Gay City News - December 6, 2018

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George H.W. Bush’s Legacy: On AIDS, LGBTQ Issues, Not So Kind or Gentle 04

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LEARNING & LOVING — BY DOING QUEER MUSLIM MAN’S HALTING EMBRACE OF HIS SEXUALITY KELLY LEVACHER

Film Director Interview, Page 24

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➤ JUMP, continued on p.1

FREE | VOLUME SEVENTEEN, ISSUE TWENTY SIX | DECEMBER 6 – DECEMBER 19, 2018

In This Issue COVER STORY Learning — & loving — by doing 24

MEDIA Social media blasts “adult content” ban at Tumblr 14

Greek Magic on an Aegean Sail 20

HEALTH CIVIL RIGHTS World AIDS Day Justice Kennedy data show HIV’s continued decrease “surprised” himself on gay marriage 06 18 CRIME FILM Pols press for Rated X at Quad hate crimes office 25 08 HEALTH Opioid risk highest among bis, gays 10

THEATER Finding grace after abuse 26

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GayCityNews.nyc | December 6 - December 19, 2018

3

POLITICS

On AIDS, LGBTQ Issues, Not So Kind or Gentle Community rubbed raw by uncritical tributes to George H.W. Bush

BY ANDY HUMM

W

hile the mainstream media is paying unadulterated homage to former President George H.W. Bush on his death at 94, AIDS and LGBTQ activists who survived his neglect toward the HIV epidemic and his opposition to gay rights are being painfully reminded how little value is placed on the lives of those in our community — including by some gay reporters.

AIDS deaths accelerated dramatically under Bush in the four years beginning January 1989 — more than 100,000 on his watch in the US and a million worldwide — as he avoided speaking out effectively on the crisis or funding the kind of prevention efforts with any chance of getting it under control.

Yet an 11,000-plus word obituary in The New York Times — written by Adam Nagourney, an out gay man — had not a single reference to the holocaust of AIDS or the non-response from Bush that made him a constant target of ACT UP’s advocacy, anger, and action.

Journalist Michelangelo Signorile, an ACT UP stalwart, wrote on Facebook that “Times columnist Frank Bruni, who is gay, wrote a glowing column about George H.W. Bush on World AIDS Day, upon his death, lauding Bush for his ‘uncommon grace.’ Not once did he mention the words ‘AIDS’ or ‘gay.’”

A corrective piece run only on December 3 in the Times took note of Bush’s failures on AIDS, noting that by the end of his term HIV-related deaths had become the number one killer of men 25 to 44 in the US. Bush was silent on AIDS as vice president until Ronald Reagan finally publicly addressed it in detail six years into the epidemic — in June 1987 at an AmFAR benefit in Washington where the president was booed for promoting regressive policies counterproductive to confronting a public health emergency. Bush represented the US at the International AIDS Conference

4

BILL BY TSURA

ACT UP descended on Kennebunkport, Maine in early September 1991 protest President George H.W. Bush’s lack of leadership on the AIDS epidemic.

BILL BY TSURA

An ACT UP die-in in Kennebunkport.

the same weekend in Washington and was similarly booed. On his way out, Bush was overheard saying, “Who was that? Some gay group out there?”

As president, Bush remained silent on HIV/ AIDS for his first 14 months in office and when he did give a speech in 1990, he was confronted by Urvashi Vaid, head of what is now the National LGBTQ Task Force, with the sign: “Talk is Cheap, AIDS Funding is Not.” Bush refused to speak at the International AIDS Conference in

San Francisco in 1990. At a demonstration in New York that year

by ACT UP and the National Organization for Women at the Waldorf Astoria where Bush was fundraising for the GOP, activist and queer icon Rollerena told Gay USA, “Instead of being there [in San Francisco], he told the American people he would rather be with Jesse Helms [the virulently anti-gay Republican senator from North Carolina]… It’s like him having dinner with Hitler.”

The activists outside the Wal-

dorf carried coffins saying “Bush = Killer.”

ACT UP dogged Bush from his Kennebunkport retreat to the White House — where the ashes of dead members were thrown onto the lawn — to his campaign headquarters the night he failed to win re-election. Reacting to the protests at his Maine summer home, the president talked about the need for “behavioral changes” rather than the federal government’s public health responsibilities.

Ann Northrop, another ACT UP leader (and my co-host on “GAY USA”), said, “George Bush was a mixed bag, but his disgusting dismissal of the legitimate demands of AIDS activists and his repulsive distinction of innocent babies versus the bad behavior of gay men were shocking. And then there’s Clarence Thomas, not to mention his eagerness to sign on to Ronald Reagan’s anti-abortion agenda so he could be vice president. Just the tip of the iceberg of his overlooked sins.”

Bush stood by his nomination of Justice Thomas despite credible claims that he sexually harassed Anita Hill, and he was narrowly confirmed by the Senate. Thomas

➤ GEORGE H.W. BUSH, continued on p.5

December 6 - December 19, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc

➤ GEORGE H.W. BUSH, from p.4 became the most reactionary member of the court, voting to uphold the constitutionality of sodomy laws, Colorado’s discriminatory anti-gay Amendment 2, and abortion restrictions while dissenting on the two decisions opening marriage to same-sex couples.

Bush caved to right-wing pressure frequently in his political life.

To become Reagan’s running mate, he did in fact abandon his support for reproductive choice and went on as president to veto any bill that provided funding for abortion for poor women. To become president in 1988, he approved the infamous Lee Atwater’s Willie Horton ad, attacking Democratic nominee Mike Dukakis for a prison furlough program (similar to one Reagan had supported as governor of California) that had allowed Horton out long enough to commit a rape.

They used a darkened picture of Horton to make their racist point — in their effort to make Horton “Dukakis’ running mate.� (Atwater apologized for the ad on his deathbed.)

Even friendly retrospectives on Bush’s life have noted a consistent pattern of his playing to the electorate’s uglier instincts before expressing after-the-fact regret and a commitment to return to his patrician, “kinder and gentler� posturing.

As president, Bush signed Congress’ override, in its oversight of the District of Columbia, of Washington’s ordinance giving domestic partner benefits to its municipal employees.

In 1992, Bush agreed to a prime speaking spot at his Houston renominating convention for his Republican primary opponent, the Catholic reactionary Pat Buchanan, and also allowed Evangelical reactionary Pat Robertson (who had bested him in the 1988 Iowa caucuses) to address the delegates. Both men used their time to ramp up the culture war, especially against “homosexuals� and feminists. Of Buchanan’s speech, where he warned, “Block by block, my friend, we must take back our cities, and our culture,� the late Texas journalist and humorist Molly Ivins wrote that it “probably

sounded better in the original German.�

Bush’s craven acquiescence to his party’s extremists has been widely credited with turning moderate voters to Bill Clinton or the third party candidacy of Ross Perot, who got 19 percent of the vote and helped the Democrat win.

The major movement on the epidemic during Bush’s four years in office came in the enactment of the Ryan White CARE Act and the Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) legislation, which provided the first specific federal support for treatment and housing for people with what was then termed a full-blown AIDS diagnosis. Ronald Johnson, who held senior policy positions with the Minority Task Force on AIDS, as the city coordinator on AID policy under Mayors David Dinkins and Rudy Giuliani, and at Gay Men’s Health Crisis before heading up the Washington policy group AIDS United, recalled that it was activists’ pressure and bipartisan leadership in Congress — with Massachusetts Democrat Ted Kennedy bringing on board Utah Re-

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publican Orrin Hatch after several years of North Carolina’s Helms’ blocking any bill — that led to Ryan White’s passage.

Charles King, an ACT UP member who founded and still leads Housing Works, recalled Bush “wholly embracing� the legislation, though he too noted that it had “huge bipartisan support� in Congress.

King added, however, that Bush failed in not treating AIDS “like the crisis it was. There wasn’t the ramped up research that we needed. And Ryan White and HOPWA were a tiny sum considering the true need. His homophobia kept prevention efforts from being what they could have been.�

While Bush also signed the Americans with Disabilities Act — a significant advance — he vetoed the Family and Medical Leave Act. He also never accounted for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal and used his final days in office in 1993 to pardon six Iran-Contra defendants, short-circuiting trials that would have exposed significant foreign adventuring crimes of the Reagan-Bush administration.

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5

HEALTH

City Data, Measured New Way, Show Further HIV Declines Adopting CDC standard, officials show higher infection rates but bigger year-to-year declines

BY DUNCAN OSBORNE

W

hile New York City’s health department is celebrating the decline in new HIV diagnoses in 2017 compared to 2016, it is also using a new method to estimate how many of the new diagnoses in 2017 were among people who were newly infected with the virus that year, altering the recent yearto-year comparisons announced in past reports.

“This historic low in new HIV diagnosis demonstrates that we

are well on our way to ending the HIV epidemic in New York City,” Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the deputy commissioner for disease control in the health department, said in a November 29 statement that accompanied the department’s annual HIV surveillance report. “We are diagnosing people with HIV earlier and linking them to care, preventing disease progression while harnessing the power of treatment to prevent transmission.”

There were 2,157 new HIV diagnoses in 2017 compared to 2,279 in 2016, a 5.4 percent decrease.

Among the 2,157, 1,707 were among men, 394 were among women, and 56 were among transgender men and women. Men who have sex with men accounted for 1,243 of the new HIV diagnoses in 2017, remaining the risk category with the most new HIV diagnoses. There were declines in new diagnoses in all race and ethnic groups except among Latinos.

New diagnoses among Latinos went from 768 in 2016 to 774 in 2017. There were 759 new HIV diagnoses among Latinos in 2015. While those differences are likely not statistically significant, they do mean

that new diagnoses are not decreasing in that population.

“It’s alarming,” said Guillermo Chacon, president of the Latino Commission on AIDS. “It was a trend that was seen in 2016 and I’m alarmed that it was sustained in 2017.”

Ultimately, new HIV diagnoses, which could have happened in 2017 or in any year before, are at best a surrogate for new HIV infections.

Federal, state, and local public health officials have used various

➤ HIV DATA, continued on p.7

ON WORLD AIDS DAY, STILL FIGHTING STIGMA

DONNA ACETO

DONNA ACETO

Charles King, who heads up the AIDS services group Housing Works.

Wendy Stark, the executive director of the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, which has mulitiple offices throughout the city serving the LGBTQ community.

DONNA ACETO

Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the city health department’s deputy commissioner for the Division of Disease Control.

PHOTO ESSAY BY DONNA ACETO

A

t a ceremony held November 30 at Baruch College in Manhattan, the End AIDS NY 2020 Coalition — made up of more than 60 community partners from across New York State — and Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS hosted the fi fth annual World AIDS Day Citywide Commemoration. Presented in conjunction with the City Depart-

6

DONNA ACETO

Out gay City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who has spoken often about his HIV-positive status.

ment of Health and Mental Hygiene and the State Department of Health, this year’s event was themed “Breaking Through Stigma,” focusing on how stigma and discrimination connect to racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, disability, poverty, immigration status, violence, shame, and homelessness and housing instability, and create obstacles for people living with and affected by HIV to accessing optimal health care and support.

DONNA ACETO

Dr. Oxiris Barbot, the acting city health commissioner.

DONNA ACETO

Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul.

December 6 - December 19, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc

➤ HIV DATA, from p.6 methods to estimate new HIV infections, but this latest methodological change is stark.

In 2016 and in prior years, the city health department used the Stratified Extrapolation Approach (SEA), a method that used blood testing, demographic data, and testing and treatment history to estimate the number of new HIV infections in a given year.

For the first time this year, the city used the CD4-depletion model, a method that weighs the distribution of a type of blood cell, a CD4 cell, in newly diagnosed people and demographic data to estimate how many people were newly infected in a population in a given year.

Using the old method, new HIV infections declined by 557 from

2,098 in 2012 to 1,541 in 2016. Under the new method, new HIV infections declined by 1,000 from 2,800 in 2013 to 1,800 in 2017. The new method resulted in higher estimated new HIV infections, but it also showed larger year-to-year declines in HIV incidence.

The change was imposed on public health officials across the country by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“The real folks who changed the way we measure incidence are the CDC,” Daskalakis told Gay City News. “They validated it and actually published the studies… I think there’s a reason they discontinued the old method. Incidence methods based on laboratory data are notoriously questionable.”

Estimated HIV incidence is not some academic exercise.

Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio have both endorsed the Plan to End AIDS, an ambitious proposal that will use anti-HIV drugs, support services, and other assistance for HIV-positive people so they stay on their anti-HIV drugs, remain healthy, and have no detectable virus in their bodies. People who are undetectable cannot infect others.

