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Love & Marriage inside

SEPT. 28 - OCT. 11, 2011 VOLUME TEN, ISSUE 20

S E R V I N G G A Y, L E S B I A N , B I A N D T R A N S G E N D E R E D N E W Y O R K • W W W . G A Y C I T Y N E W S . C O M

Evan Wolfson, Marriage Strategist-inChief, Moves to the Front

BY DUNCAN OSBORNE

LOVE & MARRIAGE P. 1W

MICHAEL T. LUONGO

F

or years after Freedom to Marry launched in 2003, its annual budget ranged from $1.2 million to $1.4 million, and it served as the “internal movement strategy center” and cheerleader for the marriage drive. “I spent much more of my time raising money for other organizations than I did for Freedom to Marry,” founder Evan Wolfson said. Now, the group is in the thick of state-by-state battles to win equality, as illustrated by the key role it played in enacting same-sex marriage in New York.

Freedom to Marry, with a $5 million budget, spent over $1 million on that effort.

VETERANS ANTHONY GRECCO, BRENDA SUE FULTON & ROB SMITH OUTSIDE THE STONEWALL CELEBRATING DADT’S REPEAL

Back to Stonewall To Celebrate Don’t Ask Repeal

BY MICHAEL T. LUONGO

I

MUSTO’S MIGHTY GALL 22

t was a signal gay moment celebrated in New York’s most historic gay venue — the end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT), the 1993 Clinton-era gay military policy, in the Stonewall Inn, the iconic Christopher Street bar that sparked the modern gay rights movement more 40 years ago.

By 8 p.m. on September 20 — just before City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, pulling Queens Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer on stage with her, gave a short speech in honor of

the occasion — the Inn had perhaps 120 patrons, some spilling outside for cigarettes. Maybe a third were military, including West Point cadets, former military, or service members’ family, but the clues were subtle — buzz cuts, a woman wearing her partner’s fatigue jacket, and that certain demeanor that no civilian can easily imitate.

The event was sponsored by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), a group that for years pushed for DADT’s repeal while providing aid to soldiers facing discharge or trying to avoid it.

Brenda Sue Fulton graduated from West Point in 1980, the first class with female students. She said that about eight of 62 women graduating with her were lesbians, explaining, “We’re in our 50s now, you know. We’ve remained in touch.”

Fulton served in the Army for five years in the Signal Corps based in Germany near Stuttgart as a platoon leader, staff officer, and company commander.

When asked her feelings about DADT’s repeal, she was at first speechless, and then suddenly said, “I can’t even describe

STONEWALL P. 12

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28 SEP – 11 OCT 2011

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■ MEDIA

Don Lemon Pulls Back the Curtain Coming out as gay, abuse survivor, CNN anchor talks transparency

BY PAUL SCHINDLER

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oming in here, I felt, ‘I’m at home. I’m with my people.’”

Those were the opening words CNN anchor and reporter Don Lemon used as he mounted the podium to accept a Courage Award from the New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP) on September 22.

Before continuing his remarks, Lemon, 45 and the winner of four Emmys and an Edward R. Murrow Award, urged the crowd of roughly 150 to come closer.

When the AVP poster on the front of the podium slipped to the ground, he waved off a woman who rushed to put it back in place, saying, “I don’t care about that.”

Lemon was focused on cementing his connection with his audience, and he joked, “I’m a TV anchor. I like being the center of attention.” The comment wasn’t off-putting in the least; in fact, it carried more than a hint of self-deprecation. He steered through the moment with considerable charm.

In his remarks and a conversation that followed, Lemon came off as warm and genuine. Using his easy charisma to establish rapport seems important to him.

Which is a surprising observation about a man who wrote in his recent memoir, “Transparent,” “I find it hard to become close to people. I find it hard to trust. I feel myself ‘different’ in ways that aren’t always good.”

Those feelings, Lemon’s book explains, arise from the ongoing challenge of “eras[ing] the shame” of sexual abuse he suffered for a period of at least five years beginning when he was only five.

It was a year ago that Lemon first spoke publicly about that abuse, during a CNN interview with members of Bishop Eddie Long’s congregation at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Georgia. At the time, Long was facing civil charges, since settled out of court, of having used his pastoral influence to coerce several young men affiliated with the church into sexual relationships.

Lemon wrote about his abuse in “Transparent,” which was also the first public forum in which he talked about being gay. Given the attention Lemon has received on both scores since the book came out this spring, his presence at the AVP seemed appropriate, especially since the group was also honoring its Domestic Violence Legal Clinic.

Lemon was not the victim of a family

GAY CITY NEWS

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Don Lemon, with his boyfriend Ben Tinker, at the AVP Courage Awards.

member, but like most targets of pedophilia, he knew his abuser. In fact, the perpetrator, who was in his late teens, was the son of a friend of his mother.

Despite the loving support of his family as a youth, Lemon was unable to discuss what happened to him then with his mother until he was around 30 and had left his native Louisiana for New York.

Here, he entered therapy and was surprised by what he learned about himself.

“I thought my problems were about being gay,” he told Gay City News. “And I realized that they were about the abuse.”

Lemon refrains from spelling out “the salacious details” of the abuse in the book, nor does he talk in too many particulars about being gay.

About his politics, all he says is that he is an admirer of the “Great Communicator,” Ronald Reagan, and that, asked on air by Wolf Blitzer how he felt at Barack Obama’s inauguration, he responded, “As an African American man, with an African American mother at home who is watching this moment, and I know, crying, I am absolutely overcome.”

But even that statement, Lemon writes, was too much for some observers, who as a result put him in what he calls “the black box,” a set of expectations — constraints, really — about the hows and whys of an African American man’s behavior and beliefs.

The black box worked at cross currents in his life. He withdrew from Louisiana State University because a journalism professor conveyed unmistakably his view that a black man was not

䉴

LEMON, continued on p.3

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AVP HONORS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ATTORNEYS At its annual Courage Awards held September 22 at Studio 450 in Midtown, the New York City Anti-Violence Project honored the attorneys from its Domestic Violence Legal Clinic, which is a collaboration among AVP, the New York Legal Assistance Group, Sanctuary for Families, and the Urban Justice Center. Accepting the award, Andrew Sta. Ana (second from l., seen with AVP executive direc-

䉴

LEMON, from p.2

suited for the news business. Yet, several years earlier, when he transferred from Catholic school to a public high school, Lemon’s fellow black students were suspicious of his friendship with white kids.

Lemon could have also coined the phrase “gay box.” When the management at the NBC affiliate where he worked in Chicago during the past decade rejected his story pitches about AIDS, he was told, “Viewers would question my sexuality or wonder if I had AIDS.” Lemon has been outspoken about the racial inequalities and disconnects that continue to plague American life. Writing about Hurricane Katrina, he says, “New Orleans is still teaching us about how systematic, institutional racism kills.”

After lauding the diversity he encountered at AVP’s event, he told this reporter he often attends evenings hosted by gay groups where he is one of the few people of color in the room. Asked what he thinks is responsible for that, he replied, “I don’t know. I don’t understand it.”

Lemon is similarly frustrated by the resistance he finds among African Americans toward the LGBT community.

“The black community still shows a high degree of intolerance for its gay brothers and sisters,” he writes — a sentiment for which, he said, he catches a good bit of flak.

Lemon talked with Gay City News the evening after Troy Davis’ execution in Georgia created a national media vigil over the possibility of a reprieve. This reporter asked about the coincidence of James Byrd, Jr.’s killer having been executed the same night in Texas.

“I think we missed an opportunity here,” Lemon said of the coverage of the two executions.

Only a few news reports noted the execution of Byrd’s killer, and what was largely ignored was the fact that Byrd was an African American man who had logging chains wrapped around his ankles before he was dragged over an asphalt road behind a pick-up truck to his death.

tor Sharon Stapel and colleagues Ted Farley and Virginia Goggin), said, “Let’s give it up for the survivors.” Survivors of street hate crimes were the subject of a short film –– produced by Rob Feinberg and Paul Orefice of the Watsons firm –– screened during the awards ceremony. Awards also went to Time Warner Inc. and to CNN anchor and reporter Don Lemon (see story, page 2). –– Paul Schindler

Along with Matthew Shepard, the federal hate crimes law is named for Byrd.

Addressing the disparities in coverage, Lemon said, “It has to do with diversity in the news rooms. And there are reporters and producers who don’t remember who James Byrd was or are too young to have known.”

In his book, Lemon talks about traveling to Texas to cover the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia explosion. “I found my mental wheels turning on a very different story,” he writes. “James Byrd was on my mind.”

Visiting the culvert in Jasper where Byrd’s head and right arm were severed from his torso, he writes, “I shivered just looking at it.”

Lemon did not set out to write about his abuse or his identity as a gay man when he began work on “Transparent.” He told the AVP audience that he sought support from his boyfriend, Ben Tinker, who also works at CNN, in deciding to go public about being gay, and he explained to Gay City News, “This all took shape” only after talking about being abused on national television as he was working on the book.

“Never in a million years did I think I would talk about it,” he said of what he explained as a spontaneous decision to speak up on TV about his childhood experiences.

For some colleagues of Lemon’s, all this self-disclosure is too much. Asked whether peers had expressed disagreement with his public posture, he responded, “Absolutely.” And have there been management efforts to pull him back? “All the time.”

There are, of course, prominent journalists who have chosen not to speak about their homosexuality, no matter how widely known. The usual argument is that journalists should not be part of the story.

Lemon answers that perspective in his book.

“As a journalist, I’m a huge believer in transparency,” he writes. “I don’t like communication with a hidden agenda, and I don’t like people who conceal things to make themselves look better. Transparency in the process of obtaining information is critical.”

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28 SEP – 11 OCT 2011

).$)#!4)/. REYATAZÂŽ (atazanavir sulfate) is a prescription medicine used in combination with other medicines to treat people 6 years of age and older who are infected with the human immunodeďŹ ciency virus (HIV).

REYATAZ has been studied in a 48-week trial in patients who have taken anti-HIV medicines and a 96-week trial in patients who have never taken anti-HIV medicines.

2%9!4!: DOES NOT CURE ()6 OR LOWER YOUR CHANCE OF PASSING ()6 TO OTHERS People taking REYATAZ may still get opportunistic infections or other conditions that happen with HIV infection. )-0/24!.4 3!&%49 ).&/2-!4)/. $O NOT TAKE 2%9!4!: IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO 2%9!4!: OR TO ANY OF ITS INGREDIENTS $O NOT TAKE 2%9!4!: IF YOU ARE TAKING THE FOLLOWING MEDICINES DUE TO POTENTIAL FOR SERIOUS

LIFE THREATENING SIDE EFFECTS OR DEATH VersedÂŽ (midazolam) when taken by mouth, HalcionÂŽ (triazolam), ergot medicines (dihydroergotamine, ergonovine, ergotamine, and methylergonovine such as CafergotÂŽ, MigranalÂŽ, D.H.E. 45ÂŽ, ergotrate maleate, MethergineÂŽ, and others), PropulsidÂŽ (cisapride), or OrapÂŽ (pimozide). $O NOT TAKE 2%9!4!: WITH THE FOLLOWING MEDICINES DUE TO POTENTIAL FOR SERIOUS SIDE EFFECTS CamptosarÂŽ (irinotecan), CrixivanÂŽ (indinavir), MevacorÂŽ (lovastatin), ZocorÂŽ (simvastatin), UroxatralÂŽ (alfuzosin), or RevatioÂŽ (sildenaďŹ l). $O NOT TAKE 2%9!4!: WITH THE FOLLOWING MEDICINES AS THEY MAY LOWER THE AMOUNT OF 2%9!4!: IN YOUR BLOOD which may lead to increased HIV viral load and resistance to REYATAZ or other anti-HIV medicines: rifampin (also known as RimactaneÂŽ, RifadinÂŽ, RifaterÂŽ, or RifamateÂŽ), St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum)containing products, or ViramuneÂŽ (nevirapine).

Serevent DiskusŽ (salmeterol) and AdvairŽ (salmeterol with uticasone) are NOT RECOMMENDED WITH 2%9!4!: $O NOT TAKE VfendŽ (voriconazole) if you are taking REYATAZ and NorvirŽ (ritonavir).

The above lists of medicines are not complete. 4AKING 2%9!4!: WITH SOME OTHER MEDICINES MAY REQUIRE YOUR THERAPY TO BE MONITORED MORE CLOSELY OR MAY REQUIRE A CHANGE IN DOSE OR DOSE SCHEDULE OF 2%9!4!: OR THE OTHER MEDICINE Discuss with your healthcare provider all prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamin and herbal supplements, or other health preparations you are taking or plan to take.

4ELL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IF YOU ARE PREGNANT OR PLAN TO BECOME PREGNANT REYATAZ use during pregnancy has not been associated with an increase in birth defects. Pregnant women have experienced serious side effects when taking REYATAZ with other HIV medicines called nucleoside analogues. !FTER YOUR BABY IS BORN tell your healthcare provider if your baby’s skin or the white part of his/her eyes turns yellow.

9OU SHOULD NOT BREAST FEED if you are HIV-positive. !LSO TELL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IF YOU HAVE END STAGE KIDNEY DISEASE managed with hemodialysis or SEVERE LIVER DYSFUNCTION Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any side effects, symptoms, or conditions, including the following: s -ILD RASH (redness and itching) without other symptoms sometimes occurs in patients taking REYATAZ, most often in the ďŹ rst few weeks after the medicine is started, and usually goes away within 2 weeks with no change in treatment.

WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

)-0/24!.4 3!&%49 ).&/2-!4)/. CONT D s 3EVERE RASH may develop with other symptoms that could be serious and potentially cause death. )F YOU DEVELOP A RASH WITH ANY OF THE FOLLOWING SYMPTOMS STOP USING 2%9!4!: AND CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER RIGHT AWAY — Shortness of breath – General ill-feeling or â€œďŹ‚u-likeâ€? symptoms – Fever – Muscle or joint aches – Conjunctivitis (red or inamed eyes, like “pink eyeâ€?) – Blisters – Mouth sores – Swelling of your face s 9 ELLOWING OF THE SKIN AND OR EYES may occur due to increases in bilirubin levels in the blood (bilirubin is made by the liver). s !

CHANGE IN THE WAY YOUR HEART BEATS may occur.

You may feel dizzy or lightheaded. These could be symptoms of a heart problem. s $IABETES AND HIGH BLOOD SUGAR may occur in patients taking protease inhibitor medicines like REYATAZ. Some patients may need changes in their diabetes medicine. s )F YOU HAVE LIVER DISEASE, including hepatitis B or C, it may get worse when you take anti-HIV medicines like REYATAZ. s + IDNEY STONES have been reported in patients taking REYATAZ. Signs or symptoms of kidney stones include pain in your side, blood in your urine, and pain when you urinate. s 3 OME PATIENTS WITH HEMOPHILIA have increased bleeding problems with protease inhibitor medicines like REYATAZ. s # HANGES IN BODY FAT have been seen in some patients taking anti-HIV medicines. The cause and long-term effects are not known at this time. s ) MMUNE RECONSTITUTION SYNDROME has been seen in some patients with advanced HIV infection (AIDS) and a history of opportunistic infection. Signs and symptoms of inammation from previous infections may occur soon after starting anti-HIV treatment, including REYATAZ. s 'ALLBLADDER DISORDERS (including gallstones and gallbladder inammation) have been reported in patients taking REYATAZ. /THER COMMON SIDE EFFECTS of REYATAZ taken with other anti-HIV medicines include: nausea; headache; stomach pain; vomiting; diarrhea; depression; fever; dizziness; trouble sleeping; numbness, tingling, or burning of hands or feet; and muscle pain.

You should take 2%9!4!: ONCE DAILY WITH FOOD (a meal or snack). Swallow the capsules whole; DO NOT OPEN THE CAPSULES 9OU SHOULD TAKE 2%9!4!: AND YOUR OTHER ANTI ()6 MEDICINES EXACTLY AS INSTRUCTED BY YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER 9OU ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT NEGATIVE SIDE EFFECTS OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS TO THE &$! 6ISIT WWW FDA GOV MEDWATCH OR CALL &$!

2%9!4!: IS ONE OF SEVERAL TREATMENT OPTIONS YOUR DOCTOR MAY CONSIDER

0LEASE SEE )MPORTANT 0ATIENT )NFORMATION ABOUT 2%9!4!: ON THE ADJACENT PAGES REYATAZ is a registered trademark of Bristol-Myers Squibb.

All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners and not of Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Š 2011 Bristol-Myers Squibb, Princeton, NJ 08543 U.S.A. 687US11AB06104 06/11

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28 SEP – 11 OCT 2011

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DETERMINED + UNDETECTABLE REYATAZ CAN HELP GET YOU TO UNDETECTABLE, SO YOU CAN FIGHT HIV YOUR WAY.

ONCE-DAILY REYATAZ IN HIV COMBINATION THERAPY: s # AN HELP LOWER YOUR VIRAL LOAD TO UNDETECTABLE* and help raise your T-cell (CD4+ cell) count s (AS BEEN PRESCRIBED BY PHYSICIANS FOR MORE THAN 200,000 HIV patients since 2003 † s # AN BE TAKEN BY ADULTS WHO ARE STARTING ()6 treatment for the first time and adults who have already been on HIV treatment Do not take REYATAZ if you are allergic to REYATAZ or to any of its ingredients.

REYATAZ does not cure HIV and has not been shown to reduce the risk of passing HIV to others.

Individual results may vary.

Ask your healthcare team how REYATAZ in combination therapy can help get you to undetectable.

Fight HIV your way.

www.REYATAZ.com * Undetectable was defined as a viral load of less than 400 copies/mL. † Wolters Kluwer. SDI Product Brand

Report. Total Patient Tracker; November 2010.

28 SEP – 11 OCT 2011

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FDA-Approved Patient Labeling Patient Information

REYATAZ® (RAY-ah-taz) (generic name = atazanavir sulfate) Capsules ALERT: Find out about medicines that should NOT be taken with REYATAZ (atazanavir sulfate). Read the section “What important information should I know about taking REYATAZ with other medicines?”

Read the Patient Information that comes with REYATAZ before you start using it and each time you get a refill. There may be new information. This leaflet provides a summary about REYATAZ and does not include everything there is to know about your medicine. This information does not take the place of talking with your healthcare provider about your medical condition or treatment.

What is REYATAZ? REYATAZ is a prescription medicine used with other anti-HIV medicines to treat people 6 years of age and older who are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV is the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). REYATAZ is a type of anti-HIV medicine called a protease inhibitor. HIV infection destroys CD4+ (T) cells, which are important to the immune system.

The immune system helps fight infection. After a large number of (T) cells are destroyed, AIDS develops. REYATAZ helps to block HIV protease, an enzyme that is needed for the HIV virus to multiply. REYATAZ may lower the amount of HIV in your blood, help your body keep its supply of CD4+ (T) cells, and reduce the risk of death and illness associated with HIV. Does REYATAZ cure HIV or AIDS? REYATAZ does not cure HIV infection or AIDS. At present there is no cure for HIV infection. People taking REYATAZ may still get opportunistic infections or other conditions that happen with HIV infection. Opportunistic infections are infections that develop because the immune system is weak. Some of these conditions are pneumonia, herpes virus infections, and Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infections. It is very important that you see your healthcare provider regularly while taking REYATAZ. REYATAZ does not lower your chance of passing HIV to other people through sexual contact, sharing needles, or being exposed to your blood. For your health and the health of others, it is important to always practice safer sex by using a latex or polyurethane condom or other barrier to lower the chance of sexual contact with semen, vaginal secretions, or blood. Never use or share dirty needles.

Who should not take REYATAZ? Do not take REYATAZ if you: N are taking certain medicines. (See “What important information should I know about taking REYATAZ with other medicines?”) Serious life-threatening side effects or death may happen. Before you take REYATAZ, tell your healthcare provider about all medicines you are taking or planning to take.

These include other prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements.

N are allergic to REYATAZ or to any of its ingredients. The active ingredient is atazanavir sulfate. See the end of this leaflet for a complete list of ingredients in REYATAZ. Tell your healthcare provider if you think you have had an allergic reaction to any of these ingredients.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before I take REYATAZ? Tell your healthcare provider: N If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. REYATAZ use during pregnancy has not been associated with an increase in birth defects.

Pregnant women have experienced serious side effects when taking REYATAZ with other HIV medicines called nucleoside analogues. You and your healthcare provider will need to decide if REYATAZ is right for you. If you use REYATAZ while you are pregnant, talk to your healthcare provider about the Antiretroviral Pregnancy Registry.

N After your baby is born, tell your healthcare provider if your baby’s skin or the white part of his/her eyes turns yellow.

N If you are breast-feeding. You should not breast-feed if you are HIV-positive because of the chance of passing HIV to your baby. Also, it is not known if REYATAZ can pass into your breast milk and if it can harm your baby. If you are a woman who has or will have a baby, talk with your healthcare provider about the best way to feed your baby.

N If you have liver problems or are infected with the hepatitis B or C virus.

See “What are the possible side effects of REYATAZ?” N If you have end stage kidney disease managed with hemodialysis.

N If you have diabetes. See “What are the possible side effects of REYATAZ?” N If you have hemophilia. See “What are the possible side effects of REYATAZ?”

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REYATAZ® (atazanavir sulfate) N

About all the medicines you take including prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Keep a list of your medicines with you to show your healthcare provider. For more information, see “What important information should I know about taking REYATAZ with other medicines?” and “Who should not take REYATAZ?” Some medicines can cause serious side effects if taken with REYATAZ. How should I take REYATAZ? N Take REYATAZ once every day exactly as instructed by your healthcare provider. Your healthcare provider will prescribe the amount of REYATAZ that is right for you.

N Always take REYATAZ with food (a meal or snack) to help it work better.

Swallow the capsules whole. Do not open the capsules. Take REYATAZ at the same time each day.

N If you are taking antacids or didanosine (VIDEX® or VIDEX® EC), take REYATAZ 2 hours before or 1 hour after these medicines.

