andrew Zolides, an XU professor who also leads Take it On, a university program for civic engagement. “But they weren’t making any noise. They were just standing, both kind of holding the flag.”

Dempsey and Lankisch were protesting Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza, which has left more than 34,000 Palestinians dead since Oct. 7 when Hamas militants killed upward of 1,200 Israelis in a terror attack. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have told

reporters that forces are conducting a “precise counterterrorism operation in specific areas of eastern Rafah,” including “targeted raids,” according to CNN. Israeli airstrikes hitting Rafah have killed hundreds of civilians since late March, according to NPR.

Zolides told CityBeat that Dempsey and Lankisch, the only two protesters there, were approached by campus police within 15 minutes of starting their demonstration. Zolides said he immediately walked over to the scene to offer help.

“I was about 30 or so yards away — because I wasn’t a part of the protest; I wasn’t organizing; it was them. By the time I got there, they were under arrest,” he said. “Probably from police approaching to being arrested, I would say was probably 60 seconds. Maybe.”

The protesters allegedly declined the option presented by officers to move their demonstration to a universitysanctioned protest stage outside of Husman Hall, which is on the other side of the Cintas Center. Zoliedes isn’t sure when university officials deemed

the raised platform in front of Husman Hall fair game for protesters, but he told CityBeat the location choice from the university appears intentional.

“The entrance to Cintas and Husman stage, there is zero visibility between those,” he said. “They might as well have told them you have to be inside a building and in a closet.”

XU said in a statement released after the arrests that their officers gave Dempsey and Lankisch a chance to leave the area.

“Per our policy, Xavier University Police requested that both individuals relocate to the appropriate demonstration area. After this request was ignored, police notified the two protesters that if they did not relocate, they would be arrested. After the two continued to ignore law enforcement, both were arrested and placed into custody without incident,” the statement reads.

The charges

Dempsey and Lankisch were booked in the Hamilton County Justice Center

Violating the “anti-disguise” law is a fourth-degree felony punishable by between six and 18 months in jail, up to $5,000 in fines and five years of probation, according to Yost.

The felony masking charges were ultimately ignored by a grand jury just hours after the defendants’ arraignments, according to an update to court documents on the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts website. According to a spokesperson for the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office, the language of the ‘50s-era law officers used to charge Dempsey and Lankisch requires at least three people to be masked in order to meet the threshold for probable cause, not two. Dempsey and Lankisch still face trespassing charges for their demonstration.

Why are students wearing masks to protests?

Teagan Fowler is an XU student involved in the Xavier University Free Palestine student group, which is not officially sanctioned by the university. She told CityBeat that Yost’s threats to utilize the ‘50s anti-mask law does not get to the heart of what makes some campus protests potentially dangerous.

“Most of the protests and encampments for Palestine on U.S. campuses have been peaceful. And if they have escalated to violence, in almost all cases, the protesters have not been the ones to escalate it; the police have,” Fowler said.

Fowler said the masks themselves aren’t necessarily meant to conceal the identities of protesters; they’re also there to protect people in crowded groups.

“Most protests have that etiquette

Sophia “Soup” Dempsey, a XU student, (left) and XU alum Julia Lankischone (right) were arraigned at the Hamilton County Justice Center on May 13.

PHOTO: MADELINE FENING

of, if you’re going to go somewhere, if you’re going to be in a community space with people demonstrating, you never know who’s going to be immunocompromised,” she said. “For everybody’s safety, you make sure that you either have a mask or wear a mask.”

In the statement released by XU after the arrests, the university mentions how important this graduation ceremony was for students “who missed out on experiencing their high school graduations because of COVID-19.”

Against the backdrop of a commencement ceremony for students who started their college years during the pandemic, the felony masking charges against Dempsey and Lankisch felt like an insult to Fowler.

“These students were wearing COVID masks outside of the graduation of what our own president deemed to be the ‘COVID cohort.’ So that layer of irony is definitely not lost on the Xavier and Cincinnati communities,” Fowler said.

A culture of free expression

In XU’s statement on the arrests, the university also mentions that “free expression” is at the core of Xavier’s mission.

“Xavier also has a nearly 200-year-old commitment to supporting free inquiry and free expression in the pursuit of truth, principles which lie at the very core of our mission and identity as a Jesuit Catholic work, grounded in the liberal arts. As an institution, we wholeheartedly encourage the exchange of diverse ideas and viewpoints as central to the development of the whole person. Further, we are steadfast in creating an environment of Ignatian belonging, where all are encouraged to engage in peaceful assembly for the exchange of ideas,” the statement reads.

Fowler agrees that Xavier has a centuries-old tradition of free expression, which is why she’s shocked to see felony charges against two peaceful protesters.

“This is what the students are called to do,” she said. “This is why people come to Xavier, to carry on this tradition, and to have that tradition be discouraged on such a huge day, on the graduation of a class who has been the backbone of so many social movements, especially in their high school and college years, was almost dystopian.”

Soon after the protesters were arrested, XU posted a collection of photos from the weekend’s commencement ceremony on Facebook, with a caption meant to inspire graduates.

“Advice for our grads from St. Ignatius Loyola: Go forth and set the world on fire. Laugh and grow strong. Pray as if God will take care of all; act as if all is up to you.”

City of Cincinnati Sues Real Estate Investment Company Accused of Allowing Squalid Living Conditions at Apartments

BY KATHERINE BARRIER

In an ongoing effort to hold out-of-town landlords accountable, the City of Cincinnati has filed a lawsuit against a Florida multifamily real estate investment company that owns hundreds of housing units in the city.

REM Capital, headquartered in Bradenton, Florida, has a housing portfolio that extends across nine states, according to its website. That portfolio includes five apartment complexes in the city of Cincinnati: Heirlooms of Cincinnati in Bond Hill, Wyoming Crossing and Eagles Watch in West Price Hill, 5501 @ Norwood (formerly Williamstown) in Pleasant Ridge and The Views of Mt. Airy in Mt. Airy. Across these five complexes, REM owns about 850 housing units.

In a press release, the city says the lawsuit was filed by the Quality of Life Division of the City Solicitor’s Office, accusing the investment company of maintaining substandard living conditions, specifically

at Heirlooms, where complaints of rat and cockroach infestations, raw sewage leaks and a lack of hot water and heat are pervasive.

“We have been crystal clear as an administration: If you are coming into the city, buying up properties and neglecting them, you will be held accountable. We have been hard at work through policy, investments, and litigation to ensure residents have access to safe, quality, affordable homes — and this lawsuit is a continuation of our aggressive work to protect and support tenants throughout Cincinnati,” Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval said in the release.

The city says these issues at Heirlooms are affecting some of Cincinnati’s most vulnerable residents, including children, the elderly and those with serious health concerns. The aim of the lawsuit, it says, is to ensure that Cincinnati residents have safe, healthy and dignified living conditions, and it requests the court to order REM Capital to maintain its properties and appoint a receiver to improve conditions at

Heirlooms.

“I want to applaud City Solicitor Emily Smart Woerner and her team for their exhaustive efforts addressing problem properties in the City of Cincinnati. Everyone deserves a safe, clean place to live. Our solicitor’s office is tireless in its work to see that promise fulfilled for all Cincinnatians,” City Manager Sheryl Long said in the release.

The lawsuit will be heard in the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas. CityBeat reached out to REM Capital for comment, but has not heard back at the time of this writing.

The city’s solicitor’s office has also pursued legal action against other landlords, including Vinebrook Homes, Wallick Properties, Avi Ohad/H&E Enterprises and Williamsburg Apartments.

In January 2023, the owner of Williamsburg Apartments pleaded guilty to a $165 million mortgage fraud conspiracy in federal court, according to an announcement from the U.S. Justice Department.

Paycor to Move Headquarters into Downtown Cincinnati’s Former Saks Fifth Avenue Building

BY KATHERINE BARRIER

Abig Cincinnati company is moving its headquarters to downtown.

3CDC said Wednesday that human capital management software company Paycor, which is currently based in Norwood, will occupy the second floor of the former Saks Fifth Avenue store on Fifth Street, which 3CDC just purchased. The new space will serve as a hub for training, corporate events and hosting associates from across the country.

“We are thrilled to announce the relocation of Paycor’s headquarters to the former Saks Fifth Avenue building, a move that aligns with our virtual-first approach and meets the evolving needs of our business,” Raul Villar Jr., chief executive officer at Paycor, said in a press release. “This central location, with easy access to airports, hotels and entertainment, will provide a collaborative workspace for our employees, optimizing our footprint while maintaining our commitment to the Greater Cincinnati Region. We are excited about this new

chapter and the opportunities it brings for enhanced experiences for our employees, customers and partners.”

Buildout of the space will begin this fall, with it expected to be ready for move-in next summer. When it’s finished, the office will feature over 100 workstations and an assembly space for hosting large gatherings. In-person engagements in the new headquarters are expected to bring hundreds of associates through Cincinnati each month, the space can host around 500 people. There will also be a balcony at the corner of Fifth and Race streets with views of Fountain Square and the convention center.

3CDC says along with Paycor’s space, the former Saks building will undergo a $30-million redevelopment that will create 13,000 square feet of restaurant space and 20,000 square feet of additional office space on the first floor. Other redevelopment plans include a new glass curtain wall system for the building’s façade; a new roof; mechanical, electrical, plumbing and

fire systems; and an expanded sidewalk for outdoor dining.

The nonprofit says the project is a continuation of its work at The Foundry across the street, a mixed-use development that’s home to offices of Divisions Maintenance Group, Deloitte LLP and Turner Construction Co., as well as restaurant and entertainment spots like Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse, The Davidson and Five Iron Golf. Two concepts — a London-style pub from Crown Restaurant Group and an elevated sports bar called Vintage — are also in the works.

“Signing on such a high-profile anchor tenant at 101 W. Fifth Street keeps the momentum going that we generated with the development of The Foundry across the street,” Adam Gelter, executive vice president of 3CDC, said. “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Paycor on the organization’s new corporate headquarters, and to be able to activate this vacant space in the heart of downtown so quickly after finalizing the purchase of the building.”

REM Capital owns five apartment complexes in Cincinnati PHOTO: GOOGLE MAPS

Opinion: More In-Depth Reporting on LGBTQ+ Issues is Critical to Curbing Misinformation and Harmful Rhetoric

BY EVAN MILLWARD

OPINION

Pride Month is here again. But along with the parties and parades, there is rhetoric and misinformation about the LGBTQ+ community in increasing volume.

That means journalism — and the journalists writing this first draft of history — must evaluate systems and style when it comes to covering the LGBTQ+ community.

In my ten years in Cincinnati media, I’ve seen a lot of great growth. There’s still work to do.

June offers easy access to one example of how modern journalism can do better: profile and cover queer joy. Show queer people being just that — people: doing everyday things, in our everyday jobs, with our everyday families. It’s amazing how often our humanity gets lost.

Many of us have lost sight — or didn’t know — that Pride started with protest, born out of oppression and harassment. It was an uprising.

What’s old is new again.

News coverage of LGBTQ+ issues has been — and is still — playing catch-up. It is well documented that, largely, early coverage of the AIDS epidemic lacked accountability and was skewed or nonexistent. It led to many misconceptions people still have today and arguably contributed to the slow, fatal national response.

More recently, news outlets have struggled with transgender coverage — misgendering or deadnaming people continues. Trans voices often aren’t heard even when they’re the center of the storyline.

It should be acknowledged here that I’m a white, cisgender gay man. There’s a TON of privilege in that space.

I reached out to a transgender journalist I’ve admired for her transparent transition, shared with viewers in Iowa. Nora

break a story, you build reader loyalty by not missing an update.