Among HIV-negative people, the plan proposes to use pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in people who are at risk of becoming HIV infected and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) in people who had a recent exposure to HIV (no more than 72 hours earlier) to keep them uninfected.

The plan aims to reduce new HIV infections in the state from the estimated 2,481 in 2014 to 750 annu-

ally by 2020. With most new HIV infections occurring in New York City, the city has set its own goal of reducing new HIV infections to 600 annually by 2020. At those levels, health officials estimate, the nearly 40-year epidemic will no longer be able to sustain itself.

The old method of calculating new HIV infections suggested that the city would have a difficult time getting to 600 new HIV infections annually by 2020. The new method said there were 2,800 new HIV infections in the city in 2013 and 2014, 2,600 in 2015, 2,200 in 2016, and 1,800 in 2017. If the city continues to reduce new HIV infections by 400 a year for the next three years, it will get to exactly 600 new HIV infections in 2020.

“We are on track to end the epidemic in 2020,” Daskalakis said.

LIGHTNESS IN THE DARK

DONNA ACETO DONNA ACETO

One of the LED-emblazoned trucks that was part of the NYC AIDS Memorial Arts and Education Initiative launched on December 1.

PHOTO ESSAY BY DONNA ACETO

O

n World AIDS Day, the NYC AIDS Memorial launched its Arts and Education Initiative,

DONNA ACETO

Other messages carried on trucks around the city on World AIDS Day.

with an interactive art experience, created in collaboration with artist Jenny Holzer. The event included a fleet of five trucks emblazoned with LED signs that journeyed through the city displaying a se-

ries of quotes that convey the impact, history, and ongoing battle against the AIDS epidemic worldwide. Following that dusk event, the American Run for the End of AIDS, Gay Men’s Health Crisis,

Anthony Goicolea, creator of the LGBT Memorial in Hudson River Park, Paul Kelterborn, one of the designers of the NYC AIDS Memorial, and longtime AIDS activist Eric Sawyer.

and the International AIDS Prevention Initiative hosted the 27th “Out of the Darkness World AIDS Day Candlelight Vigil and Gathering,” also at the NYC AIDS Memorial.

DONNA ACETO

Former State Senator Tomn Duane (center) was among those participating in the “Out of the Darkness World AIDS Day Candlelight Vigil and Gathering.”

GayCityNews.nyc | December 6 - December 19, 2018

DONNA ACETO

Vigil participants standing in the shadow of the NYC AIDS Memorial.

DONNA ACETO

Members of ACT UP remind vigil participants that AIDS is not history.

7

CRIME

Pols Call for New City Hate Crimes Office Amid spike in incidents, lawmakers say NYPD shouldn’t be only oversight agency

BY MATT TRACY

L

awmakers gathered on the steps of City Hall on Tuesday afternoon to call for the formation of a new office geared toward preventing hate crimes amid a disturbing spike in attacks targeting minority groups in the city and around the nation.

City Councilmembers Mark Levine of Manhattan and Donovan Richards of Queens, who are spearheading legislation at the city level to create the new office, were joined by other lawmakers in city, state, and federal offices who threw their full-throated support behind the bill.

If created, the office would mark the first of its kind at the mayoral level. The NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force is currently responsible for investigating all hate crimes and

MAT T TRACY

State Assemblymember Harvey Epstein, Congressmember Nydia Velázquez, and Councilmembers Mark Levine and Donovan Richards at the December 4 press conference.

related incidents in the city.

“We’re here to make sure the NYPD isn’t the only agency addressing these issues,” said Richards, who chairs the Committee on Public Safety.

Levine explained that the office would aim to improve coordination among city agencies, train people

on ways to interact with the NYPD, and improve the tracking of hate crimes. Calling it “the answer to bureaucracy,” he argued the office would serve as another way to improve accountability.

The Committee on Public Safety’s report on the bill notes that a coordinator would oversee the office

and hold a variety of responsibilities including creating and implementing a system for the city’s response to hate crimes in conjunction with the Commission on Human Rights, making recommendations to the mayor, and working with community groups and non-governmental agencies.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has yet to announce whether he supports the bill, but Levine told Gay City News that the mayor is “supportive” thus far.

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said he is fully behind the proposal and said he looks forward to “helping shepherd” the bill through the legislative process.

The strong support for the bill comes as no surprise considering that NYPD Deputy Inspector Mark Molinari, who heads up the Hate

➤ HATE CRIMES OFFICE, continued on p.9

CIVIL RIGHTS

State’s Police Oversight Fails Trans Woman, Suit Says NYCLU argues Division of Human Resources must investigate abuse claims

BY MATT TRACY

T

he New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) is suing the New York State Division of Human Rights after it refused to investigate abuse claims against police and correction agencies, saying they were outside of its jurisdiction.

The NYCLU argues that because the Division of Human Rights is responsible for enforcing human rights law in public accommodations, it already has the ability to investigate government agencies like police and correction.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Jefferson County Supreme Court upstate, stems from a complaint by a transgender woman, Deanna Letray, who said the Watertown Police Department and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office abused her and discriminated against her in September 2017 Arrested after a domestic dispute, Letray alleges that the Watertown police made disparaging remarks about her gender expression and questioned her gender identity. At the police

8

DONNA ACETO

Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

station, she said, she was forced to remove her wig against her will, and later at the jail was stripped naked and sexually assaulted.

The Division of Human Rights, led by a commissioner appointed by the governor, dismissed her complaint because “the respondent police

and corrections agencies are not public accommodations under the New York State Human Rights Law,” according to the victim’s petition.

“The New York State Division of Human Rights lacks jurisdiction over these entities in regard to their performance of their function,” the agency stated, according to the plaintiff’s petition.

The NYCLU fired back that the agency was wrong in defining its breadth of jurisdiction.

“Investigating discrimination and abuse allegations against public agencies like the police is exactly what the agency tasked with enforcing the human rights law is supposed to do,” the group’s executive director, Donna Lieberman, said in a December 3 written statement. “The Commissioner should reassess and make clear that discrimination and abuse at the hands of police or in jails is under the purview of the human rights division.”

Among public accommodations that fall within the jurisdiction of the Division of Human

➤ POLICE OVERSIGHT, continued on p.9 December 6 - December 19, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc

➤ HATE CRIMES OFFICE, from p.8 Crimes Task Force, said during a City Council hearing last month that there had been 308 confirmed hate crime incidents through November 11 of this year, with a 27 percent increase in anti-black hate crimes and an 18 percent increase in anti-Semitic crimes.

Most politicians in attendance also highlighted attacks against members of the LGBTQ community, and Brooklyn Councilmember Jumaane Williams — who is among the candidates to succeed Attorney General-Elect Letitia James as public advocate — notably pointed to the cases of violence against transgender women of color.

Local LGBTQ groups are reacting to the proposed bill with cautious optimism, offering suggestions for best implementing such an office.

“I think it is good that the office should exist,” said Audacia Ray, the director of community organizing and public advocacy for the Anti-Violence Project, which serves LGBTQ and HIV-affected victims of violence.

Ray, who testified at a City Council hearing on the bill in November, said the office needs to pay attention to incidents of bias that might

➤ POLICE OVERSIGHT, from p.8 Rights, the NYCLU noted, are housing, education, and employment. To that end, the lawsuit additionally argued that correction agencies fall within the jurisdiction of the Division because those agencies provide housing accommodations.

“In most places around the state, there are no independent agencies

not fit the definition of a hate crime but are still significant.

“I think the NYPD is not the only way to address bias incidents,” she said. “It’s important to invest in community leadership that is specific to the location and geography of different neighborhoods.”

The LGBT Community Center announced its support for the bill in November, but suggested some modifications to the approach as well. The Center asked that the de Blasio administration focus on outreach efforts geared toward populations that are most targeted, including gender-nonconforming and transgender people in addition to the wider LGBTQ community.

The Center would also like to see the administration generate more comprehensive data, survey target populations, and explore new reporting methods to better encompass those who do not always go to traditional authorities.

Among others in attendance on Tuesday were Congressmember Nydia Velázquez, Councilmembers Chaim Deutsch of Brooklyn, who is sponsoring the bill, and Manhattan’s Helen Rosenthal, and Assemblymembers Harvey Epstein and Dan Quart of Manhattan and Michael Blake, another public advocate candidate, from the Bronx.

who can investigate and hold police accountable when they violate the rights of New Yorkers,” Erin Beth Harrist, NYCLU senior staff attorney, said. “For the many New Yorkers who do not have the resources to get a lawyer and go to court, the Division of Human Rights should be able and willing to investigate allegations of abuse and discrimination by police or in jails.”

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9

HEALTH

Bi Women, Gay Men at Highest Opioid Abuse Risk NYU study calls for public health action, research on gender identity

BY MATT TRACY

B

isexual women and gay men are reporting higher rates of opioid misuse compared to people of other sexual orientations, a new NYU study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, has revealed.

The study, which surveyed more than 42,000 people of various sexual orientations — but not gender identities — in all 50 states, found that 13.5 percent of bisexual women reported opioid misuse in the last year compared to 6.8 percent of lesbian women.

Meanwhile, 10 percent of gay men misused opioids compared to 8.3 percent of bisexual men.

Straight men and women reported the lowest rates of misuse — particularly straight women:

NYU.EDU

Professor Dustin Duncan of the NYU School of Medicine.

5.3 percent of straight men and 3.7 percent of straight women said they misused opioids in the last year.

The study suggests that because bisexual women are not exclusively attracted to men or women, they could suffer from what the authors termed “minority stress,” feeling ostracized from both straight and lesbian communities — and so

become more apt to resort to coping mechanisms. Bisexual and gay men, along with lesbians, could also be subjected to “minority stress,” the study notes.

Dustin Duncan, an associate professor at NYU’s School of Medicine and the lead author of the study, believes the data should prompt action among health professionals. At the very least, he would like to see educational campaigns geared toward the communities most at risk.

“Clinical providers and social service providers should understand that sexual orientation is a risk factor for opioid misuse,” he said. “There should be public health intervention targeted to bisexual women. If you’re a provider and you know that you have a person who is lesbian, gay, or bisexual, asking them about potential opioid

use and drug use overall may be important.”

Duncan noted that the results are in line with other studies showing similar trends among sexual minorities.

“My strong sense of the literature and the work I’ve done is that this is a consistent finding,” he said.

“When we look at the literature overall, it shows bisexual women and men typically have elevated risks of poor health.”

The study did not take transgender people into consideration, but it noted that future research should examine differences between gender minorities due to research showing that transgender and gender non-conforming people have higher rates of substance abuse.

Further studies are forthcoming to explore the differences found in the study, Duncan said.

Deadline Near, LGBTQ Groups Aid Obamacare Enrollment GMHC, Community Center have trained experts to advise health plan shoppers

BY MATT TRACY

L

GBTQ advocacy groups in New York are scrambling to help people choose appropriate Obamacare healthcare plans for the new year before the December 15 deadline.

Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), New York’s LGBT Community Center, and others have deployed navigators and certified application counselors — trained experts who help people sign up for healthcare — to meet with potential enrollees to discuss the different plans available on the exchange. These experts serve as important resources for LGBTQ folks who might have specific questions about finding a plan that caters to their needs. Some people are searching for general coverage, while others are looking for plans with LGBTQ-friendly doctors or coverage of HIV medications and PrEP.

10

The healthcare plans, which are subsidized by the government based on income, have been under attack from the Trump administration, which has employed various tactics to cripple the Affordable Care Act. To that end, advertising dollars have been slashed, leaving vulnerable populations without proper notice that they need to sign up in the coming weeks in order to be covered on January 1.

Alexandra Remmel, who serves as GMHC’s director of advocacy and is a certified application counselor, told Gay City News that she and her colleagues work around the clock to meet with those who are looking for healthcare plans.

“We see people as a walk-in if they happen to come in or we can make appointments,” she said. “We need to be flexible. If they’re working individuals, there is a commute attached.”

Remmel stressed that there are

important distinctions to consider for people who are HIV-positive compared to those who are negative. The AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) can help cover medication costs for HIV-positive individuals in need.

“From ADAP’s perspective, platinum is perfect,” Remmel said, referring to the highest “medal” level of coverage. Platinum plans have the most expensive premium, but other expenses are usually covered — and ADAP recipients can get assistance.

Bronze plans offer the cheapest coverage, followed by silver, gold, and platinum options. Plans with lower premiums have higher deductibles and more out-of-pocket costs.

ADAP does not cover the cost of PrEP since it only serves those who are HIV-positive. Prescription drug coverage can, therefore, also be a key consideration for those who are HIV-negative.