N If you are taking medicines for indigestion, heartburn, or ulcers such as AXID® (nizatidine), PEPCID AC® (famotidine), TAGAMET® (cimetidine), ZANTAC® (ranitidine), AcipHex® (rabeprazole), NEXIUM® (esomeprazole), PREVACID® (lansoprazole), PRILOSEC® (omeprazole), or PROTONIX® (pantoprazole), talk to your healthcare provider.

N Do not change your dose or stop taking REYATAZ without first talking with your healthcare provider. It is important to stay under a healthcare provider’s care while taking REYATAZ. N When your supply of REYATAZ starts to run low, get more from your healthcare provider or pharmacy. It is important not to run out of REYATAZ. The amount of HIV in your blood may increase if the medicine is stopped for even a short time.

N If you miss a dose of REYATAZ, take it as soon as possible and then take your next scheduled dose at its regular time. If, however, it is within 6 hours of your next dose, do not take the missed dose. Wait and take the next dose at the regular time. Do not double the next dose. It is important that you do not miss any doses of REYATAZ or your other anti-HIV medicines.

N If you take more than the prescribed dose of REYATAZ, call your healthcare provider or poison control center right away.

What are the possible side effects of REYATAZ? The following list of side effects is not complete. Report any new or continuing symptoms to your healthcare provider. If you have questions about side effects, ask your healthcare provider. Your healthcare provider may be able to help you manage these side effects.

The following side effects have been reported with REYATAZ: N mild rash (redness and itching) without other symptoms sometimes occurs in patients taking REYATAZ, most often in the first few weeks after the medicine is started. Rashes usually go away within 2 weeks with no change in treatment. Tell your healthcare provider if rash occurs.

N severe rash: Rash may develop in association with other symptoms which could be serious and potentially cause death.

If you develop a rash with any of the following symptoms stop using REYATAZ and call your healthcare provider right away: N shortness of breath N general ill feeling or “flu-like” symptoms N fever N muscle or joint aches N conjunctivitis (red or inflamed eyes, like “pink eye”) N blisters N mouth sores N swelling of your face N yellowing of the skin or eyes. These effects may be due to increases in bilirubin levels in the blood (bilirubin is made by the liver). Although these effects may not be damaging to your liver, skin, or eyes, call your healthcare provider promptly if your skin or the white part of your eyes turn yellow.

N a change in the way your heart beats (heart rhythm change). Call your healthcare provider right away if you get dizzy or lightheaded. These could be symptoms of a heart problem.

N diabetes and high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) sometimes happen in patients taking protease inhibitor medicines like REYATAZ. Some patients had diabetes before taking protease inhibitors while others did not. Some patients may need changes in their diabetes medicine.

N if you have liver disease including hepatitis B or C, your liver disease may get worse when you take anti-HIV medicines like REYATAZ. N kidney stones have been reported in patients taking REYATAZ. If you develop signs or symptoms of kidney stones (pain in your side, blood in your urine, pain when you urinate) tell your healthcare provider promptly.

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REYATAZ® (atazanavir sulfate) N

some patients with hemophilia have increased bleeding problems with protease inhibitors like REYATAZ. N changes in body fat. These changes may include an increased amount of fat in the upper back and neck (“buffalo hump”), breast, and around the trunk.

Loss of fat from the legs, arms, and face may also happen. The cause and long-term health effects of these conditions are not known at this time.

N immune reconstitution syndrome. In some patients with advanced HIV infection (AIDS) and a history of opportunistic infection, signs and symptoms of inflammation from previous infections may occur soon after anti-HIV treatment, including REYATAZ, is started.

Other common side effects of REYATAZ taken with other anti-HIV medicines include nausea; headache; stomach pain; vomiting; diarrhea; depression; fever; dizziness; trouble sleeping; numbness, tingling, or burning of hands or feet; and muscle pain.

Gallbladder disorders (which may include gallstones and gallbladder inflammation) have been reported in patients taking REYATAZ. What important information should I know about taking REYATAZ with other medicines?

Do not take REYATAZ if you take the following medicines (not all brands may be listed; tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take).

REYATAZ may cause serious, life-threatening side effects or death when used with these medicines.

N Ergot medicines: dihydroergotamine, ergonovine, ergotamine, and methylergonovine such as CAFERGOT®, MIGRANAL®, D.H.E. 45®, ergotrate maleate, METHERGINE®, and others (used for migraine headaches).

N ORAP® (pimozide, used for Tourette’s disorder).

N PROPULSID® (cisapride, used for certain stomach problems).

N Triazolam, also known as HALCION® (used for insomnia).

N Midazolam, also known as VERSED® (used for sedation), when taken by mouth.

Do not take the following medicines with REYATAZ because of possible serious side effects: N CAMPTOSAR® (irinotecan, used for cancer).

N CRIXIVAN® (indinavir, used for HIV infection). Both REYATAZ and CRIXIVAN sometimes cause increased levels of bilirubin in the blood.

N Cholesterol-lowering medicines MEVACOR® (lovastatin) or ZOCOR® (simvastatin).

N UROXATRAL® (alfuzosin, used to treat benign enlargement of the prostate).

N REVATIO® (sildenafil, used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension).

Do not take the following medicines with REYATAZ because they may lower the amount of REYATAZ in your blood. This may lead to an increased HIV viral load. Resistance to REYATAZ or cross-resistance to other HIV medicines may develop: N Rifampin (also known as RIMACTANE®, RIFADIN®, RIFATER®, or RIFAMATE®, used for tuberculosis).

N St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum), an herbal product sold as a dietary supplement, or products containing St. John’s wort.

N VIRAMUNE® (nevirapine, used for HIV infection).

The following medicines are not recommended with REYATAZ: N SEREVENT DISKUS® (salmeterol) and ADVAIR® (salmeterol with fluticasone), used to treat asthma, emphysema/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease also known as COPD. Do not take the following medicine if you are taking REYATAZ and NORVIR® together: N VFEND® (voriconazole).

The following medicines may require your healthcare provider to monitor your therapy more closely (for some medicines a change in the dose or dose schedule may be needed): N CIALIS® (tadalafil), LEVITRA® (vardenafil), or VIAGRA® (sildenafil), used to treat erectile dysfunction. REYATAZ may increase the chances of serious side effects that can happen with CIALIS, LEVITRA, or VIAGRA. Do not use CIALIS, LEVITRA, or VIAGRA while you are taking REYATAZ unless your healthcare provider tells you it is okay.

N ADCIRCA® (tadalafil) or TRACLEER® (bosentan), used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension.

N LIPITOR® (atorvastatin) or CRESTOR® (rosuvastatin). There is an increased chance of serious side effects if you take REYATAZ with this cholesterollowering medicine.

N Medicines for abnormal heart rhythm: CORDARONE® (amiodarone), lidocaine, quinidine (also known as CARDIOQUIN®, QUINIDEX®, and others).

N MYCOBUTIN® (rifabutin, an antibiotic used to treat tuberculosis).

REYATAZ® (atazanavir sulfate) N

®

®

BUPRENEX , SUBUTEX , SUBOXONE®, (buprenorphine or buprenorphine/ naloxone, used to treat pain and addiction to narcotic painkillers).

N VASCOR® (bepridil, used for chest pain).

N COUMADIN® (warfarin).

N Tricyclic antidepressants such as ELAVIL® (amitriptyline), NORPRAMIN® (desipramine), SINEQUAN® (doxepin), SURMONTIL® (trimipramine), TOFRANIL® (imipramine), or VIVACTIL® (protriptyline).

N Medicines to prevent organ transplant rejection: SANDIMMUNE® or NEORAL® (cyclosporin), RAPAMUNE® (sirolimus), or PROGRAF® (tacrolimus).

N The antidepressant trazodone (DESYREL® and others).

N Fluticasone propionate (FLONASE®, FLOVENT®), given by nose or inhaled to treat allergic symptoms or asthma. Your doctor may choose not to keep you on fluticasone, especially if you are also taking NORVIR®.

N Colchicine (COLCRYS®), used to prevent or treat gout or treat familial Mediterranean fever.

The following medicines may require a change in the dose or dose schedule of either REYATAZ or the other medicine: N INVIRASE® (saquinavir).

N NORVIR® (ritonavir).

N SUSTIVA® (efavirenz).

N Antacids or buffered medicines.

N VIDEX® (didanosine).

N VIREAD® (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate).

N MYCOBUTIN® (rifabutin).

N Calcium channel blockers such as CARDIZEM® or TIAZAC® (diltiazem), COVERA-HS® or ISOPTIN SR® (verapamil) and others.

N BIAXIN® (clarithromycin).

N Medicines for indigestion, heartburn, or ulcers such as AXID® (nizatidine), PEPCID AC® (famotidine), TAGAMET® (cimetidine), or ZANTAC® (ranitidine).

Talk to your healthcare provider about choosing an effective method of contraception. REYATAZ may affect the safety and effectiveness of hormonal contraceptives such as birth control pills or the contraceptive patch. Hormonal contraceptives do not prevent the spread of HIV to others.

Remember: 1. Know all the medicines you take.

2. Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take.

3. Do not start a new medicine without talking to your healthcare provider.

How should I store REYATAZ? N Store REYATAZ Capsules at room temperature, 59° to 86° F (15° to 30° C).

Do not store this medicine in a damp place such as a bathroom medicine cabinet or near the kitchen sink.

N Keep your medicine in a tightly closed container.

N Keep all medicines out of the reach of children and pets at all times. Do not keep medicine that is out of date or that you no longer need. Dispose of unused medicines through community take-back disposal programs when available or place REYATAZ in an unrecognizable, closed container in the household trash.

General information about REYATAZ This medicine was prescribed for your particular condition. Do not use REYATAZ for another condition. Do not give REYATAZ to other people, even if they have the same symptoms you have. It may harm them. Keep REYATAZ and all medicines out of the reach of children and pets.

This summary does not include everything there is to know about REYATAZ. Medicines are sometimes prescribed for conditions that are not mentioned in patient information leaflets. Remember no written summary can replace careful discussion with your healthcare provider. If you would like more information, talk with your healthcare provider or you can call 1-800-321-1335.

What are the ingredients in REYATAZ? Active Ingredient: atazanavir sulfate Inactive Ingredients: Crospovidone, lactose monohydrate (milk sugar), magnesium stearate, gelatin, FD&C Blue #2, and titanium dioxide.

VIDEX® and REYATAZ® are registered trademarks of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.

COUMADIN® and SUSTIVA® are registered trademarks of Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company. DESYREL® is a registered trademark of Mead Johnson and Company. Other brands listed are the trademarks of their respective owners and are not trademarks of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.

Princeton, NJ 08543 USA 1246226A9

F1-B0001B-02-11

Rev February 2011

28 SEP - 11 OCT 2011

8/ Legal

Will We Finally See Courtroom Debate?

Prop 8 trial recording may go public — but not on September 30 Walker, however, concluded that the Supreme Court’s order would not block him from having his own recording of the trial, and he notified the parties he would make one, to which none objected.

Walker later offered to share the recording on a confidential basis with the attorneys on both sides as they prepared their final arguments, but the only ones who took him up on the offer were those for the plaintiffs challenging Proposition 8 and for the City of San Francisco, a co-plaintiff. The

BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD

M

ore than a year after now-retired federal District Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that Califor nia’s Pr oposition 8 violates the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, Chief Judge James Ware, who assumed jurisdiction over the case, granted a motion by the plaintiffs to unseal the video recording of the trial.

“Foremost among the aspects of the federal judicial system that foster public confidence in the fairness and integrity of the process are public access to trials and public access to the record of judicial proceedings,” Ware wrote, in a September 19 ruling. “Consequently, once an item is placed in the record of judicial proceedings, there must be compelling reasons for keeping that item secret.”

Walker made the recording for his own use after the US Supreme Court ruled, on the eve of the trial, that it could not be broadcast live or recorded for delayed broadcast.

Ware’s ruling was based on a common law right of access to judicial proceedings. He rejected every argument made

by Proposition 8’s Official Proponents, the only party to the case that opposed unsealing the recordings and making them public. The gover nor and attorney general of California have declined to defend the voter initiative.

Under Ware’s order, the recording was to become part of the open court record in the files of the US District Court in San Francisco on September 30, and would be accessible to members of the public and the media at that time. On September 27, however, a threejudge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary stay to allow for consideration of the Proponents’ emergency motion for a longer stay pending an appeal of Ware’s ruling regarding the video’s release. This stay will take the issue at least several weeks beyond the original

companies joined in seeking a ruling from Ware to lift the confidentiality order Walker had placed on the recording, making it accessible.

Ware noted that the Ninth Cir cuit has yet to rule on whether the public has a First Amendment right to access to court files and records of trials — though some other circuit courts have ruled affir matively on that question — but he found he did not have to take on the constitutional question because the issue could be decided on common

Chief Judge James Ware.

September 30 release date.

In December 2009, Walker received a request from a coalition of media companies for permission to televise the non-jury trial. At a January 6, 2010, hearing, Walker announced that an audio and video feed of the trial would be streamed live to several courthouses in major cities, and that the trial would be recorded for eventual broadcast on the Internet. The next day, Walker asked Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski for permission to include this case in a pilot program established by the circuit for broadcast of non-jury trials, which was granted on January 8.

But the Official Proponents — who had been granted permission to participate in the trial as “defendant-intervenors,” since neither Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger nor Attorney General Jerry Brown would defend the measure on its merits — strenuously objected to broadcasting, arguing that this would deter their potential expert witnesses from participating in the case. They took their concerns directly to the US Supreme Court, seeking an emergency order to block the recording.

The high court granted their application on January 13, 2010, holding that the Ninth Circuit and the District Court had failed to follow the necessary procedures for establishing the pilot program on broadcasting trials.

Ware found the Proponents’ argument that the recording’s release would have a “chilling effect” on expert witnesses in future cases purely speculative. plaintiffs, represented by a top flight legal team assembled by the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER), played brief excerpts from the trial recording during their closing argument.

After his August 2010 ruling on the case, Walker ordered the clerk to deposit a copy of the recording in the trial record, under seal, so it would be available in the future in case there was need for the court to refer to it. When he retired early in 2011, Walker took a copy of the recording with him. When he subsequently played snippets from it to illustrate lectures he was giving at law schools, the Proponents went ballistic and sought a court order that all outstanding copies of the recording be returned to the court and kept under seal.

The Ninth Circuit, where an appeal of Walker’s decision is pending, denied the Proponents’ motion that Walker be required to return his copy, but tr eated the plaintif fs’ opposition to that motion as a motion to release the recording, and sent it to Ware for consideration.

Another coalition of media

law grounds. He cited a 1995 Ninth Circuit ruling recognizing a common law right of public access to records in civil proceedings.

Ware noted that the common law right of access places a burden on the party opposing access to provide compelling justification for doing so, because of the desire for “transparency” in the operations of the courts. Other courts have ruled that keeping court records secret should be done “only in the rarest of circumstances,” he wrote.

Ware rejected the argument that because Walker said at the trial’s outset he was making the recording for his own use, no other use should be allowed. He pointed out that Walker later allowed attorneys to use the recording, without any objection, and that there was “no authority in support of the proposition that the conditions under which one judge places a document under seal are binding on a different judge, if a motion is made to that different judge to examine whether sealing is justified.”

Ware also found nothing in the Supreme Court’s pre-

trial order barring broadcast of the trial that would bear on his decision. The high court’s ruling found that the procedural niceties for amending the circuit’s rule on broadcasting had not been followed.

It’s likely that the Supreme Court grabbed this procedural hook to avoid controversy on the question of the trial being broadcast.

Ware found the Proponents’ argument that the recording’s release would have a “chilling effect” on expert witnesses in future cases purely speculative, and thus no “compelling reason” to keep it under wraps. There is no issue about whether the Proponents’ two expert witnesses will be deterred, since their evidence is already on record and the trial is over, he wrote. The Ninth Circuit, meanwhile, has moved forward with its pilot program that allows civil nonjury trials to be broadcast.

In advance of the Ware hearing on the video, AFER and its legal team, led by Theodore Olson, David Boies, and Theodore Boutrous, threw the amendment’s defenders back on their heels by asking what they are trying to hide. A press release from AFER noted that the only two witnesses for Prop 8 in some instances made the case against the amendment, conceding that marriage equality benefits families and that Prop 8 was motivated by animus toward gay people — a constitutionally impermissible ground.

The issue now turns to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. If that bench decides to hear an appeal of Ware’s ruling, release of the video will obviously be stayed for the duration since releasing it would be irrevocable. The plaintiffs have until October 3 to reply to the Proponents’ motion, and then seven days later the Proponents will give their reply. The world will know more about the chances any time soon of hearing and seeing what transpired in Judge Vaughn Walker’s courtroom at some point after October 10.

WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

28 SEP – 11 OCT 2011

NEWS BRIEFS And Now, Lots of Obama Gay Talk With the formal end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the stepped up pace of the 2012 presidential preliminaries, President Barack Obama has raised his profile on LGBT issues. After putting out a written statement September 20 marking the repeal and mentioning it that night at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in Manhattan, he made history the next morning while speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, becoming the first US president to talk about gay rights to a UN body. “No country should deny people their rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion, but also no country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere,� Obama said in a speech widely anticipated for his pronouncements about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

(Politico’s Ben Smith reported on September 27 that the UN speech swayed Ed Koch, who had endorsed the Republican candidate, upset winner Robert Turner, in the September 13 special election to fill Anthony Weiner’s vacant congressional seat, to protest the president’s stance toward Israel.

Koch is now endorsing Obama for reelection.)

Both the president and his press secretary, Jay Carney, have also drawn attention to the fact that at least some in the audience for the September 24 Republican presidential debate in Florida booed when a gay soldier stationed in Iraq asked a question via YouTube about their support for the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal. “Some of you here may be folks who actually used to be Republicans but are puzzled by what’s happened to that party,� the president said at a September 25 fundraiser in San Jose, California. “You’ve got audiences cheering at the prospect of somebody dying because they don’t have health care and booing a service member in Iraq because they’re gay. That’s not reflective of who we are.�

The following day, Carney said the president “was particularly struck� when “not a single of the candidates for president –– people who believe they have what it takes to be the commander-inchief –– said a thing about� the booing directed at the soldier.

For the second time since 2009, Obama, on October 1, will give the keynote address at the annual

9

By PAUL SCHINDLER

Washington dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, an event that will honor New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and also feature Tammy Baldwin, an out lesbian Wisconsin congresswoman now a candidate for the Democratic Senate nomination there, as a speaker.

New York State Assessing LGBT Elder Needs Legislation signed on September 26 by Governor Andrew Cuomo requires the New York State Office of the Aging to assess the needs of underserved elderly populations, including seniors in the LGBT community. The law provides technical assistance and grants to organizations offering services to LGBT seniors. “Governor Cuomo has once again shown his commitment to ensuring that all New Yorkers have equal rights and protections under the law,� said Senator Tom Duane, the out gay Chelsea Democrat who sponsored the bill. “This legislation is groundbreaking.�

Duane’s Assembly co-sponsor, out LGBT Democrat Micah Kellner, who represents Manhattan’s East Side, said, “Despite being a rapidly growing segment of New York’s population, LGBT seniors do not receive the services they need.

This community often lacks the support networks that are more commonly available to non-LGBT seniors and will sometimes be reluctant to access needed health and social services because of fear of discrimination. This bill will correct these inadequacies.�

Duane used the occasion of the law’s enactment to renew his call for passage of the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA) to give full civil rights protections to transgender New Yorkers.

Marriage Equality Advocate Wins Yonkers Primary Michael Sabatino, who with his husband Robert J. Voorheis, worked for years with the grassroots group Marriage Equality New York leading up to the June 24 victory in Albany, has captured the Democratic nomination for City Council in Yonkers’ Third District.

In the September 13 primary, Sabatino beat out former Councilman Dennis Robertson, 313-241, with Michael Rotanelli getting 213 votes.

Sabatino has been endorsed by the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund,

the Westchester/ Putnam Central Labor Body, AFL-CIO, and the Yonkers Federation of Teachers, and also has the support of the Working Families and Independence Parties.

He will face the winner of Republican Primary, Michael Meyer, in the November election.

Here’s a tank full of thanks.

First Republican Signs onto DOMA Repeal Congresswoman Ileana RosLehtinen, who represents portions of Dade and Monroe Counties in Florida, became the first House Republican to endorse New York Representative Jerrold Nadler’s Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act denying federal recognition to valid same-sex marriages. The measure now has 125 supporters in the House. “I voted against the constitutional amendment defining marriage so I’m pleased to co-sponsor the repeal of DOMA and work with my colleagues on marriage equality,� Ros-Lehtinen said in a written release.

Nadler praised his GOP colleague, saying, “Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen has long been a tremendous ally in the world’s struggles for freedom and against oppression and discrimination. She is widely recognized as a champion of human rights and human dignity.�

Ros-Lehtinen also won plaudits from the Log Cabin Republicans. “Congresswoman Ileana RosLehtinen has long been on the frontlines in fighting for human dignity at home and abroad,� said R. Clarke Cooper, the group’s executive director. “Log Cabin Republicans are grateful that she has once again stepped forward as an inclusive leader by co-sponsoring the Respect for Marriage Act.�

In July, California Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein introduced a companion bill to Nadler’s with 27 other co-sponsors, and President Barack Obama wasted no time endorsing the measure.

Gay Nondiscrimination Now Part of NFL Contract Language protecting gay players has now been added to the nondiscrimination provisions of the National Football League’s collective bargaining agreement, reports Wide Rights, a website that offers “Info and Commentary on Gay

䉴

BRIEFS, continued on p.14

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28 SEP - 11 OCT 2011

ALAN BARNETT

ALAN BARNETT

10/ Health

Cyclists on the final stretch of Braking the Cycle on September 18, including Clay Williams (pictured solo).

133 Ride to Combat AIDS LGBT Community Center’s Braking the Cycle raises $401,000

BY WINNIE MCCROY

F

or three days in midSeptember, 133 cyclists completed a 285-mile trek from Boston to New York as part of Braking the Cycle, a fundraiser for the LGBT Community Center’s HIV/ AIDS programs. On September 18, the riders arrived at the steps of the Center on West 13th Street, having raised more than $401,000 in funds and spread plenty of awareness of the ongoing epidemic along the way.

