PRIDE 2012 -- GAY CITY NEWS

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

OBAMA Hosts Exuberant Gay Party at White House

I

n his fourth annual White House reception honoring LGBT Pride Month, President Barack Obama was able to say the words many were impatient to hear — and others doubted they would before he was safely reelected.

“Americans may be still evolving when it comes to marriage equality — but as I've indicated personally, Michelle and I have made up our minds on this issue,” he told a crowd of roughly 500 in an East Room cer emony on June 15.

The remark was greeted with enthusiastic applause — and no small amount of laughter, given the impatience that many LGBT Americans, not to mention the White House press corps eager for a story, voiced about the president’s repeated assertions that he himself was “evolving” prior to his dramatic May 9 statement of support.

The reference to gay marriage came toward the end of a brief address in which Obama reviewed a familiar litany of administration accomplishments — enactment of a federal hate crimes law; repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; development of a national HIV/ AIDS strategy long sought by advocates fighting the epidemic; the guarantee that partners of LGBT hospital patients will have visitation rights; elimination under his health care reform law of insurance exceptions for pre-existing conditions; expansion of partner benefits for federal employees and a ban on discrimination based on gender identity in gover nment employment; the Justice Department’s decision to no longer defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act in court; and the State Department’s announcement that it would support LGBT rights globally.

“I’ve said before that I would never counsel patience; that it wasn’t right to tell you to be patient any more than it was right for others to tell women to be patient a century ago or African Americans to be patient a half century ago,” the president said. “After decades of inaction and indifference, you have every reason and right to push, loudly and forcefully, for equality.”

On numer ous occasions in the past, Obama has pledged to be “a fierce advocate” on LGBT issues — a formulation that often sparked scorn in activists who felt his administra-

tion was either uncommitted on key issues or excessively timid in pursuing them. Alluding to the choice facing gay voters this fall, the president told the crowd that as long as he was in office, “you won't just have a friend in the White House, you will have a fellow advocate.”

In his remarks, Obama made just one shout-out — to Dr. Marjorie Hill, the chief executive of ficer of Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

After noting the development of the national AIDS strategy, he said, “Marjorie Hill, the head of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, is here. GMHC has saved so many lives, and this year they are celebrating their 30th anniversary. So I want to give them and all these organizations who work to prevent and treat HIV a big round of applause. Give it up for Marjorie and everybody else.”

Afterward, Hill said she was happy just to hear the president talk about HIV. The personal acknowledgment of her work caught her completely off guard.

Three Duke University students invited to the reception — senior Elena Botella, junior Jacob Tobia, and sophomore Adrienne Harreveld — made certain to secure a spot at the front of a tightly packed audience in order to hand the president a letter urging him to sign an executive order requiring contractors doing business with the federal gover nment to implement policies against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. This spring, the administration told advocates it did not plan to move on such an order, instead focusing its efforts on pushing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) long stalled in Congress.

In an email message, Harreveld confirmed that the students shook hands with the president, but said a staffer at Obama’s side took the letter — “for security reasons I am guessing.” Harreveld said, “We asked the staffer if Obama would see the letter and he assured us he would.”

The president also agreed he would review the letter.

The Duke students were fortunate to gain access to the president, who shook hands only with those at the front of the crowd during his brief appearance. Moments after leaving the East Room, he and his family were seen on the White House lawn board-

President Barack Obama speaks at the annual White House LGBT Pride reception on June 15.

ing Marine One on the first leg of a Father’s Day trip home to Chicago.

In addition to Hill, the crowd included City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and her wife Kim Catullo, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum from Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, Sharon Stapel, executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project, Evan Wolfson, who founded Freedom to Marry, Edie Windsor, a widow who recently won a district court victory in her challenge to DOMA involving an inheritance tax penalty of more than $350,000, Michael Silverman, who heads the T ransgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, Allen Roskoff, president of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, and Alan Fleishman and Scott Klein, longtime leaders at Brooklyn’s Lambda Independent Democrats.

Fred Hochberg, the out gay president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the for mer dean of the New School’s Milano Management and Urban Policy School, was among administration officials on hand.

Notable non-gay attendees included West Side Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Hawaii Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye, and Gavin Newsom, California’s lieutenant governor. As San Francisco’s mayor in 2004, Newsom married several

GAY CITY NEWS

BY PAUL SCHINDLER

GAY CITY NEWS

At annual LGBT Pride reception, president reviews progress with happy crowd of nearly 500

GMHC’s Marjorie Hill received the president’s sole shoutout at the reception.

thousand same-sex couples prior to the courts stepping in and voiding the unions. The lieutenant gover nor — perhaps due to his politics, perhaps to what two attendees called his “movie-star good looks” — created a buzz as he wandered through the Green, Blue, and Red Rooms adjoining the East Room.

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| June 20, 2012

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

POLITICS

As City Political Heat Rises, Quinn Treads Carefully, Confidently Out lesbian Council speaker embraces a role that makes room for Reverend Al Sharpton, Cardinal Timothy Dolan

BY PAUL SCHINDLER

DONNA ACETO

T

Council Speaker Christine Quinn in her City Hall office, with a photo of her father, Lawrence, behind her.

played insider and outsider roles — this office — depending on the issue. One might be at 80 percent, one might be at 20 percent. One might be at 50, one might be at 50. It depends. On all issues, I think, we’ve done that. And nothing I said on Monday or Tuesday — whenever that was — is different from the other statements that we’ve released. Not every statement has gotten the attention it warrants.”

In fact, letters and press releases forwarded to Gay City News after the interview with the speaker showed a mix of private and public steps she has taken on the stop and frisk question and other police matters dating back to February.

That month, she wrote to Kelly raising concerns that what she, in police parlance, regularly refers to as stop, question, and frisk (SQF) “has sown distrust in communities of color.” She specifically spoke of complaints of “excessive force or abuse of authority,” “insufficient” training regarding the department’s “racial profiling policy,” inadequate supervision of officers, and “the alleged existence of productivity measures for SQF” — in other words, quotas.

In late March, Quinn’s office released a statement lauding an agreement among the NYPD, the Council, and the Bloomberg administration giving the Civil Complaint Review Board (CCRB) prosecutorial authority regarding substantiated cases against police.

Still, on May 15, the speaker issued a statement crediting Jealous, Sharpton, and other leaders for having “effectively raised concerns about the practice of stop and frisk and launched this

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QUINN, continued on p.90

DONNA ACETO

wo June appearances in the LGBT community highlighted the political challenges facing Christine Quinn, an out lesbian Democrat, as she positions herself for next year’s run to succeed a mayor who some among her longtime progressive allies have worried she’s grown too close to in her six years as City Council speaker.

On June 4, Quinn appeared at a press conference at the Stonewall Inn at which dozens of queer organizations stood shoulder to shoulder with African-American civil rights leaders to discuss plans for the June 17 march protesting the city’s excessive reliance on stop and frisk as a policing approach.

Stop and frisk, the speaker said, is “a process that is simply broken and that, if not fixed, will only cause further division. The key to our safety as a city is a positive connection between the police and the community.” Then, zeroing in on the core complaint at the center of the controversy, she noted that last year’s nearly 700,000 stops are not distributed evenly across the city’s neighborhoods but rather “concentrated in particular subsets of New Yorkers” — people of color communities.

Others who spoke at the Stonewall event, which included Ben Jealous, the NAACP president, and the Reverend Al Sharpton, the head of the National Action Network, did not mince words in their critique of the NYPD. Sharon Stapel, executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP), the group Quinn headed before her election to the Council, castigated the police for engaging in “unacceptable state-sanctioned violence” that represents “institutionalized racism, homophobia, and transphobia.”

Eight days after the Stonewall event, Quinn hosted the Council’s annual LGBT Pride celebration at Cooper Union — an event that underscored that despite having some vocal gay critics, she enjoys the enthusiastic support of a broad swath of the community, with many buoyant about the potential for an out lesbian mayor.

With police brass on hand, the speaker honored the NYPD LGBT Advisory Panel established in 2009 by Commissioner Raymond Kelly. The honor coincided with a joint announcement by Quinn and Kelly of a new Patrol Guide for police officers that spells out policies and procedures aimed at ensuring better NYPD tr eatment of transgender New Yorkers.

“I applaud Commissioner Kelly for working closely with the City Council and the LGBT community to create respectful, inclusive guidelines that are appropriate for transgender New Yorkers,” the speaker said in a release spelling out the reforms.

In a June 8 interview with Gay City News, Quinn shrugged off the suggestion that her recent advocacy on the stop and frisk issue represented a shift toward a more “outsider” posture than her role near the center of power at City Hall has occasioned in recent years.

“I think in almost every issue we’ve had success on since being speaker, almost, we’ve

Quinn shows a picture of herself with Cardinal Timothy Dolan when they handed out turkeys last Thanksgiving in Harlem.

| June 20, 2012

CIVIL RIGHTS

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New NYPD Policies on Interactions with Trans NYers Changes to Patrol Guide announced just days ahead of Harlem stop and frisk march

BY PAUL SCHINDLER

J

ust days before tens of thousands — including contingents led by major LGBT community organizations — marched in Harlem to protest abuses in the NYPD’s stop and frisk practices, the police department announced changes to its Patrol Guide aimed at providing more respectful treatment of transgender and other gender nonconforming (TGNC) New Yorkers.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who endorsed the June 17 Harlem march, announced the changes at the Council’s annual LGBT Pride event on June 12 at Cooper Union’s Great Hall.

“The NYPD’s new Patrol Guide makes it clear that all people must be treated with respect,” Quinn said in a written release announcing the refor ms. “I applaud Commissioner [Raymond] Kelly for working closely with the City Council and the LGBT community to create respectful, inclusive guidelines that are appropriate for transgender New Yorkers.”

The NYPD LGBT Advisory Panel — established in 2009 after the department sustained months of criticism from the community over arrests of gay men in adult video stores that were widely seen as false arrests — was among the honorees Quinn and fellow Council members recognized at the Cooper Union event.

The release announcing the Patrol Guide revisions quoted Kelly saying, “The changes to the Patrol Guide are significant, affecting more than 12 separate Patrol Guide provisions. The changes range from establishing search procedures for transgender arrestees to requiring officers to address arrestees by their preferred name. Senior members of my staff worked closely with repre-

Guidelines changes are a result of years of work by advocates and community members and reflect a willingness of the NYPD to prioritize the increased safety of TGNC people in New York City.”

Stapel was one of the co-chairs of the stop and frisk protest’s LGBT organizing effort, and at a press conference on June 5 was harshly critical of NYPD practices.

In a separate release, AVP detailed the changes to the Patrol Guide. Police officers are required to recognize and address individuals according to that person’s gender identity and expression, regardless of their sex assigned at birth or indicated on their identification documents. Discourteous or disrespectful remarks regarding gender identity and expression and sexual orientation are prohibited, as are personal searches aimed at determining an individual’s gender. Individuals who are searched have the right to request the gender of any officer doing so, and if refused have the right to a documented explanation.

Individuals in NYPD custody will be held in sexsegregated facilities according to their gender identity, unless there is a concern for that person’s safety.

In that case, the individual will be held as a “spe-

“These Patrol Guidelines changes are a result of years of work ” by advocates and community members and reflect a willingness of the NYPD to prioritize the increased safety of TGNC people in New York City.” sentatives from the LGBT community to draft these changes, and I applaud their work.”

Leaders active with the transgender community voiced praise for the revised Patrol Guide.

Sharon Stapel, the executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project (AVP) and a member of the Advisory Panel, said, “These Patrol

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PATROL, continued on p.92

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

CIVIL RIGHTS

Tens of Thousands Silently Protest Excesses of Stop and Frisk With dozens of LGBT groups on hand, multi-racial throng travels from Harlem to Bloomberg mansion

T

he NYPD’s practice of stopping and frisking virtually every AfricanAmerican and Latino youth in the city, many several times annually — there were nearly 700,000 such stops last year alone — was finally protested on a mass scale on Father’s Day, June 17 in a milelong silent march down Fifth Avenue from Harlem to Mayor Bloomberg’s mansion on 79th Street.

While it was mostly a parade of tens of thousands of black and brown faces stung by racial profiling and the criminalization of their young people, it included multiracial representatives of 60 LGBT groups, if not a mass mobilization of the overall community.

Everyone got into this action. It was led by Ben Jealous of the NAACP, the Reverend Al Sharpton of the National Action Network, Donna Lieber man of the New York Civil Liberties Union, and a host of union, religious, and LGBT leaders. Virtually every candidate for the Democratic nomination for mayor was there, including City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has been slow to criticize the tactic and has said she would welcome the continued leadership of Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. The commissioner has stepped up the stop and frisk practice with gusto for a

decade and defends it still, along with Bloomberg, though even they are signaling it may be modified and scaled back.

While almost no one would discourage the police from stopping and frisking those genuinely suspected of committing crimes, the overuse of the tactic is defended by the argument that it should be applied to those who “fit the descrip-

tion of the suspect” or who “made furtive movements” — a net that overwhelmingly captures young black and Latino males, who might share only one characteristic, like height, weight, or an article of clothing, with a person being sought or who are running or have a bulge in their pocket.

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SILENT PROTEST, continued on p.9

DONNA ACETO

BY ANDY HUMM

Top civil rights, labor, LGBT, and religious leaders –– including Donna Lieberman of the New York Civil Liberties and the Reverend Al Sharpton of the National Action Network –– headed up the mile-long silent march.

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| June 20, 2012 SILENT PROTEST, from p.8

The tactic, driven by the need to justify a massive police force, has not been the major means of finding illegal guns used to justify it. Police also use it to get those they stop to take small amounts of marijuana out of their pockets — a tactic virtually never used against white users — leading to misdemeanor charges for “displaying” it, even when the amount involved would not by itself lead to any citation. These arrest records trail these people for the rest of their lives.

Bloomberg and Gover nor Andrew Cuomo have come out for decriminalizing public display of small amounts of marijuana, though the reform was blocked by Republican State Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos.

City Councilmen Jumaane Williams and Brad Lander have put forth four bills to rein in stop and frisk, but Quinn has yet to take a stand on them — promising only “full legislative review” through a spokesperson. The bills would create an inspector general to monitor the police and conduct independent reviews; explicitly ban profiling on a variety of bases including race, sexual orientation, and gender expression; protect people from unlawful searches; and require cops

to identify themselves and explain their reasons for a stop and frisk.

It was hard to find a major LGBT organization that did not endorse the march, and they ranged from the LGBT Community Center to Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, which is barred from meeting at the Center.

(This newspaper and this reporter

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THANK YOU

SILENT PROTEST, continued on p.28

TO THE WONDERFUL PEOPLE OF NEW YORK STATE’S 29TH SENATE DISTRICT AND TO ALL THE SUPPORTIVE NEIGHBORHOODS AND COMMUNITIES I HAVE WORKED WITH THROUGHOUT THE YEARS!

NYS Senator Thomas K. Duane DONNA ACETO

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Marquis Smalls talked about counseling high school students on dealing with police when he was a teacher.

322 Eighth Avenue, Suite 1700 New York, NY 10001 212-633-8052 duane@nysenate.gov

Wishing everyone a

DONNA ACETO

Happy Pride

Assemblymember

Deborah J. Glick DONNA ACETO

First openly LGBT Assemblymember — proud to serve since 1991.

The Anti-Violence Project and the Stonewall Democrats of New York City, whose president, Melissa Sklarz, is seen at left, were among leading LGBT groups that turned out.

853 Broadway, Suite 1518, New York, NY 10003 Tel: 212-674-5153 / Fax: 212-674-5530 glickd@assembly.state.ny.us

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

HEALTH

Obstacles Threaten Black Gay HIV Efforts Reliance on government funding, lack of fiscal expertise shuttered Brooklyn’s People of Color in Crisis

BY DUNCAN OSBORNE

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GAY CITY NEWS

O

n February 22 of this year, roughly 20 New York City AIDS groups gathered at the LGBT Community Center to discuss expected city and state cuts in AIDS funding.

“Some of you sitting here right now are going to see your state contracts cut,” said Soraya Elcock, who was the deputy director of policy and government affairs at Harlem United until 2010 and is now a consultant there.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has eliminated some $13 to $20 million in AIDS grants to the state, and those cuts will be passed to local groups, Elcock said.

The Bloomberg administration cut at least $8 million in HIV prevention funds over the past five years, while it says the City Council slashed another $11 million in such funding during the same period. There are further cuts in the proposed 2013 city budget for the fiscal year that begins on July 1.

Toward the end of the February forum, which was titled “Are We Ready to End AIDS?,” Gertrudes Pajaron, the director of development at the Asian & Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/ AIDS (APICHA), spoke. Some groups would likely close and some of them “should” close, she said.

The cuts come as a city study of 510 gay and bisexual men interviewed at bars, parks, gyms, and other venues found high rates of drug and alcohol use with associated unsafe sex. While the high rates were among all races, one population that remains a serious concern is African-American gay and bisexual men. Advocates first raised concerns about increasing new HIV infections among young African-American gay men in 2007, and there is no evidence that this trend has abated.

In 2011, the CDC released a study that estimated HIV incidence, or the annual rate at which people are becoming infected, from 2006 to 2009 and found that a 21 percent increase in incidence among 13- to 29-year-olds was fueled by a 34 percent spike among young men who have sex with men (MSM). In that population, there was a 48 percent increase among young African-American gay and bisexual men.

“Among people aged 13-29, only MSM experienced significant increases in incidence, and among 13–29 year-old MSM, incidence increased significantly among young, black/ African-American MSM,” the authors wrote. New York was among

Gary English in Fort Greene Park in 2003 at the Pride in the City picnic and health fair sponsored by People of Color in Crisis.

the 16 states in the study.

While a number of AIDS groups in New York have programs that serve AfricanAmerican gay and bisexual men, there is just one group –– Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD) –– that is dedicated to serving that population exclusively.

In 2010, the latest year for which a financial filing was available, GMAD had a $1.3 million budget. Of that amount, $1.1 million was from government grants, so any reduction in government funding is a significant hit. Relying largely on government dollars is not unusual for smaller AIDS groups. They cannot afford the fundraising needed to win private or foundation money nor can they build the infrastructure that will let them tap into more reliable government funding sources such as Medicaid, the government-run insurance program for the poor.

The risks of being small were evident in the 2008 collapse of People of Color in Crisis (POCC), a Brooklyn AIDS group that once won plaudits for its HIV prevention work. Gary English ran POCC for ten years beginning in March of 1997.

In 2003, the CDC said POCC’s Many Men, Many Voices was a model for proving the effectiveness of HIV prevention programs. The praise came in a conference call with reporters announcing $49 million in HIV prevention grants.

Starting in 2002, POCC produced Pride in the City, an annual black gay pride event that drew thousands to a picnic in Fort Greene Park, various entertainment events, and a day at Riis Beach.

Health and HIV testing was always a major component of the events. The last Pride in the City was in 2007.

“No one would show up if we simply held a health fair,” English told Gay City News in 2003. “But combine the screening with a major social event, and you get turnout.”

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POCC, continued on p.18

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| June 20, 2012

EDUCATION

School Chancellor Co-Signs Principal’s Curb on Fifth Grader

Assembly Member

Dick Gottfried

Queens youth can read gay marriage essay only to classmates whose parents don’t object

wishes you a

Happy Pride!

BY ANDY HUMM

NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

A

fter a Queens principal barred a fifth grader from reading his essay supporting “same-gender” marriage at an assembly for the entire school –– saying it was too controversial and therefore inappropriate –– Department of Education (DOE) Chancellor Dennis Walcott, a mayoral appointee, backed up the principal’s plan to allow the essay to be read in a more limited forum.

City Councilman Daniel Dromm, who formerly was a fourth-grade teacher who was out to his students, said the principal, Beryl Bailey, “has taught a lesson in hate. There is nothing inappropriate about LGBT families or lives.”

The Jackson Heights Democrat called on Walcott to “act appropriately in this matter or he is making a mockery of the DOE’s Respect for All curriculum,” introduced in 2007 to combat bullying and harassment and affirm diversity among students.

Kameron Slade, the fifth grader at PS 195 in Rosedale, near Kennedy Airport, wrote his brief for marriage equality for an essay contest and it won in his class, paving the way for a school-wide victory.

He wrote, “I hope that everyone understands how important it is to respect everyone for who they are. I believe that same-gender marriage should be accepted worldwide and that parents and teachers should start to discuss these issues without shame to their children.”

Bailey’s initial response was to ban Slade from reading at the assembly.

NY1 News gave Slade the opportunity to read his essay in its entirety, and Speaker Christine Quinn will have him read it at the next stated meeting of the City Council. He told WCBS that his work is “out there” and that young people who want to hear it “can sneak stuff, they can search it on the computer, they can watch it on the news.”

In Dromm’s view, though, the damage is done.

“Kids and teachers have gotten the message that this is a taboo subject,” he wrote in an email, “It raises troubling questions about how well LGBT issues are being integrated under Respect for All, no less whether LGBT issues are being integrated into curricula on a regular basis.”

Last year, Dromm proposed a Council resolution calling on the State Legislature to do what California has done and mandate integration of LGBT issues into curricula. Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, an out gay Upper West Side Democrat

Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott declines to stand up to a principal’s curb on a student’s right to advocate for marriage equality.

who steered marriage equality to victory in his chamber, has said that curricula decisions are made by the State Board of Regents and he is pushing it to do this.

But Merryl Tisch, the Regents’ chair and a potential Republican mayoral candidate next year, declined to return a call from Gay City News for a 2011 story on Dromm’s resolution.

After the initial hubbub erupted over principal Bailey preventing Slade from reading his essay, she agreed to let him go forward, but only at a “special assembly” for fifth graders that would exclude the lower grades. The fifth graders’ parents, she said, would be alerted and have the opportunity to opt their children out of the assembly.

“If you have any concerns about having your child participate in this discussion at school, please feel free to contact me,” she told parents.

Slade’s mother said she was “really pleased” with the compromise, and Walcott endorsed the plan as well, saying, “This extra day will give her the ability to reach out to those parents to make them aware of the content of the speech because we’re talking about elementary school.”

Kameron Slade, however, was having none of it. At the essay contest assembly, he was forced to give a speech characterized as non-controversial about animal cruelty. He told WCBS, “I thought my original speech was really gonna win. I was very confident about it.” (In fact, he remains eligible for the contest.) He wrote it, he explained, because his mother has friends who are a lesbian couple. He even used the phrase “same-gender” instead of “samesex” marriage so he could not be accused of injecting sex into the conversation.

United Federation of Teachers president Michael Mulgrew told Gay City he was concerned that the schools’ censorship of Slade would “ostracize” him for

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SCHOOL, continued on p.18

Same Sex Marriage Introduced first bill in NYS Assembly

GENDA

(Transgender Rights) Introducer and lead sponsor in NYS Assembly Dick Gottfried’s Community Office: 242 West 27th Street, ground floor Ph: 212-807-7900, E-mail: GottfriedR@nysa.us

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

POLITICS

Frank Talk at the Times Out gay Massachusetts veteran, set to leave Congress, appears at Old Gray Lady

BY DAVID NOH

H

DIRECT FERRY SERVICE FROM NYC TO:

e's the ultimate bear!,” I thought dur ing Barney Frank’s appearance before the New York Times’ Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgendered & Allies employee affinity network on June 16, moderated by Metro editor Carolyn Ryan and assistant managing editor Richard Berke.

That’s not meant as a glib slight, but rather as the highest compliment for the qualities he’s always possessed that are often associated with the archetype — invincibly strong (indispensible for his more than 40 years in politics), wise (a laser -sharp mind at 72, unerring as to dates, names, and places), humor, and a great big heart.

Like his ursine brethren, however, he can definitely become annoyed by people and, by his own admission, doesn’t suffer fools. With his upcoming retirement, there should be less occasion to worry about fools. For his upcoming wedding to partner Jim Ready, he explained, the guest list was happily pared of noxious pr ofessional obligations. He did, however, admit he was looking for ward more to the no-shows than the daunting, overwhelming majority of acceptances the couple has received.

Ready was supportively present at the T imes, sitting right in front of his man, camera — and memory prompts — at the ready and swift

to help out with an elusive mic, prompting Frank to acknowledge Ready’s superiority on such matters.

“I’ve been in a lifelong battle with things,” Frank said.

He also confessed he realized he was gay at 13, but was determined to hide it. Years in the closet followed, and he confessed that his secret life grew increasingly difficult the better known he became, leading to emotional turmoil and reckless behavior.

This came to a head in 1987 when, after a two-year involvement with Steve Gobie, a male escort, ended, the young man broke the news of their relationship — and the fact that he and other hustlers had at times used Frank’s apartment, without the congressman’s knowledge, to ply their trade — to the Moonie-owned Washington Times. The House Ethics Committee instigated an investigation at Frank’s own request to set the record straight, and later voted 408–18 to reprimand him. Ironically, Frank’s most virulent critic was none other than Idaho Republican Larry Craig, whose career famously cratered at the airport in Minneapolis. And, Representative Robert Dor nan, a wild-eyed conservative from Southern California, fumed, “A high school principal or business leader or broadcaster would have lost his job after such a scandal. Out the door, Barney!”

Recalling this turbulent peri-

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FRANK, continued on p.13

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| June 20, 2012

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FRANK, from p.12

od, Frank said, “I was accused of a whole bunch of things, most of which weren’t true. You do something you shouldn’t do, and you’re then accused of doing the thing you shouldn’t do along with four other things, and your lawyers tell you not to deny that you did these other things because then you’ll have to admit that you did the thing you did.

And I said, ‘I don’t want to do that.’

“The last thing you should do in such a case is listen to your lawyer, unless you think you’re going to jail, because a lawyer’s job is to keep you out of jail, not to defend your reputation. I knew that with the Ethics Committee report it was clear that most of the things I was accused of would have gotten me fired if they were true, but the remaining stuff was not going to be problematic. [What I did] was stupid, but it was okay.”

Frank officially came out in 1987: “At this point, it was no great secret, so some reporters then were asking me if they could write about me being gay, and I said no. But I began to think about how to do that, and at one point, one of the editors of the Boston Globe came to see me, saying, ‘Look, we’ve got to talk about, you know…’

‘Yeah, I know.’ And he said, ‘Here’s the deal. We don’t want to break the story before you want it. On the other hand, we’re the Boston Globe, the dominant paper that covers you, and it would be awful for us to be scooped after being so nice to you.

“I said, ‘No one’s going to write that story without my involvement.

But the minute I get a call asking me about it, I’ll call you and you’ll be the

lovely, thoughtful person. She came into my office, put her tape recorder out and asked, ‘Congressman, are you gay?’

“I had thought about the answer. I wanted to both acknowledge and be dismissive of it, to minimize its political negative. I said, ‘Yes, so what?’”

Tip O’Neil, who was then speaker of the House, made the immortal remark, “Bar ney Frank is coming out of the room!,” and Frank reminded the Times crowd that he gave that statement to his press secretary, Chris Matthews.

“The story ran on a Saturday, front page over left,” he recalled. “My constituents’ r eaction was much better than I thought it would be. I was marching in a Memorial Day parade in one of our more conservative areas, blue collar Fall River. One man who’d been a supporter came up to me and said, ‘You lied to me. You said you weren’t gay!’ I don’t remember having done that — I try not to lie, but I can’t say I never did, and he stalked off. But my chief assistant in that area was married to a World War II Navy veteran, who said, ‘I’m marching with you’ in his whites.

“The next morning was the AIDS Walk, a very emotional moment for me on the Common. That night I was at the Big Apple Circus, which was in town, a benefit performance.

Christopher Reeve was there. I got an extraordinary ovation when I was announced, and Reeve said, ‘What the hell was that for?’

“From the beginning, it was much more positive than I expected, including in Congress. People went out of their way to say ‘I’m proud of you,’ and when I was back in DC the next day, Senator Alan Simpson calls me up, ‘Listen, I am so apologetic for saying bawdy jokes.‘ I said, ‘I don’t remember any specifically, but the fact that you called…’”

During the Q&A, someone asked him to give a quick rundown of presidents on their handling of gay issues: “The Reagan people had this old-fashioned view. He had a large number of gay people around him but they were totally closeted. It was very hard to get people to vote for gay rights, and the first time we were able to win any vote was in the mid-1980s, when we sought funding for AIDS. “The right wing came up with all these amendments to AIDS legislation, riders that would make it impossible to do AIDS research, that

“One of the editors of the Boston Globe came to see me, saying, ‘Look, we’ve got to talk about, you know…’ ‘Yeah, I know.’ ” first.’ And then I decided this wasn’t going to work. I said, ‘I’m ready to do this,’ and they said, ‘Okay, you’re going to announce it?’ And I said, ‘No, you have to ask me.’

“I finally get a call from them saying, ‘Okay, we’re ready to ask you.’

They sent Kay Longcope, who was the companion of Elaine Noble, the first person in public office in Amer ica to come out as a lesbian [when first elected in 1974, though several months after Ann Arbor, Michigan, elected out lesbian Kathy Kozachenko to its City Council]. I knew Kay, who just died a few years ago — a

䉴

FRANK, continued on p.93

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

CRIME

Plea Deals Sought in 2010 Bronx Torture Case Two of seven defendants charged with anti-gay battery, sexual assault poised for agreement with DA

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he Bronx district attorney is making plea deals with at least two of the seven defendants in a notorious 2010 anti-gay torture and assault case in that borough.

Theresa A. Gottlieb, a senior trial assistant district attorney who is prosecuting the case, discussed an expected “pre-pleading memorandum� from the attor ney representing Luis Garcia, 28, at a June 12 hearing before Judge Steven Barrett. “After we receive that, we’ll be prepared to offer pleas to this defendant,� Gottlieb said.

Garcia’s attorney, Elizabeth V. Roeckell, was not in court on June 12, and she did not respond to a call seeking comment.

At a June 15 hearing before Barrett, a defense attorney who was representing JosĂŠ Dominguez, 24, gave what appeared to be a pre-plea report prepared by the Osborne Association, a non-profit group that works with offenders, to Barrett and Terry Gensler, an assistant district attorney who appeared in place of Gottlieb. The judge then set a September date for a “disposition.â€?

Dominguez’ attorney, Robert Kramer, was not in court, and a colleague of Kramer’s stood up for Dominguez. That colleague referred questions

Defendant Indelfonso Mendez, who is now 25, leaves the NYPD’s Bronx Special Victims Unit in October 2010.

to Kramer, who did not respond to a call. The Osborne Association did not respond to an email seeking clarification.

Any sentences promised to these defendants and the issue of whether their pleas would require them to testify at a later trial of the other men accused in the case were not discussed at the hearings. “There were no plea offers made,� the district attorney’s press office wrote in an email. “However, it was stated in court that the defense is preparing a pre-plea memoranda which will contain factors that the defense believes we need to know... We have made no offers.�

The 2010 crime was an hours-long session of alleged sexual abuse, gang assault, robbery, and other crimes. There were six victims, all men, and each defendant is facing dozens of charges, with some charged as hate crimes. The defendants are alleged to have acted against the victims because they believed or knew that some were gay.

The defendants, who supposedly called themselves the Latin King Goonies, are alleged to have used ten different weapons, including a bat, pliers, a cigarette, a lighter, and a chain. Allegedly, they sodomized some of their victims with some of the weapons. Some defendants are alleged to have menaced some victims by displaying a gun.

The crimes occurred in the Morris Heights section of the Bronx.

Charged along with Garcia and Dominguez are Indelfonso Mendez, 25, Elmer Confresi, 25, Nelson Falu, 19, David Rivera, 23, and Rudy Vargas, 24. Only Vargas is out on bail. The others are being held on Rikers Island, either because they could not make bail or they were remanded without bail.

In 2010, the crimes drew widespread revulsion for their brutality and condemnation for their motivation. David Paterson, then the governor, called the attacks “vile, loathsome, and despicable conduct.� City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, an out lesbian who represents Chelsea, called it “the worst hate crime to hit our city in recent memory.�

All the defendants have pleaded not guilty, and the attorneys for the remaining five did not respond to calls seeking comment.

