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NATIONALNEWS

Hillary Clinton makes LGBT splash in presidential bid Republicans struggle with how to deal with gay equality

By LISA KEEN The 2016 presidential campaign is shaping up to be a particularly exciting and meaningful one for LGBT people. Here are just a few reasons why: The campaign manager for Democrat Hillary Clinton, who on April 12 announced her intent to run, is an openly gay man, and her YouTube video campaign announcement prominently features gay citizens.

The announced and expected Republican candidates for president are either against equal rights for LGBT people or are struggling to find a comfortable position that satisfies the more conservative Republican primary voters while supporting the majority general public’s belief that the law should treat gay people fairly.

The legality of state bans on marriage for same-sex couples will be a major news story during these first few months of the presidential campaign, at least until the Supreme Court of the United States rules on the matter in June.

The clash between religious beliefs and anti-discrimination laws has reached a new apex in the public’s attention, with the passage, in some states, of legislation seeking to enable people to discriminate against LGBT people.

But the Clinton campaign is clearly the focus of the most attention right now. Her video includes a gay male couple walking down a street hand in hand while one partner explains that the men plan to marry this summer. They are among more than a dozen different people talking about getting ready for a new phase in life—a new job, a new school, a new business.

“I’m getting ready for something, too,” Clinton says in the video.

At a later point in the video, just after Clinton says, “When families are strong, America is strong,” the video shows two women snuggling on a couch.

Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have always enjoyed strong support from the LGBT community, but this time around, Hillary Clinton has an openly gay man as her campaign manager.

Democrat Hillary Clinton is expected to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2016 while a growing list of Republican candidates so far includes Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul. (Official photos)

Thirty-five-year-old Robby Mook is a former head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and served as campaign manager for Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s gubernatorial victory in Virginia in 2013. He worked on the Democratic presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton in 2008 and Howard Dean in 2004.

Log Cabin Republicans, a national gay Republican group, issued an email Sunday, saying the “gay left may be willing to make assumptions about Mrs. Clinton’s support for the LGBT community, but Log Cabin Republicans will not.”

The email posed nine questions for Clinton to answer, including “did Mrs. Clinton support the original Religious Freedom Restoration Act signed into law by her husband while she was First Lady upon which this new crop of RFRA legislation is based?” The question was a reference to recent and controversial legislation passed in Indiana and other states that would enable citizens and businesses to claim their religious beliefs require them to discriminate against LGBT people.

Gregory Angelo, Log Cabin’s executive director, said his group would expect answers from Republican presidential candidates, too.

Three Republican U.S. senators have formally announced their campaigns for president: Ted Cruz of Texas on March 23, Rand Paul of Kentucky on April 7, and, most recently, Marco Rubio of Florida on April 13.

Earlier this year, Cruz introduced a bill to block federal benefits to same-sex couples in states that refuse to recognize or license their marriages in an attempt to reverse gains made by the marriage equality movement after the Supreme Court of the United States struck down in 2013 a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act. Paul and Rubio have both tried to walk a tricky line between pro “traditional marriage” but not against same-sex marriage.

Last July, Rubio told a Catholic University audience that “we have come a long way” since the days when government banned gays from jobs, bars, and restaurants, and he lamented that “many committed gay and lesbian couples feel humiliated by the law’s failure to recognize their

relationship as marriage.” But Rubio said he personally supports the man-woman marriage tradition “not because I seek to discriminate against people who love someone of the same sex, but because I believe that the union of one man and one woman is a special relationship that has proven to be of great benefit to our society ... and therefore deserves to be elevated in our laws.”

In an interview with CNN, Paul took a similar position.

“I think that there’s a religious connotation to marriage. I believe in the traditional religious connotation to this. But I also believe people should be treated fairly under the law,” Paul told CNN’s Dana Bash. “I see no reason why, if the marriage contract conveys certain things that, if you want to marry another woman, you can do that and have a contract. But the thing is the religious connotation of marriage that has been going on for thousands of years—I still want to preserve that. You probably could have both. You could have both traditional marriage, which I believe in, and then you could also have the neutrality of the law that allows people to have contracts with another.”

4 News April 17, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

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GEORGIANEWS

A ‘religious freedom’ bill path suitable for all?

Talk begins around statewide all-encompassing nondiscrimination bill

By PATRICK SAUNDERS The biggest sticking point raised in Georgia’s latest fight over a so-called “religious freedom” bill was the possibility that passage of the bill would lead to more LGBT discrimination, with the most often-cited example being a business owner denying service to someone based on the business owner’s religious beliefs.

Lost in the shuffle of the constant backand-forth arguments, the press conferences, the rallies, the hearings, and the inflamed rhetoric was a simple fact—it’s already legal to discriminate under state law.

“That is true,” says Jeff Graham, executive director of Georgia Equality. “The one big caveat to that is that we have a broad ordinance here in the city of Atlanta and then there are other ordinances and policies passed by 59 other municipalities across the state that offer lesser protections.”

It’s one of the only things Graham and state Sen. Josh McKoon (R-Columbus) seem to agree on concerning the issue. McKoon’s religious freedom bill, SB 129, failed to pass in this year’s legislative session. The bill had passed in the Senate, had momentum and appeared to be on the verge of reaching a vote on the House floor when state Sen. Mike Jacobs (R-Brookhaven) introduced an anti-discrimination amendment during a March 26 House Judiciary Committee hearing.

The amendment passed 9 to 8, with Rep. Jay Powell (R-Camilla) and Rep. Beth Beskin (R-Atlanta) joining all six Democrats on the committee voting in favor. Supporters of the bill warned that such an amendment would “gut” the bill, and it never recovered.

But in the days following the end of the session, McKoon started hinting in various interviews about a way around the issue— have the debate over discrimination, but do it in a separate bill, i.e. a statewide nondiscrimination bill offering sexual orientation and gender identity protections.

“I think that is a fundamentally different debate,” McKoon, who refused to discuss

“We play defense a lot and considering the current environment in which we find ourselves, our defensive wins are our wins.”

—Rep. Karla Drenner the matter with the Georgia Voice, said on WABE 90.1 FM on April 13. “I think that one of the objectives of the opposition to this bill has been to create confusion about this issue to then leverage it to try to get us to talk about that issue. There are 236 members of the Georgia General Assembly. I am delighted for us to have a debate and discussion on that issue if any one of them wants to introduce that bill. That has not happened yet.”

But what would such a bill look like?

The ‘big three’ areas of protection The strongest nondiscrimination bill would include protections in these “big three” areas—employment, housing and public accommodations.

“Certainly those are the three big areas of concern when it comes to discrimination that need to be addressed before we would feel comfortable with passing some sort of religious freedom bill. That’s what we’re lacking here in Georgia is any mention of state level civil rights,” Graham says. How-

Georgia Equality executive director Jeff Graham hopes that people put into perspective what occurred during this year’s legislative session. (Photo by Patrick Saunders)

ever, he notes, “The legislative session just ended a week ago, so we want to move forward thoughtfully at this point in time.”

Graham also pointed out that there are no protected classes under state law, so an effort of this magnitude would require a broad coalition of communities to come together to pass a bill that protected all of them.

Rep. Wendell Willard (R-Sandy Springs), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, says he’s ready to talk about a statewide nondiscrimination bill that covers one peg out of those “big three.”

“We do not have in Georgia what we call a public accommodations law, we have the federal law,” he tells the Georgia Voice.

“I think that would be something we could address that might do that. That would be a high hurdle to get over in one session but we could see.”

Failure of Drenner’s bill doesn’t bode well for all-inclusive bill Rep. Karla Drenner (D-Avondale Estates) knows a thing or two—or three—about trying to pass a statewide nondiscrimination bill. She tried and failed to pass her Fair Employment Practices Act (FEPA) for the third time in this year’s legislative session.

Drenner’s bill would have prohibited discrimination against state employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

This year’s bill had the strongest chance yet of passing, with 77 co-sponsors, including 19 Republicans.

She doesn’t buy the talk about an all-encompassing statewide nondiscrimination bill.

“I think that’s just a red herring,” she says.

Willard reveals that FEPA, of which he was a co-sponsor, nearly had an alternative route through the House.

“We considered tying that provision onto the religious freedom bill,” he says. “It was only a possibility if it got the chance for the bill to move out of the House committee to the Rules Committee. But we felt it didn’t have support to get through.”

Beskin, who placed a big target on her back by voting to pass that nondiscrimination amendment in McKoon’s religious freedom bill, stands by her vote.

“I believe that this is a very divisive issue and that many groups believe that RFRA would have a discriminatory effect if not a discriminatory purpose,” she says. “I believe unless we can come up with nondiscriminaCONTINUES ON PAGE 8

6 News April 17, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

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Georgia transgender employees have protections CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 tion language that would quell those fears, I could not support it.”

And as far as a statewide nondiscrimination bill?

“I’m open to having the dialogue also but until there is a bill I can consider, I can’t give an

opinion on a hypothetical bill,” she says, adding, “I don’t think it has to be a separate bill.”

Trans discrimination case only employment protection for now For now, LGBT Georgians have to live with the protections currently on the books, and the case law that’s provided precedent

for certain protections.