For people making $24,280 or

less annually, Remmel touted the Essential Plan, which costs $20 or less per month and provides coverage for doctor visits, prescription drugs, and more. But regardless of income, she said, it’s important to explore all options to stay covered and remain healthy.

“If you’re living a life that is at all risky, the center here can help you figure out how to get PrEP and to get it covered,” she added. “But individuals need access to care for everything, too.”

The enrollment period started on November 1 and extends to January 31, but individuals must sign up by December 15 in order to be enrolled on January 1. Those who apply by January 31 can still be covered for the remainder of 2019.

Anyone currently enrolled in existing plans for 2018 still must sign up for plans for 2019.

To enroll at the State of Health site, visit nystateofhealth.ny.gov.

December 6 - December 19, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc

Volume 2 | Issue 5

The Pulse of

Lenox Health Greenwich Village

Ice and snow mean take it slow: 5 tips to avoid slips and falls this winter During the winter months, ice, snow and cold temperatures can make life challenging for everyone—especially as we get older.

Practice these safety tips to stay upright this winter.

1. Walk slowly and carefully. Take shorter, shuffle-like steps with your toes pointed slightly outward to maintain a stable base of support. Bend slightly and walk flat footed to keep your center of gravity over your feet as much as possible.

2. Watch where you’re stepping. Stay aware of the surfaces ahead of you. Look down with your eyes only. (If you move your head downward, you may shift your balance.)

3. Keep your arms at your sides. Carrying items or walking with your hands in your pockets makes it harder to catch yourself if you lose your balance. Consider carrying items in a backpack instead.

4. Use caution exiting your car. Plant both feet firmly on the ground before moving; steady yourself on the door frame until you have your balance.

5. Remove shoes before entering your house. Take off wet shoes at the doorway, so you don’t slip when you come inside.

Did you know…

Almost 25 percent of slips and falls are caused by improper footwear. Wear shoes or boots with treaded soles to lower your risk of injury.

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More than one out of four people age 65+ falls each year, but less than half tell their doctor. Be open with your healthcare provider— they can evaluate your risk of falling and help you prevent another accident.

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GayCityNews.nyc | December 6 - December 19, 2018

11

HUMAN RIGHTS

Abuse of LGBTQ Migrants at Border Highlighted Advocates blame Trump’s asylum restrictions, ICE failures as culprits

BY MATT TRACY

L

GBTQ asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border are enduring sexual abuse, medical neglect, violence, and lack of shelter and legal representation in their quest to flee harsh conditions in their home countries.

These issues add to an already complicated situation at the border that has been exacerbated by the Trump administration’s decision to hold asylum seekers in Mexico and limit the amount of people allowed in on a daily basis.

“This policy is creating confusion and chaos, and we have seen time and time again that when LGBTQ are forced to wait at ports of entry for weeks — or now even months or years — before being able to seek asylum in the US, they are singled out for ongoing violence,” said Jackie Yodashkin, who serves as the public affairs director for Immigration Equality, a national LGBTQ immigrant rights organization.

The holding of asylum seekers in

GRASSROOTSLEADERSHIP.ORG

Laura Monterrosa was released from ICE custody after a judge heard her account of sexual abuse and solitary confienment that she endured.

Mexico adversely affects their right to secure effective legal representation and puts them in danger of being subjected to homophobic and transphobic discrimination and violence, Yodashkin said.

Lawyers are also scrambling to find sponsors to house their clients in a timely manner, but they have struggled to do so — especially for their transgender clients. Allegra Love, who is the executive director of the Santa Fe Dreamers Project, told Buzzfeed that transgender mi-

grants are being detained longer because of the inability to find US sponsors for them.

A number of groups have made inroads in their work to assist sexual minorities at the border. The Refugee Aid Project (RAICES), a nonprofit immigration legal services provider based in Texas, has provided transportation and housing support for LGBTQ people there, and has helped inform them of their rights.

Immigration Equality boasts a 99 percent win rate in the cases it has handled due to the strength of asylum claims submitted by LGBTQ people who are fleeing the 80 countries “where it is a crime or fundamentally unsafe to be LGBTQ,” Yodashkin said.

But when the US agencies are the ultimate gatekeepers, the advocacy groups can only go so far. Gay City News reported last week that an independent autopsy following the death of Roxsana Hernandez, who died in ICE custody, revealed she suffered bruising consistent with

abuse. Advocates allege that Hernandez, who was HIV-positive, was not provided with proper medical care and was badly dehydrated.

“In 2017, a shelter for transgender migrants was set on fire, and we continually hear reports that LGBTQ asylum seekers in Mexico are being targeted for violence,” Yodashkin explained.

A Center for American Progress report earlier this year noted that openly LGBTQ people in ICE custody are 97 times more likely to be victims of sexual violence compared to non-LGBTQ people.

The same report highlighted the case of Laura Monterrosa, an El Salvadoran queer asylum seeker who reported to ICE in 2017 that she was sexually abused by a guard multiple times. Despite Monterrosa’s allegation, ICE closed her case and she attempted suicide before being moved to isolation, where officials tried forcing her to recant her accusation. A judge, who ordered ICE to provide mental heath care for her, finally released her.

EMPLOYMENT

Trump Nixes LGBTQ Protections in Trade Deal Footnote giving US out in Canada-Mexico deal added after pressure from GOP

BY MATT TRACY

A

revised version of the trade agreement among the US, Canada, and Mexico contains a new footnote exempting the American side from discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and more after strong pushback from Republican members of Congress.

The latest edition of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USCMA), which was signed by leaders of the three nations on November 30, still contains language directing countries to implement measures “appropriate to protect

12

workers against employment discrimination on the basis of sex (including with regard to sexual harassment), pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, and caregiving responsibilities; provide job-protected leave for birth or adoption of a child and care for family members; and protect against wage discrimination.”

But the footnote effectively wipes out American responsibility from that portion of the deal, declaring that federal hiring policies in the US “are sufficient to fulfill the obligations” on labor rights and “thus requires no additional action by the US.” Yet, the US does not explicitly

ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Canada and Mexico have already banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, while Canada has also banned discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who is responsible for developing US trade policy, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Republican members of Congress penned a letter stating their deep concern “by the unprecedented inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity language for

the first time in a Free Trade Agreement,” which they said “is no place for the adoption of social policy.”

Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and CEO of GLAAD, took to Twitter to slam President Donad Trump, noting that he “once again ... caves to the anti-LGBTQ activists and squanders the United States’ status as a leader in LGBTQ equality.”

The deal is still subject to ratification, but Trump has mounted pressure on lawmakers to approve the deal by vowing to terminate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which the USCMA would replace if the new agreement is not okayed.

December 6 - December 19, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc

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13

CRIME

Couple Alleges Anti-Gay Assault By Uber Driver Pair says cops in Manhattan mocked them, told them they “deserved� it

BY MATT TRACY

A

gay couple and their friend were out in Manhattan in the early morning hours of November 28 when they say their Uber driver hurled homophobic slurs their way and dragged one of them through the East Village for a quarter of a block — and cops are said to have made matters worse.

Taray Carey and Alex Majkowski, who were recently married, initially drew the ire of their driver when they leaned in for a hug, according to their Facebook post. “Are you fags?� the driver asked, according to NBC News. “Are you faggots?�

The driver, who the couple said

FACEBOOK.COM

Injuries sustained by Alex Majkowski when an Uber driver Majkowski and his husband say made homophobic comments to them sped off while the gay man was stil exiting the car.

is Russian, continued his verbal onslaught, telling them that they would be beheaded in his home country.

The couple’s friend exited the car at the next red light, and Carey said he followed behind him. However, the driver sped off before Majkowski could safely exit the vehicle, and he suffered visible gashes on his knee and hand and bruising near his hip. “We called the police from the 9th precinct, and they did nothing but patronize us,� Carey said in a Facebook post.

The couple told NBC New York that the police told them they “deserved� it and refused to investigate the case as a hate crime.

The NYPD strongly denied allega-

tions that police officers mistreated the couple, citing body camera footage. They claimed that Carey appeared “drunk and belligerent� and insulted an officer. “At no time did any of the officers mock the victim, tell him that he probably deserved it, or laugh at him,� Lieutenant John Grimpel told Gay City News.

The NYPD confirmed that the case is not being investigated as a hate crime. Instead, a complaint was filed against the driver for leaving the scene of an accident with an injury, and an investigation is ongoing.

Uber announced the driver was removed from the app.

Carey did not respond to a request for comment.

MEDIA

Queers Raise Fears on Tumblr “Adult Content� Ban Move stoking anxiety about wider censorship of marginalized groups

BY MATT TRACY

L

GBTQ folks and allies alike fear that Tumblr’s decision to ban all “adult content� could represent a slippery slope toward censoring other content pertaining to sexual minorities.

According to Tumblr, adult content “primarily includes photos, videos, or GIFs that show real-life human genitals or female-presenting nipples, and any content — including photos, videos, GIFs, and

illustrations — that depicts sex acts.�

Beginning December 17, Tumblr says it will begin flagging adult content and remove it from public view, but those who already have posted that content will still be able to access it privately.

Tumblr CEO Jeff D’Onofrio offered an explanation of the ban in a blog post, declaring that the platform has a responsibility to consider its impact “across different age groups, demographics, cultures, and mindsets.� ! # &

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Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Onofrio further explained that â&#x20AC;&#x153;it became clear that without this content we have the opportunity to create a place where more people feel comfortable expressing themselves.â&#x20AC;?

The team at Tumblr, he insisted, recognizes that those using the platform should be able to speak freely about topics such as relationships, sexuality, art, and sex positivity, and reaffirmed that the team wants to foster that type of expression. But how far Tumblr plans to go in censoring â&#x20AC;&#x153;illustrations â&#x20AC;&#x201D; that depicts sex actsâ&#x20AC;? is among the topics of discussion on social media.

Anthony Oliveira, who creates queer stories and comics, explained in a Twitter post that Tumblr served as â&#x20AC;&#x153;one of the few vectors for grassroots queer artâ&#x20AC;? and argued that banning adult content â&#x20AC;&#x153;will disproportionally stunt and hamstringâ&#x20AC;? artists.

Former NFL player Chris Kluwe, who became known as a vocal

straight ally during his playing days, compared Tumblrâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s move to when the Nazis burned Germanyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Institute of Sex Research in 1933.

Those archives, founded by gay sexologist Magnus Hirshfeld, included significant content related to the LGBTQ community.

The ban marks the most significant steps Tumblr has taken to curtail adult-related content, but some are pointing out that the platform had already moved in this direction. Gavia Baker-Whitelaw, a staff writer at The Daily Dot, claimed that Tumblr has declared posts to be unsafe for work simply because of an â&#x20AC;&#x153;LGBTQâ&#x20AC;? tag.

The move will be disastrous â&#x20AC;&#x153;for so many Tumblr-based artists and sex workers, and probably will impact random blogs for arbitrary reasons,â&#x20AC;? Baker-Whitelaw said in a Twitter post.

Ironically, the ban goes into effect on the same day as the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers.

December 6 - December 19, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc

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15

PERSPECTIVE: Media Circus

Blind Eyes Toward Enemies Inside & Out PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER Victoria Schneps-Yunis CEO & CO-PUBLISHER Joshua Schneps FOUNDING EDITOR IN-CHIEF & ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Paul Schindler editor@gaycitynews.com DIGITAL EDITOR Matt Tracy mattt@gaycitynews.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Duncan Osborne CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Donna Aceto (Photography) Christopher Byrne (Theater), Susie Day (Perspective), Brian McCormick (Dance)

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Kelly Jean Cogswell, Andres Duque, Steve Erickson, Andy Humm, Eli Jacobson, David Kennerley, Gary M. Kramer, Arthur S. Leonard, Michael T. Luongo, Lawrence D. Mass, Winnie McCroy, Eileen McDermott, Mick Meenan, Tim Miller, Donna Minkowitz, Christopher Murray, David Noh, Sam Oglesby, Nathan Riley, David Shengold, Ed Sikov, Yoav Sivan, Gus Solomons Jr., Tim Teeman, Kathleen Warnock, Benjamin Weinthal, Dean P. Wrzeszcz

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FOUNDING MEMBER

16

BY ED SIKOV

N

othing captures the imagination like two rich homos betraying their own community. Sarah Maslin Nir got the ball rolling in the New York Times: “They are throwing a $5 million fund-raiser for President Trump this winter, and are quick to make it known that they have the president’s sons’ cellphone numbers on speed dial. They have poured more than $50,000 of their own money into supporting the president, who smiles in photos on the bookshelves of their home. But Bill White and his husband, Bryan Eure, are not red state evangelicals or die-hard rightwingers. In fact, for years, they were key players among a cohort that Mr. Trump loathes: Manhattan’s liberal elite….