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

POLITICS

Castro and Controversy at the Public Library Cuban leader’s daughter speaks on gay rights in NYC to many fans, some skeptics

BY MICHAEL LUONGO

MICHAEL LUONGO

P

erhaps the protective Secret Service agents, golden eagles on their lapels, curly wires leading from their ear buds, represented the political sea change best. In an era of increasing openness between the United States and Cuba, extraordinary steps were being taken to protect the niece of Fidel Castro, a man the US government tried many times to assassinate.

Mariela Castro Espín, the effusive director of Cuba’s National Center for Sex Education (CENESEX) and daughter of Raul Castro, Fidel’s younger brother and Cuba’s current president, was at the New York Public Library to talk about changes of another kind, an increasing Cuban openness on LGBT issues, with herself at the helm.

Castro’s May 29 talk was part of the library’s LGBT programming and came during her first US visit, following a stop in San Francisco. The talk was coordinated with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and its executive director, Rea Carey, moderated, with communications manager Pedro Julio Serrano at times serving as translator. The audience was near capacity — with well over 100 in attendance — and filled largely with Latino and progressive supporters of her visit.

Castro spoke almost entirely in Spanish, in a

manner that was chatty and personable, at times with a touch of humor. In her introduction, Carey mentioned to Castro “all the emails concerned about your visit” that she had received, adding, “I will try to do the range of views justice.”

One of Carey’s first questions involved how Castro came to lead the LGBT movement in Cuba, and in particular the advances the country has made on transgender issues, with sex reassignment surgery covered under nationalized healthcare. Castro responded by saying, “Gender is a human creation, a mental creation. What we know about sexuality is a mental creation.” She later said, “All of us are transvestites. We take a style that is made up.”

Castro also argued that discrimination against LGBT people in Cuba and other parts of the world is linked to broader forms of discrimination against other disenfranchised groups.

“All forms of discrimination have the same origins,” she said, pointing out that differences within society are exploited in a way that allows those with power to continue saying, “I deserve a little more.” She gave examples throughout history, including slavery, saying, “Any reason justifies that I must have privileges and take something away from you.” To counter that, using an argu-

Mariela Castro, daughter of President Raul Castro, at the New York Public Library to discuss LGBT rights.

䉴

CASTRO, continued on p.17

Happy LGBT Pride to all our wonderful progressive friends.

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17

| June 20, 2012

ment that mirrors the case for same-sex marriage in the US, she said, “We are not taking rights from people, we are sharing privileges” when granting equality to LGBT citizens. She later added, “As a heterosexual woman, how can I say to couples they can not have the same rights?”

On their face, Castro’s comments might seem to conveniently serve the Cuban regime’s critique of inequality and discrimination in capitalist societies, but she did not shy away from looking at her own nation’s problems.

“Cuban society is very resistant to change,” she said, a point made clear in a video she played showing anti-gay hecklers at a Havana Pride event where she spoke.

But the video also indicated how far Cuba appears to have come since 2003, when this reporter visited Cuba for Gay City News. The same locations in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood where gays gathered but risked periodic harassment and arrest by the police then are now sites of LGBT celebration.

“Many professionals and the religious right,” she said, form a sort of upper class that opposes marriage and adoption by same-sex couples, though for divergent reasons. A few years ago, the Communist Party examined Cuban law to systemically remove inherent anti-LGBT discrimination, Castro explained.

The most pointed question was about the HIV quarantine camps — which critics compared to concentration camps — Cuba established as the epidemic emerged there. Castro seemed to talk around the issue, saying that military bases were

MICHAEL LUONGO

CASTRO, from p.16

Task Force executive director Rea Carey (r.) and Pedro Julio Serrano, its communications manager.

MICHAEL LUONGO

䉴

Councilwoman Rosie Mendez and her predecessor Margarita López show the rainbow and Puerto Rican colors.

used as HIV centers, which some confused as internment camps. Momentarily deflecting the question, she talked about how “American citizens cannot travel freely to Cuba, and that it is a violation of their civil rights.”

Castro did return to the question of the HIV camps, saying that an apology would be hypocritical.

“It’s not going to change the past,” she said.

“What it is about is changing our discrimination” in the present.

Castro also spoke of her visit to the GLBT History Museum in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood, where she was able to see posters of “the fight against all discrimination by the Communist Party in the 1960s in the USA,” making the point that the fight for LGBT equality is a natural fit for Cuba’s political system. With a bit of self-deprecation, she explained how she was sur prised to see that such a movement had existed in the United States.

“I loved it because I thought I started this myself, this revolutionary concept of inclusion,” Castro said.

She said that as far back as the 1960s, the Cuban women’s movement was already in favor of LGBT equality, which drew a few incredulous groans from audience members. It is worth remembering, however, that the late Reinaldo Arenas’ memoir “Before Night Falls” recalled that the revolution sparked an initial flowering of sexual liberation before repression set in.

Castro only rarely spoke English, at moments when she seemed to want to make to make sure a point came across.

䉴

CASTRO, continued on p.28

18 䉴

POCC, from p.10

English was among the founders of the Black Gay Research Group (BGRG), an organization of academics and epidemiologists who produce science and scholarly work on black gay men. In 2003, POCC was a co-sponsor of the first Black Gay Research Summit.

In 2005, the latest year for which a financial filing is available, POCC had a $2.3 million budget, and $2.1 million came from government grants. When English left in 2007, Michael Roberson took over. He went on

䉴

June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com a shopping spree with POCC’s money, according to a federal audit that investigated the agency’s finances.

The audit concluded that from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008, Roberson spent just under $80,000 on personal travel, hotels, dining out, clothes, gym memberships, and cash transfers to friends. Of that, nearly $50,000 was federal money. He was fired on July 30, 2008.

POCC had already been struggling financially after English left. The fiscal assistant who worked under English left four months after him, and her

SCHOOL, from p.11

speaking up about something that is, after all, “the law of this state.�

State Senator Tom Duane, an out gay Chelsea Democrat, said, "Learning about civil marriage is giving knowledge to the next generation. To deny this to every child is wrong. Opt-out is absolutely misguided education policy. Many things I was taught I disagreed with and my parents did too, but I got to hear what was said. Dennis Walcott is perpetrating what we fought against for so long," noting that the state Dignity for All Students anti-bullying bill, which he sponsored, goes into effect this summer.

replacement was not trained.

The audit found that POCC was not paying employees or its payroll taxes or maintaining its books. Government agencies simply turned off the money.

POCC closed its doors.

Roberson did not respond to a message sent via his Facebook page. Former POCC board members also did not respond to calls and emails. “There’s no more Black Pride,�

English said. “That was a great opportunity to get hundreds of men tested and other agencies used that to do outreach.�

Dr. Sheldon D. Fields, assis-

Brooklyn’s Lambda Independent Democrats issued a statement charging that the actions of the principal and Walcott “demean LGBT families and LGBT relationships.� The statement said, “This careless and damaging set of decisions and public statements are a slap in the face of the city’s Respect for All initiatives that strive to promote diversity and inclusivity with the public school system.�

Lynn Faria, interim executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, said in a written statement, “Kameron’s principal should not have given parents the option to pull their kids from their classmate’s presentation since to do so sug-

tant dean for clinical affairs and health policy at Florida International University and a BGRG board member, said the closing reflects the value placed on black gay men. “I think the closure of not only that agency but a few others that were specifically focused on gay men of color shows the lack of support for the infrastructure that is necessary to facilitate a targeted and effective HIV prevention strategy into these high-risk communities,� he said. “Black men, in general, don’t matter in society. In society, gay

gests that there is shame surrounding the subject of same-sex marriage.�

The New York Civil Liberties Union said that Slade’s rights were violated, and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu have also weighed in on his side.

Dromm condemned the separate limited assembly as “discriminatory,� saying, “Separate but equal does not work.�

On June 18, when the assembly was held, he was barred from attending by DOE officials. "Allowing parents to opt their children out of the assembly today is tantamount to allowing them to opt out of reality," Dromm said.

Toward the end of his essay, Slade wrote, “My Mom is very open with me

men don’t matter, so black gay men really don’t matter.

They’re expendable.�

English, who now lives in Atlanta, remains angry at how POCC was treated, and he noted that other non-profits that misused far more money were allowed to stay in business. In the current dire fiscal climate, he is not seeing the kind of fire in the belly that informed his ten years at POCC. “That’s what the black gay community is missing in New York City, the advocacy,� he said. “People should be very alarmed that that piece is missing.�

about same-gender marriage. However, some of those may be uncomfortable and think it is inappropriate to talk about this to children. I think adults must realize that as children get older, they become aware of these mature issues that are going on in the world. If children read or watch the news they can be aware of same-gender marriage.

So what’s the point of trying to hide it?�

He concluded by writing, “Parents and teachers should discuss these issues without shame with their children.�

The challenge for equality advocates is whether they will allow Walcott’s compromise to become a precedent or see to it that this never happens again.

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

LEGAL

Court Says HIV-Infected Saliva Not a “Deadly Weapon” New York’s highest bench throws out aggravated assault indictment of man who bit cop

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he New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest bench, ruled unanimously on June 7 that an HIV-infected man who bit a police officer on the finger while being arrested could not be charged with aggravated assault since that crime requires the use of a “deadly weapon” or a “dangerous instrument.”

Neither teeth nor saliva are considered to be a weapon or instrument, regardless of the individual’s HIV status, the court held.

The ruling, announced in an opinion by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, introduces a sane precedent on an issue where too many courts have failed to apply common sense.

In both state and federal courts, there have been many decisions over the past three decades imposing draconian prison sentences on HIV-infected individuals on the basis that their misconduct exposed others –– usually police or corrections officers –– to a tiny theoretical risk of HIV transmission through biting or spitting.

In some of those cases, as in this one, there was evidence that the defendant had a history of mental illness or suffered compromised judgment due to complications from HIV infection or medications.

The court’s opinion does not mention whether the police officer suffered any medical complications as a result of being bitten, but clearly implies that serious charges could result from intentional transmission of the HIV virus.

David Plunkett, who has “a long history of psychiatric illness,” was engaging in “bizarre behavior” and openly displaying marijuana in the reception area of his physician’s office. The police were contacted, and Plunkett bit the police officer during his arrest.

A Herkimer County grand jury voted to indict him on several charges, including “aggravated assault on a police of ficer.” An individual is guilty of this charge when, “with intent to cause serious physical injury to a person whom he knows or reasonably should know to be a police officer or a peace officer engaged in the course of performing his official duties, he causes such injury by

means of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument.”

In the indictment, Plunkett’s teeth were identified as the “dangerous instrument” used. When Plunkett’s attor ney received the indictment, she sought dismissal of the aggravated assault charge, citing a prior New York case holding that teeth could not be considered “dangerous instruments” within the meaning of the law. A county court judge –– agreeing that an aggravated assault charge based on the use of teeth would have to be dismissed under this precedent –– responded that in this case the “dangerous instrument” was saliva, which the judge characterized as “infected with the AIDS virus” and therefore “readily capable of causing death or other serious physical injury.”

As part of the plea bargain subsequently reached on three counts, the trial judge informed Plunkett he could appeal the court’s ruling about saliva as a “dangerous instrument,” but the Appellate Division held that his guilty plea waived the right to appeal. The Court of Appeals disagreed, finding no waiver of the right to appeal a question that went directly to the validity of the indictment, and proceeded to the merits of the appeal.

Lippman noted that the trial judge concluded that saliva could be a “dangerous instrument” under the law because it is a “substance.” However, applying the same precedent that precluded teeth from being considered a “dangerous instrument,” he wrote that “a part of one’s body is not encompassed by the terms ‘article’ or ‘substance’ as used in the statute.”

Neither teeth nor saliva could be considered an instrument for purposes of Plunkett’s prosecution.

Since the high court held that saliva was not an “instrument” within the meaning of the law, it concluded it was unnecessary for it to rule on the question of “whether saliva containing the HIV virus is in fact ‘readily capable of causing death or other serious physical injury.’”

The trial court, which erred in not dismissing the aggravated assault charge, should not have ruled on this factual issue, Lippman wrote.

Since neither Plunkett’s teeth nor

䉴

SALIVA, continued on p.32

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

MAKING WHOOPI AT COOPER UNION The City Council’s annual celebration of Pride Month, hosted by Speaker Christine Quinn and Councilmembers Rosie Mendez, Daniel Dromm, and Jimmy Van Bramer, honored Dee Rees, director of the Sundance Film Festival award-winning film “Pariah,” the gripping story of an African-American teenage lesbian struggling to come into her own growing up in Fort Greene; the NYPD’s LGBT Advisory Panel (below, left); and Hermes Mallea and Carey Maloney, leaders of LGBT @ NYPL, for their

work to expand the number of LGBT books in the New York Public Library system. The June 12 event, hosted

by Whoopi Goldberg, included remarks by Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum (right, middle) and a performance by a dance troupe from the Door's Pier-45 Outreach program (right, top), who received a certificate of appreciation. Rob Smith (right, bottom), a former specialist in the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, opened the ceremony with the Pledge of Allegiance. (PHOTOS BY MICHAEL LUONGO)

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| June 20, 2012

JUNE 16 RALLY KICKS OFF PRIDE WEEK Heritage of Pride opened LGBT Pride Week on June 16 with the annual rally, this year at the East River Bandshell on the Lower East Side. Jai Rodriquez (top, left), whose credits include Bravo’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” “Rent” on Broadway, and the OffBroadway show “Zanna, Don't!,” hosted.

Performers included reggae artist Nhojj (top, far right), the first black man to win an OUTMusic Award; Nikki Thomas (top, middle-left), an East Village singer who had the crowd on their feet for “Don’t Stop Believing”; and guitarist and singer Justin Utley (bottom, left), a survivor of Mormon ex-gay conversion therapy.

Speakers included Rabbi Rachel Weiss (top, middle-right) from Congregation Beit Simchat Torah and Queer Rising activist Jake Goodman (bottom, right), who spoke about the challenges facing homeless LGBT youth. (PHOTOS BY DONNA ACETO)

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| June 20, 2012

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28 endorsed it.) The whole list can be found under “Partners” at silentmarchnyc.org.

Some LGBT groups turned out just enough people to carry their banners, unable to motivate large numbers of their memberships. But stories in this newspaper and the New York Times prior to the march highlighted the LGBT black alliance for the march on the heels of the NAACP’s endorsement of marriage equality several weeks before.

Leslie Cagan, an out lesbian and the lead organizer of the overall march, said at its conclusion that there were “lots and lots of gay people” scattered throughout it — not just those who gathered at 110th and Lenox in a specifically LGBT contingent.

Jeffrey Campagna — who, with Sharon Stapel of the New York City Anti-Violence Project, chaired the march’s LGBT table organized by Stuart Appelbaum, the out gay president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union — called the march “a turning point in relations between the [LGBT and African-American civil rights] movements which have long supported each other.”

Veteran gay activist Allen Roskoff of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, castigating Bloomberg and Kelly, said, “It reminds me of the ‘70s.”

Roseann Hermann of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, the LGBT synagogue, said that she has always

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DONNA ACETO

SILENT PROTEST, from p.9

DONNA ACETO

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

LGBT and other youth involved with Streetwise & Safe and FIERCE, along with considerably younger marchers, turned out to protest stop and frisk.

opposed racial profiling, “but now that I have a biracial grandson it matters to me personally more now.”

Tom Burrows of Brooklyn’s Lambda Independent Democrats and a legal aid lawyer said, “I represent these kids every day in South Jamaica” and the stops that lead to marijuana arrests make judges “want to put them into drug programs at 14,” upending their lives.

Joe DeCola, an out gay network news veteran, said, “We are felonizing a whole generation.” America’s war on drugs, he said, is “killing people in Mexico” as well.

Melissa Sklarz, president of the Stonewall Democrats of New York City, which she noted is a “progressive” club, said, “It is important we stand united today.” She added, “I would like to see new police

CASTRO, from p.17

“Together, we want to change society and the world,” she said, adding, “LGBT with heterosexuals.”

She and the audience shared goodnatured laughs at those moments when she punctuated her remarks by using English.

Castro closed her talk with considerable passion, saying, “We have to fight against all for ms of discrimination. We cannot be silent if we see someone else suffering. That was said by [Cuban poet] José Martí and by my uncle, Fidel Castro.” She added, “Is that a dictatorship, fighting all forms of discrimination?”

Castro received a standing ovation, during which she and some members of the audience shouted, “Free the Cuban Five,” a reference to a group of Cubans arrested in 1998 for spying

leadership in New York.”

Out gay State Senator Tom Duane, a Chelsea Democrat, marched and talked about the high school civics class he teaches where “kids tell of ficers what they feel and the cops explain what they are doing.” He said, “Police do what they are told by higher-ups,” so the operating procedures needs to be fixed.

Brad Hoylman, a candidate for the Senate seat Duane announced he is giving up and an ally of Quinn’s, said, “It will take a new mayoral administration to bring significant change.” He supported the Council bill for an inspector general.

Housing Works, the AIDS housing and advocacy group, tur ned out its usual large numbers of clients and staff, but solidarity with people of color causes is nothing new for

on Miami’s exile community.

This r eporter appr oached Castro, whom he had previously inter viewed, but she said, “I am not talking to media. I am sorry.” Much to the seeming chagrin of her protective Secret Service agents, who tried hard to keep people away from her, she accepted flowers and posed for photographs with adoring fans from the audience.

Rosie Mendez, the out lesbian Lower East Side City Council member, and her predecessor, Margarita López, who is also lesbian and now a City Housing Authority commissioner, attended Castro’s talk together, carrying both Rican and rainbow flags.

López said that while on the Council, she spoke out against isolating the Cuban people, but that she was also concerned about pressur ing their government to do more for

the organization, which works primarily with clients drawn from black and brown communities. Charles King, the group’s executive director, said stop and frisk was used especially “against transgender folk and women perceived to be sex workers.” He said abuse of the tactic “drives people away from systems they should trust — and drives them away from care” provided by a government they distrust.

“We’re here because AIDS is driven by social and economic injustice,” King said.

The larger question was why were so many people mobilizing against a tactic that has been used with impunity for so many years.

Marchers, both LGBT and non-gay, repeatedly pointed to two February incidents — the profiling of T rayvon Martin, 17, in Florida, killed

its LGBT population. That goal, she said, then seemed elusive.

“Here today, look at what happened,” López said. “You have to push an issue… That’s how the gay community works. When you push, you get your demands answered.”

Mendez was more cautious, saying of Castro’s visit, “It was very interesting, and I am happy I made it in to see her.” She added, “I have not been to Cuba but I am hoping in the near future. I understand there is more sexual freedom, but there are still so many questions,” regarding how open that nation truly is on LGBT issues.

The library’s LGBT Initiative cochair Carey Maloney explained that he and his partner and co-chair, Her mes Mallea, author of “Gr eat Houses of Havana,” met Castro dur ing one of their many visits to Cuba.

“It was a lot of work to get her here,”

for walking while black, and the NYPD’s February killing of an innocent and unarmed 18-year -old, Ramarley Graham, in the Bronx. On June 13, police officer Richard Haste was indicted on manslaughter in Graham’s death.

As the marchers gathered on Sunday, Marquis Smalls, 41, an African-American former teacher who lives on the West Side and was there with the Transit Workers Union, talked about the advice he used to of fer his students.

He taught them both to know their rights and to speak with police with respect.

“Lots of kids don’t speak to each other with respect, and when a policeman stops them, they are often already on edge,” he said. Smalls considers himself “blessed” to never have been stopped and frisked, but said he was racially profiled and stopped while driving right after the infamous police killing of Sean Bell in Queens in 2006.

“We’ve been dealing with police oppr ession against us since we got off the slave ships,” Smalls said. He said he was encouraged that people were “making common cause” at the march.

“It’s good to see the city united,” said Upper West Side Democratic Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, arguing the march expressed “people’s disgust with their mayor. As he’s on his way out, people have come to recognize his destructive policies.”

Buyer’s remorse, I guess.

Maloney said, particularly in coordinating timing and visa issues.

The Task Force’s Carey acknowledged that a visit by Castro might be a divisive issue among Americans.

The Task Force, however, has not “been afraid over 40 years of talking to people that we disagree with on some things and that we agree on other things,” she explained.

“In some ways, things can be true and untrue at the same time,” she said. Bringing a controversial figure like Castro to talk about LGBT issues is what makes New York’s gay community so vibrant, Carey insisted, saying, “We live in a city where this is possible.”

For more infor mation on the New York Public Library’s LGBT Initiative, visit lgbt.nypl.org, and check out its Pride Month activities in this issues 14 Days/ 14 Nights section.

| June 20, 2012

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CRIME

Davawn Robinson Retrial for Edgard Mercado’s Murder Opens

Defendant claims “rough and kinky sex” accident

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BY DUNCAN OSBORNE

T

he retrial of Davawn Robinson, the accused killer of Edgard Mercado, opened with the prosecution arguing Robinson intended to kill the 39-year-old gay man and the defense saying the death was an accident that came during “rough and kinky” sex.

“September 17 of 2009 was the last day of Edgard Mercado’s life,” John A. McConnell, a Manhattan assistant district attorney, told jurors in his June 9 opening statement. “The last moments of his life were spent with his face against the floor with a rope around his neck.”

Robinson, a 25-year -old gay man, faces one second-degree murder count in the Mercado homicide. The district attorney charges that Robinson intended to kill Mercado. The defense has conceded that Robinson caused Mercado’s death, but his attorneys argue he never formed the legally required intent to kill and so is not guilty of second-degree murder.

His first trial ended in a mistrial just before Christmas last year after jurors could not decide if Robinson was guilty of murder, which has a maximum sentence of 25-years-to-life. Had they acquitted him on that charge, jurors would then have considered second-degree manslaughter, which has a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, and then criminally negligent homicide, which carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

Testimony at the first trial showed that the two men met at Chi Chiz, a West Village gay bar since closed. They had drinks, purchased some cocaine, and traveled by cab to Mercado’s East Village apartment. Once at the apartment, they used the cocaine and drank some wine.

What happened next is in dispute.

In the prosecution’s recounting, Robinson used a rope belt to strangle Mercado to death, then stole the older man’s computer and cell phone. The defense contends the strangling was accidental and came during autoerotic asphyxiation. Police found no bondage porn or equipment in Mercado’s home.

“This was not an accident,” McConnell said. “This was not a mistake. This was intentional murder.”

After the strangling and while still in Mercado’s apartment, Robinson called 911 on his cell phone to report he had just killed a man in self-defense. He did not give his name, but police traced

Edgard Mercado was killed in his East Village apartment in 2009.

him to his New Jersey home less than 24 hours later. In various statements to police and the prosecutor, he continued to assert he acted in self-defense.

“He knew he couldn’t say he wasn’t there, so what does he do?” McConnell said. “He lies.”

Seeking to inoculate the jury against Robinson’s expected defense and likely testimony, McConnell repeated, “He lies again” three times. Robinson said the self-defense story was untrue when he testified at his first trial. He told jurors last year that the death came during sex.

“When he said he wanted it tight, I did just that,” Robinson testified. “When he wanted it rough, I did it rough.”

In her opening statement, Stephanie Kaplan, Robinson’s Legal Aid Society attorney, told jurors that a “murderous mind wants and pursues death.” Robinson’s behavior showed the opposite, Kaplan said. The wine, the drug use, and the condoms and lube in Mercado’s room showed that Robinson was there to party and enjoy himself — “to pursue life,” as Kaplan put it.

“The fact of his death is not what you have to decide,” Kaplan told jurors. “You have to decide what was in Davawn’s mind… It’s the scene itself that tells the story.”

Mercado’s death, the “tragic and unintended ending,” came when “Davawn agreed to engage in rough and kinky sex that was unfamiliar to him,” Kaplan said.

His lying showed panic, not calculation.

“He could have left, no one knew him,” Kaplan said. “That’s some murderer who calls the police on himself.”

| June 20, 2012

CRIME

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Mutual Finger-Pointing Among Anthony Collao Slay Defendants Six men all claim no responsibility for death in Queens that followed anti-gay slurs

BY DUNCAN OSBORNE

I

n written and oral statements to police, the six defendants in the killing of Anthony Collao denied any involvement in the homicide or accused others of taking Collao’s life on a Queens street last year.

“I am not going down for this,” Luis Tabales, 17, told police, according to criminal court records. “This is bullshit. The two guys that were put in the van with me, the one with blood all over his sneakers and the one with blood all over his pants, were talking about how they put a beating on that kid and I am not going down for that.”

Court records suggest that at least five witnesses identified Tabales and at least one of those five knew him.

The six young men ranging in age from 17 to 19 are accused of using anti-gay slurs as they allegedly beat Collao to death.

Their charges include murder,

manslaughter, gang assault, and robbery with some charged as hate crimes. All six have pleaded not guilty.

Collao, 18, was straight. In addition to attacking Collao, the young men are accused of stealing his hat, sneakers, wallet, and jewelry. A second victim in the attack was identified in criminal court records. Police caught the young men within minutes of the crime taking place.

The teens were attending a birthday party in an abandoned Queens home on 90th Street.

The party, which was advertised on Facebook some defendants said, was put on by two gay teens and it drew a large crowd.

One of the defendants, Alex Velez, 17, said he got into a fight with Collao inside the house and the dispute continued later outside on the street when, Velez said, Collao assaulted him.

“I got into an altercation with the victim,” said Velez who was identified as the youth with blood on his sneakers. Witness-

es identified Velez by his clothes, his photo, and in a show-up where police present him alone to a witness. While Velez said he punched and kicked Collao, he said that he saw Calvin Pietri, 18, hit Collao with a “metal object.” Pietri admitted to kicking and punching Collao, but pointed at Velez.

“I did do something,” Pietri told police. “I deserve to be punished for what I did, but I don’t deserve 25 years for what I did.

It was Alex Velez that hit the kid with the pipe.”

Police collected a long metal object at the scene with a fingerprint and a palm print on it from Jonathan Echevarria, 17.

Police may have more than one weapon from the crime. Echevarria, one of the arrestees, said he knew Pietri, but denied being at the party.

The Queens district attorney has at least eight witnesses to the crime and they identified the assailants by their clothes, in show-ups, or in photos.

Some witnesses said they saw Tabales, Velez, and Nolis Ogando, 19, chase Collao down the street in front of the house and around a corner out of sight.

Ogando gave varying statements to police saying he never reached the party, he arrived after the incident, or he arrived just as the crime began. A witness who identified Ogando knew him for a year.

“Ten officers grabbed me and a couple of kids,” Ogando told police. “I don’t know what reason.”

The sixth youth, Christopher Lozada, 18, was wearing Collao’s baseball cap when he was arrested. He claimed to have found the cap on the street. The blood on his pants was found to be his own, and he said it came from a fall at the party.

The prosecution and defense attorneys will appear in court on July 11 to set a date for pretrial hearings.

The Collao killing is the second noted recent instance of a heterosexual being mistaken for

All six defendants charged in the murder of Anthony Collao, a straight youth killed last year by a group shouting anti-gay slurs, deny they were responsible.

gay or being attacked by assailants using anti-gay slurs.

In 2008, Keith Phoenix and Hakim Scott mistook José Sucuzhanay and his brother, Romel, for a gay couple when they saw the two men huddling together to stay warm as they walked on a Brooklyn street. Phoenix used a baseball bat to kill José, and Romel was injured. Phoenix and Scott are serving decades-long prison terms.

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LEGAL

ACLU Sues North Carolina on Adoption US challenge to 2010 State Supreme Court ruling joined

BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD

T

he American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit in the US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina seeking a declaration that the state’s ban on second-parent adoptions violates the 14th Amendment rights of same-sex couples and their children.

The action was filed on behalf of six same-sex couples and the children they are raising. In each case, one member of the couple is the legal parent of the child and the other has no legal relationship with the child, because North Carolina statutes do not allow adoptions by unmarried coparents and the state does not allow or recognize marriages of same-sex partners.

A 2010 ruling by the North Carolina Supreme Court definitively construed state law to ban such adoptions, thus ending a practice under which some lower courts had been granting them. In other jurisdictions, the liti-

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SALIVA, from p.20

his saliva were separate instruments in the commission of his crime, they “could not themselves qualify as a predicate to heighten his criminal liability beyond that justified by his victim's injury” –– a statement that makes plain that the police officer, contrary to the trial judge’s concern, did not suffer HIV infection as a result of the bite. At the same time, in linking the injury suffered to the defendant’s criminal liability, Lippman suggests he

gation about second-parent adoption has been conducted as a matter of state law, trying to persuade courts to embrace innovative interpretations of their adoption statutes. In a few jurisdictions, legislation has been enacted making it clear that second-parent adoptions are authorized.

This lawsuit appears to be the first major attempt to get a federal constitutional ruling on the question from a US court. The suit poses the issues from the perspective of the children as well as the parents, arguing that the children are deprived of due process and equal protection because the lack of a legal connection to their second parent precludes eligibility for certain government benefits and threatens the security of their families if something happens to their legal parent.

Attorneys from the ACLU’s LGBT Rights Project and the ACLU of North Carolina are joined by Garrard R. Beeney of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York and local counsel Jonathan D. Sasser and Jeremy M. Falcone of Ellis & Winters LLP in Raleigh.

might find serious culpability in at least some situations where defendants infect others with the virus.

Plunkett will be resentenced on the other counts to which he pled guilty, and his plea on the aggravated assault charge must be vacated and the indictment dismissed.

The broader implication of this case is that prosecutors should not present an aggravated assault charge to a grand jury based on a theory of exposure to the teeth or saliva of a person infected with HIV.

| June 20, 2012

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PRIDE LASTS ALL NIGHT IN BROOKLYN Following a picture-perfect Saturday afternoon festival on Prospect Park West, Brooklyn Pride hosted the nation’s oldest nighttime LGBT parade on Saturday evening, June 9, across Park Slope’s Fifth Avenue commercial district.

The parade was led by the Dykes on Bikes (bottom, right) and organizers of the day’s festivities (top, middle-left).

Among others on hand were youth from the Ali Forney Center (top, right), which provides housing and social services for LGBTQ homeless youth, and from Gay Men of African Descent (opposite, top), which does HIV prevention work, one very animated drummer (top, left), and a festive crew from the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island (top, middle-right).

Brooklyn Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (opposite, third down), who is competing in the June 26 Democratic

primary for an open congressional seat in Brooklyn, marched on behalf of legislators who supported marriage equality in Albany.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation was on hand with its Condom-Nation HIV testing and free condom distribution truck (opposite, bottom), ensuring that health awareness was integrated into the festivities.

Prior to the parade, Brooklyn’s Lambda Independent Democrats honored Brooklyn-Queens Congresswoman N y d i a Ve l á z q u e z , w h o f a c e s a D e m o c r a t i c p r i m a r y challenge on June 26, and State Senator Daniel Squadron (with beard and glasses, pictured opposite, second down) with Melissa Sklarz, Matthew McMorrow, Carlos Menchaca, and Michael Czazckes. (PHOTOS BY DONNA ACETO)

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| June 20, 2012

PRIDE

SPECIAL-EDITION POSTER

by KEVIN McDERMOTT and FRIENDS OF THE HIGH LINE available online | www.thehighline.org/shop

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com New York City Comptroller

John C. Liu

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Lesbian and Transgender aan DIRECTORY OF SERVICES D AND RESOURCES www.comptroller.nyc.gov/lgbt

LGBT COMPTROLLER JOHN LIU MARKS LGBT PRIDE At a June 5 LGBT Pride ceremony at the LGBT C o m m u n i t y C e n t e r, C o m p t r o l l e r J o h n L i u , N e w Yorkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first citywide elected official from the Asian community, honored four activists who work on social justice, anti-violence, and HIV/ AIDS issues. Kiara St. James (top, middle-left), a native of Beaumont, Texas, is a trans advocate who is fighting to enact the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act in Albany. Don Kao (top, middle-right), who has lived with AIDS for more than a quarter-century, is director of Project Reach, a multi racial, multi-gender, community-based counseling and advocacy center for youth. Tracy Hobson (bottom) is executive director of the Center for Anti-Violence Education, where she works with women, transgender people, teens, children, and communities affected by

violence. Daniel Leyva (top, right), who was raised in Mexico City, worked in the US with the United Nations Development Programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Latin American and Caribbean effort. After testing positive for HIV, he joined the Latino Commission on AIDS, where he now serves as director of the Latino Religious Leadership Program.

