Boston Spirit Jul | Aug 2014 by Boston Spirit magazine

JUL|AUG 2014

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Rockin’

Out Gear up for a fabulous summer

Most (Un) Wanted

New England’s anti-LGBT activists you need to know

Gay Boston in the 1940s

The Hub was gayer than you might think

Sizzling Summer Season

Your guide to must-see acts in gay-fave destinations

Queer Innovation

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Typically when I write this letter in each issue it is more forward thinking. I will remind you of some events that are coming up and give you a ‘head’s up’ for things to look out for. This time I am going to take a look back instead. So much has taken place since the last issue of Boston Spirit. There was an incredible Pride parade and festival in Boston, a wonderful Pride parade and festival in Salem, Boston Spirit’s annual Summer Sunset Cruise, a Congressional debate focused on LGBT issues, The Theater Offensive’s blowout anniversary party, and much, much more. Just more reminders that we really do live in a great place. I had the chance recently to serve as moderator for a Congressional debate in Salem, MA. Congressman John Tierney was there as was former State Rep. Richard Tisei, and several other candidates. The debate was focused on issues of importance to the LGBT community … and every candidate running for the seat (including the incumbent) was there. It struck me that in some parts of the country (hello Texas) we have politicians who equate being gay with being an alcoholic, and where politicians are trying to strip away the rights, and dignity, of the LGBT community, yet, here in Massachusetts, we have a group of candidates (both Democrat and Republican) who all show up to profess their support for the LGBT community and LGBT rights. As I mentioned previously, Boston Spirit’s annual Summer Sunset Cruise also took place on June 18. It was a picture perfect evening. The weather was perfect and the crowd was amazing. A few ‘thank yous’ are in order … first, to Bay State Cruise Company. Each year Bay State donates the Provincetown II for our cruise. It is a very generous donation and it allows us to continue with this fun and important night. Thank you to Jeff Dugan and the gang at Summer Shack Restaurants for providing the delicious food on the boat and to

DJ Mocha for keeping the music (and boat) rocking. Thanks to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence for the incredible support, and to the staff at Fenway Health for all of their work. We are already looking forward to next year’s cruise. In the mean time, let’s all enjoy a peaceful and relaxing summer. I think we all need it!

David Zimmerman Publisher

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As We Go To Press … Did you see any protesters at Boston Pride this year? Neither did I. Gone are the days when there was even a small cadre of anti-LGBT folks roped off by the police into a separate demonstration zone along the route. It’s like they all disappeared. In fact, Massachusetts’ Democratic candidates were upset that someone inadvertently scheduled the state party’s annual convention on the same day as the Pride parade. Everyone wants to be with the gays now. Do does that mean the anti-gays have all gone away? Not quite. Remember MassResistance? The Massachusetts Family Institute? They still exist. They just don’t make headlines much anymore. They’re just not as willing to show their faces in public as much. They don’t have as many followers. They don’t have as large a platform for trumpeting their discriminatory messages. But they haven’t gone away. And they still don’t want us to have our basic equal rights. And they can still do damage. And while our July|August issue should—and does—sport some of the more laid-back and funpacked aspects of LGBT living in New England, we thought that we’d put a little controversial yang in the summer-lovin’ yin with the reminder that, as quiet as the opposition may appear, they are still a presence to be reckoned with and still breaking bad here and abroad. Please read writer Scott Kearnan’s piece “Most (Un) Wanted” so you know who to watch for when you and your suntanned hubby and kids return in the fall.

4 | BOSTON SPIRIT

Contribute your opinion: editor@bostonspiritmagazine.com

In the meantime, yes, kick back, relax and enjoy Provincetown, Ogunquit, The Berkshires, Vermont, and a whole host of other completely queer-friendly vacation destinations. We’ve got great coverage on a whole bunch of pleasurable activities for the warm weather, including great entertainment possibilities. This issue also boasts one of fab-photographer Joel Benjamin’s steamiest fashion spreads that we’ve ever done, spotlighting fitness apparel on some rockin’ hot bodies. Speaking of hot, can you say startups? Entrepreneurship is sizzling these days. Being New England, it’s natural that there would be an LGBT component to it. Check out our special business section to see what’s happening with the Boston Chapter of StartOut, which helps queer whiz kids get in on the innovation action. It’s a new world for those of us fortunate enough to live in and around The Hub. No longer do we need to focus so much of our energy on the opposition. Just don’t forget them either. As we set our sights on bigger horizons, helping those in other states and countries, it is important to be vigilant at home. Scott Brown appeared to be a long shot to Martha Coakley until there was no turning back. Dave Brat looked awfully fringe to Eric Cantor before it was too late. While we probably don’t have to cut our vacations short, it would be wise to keep the likes of Kris Mineau, Brian Camenker and Scott Lively on our proverbial baby monitors as we soak in the sun.

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Contents

JUL|AUG 2014 | VOLUME 10 | ISSUE 4

New England’s anti-LGBT activists you need to know

Spotlight Hit List Broad Thinking The Perfect Out-Fit Like a Prayer Ricardo Recommends Word Is Out Go Figure

Hit List

Culture 8 11 12 14 16 20 22

Feature

Ricardo Recommends: Let’s Get Physical

Out From Behind Bars

Gay Boston in the 1940s

Massachusetts is a hive of activity for startups and for LGBT activism, but the two don’t always mix well; enter: StartOut

Your Guide to Must-see Acts in Favorite Gay Destinations

If time is tight and ticket money at a premium, consider this your “Fab Fifteen” of must-see summer shows in Provincetown. Setting your sights north to Ogunquit, or west to Berkshires resorts? Fret not. We picked a “Fab Five” for each of those gay destinations too. Now, let the show begin.

Rocking Out

JUL|AUG 2014

Ready to take your workout routine to new heights?

Gear up for a fabulous summer

Most (Un) Wanted

New England’s anti-LGBT activists you need to know

Gay Boston in the 1940s

The Hub was gayer than you might think

Sizzling Summer Season

Your guide to must-see acts in gay-fave destinations

ON THE COVER Rocking Out

Queer Innovation

SPECIAL CAREER SECTION

StartOut launches LGBTs into today’s thriving entrepreneurial scene

entrepreneurial scene into today’s thriving StartOut launches LGBTs

Innovation Queer

SPECIAL CAREER SECTION

in gay-fave destinations Your guide to must-see acts

Season Summer Sizzling

than you might think The Hub was gayer

in the 1940s Gay Boston activists you need to know

6 | BOSTON SPIRIT

Viva Cuba!

Scene

Calendar 90 47

Coda Clear the ‘Runway’

Breakout local fashion designer Sam Donovan is ready for takeoff

Commonwealth Shakespeare Company stages Twelfth Night

Out

Legends and luminaries light up the Art House in Provincetown

Calendar

Provincetown videographer dons an ‘ex-gay’ T-shirt in Uganda in daring uncover mission to bear witness to draconian anti-gay laws

Rockin’

Life is a Cabaret

The Queer Business of Entrepreneurship 40

From P’town to Uganda and— thankfully—back 36

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Commonwealth Shakespeare Company stages Twelfth Night on the Boston Common

Seasonal

The Hub was gayer than you might think

The Queer Business of Entrepreneurship

Steve Maler draws the curtain

The Men’s Event 78 LifeSavor 79 The Fabulous Beekman Boys 79 Beantown Softball Hall of Fame Induction 81 ClimACTS! 82 Crescendo 82 Deb and Arlene Celebrate Marriage Equality 83 The Women’s Dinner Party 84

Boston’s Black and Pink fights for LGBTQ justice in prison system

Trans-themed films flourish at LGBTQ Film Festival in the Ocean State

John Verlinden’s ‘To Cook Is to Love’ and Johnny Diaz’s ‘Looking for Providence’ connect past and present

Most (Un) Wanted:

New England’s anti-LGBT activists you need to know, and their moral crimes against the community

Divine Providence

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SPOTLIGHT Trending STORY Scott Kearnan

Hit List NEWS, NOTES, AND TO-DOS FOR EVERY GAY AGENDA was a finalist to host this year’s games, and we’re still sending one local star: Hopedale, Massachusetts resident Ruth Pointer, whose legendary disco act The Pointer Sisters will perform the Opening Ceremony. Also appearing is recent HRC Upstander Award winner Lance Bass, former ‘N Sync member and current host on Sirius XM radio’s OUTQ. More: gg9cle.com

BOW

CURL UP with a copy of Lesbian Sex

Positions, a newly released tome of 100 Kama Sutra-style poses by queer sex educator Shanna Katz, a board member of The Center for Sexual Pleasure & Health in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Yes, you’ll discover some new intriguingly named arrangements, from the steamy “Blinded by Delight” to the acrobatic “Spider Woman.” But Katz’s how-to stresses ideas to enhance the most important aspect of any intimate encounter between partners: Communication. More: ShannaKatz.com

SAY “I DO” to a new LGBT magazine, EQL Destinations for Weddings, a biannual (Spring and Fall) national publication focused on same-sex wedding planning. Each 144-page issue will feature inspiring ideas, photography, and expert advice on everything from wedding cakes to cocktails, floral arrangements to honeymoon hideaways. EQL is the first LGBT-focused entry from Martha’s Vineyard-based Hurd Publishing, the team behind titles like Martha’s Vineyard Wedding and Bermuda Wedding & Honeymoon. More: EQLwedding.com

GET PUMPED for the 2014 Gay Games,

the world’s largest sporting event for LGBT athletes, which kicks off in Cleveland, Ohio from August 9-16. Boston

to the new queen in town. During his American Idol days, out singer Adam Lambert was often compared to the legendary Freddie Mercury. So it’s no surprise that Lambert has hit the road with the remaining members of Queen for his first tour as official frontman. The tour hits Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday, July 19 and Friday, July 25, and Boston’s TD Garden on Tuesday, July 22. More: Ticketmaster.com

TimScapes

LEND YOUR SUPPORT

to John Abdallah Wambere, a brave and vocal LGBT activist from Uganda. Gay Ugandans live under looming threats of violence and imprisonment; the 2011 murder of Wambere’s friend and fellow activist, David Kato, did Queen, much to increase global attention frontmanned in one of toward the issue. Yet in by Adam the new tops from TimFebruary, Uganda law began Lambert Scapes, the colorful imposing even harsher Provincetown-based penalties, including line from artist Tim life imprisonment, Convery. Partly for same-sex inspired by a relationships and medium of neon activism viewed duct tape, Convery as “promoting creates bright, homosexuality.” A bold, slightly fundraising campaign abstract t-shirt and launched by local queer tank designs that nightlife DJ Nathanael use angular, geometric Bluhm brought Wambere forms to evoke tourist to the Boston area, and GLAD icons: from a New England has now filed an application for lighthouse to the P’town “dick dock.” asylum on his behalf. Learn more: Glad. For 2014, he’s unveiled a fun and funky org [x] new series that pays tribute to all the most popular LGBT-friendly summer destinations. The collection captures not just Provincetown, but also Ogunquit, Palm Springs, the Fire Island Pines, and Rehoboth Beach, among others. More: Tim-Scapes.com

HIT THE BEACH

John Abdallah Wambere

Everything

is better

JUL|AUG 2014 | VOLUME 10 | ISSUE 4

with

PUBLISHER

David Zimmerman EDITOR IN CHIEF

James A. Lopata ART DIRECTOR

Dean Burchell

DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING

Jenn Dettmann jenn@bostonspiritmagazine.com

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Chris George, Michael Poulin

PUBLISHING/SALES CONTACT

CONTRIBUTING LIFESTYLE EDITOR

publisher@bostonspiritmagazine.com 781-223-8538

CONTRIBUTING ARTS EDITOR

Boston Spirit magazine. A Division of Jake Publishing, LLC Published by Jake Publishing, LLC. Copyright 2004 by Jake Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced without the written permission of Boston Spirit magazine. Neither the publishers nor the advertisers will be held responsible for any errors found in the magazine. The publishers accept no liability for the accuracy of statements made by advertisers. Publication of the name or photograph of any person, organization or business in this magazine does not reflect upon one’s sexual orientation in any way. Boston Spirit Magazine 398 Columbus Ave #395 Boston, MA 02116

Scott Kearnan

Loren King

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Sara Feijo,

Randy Gomes, Mark Krone, Fred Kuhr, Rob Phelps, Ricardo Rodriguez

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Joel Benjamin, Emil Cohen,

COVER IMAGE Joel Benjamin ON THE WEB

BostonSpiritMagazine.com TALK TO US Send comments, questions and encomia to feedback@bostonspiritmagazine.com EDITORIAL CONTACT

editor@bostonspiritmagazine.com

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Kathy Griffin Boston

‘It’s a dream audience: people who are smart and get your references,’ says gay fave comedienne of Bostonians

Happy 30th Club Café!