“The couple say they have been condemned not just for hypocrisy, but for what has been seen as a betrayal of their own community, by backing a man who has scaled back LGBT protections.

“They dismiss such concerns. ‘I don’t like identity politics,’ Mr. Eure said.”

Wow! They have Eric Trump on speed dial! He’s right below Satan in the directory.

Maslin Nir goes on to describe the moment of their transformation from Clintonites to Trumpies: “The genesis of the couple’s reversal can be timed to about midnight on Nov. 8, 2016. Inside the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, at Ms. Clinton’s election night event, Mr. White stood watching the returns in an increasingly funereal atmosphere.

“He got in his Chevrolet Suburban and drove to the New York Hilton in Midtown, where Mr. Trump was celebrating his win. ‘I didn’t want to be part of that misery pie; I’m not a wallower in self-pity,’ said Mr. White, who now runs Constellations Group, a strategic consultancy firm. ‘I really believe that once that decision is made, you have to get behind your president.’”

Of all the dim-witted, inane, offensive, ridiculous, and just plain stupid reasons for getting “behind your president.” As far as I can tell, the only thing you could get from being behind Rump is a fart in your face.

Urvashi Vaid confronted President George H.W. Bush in 1990 when he gave his first speech on AIDS.

Michelangelo Signorile, in The Huffington Post, was beyond offended. In an opinion column called “Why that New York Times profile of the Trump-loving gay couple is so infuriating,” Signorile lambasted the two creeps, and he didn’t have much good to say about the Times either: “That White and Eure can be so morally vacuous as to simply decide they wanted to go with the winner — whoever that may be — and race to the other side of Manhattan to join him at his victory party is almost as jarring as the fact that these men aren’t at all embarrassed to reveal this shallow opportunism to the world.

“Trump has attempted to eviscerate the rights and even the existence of transgender people, and has shown himself over and over again to be a misogynist. His racist policies include separating children from their parents at the border and, now, tear-gassing mothers and children. White and Eure, however, are insulated from those policies and actions by their gender, their wealth, and their whiteness, despite the fact they are members of a demonized minority without federal civil rights

protections.

“This is the paper that, during the 2016 campaign, wrongly and recklessly told us Trump had ‘more accepting views on gay issues’ than other Republicans while providing skimpy evidence — and that never apologized for this dubious, harmful reporting. Now here it is seeming to try to validate that by showing us two wealthy, privileged gay men who agree. There’s little context offered in the piece about what Trump has done to the LGBTQ community, or even a mention of Trump’s horrendous ban on transgender people serving in the military — a court challenge that he’s trying to rush to the Supreme Court — nor are these men asked about it.”

It gets worse. As PinkNews reports, Bryan Eure appears to have gone berserk on Instagram: “Eure, who along with his husband Bill White, was condemned on a viral scale after Monday’s feature about their switch from the Democratic Party to supporting Trump’s Republicans with tens of thousands of dollars in donations, apparently wrote on Instagram: ‘transgender is gross.’

The since-deleted reply was aimed at a user who accused him and his husband of being ‘gross’ for not ‘using your wealth to help transgender people.’ In response to another comment stating that there weren’t many gay Trump supporters in the US, Eure allegedly wrote: ‘oh yes there are. And we will win and we will take your little rights away and deport you and gas you and turn you straight while you rot in a cage.’”

“Apparently” and “allegedly” were stuck in there for legal reasons, though it hardly seems necessary given the fact that photos of the vile Instagram posts accompanied the article.

Charming.

It isn’t at all surprising that practically none of the encomia lavished on the late George H.W. Bush, who died last week in boring old Houston (rather than at the family’s rambling seaside manse in lovely Fullabunkport, Maine), even mentioned in passing that he was almost as bad about the AIDS crisis as the man for whom he served as

➤ BLIND EYES, continued on p.17 December 6 - December 19, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc

PERSPECTIVE: Insider Trading

Turncoats, Self-Proclaimed Converts & Shocking Bitterness

BY ALLEN ROSKOFF

S

currilous, disgraceful, despicable, and bigoted are how I would describe former Democratic fundraisers Bill White and Bryan Eure. The New York Times reported that these turncoats have proudly trumpeted their support of Donald Trump, in an episode reminiscent of the former Out Hotel owners Mati Weiderpass and Ian Reisner hosting Ted Cruz in 2015. The victims of this latest pair of traitors include the LGBTQ community, women, immigrants, the poor, the planet, and so much more. We must stand up to their hatred and bigotry. Obviously, dinners at Mar-a-Lago are more important to them than the wellbeing, survival, and lives of others.

The Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club will be planning demonstrations at their Chelsea home and I invite other outraged organizations to partner with us.

I recently attended the Somos Conference in Puerto Rico. Somos is put together by the New York State Assembly & Senate Puerto Rican & Hispanic Task Force. It was one of the most productive and well-put together conferences I have attended — and I had some very interesting conversations that made my trip most worthwhile.

While talking with former

➤ BLIND EYES, from p.16 vice president — Ronald Reagan.

Of course it would be impossible to be that bad, since Reagan did nothing.

The dependably outraged Mike Signorile in The Huffington Post was the early exception — that is, until the Johnny-come-lately New York Times ran a namby-pamby piece by Liam Stack on the subject, followed by solid pieces from GQ.com, thecut.com, and other websites.

Signorile writes: “Bush was as captive to the evangelical right on social issues — and thus a decidedly Republican president —

stance was unacceptable and disgraceful for a candidate for Queens district attorney, and he said he would reconsider. Three days later he let me know that he changed his mind and now does support clemency for Clark.

Attending the Somos Saturday evening dinner, I had the distinct pleasure of being the only one to kneel during the National Anthem.

Brooklyn City Councilmember Lew Fidler, I was introduced to Councilmember Fernando Cabrera of the Bronx. I told Cabrera that he owed me for making me and my brother take a trip to the Bronx to disrupt one of his services (we went on the wrong night) and for making us come to City Hall to attend a press conference demanding his resignation after his support for the murderously anti-gay crowd in Uganda — broadcast on YouTube from Uganda.

Cabrera countered that he has been misrepresented and that he is not anti-gay. I told him that his now supposed support of our community is something he must prove as I have no reason to believe him. The following day, I asked him if he would hold a service in his church calling for LGBTQ civil rights and the right to marry and telling his congregants that we are their brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, and neighbors. He agreed to do so and to film such a sermon. I hope when he does so, the camera can show us that there are actual congregants present.

Also at Somos, I ran into Queens Councilmember Rory Lancman, who, in spite of a progressive record in the Council on criminal justice, has been one of the few elected officials to refuse to endorse clemency for Judith Clark, who has been in prison since 1983. I told him that

Alison Schumer, daughter of US Senator Chuck Schumer, married Elizabeth Weiland earlier this month, and I congratulate them both. It should be noted that Schumer was very late to the party on marriage equality. At a meeting at the LGBT Community Center prior to his conversion, he said that his gut told him it was wrong, at which point I stood up and said, “What does that mean? Are you saying the thought of us marrying makes you ill?” I was congratulated for my remarks by many in the room and criticized by others for being rude. To those who criticized, I ask what the hell are you doing in the movement? Ass-kissing is not what we should be all about.

Speaking to the Empire State Pride Agenda after coming around on marriage, Schumer thanked the crowd for making it possible for him to endorse marriage by their making the issue more acceptable

as was his predecessor, Ronald Reagan, who cultivated religious conservatives as a potent political force and bowed to their anti-LGBTQ agenda as the AIDS epidemic mushroomed in the 1980s.

“Reagan’s history of callously ignoring the epidemic while thousands died is well-documented.

Bush, at the outset of his term, promised a ‘kinder, gentler’ presidency than the man he’d served under as vice president. He even gave a speech on the AIDS epidemic in 1990, which was long on compassion but short on strategy and commitment to funding. During the speech, in fact, Urvashi Vaid, an invited guest and then

the executive director of the prominent National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, now the National LGBTQ Task Force, took the unprecedented and heroic act of standing up and holding a sign, ‘Talk Is Cheap. AIDS Funding Is Not.’” And my personal favorite: “Infamously, Bush had said in a television interview that if he had a grandchild who was gay he would ‘love’ the child but would tell the child he wasn’t normal.”

That’s kindness for you. Tell your grandchild you love him or her, but make sure they know they’re a freak. That kind of love isn’t love.

As for Bush and AIDS, ACT UP

GayCityNews.nyc | December 6 - December 19, 2018

to the public. I was shocked that he admitted he needed it to be politically easy for him to do so. For these outrageous remarks he got a standing ovation. Shame on us.

Queens State Senator José Peralta died suddenly two weeks ago. A steadfast proponent of LGBTQ rights, he nonetheless had joined the Senate Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), which caucused with the Republicans instead of the Democrats.

Many important pieces of progressive legislation, including critical measures directly affecting our community, failed as a result.

Before Peralta was even buried, State Senator Diane Savino of Staten Island, another erstwhile IDC member, blasted those elected officials who did not support Peralta’s re-election bid but had issued statements of sincere condolence and praise for his commitment to the community.

“I am shocked beyond words.

I am also angry beyond words,” tweeted Savino.

People were shocked that Savino, who betrayed her own Democratic Party, would take it upon herself to issue such a vicious statement while Peralta’s family was still in mourning. If there is anyone who deserves the wrath, it is Savino and her assumed significant other, defeated State Senator Jeff Klein, for putting together the IDC and recruiting Peralta in the first place.

Savino, one of only two IDC defectors who survived this year’s primary, will certainly be lonely in the State Senate come January.

mainstay Garance Franke-Ruta put it well on thecut.com: “The transition from the Reagan presidency to the Bush one was more one of tone than substance when it came to AIDS, a kinder gentler indifference.”

The headline of Jay Willis’ thoughtful and angry piece on GQ.com — “It’s honest to speak ill of the dead” — reminds me of Bette Davis’ joke (or maybe it was her greatest impersonator Charles Pierce’s) “My mother taught me only to speak good of the dead.

Joan Crawford is dead. Good.”

Follow @EdSikov on Facebook and Twitter.

17

POLITICS

On World AIDS Day, Pence Omits LGBTQ Mention Veep focuses on “faith” — not buying it, advocates point to lack of “works”

BY MATT TRACY

V

ice President Mike Pence used his platform in a World AIDS Day speech on November 29 to inflate the Trump administration’s record on the epidemic and exclude any mention of the LGBTQ community for a second straight year, angering advocacy groups around the country.

The vice president focused his speech on the work religious organizations are carrying out to combat HIV/ AIDS and announced the Trump administration is investing $100 million into faith-based organizations to combat the disease.

Pence’s remarks, however, largely served simply to highlight the serious concerns experts in the field have about how the current administration’s actions could hinder progress in the fight against HIV/

T WIT TER.COM

Vice President Mike Pence delivering a World AIDS speech on November 29.

AIDS. Pence praised the Ryan White AIDS CARE Act program, even as Trump has redirected funds from it to cover his family separation

policy, and he lauded the President George W. Bush-initiated PEPFAR program — an initiative to address HIV/ AIDS on a global level — despite the president’s proposal to cut

back on it significantly. (The Senate, however, passed an extension of PEPFAR on November 28, and

➤ PENCE, continued on p.19

LEGAL

Kennedy “Surprised” Himself on Gay Marriage Retired Supreme Court justice cited gay couples’ children as key factor

BY MATT TRACY

R

etired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy had a propensity to side with conservatives during his time on the bench, but he found exceptions when it came to gay rights — and on that even he himself was caught off guard at times.

Kennedy, who left the high court in July following a three-decade stint, notably authored the 2015 majority ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which granted marriage rights to same-sex couples nationwide.

During an episode last week of Bloomberg TV’s “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations,” the 82-year-old former justice said that in his Obergefell decision he “surprised” himself, noting “his religious beliefs” but also his view

18

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT

Former Justice Anthony Kennedy.

that “the nature of the injustice is you can’t see it in your own time.”

While a variety of factors undoubtedly played a role in Kenne-

dy’s thinking, the children of samesex parents were among those who helped sway his decision on marriage equality.

“As I thought about this, and I thought about it more and more, it seemed wrong — unconstitutional — to say that over 100,000 adopted children could not have their parents married,” he recalled.

Kennedy said that as a judge he strived to take everything into consideration and went to great lengths to avoid allowing pre-existing biases or assumptions to influence his decisions.

“Your duty in every case is to ask why you are doing what you are about to do,” he said. “If you make up your mind in advance, you are not following that oath.”