Vandy Beth Glenn’s lawsuit, Glenn v.

Brumby, resulted in added protections for one of the “big three” areas—employment.

Glenn was fired from her job with the General Assembly’s Office of Legislative Counsel in 2007 after informing her superiors she was transitioning from male to female. Lambda

Legal filed a federal lawsuit on her behalf, which she won in federal district court and which was upheld on appeal by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Glenn’s case was won based on sex discrimination grounds, which are part of Title VII, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.

Therefore the case protects all transgender employees in Georgia, whether in the private or public sector, confirms Greg Nevins, senior attorney with Lambda Legal.

Nevins says sexual orientation is a different issue because Glenn’s case didn’t speak to that, but there is a provision in the decision that notes transgender people transgress gender stereotypes and it is illegal to discriminate against them because of that. There’s not much of a leap from that to sexual orientation, because other courts have ruled gays and lesbians by their preferences and attractions defy gender stereotypes.

“So if you draw that link, if transgender people defy gender stereotypes, the same can be said about gay men and lesbians,” Nevins says. “The conduct of gay and lesbian individuals and their essence is transgressing gender stereotypes. Not in the same way as transgender individuals, but in the same vein.”

All it will take is a legitimate case of a Georgia employee being discriminated against due to their sexual orientation for an attorney to take a shot at citing Glenn v.

Brumby. The success of such a case would add additional employment protections to Georgia’s LGB community, where the legislative route has failed.

“We’ll have to wait and see for the case and I will be certainly looking for it,” Nevins says.

Defining progress Meanwhile LGBT legislators and activists will continue to hammer away at making whatever progress can be made at the legislative level.

The community celebrated the defeat of a religious freedom bill for the second year in a row, but the outcome of the session looks decidedly bleaker after taking a peek beyond that bill. Every other bill proposed during the session that had any semblance of being pro-LGBT—be it employment protections, anti-bullying, hate crimes, HIV/AIDS— failed across the board.

8 News April 17, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

NEWSBRIEFS Suspect in shooting confesses to killing gay N.C. man The man arrested and charged with killing a North Carolina community college employee confessed in court that he did the crime.

Kenneth Morgan Stancil, 20, appeared in a Florida courtroom on April 14 and said he did kill Ron Lane, 44, a longtime employee of Wayne Community College in Goldsboro, N.C. Lane, who worked in the campus print shop, had recently fired Stancil over having too many absences. Stancil worked in the print shop as part of a student-work program.

“I just want you to know, I ridded one less (expletive) child molester from the (expletive) earth,” Stancil said in court on Tuesday, according to North Carolina TV station WITN. Stancil also said Lane molested a family member and doing prison time is “the easy part.”

No reports have been filed by Stancil saying a family member was molested.

Stancil allegedly killed Lane on April 13 on campus as Lane was arriving to work. The campus was locked down as police sought the suspected gunman. Stancil evaded authorities for a day, and was finally arrested Tuesday morning in Daytona Beach.

At a Tuesday press conference, Goldsboro police said they were investigating the shooting as a hate crime, according to the Associated Press. Police did not say why they were investigating the shooting as a hate crime.

Police also said Stancil “has a distinctive tattoo on the left side of his face and the number 88 tattooed on his cheek. That number can represent ‘Heil Hilter’ for neo-Nazis, since H is the eighth letter of the alphabet.”

Stancil was being held without bond in a Florida jail awaiting extradition to North Carolina.

Lane had been in a 12-year relationship with Chuck Tobin. Tobin went missing last July and was found dead in November. Police said Tobin killed himself.

Fla. eye clinic to pay $150K after firing transgender employee The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has successfully sued a Florida-based eye clinic for discrimination after the business fired a transgender employee.

This is only the second time the federal agency has sued a business alleging sex discrimination against transgender people.

The EEOC sued Lakeland Eye Clinic last September after the clinic fired Brandi Branson in 2010. Branson will be awarded $150,000 in damages and the clinic is also mandated to www.thegeorgiavoice.com

Kenneth Morgan Stancil, 20, confessed in court to killing a gay North Carolina man.

(Photo courtesy Goldsboro Police Department)

make policy changes prohibiting discrimination against transgender employees, provide training to all employees, and post public notices on the premises about prohibiting discrimination based on transgender status.

Glenn v. Brumby, the federal case in which Vandy Beth Glenn successfully sued the state of Georgia after she was fired from her job in the General Assembly’s Office of Legislative Counsel as an editor of bill language, was cited in the Branson case.

The EEOC also filed a lawsuit in 2014 against a Detroit funeral home for firing its funeral director/embalmer for being transgender.

Georgia prison officials restore trans inmate’s hormone therapy The Georgia Department of Corrections announced in a federal court hearing in Macon on April 10 that they have restored transgender inmate Ashley Diamond’s hormone treatments. The move came less than a week after the Justice Department intervened in support of Diamond’s lawsuit against the state.

The Southern Poverty Law Center filed the federal lawsuit against the state in February, alleging that Diamond, a Rome, Georgia native who has performed as a drag queen in Atlanta, had been denied medical treatment and had

been sexually assaulted by other inmates at the men’s prison. The attorneys claim Diamond’s facial hair has started growing and her body is reverting to a masculine state, and that the issue has led her to attempt suicide and self-castration.

The New York Times reports the policy change means an end to the state’s blanket denial of hormone treatments to transgender inmates and that the state will provide “constitutionally appropriate medical and mental health treatment.”

The Justice Department commended Georgia for the policy change but Diamond’s lawyers at the Southern Poverty Law Center are not fully embracing the change just yet, reportedly saying that Diamond’s hormone dosage appeared to be too low to be therapeutic.

Thursday’s hearing was meant to address an emergency motion to immediately transfer Diamond to a lower security prison or provide her better protection at her current facility, Georgia State Prison. That issue was not resolved, as the judge wanted to hear testimony from Diamond, who was not present.

Corrections officials, who reportedly referred to Diamond using male pronouns throughout the three-hour hearing, denied her claims that she has been sexually assaulted and harassed at the prison and also claim she had been offered but turned down protective custody. But Diamond’s supporters assert that protective custody amounts to a kind of solitary confinement, a situation that has led to severe psychological distress for her at previous prisons.

A new court date has not been set.

Lambda Legal: City had lawful right to fire anti-gay Atlanta fire chief When it comes to the law, the city of Atlanta had every right to fire former fire chief Kelvin Cochran because he demeaned women as well as LGBT relationships, according to an amicus brief filed by Lambda Legal.

The brief, filed April 3, is part of the ongoing federal lawsuit Cochran filed against the city of Atlanta and Mayor Kasim Reed claiming religious discrimination; Cochran was fired in January for not following city policy when he self-published his book, “Who Told You That You Were Naked?” that included anti-gay, misogynistic and anti-Semitic passages.

The city of Atlanta is seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed.

In the amicus brief, Lambda Legal says the government is allowed to fire employees, including supervisors, who publicly humiliate a group of people.

April 17, 2015 News 9

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Outspoken PO Box 77401 • Atlanta, GA 30357 P: 404-815-6941; F: 404-963-6365

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12 Outspoken April 17, 2015

“Administratively I shouldn’t exist. But I do exist, so that’s still the problem.” n — Sgt. Shane Ortega, a helicopter crew chief in the Army’s 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii. Ortega is a transgender man and could face being discharged because the U.S. military does not currently allow trans people to serve openly. The ACLU filed a petition in September on behalf of Ortega and other transgender soldiers to halt separation proceedings.

(The Washington Post, April 9)

“[Being bisexual is] something natural, organic. I want to try new things and I want to feel free.”

— Michelle Rodriguez, star of “Fast and Furious 7,” who has been romantically linked with model Cara Delevingne and actor Zac Efron.

(TheRecord.com, April 13)

“The next guy to appear is not your traditional man, he’s gay!

He shows up 50 seconds in, but you get my drift.”

— CNN’s Carol Costello, noting an apparent lack of straight, white men in Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign announcement video.

(CNN, April 13)

www.thegeorgiavoice.com

OUT IN THE WILD

By Simon Williamson

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

I have filled these pages with the potential perils of being country gays, with all the optimism of a Falcons fan, but it would be folly of me to not express some of the quirky aspects of this sparsely populated, gun-heavy, beardtastic and truck-dense milieu.

Although we express often that we live near Covington, we don’t actually. It is just the nearest place anyone will know. Anyone from small- or no-town America has likely had to reference the nearest big city, much in the manner of how many before Amal a certain woman may have fucked George Clooney.

In actual fact, our closest town of note is the thriving metropolis of Jackson, Georgia, in Butts County, where the restaurant of choice is Lucky’s Italian. On our first visit there, two

“There’s an indescribable joy in being a black man who loves other men.

It’s not all doom and gloom; not even close.”

Being a black gay man in this culture can feel like being constantly at war: at war with yourself, at war with other black gay men, at war with the dominant culture. Walking out the door can feel like walking out onto the battlefield. And so, we often endure an almost violent kind of loneliness at times; depression, anxiety, and other forms of despair. But what is the source of these feelings?