Our multiplex community center shows no signs of aging

Mayor Races Then and Now

The last open Boston campaign— 1983—was first time gays wooed

November 18, 2003

ARTS ARTS ARTS ARTS PREVIEW PREVIEW PREVIEW The day that changed the gay rights movement forever

PREVIEW

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SPOTLIGHT Travel STORY Scott Kearnan

10 | BOSTON SPIRIT

WHILE YOU’RE THERE Eat Here: Lola 41. You can get fried clams anywhere. Head to this hip sushi spot for fresh rolls of raw fish and creative martinis in fun but sophisticated surroundings. Bonus: a delish upscale burger for sushi-free friends. (lola41. com)

Broad Thinking LARK HOTELS OPENS A FAB NEW NANTUCKET DESTINATION Provincetown, we love you. But sometimes you want to go where everybody doesn’t know your name—and your ex’s name, and your profile name, and your drag name. A summer trip to Nantucket sounds like a great change of pace, but many of the island’s lodging options are a bit staid: More fit for GOP fat cats than those of us who don’t want to leave modern, urbane taste on the mainland. Good news. Opening July 15 is 21 Broad, a 27-room boutique property that offers still-upscale environs with a contemporary bent. It’s the latest property from Lark Hotels, the same group behind Nantucket’s equally chic 76 Main (the only hotel on Main Street) and The Attwater in Newport, among others. And it’s fabulous. Modern guest rooms combine crisp whites and natural neutrals with beach-y flair and pops of punchy citrus color. In-room amenities include Smart TVs, iPads, and iPod docking stations with a “white noise” option. But our favorite feature is the “Vitamin C showers,” which use

vitamin C-infused showerheads to neutralize any chlorine; you know, like a restaurant dropping a lemon wheel in tap water. Dechlorinated water should leave skin feeling softer and looking more radiant. And it’s an ahead-of-the-trend new amenity, something you’d typically find in glitzy properties like the MGM Grand in Vegas—or in luxury residences. (Leonardo DiCaprio supposedly has one at his Greenwich Village pad.) Elsewhere you’ll find a steam room, breakfast juice bar, courtyard with fire pit and guest lounge with games and vinyl turntables. See? Not your stodgy Nantucket experience. The Lark properties are known for bringing “design-forward” approaches and unique amenities to iconic vacation destinations, and 21 Broad definitely fits that bill. But we saved the best perk for last: guest-only discounts for online shopping at Vineyard Vines. Prepare to serve some preppy-chic realness. More info: 21broadhotel.com

Drink There: Cisco Brewers. Rent a bike or hop a free shuttle to get to this brewpub on idyllic farmland speckled with Adirondack chairs. You can spend a whole day enjoying live music, noshing from trendy food trucks, and playing lawn games while sampling craft suds— or wine and whiskey from its neighboring siblings, Nantucket Vineyards and Triple Eight Distillery. (ciscobrewery. com) Hit the Beach Here: Miacomet Beach. Many locals can offer directions to a discreet stretch between Miacomet and Surfside Beach that is (unofficially) clothing-optional. It’s been popular with gay crowds—and surfers, so be careful swimming. Undertow is noticeably strong. Read This: The Fabulous Wedding Directory. Nantucket is a romantic place to get hitched, and this online resource is dedicated to LGBTowned or friendly wedding vendors. (thefabulousweddingdirectory.com) [x]

Only through September 1

Explore J.M.W. Turner’s lifelong preoccupation with the sea and view works by Constable, Whistler, Sargent and others that illuminate how Britain’s greatest painter influenced generations of artists. Turner & the Sea was produced by the National Maritime Museum, part of Royal Museums Greenwich, London. Supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. Carolyn and Peter S. Lynch and The Lynch Foundation, and The Manton Foundation provided generous support. The East India Marine Associates of the Peabody Essex Museum also provided support.

161 Essex Street | Salem, MA | pem.org

Joseph Mallord William Turner, Venice: The Dogana and San Giorgio Maggiore (detail), 1834. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Widener Collection, 1942.9.85.

Media Partners

SPOTLIGHT Sports STORY Scott Kearnan

The Perfect Out-Fit PACKED WITH WILD OBSTACLES AND MUDDY GO-GO BOYS, HERE COMES A FUN-FILLED ENDURANCE CHALLENGE FOR GAY WEEKEND WARRIORS Muscles flex, sweat drips—and if you’re doing it right, things get very, very dirty. Make room in your (workout) schedule for The Out-Fit Challenge Boston on Saturday, October 11. By now, you’ve probably seen your social media feeds fill with photos of slush-splattered friends who have finished hardcore mud runs and obstacle course challenges like the Spartan Race and Diva Dash. But Out-Fit is the first endurance course of its kind to specifically engage the LGBT community. (Which is sort of ironic, when you consider actual Spartan history.) And not only does it help participants get in shape and score bragging rights, it also raises funds for the Boston-based Family Equality Council, a nonprofit supporting LGBT parents. Out-Fit Challenge launched in 2013 with events in Miami, New York and Chicago. Its success and word-of-mouth inspired the organization to launch an online voting campaign to choose the cities for 2014.

12 | BOSTON SPIRIT

Boston gays exercised the democratic process (get it?) and the Hub was chosen alongside New York, San Francisco and Reno—beating out bigger cities like Dallas and Los Angeles in the process. But now comes the hard part: training. The Challenge is a 5K course with over 15 different over-the-top obstacles. “Over the Rainbow” has participants hurdling 6-foot walls; “Sashay Walk” is a delicate strut across balance beams; “Hello Sailor” involves climbing through cargo nets; “Is That Mud In Your Pants?” is a grand finale slog toward the finish line—through 70 feet of mud. Those who want to go hard can take advantage of free group workout sessions that Out-Fit will sponsor throughout the summer in Boston, P’town, Ogunquit and elsewhere—plus they’re a good way to connect with fellow Out-Fitters and future friends. But OutFit officials promise that the event itself should be accessible to most fitness levels.

Ultimately, it’s a chance to conquer a challenge and build community. So while some choose to hit every obstacle full throttle, other warriors will just walk it out. Either way, you’ll want to save a little energy for the after-party. Every event wraps up with a post-challenge party featuring DJs, free beer, body contests, drag queens and mud-covered go-go boys. The Boston-area Out-Fit will take over the Amesbury Sport Park on the North Shore. Head to out-fitchallenge.com to learn more, register ($55) or form a team. It will also keep you up to date on special pre-Challenge events hosted with our local LGBT sports teams that will raise additional funds for the Family Equality Council— and get you pumped for some good, clean, dirty fun. [x] Out-Fit Challenge Boston

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SPOTLIGHT Nightlife STORY Scott Kearnan PHOTOS Melissa Ostrow

Like a Prayer

The team at Cathedral Station, including general manager Billy Svetz [SECOND

ROW, THIRD FROM LEFT]

CATHEDRAL STATION ANSWERS THE CALL FOR A NEW GAY SPORTS BAR Picture it: A priest walks into a gay bar. No, it’s not the start of a stand-up joke. It’s how William “Billy” Svetz met his new neighbor. Svetz was the longtime manager of gay sports bar Fritz Lounge, and in June he’ll open a new gathering spot in the South End: Cathedral Station, which will inhabit the former Red Fez restaurant space at 1222 Washington Street. The bar is already drawing plenty of attention from the local LGBT community—and beyond. “[Very Reverend Kevin] O’Leary walked in and said he wanted to look at his new place,” laughs Svetz, referring to the rector at the nearby Cathedral of the Holy Cross. “As soon as construction is done, I hope he’ll come back to bless us.”

Confession: Cathedral Station’s name actually references an old post office location, and it was chosen by partner Larry Basile, cofounder of Manhunt, who also lives nearby. Basile helped open Fritz back in 1983, and Svetz stepped in as general manager within the first few months. In the years that followed, that bar became an iconic institution—and frankly, so did Svetz. In the midst of the AIDS epidemic, Svetz co-founded the Grass Roots Gay Rights Fund (also known as the Boston Gay Rights Fund) in 1987 and launched Pride Week’s famous Chandler Street block party, which has raised over $1 million over the years. (Today the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts produces it.) Svetz was also the longest serving commissioner in

the Beantown Softball League, and helped usher Fritz teams to six NAGAAA (North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance) World Series; Cathedral Station will continue to sponsor gay teams across sports. Earlier this year, the Greater Boston Business Council bestowed its annual Citizen of the Year award on Svetz, in recognition of his many and multi-faceted contributions to the gay community. His management of Fritz was certainly among them. But Svetz decided it was time to move on when current owner Cliff Long (whose father cofounded that trailblazing gay sports bar) announced he would renovate Fritz and turn it into a higher-end neighborhood restaurant with a less LGBTspecific identity. It reopened in April as The

Trophy Room, a glossy brasserie. Many celebrated the new approach. Others were irritated at the loss of a historic (and inexpensive) gay watering hole. Cathedral Station will be an answer to their prayers. The 300-capacity space is roughly triple the size of Fritz, but it boasts the same vibe. Svetz promises cheap drinks, plenty of TVs for game days, and pool tables and dart boards that will attract the same crew of gay athletes that turned Fritz into what he calls, “the gay Cheers.” Indeed, there will be many familiar faces; about two-thirds of the staff is former Fritz employees, says Svetz, including longtime manager Gary Staples. New attractions include a big sun-soaked patio and an expanded food menu: think casual, low-priced pub grub with a few Southern twists from chef Sly Ward. But take notice, gossipy gays: There’s no need to take sides in this post-Fritz split. Svetz insists that the end was entirely amicable, that he remains good friends with the Long family, and hopes the Trophy Room has much success. Any

community rancor over the situation is “silly,” says Svetz, who even declined to reuse the Fritz name as part of a “gentleman’s agreement.” (Though he will likely display the old sign in the Cathedral Station place.) “We will share customers,” says Svetz. “The more businesses that open, the better it is for everybody. You just have to stay on top of what you’re doing.” Managers Bobby Nolan, Gary Staples, and Kevin St. Gelais

“ The more businesses that open, the better it is for everybody. You just have to stay on top of what you’re doing. ” Billy Svetz Cathedral Station General manager

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And for Svetz, that means running a business that explicitly owns its gay identity. Though he’s excited to evolve with the times, he believes gay businesses are important to retaining a sense of history. “I’ve heard people say that you don’t need to fly a rainbow flag outside a business anymore. Well, I disagree,” says Svetz. “It’s not that we’re saying the place is exclusively gay. To me, the rainbow flag is a symbol. It’s a symbol of the many people, some who died, that have worked toward equality in this city and around the world. And that history continues.” To Cathedral Station, we say: Amen. [x]

SPOTLIGHT Fitness STORY Ricardo Rodriguez PHOTOS Joel Benjamin

Barry's Boot Camp

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[MAKE-UP] Tavi de la Rosa

16 | BOSTON SPIRIT

[HAIR] Richard Baltzer

Ricardo Recommends Let’s Get Physical!!

With the Summer in full bloom and bathing suit season out of control, I asked my super hot, super fit, super energetic fitness-buff friends Derek Durkin, Brian Weller, Christina Lodde and Dustin Martin to put together a high intensity killer work out to help take us to the next level. Ricardo Rodriguez Is a celebrated and award-winning real estate and lifestyle expert based in Boston. He regularly appears in local and national TV shows, contributes to various publications in the areas of real estate, home, living and fashion, and is a tireless advocate and supporter of many and various charitable causes.

They are part of a brand that has changed the way we exercise. Before the now popular high intensity exercise brands there was the original Barry’s Bootcamp in Los Angeles … I remember 10-12 years ago going to those classes in West Hollywood (with the eponymous Barry at the helm) and hating him every second they lasted but then absolutely loving the results. Now, a taste of that love-hate relationship is in the palm of your sweaty, fit, hands …

KICK-ASS SUMMER SUPERSET WORKOUT Perform each set of exercises as a superset. Complete 20 repetitions of exercise A and without resting, complete 20 repetitions of exercise B. Complete 3 rounds of each superset, with 90 seconds of rest in between, before moving onto the next set.

SUPERSET

90 SEC. REST

SUPERSET 1

THRUSTER (AKA SQUAT TO PRESS) SPIDERMAN PUSH-UP

THRUSTER

SPIDERMAN PUSH UP

Begin the movement with feet shoulder width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand just above your shoulders. The movement starts with a squat: lower your butt as if you are sitting in a chair, chest stays tall, back flat and as you lower down your body weight is mostly in your heels (instead of toes). Once your butt is even with your knees, stand up tall while pulling your hips forward. As you stand up, press the weights above your head and twist your palms facing forward.

Begin the movement in a push up position with your hands under your shoulders and a straight line from shoulders thru heels. As you lower your chest and nose into a plank, bend your right knee 90 degrees and lift your knee to your right elbow. As you rise, bring your knee and foot back to the starting position. Lower again, this time alternating legs, bending your left knee 90 degrees and lifting your left knee to your left elbow. Raise and return to starting position..

JUL|AUG 2014 | 17

SUPERSET 2

CURTSY LUNGE WITH CURL

CURTSY LUNGE WITH CURL REVERSE LUNGE WITH KNEE

Begin the movement standing tall with a dumbbell in each hand hanging at your hips. Take a big step backwards with your right foot, landing outside (to the left) of your left foot, and lower your body, bringing your right knee a few inches from the floor. As you lower your body down, curl each dumbbell from your hips to your shoulders. Stand back up and repeat in the opposite direction.

PLANK WITH KICK THRU

SUPERSET 3

PLANK WITH KICK THRU SUMO SQUAT WITH UPRIGHT ROW

18 | BOSTON SPIRIT

Start in a high plank (or push up position), hands under your shoulders and a straight line from shoulders thru heels. Bring your right foot all the way to the outside of your right hand. Raise your right hand to your head, transferring your weight to your left hand and kick thru your left leg, straight and high, engaging your core and abs. Bring your left foot back to the starting position, lower your right arm to the floor, and bring your right leg back to starting position. Repeat on left side.

REVERSE LUNGE WITH KNEE Begin the movement standing tall with a medicine ball (or dumbbell) extended out in front of you, shoulder height. Take a step directly behind you with your right leg, lowering your right knee to a few inches off the floor. Keep your chest high and ball extended, and as you stand up, raise your right knee in between the ball and your chest as high as you can. Lower your right foot to the starting position and repeat on the other side.