Appointed by President Ronald Reagan, Kennedy wrote for the majority in the four most consequential Supreme Court rulings to date on LGBTQ rights. Those cases date

➤ KENNEDY, continued on p.19

December 6 - December 19, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc

â&#x17E;¤ PENCE, from p.18 Pence said Trump plans to sign it.)

Jesse Milan, Jr., president and CEO of the Washington-based policy group AIDS United, told Gay City News in a written statement that Penceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s speech was â&#x20AC;&#x153;par for the courseâ&#x20AC;? for the Trump administration and makes it much more difficult to work with the federal government. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are committed to working with this administration and officials at Health & Human Services to end the HIV epidemic, but we cannot do so unless we acknowledge and engage those communities most severely impacted,â&#x20AC;? he said.

Milan added that not only should the affected communities be acknowledged, but they should be acknowledged specifically. The LGBTQ community and black and Latinx gay and bisexual men and transgender women need to be mentioned, he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ignoring us wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make us, or HIV, go away,â&#x20AC;? Milan said.

The refusal by Pence and Trump to mention the LGBTQ community in statements about AIDS is remi-

â&#x17E;¤ KENNEDY, from p.18 back to 1996, when the high court ruled against a Colorado voter initiative that denied gay people the right to press for nondiscrimination protections in law.

Seven years later, he wrote the majority opinion in Lawrence v.

Texas, invalidating criminal laws against gay sodomy in the US, which overturned the 1986 ruling in Bowers v. Hardwick, a case that had narrowly reaffirmed a sodomy law in Georgia.

In 2013, Kennedy ruled in favor of Edie Windsor in United States v.

Windsor, writing that the Defense of Marriage Act â&#x20AC;&#x153;is in violation of the Fifth Amendment,â&#x20AC;? in denying Windsor her equal protection rights when the federal government refused to recognize her marriage to the late Thea Spyer and imposed an inheritance tax on her.

It is not yet clear how Kennedyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highly controversial successor, Brett Kavanaugh, will rule on LGBTQ rights issues. Kavanaugh did not answer California Democratic Senator Kamala Harris when she

niscent of reluctance by Republican leaders in Washington in the epidemicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s earliest days to talk about it because of its association with gay men. President Ronald Reagan waited until 1985 to acknowledge HIV/ AIDS at all, let alone its connection to the gay community, and did not give a major speech on the issue until 1987.

Trumpâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inaction on the epidemic led to a group resignation last year by six members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/ AIDS, and Trump responded by firing the remaining members. Scott Schoettes, Lambda Legalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s counsel and HIV project director, was among those who resigned â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not surprised by the administrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s World AIDS Day speech. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This Administration has shown nothing but apathy regarding the domestic HIV/ AIDS epidemic and outright hostility toward many of the communities most affected,â&#x20AC;? he told Gay City News in a written statement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But we are not going anywhere, and this administration will not make us disappear by ignoring us or trying to define us out of existence, as it is attempting to do to the transgender community.â&#x20AC;?

asked him in September to elaborate on his personal opinion of the Obergefell case. Instead, he pointed to the courtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s June ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission â&#x20AC;&#x201D; where a baker refusing to make a cake for a gay wedding won a narrowly decided victory â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and noted that Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion that the days of discriminating against gay and lesbian Americans are over.

Some have pointed to Kavanuaghâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s comments on decisions in other case, however, to predict how he might rule. As the Los Angeles Times noted, he praised former Chief Justice William Rehnquistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dissent in Roe v. Wade and credited his tenure on the court as â&#x20AC;&#x153;successful in stemming the general tide of freewheeling judicial creation of unenumerated rights that were not rooted in the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history and tradition.â&#x20AC;?

Whether Kavanuagh considers LGBTQ rights vindicated by the Supreme Court to be products of â&#x20AC;&#x153;freewheeling judicial creationâ&#x20AC;? remains to be seen.

GayCityNews.nyc | December 6 - December 19, 2018

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19

TRAVEL

Finding Greek Magic on an Aegean Sail Years of idealized imagining richly rewarded on a belated honeymoon jaunt

KELSY CHAUVIN

KELSY CHAUVIN

Sailing the Aegean Sea is the perfect way to experience Greece.

BY KELSY CHAUVIN

O

n our last day in Greece, we found the sweetest spot. I was there with my spouse, Denise, floating in the crescent bay of historic Monemvasia. The sky was pure blue, and the warm water so clear we could see the rounded stones lining the sea floor.

We returned to the beach, where we’d left our things at a café table perched a few feet from the calm, rolling waves. We sipped Greek wine and ate olives and herbed tzatziki, and asked ourselves the question that bookends every magical trip: Why can’t we stay

The port of Kusadasi provided a chance to set foot in Turkey.

here forever?

Enchantment in travel often comes from expectations exceeded. For me, Greece has been on my to-do list for as long as I can remember. Enraptured by mythology and ancient tales, I had visions of this land and Aegean waters that I’d probably idealized.

I envisioned dreamy light and air, and imagined delicacies involving phyllo dough and figs, served with house-made wines and ouzo. It all seemed so tantalizing that I made myself tamp down projections to let Greece reveal itself, without my eager idealizations.

Then we arrived, boarded a clipper ship, and discovered a mixture

KELSY CHAUVIN

Ephesus, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that’s a wonderfully preserved Greco-Roman city.

TWO GREEK EXTRAS A Musical Sidenote: Sailing through the Greek Isles is magical enough, but some travelers may find its musical connection to “Mamma Mia” irresistible. In 2019, Star Clippers is offering four Eastern Mediterranean sails with a “Mamma Mia Itinerary,” docking in some of both films’ island locations. (Visit starclippers.com/ us-dom/destinations/easternmediterranean-sailings.html.)

Athens with Ease: The Greek

20

capital is an easy-access destination for cruises and flights. Coupled with its incredible sights and legendary ruins, it’s worth spending at least a few days there exploring the Acropolis, museums, boutiques and flea markets, and gorgeous rooftop and open-air restaurants. The city is great for LGBTQ travelers who frequent hotspots like Rooster in Plaka, Myrovolos in Metaxourgio, and the busy gay-centric neighborhood of Gazi.

of sights and scenes that inspired and delighted us at every port.

We’d planned this voyage many months out as a belated honeymoon/ pleasure trip aboard the Star Flyer. As a modern-day sailing vessel, it promised an experience that harked back to classical times, when wind meant power and discovery. For us, it was an indulgent adventure with Star Clippers, a luxury cruise line, that offered rich experiences across five ports — Patmos, Amorgos, Mykonos, Monemvasia, and Kusadasi in Turkey.

The old-meets-new exploration by sail was instantly glamorous.

We boarded in Athens, motoring

out of the Port of Pireaus until the crew transformed our 360-footlong vessel into a classic clipper.

All four masts were suddenly rigged high with sails and jibs, the crew of expert sailors smoothly pulling and tying and knotting like seamless choreography.

At capacity with 170 passengers, we sailed toward the Northern Cyclades Islands, champagne in hand as we absorbed our first Aegean sunset. Our fellow travelers spanned all ages (though mostly middle-aged and up) and hailed primarily from England, France, and North America. It took

➤ GREEK SAIL, continued on p.21

December 6 - December 19, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc

KELSY CHAUVIN

The expert clipper ship sailors smoothly pulled, tied, and knotted in seamless choreography.

➤ GREEK SAIL, from p.20 no time to make social connections, including bartenders, servers, and friendly housekeeping crew. These would be our onboard family for the coming week, and a lively bunch they were.

Our first port of Kusadasi was a chance to set foot in Turkey, with some time in its touristic bazaars and along its waterfront promenade. But the main attraction was just outside town: Ephesus, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that’s one of the region’s best-preserved GrecoRoman cities. Its millennia-old architecture is gradually being restored stone by stone, mosaic by mosaic, and even in the hot Mediterranean sun it was hard not to continually stop and soak up its timeless wonder.

Both Kusadasi and our next port, Patmos, are Christian-pilgrimage sites related to Mary, who once lived there, and St. John the Evangelist. As such, each port stays busy with tour-

KELSY CHAUVIN KELSY CHAUVIN

“Little Venice” on the cliffs is another wondrous site on Mykonos.

ists, who thankfully don’t diminish the inherent charm.

Likewise, the small island of Amorgos, with some ancient history sites and quiet, winding lanes, was a compact place to feel the sleepy side of the Cyclades. Denise and I found ourselves wandering and enjoying the low-key vibes, stopping for frappes (a Greek cold coffee) and to take a cooling dip at each island’s scenic little beaches.

By the time we reached Mykonos, we’d forgotten all about our everyday world in New York, and surrendered to the mellow nature of Greece. This proved challenging on one of Europe’s most famous party islands, where in a blink we felt like we’d been dropped onto South Beach disguised as a picture-perfect Greek isle. It was jarring to be around so many people, in part due to the incredible queer population. Manscaped international males in short shorts and mirrored aviators reminded us of that other variety of cruising, and there were

The windmills of Mykonos can be reached by strolling up quiet streets in the bustling, queer-friendly resort island.

thousands of selfie-snapping tourists.

And still we loved it. We headed up the hill and strolled through quieter streets to reach the famous Windmills of Kato Mili and “Little Venice,” a row of wooden houses built precariously over the sea. We snacked on divine gyros at Sakis Grill House and sipped Aperol spritzes at Galleraki Bar, absorbing sights of glam travelers and the bright blue sea before us.

We took our time returning to the ship and were happily surprised to discover a hidden section of coastline behind a chapel, with a sightline back to our stately Star Flyer. We had but one more day to lie on board and soak up our ship’s grand views. So when we arrived at our final harbor of Monemvasia, we could savor it, even if we couldn’t stay there forever.

Kelsy Chauvin is a writer and photographer based in Brooklyn, specializing in travel, culture, and LGBTQ interests. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @kelsycc.

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21

PERFORMANCE

Queens of the Holiday Scene Drag digs its December heels into the Laurie Beechman

BY SCOTT STIFFLER eace on earth is intangible. Frankincense and myrrh are cliché — and expensive! A gift card is worthless, once it’s been maxed out. But the memories you and those on your “Nicely Naughty List” take from a holiday drag show will last a lifetime. This month, the star that beckons hovers not over a manger, but directly above the Laurie Beechman Theatre — a cozy little den of drinks, sass, and sin located below 42nd Street’s West Bank Café.

Throughout December, a stellar roster of drag acts will offer sweet and salty takes on what makes this special time of year tick. Gay City News spoke with a few of them, for the skinny on everything from politics to parodies to planetary consciousness. So fasten your seatbelts.

It’s going to be a tightly tucked ride.

One legendary queen is eschewing Santa, and embracing Satan. From December 7-9, “Jackie Beat: Menstrual Krampus” finds the formidable hellion on an anti-Christmas tirade fit for a defensive atheist. It’s the iconic drag performer’s 20th annual holiday show, full of “hooters and horns, makeup and macabre merriment,” as Beat sets out to make the season anything but bright.

“I am going to take everything the Hallmark Channel holds dear and ruin it,” Beat vowed.

“I’m going to mock it and twist it and pervert it. It’s what I do. People have such a soft spot in their hearts for the holidays — especially family traditions and childhood memories — and I like to soil and sully all of that!”

The bastardization of beloved carols will be a large part of amply bosomed Beat’s show.

Those familiar with her act can attest to the high quality of her retooled lyrics. But has the well run dry?

“I always say that coming up with new material for my holiday show is the complete opposite of my dick: It gets harder every year,” she quipped.

But just as Viagra is the hamburger helper of boudoir shortcomings, her new take on an old standard will extend the performer’s creative reach a few more crucial inches.

“Every year,” Beat explained, “I do an updated, topical version of ‘It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.’ Of course, my version is called ‘It’s The Most Miserable Time of the Year,’ and it focuses on everything that went wrong. Needless to say, it pretty much writes itself!”

At press time, Beat was also prepping a selection from “Mame” and crossing her fingers that she’ll be able to put Wham’s “Last Christmas” in the win column.

P

22

AUSTIN YOUNG

Jackie Beat puts the Krampus in Christmas.

PRESTON BURFORD

The new show from Jackie Cox sends her congenial genie on a journey of music, comedy, and closure.

“It’s giving me a little trouble,” Beat confided, in a moment of vulnerability so rare, it was probably a clever ruse.

But why focus on the negative? Because it’s good for business!

“I really have nothing against love and family, and warmth and kindness, and generosity,” Beat asserted, “but I have a mortgage to pay. So I often take the less-traveled, winding, bumpy road of irony. People seem to really enjoy me focusing on the negative aspect of the holidays, everything from alcohol and drug abuse to beautifully decorated Christmas trees bursting into flames. I mean, let’s be honest, comedy is really just focusing on the negative and/ or complaining!”