Consider the following: a constant internalization of systematic and interpersonal racial and heterosexual oppression (what we ultimately call stigma). The trauma that many of us still carry from our black gay boyhoods. Poverty. The collective trauma many of us still suffer, and others of us inherit, from the 1980s, and the deaths of so many of our brothers and elders from AIDS. The trauma we ourselves may carry from being an HIV positive black gay man in a culture that despises all the parts of ourselves, and even www.thegeorgiavoice.com

men walking in and sitting at the same table were novel enough to warrant a unanimous stare from the elderly patrons, and more than a small part of me was terrified we were not going to be served. By the end of the entree, our waitress was telling us about her gay friend who watched her child while she was working.

By the end of dessert we knew she was going back to school, we had seen multiple pictures of her daughter in myriad dress-up clothing (the real upside of having a child, no?), and we knew she left college early to get married.

There is either a very short list of acceptable company in Jackson, or the ice-breaker—her proving she had no issues with gays—was a slippery slope to substituting conversation we intended with each other, to conversation

with a woman carrying both her second child and the chicken Parmesan.

This extended to our vet, also in Jackson, who looked after our very sick dog in the final weeks of his life. It meant the vets saw real relationship moments between two men, including a lot of insatiable wailing that was delivered almost unanimously across each others’ shoulders. And here, in the land of Jody Hice, where Jesus is the top celebrity, just beating out the Duck people, and one needs to dodge deer and bunnies while driving, we were totally acknowledged and treated like a couple.

This is not to say I don’t feel paranoia about our safety out here.

But there is enough evidence to show that a fair number of Americans (who do not hold

“Although we express often that we live near Covington, we don’t actually. It is just the nearest place anyone will know.” elective office) do not care enough to worry about many in the LGBT+ community. They may not like it, and they may not be familiar with it, and when it comes to the civil institution of marriage they may feel like their deity’s nose is being put out of joint, but they don’t reject our existence out of hand.

Of course, it doesn’t mean you’re always going to be safe. But with the privilege that being two 6-foot white men entails, we’ve been able to be ourselves in more situations than many of our peers. And forcing people to acknowledge we’re a gay couple has been a good thing.

There are a sprinkling of people in Jackson that now know that gay people show the same pain when it comes to dead pets, the same joy when it comes to Italian food.

THE ICONOCLAST

By Charles Stephens

Black gay men and mental health justice Charles Stephens is the Director of Counter Narrative and co-editor of ‘Black Gay Genius: Answering Joseph Beam’s Call.’ among our brothers, we may hear messages like “you must be disease free.”

There is joy of course. I have had some absolutely transformative experiences, beautiful memories, among black gay men. There are painful memories too, but I believe for us to have more resilience in our movement work, we have to name the beautiful parts and the difficult parts.

Our tribe of artists, poets, actors, organizers, nonprofit workers, academics, and cultural workers is particularly vulnerable to depression and other poor mental health outcomes. Being on the frontline fighting injustice is brutal. In the nonprofit and academic world where most of us find ourselves, we are often faced with severe institutional violence that contributes to our despair.

You get it from the senior and executive leaders. There is always pressure to assimilate and make your beautiful parts blander.

You also get it from the communities you serve. If a meeting starts a little late, or if you forget to call on someone in a discussion group. If the free food isn’t to the liking of the people you are assembling. If they don’t understand the point you are trying to make.

Or if you are fat or fem or otherwise don’t measure up to the ideal of how a black gay leader should look, you may be antagonized.

So we get fed up. We may say things like “I am no longer going to work with black gay men ever again.” When we arrive to the belief that freedom is not among our brothers, but apart from them, we enter a very dangerous path.

n HIV funders should convene learning communities that can help us better understand the impact of mental health on HIV prevention, treatment and care. n LGBT funders must better understand mental health outcomes among black gay men in the larger context of LGBT health. n A national summit of diverse stakeholders from across the country must be held to grapple with these issues. n A movement committed to mental health justice has to be built on our collective assets, and our greatest asset is our culture. We must use our culture in the service of our healing.

A few ideas for a path forward: n Stakeholders must come together to develop a research and advocacy agenda for black gay men’s mental health justice.

Taken together, these goals may not completely rid us of the multiple ways oppression impacts our mental heath and emotional wellness, but it at least will begin moving us in that direction.

April 17, 2015 Outspoken 13

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CATCHING UP WITH …

Paul Plate Positive Impact co-founder retiring after 22 years at the helm

By PATRICK SAUNDERS Paul Plate’s voice crackles through the phone as he drives through the North Georgia mountains on the way to Short Mountain, the Tennessee sanctuary owned by the Radical Faeries, to take part in a weekendlong Native American ritual and dance.

“It’s just remarkable and life affirming and life altering and all of those things,” Plate says of the event. He uses similar words to describe his time at Positive Impact, the HIV/AIDS service organization he cofounded in 1993.

Later this month, Plate will be retiring after 22 years as the agency’s executive director, an occasion that will be marked by a party in his honor on April 25 at The Commerce Club.

But the 66-year-old Bronx native won’t be going far, as he plans to stay on as a consultant when the organization merges with AID Gwinnett to become Positive Impact Health Centers.

Plate explains his path from college in West Virginia to Atlanta, to receiving an HIV positive in the early 1980s, to the origins of Positive Impact, to what he’ll do next and more.

So, Paul, how did you make your way to Atlanta?

This was a long time ago, so there wasn’t a lot of opportunity for gay men to experience their lives openly. A friend of mine was with Youth For Understanding, which was an international student exchange program.

They had two regions open, San Francisco and Atlanta, and I chose Atlanta because I’m afraid of earthquakes [laughs]. So I came to Georgia in 1979 to be regional director of Youth For Understanding.

When did you come out to your parents?

For me telling my family at the parental level was because of the HIV diagnosis and www.thegeorgiavoice.com

“I have spent my life creating and encouraging other people with me to create new things and over the years we got more and more people to do the most amazing things.” being scared and wanting them to know all of who I really was. But I never felt like I needed to hold it in their face. I was diagnosed early on, in 1983.

What was that time like after you were diagnosed, as it turned into a full-blown epidemic?

It really was ... frightfully—I wanted to say another word beginning with f—frightfully scary. Sometimes I get tired of people telling the war stories, however I’m feeling really emotional right now with you talking to me because I was working with another agency in town who I don’t like to say the name of.

When I became the budget coordinator, we had 22 clients and one-and-a-half staff members and we were the only agency in town.

We were doing things that people should never have to do. We were going to places and meeting ambulances and tricking them into picking up clients and taking them to the hospital. They were so frightened because it wasn’t clear what the mode of transmission was and how risky these kinds of things were.

The first wave was dealing with major crises in the community and in the early 1990s we began to have the second wave of organizations where we said, ‘Now that we’re taking our breath a little bit, what do they really need to be successful in their lives?’ And we started

Paul Plate is stepping down this month as executive director of Positive Impact, an organization, he co-founded in 1993. (Photo by Patrick Saunders)

Details

Party with Impact—Honoring the Work of Paul Plate April 25 at 6 p.m.

The Commerce Club 191 Peachtree St. NE Atlanta, GA 30303 www.pi.xorbia.com/paulplate saying, well, they needed mental health.

So I got to become the director [of Positive Impact] where we could say to folks, you can feed them all you want, you can house them all you want but if they’re not set emotionally, psychologically, you’re not exactly wasting your time and money but pretty much so.

So I can say that one of the things I’m most proud of in my life was that we started out as a community where mental health was an ancillary service for only people who could afford it and then got to the point of the community saying, ‘Mental health is the primary service that we need.’

What do you want to do next?

I don’t want to leave this totally right now.

I think I’ll be working with Positive Impact Health Centers one year, maybe two years depending on what the projects are but not full time, just situational. I need a break. I need to

rest and rethink some things. I need to work in my garden more which is really good for me.

I need to spend time in Costa Rica. There’s an ashram there that has been really helpful to me spiritually and I want to go back there. I completed a third level of tai chi and I haven’t been doing that for like four or five years now and I want to go back to that. And I see animals in my future but I’m not exactly sure how, maybe animal rescue type of work.

What will you miss most about the job?

I have had the blessing and I’m so grateful—and I am not one that says ‘blessing’ and ‘grateful’ and ‘joy’ very easily—but when I’m looking at retirement I’m thinking, ‘Holy shit! I have spent my life creating and encouraging other people with me to create new things and over the years we got more and more people to do the most amazing things.’

So my life is just enriched every single day with creativity and energy and new thought and intelligence and possibility and all those things that you get to be part of every single day. That energy and that insight is so nurturing that I can’t imagine what my life would be like without it.

So I’ve got to figure out how to continue that. That I will miss and I have to figure out how to not miss it.

April 17, 2015 Community 15

Living large in tiny houses New movement sweeping nation

By DYANA BAGBY After working in corporate America for more than a decade, Will Johnston decided he’d had enough.

“I reached a point and said I am done with this,” he says.

He quit his job, sold most of his belongings, moved out of his 900-square foot space in Ponce Springs Lofts, and set off on a threemonth backpacking trip across New Zealand.

Still not sure what he wanted to do when he returned to Atlanta last April, Johnston started reading and hearing about tiny houses and a new movement for people who wanted to live smaller and simpler.