T h i s m o n t h , L i u â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s o f f i c e r e l e a s e d a n u p d a t e d L G B T Directory of Services and Resources (top, left), which is a guide to nearly 750 community organizations.

The directory can be accessed online at comptroller. nyc.gov/lgbt/; hard copies are available at the LGBT Community Center at 208 West 13th Street and other locations serving LGBT New Yorkers.

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POLITICS

Down to the Wire In Brooklyn Can pro-equality Hakeem Jeffries hold off late surge by Charles Barron?

BY PAUL SCHINDLER

MARBLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH GIFTS/LGBT Ministry

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s the New York Times reported on June 16, the Democratic primary to succeed Brooklyn Congressman Edolphus Towns has suddenly become a horserace.

Many establishment figures in the party, the newspaper reported, are alarmed at the prospect that City Councilman Charles Barron, a fiery and contentious figure widely seen as divisive on issues ranging from race to Israel, could actually outpace Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries in the June 26 primary, the winner of which is a sure bet to replace Towns after the November general election.

One difference –– among many –– between the two men is on the issue of marriage equality. Every time gay marriage was put to a vote in the State Assembly –– from 2007 until its enactment last year –– Jeffries voted yes. In contrast, Barron, in an interview with Capital New York’s Azi Paybarah late last year, made clear, “I’m against same-sex marriage.”

In a 2009 speech during the Assembly floor debate on marriage, Jeffries recalled taking a college class from Barbara Jordan, a ‘70s-era Democratic congresswoman and later a professor, who died in 1996.

“In many ways, Barbara Jordan is a paradigm case for diversity,” Jeffries said. “She's black. She's a woman. She was disabled. She was a lesbian, and she was from Texas –– a paradigm case for diversity. And Congresswoman Barbara Jordan once said in a famous 1976 speech that when those words in the Declaration of Independence were written, ‘All men are created equal,’ that they weren't meant to apply to people who look like her. But it was only through centuries of legislation and agitation and court interpretation and judicial opinion that some measure of legitimacy was breathed into those words. And when you think about that it's so clear because when they were written and for decades afterwards –– millions of African slaves who were enslaved, victimized, brutalized, lynched, raped, kidnapped, discriminated against, those words were not applicable to them.”

Then, likening Jordan to other heroes of the African-American civil rights struggle, Jeffries said, “I don’t believe that these great Americans, these heroes of my community, these beacons of liberation, these freedom fighters worked so hard and in some cases died simply so that all African Americans would

Hakeem Jeffries at the Brooklyn Pride celebration on June 9.

be treated equally. I believe that they did what they did so that all Americans would be treated equally.”

In his 2011 comments to Paybarah, Barron, who from the beginning of her tenure as City Council speaker has famously fought with Christine Quinn, made clear he drew different lessons from African Americans’ history in the US. About marriage equality he said, “I don’t consider it a civil rights issue of our time. Comparing it to our struggle when we were stolen from Africa, enslaved, murdered, raped, hung, lynched. I’m not even going to give it the same breath as our movement in this country.”

Citing oft-repeated cases of outlandish behavior by Barron –– such as calling Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi his heroes –– the Times quoted former Mayor Ed Koch terming him a “viper” and said the AntiDefamation League has put out a reporter’s cheat sheet of his most objectionable statements.

A more subtle –– but in its own way, deadly –– critique of Barron came from Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, a Jeffries supporter, who said Barron has a “style of politics that appeals to some groups” while her candidate represented “the future of Brooklyn.”

According to the Times, Barron’s momentum has come from his endorsement by Towns and by the powerful DC 37, the city’s largest public employees union. Still, Jeffries has raised nearly $800,000 for the race, while Barron missed the latest federal campaign filing deadline. He told the Times he had about $70,000 on hand, much of that from his own pocket.

| June 20, 2012

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RELIGION

Committing the Sin of Honesty themselves in openly affirming their relationships. And for that ather Ber nárd unpardonable sin of honesty L ynch, 65, who they have been removed from s h o u l d k n o w , their religious orders — the Sociestimates that ety of African Missions and the h a l f t h e m e n Jesuits, respectively. They have in the Catholic priesthood are not been defrocked — removed homosexual. Lynch has paid a from the priesthood entirely — dear price for being one of the but that may be Pope Benedict XVI’s next move few to come out and affirm his sexuality, IF IT WASN’T LOVE: in his obsession with imposing a story recounted SEX, DEATH AND GOD orthodoxy in the in his timely and Catholic world, insightful book, “If

By Father Bernárd Lynch even if it means a It Wasn’t Love: Sex, Circle Books smaller Church.

Death and God.” 139 pp.; $16.95; 139 pages circle-books.com Consider his Father John recent crackdown McNeill, 86, wrote the groundbreaking “The Church on American nuns for spending and the Homosexual” in the too much time helping the poor 1970s and attracted interna- and not enough fighting abortional media for his assertion that tion and same-sex marriage — gay love was moral, eventually a public relations disaster, but coming out himself. His unusual a clear indication that Benedict and inspiring journey is the sub- believes a shrinking flock is a ject of a fine new documentary by price worth paying.

The pope has already made Irish-American gay activist BrenMcNeill and dan Fay, TAKING A CHANCE ON GOD Lynch pay a “T aking a A DOCUMENTARY PROFILE high price.

Chance on “Taking a God,” that is OF JOHN MCNEILL, Chance on making the PIONEER GAY PRIEST God” takes LGBT festival circuit. Directed, co-written, co-produced by Brendan Fay t h e I r i s h American It premiered Co-written & co-edited by Dan Messina Co-edited & co-produced by Ilene Cutler McNeill in New York Music composed by Peter Wetzler from his on June 16 takingachanceongod.com boyhood in at a screenBuffalo to a ing sponsored by Dignity/ New York, the prisoner-of-war camp in World LGBT Catholic group that McNeill War II, where he nearly starves to death. It is there that he promco-founded 40 years ago.

I worked with both priests in ises his God he will serve as a my own Dignity days in the late priest if he survives. As a Jesuit 1970s, was a reader of Lynch’s moral theologian, he makes the manuscript, appeared briefly in case for the goodness of gay love. the McNeill documentary, and When his book on the subject am proud to be their friends. But comes out he is not only a guest unlike them, I left the Catholic on “The Today Show” (shown Church 30 years ago. Despite in the film being interviewed by my firm atheism, I have deep Tom Brokaw on his first day on admiration for the lives, work, the job), he also does “Phil Donaand bravery of these men of God. hue,” is translated into many Lynch dedicates his book to languages, and sets off the bighis husband, Billy Desmond, a gest debate in the Church since fellow Irishman with whom he the ban on birth control.

Church authorities, who had lives in London as they approach their 20th anniversary. McNeill’s given McNeill official permission husband, Charles Chiarelli, is a to publish his book as a contribig part of Fay’s film, showing us bution to Catholic dialogue if how to sustain an intimate rela- not worthy of an imprimatur, were unprepared for the stir. tionship for 46 years.

L ynch and McNeill are not Cardinal Josef Ratzinger, now unique as priests who have the pope, had McNeill formalmale partners. But they are in ly silenced, forbidding him to a class almost completely by speak on the issue of sexuality.

F

McNeill obeyed the order for nine years, and, applying the Jesuit tradition of intellectual rigor, instead spoke out on issues such as freedom of conscience. However, when Ratzinger, as Pope John Paul II’s director of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, issued the infamous 1987 Halloween letter not just condemning homosexual acts, but also declaring a gay orientation to be “disordered” and blaming gay-bashing on gay activism, McNeill could be silent no more.

In a moving scene in the film, he talks about what it felt like to be expelled from his Jesuit family.

L ynch’s story starts in the small town of Ennis in County Clare, Ireland where he discovers his vocation amidst confusion about his yearnings for his own sex. He serves as a missionary in Africa for a time, but discovers himself while studying in New York and connecting with Dignity. He also serves a parish in the Bronx, where he was beloved and worked as campus minister at Mount St. Michael’s Academy.

When AIDS hit, he ministers to hundreds of dying gay men — and nearly every one of them did die in those terrifying and dispiriting days when they were often abandoned by their families. He also speaks out for gay rights, testifying in his Roman collar for the New York City gay and lesbian rights bill in 1986 when it finally passed.

In a harrowing story retold in his book, the Archdiocese of New York and the FBI conspired to bring false sexual abuse charges against him. The charges were thrown out of a Bronx court and he was exonerated, but the “soul murder” was nearly total. The Church and government officials responsible never paid a price, despite a UK documentary film on the trial shown here on PBS in the 1990s. Most of the press in New York just will not take on the Catholic Church, preferring to celebrate papal visits and the appointment of a new cardinal.

Lynch moved to London, continued his ministry, worked as a therapist, and was redeemed by time, his faith, and the love he found with Desmond.

Father John McNeill and his husband, Charles Chiarelli, who have been together for 46 years.

GRCC

BY ANDY HUMM

TAKING A CHANCE ON GOD

Bernárd Lynch book, John McNeill film illuminate trailblazing priests — married and gay

After his “soul murder” in New York, Father Bernárd Lynch (r.) found love with fellow Irishman Bill Desmond in London two decades ago.

L ynch shares his insights into why his Church is so antisex, what he learned from his own pain and that of others, and how to live with hope in a troubled world.

“I believe that freedom, not happiness, is the precious stone of life,” he writes. “To have the freedom to imagine an interior world without fear is

the first giant step in our quest to be human.”

Two happily married gay priests. That fact will draw some to their stories and outrage others. But if you spend the time to read and watch their remarkable stories, you will be surprised and challenged by their message of freedom through love.

| June 20, 2012

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

POLITICS

Happy Pride & Congratulations Gay City News for 10 years from

COREY JOHNSON

COREY JOHNSON Democrat for New York City Council in 2013 Representing the neighborhoods neighborho of Soho, West Village, Greenwich V Village, Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen and Midtown.

Grant Totals $300,000 for ESPA Transgender Push Calamus funds to support public education on gender identity, expression

BY PAUL SCHINDLER

U

nderscoring its commitment to finally winning approval of a transgender civil rights law in New York State, the Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA), the LGBT community’s leading lobby group in Albany, has announced a $300,000 grant from the Calamus Foundation, which funds HIV and LGBT services, to support its educational efforts focused on gender identity and expression issues.

“The Calamus Foundation is recognizing that we are at a tipping point” in terms of attitudes toward transgender rights in the state, Lynn Faria, ESPA’s interim executive director, told Gay City News on May 31, the day the grant was announced.

“It sends an important message to other funders in the community.”

New York enacted a gay rights law in 2002, but the measure did not provide protections based on gender identity and expression out of a political concern that broadening the bill might jeopardize its passage.

The Pride Agenda’s chairman, Louis Bradbury, also serves on the Calamus board, as does his fellow ESPA board member Jeff Soref. Calamus’ decision to fund the Pride Agenda’s transgender efforts, then, will likely serve to assure the trans community, frustrated and impatient over the long delay in moving the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), that ESPA is committed to getting the job done.

In its press release announcing the grant, the Pride Agenda implicitly acknowledged the anger felt by some in the trans community over the fact that marriage equality leapfrogged over GENDA in 2011 when Governor Andrew Cuomo basked in remarkably high approval ratings.

“Following a winning campaign last year to win marriage equality for all New Yorkers,” the release read, “the state’s leading lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights organization, the Empire State Pride Agenda, is advancing the passage of the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, their top legislative priority.”

Faria, in the release, said, “It’s high time that New York State joined the 16 states and the District of Columbia that provide basic civil rights protections for all their residents, regardless of gender expression or identity.”

She noted that “one of the marriage

campaign’s most successful strategies invested in education and building public awareness across the state.”

The Calamus money is restricted to educational and general advocacy efforts and cannot be used in direct lobbying of Albany legislators.

Faria pledged that the model employed in the marriage fight “will be replicated in the public campaign to build support for transgender civil rights.”

As in the marriage fight, ESPA is sponsoring forums in communities and congregations across the state at which transgender New Yorkers are telling their stories to neighbors. In an effort dubbed Trans Scribe, those involved in the GENDA push are documenting their experiences with discrimination across the state. A 2011 study completed by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force demonstrated that three out of four transgender New Yorkers had been the victims of harassment or mistreatment on the job.

“We always try to mount a strong inside game and a strong outside campaign,” Faria said of the importance of both lobbying and public education.

She also noted that, as with other sexual orientation non-discrimination protections, corporate America has been ahead of government.

Macy’s, she said, has begun a program to better serve transgender customers, an example of enlightened corporate selfinterest.

Asked to speculate on the timing of GENDA moving in the Legislature and the amount of political muscle Cuomo might put into the effort, Faria would only say, “The governor has publically stated his support of GENDA. Our job as advocates is to work on the inside to advance the issue in Albany.”

In a June 8 interview with Gay City News, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, acknowledging the bill would not get a vote this year, said she had not yet spoken to the governor about priorities in next year’s legislative session.

Over the past year, Calamus has raised its visibility as a funder in the community, providing grants totaling $1 million to the Ali Forney Center, Green Chimneys, the Door, and Safe Horizon, all of which serve homeless queer youth.

Calamus’ funding of ESPA’s trans efforts will likely assure the community the group is committed to getting GENDA enacted.

47

| June 20, 2012

New York University Celebrates New York State’s First Year of Same-Sex Marriage

We salute the LGBT leaders, friends, and allies whose tireless advocacy for civil rights continues to further equality, inclusion, and support

For all communities in New York City and beyond

Discover more about NYU’s programs for community members » nyu.edu/community/neighbors

48

June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

A MANHATTAN SALUTE TO PRIDE Scott Stringer, the borough president of Manhattan, hosted an LGBTQ Pride Month celebration on June 1 1 a t t h e O n e g i n R e s t a u r a n t i n t h e We s t Vi l l a g e .

Stringer is flanked by honorees Earl Plante (bottom, left), a longtime social and economic justice activist, Lynn Schulman, who serves on the board of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Leadership Institute, Village Vo i c e c o l u m n i s t M i c h a e l M u s t o , a n d B r i c e P e y r e

(bottom, right), a top aide to East Side Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, who is standing next to him. Others on hand included Brad Hoylman (bottom, middle-right), an out gay Democrat who just announced his candidacy to succeed State Senate Tom Duane, and Cathy Marino-Thomas (bottom, middle-left), the board president of Marriage Equality New York. (PHOTOS BY DONNA ACETO)

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

GARDEN PARTY KICKS OFF PRIDE WEEK With food offerings from more than 30 Manhattan eateries, the LGBT C o m m u n i t y C e n t e r ’s G a r d e n P a r t y h a s become an annual tastings treat. It has long also been the kick-off to Pride Week in Manhattan. This year’s event, held June 18 at Pier 46 at Christopher Street, drew thousands to an event at which the Center’s executive director, G l e n n d a Te s t o n e ( t o p , l e f t ) a c c e p t e d a proclamation from Governor Andrew Cuomo, presented by his aide Erik Bottcher. Lynn Faria, the Empire State P r i d e A g e n d a ’s i n t e r i m e x e c u t i v e director, is seen here with board chair Louis Bradbury (top, right), while Yetta Kurland (right), a likely contender in next year’s City Council race to succeed Speaker Christine Quinn, also made the scene. And, of course, others, whether in bright colors or all black, were there as a reminder that Pride can also be about goofy fun (bottom). (PHOTOS BY DONNA ACETO)

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| June 20, 2012

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

LEGAL

New Yorker Edie Windsor Prevails Over DOMA Yet another federal court chips away at ’96 law, this time over $363,053 tax bill on late spouse’s estate In 2008, they legally wed in Canada.

I n e v a l u a t i n g Wi n d s o r ’ s c l a i m that DOMA should be subjected to a strict or at least inter mediate level of scrutiny because homosexuals represent a suspect or quasi-

suspect class — ter ms applied to review of discrimination claims based, respectively, on class and gender — Jones noted that there is

䉴

DOMA, continued on p.56

DONNA ACETO

I

n yet another blow to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a federal judge in the Southern District o f N e w Yo r k h a s g r a n t e d Edith (Edie) Schlain Windsor summary judgment in her claim that denying federal recognition to her Canadian marriage to the late Thea Spyer deprives her of the equal protection of the law guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment.

The June 6 ruling by US District Court Judge Barbara S. Jones came in connection with Windsor’s claim she is eligible for an unlimited marital deduction for the value of the estate she inherited from Spyer. The IRS required her to pay $363,053 in taxes on that inheritance.

Windsor sued in 2010, the year following her spouse’s death, claiming that homosexuals represent a “suspect” class under nondiscrimination law, meaning that laws distinguishing them from other classes must survive a searching level of judicial scrutiny by showing that they are narrowly tailored to meet a compelling or legitimate government interest.

Alternatively, she said that DOMA could not even meet the most per missive level of scrutiny by the court — the rational basis test. Defenders of the law, her suit alleged, could not counter the claim that it served no rational purpose allowed under the Constitution.

Last June, Windsor moved for summary judgment.

In August, the Bipartisan Advisory Group of the US House of Representatives (BLAG) — a group controlled

by Republican Speaker John Boehner that began defending DOMA after the Justice Department said it could find no constitutional basis to continue doing so — moved for dismissal, arguing that the rational basis test was the appropriate standard for review of the 1996 law and that there were ample grounds for it to survive that scrutiny.

BLAG also challenged Windsor’s standing in the case, noting that she must show that her injury was not caused by “the independent action of some third party.” BLAG claimed that at the time of Spyer’s death, two years before New York State enacted marriage equality, the couple’s marriage was not valid in their home state. Its motion noted the 2006 ruling by the New York

Court of Appeals, the state’s highest bench, that same-sex couples had no constitutional claim to the right to marry.

Judge Jones swatted away that argument, noting that, beginning in 2008, every appellate court in the state to review the question concluded that legal same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions must be recognized here, whether or not gay and lesbian couples have the right to marry in New York. She also noted that all three statewide elected executive officials — the gover nor, the attorney general, and the comptroller — acknowledged the validity of that mandate.

Edie Windsor and Thea Spyer met in 1963 in New York City and soon established a committed relationship and a home together. In 1993, they registered as domestic partners in New York. In 2004, when activists gathered at the LGBT Community Center to organize a pr otest demanding that the City Clerk’s Office issue same-sex marriage licenses, Windsor and Spyer spoke to Gay City News about their reasons for participating. Three years later, when Spyer’s health deteriorated as the result of multiple sclerosis and a heart condition, the two decided to marry outside New York.

Edie Windsor at a June 7 press conference at the New York Civil Liberties Union celebrating her victory in court over DOMA.

GRCC

BY PAUL SCHINDLER

Thea Spyer and Edie Windsor with five other same-sex couples who married in Canada at a celebration on the step of New York’s City Hall in June 2008.

| June 20, 2012

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

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DOMA, from p.52

no binding precedent on this question in the New York-based Second Circuit. She added, however, that “the court is not without guidance on the matter.”

Citing the Supr eme Court, she wrote that “courts have been very reluctant, as they should be in our federal system,” to create new suspect classes. Then, quoting fr om the May 31 ruling by a unanimous First Cir cuit panel in Boston that af fir med a district court decision striking down DOMA, she wrote, “Nothing indicates that the Supreme Court is about to adopt this new suspect classification when it conspicuously failed to do so in Romer,” the 1996 case that threw out Colorado’s Amendment 2, a measure that barred gays and lesbians from winning nondiscrimination protections from the state and its local governments.

Despite her decision not to embrace Windsor’s strict scrutiny argument, Jones was prepared to grant her motion for summary judgment under rational basis review.

Quoting from the 2003 Supreme Court sodomy decision in Lawrence v. Texas and referring again to the May 31 First Circuit DOMA ruling, the judge noted Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s Lawrence concur rence, which argued that laws that “exhibit… a desire to harm a politically unpopular group” merit “a more searching form of rational basis review.”

W i t h o u t articulating a clear position on “whether a more ‘searching’ form of rational basis scrutiny is required,” Jones, quoting the Romer Colorado Amendment 2 ruling, said the court must “insist on knowing the relation between the classification adopted and the object to be attained… The court must deter mine whether gover nment’s asserted interests are legitimate.”

Jones concluded they were not.

First, she rejected BLAG’s argument that DOMA reflected the federal government’s “caution” on the question of embracing the “novel redefinition” of marriage some states might make. Whether or not the goal of maintaining “the definition of marriage that was universally accepted in American law” is legitimate, Jones concluded, DOMA did nothing to advance that. At least six states have decided that traditional limitations on who can marry are

not appropriate.

DOMA also has no relationship to the goal of steering heterosexual procreation into married households — Jones finding that “its ability to deter those couples from having children outside of marriage, or to incentivize couples that are pregnant to get married, is remote, at best.”

The judge answered BLAG’s argument that DOMA ensures that federal government benefits are distributed consistently, rather than varying according to a state’s marriage laws, by noting that domestic relations are regulated by the states, and that DOMA’s “incursion skirts important principles of federalism and therefore cannot be legitimate.”

Finally, the argument that DOMA conserves scarce government resources by limiting eligibility for benefits is also not legitimate, in Jones’ view. Excluding any “arbitrarily chosen group” from benefits saves money, but in the absence of some other rational basis for making that distinction, “Congress’ interest in economy does not suffice,” she wrote.

Windsor was awarded the $353,053 she paid in taxes plus interest and costs allowable under the law.

Windsor is represented by Rober ta Kaplan from Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, W h a r t o n & G a r r i s o n L L P, J a m e s Esseks, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Lesbi-

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an, Gay, Bisexual, and T ransgender Project, and Melissa Goodman, senior litigation and policy counsel f o r L G B T r i g h t s a t t h e N e w Yo r k Civil Liberties Union.

Jones was nominated to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton.

A statement from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s of fice noted that the Windsor case represents the fourth time this year BLAG has lost in court defending DOMA. In an interview with the Washington Blade, the San Francisco Democrat emphasized that if her party regains control of the House in November and she recaptures the speaker’s gavel, she would drop the defense of DOMA, which she said has cost the federal gover nment more than $700,000 to date.

| June 20, 2012

BOOKS

57

A Revolution of Arab Love Abdellah Taïa digs deep into his identity as a gay Muslim Moroccan man Chouaïb. Yet Abdellah also seems to have a crush on the M o r o c c a n aggressor. Why does the novel author living in begin in this way?

AT: That’s the definition of Paris, Abdell a h T a ï a c a m e love for me. We all have happy out as gay pub- dreams about finding love. But, licly in 2006. His best known when we –– kind of –– find it, book, “Salvation Army,” was it’s always, always, a big viopublished that year, and his lence. And not only a physical 2008 book “An Arab Melan- one. And not only a violence cholia” has just been released coming from the other we love. in an English translation by I am talking also about the violence coming from us, from me.

Frank Stock.

Taïa corresponded via email Every time I was in love with a with Gay City News and dis- man, a big dictatorship comes cussed his interior life as a gay out from me. In general, people do not say the truth about love. man, an Arab, and a Muslim.

It’s certainly not something MICHAEL LUONGO: We nice, sweet, calm. It’s the oppoknow you best from your pre- site of that. It’s wrestling, cryvious book, “Salvation Army.” ing, being Machiavellian. Being In that work, it is hard to know so much alive because you are what is true and what is the every day in war.

The first chapter of “An Arab novel. How much in “Arab Melancholia” is true, how much is Melancholia” talks about all false, how much is novel, how this, defines what is love for me, and, at the same time, brings much is autobiography?

ABDELLAH TAÏA: I never a specific geography of a poor ask myself these kinds of Arabic neighborhood and what questions. I write because I could happened to any Arabic have things to say, stories and boy who is effeminate or gay. some truth to reveal. I don’t Anyone could rape him and no care about fiction. I don’t write one would come to save him. fiction. I write from my world, That’s what happens to Abdelthe interior one, the troubled lah here. But, in the middle of this scene, one. I use what I feel, what I felt, AN ARAB MELANCHOLIA Abdellah finds

By Abdellah Taïa two ways to in a literary way.

Semiotext(e) Books resist –– one, he And I mean by Translation by Frank Stock demands that that constructing 14.95; 144 pages the character texts, fragments, Chouaïb stop shorts phrases, a specific rhythm. I really believe calling him by a feminine name, that the duty of any writer is to Leila, and if he wants to have speak from his own world, to sex with him, he should admit talk about it, to show it to the that he is a boy having sex with another boy; and two, he falls in world. To be true with it.

Every time I get copies of love with Chouaïb. my books, I feel that they are ML: There is a theme you not books or novels or shorts stories. I feel that they are the have here which is in your continuation of the poor little other work –– you are in love Abdellah I was in my Moroccan with a Western man who only hometown, Salé. Abdellah treats you as a sex object, in –– gay, poor, barefoot, clever, this case, Javier in Paris, who, fighting, humiliated, but in the while you’re waiting says, “One middle of a precise Arabic world. more email, then we’ll fuck,” I write because this specific which breaks your heart. Can world inspires me, gives me the you comment on the sexual strength to go through many, objectification of the Arab man many difficulties in order to in France and perhaps other build something with a meaning. parts of the West?

AT: I wrote this novel in A transgression. A poem. A tear.

2008. I think that the world is ML: The novel begins quite now starting to change the way violently, with the rape of the it sees Arabs, men and women. main character Abdellah by Thanks to the Arab Spring, a

BY MICHAEL LUONGO

JEREMY STIGTER

A

Abdellah Taïa explained he writes because he has things to say, stories and some truth to reveal.

lot of things are not anymore the same for the Arab and for the Western people. The Arabs are rebirthing again. And this time with a political consciousness that the change will come from them and not from their dictators. The Arabs now are so much far from the West’s view of them. They broke this stereotype. Now the West should admit that it was also responsible for what was happening in the Arab world. The West supported so much the Arab dictators, and it took him a lot of time to see that the Arab Spring was something serious and not a one-day demonstration. The orientalist visions of the Arab world are now officially dead.

ML: In another case, in Paris, the main character is with Slimane, an Algerian, described as “more of an Arab than me.”

What do you mean by that, and for the character, was being with an Arab in the West a sense of safety in a different way?

AT: Slimane is more Arab than Abdellah because he never studied French literature and philosophy. He lives in Paris, but he seems like he is in the middle of a sublime

Arab poem written 15 centuries ago. He knows by heart poems, he writes a diary in Arabic. He never wanted to come to France. His father obliged him to do so. He is a melancholic person and always longing for the Algerian desert where he was born, where he learns the world and where he had his first love, Saâd.

Abdellah is totally fascinated by the way Slimane expresses his Arab identity. It’s contradictions and it’s freedoms. Although he is going to leave him too, Slimane is the turning point for Abdellah –– he is in love with a man and both of them speak about this love in Arabic. It’s not a transgression. It’s more than that. It’s a revolution. They don’t need Western blessing for that love. They reinvent their Arabic identity by simply being in love with each other and by being out of any fear.

ML: Much of the book takes place in Cairo, a place certainly in the news now with the Arab Spring revolution. While most Westerners might not think of it that way, it appears in the novel to be a place very liberating for you as an Arab and, in par -

ticular, as a gay Arab. You also clearly mark it as an Arab cultural center, through film, even if the glory days are over. You also call it “a Turkish bathhouse with 20 million bathers,” which I take to mean more its intense heat, overwhelming population, and chaos. How does Cairo figure as a place of liberation for you and for your character?

AT: For me, Cairo is the most beautiful and fascinating city in the world. First I was in love with it through Egyptian movies. And, then, I became obsessive with it when I lived there for three months in 2002. It’s a chaotic city, noisy, disturbing, but constantly alive, so much alive, day and night. It’s a non-stop intensity. The way the people interact in the streets is really inspiring, the way they change their world with nothing, the way they resist is something that totally speaks to me.

They are modern and so romantic. The chaos is a big part of me. Cairo is a metaphor of what I feel inside –– fear, love, desire, politics, scream, dust, sex. All the Arabs love Cairo. And, without any exaggeration, I just might be the one who loves it the most. I lived there.

This event I wrote about in “An Arab Melancholia.” It happened in 2006. I was so depressed at that time, so unhappy, my family was upset because I came out publicly some months ago. I was wandering in the streets of Cairo during many days. And, one day, near Ramses Square, I got the revelation that I do really belong to the Arab world, but it’s not a reason to diminish myself or to be all the time scared. “Ana hor!”

–– I am free, in Arabic. To say that to myself in Arabic, in this incredibly noisy square, in the heart of a city where more than 20 million Arabic people live was another turning point in my life.

The other reason why I love Cairo is cinema –– this city produced the big Arabic movie stars that I still live with until today. When I was a teenager, to watch an Egyptian movie with my mother and my sisters next to me was a true definition of freedom to me. I loved and connected very much with so many of these movies.

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ARAB LOVE, continued on p.72

58

June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

COMMUNITY

A Play Space for Cougars and Cubs Brooklyn healing artist launches club for women who look across the generations for love

BY WINNIE MCCROY

I

n an ef fort to connect older and younger lesbians inter ested in that reputedly unheard of activity — actually dating women across generational lines! — Brooklyn ritual healing artist Judith Z. Miller has created New York Queer Cougars and Cubs Together (NYC QCCT). The social group holds events for younger women attracted to older women and vice versa.

“When I go out to lesbian events, there will be 500 young women, a few middle aged and a few older women, and I have no clue how to figure out who might consider going out with m e , ” s a i d M i l l e r. “ N o n e . I realized most people who are older or younger and attracted to someone of the opposite ages were in the same position. So I founded this club.”

Miller said that the group, which started last September, currently has 73 members. So far, they have only held a few events, including a meet-up in late April at a Brooklyn Arts Council event at the Public Library at Grand Ar my Plaza and a game night at Fat Cat in Sheridan Square.

NYC QCCT invites women over 18 years of age who are interested in finding someone older or younger to date.

Miller said that new members are asked five or six questions about what they find attractive, whether they have previously been in relationships with people of variant ages, what their inter ests are, and how they hope other members see them.

“What I didn’t think about much when I started the group is that someone who is 30 years old could be a cougar to someone who is 20, but to a 50-year -old, they’re a cub,” said Miller. “It wasn’t immediately apparent who identifies as what, and who they are searching for.”

Miller made it clear that the group was not for

Ritual healing artist Judith Z. Miller realized that large lesbian gatherings often offer no clue to women interested in older or younger women who might reciprocate.

Judith Z. Miller with members of New York Queer Cougars and Cubs Together, a new club she launched last fall.

younger women in sear ch of a “sugar mama” to take care of them. She relayed a story of a young woman who moved to New York from the Carolinas, leaving an unfulfilling r elationship with a wealthy woman who used her as arm candy.

“She didn’t take the girl seriously at all,” said Miller.

“We talked for an hour, and she was really very bright, independent, and grounded, and I was impressed by that. Thank God she came to us. This is a group for

women who want to find meaningful relationships.”

Miller said that NYC QCCT can be useful for younger women who are afraid older women will dismiss their advances, and older women who are young at heart and want a lover to match their mindset.

“My friends are at home cooking dinner or watching TV, while I’m out dancing,” said Miller. “I feel like I need to be with a younger person to resonate. My outer body in a sense belies my actual

spirit, and many people are a different age than they appear. In an internal, spiritual sense, this group helps match people of the same age who are in different bodies.”

May-December romances can be the subject of much scorn from friends and family members. Miller said that upon hearing of a new romantic interest, her own friends roll their eyes and say, “‘Another young one?’

But then they meet her and say she’s gr eat. But some

people encounter much more than a rolling of eyes.”

Between judgmental attitudes and the dif ficulties presented in finding partners across generations, Miller said that NYC QCCT is essential.