Reporters today have tighter deadlines than ever and are being asked to do more with less, more quickly. Shoot and edit a TV story, write a story for the website, make a reel or vertical video — in far less than the eight hour shift.

News is a team sport, and it takes the whole team to make sure LGBTQ+ coverage gets the full, fair story.

Newsrooms must bake diversity into their editorial DNA. As a newsroom, ask: ‘HOW are covering this story?’ and ‘WHO are we talking to for it?’

Lean on LGBTQ+ members of the newsroom who are willing to help. If there are none, that’s a deeper issue. In the Cincinnati market, every newsroom has at least one.

Words matter so much, and it is critical to take the patently wrong, politically charged language out of coverage. LGBTQ+ people are not “mentally ill,” or “groomers.” Hate speech has no place in legitimate journalism. There are ways to cover all sides without regurgitating rhetoric.

Newsrooms need to be up-to-date on the latest language around the LGBTQ+ community. The National Association of Lesbian and Gay Journalists (NLGJA) and the Trans Journalists Association have great stylebooks and resources for this.

J.S. Reichardt is now with a TV station and website in Illinois and graciously let me pick her brain and experience for this piece. Her notes are sprinkled throughout.

“The vague sense of animosity that many people sometimes feel towards trans people was often disarmed when people realized that I’m a real person, one of their neighbors, not some boogeyman that gets used to stir up discontent…This is why it’s so important to really work to include trans voices in stories not about our issues. We’re impacted by road construction, tax cuts, neighborhood initiatives and all the other sorts of things that news outlets cover every day, and we can talk about those things, too! These sorts of “minor” stories can also really help plant that seed that we’re totally normal people that our cis neighbors don’t need to have any fear of.

- Nora J.S. Reichardt

The rhetoric and the tenor from some of our lawmakers — and even our families — have been relentless, especially noticeable the past couple years. It feels increasingly hostile and often personal. Many newsrooms aren’t blessed enough to have a dedicated statehouse reporter or bureau. It falls on local reporters and assignment editors to keep tabs on bills as they move through the legislative process, which can be confusing and slow (or sometimes sneakily quick).

But the follow-up is a public service. And our audiences demand it. I spent years preaching to new reporters that you win with the follow-up. Even if you didn’t

Some of the biggest issues I see in LGBTQ+ coverage continue to be in making sources and building the trust to include the voices of the people being impacted by legislation — going more than skin deep.

A drag ban on the table? Introduce me to a drag performer and show me why they spend the time and money on what is often a side job.

Proposals to limit gender-affirming care or to ban trans kids in sports? I want to know how many people this impacts and what the current protocol is for diagnosing and treating kids with gender dysphoria. In sports, let’s find out exactly how many trans kids in the area or state are actually playing. And, in a point I think gets overlooked, which gender they are. These bans seemingly only target trans girls.

“While Ohio was considering restrictions on gender-affirming care for trans youth, the New York Times was running piece after piece on plagiarism allegations against Harvard’s former president, Claudine Gay. On top of that, the stories that do end up being written are often severely lacking and tend to center a perceived medical debate over actual day-to-day lives of trans people ourselves. A recent GLAAD analysis found that approximately 66% of the paper’s news articles on trans issues didn’t include an interview with a trans person. This is a disservice to readers, especially coming from the outlet that’s supposed to be the nation’s paper of record. It’s also not without real-life consequences. NYT coverage has been cited in legal briefs defending bans on hormone replacement therapy.

- Nora J.S. Reichardt

Recently, I’ve seen more media companies launching LGBTQ+ employee resource groups (ERGs), which can also be resources when covering stories in this community. These groups also help create welcoming environments within which to work. Scripps Pride and Out@ NBCUniversal are two really good examples.

Our role as journalists is to keep these stories in the spotlight, seek accountability and build understanding. By being out on TV and advocating for LGBTQ+ inclusion in everyday storytelling and special coverage focused on LGBTQ+ issues, I’ve been in a unique position to see the impact it makes.

Take this note I got from a young viewer last year after I hosted a firstof-its-kind-in-the-region special on Pride and LGBTQ issues in 2021 in prime access: “I don’t know what I would have done if I had sat down to watch the evening news with my family as a kid and [saw] this.” I’d like to see more resources and time dedicated to depth in covering the LGBTQ+ community locally — more than history depends on it. This Pride Month, let’s make the commitment to further improving coverage of these issues in every month. The issues — and LGBTQ+ people — exist year-round.

Happy Pride!

Evan Millward spent the past 10 years as an anchor and reporter at WCPO 9 News. Prior to that, he was an anchor/reporter in Columbia, Missouri and wrote for newspapers in Dayton and Columbus. He is currently the president of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences - Ohio Valley board and was named Best Anchor in Ohio by the Society of Professional Journalists in 2022.

Evan Millward is a former WCPO anchor and reporter PHOTO: PROVIDED BY EVAN MILLWARD

In Conversation with the Midwestern Lesbian

CityBeat discusses the best Pride events, how to find community as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and more with Cincinnati social media influencer the Midwestern Lesbian.

BY ASHLEY MOOR

If you’ve ever found yourself searching for LGBTQ+ events in Greater Cincinnati, it’s highly likely that you’ve stumbled across Kelsey Ference’s LGBTQ+ resource, the Midwestern Lesbian. Since 2021, when she’s not crafting media content for a local brewery, Ference is busy promoting local LGBTQ+ events, businesses, organizations and people in Greater Cincinnati on the Midwestern Lesbian’s social media accounts — @midwestern.lesbian on Instagram, @midwesternlesbian on TikTok and Midwestern Lesbian on Facebook — and website. So, to make sense of the jampacked schedule of events during Pride Month, CityBeat picked Ference’s brain about her favorite Cincinnati Pride events, local LGBTQ+ businesses and more.

CityBeat: Tell us about the creation of the Midwestern Lesbian. When did it

start and what purpose does it serve in the local LGBTQ+ community? What inspired you?

Kelsey Ference: I created Midwestern Lesbian in 2021. I was working at a local brewery at the time as a social media coordinator and was creating weekly/ monthly calendars of events that the brewery was doing and thought to myself, “Why isn’t there something like this for the LGBTQ+ community?” So I created it myself! I started making weekly posts about the local LGBTQ+ events going on in the city so everyone in the community would have a place to go to find safe and queer spaces. This led me into helping coordinate the Rhinegeist Halloween Drag Show! Myself and the team at Rhinegeist created the first public drag show there and it was incredibly successful. From this event, someone from the Hard Rock Casino reached

out to me to talk about creating a drag brunch. This was the first time I would coordinate an event by myself, and it was so rewarding! I learned so much and got to work with some amazing performers in the Tri-State area. Once that ended, I began to create my own events. Now, I’m coordinating events like Sapphic Sips (a pop-up event at different bars, breweries, etc. for sapphic folx), The Big Gay Bar Crawl, Big Gay Karaoke and more!

CB: Since the Midwestern Lesbian social media accounts have done such a great job of promoting Greater Cincinnati LGBTQ+ events, can you share a few of your favorite LGBTQ+ events taking place this summer?

KF: Choosing just a few favorite LGBTQ+ events happening this summer will be so hard! I have a bunch of events this June so I’ll try to keep it brief.

1. I’m excited to announce that I’ll be partnering with the Cincinnati Cougars Women’s Tackle Football team for their Pride Night on June 1. They’ll be playing at 7 p.m. at Walnut Hills High School. There will be vendors and a half-time show, with an afterparty at Esoteric Brewing.

2. Northern Kentucky Pride is one of my favorite Prides to attend. It’s on June 2 and the afterparty at Hotel Covington is the MOST fun!

3. Catch me at Rhinegeist Brewing for their Pride event. Enjoy their Pride brew, Miss Major (fun fact: named by yours truly!) It will include a clothing drive with Transform Cincy, Drag Bingo with Queen City Charities, and rainbow popsicle cocktails with

Street Pops.

4. Reds Pride Night! Cincinnati Pride does a Reds game takeover every June and I’m so excited to be able to go to this one! It’s on June 7.

5. I’m hosting at Big Gay Game Night at Pins in OTR on June 18.

6. Of course I’m so excited for Cincinnati Pride this year! Myself and DJ Boywife are co-chairs on the Cincinnati Pride planning committee and we have a lot of fun things planned for the festival! Be sure to come and check it out on June 22.

7. I’m also excited for an event I’m hosting at Queen City Exchange on June 28, a Sapphic Dance Party. We’ll be playing sapphic music all night, have drink specials, a photobooth and more!

8. Be sure to follow Midwestern Lesbian to keep up with all things LGBTQ+ in Cincinnati.

CB: In the same vein, what are some of your favorite Pride celebrations taking place in Greater Cincinnati this year?

KF: Like I said earlier, I love Cincinnati Pride; that’s on June 22. Northern Kentucky Pride is so much fun! This will be my third year going and it’s always such a good time. That will be on Sunday, June 2. Cincinnati Pride is hosting a Pride Night with the Reds on Friday, June 7, perfect for queer baseball fans!

CB: Can you also talk a bit about the events organized by the Midwestern Lesbian? What are some exciting events that you have coming up?

KF: I always love coordinating events

Kelsey Ference, AKA the Midwestern Lesbian PHOTO: CAITLIN CHRISENÉE PHOTO + VIDEO

Kelsey Ference with partner Caitlin Dunkley PHOTO: CAITLIN CHRISENÉE PHOTO + VIDEO

for the Sapphic community. Since there isn’t a “lesbian” bar in Cincinnati, I love creating spaces for Sapphics in the city. I’m hosting a “Sapphic Sips” which is basically a hangout event at a bar/brewery/etc. for sapphic people to come and meet other sapphic people, at Binski’s Bar on June 15, starting at 8 p.m. I also have a Sapphic Dance Party night at Queen City Exchange on June 28 starting at 9 p.m. I’ll have more sapphic events coming up but they haven’t been announced yet. We’re hosting a Big Gay Golf Night at Five Iron Golf by Fountain Square starting at 6 p.m. Simulator golf play will be free from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., but the event goes until 10 p.m.! Big Gay Karaoke is coming back on June 13 at Tokyo Kitty, starting at 7 p.m. There are a lot of fun and exciting events that I’ll be hosting this summer, so be sure to follow me to stay updated!

CB: Do you have any tips for LGBTQ+ folx who feel lonely, isolated or want to find a sense of community in the Greater Cincinnati area? How can they find new LGBTQ+ friends and allies in the area?

KF: It is very common for folx in the LGBTQ+ community to feel alone. Especially if they come out later in life. There are lots of events that happen in Cincinnati that people in the community may

not know about! From craft nights and book clubs, to dancing and drinking; I post a wide range of events so anyone can find other queer people with common interests. My advice is to step out of your comfort zone. I know that it’s stressful to do things you’re maybe not used to, but almost everyone there is in a similar position. Majority of people who come to our events, come to the first one alone and end up meeting new friends (or potential partners!) I met my girlfriend because she had the courage to come up and say hi to me one night, so it could be worth it!

CB: Given the recent legislative attacks against the LGBTQ+ community, have you noticed an increased interest in connection between LGBTQ+ folks in Greater Cincinnati? Is this open hostility something being discussed openly?

KF: I have seen a lot of growth within the LGBTQ+ community in the last year or so, especially with sapphic folx. It’s not easy to find places that are queer owned/friendly, and with that comes fear of going somewhere, being openly queer and not being accepted. I’ve found that there are a lot of spaces that aren’t labeled as a “queer space,” but our community has claimed them as safe spaces and know that they can go there and be accepted. The open hostility that is being

projected towards the LGBTQ+ community is being talked about well with the ACLU of Ohio. I have partnered with them on a few events and they do an amazing job at spreading awareness and educating people on what’s going on in the world, especially in the local areas. I know that it’s scary to learn about all of the bad things happening in the world, but it’s better to be educated on what’s going on than to have no clue about what could happen in the future when it comes to your own rights.