“I was hearing about people who wanted to simplify their life by reducing space and maximizing their time, and reducing debt and not buying into a consumer nature,” he says.

His interest was piqued. So much so that he started Tiny Homes Atlanta, a meetup group of some 270 people. The group meets regularly and members share a philosophy that includes not being forced to work jobs they don’t like simply to keep an expensive house over their heads either through rent or mortgages.

“The tiny house movement is the tip of the iceberg of our society having a conversation about housing and why it is so expensive,” he says. “Why are we doing this to ourselves? My goal is to focus on affordable—I hate the term affordable—but attainable housing.”

Living and buying a home in Atlanta is not cheap, he notes. Houses in Cabbagetown with maybe just 700 square feet can still sell for more than $200,000. But a tiny house at 176 square feet of usable space, which can be built on a trailer and towed by your heavy-duty pickup truck to various living locations, can be built for approximately $66,000.

Right now, Johnston, who is debt-free, lives with friends in Spire.Midtown, a luxury apartment and condo building. And he

Real Estate Issue

understands he is fortunate he can live the way he does.

Not many people can quit their jobs like he did and still have a safe space to live. “I know a lot of people who are trapped,” he says.

His eventual goal is to be able to buy a plot of land and build a tiny house—but land is so valuable in Atlanta. An attempt to buy a 720-square-foot house in Adair Park was quashed when the bank told him they would not loan him the money unless he made the structure bigger or demolished it to put up a bigger house, he said.

He has visions of building tiny house villages along the Atlanta Beltline, or constructing tiny houses in blighted neighborhoods. And he’s hoping to build a tiny house this year to use as an educational resource for Atlantans wanting to learn more about the topic.

“Moving from 5,000 square feet to 500 square feet I think is awesome. My living room is going outside and meeting new people,” he says. “If we reduce spending and living structures, I think that can lead to healthy lives and healthy communities.”

More than a tiny house movement In 1999, the first Tumbleweed tiny house was mounted onto a trailer, setting in motion the revolutionary idea of having roots but being mobile at the same time.

Icarus Savannah of Atlanta with his tiny house in Arizona before it was finished and with the final result. (Courtesy photos)

Based on Colorado, Tumbleweed has been the go-to for many seeking to lessen their carbon footprint on the Earth while at the same time freeing up finances as a way to free up their lives. The company now offers workshops for those interested as well as design plans; the company also sells tiny homes and promotes DIY building.

For Icarus Savannah, 28, who identifies as queer, building a tiny house was not a luxury they had to work with. Savannah was living in Arizona, out of work, dealing with a breakup, and needing a place to live.

A neighbor was selling an unfinished tiny house for $3,500, so Savannah saved up and purchased it. Savannah then contacted Dee Williams of Portland, Oregon, author of “The Big Tiny” and a tiny house pioneer, for guidance.

“I was at Evergreen State College [in Olympia, Washington], was a political and economics major, working low minimum wage jobs and high barriers to employment. And then I stumbled across tiny houses,” Savannah says.

Savannah moved the bones of the 78-square foot—the size of a parking spot—home to Arizona, on a plot of land their mother owns. And there Savannah learned, on their own, auto mechanics, carpentry, architecture, building,

painting, and so much more.

It took two years to finish the tiny house and there was plenty of trial and error.

But when finished, Savannah says, “it was like being in charge of my own destiny, captain of my own ship. I don’t have to pay for the privilege of having a roof over my head.”

“Those who live in tiny houses value freedom, simplicity, the economy of it, the utility of it. It frees up a lot of areas in the rest of your life when you don’t have to pay rent or mortgage,” Savannah says.

But Savannah had to leave their tiny house in Arizona and move to Atlanta to find work.

Now working at REI, they pay rent and live in a room bigger than the tiny house they had.

“I’m trying to save money to get my tiny house here, but now I’m caught in the rent cycle here,” Savannah says.

For Savannah, building and living in a tiny house was not about simplifying their life. It was about having a safe place to live when there was no work and no constant income.

“Housing is a fundamental human right,” Savannah says. “The tiny house movement is a movement for economic rights, human rights. It addresses the funCONTINUES ON PAGE 17

16 Real Estate April 17, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company in Colorado is credited with beginning the tiny house movement in 1999. The company helps with construction of tiny houses as well as sells ones already built. (Photos courtesy Tumbleweed Tiny House Company)

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 16 damental root reason and asks questions why can’t folks afford housing.”

While it seems many involved in the mainstream tiny house movement are white and middle class, there are fringe movements, Savannah says. “Queer and LGBT people, homeless, back-to-the-land people of color—I think those areas will be the sites of some cool work.”

More LGBT visibility needed Em Elliott, who also identifies as queer, used to work for LGBT advocacy group Georgia Equality. Elliott recently moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, and is now a carpentry apprentice with the goal of eventually building their own tiny house.

Constant economic strain from rent, utilities, student loans, and eventually housing instability led Elliott to realize “just how few rights tenants have in Georgia and I wanted to have more control over my housing destiny.

“I valued the communities I called home, but I wanted to have my own space I could control, plus save on rent. I couldn’t afford a house even if I wanted to and having all that unnecessary space plus a mortgage to mainwww.thegeorgiavoice.com

Details

‘The Big Tiny’ by Dee Williams padtinyhouses.com/the-big-tiny Tumbleweed Tiny House Company www.tumbleweedhouses.com Tiny House Atlanta www.facebook.com/tinyhouseatlanta Tiny Homes Atlanta meetup www.meetup.com/Atlanta-Tiny-HomesMeetup/events/221552609/ Tiny House Giant Journey tinyhousegiantjourney.com tain would just add to my stress,” Elliott says.

Elliott dreamed of having less stuff, less space, and less debt by living simply and sustainably in as small a space as possible. Building it on a trailer would be nice in order to be mobile.

After doing some research, Elliott found an entire movement of people who were following the path toward tiny living.

“Whether they were doing it to reduce impact on the environment, to save money or

change careers, or just to live a simpler, happier, more liberated life, I realized that I wasn’t alone when thinking about these larger issues.

For some folks, tiny living is just the solution to hit on all of those,” Elliott says.

Elliott says they do wish the movement had more LGBT visibility and diversity overall within it.

“I haven’t seen much critical discussion of

LGBTQ issues in tiny home groups and I’m hoping to bring voice to the fact that queer folks are often already living in creative ways, in smaller spaces and many of us have been doing so out of necessity for far longer than this trendy new lifestyle,” Elliott says. “Being able to pursue a tiny home is a privilege and I still wrestle with how to bring more of the benefits of tiny home living to our community.”

April 17, 2015 Real Estate 17

The Westside Trail is under construction and will be completed in 2017. (Photos courtesy Atlanta BeltLine)

The BeltLine and the Behemoth

The Atlanta BeltLine and Ponce City Market carve out their places in the city’s changing landscape

By PATRICK SAUNDERS Two of the most ambitious development projects the city of Atlanta has ever seen are slowly but surely inching their way into our lives, step-by-step, brick-and-mortar by brick-and-mortar.

One connects the city by way of pathways, art, events and alternative transportation. The other is the disruptor, plopping down in the middle of an area some say would never change, for better or worse.

Some say you couldn’t find more diametrically opposite projects than the Atlanta BeltLine and Ponce City Market, but others wel-

come both as signs of the city’s new frontier.

Either way, they’re here. And they’re not going anywhere anytime soon. Here’s the latest on them both.

Atlanta BeltLine

The Atlanta BeltLine is a work in progress in the most flattering of ways. Typically when a development is under construction, it’s in one place; we see its progress whenever we happen to drive by, and before you know it, it’s complete.

But the BeltLine literally happens all around us. Different sections are created and connected at dozens of points around the city. Secret pas-

public. The hope is to conclude the project by the end of the year.

The Ponce de Leon Avenue Streetscapes Project

Real Estate Issue

sageways are revealed and new angles to view the city are opened up step by step, until we’re able to experience them ourselves step by step.

Here’s the latest on the BeltLine as we head deeper into spring.

The North Avenue Plaza The North Avenue Plaza will connect Ponce City Market with the Eastside Trail as well as function as a public gathering space.

It will be accessible from the bridge over North Avenue and from the existing path to Ponce City Market’s rail shed deck. Ponce City Market plans to construct stairs and an elevator from North Avenue accessible to the

The goal here is to create complete streets along Ponce de Leon Avenue with the BeltLine’s section focusing on the area between Monroe Drive and Freedom Parkway. The project will include sidewalk and lighting improvements as well as construction of a formal connection between Ponce de Leon Avenue and the Eastside Trail. Construction is pegged for 2017.

The Westside Trail This three-mile corridor on the city’s southwest side is now under construction and will run from University Avenue in Adair Park to Lena Avenue at Washington Park. Demolition of the bridge over Martin Luther King Jr. Drive took place in March to make way for a new bridge, with construction due to be completed in 2017.

The Urban Farm The Urban Farm is a four-acre site located in southwest Atlanta adjacent to the WestCONTINUES ON PAGE 19

18 Real Estate April 17, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 18 side Trail. It will be professionally farmed, so it differs from a community garden, but there will be an educational component to it as well to teach people sustainable land care techniques. The farmer has been selected and the planting has begun on the site, which will serve as a pilot for other urban agriculture sites around the BeltLine.