The gr oup has given its first member, Barbara, optimism that she will find a suitable mate. Barbara, who is 53, said that her last girlfriend was 22 years her junior, but that “it was no sugar mama situation.”

“I felt I had life lessons to teach her, and she had youthful lessons to teach me,” said Barbara, who declined to give her last name because she is not out at work. “I came across some women who wanted me to take care of them, but it was like prostitution to me. I’m not interested in that. I’m looking for a long-term relationship and friends, too.”

Barbara said she wanted to find a woman who likes to travel and go out often, and said that a group like this — where everyone knows what they are there for — was helpful. So far, she has met a younger friend whom she is mentoring, but the relationship is not romantic, which Barbara said is fine with her.

“I think it’s important for generations to be in touch with each other,” said Miller.

“Our society is more segmented than ever before in this country’s history. Talking about cultural experience and sharing across many generations is essential in terms of creating real community and developing perspective and wisdom.

And in ter ms of the lesbian community, I think it’s essential because there’s simply no way for us to find each other.”

NYC QCCT invites all interested women to join them on Saturday, June 23 at 4:45 p.m. at Bryant Park near the percussionists for the Annual Dyke March.

For more information, visit meetup.com/nyc-queer-cougars-cubs-together.

| June 20, 2012

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

FILM

Gay Actors Improvising Opportunities With box office king, Hollywood still timid, out performers persevere and innovate

BY GARY M. KRAMER t's been 20 years since the dawn of “New Queer Cinema,” where out and proud filmmakers like Tom Kalin, Todd Haynes, and Gregg Araki made bold, daring gay films like “Swoon,” “Poison,” and “The Living End,” respectively. The parts were juicy — and not always politically correct.

Consider Craig Chester’s Nathan Leopold Jr., and Daniel Schlachet as Richard Loeb, the child-murderers in “Swoon,” or Craig Gilmore as Jon and Mike Dytri as Luke, two HIV-positive killers on the loose in “The Living End.” These parts were far removed from the limpwristed and lisping, sassy gay roles of Hollywood. And like the out filmmakers, several of the actors involved

I

Craig Chester, seen in “Swoon” and on the set of “Adam and Steve,” never considered not being out.

were openly gay themselves.

In a recent phone interview, Chester said that he never considered staying in the career closet. When he made “Swoon,” he was 24 and very involved in AIDS activism — as was director Kalin and out producer Christine Vachon.

“My being openly gay and choosing to be out was completely a byproduct of the times I was in,” he said.

“It did not occur to me to not be out. Back then, no one would play these roles. There was a stigma attached to it. That’s why I had a career.”

He acknowledged that playing gay is now a good career move “if you want an Oscar.”

Twenty years ago, gay filmmakers were ahead of the curve. But now, it seems, the entertainment industry is behind the times. New Queer Cinema made its mark, but, more than ever, the emphasis is on box-office draw rather than an actor’s body of work. For out actors to be successful in Hollywood, they have to conform to a saleable image. They must “sell the fantasy” — one in which straight men want to be him and women want to sleep with him. (Gay men, it would seem, have to want to both be him and sleep with him.)

David Moretti is a part of a new breed of talented and handsome gay actors who wanted to be out from the get-go. So far, Moretti’s visibility has mostly been on a couple of series that ran on the here! TV channel.

He had a supporting role on “Dante’s Cove” before taking a lead in “The Lair,” in which he played a gay journalist investigating vampires running a sex den. The shows had small audiences, but they helped the actor develop a core of loyal followers.

In a phone interview, Moretti said having a queer fan base might help him open the door to realizing his dream of getting roles — gay or straight — on network TV. He acknowledged, however, that as an out actor trying to make it in the mainstream, “It will take me more work and patience to make it than if my credits were ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘90210.’”

Moretti, who has appeared in indie films in addition to his TV roles, is optimistic. He cited a few potential series opportunities in the works, but is also realistic.

“Just because I’ve been in a few series and done some indie films, it’s not carte blanche that I will make it,” he said. “You have to constantly sharpen your tools and hone your craft.”

He indicated that the key to his success lies not in answering the question, “Can I act?,” but in proving he is financially attractive to producers, that he can draw audiences and garner box office receipts.

Some actors have been able to come out and work steadily. Neil Patrick Harris has achieved tremendous acclaim playing an oversexed womanizer in “Harold & Kumar” films and on TV’s “How I Met Your Mother” — and his cachet in the industry has earned him emcee gigs on the Tony Awards two years running.

Harris is not a rare exception. Openly gay actor Dan Butler played a similar straight horndog character on TV’s “Frasier,” which also co-starred out actor David Hyde Pierce. Butler has continued to work in supporting roles in sitcoms. (Note to Hollywood: He deserves his own show.)

Zachary Quinto played queer on VH1’s “So NoTORIous,” but received most of his media attention for his roles on TV’s “Heroes” and as “Spock” in the “Star

David Moretti hopes his gay fan base earned from his leading role in here!’s “The Lair” can lead to character roles on network programs.

Trek” 2009 reboot. He also achieved success in the leading role of the Oscar-nominated “Margin Call,” a drama set during the 2008 financial crisis that he also produced prior to coming out publically last year in advance of its release.

Quinto’s role in “Margin Call” followed him through a bone-crushing 24 hours in the office where his sexuality had no time to come up, which may be why his performance didn’t generate media scrutiny about his personal life. Out actor Sean Hayes, famous for playing the flamboyant Jack on TV’s “Will & Grace,” was attacked in an infamous 2010 Newsweek article that questioned his credibility in playing a straight romantic lead in Broadway in “Promises, Promises.” The Newsweek critic, Ramin Setoodeh, was himself gay.

Last month, Jim Parsons, now appearing on the boards in “Harvey,” came out publically. His deft comic timing may be the key to his performances — especially on the hit TV series “The Big Bang Theory” — but on his show, his character’s sexuality is unknown.

The sexuality of a character and a performer’s orientation should not, of course, have to be the same. It is called acting, after all.

Perhaps it’s a canny career move that after coming out publically earlier this year, Matt Bomer is following up the success of his USA network TV show “White Collar” with a role as a sexy male stripper in the highly anticipated “Magic Mike” opening later this month.

Straight men are not likely going to be the audience for “Magic Mike,” but heterosexual guys are certainly the target audience for action-packed movies like

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ACTORS, continued on p.62

61

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

ACTORS, from p.60

“Immortals,” which came out in theaters last fall. One of the film’s stars, Luke Evans, who played Zeus, came out years ago in print. But numerous online accounts talk about him being “pushed back into the closet” as buzz built around his Hollywood career.

Are gay actors really that threatening to audiences? Perhaps no one really cares who an actor loves as long as they make money at the box office.

It really could be that simple an explanation. Success in Hollywood is usually defined as playing action heroes or romantic leads in mainstream Hollywood films and TV. Actors often feel forced to remain closeted to have careers that provide them with the opportunity to make those kinds of films.

Closeted actors can’t discuss why they won’t come out with the media. In fact, at least one out gay actor approached for this article, who is co-starring in an upcoming queer indie film, was advised not to talk to the gay press because he has played mostly heterosexual roles in films and TV. A story featuring him in a gay publication could negatively impact his career, he said he was told.

The decision for an actor to come out in Hollywood has long been seen as risky; over and over, it’s been dubbed “career suicide.” Agents and managers recommend against it because it limits roles and box office appeal.

“I had 20 agents tell me not to come out at the start of my career,” Moretti said, noting the irony that many casting directors and agents in the industry are gay themselves.

“That’s an old school way of thinking,” he said, adding optimistically, “That mentality will die out eventually. It’s great that Matt Bomer came out and is not facing career suicide. The industry’s metaphorical closet door gets pushed slightly more open. If we get everyone who is [closeted] to do it at the same time on the same day, that would really slam the sucker open. But that won’t happen.”

Out gay actor Darryl Stephens, in a recent phone interview, said, “Making the announcement in public shifts how you are listed — as an openly gay actor.”

Stephens came out in 2007 during the second and final

Darryl Stephens said coming out changes your label to “openly gay actor.”

season as the title character in Logo’s hit show “Noah’s Arc,” which spawned a follow-up film, “Jumping the Broom.”

Stephens — who was the object of his roommate X’s (Derek Magyar) hidden affection in the fabulous 2006 film “Boy Culture” and played Angel, a “Ty-Booty” instructor who was one of two tops who initiated anal-sex virgin Andy (Michael Carbonaro) in a threesome scene in “Another Gay Movie” — acknowledged he hadn’t played many straight parts, so his announcement should not have surprised audiences.

Being out “probably changes how I am perceived in the industry,” Stephens said. “But it helps the public recognize that a number of us are gay and not just playing gay characters.”

While he has had a few straight roles in his career, Stephens emphasized that being out gave him freedom as an actor.

“Being true to yourself certainly helps you express yourself honestly,” he said. “Coming out officially was an extension of what I was already doing with the roles I was taking, and by reaching out to people from an honest place — who could see and respond to the characters I play, like Noah — I didn’t have to edit my responses

about talking about sexuality.”

Moretti concurred with that perspective.

“I want to be able to answer ‘Who are you dating?’ on the red carpet without the horse and pony charade the closet cases have to do,” he said. “I didn’t want to be living a lie in my social life to maintain a fake public identity, so to speak. You have to take charge of your own career and have a strong sense of identity. You have to know who you are and just do it.”

Insecurity about his identity sabotaged Adrian Armas and his career plans. A professional dancer, he had no concerns about being open until he started branching out into commercials and TV, doing “Undressed” for MTV. “When that started, the fear started,” Armas recalled in a Skype session. “I had fear put into me by agents and other dancers and actors who said dancers are swishy and feminine. And that started some self-hatred, and I started hating everybody else. It was a horrible time. There was no hope — I wanted to be famous as an actor, but personally, I was miserable. I always felt [being closeted] kept me from being successful. Because if I were successful, they would find out I was gay. I look back, and it’s

Adrian Armas acknowledged that transitioning from a dance career to acting hobbled his sense of security about his sexuality.

sad. I was on a certain track — if I kept on that track, I could have done more mainstream projects, movies.”

His voice stopped, as the thought hung there.

Armas’ candor is tinged with regret about what could have been. Seeing his promise as an actor makes his regrets doubly poignant. As a dancer and actor, he displayed talent to burn, stealing his scenes in the gay indie “Showboy.” But instead of working as an actor, he went on to play supporting roles as dancers in big-budget films including “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “13 Going on 30,” and “Starsky & Hutch.”

It was only after an injury ended his dancing career that Armas sought the acting work he craved. He turned in a very accomplished performance in 2010 as one half of a gay couple struggling with issues of fidelity in Casper Andreas’ independent queer film “Violet Tendencies.”

While Armas hopes more roles will come, he acknowledged that competition with bigger name stars gets tougher and tougher all the time.

“Indie films — and even gay indie films, which should be a smaller pond — are getting A-list people,” he said.

Armas has since chosen to slow down his pursuit of a Holly-

wood career. This does not mean he is not interested in acting.

Quite the opposite, he declared.

“I don’t care anymore about being famous or what people think,” he said. “I find I’m having more success in all areas of my life being out. I don’t worry about what people are thinking. Can I play a straight part?

Now it seems ridiculous to me.”

For all the worry about whether a gay man can play straight or a straight man can play gay, a deeper issue may be less about sexuality and more about stereotypes of masculinity and sexual expression.

Moretti said he has been deemed “too masculine” for some gay roles he auditioned for, stating, “Not everyone has to be Jack from ‘Will & Grace.’”

The irony, he found, is that he some folks in the industry “don’t believe me when I say I’m gay.”

Jonah Blechman’s experience provides a contrast to Moretti’s. Blechman found his niche playing sensitive, emphatic types, starting with his indelible 1993 film debut as Leonardo DiCaprio’s gay best friend in “This Boy’s Life.”

He wasn’t out when he appeared in that film, and said of the character he played, “I wasn’t even looking at him as

䉴

ACTORS, continued on p.64

63

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ACTORS, from p.62

gay. He was effeminate, which is something I could play.”

The actor was surprised by audience response to “This Boy’s Life.”

“When I had conversations about representing this effeminate kid, people reached out and thanked me for playing a gay character,” he said. “Then I could acknowledge it. I came out after that film.”

Blechman recalled that agents and others have consistently been very nervous about him playing more queer characters. His agent tried to dissuade him from meeting Francis Ford Coppola about playing Allen Ginsberg/ Carlo Marx character in the new film version of “On the Road,” a role Tom Sturridge has taken on.

“They were clearly influenced and opinionated about what I should not do,” Blechman said bluntly.

At one point in the ‘90s, the actor left his agents and started questioning his career. He shied away from playing gay characters and turned down obvious queer roles in films

June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

like “Johns” (1996) about male prostitutes for fear of being typecast. His career stalled in part because of his fears.

It was doing “Hedwig” on stage in San Francisco for six months in 2003 that “revived” him as an actor,” Blechman said.

“It was the gay ‘Hamlet,’” he recalled enthusiastically. “Comedy, drama, and music.”

The experience proved to him there was gay work and there were good gay roles, and this led to his comedic turns in Todd Stephens’ “Another Gay Movie” and “Another Gay Sequel,” which Blechman also produced.

As the über -queeny Nico, he endeared himself to audiences.

Making the jump into that role, however, was not without its anxieties. “‘Another Gay Movie’ bothered me because I had such opinions about it,” Blechman said candidly. “When I could see that I could extend and stretch into the ultimate flamboyance and power, it was hard for me to initially connect into that. But it was a total freedom. It also grounded me. I was more comfortable with my masculinity and able to bump

out my femininity.”

Proving that success is measured by personal achievement and not necessarily box office receipts or reviews, Blechman is now acting in, writing, and producing projects that play on queer archetypes and his strength as a character actor.

Later this year, he will be seen in “For Spacious Sky,” a short film that will be used by the Obama re-election campaign.

And Blechman is writing and producing a film called “Ballroom,” described as a commercial comedy about dancing.

Plans for this film, set in the “Dancing with the Stars” world, call for shooting later this year or in early 2013.

Many gay actors say that labors of love are the most viable ways to create their own career opportunities and to keep working.

In 2005, Chester wrote, directed, and starred in the romantic comedy “Adam & Steve.” He recalled he was inspired to make the film after traveling to gay festivals where male couples in the audience would ask him, “When would we make a movie about us?”

“So, I just made it myself,” he explained. “I spent a decade playing characters with a razor blade poised on my wrist, and I’m actually a funny guy. I wanted to write about getting a boyfriend and all the shit that comes with that.”

Moretti also wants to actively shape his future. He said he finds creative fulfillment working within the gay community.

He just co-produced the forthcoming “Scrooge and Marley,” a queer reworking of “A Christmas Carol.”

And Stephens, too, is stepping into more writing and producing roles for that same reason. He recently co-wrote, with Logan Alexander, a short film called "Something Like a Butterfly," about a mixed-race teenage lesbian with issues at home. This fall, he will be the executive producer and star of “DTLA,” an independent series he co-wrote several episodes for with Larry Kennar. Stephens also has two new features in the works — a comedy about four high school football players going to their 20-year reunion and another about a gay man finally having to grow up at 40.

Doing “Hedwig” on stage in San Francisco in 2003 was a turning point in Jonah Blechman’s career.

Despite career struggles and drawbacks, there are opportunities for tenacious gay actors to empower themselves and become successful. Twenty years after New Queer Cinema, the film industry has its good share of artists hoping to usher in an age of “ReNewed Queer Cinema.”

65

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

THEATER

Celebrating Stonewall’s Spirit in ‘Street Theater’ Mark Finley talks about mission of keeping Doric Wilson’s seminal play alive

BY KATHLEEN WARNOCK

assignment and had them stand when they were on stage and sit when they generation (or two, or were offstage, so the audience would get t h r e e ) h a s g r o w n u p the impression of who's talking to who since the first bottle was and how many people were in the scene thrown, the first billy at any given time. It worked well, and it club came down at the made us eager to take it one step further.

The most famous production was in Stonewall, and it’s now an historic event, a symbol, the recognized start the early ‘80s at the Mineshaft bar. It was of an era. As the witnesses have inevi- set up runway-style, with the audience tably departed the scene, they’ve left on two sides of the stage and the actors behind their stories in books, films, playing to all sides. [After the Abingdon and in Doric Wilson’s case, his rowdy, reading,] Doric wanted to do it at a bar in your face, piece of street theater that would run it at 7 or 8 o’clock. The bar could sell drinks when they're usually called “Street Theater.”

TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence), dead, and we could do our play. He found the theater founded by Wilson in 1974, a home for the play at the Eagle bar. When and reimagined in 2002 by Wilson, we re-started TOSOS, it was our cornerstone production. We did Barry Childs, and Mark STREET THEATER it in the spring of 2002, Finley, will present a A play by Doric Wilson and as artistic director, I benefit performance of Directed by Mark Finley got to direct it.

“Street Theater” at the LGBT Community Center LGBT Community Cen208 W. 13th St. Jun. 28 at 7:30 p.m.

KW: What things did ter on June 28, the 43rd $20; gaycenter.org/node/7936 Doric tell you that added anniversary of the first $25 at the door night of the Stonewall Proceeds benefit TOSOS and the Center to your understanding, gave you ideas about rebellion. Wilson, the how to stage the play? playwright, activist, and MF: Doric convinced me to use the leatherman, passed away last May, but runway staging. At first I couldn't see it his work lives on.

Finley directs the latest performance, at all. But as I blocked it and got it up bringing the motley crew of street peo- on its feet, I started to see that that's the ple, drag queens, cops, butches, hippies, ideal way to do it. The play has the air and everyone else on Christopher Street of a Thornton Wilder play with its asides that night into focus again with a play to the audience and its characters stepthat has helped define his own career. ping in and out of the action — until the Yet, it’s a play he didn’t know until he action takes control of the play. This met Doric Wilson in 2001. Finley spoke staging puts the audience in the play to Gay City News about what “Street — not in an icky audience participaTheater” meant — and means — to him tion way — and when characters speak directly to them it seems very natural, as and the community. if they're speaking to another person on KATHLEEN WARNOCK: When did the street that fateful night. you first hear of “Street Theater”?

KW: How did you cast it?

MARK FINLEY: I had never heard of it MF: Our first production as TOSOS until I met Doric Wilson. My friend Robert Locke is a jazz singer; he met Doric at was for a reading series of overlooked William Hoffman's birthday party, where LGBT plays at the Center called “LOOK he was singing. He said, “I met this guy AGAIN!” We needed a ton of actors so who was one of the founders of Off-Off we put ads in Backstage, asked friends, Broadway theater and the Caffe Cino. asked friends of friends... Michael Lynch He knows all about it because he was had done the ill-fated Off-Broadway production of “Street Theater” — the there! You have to meet him!”

Two weeks later, I did. We got to talk- one that the Minetta Creek flooded and ing about theater and before I knew it, it closed prematurely. He came back to it was 3:30 in the morning. The next reprise his role as Boom Boom. He's done day Doric called me and said he wanted every production of “Street Theater” I've me to be his director. I said, “Don't you directed. As has Chris Andersson, who want to see some of my work first?” And plays his street queen cohort Ceil. he said no, he'd met me and he felt like KW: How have you brought it back I was doing theater for the right reasons and he wanted me to be his director. He since?

MF: After the six-week run at the gave me “Street Theater,” and I decided to produce a reading of it [at the Abing- Eagle, they asked us back the following ton Theatre]. We did it with 14 actors year. TOSOS was, at that point, startstretched across a little two-sided stage ing to grow exponentially, and we had in a big L-shape. I gave everyone a seat more productions going than we could

BARRY CHILDS/ TOSOS

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Michael Lynch, Jamison Lee Driskill, and Chris Andersson in the 2002 Eagle bar production of “Street Theater.”

fund or staff, but we kept doing them because that's how we roll. We kept talking about remounting it, but a show with 14 actors for a theater with a big reputation and a tiny bank account had to be put on the back burner.

Three years ago, Doric was asked to be one of the grand marshals of the Gay Pride Parade. The Center honored him as a gay living legend and hit us with the idea of doing a one-night performance of the play. We were thrilled not only to be doing the play again, but also to be back at the Center. The play was such a hit, the Center asked us back before the intermission. Sadly, Doric didn't live to see that production. He passed away last May, but he was so thrilled with the cast and couldn't stop talking about it.

Knowing Doric and ignoring his health, I honestly thought there was no way he wasn't going to be there.

KW: What do you remember most about last year’s performance?

MF: Doric died last May, the night before a reading in our Chesley/ Chambers Playwrights Project. He didn't miss readings. Period. And we knew he was particularly excited to see this one: a play by the brilliant Josh Conkel. When he didn't show up we felt like something was wrong. And it was. But ironically we — TOSOS, his theater family — were all together when we got the news. I'll never forget sitting in that rehearsal room with everyone thinking about how unbelievable it was that Doric was gone. As devastated as we were, there was no way “Street Theater” was not happening. A month later, it was a charged evening, to say the least. We have a tradition at TOSOS. We dedicate performances to those we love. “Street Theater” that night was for Doric. In my curtain speech, I choked out that I had asked Doric, “Why

don't you write a memoir?” And he said he'd much rather his work spoke for him. And boy, did it! I don't think anyone in that audience left unmoved. The ending was absolutely electric. And speaking of electric, there was a storm brewing outside as the show was getting ready to start, and it hit just after we began. There were loud cracks of thunder through the first act. That's my favorite part of the last time we did “Street Theater.” Even though we all missed Doric like crazy, we were smiling because the thunder made us feel like he hadn't gone at all.

KW: Did Doric tell you what he thought the play’s life should be? Did he see it as a play that still had something to say to gay people — or anyone else — today?

MF: Doric always felt like this play could run and run. He felt — and I agree — that the play speaks for itself.

KW: What do you think it still has to say?

MF: I think it has a ton to say to gay people. I live in Hell's Kitchen, and I think of this play every time I see two guys walking down the street holding hands or kissing. That's great! But it didn't just happen. Those rights don't just come with your exorbitant Manhattan rent.

They came from somewhere. The characters in “Street Theater” don't have them at the beginning of the play. They don't have them at the end of the play. But for the first time, they feel like they deserve to have them. It all starts here. That's the genius of the play. It's funny. Very funny.

Until it's not funny any more.

The characters — according to Doric — aren't actual people, they're combinations, so it saves itself from

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FILM

In Our Defenders’ Defense Kirby Dick’s sobering documentary examines rape in the US military as much as filmmaking.

“The Invisible War” ends by telling irby Dick’s 1997 film the audience that the film was shown to “ S i c k : T h e L i f e a n d Leon Panetta in April, and that he ended Death of Bob Flana- the system of having military commandg a n , S u p e r m a s o c h - ers investigate rape charges. It goes on ist” is remembered, if to ask spectators to “become part of the at all, largely for the scene in which campaign to protect those who protect poet and performance artist Flanagan us.” Yet there’s no sense of triumph in nails his penis to a board, set to the that. The film concludes with a list of song “Hammer of Love.” It’s extreme- what each victim and his or her rapist ly difficult to watch, though in con- are doing now. The fact that nearly all text, it’s justifiable — the film shows of the perpetrators walked away with no Flanagan using the controllable pain punishment steals the empowerment of masochism to handle the uncon- message’s thunder.

While Kirby Dick gets sole directorial trollable pain of terminal illness.

The filmmaker’s latest documentary, credit for “The Invisible War,” it’s billed “The Invisible War,” deals with rape in as “a film by Amy Ziering and Kirby the US military. While it’s not at all visu- Dick.” Ziering conducted all the interviews with female subjects. ally explicit, it contains moments that are nearly THE INVISIBLE WAR Both a male and female cinematographer are credas unpleasant as the hamDirected by Kirby Dick Cinedigm/ Docurama Films ited; I’m not sure whether mer scene in “Sick.” Here, Opens Jun. 22 the latter shot the interDick is fond of montage AMC Village 7 views with female subjects sequences that string 66 Third Ave. at 11th St. as well. In any case, Dick together scenes of women amctheatres.com is clearly sensitive to the basically saying the same effects of a male’s presence thing about their experiences. These have a sledgehammer behind the camera and wanted to make the women interviewed in “The Invisible impact.

Earlier this year, the Weinstein Com- War” as comfortable as possible.

Still, “The Invisible War” avoids porpany turned “Bully” into 2012’s most commercially successful documentary. traying rape survivors as mere victims.

They were helped by the newsworthi- It demonstrates how the military justice ness of the subject and the controversy system is stacked against them. Often, over the MPAA’s initial refusal to give the the person to whom they have to complain about sexual assault is a friend film a PG-13 rating.

“The Invisible War” is unlikely to of the rapist. Sometimes, he’s the rapreach the same sizable audience. For ist himself. While it includes an interone thing, it’s distributed by two com- view with one woman who describes a panies I’d never previously heard of, period of homelessness and substance rather than the Weinsteins, who are abuse, it doesn’t dwell on this hardskilled Oscar campaigners. Accord- ship. The women it concentrates on ing to the statistics offered up by the are fighters. A long section of the film film, military rape should be a topic of near the end depicts a group of women far more discussion in American soci- lobbying politicians. One of the women ety than it is. “Bully” and “The Invisible interviewed by Ziering is a lesbian, but War” both seem designed as activism “The Invisible War” doesn’t really disBY STEVE ERICKSON

CINEDIGM/ DOCURAMA FILMS

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cuss the impact of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell — still in effect when the film was shot — on military rape.

Though the film never criticizes the military on matters other than its treatment of rape, it becomes an antirecruitment film par excellence. In a scene at a restaurant, a woman tries to talk a waitress out of enlisting. A parade of interview subjects say that they wouldn’t want their daughters to join the military.

The only major flaw of “The Invisible War” is its lack of context. The film introduces statistics about rape in civilian life only to demonstrate how much worse the crime’s prevalence is in the military. However, prosecuting rape outside the military is no piece of cake, nor is victim-blaming exactly unknown among civilians. The film ridicules military anti-rape campaigns that tell men not to approach drunk women and women not to walk alone at night, but it was a Toronto cop who notoriously inspired the wave of “Slutwalk” protest marches there by telling women that if that they didn’t want to get raped, they shouldn’t dress like sluts. The problem

JAMES HELMER

Trina McDonald (r.), who served in the Navy, with her wife.

Marine Corps Lieutenant Elle Helmer at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington.

may be worse in the military, but only by degrees. Nor does the film even mention the way rape and sexual degradation are often used as tools of war.

The film, however, does so much right that these lapses are pretty minor. “The Invisible War” is infuriating, but in a positive way.

The Distances Intimacy Creates André Téchiné explores the violence lovers and families commit

BY GARY M. KRAMER ay filmmaker André Téchiné opens “Unforgivable,” his intriguing new drama, by quickly establishing the central importance of each of the four main characters. Francis (André Dussollier) is a celebrated crime writer looking for a rental property in Venice. He meets Judith (Carole Bouquet), a real estate agent, who suggests a place on the nearby island of Sant’Erasmo. Francis, in turn, suggests she move in with him. Judith, who

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both sexual and parental — mirrored by is bisexual, weighs his proposition in a UNFORGIVABLE the waves that surround Venice. Howevconversation with her ex, Anna Maria Directed by André Téchiné er, fair warning to audiences — consider(Adriana Asti), a private detective. We Strand Releasing IFC Center able concentration is required to mine all then see Anna Maria meeting with her 323 Sixth Ave. at W. Third St. the meaning in this story. troubled son, Jérémie (Mauro Conte), Opens Jun. 29 “Unforgivable” features two plotlines, who is soon to be released from prison. both involving investigations. One conDeep romantic and emotional attachments among these characters come to light over the cerns the disappearance of Francis’ daughter, Alice course of this subtle and engaging — though likely for (Mélanie Thierry). He hires Anna Marie to search for some inscrutable — film. Téchiné presents a series of her, and she travels to France to do so. This narrative, episodes exploring issues of love, trust, and absence.

The director deftly traces the ebbs and flows of love — 䉴 UNFORGIVABLE, continued on p.73

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THEATER

Pride Shows Tips on getting into the right seats if you haven’t planned ahead

BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE f you’re visiting New York for Pride and you want to see a show — and you haven’t gotten tickets yet — read on. The good news is that there are tickets to be had during Pride Week, even for shows that took home a lot of Tony, Drama Desk, Obie, and other awards for the season just officially ended.

Many of the hot shows are available at discounts, too, though the seats won’t always be great. For the past several years, I’ve surveyed what’s available during Pride Week, and the best ways to get tickets. Of course, availability is always changing, and what follows is what was available as of June 13.

Even better news is that there are more tools than ever to help you get into the shows you want to see. For full price tickets online, visit Ticketmaster. com or Telecharge.com, except where noted below. You’ll be able to see and select seats before you buy. For discounts, you can join sites like TheaterMania.com and Playbill.com, or you can visit one of the three TKTS booths — in Times Square, at South Street Seaport, or in Downtown Brooklyn near Bor ough Hall. The Theatre Development Fund that runs the booths has a new app that works on iPhone, Android, and Windows phones to tell you what’s up when the booths are open and what deals you should look for.

The seats at TKTS change with each performance. If you haven’t been there in a while, you’ll be glad to know they now take credit cards and have a line that’s just for plays, allowing you to avoid the bigger crush looking for tickets to musi-

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PRIDE SHOWS, continued on p.71

JOAN MARCUS

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cals. Some shows have rush seats and lotteries, and while those can save you a lot of money, there’s no guarantee you’ll get the seats. Better to spend a little more and be guaranteed a seat.

Of course, you can always go directly to the theater’s box office. You’ll pay full price, but you can get some great seats, especially if you’re willing to take a single. You may also luck out with house seats that have been turned back, and you won’t pay ser vice charges. Regular prices are listed below, and premium seats can range from $199 and up and vary by show.

So, what should you see? Well, that depends on your taste, of course.

Unlike in previous years when I’ve done this survey, you can actually find tickets for “Wicked,” though they’re at full price and what you’ll mostly find are singles in all price categories. You can also get tickets for “The Book of Mormon” at some performances, but be prepared to drop a minimum of $369 per ticket for premium seats. It’s so good, it’s almost worth it — especially if you can’t plan a trip back to New York for a while and want to catch some of the original cast members.

The established shows — “Phantom,” “Mamma-Mia,” “Anything Goes,” “Sister Act,” “Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark,” “Priscilla Queen of the Desert,” “Jersey Boys,” “War Horse,” and “Chicago” all have seats available and have been on TKTS recently.

What I get asked about most, though, are the new shows, so here are my thoughts on some of the most recent shows you may be considering.

James Corden earned his Tony and Drama Desk Awards in a brilliant turn in “One Man, Two Guvnors” at the Music Box Theater.

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PRIDE SHOWS, from p.70

PLAYS ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS James Corden earned his best actor Tony and Drama Desk Awards. This nearly perfect, over -the-top comedy is probably the funniest thing to hit Broadway since the revival of “Boeing-Boeing.” The outstanding cast, hilarious physical comedy, and joyful spirit will leave you tickled and aching from the laughter. There is good availability in the side orchestra and mezzanine at all performances, and this has been on TKTS regularly.

Music Box Theatre 239 W. 45th St. Tue. at 7 p.m.; Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m.

Wed., Sat. at 2 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m. $91.50-$136.50

CLYBOURNE PARK The Pulitzer - and Tony-winning play is a serious comedy about race, change, and real estate. Combining outstanding performances with a meditation on how perceptions of race and history have changed over 50 years, it’s a thought-provoking and well-crafted play. There is good availability in the side and rear orchestra and mezzanine at all performances, and this has been on TKTS regularly.

Walter Kerr Theatre 219 W. 48th St. Tue.-Thu. at 7 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m.

Wed., Sat. at 2 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m. $50-$126.50

TRIBES This won the Drama Desk for outstanding play of the season, and it deserves all the accolades it’s been getting. This sensitive examination of a family in crisis and transition as their deaf son begins spreading his wings is subtle and heartbreaking. The per for mances by Russell Harvard as the deaf son and Susan Pour far as the woman who comes into his life are unforgettable. It’s an intimate in-the-round theater, and it has been up on TKTS occasionally.