“I often refer to it as a civil rights march on two wheels,” said Eric Epstein, president of Global Impact Productions, which produces Braking the Cycle. “We are riding through more than 100 communities that don’t often hear about AIDS. We passed a ten-year old boy holding a sign that said ‘Good Luck.’ This touches people on a grassroots level that’s still very important in this day and age.”

Epstein has produced the Center’s AIDS cycling fundraiser since 2003. In that time, the ride has grown from 47 riders to 133, and this year raised

about six percent of the Center’s annual budget.

2011 marked the first time Epstein was able to ride in the event.

“It was amazing!” he said. “It was an exhilarating experience for me to be a participant in something I helped to create.”

Maria Bruno, a second-year rider from Team Eagle, said, “I was inspired to participate in memory of my father, José Bruno, who died of AIDS. It is important for me to raise awareness for those in need of help, and for the Center’s care program, so that some day there is a cure, and another family member or friend won’t have to suffer seeing someone they love die from this disease.”

Bruno battled grief on the first year, as her grandfather had just passed away. “I cried a lot and came back to a funeral, but I felt it was the highlight of my life,” she said.

This year, she suffered a foot injury and a cold, but refused to quit. “I was thinking of my father while riding, and felt he was an angel at my back, pushing me up those hills,” said Bruno.

“My teammates and other rid-

ers were cheering me on… and I thought that there are people suffering that have to live with this, but after three days, it’s over for me.”

Bruno is still seeking donations at btc9.kintera.org/mbruno and has raffled off her condo in San Juan for a week, plus airfare, to raise funds.

“Everyone’s got a different reason for participating,” said Epstein. “Our Positive Pedalers do it as a way to give back to the Center. There are people who are negative, many who have lost family members, partners, or friends. And a handful of people do this ride not actually knowing anyone living with AIDS.” Though the ride has tripled in size, participants said it still offers a deep bond of community.

“There’s very much of a family feel to it,” said Clay Williams, a member of Positive Pedalars, who has participated since 2009. “There is a nice balance, with a few new faces every year, but there are people you have gotten to know real well.”

Williams joined Center executive director Glennda Testone in an appearance on Sirius

XM Satellite Radio’s “Derek & Romaine Show,” which raised $27,000 for the event.

Back in the mid-1990s when he first moved to New York, Williams wanted to participate in an AIDS ride, but was not in good enough health to take on the challenge.

“I didn’t find a meds combo that worked until 2004, so there were some scary years there,” Williams said. “When I started getting healthier, Braking the Cycle was in the back of my mind. I ended up buying a bike five weeks before the 2009 event, and trained diligently. I did the whole ride, except for seven miles –– my bike broke down, but I didn’t.”

Since then, Williams has come out as HIV-positive via his blog, joined the board of Positive Pedalers, and kept up with his cycling. This year, he raised $8,350.

“The challenge of the ride is like the challenge of living with HIV –– there are setbacks, you hit the wall, and wonder, ‘Can I really climb another hill,’ and then you do,” said Williams.

“The ride is a perfect example of what a community can do when it cares and pulls together to

reach its goals.”

“It’s challenging, even for people who are highly trained,” said Testone, who raised visibility for the Ride with efforts that included ringing the closing bell at the NASDAQ Stock Market on August 8. “It’s almost 300 miles; you’re on a bike for six to eight hours a day. You have to make the constant decision whether to stop or keep going.”

Among the rewards greeting participants as they completed their journey in the West Village was a performance by Chely Wright, the country music star who came out as a lesbian in an autobiography just over a year ago.

The proceeds from Braking the Cycle allow the Center to fund programs that help 3,000 LGBT New Yorkers each year.

The Center provides more than 1,800 counseling and group sessions every year, trains LGBT youth on HIV prevention, and hosts educational forums and conferences.

HIV continues to affect more than one million people in the United States. There are 50,000 new HIV infections in the US every year. A quarter of the new cases are young gay men.

28 SEP - 11 OCT 2011

Legal /11

Another Partner Advance in Alaska District court finds marital status distinction for senior tax relief discriminatory

BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD

A

n Anchorage District Superior Court has ruled that the state of Alaska and the city of Anchorage are in violation of the State Constitution’s equal protection requirements in their senior citizen real property tax exemption program that discriminates against same-sex couples.

The September 19 decision

by Judge Frank A. Pfiffner was heavily based on the Alaska Supreme Court’s 2005 decision that, as he summarized, “a marital classification in a state employment benefits scheme violated the Alaska Constitution’s equal protection clause” because it denied equal benefits to cohabiting same-sex partners of public employees.

The 2005 ruling led to the adoption of domestic partner programs in state agencies and many municipalities in Alaska,

and this latest ruling suggests that courts there may be disposed to broaden access to partnership rights for gay and lesbian couples beyond the public employment arena.

who co-owns property with a person who is not their spouse may exclude only the proportionate value of their ownership interest. For same-sex couples in which only one member is a

This latest ruling suggests that courts there may be disposed to broaden access to partnership rights for gay and lesbian couples beyond the public employment arena.

At issue in this case is a program intended to help seniors and disabled veterans stay in their homes by allowing them to exclude $150,000 in assessed valuation on their primary residence in the calculation of their real estate taxes. A married person may exempt the full value of their property, but someone

veteran or is over 65, the available tax savings is only half that for married couples. Even when both members of the couple qualify, the value of the exemption if taken by just one partner could well exceed the value if both must take only their proportionate share. In a variety of contexts, then, unmarried co-

owners are at a disadvantage under this scheme.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which won the 2005 employee benefits case, also represented the plaintiffs here.

Each of them were deprived of several hundreds of dollars in tax savings due to Alaska’s prohibition on same-sex marriage.

“The Tax Exemption challenged here is constitutionally similar to the employment benefits scheme challenged” in the 2005 case, Judge Pfiffner wrote.

“Therefore, the Tax Exemption is similarly unconstitutional.”

Pfiffner rejected the state’s argument that the plaintiffs’ claim must be rejected because of the state’s constitutional amendment banning samesex marriage. The state argued that implicit in the amendment was a ban on same-sex couples enjoying any of the “benefits” of marriage. That, however, is not what the amendment says, the

judge ruled.

State law in Alaska does expressly exclude same-sex couples from enjoying “the benefits of marriage,” but statute does not trump the equal protection requirement of the State Constitution.

“As the plaintiffs point out,” Pfiffner wrote, “this statute ‘cannot acquire constitutional dimension because of the Marriage Amendment, and cannot supersede or supplant the constitutional right to equal protection.’”

The state also tried to argue that because married couples can own property as tenants by the entirety (each member jointly owning the entire property) while unmarried couples can only own as tenants in common (each having half ownership), same-sex couples are not legally “similarly situated” to married

䉴

ALASKA, continued on p.33

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28 SEP - 11 OCT 2011

12/ Military Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Relegated to History’s Dustbin Nine months after repeal law signed, policy that threw out 14,000 service member ends

BY PAUL SCHINDLER

A

fter nearly 18 years and more than 14,000 discharges, the US military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy barring open service by gay and lesbian personnel ended at 12:01 a.m. on September 20.

The policy’s demise came nine months after President Barack Obama signed legislation approved in the lame duck session of the 2010 Congress setting out conditions he and military leaders needed to meet before formally ending the policy. In late July, the president, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Michael Mullen made the required certification that opening up service to gays and lesbians would not compromise national security or military readiness, effectiveness, and retention.

As the repeal law spelled out, the policy expired 60 days later.

“Today, the discriminatory law known as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is finally and formally repealed,” Obama said in a written statement. “As of today, patriotic Americans in uniform will no longer have to lie about who they are in order to serve the country they love. As of today, our armed forces will no longer lose the extraordinary skills and combat experience of so many gay and lesbian service members.”

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The September 13 Marine Corps Times issue.

Then, in a nod to the anger, frustration, and pain felt by those snared by DADT and removed from the military, the president added, “And today, as Commander in Chief, I want those who were discharged under this

law to know that your country deeply values your service.”

Obama concluded, “For more than two centuries, we have worked to extend America’s promise to all our citizens. Our armed forces have been both a mirror and a catalyst of that progress.”

At a press availability on the day DADT faded into history, Mullen, whose Senate testimony in February 2010 that the policy could not longer be defended was a significant factor in moving the repeal effort forward, said, “I testified in early 2010 that it was time to end this law and this policy. I believed then, and I still believe, that it was first and foremost a matter of integrity; that it was fundamentally against everything we stand for as an institution to force people to lie about who they are just to wear a uniform. With implementation of the new law fully in place, we are a stronger joint force, a more tolerant joint force, a force of more character and more honor, more in keeping with our own values. I am convinced we did the work necessary to prepare for this change, that we adequately trained and educated our people, and that we took into proper consideration all the regulatory and policy modifications that needed to be made.”

Army veteran Aubrey Sarvis, the executive director

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DADT, continued on p.28

STONEWALL, from p.1

COURTESY: AVERNY

the feeling. I tell all my folks to answer that question and I can’t answer it myself.”

Eventually she responded, “There’s a tremendous feeling of exhilaration, but you know, to me it feels less like a party and more like a moment to honor and remember the people who worked so hard to make this happen.”

These things won’t happen again, Fulton explained, saying “most of the people in the military are under 25.

They know they have been in the showers with LGBT people. The only thing those folks care about is what’s important — once they have been fired on, once they have been in close range, it doesn’t matter who is waiting for their buddies at home as long as they know they’ve got their back.”

Two nights earlier, a group of about 20 LGBT vet-

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The September 18 repeal celebration held by the American Veterans for Equal Rights.

erans and their friends and supporters gathered for a repeal celebration at Manhattan’s LGBT Community Center hosted by the New York and New Jersey chapters of American Veterans For Equal Rights (AVER), local groups that have also long been in the fight against DADT. After a presentation of colors by the New Jersey chapter, several veterans — including Anu Bhagwati, executive director of Servicewomen’s Action Network, and Phillip Zimmerman, a discharged Navy Arab linguist who wrote a memoir, “For the Convenience of the Government” — addressed the group.

At the Stonewall, young, recent military service members discussed problems that persisted as they waited

anxiously for DADT’s repeal.

Anthony Grecco, 22, from Connecticut, who achieved the rank of private second class in the Army, was discharged last year.

“A bunk buddy had gone through my journal and confronted me with what he found in there,” he said, adding that rather than wait for the information to be used against him, “I took it upon myself to come out to my superiors. From that day until discharge took about seven weeks.”

During the process, the Army made him see a social

䉴

STONEWALL, continued on p.13

WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

13

STONEWALL, from p.12

worker. Grecco said the experience gave him a “feeling like you weren’t good enough. But I got through the pain and the anger.”

Now that DADT has been lifted, he is reenlisting.

“I am so excited,” he said. “I have been waiting for this since July, getting the paperwork in order. I want to get in there and show them what I can be.”

For young gay men and lesbians thinking of joining the military now, Grecco said, “All I can say is, show them what you’re made of. Set the standard and show them you are a first class citizen.”

Another young veteran discharged under DADT was 20-year-old Brooklynite Yendy Rivera, who was a private first class in the Marines, thrown out in 2009. She said the repeal “is great. I am so thankful some of the people here were able to make this happen.”

Rivera has already reapplied, this time for the Army, saying, “October 1. I filed my papers already.”

She pointed that during the DADT debate, the role of women was often overlooked.

“Women are more scrutinized, so anything you do, it’s a reason for them to look at you, to give you problems,” Rivera said.

Rob Smith, 29 years old, from Akron, Ohio, a former specialist in the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, feels the DADT repeal will broaden the LGBT rights landscape. While he said that he was not out during his military career, the repeal “is all about showing people out there that want to keep us down, that want to oppress us, that these voices will not be silenced.”

Standing outside of the Stonewall Inn, he said, “It feels amazing. I feel relieved.

This is a signal to see we can fight and we can win.”

Dan Hendrick, 40, Van Bramer’s partner, was discharged from the Navy in 1992, before the DADT law went into effect. He was a petty officer and a Russian translator — “which shows how long ago it was,” he said — with the title of cryptologist technical interpreter.

“It was tough,” he recalled. “One day I had top security clearance and the next day I didn’t. I went from a green security badge to a red one. I felt like Hester Prynne,” the character in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” ostracized for her adultery.

For younger people in the military today, Hendrick said, “it’s an historical milestone, that’s the big thing. But the coolest thing is the personal difference it makes today.”

He gave the example of a Facebook friend who updated her relationship status “for all the world to see” that her girlfriend is in the military.

“She couldn’t do that before,” Hendrick said, adding, “The little thing is the

MICHAEL T. LUONGO

䉴

28 SEP – 11 OCT 2011

Veteran Dan Hendrick (r.) with his partner City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer.

sea change.”

Still, according to Ben Brooks, a member of SLDN’s board, repealing DADT “is a first step. There is still much work to do. There are gender parity issues, like no alternate shower systems. Are we to be treated with equal pay and benefits?”

Opponents of repeal often threw up showers as a scare tactic in the debate, and SLDN and other advocates of open service consistently emphasized that the issue was a red herring and that no change in procedures was necessary.

Brooks, who did not serve in the military, added “The real test will be if you can bring your partner to the military ball.”

Indeed, as much as the event was a cause for celebration, it also revealed how far the military still has to go. In spite of the constant use of the phrase LGBT — for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender — by speakers and interviewees, a moment of silence served as a reminder that transgender ser vice members were not included in the repeal.

Retired Sergeant Denny Meyer, president of AVER’s New York chapter, reminded attendees at that group’s September 18 event that because the Defense of Marriage Act denies gay and lesbian soldiers equal partner benefits, “on the first day of freedom, equality will still be denied.” He also mentioned the continued discrimination against transgender service members.

“After celebrating,” Meyer said, “it’s back to ‘out of the bars and into the streets,’ back to negotiating and demanding. We’re done with waiting. We’re not going to wait another 50 years for full equality.”

A new law also cannot take away the fear that many young people still have. At one point during the Stonewall Inn event, like a protective mother, Fulton came to warn this journalist that a group of West Point cadets speaking with Quinn did not want their photographs taken for publication. An off-the-record conversation with one cadet revealed his joy at the day but also the stifling fear he still lives with of coming out to his classmates.

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A

s of September 20, the discriminatory law known as Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ceases to exist. No longer will patriotic gay and lesbian Americans need to hide who they are in order to serve the country they love.

While this is an important step in our ongoing effort to form a more perfect union, it is also, in some ways, an unremarkable step.

Gays and lesbians have served in our armed services from the time of the American Revolution. But they have served in silence; worse still, some have been forced out for nothing more than their sexual orientation.

We know that, to use an old adage, you don’t need to be straight to shoot straight.

While there will never be a full accounting of the patriotism demonstrated by gay and lesbian Americans in service to their nation, we know that they have served, with honor and valor.

When President Obama signed the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Repeal Act into law, he told a story about an act of heroism during the Battle of the Bulge.

A regiment in the 80th Division of Patton’s Third Army came under fire. During the combat, a private named Lloyd Corwin fell down into a ravine.

He could have died there. But

Senior presidential advisor Valerie B. Jarrett.

one friend, a soldier named Andy Lee, came back and scaled down the icy slope, risking his own life to bring Private Corwin to safety.

Lloyd always credited his friend with saving his life.

Four decades after the war, the two friends reunited, and it was only then that Lloyd learned that Andy was gay.

Lloyd hadn’t known, and more importantly, he didn’t care.

Andy’s sexual orientation had no impact on his valor and sacrifice.

That’s a refrain we heard time and time again in preparing to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — that our military is ready for the open service

of our gay and lesbian service members. That, simply put, sexual orientation is not a factor.

Now that DADT is gone, gay and lesbian service members will continue to serve, albeit with one important difference — they can be open about who they are. This change will only serve to strengthen our military. As many of our nation’s top military officials have stated, unit cohesion, recruitment, retention, and military effectiveness will not be harmed or undermined.

Indeed, because patriotic Americans who happen to be gay or lesbian will no longer have to conceal who they are, our military, and our nation, will be better off.

We would not be here today were it not for the leadership of President Obama, current and former members of Congress, ordinary Americans, and those who wear or have worn the uniform of the United States Armed Services. On behalf of the President, I also want to thank the leadership at the Defense Department. From conducting a comprehensive review of the issues associated with repeal, to offering a support plan for implementation, to training our forces to make them ready for this change, to rewriting masses of regulations to comply with the new

law, the Pentagon has taken all necessary steps with full speed and proficiency.

As with any change, there will be apprehension from some.

But I am certain that we will look back and wonder why it was ever a source of controversy in the first place. The President has every confidence in the professionalism and patriotism of our service members. Just as they have adapted and grown stronger with other changes, we know they will do so again.

There is no doubt that our service members will continue to serve with integrity a n d h o n o r, a n d a p p r o a c h each task and mission with the professionalism that we expect of them. Be they Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, Air men, or Coast Guardsmen — they remain members of the finest military of the world. It is that military that has fought to preserve the freedoms that define America. And now, with the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, we have furthered those American principles of fairness and equality.

Valerie B. Jarrett is a senior advisor to President Barack Obama. She is also the chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, and she oversees the Offices of Public Engagement, Intergovernmental Affairs, and Urban Affairs.

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䉴

BRIEFS, from p.9

Rights and the Sports Industry.”

Previous agreements had barred discrimination based on race, religion, and national origin.

The 2011 language also states that sexual orientation discrimination is barred.

Queen Elizabeth to Honor Out B-ball Vet John Amaechi Former NBA basketball center John Amaechi, who played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Orlando Magic, the Utah Jazz, and the Houston Rockets between 1995 and 2003, and then came out as a gay man in a 2007 book, “Man in

the Middle,” will be awarded the Order of the British Empire at a ceremony held by Queen Elizabeth II on October 26.

The award recognizes Amaechi’s contributions in sports and volunteerism. In 2006, he led England’s basketball team to its first-ever international medal in the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia. His charity, the Amaechi Basketball Centre, works to build a network of holistic community and sporting centers for urban communities across the UK. Amaechi has also earned a PhD in psychology and is a member of both the American Psychological Association and of the British Psychological Society. He

works with medium to large institutions helping them maximize the capabilities of their human capital.

Ethical Culture Society Adds Gay Push The New York Society for Ethical Culture has announced a new series of workshops, lectures, and social events, dubbed OUT@ NYSEC, to serve the LGBTQ community. Programs planned include singles nights for women and for men, outreach to teens, and workshops on health care, spirituality, relationships, parenting, activism, and, of course, ethics.

OUT@NYSEC will host an inaugural mixer on October 12, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Society’s

Ceremonial Hall at 2 W. 64th Street, overlooking Central Park.

Confusing GIs With Priests, Santorum Defends Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell In response to a YouTube question from a gay service member in Iraq during the September 22 Republican presidential debate, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum offered a barely intelligible answer in reiterating his fervent opposition to the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy that took effect two days earlier.

The most startling aspect of the exchange, however, was the

audience booing that greeted the soldier’s question.

In the debate sponsored by Fox News and YouTube, Stephen Hill, who identified himself as having served in combat since last year, said, “When I was deployed to Iraq, I had to lie about who I was because I’m a gay soldier.”

He went on to ask any candidate given his question, “Do you intend to circumvent the progress that’s been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military?”

It was at this point that a number of loud boos were heard from audience members.

The behavior of Republican debate audiences has become an

䉴

BRIEFS, continued on p.15

8 - 21 JUL 2010

Persepctive/15 ■ A DYKE ABROAD

Occupy This!

BY KELLY JEAN COGSWELL

I

would really like to support the Occupy Wall Street folks. The economy is crap.

Poor people are suffering. Young people can’t get work. And God help you if you’re a female.

At first, men were just hogging 90 percent of newly created jobs. (Yeah, men were losing their jobs at higher rates, but nothing like 90 percent more frequently.) Now, women are not only getting screwed on the new job front, they’re also getting fired more often because the sectors they mostly work in –– service and government –– are downsizing as fast as they can. And if anybody gets hired back, it’s almost always a man.

Which means dykes ar e awfully near the bottom of the heap. They have no man in the house to pick up the slack if they get canned, no new opportunities waiting in the wings, plus dyke couples often have kids to support.

This is my question: Is Occupy Wall Street the best we can do? I appreciate the energy,

䉴

BRIEFS, from p.14

issue in the emerging presidential race. Earlier this month, Governor Rick Perry of Texas received a huge round of applause when he was asked about the 234 executions that had taken place there since he became governor. In a subsequent debate, one of whose sponsors was the Tea Party, the audience cheered at a question about an uninsured sick man being left to die.

In his answer, Santorum seemed to confuse the US military with the Roman Catholic priesthood, saying, “I would say any type of sexual activity has no place in the military.”

He continued, “The fact that they’re making a point to include it as a provision within the military that we’re going to recognize a group of people and give them a special privilege, and removing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, I think tries to inject social policy into the military and the military’s job is to do one thing — and that is to defend our country. We need to give the military, which is all-volunteer, the ability to do so in a way that is most efficient in defending our men and

even “shared” a couple of photos on FB, but that loose collection of people barely know how to organize a demo, much less a movement. When a rare TV camera was actually shoved in their faces, all they did was complain about the cops, who were horrible. But maybe it would have been more useful to take the occasion to deliver their message to Wall Street.

The problem was that there was no real message. Plenty of the demonstrators weren’t even out there for the economy, but for the environment or whatever the hell their pet project is. And while a few had the boring and useful suggestion to “End corporate welfare,” or “Kill zombie banks,” far too many seemed to be parroting that homophobic idiot Ron Paul and calling for the end of the Federal Reserve. Or a thousand percent tax on imports to force us to buy American crap.

Or the end of capitalism altogether.

Yeah, and I want a pony for Christmas and a villa in

women in uniform, and I believe this undermines that ability.”

