03/06/15, Vol. 5 Issue 26

Ticketss as low a

M u S IC A L

$ 35

Enter a young boy’s wild and surreal world of magic and adventure in this jazzy Broadwaystyle musical by Tony-nominated music and lyricists Pasek and Paul (A Christmas Story).

March 21 is the Alliance Theatre’s annual FAMILIES Centerstage Festival.

For more information, visit alliancetheatre.org/FAMILIEScenterstage

By Timothy Allen McDonald Music & Lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul Based on the book by Roald Dahl Directed by Rosemary Newcott

March 14–29 Tickets @ 404.733.5000 With additional support provided by

alliancetheatre.org/giantpeach | Groups 404.733.4690 | School day performances available

Family Series on the Alliance Stage Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs

EDITORIAL

Editor: Dyana Bagby dbagby@thegavoice.com

IN THIS ISSUE OF GA VOICE

03.06.15

THE GEORGIA VOICE

PO Box 77401 | Atlanta, GA 30357 404-815-6941 | www.thegavoice.com

Deputy Editor: Patrick Saunders psaunders@thegavoice.com

NEWS 6 | News briefs 8 | The reboot of former AG Mike Bowers 10 | NCAA champion gymnast from Atlanta comes out as gay

Art Director: Rob Boeger rboeger@thegavoice.com

CONTRIBUTORS

Jim Farmer, Vandy Beth Glenn, Cliff Bostock, Shannon Hames, Bill Kaelin, Ryan Lee, Steve Warren, Simon Williamson

BUSINESS

GUEST OP-ED

Publisher: Tim Boyd tboyd@thegavoice.com

11 | Feeling unsafe at the state Capitol

Managing Partner: Christina Cash ccash@thegavoice.com

SPRING PREVIEW

Sales Executive: Anne Clarke aclarke@thegavoice.com Sales Executive: Dixon Taylor dtaylor@thegavoice.com Business Advisor: Lynn Pasqualetti Financial Firm of Record: HLM Financial Group

In loving memory of Mike Ritter, 1965-2014

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COLUMNISTS

FRIENDS & FOES IN THEIR OWN WORDS

“I was molested as a child. It didn’t happen in a bathroom. It happened by a leader in my church.”

—Andraya Williams of North Carolina, a transgender college student, during more than five hours of debate at a Charlotte City Council meeting. She shared her personal story in response to scare tactics used by opponents LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination ordinances. The council rejected all ordinances.

(March 2, goQNotes.com)

“I’m very visually appealing.

Is that conceited?”

—Atlanta’s own Violet Chachki, a contestant on this year’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” in the season premiere of the Logo TV show on March 2.

Violet won the first week’s challenge.

25 | Books 28 | Simon Williamson: Take a bow, Mayor Reed 28 | Charles Stephens: A story of a black father and his gay son 29 | Bill Kaelin: Aging fiercely 30 | Melissa Carter: Ready to marry you 31 | Ryan Lee: The evolving redemption of gay Atlanta’s hero and villain

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All material in the GA Voice is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the GA Voice. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, writers and cartoonists published herein is neither inferred nor implied. The appearance of names or pictorial representation does not necessarily indicate the sexual orientation of that person or persons. We also do not accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers.

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OUTSPOKEN

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Former attorney general Mike Bowers, once an LGBT foe, is now speaking out against anti-gay ‘religious freedom’ bills. Pages 8-9

12 | Events 13 | Ladyfest Atlanta 14 | Theater 20 | Film 21 | Television 22 | Music 26-27 | Calendar

“I’m in no way outraged by this.

I’ve been hearing this since the day I could mince. It’s just disappointing . We experience so much discrimination from the outside world, wouldn’t it be great if we were kinder to each other in our own community?

There are a billion reasons to feel actual shame and remorse. Being your authentic, fabulous, faggy self shouldn’t be one of them.”

—Comedian/actor Alec Mapa responding to actor Russell Tovey’s statements that he’s glad he’s not effeminate. Tovey has apologized. (March 2, Queerty)

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GA VOICE | 6

NEWS

03.06.15

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NEWSIN BRIEF BATON BOB SUES CITY OVER FACEBOOK POST AFTER ARREST

Atlanta gay street-performance character, Baton Bob, has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Atlanta, alleging his constitutional rights were violated when he was arrested in 2013.

The lawsuit names as defendants the city of Atlanta, Atlanta Police officer H.J. Davis, Atlanta Police Lt. Jeffrey Cantin, an unknown defendant of the APD, and the Midtown Alliance.

Baton Bob, whose legal name is Bob Jamerson, says in the federal civil lawsuit that he was forced into making a Facebook post to his some 5,000 fans saying that the police treated him well after taking him into custody on June 26, 2013. He was arrested after an alleged skirmish with security guards at Colony Square, where he was dressed in a wedding dress to celebrate the Supreme Court’s ruling that day striking down a major portion of the Defense of Marriage Act. Davis arrested Baton Bob and Cantin was on duty in the Zone 5 precinct where Baton Bob was taken.

News of Baton Bob’s arrest quickly spread in the media, and the APD urgently sought ways to calm people down, especially LGBT people, according to the lawsuit.

While in handcuffs, Baton Bob was allegedly ordered to recite a Facebook statement to Davis and Cantin saying he was treated well by the APD, in an attempt to quell the media frenzy surrounding the arrest, according to the lawsuit.

“In the wake of the notorious raid on the Atlanta Eagle nightclub, numerous officials within the City of Atlanta and its police department had become fearful of another public outrage from the LGBT community,” states the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also claims the APD conducted an internal investigation into Baton Bob’s arrest; Cantin was suspended for five days and Davis for one day for not following procedure; Davis later resigned.

The city of Atlanta did not return a request for comment.

TRUVADA: HIV RISK REDUCED 86 PERCENT WHEN TAKEN BEFORE AND AFTER SEX

A recent study shows that gay and bisexual men who take pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, before and after sex reduced HIV risk by an average of 86 percent.

The study, released Feb. 24 at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Seattle, Washington, was conducted by the French national HIV research agency ANRS. PrEP has the brand name Truvada.

Known as the IPERGAY trial, the study evaluated a three-day PrEP regimen of Truvada, taken orally before and after sex.

PrEP has already proved highly effective in preventing the spread of HIV among those

Baton Bob is taking the city of Atlanta to court, alleging his constitutional rights were violated when he was arrested June 26, 2013. (File photo)

at high risk if they take Truvada every day.

But the French researchers said long-term compliance “remains challenging,” so the team assessed the efficacy of “on demand” PrEP in high-risk gay and bisexual men.

On Feb. 24, the U.K. Medical Research Council also presented its PROUD open-label study at CROI, which found that taking Truvada every day by gay and bisexual men reduced risk of contracting HIV, also by 86 percent.

Atlanta HIV activists were cautiously optimistic when preliminary news of the IPERGAY study started making the rounds last November.

‘RELIGIOUS FREEDOM’ BILL MOVES FORWARD IN STATE SENATE

The state Senate version of Georgia’s “religious freedom” bill was voted unanimously out of the Judiciary Committee on March 2, but no Democrats were present to vote on the GOP-backed bill.

State Sen. Josh McKoon (R-Columbus), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is the sponsor of SB 129, the so-called “religious freedom” bill.

State Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta), who planned to vote against the bill, was in the restroom when the vote went down, leaving no one to vote against the bill. Fort told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “When I got back, it was gone. [McKoon] knew I was going to come back. It seems to me the right thing would have been to delay the vote until all the members who had appeared at the committee were in the room.”

The March 2 vote was a turnaround from a Feb. 19 Senate Judiciary Committee meeting. In that meeting, McKoon’s fellow Republican, Sen. Bill Cowsert of Athens, attempted to introduce an amendment that would prevent the bill from causing discrimination.

McKoon ruled that Cowsert didn’t introduce the amendment within 24 hours of the meeting, which Cowsert didn’t take kindly to.

“This bill was introduced Tuesday afternoon of this week at 5 p.m. [by McKoon]. So there hadn’t been a whole lot of time for anybody to prepare an amendment to this, and I received notice yesterday afternoon at approximately 4 p.m. that it would be on the agenda today,” Cowsert said. “So I think it’s unreasonable to expect that anybody could have prepared an amendment any quicker than it was done and given to you this morning to consider.”

Cowsert moved to either suspend the rule about the 24-hour requirement or table the bill.

A motion to suspend the rule failed, but LGBT ally state Sen. Vincent Fort stepped in to move to table it and Cowsert seconded the motion.

GEORGIA REGENTS EQUALITY CLINIC RECEIVES NATIONAL AWARD

Founders of the student-run Georgia Regents University’s Equality Clinic in Augusta are this year’s recipients of the American Medical Student Association/Gay and Lesbian Medical Association’s LGBT Health Achievement Award.

“The Equality Clinic, which is operated by students and supervised by faculty, became the first clinic in the Augusta area to target lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender patients when it opened in fall 2014. The free, twice-monthly clinic offers primary care services in a culturally competent environment without judgment or discrimination.

While the clinic primarily focuses on LGBT populations, it is open to anyone whose income falls below 200 percent of the poverty line and who is uninsured or underinsured,” states a Feb. 26 press release about the award.

For more information, visit www.EqualityClinicAugusta.com.

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03.06.15

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NEWS

03.06.15

Mike Bowers renewed?

Longtime LGBT lightning rod re-emerges with a new chapter

By PATRICK SAUNDERS psaunders@thegavoice.com Mike Bowers is not one for introspection.

Try to get the 73-year-old West Point-educated, U.S. Air Force veteran to open up about how exactly he went from being the most vilified person in the state’s LGBT history to a partner in the community’s fight against discrimination and you’ll be met with a thick Southern drawl.

“Now I didn’t agree to reveal my sooouuul in this process,” he says.

What he did agree to was to write a legal analysis of SB 129 and HB 218, the so-called “religious freedom” bills that many believe will lead to anti-LGBT discrimination. And Bowers is one of those believers.

That Mike Bowers. The former Attorney General of Georgia who defended the state’s sodomy laws in Bowers v. Hardwick in the 1980s—and won. The one who withdrew a job offer to Robin Shahar in 1990 when he found out she was a lesbian, got sued for doing so—and won.

Which raises the question: is he still that Mike Bowers? And does he even know?

MICHAEL HARDWICK AND THE BIRTH OF AN ACTIVIST

One day in 1982, Michael Hardwick was engaging in consensual sex with another man in his bedroom when Atlanta police walked in and arrested him. They were there to serve a warrant to Hardwick for public drinking and were let in by his roommate.

The charges were later dropped, but Hardwick sued Bowers in federal court to establish that the state’s sodomy laws were unconstitutional. Bowers refused and the case made its way up to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1986.

Justice Byron White wrote in his majority opinion that the Constitution did not confer “a fundamental right to engage in homosexual sodomy,” and Georgia’s sodomy law

was upheld. The Supreme Court reversed the lower court ruling. It sided with Mike Bowers.

Jeff Graham was a 21-year-old doing summer stock theater in the fields of Illinois when he heard about the verdict.

“It was a very pivotal moment in my life because I didn’t feel anyone had the right to take away my value as an American,” says Graham.

The ruling was a springboard for Graham to dedicate his adult life to LGBT rights activism. Nearly three decades later, the executive director of Georgia Equality would hear that infamous name come up again in an entirely unexpected way.

It was mid-February of this year and Graham heard whispers down at the Capitol—”did you know Mike Bowers thinks the ‘religious freedom’ legislation is a bad idea?”

He reached out to Bowers, set up a meeting, and Bowers confirmed it—he was against the bills. One or two meetings to iron out the details later, and Georgia Equality had a new ally.

“The 21-year-old inside of me still cannot actually believe that I am actually working with Mike Bowers because we have common interests,” Graham says.

‘IT’S QUITE SAD HE DIDN’T LIVE TO SEE THE VINDICATION’

Michael Hardwick didn’t live to see the U.S. Supreme Court overturn sodomy laws across the country in 2003 in the Lawrence v. Texas case. He died in Gainesville, Florida, on June 13, 1991, from complications from AIDS. His obituary carried no mention of his sexual orientation or his role in the famous case that bears his name.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 9

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Former Attorney General of Georgia Mike Bowers now says he supports legislation protecting employees from being fired for their sexual orientation or gender identity.

(Photo by Patrick Saunders)

NEWS

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03.06.15

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 “He was great fun,” remembers Kathleen Wilde. “He was just trying to live his life.”

Wilde represented Hardwick against Bowers from the day the criminal charges were dropped until Bowers appealed the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, when Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe took over.

Wilde, now litigation director for Disability Rights Oregon, says Hardwick was game for the lawsuit from the beginning.

“He basically said, ‘This is about privacy, they don’t belong in my bedroom, and I’m willing to stand up,’” she says.