From Jackie Beat’s well-aged brand of uncorked rage, we segue to December 19 and 20 performances from Jackie Cox — a genie let loose from her bottle, whose show promises something no dysfunctional family gathering can come close to offering: closure.

“Jackie’s Winter Wish” is the final install-

ment of the “I Dream of Jackie” trilogy. Part I saw tongue-in-cheek Cox (an award-winning Lisa Rinna impersonator!) perform in the persona of a magical genie freed from her longtime hibernation under the Laurie Beechman Theatre, only to discover “things outside her bottle aren’t as idealistic as she’d hoped.”

For Cox, a sly comedy queen and Disney enthusiast known for her pop song parodies, the debut installment of “I Dream” was an opportunity to acknowledge “what was happening in our political atmosphere. I’d never really explored my own Persian heritage in drag before,” Cox said of the show, which also addressed “what it means to be a young queer person of some color.” Noting the impact of the 2016 presidential election, she added, “This racist ban on immigration from seven Muslim countries wove its way into the plot.”

The silly sequel, “Jackie’s Nightmare,” found Cox’s “dizzy princess” character confronting her evil twin sister — who will return with a vengeance “to earn her spot on the Naughty List,” as this final episode of the trilogy sees Jackie take audiences on “a fantastical, holiday-themed magic carpet ride from the wintry streets of Hell’s Kitchen to the great snowy North.” Along for the adventure, Christopher Sanders makes his debut as Jackie’s “twink on the brink” sidekick, and Vicky Boofant plays a brassy mermaid. And those who put the gift of leering on their wish list, rejoice: the series’ signature hunky harem boys (Drew Bloom, Blake McIver, and Adam Sarette) are back.

“It’s a holiday spectacular, a bit bigger than anything else I’ve done,” Cox vowed. “It’s not quite Radio City — but hey, I’m inching my way there… Jackie, she’s a take on me,” said Cox, who “didn’t grow up celebrating Christmas. It’s not a big Persian holiday. But there are some Persian traditions around Winter Solstice to explore.

“One of the ones I thought to extrapolate, in a queer kind of way, is the tradition of Shab-e Yalda. On the longest night of the year, you stay awake as long as you can with your friends and family having fruit. They’ll definitely be songs — and you’ve seen my cast, so there will definitely be fruits, as well.”

Coming off a year when the fruits of their labor — the consciousness-themed album “Amethyst Journey” — successfully took their sound in a new direction, two longtime friends and creative collaborators are falling to earth for eight nights, December 12-19. “Alaska & Jeremy: Christmas in Space” finds the duo

➤ HOLIDAY QUEENS, continued on p.23 December 6 - December 19, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc

â&#x17E;¤ HOLIDAY QUEENS, from p.22 taking â&#x20AC;&#x153;a musical journey through space and time,â&#x20AC;? during which they promise to perform some seldomseen numbers, while answering the burning question, â&#x20AC;&#x153;What is the best way to hang tinsel in space?â&#x20AC;?

Asked about the set list as well as the challenge of zero gravity tinsel-hanging, â&#x20AC;&#x153;RuPaulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Drag Race All Stars 2â&#x20AC;? winner Alaska played it close to the vest â&#x20AC;&#x201D; or whatever one wears with a highly fashionable spacesuit. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t like giving away any spoilers,â&#x20AC;? she said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but I will say most of the music has nothing to do with Christmas. We love doing a holiday show â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but at the Laurie Beechman, we get to be more experimental than we would if we were on the road. We get to do material weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve been aching to do all year.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;I would only supplement that,â&#x20AC;?

Jeremy said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;by saying weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to find a narrative in here somewhere that will give people some funny and some feels, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m excited about. They may not be holiday songs, but I feel the

holidays are the time when we sort of clarify our perspectives and get ready for the winter.â&#x20AC;?

Alaska acknowledged, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I find the wintertime to be really challenging and depressing. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so cold, and I get cold so easily. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m just this shivering bird creature that just wants to crawl up in a ball. So Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m glad we have a place like the Laurie Beechman, where we get to do music that we love and gather around people we love.â&#x20AC;?

Alaska explained that the showâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s celestial aesthetic was inspired in the same way the duo is moved whenever the call comes from the Beechman to deliver a December performance. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It springs to us from the ether,â&#x20AC;? she said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;which is to say, we just make it up â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and we build a show around it. So thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s what happened this year. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m really into watching â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Star Trekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; right now, especially â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Next Generation.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; So we really wanted to be inspired by that.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;We do want,â&#x20AC;? Jeremy said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;to have this â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Amethyst Journeyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; moment, where we think bigger and bigger about the planet, the solar system, the galaxies, and the great

big universeâ&#x20AC;Ś We know the winter can be harsh. And sometimes, some of us get really isolated, or want to be isolated, or just want to hibernate. So itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an opportunity to enjoy each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presence, and sing along a little bit, and feel more connected.â&#x20AC;?

Which is to say get the hell out of the house and down to the Laurie Beechman Theatre. Or, as Cox so eloquently put it, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Get out and support your local queens. Because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s their chance to earn an honest buck.â&#x20AC;?

JACKIE BEAT: MENSTRUAL KRAMPUS | Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.; Dec. 8 & 9 at 7 & 9:30 p.m. | $24, plus a $20 food/ drink minimum JACKIEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S WINTER WISH | Dec. 19 & 20 at 9:30 p.m. | $22, plus a $20 food/ drink minimum ALASKA & JEREMY: CHRISTMAS IN SPACE | Dec. 12-14, 16, 1819 at 7 p.m.; Dec. 15 & 17 at 9:30 p.m. | $30, plus a $20 food/ drink minimum Laurie Beechman Theatre, West Bank CafĂŠ, 407 W. 42nd St. | westbankcafe.com/laurie-beechmantheatre

Bonus Round Question: Who, living or dead, would be your dream duet partner when covering a beloved holiday song?

JACKIE BEAT: I really love â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll Be Home For Christmas,â&#x20AC;? because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kind of sad. It seems like the kind of promise someone would make right before their plane tragically flies into the side of a mountain during a blizzard. And I would love to sing it with Karen Carpenter, because her voice always had an underlying layer of lethargic heartache in it. Uh oh, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m getting too serious... Time to make a dick joke!

JACKIE COX: Oh my gosh, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a big question! What I do with Jackie is very similar to what Judy Garland used to do on her [1963] Christmas special, where sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d get a bunch of her friends and theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d all sing songs. So I think it would be amazing to sing with her. She was so generous, singing with Barbra Streisand, whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a much better signer than her [laughs]. I feel like sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s so giving in her duets. So maybe sing â&#x20AC;&#x153;Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmasâ&#x20AC;? with Judy.

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23

FILM

Learning — and Loving — By Doing A queer Muslim man’s halting embrace of his sexuality

BY GARY M. KRAMER ilms like “The Wedding,” written and directed by Sam Abbas, often get overlooked because they are made on a shoestring with an unknown cast. But this auspicious feature debut by the EgyptianAmerican Abbas demands attention. It’s a gem.

This short (75-minute) drama, shot in a series of still frames — the camera never moves — features characters who say more by what remains unspoken. Abbas wisely lets viewers decide what the characters are thinking and feeling in every scene. As a result, “The Wedding” is tense and moving as it builds to its quietly powerful finale.

The story is deceptively simple.

Rami (Abbas) is engaged to Sara (Nikohl Boosheri). It is unclear how long they have been together, but they are not rushing to set a date, despite discussions of where to hold the wedding and where to go on their honeymoon. Their relationship, however, may be in trouble since they are both secretly seeing other men. Sara reconnects with an old friend, Marco (John Hein), while Rami becomes intimately involved with Lee (Harry Aspinwall), an artist. He also meets Tom (James Penfold) periodically for casual sex.

Abbas, who was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and now lives in Brooklyn, said that he made “The Wedding” after he experienced dissatisfaction making his 2016 short film “Time to Come” about Rami (Abbas) deciding to come out as a queer Muslim. “‘Time to Come’ was based on how one’s cultural and religious upbringing affects an individual, whether or not they are religious,” he explained. “I felt I had more I wanted to say — to really tell this story and how I feel about growing up in an oppressive culture.”

The filmmaker recalls once being on vacation with his family and sneaking off to a bar to grab a shot because of his family’s observance

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24

ARABQ FILMS

Director Sam Abbas in his starring role in “The Wedding.”

of Muslim strictures on alcohol.

Rami’s actions in the film, which include slipping out to have sex with guys, come from experiencing this kind of repression.

But “The Wedding” is not a hyperventilating melodrama. Abbas has crafted a subtle, observational, voyeuristic film that encourages audience engagement. The filmmaker deliberately shoots the characters from a distance, or through doors or windows, or in ways that make viewers feel like they are eavesdropping on Rami and Sara’s lives. Or, as Abbas put it, “Watching something you’re not supposed to watch.” These scenes include Rami kissing various men and masturbating as well as a flash of nudity when Rami gets out of bed — all taboos in Muslim cinema.

In addition, the filmmaker uses a layered sound design to pick up snippets of random strangers’ conversations on the street and the subway to create a naturalistic vibe. These decisions enhance the film immensely. Watching Rami

sitting on a stoop waiting and thinking about his next move is very revealing.

Abbas is also quite shrewd in how he uses conversations, such as one Sara has with her sister Hiba (Kimia Zakerin), to address issues such as virginity before marriage and therefore how premarital sex can only involve anal penetration.

In contrast, Rami is seen hooking up with Tom in one scene and basking in the afterglow of a threesome in another. Through these episodes, we watch Rami process his sexuality in light of his Muslim culture.

“Everything normal to most people is unusual to him,” Abbas observed. “I wanted Rami to come across as having this repression about what’s normal in a relationship. He hooked up with Tom before. Does every time Rami and Tom meet mean they hook up?”

Rami is clearly torn.

“The biggest thing is that Rami isn’t sure what he wants: Lee or Tom or Sara,” Abbas explained.

“He’s testing all types of waters,

trying to figure himself out while he has a time clock [the impending wedding] ticking.”

The film clearly suggests that both Rami and Sara believe their marriage will save them.

Abbas describes himself as sexually fluid.

“I don’t want to label myself,” he said. “I’m free and open to whatever comes to me. Sexuality is a spectrum. I don’t want to narrow myself to a point on that spectrum.”

Still, Abbas wrote, directed, and stars in a film that is extremely personal to him. The beauty of “The Wedding,” however, is that it speaks to universal experiences.

“Every character in the film is me to an extent,” Abbas confessed.

“So, just by making this film I feel a weight off my shoulders. At one of my last work-in-progress screenings, the Middle Eastern individuals really identified with it — even the ones that weren’t Muslim or gay. I made a film I’m proud of and my friends enjoy. My concern is that the film is touching.”

Abbas is looking to have more Muslim queer stories told. At the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, he launched ArabQ (pronounced Arabic) Films, and he is working with a producer in Egypt — who is unnamed, because the man is not openly gay. The company is located in Alexandria and was created to encourage more LGBTQ cinema of Middle Eastern descent.

Abbas acknowledged that antiLGBTQ feeling exists in a large portion of the Muslim and Middle Eastern community, as well as among many Muslims in the US, but argued there is a market — a largely underground one — for Arab queer cinema. “The Wedding” has had “invite-only” screenings in the Middle East. In New York, “The Wedding” is playing in a commercial cinema — where it deserves to be seen.

THE WEDDING | Directed by Sam Abbas | ArabQ Films | Opens Dec. 14 | Cinema Village, 22 E. 12th St. | cinemavillage.com

December 6 - December 19, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc

FILM

Drawing an X in the Sand Quad Cinema nema revisits re the era when Hollywood went adult

CRITERION COLLECTION

David Wood, Richard Warwick, and Malcolm McDowell in Lindsay Anderson’s “If....”

BY GARY M. KRAMER ifty years ago, Jack Valenti, then president of the Motion Pictures Association of America, replaced the existing Production Code with its current “voluntary rating system,” which included the “adultsonly” X rating for content considered “unsuitable for minors.” (The adult film industry soon started using “XXX” to distinguish its films.)

This month, the Quad Cinema is having a fantastic series featuring dozens of these controversial titles.

Several of the films in the series were made by gay male filmmakers or feature LGBTQ themes and content. In many cases, the filmmakers focused on the counterculture of the era, emphasizing that queer visibility and sensibilities were outside the mainstream.