SUMO SQUAT WITH UPRIGHT ROW Being the movement in a wide stance (about 6-12 inches wider than shoulder width), align your knees over your toes. Holding one handle of a resistance band in each hand at hip height, cross your hands right over left as you criss-cross the band under your feet. Lower your butt as if you are sitting in a chair, chest stays tall, back flat and as you lower down your body weight is mostly in your heels (instead of toes). Once your butt is even with your knees, stand up tall while pulling your hips forward. As you approach the top of the movement, raise your elbows to the ceiling, while keeping your wrists relaxed. Your elbows should be slightly higher than your wrists, and the movement is finished when your wrists are just below your shoulders. Lower your hands and repeat the sumo squat and upright row.Â [x]

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SPOTLIGHT News STORY staff

Word Is Out Somerville’s Board of Alderman, by a unanimous vote in May, passed legislation to add the term “gender identity and expression” to the city’s anti-discrimination policy. With the new legislation Somerville became the sixth jurisdiction in Massachusetts to address the issue of discrimination against members of the transgender community in housing, employment, education, and access to resources in public areas such as retail establishments, modes of transit, and restaurants. 58% of surveyed transgender people in Massachusetts report facing such harassment or mistreatment. Kara Coredini, executive director of MassEquality, hopes that the recent legislation in Somerville marks the continuation of a “domino effect” and that we will see comparable political action across all cities a nd towns in the Bay State and not just in the pockets of concentrated liberalism. [Randy Gomes]

In 2009 the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) co-managed and funded a $3 million marriage referendum campaign in Maine designed to block that state’s passage of marriage equality legislation. After a four year investigation, the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Elections practices voted unanimously to impose record civil penalties against NOM, totaling $50,250, for the “deliberate decision” to intentionally deceive the public regarding its donors’ identities and role in the referendum. HRC president Chad Griffin commended Maine’s regulators for “requiring NOM to play by the same disclosure rules” that the HRC and other groups have abided by for years. Maine voters eventually approved marriage equality in a second referendum in 2012. [Randy Gomes]

Our neighbors to the south in Rhode Island have an exciting prospect on their hands. According to reports from the Providence Journal and Rhode Island NPR, openly gay state Representative Frank Ferri (D-Warwick) is exploring taking a run for the Lt. Governor seat for the November election. Ferri is perhaps most closely associated with the long campaign to legalize same-sex marriage in Rhode Island where he was a leader in the Rhode Island Legislature battling conservative Democrats and ultraright Republicans to win marriage for the state in 2013. The race is wide open because current Democratic Lt. Governor Elizabeth Robert is barred from seeking office again due to term limits. [DeeDee Edmonson]

AU T H E N T I C A L LY B O S TO N

5 0 0 C o m m o n w e a l t h Av e n u e , B o s t o n , M A 0 2 2 1 5 20 | BOSTON SPIRIT

Frank Ferri (D-Warwick)

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The Boston Pride organization, in collaboration with the South Asian Arts Council (SAAC), recently held the Pride Diplomatic Reception at the SAAC offices in Boston. The first-in-the-nation event brought together many consuls and representatives from foreign delegations who gathered to celebrate human rights around the world and the international Pride movement. [Randy Gomes]

The Out Side of Massachusetts Just another book reading, coffee drinking, ice cream eating, sidewalk strolling, gay-friendly, dog loving day in paradise. Come play outside. Visit Northampton, Amherst, Easthampton, our hilltowns and hamlets. Rebecca Haag Brava. The Schweitzer Fellowship program recently awarded Rebecca Haag, a longtime advocate for people living with HIV/ AIDS, the Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award in an event at Fenway Health. Haag, former CEO of Aids Action since 2003 “helped to significantly reduce the rate of new HIV diagnoses, making [Massachusetts] a national leader in fighting the AIDS epidemic” according to Sylvia Stevens-Edouard, executive director of The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. Haag also served as one of the key leaders that advocated for a national AIDS plan during the 2008 presidential elections resulting in the White House eventually releasing the nation’s first coordinated, strategic approach to managing the HIV/ AIDS crisis. [Randy Gomes]

SPOTLIGHT Numbers COMPILED Randy Gomes

Go Figure 3,500 Year-round population of Provincetown [Source: Provincetown Tourism Board]

30,000 Seasonal population of Provincetown [Source:

Provincetown tourism board]

2005

Ranking for Provincetown amongst all United States towns in the number of self-reporting same-sex couples per capita. [Source: Williams Institute]

36% Increase in same-sex couples seeking legal advice since the Supreme Court’s ruling on DOMA last year, according to attorneys responding to a recent survey noted. [Source: American Academy Of Matrimonial Lawyers]

44% of attorneys saying they have handled same-sex marriage or related issues, including co-habitation agreements, custody matters, and spousal support in the past year. [Source: American Academy Of Matrimonial Lawyers]

Last year Provincetown was named Best Gay Resort Town by Out Traveler [Source: Provincetown Tourism Board]

901,997 Self-reporting same-sex couples in the latest US Census [Source:

Williams Institute]

50% Increase in number of self-reporting same-sex couples from the previous US Census [Source:

Williams Institute]

2000 2010 22 | BOSTON SPIRIT

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Most (Un) Wanted: FEATURE Agenda STORY Scott Kearnan

New England’s anti-LGBT activists you need to know, and their moral crimes against the community Our region has a reputation for being a progressive place for LGBT people — and that’s for good reason. By and large, strides toward equality in marriage and other protections have happened faster here than in any other corner of the country. In many ways, being anti-gay in New England is a political liability — not an asset. But lest we too quickly rest on our laurels, it’s important to remember that there are plenty of people and organizations that are still actively working to restrict LGBT rights, trying to take us back to less tolerant times, and spreading vitriolic, hate-filled lies about LGBT people across the country — and around the world. We asked local LGBT advocates to tell us who they felt belonged on a roll call of dishonorable New Englanders. Here are the names that recurred. So be on the lookout for them, and stay vigilant when you see these folks attached to a campaign or a cause. There’s a good chance that they’re armed with venom (sometimes funds) and dangerous to advancements in equal rights.

The Fearsome Four

SCOTT LIVELY

President of Abiding Truth Ministries; independent candidate for Massachusetts Governor Profile: A special strain of virulent gay-basher, Springfield-based Lively also happens to be running for governor of Massachusetts. (When he’s not running his java shop-slashmeeting space, Holy Ground Coffee House.) Lively cites Christianity for saving him from difficult years of alcoholism and homelessness — but he also uses his faith as justification to wage a one-man war on gay people through his Abiding Truth Ministries, which is recognized as a hate group by the Souther Poverty Law Center (SPLC). He likens homosexuality to alcoholism, regarding it as an illness to be cured, and works actively to

criminalize advancements of equal rights. During his work with the rightwing Oregon Citizens Alliance in 1992, Lively earned the “distinction” of passing America’s first anti-gay municipal law in 1992, which made it illegal for the city of Springfield, Oregon, to “promote or facilitate homosexuality.” (A subsequently passed law prevented its enforcement.) In 1995, Lively released the book The Pink Swastika, discredited by historians, which alleges that the Nazi leadership was comprised of gay men. (Who were compelled to genocide by virtue of their immorality, of course.) He released the book 7 Steps

to Recruit-Proof Your Child, a “guidebook” for parents “who wish to protect their children from pro-homosexual indoctrination and the possibility of recruitment into the homosexual lifestyle.” If you thought he would tone down his anti-gay rhetoric for a gubernatorial campaign, think again. Lively’s campaign platforms are rooted in his Biblical interpretation, and on the matter of LGBT issues he shares that, “I am deeply concerned for those who self-identify as homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender because the Bible warns that they will suffer great harm, both physically and spiritually.” He refers to the LGBT community as the “anti-church” and says that as governor he would advocate for the “separation of LGBT and State.” Recent Crimes: Lively has become a globetrotting hatemonger, making dozens of media and personal appearances annually in which he portrays gay people as pedophiles, heathen savages, and mass murders (because, Nazis). The effects are not insubstantial. Over the years, Lively has cultivated ties to political and religious leaders in Uganda. He has traveled there

extensively to give lengthy TV-broadcast presentations to parliament and universities about the dangers of a predatory gay “agenda,” and to encourage Ugandans take measures to stop the spread of the homosexual “disease.” Shortly after a 2009 visit, Ugandan newspapers began running names and photos of suspected gay people, inciting an escalation of violence, and the government introduced its now-notorious “kill the gays” bill. The frightening influence of Lively and other American evangelicals in Uganda has been detailed in the recent book, American Culture Warriors in Africa: A Guide to the Exporters of Homophobia and Sexism, and the award-winning documentary God Loves Uganda, which further explores the link between Western religious leaders and anti-gay laws in Africa. In 2013, Lively was named in a (stillongoing) lawsuit by Sexual Minorities Uganda, an activist group that sued him for persecution, which is defined by international law as a “crime against humanity.” Lively has tried to portray the lawsuit as a meritless attack on his free speech, and to disassociate himself from

the ramifications of his rabblerousing. Yet Lively has also lobbied for anti-gay laws during a 50-city tour of Russia and former Soviet Republics, where he founded the extremist Latvian ministry Watchmen on the Walls, which advocates for conversion therapy. In 2011 he took “credit” for helping to pass Russia’s frighteningly broad, anti-gay propaganda laws, calling them his “proudest accomplishment.” He’d love to have them here, too. In a March gubernatorial forum co-hosted by MassEquality, Lively suggested he would work to replicate those laws as governor. Verdict: This year San Francisco’s LGBT Pride organization announced it would make Lively recipient of its annual Pink Brick Award. The award, which references “the first brick hurled at the Stonewall riots,” is given to an individual that “has done significant harm” to the community — thereby raising awareness of important issues. It is, in other words, a middle finger. It couldn’t go to a more deserving recipient.

BRIAN CAMENKER President, MassResistance

Profile: Camenker has been a nasty thorn in the side of the LGBT community since founding his Waltham, Massachusetts-based organization in 1995 as the Parents’ Rights Coalition; it was renamed the Article 8 Alliance in 2003, when opposing equal marriage in Massachusetts, and became MassResistance in 2006. The devolution of the name mirrors the pathology of the organization,

which now seems to see itself as some last bastion of morality under siege by the shadowy, Illuminati-like operatives of the Gay Agenda. Hold your nose before viewing the MassResistance website, which refers to the pro-equality movement as a “war against children” and regards school GSA groups as “gay clubs that are run by activist, often radical, adults, but though otherwise unsupervised [sic].” Such groups are designed to promote a

“safe environment,” which sure sounds nice, warns MassResistance, but is really “the Orwellian term for a school that aggressively enforces pro-LGBT sexual ideology and suppresses all dissent.” In 2008 the Southern Poverty Law Center listed MassResistance as an anti-gay hate group. Recent Crimes: Through his website, email blasts and voter guides, media appearances and lobbying efforts,

ANDREW BECKWITH AND KRIS MINEAU President and President Emeritus, Massachusetts Family Institute

Profile: Founded in 1991, the MFI is dedicated to “affirming Judeo-Christian values” in public policy. It has made anti-LGBT initiatives a major focus of its work. The MFI believes that a marriage “definition that includes same-sex couples is fundamentally flawed,” according to a platform statement on its website. “It is a travesty that a Massachusetts court decided to thrust a radical social experiment upon an unwilling

populace by legalizing samesex ‘marriage.’” Former president Mineau assumed his role as legal gay marriage began in Massachusetts and spent the better part of the next decade trying (and failing) to reverse the course. (The MFI concedes that “strenuous efforts” to destroy marriage equality have filed, but maintains that the organization is “dedicated to restoring marriage to its natural definition.”) In early 2014, Mineau passed the reins to Andrew Beckwith. But his continued figurehead presence suggests that now we just have double the trouble.

Recent Crimes: During 2011 debate over the transgender equal rights bill, the Institute’s advocacy wing, MFI Action, propagated the use of “the bathroom bill” to describe it, airing anti-trans radio ads that reduced the legislature — which impacted more broad-ranging issues of employment and housing — to “a bill that lets men use women’s bathrooms,” according to one ad. (Funding for the ads came from the Coloradobased Focus on the Family, recognized by the SPLC as a hate group.) In 2013, Beckwith and Mineau also raised a

headline-grabbing ruckus over new Massachusetts Department of Education guidelines that would allow transgender students to use the bathroom and locker room of the gender with which they identified. The MFI eagerly rang the alarm bell by conflating transgender individuals with sexual predators. In recent years the organization has also lobbied for the Boy Scouts to “show courage” by continuing to exclude gay scouts and leaders. Meanwhile, a decade has passed since the advent of equal marriage arrived in Massachusetts — with still

Camenker disseminates hateful, fearmongering falsities about LGBT people and the civil rights movement. The MassResistance website is essentially as vitriolic as that of the Westboro Baptist Church; it just replaces religion-based hostility with secular paranoia about the encroaching danger of a supposed Homosexual New World Order. That makes it dangerous source material for impressionable minds or those with limited exposure to real gay Americans who are looking to have their worst preconceptions “confirmed.” Camenker and his (few) cronies also enjoy crashing youth-skewing events like Youth Pride, the BAGLY prom, and most recently April’s GLSEN conference in Boston, often posting online photos of

attending youth (who may not be out in other contexts) and “reporting” glimpses of dangerous “pro-homosexual propaganda” like anti-bullying guides. MassResistance recently produced a half-hour video, What Gay Marriage Did to Massachusetts, which is “designed to be a tool for individuals, activist groups, and churches to help show the unvarnished and disturbing consequences of ‘gay marriage on a society once it’s forced on the population.” (Among the dire ramifications, according to Camenker’s narrations, is that “activist teachers began displaying photos of their same-sex spouses in their classrooms.”) The video has since been translated into Cantonese for Chinese viewers, and Camenker claims anti-gay groups in Australia plan

to produce it in DVD form. And last winter, at the invitation of the Jamaica Coalition for a Healthy Society, Camenker traveled to Kingston to speak about the “dangers” of legalizing gay relationships; in Jamaica, sexual acts between men are illegal and punishable by up to ten years in prison. Camenker encouraged his audience to continue fighting repeal of anti-gay laws, and MassResistance writes that their commitment to do so “sets an example for the rest of us.” The Verdict: Camenker is a kook, and as with Westboro, his fanatical-fringe selfparody means even rational conservatives don’t want to align with him. But with an audience, even a kook can be dangerous.

Hall Of (Dis)Honor: BOB EMRICH Board Chairman of Christian Civic League in Maine no sign of the sky falling. Yet in May, Beckwith wrote a column suggesting that, as per the headline it received when reprinted in the North Andover-based newspaper The Eagle Tribune, “A decade later, debate over marriage must continue.” Of course it does; somebody has a new job to keep, after all. The Verdict: The MFI’s influence is waning, as far as local LGBT issues go. But with the recent passing of the proverbial torch, it remains to be seen if Beckwith will fan the flames of intolerance.

Emrich, a pastor based in Plymouth, Maine, helped lead the anti-gay movement in Maine in 2009, when the “Yes on 1” campaign successfully repealed equal marriage rights. (Ironically, when voters reinstated equal marriage in 2012, Maine and Maryland simultaneously became the first states to enact same-sex marriage by popular vote.) He’s a Northeast Field Ambassador for the Family Research Council, which works to shape public and social policy toward anti-gay ends. And he believes that gays can be cured. He publishes video interviews with “ex-gays” on his YouTube channel.

MIKE HEATH Director of Helping Hands Ministry Heath spent 15 years as director of the Christian Civic League. But in 2012, Heath co-founded the No Special Rights PAC to defeat same-sex marriage in Maine. Special rights, not equal rights? Yes, said Heath. “There’s no basis in nature for a right to sodomy or a right to call two men or two women who are choosing to relate to one another sexually as a marriage,” Heath told an AP reporter in 2012. “There’s no intrinsic or natural right to that. So we believe that these are special rights.” Though those efforts failed, Heath continues to run his Helping Hands Ministry, which he uses as a platform to oppose pro-equality measures in Maine — or as he calls them, the “sodomy-promoting propaganda machines in all the government run schools.”