Asked in a follow-up how service members like Hill, who have now come out in the military, should be handled, Santorum said, “I would not throw them out because that would be unfair to them because of the policy of this administration.”

However, he also emphasized, “We would reinstitute that policy if Rick Santorum was president.

Period... We would move forward in conformity to what was happening in the past, which was — sex is not an issue. It should not be an issue. Leave it alone. Keep it to yourself — whether you’re heterosexual or homosexual.”

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, an advocacy group that was a leader in fighting for repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, responded to the exchange by highlighting the disrespect shown to a combat soldier.

“No service member defending our freedoms in Iraq should be booed for expressing his or her views as an individual,” said Aubrey Sarvis, the group’s executive director, in a written statement.

France. Never going to happen. Eliminate the Federal Reserve? Seriously? It’s such a good idea we’d be pretty much the only country without one.

As for putting huge taxes on imports, if all of your iPhone’s component parts were made in this grand ole U.S. of A., it would cost as much as a condo in Hoboken. Where you could park a pony if you had one.

That crap just isn’t serious.

And we need serious, with 20 percent of New Yorkers under the poverty line. And a lot of people hungry. I passed a food bank yesterday on Second Avenue that had posted a sign declaring it was “closed until further notice due to state and local budget cuts.”

There are more people panhandling on the subway, and if last weekend was anything to go by, they’re getting more angry and aggressive. They’re no longer your “buddy can you spare a dime?” sort of char acters. But “C’mon! Gimmee a buck. I know you have it.” I watched a Hispanic guy with a

“I regret that this brave patriot was not defended last night in Orlando and that no candidate spoke up to say Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell repeal has been settled by Congress and our nation’s senior military leaders –– and is supported by more than 80 percent of the American people.”

Speaking on Hill’s behalf, Sarvis added, “The service member will have no comment on this matter and has referred all inquiries to Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.”

The Log Cabin Republicans turned their fire on Santorum.

“Santorum’s shameful response to the combat soldier’s question regarding open service was incoherent and out of touch,” R. Clarke Cooper, the group’s executive director, said in a written statement.

“America’s uniformed leaders support gays and lesbians serving alongside their colleagues with dignity and respect. Santorum’s divisive and homophobic remarks do not befit a commander-in-chief.”

Fair Housing Bill Introduced in Congress New York Congressman Jerrold

speech impediment wait, frothing and growling, in front of a black guy who flipped over the page of his newspaper and pretended the other one didn’t exist. Other passengers in the car were appalled at them both.

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that pretty soon, people that only a few months before may have dropped a couple of quarters or a buck into somebody’s sticky paper coffee cup will get pissed at being taken for granted, harassed. “I got bills, too, you know.” And after that, it’ll pop out naturally, “Why don’t you get a job? Fuck you.”

And the nuts seem nuttier.

Like they pick up all the misery and frustration in the air. And the preachers that climb on the subway are now more attracted to fire and brimstone rants than to “Jesus is your friend.”

I even got yelled at as a honkey the other day, just like old times. And why not? The economic divide is not only gender, but race- and ethnicity-based,

Nadler and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, both Democrats, have introduced legislation adding sexual orientation and gender identity protections to the federal Fair Housing and Equal Credit Opportunity Acts.

The Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) Act, introduced on September 22, would also bar discrimination based on marital or familial status and on the source of one’s income, as well as strengthen existing protections for people living with disabilities.

A press release from Kerry’s office noted that the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has concluded “there is evidence... that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals and families are being arbitrarily excluded from some housing opportunities in the private sector.”

“LGBT Americans, non-traditional families, and the disabled should not be subjected to housing discrimination at the hands of the unscrupulous or bigoted,” Nadler said in a written release.

Kerry emphasized that with a majority of states lacking nondiscrimination protections based on

as well. Though you wouldn’t have known it from the mostly white faces at the demos.

Which is too bad. We need change. But I’ll say it one more time: you don’t change anything just by feeling outraged and waving a sign. Or just by getting arrested. You have to have viable, concrete ideas.

And if you’re going to protest, you really should narrow things down and choose a simple message and a target that can actually help you get something done.

Unless, of course, you can mobilize several hundred thousand people in Times Square.

Then, forget my advice and enjoy your very own New York Spring. But I wouldn’t bank on that happening, not any time soon.

For baby dykes, activists, and anybody who’s ever wanted to save the world, visit the Lesbian Avenger Documentary Project at lesbianavengers.com. Check out Kelly Sans Culotte at http://kellyatlarge.blogspot.com/.

sexual orientation and gender identity, a good share of LGBT Americans who face housing or credit discrimination currently have no recourse.

“It’s hard to believe that in 2011, any law-abiding, tax-paying American who can pay the rent can’t live somewhere just because of who they are,” he said. “Housing discrimination against LGBT Americans is wrong, but today in most states there isn’t a thing you can do about it.

In January, Shaun Donovan, the HUD secretary, announced a regulation barring discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the federal government’s rental assistance efforts and by private lenders that participate in its mortgage insurance program.

There are roughly 4.4 million units of HUD-assisted rental housing out of the 130 million housing units as estimated by the US Census Bureau in 2009.

The more significant component in HUD’s January announcement was that lenders using the department’s mortgage insurance program, which currently backs one-third of all new mortgage appli-

cations, are barred from making “inquiries regarding sexual orientation and gender identity,” Donovan said.

Last year, HUD announced that in its investigation of private sector housing discrimination barred by existing law, it would treat bias based on gender identity as sex discrimination.

Nadler announced introduction of the House bill in tandem with six other Democrats –– New Yorkers Edolphus Towns and Steve Israel, Colorado’s out gay Jared Polis, John Conyers of Michigan, who is the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, Bobby Scott of Virginia, and Alcee L. Hastings of Florida.

Senate co-sponsors include Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand from New York, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Patty Murray of Washington, Dan Inouye of Hawaii, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, and Chris Coons of Delaware.

The federal Employment NonDiscrimination Act, which has been pending since 1994, has never gotten a House or Senate

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BRIEFS, continued on p.28

28 SEP – 11 OCT 2011

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he Court of Appeals of Arkansas has affirmed a circuit court decision to award primary custody of a teenage boy and girl to their lesbian mother over the objections of their heterosexual dad, but in a burst of unequal “equality,” it also upheld the lower court’s requirement that both parents “refrain from having any romantic partner to whom they were not married as overnight guests when the children were present.”

The September 21 ruling upholding Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Vann Smith means that the mother’s same-sex partner must maintain a separate residence until the children reach the age of majority. If the father has a new girlfriend, of course, they could marry and live together without infringing on his visitation rights with the children.

Bob and Lisa Bamburg, who split up in 2009 after a 22-year marriage, have two children –– a daughter born in 1995 and a son born in 1996. Judge John B. Robbins, in his opinion for the Court of Appeals, noted the son is “severely autistic” and enrolled in a special ed program.

During a pre-trial custody hearing, Lisa and her girlfriend, Mary Alice Hughes, falsely testified they did not have a romantic relationship, saying they instead were best friends. Admitting in the final custody hearing that they had been romantically involved since the time of her separation from her husband, Bamburg testified she had not been ready to tell her daughter about the relationship at the time of the earlier hearing.

At the end of that first hearing, the judge said that Hughes was not to “be around” the children, but there was controversy about how strictly the women complied with this requirement. At the divorce trial, the daughter testified she liked Hughes, and there was also testimony that she told others she blamed her father for the court ordering Hughes to stay away from the kids pending the case’s resolution.

Lisa’s ex strenuously objected to her getting primary custody of the kids. “Bob held strong reservations about Lisa having custody of their children because Lisa was in an adulterous homosexual relationship and openly had her girlfriend stay overnight while the children were present,” Robbins wrote in the Court of Appeals opinion. “Bob disapproved of Lisa and Mary Alice sleeping in

the same bed together when the children were present, a sign of poor judgment and morals.”

The father claimed that “Lisa’s relationship was detrimental to the children’s welfare and embarrassing for them,” and charged that the women defied the court’s interim order by allowing continued contact between Hughes and the children.

The children, however, told the trial judge they preferred to live with their mother.

Circuit Court Judge Smith agreed that the children’s best interest was served by them living with their mother, finding that their father, a busy lawyer, does not have the time to spend with the children that Lisa has. With a substantial income from her interest in a family business and a holiday gift shop she runs only a few months each year, Lisa is mainly a stay-at-home mom able to give her special-needs son significant attention.

Robbins wrote that the circuit court judge had noted “the unfortunate circumstance of Lisa’s affair and her failure to be forthcoming about it,” but concluded it did not preclude her qualifications as primary caregiver. Still, Judge Smith did not “condone her introducing a romantic partner to the children,” and so placed the overnight guest limitation on both parents.

On appeal, Bob characterized Lisa as “an adulterous liar who disobeys court orders,” but his argument was rejected.

“It is true that unmarried cohabitation with a romantic partner, or a parent’s promiscuous conduct or lifestyle, in the presence of a child cannot be abided,” Robbins wrote, adding, however, “Custody is not awarded to reward or punish either parent.” Instead, he noted, the “paramount concern” is the best interest of the children. The trial court’s limitation on cohabitation was sufficient, the Court of Appeals found, to address any moral concerns.

The bulk of the appeals court opinion deals with matters of asset disposition between the former couple. Nowhere is there any recognition that this decision places an unequal burden on the parties, making it impossible for Lisa to live with a same-sex partner so long as she has primary custody of one or both of her children. Bob, meanwhile, has the option of marrying a woman he wishes to live with –– or can simply make sure she is out of the house for the handful of nights each month when his kids are visiting.

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28 SEP – 11 OCT 2011

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The plan would provide “24-hour emergency care and ambulatory surgery…”

WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

“In a time of shrinking healthcare, this Comprehensive Care Center with a full-service E.D., run by a top regional hospital network, would go a long way toward helping meet our neighborhood’s healthcare needs.”

March 10, 2011

March 30, 2011

“This project keeps a landmark modern building contributing to the neighborhood in a vital way and keeps much-needed medical services in the Greenwich Village community.”

“This project will also provide a much-needed boost to the small businesses and local economy of the Village.”

Leslie Monsky, Board Member, DOCOMOMO New York/Tri-State

Tony Juliano, President and Chair, Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce

“This project will restore muchneeded access to emergency care for all those who live and work on the Westside.”

George Gresham, President, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East

High-quality emergency services are coming back to our neighborhood. he planned North Shore-LIJ Comprehensive Care Center will restore the much-needed emergency and health services on the Westside. The stateof-the-art facility will open in the former St. Vincent’s Hospital space.

Anchored by a 24/7 Emergency Department, the new center will also feature a full-service imaging center—including MRI, CT and x-ray services, a specialized ambulatory surgery facility and ambulance transport services. The healthcare the Westside needs and deserves is on its way.

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To find out more, visit www.WestsideHealthcareCoalition.com.

Hon. Edward I. Koch and George Gresham, Co-Chairs.

LOVE & MARRIAGE Gay City NEWS

WEDDING SUPPLEMENT

S E P . 2 8 - O C T. 11 2 0 11

■ POLITICS

Marriage Pioneer Wolfson Moves Group Center Stage

BY DUNCAN OSBORNE

W

hen Evan Wolfson founded Freedom to Marry in 2003, the pro-gay marriage group was a part of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, and it had an budget that ranged from $1.2 million to $1.4 million annually for roughly the next seven years. The organization was an “internal movement strategy center” and a cheerleader for the marriage drive.

“I spent much more of my time raising money for other organizations than I did for Freedom to Marry,” said Wolfson, the group’s president, during a September 23 interview at the organization’s Flatiron District offices, offices that are too small for its staff of 15.

“It represents about a quadrupling of the staff from its lowest point,” Wolfson said, noting that Freedom to Marry, which has a $5 million budget this year, is looking for new office space.

The group’s new status is best illustrated by the major role it played in enacting same-sex marriage in New York this year. As one of five member organizations in New Yorkers United for Marriage (NYUM), Freedom to Marry spent over $1 million, with half of that cash going to NYUM. The remainder was spent independently.

The organization has two components — the 501(c)(3) Freedom to Marry and the 501(c)(4) Freedom to Marry Action. While both are non-profit, donations to (c)(3)s, which are allowed to do very limited lob-

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bying, are tax-deductible while donations to (c)(4)s are not. A (c)(4) can lobby and campaign for or against a ballot initiative.

A (c)(4) can support candidates, though how much is a subject of debate.

“I think it’s impossible to answer,” said Tracey Bolotnick, an attorney Hurwit & Associates, a Boston-based law firm, who specializes in non-profit law. “The ballot stuff is 100 percent fine for (c)(4)s; candidate stuff is somewhat limited.”

Wolfson said Freedom to Marry has a three-part mission –– “to win more states, to grow the majority for marriage creating the public opinion climate that inspires elected officials and courts to do the right thing,” and to “tackle and end federal marriage discrimination.”

Among the awards and photos that decorate his office walls are pictures of the slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln. It is their leadership, in part, that informs his strategy for winning marriage.

“You need to have a critical mass of states and a critical mass of public opinion, and in some combination those two critical masses of progress are what encourage, push, inspire, enable Congress or the Supreme Court to finish the job,” Wolfson said.

Like most LGBT groups, Freedom to Marry is very concerned with messaging –– how the community presents itself, its stories, its reasons for wanting to marry to those Americans who can be convinced to vote with us. “This is not just a question of advertising, it’s not just a

GAY CITY NEWS

Freedom to Marry, once a strategy shop, hits the ground in state battles

Evan Wolfson says Freedom to Marry’s strategy is “affirmative, not reactive.”

question of words,” Wolfson said. “It’s all the ways that people gain information and have their hearts touched.”

While gay groups say polls show majority support for same-sex marriage in the US, the community has lost every marriage ballot initiative. Dating back to 1978, the community has lost more than eight out of ten ballot initiatives.

The community has only recently developed effective messages, but it has not communicated those messages well. “We know the message,” Wolfson said. “Our weakness has not been message, our weakness has been message delivery.”

He points to a test Freedom to Marry carried out in 2007 in California’s Santa Barbara County where voters saw

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WOLFSON, continued on p.6W

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14 – 27 SEP 2011

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■ LEGAL

Another Challenge to Married Man’s Will Nixed

New York County surrogate rejects claim by Ken Ranftle’s brother he died as Florida legal resident

BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD A New York County Surrogate Court judge has ruled that the late H. Kenneth Ranftle was domiciled in New York at the time of his death, rejecting a challenge to the probating of his will brought by his brother, Ronald Ranftle, who argued that Ken was a Florida domiciliary.

Ranftle’s domicile at death was important because his marriage to J. Craig Leiby is recognized under New York law, but not be by Florida. Leiby’s status as sole distributee and as executor of the estate therefore hinges on that determination.

Judge Kristin Booth Glen’s September 14 ruling highlights the issues faced by same-sex partners –– including those who can now marry in New York –– in a mobile society where families move from state to state or invest in property in other states, given that most states do not recognize marriages by gay and lesbian couples.

Ranftle owned a house in Ft. Lauderdale and, in 2003, took steps to establish domicile there, primarily for tax purposes. Glen noted the lack of a personal income tax in Florida, also observing, “there are capital gains and property tax advantages and a significant homestead exemption” available to those domiciled there. Although Ranftle and Leiby spent a large part of the year living together in the apartment they jointly owned on West 13th Street in Manhattan, as well as at property they had on Fire Island and in Montreal, Ranftle was careful to maintain his Florida domiciliary status by documenting he spent at least 183 days there in each tax year.

However, when he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in March 2008, Ranftle decided to remain in New York City, never returning to the Florida house through the time of his death on November 1 of that year.

During that same period, an upstate appeals court established a statewide precedent that legal same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions must be recognized in New York, and shortly thereafter Governor David Paterson issued a directive instructing state agencies to comply with that ruling. As a result of these developments, Ranftle proposed marriage to Leiby, his long-time partner, and they traveled to Montreal, where they owned an apartment, marrying there on June 7.

In tandem with their marriage, Ran-

ftle made a new will, though his attorney made an unfortunate slip-up on it, cutting and pasting language from his earlier will asserting his domicile in Florida.

Ranftle did not bother to change his driver’s license, and actually cast an absentee ballot in Florida in the November 2008 general election before he died.

When Leiby presented Ranftle’s will for probate following his death, Surrogate Glen concluded that as the surviving spouse, he was the sole distributee and there was no need to notify other surviving relatives. Leiby was the executor and main beneficiary under the will.

Another one of Ranftle’s brothers, Richard, sought to intervene in the case, challenging Leiby’s spousal status, and took that challenge to the Appellate Division, which affirmed Glen’s ruling that the marriage would be recognized in the probate context in New York. Ranftle’s other brother, Ronald, then brought a second challenge, contending that Leiby was not qualified to be sole distributee and executor because Florida law controlled the situation.

Glen’s detailed opinion, issued on September 14 and published by the New York Law Journal on September 23, concluded that Ranftle was a New York domiciliary at his death. “Based on the testimony of the witnesses,” she wrote, “especially Craig, Ken’s accountant, and Ken’s attorney, I find by clear and convincing evidence that some time in 2008, probably at or around the time of his terminal diagnosis, but no later than his marriage, Ken formed the intent to abandon his Florida domicile and to re-establish his domicile in New York where his friends, family, and beloved spouse were located. He did so for two reasons: to be with those he loved, in the city where he had lived and prospered, in the commodious apartment he and his husband owned together, and had lived in since 1999; and because New York, unlike Florida, had expressed its willingness to recognize and respect his relationship with –– and marriage to –– Craig. It is significant that, following his diagnosis, Ken never returned to Florida, even while taking steps to protect Craig’s interest in the only property he owned there.”

Glen also concluded that the reference to a Florida domicile in Ranftle’s final will was in fact a cut-and-paste slip-up, a “scrivener’s error.” His decision to cast his vote in Florida, she concluded, was

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NY MARRIAGE, continued on p.4W

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■ POLITICS

Off-Beat - On-Beat When your ready to say...I Do!

Anti-Gay Activist NOM’s New Chair

John Eastman, law professor, replaces Maggie Gallagher leading marriage equality foes

BY DUNCAN OSBORNE

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conservative who defended the Boy Scouts exclusion of gay scout masters and California’s ban on gay marriage was named the board chair of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), a leading anti-gay marriage group.

“I’m grateful to NOM’s president, Brian Brown, for leading this organization, and the addition of an eminent public intellectual like John Eastman to the NOM team is a great sign as we move forward to the battles ahead,” Maggie Gallagher, a NOM co-founder and the previous board chair in a September 22 statement that was posted on NOM’s blog.

Eastman is a professor at the Chapman University law school and a founding director of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, a public interest law firm that has fought for conservative causes in the courts since 1999.

Eastman filed a friend of the court brief supporting the ban on gay scoutmasters in the lawsuit brought

by James Dale, a gay man who was thr own out of the Boy Scouts in 1990. Dale lost his case before the US Supreme Court in 2000 when the court ruled that the Scouts were a private group that could choose its own members.

“It’s very important, not just for the Boy Scouts, but for every private organization in the country,” Eastman told the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2000.

In the Proposition 8 legal wrangling, Eastman filed a friend of the court briefs at least twice supporting the gay

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NY MARRIAGE, from p.2W

“an anomaly insufficient to overcome the otherwise compelling evidence that Ken chose to become, became, and died a domiciliary of New York.”

In a particularly compelling passage, Glen continued, “In considering the ‘association and interests’” that courts consider in determining issues of domicile, “there is one additional compelling fact. Ken was a proud gay man who treasured –– and sought in every way available to protect –– his husband Craig, and Craig’s rights upon his death… [S]ince, as Ken well knew, Florida would not recognize his marriage… failing to change

marriage ban or the right of the ban’s proponents to appeal their loss in federal court.

Eastman was quoted in a 2010 OC Weekly article saying that Vaughn R. Walker, the judge in the federal case, should have recused himself because he was gay.

“I do think the fact that he’s had a long-term relationship with another man may disqualify him,” Eastman said. “He had a financial or other interest in the outcome of the litigation.”

In 1989, Eastman was employed at the US Commission on Civil Rights and defended William B. Allen, the commission chair, when Allen planned on speaking to a group that offered purported cures for homosexuality.

The title of the speech was “Blacks, Animals, and Homosexuals: What is a Minority?” Allen stepped down as chair, but remained on the commission.

“Some people in this world think that the best way to wage an argument with an opponent is to force him to keep quiet,” Eastman told the Orange County Register in 1989. “That doesn’t encourage rational debate, and it certainly doesn’t encourage our search for the truth.”

Evan Wolfson, the founder and president of Freedom to Marry, a pro-gay marriage group, said the appointment was in keeping with NOM’s work.

“It’s putting forward another antigay zealot with a religious agenda that they try to cloak in tautological arguments that don’t stand up and are really just a cover for the small group of funders who are backing these antigay attacks,” Wolfson said.

his domicile would have ‘thwarted his wish’ to have Craig serve as his executor.”

The continuing patchwork system of marriage recognition is intolerable, which helps to explain why the effort to repeal DOMA continues to pick up support in Congress, including the recent addition of the first Republican co-sponsor in the House of Representatives –– ironically, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who represents portions of Dade and Monroe Counties in Florida.

Leiby was represented in defending probate of the will by attorneys Kevin J. Farrelly and Erica Bell from the firm of Weiss, Buell & Bell.

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Former Mayor David Dinkins, on September 26, officiated at the marriage ceremony of Dr. Marjorie Hill (l.), the chief executive officer of Gay Men’s Health Crisis, and Stacey Bridgeman. The couple, who were joined in a 2009 commitment ceremony, have been together for 13 years. The ceremony took place at the Riverview Restaurant and Lounge in Long Island City. Hill served in the Dinkins administration as director of the Mayor’s Office for the Lesbian and Community.

COURTESY: GMHC

MAYOR DINKINS MARRIES MARJORIE HILL, STACEY BRIDGEMAN

MATT TITONE, JOSH PUGLIESE CUT THE CAKE At the September 22 awards ceremony at the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, an LGBT group, Assemblyman Matt Titone (c.) celebrates his marriage to Josh Pugliese (r.) along with State Senators Eric Adams and Diane Savino and Councilwoman Tish James.