CB: What are your favorite LGBTQ+ and LGBTQ+-friendly establishments (stores, restaurants, bars, etc.) in Greater Cincinnati?

KF: Some of my favorite LGBTQ+-owned spaces/businesses are: Awarewolf Apparel, Creative House of Art & Design, Queen City Exchange, Lil’s Kitchen and so much more! I have a “Queer Owned” tab on my website that I’m working on updating often. The website and app “Everywhere Is Queer” is also a great resource.

Some of my favorite LGBTQ+-friendly establishments are: Liberty’s Bar & Bottle, Homemaker’s Bar, Coffia Coffee Shop, Pins Mechanical Co. and Tokyo Kitty!

CB: Do you have tips for first-timers at

Cincinnati Pride this year? Any recommendations for moments at Pride not to be missed?

KF: Water and sunscreen!! The day of Pride is always incredibly hot and sunny. I couldn’t tell you the amount of times my friends and I have gotten burnt and been dehydrated. Be sure to follow Cincinnati Pride for the schedule of performances and utilize the map! There’s lots to see and so much fun to be had. Be sure to pace yourself throughout the day so you can stay and see the headlining performances!

CB: How can people find the Midwestern Lesbian? (Social media handles, website URLs, etc.)

KF: @midwestern.lesbian on Instagram, @midwesternlesbian on TikTok, facebook.com/midwesternles and midwesternlesbian.com!

CB: Is there anything else you’d like to share?

KF: I want to mention that Midwestern Lesbian wouldn’t be what it is now without my partner Caitlin — she has helped me elevate Midwestern Lesbian into what it is now. She truly motivates me to want to create more for our community. So I just want to thank her for all that she does and make sure that it doesn’t go unseen.

Midwestern Lesbian’s Barbie Party at Alice PHOTO: CAITLIN CHRISENÉE PHOTO + VIDEO

THE PRIDE

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT

TRANSGENDER YOUTH, PARENTS, DOCTORS AND ADVOCATES TELL CITYBEAT WHY GENDER-AFFIRMING MEDICAL CARE HAS BEEN A LIFESAVING SOLUTION FOR TRANS KIDS, NOT A MORAL PROBLEM.

BY MADELINE FENING

Kate dropped off her daughter at a swimming pool for a friend’s birthday party when she was 7 years old, but she didn’t leave.

“I watched you swimming for a while,” Kate says to her daughter, Mikey, now 8.

“You did?” Mikey asks, her narrowed eyes glowing curiously behind wispy blonde bangs.

“I left eventually,” Kate says with the slightest smirk. “But I always want to make sure that there are safe people around who know how to advocate for you.”

Kate and Mikey, who live in Cincinnati, have asked CityBeat not to use their real names for the sake of privacy. This is Kate’s new normal; moving in and out of spotlights and shadows like a knight protecting the most precious piece on a chess board, only able to go so far at one time.

“It feels like a layer of parenting challenge that other parents don’t have,” Kate tells CityBeat. “When we were talking a few years ago about joining Girl Scouts, I had to reach out and say, ‘Are transgender girls welcome in this Girl Scout troop?’”

Mikey is a transgender child, but as CityBeat learned one afternoon in a Cincinnati coffee shop, she’s so much more. She’s exceptionally good at math, already learning algebra outside of school with her dad for fun. She spends hours playing Minecraft, digitally digging away in search of the game’s valuable redstone. She prefers Taekwondo to swimming. Her favorite shirt is green with white stripes, probably because green is her favorite color – she says it’s calming.

“I can notice things that some

people don’t. Like, that kind of looks like a cloud,” Mikey says, pointing to a smudge of chalk on the coffee shop’s menu.

Nothing gets past Mikey, especially not her own true self.

“Kids, when they’re old enough, they tell the adults. She started to hint, like, ‘I would be on the girls team if I was on this [baking] show,’” Kate recalls. “Her transition started during COVID. She was in virtual kindergarten and she would unmute herself and say, ‘I’m a girl!’ to the class and then mute herself again.”

Kate admits she was a little slow to get on board with Mikey’s declarations at first, but Mikey couldn’t wait.

“One day my little kid said, ‘Mama, you keep calling me a boy and I’m not a boy!’ I said, ‘Okay! I have a daughter.’ I went to Target and I bought some pink clothes,” Kate says. “Now we celebrate that day as daughter day.”

“I still don’t like pink, though,” Mikey adds.

While socially transitioned, Mikey will have other adjustments to make in the years to come. Kate has every intention of continuing her daughter’s gender-affirming care as puberty draws near.

Gender-affirming care refers to a range of interventions “designed to support and affirm an individual’s gender identity” when their gender assigned at birth conflicts with the gender by which they want to be known, according to the World Health Organization. This can include a range of medical treatments, like hormones and surgery, though no Ohio children’s hospital performs gender-affirming surgery on patients under 18.

For children who have routinely

seen a therapist, usually one who specializes in discussions surrounding gender identity, the next step can be puberty blockers, and teens who have already been through puberty may start with hormone replacement therapy. Gender-affirming care for kids is widely considered to be safe, effective, and lifesaving by every major medical association in the country and across the world, including the American Board of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the National Association of Social Workers, the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, the Pediatric Endocrine Society and dozens more.

But resounding approval from the medical community hasn’t stopped lawmakers in Ohio from trying to take away this treatment option for kids and their families.

THE LEGISLATION

Since the start of 2023, lawmawers have introduced more than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in state legislatures across the United States, a new record, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU.)

In Ohio, there are several bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community, including a proposed ban on drag performances outside of licensed cabarets, but three bills in particular zero in on transgender and non-binary children and teens: House Bill 183, the “Protect All Students Act,” sponsored by Beth Lear (R-Galena) and Adam Bird (R-New Richmond), would keep transgender students from using bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity. HB 183 would require all Ohio K-12 schools and public and

private colleges to mandate that students only use the bathroom or locker room that matches their “biological sex” assigned at birth. The bill similarly prohibits trans students from sharing lodging accommodations with members of the “opposite sex” during overnight field trips. The bill passed out of the Higher Education Committee on April 10 by a 10-5 party line vote; it now heads to the full House for consideration.

House Bill 8, the “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” sponsored by Reps D.J. Swearingen (R-Huron) and Sara Carruthers (R-Hamilton), would require public schools to tell parents about “sexuality content” or “gender ideology” in class materials, which opponents say could include any topics or stories that depict same-sex couples or transgender characters. HB 8 would also directly impact transgender students by requiring school districts to notify parents about “any request by a student to identify as a gender that does not align with the student’s biological sex.” The bill passed the House in June of 2023 by a vote of 65-29, with one Republican voting against the bill. HB 8 sits in the Senate Education committee where it had its fourth hearing on April 24.

House Bill 68, the “Save Adolescents From Experimentation Act,” sponsored by Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery), bans gender-affirming care for minors in the state of Ohio. HB 68 prohibits doctors from prescribing cross-sex hormones or puberty blockers to minor patients. It also outlaws any type of genderaffirming surgery for minors, though physicians in the state widely agree that this does not take place in the state. The bill outlaws conduct that “aids and abets” patients’ access to care in other states. Patients who have already started

There's so much more to 8-year-old Mikey than her transgender identity; she loves Minecraft, dislikes the color pink and conquers complex math equations for fun. PHOTO: LYDIA SCHEMBRE

treatment in the state would be grandfathered in and allowed to continue treatment. The bill also prohibits transgender students from playing on sports teams that align with their gender identity.

During proponent testimony on HB 68, those testifying in support of banning gender-affirming medical care for trans youth included Stuart Long, a Columbus minister.

Long accused non-Christians who opposed the bill of being “possessed” by demons.

“The only thing that makes sense is demons are influencing people, allowing their bodies to be possessed to run satanic agendas,” Long says in the April 2023 hearing.

Public Health Policy Chair Scott Lipps (R-Franklin), who voted for the bill, reportedly made it clear that Long was not on Click’s invited witness list, but Click has made his spiritual feelings on this subject known before.

Click is a pastor at Fremont Baptist Church in Fremont, Ohio. In a 2018 recorded sermon posted to the church’s YouTube account, Click disregards that people can be transgender at all.

“You’re not born that way,” Click says during the sermon. “God’s not going to curse you in the wrong body. He’s not going to curse you with desires that cannot be adequately and appropriately and biologically fulfilled correctly.”

HB 68 passed the House in June of 2023 by a vote of 64-28, with two Republicans voting against, and went on to pass the Senate in December. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine vetoed the bill on Dec. 29, saying he listened to testimony from parents and doctors who know gender-affirming care to be lifesaving for kids. The House and Senate voted to override DeWine’s veto in January. Enforcement of HB 68 has been temporarily put on hold by a Franklin County judge as a lawsuit filed by the ACLU works its way through the courts.

Attorney General Dave Yost asked the Republican-dominated Supreme Court of Ohio to immediately institute the ban outlined in HB 68, but the court rejected Yost’s request on May 22.

The temporary restraining order was to expire on May 20 but was extended until July 15, when a hearing will be held for arguments.

Kate has testified before Ohio lawmakers in opposition to the proposed ban on gender-affirming healthcare for kids, for her daughter. Kate fights like hell and she’s not letting up, but she tells CityBeat she’s preparing for the worst.

“I don’t trust Ohio politics to go the right way, so we have an appointment to establish care at the Ann Arbor Children’s Hospital gender clinic in June,” she says. “We’re gonna have to travel 500 miles roundtrip for our daughter’s doctor’s appointment. Once a year until puberty, and then it’ll probably be

several times a year.”

It’s hard to say how many transgender children and teens live in the United States, let alone Ohio. After all, trans children with unsupportive parents are significantly less likely to appear on the radar of researchers and clinicians. But early insights from the 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey, a study conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), show the survey collected data from 8,159 trans individuals ages 16 to 18.

RAISING TWO TRANSGENDER KIDS

Kat Scaglione is the proud mom of three kids, two of whom are transgender, but they were too young to show up on the NCTE survey. Her youngest, Lexi, came out as trans when she was 4. Now 10, Sacglione says there were always signs that Lexi was really a girl.

“The first thing was they had a superhero or princess day at their daycare,” Scaglione says. “She wanted to wear a princess dress. And that kind of stayed consistent until 4 when she was able to verbalize to me, like, ‘I’m a girl.’”

Her oldest daughter, Amity, now 15, came out later.

“Amity realized how hard it was and how involved it was and how stressed we were. Because, even though it was easy to accept Lexi, making some of those changes, having hard conversations with neighbors and friends and family, can be difficult,” Scaglione says. “She made the decision to just kind of keep it in – she didn’t want to add to everything else.”

It wasn’t until 6th grade when Amity started to express herself differently, talking with her mom about the possibility she may be gay, perhaps non-binary.

“Lexi has, up until this point, lived a completely normal life, I suppose, and been treated like everyone else,” she says. “And for Amity, she was doing this in the public eye.”

The watchful, oftentimes judgemental gaze of the public was what Scaglione wanted Amity to consider. Things would be different for her, she’d become a target.

“I was told, like, oh, well, you should experiment some before you make that big decision,” Amity tells CityBeat. “And I found out later that that’s really just because there are a lot of risks with embracing your true self, especially in this day and age. It was more so just out of concern for like, if this is who you want to be then you have to be ready to handle everything that comes with that.”

But Amity was ready. By 8th grade, she had started socially transitioning. Pronouns, name, clothes; Amity started

changing everything simultaneously. Her mom helped to freshen up her wardrobe of t-shirts, hoodies and jeans to include new pieces that reflected pieces of herself.