But he didn’t disappear. He became a crusader against the state’s sodomy laws, doing a speaking tour at various law schools and making a notable appearance on “The Phil Donahue Show.” After the high court sided against him, he and Wilde (who were born just days apart) kept in touch.

“In the final days he got very discouraged and felt like his life had been wasted. We’d lost the case and what was there to show for the energy and time? So it’s quite sad he didn’t live to see the vindication in the Lawrence case.”

ROBIN SHAHAR AND THE JOB THAT NEVER WAS

Someone who is still around to witness the surprising re-emergence of a former adversary is Robin Shahar, who currently serves as LGBT adviser to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.

Shahar accepted a job offer from Bowers in November, 1990, and was ready to start work the following fall, but Bowers rescinded the offer when he found out she planned to marry her same-sex partner. The then-attorney general claimed Shahar’s sexual orientation would prevent her from enforcing the state’s sodomy law. Shahar sued Bowers, but lost.

Shahar says that while she’s still processing her feelings about the news from a personal standpoint, as an LGBT rights advocate she views Bowers’ move to publicly denounce the so-called “religious freedom” bills as a “courageous act.”

She says Georgia Equality contacted her in advance of the announcement to give her a heads-up about their plans to hire Bowers.

“It’s amazing when people who have been across from each other in the courtroom, Mr. Bowers and gay rights advocates, years down the road are able to stand side by side. That felt powerful and exciting to me,” she says.

‘OTHER FOLKS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO JUDGE ME WHEN THE JUDGING TIME COMES’

When Bowers hit the lectern at the press conference at his downtown law firm on Feb. 24, Balch & Bingham, to introduce his analysis of the bills, he was fired up.

“Above all, this bill in my judgment is nothing but an excuse to discriminate,” he said. “And I would ask you this: why is the bill needed if not for the purpose of discriminating? To tell a gay couple you can’t have a marriage license, or to tell someone, an

Michael Hardwick (left), who challenged Mike Bowers in court over Georgia’s sodomy laws and lost before dying of AIDS-related complications in 1991, and demonstrators (right) after the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Bowers in 1986. (Photo on left by William Berry and photo on right by John Spink, both for the AJC, courtesy Georgia State University)

“He basically said, ‘This is about privacy, they don’t belong in my bedroom, and I’m willing to stand up,’ —Kathleen Wilde, litigation director for Disability Rights Oregon, on how Michael Hardwick was game for the lawsuit from the beginning. interfaith couple you can’t have this apartment. Why else do you need it?”

The re-emergence into the spotlight appeared to give Bowers a noticeable boost, as he reeled off one-liners throughout the press conference, then went around shaking hands with reporters from the old days and their younger colleagues.

He shrugs off criticism he’s since received, saying that while he doesn’t enjoy it, he knew it would happen. Those critics include a group of Republican state representatives who say the legal opinion of the former top attorney in the state is not credible.

“I think everybody’s entitled to their view,” Bowers says. “I think they’re dead wrong. But they’re entitled to their view.”

He says that despite what supporters of the bill might think or portray, he is still a Republican. He doesn’t remember exactly how he voted in the 2004 ballot initiative to amend the Georgia Constitution to state that marriage should be between a man and a woman, but he suspects he voted for it.

He’s quick to add, however, “Regardless of what my personal beliefs are, I don’t want to see anybody discriminated against. And I

especially don’t want to see the law violated or the law contorted and that’s why I undertook this assignment.”

He steers things back to the law when asked his personal view on whether samesex couples should have the right to marry.

“I have changed about that over the years and if that’s what the law is going to be, yes they should,” he says. “If that’s the way the law goes, yes. And if that is what the law is going to be, then their right ought to be protected—absolutely, positively, no question about it.”

However, when asked whether there should be legal protections to keep employees from being fired for their sexual orientation or gender identity—in other words, protections from the same thing that he did to Shahar in 1991—he pauses briefly but doesn’t hedge in his response.

“Yes. Listen, I’ve worked with a bunch of people for many years that are gay. I couldn’t care less,” he says. “I’m not telling you that to judge me in a particular way. Other folks are going to have to judge me when the judging time comes.”

Bowers isn’t much for what-ifs or doovers when it comes to whether he would

still make the same decisions today that he did in the Hardwick and Shahar cases, saying, “At the time I thought I was doing right, and as I look back I still think I did what I had to do given the law.”

But then he rounds the corner and pulls up just short of an apology for his actions, saying, “I wished, especially with the Shahar case, that it had never happened. I really do.

Because it caused a lot of grief for Ms. Shahar, it caused a lot of grief for me. It caused a lot of grief for the state law department. I wished it had never happened. Can I undo it? No. I think I was right on the law, but I wished it had never, ever happened.”

Bowers’ comments and actions in recent days are bound to alter his legacy, but broach the “L” word with him and he’ll throw it back at you rapid fire, unleashing an extended rant that finally approaches as near to a moment of introspection as you’ll get from this Georgia son born in a farmhouse with no utilities.

“I’m not worried about a legacy, good grief! I’m just getting older. I’m 73 years old. I worry about the next client that’s coming in the door. The last thing on Earth I’m worried about is a legacy. I’m worried about what my wife’s fixing for supper tonight. Good grief.

Legacy my ass! That’s wacko,” he says.

“I’m just an ordinary everyday lawyer. I’m proud just to get to be a lawyer. My father was a truck driver. When people start talking about legacies, they’re way overblowing their importance, and the cemeteries are full of important people. I’m just proud to get to be a lawyer and to get to work on interesting things like this, and for anyone to even listen to me.”

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NEWS

03.06.15

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‘I felt free’ NCAA gymnastic champion from Atlanta comes out as gay

By ERIK HALL CHAMPAIGN, Illinois—Fred Hartville, of Atlanta, was a star gymnast at Arabia Mountain High School in Lithonia, Georgia, winning the state championships in vault and floor in 2012, his senior year.

He was a walk on at the University of Illinois, where he made the team and as a freshman he consistently performed well. To end his freshman gymnastics season, Hartville sprinted 11 steps on a blue runway pad at the Penn State Recreation Building during the final day of the NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championship on Sunday, April 21, 2013.

“Running down the vault runway, I felt as if this is it. I have this,” Hartville recalls.

The 5-foot-4-inch tall, 132-pound black man then started his Yurchenko 2 and a half—a round-off, a back handspring from his feet, a propulsion with his hands off the vault, and “Bam!” Hartville stuck the landing.

“I was in so much disbelief,” Hartville says of the landing.

Hartville went on to win the 2013 NCAA vault title.

Eight days after Hartville won his national title, Sports Illustrated published NBA player Jason Collins’ announcement that he’s gay.

Equality for LGBT Americans also progressed nearly every week, as same-sex marriage went through the court system and state legislatures in the spring and summer of 2013.

“That’s when I really started getting into looking that type of stuff up on the internet and going to watch these YouTube videos of other people coming out,” Hartville says.

Nothing on YouTube affected Hartville more than when he happened to watch the music video of Steve Grand’s debut single, “All-American Boy,” about a gay man’s secret unrequited feelings for another man.

‘THAT GAY BOY’

During his freshman year, Hartville became friends with fellow gymnast Cameron Rogers, the first gay person he knew. The two became good friends and when Thanksgiving came, he went with Rogers to visit his family in North Carolina for the holiday.

“You would rather go spend Thanksgiving with a gay boy and his family rather than come home,” Barbara Hartville said to her grandson Fred Hartville shortly after he got home for Christmas in 2013.

“At that moment, I just kind of blacked out just from the excitement.

It was that moment I felt free.”

—Fred Hartville, NCAA gymnastic champion She didn’t know Fred had started thinking he was gay himself, and couldn’t withhold her displeasure that he spent Thanksgiving 2013 with Rogers’ family.

“I think subconsciously, I did it as I started coming to terms with my sexuality,” Hartville says of developing a close friendship with Rogers. “It’s where I felt comfortable, so that’s just where I kind of gravitated towards.”

Hartville enjoyed Christmas break in Atlanta, but his grandma calling Rogers “a gay boy” early in the trip resonated. Hartville kept thinking, “I’m that gay boy, too.”

FINDING A FRIEND AND CONFIDANT

Near the end of January, 2014, after the semester resumed, Rogers invited Hartville to dinner. Rogers cooked dinner, then they talked. Hartville looked Rogers in the eyes and, for the first time, told someone that he was gay.

After winning the 2013 NCAA vault title his freshman year, his friendship with Rogers continued to blossom.

“Cameron was that person I looked up to,” Hartville says. “That’s who I first told. That’s who helped me through the process the most.”

Matching his previous year’s success proved tough for Hartville, and the burden of the secret about his sexuality added to the strain.

“I was trying to compete at the same level I was as a freshman,” Hartville says. “With that extra stress of not being out and trying to hide that fact, it definitely added on to what I already had.”

Then, there were his knees. Hartville had dealt with knee pain his freshman season, and the patella tendonitis in both knees intensified during his sophomore season.

“He was probably physically only like 50 or 60 percent, and that’s tough to be counted on when you’re only half strength because of a pretty awful injury that he kind of had to battle through,” Illinois coach Justin Spring says.

Fred Hartville of Atlanta is now a gymnast at the University of Illinois, excelling in the floor exercise and vault. He came out as gay last year. (Photo by Erik Hall)

Hartville’s knees were too much to overcome by the end of the year. He didn’t make top ten in the Big Ten vault, and he produced Illinois’ lowest score of its five vault competitors at the NCAA meet. But he never wanted to quit. The 2014 NCAA season mercifully ended April 12, and Hartville went for right knee surgery in Champaign on April 30.

FAMILY ACCEPTANCE

After his surgery, Hartville went to Rogers’ apartment to recover. Rogers called Hartville’s mom, Laura Box, to let her know it went well.

After Hartville got situated at Rogers’ apartment, he called his mom himself.

Box made sure he felt fine after the surgery, then she asked Hartville, “When you going to get a girlfriend?”

“Mom, I’m not.”

“OK, what do you mean?”

“I don’t want a girlfriend.”

With that, his family learned that Hartville was gay. Box put many of his eight siblings on the phone with him that afternoon.

“I cried,” Hartville says. “To hear that she was OK with it and then for my sister to be OK and then it went on to my brother and my stepdad and my other sisters, it was one of those that kind of came over me. I’m OK, and I’m going to be OK. And they accept me, and

they still love me for who I am.”

Three days later, following the gymnastics team annual pig roast and all-day party, the young men gathered in a circle.

Each gymnast talked briefly. Hartville, a sophomore and now recovering from knee surgery, wanted to be direct when his time to talk arrived, so he said, “I’m sad that the seniors are leaving, and I’m gay.” The circle of men applauded.

“At that moment, I just kind of blacked out just from the excitement,” Hartville says. “It was that moment I felt free.”

After the positive reception from his family, he could handle telling anyone else.

“To know that your parents still accept and love you knowing that you’re different than a lot of other people, that means a lot,” Hartville says.

Hartville’s now received acceptance from everyone in his life—including his grandma Barbara—and wonders why he waited to tell anyone. He’s also thankful Rogers provided the guidance that helped him spend only months instead of years hiding his sexual orientation.

“I don’t think I would have done the things that I’ve done—to come out or anything—if it wasn’t for him,” Hartville says. “He gave me that comfortability that I needed and that sense of reasoning that I needed.”

OP-ED

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Shouting anti-gay hatred under the Gold Dome ‘Religious freedom’ rally at state Capitol takes ugly turn

By ROBBIE MEDWED I’m a pretty religious person. I attend synagogue nearly every Saturday—and sometimes during the week, too. I’ve read my Bible cover to cover more than a few times (well, it’s what you’d call the Old Testament; that whole “New Testament” thing is a bit foreign to me) and I’m pretty well versed in what it says (even the super-troubling stuff). I even jokingly refer to myself as a “Professional Gay Jew” in my Twitter bio. And I have to say that as of late, I have not heard the Bible quoted and preached as often as I have at Georgia’s state capitol during the so-called “religious liberty” rallies. Tuesday’s rally was typical.

The rally began and ended with the singing of hymns accompanied on guitar. I could have closed my eyes and easily confused the state capitol for an old-timey church revival event somewhere. The speeches were exactly what you’d expect them to be: “Pass this bill without any amendments;” “Christians are being persecuted across the world and across Georgia;” “Just like ISIS is beheading Christians in the Middle East, we cannot let our government take our heads off.” That last one was one of my personal favorites. I don’t want to discount the threat of ISIS by any means, but no one’s head is getting chopped off by the state government because they’re a person of faith.

None of the rally’s early statements were all that surprising. A few were a bit more out-there than others, such as when Gerald Harris of the Christian Index said, “I remember the day when a girl who got pregnant in school would be shamed. I remember the day when abortion was illegal. I remember the day when there were no X-rated movies—or even R-rated movies, and I remember the day when, after saying the pledge of allegiance, we all bowed our heads in prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ.” Mostly, though, the statements were run-of-the-mill Erick Erickson-style professional-victimhood jargon. It worked very well with the attendees and earned the speakers quite a few rounds of applause.

