Gay City News - February 14, 2019 by Schneps Media

Alt-Right War on Gay Catholic 14

Trans Refugees Start Kenyan Farm 25

Opposites Attract in “Sorry Angel” 30

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S E R V I N G G AY, L E S B I A N , B I A N D T R A N S G E N D E R N E W Y O R K

EMBATTLED DIAZ PRESSES ON, BLAMES LGBTQ POWER EXCLUSIVE GAY CITY NEWS INTERVIEW Page 07

PHOTO CREDIT

MAT T TRACY

Bronx Councilmember Ruben Diaz, Sr., ignoring pressure from his colleagues to step down, sits at his desk in his district office on Monday afternoon.

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HEALTH

Widespread Skepticism on Trump Plan to End AIDS Administration’s hostile actions toward vulnerable groups cast doubt on goal’s viability BY MATT TRACY

IV/ AIDS advocates, as a group, are far from convinced, but some are nonetheless willing to listen to President Donald Trump’s new goal of eradicating the epidemic by 2030 — as long as he sticks to it. Many, however, argue that his administration’s hostility toward communities most affected by the epidemic make his pledge hollow. Trump unveiled the new plan during his State of the Union Address on February 5, citing “scientific breakthroughs” that “have brought a once-distant dream within reach,” but initially offered only the vaguest indication about how he would approach the ambitious goal. The Department of Health and Human Services followed up one day later by rolling out a two-page outline of the plan, which encompasses a multi-year program in 48 counties, Washington, DC, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and seven largely rural Southern states where HIV infections warrant the strongest attention. HHS said it is utilizing “expertise, technology, and resources” necessary to implement four main strategies — diagnose, treat, respond, and protect — in an effort to reach the goal. The plan calls for a 75 percent reduction in new infections within five years and a 90 percent reduction in 10 years. “We’re cautiously optimistic about this plan,” said William McColl, who serves as the vice president for policy and advocacy for AIDS United, a DC-based group. McColl said the plan echoes a similar roadmap outlined by the Act Now: End AIDS Coalition, an effort managed by AIDS United — with input from the HIV, public health, and reproductive health communities — to end the epidemic by 2025. “It’s a goal that we’ve actually worked towards,” he said. But Charles King, CEO of Housing Works, another AIDS nonprofit, said Trump has “kicked over a

WHITEHOUSE.GOV

President Donald Trump delivering the State of the Union Address on February 5, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi behind him.

hornets’ nest” with his new plan and pointed to the existing roadmap mentioned by McColl. “Compared to the community’s six-year plan, the Trump administration’s 10-year strategy will waste time, money, and lives,” King said. “We must see an immediate stop to attacks on Affordable Care Act, human rights, sexual and reproductive rights, immigrants, and all the communities most impacted.” Despite his “cautious optimism,” McColl elaborated on his own serious concerns about the Trump administration’s ability to accomplish such a goal when it has shown hostility toward marginalized groups, including those most affected by the epidemic. The current plan, he said, is also strongly “medicalized” and needs to be broadened to address issues such as stigma and barriers to access and care. Perhaps most importantly, McColl stressed the need for the administration to reach out to affected communities. “They’re going to have to figure out a way to build trust,” he said. “It’s not just trust of the Trump administration, but it’s governmentwide distrust.” Kelsey Louie, the CEO of Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), the earliest advocacy group to provide assistance for those affected by HIV/ AIDS, called on Trump to follow through on his pledge and work with relevant organizations. “We’re skeptical,” Louie said. “But,

in the interest of our mission, we want to believe this is possible.” The AIDS Institute, a national nonprofit that strives to promote social change via public policy, research, education, and advocacy, offered the most upbeat take on the president’s plan. The group’s deputy director, Carl Schmid, who recently became co-chair of Trump’s newly reconstituting Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS — the president had earlier dismissed all its members — called the goal a “bold step” that will “translate into fewer HIV infections.” “Under the president’s proposal, the number of new infections can eventually be reduced to zero,” Schmid added. But Sean Strub, who founded POZ magazine in 1994, struck a far different tone — and he sees ulterior motives attached to the president’s stated goal. “Pay no attention to what words come out of the mouth of the lying vulgarian in the White House,” Strub said in an email to Gay City News. “The subsequent ‘details’ from HHS don’t really contain anything new except a promise of an unspecified amount of new funding. What they only seem interested in is more aggressive testing (with even fewer consent protections) and molecular surveillance, both of which are problematic... They don’t have the slightest idea how to combat stigma and refuse to listen to those who do. They

aren’t the least bit interested in the inherent racism and sexism and transphobia that truly drives the epidemic.” Strub, like others, noted that a roadmap focused on ending the epidemic already exists. “There’s nothing new here, except possibly a few bucks more for testing and surveillance strategies that pose greater risk to human rights,” he said. New York, under Governor Andrew Cuomo, is in the midst of working toward a goal of ending the epidemic in the state by 2020, based on strategies to keep those who are positive on treatment to eliminate their infectiousness and to enroll negative people from high risk groups in pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Officials claim the state is on pace to reach that goal on time, though Doug Wirth, CEO of Amida Care, which provides health plans for more than 7,000 New Yorkers on Medicaid, noted in a recent interview with Gay City News that statistics show that infections are not dropping here as quickly as before. In a New York Daily News op-ed following Trump’s announcement, Wirth noted that the president has cut programs for those in poverty, gutted the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/ AIDS for more than a year, and rolled back LGBTQ rights. “If the President is serious about this commitment, he must follow New York’s lead: implement policies that address health disparities and promote universal access to health care,” Wirth wrote. Many others share Wirth’s concerns. Doubts over the administration’s sincerity surrounding the plan are rooted in the way Trump has taken others steps that are hobbling the effort to fight the epidemic. He pulled funding from a major HIV research lab in December, redirected funds from the Ryan White AIDS CARE Act to pay for his migrant family separation policy, and proposed to cut back on PEPFAR, the presidential initiative to address HIV/AIDs globally.

February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

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GayCityNews.nyc | February 14 - February 27, 2019

POLITICS

Councilmembers Demand Diaz’s Resignation One day later, Bronx pol stripped of his committee in nearly unanimous vote BY MATT TRACY

ocal elected officials and advocates braved the snowy conditions outside City Hall on Tuesday morning to demand the resignation of Bronx Councilmember Ruben Diaz, Sr., who remains defiant in his refusal to step down or even apologize for his recent homophobic remarks. The City Council took direct action against Diaz the following day when lawmakers voted 45-1 to dissolve his Committee on For-Hire Vehicles. “We must all call for his resignation, and he must go,” said out gay Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer of Queens, who said Diaz’s comments about LGBTQ folks controlling the City Council represented “an attempt to put us in our place.” “I believe firmly that Councilmember Diaz’s comments embolden those who already hate us,” he added. “So we are not just speaking out against those comments, we are speaking for those LGBTQ youth in the Bronx or otherwise who might be struggling with their sexual orientation or identity. His comments cannot be internalized by them.” Diaz has claimed in recent days — including in an interview with Gay City News — that he is the “victim” in the ongoing saga stemming from his insensitive comments. Van Bramer fired back, saying Diaz is doubling down on his hatred. “He says we are bullying him,” Van Bramer said. “I call bullshit.” Two other LGBTQ members of the City Council, Carlos Menchaca of Brooklyn and Daniel Dromm of Queens, also spoke against Diaz at the event. Menchaca, the first openly gay councilmember from his borough and the first Mexican-American to serve on the City Council, offered a personal story of his own experience growing up in a religious atmosphere in El Paso, Texas. “I grew up around people like him, the way that he speaks about his religion,” Menchaca said. “This is why he belongs in a church somewhere else spewing his hate, not in the City Council.” “We say ‘basta’ to your homophobic heart,” Menchaca said, employing the Spanish word for “enough.” Also present were Brooklyn Councilmember Jumaane Williams and former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who are both running for public advocate, as well as Councilmembers Rory Lancman of Queens and Mark Levine of Manhattan. Former gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, who is a lesbian,

MAT T TRACY

Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer, flanked by Cynthia Nixon and former Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, at Tuesday’s press conference call for Ruben Diaz, Sr.’s resignation from the Council.

blasted Diaz for using “dog whistles” to attack the community. Dromm brought with him a letter he wrote in 1994 to the Civil Complaint Review Board in which he demanded Diaz’ removal from the police oversight agency because he said gay men and lesbians were “cursed,” made derogatory statements about the threat that year’s Gay Games in New York posed for increased HIV transmissions, and said gays and lesbians fall into the same category as “thieves, slanderers, murderers, idolaters, drug addicts, misers, swindlers, and criminals.” In that letter, Dromm also noted that Diaz mocked then-City Councilmember Tom Duane, who, along with the late Antonio Pagán, served as the first openly gay members of the Council. According to the letter, Diaz said, “Does he (Duane) think I would tremble with fear, and run and kneel before this insignificant uncircumcised [sic, presumably] Philistine?” Years later, Dromm said he was harassed with homophobic emails from Diaz during the fight for marriage equality in New York. “I got these emails on almost a daily basis about ‘what you should know’ and they were horrific,” he said. “Just as bad as in this letter. I had to ask him, numerous times, to remove me from those email lists. I had to go to the New York State secretary of state to get him to stop harassing me.”

Williams stressed the egregious nature of Diaz’s comments, saying that he has never before called for a public official’s resignation. Even worse, he said, is Diaz’s refusal to apologize. “There is no room there for us to grow and to learn,” Williams said. “You can’t put a band aid on something if there is no acknowledgement that there is a wound.” Williams said the rhetoric spewed by Diaz helps contribute to the abuse faced by LGBTQ people, including transgender black women, who he said are being “murdered with impunity.” Notably absent from the event were the Council’s other two LGBTQ members, Speaker Corey Johnson of Chelsea and Ritchie Torres of the Bronx. The evening before, Johnson publicly called on Diaz to resign, while Torres, in a tweet, said he “must be held accountable for poisoning the political atmosphere with his homophobic conspiracy theories.” After the event, a Torres spokesperson said, “Councilman Diaz will never apologize or resign. So the Council should strip him of his committee chairmanship to make an example of him.” Some politicians took some swipes at Bronx leaders and at Johnson for his role in helping Diaz secure his spot as chair of the now-erased For-Hire Vehicles Committee.

➤ RESIGNATION, continued on p.13 February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

POLITICS

Diaz, Embattled, Presses On, Blames LGBTQ Power Veteran lawmaker vehemently rejects calls to apologize, resign BY MATT TRACY

ronx Councilmember Ruben Diaz, Sr., donning his signature cowboy hat, sat defiantly in his dimly-lit district office in the Bronx on Monday afternoon while he was bombarded by news reports and tweets over his recent homophobic comments. The beleaguered Bronx politician showed clear agitation, pounding his closed fist against his desk multiple times over the course of a 40-minute interview with Gay City News. More and more colleagues were demanding his resignation after he said the City Council was “controlled by the homosexual community,” but he was not budging. He would not apologize or step down. Nothing, he said, would prompt him to remove himself from his post. Instead of making any attempts to rebuild the bridges he has burned in the LGBTQ community, he simply claimed he was not homophobic and opted to place blame on gay folks for a series of events over the years. “What is wrong with what I said?” he asked incredulously. “That the gay community has power and control? Yes, they do! Because look at the way they’re doing it. If anyone’s being harassed, it’s me. Look at the way they write their tweets, with their nasty words, the foul language that they use. I didn’t do that.” The 75-year-old lawmaker is facing his first major public relations disaster since returning to the City Council after spending more than a decade in the State Senate. Until now, he had lately managed to avoid spouting his classic anti-gay sentiments, even as that side of his reputation simmered just below the surface. The fresh outrage over his comments reflect the deeply-rooted tension stemming from his history of homophobia dating back to at least 1994 when he made abhorrent statements about LGBTQ folks with HIV/ AIDS during the discussion over whether the Gay Games should be held in New York during Stonewall 25 celebrations. According to a letter written at that time by Daniel Dromm, now an out gay Queens councilmember, Diaz also said gay men and lesbians were “cursed” and that they fit in the same category as “thieves, slanderers, murderers, idolators, drug addicts, misers, swindlers, and criminals.” Some of Diaz’s comments on Monday were eerily similar to those decades-old statements. When he referred to his opposition to marriage equality, he tied gay marriage to substance use in the same breath. GayCityNews.nyc | February 14 - February 27, 2019

JOHN MCCARTEN/ NEW YORK CIT Y COUNCIL

Ruben Diaz, Sr., sat down with Gay City News two days before losing his City Council committee.

“I don’t believe in gay marriage, I don’t believe in abortion, I don’t believe in drinking, I don’t believe in smoking, and I don’t believe in dancing,” said Diaz, who is a Pentecostal minister. On multiple occasions during the interview, he complained of political control amassed by LGBTQ folks, pointing first to a time when Bronx Assemblymember Michael Blake, now among the candidates for public advocate, made a $1,000 donation to his campaign. “The LGBT community found that and put so much pressure on him that he had to go public,” Diaz said. “That is power. That is control … They made an elected official take away that donation.” Diaz, seemingly well-prepared to lay out his beef with gay people, then recalled an incident stemming from last year when he was caught using his government email to send a column he said he wrote for 16 years, which was known as “What You Should Know.” “Rumor has it that one member of the gay community accused me and asked for an investigation. They opened an investigation on me,” he said without naming any names. “Come on. So, who is the one being harassed? I am the one being harassed.” As if that weren’t enough, Diaz couldn’t resist mentioning that a gay person threw a pitcher of water on him many years ago, even as he failed to provide specifics on that incident. But as often as he blamed LGBTQ folks, he quickly tried reclaiming his innocence on gay rights. He asked how he could be a homophobe if he voted

for Corey Johnson, who is openly gay, to be the speaker of the City Council. He asked the same question about gay family members. “My niece, my sister, brother, they’re gay, and I’m a homophobe? I am no homophobe. I don’t believe in gay marriage, but it doesn’t make me a homophobe. People want to paint me that way, that’s their choice. I’m no homophobe.” His repeated attempts to wipe his hands clean of any wrongdoing were met with a new question: If he is not homophobic, which LGBTQ rights initiatives would he support in his capacity as city councilmember? “Why do I have to?” he answered while throwing his hands in the air. “Why? I mean, that’s the problem.” When asked if he would support Dromm’s proposal to implement LGBTQ education in city schools, he said he would need to review it. Lost further in the mix of the entire story surrounding Diaz’s comments were other statements he made about a sit-down meeting with his son, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., and Bronx Democratic Party chair Marcos Crespo, a state assemblymember, to determine which positions the elder Diaz wanted on the City Council. He ultimately settled to serve as chair of the Committee on For-Hire Vehicles, a position that he rightly said was now in jeopardy because of his comments (the Council dissolved the committee two days later). But on Monday, he rejected that any sort of

➤ DIAZ INTERVIEW, continued on p.13

CRIME

Rapper Gets 21 Years in Assaults Near Gay Club Judge says James Thomas, aka Mousey Baby, demonstrated “uncontrollable rage” BY DUNCAN OSBORNE

Brooklyn man an who was convicted ed in November for slashing or stabbing two men with h a knife and menacing a third man near a Bedford-Stuy vesant LGBTQ nightclub was sentenced to 21 years in prison. “It is clear that his conduct was not in self-defense,” Judge Donald Leo said at the February 1 sentencing of James Thomas in Brooklyn Supreme Court. “This is a circumstance of uncontrollable rage.” Thomas, 34, had originally faced multiple felony and misdemeanor counts with some charged as hate crimes in the 2017 attack, but the hate crime counts in two of the assaults were dropped after grand jury testimony did not support them. At the start of Thomas’ trial, prosecutors expected the third man to testify and support the hate crime charges, but that man ultimately refused to take the witness stand. Those hate crime

T WIT TER.COM/ MOUSEY BABY

James Thomas, aka rapper Mousey Baby, having rejected a 12-year sentence in a pre-trial plea deal offer, was sentenced to 21 years in prison for assaults on three men near a Brooklyn LGBTQ nightclub.

charges were dropped after the prosecution rested its case. Thomas was always going to have a difficult winning an acquittal. The jury was shown video of him making some of the attacks, then he elected to take the stand and testify that he was acting in self-defense when he slashed one

man in the face, menaced a second, and stabbed a third man twice. By saying he was defending himself, he had to admit that he made the attacks he was charged with. Under New York law, when a defendant claims he or she acted in self-defense, prosecutors are required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant was not justified in using physical force. “This was a terrifying attack carried out for no reason that left three innocent men traumatized,” Eric Gonzalez, the Brooklyn district attorney, said in a statement. “I am committed to protecting all of the people of Brooklyn from such brutal violence. Today’s sentence holds the defendant accountable.” Before trial, Kelli Muse, chief of the Hate Crimes Bureau in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, and Peter Choi, an assistant district attorney, offered Thomas 12 years in prison and five years postrelease supervision in exchange for a guilty plea to assault and misdemeanor charges. At sentencing, Choi asked for 16 years and five years post-release supervision. Barry Krinsky, Thomas’ attor-

ney, argued that Thomas had been released on bail prior to trial and consistently made his court appearances. He also treated Leo respectfully during the proceedings. “The problem is that behavior doesn’t reflect his behavior in spring 2017,” Leo said. In asking for the “minimum amount allowable under law,” Krinsky noted that Thomas had been employed, enjoyed the continued support of his family and friends, some of whom attended the sentencing, and had a career as a rapper. Thomas used the stage name Mousey Baby and did not have a successful career. As Leo announced his sentence on each of the five counts that Thomas was convicted on, the question was would he serve those sentences concurrently or consecutively. Leo used a mix of concurrent and consecutive sentences, but when he announced the 21-year total, a Thomas supporter said “Oh my God” and could be heard weeping. As his friends and family left the courtroom, one man yelled out, “Love you, Mouse, love you.”