The event honored Adams, Julie Menin, the chair of Lower Manhattan’s Community Board 1; Seth Weissman, a board member of the Gay and Lesbian

Victory Fund and a Fire Island Pines entrepreneur whose properties include the Blue Whale, the Ciele Hotel, and the Pavilion: and Mark Silver, founder of Factory PR. Former Public Advocate Mark Green and his wife Deni Frand played hosts to the awards ceremony in their Flatiron District home, and stage actress and cabaret star Liz Callaway entertained the crowd with song.

At a star-studded September 19 staged reading at Manhattan’s the Eugene O’Neill Theatre , Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (“Milk”) premiered his new play, “8,” which is based on the trial transcript from the successful 2010 federal court challenge to Proposition 8. Among those cast members celebrating at the conclusion of the reading were Cheyenne Jackson, Paul Katami, and Rob Reiner. Tony-winning director Joe Mantello (“Take Me Out,” “Assassins”) directed. The evening was a fundraiser for the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the group formed in 2009 to challenge the constitutionality of Prop 8. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is currently weighing an appeal of AFER’s district court victory last August.

LYN HUGHES PHOTOGRAPHY/ COURTESY: AFER

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WOLFSON, from p.1W

repeated ads about loving and committed gay and lesbian couples. “The one county we won in southern California was Santa Barbara,” Wolfson noted, saying they had found a way to effectively deliver their message. That county is represented by Democrats and Republicans in Congress and the State Legislature. A Republican presidential candidate has not won that county since 1988.

The real test of the community’s message delivery will come in 2012. A ban on gay marriage will be on the ballot in Minnesota, and Maine may see an effort to enact gay marriage by ballot initiative next year, as well.

“There is no choice but to step up and do your best to defeat this kind of cruel attack on families,” Wolfson said of the Minnesota campaign.

Freedom to Marry has established a political action committee in Minnesota and is part of Minnesotans United for All Families, the coalition that will oppose the ban.

That coalition recently hired Richard Carlbom as its campaign manager. Carlbom was the spokesman for St. Paul’s mayor, the campaign manager for a Congressman Tim Walz, a Democrat, and the mayor of a small town in Minnesota.

Carlbom has never run a statewide campaign.

While groups in Maine have begun circulating petitions to put a same-sex

marriage initiative on the ballot next year, they may yet decide against a 2012 campaign. “Have we moved enough people, have we engaged enough new voters, have we laid the public education climate, have we built the right campaign team, and have we raised enough money?” Wolfson said, referring to criteria that will influence a decision about moving forward. “Our colleagues in Maine are looking very carefully at that.”

The marriage ballot initiative that the community will likely lose next year will come during the Republican primary in North Carolina. “North Carolina is coming under attack now, but if that were not appalling enough, the anti-gay forces have stacked the deck by putting it on the Republican primary,” Wolfson said.

“Looking at the odds of prevailing in this vote in this snapshot moment, obviously it’s a very uphill fight.”

Perhaps more than any other goal, Freedom to Marry wants the community to stop lurching from battle to battle. Wolfson said other gay and lesbian groups were “100 percent signed on to the strategy” of doing early and sustained work to win hearts and minds.

“There is a strategy that is affirmative, not reactive,” he said. “Much of the movement’s work historically has been reactive and even opportunistic. People go where they see the options, the opportunities, but aren’t necessarily laying the foundation for the win they want.”

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14 DAYS 14 NIGHTS THU.SEP.29

PERFORMANCE Ginsberg’s Kaddish

The Adaptations Project presents its inaugural production, “Kaddish (or The Key in the Window),� based on the poem by Allen Ginsberg. The production, created and performed by Donnie Mather and directed

by Kim Weild –– who last collaborated on the New York premiere of Charles Mee’s “FĂŞtes de la Nuit,â€? a 2010 Drama Desk Award nominee for Unique Theatrical Experience –– marks the 50th anniversary of the poem’s publication. The 4th Street Theatre, 83 E. Fourth St., btwn. Bowery & Second Ave. Sep. 29-Oct. 1, 8 p.m.; Oct. 1-2, 3 p.m. Tickets are $18; $13 for students & seniors at BrownPaperTickets.com or 800-838-3006 âœŻ

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Joey & Basil “Arias with a Twist,� created by songstress Joey Arias and Basil Twist, had a sold-out eight-month run in 2008 –– to enthusiastic reviews. The show returns for a four-week engagement. Updated for 2011, the madcap fantasy features the soaring song stylings of demented diva Arias surrounded by an eye-popping theatrical extravaganza conjured by a team of puppeteers under Twist’s direction. Channeling lurid celluloid dreams, macabre nightmares, and bizarre premonitions, the

adventure begins with an alien abduction and concludes with a stupendous Busby Berkeley-esque finale. Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand St., btwn. Pitt & Bialystoker Sts. Wed. – Fri. at 8 p.m.; Sat. at 8 & 10:30 p.m.; Sun. at 7 p.m., through Oct. 15. Tickets are $25- $65 at AbronsArtsCenter.org or 212-352-3101. For more information, visit AriasWithATwist.com. âœŻ

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You Gotta Have A Gimmick The Annual New York Burlesque Festival is the largest and most acclaimed festival of its kind, attracting sold-out crowds since its 2002 premiere. Four venues produce more than 120 eye-popping performances over four evenings. In addition to tassels and tail feathers, this year’s festival offers live music, international DJ’s, variety and circus performers, boylesque, and a burlesque boutique for perusing custom corsets, pasties, hair ornaments, vintage dresses, and lingerie. You can even get a burlesque makeover! The line-up is as follows: On Sep. 29, 8 p.m., World Famous *BOB* hosts the opening night Teaser Party at the Bell House, 149 Seventh St., btwn.

Second & Third Aves., Park Slope. Tickets are $10 at thebellhouseny.com/, or $15 at the door. Scotty the Blue Bunny emcees the Premiere Party on Sep. 30, 9 p.m., at the Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Wythe Ave. at N. 11th St., Williamsburg. The cover charge is $10; for more information, visit brooklynbowl.com. Murray Hill plays host to the Saturday Spectacular, BB Kings, 237 W. 42nd St.

New York Burlesque Festival: Sep. 29

Oct. 1, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25; $65 for VIP at bbkingblues.com; $30 general admission at the door. Saturday Night’s official afterparty is at Lucille’s Bar, also at 237 W. 42nd St. Oct. 1, 11 p.m.-1 a.m. The event features DJ Bill Coleman and go-gos. Free for all Saturday Spectacular ticket holders. Miss Astrid does the honors on Sunday at the annual burlesque Golden Pastie Awards at Highline Ballroom, 431 W. 16th St. Oct. 2, 8 pm. Tickets are $20;

$30 for VIP at highlineballroom.com; $25-$35 at the door.

The All Stripped Out afterparty to close out the weekend takes place at POP Burger, 60 Ninth Ave., btwn. 14th & 15th St. Oct. 2, 11 p.m.-2 a.m. For complete information and a four-day VIP pass, visit thenewyorkburlesquefestival.com/.

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SEP 29, continued on p.30

These days, farms are courting people who want to make a green statement on their wedding day, ensuring that food delivered to the wedding table is natural, sustainable and locally produced.

Known for the Modern Scandinavian cuisine served at its four Manhattan locations, SmĂśrgĂĽs Chef joined the farm-to-table movement when it opened its own year-round farm. Now the restaurant is bringing all-natural, local and fresh ingredients from the farm to the wedding table through its popular catering division.

Chamber of Commerce’s “From Farm to Fork� Summit.

Located in the Catskills, Blenheim Hill is a 150-acre farm with a 3,000-square-foot hydroponic greenhouse that supplies the restaurant with fresh salads, greens and other produce, even in the dead of winter. The farm complements the Scandinavian approach to cuisine, which focuses on fresh unprocessed ingredients, vibrant herbs, and delicate flavors.

With results that are flavorful and spectacularly plated, the restaurant was selected to cater a 250-person dinner gala this fall at Frank Gehry’s IAC building.

SmÜrgüs Chef bring its catering prowess to offsite locations across the city, but its Scandinavia House location features large private dining rooms, gardens and an ample auditorium. The restaurant’s other locations provide an intimate ambiance for smaller affairs.

The event will be attended by the Crown Prince and Princess of Sweden and will culminate the Swedish-American

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Theater /19

Swing Out Sisters A closeted gumshoe, a naive prettyboy, scatting dykes, and all that jazz

BY DAVID KENNERLEY

N

ot so long ago, in the pre-Stonewall era, if two guys (or gals) were seen in a bar dancing together — or even holding hands — they’d be thrown in the slammer.

Lives were shattered, and these “fruits” and “dykes” lived their days in shame, furtively looking over their shoulders. Proprietors of these samesex hangouts had to pay off the cops to stay in business, even if the place was a hole-in-the-wall on the wrong side of town.

“Play It Cool,” the nifty little musical conceived by Larry Dean Harris, is not content to simply delve into that forbidden world of shadows, exploring the queer underground scene in Hollywood circa 1953. The show cleverly uses the idiom of jazz, illuminating a parallel between the need for these oppressed misfits to express their true selves, no matter how out of synch with mainstream society, and the off-key, syncopated phrases of jazz music.

On top of that, the story, by Har ris and Martin Casella, is told in the hard-boiled, pulpy noir style popular in films of the period, complete with a shady LAPD detective named Henry (Michael F. McGuirk), who is both a player and occasional narrator.

Henry is the gumshoe who extorts payoffs from Mary (the gifted Broadway veteran Sally Mayes), the mannish owner of Mary’s Hideaway, to help keep the cops from shutting the place down. More than just a gin joint, it’s a classy jazz club about to feature Lena (Robyn Hurder), a bleach-blonde femme fatale type with curves in all the right places. The dame is also Mary’s girlfriend.

The club is tucked away in the basement of a nondescript building just off Sunset; the red neon Mary’s Hideaway sign is kept on the inside, out of sight from prying eyes.

When a smarmy young movie producer (Chris Hoch) comes in with a prettyboy named Will (Michael Buchanan) who isn’t quite old enough to legally drink, trouble starts brewing. The producer threatens to steal Lena away with promises of hitting it big. Will, who has left his dead-end hometown in South Carolina to follow his dreams of becoming a singer (and to explore his same-sex urges), allows Mary to teach him how to sing with swing.

Sample lyrics: Jazz isn’t what you sing or say It’s who you are inside It’s the notes you choose not to play

PLAY IT COOL Acorn Theatre at Theatre Row 410 W. 42nd St. Tue. at 7 p.m.; Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m.

Wed., Sat., at 2 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m.

Through Oct. 9 $65; telecharge.com

The life that you can’t hide Staged as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival a couple of years ago, this incarnation features a skilled ensemble — most with major Broadway credits — who belt out those jazz riffs with pizzazz.

Mayes, with her hair cropped short, gives a convincing turn as the ballsy gal with a boatload of secrets, and she scats and wails with flair. As the sultry siren, Hurder is simply a knockout, both in the looks department (aided by Therese Bruck’s dazzling, form-fitting dresses) and with her velvety vocals.

Buchanan transitions from callow yokel to self-assured entertainer with ease. McGuirk, the only actor without a Broadway credit, also has the distinction of being the sole cast member retained from the original production. Look for him on a Broadway stage soon.

The smooth grooves, mostly by Phillip Swann and Mark Winkler (who co-wrote “Naked Boys Singing”) and played by an extremely tight, three-piece combo, would not sound out of place at, say, the Village Gate. All are highly accomplished musicians with astounding credits and stacks of award-winning recordings among them.

Under the direction of Sharon Rosen, the noir sensibility has its pleasures and perils. Sure, the vintage hokey language and overblown plot are amusing, but they create a buffer that prevents emotions from hitting hard. Are the cliché images — like the one with a shadowy figure wearing a trench coat and fedora, lurking backlit in a doorway — meant to feel dangerous or cutely ironic?

Like many little tuners, the sexy, albeit tepid “Play It Cool” is more concerned about musical entertainment than plot logic, and the inconsistencies are baffling. What’s more, the sound system is completely wrong for the Acorn Theatre, with over-miked voices emanating from speakers far in the corners, not from the characters.

Come to think of it, this swingin’ piece would have more immediacy if it were set in an actual cabaret-like space, so the audience could feel like ersatz patrons in Mary’s Hideaway, and maybe even toss back a couple of whiskeys.

Straight up, of course.

Robyn Hurder as femme fatale Lena, Hollywood underground queer club owner Mary’s girlfriend.

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28 SEP – 11 OCT 2011

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28 SEP - 11 OCT 2011

Film /21

Welcome Freshness in World Cinema Familiar directors offer new departures, foreign topics given accessibly at NYFF

BY STEVE ERICKSON

T

his year’s New York Film Festival lineup doubles as a snapshot of the current state of world cinema.

Does that mean that East Asia, a region from which the festival’s main program doesn’t include a single example, is currently going through a lull? Or just that the selection committee didn’t like the latest films by Sion Sono, Takashi Miike, and NYFF veterans Johnnie To and Hong Sang-soo (those last two at least enjoying US distribution)?

Fortunately, the festival’s sidebars offer a broader view of world cinema. Can one say that a festival which includes a huge tribute to the Japanese studio Nikkatsu, as well as two screenings of earlier films by Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, is ignoring Asia?

This year’s documentary sidebar, which includes a film about pioneering gay film critic Vito Russo (unfortunately unavailable for preview) and portraits of Brazilian musician Tom Jobim and glam-rock band Mott the Hoople, looks particularly promising.

“Views Fr om the A vantGarde” serves up its first 3D film, one of the highlights of a typically dense program.

I

n a key scene in Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Skin I Live In,” Dr. Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) lies on a couch, looking at a naked woman (Elena Anaya) through a one-way mirror. Needless to say, he’s clothed.

As the camera continues to ogle the woman, it becomes apparent that she’s actually wearing a flesh-colored body stocking.

This is the first indication that the film has more than a few twists up its sleeve.

This tale of revenge and scientific madness, in which Dr. Ledgard searches for victims to perfect his treatment for burned skin, combines the kinkiness of Almodóvar’s ‘80s films with the elegance of his recent work. As is often the case with Almodóvar’s work, it seems simultaneously feminist and misogynist, but it plays games with gender that are hard to explain without getting into spoilers.

Stefano Savona’s “Tahrir” avoids all the clichés of made-for-TV documentaries.

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Antonio Banderas and Elena Anaya in Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Skin I Live In.”

I’ll just say that “The Skin I Live In” enacts fantasies more typically found in the further reaches of fan fiction and Internet porn. Banderas’ perfor mance achieves a perfect chill.

The structure sometimes seems overloaded, especially when Dr. Ledgard’s brother is introduced, wearing a tiger costume and makeup, but disappears from the plot soon afterwards.

Still, “The Skin I Live In” is Almodóvar’s first fully satisfying film since his 2002 “Talk To Her.” (Alice Tully Hall, Broadway at W. 67th St., Wed., Oct. 12, 6 p.m. & 9 p.m.)

L

ars von Trier’s “Melancholia” is an astonishing comeback for a director who, after making impressive work in the ‘90s, disappeared into a wormhole of misogyny, snarkiness, and childish provocation.

Unfortunately, this success may be overshadowed by the buffoonish behavior of von Trier at its Cannes premiere, where he made

a series of bad jokes culminating in the statement “I am a Nazi.”

While he’s clearly not a serious anti-Semite, he managed to get himself banned from the festival.

One can see the same callow, provocation-above-all attitude reflected in von Trier films like “Antichrist,” but “Melancholia” shows a newfound maturity.

Its prologue depicts the Earth being destroyed by a larger twin planet called Melancholia. The film then goes back a few days to the wedding of Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and her fiancé (Alexander Skarsgard). Justine suffers from depression so severe that it is unclear whether she will be able to get through the wedding.

In the film’s second part, she stays with her sister (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and awaits Melancholia’s arrival, growing more cheerful and functional. In the past, von Trier has exploited his own history of mental illness, but here he deals with the subject far more seriously.

The film alternates between

handheld naturalism and stately grace. Rather than creating more female martyrs and heaping abuse on them, von Trier has finally written troubled women who aren’t completely defined by their neuroses. “Melancholia” is a welcome surprise.

(Alice Tully Hall, Broadway at W. 67th St.; Mon., Oct. 3, 6:30 p.m. & Thu., Oct. 6, 9 p.m.)

I

ranian director Asghar Farhadi’s “A Separation” feels remarkably fresh, maybe because its influences come more from theater than cinema.

It opens and closes with proceedings in a divorce court, where a 40-ish couple (Leila Hatami and Peyman Moadi) with an 11-yearold daughter are separating. In between, its narrative turns into a spiral of ambiguous mysteries, as the couple’s maid apparently behaves irresponsibly toward the husband’s senile father.

Apart from the maid’s boorish husband, no character is either entirely sympathetic or completely unlikable.

Farhadi proves an excellent director of his ensemble cast.

“A Separation” won the Ber lin Film Festival’s top prize last winter, and I sense that some of its appeal to Westerners stems

from the fact that its sheer lack of exoticism is unusual. All the same, the film offers a glimpse into middle-class family life in a culture where one can consult a religious hotline about the sinfulness of helping an ailing stranger to change his pants.

(Alice Tully Hall, Broadway at W. 67th St.; Sat., Oct. 1, 6 p.m. & Sun., Oct. 2, 1 p.m.)

T

he Liberation Squareset “Tahrir” was made

by Italian director Stefano Savona, but it doesn’t feel like the work of an outsider to Egypt. The film avoids all the clichés of made-for-TV documentaries. Savona never appears on camera, supplies voice-over, or interviews his subjects directly.

Instead, he lets Egyptian protesters speak for themselves.

Many do so eloquently, although “Tahrir” also reflects the chaos of the events it captures.

It’s not an elegant piece of filmmaking; in fact, the director often includes shots in which his camera went in and out of focus. Clearly, he prizes immediacy above all. “Tahrir” is bound to be the first of many documentaries about Egypt’s still-incomplete revolution, and its you-are-there euphoria is a good starting point.

(Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, Lincoln Center, 144 W. 65th St.; Sun., Oct. 2, 6 p.m. & Tue., Oct. 4, 9 p.m.)

28 SEP - 11 OCT 2011

22/ Books

Musto’s Mighty Gall Asks more of Janet Leigh than I’d dare to, learns more from Michael Lucas than I’d care to

BY DEAN WRZESZCZ

M

ichael Musto reports he has a big dick, a claim unsubstantiated by Gay City News as of press time. After reading his new book, however, which dropped earlier this month, I can testify that the man does have big balls.

Like his last offering, “Fork on the Left, Knife in the Back” is a compendium of Musto’s previously published articles from his popular Village Voice column spanning almost three decades, this time focusing primarily on the ‘90s and ‘00s.

In his introduction, Musto claims there are two kinds of people: “Those who love to gossip”—and “complete liars,” which is a twist on an old joke about size queens. I just want to go on record to say that I am neither a gossip nor a size queen. But one doesn’t have to be either to enjoy Musto’s musings, whether an insightful 2003 commentary on Arnold Schwarzenegger and his gubernatorial aspirations or his waxing prophetic on the career advantages to coming out of the closet.

Displaying writing chops with wideranging dexterity that goes beyond just dish, Musto has an opinion about everything and everyone, whether it’s the death of nightlife partying on the Lower East Side, the gruesome death of a partying Lower East Sider, a phantom “doorman” who seems to show up wherever he goes, or the frenetic media strategizing over Ellen’s coming out (the TV character DeGeneris played, not the actor herself).

What’s more, he’s not afraid to attach a byline to what he writes, unlike the plethora of online posters named “Anonymous” whom Musto luxuriates in lambasting for their cowardly covert comments.

And even more death-defying is that he spills the beans on secrets meant for keeping while brilliantly managing to remain lawsuit-free without the help of a 12-step program.

Those who lived and partied in New York during the times the author covers will relish the opportunity for healthy waves of nostalgia — or express gratitude for his helping to fill in blurred gaps of time spent in blackouts, gray-outs, or K-holes. But rest assured, there’s something for everyone in Musto’s compilation.

Even those born yesterday will get a vicarious thrill reading the irrepressible cynic who would trash anyone while dedicating his collection “to everyone who is still speaking to me.”

The book contains a few new essays as well, Musto told Gay City News, including a thought-provoking indictment of hypocrisy called “The State of the Celeb-

FORK ON THE LEFT, KNIFE IN THE BACK

By Michael Musto Vantage Point $15.95; 288 pages

rity Closet,” which exposes mainstream media’s support of what Musto refers to as the “glass closet” and the peer pressure he suffered from said enablers when refusing to kowtow to their definitions of gossip etiquette. (Yes, there is such a thing — ask any publicist.) No blind items here — just cold, hard facts, with a big dose of tale tattling.

On the other hand, I almost lost my sight — and my mind — after reading the second entry in the Chapter entitled “Legally Blind,” which contains litigantproof, innuendo-insulated queries that Musto aptly describes as “pesky items without names to drive the readers extra crazy.” I’m not sure which was more disturbing — the endless bombardment of coy questions a la Rona Barrett (pre-Page Six) or the fact that I couldn’t figure out the answers — even when Musto occasionally supplied hints. Unlike crossword puzzles in tabloids, no answer page was ever provided. Undoubtedly, though, a fair percentage of Mustophiles will know many of the answers.

Despite my personal handicap in this sport, I don’t underestimate the potential

son pen.)

At times, his witticisms fall short of clever and stop at cringe-worthy. The beauty of it is that he doesn’t seem to care. It’s all in good fun. Or is it? What lies behind what sometimes seems like stream-of-consciousness raving is the mind of a cultural and political commentator who knows his craft. And after all,

He spills the beans on secrets meant for keeping while brilliantly managing to remain lawsuit-free without the help of a 12-step program. power of blind items; it was one of Musto’s own that gained the attention of the aforementioned Page Six and led to the apprehension of party promoter Michael Alig, who was eventually convicted for the brutal murder of drug dealer and fellow clubber Andre “Angel” Melendez.