“It’s not that I don’t still wear those things, I just have expanded,” Amity says. “Now I have all these fun big socks and stocking stuff. I also have a bunch of jewelry I wear now, so that’s much different.”

Next came months of therapy, the common requisite doctors require before gender-affirming medical care. She then started spironolactone, a medication that lowers testosterone production.

So far, the physical changes from spironolactone have been minimal, almost unnoticeable to Amity. But she says her mental health has improved before everyone’s eyes.

“I hear from a lot of people that I’ve looked a lot happier since then,” Amity says.

Simply put, happiness is how genderaffirming care outcomes are measured.

Dr. Laura Mintz is an Internal Medicine-Pediatrics physician in the PRIDE Network and Center for Health Equity Engagement, Education, and Research (CHEEER) at the MetroHealth System in Cleveland and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

“As people go through the process of gender-affirming care and coming into alignment, you see people just blossom and grow and become themselves, Mintz tells CityBeat. “It is the most beautiful thing.”

HOW GENDERAFFIRMING MEDICINE WORKS

Mintz says, like all healthcare, genderaffirming medical care is tailored to the needs of the patient, but all patients will start with parental conversation, psychological evaluation, extensive therapy, understanding of risks and benefits and social transition. Then, depending on the patient’s age, the conversation may continue with puberty blockers.

PUBERTY BLOCKERS

“The way that we have hormones at puberty is that it’s a cycle, where it’s a feedback loop, where the brain is signaling the organs, either the testicles or the ovaries, to spit out hormones,” Mintz says. “What [puberty] blockers do is they interrupt that cycle and suppress the activity in the brain. It just kind of shuts the whole thing down. So instead of adding any hormones in, essentially, this just puts a pause on those early puberty cycles where the estrogen and progesterone or the testosterone start being produced at the rates that produce puberty.”

This doesn’t mean that trans children never go through puberty, Mintz says. Like a car that drives in manual, patients who undergo gender-affirming care during puberty stages are in the driver’s seat.

“If they begin these blockers, what happens is that we put a pause for a while," they say. "Sometimes that’s about also allowing the child to continue

Lexi's future access to gender-affirming medical care hangs in the balance in Ohio.

PHOTO: PROVIDED

to explore their gender identity, to do things like social transition, although lots of young people are already socially transitioned by the time they get near any medication. Then when it is time for puberty, we basically add the typical hormones in of the patient’s affirmed gender. So we start estrogen and then sometimes progesterone for trans-feminine kiddos, and dose it in such a way that mimics the puberty cycle.”

SPIRONOLACTONE

Not all transgender kids start medical gender-affirming care before puberty. Some trans-feminine patients who have already been through puberty may get prescribed spironolactone, which doesn’t add estradiol (typically referred to as female hormones), but suppresses testosterone (typically referred to as male hormones).

“Spironolactone is actually originally a blood pressure medication,” Mintz says. “But it also works to deplete testosterone in the body quite effectively. We use it obviously in lower doses in children. The idea is to stop the permanent changes that testosterone can drive in in people’s bodies so that they don’t end up with effects that can’t be changed or also are disturbing and disruptive and extremely distressing.”

HORMONE THERAPY

Mintz says patients won’t start hormone therapy until around age 16, which is a general guideline from the Endocrine Society, but every patient is different.

While trans-masculine patients may only need testosterone hormones to achieve their desired outcome, Mintz says trans-feminine patients may need medication like spironolactone to suppress testosterone in order for the estrogen hormone to drive home their desired outcome.

“If you give someone testosterone at a high enough dose, you will be eventually looking at someone who on the outside, most people would read as male,” Mintz says. “Estradiol is the most common hormone that we use for trans-feminine women and girls.”

Support from family and loved ones is crucial during this stage of genderaffirming medical care, Mintz says. “It is a whole family system plan to, again, make sure that the child feels good in their body, good in themselves, you know, here in the world as they understand themselves,” they say.

THE STAKES

Advocates of gender-affirming care access often refer to the treatment as lifesaving. Transgender and nonbinary young people are at greater risk of

depression and suicide compared to those who are cisgender and straight, including cisgender members of the LGBTQ+ community, according to the Trevor Project, a nonprofit suicide prevention organization that provides 24/7 crisis support services, research and advocacy for LGBTQ+ youth. The Trevor Project’s 2023 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People found roughly half of transgender and nonbinary youth had seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. Black transgender and nonbinary young people reported even more elevated rates of suicide risk, with 58% seriously considering suicide and 25% attempting suicide in the past year.

“I mean, think about what it would be like for you, and each individual has to think about this,” Mintz says. “To endure your body betraying you in a deep way, your body continuing to look more and more like something that feels like not you, the pain of that is astonishing. Truly, gender-affirming care really, really, really transforms that feeling.”

While transgender people in Ohio can begin the process of medical gender-affirming care once they reach adulthood, Jay VanLandingham, board president of Cincinnati’s Transgender Advocacy Council (TAC), tells CityBeat that the trauma of living in an unsupportive environment doesn’t just go away in adulthood.

“The main concern is the mental health burden as they become adults,” he says. “We’re just seeing more of an increase in depression, anxiety, real fears and real concerns, just more recently, with the legislation, with whatever might happen with the upcoming election.”

Even transgender adults who are happily affirmed can deeply feel the impacts of Ohio’s trans youth being targeted by lawmakers, VanLandingham says.

“There’s something to be said about vicarious trauma,” he says. “It may not directly be impacting adults, but when [trans adults] see it happening to trans youth, it still affects us directly – it’s an impact, psychologically.”

Kate switched pediatricians after Mikey’s doctor recommended she raise Mikey as a boy, which Kate theorized was unsolicited faith-based advice. CityBeat asked Kate what she thinks life would be like if she followed that advice. There’s a pause.

“Part of the argument around trans kids is that they’re so young. And I just want to say, if my kid grows up as a man – number one, I’d be surprised –but number two, my kid will have been affirmed their entire life and loved and driven 500 miles to the doctor,” Kate says, tears rolling down her cheeks. “Why would that ever be a bad thing? I would never regret parenting my child like that.”

ONE CHILD GRANDFATHERED IN,

ONE CHILD AWAITS ANSWERS

There’s only a five-year age gap between Scaglione’s two transgender kids, but there could potentially be a huge gap in their access to gender-affirming healthcare. Should the ACLU lose the fight against HB 68 in court, Lexi would need to seek gender-affirming medicine out of state.

“We’re experiencing both parts of what’s happening right now,” Scaglione says. “Lexi is really too young to receive any care.[...] With Amity, we’ve been very fortunate that she is grandfathered in.”

Scaglione says she’s been panicked for nearly a year, worried that Lexi won’t have the same options as Amity, the same chance to thrive.

“To see Amity go from a kid who was painfully shy and really self-conscious and anxious, depressed and just really struggling, and to watch her just be absolutely amazing…I mean, she didn’t talk to anybody, was depressed about going to school every day, used to have anxiety about going to school,” Scaglione says. “Now, within the first couple weeks of school this year, she joined five clubs.”

At only 15, Amity has already toured two prospective colleges where she’s interested in studying art. She posts pictures of her art to Instagram and Tumblr, mostly digital illustrations of comics. She doodles in class all the time, either on her iPad or in the margins of assignments. She said she’s starting to get a reputation for her work.

“I’ve become very well known around the school now, apparently,” she says. “The lady at the front desk of the office started asking me to [draw] stuff.”

Like most teens, Amity loves rock and electronic music. Her favorite food is still a classic PB&J. But defending her rights, defending Lexi’s rights, has forced her to mature in ways not asked of cisgendered teenagers.

“It definitely does force you to grow up, because you have to,” Amity says. “Especially when you’re a target for a group of people. I don’t want to have to dedicate my life to telling people how badly I want my rights, because it’s like, I have other things that I want to do. But at the same time, I want other people in my community to be able to receive this healthcare.”

HOW ALLIES CAN PROMOTE COMMUNITY

Minna Zelch is on the leadership team of Trans Allies of Ohio (TAO), a grassroots group of volunteers who organize around helping Ohio’s trans community. TAO

connects parents of transgender children with one another, with safe doctors, with the information and support they need to navigate a world that, to them, may be entirely new.

“We have all these parents now who are trying to advocate for their minor children and probably have never done this before,” Zelch says. “Maybe they’re up to speed, but chances are they’ve probably never gone to the statehouse, they’ve probably never written testimony, they really probably have never given testimony. But now they need to do this, and that can be terrifying.”

For these long days of parent testimony – sometimes as long as 15 hours – TAO will rent a room at the statehouse for parents and their kids to treat like a home base. Zelch calls this their “community care room.”

“It’s exhausting, and you don’t always know who’s an okay person to talk to. So we are just a safe place where we know people can come and just decompress either before or after testimony,” Zelch says.

Scaglione found not only relief in TAO’s community care room, but peers. Other moms and kids who shared in her experience, both the good and heartbreaking parts.

“You’re with these politicians who are just…it’s like speaking into a vacuum. They do not care what you have to say, they have not one bit of empathy for my beautiful child,” she says. “But there’s an amazing community there, too. You’re with all these other kids and parents and trans people. It’s great to go there and be in a large group of people who are experiencing the same kind of stuff. It was the first time I felt like we weren’t on an island somewhere drowning.”

Kate says she’s also found joy and strength in connecting with other parents of trans kids, but those connections don’t come as easily in day-to-day life as they do for other moms.

“I was hanging out in front of [Mikey’s] school for pickup and another parent walked up and she was wearing a shirt that said ‘Protect Trans Kids’ and I hustled

Dr. Laura Mintz (they/them)

PHOTO: PROVIDED

over to her and I was like, ‘You have a trans kid? I have a trans kid! She’s a third grader! Oh my gosh, it’s so nice to meet another parent,’ and she’s like, ‘Whoa, my kid is cis, but I’m an ally for sure!’” Kate says, able to laugh at the interaction in hindsight. But the path towards forging positive connections can also mean severing them, including on your kid’s behalf. Scaglione will sometimes vet other parents on social media when their kids start to get close. As a mom of two transgender children, she says it’s a matter of safety, but it can also lead to heartbreak. One of Scaglione’s two transgender kids had only one best friend at her former school – she says she was horrified when she found that child’s mom on Facebook.

“Her entire page was very violent towards LGBTQ people. This woman’s page was the level of violence where I’m like, I don’t even know if my kid is safe at her house,” Scaglione says. “[My daughter] only really had one friend at that point and I had to take that friend away. I felt horrible.”

As a trans teenager, connecting with the LGBTQ+ community can not only lead to validating friendships, but also ease you into a world bigger than you ever imagined.

Elliot Draznin is the director of diversity, equity, and inclusion for Cincinnati Pride. This year’s Pride Festival will take place June 22 at Sawyer Point Park. The Cincinnati Pride Festival is a joyous celebration –complete with live music, art installations, libations and liberation – but Draznin says it’s also a time to reflect on what kind of support the LGBTQ+ community needs in

this moment.

“It’s been a struggle for a lot of people, but especially teenagers,” they say. “You’re having all these struggles, you’re seeing all of these different attacks, you know, so often it’s so difficult to just kind of exist in your own body as a teenager, let alone as a trans teenager.”

Like in years past, Cincinnati Pride will offer a family zone and a teen zone. The two are separate, but they offer similar functions: a low-intensity space for participants to engage with their community.

“It’s kind of this low barrier introduction, where you get to have the experience of Pride without it being so overwhelming, without being like, ‘Oh, my God, what is happening, like, what community am I joining?’ It’s so much more like, let’s just get together in a smaller group while we’re still at Pride and get a chance to have that lighter introduction,” Draznin says.