Houston Trans Woman Shot Repeatedly in Broad Daylight Ofﬁcials offer no motivation for why unidentiﬁed suspect targeted her BY MATT TRACY

olice in Houston are searching for a man who chased down and repeatedly shot a black transgender woman on the morning of January 24. The woman, identified only as “Pinky,” was frantically running through a Chevron gas station in the Westchase neighborhood of Houston in a desperate effort to escape a man who wound up fi ring two shots at her before cornering her and shooting her three more times at point-blank range, according to Monica Roberts, who is a Houston-based trans rights

advocate who wrote about Pinky on the blog TransGriot. Video footage published by ABC 13 shows that there were several bystanders present at the time of the shooting. The suspect, whose identity remains unknown, subsequently fled in what is described as a light colored SUV. It was not clear what motivated the man to carry out the brutal attack. Pinky survived the shooting, but there are no updates on her condition. Roberts, who said she would be visiting Pinky in the aftermath of the shooting, could not be reached for comment. The suspect was wearing gray sweatpants and a gray hoodie

with white sneakers. In response to two inquiries from Gay City News about the case, a spokesperson with the Houston Police Department vowed to reach out to investigators to check for any updates. Following this story’s online publication, Houston police still had not heard from investigators, but confi rmed the department’s initial report listed Pinky as a male. Authorities were trying to reach her to confi rm her gender identity. The Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) pointed out that Pinky was misgendered, “a story that plays out far too often.”

“Due to the complicated process and fi nancial barriers that our community face when changing our identification to match who we truly are, many of us do not have the means or access to be able to have a stateissued license or ID that identifies us correctly as who we are,” TENT said. Transgender black women continue to be targeted at higher rates than other groups amidst overall disturbing trends in violence against the community. At least 29 transgender people died in the United States last year due to fatal violence, the overwhelming majority of them black women.

February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

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POLITICS

Williams Dodges Marriage Questions in Advocate Debate Mark-Viverito and Blake pounced on the` Brooklyn city councilmember BY MATT TRACY

rooklyn Councilmember Jumaane Williams’ complicated track record on marriage equality and abortion rights continued to haunt him on February 6 when his opponents attacked him in a series of questions during a debate for the highly sought-after position of public advocate. The NY1 debate featured 10 candidates, but former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and Assemblymember Michael Blake — who, with Williams, are viewed as top contenders — each questioned him on those two issues. In each case, Williams responded to the abortion-related questions but avoided mentioning marriage. When asked by Blake why he has, “in the past,” opposed the two issues, Williams first noted that he is “not as polished as you and I don’t have the flowery titles that you do, but I do tell the truth.” He added, “But the fact of the matter is that I was not opposed to a woman’s right to safely access abortions, and nowhere can someone point to where it says I have,” Williams said. Williams was quoted in a Politi-

JOHN MCCARTEN/ NEW YORK CIT Y COUNCIL

Brooklyn Councilmember Jumaane Williams, vying for the role of public advocate, continues to face criticism for his history of personally opposing same-sex marriage and abortion.

co article in 2013 saying that “the definition of marriage is between a male and a female, but that has nothing to do with my belief that government has to recognize everybody’s relationships as equal.” Shortly after Blake’s question, Mark-Viverito jumped in and skillfully framed a question about marriage equality in the present tense, making it appear as if Williams continues to oppose it despite the fact that he has, for years now, repeatedly voiced his support for those rights — including in a 2017 interview with Gay City News. “I believe you when you said that you personally oppose abortion,”

Mark-Viverito said. “I believe you Markwhen you say that you believe that marriage is between a man and a marri woman… How can I believe that wo you will stand on these issues?” Williams responded that was “a very important quesw tion, particularly in the time that we are in right now,” and reiterated his abortion rights support but again did not address marriage equality. Following the exchanges, Williams’ team scrambled to tweet out clarification of his stances on the issues. “Just for the record, since people try to distort mine: I 100% support the right to access safe & legal abortions & I 100% support marriage equality,” said the tweet, which was posted from Williams’ account during the debate. The only openly gay candidate in the race, Manhattan Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell, used the debate to tout his often-repeated points: That he would push hard against Amazon’s invasion of New York City and that he is a “loudmouth” who would be independent of powerful interests. He touted his leadership on passing marriage equality in the state. O’Donnell swooped in and land-

ed the endorsement of Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City last month after Williams and Mark-Viverito became mired in controversy over Gay City News’ reports they misrepresented their records when they falsely stated in a Stonewall questionnaire that they had never donated to or endorsed homophobic officials. Mark-Viverito donated $500 to homophobic Brooklyn Councilmember Chaim Deutsch after he blasted his opponent in a 2013 debate for “having an agenda with gays and lesbians,” and she later endorsed him in 2017 despite watching him vote against LGBTQ rights under her speakership. Williams, who was endorsed by the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, also claimed innocence on the questionnaire despite donating $1,375 apiece to Deutsch and another anti-gay councilmember, Fernando Cabrera of the Bronx, who traveled to Uganda and praised their leaders for standing up for themselves amid pressure from the US after that nation passed an anti-sodomy law imposing severe sentences. Mark-Viverito landed the support of the LGBTQ Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn,

EMPLOYMENT

Brooklyn Pride Center Offers Youth Internships Twenty slots open up for 18-to-24-year-olds beginning Febuary 18 BY COLIN MIXSON

rooklyn’s queer community center is accepting applications for a paidinternship program this spring. The Brooklyn Community Pride Center’s internship training and placement program is tailormade to help aspiring young LGBTQ professionals overcome challenges they face in kick-starting careers, an official at the BedfordStuyvesant–based Center said.

Nearly a dozen formerly homeless, LGBTQ youths — who were all forced to live on the street because of their sexual orientation or gender identity — received opportunities through the so-called Pride Path program since it launched last year with funds from a citybased trust. “There are many barriers to entering the workforce for queer young adults, including poverty and homeless,” said Floyd Rumohr, the Center’s chief executive

officer. “When your basic needs aren’t being fulfilled, it’s very difficult to compete for and sustain a job.” Center leaders are currently looking to recruit 20 eager young people 18 to 24 years old for the program’s upcoming semester, which kicks off with two weeks of job-training classes on February 18. Following their training, participants will begin eight-week internships at one of 15 participating companies, according to programs

director Jako Borren. The budding professionals will earn $15-per hour during the internships, which offer experience in fields including retail, media, arts and entertainment, health, and real estate. The program also covers participants’ commuting expenses. After it concludes, the Center will help the youths land real jobs, Borren said. For more information, visit the Center’s website at lgbtbrooklyn. org/pride-path.

February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

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CRIME

Bullied Bronx Teen’s Case Resumes February 25 Principal witness offers version at odds with video of incident BY ANDY HUMM

lmost a year and a half after a classroom fracas in the Bronx that left one boy dead, another slashed, and a third charged with manslaughter, the trial of Abel Cedeno, the gay teen who is claiming self-defense, is on the verge of getting underway after what should be final pre-trial motions that will be ruled on February 25. The incident on September 27, 2017, in front of horrified classmates and two teachers at the now-shuttered Wildlife Conservation High School led the Bronx district attorney to seek a seconddegree murder charge but that was cut to manslaughter by the grand jury. Cedeno has been out on bail since Nov. 29, 2017. The District Attorney’s Office, headed by Darcel Clark, is fighting the release of the names of the 25 student witnesses to defense attorneys Christopher R. Lynn and Robert J. Feldman — an issue that will be contested on February 25. Assistant District Attorney Nancy Borko was said by Lynn to have interviewed seven of the witnesses but won’t provide them to the defense. Borko has also been delaying the start of the trial much to the consternation of both the defense and Louna Dennis, the mother of Matthew McCree who died in the fight. Dennis is suing the city and Cedeno for $25 million for the wrongful death of her son, contending that the school should have had metal detectors and that the city and state anti-bullying laws were not being enforced by the school. Adriane Laboy, the student slashed in the fight, is also suing the city and Cedeno. It is Cedeno’s contention that he had been bullied since the sixth grade for being gay and that when it intensified that September day he snapped, pulling out a knife he had started to carry for protection and using it to defend himself from a pummeling by McCree and Laboy.

ANDY HUMM

Defendant Abel Cedeno, with his mother, Luz Hernandez, at a 2018 hearing in the case, faces another pre-trial hearing on February 25 that may clear the way for the case to finally go to trial.

While Cedeno had apparently not had a run-in with McCree or Laboy before, he has said he knew of their gang connections and feared for his life when they attacked him. Lynn recently obtained from the DA the February 23, 2018, deposition of Laboy in his lawsuit. In it, Laboy said that when Cedeno challenged his classmates over who was throwing things at his head, “Matthew said, ‘I threw it but I didn’t mean to hurt you.’” Cedeno has testified that McCree stood up and said, “I did it. Whassup, nigger?” meaning, “What are you going to do about it.” Laboy, who will be a principal witness in the criminal and civil cases, told the city’s lawyer, Abaigeal Van Deerlin, that Cedeno then attacked McCree who “just stood there.” He also asserted Cedeno “ran” across the classroom for “20 seconds” to attack McCree when video of the fight seems to show McCree charging from the back of the class to attack Cedeno who then moved toward McCree. Laboy also said that McCree was “just backing away with his hands up” when

the video and forensic evidence that will be introduced show him beating Cedeno about the face. In coming to McCree’s aid, Laboy acknowledges hitting Cedeno in the face and being cut by Cedeno “on my left arm,” below his left elbow, on his thumb, and twice on his torso. Cedeno, who had no experience using a knife, claims that he was flailing away to defend himself from Laboy’s blows. Laboy said, “His arm was swinging and I was defending myself.” Laboy said that he went from the front of the classroom to where Cedeno and McCree were fighting “to prevent Abel from stabbing everybody else in the class” — a journey that he says took “30 seconds” and that Cedeno’s attack on McCree took “a minute or two minutes” — all of these objectively preposterous timeframes. Video of the incident shows the fight between McCree and Cedeno lasting about five or six seconds. Laboy said he had lost functionality in his right arm and that it will “take years” to heal. He also said he “can’t play ball” and “can’t

go to regular school” and “can’t write.” While Cedeno and his mother had complained to his schools repeatedly about the bullying he was subjected to, Laboy said neither he nor his family ever spoke to anyone at the school about his physical safety. Laboy was asked by Van Deerlin whether he was a member of a gang or had ever heard of a gang “called the 800 gang” or one called “the Young Gunners,” and he said no. But he was confronted with his Facebook pages where his name was “Ant Gambino.” Lynn’s investigators have allegedly documented that this was Laboy’s gang name. As Gay City News reported earlier, Laboy posted on social media, “First nigga wanna violate matt now he coming for dat man. nigga is buggin not bumping lil tjay no moree.” According to Lynn’s experts on gangs, that translates to “Since Matt was killed I’ve been distraught; now I’m gonna kill [bump] the guy who killed Matt.” Despite these threats and others from McCree’s half-brother, Kevon Dennis, Cedeno’s defense has been unable to obtain an order of protection for Cedeno and his family members. Lynn said that the DA also did not aggressively pursue criminal charges against Kevon Dennis — whose gang name allegedly was “Unruly Boss” — who had been charged with armed robbery of students of their cell phones immediately after the classroom incident. The judge in the case dropped the charge against Dennis this past October 31 while his co-defendant Jonathan Espinal is still charged. Van Deerlin asked Laboy’s attorney, Matthew Blitt, to direct Laboy “to preserve everything that’s in your social media account.” Blitt did not respond to a Gay City News request for comment. Cedeno’s lawyers are seeking a special prosecutor in the case, alleging Clark “took a dive” on the Kevon Dennis case and never charged him with witness tampering.

February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

â&#x17E;¤ DIAZ INTERVIEW, from p.7 deal was made among Diaz, Jr., Crespo, and Johnson, who doles out the committee assignments as speaker. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was just bragging,â&#x20AC;? he said without elaborating further on why his story changed so quickly. Diaz remained rather tightlipped on whether his comments could hurt his sonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s potential bid for mayor in 2021, saying only that answering the question would be â&#x20AC;&#x153;above my pay grade.â&#x20AC;? Diaz, Jr., who strongly criticized his fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s remarks as â&#x20AC;&#x153;antagonistic, quarrelsome, and wholly unnecessary,â&#x20AC;? has called for an apology. But unlike many other local politicians, he has not demanded that his father resign from public office. In what was a clear reflection of the chaotic nature of the last several days, Diaz was often interrupted by phone calls during the interview. One such call was from his attorney, Christopher Lynn, an out gay man who has long represented Diaz and is a staunch defender of the councilmember. Diaz passed the phone to this reporter

â&#x17E;¤ RESIGNATION, from p.6 â&#x20AC;&#x153;You have a Bronx party that embraced him,â&#x20AC;? said Mark-Viverito, who has apparently soured on Diaz, Sr. of late since she appeared happy to embrace him in a 2017 photo when she received a citation of merit from Ruben Diaz, Jr., the Bronx borough president. â&#x20AC;&#x153;That uplifted him, that pushed him forward. You have a speaker that gave him a committee and gave him an assignment. This is unacceptable.â&#x20AC;? Van Bramer similarly said that â&#x20AC;&#x153;he was not happyâ&#x20AC;? when Diaz was given his post as committee chair, but largely refrained from directly placing blame on Johnson. Mark-Viverito called on Diazâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s son, the borough president, and Assemblymember Marcos Crespo, the chair of Bronx Democratic Party, to demand that the elder Diaz step down. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everyone, including the Bronx borough president, including the Bronx county leader, should demand his resignation,â&#x20AC;? Mark-Viverito said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nothing less than that. I have love in my heart but I have

with Lynn on the line. Lynn heaped praise on the councilmember and cited the work he did to assist an ACT UP activist, Christopher Hennelly, in a police brutality case. Hennellyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s case had been closed, but Diaz watched video of the incident, saw improper conduct, and successfully lobbied that his case be re-opened and investigated, according to Lynn. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll never forget that,â&#x20AC;? said Lynn, who is now representing Abel Cedeno, a bullied Bronx gay high school student who faces manslaughter charges from a fight that left another student dead. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Because of me, the guy got $300,000,â&#x20AC;? Diaz added regarding the Hennelly case. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nobody wants to talk about that. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not a homophobe.â&#x20AC;? Lynn pushed back against the recent outrage concerning Diaz, saying it â&#x20AC;&#x153;gives people an opportunity to dump on him.â&#x20AC;? Diaz wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t say whether LGBTQ constituents have voiced concerns to his office in recent days, but he did call into the room a man named Anthony, who was in the office at the time of the interview.

intolerance for bigotry and misogyny and homophobia.â&#x20AC;? Johnson, speaking from Albany following his testimony on the state budget, said on Monday that Diaz should step down. He also said in a tweet on Sunday that the City Council is â&#x20AC;&#x153;currently reviewing all potential disciplinary scenariosâ&#x20AC;? and that â&#x20AC;&#x153;nothing is off the table.â&#x20AC;? It is unclear whether an investigation would be launched or if the dissolving of Diazâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s committee was the extent of any punishment levied against him. The Ethics Committee was slated to review Diazâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s actions on Tuesday, according to Van Bramer. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I would hope that all of our colleagues who have joined in the call for the councilmember to resign would â&#x20AC;&#x201D; if we are all at some point forced to vote on it â&#x20AC;&#x201D; would be willing to stand up and vote to inflict the most severe punishment allowed,â&#x20AC;? Van Bramer said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If that is expulsion, we should all vote to expel Diaz from the Council. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know if that is on the table. I heard the speaker say anything is on the table. I assume there will be a full investigation.â&#x20AC;?