The 1968 film, “If….” (Dec. 20, 9 p.m.; Jan. 1, 8 p.m.; Jan. 5, 6:40 p.m.), directed by gay filmmaker Lindsay Anderson, chronicles Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell, in an auspicious film debut), one of three defiant students at a British public school. The film is full of homoeroticism, most notably when Philips (Rupert Webster), a handsome younger student, watches Wallace (gay actor Richard Warwick) in the gymnasium. A later fantasy scene has the older and younger students sharing a bed. But it is a scene where Mick makes love to a nude woman (Christine Noonan)

F

that earned the film an X rating according to Jon Lewis’ book, “Hollywood v. Hard Core.” Others have suggested that the X was generated by the film’s surrealistic ending in which the students open fire on their teachers. Lewis claimed that Anderson, “negotiated an R from the Code and Rating Administration after agreeing to cut some footage.” Regardless of why “If….” was rated X, the film — about asserting one’s individuality against authority — remains as potent today as it did upon release.

McDowell can also be seen in the series in another classic film that was rated X — no, not the infamous “Caligula” — but Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 “A Clockwork Orange” (Dec. 14, 9:05 p.m.; Dec. 25, 1 & 6 p.m.; Dec. 30, 8:50 p.m.). This masterful adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ novel was slapped with an X rating for explicit sex and violence, though the 30 seconds of “offending” scenes were later cut to secure an R rating.

Two other studio films that were rated X at the time of their release (1970) are Michael Sarne’s “Myra Breckinridge” (Dec. 29, 3:20 p.m.; Jan. 3, 6:45 p.m.), the gonzo screen version of out gay writer Gore Vidal’s novel about a sex change, and “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” (Dec. 15, 5:30 p.m.; Dec. 23, 1 p.m.; Dec. 31, 8:25 p.m.), the Russ Meyer sexploitation film whose screenplay was co-written by Roger Ebert.

“Myra Breckinridge” is a misfir-

GayCityNews.nyc | December 6 - December 19, 2018

20TH CENTURY FOX / COURTESY OF EVERET T COLLECTION

Roger C. Carmel, John Huston, and Raquel Welch in Michael Sarne’s “Myra Breckenridge,” based on the novel by Gore Vidal.

ing would-be satirical comedy in which Myron (Rex Reed) becomes Myra (Raquel Welch) and goes off to Hollywood posing as Myron’s widow to secure a claim on her uncle Buck Loner’s (John Huston) estate.

In the process, she meets Rusty Godowski (Roger Herron), and, in a scene that earned the film its X rating, takes his manhood by strapping him to a table, stripping him naked, and penetrating him with a strap-on. The sequence is intercut with vintage film clips, but they do not make the rape amusing.

“Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” is also set in Hollywood, where three aspiring pop singers hope to achieve stardom, but fall prey to sex, drinking, and drugs. The film features (mostly topless) nudity, a lesbian love scene, a bisexual male character, and a beheading. Meyers, whose films were often rated X, wanted to add more nudity and sex after hearing the film was getting the adults-only rating. However, the studio, low on money, rushed the film to release instead. It now carries an NC-17 rating.

“Women in Revolt” (Dec. 18, 6:45 p.m.; Dec. 26, 4:45 p.m.) is Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey’s humorous 1971 satire about a trio of drag queens (Jackie Curtis, Candy Darling, and Holly Woodlawn) who form P.I.G. — Politically

Involved Girls, a feminist liberation movement. They disdain men — Jackie considers lesbianism, and Holly is a bisexual nymphomaniac — but they all have sex with guys.

There is extensive full male nudity, rape, and a scene of Jackie blowing Johnny Minute (Johnny Kemper), a hunky male hustler. That last act likely secured “Women in Revolt” its X rating, but the visual is mostly Kemper’s bare behind.

Two of John Waters’ campier films, “Female Trouble” (Dec. 21, 6:45 p.m.; Dec. 26, 6:45 p.m.; Jan. 2, 6:45 p.m.) from 1974 and “Desperate Living” (Dec. 21, 8:35 p.m.; Dec. 26, 8:35 p.m.; Jan. 2, 8:35 p.m.) from 1977, will play in the program. Both challenged taste and censors. In the former, Divine, Waters’ fabulous drag star, plays Dawn Davenport, who leaves home, is raped by a man (also played by Divine), and eventually becomes a notorious criminal celebrity.

In “Desperate Living,” the neurotic Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) and her maid Grizelda (Jean Hill) murder Peggy’s husband and — after an encounter with a cross-dressing cop — flee to Mortville, an outsider community run by the fascist Queen Carlotta (Edith Massey). In Mortville, the women become lov-

➤ X-RATED, continued on p.35

25

THEATER

Finding Grace After Abuse Revelatory solo show treads ds the craggy gray area surrounding sexual assault ult

BY DAVID KENNERLEY he long overdue #MeToo movement has empowered countless women, and more than a few men, to confront, if not avenge, their abusers and reclaim their dignity.

But too often, the narrative reported by the mass media is reduced to black and white: the perpetrator (an evil man) makes unwanted sexual advances and the target (an innocent victim of lesser size or status) feels powerless to fight back. And while this is largely true, there’s usually more churning just below the surface.

As the title suggests, “The Tricky Part,” a solo piece written and performed by the accomplished Martin Moran, examines gray areas — of relationships, religious dogma, sexuality, and sexual abuse. In this case, how a 30-year-old counselor called Bob Kominsky molested Moran at a religious summer camp when he was merely 12. And how the sexual relationship continued for more than three years until the boy finally mustered the courage to break free.

The preshow soundtrack features classic James Taylor songs that perfectly capture the tender, albeit discomfiting, mood of the piece. Strangely enough, “Shower the People You Love With Love” takes on a sinister dimension in this context (“If it feels nice, don’t think twice”).

The brilliance of this unsettling, poignant drama lies in its understated, nonchalant approach. The soft-spoken Moran registers not as an actor but a friend among friends, as if sitting by a campfire relating a frank, sometimes comic, sometimes harrowing true tale. He even interacts with audience members from time to time. Despite the combustive subject matter, histrionics have no place here.

The production, directed with remarkable economy by Seth Barrish, courtesy of the Barrow Group, has no set to speak of. The space is

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26

EDWARD T. MORRIS

Martin Moran, holding up a picture of his 12-year-old self — a photo taken by his abuser.

a black void, containing only a tall wooden stool and a large framed photo of a young boy. The richly detailed monologue works overtime to illuminate a picture of the events for us.

At the top of the show, Moran confirms that the boy in the photo is himself at age 12, in 1972, standing in a kayak wearing a bathing suit and life vest, holding an oar above his head. The pond is nestled in the Colorado Rockies, a couple of hours from his Denver home, and we later learn the shot was snapped by his abuser. The pose could be perceived as vulnerable or triumphant or somewhere in between.

Not that “The Tricky Part” should be viewed strictly as a confessional. It’s more like an investigation, the author asserts, of a paradox expressed through one man’s fraught journey. It’s a story he generally kept locked up inside for years, until he decided to face his truth and write this play.

The story ricochets across time, from the present to the 1970s when Moran was an awkward misfit at a Catholic school, where

they taught that masturbation was a mortal sin because his seed contained thousands of “hopeful Catholics” that must not be laid to waste. It also jumps to 2002, when he tracks down Bob, now elderly and infirm, in a veterans’ convalescent home in Los Angeles, and confronts him.

Indeed, Moran knew from the start that what Bob was doing was profoundly wrong.

“It was your fault. You were the adult. I was a child and I did not have consent to give,” he said.

On the other hand, he admits complicity, saying he chose not to scream, not to stop him.

“It was as though he was touching me into being, and I was dying to find out who I was,” Moran said.

The tricky part is that Bob proved a sort of father figure (Moran’s own father was alcoholic and distant), taking him on camping trips, teaching him about geodesic domes, how to slide down glaciers, and how to birth calves. Moran, who has since moved to Manhattan with his partner, Henry, makes clear that he believes he was al-

ways gay, long before Bob laid a hand on him.

If you are wondering if Moran is jumping on the #MeToo bandwagon with this piece, think again.

The play was first produced in 2003, later moving to New York and snagging an Obie Award, and it spawned a memoir of the same name, plus a sequel of sorts, titled “All the Rage.” You might assume that, after tackling his demons head-on, by now he would have come to terms with the trespasses against him.

Yet in the final moments of “The Tricky Part” it becomes evident that his goal is not so much confession or inquiry, but a further attempt at catharsis and salvation, to achieve a kind of grace. It is our privilege to play a small part in helping this courageous, gifted artist take another step closer to healing.

THE TRICKY PART | The Barrow Group | TBG Mainstage Theater, 312 W. 36th St., third fl.| Through Dec. 16: Thu.-Mon. at 7:30 p.m.; Dec. 8 & 16 at 3 p.m. | $45-$65 at BarrowGroup.org | Ninety mins., no intermission

December 6 - December 19, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc

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27

THEATER

Magic and Manipulation Mike Birbiglia, The Illusionists back with their magic; n t quite qu do the he trick tr a new play that doesn’t

BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE y main concern in seeing Mike Birbiglia on Broadway was whether the intimate appeal of his previous Off-Broadway outings would translate to a much larger house. I shouldn’t have worried. His latest piece, “The New One,” has taken up residence at the Cort Theater, and it fits with the ease of your favorite jacket.

Birbiglia’s charm has always been his accessibility and wry observational comedy. His subject is usually himself, and his character is always someone at sea in a confusing world. His fans, of which I’m one, have gone through sleepwalking, dating, and now the adventure of parenting. Or, rather the process of becoming a parent.

The first half of the 90-minute show is Birbiglia cataloging all the reasons not to have a child, and the second half is about what happens when the “dreaded” child arrives. Don’t worry; it’s all done with Birbiglia’s combination of affection and bemusement.

The show is wonderfully crafted.

It’s as elegantly written as it is performed, and Birbiglia’s specificity with language as well as his timing will keep you grinning — and laughing — throughout. That he can spin such delight out of details of life like a cat, a couch, and a kid is what makes him unique. Birbiglia also looks at the darker side of life, but his take is more a mottled gray than a deep black. His honesty gives substance and context to the lighter material and makes him that most appealing thing to see on the stage — a real human being.

M

The Illusionists are back in town with a new show through the holidays called, aptly enough, “The Illusionists: Magic of the Holidays.” Combining various styles of magic, the five performers each do their thing, and it’s impressive indeed. Colin Cloud does mental-

28

JOAN MARCUS

Mike Birbiglia in his one-man Broadway show “The New One.”

ist tricks. Darcy Oake stages outsized illusions. Chloé Crawford does some very surprising things with household objects. Shin Lim does jaw-dropping card tricks, and Adam Trent serves as emcee and does a variety of styles of tricks.

These five are complemented by the seven-member dance group Light Balance that uses costumes trimmed and wired with lights to create wonderful effects as they move. All of this is achieved with a prodigious amount of stagecraft and great good humor.

This is an exceptional family entertainment, but my guess is that even the most jaded New Yorker will enjoy it thoroughly. By the end, if you’re not beaming and enchanted, you are an impressive curmudgeon indeed.

It’s always problematic when a play’s main character never appears on stage. It’s especially dicey when the conversation about the absent character consistently devolves into polemics and reveals lots of surface and virtually no substance about those doing the talking. That’s the problem with “American Son,” now on Broadway.

Christopher Demos-Brown’s play is clearly well-intentioned and designed to shine a light on the personal costs of toxic race relations in today’s culture, particularly when it comes to law enforcement. Set in a police station in Miami, Kendra

JOAN MARCUS

Darcy Oake in “The Illusionists: Magic of the Holidays.”

has shown up at 4 a.m. looking for her son, Jamal, who has gone missing. Kendra, who is black, is also affluent, a psychology professor estranged from her white husband, Scott. At the police station, she is demanding answers, which are in short supply. She condescendingly browbeats Officer Larkin for information, all the more so when he pleads protocol. But when Scott, an FBI agent finally arrives, Larkin sees a fellow officer and bends the rules, prompting Kendra to erupt again. More conflict ensues when Larkin’s superior officer, Lieutenant Stokes, arrives, with Scott and Kendra’s emotions running up against police procedures.

What makes dramatic news coverage doesn’t always make a good play. Demos-Brown’s script is more expository than exploratory, and that leaves little room for much more than a shallow procedural.

The playwright also has a penchant for the surprise revelation or the line calculated to get a shocked reaction from a presumed liberal audience. One-liners, however, are not playwriting; they’re provocation that obscures a more substantive examination of the issues at hand. The play is so freighted with topics — a dissolving inter-racial marriage, a son’s quest for identity, the racial combustibility of traffic stops, and issues surrounding life as a privileged black person — that it quickly loses focus. De-

spite a “discussion guide” tucked into the program, the play itself is overly facile and makes, at best, a superficial contribution to the cultural conversation. By being casually cathartic, it lets the audience off the hook, allowing them to “tut tut” into the night rather than being truly challenged.