[CONTINUES 28]

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[FROM 27]

CHRISTOPHER PLANTE Regional director National Organization for Marriage and executive director of Rhode Island chapter Plante was a major adversary against equal marriage in Rhode Island, which in 2013 finally became the last New England state to grant it. At that point, Plante even managed to offend NOM supporters by blustering to The New York Times: “I don’t see momentum for redefining marriage. Rhode Island is not that big a deal.” He’s still speaking out and making a big stink anywhere he can. Plante helped lead a

PATRICIA DOHERTY Executive Director, Catholic Citizenship; Republican state committeewoman

www.appleseed.org

NOM “March for Marriage” in Washington, DC, in June, a day of anti-gay protest and lobbying against the recent advancements of same-sex marriage, with speakers like Rick Santorum. Plante recently told The Christian Post that the march is being held “to show the world, the media, members of Congress and the Supreme Court that the marriage debate is not over.” He added that, “Despite what the polls may say, the reality is the majority of Americans believe marriage is between one man and one woman.” He added that NOM hopes to make it an annual event.

Equal marriage has long been in the crosshairs of Doherty, former director of public policy for the Coalition for Marriage & Family. But lately she seems particularly incensed by gains for transgender people. In 2010, Doherty successfully worked for the defeat of Attleboro state representative Bill Bowles, a co-sponsor of the transgender rights bill, via Catholic Citizenship volunteers distributing “candidate questionnaires” that compared Bowles to his opponent George Ross. The same tactic was used in 2012 to usher the narrow defeat of Fall River state representative Kevin Aguiar, an LGBT supporter, and secure victory for his opponent Alan Silvia, who opposes equal rights

initiatives. (Within the biased questions, Catholic Citizenship refers to state’s GLBT Youth Commission as an organization that “promotes” being gay.) And in a subsequent letter to Attleboro’s The Sun Chronicle newspaper, Doherty referred to the transgender equal rights bill as one that “gives transgender people what amounts to special rights based on how they identify their gender on any given day.” Last year she told the National Catholic Register that the bill is “almost like Big Brother taking over and telling us how to think and feel.” She continues to speak alongside local Tea Partiers at events across the state, and in February helped organize the Coalition-sponsored “Pro-Family Lobby Day” at the State House, which she described to the The Pilot newspaper as a response to Catholics “being attacked.” [x]

FEATURE Justice STORY Sara Feijo PHOTOS courtesy Black and Pink

Out From Behind Bars Boston’s Black and Pink fights for LGBTQ justice in prison system After spending six months in a Georgia county jail and a Massachusetts federal prison, Rev. Jason Lydon dedicated his life to help LGBTQ folks who endure the horrors of the country’s prison system. Lydon, now 31, says he was humiliated, harassed, and even sexually assaulted by a prison guard in 2003, after he was arrested for protesting the School of Americas, a combat training school for

Latin American soldiers, on a military base in Georgia. Outraged by these acts of violence, Lydon founded Black and Pink in 2005, a Bostonbased organization with chapters throughout the country that is fighting for the abolition of the entire carceral system. “Black and Pink is an organization that works with all people that are incarcerated regardless of their charges,” Lydon recently told the Boston Spirit. “We’re interested in

Black and Pink Summit attendees

building communities of resistance rather than focusing on the types of punishments people are getting.”

Inside the prison system During his time in a queer segregated cell in Georgia, Lydon experienced firsthand the glaring lack of support for LGBTQ individuals serving time, who are subjected to cruel treatment from correctional staff due to their sexual orientation. “My incarceration was held in a queer segregated cell in Georgia, which was for our protection, but it ended

up being an opportunity for prison guards to harass us by name-calling, by sexually assaulting transgender women, by humiliating people,” Lydon recalls. People who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender are ten times more likely to be abused than incarcerated heterosexuals, according to Just Detention International, a Los Angeles-based health and human rights organization that seeks to end sexual abuse in all forms of detention. Lydon founded Black and Pink to provide an outlet for LGBTQ folks to express themselves and be part of the

JUL|AUG 2014 | 29

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Black and Pink members testifying at the state house in opposition to the use of solitary confinement. Lexi (she doesn’t use her last name), Douglas Rogers, Jason Lydon, Gabriel Arkles.

movement that works to put an end to the carceral system. “Black and pink started with me getting out of prison and realizing that LGBTQ organizations didn’t really care about the experience of our incarcerated LGBTQ people,” Lydon says. “The existing movement was not actively including the needs of LGBTQ people, and so I felt that there was an action that needed to happen.”

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Putting an end to the violence Every month, Black and Pink receives letters from 5,000 incarcerated LGBTQ prisoners—including 50 in Massachusetts—and coordinates these messages into a monthly newspaper that goes out to prisoners nationwide. “It’s an organizing tool so that LGBTQ prisoners can advocate for themselves, advocate for each other, and share ways of organizing and mobilizing to protect themselves and further our efforts towards the abolition of a prison industrial complex,” Lydon says.

Black and Pink’s work is rooted in the experience of currently and formerly incarcerated people. The organization provides court support groups and a pen pal program where incarcerated folks correspond with Black and Pink volunteers. KC Mackey, 22, who is one of the 20 pen pal volunteers in Boston, corresponds regularly with four prisoners, including a woman and three men. She says the pen pal program has helped her get through personal struggles. “There was a point where I felt that I was writing to her about my emotional problems,” she says. “Her letters would be all about supporting me, and it became this kind of funny thing where I was like, ‘oh, man I was ready to support you, so now you’re supporting me way more than I’m supporting you.’” Mackey, however, feels that the situation helped to empower the prisoner who was supporting her. “I actually felt that with the goal of prison to isolate people and to dehumanize them,

Black and Pink members KC Mackey and Johannes Wilson doing outreach at the Boston Living Center Annual Celebration of Life Dinner it’s kind of nice that through these pen pal friendships you can give folks meaning again, because the things she would say to me would make me feel better and I would say that,” she says. Since its inception, Black and Pink has provided workshops and trainings for LGBTQ organizations about the effect of incarceration, as well as religious support to its members

Black and Pink volunteers

and court accompaniment advocacy. According to Lydon, the organization helps incarcerated LGBTQ folks with conversations and negotiations with their lawyers, by ensuring that prisoners have an understanding of what’s going on and providing letters of support to judges. “We’re ensuring that the experience of LGBTQ folks

are included in all of our efforts around prison justice and ensuring that LGBTQ organizations are caring about prisoners,” Lydon says. The organization is also trying to stop the construction of more prisons in Massachusetts. “I really wish that more queer and trans organizations would pay attention to prisons,” MacKey says. “I get really

frustrated, when there is all this attention on marriage, and our brothers and sisters are being harassed and assaulted and oppressed in jail and are kind of forgotten about when it comes to the whole LGBTQ movement.” [x] Black an Pink

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FEATURE History STORY Mark Krone PHOTOS courtesy of The History Project

[ABOVE] Scollay Square 1940s PHOTO courtesy Boston Public Library

[BELOW] “New Faces” party

Gay Boston in the 1940s The Hub was gayer than you might think What was it like to be queer in 1940s Boston? It’s impossible to fully capture the diverse experiences of LGBT people at any given time, much less a decade as momentous as the 1940s, but by reaching into the archives of The History Project, Boston LGBT archive, we can get a glimpse into the lives of five people who lived in a place and time that is at once familiar and alien. The South End in the 1940s was a densely populated neighborhood of bars, restaurants, cheap hotels, and rooming houses. Prostitutes mingled with bookies at joints like the Junee Café (“When It’s Thirst, Come Here First”). On Washington Street, you could take in a floor show

at the Hoffman Grill, which specialized in the “Finest Italian American food.” In was perfect for anyone who wanted to live anonymously.

March 1941 – November 1942 Charles Gautreau stands in front of his mirror over the sink in his room in the New York Streets area of the South End. He applies mascara and lipstick, puckering his lips and widening his eyes, he slowly turns into his drag persona, Thelma. Charles shares the room with another man, Peter Seifried, whose drag name is May. They have trouble paying the

Soldiers get comfortable at a party in Wellesley

meager rent and often spend what money they have on drinks and makeup. One time, they got so hungry, they captured a swan in the Public Garden and attempted to cook it in their room until the landlady found out and stopped them, or at least that is how the story went. If life was not easy, it could at least be glamorous with just the right touch of make-up and attitude. Thelma and May liked to promenade up and down Tremont and Washington Streets, looking for men. Sometimes they ventured to the bars in Scollay Square but their bars were Playland and The Empty Barrel on Broadway in Bay Village. One night, a drunk man on Castle Street, asked May for a light. Two nearby undercover police officers jumped out from behind a lamppost and arrested May on suspicion of solicitation. While in jail, she was also charged with armed robbery. May had no involvement in the robbery and after providing an alibi, was released. From then on, she believed the police were out to get her. During this time, James Lord, aged 20, had just arrived at the Army Specialized

Training program at Boston College where he was ordered to study everything related to France: its language, culture, history, and customs. This was not hard duty for an intellectual like Lord. As a young gay man, he was also delighted to explore the pleasures offered by World War II Boston. A friend told him about the bar at the Statler Hotel (now Park Plaza). “The lobby was long and high, expensive and gold-plated, busy with war-time visitors. The friend recommended that Lord book a room and then proceed to the bar and pick someone up. ”It was packed with servicemen, several rows deep, standing along the crescent-shaped bar, too many to count… Crowded tight together, jostling back and forth, not one lady … among them.” When he squeezed into the bar, a sailor turned to Lord and said, “Hey, cutie, you must be new. I could blow you out of the water.” Jean S. knew she was a lesbian but still she was “very naïve in those days.” She joined the WAC, an auxiliary corps of the Army, and was stationed at Fort

“Veronica the Sailor” [LEFT] dances with a soldier.

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Devens. She was then assigned to the Boston Army base and lodged at the Franklin House in the South End, which served as a barracks. “My commanding officer turned every head at the Boston Army base – 5’6”, curly blond hair, cute as can be and a smart cookie. She played around but she had a partner in Georgia.” Jean and her fellow WACS frequented a bar Bernstein’s, a few blocks away. Even though she knew there were other lesbians in the detachment, she did not cruise them or get cruised by them. “You just didn’t at this time. You just wouldn’t make reference to it.”

Spring 1943 Preston Claridge, scion of a Mayflower family stood in his Harvard dorm room, knotting his tie. Everyone at the party he was invited to that evening in Wellesley would be gay and he was excited. “I always thought being gay was fun.” His friend Bernard, an older man, gave “tea parties” in which scotch was served to his gay friends and visiting servicemen. “It was there I danced with a beautiful

young blond sailor named Whatever happened to “Veronica,” because of his Thelma, May and the othVeronica Lake style of hair ers portrayed here? falling over one eye.” Thelma and May’s story Claridge later attended was serialized in The a party at the Copley Midtown Journal in the Plaza for sailors from the early 1940s, by writer and Baltimore, a ship stationed publisher, Frederick E. in Boston Harbor. There Shibly. According to Libby were about 40 Marines Bovier of The History assigned to the Baltimore Project, Charles Gatreau and Claridge estimated (Thelma) later worked as James Lord’s World War II memoir that between him and his a housekeeper for gay bar friends, they slept with owner, Phil Baione. The 90% of them. “”Once they discovered they Midtown Journal’s serialization claims could get a little cash and free food…they that Peter Seigfried, (May) was accidenseemed to fall all over themselves to meet tally killed in Detroit soon after moving us.” there from the South End. Preston ClarCruising continued along the paths on idge served as an assistant headmaster Boston Common during the war. Then, as at a private school for many years. The today, encounters did not always turn out late James Lord became an art critic and well. Headlines in The Midtown Journal, author and was friends with Gertrude a South End scandal sheet, announced, Stein, Alice B. Toklas and Picasso. Jean “Down Maine Man Meets Buddy on ComS. and her partner Louise Y. (names withmon. Loses Bankroll, Pants, and Confiheld at their request) became successful dence.” Another one: “Lonesome Man photographers in Boston. Louise worked 23, Beats Friend for $3 In Snatch From at Bachrach Studios and with legendary Drawer in Room.” photographer, Bernice Abbott. [x]

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FEATURE International STORY Rob Phelps

From P’town to Uganda and— Thankfully—Back Provincetown videographer dons an ‘ex-gay’ T-shirt in Uganda in daring mission to bear witness to draconian anti-gay laws Provincetown videographer Tim McCarthy first traveled to Uganda in 1999 on a personal journey of emotional healing. He did not expect to become a leader of a human rights movement in an African nation where the practice and promotion of being gay have recently become crimes punishable by life in prison and worse. For that first trip, McCarthy, a longterm AIDS survivor and early activist in the fight against the pandemic, said

he “wanted to bring my HIV back to its homeland” and make a documentary film about the experience. According to the British medical journal The Lancet, the first cases of AIDS can be traced to the Lake Victoria Region of Uganda, where it was called “slim disease.” Twenty years later, at the time of Tim’s first trip in 1999, McCarthy found a vibrant, if closeted, counter-culture community of gay people still in their very early stages of coming

out and seeking public awareness, to say nothing of basic civil rights. McCarthy fell in love with the people. He wanted to help. It all reminded him, he said, of the early days in the U.S. gay right movement—only this was a very different people living in a very different culture who would do it in their own unique way. It seemed to be perfect material for a documentarian like McCarthy. After returning to Cape Cod, he began cultivating relationships with people he met back in Africa, one of whom is a transgender Ugandan man named Pepe Onziema, program director for Sexual Minorities Uganda and 2012 recipient of a Clinton Global Initiative Award. Onziema also happened to have a dream to become a video historian like McCarthy. Together, the two created Voices of the Abasiyazzi, a film project to get the word out, initially about the growing gay movement in Uganda, but now focusing predominately on the harsh new laws and their devastating effects on the community. “Abasiyazzi” is a Ugandan term akin to “queer” in Western culture.