GayCityNews.nyc | February 14 - February 27, 2019

Anthony, who told Gay City News he used to be involved in the queer ballroom scene, was visiting Diazâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office because he said he was receiving unfair treatment from his landlord and was facing eviction. Diazâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office, he said, helped keep him from losing his apartment. Anthony offered positive words for Diaz, Sr., and Jr., noting that both of the politicians have helped him when he needed them the most. He excused Diaz, Sr.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history of hostility towards the gay community, saying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sometimes the brain is very vulnerable, but the heart is still strong and unique.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you ask me if this man is of love or hate, I can tell you he is of love,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not perfect. He might trip sometimes.â&#x20AC;? In the midst of his refusal to admit his well-documented history of homophobia, Diaz nonetheless acknowledged that he is losing support â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and unsurprisingly blames that on gay political power. He said people are now afraid to donate, support, or identify with him out of fear that they could be branded as homophobic. He cited a need for allies â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and noted that

Get

he is currently supporting Bronx Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez in the race for public advocate, who would abstain the following day in the vote over dissolving Diazâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s committee. When asked on Monday afternoon if he had heard from any other councilmembers, Diaz said Johnson was the only one to call him since the comments surfaced over the weekend. Diaz spoke with the speaker on Friday, he said, but was unable to reach Johnson when he called on Sunday. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I left a message, but he hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t returned it,â&#x20AC;? Diaz said, something Johnson confirmed Wednesday. Johnson announced that same day that the Council was â&#x20AC;&#x153;reviewing all potential disciplinary scenariosâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;nothing is off the table.â&#x20AC;? Diaz, fully aware of that, reiterated that he would not back down even if he were stripped of his committee assignments. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t apologize,â&#x20AC;? he stubbornly concluded. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The only people who could ask for my resignation are the people of the 18th Council District, and that will be in June 2021. I will not resign.â&#x20AC;?

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RELIGION

Gay Catholic Leader Confronts Alt-Right Harassers “All options on the table,” Aaron Bianco says after forced from San Diego post BY MATT TRACY

y his own admission, Aaron Bianco was a “nobody” until he was discovered by the alt-right. An out gay former pastoral associate at St. John’s the Evangelist Catholic Church in San Diego, Bianco was long treated with respect in the workplace and largely accepted by parishioners and church leaders alike. But everything went downhill in June of 2017 when the parish’s priest left, forcing Bianco to assume more responsibilities and play a more visible role in the absence of a permanent replacement pastor. The alt-right news sites LifeSite News and Church Militant started attacking him, first when Bianco’s role expanded and again in August of last year when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court named at least 300 Catholic priests in an investigation of child sex abuse. The news articles written about him were followed by a barrage of horrifying events: Bianco started receiving death threats laced with homophobic slurs, found his car’s tires entirely punctured, and saw someone creepily stalking him outside of his house. He arrived at the church one day to find the doors had been lit on fire and “NO FAGS” spray-painted on a wall. Bianco recalled the time he had to dodge a punch from a man who walked up to him following Mass demanding to know if he were married. In a fit of rage, the man had to be restrained by others nearby. More than a year of harassment and threats took a toll on Bianco — by this past October, he felt forced to resign. Even then, the news reports from the alt-right sites did not stop. Church Militant’s obsession with Bianco continues. Last month, it accused him of locking people out of the church. In that article, the site cited “multiple parishioners who testify to this treatment” and posted a photo of people standing around outside the church. The claim was not backed by any credible accounts and is strongly denied by Bianco. “It’s not a true statement,” Bianco said in an interview with Gay City News. “That never happened. It was all staged to take this picture.” Another of numerous examples of Church Militant’s questionable reporting came last August when the site claimed “a pamphlet containing abortion information was found lying on a table in the sacristy,” but again did not name any of its sources for this information. “The truth to that story is a person named Pura Bandolon went into the area of the church she had no right to be in,” Bianco said. “There was a personal marriage file of someone who got

MAT T TRACY

Aaron Bianco during a recent interview in Gay City News’ office.

married that day. It’s personal. I had forgotten to take it out of there.” Bianco blew holes in Church Militant’s narrative, noting that when the county provides residents with marriage licenses it also provides information about where to access birth control and abortion services. “It has nothing to do with us,” Bianco said. “They sent it. Pura could be prosecuted for going into someone’s file.” In response to questions from Gay City News about their claims regarding Bianco and the lack of named sources, Church Militant’s editorin-chief, Christine Niles, only said that “multiple parishioners” were cited in the reporting. Gay City News asked Niles to provide their names, but she refused. Bianco said he knows of at least two people — Bandolon and Kevin Kramer — who fed bogus information about him to the site. Bandolon did not return voice messages left for her. Kramer — who emailed Bianco citing the Pennsylvania priest pedophile scandal and saying he would complain to the San Diego bishop about his parish role — did not respond to a request for comment. Bianco stressed that Church Militant has repeatedly lied about him and not once has the site ever reached out to him for comment. “If Christine is a journalist, she probably should contact me and ask for my side — even if she doesn’t like me,” Bianco said. Niles claimed in an email to Gay City News that she did reach out to him, something Bianco denies.

The news articles targeting Bianco created a volatile climate in the community and the San Diego Police Department once took the precaution of posting snipers on buildings near the church to prevent any violent outbreak at a Mass. “On Church Militant’s website, people would write things like, ‘We’ll make sure the sodomites don’t receive Communion’ and ‘We are going to disrupt this Mass and chain ourselves to the altar,’” Bianco said of the heavily secured event. One article referred to “Aaron Bianco and homosexualist enablers” and another called elected officials who supported him “low-level sodomy activist politicians.” Church Militant somehow obtained a photo of Bianco standing with his husband and posted it online with the word husband in quotes. The comments sections on Church Militant’s articles about him became such cesspools of toxic homophobia that Bianco said people were discussing how to kill him. “There were things like, ‘We know where he’s at and we know we can be at the school board building across the street and I can puck him off,’” he recalled. “These were the things written on these people’s websites. For Church Militant to say they had no involvement… their rhetoric caused people to react this way.” Niles, who was defensive in her emails to Gay City News, argued that Bianco “is not the victim here” and accused him of lying about Church Militant’s connections to the vandalism he faced. “The reason we continued to write about him was to defend ourselves against his public falsehood that we were in any way connected to the vandalism he encountered,” Niles said. That explanation doesn’t add up. Church Militant’s articles about Bianco after his resignation were mostly rehashes of their previous charges against him. They reiterated the claim he permitted abortion flyers in the church and accused him of “promoting homosexual ideology,” among other attacks. In a text message this week, Bianco repeated that he has never claimed that Church Militant or LifeSite News employees traveled to San Diego and committed the hate crimes. “What I have said was their rhetoric against me has caused people that read their site to commit these hateful acts,” he explained. “Church Militant has continued to print lies about me and my actions at St. John’s. They continue to use ‘sources’ who won’t give their real name or come forward.” At this point, Bianco is not sure of his next move. But he made it clear that he is finished tolerating Church Militant’s homophobia and lies. “I have all my options on the table and they would be best to drop it,” he said. “I am done being called a liar.” February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

POLITICS

Transphobic Activists Harass HRC Spokesperson Video-recorded verbal attack on Sarah McBride followed congressional meeting that McBride â&#x20AC;&#x153;is hell bent on pushing through a bill that literally erases women. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m so sorry for all the fragile feminists who thought asking Sarah questions was harassment and wrongthink.â&#x20AC;? McBride ignored the women throughout their tirade and was seen packing up her belongings at the end of the clip. McBride said on Twitter following the incident that she â&#x20AC;&#x153;wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let this incident diminish the love, pride, and solidary that filled the room just moments before,â&#x20AC;? referring to the meeting with parents and members of Congress. Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin defended McBride later that day when he tweeted that she â&#x20AC;&#x153;is one of the strongest, bravest advocates I know, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m proud to call her a colleague and friend. Hatred and bigotry will never win.â&#x20AC;? Transgender actress Laverne Cox also came to McBrideâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s defense on Twitter. â&#x20AC;&#x153;So sorry this happened to you, Sarah,â&#x20AC;? Cox wrote. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thank you for foregrounding the vital, life saving work of valuing the lives of trans people, especially trans children.â&#x20AC;?

BY MATT TRACY

pair of women associated with a transphobic group interrupted a meeting that included a transgender spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and deliberately misgendered her before alleging that she has a â&#x20AC;&#x153;hatred of lesbians.â&#x20AC;? Trans-exclusionary radical feminists Posie Parker and Julia Long, who insist that the definition of a woman is limited to those who are born women, recorded a Facebook video of their January 30 verbal onslaught against HRC national press secretary Sarah McBride, who was working at a table following a meeting with parents of transgender youth and the Congressional Transgender Equality Task Force regarding the proposed federal Equality Act. Parker and Long echoed messages usually reserved for the darkest corners of conservatism. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Why are you championing the rights of men to access women in womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prisons?â&#x20AC;? Long asked. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And rape and sexually assault them as

T WIT TER.COM/ JOE KENNEDY III

HRCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sarah McBride (middle left) sits next to Massachusetts Democratic Representative Joe Kennedy III at a meeting prior to Posie Parker and Julia Long arriving to harasse McBride.

recently happened in the United Kingdom?â&#x20AC;? Parker chimed in to ask McBride why she doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t â&#x20AC;&#x153;care about lesbian girls at 14 having double mastectomies? Why donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t you care about that, Sarah?â&#x20AC;? The pair also blasted McBride for her work on the Equality Act, which would extend the 1964 Civil Rights Act and related legislation to implement discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Parker wrote on Facebook the day after the incident

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GayCityNews.nyc | February 14 - February 27, 2019

REMEMBRANCE

Pioneering Activist Jim Levin Dead at 78 Longtime NYer pushed city gay rights law, battled false gay arrests BY ANDY HUMM

im Levin, who played a central role in passing New York City’s gay rights bill in 1986 as both a gay activist and a member of the City Human Rights Commission, died January 24 in Austin, Texas where he moved three years ago. He was 78 and is survived by his husband, Leath Nunn, who was a principal dancer in a Venezuelan ballet company when they met in 1997. By the time Mayor Ed Koch made Levin and Joyce Hunter the second and third out LGBTQ human rights commissioners in 1983, Levin already had a long record of activism in the streets, Democratic politics, academia, and legal circles. The gay rights bill had been introduced in 1971 — the first of its kind in the country — but was stalled by a City Council dominated by conservative Democrats from the boroughs outside Manhattan. Though the Human Rights Commission could not act on complaints of sexual orientation discrimination absent the bill’s enactment, Levin prevailed on the agency to document gay and lesbian complaints in an official report that was a major factor in the final adoption of the gay rights law in 1986. Levin was also one of the spokespeople for the 50-group Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights (CLGR), as was this reporter, which revived the campaign for the bill in 1977 and saw it through to passage after numerous rejections. He was a central figure in “Rights and Reactions,” the late Phil Zwickler’s documentary on the contentious fight over the

JIMLEVINBOOKS.COM

Jim Levin as a young man playing tennis, a sport that kept him in shape for decades.

gay rights bill. In it, he recounts stories from New Yorkers subjected to anti-gay abuse. “One young lesbian,” he said, “was kicked and slapped by her father, assaulted with a wire hanger by her mother, and attacked with a knife by her sister. They kept shouting anti-lesbian remarks against her. And of course if the person can’t afford to [move out], they have to stay in the house and take that kind of brutality or just go out onto the streets. We call them ‘throwaways.’” At the 1987 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, Levin marched in his bar chaps with leather activists, saying he wanted to stand with one of the more marginalized segments of the community at that time. In the late 1980s, Levin was increasingly

frustrated with the fact that Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau had no openly gay assistant district attorneys. At a meeting with Morgenthau and the DA’s assistant, Barbara Jones, as well as Christopher Lynn who had been CLGR’s counsel, Morgenthau claimed to have hired gay ADAs. Levin said, “That’s great. Who are they?” According to Lynn, “Morgenthau said, ‘We can’t expose them to public scrutiny.’ Jim said, ‘That’s the whole point!’ When Morgenthau resisted, Jim said, ‘You’d better change your mind quickly or our club is going to support” Morgenthau’s opponent. Lynn said that Koch called him to yell at them for threatening the Morgenthau and demanded they apologize. “However,” he recalled, “later that day Barbara Jones called to say they announced the appointment of a gay liaison and the existence of one gay ADA.” The first out gay ADA in Manhattan in 1990 was Thomas Hickey, now a longtime law clerk for Justice Rosalyn Richter, an out lesbian serving in the Appellate Division’s First Department in Manhattan. Hickey was president of NYU’s Gay and Lesbian Union and got to know Levin working on the city gay rights bill. “He encouraged me to pursue my passion for criminal law,” Hickey said, “and in my cover letter to the DA’s office I wrote that I was openly gay.” Hickey added of Levin, “He was one of the pioneers in the 1980s and always had the warmest smile.” Levin was not smiling when he confronted

➤ JIM LEVIN, continued on p.17

POLITICS

Opening WorldPride at Barclays Center Faulted Venue is managed by billionaire with long anti-LGBTQ record BY DUNCAN OSBORNE

he organization that produces New York City’s annual Pride Parade and related events confirmed that it will use Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the opening ceremony for this year’s celebrations, which means that LGBTQ community members who pay to attend that ceremony will be giving their money to a leading funder of anti-LGBTQ elected

THOMSON200/ WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The choice of Barclays Center for the opening ceremonies for WorldPride this June has drawn fire from critics of Heritage of Pride, which is producing this event.

officials. “Barclays Center’s size, location, technological capabilities, and stature as a world class arena make it the ideal venue for the WorldPride 2019 Opening Ceremony,” Heritage of Pride (HOP) wrote in a January 30 statement to Gay City News. “It was chosen after a careful monthslong site search. LGBTQIA+ folks should certainly consider which businesses deserve our money, but

➤ BARCLAYS CENTER, continued on p.39 February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

➤ JIM LEVIN, from p.16 Morgenthau on another outrage — the false prosecution of gay men on morals charges for sex in public restrooms. Levin represented many of these men, often stereotypically gay men who had done nothing more than use a restroom only to be collared by police who knew it would be a cop’s word against a homosexual’s and had not witnessed any sexual conduct or even bothered trying to entrap the men. These false arrests continued for years and while Levin was able to get charges against many of the men dropped, his anger at Morgenthau for pursuing them never abated. Father Bernárd Lynch, a gay priest activist with the gay Catholic group Dignity in the 1980s, said Levin “was an inspiration in our darkest hour during the AIDS crisis. He never ceased to motivate and support those of us who were up against the virulent hostility of the Catholic Church under John Cardinal O’Connor.” Ken Sherrill, professor emeritus of political science at Hunter College and the first out gay elected official in New York as a West Side Democratic district leader in 1977, said that Levin “was active in all of my political campaigns, contributing time, money, acumen, advice, and morale. I’ll never forget the afternoon we spent together registering voters in the Mineshaft at Gay Male S/M Activists Bizarre Bazaar. Our voter registration table was directly across from

GayCityNews.nyc | February 14 - February 27, 2019

JIMLEVINBOOKS.COM

Jim Levin (at right), in his bar chaps as he showed his support for Democratic US Senate candidate Bob Abrams in the 1992 Gay Pride March.

the St. Andrew’s Cross and we spent hours answering some amazing questions from prospective voters.” New York Law School Professor Arthur Leonard, Gay City News’ legal writer, said that Levin “was a volunteer of countless hours of pro bono legal service to people with HIV/ AIDS” through the LGBT Bar Association and the legal department at Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

Jim Levin was born in Baltimore in 1940 and moved to New York to attend Columbia Law School where, he wrote, “I decided I was gay.” He also “decided if I wasn’t going to marry and have a family, I didn’t need to practice law” and pursued a PhD in history and taught junior high school, eventually moving on to teaching at City College. Not long after the Stonewall Rebellion in 1969, Levin developed one of the nation’s first gay studies courses and became national president of the Gay Academic Union. And he helped found the Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats (GLID), eventually serving as the club’s president. To augment his ability to fight for gay rights, he took the bar exam in 1980 so he could represent LGBTQ people in court. Levin was the author of numerous books including “The Gay Novel in America” (1981) and the gay-themed novels “Thomas Wentworth Hill” and “Sixteen and One Half.” Veteran gay activist John Magisano wrote, “Jim and I were members of rival factions of GLID — the progressives (of which I was a member) and ‘the Koch people.’ We disagreed vociferously in those days and yet he was always gracious and solicitous to me and I appreciated that. I respected his commitment and brilliance. He was also smokin’ hot.” Levin kept in shape as a lifelong tennis player. A memorial service was held February 10 in Austin by Levin’s Texas friends.