Barrow Street Theatre 27 Barrow St. at Seventh Ave. So. Tue.-Sat. at 7:30 p.m.

Wed., Sat.-Sun. at 2:30 p.m. $75; smarttix.com

GORE VIDAL’S THE BEST MAN Gore Vidal’s play from 1961 seems a completely contemporary skewer ing of the sausage factory of politics. The starry cast includes John Laroquette, Angela Lansbury, Candice Bergen, James Earl Jones, and Eric McCor mack in an outstanding, focused, and compelling perfor -

mance. Fair availability on extreme sides of the orchestra and the rear of the mezzanine. This has been up on TKTS as well.

Schoenfeld Theatre 236 W. 45th St. Tue., Thu. at 7 p.m.; Wed. at 7:30 p.m.

Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m.; Wed., Sat. at 2 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m. $66.50-$141.50

END OF THE RAINBOW Ther e’s no denying that T racie Bennett gives a tour -de-force per formance as Judy Garland, but the play itself is weak. Essentially, we’re watching Garland fall apart as a result of drugs and alcohol, and that ultimately proves unsatisfying as a piece of theater. Good seats are available in all price ranges, and it’s been on TKTS constantly.

Belasco Theatre 111 W. 44th St. Tue., Thu. at 7 p.m.; Wed., Fri.-Sat. at 8 p.m.

Wed., Sat. at 2 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m. $31.50-$126.50

MUSICALS ONCE It won the Tony and the Drama Desk, and it deserved to. This beautifully told story features sublime per for mances by Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti that are notable for

their simplicity and honesty. The entire company, in fact, is superb in my personal favorite among the new Broadway musicals. Very spotty seats available at all performances, some with partial view.

Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre 242 W. 45th St. Tue. at 7 p.m.; Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m.

Wed., Sat. at 2 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m. $59.50-$156.50

GHOST This show is dazzling for its set, and it’s very engaging. Perhaps it’s not the best musical ever written, but the familiar story and strong singing make it an enjoyable if undemanding evening. Da’Vine Joy Randolph is terrific as Oda Mae, the reluctant psychic.

Good rear and side orchestra, as well as mezzanine. This has regularly been up at TKTS. Lunt-Fontanne Theatre 205 West 46th St. Mon., Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m.

Tue. at 7 p.m.; Wed., Sat. at 2 p.m. $57-$137

NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT If you can get by Matthew Broderick’s lackluster performance

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PRIDE SHOWS, continued on p.78

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ARAB LOVE, from p.57

ML: In Cairo, the character also meets Sara, the mysterious woman, a Jew who saves his life and magically disappears.

She was the first Jew the character had ever met, and it dispelled all previous thoughts. Abdellah states, “All the things people told me about Jews, the things they crammed into my head I had no control over, it all evaporated, vanished in a single second.” Reading this, however, aimed at a Western audience, it made me think somehow the character is also making a statement about how little most in the West know about Muslims, as well. What is the purpose of Sara in the book?

AT: First of all, Sara is not a fictitious character. I really met her in Cairo. I changed a little bit the circumstances of this encounter but I put the truth I felt in the eyes of this woman –– the freedom to be different. Suddenly, she was more than a woman in front of me. By her presence in Cairo, she concentrates everything unfinished in me and in the Arab world. She was the element that brings another point of view and forces you to rethink everything. To start a necessary auto-critique.

There’s another character in this book that plays the same role –– it’s Karabiino, the Darfour boy who works in the hotel and who is exploited by so many people in Cairo. The Arab world change will not be complete if the different people –– gays, black, Jews, etc. –– are not also respected and protected by the law.

ML: Overall, considering all your experiences in the West and home in Morocco, what do you feel the West most misrepresents about the Middle East and homosexuality?

AT: The West knows almost nothing about Middle East and homosexuality there. Nothing about Islam as a culture, a civilization. We are all the time reduced to clichés. But, you know what? I think we should stop complaining about this misrepresentation and change these false images by ourselves. How? Simply by being who we are, to assume who we are. And to keep out of the political fear.

To go to the streets again and again.

ML: Since your last book and all the news about you, how have your trips to Morocco been?

AT: All my books are present in Morocco. That’s already a big change. When I got in France the literary prize le Prix de Flore 2010 for my novel “Le Jour du Roi” [“The Day of the King”], I was in the news there. The country was somehow happy.

But I am not accepted by everyone, of course. I go to Morocco several times a year. I am in Morocco while I answer this.

ML: You had a very moving piece in the New York Times about your life as a victimized gay child, the subject of ridicule and rape. What was the process of creat-

An Arab Melancholia.

ing that essay, and, moreover, the process of getting that into the New York Times?

AT: The New York Times contacted me and asked me to write a piece for them about being homosexual in the Arab world. They didn’t specify anything else. Since my mother’s death in 2010, I am living as a gay man another struggle. I always thought that I am a strong guy inside and no one could break me, whatever happens. Meaning, in order to survive in Morocco, I had to shut down my own sensibility, to kill a part of it, to erase the hard memories of me being humiliated by so many people –– including my family –– in my neighborhood. I totally forgot about all this. And I used to say that I am a lucky guy because I feel no traumatism from that past. I was wrong of course.

When my mother died, everything changed inside of me. The little Abdellah came back, the memories I didn’t want to think about imposed themselves on me.

I understood that I had no protection anymore. The last protection I could get was my mother’s. As a gay man, I was really, really alone in the world. I mean, until now (everywhere in the world), any gay man (or woman) is still a lonely man (or a woman). To be gay is a long and lonely experience.

When The New York Times contacted me, I was in the middle of all this new struggle. I took my pen and I start writing. Three weeks later, my text was published in the Sunday Review. [“A Boy to be Sacrificed,” tinyurl.com/6wsmuh7.]

ML: What is next for you?

AT: I just finished writing my next new novel, “Infideles.” It comes out in September in France. It’s about a Moroccan prostitute and her son. Marilyn Monroe is their goddess. With her, they change the way they live their religion, Islam.

It’s a novel –– the pure and the impure.

About faith. About the necessary need to reinvent ourselves as Muslims.

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Carole Bouquet as Judith in André Téchiné’s “Unforgiveable.”

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UNFORGIVABLE, from p.68

however, is quickly jettisoned for another, when Francis hires Jérémie to follow Judith, whom he has married but suspects of cheating on him. A low-key but compelling chase through the streets and waterways of Venice ends with Judith confronting Jérémie — and the two beginning a sexual affair.

Téchiné creates a palpable mood of despair and longing as both Francis and Judith wrestle with their physical and emotional isolation from each other. In several marvelous scenes, we see Francis spying on his wife using binoculars and Judith swimming alone.

The dramatic tension is teased out by the question of whether the characters provoke each other by their actions.

Does Francis’ surveillance of Judith prompt her to sleep with Jérémie? Are his provocative actions a ploy to cure his writer’s block? And what are the ramifications of Judith’s affair with her ex-lover’s son? The film reveals most of these answers in due time, and it remains spellbinding throughout.

Watching these complex characters and their daily routines is absorbing.

Scenes of Judith working at her agency and Jérémie playing with his dog reveal details about them that magnify — though at times also refract — what we learn about them in their interactions with Francis and Anna Marie. “Unforgivable” unpeels like an onion, revealing multiple layers and measuring the distance between parents and children and between lovers over the course of more than a year. Francis’ separation from Alice and later Judith has its parallel in the distance between Anna Marie and Jérémie.

Téchiné is really delving into a deeper theme, however, one that emerges from

the film’s most interesting sequence.

One night, Jérémie is followed by — or perhaps lures — a gay man through the canals of Venice. When the stranger makes a pass at him, Jérémie throws him over the bridge into the water. A later scene shows the stranger chasing Jérémie and exacting a violent revenge on the gay basher. Francis witnesses the mayhem and advises Jérémie, “Violence against other people, setting out to wound or maim them, is unforgivable.”

The film is really about the violence — whether physical or emotional — that people commit toward others. Alice’s disappearance upsets her father; Francis has Judith followed because he is emotionally vulnerable; Judith’s behavior irritates her lovers; Anna Maria is pained by the actions of both her exlover and her son; and Jérémie can be an abuser. Téchiné shows without telling, letting viewers grasp the meanings behind each character’s actions as well as their consequences. Francis, Judith, and Jérémie are all, in their own ways, seductive and sinister.

“Unforgivable” benefits from a quartet of strong performances. Bouquet is particularly alluring in the pivotal role of Judith. A scene where she wears a blonde wig and fights with Francis is terrific; we see how her identity is mutable and she will not be controlled by others. As Francis, Dussollier manages to project both a wise voice of reason and an insecure lover and father.

In support, Conte makes an indelible impression as the beguiling Jérémie.

He engenders sympathy even when he is most despicable.

Téchiné may deliberately obfuscate in “Unforgivable,” but the connections he creates sneak up on viewers. In the process, the film provides satisfying insights into human behavior.

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                       

  

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THEATER

Hare Brained

Revival is determined to pull a rabbit out of a frayed hat

BY DAVID KENNERLEY

demands that Parsons play the straight man — even keeled, slightly robotic, and he promotional campaign evolving very little. Although unmarried for “Harvey,” the Round- at age 39, this queer uncle is not gay, for about’s genial revival of as directed by Scott Ellis, it’s clear his the 1944 farce about a affections for the pretty nurse (Holley man and his “imaginary” Fain) go well beyond the niceties that he rabbit friend, prominently features the extends to everyone else (he hands out show’s lead, Jim Parsons, on a mostly his card to perfect strangers and insists blank background. The play has been on setting a date for drinks).

Parsons, who also happens to be 39, touted as the first Broadway starring role for the irrepressible Emmy winner is not only competing with his Sheldon persona, but also with the ghost of from “The Big Bang Theory.”

That depiction is somewhat mis- Jimmy Stewart, who had pretty much leading, however, for “Harvey” is a true owned the Elwood role for over half a ensemble piece that relies on a pack of century. Stewart portrayed him in the quirky characters. Not that Parsons original Broadway production, again in doesn’t turn in a likable, solid perfor- the beloved 1950 film, and reprised the role on Broadway in 1970. mance as Elwood P. Dowd.

HARVEY As I see it, the talented Yet it’s the supporting Studio 54 Jessica Hecht deserves players that give the show Roundabout Theater Company to be alongside Parsons its oomph.

254 W. 54th St. on the cover of the “HarThe openly gay actor, Through Aug. 5 Tue.-Sat. at 8 p.m. vey” Playbill. Her Veta is who made his Broadway Wed., Sat., Sun. at 2 p.m. a bundle of nerves that debut in “The Nor mal $37-127; roundabouttheatre.org comes undone in the Heart” last year, delivers Or 212-719-1300 most astonishing ways. his lines with the clipped, deadpan panache his “Big Bang” fans No matter how outlandish her char love. But as a loony, delusional man who acter gets, Hecht steers clear of caripushes his frazzled sister, Veta (Jessica cature so we still identify with Veta’s Hecht), and his tetchy niece, Myrtle Mae predicament. When she tries to com(Tracee Chimo), to the brink of insanity mit her brother to the sanitarium — a with his constant banter with the invis- cruel plan, to be sure — we can’t really ible Harvey (described as standing over blame her.

In recounting the mix-up at the sanisix feet tall), Parsons lacks some of the impish charm that makes his TV geek tarium, where the authorities tried to commit Veta instead of Elwood, she so endearing.

The eccentric role, steeped in inno- says of the orderly (played by Rich cent bluntness and relying on physi- Sommer from “Mad Men”), “He took cal comedy, seems tailor-made for him me upstairs and took my clothes off,” — surely Elwood and Sheldon are cut shuddering with a giddy mixture of from the same cloth. But that’s not horror and delight.

Also perking up the proceedings necessarily a good thing.

As written by Mary Chase, the role are Charles Kimbrough (of “Murphy

c

STREET THEATER, from p.66

being preachy, maudlin, or too "real." That's what is says to any audience: "We're people." Ew! I just grossed myself out. But it's true. And people respond to that — with laughter (and comedies don't lie; you can tell instantly if you're reaching them or not) and the spontaneous standing O at the end.

KW: What’s your favorite thing about directing the play?

MF: I've been lucky enough to have “Street Theater” vets — people who have done this show with me again and again and I love working with them. I also have been lucky enough to work with some very talented actors, both veterans of the show and new ones, and every time we do this, it's always so fantastic to rediscover the play through them — see how it fits on them and knowing I had something to do with that part of it. My least favorite thing is scheduling 14 actors. Are you kidding?

KW: I know you’d like to see this play run. What kind

JOAN MARCUS

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Jessica Hecht and Jim Parsons as sister and brother in the Roundabout Theater Company’s revival of “Harvey.”

Brown” fame) as Dr. Chumley, head psychiatrist at the sanitarium; Carol Kane, as his batty wife; and Morgan Spector, as the devilishly handsome doctor in charge of admissions.

The production is lifted by David Rockwell’s shrewd set design, which toggles back and forth between the grand, overstuffed library of the Dowd estate and the clean, calm sterility of the sanitarium, called Chumley’s Rest.

I’m guessing the frothy comedy won the Pulitzer and ran for four years because it actually touches on some delicate themes, like the permeable divide between sanity and psychosis. But also because it offered a pleasant diversion from the harsh realities of World War II by celebrating the triumph of the human spirit and believing in dreams.

As “Harvey” suggests, perhaps Elwood has the right idea by indulging in fantasy and it’s the rest of us who are mad. When the cabbie remarked just before Elwood was to receive an injection to cure his behavior, “Lady, after this, he’s gonna be a perfectly normal human being and you know what bastards they are!” the audience burst into applause.

The appeal of this witty American classic (or creaky old chestnut) depends on how much you are willing to believe in Harvey. Apparently, many theatergoers, swept up in the magic, saw him plain as day and jumped to their feet, squealing with delight at the curtain call. I found myself squinting to see that silly rabbit, scratching my head, amused but bewildered.

of venue would be ideal?

MF: I have always wanted to see “Street Theater” done every Pride Month as an annual event. When I was kid, “The Wizard Of Oz” came on TV every spring, and I've always wanted “Street Theater” to be the officially gay version of that. I agree with Doric. I would love to have it run in a non-traditional space with this runway staging. In a bar maybe? Like, I don't know... the Stonewall? I would also to tour it to college campuses and theaters all over the country. There are gay people outside of New York City. They might like to see a play about one of the places in this country where the rights we now have in New York got their start.

we get a chance to be appalled at it and laugh at it. Perhaps people are apt to distance themselves from the time and laugh in a "can you believe it?" kind of way.

Hands down, the drag queens always get the biggest laughs. In the most unexpected ways. You get something unexpected from a drag queen? That's funny!

We're so happy to be back at the Center. I think Doric would be happy about that. Doric declaiming, "You can’t run a show during Pride! People don't want to see shows during Pride” is indelibly scratched across my memory. I think it's fantastic that weplay the night of June 28, the anniversary of the first night of the Stonewall riots.

KW: In light of all the changes that have taken place since this play was written, what parts still resonate?

What parts get the biggest laughs?

MF: Society may have changed on the surface, but the people that make up that society are slower to evolve. People are always going want to judge, marginalize, and take advantage of other people. I think here

The scripts of “Street Theater” and several other Doric Wilson plays are available from United Stages (unitedstages.com/scriptInfo.php). For more information on Wilson’s life, visit doricwilson.com. Kathleen Warnock is a playwright and editor whose play "Outlook" was recently featured at the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, in a production directed by Mark Finley.

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IN THE NOH

Two Broadway Babies and One Truly Fabulous Gay

Osnes’ cabaret debut, Sokol’s Jew jokes, Leddick’s incredible life

“Old Jews Telling Jokes” at the Westside Theater (407 W. 43rd St.; oldjewstellingjokes.com) will absolutely make you laugh more than any show currently running. My favorite: “They made a doll of my mother. You pull the string and she says, “Again with the string?” Marilyn Sokol was absolutely born to be in this production, giving you every imaginable variation on the classic yenta, as well as one very horny sheep.

I’ve adored her since my very first visit to New York when I saw her in the sexiest production imaginable of “The Beggars’ Opera” at the defunct McAlpin Theater, as well as hilarious Johnny Carson appearances and the cult musical “Trixie True, Teen Detective.” I’m thrilled that she’s landed in a real winner again at last.

“Our director, Marc Bruni, is fabulous,” she told me, c

IN THE NOH, continued on p.80

NATHAN JOHNSON

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long with being a dazzling triple threat talent, Laura Osnes is that rarity — a really beautiful Broadway leading lady, the first, I think, since Melissa Errico in a field dominated by women whose looks, since Merman and Mary Martin, veer more toward the cute, if not downright eccentric. She’s bringing all her refulgent gifts to Café Carlyle through June 30 in her cabaret debut, which will also feature guest stars Jeremy Jordan, Tom Wopat, and Max Crumm (35 E. 76th St.; rosewoodhotels.com/en/Carlyle).

Over a sparkling lunch at Joe Allen, she delightedly told me, “It’s being recorded live, so thrilling — my cabaret debut and I’ve never made an album! It will have some musical theater, American Songbook things, and a couple of songs that I’m known for, with a mixture of some smoky, jazzy renditions and Norah Jones-style folk rock things which I love to do and never get to. I’m doing one song from my show ‘Bonnie & Clyde’ and another Frank Wildhorn song. Also a song from ‘South Pacific’; ‘Fever,’ which I sang on the ‘Grease’ reality TV show; ‘All the Things You Are,’ which is my favorite go-to-audition song; and Sara Bareilles’ ‘Bluebird,’ so beautiful. I’m trying to appeal to both crowds, the typical Carlyle Upper East Siders and then maybe some new, younger people I might draw there for the first time, like some of my friends.

“My husband, Nathan Johnson, is coming and we’re singing a song together. He was an actor I met doing a show together in Minnesota. We got married and moved here, but he’s now doing photography. He does all kinds of things, including all the shots for ‘Bonnie & Clyde,’ and all my headshots, too. Aren’t I lucky?

We just celebrated our five-year anniversary. Kids are maybe another five years away. I’m young still and I don’t know if we want to raise kids in the city. Maybe we’ll end up being bi-coastal. I like LA, but not as much as New York. To have both would be perfect, theater here and LA for the warm weather and auditions. I was in the final three under consideration for ‘Smash,’ but I was doing ‘Anything Goes’ at the time and was a little bit unavailable, but I made it to the final.”

I told Osnes she wuz robbed of a Tony for “Bonnie,” but she laughed, “Audra deserved it! It was my first nomination and I was not expecting to win, but so honored to be there. I got all dolled up in this Reem Acra dress no had ever worn before. They said no one’s been able to pull it off, but I fell in love with it, the color and that sexy side slit.

“I actually wore three dresses that night, two by Roberto Cavalli for the official Tony Plaza party and the O&M afterparty at the Carlyle. I’m such a girl, changed twice in the car. My stylist, John McNulty, and I found a lot of dresses we liked, so what other night could you do that?

“I told people it was like getting married again. The crew came over at 3 p.m. to get me ready with hair, makeup, nails. Then the car picked us up and you walk the red carpet with flashbulbs going off making you feel like a movie star. My husband looked dreamy in his tux, and we sat in the seventh row on the aisle.

I’m next to James Earl Jones and Angela Lansbury — what am I doing there?! We were out ‘til 4:30 — the Plaza was incredible, tons of food, live jazz band, and frozen yogurt in the basement, which sent me over the

moon! We got to the Carlyle at 2 a.m.”

Coming up is Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Cinderella”: “We’re doing a three week workshop in July to realize some of the imaginative and costume effects, like a giant they’re going to have in it. Still no specific dates for fall or winter — we’re waiting for theater availability. [Book writer] Douglas Carter Beane is so fun, and I keep asking William Ivey Long about my big gown and magic transformation. He says, ‘All I can tell you, Laura, is that it’s all going to be magical.’ He doesn’t want me to go behind a tree or something. It’s going to be an instant transformation, and I’m so excited.

“We have a stellar cast with Santino Fontana as my Prince. It’s been made into a TV movie three times, but never on Broadway, so in a sense it is a new musical.”

Laura Osnes is a triple threat talent and a really beautiful Broadway leading lady.

JOAN MARCUS

BY DAVID NOH

Marilyn Sokol with co-stars Bill Army and Todd Susman in “Old Jews Telling Jokes.”

| June 20, 2012

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GALLERY

The Flurry in a Moment

Painter Michael Steinbrick embraces the kinetic silence of the metropolis

BY MICHAEL LUONGO

a t r a i n e r a t t h e N e w Yo r k Sports Club in Chelsea s t i l l l i f e i n when not painting, said, kinetic motion. “ W h a t I t r y t o c a p t u r e i n That could be a my work is stillness in the description for a m i d s t o f c h a o s . N e w Yo r k moment in New City — it’s frenetic, in all of York, where even in a quick it, but there is still a stillg l a n c e o r a n i m a g e c a p - ness, a quietness, and any tured in a photograph, the of us can have access to it scene still always seems to and find that.”

M a n y o f be in motion.

It’s also one of MICHAEL STEINBRICK S t e i n b r i c k ’ s Victoria Hanks Fine Art Gallery paintings show the best ways Through June 30, 2012 the energy to describe the 202 Bellevue Ave. that is T imes paintings of at Northview Ave. Square, whethartist Michael Suite 2 Upper Montclair, NJ er focusing on Steinbrick, a victoriahanksfineart.com the multitude native of New973-459-1866 of clashing billark, who is boards or on having his first art exhibition at the Victo- individuals walking contemria Hanks Fine Art gallery platively on city sidewalks.

“My work veers toward i n U p p e r M o n t c l a i r, N e w Jersey.

Steinbrick, who works as c STEINBRICK, continued on p.79

A

photor ealism,” Steinbrick said, “but the difference in my work is that it jumps back and forth between extr eme detail and others that ar e mor e painterly. I try to convey a mood that is not necessarily there with photorealism.”

Steinbrick’s method of stillness in the midst of chaos is something that also describes his own life and how he has met challenges since he was a child.

Raised in Newark’s North Ward, the city’s traditional Little Italy, Steinbrick said he can vividly recall the race riots that decimated the city in the late 1960s.

“Some of my earliest memories revolve around extreme racial tension,” he said. “One of those memories was star ing out of my living room win-

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Michael Steinbrick stands before one of his Times Square paintings (opposite page), while “The Hat” captures the moment when Aretha Franklin’s appearance at President Barack Obama’s inauguration was beamed into the Crossroads of the World.

PRIDE SHOWS, from p.71

JOAN MARCUS

and focus on the wonder ful Kelli O’Hara and the Tony-winning supporting per for mances of Judy Kaye and Michael McGrath, this Gershwin romp is engaging enough.

Good availability in all sections, and it’s consistently on TKTS. Imperial Theatre 249 W. 45th St. Tue. at 7 p.m.; Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m.

Wed., Sat. at 2 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m. $46.50-$136.50

MICHAEL J. LUTCH

Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti offer sublime performances in the beautifully told “Once” at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre.

Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis both shine in the title roles of “Porgy and Bess.”

THE GERSHWINS’ PORGY AND BESS

Cutting this four -hour opera down to about two-and-a-half was controversial, but the result i s s p e c t a c u l a r. A u d r a M c D o n a l d gives her finest performance to date as Bess, and Nor m Lewis is magnificent as Porgy. In supporting roles, David Allen Grier and Natasha Yvette Williams are equally brilliant.

The quality of the music and the singing throughout and the use of the ensemble under Diane Paulus’ direction are inspired. Good tickets in the side orchestra and mezzanine.

This has been on TKTS often.

Richard Rodgers Theatre 226 W. 46th St. Tue. at 7 p.m.; Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m.

Wed., Sat. at 2 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m. $67-$139

A list like this can never be comprehensive. I haven’t mentioned the hot show “Newsies,” which I found disappointing for trivializing history and reducing it to a fatuous cartoon — though you can’t get a ticket. Likewise, I haven’t spent much time on “Peter and the Starcatcher,” which has improved in its move to Broadway, but is really targeted to a family audience.

There are also shows like “Avenue Q” and “Rent” that have moved OffBroadway and are worth a look and especially so at an Off-Broadway price.

Then there are smaller theaters — like 59E59 or the Mint — which do intriguing, often exceptional work.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention Shakespeare in the Park. It is always one of my favor ite and most quintessentially New York evenings in the summer — and it’s free. Check PublicTheater.org for shows and information.

Finally, if you’re in town on a Thursday night, you can be an ultimate Broadway insider and see “The Broadway Ballyhoo” at 11 p.m. It’s an hour of wonderful music from a constantly changing roster of Broadway stars. For more information, see siegelpresents.com.

Or on a Monday night at 10 p.m., you can go to “Jim Caruso’s Cast Party” at Birdland, an open-mike night that attracts stars of stage and screen — and you can sing, too, if you feel so inclined. For more information, see castpartynyc.com.

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| June 20, 2012

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STEINBRICK, from p.78

dow as a gang of young men searched the streets with bats in hand. They were looking for any black individual to take out their aggressions on. As a child I couldn’t understand why people were being treated differently because of the color of their skin.”

Later, in school and in church, Steinbrick would begin to experience his own feelings of difference, due to his sexuality. From eight years old on, he explained, “I was targeted for being gay, and the bullying became relentless.”

He found solace by making himself invisible.

“I lear ned that the safest place was outside of the center, somewhere in the background,” he recalled. “And this is how I began to live my life.”

It was also in his childhood that he began to draw and paint, at times receiving compliments from fellow students who would make fun of him in other situations.

Ye a r s l a t e r a s a y o u n g a d u l t , Steinbrick would gain strength from the community many of his childhood neighbors did violence against.

“I got a job working at a department store in downtown Newark,” he explained. “It was here that I began working with a group of black women who would bring me out of my shell.

These women taught me the meaning of inner strength.” Learning from the example of these women, he said, followed naturally from his youth, when “I fought everyone who seemed to me to be a racist.”

When Steinbrick decided to continue his education, he earned his bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts at Montclair State University. After

working in Chicago as a scenic painter for several years, he moved back to the New York area in 2000 and took a job as a gym trainer, putting aside his desire to paint creatively. That is, until some of the most historic events in American history allowed him to see New York differently.

Steinbrick credits the election of President Barack Obama as the motivation for resuming his painting. In T imes Square, he photographed the spontaneous celebrations that erupted on Election Night and when video feeds broadcast the inauguration there. He viewed the city anew, through an artistic lens.

In paintings of T imes Square, as well as other locales across the city, Steinbrick said, he wants to examine “the stillness in the chaos… capturing a feeling that is there in New York with crazy frenetic energy that works. Glitz and grit, doom and dark, light and dark.”

He added, “There is not another city like it — and this cohesiveness in New York, you don’t see anywhere else. This melding of contrasts.”

Steinbrick lives in Jersey City, and his mother remains in Newark.

He said that in the future, he’d also like to paint his hometown.

“I would love to capture that old industrial grittiness of Newark, because some of that is beautiful,” he said.

Steinbrick, whose website is at MichaelSteinbrick.com, will be in the Victoria Hanks Fine Art Gallery to discuss his work with visitors in the afternoons on June 22, 27, and 29. His paintings are in exhibition with Tony Zaza’s photographs and mixed media and Victoria Hanks’ works on paper.

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“How to Be Gay in the 21st Century” author David Leddick’s new book is “Gorgeous Gallery.”

IN THE NOH, from p.76

“very low-key, but a kind of genius, with a great eye and ear. The writers are neophytes and he really brought them along, developing an arc. Jokes were culled along the way and we have many more, so as time goes on, there will be replacements. It never ends.

“Our cast is remarkable, all actors — they didn’t want stand-up comics.

That mentality has a lot of anger and is very different — and everybody is so kind and generous. It’s the kind of thing that makes you want to pinch yourself. My agent called me, ‘Are you interested in this?’ And I said, ‘Sure! I love the title.’ We all met for breakfast and I said, ‘You know, I’m supposed to be doing something else so I need to know if you want me,’ and that afternoon they said yes.

“I wish my parents were here to see it. We work very hard from entrance to entrance, going from wing to wing and not knowing what’s next. We still keep the order of things on our dressing room tables and have to check. You know, young Bill Army isn’t Jewish and we laughed at the cute way he mispronounced Yiddish at the beginning, but now he nails it, the old Jewish grandfather thing.”

Sokol was born in the Bronx, but raised around DC, studied drama

and Spanish literature in college (she teaches theater — wonderfully — at Lehman College). She got her first break as The Gypsy in the road company of “Man of La Mancha” with José Ferrer and Richard Kiley, choreographed by Jack Cole (“who ruined more dancers’ knees!”).

She appeared on Broadway and did cabaret in the 1970s Golden Age at places like Reno Sweeney alongside Diane Keaton, which brought her to the attention of Johnny Car son: “[Unlike what others say about him] he was always very talkative and friendly with me during the breaks. He liked me until I accidentally mooned him on the show. It was always very air-conditioned there and I was wearing a synthetic fabric dress, which suddenly rode up. After that, I always had to clear everything with the NBC censors.”

Sokol’s first big movie was “Foul Play,” with Chevy Chase, who “complained to our very nice director, Colin Higgins, that I was getting too close to him in our scenes. But Dudley Moore was lovely, and so was Goldie Hawn. I had my dear friend, [the late] Lenny Baker help me with all my lines, and Goldie was impressed with my work and got very serious with me, acting-wise.”

“Can’t Stop the Music” is a definite cult classic: “I had a very good time and went out with Bruce Jenner one night, but he got a little pissed off because I was flirting with the waiter. But he had a beautiful Porsche Targa.” (About Jenner’s facial work, Sokol said, “He’s an American Olympic hero, leave him alone, really!”)

About “Can’t Stop,” she said, “Felipe Rose, the Indian in the Village People, and I became very friendly, but I was very disappointed because I thought it was going to be at least halfway successful, but it was lambasted. Now it’s a big deal and the Village People have had a r esurgence, but then they had a manager who was like a real peek into Machiavellian managing.

“And there was [producer] Allan Carr, who said to me, ‘If you have your nose done and bleach your hair, you’ll rule the world.’ But I did that, and I didn’t rule the world! I actually had my nose done because I couldn’t breathe, otherwise never would have done it.”

“Nancy Walker really didn’t direct it. It was mostly the cinematographer [Bill Butler], and I think she was getting sick with the cancer then already.

Carr was her manager, and there was a lot of drama around Valerie Perrine, under pressure because this was her big starring role.

“It was very pretty to look at, but I would not know if there were a lot of drugs around, as I was not privy to that because I didn’t do it myself.

Allan thought Steve Guttenberg was going to be a great big star. Why do people make fun of him?”

Unlike so many in the biz, Sokol doesn’t have a bitchy bone in her body: “That’s because I’ve been bitched upon. Travolta, Cruise, these people work hard and what they do in their private lives is really nobody’s business. When I was a kid, there was a girl with my initials, also named Marilyn, and she was rumored to be slutty. So we got confused and people thought it was me, and I can’t tell you how hurtful it was.”

As this is Pride time, I can think of no one more deserving of being celebrated than David Leddick, the ultimate international Renaissance guy. An invaluable gay historian and author of more than 20 books, his latest two projects are his puckish, sexy latest, “How to Be Gay in the 21st Century,” and, coming out July 15, “Gorgeous Gallery” (Bruno Gmunder), which he describes as “the first art book of its kind to combine what is considered ‘popular’ sexual art with ‘fine’ art.

The message is clear, new, and bold — great art and great sex can co-exist. The book’s collection spans three genres — the classic ‘gay spirit’ of the 20th century, trend-setting contemporary artists at their most sexual, and a newer group of avant-garde artists largely unseen and unknown until now.”

Leddick will sign copies of “Gor geous Gallery” at Rizzoli Bookstore, 31 W. 57th St., on July 12 at 5:30 p.m.)

I devoured Leddick’s wonder ful, must-have “Intimate Companions,” which detailed the interlocking lives of Lincoln Kirstein, George Platt L ynes, and Paul Cadmus, besides painting a vibrant portrait of Manhattan gay life from the 1940s on.