Kate loves taking Mikey to the Cincinnati Pride Parade. She loves showing her daughter that who she is and who she will grow up to be is not only acceptable, but worthy of celebration. Rare are the days when Kate and Mikey can live in the moment among a crowd of strangers they already know love and accept Mikey for everything she is.

“Raising my kid is the greatest joy and it’s a thrill and it’s amazing. My kid is awesome, she’s hilarious, she’s funny and kind. And we’re doing great as parents, it’s just that we live in a system of political violence and oppression,” Kate says. “So I’ve been living in this moment, and in this moment I have a daughter. She’s my daughter and she’s perfect.”

Amity's access to gender-affirming medical care is guaranteed for now, but not for her little sister.

PHOTO: PROVIDED

ARTS & CULTURE

LGBTQ+ Pride Events Taking Place Throughout Greater Cincinnati

BY GIGI TWACHTMAN

Throughout the month of June, the Queen City will be hosting a number of Pride events that celebrate the local LGBTQ+ community. Keep reading for just a portion of the Pride events taking place in Greater Cincinnati through the end of June. For a complete list of Pride events, visit cincinnatipride.org.

Norwood Pride Market

June 1 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Norwood Enjoy vendors, food, entertainment and activities on Mills Avenue in Norwood. A flag raising will be held at City Hall at 9:30 a.m. prior to the market. More info: Searchable on Facebook.

Vintage Pride Kickoff

June 1 from 1-4 p.m., Over-the-Rhine Celebrate the beginning of Pride month with local vintage vendors, live music, drag and more. More info: Searchable on Facebook.

NKY Pride Parade and Festival

June 2 from noon-5 p.m., Covington Watch the Pride parade and celebrate Pride following the parade at the NKY Pride Festival. The afterparty at Hotel Covington starts at 5 p.m. More info: nkypridecenter.org/ nky-pride.

Pride Brady Block Party

June 6 from 6-9 p.m., The Banks Celebrate Pride with local vendors, giveaways, food trucks and entertainment by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Monét X Change from RuPaul’s Drag Race and Cincinnati Men’s Chorus. More info: cincinnatisymphony.org.

The 86 Pride Art Gallery Opening

June 7 from 5-7 p.m., Corryville

Enjoy coffee and work by artists in the LGBTQ+ community at this free event hosted by The 86 Coffee Bar. More info: tockify.com/cincinnatipride.

Pride Night with the Reds

June 7 from 7:10 a.m.-10 p.m., Great American Ball Park

Cheer on the Reds with Rosie, Mr. Redlegs, Mr. Red and Gapper. Tickets include a special edition Reds Pride cap. More info: mlb.com.

City of Madeira Pride Festival

June 8 from 3-6 p.m., Madeira

Join the city of Madeira for its fourth annual City of Madeira Pride Festival, which includes live music, face painting, a bounce house, arts and crafts and educational tables. More info: cincinnatipride.org/community-events.

Trans Pride Adult Prom: The Decades

June 8 from 6-11 p.m., Covington

Enjoy a retro evening of fun while dressed in attire from your favorite decade at the Leapin’ Lizard. More info: cincinnatipride. org/community-events.

Batesville Pride

June 9 from noon-5 p.m., Batesville

Participate in an afternoon of Pride fun with food, games, activities and vendors in Southeastern Indiana. More info: facebook.com/BatesvillePride1.

Pride Night with the Florence Y’alls

June 12 from 4 p.m., Florence

Enjoy a night out with family and friends celebrating Pride with the Florence Y’alls. More info: florenceyalls.com.

Pride Multifaith Celebration

June 20 from 7-9 p.m., Avondale

Attend a Pride service open to all spiritualities and non-religious people with representation of Zoroastrian, Hindu, Quaker, Jewish, Christian, Pagan and Evangelical beliefs at the First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati. More info: firstuu.com.

Cincinnati Pride Parade

June 22 from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Downtown Watch sponsors, community

organizations and affirming partners show their LGBTQ+ pride as they walk through the city. More info (and the parade route): cincinnatipride.org.

Cincinnati Pride Festival

June 22 from noon-9 p.m., Sawyer Point & Yeatman’s Cove

Enjoy a celebration of Pride along the river consisting of over 40 food vendors, 200 nonprofit organizations, information vendors and activities. Additionally, enjoy diverse entertainment provided by live singers, bands, drag performers, dancers, poets, DJs and artists headlined by The Aces and Priyanka. More info: cincinnatipride.org.

Pride Bar Crawl

June 22 from 4 p.m.-midnight

Savor exclusive drink specials, food deals and waived cover charges at a number of venues, including MOTR Pub, Liberty’s Bar & Bottle, The Flock and more, along with an afterparty at Bloom OTR. Tickets are $15 per person; proceeds benefit Cincinnati Black Pride. More info: crawlwith.us/ cincinnati/pride.

Pride at Findlay Market

June 28 from 5-9 p.m., Over-the-Rhine

An evening that celebrates all love with local organizations and performances from local artists at Findlay Market. More info: findlaymarket.org.

2023 Cincinnati Pride Parade

PHOTO: EMORY DAVIS

EVENTS Out & About

DJ & Dance

Greater Cincinnati’s events calendar

EMBODIED Dance Experience

June 2, 6-9 p.m.; Liberty Exhibition Hall, 3938 Spring Grove Ave., Northside Gimme Gimme Disco (18+)

June 7, 8 p.m.; Bogart’s, 2621 Vine St., Corryville Stereo ‘24 - DJ Festival

June 1, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sawyer Point, 705 E. Pete Rose Way

Karaoke

“Shine On Karaoke”

Thursdays, 9 p.m.-midnight; Shiners on the Levee, 1 Levee Way, Newport Karaoke Thursdays

Thursdays, 7-10 p.m.; Urban Artifact, 1660 Blue Rock St., Northside Karaoke Night at The Other Side of Paddy’s On Main

Thursdays, 8:30 p.m.-3 a.m.; Paddy’s On Main, 520 Main St., Covington Karaoke with Rae Renee

Tuesdays, 6-11 p.m.; Voodoo Brewing Cincy, 120 Eighth St. E. Downtown Kick Out The Jams Karaoke w/ Rob Weil Thursdays, 8 p.m.-1 a.m.; The Taproom On Ludlow, 360 Ludlow Ave., Clifton

MOTR Pub Monday Karaoke + Industry Night

Mondays, 8:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m.; MOTR Pub, 1345 Main St., Over-the-Rhine

Arts & Culture

FESTIVALS

2024 Cincinnati Concours d’Elegance

June 9, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Ault Park, 3600 Observatory Ave., Mount Lookout ArtisanFest513 Pride Market

June 8, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Washington Park, 1230 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine Cin City Reptile Show

June 9, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Holiday Inn Cincinnati N - West Chester, 5800 Muhlhauser Road, West Chester Ludlow Flea and Craft Fair

First Sunday of every month, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Bircus Brewing Company, 322 Elm St., Ludlow Monarch Fest 2024

June 8, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; Christ the King Lutheran Church, 7393 Dimmick Road, West Chester

On Freedom’s Doorstep: Black History in Cincinnati

June 9, 1-5 p.m.; Heritage Village Museum and Educational Center, 11450 Lebanon Road, Sharonville Tri-State Antique Market

First Sunday of every month, 6 a.m.-3 p.m.; Lawrenceburg Fairgrounds, US 50 and Hollywood Blvd., Lawrenceburg

FILM

Taft at Twilight Movie Night

June 7, 7-10 p.m.; Taft Museum of Art, 316 Pike St., Downtown

COMEDY

Comedy @ Commonwealth Presents:

IRENE TU

June 1, 7-8:30 p.m.; 522 5th Ave., Dayton

Comedy @ Commonwealth Presents:

TODD GLASS

June 1, 7-8:30 p.m.; Commonwealth Sanctuary, 522 5th Ave., Dayton

Funny to the Core Comedy Show

May 31, 7:30 p.m.; Northwood Cider Company, 2075 Mills Ave., Norwood

Ms. Pat - Ya Girl Done Made It

May 31, 7 p.m.; Taft Theatre, 317 East 5th St., Downtown

Sean Smith | Comedy at The Comet

June 8, 7-11 p.m.; Bombs Away! Comedy Club, 4579 Hamilton Ave., Northside

Tyler Ross | Comedy at The Comet

June 1, 7-11 p.m.; Bombs Away! Comedy Club, 4579 Hamilton Ave., Northside

Comedy @ Commonwealth Presents: JAY

JURDEN

June 7, 7 p.m. and June 8, 7 p.m.; 522 5th Ave., Dayton

MUSEUMS

Art After Dark | Shanghai Nights

May 31, 5-9 p.m.; Cincinnati Art Museum, 953 Eden Park Dr., Eden Park

Create Plus: Lotus Flower Painting

June 8, 1-4 p.m.; Cincinnati Art Museum, 953 Eden Park Dr., Eden Park

Extraordinary Cincinnatians and Haunted Houses

June 2, 1-4 p.m.; Heritage Village Museum and Educational Center, 11450 Lebanon Road, Sharonville

Fine Art Flow

May 30, 6:30-8 p.m.; Cincinnati Art Museum, 953 Eden Park Dr., Eden Park

From Shanghai to Ohio: Woo Chong Yung (1898–1989)

Tuesdays-Sundays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Cincinnati Art Museum, 953 Eden Park Dr., Eden Park

Lunch and Learn with Abby Schwartz and Sheri Besso

June 6, noon-1 a.m.; Skirball Museum, 3101 Clifton Ave., Clifton

Members’ Opening Reception | Moment in Time: A Legacy of Photographs, Works from the Bank of America Collection

June 6, 5-8 p.m.; Taft Museum of Art, 316 Pike St., Downtown

Private Collection of Antique Vehicles for a Great Cause

Fridays, Saturdays; The Car Barn, 21 Kenton Lands Road, Erlanger

PERFORMANCE

The Black American Music Journey

June 9, 12:30-2 p.m.; White Brick Meetinghouse, 169 S. 4th St., Waynesville

Family Entertainment Series featuring Cincinnati Circus Juggler

June 6, 7 p.m.; Wyoming’s Village Green, 412 Wyoming Ave., Wyoming Hay-J & Friends Artist Showcase

May 31, 9-11 p.m.; Urban Artifact, 1660 Blue Rock St., Northside

The Imperial Presents: Summer Performance Series Kickoff featuring Smoke & Queers

June 5, 7:30 p.m.; OTR Stillhouse, 2017 Branch St., Over-the-Rhine Music Through the Decades

May 30, 7-9 p.m.; Household Books, 2533 Gilbert Ave., Walnut Hills

NISE Drag Bingo

June 7, 6-10 p.m.; OTR Stillhouse, 2017 Branch St., Over-the-Rhine Princess Superhero Breakfast

June 1, 10 a.m.; Receptions Event Centers, 5975 Boymel Dr., Fairfield Puppets for Lunch

June 7, noon-2 p.m.; ArtsConnect, 9158 Winton Road, Winton Woods

THEATER

The Play That Goes Wrong

May 29, 7:30 p.m., May 30, 7:30 p.m., June 1, 7:30 p.m., June 6, 7:30 p.m., June 7, 7:30 p.m. and June 8, 7:30 p.m.; Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, 1195 Elm St., Downtown

The Murder Mystery Company Presents: “A Dance with Death”

June 7, 7-9:30 p.m.; The Old Spaghetti Factory, 6320 South Gilmore Road, Fairfield

VISUAL ART

ANOTHER UKRAINE | Selections from The Kharkiv School of Photography

Thursdays-Saturdays, 4-7 p.m.; WASH PARK ART GALLERY, 1215 Elm St., Downtown

BRUNKEN | Something More Thursdays-Saturdays, 4-7 p.m.; WASH PARK ART GALLERY, 1215 Elm St., Downtown CPSA DC119’s 19th Annual Colored Pencil Exhibition