EVENT TO PUT ON YOUR CALENDAR

First Annual Atlanta BeltLine Jamboree May 16, 2015 from 2 to 8 p.m.

Washington Park $15 for adults, $5 for those under 21 Live music, food, games and entertainment with proceeds benefiting the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership

Ponce City Market

Atlanta’s behemoth. The former Sears, Roebuck & Company building is all sorts of imposing and is set to quite possibly transform the entire area.

The location couldn’t be better for developers, as the complex sits squarely in the spot where the neighborhoods of the Old Fourth Ward, Virginia-Highland and Poncey-Highland meet.

But how will the development be received by local residents, and what effect will it have on local businesses? Detractors say Ponce City Market is a sign of the City Too Busy To Hate turning into the City Too Busy To Relate.

No matter what, Ponce City Market is sure to shake up the area in more ways than one. Take a look at what’s in store:

Central Food Hall The Central Food Hall will be the hub for all things culinary at Ponce City Market.

Opening This Season: Dub’s Fish Camp, a casual-style fish shack from chef-owner Anne Quatrano Opening This Summer: n Jia, an authentic Szechuan concept from the operators of Tasty China and Peter Cheng’s Tasty China 2. n Honeysuckle Gelato, the first brick-andmortar location from chef-owner Wes Jones n Simply Seoul, an artisanal kimchee, sauces and Korean steamed buns restaurant from Chef Hannah Chung n Bellina, a gourmet Italian market www.thegeorgiavoice.com

The transformation continues at Ponce City Market as the site becomes a unique live-work-play hub in an unlikely spot. (Photos courtesy Ponce City Market)

Opening Mid-2015: n H&F Burger from chef-restaurateur Linton Hopkins of Holeman & Finch and Restaurant Eugene n Ton Ton, a Japanese restaurant from Atlanta restaurateur Guy Wong of Miso Izakaya Coming Soon: n An Indian street food concept and Indian spice market from Meherwan and Molly Irani, the couple behind Indian restaurant Chai Pani n Juice Box, created by Rawesome Juicery founder and local artist Kawai Laurencin, offering natural cold-pressed juice, superfood smoothies, energy enhancing shots and freshly prepared meals n Minero, a casual Mexican-influenced concept from Charleston-based chef Sean Brock n Strippaggio, the second Atlanta location of the purveyor of small-batch extra virgin olive oils, vinegars, gourmet salts, spices and culinary serving accessories n Farm to Ladle, a European cafe and farm stand

Retail

Summer 2015: n Oakleaf & Acorn, a boutique men’s

shop with its first brick-and-mortar location n Mountain High Outfitters specializes in outdoor active wear and gear for outdoor enthusiasts. A regionally focused brand, Mountain High Outfitters has locations in Alabama and Tennessee as well as one in Atlanta. This nearly 6,900-square-foot location will open mid-2015.

Anthropologie, offering cutting edge women’s fashions, gifts and accessories n Goorin Bros. Hat Shop, offering a variety of seasonal hats for men and women; the first location in Georgia n Michael Stars, a women’s apparel store n Lou Lou Accessories, a family-owned jewelry boutique, the first location in the Southeast

Fall 2015: n The Jean Machine, a multi-branded jean store specializing in custom-fit branded jeans for men and women n The Williams-Sonoma House, an urban industrial design of the classic cook shop with new home offerings n Madewell, specializing in modern women’s apparel, the third such location in Georgia n Rejuvenation, a lighting and house parts store founded in 1977, the fifth location nationwide n J.Crew, the men’s, women’s and children’s fashion store

Residential

Coming Soon: n The Frye Company, producer of leather boots and accessories, opening its first Atlanta location and seventh nationwide

n

Move-ins at the 259-unit Flats at Ponce City Market began last October and they’re 50 percent occupied as of March. Check out the rent for the Flats below.

Studio: $1,288 to $1,396 One Bedroom: $1,567 to $2,362 n Two Bedroom: $2,716 to $2,961 n Three Bedroom: $3,160 to $3,645 n n

Office Space Up to 550,000 square feet of loft office space has been set aside in Ponce City Market, with anchor tenants including athenahealth, Jamestown, How Stuff Works, Cardlytics and MailChimp. Additional tenants include SLAM Collaborative and Surber, Barber, Choate & Hertlein.

April 17, 2015 Real Estate 19

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Funny Lady Lesbian comic Suzanne Westenhoefer performs show benefiting Pride School Atlanta

By JACY TOPPS

Lesbian comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer appears May 1 in Atlanta at a benefit for Pride School Atlanta. (Publicity photo)

www.thegeorgiavoice.com

Pride School Atlanta, one of the first of its kind in the region seeks to create a K-12 nonprofit school for LGBT educators, students and families, and is hoping to raise enough money to open the school this year.

School co-founder Christian Zsilavetz has recruited renowned lesbian comic Suzanne Westenhoefer to join the effort and she is appearing in Atlanta on May 1 to benefit the fledgling school.

Westenhoefer was the first openly lesbian to have an HBO comedy special and also the first out lesbian to appear on “Late Night with David Letterman.�

We caught up with Westenhoefer to chat about her interest in Pride School Atlanta and more.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 22 April 17, 2015 A&E 21

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21 How did you get involved with Pride School Atlanta? Why is supporting this project so important to you?

A school for GLBT kids? Are you kidding? THAT’S why I’m involved and honored to be doing this show. What I wouldn’t have given to be able to go to school where whatever you felt you were or whomever you were turning out to be was supported.

There have been a few comedians that have come under fire because some of their material was offensive. Was there ever a time that you felt you took something too far? Are there subjects that are off limits to you?

I don’t think any topic is off limits for comedy. It’s all in the delivery. I love to be controversial, but I never want to hurt someone just for a joke. The only time I ever got into trouble with an audience was by accident. I said, “We were at a beach community ... How I didn’t go out in the sun cause I don’t tan. And then I said no one in my family tans. “Because we are all German, we are not genetically able to tan.” And then I said “Germans. We burn in the sun.” After the show a group of women were very upset and were scolding me. I had

Details Suzanne Westenhoefer live!

A comedy performance benefit Pride School Atlanta May 1, 7:30 p.m.

Virginia-Highland Church www.prideschoolatlanta.org

no idea they thought I was making fun of the holocaust. I wasn’t, but it shows how what you say can be heard not as the joke you intended.

You’ve had the pleasure of performing in Indiana several years ago. Your ‘A Bottom on Top’ was filmed in Indianapolis. Did you join the #BoycottIndiana Campaign?

Love Indiana! I have a best friend who lives there. The new religious protection law sucks, BUT I don’t believe we should boycott Indiana. There are lots of good people there ... just make public the service owners who won’t do business with homos. Boycott them!! That’s easy enough. I prefer a gay baker to a straight one. I think we all do.

Before you started comedy, what was the worst job you’ve ever had?

Dairy Queen, when I was a teen. Sexual harassment from the boss and smelly banana

PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY

peels from the sundaes. Ick. How do you prepare for a performance?

Usually I sit backstage and remind myself people will think I’m funny. I’m always sure right before I go on that I won’t know how to be funny. So I give myself a pep talk.

You’ve been cracking the glass ceiling for gay comedians since the ’90s. Do you have any advice to aspiring comedians, especially women?

I tell newbie comics to make sure they have a strong “voice” that an audience will WANT to listen to. You can just walk out there assuming they all love you. You have to earn that.

For women: I tell them you have to be twice as funny to get all the laughs. They know that from women in the world anyway.

Are you secretly wishing for ‘The L Word’ movie?

Lol!! No I’m secretly waiting for a movie about lesbian music festivals and the crazy drama that goes on there. No one ever talks about it. I think it would be groundbreaking!!

Professionally, what’s next for you? Do you have any new projects on the horizon?

I’m working with a fellow writer/comic, but I’m not supposed to tell you on what.

But I’ll bet it’s funny!

School status Zsilavetz, a transgender man with over 20 years of teaching experience and certified

by GLSEN, says the time is right to have an LGBT school in metro Atlanta.

“I believe every youth has a right to learn in a school that is openly free of homophobia, transphobia, and gender policing, and that is not what is happening in our schools today,” Zsilavetz says.

“I believe that every educator has a right to teach authentically, regardless of gender identity or expression or affectional preference. I also believe that every parent has a right to fully participate in their child’s school, knowing that they are clearly welcome and important to the community.”

Zsilavetz says he and other organizers are hoping to enroll 15 students for the inaugural class, so families should apply as soon as possible. Although the school has a tentative agreement with Rock Spring Presbyterian Church for the school’s location, Zsilavetz says, “Nothing is certain until permits are passed and the ink is dry.”

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22 A&E April 17, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

ACTING OUT

By JIM FARMER

Harlem Renaissance comes alive For actor Tyrone Mitchell Henderson, “Blues for an Alabama Sky” has been one of the highlights of a lengthy acting career. The Alliance Theatre’s 20th anniversary production of the play, written by local legend Pearl Cleage, closes out the company’s 2014-2015 season.

It’s the story of the Harlem Renaissance and the cavalcade of African-American artists working around at the time who were eventually affected by the Great Depression. Henderson, who is gay, plays Guy, a gay character in the drama.

The performer lives in Weehawken, New Jersey, and has done TV and film. His main gigs, however, have been on the stage at regional theaters across the country, including Berkeley, where he worked in playwright Tony Kushner’s epic “The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures.” We caught up with the actor as he and the cast were prepping to open the “Blues” remount.

You’re an Alliance Theatre veteran, we hear?

This is my third show here. I did “Angels in America” there, directed by (former Alliance artistic director) Kenny Leon. I believe it was one of the first regional theater productions of Parts One and Two it while it was running on Broadway. Tony Kushner had a chance to come check it out, which was awesome. And then eight years ago I did “Intimate Apparel” at the Alliance, which (current Alliance Theatre artistic director) Susan Booth directed.

This isn’t your first time in the role of Guy, correct?

I played Guy in a Huntington, Massachusetts production that Kenny directed after the origina–al Atlanta production. Phylicia Rashad and Deidrie Henry were in it in Atlanta and I came up for it. I had just finished doing “Angels in America” with Kenny, and he asked me to do it there. Crystal Fox, who stars as Angel in this Atlanta production, was in it and I’ve known her for 20 years. When it came time to do an anniversary of it my name came into the mix. They called and I said yes.

Tell us about your character, Guy. He is a costume designer. He and Angel grew up in Savannah and both wound up at a house of ill repute. They met there, saved www.thegeorgiavoice.com

Tyrone Mitchell Henderson, during workshops, plays the gay character Guy in ‘Blues for an Alabama Sky’ that runs through May 10 at the Alliance Theatre. (Photo by John Maley)

“I feel she is the heart of this. Her writing is so naturalistic.

She drops pearls of wisdom. She is open and valuable.

She takes it all in and brings a wonderful atmosphere.”

Actor Tyrone Mitchell Henderson on local legend Pearl Cleage

Details

‘Blues for an Alabama Sky’ Alliance Theatre Through May 10 www.alliancetheatre.com money and moved to Harlem. He is trying to make his way to Paris, trying to reconnect with Josephine Baker, a few years his junior.

He wants to design for her.

As a gay man, what does the character mean to you?

Primarily he has big dreams and he is headed toward them. He is someone who does not live inside a box. He is his own person. I connect with him. He is unafraid and unapologetic.

Why does the play hold up so well?

When I first think of it, I think of it from an educational standpoint, because so little of the Harlem Renaissance is available to students today. But for people who already know

the Harlem Renaissance, they know it was a vibrant period. A majority of Harlemites were on the move from the South to be amongst like-minded people. It was a time in AfricanAmerican history that everyone has a great memory of. The show brings it back and embraces the artistic lives of those in that period.

What is it like collaborating with Pearl Cleage?

I feel she is the heart of this. Her writing is so naturalistic. She drops pearls of wisdom. She is open and valuable. She takes it all in and brings a wonderful atmosphere.

What’s next for you?

I recently started a theater company, Quick Silver Theater Company, and we have a production in the fall. After I finish here, I head back home and work on that. That’s one of the things [about theater]—you can get a standing ovation on a Sunday and then Monday, who knows what the world has open for you? Besides that, I’ll be auditioning and seeing what comes next.

April 17, 2015 Columnists 23

BO

LGBT

OK

TA N A L T

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By Terri Schlichenmeyer

‘Bettyville’ will make you laugh, cry

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Throughout your life, your parents ignored many things.

That time in high school when you snuck out to party? They knew, but they looked the other way. Same thing with wearing make-up, missing curfew, and that one regrettable hair style. They often “didn’t see” more than you’ll ever know.

Problem is that sometimes, they ignored too much. Did they, for instance, know who you really were? In the new book “Bettyville”

by George Hodgman, one man wondered….

Elizabeth Baker Hodgman–Betty, to most people–didn’t sleep much.

At age 90, she was prone to wandering, fussing at the kitchen, piling and restacking paperwork, and playing the piano in the middle of the night. She was “suffering from dementia or maybe worse.”

Unfortunately, that also meant her son, George, didn’t get much sleep, either.

An out-of-work editor and freelancer, George Hodgman had moved to Paris, Missouri from New York for what was supposed to be a week. Or a month. Or a year, to take care of his mother. Betty didn’t like it; she hated needing someone. Hodgman didn’t like it, either; too much had changed.

“I was Betty’s boy,” he says, and he’d been that way all his life. Hodgman loved his father fiercely, but he absolutely favored his mother. Still, he desperately wished he’d been able to tell his parents he was gay, that he felt alone, that he’d survived too many failed romances, that he’d had substance abuse issues. Surely, they knew but no one ever talked about it.

Now, as he cared for her, there were times when Betty infuriated Hodgman. She could be rude and stubborn, prone to fits of anger for no reason, and loud. She flatly refused any thoughts of nursing homes or assisted living. The problem was her dementia, Hodgman reminded himself repeatedly. He understood that she was rightfully fearful because she knew she was losing herself and “I can only imagine how scary it is…”

And yet, “I think I have survived because of Betty, more than anyone,” Hodgman said

Details ‘Bettyville: A Memoir’

By George Hodgman Viking, 2015 $27.95 279 pages

as she eased away. “There are so many things I will carry when I leave Bettyville with my old suitcase.”

Without a doubt, you’d be forgiven for reaching for a tissue while you’re reading this book. Heck, you might want a whole box of them – but there’s a lot more to “Bettyville” than heartstring-tugging.

I found joy inside this story, in between its inevitable sadness. Author George Hodgman keenly remembers his small town childhood from all sides: churchgoers and alcoholics, kindness and bullying, adolescent crushes, baffling foes, and off-limits subjects that no small-townie discusses. We meet, through the eyes of Hodgman, Betty’s friends and family and we’re told a story about a time past, a life well-loved, and losing a mother long before she’s really gone.

Be prepared to laugh a little, but be prepared to cry, too, as you’re reading this fine memoir–especially if you’re a caretaker for an elderly parent. For you, for sure, “Bettyville” is a book that can’t be ignored.

24 A&E April 17, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

EATING MY WORDS

By CLIFF BOSTOCK

Favorite lunch spots This is a catch-up week—blurbs of some recent meals with friends at three favorite restaurants. All are in the middle price range, at least at lunchtime.

Himalayan Spice: This restaurant is unique in Atlanta because it serves the cuisine of Nepal, as well as that of northern India, which it borders. The Nepali menu is short compared to the Indian one, and consists entirely of small plates.

Probably the best-known traditional dish is the “momo”—dumplings stuffed with vegetables or chicken (the more flavorful choice) and served with a tomatoey, spicy sauce. The choila, which draws raves, features pieces of chicken or lamb marinated in mysterious spices and combined with onions, ginger, garlic and cilantro. Share with your date or no kissing afterward.

Indian standouts include the Chicken 65, sautéed with curry leaves, mustard seeds and chili peppers, garnished with coconut powder.

This is a very mild version of a traditionally spicy-hot dish. Be warned that if you ask for your food to be hot, it will be near blistering. I asked for my biryani—rice cooked with lamb, chicken and vegetables—that way. I also ordered some naan topped with hot chili paste and cilantro. My tongue survived but was rendered numb enough to make speech difficult.

(2773 Clairmont Road, 404-549-7602, www.himalayanspiceatlanta.com) Crawfish Shack: New Orleans is home to a large community of Vietnamese. Over the years, many have fanned out across the country, cooking Cajun classics with a bit of Vietnamese spice.

Hieu Pham, although born and raised in Atlanta, has roots in Cajun culture, and his restaurant, the Crawfish Shack, became a huge hit about five years ago. I think it’s definitely the Asian skill with batters—light and crispy compared to the often thick and greasy Southern stuff— that shines. There are also plenty of steamed and boiled dishes like crab legs, mussels, and shrimp.

Of course, the crawfish is incomparable.

This place is usually packed, but I’ve never experienced a lengthy wait. The seating is all community picnic tables, so don’t plan to discuss your sex life here. I have one warnwww.thegeorgiavoice.com

French restaurant Atmosphere has a specialized lunch menu that includes salade de betterave, a beet and Boursin goat cheese plate. (Photo via Facebook)

ing: the place is in great need of remodeling.

I wouldn’t call it dirty, but the floors and walls are scuffed and scratched. So this isn’t a place to impress your fiancé the interior designer, either.

(4337 Buford Highway, 404-329-1610, www.crawfishshackseafood.com) Atmosphere: So, you worked out at the LA Fitness at Ansley Mall just before lunch. Why walk to Panera for a salad when you can trek the short distance to this nearby French bistro and regain the quarter-pound you lost on the treadmill? The restaurant, quite pricy at night, offers a two-course lunch menu for $15. I go for the “petite charcuterie” starter; its serving of cured meats is not petite at all. For my entrée, I order the croque monsieur, the classic sandwich of ham and melted Swiss cheese. There’s also a daily omelet. You have the option of skipping a starter and ordering a dessert of ice cream or sorbet instead. The clientele here are older and a bit formal. You probably want to change out of your gym shorts and ripped T-shirt before going. (1620 Piedmont Ave., 678-702-1620, www.atmospherebistro.com) Cliff Bostock, PhD, is a long-time Atlanta food critic and former psychotherapist who now specializes in collaborative life coaching (404-518-4415).