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Videographer Tim McCarthy of Provincetown in Uganda with members of the Ugandan “ex-gay” community. McCarthy returned to Uganda for a month-long visit in April 2014 to witness and document the “celebration” and effects of the draconian new anti-homosexuality laws, which, until a few weeks before their passage, had been reduced from the death penalty to life imprisonment. But that hardly stopped the

persecution. An HIV clinic, for example, was recently closed, its workers imprisoned, presumably for life, for the crime of distributing safe-sex information along with medical treatment, McCarthy noted. The highlight of his 2014 visit was to film an anti-gay “Thanksgiving” celebration, led by church and civic leaders, including

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who addressed a cheering crowd of thousands. Upon McCarthy’s arrival in Uganda, U.S. military officials informed him that his name appeared on Uganda’s arrest list—not for being gay per se but for promoting gay rights by covering the event

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McCarthy [USA BASEBALL CAP] at the anti-gay “Thanksgiving” celebration in the VIP tent with Ugandan Former Minister of Ethics [CENTER]. and by associating with gay Ugandans. The officials told McCarthy they could offer him protection only at the U.S. embassy in Kampala. So McCarthy donned a bright yellow T-shirt, emblazoned with the slogan “Ex-gay Uganda community. No one is born a homosexual,” and set out into unprotected territory. Like so many gay people in that country, he wore this yellow T-shirt in public with a nervous smile that couldn’t quite hide the terror from his eyes at the impending persecution that the new laws of the land were to bring. Uganda was basically in the early stages of genocide, he said. He picked up his video camera and got to work. McCarthy is one of those behind-the-scenes filmmakers in the trenches. A standout example of his work can be found in the 2013 Oscar-nominated How to Survive a Plague, which includes McCarthy’s on-the-ground coverage of a Reagan-era march on Washington that aimed to call the president’s attention to the AIDS crisis. McCarthy’s footage is harrowing, with policemen on horses batting back activists, including McCarthy,

with nightsticks and close-ups shot to make viewers feel it’s their own hands dipping into urns to hurl ashes of AIDS casualties across the White House lawn. In the same shots, McCarthy captures deep tenderness amidst the violence, with people hugging, laughing, crying—alive in a revolutionary moment of civil rights history in the making. Getting past heavily armed, homophobic security forces and into the Ugandan anti-gay celebration took an equal leap of faith, if not nerves of steel. Detained at the gates and stripped of his camera equipment, McCarthy only made it in thanks to the intervention of his savvy driver Haji. Leaving his video equipment behind, McCarthy slipped into the crowd and used his mobile phone to document the event. Haji, as it turns out, is a straight Muslim man who also happens to be one of the only drivers whom the Ugandan “ex-gay” people can trust to take them safely anywhere they need to travel inside the country. Drivers they don’t know and trust, McCarthy says, are known to rape and beat them, or turn them in. Violent incidents have only

gotten worse since the laws’ passage, McCarthy points out. What strikes him especially hard are the first-hand stories he and Onziema have recorded of those who speak of their fear of losing “family and community for being gay. Because there are no jobs in Uganda, you depend economically and emotionally on your family and community,” he said. “There is no real organized gay community to rely on or be a part of. They were being ‘ex-gay’ because they couldn’t live without their family or community. It was better to lie to even themselves than to be hungry, homeless and alone.” In a country with an unemployment rate of roughly 60 percent and where 50 percent of the population is under 15 years old, community equals survival. McCarthy would be the last person to call himself a leader in the fight for gay rights in Uganda. His goal, he says, is to bear witness, to spread the word with Onziema and to urge others around the globe to offer their support. “The real challenge for LGBTI Ugandans,” McCarthy says, “has always been to form a community. It is the

same around the world for LGBTI people. When so many individuals finally recognize themselves and come out, there is a need to group. But where does one learn how to create a community? This is where we, the U.S. and European LGBTI communities, must now look to support the international LGBTI movement. We have secured our rights and organizations. It is time to assist other nations in developing their own communities and to fill out our LGBTI global family.” (The “I” in LGBTI stands for intersexual, people born with both male and female gender characteristics. “In other words, children,” McCarthy said. “Children fall under these laws too.”) The anti-gay laws in Uganda, McCarthy stresses about this country whose population is 95 percent Christian and very active in their church groups, is in no small part in response to Western participation of a more negative nature. “Truth is,” he says, “it is homophobic American Christians that have caused the basic problem so we need to get the non-homophobic American Christians to clean it up. If the churches that support individual freedom went to Uganda to mission there, it would indeed counter the far religious right.” For his part, McCarthy is headed back to Uganda as soon as he can. “I live in Provincetown,” he said. “I live in paradise. I can’t change the whole world, but if I can help change one small corner of it, that makes life worth living.” To learn more about the progress of the film, check out the latest news from Uganda and find out what you can do to help, go to www.cid.mimoona. com/projects/1427. [x]

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SEASONAL Business STORY Fred Kuhr

The Queer Business of Entrepreneurship

Massachusetts is a hive of activity for startups and for LGBT activism, but the two don’t always mix well; enter: StartOut Boston, in case you didn’t know, is a hotbed of entrepreneurship. The Hub is number 6 on Forbes’ list of “hot cities for entrepreneurship.” It’s also number 6 in the nation for young entrepreneurs as rated by the website Under30CEO. com. But the realm of venture capital, investment and startup companies is still largely a straight man’s world. So where does that leave LGBT entrepreneurs? “Being gay is exhausting,” joked Daniel Heller, 30, the founder of The Welcoming Committee, a Cambridge,

Massachusetts-based startup based in Kendall Square. “If I’m in a meeting with someone looking for capital to start their own business venture, or if I’m meeting an investor, the goal is to take sexuality off the table, especially in such a highrisk venture.” The bottom line, to use a business phrase, is that being gay can’t be the issue. It’s about the idea—and the money needed to launch that idea. Even so, building relationships between entrepreneurs and potential investors may seem daunting to many LGBT people. With that in mind,

40 | BOSTON SPIRIT

the nonprofit organization StartOut was founded in 2009 in New York with the goal of fostering LGBT entrepreneurs. After expanding to cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin—also hotbeds of entrepreneurship—a Boston chapter finally launched at the start of 2013. In January of that year, the local chapter’s first event, “Boston LGBT Entrepreneurs: Startup Financing,” was held at the Prudential Center offices of Foley and Lardner LLP. Patrick Chung, partner at venture capitalist firm New Enterprise Associates and a member of the StartOut Board of Governors, and Hugo Van Vuuren, from Cambridgebased The Experiment Fund, which exclusively invests in startups, gave an overview of startup financing.

At the group’s event this past May, a seven-person panel discussed the ins and outs of various funding options for early stage start-ups—from friends and family to crowd-funding to angel investors. Overall, StartOut began as a way of “promoting equality and combating discrimination in the business world through economic empowerment,” according to the group’s mission statement. “StartOut will help end discrimination against LGBT persons in the business community by helping foster a new generation of business founders and CEOs, and thereby breaking through the barriers that currently inhibit the corporate success of many in America’s LGBT community. By helping create the next generation of LGBT entrepreneurs, we empower

“ If I’m in a meeting with someone looking for capital to start their own business venture, or if I’m meeting an investor, the goal is to take sexuality off the table, especially in such a high-risk venture. ” Daniel Heller Founder of The Welcoming Committee, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based startup

a new community of leaders in the business world who will in turn have both the economic resources and the personal access to support and strengthen the entire LGBT community.” Sarah Hodkinson, 38, is one of the driving forces behind the local chapter of StartOut. She was originally part of Where Inc., a Boston startup that was acquired by PayPal in 2011 for $135 million. Now she serves as Director of Marketing and Sales Strategy at PayPal. But as a way for Hodkinson and her colleagues to stay in touch with their startup roots, PayPal’s Boston office launched Start Tank, its own incubator for new startups. “Being a former startup ourselves, launching Start Tank was a great way to keep up

with our startup roots,” said Hodkinson. Meanwhile, Heller was busy with Guerrilla Queer Bar, monthly events during which gay men and lesbians took over a straight bar for a night. This was the precursor to Heller’s startup, The Welcoming Committee. It was at one of these events that Hodkinson met Heller. She invited him to Start Tank, and he told her about StartOut. From there, the Boston chapter of StartOut was born. Hodkinson is now on the national board of directors; Heller is on the group’s steering committee. But why do LGBT entrepreneurs need their own organization? “If you look at the venture capital community, it’s straight white men,” said Hodkinson. “Women, LGBT

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“ Being a former startup ourselves, launching Start Tank was a great way to keep up with our startup roots. ” Sarah Hodkinson one of the driving forces behind the local chapter of StartOut

Sarah Hodkinson

people and people of color are not well represented in the investment community. Yes, StartOut educates people about how to access capital, but we also provide a networking community. If you look at the venture capital and entrepreneur community and see that you are not represented, you might think, ‘I won’t make it.’ But seeing our networking community can be very encouraging to LGBT entrepreneurs. It sends the message, ‘I can be out and I can make it.’” Hodkinson, a U.K. native who has lived in the U.S. for 12 years, is herself a successful role model for LGBT entrepreneurs, especially women. “I’ve always been very out in business, and I’ve always worked for the quintessential straight white male. People call

me the Ellen of PayPal,” she said with a laugh. “But it has served me well. All these straight white men wanted to hire me because they didn’t think I would ever take maternity leave. So I converted this prejudice into a positive and made it work for me.” That said, women face unique obstacles. They even stayed away from StartOut events. “When I first joined StartOut, events were a whole bunch of guys and a handful of girls,” said San Francisco-based Marie Trexler, a member of the national board of directors. “But there are plenty of female entrepreneurs, so they should be interested in StartOut.” So Trexler asked around her local community to find out what female

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“ Boston is one of the world’s best cities for startups. There is more money in San Francisco, but there is more capital per capita than anywhere else in the world. ” Daniel Heller Founder of The Welcoming Committee, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based startup

Daniel Heller

entrepreneurs wanted and needed from an organization like StartOut. The answer? Mentorship. “Straight female entrepreneurs had the same answer. So I took the idea to the board,” said Trexler, who currently serves as Director of Entrepreneur Services at Astia, a 13-year-old San Franciscobased non-profit focused on supporting female entrepreneurs. “Women know they are behind the 8-ball. Women in general are less likely to feel that they have all the tools in the toolkit,” while men are more willing to plunge into major ventures. As a way of explanation, Trexler cited a study authored by researchers from Northeastern University, Stanford University and California State University,

Fullerton showing that women are much less likely to run for political office even if their ambition is the same as men’s. “[W]omen considered many more factors when thinking about running for office, whereas men of all types felt more freedom to launch a candidacy,” according to the study’s authors. “These findings tend to reinforce the notion that broad patterns of sex-role socialization continue to impede women from full inclusion in the electoral process.” According to Trexler, the same gender difference is true for those thinking of starting a business. As a result, StartOut launched its Lesbian Entrepreneur Mentoring Program.

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“ When I first joined StartOut, events were a whole bunch of guys and a handful of girls. But there are plenty of female entrepreneurs, so they should be interested in StartOut. ” Marie Trexler StartOut national board of directors member

In 2012, its first year, the program had 60 applicants. Last year, 160 people applied. Each time, 10 new aspiring entrepreneurs were paired with “seasoned entrepreneurs, investors and senior level executives in order to provide advice, resources and knowledge to help grow young businesses,” according to the program’s web site (startout.org/resources/ lesbian-entrepreneur-mentoring-program). StartOut’s pilot Lesbian Entrepreneur Mentoring Program paired Emily Stein of the Menlo Park, California-based biotech startup Sevident Inc with San Francisco-based entrepreneur, business executive and investor Kim Frank. “Kim not only provided mentorship, but she supported the company to transition and

Bringing unique talent together is what sets us apart.

grow,” Stein explained in a testimonial on StartOut’s website. “She joined our Board of Directors, helped us recruit a CEO and also introduced us to industry-leading talent in our space. Sevident would not be where it is today without Kim Frank, and it was all due to StartOut.” While the application deadline for 2014 has already passed, Trexler encourages those interested to apply next year. “And if anyone is interested in being a mentor, raise your hand,” she added. Regardless of gender, Heller said those looking to start a company are tasked with three main objectives: “1) Set the vision, which should be the fun part. 2) Hire great people. 3) Keep the lights on. The stress is around hiring and executing the vision.”

But doing so in Greater Boston is easier than in most places, said Heller. “Boston is one of the world’s best cities for startups. There is more money in San Francisco, but there is more capital per capita—the most amount of money invested per entrepreneur—than anywhere else in the world.” So LGBT entrepreneurs in Boston already have a leg up because of location, and now they have another avenue of support and networking with StartOut. “With StartOut, you are part of a strong community,” said Heller. “We should be proud of how we are supporting our entrepreneurs.” [x] StartOut

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PROVINCETOWN

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46 | BOSTON SPIRIT

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SEASONAL Entertainment STORY Scott Kearnan

Your Guide to Must-see Acts in Favorite Gay Destinations Every summer, Provincetown bursts at the seams with live theater and top notch performers—and it can be a little overwhelming to sift through all the options. If time is tight and ticket money at a premium, consider this your “Fab Fifteen” of must-see summer shows in Provincetown. Setting your sights north to Ogunquit, or west to Berkshires resorts? Fret not. We picked a “Fab Five” for each of those gay destinations too. Now, let the show begin.

The Golden Gals (June 5–August 30) Blanche, Dorothy, Sophia and Rose. For years, we thanked those saucy Miami minxes for being our friends–and now, the iconic sitcom gets new, fabulous life with this drag version, starring Varla Jean Merman, Ryan Landry, Olive Another and Brooklyn Shaffer as the hilarious, cheesecake-gorging gals. The sitcom-style script even includes fake commercials–those you won’t want to fast-forward through. In fact, we

Gold Dust Ophans’ Snow White by Ryan Landry

Thing by hosting “Audition,” a saucy talent and variety show. Where: The Paramount. How: onlyatthecrown.com

Kate Clinton (JUNE 19–AUGUST 31) wish we could hit “pause” and relive this classic show like this forever. Where: The Art House. How: ptownarthouse.com

“Audition” with Kevin Aviance and Marti Gould Cummings (JUNE 10–SEPTEMBER 2) Look up “fabulous” in a dictionary, and you’d find Kevin Aviance’s body glitter all over the page. (Aviance himself would probably be out at the club.) His dramatic, colorful fashions and knack for ultra-elaborate, sequin-studded makeup have made Aviance a memorable singer (he collaborates frequently with DJ legend Junior Vasquez), performance artist and nightlife personality. Now he and NYC-based drag performer Marti Gould Cummings will spend the summer helping P-Town find the Next Big

When it comes to comedy and cultural commentary, Clinton wins every race. And for her latest show, #KateClinton2014, the comedian jumps into the digital age to talk about social media, tweeting, twerking, Pussy Riot and–well, you know. She’s a Provincetown regular, and for good reason: We always wind up with fond memories of the Clinton years. Where: Crown & Anchor. How: onlyatthecrown.com

Judy Gold (JUNE 24–SEPTEMBER 1) Out comedian, writer and producer Judy Gold has won awards and accolades for her wit and humor on stage and behind the scenes, whether through the raucous laughter that accompanies her stand-up shows or the two Daytime Emmy Awards she received as a writer and producer of the Rosie O’Donnell Show. Her

Judy Gold

summer engagement in Provincetown will prove why, as Gold gives us her sterling take on everything from politics to pop culture, motherhood to the media. Where: Post Office Cabaret. How: postofficecabaret.com

Snow White and the Seven Bottoms (JUNE 29–SEPTEMBER 14) Producer/performer Ryan Landry and his Gold Dust Orphans troupe have become synonymous with “spoof.”