Mondays-Fridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Fairfield Community Art Center (FCAC), 411 Wessel Dr., Fairfield

Hearts of Liberation: A Celebration of Radical Black Love as Collective Care Saturdays, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. and TuesdaysFridays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Kennedy Heights Arts Center, 6546 Montgomery Road, Pleasant Ridge

Members’ Exhibition Preview Day and Tour | Moment in Time

June 7, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Taft Museum of Art, 316 Pike St., Downtown

The Miniature Society of Cincinnati

Presents “Magical Gardens” in Miniature

June 7, 4-7 p.m. and June 8, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.;

Heritage Presbyterian Church Mason, 6546 Mason-Montgomery Road, Mason Moment in Time: A Legacy of Photographs / Works from the Bank of America Collection

June 8-Sep. 15; Taft Museum of Art, 316 Pike St., Downtown Paint and Sip “Big Jet Plane” - Paint Night in Downtown Cincinnati

May 30, 7-9 p.m.; Brewdog Cincinnati, 316 Reading Road, Liberty Hill

Literary

Brad Balukjian discussing and signing The Six Pack

May 29, 7-9 p.m.; Joseph-Beth Booksellers, 2692 Madison Road, Madisonville

Tiffany D. Jackson discussing and signing Storm: Dawn of a Goddess

June 6, 7-9 p.m.; Joseph-Beth Booksellers, 2692 Madison Road, Madisonville

Attractions

2024 Covington Garden Tour at Old Seminary Square

June 8, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and June 9, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; Covington Guard Archaeological Preserve Public Field Season Grand Opening

June 1, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Archaeological Research Institute, 126 West High St., Lawrenceburg Norwood Pride Market

June 1, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.; Victory Park, Montgomery Road, Norwood

Food & Drink

CincItalia! The Cincinnati Italian Festival

June 2, 6-9 p.m.; Harvest Home Fairgrounds, 3961 North Bend Road, Cheviot Cincy VegFest + Vegan Chili Cook-Off

June 1, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Burnet Woods Bandstand, 3298 Clifton Ave., Clifton Vinology’s Grand Opening

June 1, 5-11 p.m.; Vinology, 3181 Linwood Ave., Mount Lookout Red, White, and Woofs: A Dog-Friendly Yappy Hour

May 30, 4-7 p.m.; Rosedale OTR, 208 E. 12th St., Over-the-Rhine Rhinegeist Brewery: Mother’s Day Rooftop Brunch

June 2, 10-midnight; Rhinegeist Brewery, 1910 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine Samuel Adams Cincinnati Production Brewery Tour

June 8, noon-2:30 p.m.; Samuel Adams Cincinnati Taproom, 1727 Logan St., Over-the-Rhine Taste on the Levee

June 9, 4-7 p.m.; Newport on the Levee, 1 Levee Way, Newport Tincture-Making Workshop

June 1, 2 p.m.; Heart of Northside, 4222 Hamilton Ave., Northside

Utopias Tasting and Taproom Tour

June 1, 1-2:30 p.m.; Samuel Adams Cincinnati Taproom, 1727 Logan St., Over-the-Rhine

Community

CLASSES

Enneagram & Brunch!

June 9, 1-4 p.m.; Vessel Collective, 617 Fairfield Ave., Bellevue

Pressed Flower Bookmarks

June 3, 7-9 p.m.; Joseph-Beth Booksellers, 2692 Madison Road, Madisonville Puppy Prep School: “Walk This Way”

June 1, 10-11:30 a.m. and June 8, 10-11:30 a.m.; Heart of Northside, 4222 Hamilton Ave., Northside

GET INVOLVED

Mt. Healthy Renaissance Project - 11th

Annual Plant Swap

June 1, noon-2 p.m.; Fibonacci Brewing Company, 1445 Compton Road, Mt. Healthy Westside Market Saturday

June 1, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.; Westwood Town Hall, 3017 Harrison Ave., Westwood

LECTURES

2024 Ohio LGBTQ+ Unity Summit

June 7, 8 a.m.-noon; Great American Ball Park, 100 Joe Nuxhall Way, The Banks Lunch & Learn | Joseph Clark Gallery

May 31, noon-1 p.m.; Taft Museum of Art, 316 Pike St., Downtown

Sports

FC Cincinnati vs. D.C. United May 29, 6:30 & 7:30 p.m.; TQL Stadium, 1501 Central Pkwy, West End Stepping Stones 23rd Annual Golf Classic

June 3; O’Bannon Creek Golf Club, 6842 Oakland Road, Loveland

The Youth 7 on 7 Summer Football Exposure Showcase

June 8, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.; Western Hills High School, 2144 Ferguson Road, Westwood Cincinnati Reds vs. Chicago Cubs

June 6, 7:10 p.m., June 7, 7:10 p.m., June 8, 4:10 p.m. and June 9, 1:40 p.m.; Great American Ball Park, 100 Joe Nuxhall Way, The Banks

Cincinnati Reds vs. Pittsburgh Pirates

June 11, 7:10 p.m.; Great American Ball Park, 100 Joe Nuxhall Way, The Banks Cincinnati Reds vs. St. Louis Cardinals

May 29, 1:10 p.m.; Great American Ball Park, 100 Joe Nuxhall Way, The Banks Cornhole Tournament

May 31, 5:30 p.m.; The Filson Queen City Kitchen & Bar, 25 E. Freedom Way, The Banks

FOOD & DRINK

A French(ish)

Affair

Thunderdome Restaurant Group’s latest offering, The Davidson, seems to be missing its purpose in the Cincinnati dining scene.

REVIEW BY

PAMA MITCHELL

“A classic American brasserie meets French and Italian influence in the heart of the Queen City,” reads a description on The Davidson’s website. Up and running for only a few months, The Davidson joins Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse in the Foundry development a stone’s throw from Fountain Square. No matter how you slice it, the location is in the beating heart of Cincinnati, the center of myriad events and celebrations. Of course, our downtown joins many others in facing post-Covid challenges brought on by the migration of office employees to remote work. But the conversion of numerous office towers into residences and hotels has helped revive the Central Business District. Mita’s owner Jose Salazar told me this past winter that while downtown parking garages and sidewalks aren’t exactly crowded, things have picked up noticeably in the evenings. If that trend continues, the decision by Thunderdome Restaurant Group to locate the addition to their stable of eateries in the center city should pay off. Thunderdome owns and operates Pepp & Dolores, Bakersfield, The Eagle, and other restaurants both in Cincinnati and in other cities and states. I’m a frequent visitor to Bakersfield, Maplewood Kitchen and, when I can get a table, Pepp & Dolores. I looked forward to trying their splashy new spot next to Jeff Ruby’s even as I wondered whether it might be something of an overreach after so many successful concepts. Each of my favorite Thunderdome restaurants does several things consistently well, and it’s easy to find the good stuff. I can order huitlacoche tacos at Bakersfield, lemon ricotta pancakes at Maplewood, an outstanding housemade veggie burger at Krueger’s or

choose from three or four reliably wonderful dishes at Pepp & Dolores and go home happy. Walking through the door at Davidson, I wondered what special dish or dishes might await us.

There was a somewhat unsettling moment when I recalled entering the restaurant’s predecessor, the ill-fated Royce. It wasn’t a happy memory, as I had taken a dislike to what I thought of as the French-by-the-numbers pastiche that Royce tried to pull off for its shortlived time in Cincinnati. This was the reverse of my experience at Colette, which moved into the Washington Parkadjacent spot vacated by Zula, a go-to favorite whose closing I haven’t quite gotten over.

But I squared my shoulders as the host showed us to our table at The Davidson and shook off any lingering karma that might be hanging around from the previous tenant. Time to peruse the cocktail and wine list while we find something good to eat.

Our party of four started by sharing the Baked Alpine Fondue, a fun accompaniment to cocktails and, my recent favorite before-dinner drink, sparkling rosé wine. The Davidson offers a Crémant from Burgundy that went beautifully with the appetizer. Warm, three-cheese fondue came with apple slices, leaves of Belgian endive and a spiced apple jam served with grilled sourdough bread. There was plenty of fondue and enough bread, although a few more slices of apple and endive would have been swell. I wish I hadn’t missed the Moroccan Eggplant, prepared to order at table and served with the grilled bread. It’s basically baba

ganoush, but apparently the server chars the eggplant and whips up the spicy dip before your eyes.

Two of the crudo appetizers were nicely done: very fresh Hamachi in a light vinaigrette, and beef carpaccio with all the right garnishes. Mushroom bisque was rich and filling, a little too much so for me as a starter, but heartier eaters might not feel that way. My companion lapped it up with ease.

Four pastas and seven entrées include classics such as vodka rigatoni, cannelloni, steak frites, and salade nicoise.

Vongole spaghetti with a sauce of clams, white wine, chili and toasted breadcrumbs also sounds wonderful but we didn’t get to that, either. Next time, I’ll be sure to order both of those.

I find the cuisine a little confused,

with both French and Italian dishes vying for our attention. This isn’t at all uncommon in mid-range restaurants, but at the level The Davidson seems to be reaching for, it throws me off. At any level the restaurants I love best have a soul, or at least a beating heart of authenticity. I don’t feel that at The Davidson; nor for that matter did I get the slightest hint of it at Royce, its predecessor in the same Foundry building space.

Nonetheless, I get sick of my own cooking and love dining out, often at Thunderdome restaurants. I didn’t find a go-to dish at Davidson, but there’s more of the menu to explore. The location and ambiance of this restaurant, along with Thunderdome’s track record, make Davidson a safe bet for repeat visits.

The Davidson opened earlier this year in the Foundry development. PHOTO: AIDAN MAHONEY

The Davidson’s Hamachi PHOTO: AIDAN MAHONEY

Guest Commentary: A Fledgling Drinker Succumbs to Margarita Madness

REVIEW BY SARAH WALSH

Ipregamed for Margarita Madness by visiting the Cincinnati Public Library, which tells you both how little I belonged at a drinking festival and why CityBeat’s Madeline Fening thought it would be funny to invite me.

I was a D.A.R.E. success story as a teenager. St. James Catholic Church and an unmedicated anxiety disorder made sure of it. The Catholicism wore off in college, but the fear — the irrational, hard-to-articulate conviction that participating in the world would smudge and dent me — didn’t. I postponed my first real taste of noncommunion liquor to age 22, in case an extra year gave me extra purity points. Swallowed with a grimace, I decided the taste was not worth acquiring. My friends got used to me bringing a Coke to the bar.

Lame, right? I think it’s lame — not the act of abstention but the fearful moral grade-grubbing that motivated it. What’s the point of living if not to acquire new tastes? Did I think I was ever going to wow a new acquaintance with lists of all the things I hadn’t done? Hobbies I

didn’t have? Perfect purity is lonely and uneventful.

So. Last Friday, I decided I’d try again.

Drunk history

My anxiety about liquor is embarrassing but not historically unique, especially concerning the margarita. The Aztecs were worse.

Every one of the drinks on offer at Margarita Madness was a distant descendant of the Aztec ritual agave wine pulque. This ancestor-drink, derived from the agave plant’s sap rather than the pulped heart that produces tequila, was so strong that only Tenochtitlan’s nobles and priests were permitted to enjoy it regularly. Other elements of the population couldn’t be trusted to behave themselves, except on certain festival days (for ceremonial reasons) and right before getting sacrificed to the gods (as a treat).

One surviving Aztec story says the winged serpent-god Quetzalcoatl, who robbed the underworld, warred with his dog-headed twin Xolotl and sculpted the

Earth out of an enemy’s corpse, drank pulque only once. The stuff got him so absolutely twisted that he self-immolated in disgrace rather than face the other gods’ judgment the next day. At the right time of year, astronomers can still catch him — in the form of the planet Venus — smoldering with hungover shame in hours before dawn.