April 17, 2015 Columnists 25

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Our Guide to the Best LGBT Events in Atlanta for April 17-April 27

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SATURDAY, APRIL 18

DJ Kevin Durard spins for Jungle’s anniversary party, 10 p.m., www.jungleatl.com (Photo via Facebook)

FRIDAY, APRIL 17 – SUNDAY, APRIL 19

The Atlanta Ballet opens its Modern Choreographic Voices program with Ohad Naharin’s “Minus 16,” Alexei Ratmansky’s “Seven Sonatas” and Gina Patterson’s “Quietly Walking,” 8 p.m., April 17 and 18 and 2 p.m., April 18 and 19, Cobb Energy Centre, www.cobbenergycentre.com

FRIDAY, APRIL 17

Boogie down as Women’s Outdoor Network hosts a free Disco Night from 7 – 10 p.m. at Heretic, www.hereticatlanta.com

EVENT SPOTLIGHT SATURDAY, APRIL 25

As part of Bear Pride Weekend, comic Peter Bisuito brings his “My Big Funny Peter” comedy act to town as a benefit for Joining Hearts, 8 p.m., Jungle Atlanta, www.jungleatl.com

26 Best Bets April 17, 2015

The Third Friday Film Series screens Anne Lewis & Mimi Pickering’s “Ann Braden: Southern Patriot,” a documentary exploring the life and legacy of an American civil rights leader. After she was charged with sedition for attempting to desegregate a Louisville, Kentucky neighborhood in 1954, Braden used the attacks to turn herself “inside out” and embrace a lifetime of racial justice organizing matched by few whites in American history, 7:30 p.m.,

First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta, www.firstexistentialist.org The Traxx Ladies Lounge 2.0 Fridays event is every Friday at 9 p.m., featuring rotating entertainers/DJs/hosts, with a dance party and show until 3 a.m., My Sister’s Room, www.mysistersroom.com DJ Marc Cubs hosts the Weekend Kickoff Party at 10 p.m. at The Hideaway, www.atlantahideaway.com

SATURDAY, APRIL 18

Sheryll Roberts is the author of “From Victim 2 Vessel” and the founder of Life of Hope After Abuse, an organization to combat child sexual abuse. You can meet Ms. Roberts and pick up your own copy of her memoir at her Charis Books book signing from 1:303p.m., www.charisbooksandmore.com Dust off your dancing shoes! Once The MetroGnomes Stage Band starts playing, your feet won’t stay still. Atlanta Freedom Band’s second annual Spring Swing returns to the Hudson

Grille Midtown with classics from big band swing with a few rock and funk tunes in the mix, 7 – 10:30 p.m., www.hudsongrille.com It’s two parties in one. DJ Rob Reum spins inside while DJ Daryl Cox turns up the music outside Saturday nights at TEN Atlanta, www.tenatlanta.com

SUNDAY, APRIL 19

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

MONDAY, APRIL 20

Join Charis Books for a very special conversation between two Charis favorites: Jim Grimsley and Pearl Cleage, to celebrate the release of Jim’s newest book: “How I Shed My Skin: Unlearning the Racist Lessons of a Southern Childhood,” 7:30 – 9:30 p.m., www.charisbooksandmore.com

www.thegeorgiavoice.com

TELL US ABOUT YOUR LGBT EVENT Submit your LGBT event for inclusion in our online and print calendars by emailing event info to editor@thegavoice.com

Option A - come to Mary’s to watch “Rupaul’s Drag Race” with local contestant Violet Chachki at 9 p.m., www.marysatlanta.com

events sprinkled over town this weekend, beginning with BJ’s Kick Off Party and Bearracuda at Heretic, www.atlantabearpride.com

Or Option B - go to BJ Roosters and watch “Rupaul’s Drag Race” as well, 2043 Cheshire Bridge Road, Atlanta, GA 30324

FRIDAY, APRIL 24

TUESDAY, APRIL 21

DJ Kaye G gets the crowd going at Bulldogs, 893 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30308

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22

The Alliance Theatre presents a 20th anniversary staging of Pearl Cleage’s “Blues for an Alabama Sky,” featuring a gay character, with a 7:30 curtain tonight, through May 10, www.alliancetheatre.com The Gentlemen’s Foundation holds a fundraiser with a viewing of “Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet” at 7 p.m. at Actor’s Express. There will be a Q&A with the cast after the play and proceeds benefit the foundation’s youth mentoring program, mPact2. Tickets available at www.thegentlemensfoundation.org Find your inner Patti Labelle - Darlene Majewski hosts Hump Day Karaoke at Burkhart’s at 10:30 p.m., www.burkharts.com

THURSDAY, APRIL 23

SAGE Atlanta hosts a social hour from 10 – 11 a.m. before a general meeting at 11 a.m., Phillip Rush Center, www.rushcenteratl.com Gay comedian Ian Aber hosts Hot Mic–Comedy Night Thursdays every Thursday at the Hideaway. The stand up comedy open mic features the best in Atlanta talent, new and emerging artists, and occasional out-of-town guests, 10 p.m., atlantahideaway.com It’s Ladies Night at Friends on Ponce, with host/emcee Regina, 10 p.m., www.friendsonponce-atl.com

FRIDAY, APRIL 24 – MONDAY, APRIL 28

Bears, grizzlies, cubs – oh my! See plenty of hairy men at Atlanta Bear Pride, with

www.thegeorgiavoice.com

Join Charis Books in celebrating the Atlanta launch of “Dumped: Stories of Women Unfriending Women,” edited

by Nina Gaby. Readers include Jessica Handler, editor Nina Gaby and contributor Susan Cushman. The book features stories by established and emerging women writers about being discarded by someone from whom they expected more: a close female friend, 7:30 – 9 p.m., www.charisbooksandmore.com Film Love presents in person Jack Willis, who will introduce two films he made 50 years ago in Alabama and Mississippi, chronicling the Civil Rights movement. The films, “The Streets of Greenwood” and “Lay My Burden Down,” have gone largely unscreened in the South for decades, www.facebook.com/ events/363511513842502/ The Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (AGLCC) holds its Fourth Friday networking event from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. tonight at Henry’s Midtown Tavern, www.henrysatl.com

SATURDAY, APRIL 25

“Beyond Ferguson: A Community Empowerment Summit” is a free summit featuring keynote speakers Robbin Shipp and Nick Chiles, authors of “Justice While Black.” It will be held at the AthensClarke County Library from 9:30 a.m.5:30 p.m. and include workshops, an activist fair, book discussion, and live entertainment, www.facebook.com/undertherainbow706 The first annual Spring Fling fundraiser including a chance to win a 2000 Saturn SL-1 to benefit homeless youth benefits Lost-NFound and will be from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at the organization’s thrift store, 2585 Chantilly Drive. Funds raised will go toward renovation of a house for the youth, http://membersautochoice.com/spring-fling-2015/ The third annual Ready 4 Hope Patio Bear-B-Q with DJ Robert Ansley is today at 2 p.m. Heretic Atlanta, www.hereticatlanta.com

SATURDAY, APRIL 18

Charlene, Suzanne and all the Sugarbakers are part of ‘Designing Women #9’ at Onstage Atlanta tonight and running through tomorrow, 8 p.m., www.onstageatlanta.com (Photo by Karen Wink) “Let’s Make a Deal” is on the agenda at Friends on Ponce tonight with host Ken, 6 – 10 p.m., Friends on Ponce, www.friendsonponce-atl.com Party with Impact: Honoring the Work of Paul Plate is a celebration of Paul Plate’s work in creating and leading Positive Impact for the past 23 years. Plate is retiring and this party is a fundraiser to help the agency provide needed resources, 6 p.m., The Commerce Club, tickets available at http://pi.xorbia.com/paulplate Bear Invasion, Atlanta Bear Pride Edition, features music from DJ Doug Jackson and DJ Sean Mac, $10, 10:30 p.m., Jungle, www.jungleatl.com

SUNDAY, APRIL 26

DJ Ben Baker gets the late night crowd moving at 3 a.m., Xion, www.cariocaproductions.com DJ Caprice spins at Bulldogs, 893 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30308 Darlene hosts karaoke for a cause, benefiting PAWS Atlanta, from 8 – 11 p.m., Model T, www.modeltatlanta.com

MONDAY, APRIL 27

Monday Mingle at Blake’s is an opportunity to network, with a free buffet and prizes, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., www.blakesontheparkatlanta.com

EVENT SPOTLIGHT THURSDAY, APRIL 23

Poet Meg Day is on the #Last13Tour to support and bring awareness to the last 13 feminist bookstores in the U.S. and Canada, with a stop at Charis Books. Local poet Sumita Chakraborty will join her as part of a celebration of national poetry month, 7:30 – 9 p.m., www.charisbooksandmore.com (Photo via Facebook)

April 17, 2015 Best Bets 27

OUTSIDE THE BOX

By BILL KAELIN

Love and love handles Everything is better when you are in love.