From Mildred Fierce to Mary Poppers, Landry’s trademark approach of crafting irreverent and queer parodies of familiar source material has made him a favorite playwright in local fringe and mainstream theatre. (Last year his re-imagining of Fritz Lang’s M was embraced by the Huntington Theatre Company.) For Snow White, expect the expected non-Disney take on the classic story about a wicked queen, a sweet girl, and a bunch of dwarfs who may or may not prove whether size really matters. Where: Provincetown Theater. How: provincetowntheater.org

Well-Strung (JUNE 30– SEPTEMBER 20) File under: Not your average boy band. This string quartet and vocal group is comprised of handsome hunks with music tastes that run from classic to contemporary. So in their new show, “Popssical,” expect to hear the music

of Beethoven and Ravel sidling up to modern hits from Madonna, U2 and Miley Cyrus. Curious how such worlds collide? Search YouTube for their mash-up of Mozart’s “A Little Night Music (1st Movement)” with Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone,” for a taste of Well-Strung’s impressive aural skills. Where: Provincetown Art. House. How: ptownarthouse.com

Gay Camp! (JULY 7-11) This hilarious hit has been leaving crowds at NYC’s Duplex in stitches. (Luckily, these scouts know first aid.) In this kitschy, comedic take on pitching tents and scouring for wood, two queer kids are sent to be “cured” at Camp Acceptance–and wind up in a world of evil headmasters, intriguing games of Twister, and innuendoladen jokes that fly fast, furious, and

frequently in the direction of the right-wing. Where: Crown Cabaret. How: onlyatthecrown.com

Atomic Bombshells Burlesque (JULY 17—AUGUST 15) You’ve never seen burlesque like this. This explosive (get it?) Seattlebased troupe is the real deal, at the forefront of the art form’s revival, and bringing it on international tours loaded with striptease, humor, and vaudeville-inspired hijinks that hew to burlesque’s classic form–with just enough modern edge to keep things interesting. The show is hosted by Seattle drag artist Robbie Turner through July 31. From August 1-15,

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Gay Camp

Bruce Vilanch (AUGUST 19–24)

recent RuPaul’s Drag Race breakout star BenDeLaCreme will take the reins.

Vilanch can’t be missed—thanks largely to his raucous laugh, colorful eyewear, and his extensive collection of double-entendre themed t-shirts. But besides being a pioneering out comedian, he’s been a hugely prolific comedy writer behind-thescenes. The longtime head writer for the Oscars, Vilanch has brought his touch to everything from Hollywood Squares to Hollywood stars like Bette Midler and Whoopi Goldberg, who tap him for his charm, wit, and signature comedic style.

Where: Crown & Anchor. How: onlyatthecrown.com

Helen Reddy (JULY 21-22) She is woman—hear her roar. One of the most successful Australian artists to reach American ears was Helen Reddy, whose feminist anthem was just one of 15 singles to crack the stateside Top 40. A queen of ‘70s pop, Reddy’s hits like “Delta Dawn” and “Angie Baby” helped define an era in music–and though she retired from performing for nearly a decade, she’s back to revive the classics during Girl Splash Week in Provincetown. We roar in approval. Where: The Paramount. How: onlyatthecrown.com

Carol Channing & Tommy Tune (AUGUST 7) There are legends—and there are legends. Channing and Tune irrefutably fall under the latter category, and at 93 and 75, respectively, that they continue to pound the performing pavement and bring audiences razzle, dazzle, song and dance is pretty inspiring. This rare, one-night-only chance to catch two theater icons in America’s first arts colony is one to catch “Before the Parade Passes By.” (That’s a “Hello, Dolly!” reference. Brush up!) Where: Town Hall Auditorium. How: onlyatthecrown.com

Sandra Bernhard (AUGUST 10–11) Her caustic brand of comedy has probably made her as many enemies as friends. (It’s doubtful she and Madonna are still exchanging Christmas cards.) But the funny lady is a pioneering member of the LGBT community, having played one of television’s first lesbian characters on Roseanne. She brings her fierce,

Where: Post Office Cabaret. How: postofficecabaret.com

Caroline Rhea (AUGUST 20) funny firepower to a summer stint in Provincetown. Where: Crown & Anchor. How: onlyatthecrown.com

Atomic Bombshells

Carnival’s Grand Marshal has her own comedy show, a smart and spontaneous stand-up routine that reveals why she managed to climb up the ladder to become a popular TV personality (remember when she was

Wally Lamb (SEPTEMBER 4)

handpicked as Rosie O’Donnell’s replacement?) and actress.

Amid all the glittery cabaret, it’s nice to make time for more literary pursuits. And tonight the “Inside the Pages” series welcomes best-selling novelist Wally Lamb (She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True), who recently released his fifth tome We Are Water. A soughtafter speaker, Lamb was also spent much of recent years volunteering to facilitate writing workshops at a Connecticut women’s prison–and editing published books of their autobiographical work. He’s endured controversy for the program, but his dedication only underscores his unfailing

Where: Town Hall. How: ptown.org/carnival

“Nancy & Beth” with Megan Mullally (AUGUST 27–AUGUST 31) Face it. We’ll always know Mullally best as Karen Walker, wealthy, martini guzzling wisecracker of Will & Grace. But the versatile Emmy winner has continued to work con“Nancy & Beth” with(like MeganParty MullallyDown and stantly in TV Breaking In), film (including GBF: Gay Best Friend) and stage. She hits P-Town her new band, Nancy and Beth: a quirky outfit formed with actress Stephanie Hunt that plays rustic southern jazz alongside kookier

comedy songs. Karen would hoot it up here, and so will you. Where: The Art House. How: ptownarthouse.com

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meets Nashville meets a musical tetea-tete with a longtime friend. Where: Jonathan’s. How: jonathansrestaurant.com

The Witches of Eastwick (SEPTEMBER 3–27)

Coco PHOTO Jose A. Guzman Colon

Melissa Ferrick

commitment to sharing the power of the written word. Where: Wellfleet Preservation Hall. How: wellfleetpreservationhall.org

OGUNQUIT Paula Poundstone (JULY 19–20) The self-avowed asexual has long been popular in gay comedy clubs: maybe for her conservative-spearing standup, maybe for an assortment of pantsuits that is second only to Ellen’s. Poundstone grew up in Sudbury, Massachusetts and cut her teeth at Boston comedy clubs. She returns to her native New England to bring Ogunquit glib observations about her politics and personal life. Where: Jonathan’s. How: jonathansrestaurant.com

Legally Blonde (AUGUST 5–16) The film starred Reese Witherspoon as a ditzy sorority girl who defies expectations by becoming a Harvard Law standout. And the Laurence Olivier Award-winning musical defies expectations by turning a silly concept into an–okay, silly show. But a fun and

campy one that is impossible to not enjoy. And any journey toward selfacceptance that involves a hunky UPS deliveryman can’t be bad. Where: Arundel Barn Playhouse. How: arundelbarnplayhouse.com

Coco Peru (AUGUST 29–31) Peru has been one of the best and most recognizable drag performers on the scene for over 20 years, bringing humor, heart, and a sense of activism to one-woman shows—and her “Conversations with Coco” series, chats with gay icons from Bea Arthur to Karen Black. In her show “Have You Heard?” Coco will perform favorite monologues and songs, plus some exciting new stuff too. This trailblazing, straight-shooting queen proves you can perform high drag in sensible heels.

You loved the movie with Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer, that trifecta of bewitching divas. (The original “Desperate Housewives.”) Now the Ogunquit Playhouse presents the American Northeast premiere of the hit stage adaptation, a musical comedy that mixes the original source material (John Updike’s novel) with some sassy song and dance that will cast a spell on summer audiences. Where: Ogunquit Playhouse. How: ogunquitplayhouse.org

BERKSHIRES Jason Alexander (JULY 13) George Costanza sings? Maybe not, but Jason Alexander does. And though many know him best as the neurotic pal on Seinfeld, Alexander has always had a successful theater career–the type that earned him a Tony Award. Tonight he’ll be accompanied by the Boston Pops Orchestra to sing and dance his way through music from Pippin, The Music Man, and Merrily We Roll Along, among others.

Where: Maine Street. How: mainestreetogunquit.com

Where: Tanglewood in Lenox, MA. How: bso.org

Melissa Ferrick (AUGUST 30)

Breaking the Code

The out singer-songwriter, a Berklee College of Music alum, brings her raw and emotional music to Ogunquit. Performing songs from summer album the truth is, Ferrick will bring a little Southern flair to her familiar musings on love and loss, documenting the end of one relationship and the start of another. Think Northeast

(JULY 17–AUGUST 2) The influential founder of artificial intelligence made countless contributions to modern technology; his Turing Machine is a model of what would become the modern computer. And during WWII, the famed mathematician developed ways to decipher vital German codes. But Turing’s contributions weren’t enough to save him from prosecution for homosexuality, then criminalized in the UK, and

included his longtime lover. A gay-focused weekend at the Pillow is a natural fit, and bursts with special exhibits, performances, tours and socials. Where: Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, Mass. How: jacobspillow.org

subsequently chemical castration. His haunting and tragic story is presented by Barrington Stage Company. Where: Boyd-Quinson Main Stage in Pittsfield, Mass. How: barringtonstageco.org

an outlandish, touching and funny take about fame, death and madness.

33 (AUGUST 7—17)

Where: Shire City Sanctuary in Pittsfield, Mass. How: berkshirefringe.

The Berkshire Fringe has some truly engaging and innovative shows in its season, but we’re especially excited for the US premiere of 33 from UKbased group Wardrobe Ensemble. The challenging piece uses “soulful stories, macho choreography and original music” to capture the Chilean miner crisis of 2010, transporting audience members 2000 feet underground for

Tony Bennett

Weekend OUT at the Pillow (AUGUST 8—10) Jacob’s Pillow Festival is famous in the dance world for the caliber of its international talent. And it’s legendary in LGBT history for its founder, modern dance pioneer Ted Shawn, who blazed trails with an all-male troupe that

Tony Bennett (AUGUST 31) The 87-year old crooner is just as vital as ever. He even has a duet album with Lady Gaga, Cheek to Cheek, coming out later this year. We don’t think you’ll be hearing “Poker Face” tonight, but countless classics from the Great American Songbook? Those Tony will deliver, and better than anybody else. Where: Tanglewood in Lenox, MA. How: bso.org

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vital roles in the town’s civic and charitable organizations, according to Steve Fosella, president of the Provincetown Part-Time Residents Tax Payers Association.

real estate lawyer. condo associations must be for at leas seasonal. Others between what an o

Thinking Thinking of ofBuying Buying a Home a Home in Provincetown? in Provincetown? Tips Tipsand andIdeas Ideas for forRenting Renting vs.vs. Owning Owning a Vacation a Vacation Home Home

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Law. often seen often in Provincetown seen in Provincetown condo dvaughan@burnslev.com dvaughan@burnslev.com 617.345.3237 617.345.3237 documents is documents that ownersisare that allowed owners are to have outside to have grills outside but renters grills aren’t; but rente since being since able to being fully able enjoy tothefully e Having Having a aspecial special somewhere somewhere toto escape escape A good A good first step firstinstep deciding in deciding whether whether outside is an outside important is an partimportant of what part to, to to, enjoy to enjoythe thefleeting fleeting days daysofof our our New New you you want want to be to a Provincetown be a Provincetown partpart- manydraws draws vacationers manyto vacationers the town, to th England Englandsummers, summers, is is something something many many timetime resident resident is to is consult to consult with a with a this limitation this canlimitation put a damper can on puta a dam of us of us dream dreamabout. about. 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For example, For example, some some buy, here are buy, some here concerns are some to keep concerns charitable charitable organizations, organizations, according according condo condo associations associations require require that rentals that rentals in mind. in mind. to toSteve Steve Fosella, Fosella, president president of ofthethe mustmust be forbeat for leastatseveral least weeks, severalorweeks, or Provincetown Provincetown Part-Time Part-Time Residents Residents TaxTax seasonal. seasonal. OthersOthers make distinctions make distinctions Under the recent, Undertougher the recent, regulations, tougher reg Payers Payers Association. Association. between between what what an owner an can owner do, and can do,a lender and may a lender require may that the require down that th

DONALD DONALD E.E.VAUGHAN VAUGHAN

Burns & Burns Levinson & isLevinson a Boston-based is a Boston-based law firm with over law 125 firm attorneys with over and offices 125 attorne in Providence in Providence and New York, and as New well York, as in as the well Merrimack as in Valley the Merrimack / North Shore, Valley / Metro West Metro and West South and ShoreSouth areas of Shore Massachusetts. areas of Massachusetts. We work with entrepreneurs, We work with emergingemerging businesses,businesses, private and public private companies and public and individuals companies in and sophisticated individuals in businessbusiness transactions, transactions, litigation andlitigation private client andservices private– client family law, services trusts–&family estates, marriage estates,and marriage divorce and law. divorce law.

burnslev.com burnslev.com 617.345.3000 617.345.3000 Office Locations: Office Locations: Boston (HQ),Boston Andover, (HQ), Hingham, Andover, New York, Hingham, Providence, NewWaltham York, Providence

secured by the property you intend to For example, some buy, here are some concerns to keep require that rentals in mind. st several weeks, or make distinctions Under the recent, tougher regulations, owner can do, and a lender may require that the down payment be at least 20% of the purchase price, and anticipated rental income from a second home (as opposed to a property characterized as “investment” for tax purposes) will not be included in the underwriting of the loan. Local lenders tend to require the interest rate with the loan to be adjustable, usually on a three- to five-year cycle. Regional and national lenders offer fixed-rate loans in addition to adjustable ones. Either way, anticipate paying a slightly higher rate of interest for your vacation home than for your primary residence, and a still higher rate if you purchase an investment property.

Given the recent tightening of lending standards, many potential buyers find going local to make a lot of sense. Seamens Bank and Cape Cod Five are two locally based banks that are active in the vacation and investment market.

arms of real estate brokerages, which generally charge 13-15% of the rental amount for their services.

limitations on the number of days you can rent it out if it is a “vacation” home.

Many mortgage brokers are based in Provincetown, or call the town their second home. These include Maryann Taormina and Joe Smith, who are affiliated with Guaranteed Rate, and Brian Farley of Prime Lending. A locally based and experienced lending officer or mortgage broker can work through any number of potential deal-breaking issues, like challenging comparable property values, flood insurance concerns, or condominium document flaws that may make other lenders reject a loan application outright.