It wasn’t until the end, though, when the Bishop Wellington Boone of The Father’s House got up to speak, that I was truly troubled. No, troubled is the wrong word. Sickened might be more appropriate. Certainly shocked. Bishop Boone began by railing against the biblical figure of Adam for “allowing his wife to sin” and for “not being the head of the household” as God intended. And then he held up a copy

I have never felt as unsafe in my own state’s Capitol building as I did the afternoon of March 3. I clearly did not belong—and I was clearly not wanted there.

I am grateful now that I had chosen to stand overlooking the rally on the balcony, separated from the crowd, at a safe distance. Thank God. of the Bible and shouted with all of his might: “I know that LGBT is [sic] putting pressure on you. I know that their lobbyists are out there. Lobbyists?! They are politicians!

How can they put pressure on you when they don’t even know what gender they are?! You gays won’t stand before God—how can we let you stand before us? You say that you have a civil rights struggle—that you are denied your rights. You say you go through the same thing as blacks? You’ve got another thing coming!”

And the crowd jumped to their feet and roared in support.

I have never felt as unsafe in my own state’s Capitol building as I did the afternoon of March 3. I clearly did not belong—and I was clearly not wanted there. I am grateful now that I had chosen to stand overlooking the rally on the balcony, separated from the crowd, at a safe distance. Thank God. It is obvious that Bishop Boone and I do not pray to the same God. The God I worship teaches that we shall all be holy because God is holy (Leviticus 19:2). The God I look to teaches that all of us are created in God’s image (Genesis 1:27), and the faith leaders I trust teach us that we must regard our neighbor’s dignity as though it were our own. (Pirkei Avot 2:10).

The faith to which I subscribe certainly has its challenges and its troubling Bible verses.

But never—not even once—does the Bible say that the simple act of existing is a sin.

And even more so, nowhere does the Bible say that those whom God has created to be different are unworthy of love and acceptance. In fact, Judaism has a special blessing to say when one encounters a person who is exceptionally different from them. Even in challenging moments, we are commanded to stop and recognize the holiness in each person. We are commanded to stop and remember that every person is deserving of dignity and love and happiness.

Bishop Boone and his supporters—the advocates for the poorly-named “religious liberty” bills: Mike Griffin Sr., Jonathan Crumly, and so many others—made so many of us feel unwelcome in our own state today. They told us that we were unworthy of God’s love and that we should be ashamed of ourselves simply for existing.

Sponsor state Sen. McKoon (R-Columbus) wasn’t at the rally, but House sponsor Rep. Teasley (R-Marietta) was. Their biggest supporters (and donors) were there, too.

McKoon and Teasley keep repeating over and over that their bills are not meant to be discriminatory, yet they refuse to allow specific language to be added to the bill that would ensure that. They tell us that these bills are not meant to be anti-gay or anti-trans, yet their supporters shout it from the rooftops (and under the Gold Dome). I can’t say for sure if they’re farming out their bigoted statements to others in order to cover themselves publicly.

And I can’t say for sure if they really do want to allow discrimination in the name of religion.

What I can say, though, is that on March 3 I felt unwanted in my home state and in my own backyard. I was unwelcome and unsafe as a Georgian, as a gay man, and as a Jew. Robbie Medwed is the assistant director of SOJOURN: Southern Jewish Resource Network for Gender and Sexual Diversity. Follow him on Twitter at @rjmedwed.

03.06.15

GA VOICE

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GA VOICE | 12

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW

03.06.15

www.theGAVoice.com

EVENTS DYANA BAGBY

A new beginning Waking up to the allure of spring events

Winter Storm Remus ushered out February with a bit of whimper but the chilly March weather has all of us seeking those early hints of spring.

Atlanta wakes back up after a long winter with festivals and parties, especially those catered to the LGBT crowd.

From Atlanta Leather Pride to the annual HRC Dinner Gala & Auction, there is something for everyone.

This year, the first-ever Ladyfest Atlanta plants its seeds in the city later this month to celebrate all things women and gender nonconforming, while the Atlanta Leather Festival returns to the Atlanta Eagle April 10-12 to embrace kink and fetish and also crown a new Mr. and Ms. Atlanta Eagle and new Mr. SE Rubber.

For John Paquette (aka JP), who identifies as a “versatile, aggressive, leather otter,” retiring as the 2014 Mr. Atlanta Eagle is a dream come true.

“After six years of being the otter behind the curtain I was challenged by all the contenders to get out there. With the contest being opened up [in 2014] to represent the entire patron base and not just the leather aspect, I thought it more than perfect timing,” he says.

Clockwise from above left: The Armorettes’ Easter Drag Races are one of the biggest spring events for LGBT folks who love to sinfully celebrate the holiday. (File photo); JP is ready to retire his 2014 Mr. Atlanta Eagle title when Atlanta Leather Pride hits the Atlanta Eagle April 10-12 (Photo by Dyana Bagby); lesbian comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer comes to Atlanta May 1 for a fundraiser to benefit the fledgling Pride School Atlanta. (Publicity photo)

SPRING INTO THESE EVENTS Purim Off Ponce March 7 Le Fais do-do sojourngsd.org Big Wig VII: Good Wigs Gone Bad March 7 Bill Lowe Gallery www.voicesofnote.org OurSong Spring Concert With or Without You: A Cabaret March 13-14 Synchronicity Theatre www.oursongatlanta.org

St. Patrick’s Day Parade March 14 Steps off at noon on Peachtree Street in Midtown Arrive by 10 a.m. for best viewing atlantastpats.com Ladyfest Atlanta (See story on page 13) March 20-22 Various locations ladyfestatlanta.wordpress.com Bear Necessities April 3-5 Oz Campground www.ozcampground.com

Atlanta Leather Pride April 10-12 Including on April 11 Mr. and Ms. Atlanta Eagle and Mr. SE Rubber contests Atlanta Eagle www.facebook.com/ ATLLeatherPride

Easter Drag Races April 19 Burkhart’s www.facebook.com/groups/ thearmorettes

Dogwood Festival April 11-12 Piedmont Park www.dogwood.org

Party with Impact— Honoring the work of Paul Plate April 25 The Commerce Club http://pi.xorbia.com/ paulplate

Sweetwater 420 Fest April 17-19 Centennial Park www.sweetwater420fest.com

Inman Park Festival April 25-26 inmanparkfestival.org

Fundraiser for Pride School Atlanta featuring comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer May 1 Virginia-Highland Church www.prideschoolatlanta.org

May 21-24 hslbigpeach.org

HRC Atlanta Dinner Gala & Auction May 5 Hyatt Regency Atlanta hrcatlanta.org

East Point Possums June 13 East Point www.eastpointpossums.com

Big Peach Softball Weekend Metro Atlanta Softball Complex

Atlanta Jazz Festival May 22-24 Piedmont Park atlantafestivals.com

CHRIS Kids Premiere Party July 11 Mason Murer Gallery www.chriskids.org

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SPRING ARTS PREVIEW

03.06.15

GA VOICE

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LADYFEST JOSEPH BROWNELL

Leading Lady Ladyfest unites Atlanta music, art with politics Expect politics and purpose when a grassroots alliance of Atlanta-based artists and activists celebrates the social and cultural contributions of the city’s women and gender-nonconforming persons during the first-ever Ladyfest Atlanta from March 20–22.

More than 2,000 supporters attended the first Ladyfest, a five-day festival held 15 years ago in Olympia, Washington. It became the little local event that could, serving as the springboard for an international movement celebrating the worldwide achievements of women.

Attendees dispersed back to their communities encouraged to organize themselves.

Atlanta’s LGBT “herstory” flirted with the concept, playing host to Ladyfest South three times, most recently in 2007. And while the Ladyfest format has been multiplied, added to and divided by communities around the globe, localized awareness and celebration are integral to the equation’s success.

“While some things are universal, the politics of Atlanta may be different than the general politics of the South,” says event co-organizer Chelsea Dunn. “There has never been a Ladyfest Atlanta that specifically catered to local artists and [gave them] a platform for addressing local needs.”

Serving on two Ladyfest organizing committees as a student at Hampshire College, Dunn hoped she’d join an organization after arriving in Atlanta. Although she found the Ladyfest landscape lacking, the ground was certainly fertile.

Her experience proving integral, Dunn is now part of Ladyfest Atlanta’s larger organizing committee—a 12-member team tasked with arranging all aspects of the event’s multimedia structure. “[Ladyfest Atlanta] quickly generated a lot of interest and now we’ve really grown into a strong, unrelenting team of people trying to bring this festival to Atlanta,” Dunn says. “We’re blown away by how much support is behind us.”

POLITICAL PROGRESS IN MIND

In addition to the organizing committee, there are artists, speakers and facilitators donating their time and talents, and so far, in its inaugural event efforts, Ladyfest Atlanta has tapped local venues The Mammal Gallery, Eyedrum and the Big House on

From left: Up and coming alt-pop duo CLAWS will perform songs from their soon-to-be released debut album. (Photo

by Vegas Giovanni); Ladyfest Atlanta will feature the work of Atlanta artists Patricia Lacrete and Estela Semeco, who’ve created miniature paper panties from old porn magazines, in an exhibit titled “Dirty Panties.” (Photo by Stephanie Kong)

EMERGING, ESTABLISHED ARTISTS SHOWCASED

Ponce; partnered with locally owned businesses Candler Park Market and Mindzai; and scored strategic support from the Atlanta Zine Fest and The Goat Farm Arts Center.

While the artistry of Atlanta’s women and gender nonconforming community is being celebrated, the Ladyfest Atlanta organizing committee has designed the event with political progress in mind.

“We’re dissatisfied by the lack of political engagement in other women’s festivals and events,” communications coordinator Nina Dolgin says. “We think that, while Ladyfest Atlanta is a platform for women to perform and share their work, it should simultaneously provoke and question dominant institutions.”

Recalling women’s festivals with histories of excluding the transgender and gender nonconforming experience, Dolgin adds that the intentional inclusion of Atlanta’s transgender and gender nonconforming community is explicit and “shouldn’t be seen as an exceptional marker of their politics so much as it should be a baseline expectation of places everywhere.”

Like its Washington state forerunner that raised more than $30,000 for local women’s projects and organizations, Ladyfest Atlanta hopes to give back to organizations empowering Atlanta’s transgender and gender nonconforming communities.

DETAILS Ladyfest Atlanta March 22-22 Various venues ladyfestatlanta.wordpress.com While there is no cost to attend Ladyfest— public crowdsourcing from a short Indiegogo campaign in addition to three large, local fundraisers have helped ease expenses—organizers are accepting donations at every event.

“We’re partnering with Atlanta’s Solutions Not Punishments Coalition,” visual arts and gallery coordinator Theo McLee says. “Anchored by the Racial Justice Action Center, they seek to transform the way the City of Atlanta crafts and implements its policies, practices and laws related to street-level sex work and build power among those who are targeted by the Atlanta Police Department—especially transgender and gender nonconforming persons of color.”

Outside politics, organizers have programmed an exciting lineup of entertainment from Atlanta’s diverse artistic community for the weekend-long event. In late February they revealed a partial lineup packed with female-fronted music and dance performances, visual art and workshops. Film and video submissions closed at the beginning of March, and organizers promise a variety of works by emerging and more established artists across media.

Musical highlights include an opening night set from DJ Bitchcraft and performances by Atlanta-based singer-songwriter and composer Monica Arrington, better known as “(nerdkween)”, and the wildly hot up and coming Atlanta alt-pop duo CLAWS. Gallery highlights include the collaborative work between Atlanta artists Patricia Lacrete and Estela Semeco, who’ve created miniature paper panties from old porn magazines, paintings from Rachel Much and Maggie Hayes’ sculptures.

The weekend’s anticipated workshops include a feminist gaming discussion with Sarah Schoemann of “Dear Games,” Murmur’s Amanda Mills’ zine-building session and a workshop from the folks at Comingle, the high-tech Atlanta upstart for DIY sex toys.

While Ladyfest Atlanta’s detailed schedule was still under development at press time, organizers expect to release it in early March.

In the meantime, organizers are hosting four one-hour-long volunteer training sessions on the two Saturdays leading up to the festival, March 7 and 14). Interested parties can sign up for one of the sessions on the Ladyfest Atlanta website, ladyfestatlanta.com.

GA VOICE | 14

03.06.15

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW

THEATER JIM FARMER

Free range choreography Bubb Carr swings into spring at Serenbe Playhouse He has danced on TV and film and travelled around the world with Cher. Now gay dancer Bubba Carr calls Atlanta his home and has begun a wonderful collaboration with Serenbe Playhouse, where he has become the resident choreographer. He is working on the company’s new version of the musical “Man of La Mancha,” a highlight of a busy Atlanta spring theater season. This is Serenbe’s first spring show.