LEGAL

NJ Conversion Therapy Ban Challenge Revived Liberty Counsel wants second bite of apple with Trump’s Supreme Court

STEVE PET TEWAY/ US SUPREME COURT

Could a decision for which Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the majority opinion last year undermine conversion therapy bans enacted around the country?

BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD

sually the US Supreme Court’s refusal to review a lower court decision puts an end to the case, but Liberty Counsel, a rightwing religious group that represents psychologists in New Jersey who want to provide conversion therapy to “change” minors from gay to straight, has seized on an opening created by a high court decision last June to revive their constitutional claims. On February 11, the organization petitioned the Supreme Court to effectively reopen the case. Then-Governor Chris Christie signed the measure into law on

August 19, 2013. Liberty Counsel promptly filed suit on behalf of two psychologists and their patients, as well as the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), and the American Association of Christian Counselors, claiming that the measure violated the constitutional rights of plaintiffs. The work of NARTH and similar organizations has been widely and thoroughly discredited by leading mental health professional groups. In the original case, District Judge Freda L. Wolfson granted the state’s motion to dismiss Liberty Counsel’s case, finding no con-

➤ CONVERSION THERAPY, continued on p.19

February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

➤ CONVERSION THERAPY, from p.18 stitutional violation. The plaintiffs fared no better before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Newark, which upheld Wolfson’s ruling in September 2014. Wolfson found the measure to be a regulation of professional conduct, only incidentally affecting speech. As such, she held that the challenge should be rejected as long as the Legislature had a rational basis for enacting the law. Looking to the legislative history on the law’s enactment, she found that the evidence about the inefficacy and harm of such therapy was sufficient to meet the test. On appeal, the three-judge panel disagreed with Wolfson to the extent of finding that the ban as applied to “talk therapy” is a contentbased regulation of speech, not just a regulation of conduct with an incidental effect on speech. But the appeals court unanimously rejected the plaintiffs’ argument that the statute should be subject to strict scrutiny, under which it would be presumed unconstitutional unless New Jersey could prove that it was narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling state interest. Instead, wrote Circuit Judge D. Brooks Smith for the panel, the speech involved in providing conversion therapy is “professional speech,” subject to state regulation. As such, the court ruled, the state could prevail under a less demanding heightened scrutiny analysis by showing that the ban substantially advanced an important state interest, and that the legislative record was sufficient to uphold the law. Liberty Counsel petitioned the Supreme Court for review, but was denied in May 2015. The high court also denied a petition to review a similar decision by the San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which rejected a challenge to California’s ban on conversion therapy. Judge Wolfson, in fact, relied on that Ninth Circuit ruling in finding that conversion therapy statutes can be upheld based on the traditional state power to regulate the conduct of licensed professionals. More than a dozen jurisdictions have since passed such bans, and attempts to challenge them in the courts have similarly been unsuc-

cessful. But the Supreme Court may have upset this trend by its ruling on June 26, 2018, in National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) v. Becerra. NIFLA challenged a California law that required licensed pregnancy-related clinics to inform their clients about the availability of publiclyfunded family-planning services, including contraception and abortions, and non-licensed facilities to provide notices stating that they were not licensed by the state. The Supreme Court agreed with NIFLA that the statute violated the First Amendment protection for freedom of speech by compelling the plaintiffs to speak the government’s message. In defending that statute, California relied on the Ninth and Third Circuit conversion therapy decisions. That provoked Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the 5-4 majority, to reject the idea that “professional speech” in the context of regulated, licensed professions was entitled to any lesser constitutional protection than other speech. Thomas wrote, “[T]his Court has not recognized ‘professional speech’ as a separate category of speech. Speech is not unprotected merely because it is uttered by ‘professionals.’ This court has ‘been reluctant to mark off new categories of speech for diminished constitutional protection.’” Thomas cited what he said were the only two circumstances in which the Supreme Court had provided lesser protection to “professional speech”: “First, our precedents have applied more deferential review to some laws that require professionals to disclose factual, noncontroversial information in their ‘commercial speech.’ Second, under our precedents, States may regulate professional conduct, even though that conduct incidentally involves speech.” At least by implication, then, a majority of the Supreme Court last June found that states passing conversion therapy bans will have to meet a demanding strict scrutiny standard when they are challenged under the First Amendment — unless such a ban really is a regulation of professional conduct with incidental effect on

GayCityNews.nyc | February 14 - February 27, 2019

➤ CONVERSION THERAPY, continued on p.29

POLITICS

Despite Trump, States Advance on LGBTQ Rights Red states show least progress, but pushback against trans students falls short BY MATT TRACY

he Human Rights Campaign’s newly unveiled State Equality Index report, which offers a comprehensive look at the status of local laws and polices pertaining to LGBTQ rights nationwide, demonstrates a slight improvement throughout the last year in the efforts to enact comprehensive protections. Sixteen states and Washington, D.C. received the top “Working Toward Innovative Equality” grade for 2018, which is an increase from the 13 states on the list in last year’s report. The best and worst states were largely divided along party lines corresponding to the results of the 2016 presidential election. Each state with a top grade for 2018 voted for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016, while 26 of the 27 worst states on the list voted for Donald Trump. Leading the way in the latest report were California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington DC, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington. The states receiving the worst grades were Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. Meanwhile, there were only a handful of states stuck in the middle of the pack. Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, and New Hampshire were listed under “Solidifying Equality,” meaning they have several basic measures of equality but advocates are still seeking broader implementation of laws and policies providing for comprehensive coverage. Wisconsin and Utah were a step below those four states, rated

MAT T TRACY

Out gay State Senator Brad Hoylman has led the charge in 2019 in enacting transgender rights, a ban on conversion therapy, and amendments to the 2011 Marriage Equality Act eliminating any remaining ambiguities in state law on the rights of same-sex married couples.

“Building Equality,” reflecting uneven progress toward equality. Non-discrimination laws saw improvements in 2018, especially in the northeast. New Hampshire expanded its non-discrimination law to include gender identity protections, while Massachusetts voters opted not to repeal the state’s ban on discrimination on the basis of gender identity. There were also the beginnings of movement last year on hate crimes-related laws across a variety of state, even if none enacted new measures. Georgia, Iowa, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Tennessee introduced bills to improve existing laws or create new ones to cover hate crimes victims on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. On the criminal justice front, Rhode Island banned the use of a “gay or trans panic” defense in criminal cases and Massachusetts will no longer allow LGBTQ prisoners to be placed in solitary confinement because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Connecticut also added protections for transgender inmates, whose gender identity now must be respected.

California passed a law requiring LGBTQ-inclusive training for police officers. State lawmakers worked to boost youth-related protections, as well. A whopping 25 states considered legislation targeting conversion therapy, with Washington, Maryland, Hawaii, New Hampshire, and Delaware banning the practice where minors are involved. New York followed suit in the first month of 2019. Lawmakers staved off efforts in 11 states to prevent transgender youth from using bathrooms aligned with their gender identity. None of the proposals in those states passed. Hawaii passed a bill banning discrimination against LGBTQ students. Action on laws and policies regarding children’s welfare represented a mixed bag last year. Oklahoma and Kansas enacted laws allowing discrimination in child welfare agencies on the question of working with same-sex couples, and in recent weeks the federal Department of Health and Human Services issued a waiver for faith-based child welfare agencies in South Carolina to act in a simi-

larly discriminatory fashion. But California and Hawaii updated the foster care bill of rights in their states to include affirming care for LGBTQ youth. Washington and New Jersey instituted protections to strengthen the rights of non-biological parents as well as the surrogates carrying their babies. Rhode Island and New Jersey implemented changes to ensure that death certificates reflect an individual’s gender identity. New Jersey did the same for birth certificates. Notably, the report pointed, as well, to gains already made in 2019 and other anticipated advances in the year ahead. “HRC and our partners on the ground defeated dozens of antiLGBTQ bills last year, and worked to pass crucial pro-equality measures that ensure LGBTQ Americans are protected wherever they live,” HRC President Chad Griffin said in a written statement. “Already, we see the promise of even more protections passing in 2019.” The State of New York, which in the past election saw Democrats take control of the Senate while the party maintained its big majority in the Assembly, has been the most active thus far in the new year. In addition to the conversion therapy ban, New York added statutory nondiscrimination and hate crimes protections based on gender identity and expression, bolstering an existing gubernatorial policy that had defined existing sex nondiscrimination protections — but not hate crimes protections — to cover gender identity and expression. And New York is amending its 2011 marriage equality law to eliminate ambiguities where samesex spouses could be treated differently than different-sex spouses. The governors of Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Kansas have utilized executive actions to improve nondiscrimination protections. In the case of Ohio, it is a new Republican governor, Mike DeWine, who is responsible for the action, something not often seen in the LGBTQ rights arena.

February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

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HUMAN RIGHTS

Ugandan Trans Refugees Seek Farming Opportunity in Kenya Women await funding for chicken business as they endure dangers in their new home BY MATT TRACY

safe home. A prosperous work environment. Acceptance. The transgender women who make up Matasia Trans Poultry Farming in Kenya aren’t asking for anything more than that. Mawejje Sulah, Kasaali Brian Sseviiri, and Wasswa Chris hail from different parts of Uganda, where they managed to escape anti-LGBTQ persecution and are now stationed outside of Nairobi, Kenya, as part of a program overseen by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In a matter of weeks they are slated to receive the funding they need to start up their poultry farming business they’ve dreamed about for years. They’ve been raising chickens since they arrived at their current location three years ago, and they know which supermarkets and restaurants they want to work with once they are able to begin selling meat. They have previously worked in the business and have been studying more about the industry in their free time. But they’re not in the clear. The women have been stuck in a secure home with a fenced backyard, where they have been in hiding due to safety concerns in a fiercely intolerant part of the world. Even after fleeing Uganda, the trio came to realize that Kenya is also rife with vicious transphobia — and they have few resources or options at their disposal to improve their outlook. They are unable to work because they have been homebound, but the farming business would allow them to operate primarily from that property. The women are among a bold and vibrant presence of LGBTQ folks across the African continent whose voices are often muted by repressive local laws dating back to European colonial rule and sustained by deeply conservative religious forces. Those religious forces are, in turn, nurtured in part by American religious right organizations that have shifted their focus to Africa after realizing that they have lost support at home in the US. The women were first brought to Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. The mistreatment they faced there was so severe that the UNHCR was forced to move them outside of the city to a rural area. “As a way of keeping safe, one has to keep a low profile and keep indoors,” Sulah, who is one of the farmers, said during an interview with Gay City News. Sulah and the other women in the house have had difficulty with the simplest of tasks. On the rare occasion that she is in public, Sulah has been unable to get local government officials to GayCityNews.nyc | February 14 - February 27, 2019

REFUGEE COALITION OF EAST AFRICA

Members of Matasia Trans Poultry Farming are seen in a recent photo. One member of the group is blurred out to protect her identity.

recognize her UNHCR-issued refugee papers. She was recently walking to a bus on her way home from a UNHCR appointment when she was stopped by police officers because she was walking in a feminine manner. “They asked me if I am a boy or a girl,” she recalled. “I told them that I am a girl.” Sulah then provided the officers with documentation, but that didn’t help. The officers told her that she was a boy and that she was one of the “disgraced homosexuals that fled Uganda.” “They asked for a money bribe, which I didn’t have, and they beat me up,” she said. The officers transported Sulah to a police station and interrogated her about why she was in Kenya. She was forced to spend a night in a men’s jail cell and was beaten by other cellmates before UNHCR attorneys rescued her. The dangers apparent from that incident and the overall abuse the women have faced discourage them from leaving the confines of their home. They have to exercise caution even when they are in conversation with other refugees living in Kenya because those people often become suspicious and indirectly draw conclusions about why they left Uganda. “People keep on asking, ‘Where are you from?’ They will ask, ‘Why are you from Uganda? There are no wars.’” Most of the nearly half a million refugees who have flooded into Kenya in recent years have escaped war zones on the continent. Sulah has a story heard far too often around the globe: She was abandoned and disowned by her Ugandan family, thus forcing her to sleep on the streets until a long-distance friend from the United States helped point her to refugee-related resources. “I grew up in a strong religious family,” Sulah explained. “From when I was seven years old, I felt attraction to boys and used to wear my sis-

ter’s dresses. I thought I was possessed with demons. I prayed and I fasted, but I felt the same way.” She said she felt alone and doubted herself. “I wondered why I was born,” she said. “So I gave up.” Sulah said she is not sure whether she or any of the others in her group will ever have the opportunity to move to a safer environment, and that the restrictions on their ability to go anywhere sometimes leaves them depressed. “It’s very sad,” she said. “I can’t estimate when I will be able to leave Kenya.” But the women’s immediate focus is on the imminent funding boost from the SPARK Fund, which is being provided by a partnership between an East African LGBTQ organization known as the Refugee Coalition of East Africa and All Out, a group that describes itself as a global movement for love and equality. The farmers were one of four groups to earn the funding they needed to get off the ground, and the SPARK Fund’s Facebook page includes a video about the women’s business plans. The business will give the women sustenance and a purpose beyond the confines of their refuge after spending so much time in isolation, but they feel it will also benefit others. “It will greatly help with the community,” Sulah said. The women hope their business can grow to the point where they can help employ other LGBTQ refugees. Even with their own hardships, Sulah selflessly noted that there are many queer refugees who are suffering from HIV/ AIDS and have faced widespread discrimination and abuse. “It’s not only for us,” she said. “We want to cut back on the number of refugees who are getting infected with HIV and dying of AIDS,” she said. “We want to help them survive by employing them.”