Other factors to consider if you are renting out your place, in addition to needing a good property manager, will be how you plan to go about finding renters, whether and to what extent you want to deal directly with the renters, how you will manage to get the property cleaned and set up between rentals, and what insurance you will need to protect you from liability due to accidents or injuries occurring to the vacationers, or damage to your or their property.

In addition to consulting with a good real estate broker and a knowledgeable lender or mortgage broker, speak with a good accountant. Issues that are likely to arise, according to Lillian Gonzalez of Gonzalez & Associates, P.C., include the rules governing deducting mortgage interest and other expenses related to the property, whether you can benefit from depreciating the property, and

While internet services like HomeAway. com and WeNeedVacation.com have cropped up, charging an annual fee of between $400 and $1,000 simply to link owners of vacation properties with those who want to rent them, a large proportion of property owners opt not to be so actively involved in the dayto-day running of the vacation rental. They instead turn to the vacation rental

A final concern to keep in mind is how the ownership of the property should be structured. Often, property owners simply hold title to vacation properties in their names. Other times, more complicated title-holding arrangements are created, either in an attempt to shield the individuals owning the property from liability, to keep their identity secret, or to account for property being owned by persons who are not related to one another. The discussion of the optimal way to hold title can be complicated and does very much depend on the specific wants and needs of the individual(s) involved. It can be the topic of a separate article — here again, consulting experienced real estate lawyers is recommended. We hope that all the cautions, warnings and things to consider listed above do not make you conclude that it’s never a good idea to own a second home. They are presented with the aim of preventing what should be a sound and enjoyable investment becoming a lasting and expensive burden. Sitting on your deck, watching the light play on “your” harbor and shine on “your” lighthouse out on Land’s End, for some of us, is an experience that is difficult to match.

This article by Burns & Levinson LLP provides general information and does not constitute legal advice. All views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of Boston Spirit Magazine. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

burns & levinson’s lgbt group Top (left to right): Ellen J. Zucker - Employment Law, Business Litigation, White Collar Criminal Defense Timothy J. Famulare - Real Estate Laura R. Studen - Employment Litigation, Business Litigation, Family Law Litigation Donald E. Vaughan - Real Estate, Trusts & Estates, Estate Planning Lisa M. Cukier - Estate Litigation, Family Law, Business Litigation Bottom (left to right): Deborah J. Peckham - Intellectual Property, Trademarks, Licensing Peter F. Zupcofska - Family Law, Probate Litigation Scott H. Moskol - Financial Restructuring & Distressed Transactions, Bankruptcy, Corporate

SEASONAL Fashion STORY Scott Kearnan PHOTOS Joel Benjamin

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Nikki Zella “Trinity” jacket $88 at Nordstrom Calvin Klein performance top $14.99 at Marshalls 90 Degree by Reflex capris $16.99 at Marshalls

Ashley North Face crew neck top $45 at REI Nike Pro 3” Pool shorts $32 at Bob’s Stores Under Armour performance socks $7.99 at Marshalls

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CULTURE Film STORY Loren King

Divine Providence Trans-themed films flourish at LGBTQ Film Festival in the Ocean State The Rhode Island International Film Festival, known as Flickers, has for 18 years delivered a stellar program of shorts, features and documentaries from more than 45 countries. This year’s event runs from Aug. 5-10. Playing concurrently with Flickers is the 15th annual Providence LGBTQ Film Festival, offering a strong slate of 40 shorts and three features. Screenings take place at the Bell Street Chapel Theatre, 5 Bell Street, in downtown Providence. The centerpiece film is the world premiere of “TransJourney,” a feature length documentary by Alexia Kosmider, a senior lecturer at RISD, where she frequently teaches Queer Cinema and LGBTQ Literature and Culture. Codirected with Blue Wade, “TransJourney” chronicles the lives of three women, two

70 | BOSTON SPIRIT

of whom are transgender, and how their stories intertwine. One is a woman who left her life as a biological man to become Annabelle. After Annabelle’s transition, Sandra embarks on a cross-country road trip from Rhode Island to Annabelle’s Seattle home to meet her “new” daughter (and Annabelle’s partner Lara) and to bring herself closer to Annabelle’s new world. It’s a world of support, of mentors like the older transgender woman Shannon who also lives in Seattle. Kosmider’s other documentaries include Not Your Mama’s Roller Derby (co-directed with Deborah Monuteux). The documentary chronicles the Providence Roller Derby national team, the Riveters, rise to a visible and competitive roller derby team. The documentary

Lara, Annabelle, Sandra and Shannon are profiled in “TransJourney.”

premiered at RIFF in August 2009. Her most recent documentary, Sappho’s Fire (2011), follows the lives of ten lesbians, single and married, as they confront the issues that surround their older age. The

film premiered at the Boston LGBTQ Film Festival. Besides a host of international shorts, the LGBTQ Fest also presents the feature “Kumu Hina” directed by Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson. A docu-drama that unfolds like a narrative film, “Kumu Hina” reveals a side of Hawaii rarely seen on screen. During a momentous year in her life in modern Honolulu, Hina WongKalu, a native Hawaiian mahu, or transgender, teacher uses traditional culture to inspire a student to claim her place as leader of the school’s all-male hula troupe. George Marshall, executive director, and Shawn Quirk, programming director, say the RIFF and its LGBTQ sidebar

“ We dedicated a portion of the proceeds to marriage equality effort in Rhode Island ” George Marshall, Executive director of RIFF

is about more than exhibiting films. RIFF is dedicated to “mentoring young people and supporting the community. Last year’s festival highlighted films about equal marriage with the intent of motivating people to get out and vote,” says Marshall. “We dedicated a portion of the proceeds to marriage equality effort in Rhode Island.” To that end, the LGBTQ Fest will also present a symposium

entitled “Future Filmmaking: Transcending Prejudice Through Storytelling.” RIFF and its ancillary festivals receive a huge number of films for consideration. Marshall says the festival received 5,100 entries this year which it will cull to more than 200 for screening. That’s because RIFF is one of only 19 film festival nationwide that are qualifying festivals in the shorts and documentary categories for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. [x] Rhode Island International Film Festival

film-festival.org

CULTURE Theater STORY Loren King A scene from “Two Gentlemen of Verona” last year on the Boston Common.

Steve Maler Draws the Curtain Commonwealth Shakespeare Company stages Twelfth Night on the Boston Common New York has nothing on Boston when it comes to free Shakespeare in the park. Sure, Central Park will have John Lithgow and Annette Bening in King Lear this summer. But Boston boasts a summer experience that’s just as impressive: the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s (CSC) “Free Shakespeare On The Common” for 19 years has delivered innovative productions featuring Boston’s best and brightest stars, under the adventurous direction of CSC founder and artistic director Steven Maler. For its 19th season, CSC presents Twelfth Night, Shakespeare’s classic comedy of love in disguise and transgressive gender roles. It runs July 23–August 10.

“For out 20th season next year, we’ll do one of the big tragedies. This is lighter—but not that light. It’s Shakespeare’s best comedy along with As You Like It and arguably one of his best plays because of the melancholy and sadness and the journey to life and love,” says Maler. Maler, who spent his early career at the American Repertory Theater (ART), is known for inventive staging that brings immediacy and relevance to Shakespeare. Past CSC productions include The Taming of a Shrew set in Boston’s North End and Henry V unfolding in a London Metro station during World War II. Last year, Maler’s staging of “Two Gentleman of Verona,” set in 16th century Italy. as a

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Rat Pack-era Vegas comedy complete with a jazz combo performing hipster standards such as Fever and Witchcraft made it the hottest ticket of the summer. ‘For the past two years, we did plays outside the [Shakespeare] canon and Coriolanus (staged in 2012) was very outside,” says Maler. “But it was the right play for the moment. It offered a discourse about leadership and the direction of the country and the way we build up then crush our leaders. It was amazing to see audiences come out so robustly for a play that few of them knew.” CSC delivers a mix of stage veterans and newcomers for Twelfth Night which follows the journey of Viola and Sebastian, twins separated by a shipwreck, as they encounter loss and love in their new homeland—the mythical and magical land of Illyria. The Countess Olivia falls in love

with Viola (who is disguised as a boy), and Sebastian in turn falls for Olivia. Under Maler;s direction, popular local actress Marianna Bassham stars as Viola, Nile Hawver plays Sebastian and Kerry O’Malley is featured as Olivia. Rounding out the cast are Robert Pemberton (Sir Toby Belch); Juan Rodriguez (Fabian); Fred Sullivan Jr. (Malvolio); Robert Najarian (Orsino) and Remo Airaldi (Feste). Maler says established actors provide balance to the younger ones for such a demanding show. “It’s daunting and as adjustment for actors who’ve never done it. Even Boston’s largest theaters, the ART and Huntington, have 500 to 800 seats,” he says. “We’ve played to 10,000 people on the Common. And the audiences are so involved, so committed. They’re not there just to picnic; they are there to see a play. So it’s the best job in the world to be up there.” In keeping with his reputation for adventurous productions, Maler says the CSC’s Twelfth Night will resonate with modern audiences. “We are always trying to find the contemporary impulse; what’s relevant for today,” he says. “To me, the challenge and opportunity was to discover what this invented place of Illyria meant for me. It’s a world that’s vibrant, full of color and youthfulness, vitality and freedom. You have these characters in the midst of this incredible world of energy but they’re sad and alone, isolated. By the end, they find engagement with life and love and all the risks that come with that. It’s a journey from sadness to reconnection with the world; it celebrates life and all its risks.”

So how will Maler recreate his own version of Illyria on the Boston Common stage? Inspiration came unexpectedly during a visit to an art exhibit in Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood. Maler got to see firsthand the Wynwood Walls, an urban art project that brought the world’s greatest artists working in the graffiti and street art genre, including Shepard Fairey, Kenny Scharf and Jeff Soto, to Miami. “I had never been to this part of the city. There was block after block of urban decay and industrial buildings in disrepair; it felt like a lost space. Then a bunch of artists came in and created hundreds of murals on the walls, block after block,” says Maler. “It was like a crazy Fellini party; it was youthful and celebratory. It was extraordinary; I’d never seen anything like it. That mix of danger and seduction became Illyria for me.” Unlike Coriolanus, one of the Bard’s most difficult plays, or Two Gentlemen of Verona, which is not his best, “Twelfth Night,” says Maler, “works on its own if you have the right cast and crew.” Besides able actors, CSC relies on a stable of backstage professionals to turn the Common into a massive theater. “There is nothing there; there’s not even enough electricity, so we have to bring in generators. iI’s amazing how smoothy everything happens. This team makes it look effortless,” says Maler citing a team that includes costume designer Nancy Leary; sound designer David Remedios; lighting designer Eric Southern; set designer Cristina Todesco and choreographer Yo-el Cassell. “Their input and vision is so important to imagining the piece and I draw inspiration from all of them,” says Maler. Maler says there have been CSC productions that, for one reason or another, he wanted

a second crack at staging. But Twelfth Night, which the company first performed in 2001, isn’t one of them. “I liked the 2001 version which starred Karen McDonald, Will LeBow, Johnny Kuntz and Tommy Derrah. I knew I didn’t want to try to recapture that lightning in a bottle. But the more I got my head around Wynwood Walls, that grounded the production and allowed me to see it afresh.” Besides his work with CSC, which is now the Resident Theatre of Babson College, Maler has directed many non-Shakespeare plays in and around Boston. One of his passion projects is Rent actor Anthony Rapp’s autobiographical musical Without You. (Maler had cast Rapp in the title role in CSC’s production of Henry V.) Under Maler’s direction, Rapp has performed the piece in Canada, New York and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and London’s Menier Chocolate Factory. In 2012, the pair staged the show in Boston at the Modern Theatre at Suffolk University. Maler says he’s ready to tackle Without You again for a New York production once Rapp finishes his current run on Broadway where he’s co-starring with Rent pal Idina Menzel in the new musical If/ Then. “We’re both committed to the project,” says Maler. “It’s near and dear to his heart and to my heart.” After the summer performances on the Boston Common, CSC will kick off its anniversary season on September 19 with Shakespeare at Fenway, performing scenes from Shakespeare’s plays at the most famous ballpark in the world. It is the first-ever event of this kind to be presented at a major league ballpark. [x] Twelfth Night

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CULTURE Entertainment STORY Loren King

Varla

Kristin Chenoweth PHOTO John Russo

Marilyn Maye

Life is a Cabaret Legends and luminaries light up the Art House in Provincetown You’d have to visit Broadway or a swanky supper club like Cafe Carlyle to see the kind of entertainment that the Art House in Provincetown boasts this summer. Not only is the venue’s ticket price far less than you’d pay in New York, but the intimate setting makes it seem like these cabaret and stage legends are singing right in your living room. Provincetown’s summer vibe and the presence of a friendly, largely gay crowd adds to the intimacy: the performers seem relaxed and fully enjoying the experience. The Broadway at the Art House series is currently in its fourth season of bringing A-list stage stars to the Cape

Tip. One of the highlights of the current season is Kristen Chenoweth, the petite belter whose star power requires the larger, but still cozy, Town Hall where she’ll appear for two shows on August 10. The star of Wicked and TV’s Glee, among many other credits, Chenoweth will perform showstoppers under the direction Richard Jay-Alexander with musical direction by Mary Mitchell-Campbell. Producing Artistic Director Mark Cortale has drawn on his extensive contacts and their affection for Provincetown and its audiences to bring back entertainers who’ve performed at the venue in the past. Adam Pascal, star of Broadway’s

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Rent, Aida, Cabaret, Memphis and Chicago returns July 26 and 27. Art House staple and Broadway cheerleader Seth Rudetsky will accompany Pascal as pianist and host. Also returning is Alice Ripley (August 2 and 3) with her one-woman show Ripley Reflects. Ripley, a songwriter and guitarist, won the 2011 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her tour de force in Next to Normal. She played conjoined twin Violet Hilton in Side Show, a role that earned her and her co-star Emily Skinner a shared 1998 Tony Award nomination, making them the first co-nominees in a musical. Her other Broadway credits include The Rocky

Horror Show, James Joyce’s The Dead, Sunset Boulevard and The Who’s Tommy. I’ve seen Marilyn Maye’s show in Provincetown and it is a run-don’t-walk experience. With the terrific Billy Stritch at the piano, the ageless diva will return to the Art House for her fourth consecutive year August 5-9. The premiere jazz and Broadway vocalist’s career spans some 70 years and encompasses the entire show business spectrum: talent shows as a teenager in her native Topeka, Kansas; live radio; TV variety (like Hollywood Palace) and talk shows (she made a record 76 appearances on Johnny Carson); stage musicals; and cabaret.