Before all the writing, however, he was a brilliant ad man in those fabled “Mad Men” days, as worldwide creative director at Grey and McCann Erickson for clients like Revlon and L’Oreal, so clever and successful that he was not only fully accepted, sexuality and all, but basically wrote his own ticket regarding his work schedule and desire to live abroad.

Leddick is someone you simply want to be when you grow up and a spectacular raconteur, as well as being the most sartorially elegant man I’ve ever met. Leddick, who also served as a naval officer, acted, directed, wrote musicals, and danced with the Metropolitan Opera, is one fabulous self-creation everyone needs to know about (davidleddick.net), learn from, and laugh with.

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

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| June 20, 2012

OPERA

Dark Horse Divas Rare New York chances to catch Anna Caterina Antonacci, Nina Stemme

BY ELI JACOBSON he Metropolitan Opera has always prided itself on having all the best singers in the world on its roster.

However, ther e have always been first-rate singers whose idiosyncratic gifts were either not appreciated by the Met administration or didn’t fit into its conservative repertory. Legendary singing actresses like Magda Olivero and Leyla Gencer had negligible or non-existent Met careers.

Conventional vocal beauty applied to the standard repertory has fared better with Met audiences — Renata Tebaldi had a long and successful Met career; Maria Callas, a short and difficult one. Many star singers have preferred to stay in Europe for family reasons or a distaste for longdistance travel.

Today, the major voices are spread thinner.

So when a great inter national opera singer is ignored or neglected by major presenters in New York, the loss is twice as bitter. In April and May, New York audiences got to hear two major international sopranos who have been infrequent visitors to our city.

Italian cult diva Anna Caterina Antonacci falls into the category of idiosyncratic voice and reper tory. A striking Mediterranean beauty of dramatic temperament who seems to have stepped out of

CHRIS LEE

T

In late May, Nina Stemme appeared in the title role of Strauss’ “Salome” in concert with the Cleveland Symphony.

a Renaissance canvas, she scored in her 20s in Mozart and bel canto repertory. Her voice early on developed problems at the top of the range, forcing her to relinquish soprano roles and pur sue a career as a quasi-mezzo-soprano. The Met ignored her for years and then took her out of a contracted debut as Donna Elvira in “Don Giovanni,” replacing her with house favorite Susan Graham. Her only New York appearance was more than a decade ago singing Monteverdi arias and cantatas at the Metropolitan Museum.

In her mid-40s, she found a new teacher who freed her upper register, allowing her to take on parts like the Cherubini Medea. On April 8, Antonacci appeared at Alice Tully Hall in a recital presented by Lincoln Center’s “Great Performers” series that also brought us the equally neglected Christine Brewer in May. Antonacci chose a program of French and Italian song of the Belle Époque period. Antonacci is a cherished figure in France; he has received the Légion d’Honneur for her services to music.

Her French is flavorful and accurate; she tastes the words with the flair of a diseuse. The songs of Gabriel Fauré and Renaldo Hahn evoked Italy and ar cadian landscapes in sound pictures radiating lazy sensuality, Hahn’s “Venezia” cycle showing her command of Venetian dialect.

䉴

DIVAS, continued on p.86

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

BOOKS

Byron Recalled Unimaginatively In third novel on famed Romantic poet, Benjamin Markovits found wanting in homoerotic empathy

P

Men who were convicted of ‘attempted’ sodomy were dragged through the streets and put into stocks, where they would be pelted by enormous crowds with rotten fish and meat entrails, mudballs, rotten fruit, and stones.

articles on gay history, including his magnum opus, 2003’s “Homosexuality and Civilization.” It is to Crompton, who died in 2009 at the age of 84, that we owe the rediscovery of the famous 18th and early 19th century English law reformer and philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s extensive writings in defense of homosexuality and its legalization.

In “Byron and Greek Love,” Crompton documented how persecution of homosexuals had reached an unprecedented zenith in the Regency years and under King George III and IV as Byr on was gr owing up and coming to manhood. Hangings for homosexuality increased, but even more so did the horrific torture known as the pillory.

Men who were convicted of “attempted” sodomy were dragged thr ough the str eets and put into stocks, where they would be pelted by enor mous cr owds with r otten fish and meat entrails, mudballs, rotten fruit, and stones. Hawkers Benjamin Markovitz better captures the voice of the early 19th century than the queer sensibility and struggles of his made money by passing thr ough the crowds of assembled queer protagonist Lord Byron. bashers to sell them objects to be thrown at the men being pilloried.

These events received considerable attention in the press of the day.

Police entrapment was employed to catch suspected queers, who were frequently maimed or blinded after having been pelted in their pillories.

One of the most notorious cases in the late 18th century, which would have been much talked about dur ing Byron’s boyhood, was the scandal surrounding William Beckford, considered the wealthiest commoner in England. A novelist (notably, his “Vathek”), art collector, and patron, Beckford was accused of sexual relations with a youth of 16. The resulting scandal, which enflamed the press, drove Beckford into exile, a route that many homosexuals were also to take in those years.

As Crompton reported, “When Byron left England on his first trip the second course in gay studies abroad, almost his first act on the anywhere in the country at the Uni- continent was to visit the mansion versity of Nebraska, where he was where Beckford had lived in exile at a professor of English for decades. Cintra, near Lisbon.” In lines includThis course created such a politi- ed in Canto I of the work that made cal firestorm from the homophobic him famous, ‘Childe Harold,’ but supRepublicans — then as now, in con- pressed by him and not published trol of the State Legislature — who until nine years after his death, Byron a t t a c k e d C r o m p t o n ’ s c o u r s e f o r described Beckford’s mansion: “using taxpayers’ dollars to teach “Unhappy Vathek! In an evil hour perversion to our kids.” The course Gainst Nature’s voice seduced to was cancelled.

Undeterred, Crompton continued to pour out a raft of books and 䉴 BYRON, continued on p.83 W.W. NORTON

ing up a volume that deals, however briefly, with the love of boys.

“Childish Loves” uses the device oor Lord Byron. The m o s t f a m o u s o f t h e of a story within the story to explore English Romantic poets Byron’s sexuality. In the novel, a continues to be a source character named Ben Markovits — of scandalous specula- who, like the author of “Childish Loves,” is married with tion two centuries after two children and lives his premature death CHILDISH LOVE in London — becomes from an unknown fever

By Benjamin Markovits the literary execuat the age of 36 in 1824.

W. W. Norton Paperback Original tor of Peter Sullivan, Fighting, at the time of $14.95; 397 pages a for mer colleague of his death, for the liberahis at an all-male prition from Turkish rule of Greece, he remains a national hero vate school, among whose papers he finds fragments of a reimagining of there to this day.

A new novel raises once again the Byron’s diaries.

“Childish Loves” alternates question of Byron’s sexuality.

“Childish Loves, “ recently pub- between three of those fragments and lished by W.W. Norton, is the third the Markovits character’s attempts novel in a Byronic trilogy by Ben- to research a biography of Sullivan, j a m i n M a r k o v i t s , a T e x a n w h o , whose own life had been marked by after a career that embraced both a sexually-tinged incident of some p l a y i n g b a s k e t b a l l a n d t e a c h i n g sort with one of his teenage charges high school, went on to study the at a different school from the one two Romantics and now teaches at the men worked at together.

In pre-gay liberation days, a University of London.

Surprisingly, given the respectful canard often heard was that queer critical attention the trilogy’s two writers could not successfully por previous entries received, “Child- tray heterosexual relationships — ish Loves” has been reviewed only t h e h o m o p h o b i c d i a t r i b e s o f t h e sparingly. Perhaps this is because noted critic Stanley Kauffman come the publisher has chosen to sensa- to mind as a particularly obnoxious tionalize Byron’s sexual orientation example of this sort of thinking. in presenting the book. “Was Byron The falsity of such assertions is, of a p e d o p h i l e ? ” s h r i e k s t h e p r e s s course, disproven by a host of queer r elease, which Norton put out at writers, from E.M. Forster to Tenthe time of the book’s publication nessee Williams, to name but two among many. last fall.

“Childish Loves” raises for me a Given that repugnant sexual predators in powerful positions who different question — can someone abuse their authority to molest lit- bereft of any same-sex experience fully convey with complete understanding the queer plight? I say this as much because of what “Childish Loves” leaves out as for what it says.

Which brings me to Louis Crompton, a giant in gay historiography and the author of what remains the single most minutely researched and authoritative exploration of the same-sex af finities of the celebrated Regency poet — 1978’s “Byron and tle childr en — fr om the Catholic Greek Love: Homophobia in 19th Church to Penn State’s Jerry San- Century England” (University of Caldusky to the Horace Mann School in ifornia Press).

Crompton had already established the Bronx — continue to make headlines nearly every day, book review himself as a Shaw scholar of note editors may be skittish about tak- when, in 1970, he began teaching

BY DOUG IRELAND

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| June 20, 2012

䉴

BYRON, from p.82

deed accurst.

Once Fortune’s minion, now thou feel’st her Power!

Wrath’s vials on thy lofty head have burst: In wit, in genius, as in wealth the first, How wondrous bright thy mor n arose But thou were smitten with unhallowed thirst Of nameless crime, and thy sad day must close To scorn, and Solitude unsought — the worst of woes.”

These lines, as Crompton rightly noted, “show how fully Byron was aware of the social sanctions visited on homosexuals and bisexuals in English society and how little wealth, talent, and position availed to protect any man who was once suspect.”

They also explain the use of homophobic condemnations in them, which were necessary to protect any author who, however obliquely, referred to homosexuality.

Although the Markovits character in “Childish Loves” says that Crompton’s “Byron and Greek Love” was one of many books on the poet he’d read in his search for the truth about his friend Sullivan and the nature of both his and Byron’s sexuality, the homophobia that drove Byron out of England is reduced to a one-sentence observation that sodomy was then a capital crime. Nor is there any reference to homophobia being Byron’s motivation for so often changing the gender of the love objects in his poems from male to female. It is astonishing to me that Markovits, the novelist, could have been so unmoved by Crompton’s terrifying descriptions of the persecutions and tortures meted out to same-sexers in Byron’s day.

While Byron had many brief affairs with women (he’d been initiated into heterosex at the age of nine by a female house servant) and eventually contracted an unhappy marriage (perhaps for protection as well as money) and fathered a child, there is little doubt that one of the other reasons for his self-exile and eventual settling in Greece was to be able to practice the “vice” for which Beckford was condemned.

Nor is there any doubt that the greatest love of Byron’s life was John Eddlestone, to whom he wrote

so many poems. Byron was only 17 and had just gone up to Cambridge for his university studies when he met Eddlestone, a choirboy of 15.

Only an uncultivated imbecile could characterize a sexual and emotional relationship between a 17-year -old and a 15-year -old as “pedophilia,” as Norton suggests. Byron was, to be completely accurate, an ephebophile. One could also call him a pederast, the Merriam-Webster definition of which is “someone who enjoys anal intercourse, especially with boys.” (In France, queers call each other “pédés” — short for “pédérastes” — regardless of their sexual partners’ age.)

Cambridge was the university of the country’s elite, and his af fair with Eddlestone became the subject of gossip that would follow him down through the years and help impel

It is astonishing that Markovits could have been so unmoved by Crompton's terrifying descriptions of the tortures meted out to the same-sexers in Byron's day. his permanent self-exile. Eddlestone returned Byron’s love and wanted to live together with him permanently — an impossibility in those days, of course, as both boys would have been subjected to prosecution. Nor could he accompany Byron in his European travels.

Shortly after his return to England

䉴

BYRON, continued on p.84

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

BYRON, from p.83

in 1811, Byron received a letter from Eddlestone’s sister Ann telling him that the lad had died of consumption and assuring Byron of his continuing place in the young man’s affection. Byron was devastated at the news and over the next five months wrote a series of seven elegies for him, in which he called Eddlestone “Thyrza.”

In the first of them, Byron wrote: “Ere call’d for a time away, Affection’s mingling tears were ours Ours too the glance none saw beside The smile none else might understand; The whisper’d thought of hearts allied, The presence of the thrilling hand.”

One of the little coterie of homoerotically inclined young men Byron had gathered around himself at Cambridge was John Cam Hobhouse, who remained

his lifelong friend, confidant, traveling companion — a n d c e n s o r. H o b h o u s e was politically ambitious, eventually getting himself elected to Parliament and winding up in the cabinet as secretary for war.

It was Hobhouse who per suaded Byr on, after their university years were done, to burn his Cambridge journals — presumably because they were too explicit about his relationship with Eddlestone.

And it was Hobhouse who, after Byron’s death, insisted on burning Byron’s memoirs, correspondence, and certain unpublished poems. Hobhouse was trying not only to protect Byron’s reputation, but his own — his close friendship with the poet was too well-known and Hobhouse’s own adventures in homosexuality would have been inferred, something no politician could then have survived. Still, the novelist Markovits makes no mention of the role homopho-

bia played in the burning of Byron’s papers.

In one of the reimagined Byron journal entries in the novel, Byron reveals that his first same-sex encounter was with Lord Grey, who had rented the family’s manse. Though several biographers suggest Grey may have made a pass at the young Byron, it is far more likely that he engaged in his first male-male sexual experiences at Harrow, the elite private school that had a reputation as a hothouse of buggery. There, Byron’s first poems were all addressed to other boys for whom he had what he called “passions.”

Byron's first poems were all addressed to other boys for whom he had what he called “passions.”

Why did Greece hold such fascination for Byron and his friends? If you don’t have the patience to read the ancient

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Greek poets — Euripedes, Horace (“Horatian” was one of the Byron set’s code words for same-sex love), or Anacreon (how many Americans know that the music for our National Anthem was taken from a drinking song honor ing that old poof, “To Anacreon in Heaven"?), then you should read the master ful cycle of historical Hellenic novels by Mary Renault, which are as fine an evocation of that ancient world as anything Robert Graves ever produced and which — from “The Last of the Wine” to “The Persian Boy” — por tray a society in which samesex love was honored and

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respected. It was for this ideal that Byron and his male chums yearned. Here, too, Markovits’ novel fails.

As many critics have remarked, Markovits has an undeniable talent for being able to reproduce the early 19th century “voice” in his writings. But his failure to be able to empathize fully with those who engage in same-sex love cripples this book. The Markovits char acter in “Childish Loves” describes the imagined account of the seduction of the teenage Byron by Lord Grey (who in real life would have been 24 at the time of the time of their sharing a bed together) as a “rape” — when the r elevant passages do not indicate anything more than a hand job.

It appears that, for all his acquired sophistications, Markovits has not yet fully cleansed himself of all his hetero Texan prejudices.

But if “Childish Loves” drives any reader to Crompton’s magnificent and convincing “Byron and Greek Love” — the book is unfortunately out of print and richly merits a new edition — then this new Byronic novel will have served a useful purpose.

85

| June 20, 2012

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86

June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

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Antonacciâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dark tones are pointed rather than velvety, but her smoky chest register and pointed diction suit these pieces perfectly.

The second half included Italian songs by Mascagni, Cilea, Tosti, Respighi, and Refice. These pieces show a French influence â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Debussy in particular â&#x20AC;&#x201D; with their shifting har monies and transpar ent textures. The moods ranged from stark despair to sensual bar carolles and serenades. Antonacci captured each mood with a specific vocal color and the skills of a born storyteller. She used mezza-voce and personally inflected text to create an atmosphere of unusual intimacy, as if each song were being performed directly for each listener alone. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not wait another decade for her return.

The case of Swedish soprano Nina Stemme is different â&#x20AC;&#x201D; she has a powerful and beautiful voice that shines in Strauss and, especially, Wagner. Deborah Voigt and Karita Mattila have dominated this repertory at the Metropolitan for over a decade, while Stemme has gone from triumph to triumph in Europe. Short runs as Senta and Ariadne in 2000 and 2010, respectively, have given Metropolitan Opera audiences only a small taste of her artistry.

Her San Francisco BrĂźnnhildes over the past two summers have starkly illuminated what we have been missing. On May 24, Carnegie Hall presented Stemme in the title role of Straussâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;Salomeâ&#x20AC;? in concert with the Cleveland Symphony, under Franz Welser -MĂśst.

Strauss described â&#x20AC;&#x153;Salomeâ&#x20AC;? as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;scherzo with a fatal conclusionâ&#x20AC;? that should be conducted like â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mendelssohn fairy music,â&#x20AC;? but many conductors â&#x20AC;&#x201D; such as Georg Solti â&#x20AC;&#x201D; have taken the more glar ingly dramatic and weighty Wagnerian approach. Welser -MĂśst gave us the best of both worlds, with light shimmering strings dancing over a chur ning dark mass of hor ns and blaring woodwinds. The orchestral texture suggested a superficial atmosphere of decadent refinement and luxurious elegance, with dark violence and evil ready to erupt from under neath the gleaming sur face.

The Cleveland Orchestra played with equal parts raw power and refinement, never losing control.

Stemmeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Judean princess also covered a wide tonal range from glinting shafts of silvery tone in conversational passages to a core of dark, dense, concentrated tone with thrusting power emerging for dramatic climaxes. She limned a cool, wily Salome who relished her manip-

SERGE DEROSSI-NAĂ?VE

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Anna Caterina Antonacci appeared in April at Alice Tully Hall in a recital presented by Lincoln Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Great Performersâ&#x20AC;?

ulations and perversities, changing from playful girl to angel of death in a heartbeat.

As Jokanaan, Eric Owens, in a gleaming white Nehru jacket and pants, used his rich sable-toned bass-baritone to both seduce and intimidate. A little more text inflection and softer dynamics are needed to give his prophet subtlety as w e l l a s f o r c e . Ve t e r a n A u s t r i a n heroic tenor Rudolf Schasching sang Herodâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s music with surprising lyricism and shining tone. Both he and Jane Henschel as Herodias were vivid singing actors bringing their venomous exchanges to hilarious and frightening life. Henschel embodied a shrewish virago without ever sounding like one. Garrett Sorensonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Narraboth also combined strength and lyricism. This concert proved the triumphant operatic finale of a frustrating season of many disappointments.

Stemme will come to the Met in future seasons as Isolde and Elektra in new productions. One hopes she will still be in her prime, as Vo i g t a n d M a t t i l a a r e c u r r e n t l y past theirs.

Antonacci will never come to the Met; it would be too little and too late. As I would have preferred Stemme as BrĂźnnhilde over Voigt, Antonacci would have given us a more dramatic and stylish Rodelinda and Rossini Armida than RenĂŠe Flemingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wan, prettified assumptions afforded us.

Meanwhile, another dark horse diva, Ewa Podles, comes to Caramoor next month.

87

| June 20, 2012

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88

June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR PUBLISHER & CO-FOUNDER JOHN W. SUTTER

JWSutter@communitymediallc.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER & CO-FOUNDER

Forging a More Perfect Union

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troy@gaycitynews.com EDITOR IN-CHIEF & CO-FOUNDER PAUL SCHINDLER

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FOUNDING MEMBER

BY PAUL SCHINDLER When Gay City News published its first LGBT Pride issue 10 years ago this week, our cover photo was of Karen and Marcye Nicholson-McFadden, who were one of seven plaintif f couples in Lambda Legal’s lawsuit for mar riage rights in New Jersey.

At that time, no state afforded lesbian and gay couples marriage equality.

The victory in Massachusetts was almost a year and a half away — and New York’s, nine years. The sitting president in 2002 was hatching a strategy for reelection two years down the road that had as its cor nerstone a cynical ploy to pull out conservative evangelical voters in swing states with a host of ballot measures banning same-sex marriage.

New York State didn’t have a gay rights law then. Nor did it offer public school students who were lesbian, gay, transgender, or questioning safeguards against bullying and harassment. Protections for the state’s LGBT citizens — outside of localities, such as New York City — consisted of a hate crimes law and survivor benefits for those who lost a same-sex partner in the 9/11 attack.

At the federal level, there were still no constitutional protections for those arrested on sodomy charges. The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act would not be enacted for another seven years. Openly gay and lesbian service members were being rooted out of the military.

Entry into the US was denied to anyone who acknowledged being HIV-positive.

Every one of those things has changed — except that advocates in New Jersey, where the state’s high court ruled in 2006 that same-sex couples are entitled to at

least civil union rights, are still battling for full marriage equality, most recently in the face of a veto by Republican Governor Chris Christie.

And, in noting the phenomenal progress here i n N e w Yo r k , i t m u s t b e acknowledged that we have still not done right by the transgender community, which remains outside the purview of civil rights protections that gays and lesbians won in December 2002.

America’s LGBT community finds itself at a critical crossroads during Pride Month 2012. The next six months could prove a make or break period that we may well look back on as pivotal long into the future.

The most pressing challenge, of course, comes in the November election. Making certain that President Barack Obama is given another four years in the White House is indispensible if we are to hope for further progress at the federal level. Like many progressive constituencies, many LGBT voters have often voiced frustration at the pace of change under the president’s stewardship.

Whatever disagreements we may have or issues on which we demand action, however, there is no disputing the historic advances our community has made under this president. To cite only the most significant — gay men and lesbians can now serve openly in the military; visitors living with HIV can now gain entry into the US; LGBT Americans are now assured of access to their partners in hospitals; federal hate crimes law now protects gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender victims; our country is now affirmatively leading on gay rights globally; the Justice Department no longer defends the odious 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA); and the most powerful leader in the world has endorsed our right to marry.

Mitt Romney, at his very

best, would thr ow us into a crater of benign neglect — and it could well be far worse. He supports DOMA. While he has made no noise about reinstating Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, he showed no support for its repeal, e i t h e r. G i v e n t h a t h e d i s played no spine in defending his short-lived national security spokesman, Richard Grenell, who is gay, from vicious right-wing attacks, there is no reason to believe he would stand up to radical House Republicans who would deny the Pentagon adequate funding to ensure that gay and lesbian integration into the military proceeds smoothly.

Though Romney has made bland pronouncements about being opposed to discrimination, it is unclear if he would advocate for — or even support — the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).

The most damning indictment of the Republican presidential nominee, however, is that he really stands for nothing other than Mitt Romney’s advancement. The stark contrast between his posture on gay rights today and his rhetoric during his unsuccessful challenge to Senator Ted Kennedy in 1994, his demagoguery in response to the Massachusetts high court’s marriage equality ruling in 2003, and his outright fabrications on how that decision supposedly led the Catholic Church to abandon its adoption ser vices all speak to a fundamental lack of character, on which no community, least of all ours, can bank.

The issue of ENDA raises a second critical challenge facing us this year — returning the Democrats to control of the US House. Speaker John Boehner has made it abundantly clear he has no intention of entertaining our community’s goals.

In fact, his one initiative on LGBT issues since assuming the speakership has been to

step into the breach left by the Justice Department to battle on behalf of DOMA in the courts. Democrats must gain at least 25 House seats and also fight hard to keep their majority in the Senate.

Election Day drama will not be confined to the presidential, Senate, and House contests. In four states, our right to marry is at stake. In Maryland and Washington State, voters must decide whether to retain marriage equality laws approved earlier this year by their Legislature and governor. In Maine, gay advocates are going back to the ballot to reverse a 2009 voter initiative that overturned the marriage equality law enacted earlier that year. And in Minnesota, despite the promarriage equality posture of Democratic Governor Mark Dayton, the LGBT community must fend off a right-wing effort to write discrimination into that state’s constitution.

We hear a lot these days about the growing support for equal marriage rights among Americans. But we can’t for get that we have lost nearly three-dozen similar referendums around the country.

These contests are crucial.

This year, however, may be best remembered for the gay marriage question finally reaching the Supreme Court.

A Boston federal appeals court’s recent ruling striking down DOMA makes high court review in the term beginning this October a likelihood. The decision by a different appellate circuit in San Francisco invalidating California’s Proposition 8 means that issue could also make its way onto the Supreme Court docket this fall. Ready or not, our time in front of the conservative Roberts court may be at hand.

This Pride, we’re all reminded of the blessings of living in interesting times. We all have a role to play, and should we neglect to do so, we really can’t blame others if we don’t get what we want.

Happy Pride.

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| June 20, 2012

PERSPECTIVE

Lesbian Pride

BY KELLY JEAN COGSWELL couple days from now, several thousand holler ing dykes will take over Fifth Avenue for the 20th annual NYC Dyke March.

The event still compels, even though it was begun in seemingly distant 1993 by the Lesbian Avengers. At a recent panel at the LGBT Community Center, a mix of veteran and younger organizers agreed that a passionate desire for lesbian visibility is what attracts the multitudes. The Dyke March is one of the rare times society at large has to remember we exist.

More importantly, we get to see each other in vast anarchic numbers. And surrounded by the full spectrum of ages, ethnicities, styles, we remember there's more than one way to skin a cat, be a dyke. Stereotypes go out the window. The wor d lesbian sits mor e comfortably. You can almost feel yourself relax in the crowd, be expanded by it. Together, our lives have more meaning, more weight.

You only get a sense of identity in miniature when you walk into a dyke bar or pull up a lesbian novel or poem or magazine on your tiny electr onic device of choice. With thousands of lesbians, the Dyke March is bigger than some small towns and it shows a political edge.

We want to party and pick up girls

A

and see friends, but we're also there because we Lust for Power, the '93 Dyke March theme.

I try to imagine what it's like on the other side, to always be at the center of power. To see myself reflected everywhere, a little bit larger than life, the rough edges smoothed, a filter applied to the lens like they used to do in old movies so the leading lady would always look her best. In short, I imagine what it is like to be a man, a straight man, like my father.

It starts immediately, when you're dressed in blue and pushed around in your stroller, and women mur mur a certain kind of coo. And you learn pretty quickly that the most important person at the dinner table is your own father. You were named after him. And one day, like him, you'll sign all the checks. You'll have the last word.

The perks of being a boy child spiral out beyond the family into casual social encounters. In real life, I remember being a little kid and trudging into a mechanic's or some other masculine domain, and the approving sound of the guy's voice when he saw my short hair and asked my father, "That your son?"

Then the brief pause before my Dad said, "My daughter." And the other man lost interest entirely.

In my Dad's Catholic Church, the priests were Fathers that even had the right to tell uppity nuns what to do. Of course, God himself was a

Father, too. My father played sports in high school, and a hundred years later, I imagine him sitting in front of the TV and watching The Game, any game, really. Let's pick football.

He sees those guys in their pads, on the gridiron, and thinks that it could be him. Those solid bodies reaching for the ball, dragging it across the goal line.

When July 4th rolls around or Pr esidents Day or most of the other holidays, and when there are local elections, or national elections, somebody's sure to talk about Founding Fathers. He has a connection to that, too.

Even if it's just there floating in the back of his mind. Impregnating a country with your ideas isn't so very different than begetting children.

He, or some other man, writes all the books. Directs all the movies. Edits the newspapers and magazines. Runs the companies. There's something very cozy about being a white heterosexual man, something cocooned. I remember the confused, angry look he got on his face the few times his expectations were thwarted, like when his wife asked for a divorce.

I imagine all that, and feel that my father is from a different plan-

et. They all are, all the fathers. All the men. Even the men of color. Or the gay ones. Who so rarely rebel.

Because they still have so much to lose. And we dykes, who have so very little at stake, also keep to our place.

Because acknowledging our insignificance is terrifying, too. To see how alien we are. Admit the accommodations we make to survive, trying to find reflections of our selves in hostile faces. Moving in an atmosphere too light for us. It often makes us seem too grave, too serious, at least around outsiders. But what do you want from extraterres-

The perks of being a boy child spiral out beyond the family into casual social encounters. trials living in your artificial world?

Only gathering occasionally in sufficient numbers to let loose, expose our true ecstatic faces along with a lot of bare breasts.

The NYC Dyke March sets out from Bryant Park at 42nd St at 5 p.m. on June 23. Men are requested to support from the sidelines, so that lesbians are alone in the spotlight.

Stop and Frisk and the Coalition for Reform

BY NATHAN RILEY he Father’s Day march against the stop and frisk practices of the NYPD demonstrated the public’s rising skepticism about the harsh police tactics associated with the war on drugs. The coalition against stop and frisk fuses opposition to racism, the war on drugs, and illegal police searches. Harsh police tactics face a growing and coordinated opposition.

In a dramatic move that reflected the emerging new mood, Governor Andrew Cuomo put together an alliance of law enforcement officials, drug refor mers, and civil liberties groups to push for expanding the scope of the law decriminalizing marijuana. If the Republican State Senate relents in its refusal to move on the refor m, it would mean thousands of people under 30 would have no criminal record, but instead receive only a summons for a violation.

A criminal offense differs substantially from a violation –– it is the difference between being fingerprinted, held overnight in jail, and having

T

Pearson, a leader of VOCAL-NY, an AIDS advocacy and social justice group that is among those fighting stop and frisk, spoke of his traumatic arrest. As his cousin drove him to work, the police searched them and found that his cousin had a roach.

Even though Pearson was clean and everything in the car belonged to his cousin, he spent three days in jail. As a parolee, his freedom was in grave jeopardy and he made three court appearances before the charges were dropped. Should Cuomo’s proposal be enacted, there would have been no arrest, only a summons.

Several years ago, a federal court ruled that the New York City police have a “cavalier” attitude toward carrying out “suspicionless searches.” In her decision, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin did not

It was for them, Vance stated, “a cold introduction" to the criminal justice system a criminal record and not. A violation is a noncriminal breech of the law. The best-known violations are speeding and drinking from an open container outdoors.

In testimony on June 13, before the City Council voted to support the governor’s proposal, Brian

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important public discussion.”

The following day, Kelly sent Quinn a letter “to provide you with an update regarding the various steps we have taken to increase public confidence in Police Department stop, question, and frisk pr ocedur es.”

The commissioner reported that the department had “republished” its policy barring racial profiling, established procedures for “local command level” audits regarding the quality of SQFs, undertaken a review of training related to SQF, and increased its vulnerable youth outreach efforts.

On May 17, Quinn acknowledged Kelly’s letter with a statement praising him for his responsiveness.

June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com specifically barring profiling based on categories including race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Introduced by Brooklyn Councilmen Brad Lander and Jumaane Williams, the reforms have the support of many stop and frisk critics, including AVP’s Stapel.

Quinn explained that individual pieces of legislation within the package of proposed reforms were introduced at different times and that it is not yet clear when its advocates would like to have a Council hearing.

She said she was committed to moving “promptly” once that question is clarified. On the specific measure that aims to expand the definition of what prohibited categories the term “profiling” covers and to strengthen the ability of individuals subjected to profiling to file suit, Quinn “can see a path through to a piece of legislation” that would be workable. “Exactly what the language” of those provisions would be remains to be worked out, she said.

To be sure, the speaker has won praise within the LGBT community for her work behind the scenes to address social justice questions. In 2009, when evidence emerged of a pattern of arrests of gay men in video stores widely seen as false arrests, Quinn brokered a meeting among some of the arrestees and their advocates and top police and administration officials.

Other LGBT elected officials, such as Lower East Side Councilwoman Rosie Mendez, were more visible in criticizing the arrests, showing up at several protest rallies, and one gay critic of the speaker faulted her for essentially being AWOL on the issue.

In response, however, the leader in the effort to fight back against the arrests, Robert Pinter, the original whistleblower on the issue, strongly pushed back against that critique.

“Christine Quinn’s leadership provided a forum for this rare admission [of errors] by the NYPD and the genesis for the positive changes that followed,” he told Gay City News in June 2009.

Three years later, there is no evidence that the false arrests have continued, but investigations by the NYPD Internal Affairs Bureau and both District Attorney Robert Mor genthau and his successor, Cyrus Vance, Jr., failed to identify wrongdoing by any specific individual in a web of arrests that snared at least 30 men.

“The question we really don’t know

“Christine Quinn's leadership provided a forum for this rare admission [of errors] by the NYPD and the genesis for the positive changes,” said Robert Pinter.

The speaker’s patter n of maintaining dialogue with both senior administration of ficials and their most pr ominent critics is a shift from her earlier days on the Council, when she was far mor e often on the outs, first with Mayor Rudy Giuliani and then Michael Bloomberg. During Bloomberg’s first term, Quinn was a top lieutenant to Speaker Gifford Miller, who scrambled, with limited success, to challenge the mayor’s authority.

As speaker, Quinn quickly adopted a different tack. In 2007, a year and a half into her tenure, she told Gay City News, “He’s the mayor. I’m the speaker of the City Council. We have an obligation to get as much done as we can to help New Yorkers, right?

Nobody wants to hear from us in 2009 that, ‘Oh, he was difficult,” and ‘She was a bitch.’”

As a partner with the mayor and his senior team, Quinn has been cautious about making systemic critiques of city policies. In discussing the stop and frisk issue, she said, “There’s legislation around whether we need to tighten up the racial profiling prohibition in this city and whether we also need to create greater latitude in people’s ability to bring lawsuits,” she said. “That’s something I’d like us to move on quickly.”

The legislation the speaker referred to, the Community Safety Act, is a package of measures aimed at enforcing accountability in the NYPD and

about is why it started,” Quinn said.

“Maybe those questions can’t always be answered, but it is frustrating, and it must be extraordinarily frustrating to people to whom it happened that we don’t have answers to those questions.”

The city and the police department initiated civil lawsuits against the establishment where the arrests took place, seeking their closure, but Quinn voiced doubts that those were motivation for the police action.

“The Blue Store, for example, we’ve been complaining about the Blue Store out of my office for years,” she said of one Chelsea video store where arrests took place. “So if they had just opened or there had just been a big round of complaints from elected officials and the community and this happened, then you’d go, ‘Okay, cause and ef fect. The community complained, and the police responded badly.’ But that’s not a good reason.

There wasn’t something significant that changed or developed around the Blue Store… So no, that doesn’t really work for me.”

The Advisory Panel that the speaker honored was established by Commissioner Kelly, she acknowledged, after months of community criticism of the police over the video store arrests. That was not, however, a major focus of the group’s efforts, according to Quinn.

“I think that was kind of the entre — do you know what I mean?,” she said. “I think it had largely been addressed, put to bed when their work began.”

The Advisory Council’s major accomplishment to date has been the revised Patrol Guide regarding the NYPD’s relationship with the transgender community, a reform widely hailed by advocates (see page 7).

Quinn has adopted a similarly middle ground position in her approach toward the public schools. During Bloomberg’s first term, she fought hard to achieve a Council override of a veto of her Dignity for All Schools Act, which aimed to curb bullying and harassment of students based on categories including sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. The mayor responded by saying he would not implement the law, and Quinn vowed a court challenge.

In the first month of her speaker ship, however, the state’s highest bench handed the Council a stinging defeat on a similar question of its prerogatives relative to the mayor.

The idea of going to court was no longer viable.

Since 2007, the speaker has worked with the Department of Education on an alter native “Respect for All” program, which she has said achieves many of the same goals of her legislation.

“We’re doing okay,” she said of the program’s progress to date. “We’re not doing good enough. You know, the recent suicide of a young boy clearly shows we’re not doing good enough.

We’re doing much better than we’d ever be doing if it were not for the Respect program.”

She wasn’t prepared to offer the same positive assessment of the schools’ pr ogr ess on meaningful sex education to protect the health of students. Asked about that, she laughed and said, “We have a longer way to go. You know, for all intents and purposes, we don’t significantly have, we don’t have a robust sex or health education program.”

Quinn of fered no clear perspective on why a mayor so touted for his commitment to public health issues could fall down on that critical measure.

“I don’t have a good answer to that,” she said. “Is that because we have a shortage of resources financially? Maybe. Is that because maybe we need a longer school day to get to everything? Maybe. Is that because we’ve not figured out a way to take these things and hook them into the things kids get tested on?”

Quinn does not think the gaps in sex education reflect a lingering hangover from the fierce backlash that two decades ago blocked the Children of the Rainbow curriculum, which aimed to teach tolerance and diversity on issues including gay families and to provide frank sex education.

“I don’t think so,” she said when asked if that were a factor. “I don’t know. I hope not. I don’t think so.”

The speaker was most outspoken in her disagreements with the cur rent health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Farley. Asked about proposed administration cuts to HIV spending, she said, “These are extraordinarily high priorities for us, extraordinarily high priorities for us. I don’t under stand why Commissioner Farley has proposed these cuts. I think that they speak to the insanity of the budget dance.”

Farley, she said, has a “different focus” than one that engages local community-based organizations (CBO) in the prevention effort. She specifically disputed a recent health department statement that of $19 million eliminated in CBO funding, the Council was responsible for $11 million of that.

Farley’s original budget proposal, she said, also threatened Local Law 49, enacted more than 15 years ago — when she was then-Councilman Tom Duane’s chief of staff — to ensure quality control over what is now known as the HIV/ AIDS Ser -

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| June 20, 2012

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vices Administration (HASA). Describing a recent hearing at which Farley appeared, Quinn said, “I told the commissioner that one of the things I am most proud of in my entire career is Local Law 49 and that he would erode Local Law 49 over my dead body. Now, that was a pretty strong way for me to talk at a public hearing, but I had told him this privately and he had ignored it.”

The HASA cuts she complained of did not make it into the mayor’s executive budget, Quinn said.

If the years since 2006 saw a growing political bond between the mayor and erstwhile critic Quinn, an equally striking alliance has emerged over the past two years between the speaker and Governor Andrew Cuomo.

When Cuomo appeared at an Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA) dinner in 2010 just weeks before his election, it was Quinn with whom he was inseparable as they walked around the cocktail reception.

In victory lap appearances at ESPA and at a New York Times panel after the enactment of marriage equality, the governor was once again accompanied

by Quinn, rather than the two out gay legislators — Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell and Senator Tom Duane — who pushed the bill through in Albany.

Quinn voiced sympathy for the budget crisis that faced the new governor when he came into office last year. Advocates for homeless LGBT youth have, on numerous occasions, faulted Cuomo for pulling back on state funding for beds that would serve a street population estimated at 3,800 nightly, up to 40 percent of them queer.

“I think that the state had a terrible situation over the past couple of years because, unlike the city, where we made tough choices and tried to make tough choices with a framework of priorities, the state had just for years, for decades just kicked the can down the road, so the budget needed to be addressed,” she said. “And I don’t… would I have liked more money for homeless youth? Yes. Would I have liked more money for other things? Yes. But I think they had extraordinarily difficult, difficult, difficult choices to make. A situation I’m glad I wasn’t in.”

To a meaningful degree, however, Quinn has

䉴

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blame aggressive officers for these unconstitutional stops, but rather police department policies and performance standards.

Manhattan District Attor n e y C y r u s Va n c e m a d e a similar point in his City Council testimony last week, pointing to statistics showing that of 6,170 people in the borough charged with marijuana in public view, half had never been arrested before and 46 per cent were between 16 and 24 years old. Many were held in jail before they were able to get before a judge. It was for them, Vance stated, “a cold introduction” to the criminal justice system.

found herself in that situation. In the past few budget cycles, it has been the Council that stepped in to fill gaps left by reduced homeless youth funding from both the state and the Bloomberg budgets — a point made repeatedly by advocates frustrated with the lack of leadership from other elected officials.

Among the most challenging public relationships for the speaker to navigate is the one with Cardinal Timothy Dolan, New York’s archbishop, who is emerging as the spokesman for the nation’s Catholic prelates. Like other members of the Church hierarchy, Dolan is hostile to gay rights, having spoken out repeatedly against the new marriage equality law, and he is now leading the charge in a lawsuit opposing the Obama administration’s requirement that employers, including religious-affiliated hospitals and schools, offer insurance coverage for contraceptives. Like LGBT rights, choice is an issue dear to Quinn’s heart.

Her political differences with Dolan and the Church are complicated by her own Catholic upbringing. Though she said she does not accompany her father, Lawrence, to Mass “as much as [he] would like,” she did go to Yankee Stadium for a 2008 service led

by Pope Benedict XVI, who in 1987, as Car dinal Josef Ratzinger, declared a homosexual orientation to be “intrinsically disordered.”

“To get to take my father to the pope was an extraor dinarily special thing,” she said. “For any Catholic, regardless of whether you’re practicing your faith, angry at your church, agnostic about your church, the pope is still the pope, so there is some level of, some impact that he has notwithstanding all the disagreements I have with him.” Then, with a laugh, she added, “But for my father, he’s really the pope.”

Regarding Dolan, she said, “He is a leading religious, but more significantly a leading civic and public figure who has a lot of influence in this city in a lot of ways. The way he uses that influence around immigration issues, around poverty issues are ones

For reasons of justice and a reduced workload, he wanted these of fenses decriminalized and welcomed the City Council’s support.

The DA’s acknowledgement that half of its marijuana cases were first-time offenses casts doubt about the NYPD and Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s justifications for the stop and frisk policy.

Are the blacks and Latinos arrested for marijuana more often than whites more apt to break the law or just more apt to be arrested? Do police tactics make their neighbor hoods look bad and lawless?

Police searches –– leading to marijuana arrests –– create the facts supporting the argument that minority youths are criminals.

that I often agree with, and often will ask for his help with. How he uses that influence around choice and women’s issues and LGBT issues are not ones that I agree with. And he knows that. And we’ve had those conversations. But I don’t think it’s useful for me to shut down communication with anybody ever.”

The speaker noted that when Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino made inflammatory remarks about the LGBT community in the final weeks of the 2010 campaign, Dolan spoke about the need for people to be “respectful of each other.”

“I called and thanked him,” she recalled. “And he said he very much appreciated that call.”

Putting a finer point on her political disagreements with the cardinal, however, Quinn added, “We’re not the ones in the wrong here, so why should we have to remove ourselves? To say that we’re the ones who should decide not to be someplace makes it look like we’re saying we’re the ones in the wrong. And I am just never going to do that.”

There is no hint of apology in Quinn’s attitude toward engaging political opponents in dialogue and shows of public comity. As the interview wound up, she pulled down from a shelf a picture of her with

In victory lap appearances at ESPA and at the New York Times panel after the enactment of marriage equality, the governor was once again accompanied by Quinn.

L a s t y e a r, a c c o r d i n g t o the Drug Policy Alliance, there were 50,684 marijuana arrests in New York City, 85 percent of them among blacks and Latinos, most of them under 30. If these arrests were decriminalized, the crime rate in New York City could dr op with no danger to the public. The struggle against stop and frisk involves much more than the safety of young people from invasive police tactics. It involves the image of demographic gr oups in the city and whether the city feels like a safe place.

Stop and frisk tactics exaggerate the number of crimes recorded while undermining the targeted communities’ sense of tranquility.

Dolan as they were handing out turkeys together last Thanksgiving in Harlem. The speaker said upon leaving the event to get back to City Hall for a hearing on the living wage bill, on which she had not yet staked out a public position, she asked the cardinal to pray for her. The picture shows Dolan with his hands on Quinn’s shoulders and his head bowed.

Asked if Dolan had congratulated her on her recent wedding, the speaker said they hadn’t had occasion to speak since then.

“I’d be surprised it he didn’t say something,” Quinn said. “I mean, I don’t think he’ll send a gift.”

Bloomberg defends the current practices, and he has some allies among the black clergy. While the marchers were silently walking toward his mansion, he was speaking to the Christian Cultural Center, the largest church congr egation in New York City. It’s well worth noting that in a 2009 story about the mayoral election, the New Yo r k T i m e s r e p o r t e d t h a t A. R. Bernard, the church’s minister, is on the board of the city’s Economic Development Corporation.

“In 2006, the administration agreed to sell parts of two str eets that had been taken off the city’s maps to the Christian Cultural Cent e r, ” t h e T i m e s r e p o r t e d .

“That helped Mr. Ber nar d

assemble a large parcel of land around the church that he plans to use for an ambitious mixed-use project of city-subsidized housing and commercial space.” The church on its website proclaims that its “campus” is 11 acres.

The Mayor insists that police stops keep guns of f the str eet and keep crime down. He disputes Judge Scheindlin’s conclusion that it is police policies and the lack of respect shown by officers making the stops that cause the problem.

Stop and frisk is more than a legal issue. It will become an increasingly pivotal question in city politics as next year’s race for mayor takes off for real.

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR STOP AND FRISK IS A HUMAN ISSUE

WHEN SOMEONE HAS TO BE BLAMED

June 7, 2012 To the Editor: It is always great to see communities come together and be resolute on solving the ills of a society gone astray (“Lending their Voices on Stop and Frisk” and “Why Stop and Frisk is a Queer Issue,” by Paul Schindler, Jun. 6-19). For too long New Yorkers have been allowing our very own police force to criminalize our youngsters.

The winds of time are changing, and the future of our youngsters cannot be played with or be wronged by law and order.

On June17, we will STOP stop and frisk. The 1199 SEIU LGBTQ Caucus stands in support of this march for justice.

Carmen Acosta June 6, 2012 To the Editor: Police harassment of gay men presumed to be having or about to have “public” sex flourished during the Giuliani years. It's time to stop minority profiling for good!

Perley J. Thibodeau June 7, 2012 To the Editor: This is also an important issue because the young men targeted by stop and frisk are primarily black. We have complained that the black churches have not supported us in our quest for marriage equality, but why should we expect them to help us if we do not stand up for them when they are being discriminated against?

John Caminiti

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May 25, 2012 To the Editor: To see just how unprofessional and even criminal the NYPD and the FBI (Fumbling, Bumbling Idiots) were back in 1982 when they accused NAMBLA of having murdered Etan Patz by pointing to a photo that didn't even look like him and which his parents said was not their son, I recommend the book I compiled, “A Witchhunt Foiled: The FBI vs. NAMBLA” (“The Smear that Won’t Die,”

by Duncan Osborne, May 9-22).

At the time, very few gay activists or even left-wing organizations defended NAMBLA in the face of the preposterous claims by the authorities and the banner headlines smearing the group in the Daily News and New York Post. One feminist from NOW did defend the group, and the New York Times ran a serious and accurate story based on interviews with me and other gay activists by Dudley Clendenin.

But few dared to speak out against the police and FBI and media juggernaut witchhunt at the time. This should all be a lesson to be learned. Do not look upon the police as your friend, and do not believe everything in the media.

David Thorstad

LOTS MORE ON DHARUN RAVI May 21, 2012 To the Editor: It's sad and a little sicken-

PATROL, from p.7

cial category prisoner,” but they cannot be cuffed to rails, bars, or chairs for unreasonable periods of time. Across the nation, transgender prisoners are often denied incarceration in a facility matching their gender identity, but are considered unsafe in those housing members of the gender they were assigned at birth. As a result, they can find themselves in solitary confinement under dire conditions.

The AVP release made clear that “there remains work to do” — first and foremost, effective implementation. The group also endorsed legislation pending before the Council that would increase protections against police profiling based on categories including gender identity

ing that some gays, gay groups, and even the victim's parents were all calling for leniency, all of which undoubtedly influenced the judge's decision –– which is still outrageous. (“Dharun Ravi Sentenced to 30 Days in Rutgers Webcam,” by Paul Schindler, May 23-Jun. 5). Thirty days is no real punishment at all.

Why this concer n for the defendant when the smug little bastard seems to have no regret at all for what he did? True, Clementi's tragic suicide may have been the result of several factors –– lack of parental support, for one? –– but how can one not see the correlation between his being videotaped and his killing himself not much later?

Perhaps if our community had called for a stronger response, the defendant might have gotten more than this offensive slap on the wrist. The judge is even letting him serve his six convictions concurrently!

Clementi's parents should sue the pants off of the defendant, but they probably won't.

So a sensitive violinist is dead and a smug jerk lives on, his only lesson that you can successfully play the system and win. Anyone think he actually learned anything else?

Bill Samuels May 25, 2012 To the Editor: This is an injustice and an insult to the Clementi family.

Our system seems to support and serve the perps, bullies, and thugs, suggesting that the behaviors of the criminals and their unlawful acts are accept-

and expression and sexual orientation.

The Council’s release on the new Patrol Guide quoted other leading LGBT advocates praising the reforms.

Carrie Davis, the director of community services at the LGBT Community Center and an Advisory Panel member, said, “These crucial changes to the Patrol Guide are a major step forward in improving conditions for transgender and gender non-conforming people in New York City.”

Melissa Sklarz, another Panel member who is a longtime trans activist and president of the Stonewall Democrats of New York City, said, “I am proud and happy of the work to change the culture between the NYPD and trans women. These Patrol Guide modifications are a testament to our community perseverance and the

able and unpunishable. Shame on Judge Berman for being such a coward in his sentencing.

The Clementi family was seeking justice and closure, and instead they were given more heartache by a deeply broken and flawed system and by the people who are incompetent to serve.

Debbie Ciraolo May 30, 2012 To the Editor: Mr. Ravi still seems to be in denial (“Dharun Ravi Agrees to Begin 30-Day Sentence,” by Paul Schindler, posted online May 30). It does not matter if he picked on Mr. Clementi because he was gay, shy, not socially adept, from a lower income bracket than Mr. Ravi, or all of the above.

Mr. Ravi's actions show a propensity for bullying those he perceives as weak or different, and basic to this is a belief in his own innate superiority. Isn't that the very definition of bias?

Mr. Ravi's pattern of spying on Mr. Clementi and publicly denigrating him, which began well before their brief tenure as roommates, reflects a degree of intent, persistence, and sophistication that rises well above being ‘childish.’

I have read that Mr. Ravi had declined to apologize earlier as he feared appearing insincere.

If this rather evasive quasiapology is the best that he can muster, then he has realized his own fears. He is a narcissistic sociopath and 30 days in jail is simply not enough.

Kevin Donohue

ability of the NYPD to compromise."

Melissa Goodman, the senior litigation and policy counsel for LGBT rights at the New York Civil Liberties Union, which has also taken a tough posture against the NYPD on stop and frisk, said, “These Patrol Guide changes will help ensure that NYPD officers treat transgender and gender-nonconforming New Yorkers with courtesy, professionalism, and respect…

This protects basic civil liberties and strengthens trust between police officers and the public they serve.”

“This is a watershed moment when all New Yorkers can be proud,” said Michael Silverman, executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund. “Our nation’s largest police force, serving our nation’s most diverse citizenry, listened to the voices

May 24, 2012 To the Editor: Thanks for writing about this very delicate but very important subject (“Dharun Ravi, Homophobia, and Race,” by Kelly Jean Cogswell, May 23-Jun. 5). Homophobia is homophobia, but the experience is quite different depending on who are the parties involved in the discriminatory or cruel act.

When facing a white cop, do “straight acting” white gay males perceive the event in the same manner as a black lesbian, a Latino kid? As a quite old, Stonewall-generation, Latino gay male, I have had my share of very racist actions and words from white homosexuals, both female and male, as well as from other minority groups. Laws might create the conditions for a more inclusive society but they do not solve the social dynamics that we face on a daily basis.

Gerardo Torres

REMEMBERING THE PIERS’ BAD OLD DAYS May 27, 2012 To the Editor: One of the most celebrated plays of the late, great BernardMarie Koltès was called "West Pier" (“Recalling Sexual Politics on the Piers,” by Michael Luongo, May 23-Jun. 5). It was inspired by his adventures on the piers in the ‘70s, where one sunny afternoon I ran into him. Patrice Chéreau staged the play which I don't believe has ever been done in the U.S. David Ehrenstein

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LETTERS, continued on p.93

of transgender New Yorkers and took steps to address their concerns about policing practices.”

Andrea Ritchie, a civil rights attorney who is coordinator of Streetwise and Safe, a group that engages youth of color to help them navigate their encounters with police on the street and has been outspoken on the stop and frisk issue, said, “The NYPD’s new Patrol Guide provisions make clear that discrimination, harassment, or disparaging comments based on actual or perceived gender is defined and prohibited as required by Local Law 3 [the 2002 transgender rights measure]…

The revisions also address the LGBT community’s concerns regarding the hand cuffing of individuals to benches and rails while in police custody.”

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LETTERS, from p.92

THE IMPORTANCE OF LAMBDA May 23, 2012 To the Editor Lambda Legal is one of the most important organizations within the LGBT community (“Kevin Cathcart Looks Forward,”

by Paul Schindler, May 23-Jun. 5). As we fight for our rights through public opinion and the legislative process, it is often in the courts that they are won. Lambda Legal has won many victories, and Kevin Cathcart remains a personal hero of mine.

I enjoyed having him as a guest on my “John Selig Outspoken” podcast back in October 2007. The episode is still popular, and Lambda Legal has had many success stories since then. Kevin, thanks for all the great work that you and your organization have done and continue to do.

John Selig

I just wish the senior management could focus its mission. Many of its programs now have nothing to do with the gay community. GMHC's position is that the disease has changed, hence its focus has changed from the gay community to other at-risk groups.

That is probably true, but if you call yourself the Gay Men's Health Crisis only to solicit money from gay men, there's an inherent dishonesty there that should be addressed.

Unfortunately the current CEO seems oblivious to the issue of dishonesty in fund-raising and seems ill-prepared to address it.

David Asset

THE MAINE THING IS RESPECT

GAY MEN AND GMHC’S MISSION May 31, 2012 To the Editor: Gay Men’s Health Crisis has some fine treatment and education programs in connection with HIV/AIDS (“AIDS Walk Draws 45,000, Raises $6 Million,” May 23-Jun. 5).

WRITE US! Address letters to the editor of 250 words or less to Editor@GayCityNews.com. We reserve the right to edit any letter for space or legal considerations.

FRANK, from p.13

required a lack of privacy and other really obnoxious things. The Democrats worked very hard to defeat this, including some people in the Reagan administration. [Surgeon General] Everett Koop was very good at these things, and for the first time we actually defeated the anti-gay movement.

“The second President Bush disappointed me. I thought they were going to do some things they said they would. I think the first President Bush was afraid of the right wing. I think Bill Clinton was very well-intentioned, but got steamrolled by the Republicans and Democratic Senator Sam Nunn, who will always be a figure of evil in my mind.

“Clinton also did one very impor tant thing, that if you were persecuted in a foreign country because of your sexual orientation or gender identity, you could become a refugee here, and that’s worked for a lot of people. Also his non-discrimination order about federal employment.

“I don’t have any problem with Obama, but one thing he might have done when he first became president was talking about how bad the situation was over the lack of bipartisanship. He held back and was all about ‘let’s cooperate and be lighthearted,’ and I wish he had been sharper in

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May 6, 2012 To the Editor: I hope Mainers get to enjoy the freedom to marry that we in New York now do (“As Maine Goes,” by Paul Schindler, May Jun. 6-19). I was born and grew up there, and I know that it can be an all around struggle just to be able to mind one's own sexually oriented business!

Perley J. Thibodeau

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COME SHARE OUR

his denunciation of it. I thought of a bumper sticker: ‘We’re not perfect, but they’re nuts.’”

As for Mitt Romney, with whom Frank worked in his home state of Massachusetts, he said, “I am appalled as a member of my profession that [he thinks that] you may say anything at any time and switch your position at any time for any reason. There is a degree of manipulation when you don’t stand for anything except for your own great superiority. We had all these poor areas of Massachusetts that had been de-industrialized — New Bedford, Fall River, the poorest. We were constantly trying to do things to bring them back, and he was completely uninterested in them. I could not engage with him on trying to get economic help for this area.

“He never even went to New Bedford, which has the largest volume of the fishing industry, no interest.

I approached him once at Logan Air port, saying ‘Governor, I’d like to talk to you about this,’ and he said, ‘I’m busy now,’ and walked away. I have a lack of respect for him and dislike him more than most other people.”

Let’s wish this gallant political warhorse a happy marriage and retirement, and end with one final Frank bumper sticker idea: “Things would have sucked worse without me.”

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June 20, 2012 | www.gaycitynews.com Rivera Law Project. Theatre 80, 80 Saint Marks Pl., btwn. First & Second Aves. Jun. 21-23, 8 p.m.; Jun. 22-23, 2 p.m. Tickets are $55; $30 for students & seniors at tinyurl.com/co3y2s8.

Some Things Never Change Robb Leigh Davis presents “The Homosexual Agenda,” his chronicle of promise and disaffection in an election year, in which he stars along with Ben Dunn, Pierce Forsythe, Jen Peterman, Nyshev Starr, and Jenmn Wehrung. Park Avenue Christian Church, 85th St. & Park Ave. Jun. 21-23, 8 p.m. Tickets are $18 at smarttix.com.

AARON COBBETT

The Etiquette of Death

June 30. Nalbone Unleashed

THU.JUN.21

CABARET It’s Tom, It’s Gus. It’s Judson, It’s Mattox.

Tom Judson Jud has composed music for Off-Broadw Off-Broadway ("Vampire Lesbians of Sodom"), film (Whit Stillman's "Metropolitan"), television ("Sesame Street"), te and sin singers from Ann Magnuson to Lisa Kron. He’s appeared in “Cabaret” on Broadway aand in the national tour of ““42nd St,” and in the past sseveral years has toured tthe country with his oneman show “Canned Ham.” m But, some might know him But from his days as Gus Mattox, a GayVN Gay Award-winning adult film star. st Judson returns to the Metropolitan Room, 34 W. Metr 22nd St., for two nights, Jun. 21, 7 p.m., and Jun. 22, 9:30 p.m. Admission A is $15, with a two-drink two-d minimum. Reservations at metropolitanroom.com.

The Princesses Are Pissed “Bitches of the Kingdom!” is a new musical cabaret evening, based on Dennis Giacino’s new musical “Disenchanted,” featuring the princesses from original storybooks kvetching about the exploitation they’ve suffered in today’s animated films and theme parks. Don’t Tell Mama, 343 W. 46th St. Jun. 21, 28, Jul. 12, 19 & 26, 9:15 p.m. Tickets are $15, with a two-drink minimum, at DontTellMama.com.

THEATER Slavery, Now & Then “Accept ‘Except’ LGBT NY” is an epic story about the struggle for justice in America from

slavery to the modern-day gay rights movement.

It tells the story of two gay 20-year-olds running from the law — a male from the plantation era (18th century) and a female from the penitentiary era (21st century). The play focuses on the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution, which states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Written by Karimah, “Accept ‘Except’ LGBT NY” is directed by George Faison and has a cast led by teen spoken word artist Cynthia Keteku, known as Ceez Liive, and Sean Phillips (who last appeared in “Knock Me A Kiss”). The Faison Firehouse Theater, 6 Hancock Pl. at W. 124th St., btwn. St. Nicholas & Morningside Aves. Jun. 21-23, 27-30 & Jul. 6-7, 7:30 p.m.; Jun. 24 & Jul. 1 & 8, 5 p.m.; Jul 6, 11 a.m. Tickets are $18 at 212665-7698 or 212 868-4111.

You Haven’t Changed A Bit. Really?

A 20th high school reunion is the occasion for a group of friends to all come out of the closet to each other. “Big Excellent 20th Reunion” features a sober gay therapist living with HIV who was homeless and now works with at-risk youth; a gay man kicked out of the military who became a leatherman and Hollywood stuntman; a bisexual woman who traded in her career in the mortgage industry for a law degree; a cat-loving lesbian romance writer; and a transsexual professor of queer theory who was quarterback of the football team back in high school. KS Stevens wrote the music, lyrics, and libretto; Brad Gardner is musical director; Natalie Malotke is choreographer and co-director; and Regie Cabico is co-director.

The play is produced in partnership with a variety of LGBT advocacy and cultural groups including Sylvia’s Place, the LGBT Community Center, Queers For Economic Justice, Fourth Arts Block, and Sylvia

Living in the East Village for the past 25 years, Chris Tanner has been surrounded by death and has become obsessed with how the dying and those who love them behave in the face of it — with reactions ranging from absurd to paradoxical, wrenching, and even hilarious. Artists including Penny Arcade, Lance Cruce, Jeremy Halpern, John Jesurun, Taylor Mac, Stephen McCauley, Greta Jane Pedersen, and Penny Rockwell, joined Tanner in putting together a collage of scenes, songs, poetry, music and dance that explores the “Etiquette of Death.” Everett Quinton and Julie Atlas Muz direct. La MaMa’s Ellen Stewart Theatre, 66 E. Fourth St., btwn. Second Ave. & the Bowery.

Through Jul.1. Thu.-Sat., 7:30 p.m., Sun., 5:30 p.m., except for Jun. 24 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $18; $13 for students & seniors at lamama.org.

FRI.JUN.22

PRIDE Trans Day of Action

In a yearly show of visibility and empowerment, transgender and gender non-conforming people of color will gather at Washington Square Park at the foot of Fifth Ave., 3-7 p.m.

The event includes a rally and march to demand justice and remind the world that the Stonewall Rebellion, sparked in good part by trans activists, is not over yet. For complete information and to register your group, visit alp.org.

MUSIC Charlie Demos’ Magick Solstice

GALLERY The Art of the Mask Canadian artist Patrick Lundeen has his first New York City solo exhibition, “Good For You Son,” bringing together seemingly disparate objects— from flags to rugs to posters to keyboards to grocery store dailies and magazine pages—into cohesive works resembling anthropomorphic masks.

Neon-colored, kaleidoscopic patterns embellish six-foot tall cut out canvas masks, speaking to the artist’s fascination with the exaggerated theatricality of Coney Island type characters, the Contemporary Macabre, and Outsider Art motifs. Mike Weiss Gallery, 520 W. 24th St. Jun. 21-Jul. 28, Tue.-Sat., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Opening reception, Jun. 21, 6-8 p.m.

POLITICS Keeping the Police Honest New Yorkers for Police Reform (PROP) celebrates its first anniversary and honors critical work in exposing and correcting abusive policing practices by recognizing the efforts of Baz Dreisinger, a John Jay College English Professor who is director of the Prison-to-College Pipeline, Khary Lazarre-White, executive director of the Brotherhood/ Sister Sol in Harlem, Ivie Koy Gordon, a transwoman and LGBT and sex workers' rights activist, and Robert Pinter, who blew the whistle on the false arrests of gay men in adult video stores in Manhattan and founder of Stop the Arrests. Riverside Church, 120th St. at Riverside Dr. Jun. 21, 6 p.m. Tickets begin at $35 at tinyurl.com/7htpbps.

NIGHTLIFE All Dude Review The Cock presents “Boylesxxx,” an XXX night of all dude, all nude revue to celebrate Gay Pride.

Six DN dancers will make you proud not to be straight. DJ Scott Ewalt provides the tunes all night, with a Balls Vodka open bar from 11 to 11:30 p.m.

Showtime is Jun. 21, 11:30 sharp. 29 Second Ave., btwn. First & Second Sts. Admission is $15.

In “St. John's Rainbow,” Charlie Demos presents the music of the biggest holiday in the New Orleans Voodoo tradition — St. John’s Eve, which this year coincides with both the Summer Solstice and Gay Pride. Demos, who has just released the EP “Seven Times Eternal,” brings his band together to conjure New Music infused with the magick spirits of the Old World. Dixon Place, 161A Chrystie St., btwn. Rivington & Delancey Sts. Jun 22-23, 10:30 p.m. Admission is $5 at the door.

THEATER Don’t Even Ask “Gay Bomb: The Musical!” is a satirical romp inspired by the real-life plans of the US military a couple of decades back to build a bomb that turns enemy armies gay (honest!). President-elect Felching has been swept into office on his promise to defend the United States from the homosexual and Mooslem threats. Still, when faced with a new Middle Eastern conflict and his military stretched thin, Felching wrestles with moral objections before embracing the controversial chemical weapon. And then, of course, nothing goes according to plan. Michael Martin directs. The Magnet Theater, 254 W. 29th St. Jun. 22 & 29, 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 at brownpapertickets.com/event/243612.

FASHION Jackie Collins/ Fannie Flagg Makeovers As part of a month of LGBT Pride Month events at the New York Public Library system, the MidManhattan Library hosts “Styled by Literature,” in which Lindsay Weiner provides expert style tips in literary makeovers for drag queens Paige Turner, Yuhua Hamasaki, and Miles DeNiro. Jun. 22, 5:30 p.m., 455 Fifth Ave. at 40th St., east side of Fifth,.