Director Kenny Leon and his cast have an uphill battle. Kerry Washington as Kendra is an exponent of the “shout and sniffle” school of acting, her performance swinging between both extremes.

Washington can’t make the tricky conflict posed by her character— of being a selfish, resentful woman deserving of our empathy — work.

Steven Pasquale as Scott gives a generic performance of a generic white guy. Eugene Lee as Stokes acquits himself adequately in the Greek tragedy messenger role of taking Kendra down a peg or two.

Jeremy Jordan is the most interesting to watch. He seems at home in the role of the young, eager Larkin, the most self-aware, if awkward, character in the piece. Larkin has only one intention — to do his job well. If the rest of the play had this simple clarity, it might have been a powerful evening.

THE NEW ONE | Cort Theatre, 138 W. 48th St. | Through Feb. 20: Sun., Tue.-Thu.. at 7:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. at 3 p.m. | $59-$159 at telcharge.com or 212-239-6200 | Ninety mins., no intermission THE ILLUSIONISTS: MAGIC OF THE HOLIDAYS | Marquis Theatre, 210 W. 46th St. | Through Dec. 30: Tue., Thu. at 7 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m.; Sat.-Sun. at 11 a.m. & 3 p.m. | $39-$149 at ticketmaster.com or 800-745-3000 | Two hrs., 20 mins., with intermission AMERICAN SON | Booth Theatre, 222 W. 45th St. | Tue.-Thu. at 7 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m.; Wed., Sat. at 2 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m. | $69-$169 at telcharge.com or 212-239-6200 | Ninety mins., no intermission

December 6 - December 19, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc

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29

OPERA

Ghost Story at the Opera Juilliard Opera stages Britten’s excellent cellent “The T Turn of the Screw”

BY DAVID SHENGOLD uilliard Opera Theater, on November 16, mounted Benjamin Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw.” Any musically strong performance of this masterful score compels awe — and gratitude. Steven Osgood really had the measure of his excellent band and paced and blended them accordingly. With a dynamically versatile chamber piece like this, the intimate but not cramped auditorium reaffirms its status as one of the city’s very best places to hear operas. When he took his bow, Osgood generously and justly invited his players up onstage with him and the singers.

If there is a better English-language opera written after 1950, I haven’t heard it (and I include Britten’s also wonderful “Billy Budd” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”). Librettist Myfanwy Piper transformed Henry James’ short story into something equally brilliant but differently ambiguous.

Here, the two malevolent molesting ghosts, Peter Quint and Miss Jessel, whom the Governess perceives as “coming for” her charges Miles and Flora definitely seem to exist.

There’s a quicksilver seam of queer desire flowing through the whole; Virgil Thomson liked to call it “The Screw of the Century.”

The opera received three very different productions over the decades from New York City Opera.

I didn’t love John Giampietro’s, though it had some elegant concision in flow of movement and several strong dramatic moments.

Alexis Distler’s set was a Jonathan Miller’s crumbling-walled Met “Nozze” and Glimmerglass “Traviata,” with only the faintest trace of any sense of a park or a lake in the projections.

Britten’s life partner (and muse in melismatic writing) Peter Pears created both tenor parts, the Prologue and Quint. I’d only once ever seen them divided, in a 1990 English National Opera performance in Leningrad. Here Giampietro had Chance Jonas-O’Toole sing the

J

30

ROSALIE O’CONNOR

Anneliese Klenetsky and Rebecca Pedersen in the Juilliard Opera production of Benjamin Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw.”

Prologue — clearly but somewhat drily on the bottom — dressed as if Dr. Sugar in “Suddenly Last Summer,” in a white lab coat. He seemed to be testing the Governess (attractive, luminous-voiced Anneliese Klenetsky, with a fresh, unspoilt soprano) and rarely left the stage for long, acting as chief scenery and prop man. This was part of a general post-Ponnelle tactic of having unscripted listeners-in in nearly every scene, even where to do so reduced the tension and made little logical sense. And Piper’s quote about the drowned “ceremony of innocence” from Yeats’ “The Second Coming” is surely resonant enough without having it declaimed as Act Two begins.

Canadian tenor Charles Sy sang an absolutely exceptional Quint.

With time he can work even more nuance into the very complicated text, but the vocalism was flawless and very promising indeed. Fine mezzo Katerina Burton sang with richness and feeling but bore the burden of youth as the old housekeeper Mrs. Grose — though the late lamented Janis Martin sang the NYCO premiere at age 23! Rebecca Pedersen showed a mettle-

some, penetrating voice as Miss Jessel, a very tough sing in terms of tessitura. Joan Hofmeyr did well in the tough-to-shine part of Flora.

Reading that soprano Britt Hewitt was cast in the key treble role of Miles, I feared a cost to Britten’s sound world, but Hewitt did a remarkable job fending off telltale vibrato, sounding clean and boyish but never faltering — as do many boy singers — in projection. A worthwhile gamble, it turned out.

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s guest stint at Carnegie Hall November 13 contained one operatic selection and one vocal selection.

Music director Yannick NezetSeguin, whom the Philadelphians, as of this season, share with the Metropolitan Opera, began the program with a shimmering, dynamic, well-judged account of the wonderful first act Prelude to “Lohengrin” In the last two years, the refreshingly out gay conductor has scored strongly at the Met with both “Der fliegende Hollaender” and “Parsifal” — the first and last of Richard Wagner’s canonical operas, very different in nature and neither a conductorial walk in the

park. The Met audience last heard “Lohengrin” — once one of any opera house’s most surefire draws, even in Italy — in May 2006. A new production is rumored for 2022-23 under Nezet-Seguin: let’s hope it comes to fruition, whether or not Anna Netrebko sings Elsa. Maybe by then she’ll be flaunting her dramatic chops as Elsa’s nemesis, Ortrud?

After intermission, we heard Ernest Chausson’s Wagner-inflected — to put it mildly — “Poeme de l’amour et de la mer,” completed in 1892. The melancholy song cycle was premiered by a tenor, with the composer at the piano.

Within the year he orchestrated it, and a soprano sang the initial performance. As it happens, Carnegie first heard it exactly 100 years ago last month in a performance by none other than the selfsame Philadelphia Orchestra, with Margaret Matzenauer, a powerful Verdi/ Wagner mezzo who occasionally sang soprano roles like Isolde and Bruennhilde and, in fact, holds the second place (43 to Ernestine Schumann-Heink’s 66) for Met performances of Ortrud.

Joyce DiDonato is a no less versatile but very different type of singer, with a totally personal timbre and lyrical yet intense style of interaction with both words and music that have endeared her to an international public. The range of the Chausson piece suited DiDonato’s instrument well, and she and Nezet-Seguin’s orchestra were in sync. She could turn reedy on topmost notes, but turned that to expressive effect. Her emotional connection with the material — particularly the work’s heartbreaking final section “Le temps des lilas” — proved highly moving; the audience waited several seconds before afffording mezzo, conductor, and players a huge ovation.

David Shengold (shengold@yahoo. com) writes about opera for many venues. In a web-only exclusive, Shengold writes about Elina Garanca’s October “Great Voices” recital at Carnegie Hall.

December 6 - December 19, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc

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December 6 - December 19, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc

Covering the city in more ways than one

PRINT DIGITAL EVENTS GayCityNews.nyc | December 6 - December 19, 2018

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COMMUNITY

Global Eats Fest Back at Citi Field in May Second annual World’s Fare shows off diversity of food NYC boasts

BY MARK HALLUM

T

he World’s Fare returns to Citi Field next spring and figures to attract thousands of local foodies eager to try curated bites from across the

globe.

Tickets are now available for the May 18-19 festival. Inspired by the 1964-65 World’s Fair — held in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, in the shadow of Shea Stadium, Citi Field’s predecessor — the World’s Fare gives attendees access to food, drink, music, and entertainment and is curated by leading chefs, food journalists, bloggers, and social media influencers.

“It was a massive success last year with over 10,000 people attending,” said Josh Schneps, one of the organizers of the event. “The foundation of the event is around food and drink. This year we are going to be adding new experiences and family-friendly activities for kids.”

Schneps is publisher of Schneps Community News Group, Gay City News’ parent company.

The World’s Fare will feature up to 100 different vendors celebrating diversity in the food

CORA ZON AGUIRRE

Last year’s inaugural World’s Fare at Citi Field.

industry plus more than 50 global craft beers and international cocktail bars as well.

“The whole intention of the event is to embrace the diversity of New York City and Queens in particular as it is the most diverse of all the boroughs,” Schneps said. “Everybody has a shared love of food and drink, so it’s a great way for people to come together through that.”

A taste of some of the returning vendors for this year are Empanada Papa, Arepa Lady, Dua Diva, Nacho Libre, Knot Of This World, Baba’s Pierogie, In Patella, Home Frite, D’Abruzzo, Danny Macaroons, and Vaccaro’s Bakery.

General admission tickets are on sale now for $19, and will rise to $29 in January, $39 in March, and $45 in April.

A pass currently priced at $49 offers general admission along with a free mug to taste 12 different kinds of beer plus one specialty cocktail.

That pass increases to $55 in January, $59 in March, and $69 in April.

Tickets for children are currently priced at $5 and will increase to $10 in the New Year.

VIP tickets — offering access to a lounge with unlimited select beer tastings, including 16 tastings from the beer garden, a free souvenir mug, and two specialty cocktails — cost $199.

Food is an additional charge with any ticket.

The World’s Fare will occupy the Citi Field parking lot, and is accessible by the nearby 7 train at the Mets-Willets Point station. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit theworldsfare.nyc.

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December 6 - December 19, 2018 | GayCityNews.nyc

KINO LORBER

Leonardo Treviglio and Barney James in Derek Jarmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sebastiane.â&#x20AC;?

â&#x17E;¤ X-RATED, from p.25 ers, meet other lesbians, and try, in their way, to change the status quo. Both films feature explicit (but not erotic) sex and considerable full-frontal nudity (male and female). The violence, which includes cannibalism and a castration, is played for laughs.

Waters, who has had trouble with the ratings board throughout his career, said in a recent phone interview, â&#x20AC;&#x153;My memory is when â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Female Troubleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Desperate Livingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; were made, we gave ourselves an X and that rating didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t hurt it.â&#x20AC;? The films were released on the midnight movie circuit, where they played to the directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fan base.

Waters added, â&#x20AC;&#x153;When they came out on DVD, they were submitted [to the board] and got an NC-17.

Then, you couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t self-rate,â&#x20AC;? so he lost his desired X rating.

Waters believes these films were rated X not for any particular scene, but for â&#x20AC;&#x153;overall content.â&#x20AC;?

Another queer filmmaker whose work was uncompromising, was Derek Jarman. His daring, X-rated â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sebastianeâ&#x20AC;? (Dec. 18, 8:45 p.m.; Dec. 26, 3 p.m.) from 1976 fetishizes the title character (Leonardo Treviglio) and includes the first erection in British cinema (courtesy of Ken Hicks). The film, co-directed

by Paul Humfress, features an allmale, mostly nude cast (including Warwick from â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ifâ&#x20AC;Ś.â&#x20AC;?) speaking in Latin. It played for over a year in its initial release. In his book, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dancing Ledge,â&#x20AC;? Jarman wrote about the filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opening, â&#x20AC;&#x153;In the States it was classed S for Sex and we were unable to advertise it â&#x20AC;&#x201D; so the audiences turned up expecting hard-

CRITERION COLLECTION

Divine in John Watersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;Female Trouble.â&#x20AC;?

core and were disappointed.â&#x20AC;?

Audiences expecting something explicit from out gay filmmaker Pedro AlmodĂłvarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s naughty X-rated 1989 film â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!â&#x20AC;? (Dec. 19 9 p.m.; Dec. 23, 7:20 p.m.; Dec. 31, 1 p.m.) may be disappointed that the qualifying controversial scene features Marina (Victoria Abril) pleasuring herself in the bathtub with a toy.

Indeed, her pleasure is what delivered the X rating, and not the filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s storyline of Ricky (Antonio Banderas), a released mental patient, literally tying up Marina hoping that he can convince her to marry him â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which is far more offensive.

The Quadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s program is certainly provocative. It illustrates how queer content was presented, restricted, and consumed over the past 50 years. It is interesting to see how much â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and yet how little â&#x20AC;&#x201D; has changed.

RATED X | Dec. 14-Jan. 8 | Quad Cinema, 34 W. 13th St. | quadcinema.com

GayCityNews.nyc | December 6 - December 19, 2018

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