Carr has been in the entertainment industry for a while. He danced with Cher in her “I Found Someone” video and then spent a number of years touring with the icon. He’s also been seen in the TV version of “Fame,” the film version of the stage musical “Rock of Ages,” and in the remake of “Footloose.”

He moved to Atlanta in 2004 to be closer to his family in Alabama, but didn’t love the area. He moved to several other places before coming back for good in 2007 to serve as artistic director of the dance troupe Dance 101.

He left Dance 101 in 2009 and has focused on individual projects. He’s had enough to keep him busy, mainly his work with Serenbe, the theater company run by out Brian Clowdus and known for its outdoor work. And this time around, he’s very happy to be here.

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was his first show at Serenbe. “With that we were out in the woods late at night, it was cold, I was worried about ticks...and there was a donkey there,” Carr remembers. “I thought, ‘Really, Brian, I have to choreograph a donkey? But I had a blast.”

The two jibed well, and after “Dream” Clowdus asked Carr back to work on “The Velveteen Rabbit,” then “Hair,” which is one of Carr’s favorite films. That was a challenge, not just because of the sheer number of musical numbers involved, but also because Carr was working with some performers who had limited dance experience. He and the ensemble got through it okay, however.

The actors who work at Serenbe have had to adapt to the outdoor environment and it’s been the same for Carr. “It’s Brian’s stage and I trust him,” he says. “Sometimes Brian has a vision and we get to the space and it’s not fitting, but we make it work. There is nothing that can’t be worked out. I see each obstacle as a way to learn more about myself and open myself as an artist. In the end Brian gives me free range.”

Clowdus praises Carr for staging dance numbers that don’t look like dance numbers.

One of their best-remembered collaborations was in last summer’s acclaimed version of

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OTHER NOTEWORTHY SPRING SHOWS ‘Marcus, or the Secret of Sweet’ Actor’s Express March 26–April 26 www.actorsexpress.com ‘Designing Women #9’ Onstage Atlanta April 9–19 www.onstageatlanta.com ‘My Fair Lady’ Georgia Ensemble Theatre April 9–26 www.get.org ‘Damn Yankees!’

Atlanta Lyric Theatre Jennie T. Anderson Theatre April 10–26 www.atlantalyrictheatre.com ‘Blues for an Alabama Sky’ Alliance Theatre April 15–May 10 www.alliancetheatre.com ‘The Breakers’ 7 Stages April 16–May 10 www.7stages.org ‘Die Mommie Die!’ Onstage Atlanta May 1–23 www.onstageatlanta.com

Bubba Carr, gay choreographer at Serenbe Playhouse, was a star dancer in Cher’s 1987 video “I Found Someone,” and visited with the gay icon backstage at her Atlanta concert last year. (Courtesy photo)

DETAILS

‘Man of La Mancha’ Serenbe Playhouse 9110 Selborne Lane, Suite 210 Chattahoochee Hills, GA 30268 March 26–April 11 www.serenbeplayhouse.com “Oklahoma!” Their production of the dance sequence at the end of the first act was darker and more sexual than previous incarnations. The two also worked on this winter’s “The Snow Queen.”

The creative team is still early in its preparations for “La Mancha,” and both Clowdus and Carr have notions of what they want to work on. “Brian sent me the numbers he wanted—about four songs, including ‘Little Bird, Little Bird’—and prefaced it by saying, ‘It’s not a dance show, but there are some dance moments,’” Carr says.

“My process is listening to the music and coming up with ideas. Structurally we want to make it dark. Hopefully we will come up with something creative and abstract for the title song.”

Carr laughs that he is familiar with the musical but hasn’t been involved with a version since high school.

Most of Carr’s local theater choreography has been at Serenbe, but he worked on “Godspell” at Stage Door Players with Clowdus as well. Besides this, he’s been busy choreographing the big-budget film, “Bolden!” about Charles Joseph “Buddy” Bolden, the “Cornet King of New Orleans,” over the last several months. It’s scheduled for release later this year.

As busy as he’s been, though, he wouldn’t have missed the local Cher concert last year.

He happily reunited with the diva after the show and took a selfie with her.

And speaking of divas, Clowdus and Carr will collaborate this summer on a sure to be hot ticket—Serenbe’s version of “Evita.”

‘Pippin’ Fox Theatre May 5–10 www.broadwayacrossamerica.com ‘Hands on a Hardbody’ Aurora Theatre May 7–31 www.auroratheatre.com ‘The Whale’ Actor’s Express May 14–June 14 www.actorsexpress.com ‘Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean’ Onstage Atlanta June 5–27 www.onstageatlanta.com ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ Serenbe Playhouse June 11–28 www.serenbeplayhouse.com ‘Evita’ Serenbe Playhouse July 23–August 16 www.serenbeplayhouse.com

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03.06.15

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What is STRIBILD? STRIBILD is a prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in adults who have never taken HIV-1 medicines before. It combines 4 medicines into 1 pill to be taken once a day with food. STRIBILD is a complete single-tablet regimen and should not be used with other HIV-1 medicines.

STRIBILD does not cure HIV-1 infection or AIDS. To control HIV-1 infection and decrease HIV-related illnesses you must keep taking STRIBILD. Ask your healthcare provider if you have questions about how to reduce the risk of passing HIV-1 to others. Always practice safer sex and use condoms to lower the chance of sexual contact with body fluids.

Never reuse or share needles or other items that have body fluids on them.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION What is the most important information I should know about STRIBILD? STRIBILD can cause serious side effects: • Build-up of an acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency. Symptoms of lactic acidosis include feeling very weak or tired, unusual (not normal) muscle pain, trouble breathing, stomach pain with nausea or vomiting, feeling cold especially in your arms and legs, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or a fast or irregular heartbeat.

• Serious liver problems. The liver may become large (hepatomegaly) and fatty (steatosis). Symptoms of liver problems include your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow (jaundice), dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored bowel movements (stools), loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, and/or stomach pain.

• You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or serious liver problems if you are female, very overweight (obese), or have been taking STRIBILD for a long time. In some cases, these serious conditions have led to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any symptoms of these conditions.

• Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. If you also have HBV and stop taking STRIBILD, your hepatitis may suddenly get worse. Do not stop taking STRIBILD without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to monitor your health. STRIBILD is not approved for the treatment of HBV.

Who should not take STRIBILD? Do not take STRIBILD if you: • Take a medicine that contains: alfuzosin, dihydroergotamine, ergotamine, methylergonovine, cisapride, lovastatin, simvastatin, pimozide, sildenafil when used for lung problems (Revatio®), triazolam, oral midazolam, rifampin or the herb St. John’s wort.

• For a list of brand names for these medicines, please see the Brief Summary on the following pages.

• Take any other medicines to treat HIV-1 infection, or the medicine adefovir (Hepsera®).

What are the other possible side effects of STRIBILD? Serious side effects of STRIBILD may also include: • New or worse kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do regular blood and urine tests to check your kidneys before and during treatment with STRIBILD. If you develop kidney problems, your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking STRIBILD. • Bone problems, including bone pain or bones getting soft or thin, which may lead to fractures. Your healthcare provider may do tests to check your bones.

• Changes in body fat can happen in people taking HIV-1 medicines.

• Changes in your immune system.

Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fight infections. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any new symptoms after you start taking STRIBILD. The most common side effects of STRIBILD include nausea and diarrhea.

Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or don’t go away.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking STRIBILD? • All your health problems. Be sure to tell your healthcare provider if you have or had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis virus infection.

• All the medicines you take, including prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. STRIBILD may affect the way other medicines work, and other medicines may affect how STRIBILD works. Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist. Do not start any new medicines while taking STRIBILD without first talking with your healthcare provider.

• If you take hormone-based birth control (pills, patches, rings, shots, etc).

• If you take antacids. Take antacids at least 2 hours before or after you take STRIBILD. • If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if STRIBILD can harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking STRIBILD. • If you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed.

HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk. Also, some medicines in STRIBILD can pass into breast milk, and it is not known if this can harm the baby.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Please see Brief Summary of full Prescribing Information with important warnings on the following pages.

STRIBILD is a prescription medicine used as a complete single-tablet regimen to treat HIV-1 in adults who have never taken HIV-1 medicines before. STRIBILD does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS.

I started my personal revolution Talk to your healthcare provider about starting treatment.

STRIBILD is a complete HIV-1 treatment in 1 pill, once a day.

Ask if it’s right for you.

Patient Information STRIBILD® (STRY-bild) (elvitegravir 150 mg/cobicistat 150 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/ tenofovir disoproxil fumarate 300 mg) tablets Brief summary of full Prescribing Information. For more information, please see the full Prescribing Information, including Patient Information.

What is STRIBILD? • STRIBILD is a prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in adults who have never taken HIV-1 medicines before. STRIBILD is a complete regimen and should not be used with other HIV-1 medicines.

• STRIBILD does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. You must stay on continuous HIV-1 therapy to control HIV-1 infection and decrease HIV-related illnesses.

• Ask your healthcare provider about how to prevent passing HIV-1 to others. Do not share or reuse needles, injection equipment, or personal items that can have blood or body fluids on them. Do not have sex without protection. Always practice safer sex by using a latex or polyurethane condom to lower the chance of sexual contact with semen, vaginal secretions, or blood.

What is the most important information I should know about STRIBILD? STRIBILD can cause serious side effects, including: 1. Build-up of lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis). Lactic acidosis can happen in some people who take STRIBILD or similar (nucleoside analogs) medicines. Lactic acidosis is a serious medical emergency that can lead to death. Lactic acidosis can be hard to identify early, because the symptoms could seem like symptoms of other health problems. Call your healthcare provider right away if you get any of the following symptoms which could be signs of lactic acidosis: • feel very weak or tired • have unusual (not normal) muscle pain • have trouble breathing • have stomach pain with nausea or vomiting • feel cold, especially in your arms and legs • feel dizzy or lightheaded • have a fast or irregular heartbeat 2. Severe liver problems. Severe liver problems can happen in people who take STRIBILD. In some cases, these liver problems can lead to death. Your liver may become large (hepatomegaly) and you may develop fat in your liver (steatosis). Call your healthcare provider right away if you get any of the following symptoms of liver problems: • your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow (jaundice) • dark “tea-colored” urine • light-colored bowel movements (stools) • loss of appetite for several days or longer • nausea • stomach pain You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or severe liver problems if you are female, very overweight (obese), or have been taking STRIBILD for a long time.

3. Worsening of Hepatitis B infection. If you have hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and take STRIBILD, your HBV may get worse (flare-up) if you stop taking STRIBILD. A “flare-up” is when your HBV infection suddenly returns in a worse way than before.

• Do not run out of STRIBILD. Refill your prescription or talk to your healthcare provider before your STRIBILD is all gone

• Do not stop taking STRIBILD without first talking to your healthcare provider • If you stop taking STRIBILD, your healthcare provider will need to check your health often and do blood tests regularly for several months to check your HBV infection. Tell your healthcare provider about any new or unusual symptoms you may have after you stop taking STRIBILD Who should not take STRIBILD? Do not take STRIBILD if you also take a medicine that contains: • adefovir (Hepsera®) • alfuzosin hydrochloride (Uroxatral®) • cisapride (Propulsid®, Propulsid Quicksolv®) • ergot-containing medicines, including: dihydroergotamine mesylate (D.H.E. 45®, Migranal®), ergotamine tartrate (Cafergot®, Migergot®, Ergostat®, Medihaler Ergotamine®, Wigraine®, Wigrettes®), and methylergonovine maleate (Ergotrate®, Methergine®) • lovastatin (Advicor®, Altoprev®, Mevacor®) • oral midazolam • pimozide (Orap®) • rifampin (Rifadin®, Rifamate®, Rifater®, Rimactane®) • sildenafil (Revatio®), when used for treating lung problems • simvastatin (Simcor®, Vytorin®, Zocor®) • triazolam (Halcion®) • the herb St. John’s wort Do not take STRIBILD if you also take any other HIV-1 medicines, including: • Other medicines that contain tenofovir (Atripla®, Complera®, Viread®, Truvada®) • Other medicines that contain emtricitabine, lamivudine, or ritonavir (Atripla®, Combivir®, Complera®, Emtriva®, Epivir® or Epivir-HBV®, Epzicom®, Kaletra®, Norvir®, Trizivir®, Truvada®) STRIBILD is not for use in people who are less than 18 years old.

What are the possible side effects of STRIBILD? STRIBILD may cause the following serious side effects: • See “What is the most important information I should know about STRIBILD?” • New or worse kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys before you start and while you are taking STRIBILD. Your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking STRIBILD if you develop new or worse kidney problems.