The air seems cleaner; birds sing louder, food tastes amazing and alcohol is even sweeter.

Life has been good for my boyfriend, Shawn, and I this first year. We have experienced a lot, done some traveling, had some great laughs and indulged in great food with plenty of cocktails to wash it all down. I noticed recently while pulling out my spring clothes that as a result of all the indulgence, I had put on some serious love pounds. Shirts were tighter, pants more snug. I figured it was just winter weight that needed to be shed until a series of signs showed me that I was living in a skinny-fat person purgatory just like I read about recently in a popular Facebook post.

The first signal regarding my new size was when I had the honor of roasting Nicole Paige Brookes for her 20th Drag Anniversary. I was a nervous wreck, wondering how the guest panel of drag queens was going to ride my ass. Instead, Edie Cheezburger made a joke about the size of my ass. “Whenever I see Bill Kaelin I don’t know if he is really muscular or just really bloated.” Her crack totally made me laugh, but reminded me that humor is the good-natured side of truth.

My accountant also weighed in on the issue.

Eva is a sassy, tell-it-like-it-is Asian woman with an attitude and accent that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up when she scolds you. Upon completion of this year’s tax return, I was caught off-guard when she grabbed my love handles and wagged her finger at me, saying: “You drink too much beer.” Feeling like a stuffed sausage, I shook my head in agreement and promised her I would cut back while quietly telling myself how fucked up this was.

The skinny-fat syndrome struggle is real. I have had a 32-inch waist forever, but now my 32s give me the blues, but a size 34 falls to the floor. My medium-sized T-shirts that I could easily slide into were now making me miserable; but a large looks like I’m wearing a muumuu.

Losing weight isn’t as easy as it was when I would smoke a daily pack of cigarettes, drink Red Bull for breakfast and dance at Backstreet until the sun came up. It’s not the ’90s anymore, and I had to find a healthy alternative for shedding

“I lost eight pounds by the end of the program, I felt great. My skin was glowing, I had tons of energy and I was sleeping like a baby. Dtox is like a healthy, old-fashioned home milk delivery service with hip glass bottles dropped off at your front door.” the pounds. Fortunately, I found it with “dtox organic juice and junk” in Midtown.

Dtox has a program called the Clean and Lean Cleanse that, thankfully, also includes real food. It is a weight-loss program with a series of elixirs that cleanse, juices like the “Lean Mean and Green” that are nutritious, and ready-to-eat lunches like a delicious collard wrap with almond dipping sauce. There was more than enough fresh, raw juice and goodies to last until dinner, and thanks to Shawn’s clean-eating grilling skills, I got back in the habit of eating at home in the evenings.

I could tell my stomach had physically shrunk, causing me to desire less food by Day 2. I had committed to doing the dtox for two weeks while having weekends off. My first break was Easter weekend, and after digesting too many Peeps I was ready to get back to my greens.

I lost eight pounds by the end of the program, I felt great. My skin was glowing, I had tons of energy and I was sleeping like a baby.

Dtox is like a healthy, old-fashioned home milk delivery service with hip glass bottles dropped off at your front door. It resets your taste buds, turns back time on your body and is worth every penny; especially when it means you don’t have to buy a new spring wardrobe. I’m still not skinny, but I’m not fat, either. I have found peace somewhere in the middle, and I feel like a million bucks.

Bill Kaelin is the owner of Bill Kaelin Marketing Events and Consulting Agency in Atlanta, Ga. www.BillKaelin.com

28 Columnists April 17, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

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THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID

By MELISSA CARTER

Women on 20s When you spend $20, you likely give a casual glance to Andrew Jackson as you hand the money away. Did you know the way that bill looks could soon change, his image replaced with another? The organizers behind Women on 20s are trying to make that happen, but the outcome will depend on how sexist we as a society still are.

Susan Sarandon let me know about Women on 20s. She took a picture of herself with a $20 bill on her Twitter feed, stating she wanted to see a woman on the bill, and telling followers to post their own photos and vote. I followed her link to the website where they had listed many prominent women, like Shirley Chisholm, Betty Friedan, Amelia Earhart, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. I voted for my choice of finalists, and today the Final Four include Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, and former Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller.

Once a winner is chosen, Women on 20s will petition President Obama to direct the Treasury Secretary to make the change.

The other day I explained this process to a couple of male coworkers who had not heard of it. One guy’s response was, “Wouldn’t the value go down to $18.20 if that happens?”

When I gave him a blank stare, he continued, “Come on,” as if it was my fault for not crediting him for a brilliant joke.

Former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has officially thrown her name into the ring of candidacy for the 2016 Presidential election. Regardless of your politics, it can’t be disputed that Clinton has displayed the highest tenacity to put a woman behind the main desk in the White House.

But many can’t look past her gender to take her seriously as a viable candidate. Chris Matthews called her the “she-devil” on MSNBC, and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer called her “feisty.” I can’t imagine all the other comments she has endured over the years, since my colleague’s recent quip about sexism frustrated me.

The dialogue during this election, however, could be different. A nonpartisan project called “Name It, Change It” seeks to end misogynistic coverage of not just Clinton, but

“Susan Sarandon let me know about Women on 20s. She took a picture of herself with a $20 bill on her Twitter feed, stating she wanted to see a woman on the bill, and telling followers to post their own photos and vote.” of all women candidates in the press.

According to their website, “a highly toxic media environment persists for women candidates, often negatively affecting their campaigns,” and that’s if women even run. The effort is a coalition of She Should Run, Women’s Media Center, and Political Parity, and says women are 50 percent less likely than men to seriously consider running for office. Furthermore, they are 33 percent less likely to view themselves as qualified.

I am tired of trying. I’m tired of hearing how much less I make as a woman than my male counterparts. I’m tired of seeing only one woman have the potential to become our first female president, and always with an emphasis on “potential.” It’s time to see the fruits of our labor realized, but there seems to be one fundamental flaw in how we’re trying to get it done: the way we see ourselves.

It seems we continue to believe a Prince Charming will come to save us; that if we do the work someone will notice and finish the task for us. Well, Prince Charming isn’t real and no one is coming. It’s up to us, to you, to believe in your own abilities and worth. You can make more money, you can be President, you can do anything and don’t need a man’s acceptance in order for it to happen. But until you accept that truth, as women we will continue to spin our wheels without really getting anywhere.

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

30 Columnists April 17, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com

SOMETIMES ‘Y’

By RYAN LEE

Big-crowd cruising As a moderate drinker, I find such promise in a noontime buzz. I assume the magic of being tipsy just after breakfast diminishes with frequency.

My friends and I had glorious plans to start drinking around noon at the pool in my apartment complex, then walk with our cocktails to Piedmont Park for the Dogwood Festival. Our meet-up was delayed several hours since one of us was boo’d-up Saturday morning, but we were able to achieve that daytime tingle before celebrating the kickoff of the Summer Festival Cruising Season.

Here’s a basic guide for semi-responsible mingling: Wear sunglasses There’s a risk of looking undignified when scanning crowds for eye candy, and sunglasses allow your gaze to sometimes linger. However, shades don’t protect you from appearing shady, so stay respectful with how long or intensely you admire anyone.

Three is the magic number I’ve enjoyed festivals solo or with a friend, but the ideal entourage for big-crowd cruising is a threesome. Moseying through a festival with just one other person creates ambiguity about your relationship status, and it can be daunting (even logistically) for someone to approach you in a crowd of four or more.

Use real-world manners You’ll be surprised by how many guys you see who you know only by their screen names and thumbnails. You’ll see former hook-ups with their family, friends, co-workers or a lover. Stay mindful of whether these sightings call for a hug, wave, nod or nothing.

Names aren’t necessary When greeting someone you know in the most limited context, a simple, “Hey there,” or “What’s up,” usually suffices. Spare Carl the awkwardness of explaining to his friends why you called him DJ. www.thegeorgiavoice.com

“There’s a risk of looking undignified when scanning crowds for eye candy, and sunglasses allow your gaze to sometimes linger.”

Establish a cone of privacy When someone in your group stops to greet a gentleman of interest, it’s respectful for the rest of the group to walk three or four additional steps to allow for reminiscing or making arrangements. Enjoy some scenery or a vendor booth until it’s clear whether your friend considers group introductions necessary.

Stroll courteously Whether you run into a favorite regular or an old friend you now only see on social media, limit reunions to two or three minutes. It’s almost expected that everyone in the group will come across folks and chat, but don’t interrupt the festival flow with a living tour of your little black book.

Share cautiously Prepare a cache of neutral settings in case your friends ask how you know a familiar passerby. It’s not so much lying to say “from the office,” or “at the gym,” as respecting someone’s private affairs when you’re surrounded by 5,000 people. Likewise, resist spilling details of you all’s previous encounters, although it’s fair—and just—to widen your eyes to signal your bestie that the encounter was memorable.

Own your secrets The tips thus far have been for single gay men of a certain disposition, but the final one is for those who may be less liberated: If you are closeted, or partnered while still hooking up on the side, it is no one’s responsibility to shelter your deception.

If you’re a man of many secrets, fried pickles and funnel cakes might be too messy for you.

Ryan Lee is an Atlanta writer.

April 17, 2015 Columnists 31

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