PERSPECTIVE: Let ter from the Editor 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 matt@gaycitynews.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Duncan Osborne CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Donna Aceto (Photography) Christopher Byrne (Theater), Susie Day (Perspective), Brian McCormick (Dance)

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Calling Out Homophobia Is No Game of Gotcha BY PAUL SCHINDLER

n September 2017, as Bronx City Councilmember Fernando Cabrera — whose history of homophobic attacks on the LGBTQ community included a 2014 YouTube video he recorded in Uganda praising that country’s efforts to enact a draconian anti-sodomy statute that included severe prison sentences — faced a Democratic primary opponent, Gay City News noticed that his campaign website included an endorsement by Mayor Bill de Blasio. Contacted by the newspaper, the mayor’s reelection campaign confirmed the endorsement, explaining, “Mayor de Blasio is a strong supporter of marriage equality and LGBT rights, and the Mayor has been clear about his very strong disagreement with Councilmember Cabrera on these issues.” In other words, de Blasio and Cabrera had agreed to disagree about homophobia but otherwise enjoyed a constructive working relationship,

one strong enough for the mayor to give the councilmember a boost in his reelection bid. Five hours after Gay City published its story — just before 11 p.m. on a Friday evening — the campaign reached back out to the newspaper with the message, “Mayor de Blasio has not endorsed Councilmember Cabrera. We regret the miscommunication.” A campaign spokesperson was never able to explain exactly how that miscommunication occurred, and it was hard to escape the conclusion that when folks on Team de Blasio saw its own response printed in black and white they recognized how other readers and voters would interpret it. The mayor could disagree with another elected official’s homophobic statements and actions but that wouldn’t prove an insurmountable disqualification of that official. It’s inconceivable that if the issue were racism, anti-Semitism, or misogyny, for example, de Blasio or any other New York progressive would put

out a statement like “the Mayor has been clear about his very strong disagreement with Councilmember XYZ on these issues.” This incident is important to recall right now for two reasons — obviously because of the Ruben Diaz, Sr., scandal that has metastasized since Friday, but also because of reporting that this newspaper has done in recent weeks about the support several candidates for public advocate have given to Cabrera, Diaz, and Brooklyn’s Chaim Deutsch. In a series of recent stories, Gay City News’ Matt Tracy reported that, contrary to answers they gave on a questionnaire from the Stonewall Democratic Club, both Brooklyn Councilmember Jumaane Williams and former Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito had donated to and/ or endorsed officials with homophobic records. Williams donated to Cabrera and Deutsch in 2017, and Mark-Viverito gave Deutsch money in 2013 and then endorsed him in a contested 2017 primary. Separately, Tracy reported on the increasingly close ties between another public advocate candidate, Upper Manhattan’s Ydanis Rodriguez, and both Diaz and Cabrera.

➤ NO GOTCHA, continued on p.27

PERSPECTIVE: Media Circus

Does It Come Down to Pee-Shy Men? BY ED SIKOV

he editorial in the Washington Post could not have been clearer or more direct: “For almost two years, transgender men and women have been allowed to openly serve in the military. There have been no problems; ‘precisely zero’ were the exact words last April of Army Chief of Staff Mark A. Milley. Hundreds of transgender troops have been deployed without incident to combat zones. Commanders have singled out transgender troops for praise.” But a fat lot of good it will do to change Rump’s flatly discriminatory policy of excluding trans folks from serving in the United States military, especially now that the Supreme Court has come down on the side of discrimination. After all, Rump hates the Washington Post, owned as it is by Jeff Bezos, who created Amazon and became the richest man in the

world. Maybe I’m naive, but I just don’t understand what the problem is with trans service members. That an intimate personal matter could provide the basis for keeping an entire class of people from serving their country is beyond my comprehension. Would someone please tell me what difference it makes? The sheer arbitrariness of the ruling is exceeded only by its cruelty. I’ve become convinced that it’s somehow all about bathrooms. Anything having to do with bathrooms is sure to cause mortal panic among the citizenry. That’s what it all comes down to — bathrooms, the site of enormous anxiety for many if not most men. I couldn’t sleep the other night, and to kill time I was fooling around with YouTube. I hadn’t realized that there was an entire genre of videos devoted to the topic of male urinal anxiety. There must have been 20 or 25 videos depicting young guys panicking about

potential breeches of urinal etiquette. Some were pretty funny, but they all shared exactly the same themes and regulations. For example, you must never under any circumstances use a urinal next to one that’s currently in use. You must never make eye contact with anyone in the men’s room, with the possible exception of a broish glance that lasts no longer than 2 seconds. And you must never, ever check out another guy’s cock. Now these of course are straight men’s rules. In classic gay tearoom culture, the rules are precisely reversed. That’s the whole point. So is that it? Is the strict regulation of bathroom behavior behind the trans ban? Does male castration anxiety play into it? Does it all come down to the terrors of potential genital surgery while transitioning? I think I may be onto something. Follow @edsikov on Twitter and Facebook. February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

➤ NO GOTCHA, from p.26 Rodriguez already faced fallout from LGBTQ political clubs in 2017 for his support for Diaz’s City Council run and has presumably given up on currying queer political support. He made no noise about our coverage of his political alliances. Williams and Mark-Viverito, however, are both aggressively courting the LGBTQ vote and their campaigns and Twitter accounts firmly pushed back on Tracy’s reporting. Complaints from both camps suggested that the newspaper was playing “gotcha” with candidates who whole-heartedly support the LGBTQ community. At Stonewall, Mark-Viverito, in explaining she did not know that Deutsch had tarred his 2013 opponent as being an advocate of the gay “agenda,” went so far as to say Gay City News hadn’t reported that incident. As though that cleared her of responsibility for vetting candidates she gives money to. One of her campaign staffers said that Deutsch’s 2017 vote against a ban on conversion therapy came

after she had endorsed his reelection. But that endorsement followed four years in which she was speaker and Deutsch several times cast anti-LGBTQ votes. He was among a handful of councilmembers who did not place a Rainbow Flag on his desk as the chamber paid their respects to the victims of the June 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre. It’s frankly disingenuous of Mark-Viverito to claim she didn’t know the nature of Deutsch’s views about our community. Williams responded somewhat more forthrightly to Tracy’s story about the Stonewall questionnaire, apologizing in front of the club for what he characterized as an oversight in answering the question and pledging to donate amounts equal to the Cabrera and Deutsch contributions to LGBTQ organizations. His campaign — and he himself — were far less willing to own up to his actions when we reported that, asked twice in a NY1 News debate about his previous reluctance to embrace abortion rights and marriage equality, he both times made clear he supports a woman’s right to choose

GayCityNews.nyc | February 14 - February 27, 2019

but did not mention gay marriage either time. Williams took particular umbrage at our use of the word “dodges” in that regard. Mark-Viverito can rightly be proud of her long and strong support for LGBTQ rights, but she also seems to have at times adopted the posture that the de Blasio campaign clung to briefly that September evening in 2017. For whatever reason, Deutsch was politically important to her, and it’s hard to believe she didn’t look the other way about his views on LGBTQ equality. Williams has evolved more slowly, and he has been honest about having changed his thinking. But during the same period in late 2017 when he persuasively talked to Gay City News about his change of heart, he was giving money to Cabrera and Deutsch. That contradiction deserves to be discussed as he runs for public advocate. But our community can’t hold straight allies to standards we ourselves don’t maintain. In that regard, Speaker Corey Johnson bears special responsibility. As he prepared his bid for the speaker-

ship, Johnson courted Diaz assiduously, visiting him twice in the hospital. At a 2017 Christmas event just weeks prior to the new Council electing Johnson, the two gushed over their mutual admiration even as they noted obliquely that they don’t agree on everything. Diaz’s infamous Spanish language radio comments last week, in an important respect, blew up in Johnson’s face, with the Bronx councilmember clearly suggesting that his support — and that of the Bronx delegation — for Johnson came in return for the creation of a new committee for him to chair. Dissolving that committee as punishment of Diaz certainly did nothing to counter that narrative. Speaking to the press after the Council took Diaz’s committee away from him, Johnson expressed regret over “blind spots” we all have in life. There is little ambiguity in Ruben Diaz, Sr.’s history of homophobia. So it’s hard to believe that a blind spot on that score was not willful blindness. Our community deserves better from all elected officials, straight and otherwise.

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February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

➤ CONVERSION THERAPY, from p.19 speech. That approach worked in the Ninth Circuit’s consideration of California’s conversion ban, but Thomas’ comments in the NIFLA case suggest this may be a difficult task — though not necessarily impossible. Following the NIFLA ruling, Liberty Counsel jumped into action to revive its challenge to the New Jersey law. Its argument to the Third Circuit that the NIFLA ruling “abrogated” its decision, however, was unsuccessful. The Third Circuit rejected the motion from Liberty Counsel without a hearing or a written opinion. The circuit also rejected a motion for all of the judges on the circuit bench to hold a rehearing. In its February 11 petition to the Supreme Court, Liberty Counsel argued that the Third Circuit “abused its discretion” by refusing to take action based on the NIFLA decision. Liberty Counsel argued that the Third Circuit’s reaction is particularly egregious because the Supreme Court not only rejected the reasoning of the conversion therapy case, but also cited and quoted from it while doing so. Thomas, however, never used the “abrogate” and his opinion in NIFLA recognizes that there may be circumstances in which state regulation of professional speech may be constitutional. The Ninth Circuit’s reasoning in the California case, focused on the regulation of professional conduct rather than speech, may be such an instance, and the Third Circuit’s case could be reconsidered under such a standard. Liberty Counsel’s petition, a bit disingenuously, assumes that NIFLA decision means that the New Jersey law is unconstitutional, but all it really means is that the Third Circuit applied too lenient a standard in ruling on the case

and should have applied the strict scrutiny standard adopted by the Supreme Court ruling in NIFLA. Liberty Counsel also contends that the Third Circuit’s refusal to recall its mandate in the conversion therapy case will have harmful rippling effects throughout the nation. It points to the steady progression of new state and local laws enacted in reliance on what it characterizes as “incorrect” decisions by the Third and Ninth Circuits. The consequences, Liberty Counsel asserts, will “chill” the ability of conversion therapy practitioners to offer their “cure” to patients. Last month, Magistrate Judge Amanda Arnold Sansone relied on the NIFLA decision in her report recommending that a Florida district court issue a preliminary injunction against Tampa’s conversion therapy ban as it applies to practitioners who provide “talk therapy.” A complaint filed in Brooklyn federal court last month by Alliance Defending Freedom, challenging New York City’s ordinance, is devised to raise the same arguments. And it is predictable that either ADF or Liberty Counsel will file suit in an attempt to block the new state law enacted last month in New York. Liberty Counsel couches its petition as an attempt to have the Supreme Court settle how lower courts should respond when the reasoning of one of their decisions is substantially undermined by the high court, but, at heart, this is an attempt to re-litigate the question of whether conversion therapy practitioners have a First Amendment right to ply their trade free of government restrictions. It is a blatant attempt to get the issue of conversion therapy back before the Supreme Court now that Donald Trump’s appointments have solidified the conservative majority. And, at that, it is a test of science against homophobia and transphobia.

GayCityNews.com GayCityNews.nyc | February 14 - February 27, 2019

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D\[`ZXc DXcgiXZk`Z\ Medical malpractice cases all have at least one thing in common: allegations that a healthcare provider violated the governing standard of care, resulting in injury, or possibly even death. Here, that standard involves the laws of the State of New York. There are a variety of cases that fall under medical malpractice, all that result from either an action taken by a healthcare provider, or an omission from action by a healthcare provider. Nonetheless, it has led to irreparable harm to a patient due to some form of negligence, and therefore legal redress will be owed to the patient. Examples of medical malpractice cases include: failure to diagnose a medical condition or disease on time or at all, misdiagnosis of a medical condition or disease, lack of or inappropriate medical treatment, and surgical errors and complications. Damages for medical malpractice include economic recovery for the victim to make them whole again for lost wages, the cost of medical care, other out-of-pocket medical expenses, and even for pain and suffering resulting from the injury. Not only can the victim recover, but so can their spouse, and, in death cases, the next of kin can recover for their loss. Additionally, in New York, there is no cap for damages that can be awarded for a medical malpractice case. It is also important to note that there is a Statue of Limitations on medical malpractice claims, which means that the claim must be brought within a certain amount of time within the injury having occurred, or else the claim could be barred. In New York, the Statute of Limitations for a medical malpractice claim is 30 months, or

JXe]fi[ IlY\ejk\è 2 years and 6 months, from the date of injury. This statute is different for minor children, however, which does not start running until the child turns 18. There is an exception to this, though: regardless of the age of the child when the injury occurred, the statute of limitations cannot extend longer than 10 years. Medicine can, at the same time, be both a great, wonderful thing and a scary, unknown set of twists and turns. If you or your family finds themselves victim to the perils of medical malpractice, you may want to speak to your attorney as soon as possible to discuss your options. In past years our law office has obtained numerous settlements in Medical Malpractice cases including settlements for $17.9 Million and $18.1 Million, as well as a verdict for $62 Million in a medical malpractice case. If you have suffered from the medical malpractice of a doctor or hospital, our office is available to discuss what happened for a free consultation to determine if you may be entitled to money damages.

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FILM

When Positive and Negative Attract Christophe Honoré’s ‘90s gay romantic omantic drama dram ma is powerfully magical BY GARY M. KRAMER ean into the offbeat rhythms of out gay writer/ director Christophe Honoré’s sophisticated new film “Sorry Angel” and absorb all its romantic splendor. This intimate, affecting drama, set in 1993, alternates between Jacques (Pierre Deladonchamps), an HIV-positive writer in Paris, and Arthur (Vincent Lacoste), a Breton. There is an imbalance between them: Jacques is 35 and cynical, while Arthur is 22 and sentimental — so, of course, they belong together. As the protagonists slowly give in to their longing, viewers become invested in the guys coupling up. That’s the magic of Honoré’s film. “Sorry Angel” opens with Jacques in Paris, having lunch with Jean-Marie (Quentin Thébault) before returning home to hear a voicemail from the dying Marco (Thomas Gonzalez) looking for a place to stay. Arthur is first seen with his girlfriend Nadine (Adèle Wismes), and then later he goes out cruising for guys. The two men connect when Jacques is invited to a cultural event in Rennes and he ducks into a movie theater, catching Arthur’s eye.

STRAND RELEASING

Vincent Lacoste and Pierre Deladonchamps in Christophe Honoré’s “Sorry Angel,” which opens at the Quad Cinema on February 15.

The guys chat in the cinema and arrange to meet later —a terrific scene in which Jacques, buttonholed by an actress, gives cues to Arthur to follow along until they can be alone. Once their date begins, there is a delicious frisson between them. They reveal bits about their lives to one another and look for a place to give in to

their passions. When the guys are finally seen in bed together and Arthur peels off — and pockets — Jacques’s underwear, it’s enchanting. “Sorry Angel” captures a feeling of romance and intimacy that is so strong viewers may themselves feel some of the flush that comes from unexpected love. A letter Jacques writes to Arthur fills the screen with text at one point and includes the phrase, “Paris kisses on your salted butter skin.” It’s enough to melt the hardest of hearts. But Honoré’s elliptical narrative approach keeps the men apart for much of the film, detailing their individual lives and other relationships. A scene back in Paris has Jacques encouraging Marco, who has moved in, to join him in the bath. As the men lie together and talk in the tub, the extent of their relationship becomes clear. Jacques’ feelings for Marco give depth and shading to his character. It’s a lovely scene and mirrors another, late in the film, when Arthur does a striptease and curls up with Jacques in his bed. Honoré may be making parallels between the two moments, but he leaves that to viewers to puzzle out. He is obviously more

➤ SORRY ANGEL, continued on p.31

Trade and Tradition Drug demand’s d s impact on Colombia’s Colombia s indigenous indi people BY STEVE ERICKSON he gangster film is s based in a mythology that has proved remarkably malleable across history. If it started in the US, filmmakers in France, Italy, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong (just to begin with) have put their own stamp on it. An international conversation has always taken place through the genre, reflecting the history and values of each nation that has adopted it. Colombian directors Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra’s “Birds of Passage,” set among their country’s indigenous Wayuu culture as the marijuana trade exploded from 1968 to 1980, complicates this because it will clearly mean something different to audiences at home versus those in North America.

THE ORCHARD

Carmiña Martínez and her fellow cast members of Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra’s “Birds of Passage.”

Guerra’s last film, “Embrace of the Serpent,” was a surprise hit in the US. In retrospect, its story about shamans taking white men on a search for a very rare hallucinogenic plant tied into ayahuasca chic, but that was no doubt unintentional. Its anti-colonial politics were expressed in a way that appealed to North American progres-

sives. Gallego (who produced but did not direct it) and Guerra are working with a bigger budget and, perhaps more importantly, much more self-consciousness about their audience this time around. They blame North America’s appetite for drugs for corrupting the Wayuu, but “Birds of Passage” makes the point and darts away from it. Ironi-

cally, this film was made with money from the American government (as well as production funds from Denmark, Mexico, Spain, France, and Colombia itself.) Hippie Peace Corps volunteers in Colombia unintentionally open up Pandora’s box by asking Raphayet (José Acosta) if he can score marijuana for them. While this initially goes smoothly and peacefully, his friend Moises (Jhon Narvaez) later kills several foreigners mid-deal. After this, violence never leaves the illegal drug business. In a five-chapter structure, “Birds of Passage” follows a decade’s worth of murder and revenge, with older women like Ursula (Carmiña Martínez) calling the shots as young men pay the price for their new business ventures. The directors have ac-

➤ BIRDS OF PASSAGE, continued on p.31

February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

â&#x17E;¤ SORRY ANGEL, from p.30 concerned with mood and emotion than plot. To that end, the filmmaker includes a few fantasy moments such as one that occurs during a telephone call between Arthur and Jacques. The men are discussing StĂŠphane (Luca Malinowski), a blond hitchhiker Arthur has picked up for a tryst. Their conversation, about four different types of blonds features allusions to Whitman and Isherwood. It is a charming sequence that HonorĂŠ uses to push viewers to feel the growing attraction between these two men. If Jacques feels any jealousy, he doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t express it; he just imagines kissing Arthurâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s face. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sorry Angelâ&#x20AC;? does not get lost in the hazy fantasy of romance. The film features moments of real drama as when Jacques receives sad news. Jean-Marie tries to comfort him with sex, but grief just overwhelms Jacques. His emotions and pain put Jacquesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; own life and health challenges into bold relief, and that may be what prompts him to redouble his efforts with Arthur. But when Arthur travels to Paris, complications ensue. How things work out between the characters is best left for viewers to discover. HonorĂŠ features moments of levity, from three characters dancing or sharing a bed to more serious scenes of Jacques in a hospital. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sorry Angelâ&#x20AC;? also has

â&#x17E;¤ BIRDS OF PASSAGE, from p.30 knowledged the influence of â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Godfatherâ&#x20AC;? but said they wanted to turn such stories of families of male criminals on their head by emphasizing matriarchal power. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Birds of Passageâ&#x20AC;? devotes a lot of time to celebrating Wayuu culture and pointing out its fragility, but it winds up exoticizing it in ways that are all too familiar. A narrator sings the filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s story periodically. There are many long shots set in the desert, half Alejandro Jodorowsky and half Sergio Leone. The more surreal the film gets and the more it celebrates Wayuu tradition and folklore, the less expressive it actually is. As well-intentioned as Gallego and Guerra are, the film really winds up communicating their distance from the world theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re de-

Arthur waxing eloquently and philosophically about sex, youth, and identity, themes explored throughout the film. But HonorĂŠ overreaches a bit in the last reel, cramming too much into the story. He spends so much time slowly setting up his characters and their relationships that the conclusion, while elegant, feels rushed. Viewers may be disappointed when the film ends somewhat abruptly after more than two hours. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard not to care about thsee characters and want to see more of their love and their lives. Deladonchamps exudes an air of wistfulness that imbues Jacques with a palpable sense of regret. He wants to keep everyone at armâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s length, but he cannot help but give in to his feelings for others. Deladonchampsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; is a wonderfully nuanced performance. Lacoste is engaging as a young man who sees promise everywhere and acts, perhaps impulsively, even as he is still figuring out who and what he truly wants. He makes Arthurâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s optimism sexy and appealing. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sorry Angel,â&#x20AC;? HonorĂŠ explains, is about a first and a last love. This melancholy romance will surely draw many into the deep emotions conveyed.

picting. Fortunately, there are more valuable qualities to â&#x20AC;&#x153;Birds of Passage.â&#x20AC;? Going back to the 1930s, gangster films have frequently been blamed for glorifying the life of crime they portray while pretending to criticize it. But at best, they can convey its seduction while showing its considerable downside in a way that cuts deeper than moralistic scolding. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Birds of Passageâ&#x20AC;? is genuinely disgusted by violence. Guns go off frequently, but we never see bullets hit their victims in the same shot. However, this isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the sanitized PG-13 depiction of violence all too familiar from Hollywood. It is jarring and startling. Characters die without the slightest warning. The film includes many gruesome im-

GayCityNews.nyc | February 14 - February 27, 2019

â&#x17E;¤ BIRDS OF PASSAGE, continued on p.36

THEATER

Mayhem, Mores, and Marriage The human condition via Shepard, Berrigan, g and Strindberg BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE asculinity, power, dominance, and testosterone-jacked battles are at the heart of all Sam Shepard’s family plays, and although “True West,” now getting an edge-of-the-seat exciting revival at Roundabout, first appeared in 1980, it has never seemed more culturally relevant. Throbbing under this classic tale of family dysfunction and sibling rivalry is the question of what it means to be male in our culture. The internalized, romantic myths of masculinity in the American West, more a feature of fiction than history, are at odds with the realities of professional men, married with families in modern life as it’s actually lived. In today’s world, the classic Western hero — rugged, independent, answering to no one — could be branded as “toxic.” Yet, the responsible man who cares for his family and has stability can be portrayed as weak. Even the cururrent language of politics adheres es to these tropes — and resonates s with a public who wants, if only vicariously, to feel powerful and in control. In the tale of two brothers, Shepard is deconstructing g the myths we build our lives s around. Cannily, in offering no o resolution, Shepard also suggests sts that this is a uniquely post-modern conflict that will leave males caught between their natures and a world for which they are in many ways ill-equipped. Given how big these issues are, the plot is deceptively simple. Austin is a successful screenwriter housesitting in his mother’s home while she’s in Alaska. Lee, his n’er-do-well brother, arrives. Lee makes his living by stealing and imagines himself an individualist hero. Austin gives him space and loans him his car, evidently the alpha because of his material wealth. When Lee pitches a story to Austin’s producer and the producer bites, the tables are turned, touching off a battle between the siblings that exposes

JOAN MARCUS

Ethan Hawke and Paul Dano in Sam Shepard’s “True West,” directed by James Macdonald, at the American Airlines Theatre through March 17.

JOAN MARCUS

Elise Kibler and James Udom in Yaël Farber’s “Mies Julie,” and adaptation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie, directed by Shariffa Ali, at CSC through March 10.

their vulnerabilities. Lee can’t write a screenplay, and Austin can’t find the peace and freedom of the desert that Lee says he’s found. They are essentially two sides of the American male psyche, so conflict and attempted mutual destruction are inevitable — and impossibly fraught. Director James Macdonald’s pro-

duction is gripping and threatening, delving into the dark conflicts at the heart of the script at the same time finding a core of irony. It’s a lot lighter and funnier than previous productions I’ve seen, and its inherently satirical tone works well in 2019. The violence, however harrowing, is manically comic, rendering the characters

ridiculous, grown men reduced to their childhood battles. That’s a good part of what makes this production seem so contemporary. Ethan Hawke as Lee and Paul Dano as Austin are both extraordinary in their roles. Hawke is both powerful physically and fearful and Dano is more passive yet manipulative, the more cerebral fighter. The two are well matched in terms of focus and intensity and brilliantly underscore the inherent absurdity of their battles for ephemeral identities. Gary Wilmes as the producer who wants Lee’s conventional Western story over Austin’s romcom is perfectly understated, as is Marylouise Burke as the mother who walks back into the devastation. Part of the deliciously mordant ending is how both Lee and Austin revert to their childhood behaviors when faced with their displeased mother. It’s just one more dig at American mythology that make this such a rich, enthralling, and dynamic evening. The Transport Group’s compelling revival of Daniel Berrigan’s 1970 play “The Trial of the Catonsville Nine” is political theater at its best. The story of the arrest and trial of the activists, including Berrigan and his brother Philip, both of them Catholic priests, has been reimagined to be performed by three actors moving around desks littered with photographs and documents from the Vietnam War. They’re a stark reminder of the violence and horror of that time, and the audience is invited to look through them before taking seats on the sides. The play details the trial of the activists who removed draft records from the Catonsville, Maryland, selective service office and burned them in the parking lot with homemade napalm. They never denied what they did and were willing to go to jail, which they did, to make the point about the meaningless death of young men in Vietnam. The legal theory

➤ MAYHEM & MORE, continued on p.33

February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

â&#x17E;¤ MAYHEM & MORE, from p.32 of the defense was that the draft was immoral and that as Roman Catholics they were calling out the religious bureaucracies as racist accomplices in the war. They were convicted for conspiracy and destruction of government property. It is ultimately a morality play that asks the audience to examine not only the actions of its government, but our own personal responsibility in opposing injustice. Berriganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original play has been adapted and directed by Jack Cummings III, artistic director of Transport Group. He has added some information but left a good deal of Berriganâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s poetic lyricism intact. Performed by three actors â&#x20AC;&#x201D; David Huynh, Mia Katigbak and Eunice Wong, all outstanding â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with them and the audience all on the stage of the Abrons Art Center, the play takes on an intimacy and humanity that are tension-filled and chilling. The actors each play many characters, and Cummings has orchestrated the switching among them so elegantly that the piece takes on a powerful theatri-

cality juxtaposing the passion of the activists against the governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard line. The result is not polemical, as often is the case with political theater, but visceral. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Trial,â&#x20AC;? produced in partnership with the National Asian American Theatre Company, is a call for us to examine our moral standing in the face of something simply unacceptable. The two August Strindberg plays now in repertory at CSC are about as exciting as theater gets â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not something often said about the playwrightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work. However, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mies Julie,â&#x20AC;? the original â&#x20AC;&#x153;Miss Julieâ&#x20AC;? transplanted to South Africa in an adaptation by YaĂŤl Farber, and â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Dance of Death,â&#x20AC;? in a new version by Conor McPherson, are so vibrant as to seem newly minted. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mies Julieâ&#x20AC;? tackles issues of sex, race, and class. Julie, the white daughter of a wealthy landowner, has a night of passion with John, a black laborer on the farm where sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grown up. Her childish romanticism becomes her undoing as her willful denial of the realities

of her world lead to tragedy for all involved. As directed by Shariffa Ali, the play is filled with risk and danger and is consistently exciting. Elise Kibler as the naĂŻve and selfish Julie is brilliant. James Udom as John inhabits the role with an intensity that is electrifying in the small space at CSC. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Dance of Deathâ&#x20AC;? is a grim look at a marital relationship that has gone on for 25 years, with Edgar and Alice, trapped together on a remote island military base, having at each other. When Kurt, an old friend arrives, the hostilities escalate, and cataclysm threatensâ&#x20AC;Ś until a kind of ceasefire happens. They are trapped in an ugly and bitter life forever, but somehow the power game is exactly what they want. The play prefigures Albee and even Beckett in its bleak presentation of a terrible marriage and how people get trapped in lives they hate. Perhaps surprisingly, the play is often hysterically funny. McPhersonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s adaptation and the sharp-eyed direction of Victoria Clark make the production trenchant satire, bordering on the ab-

surd. Staged in the round, the play is a battle royale that is engaging and amusing. It is decidedly not your usual happily-ever-after. TRUE WEST | Roundabout Theatre Company at the American Airlines Theatre, 227 W. 42nd St. | Through Mar. 17: Tue.-Sat 7 at p.m.; Wed., Sat. at 2 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m. (some evening performances at 8 p.m. rather than 7 p.m.) | $59-$169 at roundabouttheatre.org or 212-7191300 | Two hrs., with intermission THE TRIAL OF THE CATONSVILLE NINE | Transport Group at Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand St. at Pitt St. | Through Feb. 23: Tue.-Sat. at 7:30 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m. | $60 at transportgroup.org or 866-811-4111 | Ninety mins., no intermission MIES JULIE AND THE DANCE OF DEATH | CSC, 136 E. 13th St. | Through Mar. 10: schedule varies | $82-$127 (for both plays, ticket pair begins at $99) at classicstage.org or 212-677-4210 |â&#x20AC;?Mies Julieâ&#x20AC;?: One hr., 15 mins., no intermission; â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dance of Deathâ&#x20AC;?: One hr., 50 mins., no intermission

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A Unique Feminist Surrealist Celebrating Leonor Fini — and enjoying some unforgettable cabaret BY DAVID NOH f and when I die, I would love to be resurrected in a world created by Leonor Fini — a realm where it is the female who is all powerful, holding complete yet salubrious sway over all men, being more nurturing, empathetic, infinitely sagacious, and rather more beauty-loving than the true weaker sex. And, being male, I would not resent or resist this in the slightest, for the ideal Fini man, perforce, is a natural androgyne, fully in touch with the feminine and in total, deep sympatico with his beneficent dominators. Fini Paradise, populated by mythic creatures both human and otherwise, at times even morphing into each other, is a completely organic, profoundly fanciful universe of the utmost refinement and beauty, with all imaginable genders and sensual possibilities not only welcomed but celebrated. All of these themes permeate the treasurable show “Leonor Fini: The Theater of Desire,” piquantly housed on two floors of the Museum of Sex, running through March 4. It is, unbelievably, the very first American retrospective of an artist who lived from 1907 to 1996 and whose name, although largely forgotten today, like her contemporary Miguel Covarrubias, who has a concurrent show now in Manhattan, was one to contend with in her heyday. She is finally glorified on Fifth Avenue with this selection of rare paintings, drawings, artist books, films, costume designs, never publicly viewed photographs, and ephemera from the Leonor Fini Archive in Paris. Born in Buenos Aires, Fini moved to Trieste with her mother, who was locked in custody battles over her with her father. Largely selftaught, she relocated to Milan at 17 and to Paris in the early 1930s. There, she swiftly fell into the crowd of Surrealists, with whom she became identified, including Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Paul Eluard, George Bataille, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, whose nude photograph of her fetched $305,000 in 2007, a record price for that photographer. With her exotic, leonine looks, which she made even more other-worldly through outré makeup and flowing capes and brocade, Fini was her own greatest muse and a prophetic innovator of branding, as the myriad self-portraits on display attest. She once said, “I always imagined that I would have a life very different than the one imagined for me, but I understood from a very early age that I would have to revolt in order to make that life.” And, although her name may only be bandied by the cognoscenti, her influence is still felt,

MUSEUM OF SEX

Leonor Fini’s “Les Aveugles (The Blind Ones),” 1968, oil on canvas.

as with the House of Dior, whose current creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri dedicated the Spring 2018 collection to Fini. In 1932, it was Christian Dior, then a gallerist, who curated her very first Paris show at Galerie Bonjean, filled with images of every kind of sexual transgression. In her “Bedtime Stories” video, Madonna depicted herself in a recreation of Fini’s painting “La Bout du Monde.” Living independently, Fini rebelled against the bourgeois expectations of her upbringing by divorcing her only husband, Federico Veneziani, after a brief marriage, taking various lovers freely and eventually co-habiting with two men, Italian diplomat Count Stanilao Lepri and Polish writer Konstanty Jelenski, both of whom have portraits on exhibit. “Marriage never appealed to me,” she confessed. “I’ve never lived with one person. Since I was 18, I’ve always preferred to live in a sort of community— a big house with my atelier and cats and friends, with one man who was rather a lover and another who was rather a friend. And it has always worked.” She outlived both Lepri and Jelenski and became rather a recluse in her later years, although continuing to create almost until the end. Also exhibited, along with the warmly glowing full scale paintings of her strong females, compliant — if not downright unconscious and often frontally nude and vulnerable — men, and trademark mythic beasts are the intriguingly spidery illustrations she made for some of the most provocative books in all literature, “The Story of O,” the tres gay “Satyricon,” and a 1944 edition of de Sade’s “Justine,” which remains shocking. Although, as chief curator Lissa Rivera observes, “Fini explored taboo sexual subjects throughout her career... gender and eroticism”

— very much in line with today’s ever-questioning cultural climate — she has become obscure rather than extolled as an artistic prophet. “Her work was celebrated and appreciated by her contemporaries and, in many ways, reclaiming her sexuality and turning it around on a male-dominated culture allowed her a unique place in art history,” Rivera adds. “She received incredible amounts of press and top jobs — it wasn’t until she passed away in 1996 that the male-dominated art historical narrative turned around and disempowered her work. As Fini didn’t fit into any box, her work proved difficult to categorize.” At the height of her fame, however, her talent and unique world vision took her far afield from her Paris studio into different endeavors. In 1949, she conceived the ballet “Leonor’s Dream,” choreographed by Frederick Ashton to Benjamin Britten music, and also designed the very first Roland Petit ballet for his Paris company, “Les demoiselles de la nuit,” with a baby Margot Fonteyn. She provided costumes for films like the 1954 “Romeo and Juliet” and John Huston’s “A Walk with Love and Death,” the film debut of his daughter Anjelica at 18. She wrote three books and designed the famous Shocking perfume bottle for Schiaparelli, inspired by Mae West’s torso, also a famous set of doors featuring guardian angels for a landmark 1939 Leo Castelli Surrealist exhibit in Paris, which you can see in this show. All this boldly uncompromising empowerment with those looming mythic figures, endlessly enigmatic Sphinx women, and, well, sheer narcissism, in the end, can be heavy-spirited. By the time you get to one of her favorite burnished golden cape on display and movies of

➤ LEONOR FINI, continued on p.35 February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

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MUSEUM OF SEX

Leonor Finiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Femme Assise Sur Un Homme Nu (Woman Seated on a Naked Man),â&#x20AC;? 1942, ooil on canvas.

â&#x17E;¤ LEONOR FINI, from p.34 her with her two lovers, elaborately costumed and with haunted expressions and suggestive sidelong glances, you might suddenly feel like crying, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Basta!â&#x20AC;? Although Fini was a highly sought-after celebrity portraitist, like Dali and Warhol, she professed to hate that kind of commercial undertaking, though it supported her. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a shame, because not only is it a welcome break from all that chimera, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also something she had a ravishing talent for. If any one picture here is worth the price of admission, it is an absolutely luminous sitting of her close outlaw compadre, Jean Genet. I recently caught two cabaret shows, as different as can be, which both delivered solidly. At 54 Below on January 23, it was all about the music, specifically Lindsay Mendezâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s big ass, gorgeous voice letting loose on a wide variety of songs, backed by a smoking band. She really made the role of Carrie Pipperidge her own forever in â&#x20AC;&#x153;Carousel,â&#x20AC;? and her â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mister Snowâ&#x20AC;? was the highlight here, maybe a kind of Rodgers & Hammerstein throwaway, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s R&H nevertheless then at their creative peak and sublimely melodic and lyrically incisive. Mendezâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cabaret confidence has increased and her warmly inviting and fun presence â&#x20AC;&#x201D; like a mention of her annoying Spanx â&#x20AC;&#x201D; definitely took the chill out of a winterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s night. At Cafe Carlyle on February 5, I was part of a merry crowd, indeed, thoroughly enjoying the patter above all, for Isaac Mizrahi is

one of the great club raconteurs, possessed of a razor sharp urban and urbane observation of the rarefied world in which he lives and his challenging past, growing up in a conservative, if rather gilded Sephardic suburb, and, practically from the womb, 100 percent gay-gay-gay. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m really looking forward to his memoir, â&#x20AC;&#x153;I.M.,â&#x20AC;? out this month. His loving if feisty mother is, for him, an endless fount of hilarity, with what he insists is that special Jewish twist. Meaning the knife, as in her recent greeting to him, now at, he says, his goal weight: â&#x20AC;&#x153;You look thin. For you.â&#x20AC;? His band was also terrific, comprised of some of Manhattanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best, who interacted charmingly with him, while lending solid support as he scampered through a song list with highly gender-fluid selections like his opener â&#x20AC;&#x153;I Feel Pretty,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Brass in Pocket,â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Folks Who Live on the Hill,â&#x20AC;? and his encore â&#x20AC;&#x153;Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Rain on My Parade.â&#x20AC;? When he received his first CFDA fashion award in his 20s, he was a nervous wreck backstage, he said, not ready to give a speech and standing backstage with presenter Liza Minnelli. Feeling his plight, she asked him what his favorite food was. He said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pistachio ice cream.â&#x20AC;? She responded, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Okay. Just think that no matter how it goes out there â&#x20AC;&#x201D; good or bad â&#x20AC;&#x201D; an hour or so from now you will be in bed, eating a big bowl of it.â&#x20AC;? It worked. LEONOR FINI: THEATRE OF DESIRE: 1930-1990 | Museum of Sex, 233 Fifth Ave. at 27th St. | Through Mar. 4: Sun.-Thu., 10:30 a.m.; Fri.Sat., 10:30 a.m.-midnight | $20.50 at museumofsex.com

GayCityNews.nyc | February 14 - February 27, 2019

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OPERA

Emerging from the Shadows Aprile Millo offers ers all-too-rare recital at Carnegie BY ELI JACOBSON ore than 35 years ago, cultt diva and New York treasure e Aprile Millo established herself as a throwback Italian-style n-style prima donna of the old school. She evoked ked not only the vocal style but the presentational nal theatrics of historical sopranos. Vocal and nd performance anxiety issues have curtailed Millo’s career to the extent that every appearance nce is a comeback – no, a return! The recital presented by the New York rk City Opera at Zankel Hall on January 30 was a notable event. It revealed not only how w much voice Millo has intact at age 60, but also lso the imaginative and versatile musician behind the diva façade. What was also evident nt was the old-fashioned diva excitement she stirred in her audience. There were cheers of “We We love you!” and “You’re the best, Aprile!” with h saucy banter going back and forth between the he diva and her fans. Not since Montserrat Caballé recitals back in the last century did one hear such screaming and chanting — Renée Fleming recitals are much tamer. Millo’s sass and her self-mocking jokes summoned memories of Bette Midler in the baths and beyond. The prima donna wore two elaborately brocaded and sequined gowns that belonged in a grand opera. At the final curtain call, Millo could have opened a florist shop with all the bouquets she received. I will not pretend that this is the same voice we heard in the 1980s as Aida or the “Trovatore” Leonora. The opening group of Italian songs by Tosti, Donizetti, and Donaudy suffered from curt phrasing as if the muscles needed for breath support weren’t warmed up. But warm up she did and the lush timbre is still intact though in a slightly lower range. Most of the keys put Millo in central mezzo territory. The top is still there up to a solid high B, though in

➤ BIRDS OF PASSAGE, from p.31 ages of bloody corpses. “Birds of Passage” starts off looking pretty in a very conventional way, but it gets grimmer and more mournful in its final two chapters. The sound design also becomes more complex. It feels like it could’ve been made during the period in which it’s set. For one thing, that was the last time mainstream American cinema was this comfortable critiquing conventional ways of portraying violence or business; it comes off as a modern-day “revisionist Western.” If Gallego and Guerra bring a tourist’s eye to

ADI TAL ATI

Aprile Millo performed a recital at Zankel Hall on January 30.

need of careful preparation and not as flexible or free as of yore. Pressure can produce a beat in the upper middle register. Frank Bridge’s song “Love Went a-Riding” brought out a sweeping breadth of phrasing and generous tone. It was the set of traditional Irish songs (“The Rose of Tralee,” “The Kerry Dance,” “Bendeemer Stream,” and “Danny Boy”) accompanied by harpist Merynda Adams that put the audience totally under Millo’s spell. She dug deep into her heart — her father sang these songs and her family performed them together often — while launching pure spinning tones into the hall. This was soul-singing in a very different vein from Italian opera. Millo combined the spiritual and the dramatic with her half-sung, half-declaimed final death

Colombia’s indigenous culture, they also have a storytelling focus that implicitly questions North American individualism. There’s no real protagonist to “Birds of Passage.” Raphayet and Ursula never exactly take control over the story, even if the film settles on them for five-minute stretches. It reflects Wayuu culture in a more subtle way, by using the community rather than a person as its main character. The use of nonprofessional actors in many roles aids this; as critic Peter Debruge wrote, “The film is better cast than it is acted, pairing professionals in the lead roles with a memorable ensemble of toothless and sun-ravaged amateurs.” But that brings

scene “Grazie, sorelle” from Refice’s “Cecilia” — a tribute to Claudia Muzio, the role’s creator. After intermission, the group of three Rachmaninoff songs proved her best showing of the night after the Irish songs. They were performed with fervent passion and surprising textual projection in a language that is new to her. “O ma lyre immortelle” from Gounod’s “Sapho” and the Aida/ Amonasro duet “Ciel! Mio Padre!” from Act III of “Aida” (with bass-baritone Kevin Short bellowing out choppy phrases while Millo demonstrated how the music should go) showed some encroaching vocal fatigue but also careful phrasing and dramatic depth. The final encore of traditional Italian canzone had the audience singing along to “Core N’Grato” and “O Sole Mio.” The excellent voices of the impromptu chorus was not all that surprising — dozens of New York based opera and concert singers and vocal students were in the hall to experience the Millo magic live and in person. Credit should be given to pianist Inseon Lee who discreetly catered to the diva’s every need while providing alert musical support throughout. What gave the evening its special glow was the deep love and respect that Millo lavished on her music and the generosity with which she shared it with her public. Each song by different composers in different languages and styles revealed a new Aprile Millo. Behind the diva posturing, there is a passionate and penetrating musical artist, and also a born entertainer. This could and should be an annual event. The audience is there if the star is willing. In an online exclusive at gaycitynew.nyc, Eli Jacobson will review other works emerging from the shadows, including Debussy’s “Pelléas et Mélisande,” Tchaikovsky’s “Iolanta,” and Bartók’s “Bluebeard’s Castle” from the Met, and the contemporary jazz opera “Dear Erich” from City Opera.

a sense of reality to a narrative that might otherwise seem familiar. I’m not sure that ultimately there’s much to “Birds of Passage” other than being a well-made gangster film that attempts to approach its subject from an unusual perspective, but it sympathizes with Latin Americans who get involved in drug dealing without going to the opposite extreme of glamorizing them. BIRDS OF PASSAGE | Directed by Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra | The Orchard | In Spanish with English subtitles | Opens Feb. 13 | Film Forum, 209 W. Houston St. | filmforum.org February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

E3227<5 27@31B=@G TUXEDOS

TUXEDO WORLD OF STATEN ISLAND 2791 Richmond Avenue, #6, Staten Island, NY 10314 (718) 698-4859 www.tuxedoworldsi.com

CATERING & VENUES

BAY RIDGE BAKERY 7805 5th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11209 (718) 238-0014 www.bayridgebakery.com www.glutenfreegloriously.com BAY RIDGE MANOR 476 76th Street, Brooklyn (718) 748-8855 www.bayridgemanor.com BAYSIDE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 208 Totten Avenue, Fort Totten Bayside NY 11359 (718) 352-1548 email: siterental@baysidehistorical.org GLEN TERRACE 5313 Avenue N, Brooklyn (718) 252-4614 GRAND OAKS COUNTRY CLUB 200 Huguenot Avenue, Staten Island (718) 356–2771 www.grandoaksnyc.com GRAND PROSPECT HALL 263 Prospect Avenue, Brooklyn (718) 788-0777 www.grandprospecthall.com GREENHOUSE CAFE 7717 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn (718) 989-8952, www.GreenHouseCafe.com HUNTERS STEAK HOUSE 9404 Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11209 (718) 238-8899, www.HuntersSteakhouse.com IL FORNETTO 2902 Emmons Avenue, Brooklyn (718) 332-8494 www.ilFornettoRestaurant.com NICK’S LOBSTER HOUSE 2777 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11234 (718) 253-7117 www.Nickslobsterhouse.com PARADISE CATERING HALL 51 Avenue U, Brooklyn, NY 11223 (718) 372-4352 www.theparadisecateringhall.com THE PEARL ROOM 8518 - 3rd Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11209 (718) 833-6666 www.pearlroombklyn.com RECEPTION HOUSE 167-17 Northern Blvd., Flushing, NY (718) 445-1244 www.ReceptionHouse.com RIVIERA CATERING & EVENTS 2780 Stillwell Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11224 (718) 372-3031 www.rivieracaterers.com SHERATON BROOKLYN NY HOTEL Contact Stephanie Mendez, Sales Mgr. (917) 281-5550 stephanie.mendez@ sheratonbrooklynnewyork.com

SHERATON LAGUARDIA EAST HOTEL 135-20 39th Avenue, Flushing NY 11354 (718) 670-7408 sales@sheratonlaguardia.com sheratonlaguardiaeast.com SIRICO’S CATERERS 8015-23 13th Avenue, Brooklyn (718) 331-2900, www.siricoscaterers.net SOTTO 13 5140 West 13th Street, New York, NY (212) 647-1001, sotto13.com TERRACE ON THE PARK 52-11 111 Street, Flushing, NY 11368 (718) 592-5000 www.terraceonthepark.com THALASSA 179 Franklin Street TriBeCa, New York City (212) 941-7661, www.thalassanyc.com THE VANDERBILT AT SOUTH BEACH 300 Father Capodanno Boulevard Staten Island, NY, (718) 447-0800 www.vanderbiltsouthbeach.com

ENTERTAINMENT

EXPRESS ENTERTAINMENT Professional DJ’s & MC’s (917) 808-7573, curtis03291962@gmail.com HARRY’S HABANA HUT 214-09 41st Ave., Bayside, NY 11361 (718) 423-5049, www.harryshabanahut.com ND CIGARS INC. AKA LA CASA GRANDE CIGARS 2344 Arthur Avenue, Bronx, NY, 10458 (718) 364-4657, lcgcigars.com

FAVORS & INVITATIONS

UNFORGETTABLE EVENTS 2049 Flatbush Ave., Brooklyn (718) 377-4535

FLORISTS

FLORAL FANTASY 3031 Quentin Road, Brooklyn, (718) 998-7060 or (800) 566–8380 www.floralfantasyny.com HENRY’S FLORIST 8103 Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn (800) 543-6797 or (718) 238–3838 www.henrysfloristweddingevents.com MARINE FLORIST AND DECORATORS 1995 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn (800) 447-6730 or (718) 338-3600 www.marineflorists.com

JEWELERS

BOBBY’S JEWELERS 514-81 St., Brooklyn, NY 11209 (718) 745-1725 BUONO JEWELERS 1250 Hylan Blvd., #6a, Staten Island, NY 10305 (718) 448-4900, www.buonojewelers.com

LIMOUSINE SERVICES

MILA LIMOUSINE CORPORATION (718) 232-8973, www.milalimo.com M&V LIMOUSINES LTD. 1-800-498-5788 1117 Jericho Tpke, Commack, NY (631) 543-0908 151 Denton Ave., New Hyde Park, NY (516) 921-6845 535 8th Ave., 3rd Flr., NY, NY (646) 757-9101 www.mvlimo.com ROMANTIQUE/DOUBLE DIAMOND LIMOUSINES 1421-86 Street, Brooklyn, NY, (718) 232-7273 2041-Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island (718) 351-7273, www.rddlimos.com

SOPHISTICATED LIMOUSINES Servicing the Tri- State Area, (718) 816-9475 www.sophisticatedlimousines.com

PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO

FANTASY PHOTOGRAPHY 3031 Quentin Rd., Brooklyn NY (718) 998-0949 www.fantasyphotographyandvideo.com NY PHOTO VIDEO GROUP 1040 Hempstead Tpke Franklin Sq., NY 11010 11 Michael Avenue Farmingdale, NY 11735 Office: 516-352-3188 Joe Cell: 516-445-8054 Peter Cell: 516-343-6662 www.nyphotovideogroup.com info@nyphotovideogroup.com ONE FINE DAY PHOTOGRAPHERS 459 Pacific St., Massapequa Park (516) 690–1320 www.onefinedayphotographers.com ZAKAS PHOTOGRAPHY info@zakasphotography.com www.zakasphotography.com

REAL ESTATE

DREAM HOUSE REALTY 7505 15th Avenue Brookyn, NY 11228 (718) 837–2121, carolynctrp@aol.com Carolyn Trippe, Lic. RE Broker

SALONS

PILO ARTS SALON 8412 3 Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11209 (718) 748–7411, www.piloarts.com

SERVICES

COSMETIC & LASER CENTER OF BAY RIDGE 9921 4th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11209 (718) 833-2793 or (718) 833-7616 www.BayRidgeDerm.com DENTAL PLACE Manhattan office: 17 Ave. D, NY, NY 1009 (212) 647-1588 Brooklyn Office: 7420 6 Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11209 (718) 759-9669 www.drmehtadental.com ELITE WEIGHT LOSS 1316 Kings Highway, Brooklyn, NY 11229 (917) 444-3043, EliteWeightLossNY.com KHROM DERMATOLOGY & AESTHETICS 2797 Ocean Pkwy, 1st fl., Brooklyn, NY 11235 (718) 866-3616 www.josephlichterdds.com JOSEPH LICHTER, D.D.S. 1420 Avenue P in Brooklyn (718) 339-7878, www.khromMD.com OMNI DENTAL CARE 313 Kings Highway in Brooklyn (718) 376-8656, www.omnidentalcare.com

TRAVEL

JOLYN TRAVEL 7315 13th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11228 (718) 232-3139, (917) 797-7341 jolyntravel@aol.com

WEDDING INSURANCE

TRI-STATE INSURANCE BROKERAGE 609 E 188th Street Bronx, NY 10458 (718) 618-7666

WEDDING EXPOS

BRIDAL AFFAIR (718) 317–9701, www.bridalaffair.com

TO BE INCLUDED IN THIS DIRECTORY CALL (718) 260–8302 GayCityNews.nyc | February 14 - February 27, 2019

MUSIC

Sunny Next Step from Bob Mould Veteran punk rocker offers ffers upbeat up pbeat ttunes from Berlin BY STEVE ERICKSON n a first listen, Bob Mould’s latest album, “Sunshine Rock,” falls in line with most of the music he’s been making for decades. It’s full of songs that charge ahead at full speed, generally in a cheerful mood. It even brings back memories of both of his former bands, Hüsker Dü and Sugar. Back in the ‘80s, Mould’s guitar sound in Hüsker Dü distinguished itself, especially in the hardcore punk scene where the band started out, by his use of a chorus pedal to make it sound more enveloping than mere volume could produce. His guitar work on “Sunshine Rock” is loud, distorted, and trebly. Repeated listens reveal detail in Mould’s production. Both he and Jon Wurster are credited with percussion, and tambourines clang away on many songs. But the album’s production is oddly cheap-sounding. Its loudness comes at the cost of sounding compressed and eliminating low end. The bass is most audible when it sounds like another guitar. This doesn’t exactly harm the music — Hüsker Dü’s “Zen Arcade” could use a re-mastering and bootlegs of its demos floating sound punchier than the released album’s mix, but it’s still a great album. Still, it means that I initially thought its strings came out of a synthesizer and was surprised to learn that the Prague TV Orchestra, as well as cellist Alison Chesley, played on the album. By 1984, Hüsker Dü announced their alienation from the rigidity of the hardcore scene with “Zen Arcade,” a double album telling a conceptual story and featuring a 15-minute song, as well as an aggressive but more pop-oriented sound. The band’s best albums, “New Day Rising” and “Flip Your Wig,” polished that mix of punk and pop, while its major label debut, “Candy Apple Grey,” veered into a mood of grim depression. Mould struggled with addiction to alcohol and amphetamines around that time. (Both the title and the mood

ALICIA J. ROSE

Bob Mould.

MERGE RECORDS

The latest album from guitarist and singer Bob Mould.

of barely coherent rage of “Crystal,” the opening song on “Candy Apple Grey,” likely allude to that.) Mould started talking about being gay in the mid-‘90s, although his sexuality (as well as the fact that Hüsker Dü singer/ songwriter/ drummer Grant Hart was also queer) was a very open secret

to fans of alternative music before that point. Even earlier, Sugar’s video for one of its most popular songs, “If I Can’t Change Your Mind,” showed same-sex couples and ended with Mould holding up a photo of him and his partner, then flipping it over to reveal the handwritten words “this is not

your parent’s world.” In addition to “Sunshine Rock,” three other songs on this album use the word “sun” in their titles: “Sunny Love Song,” “Camp Sunshine,” “Western Sunset.” Considering that Mould is 58, it’s hard to avoid the spectre of dad-rock hanging over his recent music, but it doesn’t sound complacent or lazy. Most of this album pulls off the difficult trick of building something optimistic on Mould’s punk roots. “What Do You Want Me To Do,” “Irrational Poison,” “Send Me a Postcard,” “I Fought,” and “Thirty Dozen Roses” could pass for Hüsker Dü outtakes. “The Final Years” is one of the most striking songs on “Sunshine Rock” because it’s a ballad that sounds so different from the rest of the album. Mould switches to keyboards to play its haunting melody. On the chorus, strings come in. Without getting bleak, Mould’s lyrics contemplate his aging. He ponders “the slowing down, foot caressing pavement with caution, not like before when we ran with abandon across the rocks and cracks of fissured earth and shattered sky and weeds that grow so terribly high” before wondering, “What we do cherish in the final years?” “Sunshine Rock” reaches out to a lover, making promises that build on the title by using the sun, moon, and astronomy as metaphors. Mould now lives in Berlin. Maybe as a result, the upbeat tone of “Sunshine Rock” reflects a certain distance from the dystopian mood of contemporary American life. The album’s procession of majorkey melodies played on guitars and strings over pummeling drums implies a triumph over the problems described in its lyrics, or at least a coming to peace with them. While the album doesn’t break any new ground, it polishes a sound that he’s been working on since the ‘80s. This is a rare example of “hopepunk” that actually sounds like punk. BOB MOULD | “Sunshine Rock” | Merge Records | mergerecords.com

February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

➤ BARCLAYS CENTER, from p.16 selecting a site for a 15,000-attendee event is not the same as choosing a fast food restaurant. We are confident that the community appreciates the many factors we have to consider when selecting our event venues.” In conjunction with the 50th anniversary, HOP is hosting WorldPride this year. Its contract with WorldPride requires HOP to produce opening and closing ceremonies. It is producing other events as well, and HOP earlier confirmed that its budget for 2019 is $12 million. Barclays Center is owned by Mikhail Prokhorov, a Russian oligarch who also owns the Brooklyn Nets, a basketball team, and has businesses in Russia, though media reports say he had a falling out with Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president. The arena is managed by AEG Worldwide, a subsidiary of the Anschutz Company, which is a private company that is owned by Philip Anschutz. Anschutz has a long history of funding anti-LGBTQ causes and organizations, including the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Research Council. His support for such causes and groups was longstanding. In 1992, he gave $10,000 to Colorado for Family Values, the group that sponsored a state ballot initiative that barred lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in that state from seeking anti-discrimination laws except through a state ballot initiative. That group promoted a yes vote on the initiative by linking lesbian, gay, and bisexual people to pedophilia and the destruction of families, among other ills. The initiative invalidated laws that banned discrimination based on sexual orientation in three Colorado cities. The measure passed, but was struck down by the US Supreme Court in 1996. In 2017 and again in 2018, Anschutz or his surrogates issued statements saying that he does not knowingly fund such groups and stops donating to them when he learns they are anti-LGBTQ. In 2018, the website Pitchfork reported that in 2016 the Anschutz Foundation gave donations ranging from $25,000 to $185,000 to

five groups that had anti-LGBTQ ideology as part of their mission. Gay City News could not find a more recent Form 990 for that foundation. Those forms list the entities that foundations fund. His political giving is a separate issue. In 2017 and 2018, Anschutz donated almost exclusively to Republicans, including one or two who are not virulently antiLGBTQ, but a large amount of his money went to Republican state and federal committees that can support any candidate. Anschutz gave $33,900 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and $150,000 to an NRSC affiliate that donated $7.5 million to state Republican committees. He made smaller donations of $6,450 to 14 state Republican committees and gave $10,000 to the Colorado Republican Committee in 2018. That HOP would use Barclays Center and spend $12 million this year was discussed at the group’s public meetings in late 2018 that Gay City News did not attend. Confirmation from HOP of the $12 million budget came on January 18 this year and only after David Studinski, one of two HOP co-chairs, refused to answer questions about the group’s plans at HOP’s membership meeting four days earlier. The statement about the Barclay’s Center was issued on January 30. The Reclaim Pride Coalition, a group that hopes to mount its own march up Sixth Avenue in Manhattan and Central Park rally on the last Sunday in June this year to mark the 50th anniversary, has already criticized HOP’s deal with Barclay’s Center and the $12 million budget. “Heritage of Pride has a long track record of sucking up to corporations at the expense of those who live and died for LGBTQ+ liberation, but HOP potentially funding our own political enemies, by renting out a property that homophobe Philip Anschutz’s company manages, sinks to a new low, especially on the 50th anniversary of Stonewall,” Brandon Cuicchi, a Coalition member, said in the press release last year. The Coalition’s route and rally mirror the route and rally of the 1970 march, the first that commemorated the 1969 Stonewall riots.

GayCityNews.nyc | February 14 - February 27, 2019

FAMILY PRIDE SECTION TO ADVERTISE CONTACT: GAYLE H. GREENBERG 718-260-4585 GGREENBERG@CNGLOCAL.COM GAYCITYNEWS.NYC 39

CRIME

New Yorkers Rally in Solidarity with Jussie Smollett As Chicago police continue probe, “Empire” star, in LA, makes ﬁrst concert appearance BY DONNA ACETO & PAUL SCHINDLER

s Chicago police continued their search for two masked men who attacked “Empire” star Jussie Smollett, a crowd of more 100 gathered in frigid temperatures on February 1 at Grand Army Plaza opposite from the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan to show their solidarity with Smollett and all LGBTQ victims of hate violence. The rally, called by VOCAL New York, brought together leaders from a number of local advocacy groups and was headlined by leading activists from communities of color. Among those who addressed the crowd were Zola Bruce from the Center for Anti-Violence Education, Angelica Torres, a model and transgender advocate who attended the Hetrick-Martin Institute’s Harvey Milk High School, author

DONNA ACETO

A gathering of more than 100 in Manhattan on February 1 showed solidarity with Jussie Smollett and other victims of anti-LGBTQ violence.

and activist James Felton Keith, Tabytha Gonzalez from the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, Tanya Walker from the New York Transgender Advocacy Group, and Beverly Tillery from the New York City Anti-Violence Project.

The speakers emphasized that in the rising tide of anti-LGBTQ violence over the past several years, transgender women of color have faced particular risk. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 29 transgender women were murdered in 2018, most of them wom-

en of color. Among others on hand were Carl Siciliano, the founder of the Ali Forney Project, which provides housing and social services to homeless queer youth, former City Council Speaker Melissa MarkViverito, who is a candidate in the public advocate special election on February 26, Jo Macellaro, and Anne Maguire from Revolting Lesbians, and Alyson Palmer from the band BETTY. Smollett, the following evening in West Hollywood, made his first concert appearance since the January 29 attack. According to Chicago police, the two assailants, still being sought, shouted racist and homophobic slurs at Smollett, punched him, poured a chemical liquid on him, and put a noose around his neck. They are also

➤ JUSSIE SMOLLETT, continued on p.41

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February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

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Beverly Tillery of the Anti-Violence Project.

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Angelica Torres.

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Zola Bruce of the Center for Anti-Violence Education.

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James Felton Keith.

Tabytha Gonzalez from the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund.

â&#x17E;¤ JUSSIE SMOLLETT, from p.40 reported to have shouted that the victim was in â&#x20AC;&#x153;MAGA countryâ&#x20AC;? as they were fleeing the scene. According to USA Today, following the West Hollywood concert, Smollett clarified that he suffered bruised, not broken, ribs and that he had not been hospitalized as originally reported. He told the concert audience, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The most important thing I can say is thank you so much, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m okayâ&#x20AC;Ś Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not fully healed yet, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m going to stand strong with you all.â&#x20AC;?

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February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc

HEALTH

NYS Shies Away from Overdose Prevention Centers Trump administration moves against local opioid harm reduction BY NATHAN RILEY

he showdown between the federal government and state public health programs that are working to combat the epidemic of overdose deaths has officially started in Philadelphia. The US attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on February 6 asked a federal judge to declare that supervised injection programs are illegal. The suit seeks to stop Safehouse, the proposed provider of a supervised injection site, from opening. The action by US Attorney William M. McSwain is a civil, not criminal, action and asks the court to declare preemptively that the proposed public health facility would be illegal. That court filing coincidentally followed by one day testimony from New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker that he is withholding approval of supervised injection facilities here in the face of mounting federal threats to prosecute such venues. Overdoses happen in these facilities, but prompt intervention by health professionals restores normal breathing and an OD victim avoids a life-threatening accident. Zucker appeared before the Joint Senate and Assembly hearing on the State Department of Health’s budget and said that forceful opposition from the Trump administration has made him hesitate to offer immediate approval of the type of safer consumption spaces that are operating in more than 100 cities in Canada, Europe, and Australia. McSwain’s action in Philadelphia, meanwhile, seeks a declaratory judgment before any site becomes operational. In that way, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported, the prosecutor avoided more “drastic steps such as arrests, prosecutions, or forfeiture proceedings.” Despite being on the other side of the issue, that is an approach that won praise from attorneys for Safehouse. District Judge Gerald A.

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY

Dr. Howard Zucker, the state health commissioner, testifying before a Joint Senate and Assembly hearing on February 5.

McHugh’s job will be to interpret federal law to see if supervised injection sites may open without Congress changing existing law — especially a 1986 crack house law that imposes prison sentences of up to 20 years for maintaining an establishment for the use of drugs. The delay in opening what New York City officials are calling Overdose Prevention Centers has been accompanied by growing neighborhood concerns in Washington Heights and the Bronx about needles being found in parks and on subway platforms. A meeting was held at City Hall in January about crafting a response to this problem without reinstating sweeps that haul drug users into Rikers Island. The law and order approach can lead to illness among incarcerated users and the risk of overdose when they are released and find they can no longer tolerate their former doses. By allowing drug users to consume on premises, Overdose Prevention Centers stop them from discarding their syringes in public places. The facilities have the same red containers for medical waste that exist in every doctor’s office. The facilities not only prevent overdose deaths but also provide a way for health professionals to link users to treatment they may be willing to pursue. The de Blasio administration

GayCityNews.nyc | February 14 - February 27, 2019

last year signaled its support for the overdose centers, but the city is awaiting a green light from Albany. In a related matter, VOCAL-NY, a group that focuses on the civil rights of drug users, has opened a new front in the battle for better health services for this population. It is pushing legislative leaders in Albany to improve health programs in state prisons and local jails. At a February 5 press conference in Albany, the group asked that funds be appropriated to provide prisoners with medically assisted treatments for drug addiction and hepatitis C. VOCAL is an active member of the Hepatitis C Elimination Coalition. The new effort calls for providing prisoners with the same medical services available to the general public. Reports on the overdose epidemic from across the country — in both Democratic and Republican jurisdictions — conclude that medically assisted treatment, which reduces the craving for opioids, produces the best results. But only six of 54 state prisons in New York provide this medical care — and, outside of Rikers Island, county jails make their detainees go cold turkey with minimal medical intervention. Simply cutting off a user from their supply escalates craving, making the person fi xate on the drug and increasing their risk of

relapse, often with deadly consequences. Medically assisted treatment for heroin users — methadone and buprenorphine — reduces that craving. And should a person relapse, these medicines block the high. While no treatment is 100 percent effective, the success rate of persons receiving medically assisted treatment is much higher than those relying strictly on abstinence. This is a message VOCAL and its allies have been explaining to legislative staff. In letters to Senate Majority Leader Andrea StewartCousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, VOCAL, citing a State Health Department finding that hepatitis C epidemics “emerge in the same areas hardest hit by opioid overdose deaths,” asked for $10 million to provide medically assisted treatment as well as hep C treatment to the prison population. “The prisons and jails are incubators for poor health,” explained Clifton Garmon, a senior policy analyst at VOCAL. Needle sharing either for drugs or tattoos transmits hep C, and incarcerated men are denied condoms and lubes, maximizing the risk of anal tearing during intercourse. These lapses in both preventive medicine and available treatments are “perpetuating” epidemics that could be brought under control, Garmon warned.

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February 14 - February 27, 2019 | GayCityNews.nyc