• Bone problems can happen in some people who take STRIBILD. Bone problems include bone pain, softening or thinning (which may lead to fractures). Your healthcare provider may need to do tests to check your bones.

• Changes in body fat can happen in people who take HIV-1 medicine.

These changes may include increased amount of fat in the upper back and neck (“buffalo hump”), breast, and around the middle of your body (trunk). Loss of fat from the legs, arms and face may also happen. The exact cause and long-term health effects of these conditions are not known.

• Changes in your immune system (Immune Reconstitution Syndrome) can happen when you start taking HIV-1 medicines. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fight infections that have been hidden in your body for a long time. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you start having any new symptoms after starting your HIV-1 medicine.

The most common side effects of STRIBILD include: • Nausea • Diarrhea Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away.

• These are not all the possible side effects of STRIBILD. For more information, ask your healthcare provider.

• Call your healthcare provider for medical advice about side effects.

You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking STRIBILD? Tell your healthcare provider about all your medical conditions, including: • If you have or had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis B infection • If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if STRIBILD can harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking STRIBILD. - There is a pregnancy registry for women who take antiviral medicines during pregnancy. The purpose of this registry is to collect information about the health of you and your baby. Talk with your healthcare provider about how you can take part in this registry.

• If you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed if you take STRIBILD. - You should not breastfeed if you have HIV-1 because of the risk of passing HIV-1 to your baby.

- Two of the medicines in STRIBILD can pass to your baby in your breast milk. It is not known if the other medicines in STRIBILD can pass into your breast milk.

- Talk with your healthcare provider about the best way to feed your baby.

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, including prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements: • STRIBILD may affect the way other medicines work, and other medicines may affect how STRIBILD works.

• Be sure to tell your healthcare provider if you take any of the following medicines: - Hormone-based birth control (pills, patches, rings, shots, etc) - Antacid medicines that contain aluminum, magnesium hydroxide, or calcium carbonate. Take antacids at least 2 hours before or after you take STRIBILD - Medicines to treat depression, organ transplant rejection, or high blood pressure - amiodarone (Cordarone®, Pacerone®) - atorvastatin (Lipitor®, Caduet®) - bepridil hydrochloride (Vascor®, Bepadin®) - bosentan (Tracleer®) - buspirone - carbamazepine (Carbatrol®, Epitol®, Equetro®, Tegretol®) - clarithromycin (Biaxin®, Prevpac®) - clonazepam (Klonopin®) - clorazepate (Gen-xene®, Tranxene®) - colchicine (Colcrys®) - medicines that contain dexamethasone - diazepam (Valium®)

- digoxin (Lanoxin®) - disopyramide (Norpace®) - estazolam - ethosuximide (Zarontin®) - flecainide (Tambocor®) - flurazepam - fluticasone (Flovent®, Flonase®, Flovent® Diskus®, Flovent® HFA, Veramyst®) - itraconazole (Sporanox®) - ketoconazole (Nizoral®) - lidocaine (Xylocaine®) - mexiletine - oxcarbazepine (Trileptal®) - perphenazine - phenobarbital (Luminal®) - phenytoin (Dilantin®, Phenytek®) - propafenone (Rythmol®) - quinidine (Neudexta®) - rifabutin (Mycobutin®) - rifapentine (Priftin®) - risperidone (Risperdal®, Risperdal Consta®) - salmeterol (Serevent®) or salmeterol when taken in combination with fluticasone (Advair Diskus®, Advair HFA®) - sildenafil (Viagra®), tadalafil (Cialis®) or vardenafil (Levitra®, Staxyn®), for the treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED). If you get dizzy or faint (low blood pressure), have vision changes or have an erection that last longer than 4 hours, call your healthcare provider or get medical help right away.

- tadalafil (Adcirca®), for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension - telithromycin (Ketek®) - thioridazine - voriconazole (Vfend®) - warfarin (Coumadin®, Jantoven®) - zolpidem (Ambien®, Edlular®, Intermezzo®, Zolpimist®) Know the medicines you take. Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist when you get a new medicine. Do not start any new medicines while you are taking STRIBILD without first talking with your healthcare provider.

Keep STRIBILD and all medicines out of reach of children.

This Brief Summary summarizes the most important information about STRIBILD. If you would like more information, talk with your healthcare provider. You can also ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist for information about STRIBILD that is written for health professionals, or call 1-800-445-3235 or go to www.STRIBILD.com.

Issued: October 2013

COMPLERA, EMTRIVA, GILEAD, the GILEAD Logo, GSI, HEPSERA, STRIBILD, the STRIBILD Logo, TRUVADA, and VIREAD are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. ATRIPLA is a trademark of Bristol-Myers Squibb & Gilead Sciences, LLC. All other marks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners. © 2014 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. STBC0111 10/14

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SPRING ARTS PREVIEW

FILM PATRICK SAUNDERS

ATL Film Festival enchants James Franco appearance, Pink Peach competition highlight this year’s event

ATLANTA FILM FESTIVAL LINEUP PINK PEACH FEATURES

“Drown” Surfing legend Len’s status starts to crumble when the younger, faster Phil arrives in town.

Then Len witnesses Phil kissing another man and he starts to form unexpected feelings for the younger surfer.

“Helicopter Mom” Maggie (Nia Vardalos) thinks it would be “really cool” to have a gay son, so she outs her son Lloyd to his entire high school, but Lloyd’s not even sure he’s gay.

The Atlanta Film Festival is getting a big rainbow-colored shot in the arm this year as organizers have bulked up the LGBT content and announced that the opening night film will be “I Am Michael,” the story of “ex-gay” turned pastor Michael Glatze. Actor James Franco, no stranger to LGBT film fare (“Milk,” “Interior. Leather Bar”), portrays Glatze, and will be in attendance on the red carpet and for a post-screening Q&A. The festival, playing March 20 to 29 at various locations throughout the city, is celebrating its 40th year bringing films—and the stars and creators behind them—to the South. And while they’ve shone a light on LGBT content since 2008 with the Pink Peach competition, organizers noticed a dearth of such content last year and vowed to rectify it.

“We didn’t have as many [LGBT] selections as we wanted last year,” says Alex Watson, educational coordinator for the Atlanta Film Festival. “We did more outreach this year that did result in a lot more submissions.”

Festival creative director Kristy Breneman says it’s about acknowledging a community that’s well-represented in Atlanta.

“Film festivals are here to share the voices of independent filmmakers not heard in Hollywood,” she says. “It’s kind of the same for LGBTQ issues, and film festivals provide that platform and that outlet. It’s our way of showing our support as well.”

“Before the Last Curtain Falls (Bevor der letzte Vorhang fällt)” A group of senior citizen transsexuals and drag queens take to the stage one last time, but the tour is coming to a close and they must leave the limelight and go home to their quiet lives. From Germany.

“In the Turn” In this documentary, a 10-year-old transgender girl in rural Canada is tormented at school by her teachers and classmates until her mother discovers the Vagine Regime, a supportive collective of queer roller-derby players.

“Masculinity/Femininity” Filmmaker Russell Sheaffer directs this documentary in which artists, academics and gender theorists present monologues, stories and performance pieces on the constructs of today’s gender-normative society.

“Trans: A Documentary About Transboys” Several transgender men undergo medical treatment to complete their female-to-male transitions at a hospital in Belgium, as this documentary highlights a community and its unique struggles.

PINK PEACH SHORTS

“Actresses” An off-Broadway star strikes up a romantic relationship with a 23-year-old aspiring actress.

“Charlotte” Alex befriends the popular girl at school and begins to develop feelings she doesn’t understand.

PLENTY OF LGBT FILM PROGRAMMING TO GO AROUND

Jim Farmer, a columnist for Georgia Voice and executive director of Atlanta LGBT film festival Out On Film, looks at the Atlanta Film Festival more as a companion than competition. After all, the Atlanta Film Festival was the longtime producer of Out On Film before the LGBT film festival went independent in 2008.

The timing of the festivals helps as well, with Out On Film having another six months to snatch up more LGBT programming of its own before running for the 28th year this October.

“There’s a good crop of films right now that the Atlanta Film Festival has been able to get,” he says. “But when it comes to the fall, there will be a whole new crop of films for us.

It gives people the opportunity to see quality LGBT programming throughout the year.”

Speaking of programming, how did the Atlanta Film Festival book “I Am Michael”

www.theGAVoice.com

James Franco will attend the opening night screening of “I Am Michael,” in which he portrays “ex-gay” turned pastor Michael Glatze. (Photo by Christopher Blauvelt)

DETAILS Atlanta Film Festival March 20 - 29 Various Locations www.atlantafilmfestival.com and that Franco appearance for opening night? It was through a festival connection and an agreeable schedule.

Actress Abigail Spencer (from the Atlanta-filmed Sundance Channel series “Rectify”) produced a short film playing in the festival called “Winter Light.” Spencer worked on a project with Franco called “The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards.”

“She basically connected us with his manager and that’s how we were able to get in contact with the distributor of the film,” Breneman says.

Talks with Franco’s camp began in mid-February, and he’s set to be in town at the same time as the festival as he directs and stars in “In Dubious Battle,” based on a John Steinbeck novel, and also featuring Bryan Cranston, Selena Gomez and Robert Duvall.

“Happy Endings” A parking booth attendant steps out of his comfort zone to liberate an erotic masseuse from her oppressive boss. From Canada.

OTHER FEATURES OF LGBT INTEREST

“I Am Michael” March 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Plaza Atlanta Theatre Gay activist and publisher Michael Glatze (James Franco) turns to Christianity after facing a health scare and renounces his homosexuality, becoming a pastor and marrying a woman (Emma Roberts).

“The Firefly (La Luciernaga)” March 22 at 7 p.m.

Woodruff Arts Center, Hill Auditorium Lucia finds comfort with her late brother’s fiancée, Mariana, as the two women bond over their loss and share memories of the man they both loved. Eventually they fall in love and Lucia finds herself at a crossroads.

www.theGAVoice.com

SPRING ARTS PREVIEW

03.06.15

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TELEVISION PATRICK SAUNDERS

Spring forward with these LGBT TV hits Broadcast networks take a back seat for diverse TV fare this season

By PATRICK SAUNDERS psaunders@thegavoice.com

TV shows. “Cucumber” focuses on a middle-aged man who deals with the fallout from a horrible date with his boyfriend of nearly a decade, while “Banana” focuses on LGBT youth in Manchester.

If you hadn’t heard, broadcast television is not nearly the dream destination it used to be for quality TV programming. For evidence of that, look no further than this list of shows featuring LGBT actors, characters and storylines to watch out for this spring. Only three of the 13 shows on this list find a home on one of the “Big Four” networks.

The innovators of the television industry have expanded the search for a home to make their dynamic and daring ideas come to life. Cable networks like HBO, Showtime and Logo are landing prime LGBT fare, but the undisputed champion of LGBT content this season is Netflix by a mile.

Check out this list of the returning favorites and newest hits to grace your multiple screens this spring.

“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” (March 6 on Netflix) The one and only Tina Fey co-created this new sitcom starring Ellie Kemper (“The Office,” “Bridesmaids”) in the lead role as a woman who escapes a doomsday cult and starts life fresh in New York City. Jane Krakowksi (“30 Rock) co-stars and keep an eye out for Tituss Burgess, who plays (who else?) Titus, Kimmy’s gay roommate who works as a robot in Times Square.

“Powers” (March 10 on PlayStation Network) This new series is the PlayStation Network’s first original scripted programming and is based on the comic book series of the same name. It stars Sharlto Copley (“District 9”) as homicide detective Christian Walker, who investigates cases involving superheroes and supervillains..

Transgender actor Eddie Izzard co-stars as “Big Bad” Wolfe.

“Dancing With The Stars” (March 16 on ABC) Season 20 of the popular celebrity dancing competition brings a whole new crop of hoofers, and those looking for a gay angle can look no further than cast-member Michael Sam. Sam was the first openly gay football player to be drafted into the NFL. While he’s still looking for a team to sign him and become the first openly gay player in the NFL, he’ll team with Peta Murgatroyd in the meantime to show what he’s got on the dancefloor. Gay fave Patti Labelle is also taking part.

“Penny Dreadful” (May 3 on Showtime) There was already enough of an LGBT quotient on Showtime’s horror TV series thanks to the inclusion of bisexual character Dorian Gray (yes, gay writer and poet Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray), played by Reeve Carney, but then viewers were treated to a surprise makeout session last season between Gray and Josh Hartnett’s character Ethan Chandler. Carney’s character will have a new love interest in season two.

“Grace and Frankie” (May 8 on Netflix) Now this is the one everyone’s been waiting for. Jane Fonda and lesbian actress/comedian Lily Tomlin star in this new sitcom from Netflix as “frenemies” who are brought closer together when their husbands, played by Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston, leave their wives for each other. We’re setting a countdown for this one.