Her repertoire spans the Great American Songbook and composers such as Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, Jerry Herman, Stephen Sondheim, Jerome Kern, Cy Coleman/Dorothy Fields and Kander and Ebb. She’s not to be missed! Maye will be followed by Smash star Megan Hilty (August 13-15 and August 18 accompanied by Brian Gallagher on guitar; on August 16 and 17, Rudetsky will serve as pianist and host.) Hilty’s resume also includes Wicked and 9 to 5: The Musical on Broadway as well as her starring role on NBC’s Sean Saves the World with Sean Hayes. Many of us have been hoping for a return of the gay Sal Romano for the final season of Mad Men — but I’m not holding my breath. Better to see actor and Broadway musical veteran Bryan Batt, who made Sal so memorable (remember the Ann Margret dance that outed him to his wife?). Long before he made Sal his own, Batt cultivated his Broadway chops with roles in La Cage Aux Folles, Sunset Boulevard, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Starlight Express and Cats. His show, Batt on a Hot Tin Roof featuring Michael Lavine at the piano, runs August 24 and 25. We’ll forever hold Megan Mullally (Aug. 27 - 31) in our hearts for her portrayal of perpetually tipsy bisexual party girl Karen Walker on Will & Grace, the groundbreaking hit TV series that earned Mullally two Emmy Awards. But Mullally is no Broadway novice. She made her Broadway debut in the 1994 revival of Grease and followed that up with the revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying opposite Matthew Broderick. In 2007, Mullally starred as Elizabeth

in Mel Brooks’ musical version of Young Frankenstein. She’ll appear with Stephanie Hunt as the music duo Nancy and Beth. The Art House summer calendar also includes The Golden Gals, a live parody of the classic NBC sitcom The Golden Girls that features the irrepressible Ryan Landry as Dorothy matching wits with popular and prolific Provincetown performer Varla Jean Merman as Blanche. Olive Another as Sophia and Brooklyn Shaffer as Rose round out the cast which sends up the iconic sitcom complete with commercials, real and imagined. It runs to August 30. Merman (Jeffery Roberson) also performs her new show Relieving Herself at the Art House to August 27. She earned critical acclaim as the title role in Landry’s original musical comedy farce Mildred Fierce in Boston. Ever busy, she also starred in Scrooge in Rouge in her native New Orleans, Menotti’s opera The Medium in New York, and her new show Twice Upon A Mattress … Will My Prince Ever Come? at The Art House in Provincetown last summer. Merman played the role of Mary Sunshine in the revival of Chicago on Broadway, starred in Lucky Guy opposite Leslie Jordan Off-Broadway, and in 2010 won Boston’s Elliot Norton Award for Best Musical Performance in The Phantom of the Oprah. Merman also debuted her first show on London’s West End in a decade with her popular hit The Book of Merman. Her new shows runs to August 27 and features Gerald Goode at the piano. [x] Provinceotwn Art House

www.ptownarthouse.com

Carnival 2014

Comic Book Capers August 16-22

PBG presents, in association with Adam Weinstock and Creative Concept Production

Grand Marshall

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Performing August 20th Provincetown Town Hall • 8pm Tickets available at ptown.org

Caroline Rhea, stand-up comedian and actress, brings a fresh, smart and spontaneous approach to all of her work. Caroline studied at the New School of Social Research and trained at the comedy club, Catch a Rising Star. Caroline’s status quickly grew and she became an integral part of the city’s comedy scene. For the last 17 years, she has continued to perform to sold-out audiences in top comedy clubs. Her feature credits include: The Perfect Man, Man on the Moon, Christmas with the Kranks, and Ready to Rumble. Caroline’s TV career includes Aunt Hilda on The WB’s sitcom “Sabrina, The Teenage Witch”, starring in Lifetime’s “Fat Like Me,” and hosting NBC’s “The Biggest Loser.”

CULTURE Literature STORY Loren King

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Viva Cuba! John Verlinden’s ‘To Cook Is to Love’ and Johnny Diaz’s ‘Looking for Providence’ connect past and present To Cook is to Love

Learn more: Alice Tobin Zaff, Director of Gift Planning 800-535-5577 • Alice_Zaff@dfci.harvard.edu

Dana-Farber.org/spirit

Boston-based chef John Verlinden’s To Cook Is to Love is an ode to food and to Cuba, and to family and culture. The beautiful hardcover is a cookbook, certainly—and I dare anyone to look over the recipes for Choripan (spicy sausage sandwich) or Arroz con Bacalao (rice with codfish) and dozens more and not salivate. But it’s a cookbook that one actually reads for the stories of life in pre-revolutionary Cuba and for the amazing collection of Cuban memorabilia, including photographs, postcards, and vintage advertising that the author amassed over 20 years of collecting and that have been professionally reproduced for the book. Verlinden and his husband, Oscar “Oz” Mondejar, owned the award-winning and much-missed Mucho Gusto Café and Collectibles in the

Fenway—“the first CubanAmerican restaurant in the heart of Boston”—from 1995 to 2000. Now a personal chef and caterer, Verlinden worked on this book for over 10 years as a love letter to his Cuban-born mother-in-law Aida Mondejar (“Mama Aida”). Like many Cubans, Aida emigrated to the United States in the mid-1950s hoping for a better life. She settled in Boston, raised a family, worked hard at several jobs including beauty salons at Jordan Marsh, Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord and Taylor, and embraced life and food with characteristic gusto that Verlinden has lovingly captured. Written in Mama Aida’s voice (Mucho Gusto fans will remember her working in the kitchen), the book is rich with stories of her life woven with the foods that defined it. The 200 recipes include information about Cuban culture and customs. Since Verlinden’s specialty is

Nuevo Cuban recipes—healthier, more stylized versions of traditional Latin dishes—he has included an abundance of helpful information about nutrition and tips for preparation that are modern variations on the traditional cuisine. There’s even suggested music that best accompanies these culinary delights. “When I met Mami Aida 28 years ago and tasted her delicious comida, I was hooked. I wanted to learn everything I could about the foods that thrilled and delighted my taste buds and just had to make Cuban cuisine my own,” writes Verlinden, who describes Mama Aida as the “hostess” of this sumptuous journey through the immigrant experience. One couldn’t ask for better guides through through this cultural and culinary paradise. For more information go to muchogusto.com

Looking for

Providence Former Boston Globe writer and current Sun Sentinel features reporter Johnny Diaz’s fifth novel, Looking for Providence, is a love letter to the city that, says the author, was “a regular weekend hangout for me during my 10 years in Boston as a reporter.” Like his Boston Boys Club (2007); Miami Manhunt (2008); Beantown Cubans (2009); and

Take the Lead, (2011), the new novel features the many gay and Latino characters that readers have come to expect from Diaz, a Cuban-American. Looking for Providence is the entertaining adventures of a Cuban-American newspaper reporter named Ronnie Reyes who relocates to Providence, RI, and begins seeing Phil, a handsome local executive. Ronnie’s best friend Elias, meanwhile, is dealing with changes of his own back home in Miami. As Elias takes a risk and moves to Germany where he also starts a fresh romance, Ronnie settles in to his adopted city and begins to understand the meaning of home. Diaz’s previous novels were set in Boston and in his native Miami, so it’s a treat to see the colorful city of Providence captured in the pages. It’s a place that’s close to Diaz’s heart. “Although I featured Providence in a chapter here and there in my previous four novels, I always wanted to set an entire book there. Perhaps in another life I was a Rhode Islander because I always felt right at home in this charming New England city with its red-bricked buildings and steep streets. During my dozens of visits there, the residents were always so down-to-earth and friendly, like I was one of them, like I belonged,” he writes on his blog. “Another reason I wanted to write the book: I couldn’t find any gay-themed novel set in Providence which surprised me because the city has a large and spirited gay community. “ Readers will recognize local spots from the Dark Lady to Italian restaurants on Federal Hill. But more than the setting, it’s the romance, community and, most of all, friendship that in the end make this tale such a relatable one. For more information go to beantowncuban.com [x]

Martha’s Vineyard You have arrived.

Visit

For information on lodgings, rentals, LGBT information and more, please visit VisitMV.info or 508-693-0085

SCENE Benefit PHOTOS Marilyn Humphries

The Men’s Event

Fenway Health Board of Directors member Andrea Cabral; Dean Hara, widower of Congressman Gerry E. Studds; Dr. Stephen L. Boswell, President & CEO of Fenway Health; former Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino; Men’s Event CoChairs Rob Krasow and Matthew E. Thompson; President of Fenway’s Board of Directors, Douglas Spencer; and Men’s Event Co-Chair Joe Caputo

Marriott Copley | Boston | April 26

Nearly $650,000 was raised through the dedication of Table Captains and the Event Team, corporate sponsors, Congressman Gerry E. Studds Award recipient Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Jimmy Tingle, Booty Vortex, DJ Gay Jim, and more than 1,300 gay and bisexual men, transgender people, friends, supporters and volunteers who attended the 2014 Men’s Event! Special tip of that hat goes out to the Event Chairs, Joe Caputo, Rob Krasow, and Matthew E. Thompson, whose hard work made the night possible. [1] Boston Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence bestowing Sainthood on former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino as Angela Menino looks on [2] Fenway Health Board Chair Douglas Spencer, Ron Ansin, and Fenway Health President & CEO Dr. Stephen L. Boswell [3] Men’s Event Co-Chairs Matthew E. Thompson, Rob Krasow, and Joe Caputo [4] Men’s Event emcee Jimmy Tingle [5] Booty Vortext getting the crowd dancing

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SCENE Event PHOTOS Sage Inn & Lounge

The Fabulous Beekman Boys Sage Inn & Lounge | Provincetown | April 25-26

Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell of The Cooking Channel’s The Fabulous Beekman Boys stopped by Provincetown this spring.

SCENE Benefit PHOTOS Courtesy Community Servings

LifeSavor The Langham and various restaurants | Boston | May 8

Community Servings, which provides meals to those who need them, held its 22nd annual LifeSavor, celebrating the best of Boston’s restaurant community and raising $555,000 for its meals and nutrition program. Gary Sherr, Bobby Morris

Craig Albano, Sam Corbin, Matt Kurkowski

Karen Bressler, Serge Denis, David Waters

Domingo Barres, Fred Schneider

David Waters, Chris Mayer, Melissa MacDonnell, Jeff Bellows

Daron Manoogian, Shawn McBride, Robert Reed, Cliff Long

Jonathan Soroff, Fred Schneider, Paul Carchidi

Angela & Michael Gooch, Stanley Francis

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SCENE Category PHOTOS Edson Silva

Beantown Softball Hall of Fame Induction Club Café | Boston | May 17

Boston’s LGBT softball league inducted four of its own into its Hall of Fame at a big ceremony. Congrats to inductees Marc Davino, Hugo Henriquez, John Haas, Bill MacKay and Kevin St. Gelais.

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SCENE Benefit PHOTOS Marilyn Humphries

Pictured From left to right: Fenway President & CEO Dr. Stephen Boswell; Mass. Representative Liz Malia; Fenway Board Chair Douglas Spencer; Elyse Cherry, Boston Community Capital CEO and Love Award recipient; Fenway Women’s Health Director Dr. Jennifer Potter; and Women’s Dinner Party Co-Chairs Cynthia Cahill, Sarah Kyley McCormack, and Jennifer Jones.

The Women’s Dinner Party Marriott Copley Place | Boston | March 29

Fenway Health raised over $500,000 in cash and pledges for the life-saving services and programs at Fenway Health. Nearly 1,100 lesbians, bisexual women, transgender people, friends, supporters and volunteers attended Fenway’s 2014 Women’s Dinner Party. Table Captains and Event Team, our corporate sponsors, Dr. Susan M. Love Award recipient Elyse Cherry, Kate Clinton, Booty Vortex, DJ Jodi, and Women of the World were on hand to make the evening extra festive. Congrats to Event Chairs Cynthia R. Cahill, Jennifer L. Jones, and Sarah Kyley McCormack, whose hard work made the night possible.

Women of the World wow the crowd at The Women’s Dinner Party

State Representative Liz Malia and Rita Kantarowski Booty Vortex JUL|AUG 2014 | 81

SCENE Benefit PHOTOS Ivy Maiorino

SCENE Benefit PHOTOS courtesy of BGMC

Crescendo W Hotel | Boston | May 10

The Boston Gay Men’s Chorus (BGMC) held its annual benefit gala this year, which featured the East coast debut of Prince Poppycock, the sequined sensation who enchanted millions as a finalist on NBC’s hit show America’s Got Talent.

The Theater Offensive’s Executive Artistic Director Abe Rybeck and Event Chair Ricardo Rodriguez

ClimACTS! Wilbur Theater | Boston | May 19

The Theater Offensive worked its annual magic with its extraordinairy fundraiser once again this year, raising more than $150,000 for its groundbreaking LGBT arts programs.

Prince Poppycock

Host Committee Member Eve Alpern and friends congratulate winning bidder Nikki Dinari

Tony-Award Winner Billy Porter from Kinky Boots with Members of True Colors Out Youth Theater

Jess and Robbie Samuels with The Theater Offensive’s Executive Artistic Director Abe Rybeck

Billy Porter mingling with climACTS guests Izzy Berdan 82 | BOSTON SPIRIT

Live Auction

SCENE Wedding PHOTOS Studio K Photography, Kim Reilly

Deb and Arlene Celebrate Marriage Equality Sage Inn & Lounge | Provincetown | May 17

For Deb and Arlene, a longtime couple from Pennsylvania, marriage didn’t mean anything until DOMA was overturned and they could experience the federal protection that all couples enjoy. On May 17, they were thrilled to get married on the anniversary of a decade of same-sex marriage in Mass and at their favorite destination, Sage Inn & Lounge in Provincetown. Over 50 of their friends and family members from all over the U.S. gathered in Ptown for a beachside ceremony and reception at Sage, which featured a number of special elements, including a performance by musician Zoe Lewis, a flower ceremony honoring those who have passed and a dessert buffet. Kelvin Powell and Jay Joynes

Reuben Reynolds and Bill Casey

Tony Scarpetta, Richard Babson and Miro Scarpetta JUL|AUG 2014 | 83

SCENE Benefit PHOTOS E mil Cohen

Boston Spirit Sunset Cruise Boston Harbor | Boston | June 18

Hundreds and hundreds of local LGBTs boogied to DJ Mocha’s sensational sounds aboard the Bay State Cruise company’s Provincetown II and noshed on the fab food of Jasper White’s Summer Shack. All to benefit Fenway Health!

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Peaches at the ICA in July

Calendar Juliana Huxtable

DANCE

FRI AUG 15