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OUTDOORS Roller Disco Renaissance

14 DAYS, from p.94

Dear Guys who like guys,

The terrace at Park Slope’s Old Stone House plays host to an evening of roller disco dancing, food, and drink that will include performances by professional skate dancers. Fourth St. at Fifth Ave. Jun. 23, 6-10 p.m. Admission is $25 for adults; $15 for teens, $10 for kids, at tinyurl.com/86cbvjn, with proceeds benefiting this July’s production of “Xanadu”

by Old Stone House’s resident theater company, Piper Theater Productions.

SAT.JUN.23

PRIDE 20th Annual Dyke March

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness began with me.

DONNA ACETO

PERFORMANCE Lypsinka’s Lessons

Post-Dyke March Spectacular After a soak in the pools at Washington Square Park, many lesbians will head over to Park Slope for the official afterparty. Ginger’s Bar, 363 Fifth Ave. at Fifth St., Brooklyn. Jun. 23, 8 p.m. DJs Suddenly and Vixx will play the tunes. Admission is $10.More information at lesbianherstoryarchives.org.

Lesbian Tradition Honored in Park Slope The Lesbian Herstory Archives, a trove of treasures chronicling New York’s lesbian tradition dating back decades, hosts an open house as well as tours. 484 14th St., btwn. Eighth Ave. & Prospect Park W., Park Slope. Jun. 23, noon-4 p.m. Admission is free. For more details, visit lesbianherstoryarchives.org.

VIP Rooftop Party Heritage of Pride hosts an afternoon and early evening salon and dance party on a three-level rooftop oasis. Music provided by DJs Corey Craig, the Freemasons, and Moto Blanco. Hudson Terrace, 621 W. 46th St. Jun. 23, 2-10 p.m. Tickets are $45 at nycpride.org. You must be at least 21.

Rapture on the River This dance party is Heritage of Pride’s annual gathering for all lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer-identified women. Hunter Valentine from Showtime's “Real L Word” performs live, and the headlining DJs are Whitney Day and Missy B & Trini.

Pier 57, 15th St at West St. in the Hudson River Park. Jun. 23, 4-10 p.m. Tickets are $25 at nycpride. org, $35 at the door, and $75 for VIP access that includes an open bar all evening.

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

MICHAEL LUONGO

Every year, a crowd of up to 20,000 lesbians march down Fifth Avenue in what is called a protest march, not a parade. For the past two decades, organizers have refused to seek a police permit to make the point that they have a right to protest. The march acknowledges the need to organize to fight for lesbian rights, safety, and visibility in the facing of ongoing discrimination, harassment, and anti-LBTQ violence in schools, on the job, in our families, and on the streets.

Make some noise. Be heard. Demonstrate, agitate, liberate! Bring signs, banners, drums, giant puppets, flags, hula-hoops, or just be there! Bryant Park, 42nd St. at Fifth Ave., behind the Public Library. Jun. 23, 5 p.m. The march proceeds down Fifth Ave. to Washington Sq. Park. For more information, visit dykemarchnyc.org.

As part of a month of LGBT Pride Month events at the New York Public Library system, John Epperson, the genius behind and inside Lypsinka, conducts a lip-syncing master class, “A Moment of… LOUD,” using literary-inspired music to teach the art for which he is justly hailed.

Webster Library, 1465 York Ave., near E. 78th St. Jun. 23, 2 p.m.

BENEFIT The Hamptons Rally to LGBT Youth’s Cause

Fabulous Furniture!

Unique, Decorative and Unusual

Live Out Loud, which works to inspire and empower LGBT youth by connecting them with successful LGBT professionals in their community, hosts its annual Pride in the Hamptons fundraiser. The Jun. 23 event includes cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and a silent auction from 6-8:30 p.m. (admission is $150; $195 at the door). A buffet dinner and dancing follows from 8:30-10:30 (total admission price is $300). Tickets at liveoutloud.info. The gathering takes place at the waterfront home of Bruce T. Sloane, 21 North Bay Lane, East Hampton.

GALLERY Early Haring in Brooklyn “Keith Haring: 1978-1982” is the first large-scale exhibition to explore the early career of the legendary pop artist, who died of AIDS in 1990. The exhibit traces the development of the artist's extraordinary visual vocabulary and including 155 works on paper, seven experimental videos, and more than 150 archival objects, among them rarely seen sketchbooks, journals, exhibition flyers, posters, subway drawings, and documentary photographs. Brooklyn Museum of Art, 200 Eastern Pkwy (2, 3 to Eastern Parkway) near Grand Army Plaza. Through Jul. 8, Wed., Fri.-Sun., 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Thu., 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; first Sat., 11 a.m.-11 p.m.

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Pieces from the 1920 1920’ss 30 30’ss 4 40’s 50’s and 60’s Consoles, Chests, Corner Cab Cabinets, Chairs, End ables and m Tables, Coffee Tables much, much more.

If we don’t have it in the sh shop, we can get it.

Gramercy Vintage Furniture 250 Third Avenue (Between 20th and 21st Streets) New York, NY 10010

(212) 477-7156

Monday–Saturday 10:30am–7:00pm Sunday 12:30–4:00pm

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SAT.JUN.23, from p.95

NYC’s Social Activist Tradition “Activist New York” is a Museum of the City of New York exhibition that examines how New Yorkers have advocated, agitated, and exercised their power to shape the city’s — and the nation’s — future. Among the installations examining 14 different movements over the past 350 years is “‘Gay Is Good’: Civil Rights for Gays and Lesbians, 19692012,” which draws on artifacts from groups ranging from ACT UP and Radicalesbians to the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, and borrows from collections at the New York Public Library and the Fales Library at NYU. 1220 Fifth Ave. at 103rd St. Daily, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. The exhibition has an open run. Admission is $10; $6 for students & seniors. For more information, visit mcny.org.

NIGHTLIFE Muscle Bear Cruise Michael Fesco's Sea Tea begins the 2012 summer season with a cruise for the Big Boys, sailing on the Queen of Hearts. Miss Paige Turner entertains, and dancers Luis Queiroz, Torez Banderira, and Francisco also mount the stage. DJ Chris Padilla spins the tunes. Boarding, at Pier 40, Clarkson & West Sts. at the Hudson River, begins at 6 p.m., Jun. 23, with the boat launching at 7:30 sharp. Return time is 10. Tickets are $25 at gaypartycruise.com; $30 at the door, and include a complimentary buffet dinner that starts before sail time.

COMEDY A Security Guard’s Poetry

to Christopher St. and travels west to Greenwich St. This year’s grand marshals are Grammy and Emmy Award-winning singer Cyndi Lauper, whose Give a Damn Campaign and True Colors Fund work to raise awareness of discrimination against the LGBT unity and to support its youth; Chris community rdo, the president of the Kiehl’s line of Salgardo, are products; and Phyllis Siegel and skin care Conniee Kopelov, who began dating after a SAGE holiday party in 1987. Heritage of Pride will bestow awards for Best Use of e; Most Original all Award, Best MarchMarchhTheme; ontingent, Best Decorated ing Contingent, e, and Best Musical Vehicle, ngent. For more Contingent. mation on information arch, visit the march, de.org. nycpride.org.

In the Life, Above the Parade “In the Life,” public television’s monthly LGBT program, hosts an LGBT Pride brunch and dessert buffet in its production studios overlooking the parade. Honorary co-hosts include Gavin Creel, actor and founder of Broadway Impact, a promarriage equality industry group; Lieutenant Dan Choi, an activist in the battle to end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and promote equality generally; Brian Sims, a Democratic representative-elect in the Pennsylvania State Legislature; comedian Michele Balan; recording artists Ari Gold and Kelly King; DeMarco Majors, a former professional basketball player who starred in Logo’s “Shirts & Skins”; wrestler Hudson Taylor, who founded Athlete Ally, a group that advocates for respect for LGBT people among athletes; and Jack Mackenroth, a designer and activist who appeared on “Project Runway.” The afternoon includes an open bar, a luxury raffle, gift bags, and surprise appearances. 184 Fifth Ave., btwn. 22nd & 23rd Sts. Jun. 24, 12:30-5 p.m. Tickets are $125; $100 for those under 30 at itlmedia.org/pride2012.

For more information, call 212-255-6012, ext. 341.

PrideFest

In “I Can't Even Think Straight: Molly "Equality" Dykeman's Big Gay Pride Show,” Andrea Alton stars as a barely lucid poet/ security guard at PS 339, as well as a loveable train wreck that launched her career to critical fame at last year’s New York International Fringe Festival. Guess include Xelle, Robin Cloud, Ariel Speedwagon, Lea Robinson, Brad Loekle, and Marie Wallace, who appeared in the original “Dark Shadows.” The Laurie Beechman Theatre, inside the West Bank Café, 407 W. 42nd St. Jun. 21-23, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 at SpinCycleNYC.com or 212352-3101. There is a $15 food and drink minimum.

SUN.JUN.24 PRIDE LGBT Pride March This is the big moment in a month full of Pride.

First held in 1970, to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, the march begins at 34th St. and Fifth Ave., at noon, Jun. 24. Contingents gather by 11. The march proceeds down Fifth

The annual LGBT street fair, PrideFest brings together local residents and families, community leaders, and area business owners for an afternoon of entertainment, tasty food, and community — all in the name of equality.

Hudson St. btwn. Abingdon Sq. & W. 14th St. Jun. 24, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. For more information on PrideFest, visit nycpride.org.

Dance on the Pier LGBT Pride Week ends in grand fashion with the annual Dance on the Pier. Performers include Cyndi Lauper and Eva Simons, and DJs are Eddie Baez, the Perry Twins, and DJ Boris. Pier 57, 15th St at West. St. in the Hudson River Park. Jun. 24, 5 p.m.-2 a.m. Tickets are $90; $165 for VIP admission — which includes expedited entry, an open bar, an elevated viewing platform, and complementary fruit — at nycpride.org.

NIGHTLIFE Pride at Sea LaRitza Dumont provides the entertainment and DJ Robbie Leslie spins the tunes for a Gay Pride Sunday Sea Tea aboard the Queen of Hearts. The cruise, which begins at Pier 40, Clarkson & West Sts. at the Hudson River, takes you to the toes of the Statue of Liberty and the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, and back again. Boarding starts at 6 p.m., Jun. 24, with the boat launching at 7:30 sharp. Return time is 10. Tickets are $25 at gaypartycruise.com; $30 at the door, and include a complimentary buffet dinner that starts before sail time.

ACTIVISM Celebrating Kate Millett’s Life & Work Kate Millett, a bisexual feminist icon, an early leader of the National Organization for Women (NOW), and the author of “Sexual Politics,” originally her Ph.D. dissertation for Columbia University. At a time when the feminist movement was beset by anxiety that it would be dismissed as a push from man-hating lesbians, Millett, in 1970, was outed by Time magazine, something that made her a lightning rod for critics of women’s new-found assertiveness. Honored earlier this month with a Pioneer Award from the Lambda Literary Foundation, Millett and her work will be celebrated in a Pride Sunday afternoon retrospective of her writings, sculptures, and graphic arts, as well as films by and about her. The second annual Kate Millett Lifetime Achievement Award is being presented to Jacqueline Ceballos, president of the Veteran Feminists of America. Among the event’s sponsors are Gloria Steinem, Susan Brownmiller, Alix Kates Schulman, Terrie O'Neill, and Barbara Love. Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Sq. So. Jun. 24, 3-7 p.m. Admission is $35, which includes a light buffet, at pam@katemillett.vetfems.org.

CULTURE Divas & Heroes As part of a month of LGBT Pride Month events at the New York Public Library system, Clay Cane, a WWRL radio host and the entertainment editor at BET. com, moderates a panel that critiques, analyzes, and celebrates diva worshipping in the LGBT community.

Participants include Whitney Houston impersonator Tyra Ross, Beyonce impersonator Charley Marie, and TheGrio.com and Huffington Post political analyst Edward Wyckoff Williams. The Riverside Library, 127 Amsterdam Ave. at W. 65th St., Jun. 24, 2 p.m.

WED.JUN.27

PRIDE Celebrating at Queens Borough Hall

Borough President Helen Marshall and out gay City Councilmen Daniel Dromm of Jackson Heights and Jimmy Van Bramer of Sunnyside host the 11th annual LGBT Pride Month Celebration in Queens. This year’s event honors Therese R. Rodriguez, chief executive officer of the Asian Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/ AIDS (APICHA), out transgender public school student Rocky Sanabria, Janice Velten and Pat Pfirman, who married last year in Molly Blooms, a Sunnyside Irish pub, after winning a raffle designed to show the establishment’s support for marriage equality, Patricio A. Valencia of the AIDS Center of Queens County, community activist Mark Christie, Anne J. Quashen, president of the PFLAG Queens chapter, Scott Quasha, a community activist and Brooklyn College instructor, Chris Calvert, co-chair of Queens Pride, and Chap James Day, chair of the group’s Multicultural Festival Committee. Queens Borough Hall, Room 213, 120-55 Queens Blvd., Kew Gardens. Jun. 27, 5:30-7:30 p.m.

MUSIC KlezBiGay2 Pride Isle of Klezbos, an all-women’s klezmer sextet with a repertoire that ranges from rambunctious to entrancing, including neo-traditional folk dance, mystical melodies, Yiddish swing, and retro tango, holds itz 14th annual KlezBiGay Pride show, “Equality Anniversary Mazel Tov.” The evening’s emcee is Deb Margolin, a playwright, performance artist, and founding member of Split Britches Theater Company who has written and toured with numerous

full-length solo performance pieces. El Sol Brillante Garden 522 E. 12th St., btwn. Aves A & B. (Rain venue is JCC in Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Ave at W. 76th St.) Jun. 27, 7-9 p.m. The performance is free.

SAT.JUN.30

FASHION Repurposing that Old Thing

As part of a month of LGBT Pride Month events at the New York Public Library system, Riverside Library presents “A Moment of…LOUD: A Fashion Reinvention.” Stylist and fashion designer Beau McCall, featured in Women’s Wear Daily, leads an interactive workshop on reinventing your old and worn T-shirts. Participants are advised to bring their favorite large-sized T-shirt, a pair of scissors, and a seam ripper. McCall will have ready-to-wear Ts available for sale. 127 Amsterdam Ave. at W. 65th St. Jun. 30, 2 p.m.

CABARET Nalbone Unleashed He’s a crooner, he’s a hunk, and he may well bring out the animal passions in you. Gregory Nalbone, a model who is building on his dream of having a career as a cabaret singer, offers up his new show, “Animal Instinct: Songs of Love, Desire, and Obsession,” a soulful mix of standards and pop that explore a wide gamut of emotions. David Schaefer on piano is musical director, and Debbi Burdett directs. The Duplex, 61 Christopher St. at Seventh Ave. So. in Sheridan Sq. Jun. 30, 9:30 p.m. The cover charge is $20, with a two-drink minimum. Reservations at 212-255-5438.

THU.JUL.5

AT THE BEACH A Proud AC Fourth of July Weekend

Atlantic City plays host to RisQue, an Independence Day Weekend celebrating LGBT Pride, Jul. 5-9. Highlights include “Caliente,” a Resorts Hotel & Casino Starlight Room celebrating of ethnic diversity and fever on Jul. 6. Over at Probar Nightclub, “Noah’s Arc” hottie star Darryl Stephens hosts “Devour.” On Jul. 7, Showtime’s “The Real L Word” star Romi Kleinger hosts a daylight “Sun Kissed Pool Party” on the rooftop at Diving Horse. A crowd of more than 2,000 is expected at the Resorts Hotel & Casino Super Theater on the evening of Jul. 7 for “Jackpot,” which will feature performances by pop songstresses Nina Sky, Brooklyn hip-hop artist Bry’nt, pop opera starlit Charisse Mills, and Poca The Papergirl. On Jul.8, “Inaugural Mini-Ball Delux” features an appearance by MTVs Aneesa Ferrea at Resorts Casino & Hotel Main Ballroom. The weekend is capped on Jul. 8 by fireworks and “Boardwalk Empire,” a party hosted by New Jersey’s own Ms. Theresa at Resorts Hotel & Casino Boogie Nights Nightclub. For complete details, visit atlanticcitypride. org and risqueac.org.

SAT.JUL.7

AT THE BEACH Justin Vivian Bond Sings

Performer and raconteur Justin Vivian Bond has been called the generation’s “greater cabaret singer” by the New Yorker. As the kickoff to Daniel Nardicio's Fire Island Icon Series, Bond appears tonight, with musical direction

by Lance Horne. The Ice Palace, Cherry Grove. Jul. 7, 10:30 p.m. Tickets are $25 at dworld.us; $30 at the door.

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 11 7:30 PM In “Slip Slide Transsexual,” Jack Shamblin, as Mia Kunter, and Shecky Beagleman debut an electro pop single amidst mayhem and comic catastrophe. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

7:30 PM Bulletyme, a Shotokan Karate 1st degree black belt of Jamaican heritage, performs his “Battie Bwoy Fi Dead!!!,” a journey through sex, suicide, and the protection that hats provide. ($3 at the door.)

In this 21st annual celebration of queer culture, Dixon Place plays host to a month of theater, dance, music, burlesque, performance art, and homoeroticism for the whole family. 161A Chrystie St, btwn. Rivington & Delancey Sts. Jul. 1-31. Ticket prices range from free to $18 at hotfestival.org or 212-219-0736.

THURSDAY, JULY 12 7:30 PM Natti Vogel and Najva Sol celebrate the release of their alternative wedding song, "Let Bloom," by immersing guests in a romantic, midsummer fantasy world where people become trees, vows become treason, and audience becomes priest. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

SUNDAY, JULY 1 5 PM The festival holds its HOT! Opening Night Party Tea Dance, with spontaneous performances and cool and frosty cocktails. (Free admission.)

9:30 PM

MONDAY, JULY 2 7:30 PM

MONDAY, JULY 2 & 9 7:30 PM In “Money Talks with Citizen Reno,” the brilliant satirist and social commentator returns with the next chapter in her episodic financial series she began in the wake of the Big Meltdown of 2008. Her rant on the financial world — i.e., the Great Vampire Squid wrapped around every living thing — attempts to explain to the average person just how we got into this mess and how we may never escape. ($12.)

TUESDAY, JULY 3 7:30 PM Keith A. Thompson, who danced for Trisha Brown Dance Company from 1992 to 2001 and is on faculty at American Dance Festival, John J Zullo, whose company Raw Movement performed at HOT! Last year, and Jonathan Royse Windham, who has danced with American Repertory Ballet and the Kevin Wynn Collective, among other companies, present “Moving Men.” ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

7:30 PM Nicholas Boggs curates an evening of literature featuring Eileen Myles, whose collection of essays, “The Importance of Being Iceland” received a Warhol/ Creative Capital grant and whose “Inferno (a poet's novel)” is just out from OR books, and Rickey Laurentiis, whose manuscript “One Country” received an honorable mention in the 2010 Benjamin Saltman Poetry Awards and was a finalist for the 2011 National Poetry Series. ($6 at the door.)

FRIDAY - SATURDAY, JULY 6-7, 13-14, 20-21 & 27-28 7 PM Dan Fishback presents his new musical, “The Material World,” directed by Stephen Brackett with Yiddish Translations by Eleanor Reissa. A HOT Festival Mondo Cane! Commission, this pop musical looks at a family of socialist Jews in the 1920s who live in a house with Madonna and Britney Spears. Will they spark a global anticapitalist revolution? Will Madonna use secret Kabbalistic codes to

FRIDAY, JULY 13 7 PM ALLISON MICHAEL ORENSTEIN

Rebecca Nagle, Megan Gendell, and Rachel Mars present an evening of circus arts and performance art. In “Stand Clear of the Closing Doors” and “A Portrait in Black and White,” Gendell navigates New York City transit while in a handstand, squeezing her way into crowded subway cars and getting jerked as the train leaves the station, just like everybody else — almost. In “Rusty, The Anger Management Cowboy,” Nagle is a drunken cowboy under court order to express her inner feelings. In “Unto Us A Child Is Born,” Mars is convinced she could choose whether to be a boy or a girl and had chosen boy — until 1991, when she watched “Dirty Dancing” and saw Jennifer Grey in that white dress. The superman sneakers wouldn't cut it anymore, and she learned a thing or two about the moments that can fix your identity and if and when you can escape the grip of your family. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

“Prom Night, Holy Night,” Faux Pas’ KineticArchitecture offers a fun and heartwarming romp through the country of Texas, where cheerleaders are immaculate, football a religion, and God drives a Cadillac. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

harness the power of God and fix everything wrong with the universe? ($15 in advance; $18 at the door, $12 for students & seniors.)

9:30 PM D’Lo presents his “D'FunQT: Stand Up or Die,” a one-person stand-up storytelling show filled with hilarious and poignant snapshots of growing up in a strict immigrant Hindu family, caught between overzealous parents who provided a wealth of material for self-reflective musings, rants, and side-splitting coming-out stories. ($15 in advance; $20 at the door, $15 for students & seniors.)

SATURDAY, JULY 7 7 PM Nicolle Maroulis presents her “For Those Who Cannot See,” an acoustic guitar project in which she hopes you’ll enjoy hearing what she finds important enough to sing about. (Free admission.)

MONDAY, JULY 9 7:30 PM Lauren Opper presents her “Ravishing Christina/ Ravishing Carlos,” in which Christina, slipping into the sparkly, disco noir night, dances the line between her two identities on a quest to break the destructive spell cast on her by a girl she once cruelly betrayed. Kate Gagnon directs. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

TUESDAY, JULY 10 7:30 PM Elizabeth Whitney, as “Tricia Clayton Biltmore,” hosts “DykeOpalypse,” featuring Drae Campbell, T.L. Cowan, Kelli Dunham, Victoria Libertore, Afrotitty, Lea Robinson, and Laura Turley. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

7:30 PM Marty Correia curates an evening of literature featuring Sassafras Lowrey, a storyteller and author who is the editor of the American Library Association-honored and Lambda Literary Finalist-nominated “Kicked Out” anthology, which brought together the voices of current and former homeless LGBTQ youth; Zyon Gray, aka “Gray the Poet,” a West AfricanAmerican transgender spoken word artist, slam poet, and actor; and Marty Correia, a fiction and poetry-writing lesbian husband living in the East Village with arts activist Kate Conroy, whose work has appeared in FUSE, Punk Soul Poet, Assaracus: Lady Business, and Fiction Fix. ($6 at the door.)

Vincent Caruso performs his “Sister-Mary Sister-Mary Sofa,” about an over-the-top campy Brooklyn nun determined to set the world straight. ($5 at the door.)

SATURDAY, JULY 14 & WEDNESDAY, JULY 18 9:30 PM In “A Case of the Vapors,” Dandy Darkly, who previously performed solo “kneeling-room-only” shows beneath the infamous “Dick Dock” in Provincetown and on Stonewall’s cabaret stage alongside the Americana vaudeville troupe Fein and Dandee, makes his Dixon Place debut. Dandy Darkly is the creation of Brooklyn based writer-performer Neil Arthur James, who will be joined by pianist, writer, and composer Adam Tendler, as Dandy Darkly’s loyal manservant and accompanist. ($5 at the door.)

MONDAY, JULY 16 7:30 PM Jim Bredeson presents “Even for One Night: The Life, Music & Lyrics of Michael Callen.” The show pays tribute to the singer, songwriter, author, gay and AIDS activist who helped create the concept of safe sex. The evening features Jonathan D. Lovitz, Rob Maitner, Will Reynolds, Steven Strafford, and Jonathan Whitton. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

7:30 PM Kamelle Mills, directed by Molly B Murphy, performs “To Bloom,” an evening of diverse Southern characters surrounding an adolescent homosexual boy, Florence, on the verge of discovering who he is. ($5 at the door.)

TUESDAY, JULY 17 7:30 PM Constantine Lignos performs his “The Matryoshka Doll,” the story of a New Jersey housewife who recently had a hysterectomy and is having trouble identifying with her femininity. In an attempt to rediscover her sexuality, she dreams of becoming some of history's most iconic females — including Cleopatra, Lucille Ball, and Rainer Maria, a stripper in the vein of Gypsy Rose Lee. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

7:30 PM “See Something, Gay Something,” showcases the comic braininess and bawdiness of Jessica Halem, who is what happens when you mix a hippie Midwest upbringing with a Sarah Lawrence education. ($5 at the door.)

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HOT FESTIVAL, continued on p.99

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ended up in a futuristic wonderland. It's one part variety show, one part house party, and two parts electro punk/ funk performance art sleazy disco. ($12 in advance; 15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

HOT FESTIVAL, from p.98

WEDNESDAY, JULY 18 7:30 PM E. Patrick Johnson, a Northwestern University performance and African-American studies professor, performs his “Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales,” oral histories of black gay men who were born, raised, and continue to live in the South and range in age from 19 to 93. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

9:30 PM In “Gomez & Tropicana Do Jan Brewer,” satirists Marga Gomez and Carmelita Tropicana take on Latino sexual myth, drag, and anti-immigrant hypocrisy via the wasted mind and brittle loins of Arizona's governor. ($5 at the door.)

MONDAY, JULY 23 7:30 PM In “Electric Junk,” gamelan musician Terry Dame plays new music performed on original musical contraptions and assorted objects just as queer as the composer herself. (Free admission.)

TUESDAY, JULY 24 7:30 PM In “L Boogie’s Love Connection,” multi-talented butch Lea Robinson leads a dating game for the non-discriminating queer that features smoking hot butch burlesque and other cabaret acts. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 25 9:30 PM Theatre Askew presents Trav S.D.’s “The Fickle Mistress,” a Ridiculous Theater-style exploration of the life of Adah Isaacs Menken, actress, poet, equestrienne, and one of the most notorious celebrities of the 1860s. Elyse Singer directs a cast that includes Everett Quinton, Jan Leslie Harding, Tim Cusack, and Bruce Faulk. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

SCOTT SUCHMAN

THURSDAY, JULY 26 7:30 PM

7:30 PM

FRIDAY, JULY 20 7 PM

Raoul D. Luna performs his “My Last, Best Spouse,” in which he delves deep into his formative years, recalling the dysfunctional men of his biological family and the reasonable men of his new, improved “logical family,” including his first-love, the late Lance Loud. ($5 at the door.)

Lucas Brooks performs his “Fame Whore,” the story of one struggling artist's attempt to rescue his community from being swallowed up by the temptation of expensive shiny things. (Free admission.)

THURSDAY, JULY 19 7:30 PM

Colombian songbird Santiago Venegas sings uplifting songs to keep you away from the dark side. (Free Admission.)

Nina Morrison presents her “Arrow In,” in which Lucia Cousins, Brenda Crawley, Jeannie Fry, Sandrine Hudl, Sharla Meese, Katherine O’Sullivan, Ellen Simpson, Jeanne Lauren Smith, Megan Tefft, Brooke Volkert, and Katherine Wessling perform a multimedia-devised work, where a woman wakes up and finds a strange object in her bed, believes it to be magical, and feels reassured it will end her ongoing anxiety. In Erin Buckley’s “CC Dances the Go-Go,” the title character appears every Saturday night at the local lesbian bar, but works the rest of the week as a nurse’s aide, while Nicky, an aspiring actor, believes she might have made CC up. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

7:30 PM In “Jason & Jill: Craft for Your Life,” Jason Black and Jill Pangallo are celebrity morning talk show hosts whose reality show walks audiences through the very basic instructions of how to create one-of-kind crafts. The biggest and best winner will be chosen and rewarded at the end of the show. (Free admission.)

7:30 PM “Live At The CoCo Room” presents Monstah Black and the Sonic Leroy in what “Soul Train” might look like if it fell into a rabbit hole and

SATURDAY, JULY 21 7 PM

9:30 PM Charlie Demos, following up on the release of his EP, "Seven Times Eternal," brings his band together to conjure all new original music infused with the magickal spirits of the old world. (Free admission.)

Interdisciplinary performing artist Professor Ariel "Speedwagon" Federow, with the assistance of Davina Cohen, presents “This is the Way the World Ends,” that explores the conundrum that it has been proven, over time, that 100 percent of us will die, but somehow, inexplicably, some of us are still here. Glenn Marla and Hana Malia present “My Wife's Ass,” a theater spectacle of sizeable proportions based in values of body liberation and the need to produce fat narrative and performance in a world intent on dehumanizing and shaming fat bodies, fat sexuality, and fat imagination into silence. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

7:30 PM Lillie De presents “Black Hairy Tongue,” an exploration of her relationship to her body, drawing inspiration from gender identity, revulsion, systems within the human body, flora, fluidity, touch, butch aesthetic, energy efficiency, control, expression, utilitarian movement, body hair, and comfort.

Mila Goluov presents her “Friends & Monsters,” featuring Tyler Noble and Austin Young in a story about two drag queens who, while awaiting the arrival of Lady Gaga in an alley, discuss their mutual love and find the line between friends and monsters blurring. (Free admission.)

9:30 PM Joe Kolbow and Johnnie Niel present “Super Spectacular! To Opera With Love,” which they wrote with Deanna Fleysher, about an actor hoping to make a comeback with a miniseries chronicling the life and times of Luciano Pavarotti. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

FRIDAY, JULY 27 7 PM John M Farrell presents his “Amorous Wet: Walt Whitman in Love,” which grapples with the synthesis of the individual and society, the erotic and the spiritual, and freedom and democracy in Whitman’s poetry. Antoin O’Gorman co-stars as Whitman’s Irish-American coachman lover, Peter Doyle. Deborah and Michelle Beshaw designed and choreographed the puppets. ($5 at the door.)

9:30 PM Brigid Pasco performs her “Lorelei: My Year as a Woman,” which explores what separates the female sex symbol from the sexual female and poses the question of why the middle class embraces a resurgence of pinup culture in the era of the war on women. Alicia Ohs and Oscar Trujillo present “you are who they say,” an exploration of fears, desires, and society’s pressure “to become” — whether in terms of sexuality, gender, or committed relationships. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

SATURDAY, JULY 28 7 PM Christopher J. Staley performs “unsex me here,” which he co-wrote with Neal Utterback.

It’s the story of a struggling actor and wannabe documentarian who enters an abandoned theater on a supposed story lead only to find something unlike anything he expected. “unsex me here” is an otherworldly camp musing on Shakespeare’s Scottish Play. ($5 at door.)

9:30 PM MargOH! Channing, MAN-ee Champagne, and Kevin Novinski host “Skanks in Pearls,” a burlesque that features Legs Malone, Della Dare, Rikki Crowley, Brandon Bartling, and Dolly Llamma. ($5 at the door.)

9:30 PM Alfredo Tauste presents his “Shaman: A Real Panic Therapy in 6 Parts,” a multi-directed drama that reveals a spiritual-analytical reality based on autobiographical memories, traumas, dreams, nightmares, photographs, drawings, and monsters of the creator. Michael Cross Burke presents “Unilepsy,” a sexy, subversive, and totally new performance work. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

MONDAY, JULY 30 7:30 PM Katie Goldstein presents her “Auntie Flame,” an exploration of the queer generation gap, wealth and privilege in the LGBTQ community, gentrification, queer politicization, relationship drama, and what happens when a family just can’t get along. Andie Gersh, Rachel McCullough, Megan Hanley, and Zachary Wager Scholl star. ($5 at the door.”

7:30 PM Casey Llewellyn’s “Obsession Piece” is a story of a not-quite-reciprocated, potentially imaginary love that took place in text, in technology, in the space between New York and Providenceland, between a play and a web series, on and with devices — the phone, alcohol, a made-up body, and a breakaway cunt.

Amanda Davidson’s “When It Comes,” starring Emily Abendroth and Aden Hakimi, is the story of a family that believes a special message is being transmitted to them. The play uses the simplest possible gestures and props to replicate texts, posts, and other auguries as the characters attempt to decipher this indecipherable — and possibly nonexistent — message.

Playing dress-ups, cross-gender casting, and bedtime story rituals create a maze of dark make-believe as each family member tries to understand — or escape from — their part. ($12 in advance; $15 at the door, $10 for students & seniors.)

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