‘Orange is the New Black’ returns to Netflix to the delight of LGBT fans. (Publicity photo)

“One Big Happy” (March 17 on NBC) Ellen DeGeneres is the producer on this new half-hour sitcom starring Elisha Cuthbert (“24,” “Happy Endings”) as Lizzy, a lesbian who enlists her longtime best friend Luke to father her child.

Things go haywire quickly when Lizzy finds out she’s pregnant on the same day that Luke announces that he has married a woman that he recently met—and whom Lizzy doesn’t like.

Hijinks are sure to ensue. Plus hey, lesbians!

“Weird Loners” (March 31 on FOX) This new half-hour sitcom from Michael J. Weithorn (co-creator of “King of Queens”) is about four relationship-phobic people who form an unlikely bond in a townhouse in Queens, New York. “Happy Endings” fans will recognize Zachary Knighton but keep an eye out for scene-stealer Meera Rohit Kumbhani, who plays Zara, a bisexual heartbreaker who always lives in the moment.

“Younger” (March 31 on TV Land) Openly gay TV veteran Darren Star (creator of

“Melrose Place,” “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Sex in the City”) is back with this new halfhour comedy-drama series based on the Pamela Redmond Satran novel of the same name.

It stars Sutton Foster as a 40-year-old recently divorced mother who has trouble finding a job until she gets a makeover. Hilary Duff and Debi Mazar co-star.

“Game of Thrones” (April 12 on HBO) SPOILER ALERT for those not caught up with HBO’s blockbuster fantasy drama series.

Viewers said goodbye to bisexual lothario Oberyn Martell (played by Pedro Pascal) in a gruesome way in season four, but fear not.

There’s usually always something for everyone in this multi-layered TV epic, and fans of the U.K. Version of “Queer As Folk” will recognize Aidan Gillen as the dastardly Littlefinger.

“Cucumber” and “Banana” (April 13 on Logo) Speaking of “Queer As Folk,” Russell T. Davies, the openly gay creator of the British version of the show, is back with these two new supergay

“Sense8” (June 5 on Netflix) Oh look, another new show from Netflix.

This sci-fi drama series was created by Andy Wachowski and his transgender sister Lana Wachowski, who were the masterminds behind “The Matrix” trilogy. And the LGBT connection doesn’t stop there. The show will follow eight stranger whose minds suddenly become linked as they explore the themes of identity, sexuality, gender and more.

“Orange is the New Black” (June 12 on Netflix) Everyone’s favorite women’s prison comedy-drama returns for season three! You want bisexuals? There’s Piper Chapman (played by Taylor Schilling). Lesbians? There’s Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren (played by Uzo Aduba), Alex Vause (played by Laura Prepon), Poussey Washington (played by Samira Wiley), Nicky Nichols (played by Natasha Lyonne) and Carrie “Big Boo” Black (played

by Lea DeLaria). And of course there’s the one and only Laverne Cox, the transgender actress and activist who plays the transgender character Sophia Burset.

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SPRING ARTS PREVIEW

MUSIC SHANNON HAMES

Riding ‘Carousel of Fire’ Hannah Thomas headlines one of many hot spring concerts

the Smithereens and several others. He played bass on this new EP of mine. I got Jim Brock to do percussion. He’s played with everybody from Jimmy Buffet to John Mellencamp.

The record itself has a 1990s feel to little bit of modern rock edge but also and it was all crowd-funded by my fans.

MARCH 8 Hellyeah Center Stage, www.centerstage-atlanta.com MARCH 10 Hozier Variety Playhouse, www.variety-playhouse.com

MARCH 25 Fleetwood Mac Phillips Arena, www.philipsarena.com APRIL 3 The Devil Wears Prada Masquerade, www.masqueradeatlanta.com APRIL 19 Melissa Ferrick Eddie’s Attic, www.eddiesattic.com APRIL 23 Halestorm & The Pretty Reckless Tabernacle, www.tabernacleatl.com

The last time we talked a few years ago, I did your coming-out interview.

You weren’t even out to most of your family. How have things changed since then?

Well actually, things have been wonderful! I’ve been more open with my writing and not having those barriers that were up to hide myself in my song lyrics. I have had a lot of opportunities to play with some amazing people. I did a few tours with the Indigo Girls, I got to sing on Amy Ray’s last CD, I got to play with Chely Wright, and I got to play on a sweet (lesbian) vacation in Mexico, which was incredibly fun!

You are about to release your new EP, “Carousel of Fire,” on March 28.

Tell me about it.

It was produced by Don Dixon. He

SPRING CONCERT PREVIEW

MARCH 13 John Mellencamp Fabulous Fox Theatre, foxtheatre.org

Two years ago, The Georgia Voice did the coming-out interview for local Atlanta musician, Hannah Thomas. It took a lot of people by surprise, including her family. The Georgia Voice caught up with this 25-year-old lesbian rocker to talk about what has changed since that interview, about the release of her new EP and about her upcoming show at Steve’s Live Music.

You seem to be doing more regional shows in the Southeast and not just a ton of small, local venues.

Yes, I’m playing fewer shows but they’re bigger parties when I do play. I am also doing a lot more in Nashville than I had before. Atlanta is always going to be a regular stop for me—at least every few months. I do have some shows that are currently being planned for the Northeast in May, but they’re nouncement about that soon.

www.theGAVoice.com

APRIL 23 The Who & Joan Jett Arena at Gwinnett, www.gwinnettcenter.com APRIL 24 Bob Dylan Fabulous Fox Theatre, foxtheatre.org APRIL 27 Death Cab For Cutie Fabulous Fox Theatre, foxtheatre.org MAY 13 Bette Midler Phillips Arena, www.philipsarena.com Lesbian rocker Hannah Thomas is set to release her new EP on March 28 at Steve’s Live Music. (Courtesy photo)

DETAILS Hannah Thomas March 28 Steve’s Live Music www.steveslivemusic.com I heard that 94.9 The Bull was putting “God Help My Mama” in its rotation.

Yeah! It’s on the new EP. I think it’s awesome that they’re playing it because I don’t change the pronouns in the song whatsoever. No one’s making a big deal about the lyrics saying “I like a pretty girl and some feel good music for my soul”—it’s cool that nobody is making a big deal about it. I think that’s awesome.

You are having a release party for the new CD at Steve’s Live Music on March 28?

March. People can pre-order it on my website at HannahThomasBand.com.

Right now, we have free shipping and it will arrive signed. Or, they can get it at

going to be a cool show. My guitar player, Cooper Carter, is going to be playing with me. It’ll be a big party.

Your relationship status?

I’ll just say that I am very happy!

Did you relocate to Alabama?

I have a place there now but Atlanta is still my home base. I’ll always be an Atlanta girl!

You have a pretty big following here in the Southeast. What do you want to say to your fans?

I really want to thank them for their support. They are so great to come out to the shows and fund the records.

Without them, I would just be another girl, singing in the shower.

MAY 15 Ministry Masquerade, www.masqueradeatlanta.com MAY 16 Sonia Leigh Terminal West, www.terminalwestatl.com MAY 19 Iggy Azalea & Nick Jonas Phillips Arena, www.philipsarena.com MAY 26 Rush Verizon Ampitheatre, www.vzwamp.com MAY 30 Dave Matthews Band Aaron’s Amphitheatre www.aaronsamphitheatres.com JUNE 4 Barry Manilow Arena at Gwinnett www.gwinnettcenter.com JUNE 14 Lana Del Ray Aaron’s Amphitheatre www.aaronsamphitheatres.com JUNE 26 Natalie Cole Cobb Energy Center www.cobbenergycentre.com

www.theGAVoice.com

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03.06.15

!

NEXT WEEK

presents

MARCH 13-15 • COBB ENERGY CENTRE

Tickets: 800.745.3000 or TicketMaster.com Group Sales: 404-881-2000 or groupsales@foxtheatre.org Euriamis Losada (Ricky), Thea Brooks (Lucy) and the 14-15 National Tour Company of LUCY LIVE. (Photos Justin Namon) • “I LOVE LUCY” ® & © 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

ATLANTA GAY MEN’S CHORUS

UNSUNG HEROES

Featuring Matt Alber March 27 • 8PM March 28 • 2PM & 8PM

Druid Hills United Methodist Church

Tickets $35 • Available at AGMChorus.org

www.theGAVoice.com

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

BOOKS BY TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER

Woman scorned Lesbian relationship in 1890s turns deadly Sooner or later, it happens to us all.

You meet someone and things go well.

You spend time together, and soon you’re in love. Then something happens and you fight, you break up, and it’s the worst.

Your heart is shattered and you think you might die.

The good news is that you don’t. Or, as in the book, “Alice + Freda Forever,” by Alexis Coe, someone does die because her former lover can’t take “no” for an answer.

When teenager Alice Mitchell met slightly younger Freda Ward at the Higbee School for Young Ladies in Memphis, nobody was surprised that they became close. In the 1890s, it was common for “proper American women” to enjoy friendships with other women that included sleepovers and deeply affectionate gestures. In Memphis, they called it “chumming,” and it was perfectly normal.

But Alice and Freda took their friendship further: they fell in love.

Family and friends weren’t sure what to think: Alice’s mother suffered psychological problems, Alice’s father mostly ignored her, and her best friend saw nothing amiss.

Freda’s mother was dead and her father was grieving; her sister noticed, though, and figured the relationship was typical— until she intercepted love letters from Alice to Freda, professing faithfulness and planning an elopement.

Alice had decided she could live as a man and support the couple, perhaps in St. Louis.

Freda agreed—or did she? She loved to make Alice jealous by flirting and talking about boys, and when her family finally ended the relationship with Alice, she seemed to easily forget about their love and their plans.

But Alice didn’t forget. Enraged, she stalked Freda for weeks, trying to get her away from her family. She thought if she could talk to Freda, everything would be all right, but when Freda ignored Alice outside a downtown storefront, Alice finally understood that she’d never have Freda’s love again.

And if Alice couldn’t love Freda, then nobody would...

Sounds like the basis for a great novel, doesn’t it? Girl meets girl, girl loses girl, tragedy ensues—The End? Nope—not by a long shot, because “Alice + Freda Forever” is all true.

In her introduction, Alexis Coe explains how she became nearly obsessed with the story of star-crossed lovers, cold-blooded

“With its old-timey atmosphere, murder reminiscent of a Victorian detective novel, chaste romance, and mild edge-of-yourseat action, ‘Alice + Freda Forever’ is a book all ages could enjoy.” murder, and unrequited love, and why she knew this story needed telling. What’s nice is that, in setting the scene for this tabloidlike tale, Coe writes in the voice you’d want for this kind of book: one that evokes blackand-white movies and Sherlockian dramas.

But since we know whodunit, the mystery is solved and there’s little left to do but follow, with modern eyes and jaws wide open, the aftermath, complete with scandalized city, sordid trial, and a difficult choice for the defendant’s life.

The book’s target audience is readers age 16 and up. With its old-timey atmosphere, murder reminiscent of a Victorian detective novel, chaste romance, and mild edge-ofyour-seat action, “Alice + Freda Forever” is a book all ages could enjoy.

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Event spotlight

BEST BETS BEST BETS

03.06.15-03.20.15

www.theGAVoice.com

bout a s u l l e T event T B G L your LGBT event for

r Submit you our online and print in n inclusio by emailing event info calendars hegavoice.com t to editor@

FRIDAY, MARCH 6 – SUNDAY, MARCH 8

Atlanta Team Tennis Association (ATTA) hosts its ChATTAhoochee doubles tournament this weekend at the Sharon Lester Tennis Center, www.atta.org

FRIDAY, MARCH 6SUNDAY, MARCH 8 Musician Shawn Mullins has a Birthday Bash with special guest Michelle Malone tonight and tomorrow at 8 and Sunday at 7:30 p.m. at the Red Clay Music Foundry, www.eddieowenpresents.com

FRIDAY, MARCH 6

Lori Horvitz grew up ashamed of her Eastern European Jewish roots, confused about her sexuality, and idolizing the “shiksa in her living room,” a blonde all-American girl whose photo came in a double frame and was displayed next to a family photo from a bar mitzvah. Her novel “The Girls of Usually” chronicles each trip, each romance, each experiment in reinventing herself that draws her closer to discovering the secret door through which she can escape from deep-rooted patterns and accept her own cultural, ethnic, and sexual identity. Join Charis Books for a reading and Q & A

by Horvitz, 7:30 p.m., www.charisbooksandmore.com The witches of Oz sing “Defying Gravity” and more in the musical “Wicked,” running through March 8, with a performance at 7:30 p.m., Fox Theatre, www.foxtheatre.org DJ Mike Pope gets the second level of Blake’s cranking tonight, www.blakesontheparkatlanta.com

SUNDAY, MARCH 8 Jason and DeMarco of Nashville will be featured guests at City of Light MCC at the 11 a.m. service. The couple, now fathers of two boys, will be singing songs from their latest CD, www. facebook.com/firstmccatlanta (Publicity photo)

The Boys Room Video Dance Party with videos and DJ Headmaster kicks the weekend into gear at Mary’s, www.marysatlanta.com

SATURDAY, MARCH 7

The Lesbian 50+ Potluck and Social offers good food and better company. Attendees are asked to bring a covered dish. 6 – 8 p.m., Phillip Rush Center, www.rushcenteratl.org Head out to Jungle Atlanta tonight for “Totally ’80s Dragavanza” benefiting Jerusalem House & Lost-N-Found Youth. Several of Atlanta’s most talented drag entertainers will be performing your favorite ’80s hits to raise money. Dust off your fishnet gloves, leg warmers, and party skirts and come enjoy an evening of fun! The best ’80s costume wins a $100 gift certificate, 6 p.m., www.jungleatl.com

MONDAY, MARCH 9 “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 7 contestant Violet Chachki hosts the “official” Atlanta viewing party for the weekly show at Mary’s, beginning at 8 p.m., www.marysatlanta.com (Photo via RDG)

The Ain’t Sisters, Claire Campbell (of Hope For Agoldensummer) and Hollin Gammage perform at Kavarna in Decatur, 7:30 p.m., www.facebook.com/ theaintsisters Early country line dancing begins at 8 p.m. with free lessons, then DJ Mike Pope begins a late night dance at 12:30 a.m., Heretic, www.hereticatlanta.com

SATURDAY, MARCH 7

Created by out Bobby Box with gay puppeteer Jeffrey Hyman in the cast, “Anne Frank: Within and Without” has an 8 p.m. curtain, Center for Puppetry Arts, www.puppet.org (Photo courtesy Center for Puppetry Arts)

SOMETHING GAY EVERY DAY!

Bookmark www.thegavoice.com to get your daily dose of local LGBT events.

DJ Moose from NYC spins at Jungle, 10 p.m., www.jungleatl.com It’s Atlanta Talons softball team bar night at the Atlanta Eagle with DJ Keoki. All tips go to support the team’s jersey fund, 10 p.m., www.facebook.com/atlanta.talons

SUNDAY, MARCH 8

DJ Karlitos pumps up the crowd at Xion Atlanta, 3 a.m., www.cariocaproductions.com The Democratic Party of Georgia’s LGBT Caucus hosts an International Women’s Day Social at Henry’s Midtown, 12:30 p.m., www.facebook. com/GAGLBT

One of Verdi’s greatest works, “Rigoletto” – presented by Atlanta Opera - closes today, 3 p.m., Cobb Energy Centre, www.cobbenergycentre.org It’s a night of drag pageantry with the Miss Gay Georgia USofA, Miss Georgia USofA Classic, and Miss Georgia USofA at Large competitions taking place, beginning at 7:30 p.m., at Jungle, www.jungleatl.com The Alliance Theatre’s AIDS-themed “The C.A. Lyons Project,” making its world premiere, ends its run tonight with a 7:30 performance, www.alliancetheatre.com Regina Simms presents New Faces, a new contest

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open to entertainers of all kind, with additional performances by Cici Vuitton, Koochie-Koochie Koo and Sharmaine Sinclair, 9 p.m., Friends on Ponce, www.friendsonponce-atl.com

MONDAY, MARCH 9

Making Space: A Community Writing Group for Activists, Healers, and Every Day Heroes is a writing group for those of us who work, move or spend time serving others through human service and community professions (psychologists, educators, social workers). This is Charis Circle From Margin to Center Literary Program.

The suggested donation is $10. 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., www.charisbooksandmore.com Come watch “Rupaul’s Drag Race” at BJ Roosters every Monday at 9 p.m., 2043 Cheshire Bridge Road, Atlanta, GA 30324 Every Monday, The Hideaway will be hosting a weekly Stand Up Comedy Open Mic called Hot Mic, hosted by Ian Aber. The show will feature the best of Atlanta comedy, including LGBT favorites and will be a place for new and established comics to try out comedy. Sign up for available spots will be at 9:30 p.m. with show starting at 10 p.m. Free show.

SATURDAY, MARCH 7

One of the year’s best costume parties, Purim off Ponce, is SOJOURN’s annual fundraiser. This year’s theme is “Cirque du So Gay.” Aerialists, magicians and drag performers will be part of the bill. 7:30 – 11 p.m., Les Fais do-do, www.facebook.com/sojourngsd (Photo via SOJOURN)

TUESDAY, MARCH 10

Author Dana Lise Shaven’s reads from her book, “The Body Tourist,” from 7:30-9 p.m., www.charisbooksandmore.com

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11

Visit Blake’s for “Russell’s Retro Requests,” from 5 – 9 p.m., www.blakesontheparkatlanta.com Get out those leg warmers! Bubba D. Licious, Jaye Lish, Erica Lee and Edie Cheezburger host “I Love the ’80s Bingo” tonight, a fundraiser for PALS Atlanta. 7:30 p.m., Jungle, www.jungleatl.com

Friday night is Papi’s South Beach night, featuring monster margaritas, mojitos and twisters, 10 p.m., www.lasmargaritasmidtown.com

SATURDAY, MARCH 14

“Feed me, Seymour!” Out director Barry West directs “Little Shop of Horrors” at Onstage Atlanta, through March 28, at 8 p.m., www.onstageatlanta.com

Faces Lounge in Marietta debuts its new All-Star Cabaret with Heather Daniels, Maria Mercedes Mooney, Lauren LaMasters, Coco Chanelle, Syrahja, and Vyn Suazion, 10:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m., 138 Powers Ferry Road, Marietta, GA 30060, faceslounge.com

It’s time to come and warm up with your fellow “woods” men at The Manshaft - A Quarterly Themed Mens Event: Lumberjack Edition at Heretic. So pull out those flannels, union suits, skull caps, squeeze into your signature tight jeans and expect a hot log jam full of furry chests & faces, hot daddies, bears & their cubs. From 9 – 11 p.m. is happy hour with DJ Neon, then DJ Diablo Rojo takes over, $5 cover, www.hereticatlanta.com

Phoenix of “Rupaul’s Drag Race” hosts Dancefloor Divas at Burkharts at 11:30 p.m., www. burkharts.com

Find your inner Patti Labelle - every Saturday is karaoke night with Tyler King at 10 p.m. at Hideaway, www.atlantahideaway.com

FRIDAY, MARCH 13

SUNDAY, MARCH 15

“Lucy, I’m home!” The stage version of “I Love Lucy” hits the Cobb Energy Center, running through March 15, with an 8 p.m. curtain tonight, www.cobbenergycentre.com

Wake up and make joyful noise at Gospel Brunch, with the Sisters of Sequin, hosted by Bubba D. Licious and Justice Counce, with brunch seating at 12:30 p.m. and the show at 1:30 p.m., Lips Atlanta, www.lipsatl.com

Edie Cheezburger presents “The Other Show,” the most unique drag show in Atlanta, while the Other Girls will leave you gasping with laughter and surprise. Admission is $5, Jungle, 10 p.m., www.jungleatl.com

Kelly Quindlen, author of the lesbian-themed, young adult book “Her Name in the Sky,” is the featured speaker today at PFLAG’s March meeting, 2:30 – 5 p.m., Spiritual Living Center of Atlanta, 1730 Northeast Expressway NE, Atlanta, GA 30329, www.pflagat.org

THURSDAY, MARCH 12

John Mellencamp will sing “Jack & Diane” and many more of his classics at the Fox Theatre tonight, 7:30 p.m., www.foxtheatre.org

Fabios Campos DJs at Xion Atlanta, 3 a.m., www.cariocaproductions.com

Every Sunday is Tossed Salad drag show with host Brigitte Bidet and fresh queens mixed weekly, 8 p.m., Burkhart’s, www.facebook.com/burkharts

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18

Ten Atlanta presents its third annual Saint Patrick’s Day celebration, www.tenatlanta.com

THURSDAY, MARCH 19

MONDAY, MARCH 16

Monday Mingle at Blake’s is an opportunity to network, with a free buffet and prizes, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., www.blakesonthepark.com Trans and Friends: a Project of the Feminist Outlawz is a youth focused group for trans people, people questioning their own gender, and aspiring allies. Charis Books provides a facilitated space to discuss gender, relevant resources, and activism around social issues. 7:00 – 8:30 p.m., www.charisbooksandmore.com The Tin Man Project, about local party producer and singer Barry Brandon’s experiences with multiple open heart surgeries and his entertainment career, screens at The Plaza Theatre, 7 p.m., www.hausofbarrybrandon.com/new-products-1/ the-tin-man-project

TUESDAY, MARCH 17

It’s the special St. Patrick’s Special Trans Tuesday at My Sister’s Room with performances by drag queens and drag kings. Proceeds go to benefit FTM Foundation and FTM Fitness World, held every third Tuesday, 6 p.m., www.facebook.com/msratl Drageoke brings out lots of performer wannabes, with Angelica D’Paige getting the night started, 10:30 p.m., Burkhart’s, www.burkharts.com

B–20! Ruby Redd hosts Birdcage Bingo at 8:30 p.m., and it’s free to play, The Hideaway, www.atlantahideaway.com SAGE hosts its social hour and games at 10 a.m. then a general meeting follows at 11 a.m., Phillip Rush Center, www.rushcenteratl.org The Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (AGLCC) hosts its Business Builder Luncheon today at 11:45 a.m. at Henry’s in Midtown.

A $20 admission gets the meeting and a pre-set lunch, www.henrysatl.com HRC Atlanta Gala Dinner & Auction Committee hosts its Table Selection PreDinner Reception for the 2015 gala, 7-9 p.m., Ink & Elm Lounge Restaurant Tavern, www.facebook.com/hrcatlanta Every Thursday night, My Sister’s Room hosts The King of Thrones Drag Show, emceed by Niko Giavanni, 9 p.m. with a dance party to follow, www.mysistersroom.com

FRIDAY, MARCH 20SUNDAY, MARCH 29

The Atlanta Film Festival screens dozens of films of numerous genres, including an LGBT track, at various venues, atlantafilmfestival.com

FRIDAY, MARCH 20

Third Friday Film Series presents, “Dear White People,” with showtime promptly at 7 p.m. Snacks and drinks for sale and donations accepted, but no one will be turned away, First Existentialist Congregation, http://tinyurl.com/o9nkt49

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03.06.15

OUTINTHEWILD Civil service Mayor Reed, take a bow I applauded when Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed fired Atlanta’s fire chief; I jumped higher than the Colorado Rockies, did both the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers parts to a new Macarena of my own creation, and whooped like a Falcons fan would if ever given the opportunity.

The legalities of the departure of fire chief Kevin Cochran will be handled by a court of law, which will decide whether Cochran’s anti-gay book, cobbled together by his very own fingers, then spread around a public enterprise, should have resulted in his sacking. Even if the court finds in favor of Cochran, I hope the settlement is financial and he remains outside

the civil service, which has pissed around so many groups for so long, including our LGBTQIA+ peers, that one less of his sort is as welcome as the end of this goddamn winter.

It is, for example, why many victims don’t report rape or sexual assault—aside from the hideous process of having to face their rapist in court, victims first have to hope that the police officers they encounter know what the hell they’re doing, and don’t initially blame the victim for wearing a short skirt, being drunk, or, you know, having a bodily orifice within 25 miles of a university.

It is why the number of black people arrested for the same shit white people do with impunity is so lopsided. Lopsided is the wrong word. It’s more like the length of the

Simon Williamson lives with his federally-recognized spouse in the wild yonder of Newton County. You can follow him on Twitter: @simonwillo.

Downtown Connector versus the height of it.

It is why our people are utterly terrified by the repeated introduction of “religious freedom” bills in legislatures, giving the people who don’t like us, but work in jobs where we have to get close enough to smell their distaste, more power. A friend of mine was told to cough up $200 to change the name on his driver’s license because same-sex marriage is not recognized in Sam Olens’ Georgia. It is why we prepare for the worst when it comes to lining up to adopt children, or change custody, or change our documents to the correct

THEICONOCLAST A different story Building bridges between black fathers and their gay sons My father would never have attended a PFLAG meeting. Not in a million years. He was not an ally in the way we think about heterosexual allies. He was at best ambivalent. He did not understand my being gay, necessarily, but he did understand love, so he loved me in the way he knew how: through actions and gestures. This is how the men in my family love their sons.

When he first started getting sick, before he died, I would visit him in the hospital after work. Not as much as I should have—a fact he would remind me of often, but that’s another story. As I sat with him in his room at Piedmont Hospital, we had these talks. He would tell me how he his missed my mother; she passed away years earlier. He would comment on my weight: if I appeared too

skinny or if I seemed to have put on a few pounds. He would even ask me if I was seeing anyone.

Once he asked me flat out if I had ever gone to Loretta’s, the iconic black gay club in Midtown. How he even knew about Loretta’s, I didn’t ask, but my father knew things, and knew people, so it wasn’t shocking. Oldschool black men like my father who’d lived in Atlanta for years knew everything about the city, even things you wouldn’t expect.

Like I said, I was more tickled than surprised that he asked me and was trying to connect.

Here we were, two black men, separated not just by years but by generations, and he was trying to build a bridge.

We also talked about God. “You still read your Bible?” he would ask. By this point I had

Charles Stephens is a writer and organizer. He is the founder of Counter Narrative and co-editor of the anthology “Black Gay Genius: Answering Joseph Beam’s Call.” Follow him on twitter: @CharlesStephen2

not even looked inside a Bible for years, but being the good son I wanted him to imagine I was, I would respond “yes.” I never had the heart to tell him I no longer believed.

My parents were pragmatic Southern working-class black people who had more affinity for the compassionate Jesus than the Old Testament God. In their recitations of people they despised: liars, thieves, cheats, drunks, racists, neglectful parents, and lazy people, gays never made the list. Maybe this was on purpose. Parents know their children. My parents certainly knew me.

Growing up, my father never called me

www.theGAVoice.com gender, even where it is legal.

It is why many of our transgender brothers and sisters and gender nonconforming relatives have to change how they normally look when going through any process that requires photo identification. The city of Washington, DC was forced to cough up nearly $3 million in the late 1990s when EMTs refused to treat a dying car accident victim whose gender and sex weren’t as congruent as they would have liked.

The City of Atlanta proved last year that a gay bashing wasn’t high on its priority list. And if it weren’t for this newspaper, the case would have died like a track on Robin Thicke’s last album.

We are under no illusions that the government will always help everyone, especially out here in real America, where our lawns are mowed by hungry deer and we ride along “freedom” (untarred) roads, choosing from a selection of country music stations that dwarfs the number of roads on which the residents of Buckhead can get stuck in traffic.

Kevin Cochran’s presence in any role in the Atlanta city government would not just be a reminder that the civil service might not love us. It would be an indication that the possibility of our bashings and murders going uninvestigated, our requests for services being locked away in bureaucratic wormholes, and yes, our fires being left to burn, is very, very real.

any anti-gay slurs. Not once. Never called me a sissy. Never suggested I was some kind of abomination. Never called me any of those things. Of his four sons, I think I was the only one he actually told he loved. Don’t get me wrong; there were never clearly expressed affirmations about sexual diversity either. But most critically, my father never attacked me for being gay. Ever.

When I was 19 or so I was interviewed by the local news here in Atlanta. I was the spokesperson for Youth Pride’s Unity Above Hate march that year. I don’t remember my exact words, but I talked about homophobia and young people and growing up in Atlanta.

Everyone in my family watched the news that evening, at least it seemed, because I would later learn that my father received a million and five calls about it.

I had not warned him about the interview, so he was probably ill-prepared to respond.

He knew I was gay by this time—had known for a while—but being on television and talking about it was a different matter altogether.

To this day, I don’t know exactly what he said to my family members seeking explanation from him; only what he said to me. On our way to dinner a day or two after the broadcast, we sat in his car. As he turned the ignition, he asked in a solemn voice, “So you were on television?” I turned to him and responded, “yes,” curious to see how he would react.

“I’m proud of you,” he said. Then he put the car in drive and we went on to dinner.

We never discussed it again.

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03.06.15

OUTSIDE THE BOX Aging fiercely

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Mutual funds from a mutual friend.

Go to someone you already know.

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A gay man coming to grips with being middle-aged Sometimes I forget how old I am. I had a friend recently tell me with a straight, somber face, “You know; we ARE middleaged.” I rolled my eyes and told her to “shut up,” but she persisted. “No honestly, what’s 43 plus 43?” Quickly I started to do my air math and stopped abruptly when I got to 4 plus 4. “Oh my God”, I said. “We are fucking middle aged.” I simply couldn’t believe it.

My entire life as I knew it flashed in front of my eyes and I tried to gauge how long it took me to get where I am at now and how quickly the second half of my life could go from here. Pretty deep, right?

Thinking about time and mortality can mess with you and I understand why people will suddenly buy a red Corvette or do something drastic to try to stop Father Time, or at the very least to ignore him.

The truth is we can’t stop it; it happens to all of us whether we like it or not. Life is gonna give us lemons, so we might as well find some vodka, sit back, chill out and learn to embrace the process of aging.

Not long after our conversation a company contacted my agency to do a grand opening event in West Palm Beach for a retirement community. Wondering if this was a sign of things to come, I realized that if I can throw a kickass party for the young and the hip, then I certainly could kill it for the young at heart.

The party was a success and the community was beautiful, and the residents had lots of energy. It was great to see that the second half of our lives can be lived in luxury instead of rolling around on nursing home linoleum. The entire experience made me wonder what will happen to all of us homos once we grow old?

For the first time in our history, the LGBT community will need retirement developments designed specifically for us. AIDS deaths are at an all-time low and LGBT rights are at an all-time high.

We are finally going to live long, healthy, out and proud lives that will one day require retirement communities are fit for

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Photo by Lisa Jordan Bill Kaelin is the owner of Bill Kaelin Marketing Events and Consulting Agency in Atlanta. www.BillKaelin.com

queens. If the Golden Girls are gonna be gay, there will need to be some specific retirement rules for the places we will stay.

Okayyyyyy?

Culturally, gay people are different from straight people, and sometimes we just like opposite things. The kind of activities I will want in my rec room will probably be much different from what my straight brother-in-law would want.

When it comes to visiting hours, I would want Violet Chachki to visit more than children, and our movie nights would lean more towards Hedwig than Dirty Harry. Botox parties could replace the classic game of bingo, and I know for a fact that most gay men would prefer cabana boys to arts and crafts. We will want our drinks stiff and served by a good-looking staff. We like our food top of the line and the service first class. Gone will be the days of the classic standards sing-alongs, and who knows? With the legalization of marijuana we might even be passing bongs.

Old folks’ homes have never sounded so much fun, and finally developers are going to have to take note.

Like my favorite queen famously asked, “once you reach a certain age society says you’re not allowed to be adventurous. I mean is there a rule? Are you supposed to just die?”

The answer is a resounding no. Thankfully, the LGBT community has always broken the rules, and I have a feeling our retirement communities will be places where everyone will be “living”! Growing old in America is going to change. I hope I’m around long enough to be a part of it and party like it’s 1999 by the pool with you.

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THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID Altar of love Online certificate gives power to marry I like to plan ahead. I know same-sex marriage is still not legal in Georgia, but I want to be ready when it is. No, I’m not talking about any wedding plans for me, but I do want to be a part of yours.

Thirty-seven states now allow same-sex marriage. According to Freedom to Marry, Georgia is among only two states that still have gay marriage bans in place with no court ruling to lift them; a federal judge in Nebraska struck down its ban on Monday.

But the Supreme Court agreed in January to review challenges to marriage bans in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. Their expected ruling in favor of the constitutionality of same-sex marriage should strike a blow to other conservative states, sending Georgia’s ban crashing down like a domino.

This long war to obtain legalized samesex marriage has placed many churches on the opposing side, with many religious bodies littering the front lines and shooting Bible verses at us like weapons. So now that we will soon be able to legally get married in a church, shouldn’t there be someone standing with you who personally understands what it took to get to that altar? That’s why I decided to find out how to legally perform these ceremonies myself.

I first reached out to a gay pastor I know, asking his advice on the best course of action. He explained that most churches require you to be on their pastoral staffs, and that requires training and study. I was not interested in investing time and energy into that, so I posted my intentions online. That’s when another friend explained that he applied online and now officiates ceremonies for straight couples.

I always associated online marriage-officiant certification with impromptu ceremonies in Las Vegas, like getting married by Elvis. I’ve even heard radio guys I’ve worked with claim they could marry couples after go-

Melissa Carter is one of the Morning Show hosts on B98.5. In addition, she is a writer for the Huffington Post. She is recognized as one of the first out radio personalities in Atlanta and one of the few in the country. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCarter

ing online, but I never thought it was legitimate. But since it seemed the only option to achieve my goal, I searched the internet and found the Universal Life Church.

It was as simple as giving them my contact information. Once I did that, the Universal Life Church said I was ordained for life and offered me my paperwork for a fee.

According to their website, as a member of the Universal Life Church I am granted the ability to perform marriages, funerals, baptisms, ceremonial rites, and last rites. I can start my own church, whether it’s online or one I physically build. I can also use the title Reverend, Minister, Healer, or Educator.

Probably the most intriguing superpower I have newly obtained from the ULC is the ability to absolve others of their sins.

I think I’ll start off small and just do weddings for same-sex couples. I also don’t plan to force others to begin using my new monikers, but I gladly paid for my packet. I asked a lawyer how to make this legal, and she said to file my documents with Fulton County upon receiving them. That should complete the required steps for me to officiate your wedding.

It seems I’m in good company by joining the ULC’s people of the cloth. Celebrities who have signed up to be ordained include Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Richard Branson, Stephen Colbert, Conan O’Brien, Wendy Williams, Sir Ian McKellen, and Bryan Cranston, just to name a few.

I have been outspoken on the radio for years about how it’s just a matter of time before we can legally marry in the state of Georgia. I want to continue to be part of that movement after our dreams come to fruition, and I am ready to stand before any congregation and join lesbian and gay couples in legal matrimony. I’ll just be sure to leave my Elvis costume at home.

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SOMETIMES'Y' Bowers v. Bowers The evolving redemption of gay Atlanta’s hero and villain Happy Birthday, Michael Hardwick.

You would’ve turned 61 on February 23, two days after your historic rival took the first step toward atoning for the wrong inflicted upon you 30 years ago. I thought of you as news spread of the Underwoodian coup pulled by Georgia Equality: the hiring of Michael Bowers to lobby against the socalled “religious freedom” bill that’s trolling through the Georgia General Assembly.

Yes, THAT Michael Bowers. Your Michael Bowers, the one you are eternally wedded to in the annals of American law. It’s a shame that your name is relegated to the sewer of U.S. Supreme Court decisions, with Bowers v. Hardwick swimming alongside rulings like Plessy v. Ferguson as instances when the lifeguard of civil liberties—the judicial branch—made sure the minority drowned.

But now Bowers is working for an LGBT organization, and offers our best, unexpected, hope for defeating a bill that codifies the same prejudice that was embedded in your court battle. I’ll give you a minute to wrap your head around that before I try to explain Grindr to you, although I think you’d find both equally enchanting developments.

The world has changed a lot since the early 1980s, when Atlanta police officer K.R. Torick entered your home with an invalid warrant, discovered you sixty-nining with an out-of-town fling, and arrested you for engaging in sodomy.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with your argument that the enforcement of Georgia’s anti-sodomy law violated your rights and dignity. The story could’ve ended there, except Bowers, as the state’s Attorney General, petitioned the nation’s high court to uphold a law that allowed gay Georgians to be plucked from their homes and thrown in jail.

“We agree with [Bowers],” Justice Byron White wrote for the majority. “[Hardwick] would have us announce ... a fundamental

Ryan Lee is an Atlanta writer.

right to engage in homosexual sodomy. This we are quite unwilling to do.

“Proscriptions against that conduct have ancient roots,” the spiteful opinion continued. “To claim that a right to engage in such conduct is ‘deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition’ or ‘implicit in the concept of ordered liberty’ is, at best, facetious.”

How many LGBT Americans were discharged from the military, or fired from their jobs (as lesbian attorney Robin Shahar was terminated by Bowers) because sodomy was considered a crime until the Supreme Court reversed itself 17 years later in Lawrence v. Texas?

“Bowers was not correct when it was decided, and it is not correct today,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority in Lawrence. “[Homosexuals] are entitled to respect for their private lives. The State cannot demean their existence or control their destiny by making their private sexual conduct a crime.”

The world has changed a lot since you died in the early 1990s, Michael. Gay people are now more likely to be planning a wedding than a funeral, and police can no longer arrest us for giving blow jobs in our own homes.

However, there may soon be nothing to prevent a Chick-fil-A-inspired realty company from claiming its “deeply held religious beliefs” prohibit it from renting to Sodomites, or a Christian EMT from refusing care to someone her Bible, or her boss, deems “vile” or “unclean.” And Michael Bowers is fighting to prevent the sanctioning of this spiritually coated discrimination against LGBT Georgians.

It’s not yet clear whether Bowers is fully repentant for the bigotry he once championed, or if he is simply seizing an opportunity to scrub the tarnish off his legacy. Regardless, his conversion is an encouraging sign for us all, and I hope it brings you closer to peace.

For now, Bowers’ assistance is more valuable than his contrition, but history demands, and you deserve, the latter.

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