Musto packs plenty of puns, double entendres, and wordsmith gymnastics into his prose, and, as he admits, he hasn’t come across a cliché he’s resisted employing. Sometimes the effect is Mustofying; at others, it can be tedious.

Then again, I don’t recommend reading through the book at a reviewer’s pace.

Like the pungency of patchouli, a little Musto goes a long way. He crams a lot within a small package. (More than once, he bats down the double entendre in that last sentence by asserting that happy to see you or not, he’s wielding something more lethal in his pocket than just a poi-

he’s attempting to please a wide audience –– i.e., the world — champing at the bit for his insider scooping. Even the worst of puns elicits a reaction and hits a target.

Any cheap shot will do, particularly when they’re often just throwaways or red herrings aimed to soften — or harden? — the blow of more serious issues he’s brave enough to take on.

Besides some endearing moments of self-deprecation, equally admirable is Musto’s fearlessness when posing probing questions deemed too personal by most others of his ilk, like asking Carrie Fisher about whether she ever walked in on her mother having sex with Agnes Moorehead, or approaching Jamie Lee Curtis’ mom and broaching the subject of her daughter’s alleged Y chromosome (a blind item of Page Six’s Cindy Adams, many blue moons ago). The former came back with a quick-witted quip, while the latter

brushed off the comment — and Musto — speculating that the rumor may have started when she chose a non-genderspecific first name before she gave birth to Tony’s daughter.

While engaging in innocuous banter with former First Daughter Patti Davis shortly after she posed nude — the first time, for Playboy — Musto pressed her to agree that her daddy, Ronald Reagan, did absolutely nothing during his two terms in the Oval Office as AIDS morphed into a worldwide health crisis. After much equivocation, the best the columnist could get out of the once-rebellious Davis was, “I think he wasn’t doing enough,” much to Musto’s bewilderment.

Other pieces sure to please are Musto’s mercurial interviews (“Weirdos Are My Heroes”), where he matches tit for tat with the likes of Sarah Silverman, Sandra Bernhard, and Dame Edna Everage. In the same chapter is a dinner conversation Musto had with legendary self-promoter and self-fellator cum porn star producer Michael Lucas, which Musto prefaced “could turn you celibate.” When asked whether he’s ever bottomed, Lucas answered, “Only top. Otherwise, my asshole would look like ground beef right now — like it was eaten by a zombie.”

Lucas also described his movie “Farts!”: “…It’s sweet. There’s a lot of urination and a lot of water squirting out of the ass into the mouth.” While Lucas directed and produced the movie, he didn’t appear in it, and Musto asked him why. “I’m a class ass,” he responded. “No one will invite me to any openings if I’m appearing in a movie called ‘Farts!’” When asked about his double standard, he readily admitted, “I’m very hypocritical.”

Well, I was already celibate — but I believe it’s possible after reading the duo’s dialogue that I’m now impotent. But in light of Lucas’ recent battles with Israel’s critics over access to space at the LGBT Community Center, this one might yet be worth the price of admission, providing psychological insight into Lucas’ hyperbolic outspokenness.

Musto’s book has moments — many, in fact –– where I was totally engaged and intrigued; my copy is scattered with stars to designate times when I laughed out loud. “Fork on the Left, Knife in the Back” will be a worthy collection to your library, but allow me to make a suggestion: Don’t leave it on your coffee table, unless you don’t care if your guests aren’t listening to a word you’re saying. Instead, put it where everyone will able to appreciate it in private, next to the throne. It’s sure to entertain, offering as it does a sometimes moving experience.

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The original members of the Krewe of Yuga, New Orleans’ first gay Mardi Gras krewe, at their third ball in 1961.

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Flat Tuesday Tim Wolff’s gay Mardi Gras ball doc fails to fire

BY GARY M. KRAMER

T

here is nary a mention of Tennessee Williams himself in Tim Wolff’s disappointing documentary “The Sons of Tennessee Williams,� which chronicles five decades of gay Mardi Gras balls in New Orleans.

True, “A Streetcar Named Desire� is referenced a few times. One of the drag queens is named Blanche. But that’s about it. Any connection between the great gay playwright, who lived in Nawlins for a spell, and the members of the krewes planning such balls apparently comes from the spirit that infuses their revels.

What is clear is that these gay rights pioneers have been dressing in costume and attending Mardi Gras parades since they were kids — though, as they came of age, their wardrobes grew more elaborate and flamboyant. Watching one ball’s Queen hitching up an enormous train, viewers may wonder about its weight, not to mention its cost and how long it took to make. Of course, charming southern gentlemen do not discuss such matters.

They also didn’t discuss their sexuality with their families. Moms may — or may not — have known their sons were queer, but discretion ruled the day. It was simply not discussed, viewers are told. “We didn’t put our lifestyle out on the street,� says Jimmy, one interviewee, who seems vaguely bitter about that silence.

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But, overall, it is hard to tell how the dozen or so men profiled in the documentary feel about things. Late in the film, one man, whom we hear but don’t see, laments that if California can’t have gay marriage, what are the chances for Arkansas. Audiences won’t miss his sense that his generation did their part in New Orleans, so the next generation should start doing theirs, but his perspective could have been explored more fully.

More compelling is the film’s historical look at how gay men managed to forge community during decades of heinous adversity. The men all grew up in the 1950s when a newspaper column published the names of gay men arrested for lewd behavior, which consistently led to them being fired from their jobs. A “queer who was rolled� by three college students died from blows to the head, but the attackers were acquitted.

Dixie’s was a popular gay establishment that also proved an anchor for queer life under assault. When a drag ball out of town was raided — and men hiding in trees were discovered because

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24/ Theater

Lost Generation, Lost Evenings “The Select” and “The Wood” hack up, respectively, literature and the fourth estate

W

atching “The Select,” the Elevator Repair Company’s staging of the text of Hemmingway’s “The Sun Also Rises,” I was thinking not so much of Papa Hemmingway as of another American man of letters, Stephen Sondheim.

In “Sunday in the Park with George,” the art critic Blair says to the young George, “Oh, George, ‘Chromolume Number Seven?’ I was hoping it would be a series of three, four at the most.”

Elevator Repair Company has most recently made its name from taking classic works of literature and translating them verbatim to the stage. The first time I encountered this device in an adaptation of Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury,” it felt like they had mined the text and the voice of the piece, shedding new light on it. In “The Select,” however the convention is just a gimmick, and as Blair observes about George’s art, “Now it’s just becoming more and more about less and less.”

Aside from one glorious bit of staging — the climactic bullfight nearly three hours into the production — the rest of the evening is static, mechanical, and completely devoid of tension, character, or emotion.

Whereas Hemmingway’s spare prose and simple descriptions draw one into the novel, director John Collins has created a stiff and tedious evening that ignores the subtleties of characterization among the protoJungian masculine archetypes of the so-called “Lost Generation” and the post-World War I expatriates living in Europe.

The single most impor tant element of the story is obscured, so if you don’t know the book, you won’t know that the narrator Jake Barnes sustained war injuries that have left him impotent. This is what gives tragedy to his efforts to bury himself in masculine pursuits — drinking, fishing, bullfights — to try to locate himself in a world transformed by war.

Similarly, Lady Brett Ashley

THE SELECT (THE SUN ALSO RISES) New York Theatre Workshop 79 East 4th St., btwn. Bowery & Second Ave. Tue.-Sun. at 7 p.m.; Sun. at 1 p.m. $25-$70; ticketcentral.com Or 212-279-4200

THE WOOD Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre 224 Waverly Pl., near Seventh Ave. S. Through Oct. 9 Mon., Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m.

Sun. at 3 p.m. $55; ticketcentral.com Or 212-279-4200

may be in love with Jake, and he with her, but they cannot consummate their relationship, so she buries herself in alcohol and promiscuity.

The other two major male figures in the story are essentially foils for Jake. Robert Cohn, a former Princeton boxer and one-time lover of Brett’s turned mediocre novelist, is despised for being an intellectual Jew and for his sexual potency.

Bill Gorton is the ur-male who seems to have it all but is still lost.

“The Sun Also Rises” is a novel consumed with drama, psychology and subtext, and absolutely none of that is on the stage. Rather, Hemmingway’s understated prose when translated to the stage leaves the characters completely without affect. Or, in the case of Frances, Cohn’s unappreciated girlfriend, played with such excessive shrillness that it overwhelms everyone else on stage.

At either extreme, there is nothing to engage the audience, and the show simply drones on and on and on for nearly four hours. It almost seems as though Collins hasn’t read the book or else lacks any understanding of its cultural, literary, or human context.

The cast strives tirelessly.

Mike Iveson as Jake has the bulk of the memorization, but beyond this technical tour de-force, he never finds Jake’s soul. The same holds true for Lucy Taylor as Brett, Matt Tierney as Cohn, and Ben Williams as Bill. To be fair, they

SANDRA COUDERT

BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE

John Viscardi and Vladimir Versailles in “The Wood,” a new play by Dan Klores and directed by David Bar Katz.

are all seen through Jake’s eyes, so they have very little to work with, and that’s what they deliver.

Blair’s critique of George in Sondheim’s “Sunday” has as its refrain, “Art isn’t easy.” Very true, and in the case of “The Select,” it’s damn hard.

I

n the newspaper business, getting “The Wood” lacks the vulgar connotation it has elsewhere. It means commanding the front-page story.

Anyone in New York in 1997 when a sadistic cop sodomized Abner Louima with the handle of a plunger knows it was a dark time in the city. The outrage dominated the news for weeks, particularly the tabloids. Playing a central role in this was Daily News columnist Mike McAlary, whose reporting uncovered the sordid and tragic details of the Haitian immigrant’s abuse. He won a Pulitzer as a result.

Dan Klores’ new documen-

tary play “The Wood” focuses on McAlary. Unfortunately, it’s unclear what the playwright was thinking in creating this clumsy and poorly structured story. Scenes are either choppy or excessively long as the play meanders through clichéd debates over family versus work, bedside confessionals, and impassioned pleas that McAlary stop chasing a politically fraught story.

At the end of it all, we have no clearer picture of McAlary than we did at the outset. We don’t know why he pursued Louima’s story, how he became convinced he was telling the truth, or what drove the columnist to ignore the cancer that ultimately killed him. Without providing those motivations, there is no play. Instead, it’s little more than a reverential tale in which McAlary gets the kind of besotted treatment Lou Gehrig received in “The Pride of the Yankees.”

Klores has no ear for dia-

logue. The text is almost exclusively expository, so the characters strain to achieve even one dimension. Still, the cast does the best they can with it. John Viscardi has a strong presence as McAlary, but he’s really lost in the part. Vladimir Versailles doesn’t do much better as Louima, saddled as he is with long, repetitive speeches.

Director David Bar Katz has done no one any favors as the production feels rudderless and almost insufferably drawn out, with even the most rudimentary scene structure ignored.

There may be a play in this story, but Klores hasn’t found it. (It could be in what happened when McAlary discovered that the most famous line Louima claimed to have heard from his cop attackers — “Now, it’s Giuliani time” — was dreamed up by those around him trying to bring attention to the incident.)

As a result, “The Wood” is as tired as yesterday’s news — and as quickly forgotten.

28 SEP - 11 OCT 2011

Opera /25

Resurrections Lully and Mahler launch the season

BY DAVID SHENGOLD

䉴

SONS, from p.23

police flashlights caught their sequins — Dixie’s owner sent bail money to release its attendees.

Outside of Dixie’s, the Mardi Gras krewes provided the only safe social outlet for gay men, hosting campy “debutramp” balls. To school krewe mem-

STEPHANIE BERGER

E

very autumn, New York’s classical vocal scene gets underway even before the Met opens its glamorous doors. With the nowroaming City Opera on hiatus, the first waves were caused by the Brooklyn Academy of Music, celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

In operatic terms, over the last few decades BAM has acted largely as a clearing-house for European productions, usually from either the baroque or contemporary eras, furnishing New Yorkers with a valuable window onto developments we might otherwise miss or not see reflected in domestic stagings for some time. Britophilia dictates BAM’s choices less regarding operatic material it imports than in the case of “straight” theatrical productions; if Fiona Shaw and Simon Russell Beale did a reading of “I Do, I Do!” it would come to Brooklyn.

One special relationship proved worth commemorating. Ex-pat conductor and baroque legend William Christie first unveiled for US audiences his astonishing revival of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s 1767 “Atys” — neglected for centuries — on BAM’s stage in 1989.

The current revival — with the truly spectacular neo-baroque costumes of Patrice Cauchetier and faux-marble palatial sets of Carlo Tomassi — has been achieved largely thanks to an old-fashioned patron of the arts, Ronald P. Stanton, who found this “Atys” a life-changer the first time around. Having not seen it then, I was certainly not disappointed in the current show, though Lully — unlike, say, Handel — is not a taste I

Nicolas Rivenq and Anna Reinhold in William Christie’s astonishing revival of Jean-Baptiste Lully’s 1767 “Atys.”

have entirely acquired.

The dance sections are extensive, the recits repetitive and quite dry, but when everything coalesces, as it did here in Act Three’s extensive dream scene and in the final laments of the love-smitten goddess Cybele, the results are astonishingly bracing. Plus, thanks to Christie and the remarkably intelligent and comprehensive work by director Jean-Marie Villegier and choreographers Francine Lancelot and Beatrice Massin, even the recits and dances — some might say especially the dances — were stylishly executed and well-integrated into an overall created world of astonishing sophistication and evocativeness.

“Atys” has a large cast, even with some singers handling two or more parts. It goes without saying that under Christie’s tutelage, the playing and singing of Les Arts Florissants fur-

nished lessons in state-of-the art French baroque style.

First among the very strong assemblage September 20 was Anna Reinhold, stunning to behold and hear as the jealous Cybele. It’s a great diva part with a wide range of emotions and expression, and the 27-year-old mezzo did it full justice.

The other women were very strong — Emmanuelle de Negri as the nymph Sangarde, the unwitting object of the goddess’ jealousy and revenge; lovely-voiced Sophie Daneman as her sympathetic confidante Doris (the two blended sublimely together); and the cleverly etched duenna-like Melisse of Ingrid Perruche.

Nicolas Rivenq looked aptly Herculean as the too-amorous king and affirmed his status as a genuine leading baroque bass. Veteran bass Bernard Deletre had fun in two personality parts. The ensemble and

chorus did excellent work.

I was disappointed, not for the first time, by tenor Ed Lyon (Atys), who seems to have succeeded Toby Spence as the “It” Boy of British Early Music.

What refinement can do in terms of dynamics and phrasing, he accomplishes; but the basic timbre is ordinary, even somewhat bleaty. When the dream scene brought on veteran Paul Agnew’s dulcet Dieu du Sommeil and, especially, the Morphee of French Early Music’s “It” Boy Cyril Auvity, with his radiant tone and perfect declamation, we heard what was missing. Plus, Lyon seemed physically stiff and ill-at-ease in the costumes (he had done well enough in scanty costumes in BAM’s 2010 “Fairy Queen”), leaving a puzzling lacuna in the middle of this fated love triangle.

Spend a few decades in theaters and you get ghosts; this

bers unversed in doing makeup, they hired an undertaker, though his lack of experience on life models proved a distinct drawback.

These anecdotes suggest the joys that sustained the krewes, but the film fails in capturing enough of the camaraderie among members to animate this history for those

who did not live it.

In a more serious vein, the film talks about the losses krewes experienced from AIDS, their working together in response to Katrina, and their rallying behind District Attorney Harry Connick, Sr., who in 30 years in office beginning in 1973, became a champion of the LGBT community.

Still, whether exploring the carnival spirit of krewes or their significance in building a safe space for queer life, director Tim Wolff largely just skims the sur face of what ought to be an interesting story. One man is reluctant to do drag for his first time, but we’d love to know more specifically how he felt. We see fab-

splendid evening made me miss anew the late Patrick Giles, a fellow gay opera critic who left us too early — an always enthusiastic presence at and chronicler of Christie’s local appearances.

The New York Philharmonic played one per for mance of Mahler’s massive “Resurrection” Symphony (his Second) in honor of the September 11 anniversary, then regrouped for three subscription performances with a different pair of vocal soloists. The first, on September 22, proved quite rousing — one of the better things I’ve heard music director Alan Gilbert lead from the standard repertory.

This piece, with its rich textures and Berlioz-like experiments with sound from different sources, really needs to be heard in the concert hall. Except for some premature applauders — during the first of five movements! — the audience followed raptly, especially during the sustained violin ostinato opener and the hushed entry of the excellent New York Choral Artists.

Lilli Paasikivi, a Finnish mezzo whom we hear too rarely in New York, provided wonderfully sculpted lines and soulful, liquid tone in the “Urlicht” song and in her urgent contributions to the finale. Miah Persson sounded as angelic as she looked in the soprano’s comparative brief but key utterances.

Certainly a memorable evening; Mahler figures significantly in the Phil’s season, with the First, Ninth, and reconstructed Tenth all on deck.

David Shengold (shengold@ yahoo.com) writes about opera for many venues.

ulous costumes — New York Cheesecake being a particular standout — but get little feeling of how the costumes enlivened an evening at a ball.

“The Sons of Tennessee Williams” is too often like watching someone else’s home movies — you can’t escape the feeling you just had to be there.

28 SEP – 11 OCT 2011

26

WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

■ IN THE NOH

Lyrical Linguists

BY DAVID NOH

COURTESY: FRANK LOMAN

P

erforming on October 5 at Don’t Tell Mama are fresh UK imports Frank Loman and Ellen Verenieks with their show, “Lyrical Linguists from London” (343 W. 46th St.; donttellmamanyc.com/).

I met up with the effervescent Loman, who told me, “In this show, we wanted to do something different and not adhere to, say, another Sondheim show, although there are Sondheim and John Bucchino songs in it because I always insist there be. I wanted to tell a story of two people who are at different stations in their lives. Ellen is a really focused, tiny, feisty lady who’s as tough as steel but so vulnerable as well. I’m more the emotional one, almost on the brink of a nervous breakdown, just out of a relationship and really suffering.

“It’s two different characters without narration, as we let the songs speak for themselves. I don’t like too much talking in cabaret, there’s too often too much explanation, and if I hear one more cabaret performer say, ‘I’m singing this song because I love it so much…’

“Ellen and I met doing ‘Follies’ together last year as a Fringe production in London.

I played a way too young Benjamin, and she was Hattie, with a lovely rendition of ‘Broadway Baby.’ We started talking about needing to do something new, as we both got a little stuck in our career, so it was about coming to New York, and the very idea of sitting on the subway for me –– it’s hard to believe that I am actually here!

“We open the show with the song ‘Dangerous Cabaret,’ which was written by a friend of mine, Brett Kahr [who’s married to West End musical star Kim Criswell].

He always said, ‘I want to write a theme song for you, just give a title,’ but without him realizing it, this song has become my theme. It’s everything I feel about cabaret, that it should be risky and away from the norm a little –– and luckily it worked with Ellen. She also sings songs like ‘Pink Taffeta’ and ‘I Never Learned to Type,’ and we both speak three languages, hence the ‘Linguists’ in our show’s title.

Loman grew up in Germany, went to drama school in Hamburg, and worked his way up from being a background singer in “Cats”: “I moved to Vienna and was in ‘Elizabeth,’ a musical based on the Austrian empress, in which I played her son, Rudolf, who famously killed himself at Mayerling. The director was Harry Kupfer, who was one of the most influential opera directors in former Eastern Germany, and it had stunning music.

“Then I was the cover for the gay son in ‘Dance of the Vampires,’ directed by

Frank Loman is joined by Ellen Verenieks for their show, “Lyrical Linguists from London,” at Don’t Tell Mama on October 5.

Roman Polanski, which came to Broadway and was ruined by its star, Michael Crawford, who was also one of its producers. Polanski couldn’t come to America, of course, so Crawford had so much influence he made the show all about him.

“But Polanski had made it a stunning show, and the music worked really well. I loved him. Once I had to go on and had to rehearse the day of the performance all day with Polanski. I will never forget that he said something to his assistant, who ran off and returned with a little brown bag which contained some homeopathic remedy which helped me with stage fright. He was so kind.”

I noticed Loman was wearing a chai symbol and asked him about it: “I’m an honorary Jew. Even though with my generation there’s no guilt, as such, I used to feel incredible guilt like when I met a Jewish friend’s 85-year-old grandmother who asked me where I was from, and when I said, ‘Germany,’ you’d get this feeling. But Steven Gross, my music director friend, became my door to Judaism, answering a lot of questions, and helped me a lot. He gave me this chai which I always wear, and it really came in handy yesterday when I was being questioned in immigration. New York is the first place people don’t look at it and ask, ‘What is that? A pi?’”

Lohman married his partner Alan five and a half years ago: “He’s not in show business, thank God.”

I

f club music is more your cuppa, check out Meital Dohan’s highly danceable debut, “Yummy Boyz” (meitalmusic. com) , which is irresistibly sexy and possesses one sinuously hard driving beat.

I’ve been a fan of this exquisite Israeli, multi-talented little tornado since her deliciously campy show “Bath Party” I saw years ago at Here. I was delighted at the chance to catch up with her.

Dohan told me her reinvention as a dance diva came about when “by happenstance, I met producer Che Pop, who has worked with Eminem, Lauryn Hill, and Dr. Dre. We didn’t go into the recording studio with a sketched out map of what we wanted to create; we kind of let the music make itself. The recording process was just about being crazy and experimental and having as much fun as we can, and that process birthed ‘Yummy Boyz.’

“I’m going to have my debut singing performance in LA in October in collaboration with Grindr. Everybody can find out when that will be on facebook.com/ meitaldohan. There will also be a free download of a special Grindr remix of the single up on my website.

“I also shot a film co-starring Michael Imperioli and directed by Rich ard Ledes called ‘Foreclosure,’ an interesting political thriller about the housing crisis, and also “Woke Up Dead,” which is Sony’s zombie comedy with Jon Heder from ‘Napoleon Dynamite.’ The zombie falls in love with moi, a fellow ball-busting zombie in leather.”