The arrival of European distilling methods saw pulque’s popularity usurped by tequila during the colonial period, and the 20th century produced the margarita. The new drink became a symbol of tropical getaways, the house heraldry of singer Jimmy Buffett and a frequent fixation of the maxi-skirted abstinence advocate Sister Cindy Smock, who accidentally co-wrote a hoe anthem about it last summer.

Drinking margaritas, per many of Smock’s campus sermons, is a gateway to sin. The sole possible outcome is an escalating series of sex acts I can’t describe in this publication.

If only she’d been around to warn Quetzalcoatl.

Salt, please!

And so began CityBeat’s ninth annual salt-rimmed celebration of local restaurants and the patron (Patrón?) drink of summer vacation. On the halfmile span of the Purple People Bridge, the world’s most popular tequila cocktail appeared in a dozen different colors and sporting a variety of plus-ones, including cinnamon, ube, sour gummy worms and handheld sparklers. A robot served a few of them. Hawaiian shirts abounded.

It was an event for enthusiasts. I was finally ready to be one.

Margarita Madness started at 5:30 p.m., and Torchy’s Tacos greeted at the entrance with the most classic margarita on the roster: Triple sec, tequila and lime in a salt-rimmed glass. It tasted like lemonade and felt like nothing. This was a relief. This was also a little worrisome. I had assumed I’d need to put more effort into enjoying myself. If the rest of them tasted that good, the naan I’d eaten ahead of time would need to put in more work to keep me

CityBeat’s ninth-annual Margarita Madness event

PHOTO: BRITTANY THORNTON

upright and taking notes.

Reader, the rest of them tasted that good. I don’t actually know how the judges picked a best-of, especially given the way that — I discovered — each margarita makes the next one more delicious. They stack like Elden Ring buffs.

The second margarita came from Mazunte, was thicker on the tongue and tasted more obviously like tequila, but the mango flavor softened the burn. I felt buoyant as I threw the cup away. A group nearby was dancing to Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” while two robots watched.

These robots tramped around the event all evening as representatives of El Trompo Mexican Grill, where margaritas are sometimes served in glasses but more often in pineapples and gigantic plastic airplanes. The sparklers came from their tent. The line was already the longest on the bridge.

“I don’t know if you’re ready for that yet,” Madeline told me. We agreed to regroup later.

Third: Somerset’s ube margarita, which combines the soft, savory flavor and rich color of the Filipino sweet potato with pineapple-ginger tequila and a dash of edible glitter. The combined effect recalls either a magical potion or the inside of a lava lamp.

At this point, I noticed that the wind felt really good on my face and the flat, brown Ohio River was maybe the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I grabbed a taco to fortify my link with reality and ducked into the VIP area for a fourth margarita.

Jeremy Harrison, one of Cincinnati’s celebrity mixologists, mixed an intriguing and unseasonal blackberry marg for the tent. The card in front said it contained basil and spices; Madeline and I agreed that those must include cinnamon and nutmeg because the taste reminded us both of Christmas.

It was 7 p.m. by now. I’d gone from a lifetime total of zero margaritas to four in the space of 90 minutes, and I felt floaty but none the worse for wear. This would probably have been an ideal place to cut it off, and it’s certainly where my notes became less thorough. But everything I’d had to drink was only a few ingredients removed from a standard margarita. I wanted something arcane and glamorous.

I wanted what the robots were serving.

What the robots were serving: Margaritas in full drag, almost difficult to sip around the bouquets of gummy worms, fruit wedges and full-sized

popsicles that served as garnish. Nearby, fellow diva-ría Mi Cozumel sent frozen drinks down the runway in Teddy bear-shaped containers outfitted with boba straws.

I had both. My note-taking did not withstand the combined assault. The only things written in the notebook after this point are:

YUUUUUUUGE!

Face feeling so cool. (Underlined several times.)

Blue tequila.

I really only know what the last one means, which is that someone was shooting blue tequila out of a skulltopped reliquary and into attendees’ mouths. I accepted a shot for journalism reasons and then realized I needed to sit down very badly.

It was 8 p.m. The event wasn’t done, but I was.

The nicest unadvertised thing about Margarita Madness is that it accommodates the need for a regrouping space afterward. The Purple People Bridge’s proximity to Newport on the Levee meant I could walk a few paces to a restaurant, sit down, and Challengers two quesadillas into my mouth without needing to call an Uber.

I ate and watched the early summer sunset, and I realized again that the Ohio River does look beautiful in the right light.

I watched the remaining celebrants shout and dance like Tenochtitlani proles on holiday and thought about the ten-thousand-year history of agave cultivation I’d read about at the Cincinnati Public Library. Drinking margaritas, even out of Teddy bears, even with ube in them, connected me to that tradition for the first time. It put me in pleasant debt to the jimadores who harvested these plants and the mixologists who played with ratios and flavors until they found something that they wanted to share.

As a kid, I was afraid of being diminished by letting myself touch the world. Growing up and participating in adult life, crossing the old thresholds of vice and risk, felt like an act of surrender.

I didn’t feel like that last Friday. I felt like I understood something I hadn’t before.

And I didn’t wake up with a hangover or any inclination to set myself on fire, so I think Quetzalcoatl’s thing was more about him than about pulque.

Sarah Walsh is a writer and resident of Newport, Kentucky.

She’s On Fire 4U

Cincinnati musician Bershy encapsulates queer joy in every catchy hook she creates

BY ERIC BATES

With a string of brilliant singles, and a fierce determination to bring her queer pop music into the ever-changing music industry, Bershy (AKA Brea Shay) heads into the summer with energetic confidence and optimism. Bershy began her musical journey as a folk artist, drawing influence from household names like Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell. Shay began honing her songwriting skills and searching for a voice of her own at an early age, but, over time, became disenchanted by the traditional folk singer/songwriter approach and eventually began exploring other genres. Discovering the unique sounds of Bjork and drawn in by the classic ‘80s production and style of Kate Bush, Shay decided to take a new musical path, and found her way into the world of pop.

One of the first things Shay chose to do in entering into this new chapter was to create the name Bershy. Cleverly merging her first and last name, Bershy created a catchy and energetic moniker that has become synonymous with her music, which they herald as queer pop. From her first single, “Say Fire,” released in 2019, Bershy has embraced and championed queer pop. Every synth-driven gem, since her first release, is a testament to her pop sensibility, and with every song Bershy continues to build a colorful monument to the queer community here in Cincinnati and beyond.

For Bershy, it has been an exciting year, and for the first time in her career, she has an entire team behind her. The move from releasing music on her own to joining up with the indie label Between Records has made a major impact on her momentum.

song, and I love to play it live!” Bershy said.

For Bershy, queer pop is art made by queer people. When she sits down to write a song, focusing on her life and penning lyrics with complete and authentic honesty, she hopes that people feel like they can connect with her and her experiences as a queer pop artist. A proud lesbian, Bershy strives to contribute to and promote queer experiences, using her music and live shows as motivating inspiration in creating inclusive spaces.

“Music gives us an opportunity to create these spaces wherever we go, and I feel very determined to make all of my shows feel like that — a giant celebration of sexuality and queer joy,” Bershy said.

Citing queer artists like Japanese House and Blood Orange as influences, Bershy also has great admiration for Beverly Glenn-Copeland, a trans composer from Philadelphia, whose album, “Keyboard Fantasies,” means a great deal to her both musically and personally.

Finding inspiration and hope inside the music of queer people who came before her gives Bershy a sense of belonging in the world and a place in the music industry as a queer artist. Bershy also feels it’s incredibly important to remember and celebrate people like Glenn-Copeland and similar artists who have bravely carved out a path for her generation to follow.

And with the full support of the label, as she continues to write new material, she’s confident the songs will be backed properly and given the full attention they deserve. With local talent like Multimagic members Coran Stetter and Kyle Kubiak working diligently on her behalf, Bershy feels she has all the support she needs to keep her musical career moving forward.

“I have all of these incredible people working behind the scenes, who believe in my music — I just feel very honored to be at the place I am now,” Bershy told CityBeat

“4U” is Bershy’s latest single, released in late March. Already streamed thousands of times, “4U” is yet another leap forward for her. After the release of her single, “Radio,” another massive streaming success, Bershy began working on the follow up single, “4U,” a song that has been a personal favorite of hers for over two years. Because of her deep love for the song, Bershy, along with co-producers Stetter and Kubiak, worked on “4U” obsessively, re-working it until they felt it was as perfect as possible.

“It’s [“4U”] this big explicit gay love

Though she feels like it’s an exciting time in the music industry — a time where queer musicians are able to break into mainstream music, and into pop culture in general — Bershy believes it’s very important to communicate that to be queer is to be subversive, and that queerness simply can’t be commercialized.

“Queer music and queer art will always be for us.” Bershy said. “Your typical major record label executive will never understand that. They aren’t the ones that get to decide if queer pop music is good, or worthy of mass consumption. It has always been good enough.”

In Cincinnati, Bershy feels respected and supported by the local queer scene, as an artist and as a lesbian. And though she’s looking forward to more inclusive spaces to emerge in the coming years, Bershy is excited and proud to be a queer artist in Cincy’s thriving and ever-growing queer community.

Bershy’s latest single “4U” is streaming now on all platforms. She’s currently at work on a new EP, release date yet to be determined. You can catch the premiere of the “4U” video on May 31 at Alice.

SOUND ADVICE

PIXIES, MODEST MOUSE AND CAT POWER

June 5 • Andrew J Brady Music Center Pixies, Modest Mouse and Cat Power teamed up for a successful package tour last summer, drawing old-head indie-rock fans eager to bask in sounds that have unexpectedly reverberated far beyond anyone anticipated at their creation. So why not do it again? The trio is heading out for an encore tour this June, hitting amphitheaters and pavilions across the U.S.

Pixies formed in 1986, back when Ronald Reagan was still in the White House and an anomalous event called “Hands Across America” had millions of people form a human chain from New York City to California. Nearly four decades later, the quartet is still at it, even if an integral member (Dayton’s own Kim Deal) is no longer in the mix. Frontman Black Francis’ cracked vision of the world remains the Pixies calling card, his screeching vocals pairing nicely with surreal lyrics about everything from mutilation to superheroes. The quartet (which still includes Francis’ longtime bandmates, drummer David Lovering and guitarist Joey Santiago, plus new bassist Paz Lenchantin) has released four full-length albums over the last decade, yet their legacy still lies within the early, Deal-informed efforts, starting with 1988’s iconic Surfer Rosa (recorded by the late, great Steve Albini).

Modest Mouse sprouted up out of the Northwest a half-decade later, informed

not only by the Pixies’ lacerating racket but also by the grimier aspects of their particular environs (see “Trailer Trash” from 1997’s enduring creative apex The Lonesome Crowded West). Frontman and principal songwriter Isaac Brock is the only constant over the last 30 years and seven albums, his snotty, high-pitched vocals complemented by searching guitar lines that double as a call for help. “Float On,” from 2004’s Good News for People Who Love Bad News, broke through to mainstream rock radio, an unexpected turnabout that threw Brock for a loop.

Chan Marshall (AKA Cat Power) rose up alongside Modest Mouse on the opposite coast, making her mark in a thriving New York City scene through a voice at once haunting and roughhewn. Blues and folk infected Marshall as much as the artier outfits that surrounded her at the time. Inspired by a nightmare, her creative breakthrough, 1998’s enduringly transfixing Moon Pix, suggests Billie Holiday backed by the moodier aspects of early Sonic Youth. It also cemented Marshall’s devotion to music despite her doubts about Cat Power’s long-term artistic viability. Despite hardships both mental and physical, Marshall has powered through, delivering 12 full-length albums (the most recent of which is a fascinating live effort, Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert) of heartache and wonder.