You may recall Dohan from her appearances as sexy rabbinical scholar Yael Hoffman on the show, “Weeds”: “Working on that was a total blast. I got the job by showing the casting directors my strap-on skills [laughs]. No, really, I guess they just dug my style and so it worked out. The cast is very talented. It’s a tight-knit fun-loving group of actors, and they were all very embracing and lovely. Mary Louise Parker is very sweet and down to earth, and it was a pleasure getting to work with her.”

The tireless Dohan also wrote a book, “Love and Other Bad Habits”: “It’s a book of poems I wrote about humiliation and love and woman’s identity in the 21st century. It’s very honest and raw, and I think the themes are something that really resonate with people because it’s emotions and issues we all experience if we’re really living life, where you have to succumb to the ride.”

W

hat is it about those Israeli girls? Yael Rasooly’s show “Paper Cut” deservedly won the New York Fringe Festival’s Solo Show Award and was the unquestioned highlight for me of what was a particularly dismal Fringe this year, rife with the kinds of unwatchable dreck about bulimia and non-compelling gay folk that

DAVID LACHAPPELLE

UK duo, Israeli divas, Daphne’s drag, movies galore

On September 15, style diva Daphne Guinness opened up a Fashion Institute of Technology exhibit of outré fashions by top designers from her wardrobe.

just give ammunition to those who disdain the entire Festival.

But “Paper Cut” was a rare delight, the very sort of production you want from the Fringe, about a lonely secretary, hopelessly in love with her oblivious boss, who, at her desk, escapes into a fantasy world engendered by old Hollywood movies. Rasooly’s use of film stills cut into masks, puppets, and pop-up books metamorphosed from business ledgers was truly ingenious. The tale she spun –– a mash-up of “Gaslight,” “Rebecca,” “Love Affair,” and a dozen other vintage classics –– was both hilarious and hypnotic. She’s currently touring in France, but I think we should all make a concerted effort to get her back in New York as everyone needs to see it.

(Learn more about her at yaelrasooly. com)

N

ew York Fashion Week climaxed on September 15 at Fashion Institute of Technology with the opening of an exhibit of clothes belonging to style diva Daphne Guinness (Seventh Ave. at 27th St., through Jan. 12; fitnyc.edu/10861.asp). Every decade has enjoyed its most fabulously dressed ladies. In the 1930s, that title was shared by the likes of Daisy Fellowes, Mona Harrison Williams, and Millicent Rogers; the 1950s were all about Audrey Hepburn and Pauline de Rothschild; the 1960s had Babe Paley; the 1970s, Loulou de la Falaise and Marisa Berenson; the 1980s, Tina Chow; while Kate Moss has been a recent eminence.

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IN THE NOH, continued on p.27

WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

28 SEP – 11 OCT 2011

27

■ THEATER

Newsboys of The World Unite (The Journal, Too) Harvey Fierstein Adapts 1992 “Newsies” into Disney musical at Paper Mill

BY ANDY HUMM NEWSIES

䉴

squeeze on the boys’ pockets led them to collective action to protect their already meager livelihoods.

Disney made this turn-ofthe-last century story into the musical film “Newsies,” a failure at the box office in 1992 that starred Christian Bale as Jack “Cowboy” Kelly, leader of the newsboys. The film enjoyed a decent afterlife as a DVD, and there have been steady requests from professional and amateur theater groups to make it a stage show. Now the Mouse has turned it into a “new” musical –– not opening on Broadway,

IN THE NOH, from p.26

Guinness earned props for her jawdroppingly chic display of the most outré looks of Alexander McQueen, Gareth Pugh, Valentino, and Chanel on mannequins that resembled her with a Frankenstein Bride chiaroscuric hairdo. She swanned about the gallery in dazzling black sequins designed by formerly unknown but now instant fashion star Hogan McLaughlin, whom she met on Twitter.

I asked her how she felt about it all and she whispered, “It’s really scary. This is all such a collaboration! I wouldn’t be here without everybody else. You don’t know how we’ve worked over the final six years, with two years of work here at FIT. And there were a lot of other people involved!”

Guinness had the most divine, intensely musky, incense-y scent. When I asked her what it was, she replied, “It’s me!”

Valerie Steele, the museum’s director, asked about the exhibit, said, “Why? Because she’s the most inspiring and individual fashion icon in the world.

How? Because two years ago, I asked her. She’s the real thing; everybody else is a fake!”

Designer John Bartlett, whom I’ve always loved for those over-the-top gaygaygay fashion shows he used to stage, featuring male models looking like they just strutted out of the Pines or from

T. CHARLES ERICKSON

D

isney has come up with the timeliest show on the boards this season in “Newsies” –– and a smashing entertainment to boot. Read all about it.

Down on Wall Street this past week, an occupation led mostly by young people was, at last, a tangible sign of rebellious resistance to the injustices of an insane financial system that threatens to bring the world economy to its knees. Back in 1899, the conflict was simpler in economic terms but no less inspiring –– newsboys, who were mostly poor kids, striking against colluding publishers Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World and William Randolph Hearst of the New York Journal, who jacked up the price of their papers to these “distributors” a tenth of a cent, taking away 20 percent of their profits. That

Paper Mill Playhouse 22 Brookside Drive Millburn, New Jersey Through Oct. 16 Wed.-Sun. at 7 p.m.

Thu., Sat., Sun. at 1:30 pm $25-96; papermill.org Or 973-376-4343

Jeremy Jordan leads the cast in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of “Newsies.”

but at the venerable Paper Mill Playhouse, only 45 minutes from Broadway on New Jersey Transit.

the pages of a 1970s issue of After Dark magazine was there, and he told me: “I just started johnbartlettny.com and have been very involved with design, but also with animal rescue which has given me my second career.

“I just got back from Europe, working in Como on men’s wear, still doing my thing a hundred years later. I have dogs and went vegan about a year and a half ago. My energy level is really good, and I’ve doing a lot of work in nature study.

I’m also doing a big collection for the Bon Ton, a group of stores in the Midwest, a diffusion line available online at bonton. com, for all men and lesbians!”

Also in attendance were designers Valentino, Zack Posen, Oscar De La Renta, and Calvin Klein, accompanied by his boyfriend, former porn star Nick Gruber (the catty have dubbed the couple “Dorian Gray and his Portrait”).

And there was the usual Bill Cunningham coterie of favored freaks whose style screams more “Look at me! It’s Halloween!” and whom the Time snapper always features, often overlooking so many others possessing real style and more understated elegance.

L

ots of movies to catch, and not just at the New York Film Festival, where I saw previews of “Music According to Tom Jobim” –– featuring performance footage of everyone from Judy Garland to Frank Sinatra to Sarah Vaughn and

There’s tons of Tony-winning talent on hand. Alan Menken, the king of Disney musicals, and Jack Feldman have

scores of brilliant Brazilians performing the timeless, sultry sounds of the master of bossa nova –– and Nicholas Ray’s very disappointing “We Can’t Go Home Again,” a 1972 experimental effort by the brilliant, troubled, bisexual director of “Rebel Without a Cause” that is pretty unwatchable for its amateurish acting, uninvolving plotline, and technical messiness.

French Institute/ Alliance Francaise has the retrospective “The Beau Travail of Agnès Godard,” starting October 4, featuring the cinematographic work of Godard, that includes two very homooriented films of director Claire Denis, “I Can’t Sleep” and that sexy Foreign Legion epic, “Beau Travail.” (22 E. 60th St.; fiaf.org).

From September 30 through October 6, Film Forum is reviving Peter Bogdanovich’s best film, “The Last Picture Show,” a real American classic with its great ensemble cast of performers –– Cloris Leachman, Timothy Bottoms, Cybill Shepherd, Jeff Bridges, Eileen Brennan, Ben Johnson and, especially, Ellen Burstyn, none of whom was ever better. (209 W. Houston St., filmforum.org.)

And, if that weren’t enough, BAMCinematek presents “The Complete Vincente Minnelli” through November 2 (30 Lafayette Ave. at Ashland Pl.; bam.org). Just to see any of this visual wizard’s work on the big screen is a treat, but highly recommended are rarities like “Undercurrent,”

expanded their lively music and lyrics respectively. And Harvey Fierstein has written a new book that makes the story work better than it did in the film, adding a central romance for Jack with Katherine Plummer, a rare woman reporter who chances upon the story of the boys’ strike.

Jeremy Jordan, recently Tony in “West Side Story” on Broadway, is a sensation as Jack Kelly, giving him not just the charisma but the complexity he needs to make this a compelling show. (It’s all the more remarkable because Jordan has been rehearsing during the day as Clyde Barrow in the new musical of “Bonnie and Clyde,” directed, as is “Newsies,” by Jeff Calhoun.) Sara Lindsay, engaging as Plummer, struggles with both elf-doubt and the desire to break out in this pre-feminist era.

䉴

NEWSIES, continued on p.32

with Katharine Hepburn in a chic Irene wardrobe being gaslighted by a maniacal Robert Taylor in a to-die-for Georgia O’Keefe-like desert manse; “The Sandpiper,” a deliriously campy Liz Taylor-Richard Burton vehicle that posits her as Big Sur bohemian artist steamily involved with him as an Episcopal school headmaster.

I love the woefully underrated “On a Clear Day,” if only for its ravishing Cecil Beaton Regency costumes, gorgeous songs, and the hilarious way a strangely cast Yves Montand is so utterly contemptuous of Barbra Streisand, playing an adorable meeskite (“Stupide Daisy Gamble!”).

“A Matter of Time” was Minnelli’s final film, a butchered valentine to daughter Liza, but not without interest, especially Ingrid Bergman’s terrific, battered performance as a desperate, aged courtesan (almost like her delectable “Saratoga Trunk” coquette 30 years later).

And then there’s “Kismet,” a film the dazzlingly bombastic belter Dolores Gray steals clean away, except for the scene in which Howard Keel sings “Fate” while wearing a pair of billowingly suggestive harem pants and no underwear, which somehow got past the censors and nearly turns the film into a 3D experience.

(Thanks Auntie Vincente!)

Contact David Noh at Inthenoh@aol. com and check out his new blog at http:// nohway.wordpress.com/.

28 SEP – 11 OCT 2011

28 BRIEFS, from p.15

vote in its current form. A version of the measure including sexual orientation protections, but none for gender identity, passed the House in 2007 and failed by a single vote in the Senate in 1996.

Four Months After Making “It Gets Better” Video, Youth Apparently Takes His Life A 14-year-old from the Buffalo area who made an “It Gets Better” YouTube video in May talking about the support he received after coming out as bisexual, was the victim of an apparent suicide in the early morning hours on September 19.

Tracy and Tim Rodemeyer,

䉴

whose son Jamey left no note, told WGRZ-TV, the Buffalo NBC affiliate, they were speaking out so that other parents do not have to endure their tragedy.

In a YouTube video titled “It Gets Better, I Promise,” the youth talked about being taunted in his junior high school hallways, called a “faggot,” and told “gay people go to Hell.” He explained that late last year he began to think he might be bisexual and that “I virtually have no guy friends.”

However, after coming out as bi, he said, “I got so much support from my friends, it made me feel secure.”

Jamey made the video, he said, to send a message to other youth facing harassment: “Hold your head high and you’ll go far.”

His mother said the family had discussed the questions he had

about his sexuality and that he had been doing well recently. After three weeks into high school at Williamsville North, Jamey’s father told the television station, “he was saying how great school was going, how happy he was, his grades were great. No indication that he was in pain.”

But Tracy Rodemeyer said since her son’s death they had learned from his classmates that Jamey continued to be taunted.

“They saw that the bullying was still happening but Jamey was handling it well,” she told WGRZ. “It was nothing that he or anybody was concerned on.”

Tim Rodemeyer said, “He put on a brave face and I wish he wouldn’t have.”

The Buffalo News reported that on September 8 Jamey, noting

it was Suicide Prevention Week, blogged, “No one in my school cares about preventing suicide, while you’re the ones calling me faggot and tearing me down.” He also posted several lines from a song by Hollywood Undead, including “I just wanna say good bye, disappear with no one knowing.”

On September 17, on his Facebook page, he quoted Lady Gaga’s song “The Queen,” writing, “Don’t forget me when I come crying to Heaven’s door.” Hours later, the Buffalo News reported, he blogged that he wanted to see his grandmother, who had recently died.

About other parents of LGBT youth, Tim Rodemeyer told WGRZ, “They have to teach their children to stand up for themselves and their friends and stop the bullies from bullying people.”

Potential Baldwin Democratic Senate Competitor Bows Out Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin’s campaign for the 2012 Wisconsin Democratic Senate primary nomination got a boost on September 15 when Ron Kind, a House colleague from LaCrosse, told Politico. com he would not run.

Baldwin, an out lesbian who has served the Madison area since 1999, announced her Senate bid on September 6, several weeks after former Senator Russ Feingold, a Democrat defeated in his reelection race last year but still popular among progressives, said he too would not be making the race for the seat Democratic Senator Herb Kohl has decided to vacate.

In an August survey by Public Policy Polling, Baldwin ran within four points of Mark Neumann, a former Republican congressman from the Kenosha area who had already announced his candidacy. In that same poll, she was down eight points from former longtime GOP Governor Tommy Thompson, who was Health and Human Services secretary under President George W. Bush. Thompson is not an announced candidate at this stage.

On a September 7 press call, Baldwin told reporters that she is currently known by no more than 55 percent of Wisconsin voters. She said, “In any poll taken now statewide, the results would mostly be due to name recognition.”

Though former Democratic Con-

䉴

BRIEFS, continued on p.33

DADT, from p.12

of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), a leading advocacy group that worked to end DADT, said in a press release, “Today marks the official end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and is an historic milestone along the journey to achieving LGBT equality in America’s military.

Thanks to veterans, active duty, leaders, allies, and supporters everywhere, this is a monumental day for our service members and our nation… Our work is far from done, but today we pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of our patriots as we look forward to a new era of military service.”

Even while DADT remained firmly in place, the government conceded that it came with a cost. In 2005, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigatory arm of Congress, reported that the Defense Department did not collect data specifically on the policy’s cost, but based on recruitment and training expenses for the overall military force, GAO estimated that $95 million in 2004 dollars had been spent in DADTrelated costs during its first decade. It noted that, separately, the Army, Navy, and Air Force had estimated their personnel replacement costs due to DADT during the same period at 29.7 million, 48.8 million, and $29.7 million, respectively.

Five years later, GAO estimated the cost from 2004 through 2009 at $193.3 million.

The 2005 GAO report noted that the roughly 9,500 service members discharged up to that point included 757 who held “critical occupations” that would otherwise qualify them for reenlistment bonuses. A total of 322 discharged service members were trained in valued foreign languages — such as those spoken in the Middle East — including 98 who graduated from the Defense Language Institute rated “profi-

(PATSY LYNCH)

䉴

WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

President Barack Obama signing DADT’s repeal last December.

OutServe Magazine’s DADT repeal issue.

cient” in such languages.

Researchers at several academic institutes pegged DADT’s costs higher than the government did.

The Palm Center, a UCLA Law School research institute that studies gender, sexuality, and the military, estimated its cost through the end of fiscal 2003 at $363.8. The Williams Institute, which

studies legal issues affecting the LGBT community and is also part of UCLA’s law school, put DADT’s costs through the end of fiscal 2008 at $555.2 million.

The policy’s end prompted a burst of openly gay and lesbian service members coming forward.

“J.D. Smith,” an Air Force first lieutenant who used that pseudonym to organize OutServe, a group of gay and lesbian active service personnel that grew to 4,300 members, came out as Josh Seefried, a finance officer in the 87th Air Base Wing stationed at New Jersey’s Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. A column published in Stars and Stripes, the military’s independent news service, noted that few of Seefried’s colleagues at McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst would be surprised by his announcement, an indication that despite DADT’s often harsh effects, many service members were known to be gay by their peers.

OutService Magazine, distributed on September 20 at military bases around the world, profiled 101 newly out members of the services.

The front page of the September 13 Marine Corps Times , a Gannett publication, featured an image of a full dress

uniform and hat with the headline “We’re Gay, Get Over It” where a head would otherwise be.

In a particularly poignant example of what the end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell meant, a 21-year-old soldier stationed in Germany, who had earlier posted a series of YouTube videos with his head hidden talking about being gay in the military, faced the camera and allowed the world to watch him call his father in Alabama to come out to him. He explained he did not want to go public until his family knew about him.

The soldier, whom the Washington Post identified as Randy Phillips, based at Ramstein Air Force Base, had made his initial YouTube postings with the name “AreYouSurprised.” In his September 20 video, the soldier, clearly anxious about the call he said he delayed making for four hours, began the conversation by asking his father, “Can I tell you something?,” and then, “Will you love me, serious?” After being told his son was gay, the soldier’s father replied, “I still love you son. Yes, I still love you.” Having been assured his father would always be proud of him, the soldier ended the call, wiped his brow, and standing up to walk off-camera, said, “Oh my Lord.”

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MARIE-FRANCOISEPLISSART

gaycity news.com Thierry Smits’ “To the Ones I Love”: Sep. 29

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DANCE Male Bonding

www.lgbtHistoryMonth.com

Merging traditional and contemporary modern dance, Belgian choreographer Thierry Smits’ “To the Ones I Love” celebrates the male physique’s beauty, power, and capacity for expression. It also pays homage to movement at its purest, unencumbered by narrative and infused with artfully woven elements of hip-hop, martial arts, African dance, and ballet. Set to a score

by Bach and an electronic soundscape by Maxime Bodson, this work features nine men acutely in tune with one another. Brooklyn Academy of Music Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton St. at Ashland Pl. Sep. 29-Oct. 1, 7:30 p.m. Tickets begin at $20 at bam.org. ✯

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Peter Kyle at Triskelion Peter Kyle Dance presents a program of solos and duets that features the choreographer, Bessie award-winner Holley Farmer, Mercedes Searer, actors Scott Giguere and Scott Nath, and cellist Lori Goldston. Triskelion Arts, 118 N. 11th St., third fl., btwn. Berry & Wythe Sts. (L train to Bedford; G train to Nassau). Through Oct. 1, 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 at triskelionarts.org. Oct. 1 performance is a $50 benefit, with a VIP champagne toast. ✯

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CABARET Eder & Feinstein Are Two for the Road Michael Feinstein and Linda Eder share the spotlight in their show “Two For The Road,” which features classics from Harold Arlen, George Gershwin, and Sammy Cahn; hits from newer writers like Peter Allen, Joni Mitchell, and Michel Legrand; and selections from Feinstein’s upcoming CD “The Sinatra Legacy.” Music director Billy Jay Stein conducts a seven-piece band. Loews Regency Hotel, 540 Park Av. at 61st St. Sep. 29, 8:30 p.m.; Sep. 30-Oct. 1, 8 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. Cover charge is $95, with premium seats at $175-$250. All shows have a $40 food minimum. Information and reservations at 212-339-4095 or feinsteinsatloewsregency.com.

DANCE Border Line Political

Anabella Lenzu/ DanceDrama presents “The Grass is Always Greener...,” a polemical piece of dance theater that hashes the personal, practical, and political struggles of immigrants to the United States. Conceived and directed by Argentinean choreographer Lenzu, with photographic projections created by Todd Carroll, the dance moves between the turn of the 20th century, during the great waves of immigration at Ellis Island, and modern day, with five women traveling through time, across borders, and along the roads of memory and anticipation. Lenzu herself was deported before becoming a legal resident in 2005. Baryshnikov Arts Center 450 W 37th St., 6th fl. Sep. 30-Oct. 1, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 at the door, but RSVP recommended to info@anabellalenzu.com. ✯

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FILM All Films Minnelli “The Complete Vincente Minnelli” is the first full New York retrospective of the Hollywood master in more than two decades. This 35-film series pays homage to one of the all-time great Hollywood directors, with a career that included successful forays into the musical (“Meet Me in St. Louis,” “An American in Paris,” and “Gigi”), subversive and deeply personal melodramas and sensitive biopics (The Bad and the Beautiful,” “The Cobweb,” “Home From the Hill”), and airy comedies (“Father of the Bride”). BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Ave. at Ashland Pl. Through Nov. 2. Admission is $12; $9 for students & seniors.

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GALLERY Rauschenberg’s Camera Artist Robert Rauschenberg’s engagement with

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Clarity Amidst Liberated Perspectives Kathleen Kucka’s abstract discourse engages viewers in forging meanings

BY TODD SIMMONS

KATHLEEN KUCKA “Ultra Structures” Brenda Taylor Gallery 505 W. 28th St. Through Oct. 22 Tue.-Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

And by appointment at 212-463-7166

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s New York’s dramatic summer of hurricanes, earthquakes, and torrential downpours gives way to autumn, Kathleen Kucka offers an inventive take on abstract painting.

With a stylistic mixture of editorial precision and gestural spontaneity, she reminds us that mankind is for ever tethered to nature regardless of our advances in technology.

While her technique –– namely, the pouring of acrylic paint on linen –– is traditional within the genre, the Manhattan-based Kucka still succeeds in offering a new twist in a show that stands out in a crowded field as the season launches in earnest.

In contrast to Helen Frankenthaler or the lesser -known Friedel Dzubas, for example, who both employed a similar process, Kucka does not aim for large color fields. Though her biomorphic forms are just as fluid and free of any geometric overtones, they are much more detailed.

In fact, the largest among her compositions can be quite compartmentalized. They are characterized by a striking array of shapes within shapes that evoke complex cell structures, membranes, and amoebas.

Despite the wealth of visual infor mation, Kucka strives for clarity. Her palette in this new body of work is restrained, consisting of black, white, red, and occasionally blue. If viewed from afar, this makes for a graphic quality, which upon closer inspection is replaced by a sense of painterliness. There simply is no linear construction.

It soon becomes appar ent that Kucka’s visuals shift according to the viewer’s perspective and distance from the work. As our perception of them wavers, we wonder if we are observing a micro- or a macrocosm. Is Kucka

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Yes, there are hissable villains. John Dossett’s Pulitzer will make journalists think twice about wanting the prize named for him. And Stuart Markland brings depth to Snyder, the corrupt operator of a home for boys from which Kelly escaped –– in the back of Governor Teddy Roosevelt’s (Kevin Carolan) car, no less. When cops arrive on the scene of the striking boys being beaten by goons, one of the kids shouts, “It’s about time you got here. They’re slaughtering us!” –– only to get beaten more by

providing a glimpse of something interior or exterior? Is the abstract landscape before us a reflection of organic or human matter or the illustration of something as ethereal as thought?

As she allows us to project our imagination on the nonrepresentational planes before us, Kucka stands in harmony with the tradition of abstract painting. She wants her audience to be liberated from any preconceived ideas. We are to approach these works freely as they allow us to either find or lose ourselves in them.

In that sense, the question of what there is to find depends on the individual. The rhythmic patter ns in “Best Red” and “The Missing Link,” for example, might to some bring the skins of ancient reptiles to mind. To others, it can translate as an almost surreal alignment of dozens of miniscule eyes, which stare at us with as much curiosity as we offer in return.

Rendered in vibrant shades of red, “Float or Sink” is as striking and obscure as an alien sonogram.

Despite their highly associative

quality, however, Kucka’s paintings can also be read simply as sophisticated compositions that explore concepts of balance by means of color and form. It is the artist’s strength that she allows for a multi-faceted viewing experience.

“Kucka’s work suggests that to find an answer is not a necessity,” writes Stephanie Buhmann in the exhibition catalogue, pointing to the fact that, to the artist, mystery and the preservation of unlimited possibilities remain major ingredients.

This interpretive multiplicity is evident in “Ultra Structures,” an ambitious installation of hubcaps. They are lined up in a grid of 16, which strikingly contrasts with the circular shape of each element. The hubcaps are abstracted by multiple layers of wax and individual backlights that provide a mysterious glow.

Here, Kucka has taken everyday items and turned them into objects of desir e. Hubcaps ar e taken for granted as they roll by us by the millions worldwide. We rarely stop to study the shiny nucleus of the wheel that shuttles a majority of the planet’s population from point A to B. By changing their context, Kucka recognizes their ornamental potential.

By eliminating their strictly industrial appearance, she enriches them with an air of mysterious obscurity.

It is the beginning of a compelling, albeit strictly abstract discourse into the struggles among man, machine, nature, and the power of our imagination.

the police.

This is not Disney adapted from one of their cartoon musicals. There are no flying nannies or talking teapots. These are real kids articulating the kind of anger at economic injustice that today’s Americans can’t seem to grasp and channel into campaigns for fairness. When the boys sing and dance their way through “Seize the Day,” a pulsing paean to union solidarity and action, there were no walkouts from the suburban crowd mixed with reverse commuters from the city.

Maybe there is hope.

Calhoun directs with drive and Christopher Gattelli’s choreography brings out the masculine athleticism of the boys in numbers that rival the best of “Anything Goes.” The scenic design by Tobin Ost keeps us mostly in a gray New York of the underclass, but the boys take common objects –– including stacks of newspapers –– to fashion some thrilling dances.

Some will call this the male “Annie.”

There are also echoes of Dickens’ “Nicholas Nickleby,” especially with the struggling Crutchie (Andrew Keenan-Bolger in a touching turn) and the urchin Les

(a winning Vincent Agnello at evening performances). It’s about time the social concerns Dickens gave voice to 150 years ago were given new creative life.

No news yet on what’s next for this terrific show or whether it is headed for Broadway. But it is just what America needs for its soul and its stages right now –– and given its mostly young cast, “Newsies” will likely infiltrate high schools and colleges from coast to coast.

Walt Disney –– no friend of unions –– may be turning over in his grave, but his heirs have come up with something stirring, worthy, and great fun.

Kathleen Kucka’s “Best Red” (2011), 60 x 60 in., acrylic on linen.

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BRIEFS, from p.28

gressman Steve Kagen of Appleton remains a potential candidate, Chuck Wolfe, president of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which has endorsed Baldwin, predicted, “I think the party will coalesce around Congresswoman Baldwin.”

Strong Obama Diversity Record on Courts According to a new book by a political science professor at the Uni-

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28 SEP – 11 OCT 2011 versity of Massachusetts at Amherst, President Barack Obama’s diversity record in winning federal judicial confirmations is far outpacing that of any of his predecessors.

According to a September 14 Associated Press story, in “Picking Federal Judges,” Sheldon Goldman wrote that more than 70 percent of those judges confirmed come from groups other than white males.

The comparable number for George W. Bush was 33 percent, and for Bill Clinton, 48 percent.

“It is an absolutely remarkable

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couples. Pfiffner rejected that argument, finding that how the property is owned is irrelevant to the intent and implementation of the exemption.

Finding that the distinction between married and unmarried couples is, on its face, discriminatory, Pfiffner concluded that the distinction made could not even survive the least demanding level of judicial review –– the court could see no justification at all, in light of the exemption’s purpose, to treat cohabiting seniors differently than married seniors.

Pfiffner easily swatted away the state’s claim that the amount of money at stake for any individual plaintiff was not substantial enough to impose an unconsti-

diversity achievement,” Goldman wrote.

Goldman cited administration figures showing that of 98 judges confirmed, 21 percent are AfricanAmerican, 11 percent are Latino, and seven percent are Asian-American.

Forty-seven percent of the Obama judges confirmed are women.

Bush won confirmation for 322 judges, 18 percent of whom were non-white and 22 percent of whom were women. For Clinton’s 372 confirmations, 25 percent were non-white and 29 percent were women.

tutional burden, writing, “If the additional amount of the exempted value is important to help keep seniors in their homes, then an additional value of several hundred dollars is not negligible.”

Pfiffner, in fact, concluded the state’s rationale for the tax exemption program supported extending it to same-sex couples because Alaska was unable show how “the marital classification… fairly and substantially helps seniors and disabled veterans remain in their homes.”

The court also rejected the argument that the administrative costs of determining which same-sex couples qualified to be treated as domestic partners were unduly burdensome, noting that the public employee domestic partnership experience showed otherwise.

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Dear I’m comin’ Out, Step out at Outfest on October 9.

P.S. Get your history straight and your nightlife gay.

28 SEP – 11 OCT 2011

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photography began in the late 1940s under the tutelage of Hazel Larsen Archer at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, after which he was unsure whether to pursue painting or photography as a career.

He chose both and found ways to fold photography into his “Combines,” maintaining a practice of photographing friends and family, documenting the evolution of artworks, and occasionally dramatizing them by inserting himself into the picture frame. “The use of photograph has long been an essential device for Rauschenberg’s melding of imagery,” Walter Hopps wrote. “Without photography, much of Rauschenberg’s oeuvre would scarcely exist.” Rauschenberg himself said, “I’ve never stopped being a photographer.”

“Robert Rauschenberg: Photographs 19491962” D.A.P./ Schirmer/ Mosel), edited By Susan Davidson and David White with text

by Nicholas Cullinan, gathers and surveys for the first time Rauschenberg’s numerous uses of photography. The book contains portraits of friends Merce Cunningham and John Cage and lovers Cy Twombly and Jasper Johns. To celebrate the publication of this book, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation showcases rolling images selected from the book projected onto its warehouse space. 455 W. 19th St. Through Oct. 3, noon-9 p.m. ✯

bian life. The Leslie/ Lohman Gallery, 26 Wooster St., btwn. Grand & Canal Sts. Tue.-Sat., noon-6 p.m., through Oct. 22..

More information at leslielohman.org.

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PERFORMANCE A Month of Howls

HOWL! Arts Project and the Actors Fund host “HOWL! Arts Project 2011,” a month-long series of non-stop music, film, theater, performance art, burlesque, drag entertainment, and pure family fun. Highlights include: the Tweed TheaterWorks Fractured Classicks Series presentation of “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” starring Penny Arcade and Brenda Bergman (Oct. 8-9, 8 p.m.); a revival of Harold Rome’s 1937 “Pins and Needles” (Oct. 14-15, 8 p.m.); “Sun (Audio Movie),” a musical comic-Orwellian epic struggle between the nuclear gods and the natural gods written by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, whose only other collaboration was “Hair” (Oct. 22, 8 p.m.); “Vice Palace: The Last Cockettes Musical,” the company’s fabled final performance piece, here presented in a concert version by San Francisco’s acclaimed Grand Guignol Thrillpeddlers, with original Cockette Richard Scrumbly Koldwyn (Oct. 21-22, 11 p.m.); plays from acclaimed new talents David Caudle, Michael Small, Bekah Brunstetter, and Claire Downs; and exciting performances and work from Robert I. Rubinsky,

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SUN.OCT.2

COMMUNITY Don’t Trust Anyone Over… Or, Under…

Leigh Crow in “Vice Palace: The Last Cockettes Musical”: Oct. 1

Annie Golden, Vangeline Theater, Reverend Billy, Jennifer Blowdryer, “Last Comic Standing” comedian Joey Gay, The Unitards, and 3 Teens Kill 4 (3TK4. Theatre 80 St. Marks, 80 St. Marks Pl., btwn.

Oct. 1-31. For complete information and tickets, visit howlfestival.com. ✯

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CABARET Jenna Maroney Leaves Midtown, Comes Alive!

Tony and Olivier-winning actress Jane Krakowski (“Nine”; in London, “Guys and Dolls”), well known as well for her television turns on “30 Rock” and “Ally McBeal,” recently released her solo debut album, “The Laziest Gal in Town.” Tonight, Krakowski appears at Enlow Recital Hall, Kean University, 215 North Ave. at Irvington Ave., Hillside, NJ. Oct. 1, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $55 at enlowhall. kean.edu/. $75 ticket includes a reception. ✯

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GALLERY Awareness & Representation Among Lesbians “Lesbians Seeing Lesbians: building community in early feminist photography” focuses on three of the most prominent photographers of this generation of artists who emerged in the 1970s during the early years of the feminist revolution –– Tee A. Corinne (1943-2006: St. Petersburg, Florida), JEB (Joan E. Biren, born in 1944, Washington DC), and Cathy Cade (born in 1942, Honolulu). In addition, this exhibition pays tribute to these pioneering women by showing work of contemporary lesbian photographers including Catherine Opie and Cass Bird that engages and reworks their founding vision in contemporary les-

The Lounge at Dixon Place hosts a panel discussion, “The Gay Generation Gap,” about age segregation in the queer community, how it functions, and how it can be resisted. Participants include filmmaker Ira Sachs (“ Last Address”), drag performer Jack “Mother Flawless Sabrina” Doroshow, and artist Carlos Motta (creator of the “We Who Feel Differently” installation series). Check out dixonplace.org for a full roster of panelists. 161A Chrystie St., btwn. Delancey & Rivington Sts. Oct. 2, 5 p.m. Suggested donation is $5. ✯

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MON.OCT.3

COMMUNITY Lilith So Fair, and Velma & Roxie, Too

Two-time Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress Bebe Neuwirth (“Sweet Charity,” “Chicago” on stage; “Cheers” twice on TV) directs and stars in a one-night-only extravaganza to benefit the unique partnership between Henry Street Settlement and Equine Advocates Horse Sanctuary.

Neuwirth is joined on stage by Broadway stars Brenda Braxton, Jason Danieley, Marin Mazzie, Roger Rees, and Karen Ziemba, as well as the Dantee Keihn Dance Company. Henry Street Settlement is a Lower East Side social service, arts, and health care agency. Equine Advocates, located in Chatham, NY, is a rescue organization that offers Henry Street clients, many of them living in homeless shelters, the chance to visit the sanctuary, learn about the rescued horses, and even groom them. Abrons Arts Center, 466 Grand St., btwn. Pitt St. & E. Broadway. Oct. 3, 7 p.m. Tickets begin at $250 at henrystreet.org/benefit or 212-766-9200, ext.

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BENEFIT Down Low Daybreak Johanna Pinzler directs a cast that includes E. Clayton Cornelious (“The Scottsboro Boys,” “Wonderland”), Raymond J. Lee (“Anything Goes”), Sheri Sanders (“Rock The Audition”), and LaQuet Sharnell (“Lysistrata Jones,” “Memphis”) in a performance of Bobby Cronin’s musical “Daybreak,” which explores the relationship between Dylan, a

closeted bisexual man, and his wife Rebecca. William Demaniow is the musical director. “Daybreak” is slated for a UK production in the spring of 2012. Tonight’s performance is a benefit for the LGBT Community Center. 208 W. 13th St. Oct. 3, 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 at gaycenter.org/node/7162 or $15 at the door. ✯

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THEATER A High-Heeled Night at the Tombs “Chicago” meets “TransAmerica” in “Busted: The Musical,” actress Bianca Leigh’s one-woman retelling of the events surrounding her arrest for alleged solicitation against the backdrop of the Black Monday stock market crash of 1987. While cooling her six-inch heels in the clink awaiting arraignment, Bianca looks back at her past and tries to make sense of how a skinny Jersey boy with dreams of becoming a great Shakespearean actress ended up as a high-priced dominatrix. She revisits her past as a young transwoman in early transition and brings to vivid life more than a dozen characters –– from her disappointed mother to the sadistic corrections officer who enacts the ultimate humiliation. The show includes songs by Ellen Maddow, Taylor Mac, and “Avenue Q”’s Jeff Whitty.

Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 W. 42nd St. Oct. 3 & 10, 7 p.m. Tickers are $18 at SpinCycleNYC.com or 212-3520-3101. ✯

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TUE.OCT.4

BENEFIT Bailando Por SIDA

The Latino Commission on AIDS, in partnership with Baila Society will present the second annual “Bailando Por Una Causa: A Night of Dancing,” a phenomenal showcase of various styles of dancing including salsa, tango, African, flamenco, and hip hop. Performers include Baila Society, Djoniba Dance Centre, Peridance Contemporary Company, and others. The evening will raise awareness and funds for the Latino Commission on AIDS. El Museo del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Ave. at 104th St. Oct. 4, 6 p.m. VIP cocktail reception; 7 p.m. performances; 10 p.m. afterparty.

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READING Queer Survival Queers for Economic Justice’s Amber Hollibaugh and Sassafras Lowrey, joined by writers from her Queer Shelter Project Stories Workshop, read stories that bring their everyday experiences of queerness,

homelessness, survival, and desire to the page, and now, to the stage. Hollibaugh is the author of “My Dangerous Desires — A Queer Girl Dreaming Her Way Home” and the director and co-producer of “The Heart of the Matter,” a documentary about women’s sexuality, denial, and risk for HIV and AIDS. Lowrey is a storyteller, author, artist, and educator. This evening is part of Dixon Place, “QT (Queer Text)” series, curated by Nicholas Boggs. The Lounge at Dixon Place, 161A Chrystie St., btwn Delancey & Rivington Sts. Oct. 4, 7:30 p.m. Admission in $8. ✯

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GALLERY When You Can’t Get It Out of Your Head RH Gallery presents “Melodymania,” an exhibition based on the theme of songs that get stuck in your head. This experience is projected into artworks that emanate music, even in their silence. Newsha Tavakolian’s series of portraits “Listen” capture Persian female singers who have been banned from performing in public or producing albums in Iran. A portrait of Kurt Cobain by Mark Seliger depicts the tone of his music in his expression, as does the portrait of Bob Dylan by Elliott Landy.

Bonnie Engelhardt Lautenberg’s striking portraits of Lady Gaga live in performance resonate similarly. Bruce Nauman’s print Violins/Violence is a pun that is simultaneously verbal, visual, and aural. Mathew Barney’s photograph “The Executioner’s Song” originated from his film “Cremaster 2,” loosely based on Norman Mailer’s book about Gary Gilmore, a convicted killer and the alleged grandson of Harry Houdini.

RH Gallery, 137 Duane St., btwn. W. Broadway & Church St. Tue.-Sat., 11 a.m.-7 p.m., through Oct. 29. For more information, visit rhgallery.com. ✯

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WED.OCT. 5

THEATER Country Comfort

CAP 21 Theatre Company presents “Southern Comfort,” a new musical by Dan Collins (book and lyrics) and Julianne Wick Davis (music), based on Kate Davis’ 2001 Sundance award-winning documentary about a group of transgender friends living openly, honestly, ad courageously in rural Georgia. The score has a folk/ bluegrass score. Thomas Caruso (“Zombie,” “Mimi Le Duck”) directs a cast including Annette O’Toole, Jeff McCarthy, Jeffrey Kuhn, and Todd Cerveris. CAP21 Black Box Theatre, 18 W. 18th St., fifth fl. Wed.-Sat., 7 p.m., Oct. 5-29. Tickets are $18 at cap21.org.

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COMEDY Giggling Dykes Hosted by Amy Beckerman, named “One of the One Hundred Women We Love” by GO Magazine, “Dykes on Mics” welcomes Sabrina Jalees, Kelli Dunham, Mindy Raf, Alison Grillo, and Chanelle Futrell.

RF Lounge, 531 Hudson St. at Charles St. Oct. 5, 8 p.m. No cover charge. After the show, remember that L.I., who lays claim to being New York’s sexiest bartender, pours cocktails all night long. ✯

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NIGHTLIFE Infinite XXX Tonight, Will Clark’s “P*rno Bingo,” an evening of cheap drinks, cheaper men, and XXX flicks, is an allmusic show, featuring LA’s Consuelo Costin, whose “Feel So Alive” just entered the Billboard Charts at number 50, Queens-born Lovari, and Infinite, an Outmusic Award-winning lesbian hip hop rapper born in Harlem. Since 2005, “P*rno Bingo” has raised $160,000 for LGBT community organizations in New York, though no beneficiary for tonight’s show had been announced at press time. Pieces, 8 Christopher St. near Sixth Ave. Oct. 5, 8-10 p.m. ✯

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THU.OCT.6

THEATER The Urgency of Now

Writer and performer Robb Leigh Davis directs a three-night run of his new play, “The Homosexual

Agenda,” an exploration of the present-day political realities of the gay community. Who controls the homosexual agenda? Why are we waiting to claim our rights as full and equal citizens –– and what is the cost of our waiting? The cast includes Jill Coon, Neil Dawson, Ben Dunn, Nysheva Starr, and Jenn Wehrung.

The Park Avenue Christian Church, 1010 Park Ave. at 85th St. Oct. 6-8, 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 at brownpapertickets.com or at the door. ✯

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Schools at the US Department of Education (2009-11) and executive director of the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which he founded in 1990; Mike Ruiz, an AFC supporter, photographer, and former model and actor; and Lamont Joseph, a former resident in AFC housing who has gone on to start an LGBT student group at his college. Studio 450, 450 W. 31st St. Oct. 6, 6:30-10 p.m. Tickets begin at $500 at aliforneycenter.org. ✯

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COMMUNITY New Jobs, Better Jobs The LGBT Community Center and the Greenwich Village Chelsea Chamber of Commerce present their fifth annual “Out to Work,” the biggest LGBT job fair in the Northeast. If you need a job or a new job, dress in business attire for the chance to meet representatives of CA Technologies, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, KPMG, LIRR-MTA Metro North Railroad, the Marriott Marquis, the National Urban Fellows, NYU, Prudential, CBS/ Showtime, Visiting Nurse Services, Whole Foods, and other employers. LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St. Oct. 6, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Admission is free, but register online at outtowork.org. ✯

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The Ali Forney Center, which provides housing and social services to LGBTQ homeless youth in New York City, hosts its second annual fall dinner, “A Place at the Table.” Honorees this year are Kevin Jennings, president of Be the Change, and formerly assistant deputy secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug-Free

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FRI.OCT.7

NIGHTILIFE Trans-Hudson Risqué

Parlour Productions presents “A Night at the Paradise Burlesque,” a risqué evening of entertainment directed

by Howard Richman and starring Robert Hollenbeck, Joanne Smith, Paul Kazalski, Trish Szymanski, Frank Rosner, and Flame Boy playing himself. Hudson Pride Connections Center, 32 Jones St., btwn. Newkirk St. & Sip Ave., Jersey City. Oct. 7, 8:30 p.m.; Oct. 8, 8 & 10:30 p.m. Admission is $18 at tinyurl.com/3fyzq35.

SUN.OCT.9

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BENEFIT Supporting Homeless Youth In Need

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BOOKS Gentrification & AIDS

Writer and activist Sarah Schulman reads from her forthcoming book, “Gentrification of the Mind,” and discusses the effects of AIDS and gentrification on New York City’s cultural landscape. Dixon Place, 161A Chrystie St., btwn. Delancey and Rivington Sts. Oct. 9, 5 p.m. Suggested donation is $5. ✯

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TUE.OCT.11

BOOKS Chulitos in SoBro

Charles Rice-Gonzalez’s new novel “Chulito” explores South Bronx queer youth culture, weighing the possibilities of being macho and in a same-sex relationship. Acclaimed writer Jaime Manrique (“Latin Moon in Manhattan,” “Eminent Maricones,” among many) introduces Rice-Gonzalez, who will read from his novel to mark National Coming Out Day and honor Hispanic History Month.

Barnes & Noble Bookstore, 2289 Broadway at 82nd St. Oct. 11, 7 p.m. To confirm this event, call 212-362-8835. ✯

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A Well-Rounded Career Frank Bruni, who joined the New York Times in 1995 and has since served as its Rome bureau chief, its chief restaurant critic, and, beginning this June, its first out gay regular op-ed columnist. He has also written two New York Times bestsellers –– his hilarious and moving memoir, “Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-time Eater,” about his years as a bulimic as well as his times as a food critic; and his anecdotal account of the Bush presidency, “Ambling Into History: The Unlikely Odyssey of George W. Bush.” Tonight, Bruni appears at the Second Tuesday Lecture Series at the LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St. Oct. 11, 7 p.m. A $10 donation is suggested. ✯

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SONYMA celebrates the legalization of same sex marriage in New York State.

To help you with your dream of homeownership, please call:

1-800-382-Home (4663) or visit

www.sonyma.org

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28 SEP – 11 OCT 2011

WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

Even when you’re out of town, you’re never out of touch.

With in-flight Wi-Fi on American, you can access everything you need to work, play or just say hello from 30,000 feet.

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