If last year’s tri-act tour is any indication, expect songs from across each artist’s vast discographies, which is sure

to elicit a wave of nostalgic appreciation from an audience eager to tap into an era less tumultuous than the current one.

Pixies, Modest Mouse and Cat Power play the Andrew J Brady Music Center at 6:30 p.m. on June 5. More info: bradymusiccenter.com. (Jason Gargano)

Cat Power

PHOTO: MARIO SORRENTI

Pixies

PHOTO: TOM OXLEY

EVENTS The Set List

Greater Cincinnati’s live music calendar

1349 - Spectral Wound - Antichrist Siege Machine - Spirit Possession - Nogothula

May 29, 6:30-11:30 p.m.; Legends Bar & Venue, 3801 Harrison Ave., Cheviot 2024 CINCY BLUES CHALLENGE

June 9, noon-8 pm; Element Eatery, 5350 Medpace Way, Madisonville

Adam Hawley

June 8, 7:30 p.m.; Ludlow Garage, 342 Ludlow Ave., Clifton

Ally Venable

June 7, 8 p.m.; Madison Live!, 734 Madison Ave., Covington

Autopilot

June 2, 8 p.m.; The Southgate House Revival, 111 E. Sixth St., Newport

Bahoozley

May 30, 9 p.m.; The Southgate House Revival - The Lounge, 111 E. Sixth St., Newport

Beyond the Stage Live: The Earth Laid Bare

May 30, 8 p.m.; Madison Live!, 734 Madison Ave., Covington

Brainiac w/ Exit Angles

May 31, 8-11 p.m.; Woodward Theater, 1404 Main St., Over-the-Rhine

Cole Swindell: WIN THE NIGHT TOUR

2024

June 8, 7 p.m.; Riverbend Music Center, 6295 Kellogg Ave., California Colebrook Road

May 31, 8 p.m.; The Southgate House Revival, 111 E. Sixth St., Newport Dizgo : ‘Melt’ Album Release Tour, with Chalk Dinosaur

June 8, 8 p.m.; Madison Live!, 734 Madison Ave., Covington

Downset - Slighted - Suffocate Faster - Overflow

May 30, 7-11:30 p.m.; Legends Bar & Venue, 3801 Harrison Ave., Cheviot

Exhumed - Skeletal Remains - Morbikon - No/Mas

June 1, 7-11:30 p.m.; Legends Bar & Venue, 3801 Harrison Ave., Cheviot Friday Night Spectacular - June Edition

June 7, noon-9 p.m.; Morrow Arts Center, 10 Miranda St., Morrow

Gasolina: Reggaetón Party (18+)

May 31, 9 p.m.; Bogart’s, 2621 Vine St., Corryville

Haley Reinhart

June 8, 8 p.m.; Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine

Hootie and The Blowfish - Summer Camp With Trucks Tour

June 7, 7 p.m.; Riverbend Music Center, 6295 Kellogg Ave., California

Isaiah Rashad: Cilvia Demo 10 Year Anniversary Tour

June 3, 8 p.m.; Bogart’s, 2621 Vine St., Corryville

Jacob Collier - DJESSE VOL. 4 NORTH

AMERICA TOUR

June 4, 8 p.m.; The Andrew J Brady

Music Center, 25 Race St., The Banks

Jesse Daniel, Alex Williams

May 29, 8 p.m.; The Southgate House Revival, 111 E. Sixth St., Newport

Joseph Huber, Possessed By Paul

James

June 7, 8 p.m.; The Southgate House Revival, 111 E. Sixth St., Newport Kabaka Pyramid

June 5, 8 p.m.; Ludlow Garage, 342 Ludlow Ave., Clifton

Kindred the Family Soul

June 7, 7:30 p.m.; Ludlow Garage, 342 Ludlow Ave., Clifton

Kore Rozzik, V-Twin Sin, Kick-N-$teel

June 7, 8 p.m.; The Southgate House Revival, 111 E. Sixth St., Newport

Liturgy - Body Void - Dedwurm - Sun

Scarred

June 5, 7-11 p.m.; Legends Bar & Venue, 3801 Harrison Ave., Cheviot Litz

June 1, 9 p.m.; Madison Live!, 734 Madison Ave., Covington

Live Music Nights in the Beer Garden with Christi Swing

May 31, 7-9 p.m.; Fibonacci Brewing Company, 1445 Compton Road, Mt.

Healthy

Maggie Rogers: The Don’t Forget Me Tour

June 7, 7:30 & 7:45 p.m.; The Andrew J Brady Music Center, 25 Race St., The Banks

MARZ FEST: Marz Hall, Millie Oliver and the Missing Pieces, FivebyFive, Limelight

special guest CAT POWER Summer

2024

June 5, 6:30 p.m.; The Andrew J Brady Music Center, 25 Race St., The Banks Pokey LaFarge

June 1, 8 p.m.; Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine Pony Bradshaw

June 6, 8 p.m.; The Southgate House Revival, 111 E. Sixth St., Newport Pride Brady Block Party

June 6, 6 p.m.; ICON Festival Stage at Smale Park, 25 Race St., The Banks Punks Care 2: 3D

June 1, 7 p.m.; The Southgate House Revival, 111 E. Sixth St., Newport Raelynn Nelson to the Festival Stage at Element Eatery!

June 7, 7-11 p.m.; Element Eatery, 5350 Medpace Way, Madisonville Ravi Coltrane Featuring Gadi Lehavi, Ele Howell and Robin Eubanks

June 2, 8 p.m.; Memorial Hall, 1225 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine

Ruth Moody

May 30, 7:30 p.m.; Ludlow Garage, 342 Ludlow Ave., Clifton

May 31, 7 p.m.; Madison Live!, 734

Madison Ave., Covington

Matt Woods, Ted Russell Kamp

June 7, 10 p.m.; The Southgate House Revival - The Lounge, 111 E. Sixth St., Newport

May Fest at Alms Park

May 31, 6-9 p.m.; Alms Park Pavilion, 710 Tusculum Ave., Columbia Tusculum

Michael Marcagi

June 8, 8 p.m.; Bogart’s, 2621 Vine St., Corryville

MR Big

May 29, 7:30 p.m.; Ludlow Garage, 342 Ludlow Ave., Clifton

Nate Smith

May 31, 7:30 p.m.; Hard Rock Cincinnati Ballroom, 1000 Broadway St., Downtown

Noah Gundersen

June 6, 7:30 p.m.; Ludlow Garage, 342 Ludlow Ave., Clifton

OLEA presents: Yeehaw! American Folk Traditions

June 8, 7:30 p.m.; The Southgate House Revival, 111 E. Sixth St., Newport

Open Mic Show & Tell with Adam Flaig

May 29, 7 p.m. and June 5, 7 p.m.; The Southgate House Revival - The Lounge, 111 E. Sixth St., Newport

Orville Peck - Stampede Tour

June 8, 7 p.m.; The Andrew J Brady Music Center, 25 Race St., The Banks

Paul McDonald & the Mourning Doves

May 30, 8 p.m.; The Southgate House Revival, 111 E. Sixth St., Newport

PIXIES and MODEST MOUSE with

Senior’s DayParty

June 2, 3-7 p.m.; Carthage Fairgrounds in Hartwell, 7801 Anthony Wayne Ave., Hartwell

SERENE SUITE, KITTY FRANKFORT, MATTHEW SHELTON

May 29, 9-11:45 p.m.; MOTR Pub, 1345 Main St., Over-the-Rhine Spoken Rhythmz, LiVe!

May 29, 8 p.m.; The Greenwich, 2442 Gilbert Ave., Walnut Hills St. Mike Fest

June 7, 6-11:59 p.m., June 8, 6-11:59 p.m. and June 9, 3-9 p.m.; Saint Michael Church, 11144 Spinner Ave., Sharonville Summer Chamber Music

June 9, 2:30-3:30 p.m.; Taft Museum of Art, 316 Pike St., Downtown The Alarm

May 31, 7:30 p.m.; Ludlow Garage, 342 Ludlow Ave., Clifton

Tommy James and the Shondells

June 1, 7:30 p.m.; Ludlow Garage, 342 Ludlow Ave., Clifton

Touchdown Jesus , Lost Henry, Anything But Normal, Pretty Sure , Vinyl Ash

May 31, 7 p.m.; The Southgate House Revival, 111 E. Sixth St., Newport

Tyler Lance Walker Gill

June 6, 10 p.m.; The Southgate House Revival - The Lounge, 111 E. Sixth St., Newport

Walker Hayes: Same Drunk Tour

May 30, 7 p.m.; Riverbend Music Center, 6295 Kellogg Ave., California

Wyoming’s 150th Celebration

May 31, 6-9 pm; Wyoming’s Village Green, 412 Wyoming Ave., Wyoming

MegaCorp Pavilion

PHOTO: RON VALLE

CROSSWORD

FALSE BOTTOMS

BY BRENDAN EMMETT QUIGLEY WWW.BRENDANEMMETTQUIGLEY.COM

Across

1.  Catch sight of

5.  Block, as a river

10.  Prepares leather

14.  Spot remover command?

15.  Saving money: Abbr.

16.  Heaping pile

17.  Imitation, or a 36-/38-Across with 29-Down

18.  Like the tomatoes and onions in salsa verde

19.  Leafy green

20.  Proverbial small town

22.  French honey

24.  Rapper who had the first video to have a billion views on YouTube

26.  Hosp. readout

27.  Poet Théophile who coined “art for art’s sake”

28.  Lab ___

30.  50/50 question

31.  Quite skilled

32.  Stuck up (for)

36.  With 38-Across, believable

computer-created content intended to deceive

37.  Cooks on the barbecue

38.  See 36-Across

39.  Sign above a fast food kiosk

41.  Start a closeup shot

42.  Showed again

43.  Skill at chopping

44.  Accepted, as a fault

47.  Family

48.  Jazz cornet player Adderley

49.  Herbivores with horns

50.  Warm beverage from a bag

52.  Serve bar

53.  Pick up the check

55.  Imitation, or a 36-/38-Across with 37-Down

58.  ___ Bon (Cinnabon secret menu item topped with crumbled cookies)

59.  Thousand

60.  Shopaholic’s joy

61.  Al Capone’s nemesis Eliot

62.  Jordan’s capital

63.  Oil-rich country

Down

1.  Corner key

2.  “A Gentleman in Moscow” channel, for short

3.  Kind of bagel

4.  You might rock the cradle with one

5.  Remove, as expenses

6.  Doing perfectly

7.  Imitation, or a 36-/38-Across with 33-Down

8.  A, as for Aimee

9.  Some streaming shows

10.  Cross the line

11.  Maker of the Road Runner and RoadBlasters video games

12.  “I’m crapping you negative”

13.  Scowl-like look

21.  Muscle targeted in a reverse fly

23.  Go for game

24.  Home to Hiëronymus Bosch’s “The Garden of Earthly Delights”

25.  Passover feast

27.  Satire or whodunit, e.g.

29.  GI doctor’s procedure to test diges-

tive tract problems

30.  Pine (for)

32.  Bread maker’s need

33.  Speedo, jocularly

34.  Japanese dog with a short double coat

35.  Religious principle

37.  Meat served at a December holiday dinner

40.  Mulligan

41.  Catch one’s breath

43.  Litter box user

44.  WWE star Randy

45.  “___ Is My Mind?” (Pixies song)

46.  Poker pair nicknamed “Wayne Gretzky”

47.  Eucalyptus eater

50.  Captain’s place

51.  Canadian petrol company

54.  Grand Canyon area

56.  In the style of

57.  They go on two feet

LAST PUZZLE’S ANSWERS: