voice
georgia VOL.10 • ISSUE 4
TheGeorgiaVoice.com
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EDITORIAL
Editor: Patrick Colson-Price pcolson-price@thegavoice.com Editorial Contributors: Joey Amato, Cliff Bostock, Camryn Burke, Melissa Carter, Mariah Cooper, Dallas Duncan, Aidan Ivory Edwards, Jim Farmer, Luke Gardner, O’Brian Gunn Elizabeth Hazzard, Ryan Lee, Jamie Roberts, Berlin Sylvestre, Dionne Walker, Craig Washington
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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
Edible Epiphanies Patrick Colson-Price
There I was. The music was blaring, half-naked men were bouncing around, and I was feeling great! I’d been offered an edible from an acquaintance which I gladly accepted. I figured, “What’s the harm? It’ll help me relax even more, right?” I’m not the one to pass up a good time, especially at a circuit party. But this particular night, there was a powerful storm brewing inside of me. I didn’t realize what was about to happen, but I can’t say I didn’t expect it when it happened. As quickly as I accepted this new drug in the side room of the local club, my reaction to what I had just taken was just as swift. I’ve done my share of drugs socially and I’m unashamed. When you’re introduced into the circuit scene, it’s very much a part of your induction into a night full of music, dancing, and sex. As my edible kicked in, I noticed the effects. They were familiar. From ecstasy to GHB, I’d felt these feelings before. I didn’t panic. But as the minutes passed, things began to take a turn. I felt my mind melting into a punch bowl of thoughts and feelings, some of which I couldn’t control. I wasn’t even able to verbally express myself, and it began to play with my head. Soon I began hallucinating and then I knew, it was time to go home. Full of emotion, my husband helped me get into the car and we began our short journey home, but it felt like a lifetime. While I remember parts of our conversations, the majority of the evening after popping the foreign substance remained much of a blur. I do, however, remember I felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness, feeling like I’d failed at life in some way. From my relationship to my career missteps, and even friendships that I’d let go south years ago. I questioned why I do some of the things I do in life. For me, I felt like I was making sense and these epiphanies were causing me to reflect on much of what I’d done or not done in life over the past several years. I cried. I felt emotion. I felt a sense of release because the words I was saying hadn’t been uttered EVER before. When
we arrived home, I climbed into bed, gave a sigh of relief and quickly dozed away into my dreams. Needless to say, my hour-long night out was INTENSE. While I wouldn’t recommend having this time of a profound awakening while under the influence of marijuana, it certainly made it easier to express myself when I’ve felt afraid to speak my mind freely in the past. The reason I just admitted to doing drugs? Firstly, I’m an open book and I feel sharing all parts of me are what allow me to be a voice to those who may be afraid to speak up. Secondly, we’ve all been in those vulnerable positions where our thoughts and feelings feel all too real. The majority of the time is when we’re feeling high in the clouds where every single cell in our body is in tune with our heart, mind, and soul. I thought about a lot that night, and it made me ask myself, is there more to life than what we allow ourselves to feel outside of those highs?? Let’s face it. When you’re high, the world is pretty fucking amazing. I think if we all could bask in its glory under the flashing lights with some
Paulo or Joe Gauthreaux playing, we’d get an all-access pass to the festivities. Unfortunately, there’s the reality. My comedown after my edible experience was a sobering one, and it made me realize there’s much to strive for in my life to be content and happy outside of a nighttime high. While I’m by no means chasing the next high, I do know there’s something to be said about getting a glimpse into a world where the pain isn’t felt, thoughts slow down, and happiness is what’s on the menu. At least from 10pm to 3am (and after hours). I’ve had my fair share of critics who bash us circuit guys because of the lives we live when the sun goes down, but there’s much joy in how we realize what the meaning of life is or could be. We do it intimately with one another, sweating, dancing, singing along with our eyes closed, feeling the breeze of a world that allows us to realize what could be. It’s our escape and our way to appreciate reality even more. April 26, 2019 Editorial 3
IMPORTANT FACTS FOR BIKTARVY®
This is only a brief summary of important information about BIKTARVY and does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your condition and your treatment.
MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT BIKTARVY BIKTARVY may cause serious side effects, including: } Worsening of Hepatitis B (HBV) infection. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking BIKTARVY. Do not stop taking BIKTARVY without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months.
ABOUT BIKTARVY BIKTARVY is a complete, 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in adults. It can either be used in people who have never taken HIV-1 medicines before, or people who are replacing their current HIV-1 medicines and whose healthcare provider determines they meet certain requirements. BIKTARVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. HIV-1 is the virus that causes AIDS. Do NOT take BIKTARVY if you also take a medicine that contains: } dofetilide } rifampin } any other medicines to treat HIV-1
BEFORE TAKING BIKTARVY Tell your healthcare provider if you: } Have or have had any kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis infection. } Have any other health problems. } Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if BIKTARVY can harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking BIKTARVY. } Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk. Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take: } Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, antacids, laxatives, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist. } BIKTARVY and other medicines may affect each other. Ask your healthcare provider and pharmacist about medicines that interact with BIKTARVY, and ask if it is safe to take BIKTARVY with all your other medicines.
Get HIV support by downloading a free app at
MyDailyCharge.com
BVYC0103_BIKTARVY_B_10x10-5_GeorgiaVoice_KeepPushing2_DR4_r1v1jl.indd All Pages
(bik-TAR-vee)
POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF BIKTARVY BIKTARVY may cause serious side effects, including: } Those in the “Most Important Information About BIKTARVY” section. } 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 BIKTARVY. } Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys. If you develop new or worse kidney problems, they may tell you to stop taking BIKTARVY. } Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat. } Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain. } The most common side effects of BIKTARVY in clinical studies were diarrhea (6%), nausea (6%), and headache (5%). These are not all the possible side effects of BIKTARVY. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking BIKTARVY. 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. Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with BIKTARVY. HOW TO TAKE BIKTARVY Take BIKTARVY 1 time each day with or without food. GET MORE INFORMATION } This is only a brief summary of important information about BIKTARVY. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more. } Go to BIKTARVY.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5. } If you need help paying for your medicine, visit BIKTARVY.com for program information.
BIKTARVY, the BIKTARVY Logo, DAILY CHARGE, the DAILY CHARGE Logo, KEEP PUSHING, LOVE WHAT’S INSIDE, GILEAD, and the GILEAD Logo are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. Version date: December 2018 © 2019 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. BVYC0103 02/19
KEEP PUSHING.
Because HIV doesn’t change who you are. BIKTARVY® is a complete, 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in certain adults. BIKTARVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS.
Ask your healthcare provider if BIKTARVY is right for you. To learn more, visit BIKTARVY.com.
Please see Important Facts about BIKTARVY, including important warnings, on the previous page and visit BIKTARVY.com.
4/9/19 2:54 PM
NEWS
Morehouse College to Allow Admission to Trans Students Luke Gardner Morehouse College, the country’s only allmale historically black collage, released a statement on April 13 announcing the approval of a new policy which would allow transgender male students to be considered for admission. The policy will be enacted in fall 2020, according to a statement released by the university. The statement highlights key points of the strict men-only policy, like the fact that Morehouse expects students who enroll to maintain their gender identity as men throughout their entire academic career. The policy says that “students [who] transition from a man to a woman” will be forced to leave the university unless the student in question writes a formal appeal and gets approved by a three-person committee chosen by the president. “I believe I’m the only transsexual on campus,” said Morehouse student Tatiana Rafael. “I was told by the president that I’m the only fully transitioned woman in the school’s history.” When Rafael first got admitted into the college, she wasn’t fully realized in terms of her gender identity. “At that time I identified as male,” Rafael said. “I didn’t start physical transition until I was at Morehouse for six months.” Under the new policy, Rafael will be grandfathered in and allowed to graduate, but future students who come out as trans women will not receive that opportunity. Morehouse spokeswoman Aileen Dodd told CNN that “students who identified as trans women before 2020 are eligible to graduate from Morehouse, but are unpermitted to graduate from the school after 2020.” “It’s a chance to make history,” Rafael said. “I’ll be the first ever fully transitioned woman to get a degree from Morehouse. I am very happy for trans men who will be 6 News April 26, 2019
MOREHOUSE COLLEGE INSET: TATIANA RAFAEL PHOTOS VIA FACEBOOK
believe non-binary students are affected in ways I “can’tI still understand. The policy has a potential to become a witch
hunt. Nonbinary students could be targeted by people who don’t understand how they identify. – Morehouse College student Tatiana Rafael
”
able to attend, but the policy is negative in how it affects trans women who may apply to the school in the future. You don’t just wake up one morning and decide ‘I’m a trans woman.’ It’s a long journey of selfdiscovery, and to be penalized for having that realization is wrong.” The policy also says that anyone who identifies as a woman may not enroll, but fails to address the existence of non-binary and otherwise genderqueer people. “I still believe non-binary students are affected in ways I can’t understand,” Rafael said. “The policy has a potential to become a witch hunt. Non-binary students could be targeted by people who don’t understand
how they identify.”
male, why should the future be?”
Still, many critics say that the historical nature of Morehouse as a black male college must be preserved. Rafael disagrees, hoping that while she may be the first woman student on record since the 1930s, she won’t be the last.
In September of 2017, Spellman University enacted a similar admission policy which allows self-identifying women to qualify for admission regardless of their genitalia. While Spellman doesn’t accept selfidentifying men, students who “transition to a male” are allowed to finish earning their degree.
“I think it’s bullshit, and here’s why,” Rafael said. “The history of the college is not all-male. Women went to Morehouse and graduated, although they were only accepted at the college during the Great Depression for a brief period of time. I think black masculinity has to make space for black women or else it’s not true masculinity. If the school’s history isn’t all
Spellman’s policy also fails to address gender non-binary individuals. As for the possibility of Morehouse loosening its grip on masculinity, Rafael remains doubtful. “I don’t see the faculty and administration [opening the doors to non-men],” Rafael said. “It’s going to have to be a student-led effort. TheGeorgiaVoice.com
NEWS
MISS TERRA COTTA SUGARBAKER READS A BOOK DURING DRAG STORYTIME PHOTO VIA FACEBOOK
Mayor Invites Drag Storytime to City Hall Patrick Colson-Price During a time where RuPaul’s Drag Race is taking over the television and drag queens are launching iconic careers, in parts of Georgia, some aren’t too keen at drag queen pop-up appearances. According to the AJC, Steven Igarashi-Ball, who performs in drag as Miss Terra Cotta Sugarbaker, said he was confused that the Alpharetta Library Branch dropped his drag storytime event from their calendar. Library system spokeswoman Jessica CorbitDominquez tells AJC that the event wasn’t canceled. However, no one has explained its removal from the calendar. According to Sugarbaker’s Facebook page, the library will allow another story time event to go on as TheGeorgiaVoice.com
planned on April 27 where all 180 spots have already been reserved. Igarashi-Ball told the AJC he’s been reading to children of all ages at the Ponce de Leon Avenue branch, typically once every two months since September 2017. The events remain popular, he said. Mayor Keisha Bottoms saw the story and quickly tweeted her support and enthusiasm to bring drag story time to downtown Atlanta. “Miss Terra Cotta Sugarbaker and all of our LGBTQ friends are always welcome at Atlanta City Hall,” Bottoms stated. “How about we host your next story hour? @CityofAtlanta let’s make it happen!” The story hasn’t gone unnoticed in the community with a slew of support for and
against Bottoms and her decision to step up to the plate. She says though, her support of the event reflects in the way she’s raised her children. “For my kids, it was never a thing. It’s not something they take issue to because they’ve been exposed to it at a very early age,” she said. “I think that’s what story time is all about and opening up our kids to people who may look different or may present differently.” Bottoms’, an avid supporter of LGBTQ rights since taking office in at the beginning of 2018, has led the way in creating a more inclusive environment throughout the city. Her invitation to Sugarbaker is just another step in making diversity a top priority in her administration.
“I think it’s about who we are as a welcoming city. We can’t just say we are a welcoming city. We need to reflect that in our actions,” she said. “It helps erase some of the discrimination and hatred.” After the “cancellation” of the event, Sugarbaker took to Facebook thanking supporters and fighters of her drag story time after stating she’d reschedule for a future date. “This event will happen because hundreds, maybe even thousands, of citizens made their voices heard. I am grateful for every phone call, email, social media post, and private conversation,” she said. “This event isn’t about drag queens. This event is about creativity, selfexpression, freedom of speech, and tolerance. Thank you for agreeing that those are hallmarks of the community we want to live in.” April 26, 2019 News 7
NEWS
One-on-One with
the Mayor Patrick Colson-Price
She’s been in office for nearly 16 months and is already making leaps and bounds to make Atlanta a city for all, including the LGBTQ community. Growing up in Atlanta, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, knew her hometown had all the makings of a safe haven for those looking for a better way of life, so she fought hard through her ranks as an Atlanta City Council member and now as the 60th mayor of the city of Atlanta. She took some time out of her busy schedule to catch up with us about the consistent fight for LGBTQ rights. What are your plans and goals as Mayor to get HIV numbers down throughout the city? The face of HIV/AIDS is really reflective of Atlanta in so many ways. Unlike San Francisco, we’re not just dealing with gay white men who are infected at larger rates. We’re also dealing with a number of African-American women and men. So much of it is about addressing stigma and the education piece. It’s my hope that, obviously, I am an AfricanAmerican woman, that by my even talking about HIV/AIDS in Atlanta, that it resonates with communities that otherwise may not openly have this conversation. We know that San Francisco has been able to address HIV/ AIDS in a very comprehensive and productive way. I don’t know why Atlanta can’t do the same. This ‘down low’ aspect of gay men in Atlanta who don’t disclose their sexual orientation and promiscuity, is that a problem that we’re facing as well? It certainly is. A lot of the conversation in the African-American community deals with men who may have been incarcerated for a number of years. Whether it’s true or not, or the root cause, or if it’s something else and 8 News April 26, 2019
“The face of HIV/AIDS is really reflective of Atlanta in so many ways. Unlike San Francisco, we’re not just dealing with gay white men who are infected at larger rates. We’re also dealing with a number of African-American women and men. So much of it is about addressing stigma and the education piece.”
men just don’t choose to disclose their sexual lifestyle that may have put them at risk. When communities openly have this conversation, when people use precaution and find out if they’re already infected, they can receive early diagnosis and treatment, you can go on to have a very long and productive life. For the African-American community, Magic Johnson is a prime example. People look at him living this openly healthy life but they don’t recognize there are layers to how he’s able to do that. He’s receiving top-notch medical treatment, he’s taking medication appropriately, he was diagnosed early. All of these have allowed him to stay healthy nearly 30 years later. In so many ways, it creates a false narrative in the African-American community. Get diagnosed with HIV and suddenly you’re healthy. Why is PrEP so important not only men but women, and what are you trying to
do to make sure everyone has access to it? We discussed the need to have funding in Atlanta towards PrEP. By virtue of how we’re organized, it really is Fulton County’s responsibility for public health. We put $100,000 aside in last year’s budget for the first time to address HIV/AIDS in the city. As we continued to examine how the city could use that funding, we determined that expansion of PrEP would be the best use of those dollars. We’re going to be working with the Fulton County Board of Health to help increase the scope of PrEP. We have to make sure access to appropriate medical care and medicines is available to all communities. For so many in Atlanta, that community that is not spoken of involves African-American women.
If someone in Atlanta is diagnosed with HIV, how does your team make sure they have not only the appropriate access to physical care but also mental care after diagnoses? I think that has to be part of our conversation. What we are looking to do in the next few months, we will be onboarding a chief health officer. One of our foundation partners is going to help provide that position for us. When you are getting into testing and diagnoses of HIV/AIDs, that’s just a layer of it. There are other things we have to do to make sure people are prepared for that diagnoses. That CONTINUES ON PAGE 9 TheGeorgiaVoice.com
NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 chief health officer will help create services that will help outline those needs. As Mayor, what does it mean to be a voice for the LGBTQ community to speak up and lay down new policies to protect our rights as a community? I think it really is who we are as a city. It’s who we’ve really been created to be. Atlanta was this shining beacon for the civil rights movement. It attracted African-Americans to the city because it was a welcoming place unlike many other places in the South. I think in 2019, our commitment to human rights is still just the same. I think when you look at the LGBTQ, it’s such an important part of our city. I think it’s only appropriate to continue to lead the way and show the world that we can be a welcoming city. Your administration just introduced legislation to end conversion therapy. It unanimously passed through the city council. Why is this one of your priorities not only for the city but across the state? When you have the LGBTQ community, so often you hear people talk about struggling and coming out as children and teenagers. If we’re continuing to foster this secretly, I think what ends up happening is you have a number of issues: people who aren’t free to be who they were created to be, you have people hiding their lifestyles from their partners which creates risk factors. I think that we have to lead the state, and even the nation and the world with appropriate behavior because of who we are as a city. Our administration introduced this legislation so that it could be very clear that we don’t support conversion therapy and then it begins the public conversation so that people can call on the state to do the same. Morehouse College recently announced they’d consider trans men for enrollment in 2020. As an African-American female mayor, how do you think this puts the rights of minorities at the forefront throughout the city? I think, most importantly, for AfricanAmericans, Morehouse is such a long-standing institution very much immersed in tradition, so for them to look at this policy and to say there are changes that need to be made, speaks volumes. It’s something that will be liberating TheGeorgiaVoice.com
“What we are looking to do in the next few months, we will be onboarding a chief health officer. One of our foundation partners is going to help provide that position for us. When you are getting into testing and diagnoses of HIV/AIDs, that’s just a layer of it. There are other things we have to do to make sure people are prepared for that diagnoses. That chief health officer will help create services that will help outline those needs.” for other African-American institutions to reexamine their policies as well. What do you think you can do as Mayor and even after you leave office, to keep Atlanta one of the top LGBTQ-friendly destinations in the country and the world?
I think that as long as we continue to reflect our diversity in the city, it’s always in the representation of the city. Even where we took the cover picture for the Georgia Voice at 10th and Piedmont, it’s how we present ourselves and how we put together policies. It’s my hope that people will continue to come to Atlanta to
see that we are truly a welcoming place. As we apply data and metrics to measure our progress with what we’re doing in the city to move the scene on HIV/AIDS, I think that speaks volumes, and it also shows that we’re welcoming to people of all lifestyles. April 26, 2019 News 9
HIV IN THE ATL
HIV in the ATL
Katie Burkholder For years, Atlanta has been facing an HIV epidemic, one Dr. Carlos del Rio told the AJC was “as bad” as some third world countries. For a number of reasons, our Southern and developed metropolis has been afflicted with this disease — reasons such as social issues like homelessness and unemployment, as well as the discrimination and stigma that just can’t seem to be tackled. More than 1.1 million Americans are living with HIV, with a disproportionate number living in the South, according to HIV.gov. In 2017, 38,739 people were diagnosed with HIV — 19,968 were Southerners. Of these Southern states, Georgia and her capital stand out. That same year, 37,155 Atlantans were living with HIV, says AIDSVu, with 1,597 10 HIV in the ATL April 26, 2019
being diagnosed that year — a five-year high for the city. In 2015, Georgia was #4 in the nation for HIV diagnoses, following New York, Maryland, and Florida. Georgia’s HIV problem is an intersectional one, with race and sexual orientation heavily influencing infection. About 35 percent of Atlanta’s population is black. However, this group makes up 70 percent of those living with HIV in Atlanta. To be considered an epidemic, the CDC requires that 1 percent of the population is affected; 4 percent of black men in Fulton County are living with HIV. 67 percent of those infected are gay and bisexual men, 83 percent of whom are black. HIV isn’t alone; STIs are also continually getting worse in Atlanta. An analysis of CDC data by Health Testing Centers found that, from 2016
to 2017, cases of chlamydia in Georgia increased by about 7 percent, gonorrhea by 19 percent, and syphilis by 15 percent. Fulton and DeKalb Counties both ranked in the top five in the country for rates of syphilis, with Fulton County coming in at #3 with 41.4 cases per 100,000 people and DeKalb at #5 with 38 per 100,000. How do we address this problem, this epidemic? How do we as a state and city move away from these disproportionately high levels of HIV? Increasing availability to PrEP — which Derick Wilson, a member of the Fulton County Board of Infectious Disease, told the Georgia Signal can be out of reach for many affected by unemployment or homelessness – as well as increasing access to healthcare can help end the epidemic. However, raising awareness and curbing stigma
around getting tested is one of the simplest and most effective solutions — 1 in 7 people living with HIV don’t even know it. Increasing the number of people tested can increase treatment and decrease further infection. However, with the stigma surrounding HIV and STIs, it’s no easy feat, Jeff Graham of Georgia Equality told the Georgia Signal. “We need to create a safe space for folks to be able to self-disclose their HIV status,” he said. “To recognize this isn’t a judgement from God, it is not a condemnation of a certain lifestyle, it is not about bad choices — it is a human condition, a medical condition. We need to address issues such as sex shaming in general, the attitudes towards gay and bisexual men and especially gay and bisexual men of color who feel they have multiple layers of oppression that they have to deal with.” TheGeorgiaVoice.com
With your support, Open Hand Atlanta is still delivering on the promise we made to our community 30 years ago. Open Hand continues to provide only the highest quality health-promoting meals to our friends and neighbors living with nutrition-sensitive chronic disease. Making sure they are not only confident in knowing where their next meal is coming from, but that they understand the importance of making food choices that can help them better manage their health and improve their quality of life. After all, we think of each and every one of them as family. As we approach the delivery of our 30 millionth meal, we pause to thank you for your tremendous faith in our mission. Without you, this amazing milestone simply would not have been possible. But of course our work is never done. Help us continue to make a significant impact on the health and well-being of the most vulnerable in our community. Volunteer. Donate. Advocate. Or just come by to say hello. With you by our side, we’ll be prepared for the next 30 years and beyond. Visit OpenHandAtlanta.org to find out more.
WE COOK. WE DELIVER. WE TEACH. WE CARE.
FOOD IS LOVE
This message was paid for with funds contributed by staff and stakeholders for this exclusive purpose.
HIV IN THE ATL
Know Your Status – HIV and STI Testing Across Atlanta AHF Healthcare Center: AID Atlanta 1605 Peachtree St. NE Atlanta, GA 30309 404-870-7722 Free HIV/STI testing available Monday-Thursday 10am to 7pm and Friday 9am to 6pm More information at: www.aidatlanta.org/home Positive Impact Health Centers 523 Church St. Decatur, GA 30030 404-589-9040 Walk-in HIV testing available Monday and Thursday 10am to 4pm, Tuesday and Wednesday 10am to 7:30pm, and the first Saturday of the month from 8:30am to 11:30am. More information at: www.positiveimpacthealthcenters.org Someone Cares Atlanta: Marietta Location 1950 Spectrum Circle, Suite 145, Marietta, GA 30067 678-921-2706 HIV and STI testing available Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9am to 5pm, Tuesday and Thursday from 6pm to 9pm, and by appointment only on Saturdays from 10am to 2pm. More information at: www.someonecaresatl.org/clinic Someone Cares Atlanta: Downtown Location 236 Forsyth St. Suites 201 and 204, Atlanta, GA 30303 678-921-2706 HIV and STI testing available Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm. More information at: www.someonecaresatl.org/clinic Grady Health System Teen Center 80 Jessie Hill Jr Drive SE Atlanta, GA 30303 404-616-3513 12 HIV in the ATL April 26, 2019
Teenagers 12 to 19 years old can get confidential STI and HIV testing Monday and Wednesdays from 12:30pm to 4pm and Saturdays from 8am to 11am. Appointment required; walk-ins are only available on Saturdays to the first ten patients. More information at: www. gradyhealth.org/specialty/teen-center/ Empowerment Resource Center 230 West Peachtree St. NW #1800, Atlanta, GA 30303 404-536-1145 This clinic provides STI testing and free HIV testing to eligible individuals Monday through Friday from 9am to 6pm. (8pm on Thursdays). More information at: www.erc-inc.org Out of the Closet 1858 Cheshire Bridge Road Atlanta, GA 30324 404-447-6473 This thrift store also offers free HIV testing, with results ready in under 20 minutes. Open from 10am to 7pm. Monday through Saturday and 10am to 6pm on Sundays. More information at: www.outofthecloset.org/#testing AHF Healthcare Center: Atlanta Midtown 735 Piedmont Ave. NE Atlanta, GA 30308 404-588-4680 Open Monday through Friday from 9am to 6pm, closed daily from 1pm to 2pm. More information at: https:// locations.hivcare.org/ga-atlanta-hcc46 TheGeorgiaVoice.com
HIV IN THE ATL
The True Meaning of
“Undetectable” Alexander Cheves At the 22nd International AIDS Conference 2018 in Amsterdam, Dr. Alison Rodger, lead author of a study called PARTNER2, was asked: “What would you say to HIV information providers who are withholding this information from people with HIV?” “This information” is the scientifically proven fact that HIV-positive people taking antiretroviral therapy (modern HIV meds) as prescribed are unable to infect anyone. Dr. Rodger replied: “It is very, very clear that the risk is zero. If you are on suppressive ART, you are sexually noninfectious. The time for excuses is over.” Around that same time (summer of last year), I got a Facebook message from someone I had not seen since college — someone who just tested positive for HIV. We had a long phone call. I stood in my apartment in New York looking out my window at the brick building next door, listening to my friend in Georgia, my home state, tell me they’ll never date again. “But you will date again,” I said. “You’ll have great relationships and great sex. And once you start meds, you’ll be undetectable, so you won’t be able to infect anyone.” “What?” When I first tested positive six years ago, this fact was known in the medical community — the doctors, HIV/AIDS service providers, infectious disease specialists, and so on who work at the vanguard of HIV treatment and prevention, who presumably disseminate 14 HIV in the ATL April 26, 2019
But you will “date again,” I said.
“You’ll have great relationships and great sex. And once you start meds, you’ll be undetectable, so you won’t be able to infect anyone.
”
their information to the small-town outliers like the rural clinic where I first got meds. I don’t know if every doctor or nurse I worked with during those early months knew it, but the information was known. Still, not one person — not one doctor, nurse, or infectious disease specialist — told me that my meds would make me unable to infect my sex partners. I knew the meds would keep me from getting AIDS, and that helped some. I stopped coughing, got my strength back, and started working out. But in the arena of sex, I still felt like a walking plague. The arena of sex matters. We live for intimacy and pleasure, connection and love. This is why, several months after starting meds, I fell into the darkest depression of my life. My story isn’t unique. Bruce Richman has a similar story. After starting meds in 2010, he was told by a doctor that he was “undetectable,” but no one told him that “undetectable” means “untransmittable” until 2012. After that, he started a nonprofit called Prevention Access Campaign to spread a single mantra, “Undetectable = Untransmittable,” or U = U. To date, the organization has delivered
the message — one supported by 850 organizations (and counting) from nearly 100 countries — all over the globe. The entities that back U = U include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, AIDS United, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the Terry Higgins Trust in the U.K., and many more. I would move to Los Angeles nearly two years later before I was told, and those were hard years. I grew accustomed to getting blocked on Grindr. I stayed awake some nights wondering, “Will I ever date again?” Rejection became bearable, and then I rejected them right back. My HIV became a litmus test that weeded out ignorant,
poz-phobic people I didn’t want. The ones who passed the test — beautiful, kinky, sex-positive people of all colors, shapes, and creeds who took me as I am — were better playmates and better friends than the ones I had before. Still, that process was brutal, and there were dark months. It 2018, there was no excuse that a young person who tested positive in Georgia should not be told by their doctor that being undetectable makes them untransmittable. That phone call with my friend from college brought gravitas to the work Prevention Access Campaign is doing. The U = U CONTINUES ON PAGE 15 TheGeorgiaVoice.com
HIV IN THE ATL CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14 message has reached Kenya and Armenia, yet it still hasn’t touched small towns in the Deep South, places where the landscape of HIV looks alarmingly similar to the mid’80s, not modern-day New York. Last year, Emory University reported that AIDS is the leading cause of death for black men in Georgia between the ages of 35 and 44. And newly-positive people aren’t being told about U = U. That should make you angry. Why the resistance to U = U? As the Prevention Access Campaign’s website states, this medical development is radically at odds with a longstanding status quo. After nearly forty years of our culture’s deeply ingrained fear of HIV and our attachment to the established dogma on how to prevent it, it is difficult to accept that people living with HIV can pose no risk to their partners and can conceive children without alternative and costly means of insemination. Shifts in attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors take time, especially when the trauma of the AIDS epidemic is still so fresh. “HIV information providers, including clinicians and folks in public health, were concerned that saying U = U would encourage people with HIV to give up condoms, which could contribute to the already increasing STD rates,” Richman tells me. He says there were also concerns that people with HIV might not understand how to stay undetectable. To do so, we must take our medication as prescribed. For many of us — myself included — that means taking a daily pill. “In other words, they withheld this information to prevent a rise in other STDs and were worried we weren’t smart enough to know that medicine only works if you take it,” he says. “The paternalism and prejudices in the field have given these folks permission to make decisions about the sex lives of people with HIV rather than give us information to decide for ourselves.” Dr. Alison Rodger is just one medical researcher in the choir of professional voices speaking out, and the PARTNER2 study she TheGeorgiaVoice.com
DR. ALISON RODGER PUBLICITY PHOTO
co-authored is one of several that support U = U. These include the original PARTNER study, HPTN 052, Opposites Attract, and the one that started it all, the Swiss Statement of 2008, which was authored by Dr. Pietro Vernazza and was the first to claim U = U. (Resultantly, it was widely criticized and denounced by the medical community.) It’s time to cut through the stigma, misinformation, shame, and fear. The risk is zero. If you’re taking meds as prescribed, you can’t infect anyone. It doesn’t matter if you bareback brutally for hours. It doesn’t matter if your blood mixes with your partner’s blood, or if your cum goes down their throat or down their hole. You can’t infect them, at least not with HIV. That’s huge. It’s one of the most significant medical breakthroughs of our time, up there with the Polio vaccine and the advent of medical robotics. Yes, PrEP, the daily pill to prevent HIV for HIV-negative people, is a massive development in its own right, but there have been prevention methods before and there continue to be. The fanfare and widespread publicity PrEP gets betrays a dark truth of AIDS: We panic to save the uninfected before defending the sick. U = U changes all that. U = U has been the first time since the start of this unfathomable disease that the sick can say, “I’m noninfectious.” It’s the first time we can protect our partners and friends and keep our communities safer. It’s the first time our self-care has become care for all. In keeping ourselves healthy, we keep our communities healthy. We protect you. April 26, 2019 HIV in the ATL 15
HIV IN THE ATL
The Stupid Question:
Are You Clean? Mark S. King I took a shower this morning. I am clean. I might work out at the gym later, or maybe the trash bag will break on the way outside and cover me in coffee grounds. I will then be dirty. I will shower again. I will be clean. Anyone who questions whether or not HIV stigma is on the rise need to look no further than online profiles and hookup sites, in which “Are you clean?” is asked with infuriating regularity. The sheer ignorance boggles the mind. Implying that I am somehow “dirty” because I am HIV positive may not be the intention of the person asking the question. Perhaps they are sincerely trying to assess the level of risk they might be taking. But it also implies they may raise their level of risk-taking should you answer “Yes, I am clean.” To place one’s trust in this answer, and to base your sexual behavior on it, is precisely how people become infected with HIV. The person being asked may not have tested recently. Or has been infected since the last test. The Stupid Question is a useless exercise, all the more so since we have learned that people with HIV who are undetectable (on successful treatment) cannot transmit HIV to their sexual partners. Which, come to think of it, makes someone who says they are HIV negative a bigger threat to their partners than someone who is HIV positive and undetectable. Thus, the ignorance and danger of The Stupid Question. And, because it is asked fairly exclusively by people who believe themselves to be HIV negative, it sets up 16 HIV in the ATL April 26, 2019
‘Are you clean?’ would “come the question by
the gentleman who was fully prepared to engage in unsafe sex should my answer please him. ‘Really?’ I would answer, ‘I mean, are you serious? You’re going to take the word of someone in a dark room that you couldn’t pick out of a lineup?’
”
an “Us vs. Them” mentality. Positive vs. Negative. Clean vs. Dirty. “They don’t mean any harm,” you may be thinking. Well, words have meaning, my friend. The cluelessness of The Stupid Question makes it no less offensive. While the intent may be harmless, it does do harm to people with HIV by increasing stigma and driving a further wedge between HIV positive and negative people. Like it or not, it is an assessment of the sexual viability of someone, and by extension, their “worthiness” as a human being. And, in the age of PrEP and undetectable viral loads, The Stupid Question is worthless. In my more hedonistic days — which admittedly were not exactly long ago in a galaxy far, far away — I was dumbstruck by the conversations I would have in gay public sex venues, even the most anonymous ones. “Are you clean?” would come the question by the gentleman who was fully prepared to engage in unsafe sex should my answer please him. “Really?” I would answer, “I mean, are
you serious? You’re going to take the word of someone in a dark room that you couldn’t pick out of a lineup?” I would then explain, spoken at times through a three-inch hole in the wall, that if this question was his sole criteria for unprotected sex, then he really needed to leave this place and go directly to an STI testing center. Post haste. Can we please remove this insulting, dangerous and unproductive line of questioning from our lexicon? How is someone claiming to be negative or “clean” helpful during a casual online hookup? How does it change your behavior one way or another? If you are HIV negative and hooking up with people you don’t know, you have options. You can use a condom or skip anal sex, or you can take PrEP, the daily pill that prevents HIV infection. All of these choices are good alternatives to relying on The Stupid Question.
If a relationship progresses, you can visit a testing site together if one or both of you is negative. Or, if you are hooking up with an HIV positive person who says they are undetectable, getting to know them should give you the reassurance that they are on a treatment plan. There is not a single documented case of an HIV positive person who is undetectable transmitting HIV to a sex partner. (And remember: many of us living with HIV have not yet become undetectable. We’re working on it. Treatment is a journey. Don’t judge.) “Are You Clean?” meanwhile, isn’t a worthwhile question. As a matter of fact, it’s downright filthy. (Mark S. King is a writer and long-term survivor of HIV. His blog, MyFabulousDisease. com, has been nominated for four consecutive GLAAD media awards.) TheGeorgiaVoice.com
OUT IN THE MEDIA
Atlanta’s Newest
Gay Newscaster THOMAS ROBERTS GETS BACK TO FAMILIAR TERRITORY
Jim Farmer Before the likes of Robin Roberts, Anderson Cooper and others, Thomas Roberts made history as the first network anchor to come out. That was back in the day when he worked at CNN in Atlanta. He moved away not long afterwards but now he and his partner of 19 years, Patrick Abner, are back in the area. Last July he returned to the city to be an anchor on the Atlanta affiliate CBS46, where he can be seen evenings covering news and issues that excite him, like politics. Ironically, being on air was never the plan for Roberts. While he was at Western Maryland College, majoring in communication and minoring in journalism, he was required to take an internship. He missed the deadline for The Baltimore Sun but was allowed to intern at a TV station. The station was CV3 — Prestige Cablevision — and Roberts was hooked from day one. “I fell in love with the immediacy of it all,” he admits. “I was supposed to be there two hours the first day and I was there eight. They could hardly get me to leave. From that day forward, I changed the trajectory of what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to be a reporter, but I wanted to try TV.” He landed a job at the station after school. He moved around a lot including San Diego, California; Lincoln, Nebraska; Fort Myers, Florida; and Portsmouth, Virgina. By this time he had an agent and was looking to make a move to Philadelphia. A job was available there — which he interviewed for — but when he returned home, CNN made contact with his agent. Roberts knew he had to pursue it. On the way to the interview, he stepped in a wad of bright green gum outside and was a bit freaked out. The incident turned out 18 Out in the Media April 26, 2019
to be a tension breaker, though, and after a Friday interview he received an offer the following Monday. That was in 2001 and Roberts stayed at CNN for six years. “It was a great time. It was right after the AOL/Time Warner merger and they were looking to do new things. 9/11 had just happened and everybody was turned upside in terms of what news meant to people,” he said. In 2006, while at the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association convention in Miami, Roberts made the decision to come out as gay publicly. Getting to that point was scary, however. “I was petrified of doing it. There were no examples of successful out broadcast journalists, and no real path. Until Don Lemon came out, it was a lonely island,” he said. Roberts left Atlanta the following year, and after stints in Los Angeles with Entertainment Tonight and The Insider, he wound up at MSNBC in 2010, where his show Live with Thomas Roberts won an Emmy Award for its coverage of the Supreme Court decision on marriage equality. Now he’s back in
NEWSCASTER THOMAS ROBERTS COURTESY PHOTOS
I fell in love with the immediacy of it all. I was “supposed to be there two hours the first day and I was there eight. They could hardly get me to leave. From that day forward, I changed the trajectory of what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to be a reporter, but I wanted to try TV.
”
Atlanta doing what he loves and in a familiar territory. CBS46 is known for being gayfriendly and last year the station broadcast the Atlanta Pride parade in its entirety, with plans to do so again this year. “It’s nice to know that LGBTQ stories here are looked at with the same equity (as others).”
When he’s not at the station, Robert enjoys working out, traveling and spending time renovating his new Morningside house. He already feels at home. “New York was exciting but we needed a change,” he says. “Because of our comfort level here, it made it easier to come back to Atlanta.” TheGeorgiaVoice.com
A&E
Shaky Knees 2019:
Atlanta’s Indie Dreamland
Aidan Ivory Edwards Atlanta is arguably the biggest musical hub in the country, some even may say the world at the moment. No matter what anyone’s side of the argument is — it’s undeniable that the city is gaining more and more traction with the vast amount of talent that it produces, the performers that it brings in, and the music festivals that are put on here. Summer is coming. Therefore, festival season upon us. Amongst the various eclectic music festivals put on here, Shaky Knees is undoubtedly one of the cities heavyweights. Shaky Knees set sail in 2013 after Tim Sweetwood, a former promoter for the east Atlanta venue The EARL, wanted to take his skillset another step further. Shaky Knees is a threeday long music event that has four separate stages that are within walking distances of each other. Shaky Knees focuses on a diverse musical aesthetic, but the past few years they 20 A&E April 26, 2019
have been bringing in the big names from the indie scene. The festival provides photo booths if you’re feeling cute, and cell-phone charging stations if you need to call out of work because you’re “sick.” There are countless food and beverage options that cater to the best local talents. Or if you would like to go elsewhere in between sets, they won’t be offended. You have the option of leaving and entering up to three times in a day. But make sure you get your pass swiped by security as you’re leaving! If that doesn’t hook you, wait until you see this year’s line-up. Atlanta’s yearly Shaky Knees Festival 2019 will be taking off on Friday, May 3rd through Sunday, May 5th at Central Park in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward. The festival will again have four separate stages to accommodate all the talent throughout the
day and evening. The stages are as follows: Peachtree, Piedmont, Ponce De Leon, and Criminal Records. The festival will also be featuring latenight shows that begin one day prior to the celebration, on Thursday, May 2 through Saturday, May 4. A few of these shows start as late as 11:45pm, and cater to those who are interested in a particular band instead of the entire festival. However, The Shaky Knees Festival does also sell day passes if you prefer only being outdoors in the Atlanta heat for just a day rather than an entire weekend. It’s always nice to have options. Very much like last year’s line-up, the festival will be sticking to an indie genre based agenda this year with rock n’ roll bands to end the evenings. Friday night’s headliner is Beck, the Saturday night’s headliner is Cage The Elephant, and lastly, on Sunday, the headliner will be Tame Impala.
The remainder of the bill has phenomenal talents like Liz Phair, Tears For Fears, Sharon Van Etten, Incubus, Dashboard Confessional, Gary Clark Jr., Jim James, Interpol, Fidlar, Pedro The Lion, Soccer Mommy, Japanese Breakfast, The Dandy Warhol’s, The Struts Foals, Phosphorescent, Maggie Rogers, Tyler Childers, Lucy Dacus, and Atlanta’s own — The Black Lips, and Deerhunter among plenty of other phenomenal bands performing. If you can’t make it out to Shaky Knees, be sure to look into Shaky Beats (www. shakybeatsfestival.com), a two-day electronic dance festival that takes place on May 10th and May 11th at Central Park in Atlanta. There’s something for everyone going on this festival season. Be safe, Atlanta! For more information about the Shaky Knees Festival, please check out their website at www.shakykneesfestival.com. TheGeorgiaVoice.com
ACTING OUT
“La Traviata” Returns to ATL for Final Performance Jim Farmer He’s performed across the country, but Atlanta has always been a significant city for him. Alan Higgs returns to Atlanta Opera this week as the company closes its 20182019 season with the universally adored “La Traviata.” Higgs, who’s gay, is singing the bass role of Dr. Grenvil in the show, which charts the illfated relationship between Violetta, a young courtesan, and Alfredo, with whom she falls in love. The performer describes his character as sympathetic and concerned. “I think Dr. Grenvil is one of the only friends Violetta has left,” Higgs says. “The role is important in showing she has these people who care about her (as her tuberculosis gets worse.) You see the concern I show and the care I take of her.” Higgs has long been a fan of the show and actually understudied for the same role at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. “Verdi’s music here is some of his best,” he says. “His writing here is fantastic, the music is dramatic and beautiful and the story is timeless about giving up everything for love and the battle between having riches or having love. Everyone struggles in life with money. Money seems to be the root of evil in the world.” Tomer Zvulun, the artistic director of Atlanta Opera since 2013, is widely credited for bringing a new vitality to the company. The two have worked together often. “Tomer is fantastic and has a wonderful vision of where opera is going and how to cater it to today’s audience,” he says. “He knows what to do to keep opera relevant in this day. He is doing four mainstage productions, including a musical. His Discovery series, for smaller or newer works, brings in a different audience 22 Columnists April 26, 2019
Above: Atlanta Opera closes its 2018-2019 season with “La Traviata.” Inset: Bass-baritone Alan Higgs
and give then something new to see. Plus, Tomer has worked at many opera companies and sees how they are working and brings that to Atlanta.” Raised in Florida, Higgs went to school at both the University of Florida and Florida State University. After graduation, he moved to Atlanta in 2014 for his husband’s job. He was working at a dentist’s office and taking a break when he auditioned for the Atlanta Opera chorus. He didn’t get in the chorus but found out two weeks later he got a role. Higgs’ professional debut was at the Atlanta Opera as the Imperial Commissioner in “Madama Butterfly.” He’s since been seen locally in “Le nozze di Figaro,” “La boheme,” “Silent Night” and “Turandot,” among others, and has branched out to other companies. After a residency at the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, he will start
his freelance life. “It’s a career where it’s not a nine to five or one with a guaranteed salary. You go out and audition and see what your manager can line up. You can have a gig and then time off. That’s the life of opera,” he said. “It’s nerve racking and exciting, but I do get to travel the world doing what I love doing.” Being out in the industry has never been an issue for Higgs. “For me I’ve had a good experience,” he admits. “It’s a very gay friendly art form. My experience has been one of acceptance with a loving community who supports me as an artist and a gay man.”
SHOWING TIMES “La Traviata” Atlanta Opera at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre April 27, April 30, May 3, May 5
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April 26, 2019 Ads 23
EATING MY WORDS
Meat and Three “Supper” Cliff Bostock My father used to scream at me to “turn down that goddamn country music!” whenever I played Bob Dylan’s “House of the Rising Sun.” I’d scream back, “It’s not country music! It’s about a whorehouse!” This memory came back as I dined at Rising Son, a three-year-old restaurant in Avondale Estates last week. I assumed the name pays punning homage to the song. The restaurant’s web page, in fact, parodies a few lines of Dylan’s folky hit but insists the restaurant name refers to sons of farmers rising with the sun to tend the fields and cook totally awesome meals. Country stuff. My father would feel vindicated. Chef Hudson Rouse and wife Kathryn Fitzgerald Rouse opened Rising Son three years ago. Hudson had run the kitchen at Home Grown, the city’s best meat-and-three diner, for a few years and was also whipped into shape by the late Angus Brown of 8arm fame. Kathyrn had become known for her house-made sodas, like “lavender mountain mint lemon.” Rising Son served only breakfast and lunch and gained rave reviews from the start. Ultimately it began serving “supper” on Friday and Saturday nights. I finally made it there last Friday night with two friends. Supper is served 5-9pm and we arrived at 8:30, so the restaurant was virtually empty. It’s a predictably homey place with wood walls, a wood floor, and a wood bar. What’s not wood is white. There’s also a taxidermied coyote with a sign that discourages petting. Having run weekly newspapers in rural Georgia for five years, I grew very tired of such emblems of animal cruelty. Perhaps a taxidermied hunter could be added to the homey cubby hole where a few diners can await their tables. Spring has only just arrived, so we did not find a hearty spread of local produce. We ordered two starters. First up was pork and ginger dumplings in chili oil with chopped peanuts, not very artfully submerged in a big bowl under cilantro leaves. Appearance aside, the dumplings were delicious. The ginger barely stung and added a faintly sweet
note to the sourced Riverview pork. We also ordered a messy dish of two huge porkand-beef meatballs in a ragu sauce, under burrata (my fave cheese), served on toast. I say it was messy because two such dressedup meatballs for three diners require fancy knife work. Demand a super-sharp knife if you order the dish. The go-to place on the menu is the “meat & three.” You get your choice of fried chicken, livers, trout, or a pork chop. Somehow, despite growing up with a Southern mother, I have never eaten a batter-fried pork chop, so I had to have it. It was sublimely crunchy and porky to the core, topped with browned onions. The three sides were not impressive. The blackeyed peas were unseasoned and virtually tasteless. The collards were also bland but perked up with a shot of hot vinegar. That, in turn, provided a nice contrast to the (very) sweet potatoes. The cornbread, alas, was tepid and didn’t welcome the frozen butter pats the server handed me. I did love the serving style. Everything was on one of those portioned trays used in school cafeterias and prisons.
My friend Ryan ordered the jerk shrimp. I thought it was the best dish on the table. The shrimp actually tasted like shrimp, which is unusual these days. Their flavor was clear enough, in fact, to stand up to the fiery seasonings of habanero and serrano chilies. A cooling cabbage salad and rice with scallions were the sides. Our friend Frank loved his cheeseburger made with grass-fed beef, accompanied by fries. The portion was so large that Frank didn’t eat everything on his plate for the first time in over five years of dining together. We skipped dessert. Actually, only one – a “chocolate chip cake sammy” — was available. I refuse to eat sandwiches called “sammies” — anywhere, anytime ever. Stop it. Cliff Bostock is a longtime Atlanta restaurant critic and former psychotherapist turned life coach; cliffbostock@gmail.com.
MORE INFO Rising Son 124 N. Avondale Road, Avondale Estates 404-600-5297 RisingSonAvondale.com
24 Columnists April 26, 2019 TheGeorgiaVoice.com
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April 26, 2019 Ads 25
BEST BETS Our Guide to the Best LGBTQ Events in Atlanta for April 26-May 9 Friday, April 26
and an artist market on the inside. Music will be provided by Ree De La Vega (Chaka Khan Hacienda), with other special guests. 3 – 7pm
Mix and mingle with LGBTQ+ business professionals, allies, non-profit leaders, and more at the Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (AGLCC) Fourth Friday Networking night. At this special Fourth Friday, you can bring your (well-behaved and vaccinated) dog. 5:30 – 7:30pm Club DiOGi Saint Mark United Methodist Church is excited to bring Raja, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season Three winner, to Atlanta for her acclaimed one-woman show “Masque.” 50% of the proceeds of this event will go towards Reconciling Ministries Network, an organization within the United Methodist Church fighting for the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in the church. 7 – 8pm MORPH’s new party series Dirty South Rave is here, with sounds all night by Leonce, Ash Lauryn, Nohighs, King Nappa and Helix. 11pm – 4am The Bakery HARDER NYC’s sexiest dance party makes its Atlanta debut with Vicki Powell spinning the beats all night long! Resident DJ Eric Bloom will also make his debut at Heretic with a unique sound of dark and sexy beats. Dress to dance and to play! Gear is highly encouraged. Tickets available on the event’s Facebook page. 10pm – 3am Heretic Atlanta
Saturday, April 27
Come out for the grand re-opening party of Charis Books and More at its new location at Agnes Scott College, with DJs and all sorts of fun. 10am – 7pm Drag Queen Storytime is expanding and is taking the show on the road. Join the first Drag Queen Storytime OTP. Miss Terra Cotta Sugarbaker will host, reading stories and taking photos. Guests will receive a commemorative bookmark. Alpharetta City Library 2pm It has been told and retold over and over,
Monday, April 29
T-Time Atlanta Trans Youth holds its weekly meeting tonight. 7pm St. Annes Episcopal Church
Tuesday, April 30
DJ Diva Darlene gets a rowdy Karaoke Night going tonight at 9pm at Felix’s
Wednesday, May 1
Don’t miss Ruby Redd’s Birdcage Bingo tonight, joined by some drag royalty. 8:30pm The Hideaway Atlanta
EVENT SPOTLIGHT FRIDAY, APRIL 26
With a Tony-winning score by William Finn, “Falsettos” is a landmark musical about how we love, live and grow. When Marvin leaves his wife Trina for a guy named Whizzer, they all determine to salvage something from the resulting fallout to form a new kind of family. Throw in a lovesick psychiatrist, a precocious 13-year-old and two lesbians from next door and you get the story of a modern family learning to navigate the stress of family dinners, the pressure of planning the perfect bar mitzvah and the heartbreak of saying goodbye. 8pm through April 28 Actor’s Express in movies (“Pretty Woman”) and books (“La Dame aux Camélias”) and musicals (“Moulin Rouge”), but no one tells the story quite like Verdi — with a sumptuous setting and sweeping music. In his masterwork “La Traviata,” Violetta — a young and beautiful courtesan — falls in love with the equally young and beautiful Alfredo. Love, however, can be deadly to a woman in her position. The Atlanta Opera mainstage season closes with this classic story of love and loss — a gorgeous interpretation of one of the most well-known and well-loved operas in the repertoire. 7:30pm running through May 5 Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre A deeply personal and profoundly contemporary musical about life and the way we live in, the Tony Award-winning sensation “Dear Evan Hansen” is finally in Atlanta. 7:30pm running through April 28 Fox Theatre
Joe Fiore’s infamous NYC sexy furry party Furball returns tonight with superstar DJ Dani Toro in the house. Get your jock, fetish wear and gear ready for a sexy night — and get ready to dance your butt off. 10pm – 3am Heretic Atlanta
Sunday, April 28
Keep the party going at Xion with the return of DJ J Warren to take you higher until the sunrises across Atlanta. 3am – 7am BJ Roosters Enjoy Old School House Music at Mixx Atlanta tonight. 8pm To celebrate the release of WUSSY Vol.06’s biannual print rag, organizers are throwing a good ol’ tea dance in East Atlanta, free with RSVP. Expect dancing on the porch
Thursday, May 2
Gather some friends for the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” watch party at Midtown Moon, followed by Pussykat Karaoke hosted by the divine Angelica D’Paige Brooks. 9pm Expect some unexpected fun at BlackOut Night at Manifest. 9pm – 4am
Friday, May 3
DJ Ron Pullman will take you on a five-hour journey full of music, lights, and sexy men! It’s a night of deep, soulful, afro, Latin, and classic house music! 10pm – 3am Atlanta Eagle Join MAAP for the It’s Friday – Mix, Mingle, and Network session tonight. Leave the work week behind and connect with like-minded professionals over drinks, laughter, and good professional conversation. This month’s Friday mixer is sponsored by Bill Kaelin Marketing and host Altitude Apartments. To help speed up check-in, please pre-register now at www. eventbrite.com/e/maap-its-friday-mixmingle-network-registration-60281791461 6 – 8pm The Bear Mayhem event takes place
CONTINUES ON PAGE 28
26 Best Bets April 26, 2019 TheGeorgiaVoice.com
BEST BETS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 26
CINCO DE MAYO EVENT SPOTLIGHTS
this weekend at The River’s Edge Campground, with a DJ on tap and a pool party, with Lost-n-Found Youth as the beneficiary. 7pm Drop into James Beard’s Greenwich Village kitchen for bean-spilling anecdotes, on-air flashbacks, and a salty voyage around the world of love, life, and comfort food. Sit close and sample a taste. Bill Murphey stars as the gay James Beard in “I Love to Eat,” without Clifton Guterman directing. 7:30pm running through May 5 Theatrical Outfit Every Friday night at Mary’s Atlanta, come enjoy Queer Bait, featuring videos with DJ Headmaster Joe Whitaker Presents DILF “Do Me Harder” for a special DILF app release party in Atlanta! DJ Milty Evans from Chicago will bring you the beats all night long! 10pm – 3am Heretic Atlanta
Saturday, May 4
Join the Atlanta Bucks today for their first ever Bucks Beer Battle at the Atlanta Eagle. The Beer Battle is the Bucks’ version of a Beer Olympics, as well as a beer bust. Up to 20 teams of four players each will get the opportunity to showcase their drinking prowess and compete for top honors, but only one lucky team will walk away a champion. The battle will be composed of three different drinking events and a final showdown. Events will be spaced out over the afternoon. Specific games and rules of play will be announced as the event approaches. Noon – 6pm Atlanta Prime Timers meets today. 3pm Phillip Rush Center Annex The 32nd Annual HRC Atlanta Gala is an annual black-tie fundraiser that consists of an evening of live and silent auctions, dinner and special speakers to celebrate accomplishments and progress towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer equality, and to refocus on the work ahead. Since its inception, the event
Saturday, May 4
The Atlanta Margarita + Taco Festival features 40 taco vendors and 12 bars. The event is free and an all day drink pass is only $6, Noon – 5 pm, Grant Park
EVENT SPOTLIGHT MONDAY, MAY 6
WUSSY, Out On Film and Plaza Atlanta kick off “QUEERS ON FILM” — a new monthly series of LGBTQ independent classics at the Plaza Atlanta Theatre. In May, the series kicks off with Gregg Araki’s 1995 road film “The Doom Generation” starring Rose McGowan, James Duval, Margaret Cho, and Parker Posey. 7pm
Every Sunday night, My Sister’s Room hosts Queer AF, with a trio of DJs. 9pm
rich dating life. But Paul’s also got a secret: he’s a shapeshifter. Oscillating wildly from Riot Grrrl to leather cub, Paul transforms his body and his gender at will as he crossed the country — a journey and adventure through the deep queer archives of struggle and pleasure. “Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl” is a riotous, razor-sharp bildungsroman whose hero/ine wends his/ her way through a world gutted by loss, pulsing with music, and opening into an array of intimacy and connections. Author Andrea Lawlor will talk all things queer literature and ’90s fashion with author and Emory University professor T Cooper. Lawlor will also sign books. This is a Charis Circle From Margin to Center Literary Event. The suggested donation is $5. 7:30 – 9pm Charis Books & More
Monday, May 6
Wednesday, May 8
has become one of the largest LGBTQ fundraisers in the country. 6 – 10pm Hyatt Regency Atlanta
Sunday, May 5
Hailing from San Francisco, Atlanta’s newest resident and DJ Mohammad keeps the party going with his beats all morning long. 3am – 7am BJ Roosters See the excellent, just-opened gay film “Sauvage” (Wild) today at the Plaza Atlanta theatre
The PFLAG support group for parents and families of LGBTQ children meets tonight at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta. 7:30 – 9pm
Tuesday, May 7
It’s 1993 and Paul Polydoris tends bar at the only gay club in a university town thrumming with politics and partying. He studies queer theory, has a dyke best friend, makes zines, and is a flaneur with a
Don’t miss Trivia at Woofs Atlanta every Wednesday. 8pm
Thursday, May 9
As part of the “50 Years of LGBT Cinema” film series sponsored by Out On Film and Atlanta Pride, “Desert Hearts” screens tonight. Donna Deitch’s swooning and sensual first film, “Desert Hearts” was groundbreaking upon its 1986 release: a love story about two women, produced
Music 2 My Ears Entertainment, a local organization who seeks to empower the community through music, dance, and the arts, will host the first Salsa on the Square event Downtown Decatur. Salsa lessons will be provided by Latin dance legend Mambo Mario Diaz, and music by DJ Jeremy Lane. Free to the public, the event will include local dancers as well as beginners who want to learn salsa dance or just want to enjoy good music and outdoor fun, 5- 9 pm, Decatur Square Atlanta’s biggest Cinco de Mayo party is back again in the Midtown Entertainment District at Tacos & Tequila Midtown. Get your sombreros, mustaches and mariachis out — it’s fiesta time. Join the neighborhood and munch on some of the best tacos East of the Mississippi, 7pm
Sunday, May 5
Celebrate the day at the Cinco de Mayo Rooftop Day Party today. Drink and food specials are plentiful and the first 100 guests get free party favors, 3 pm, Alibi Atlanta Las Margaritas will hold its annual Cinco de Mayo event today, with a festival, the Atlanta United game on outside and the usual food, drinks and fun. and directed by a woman. In the 1959-set film, an adaptation of a beloved novel by Jane Rule, straitlaced East Coast professor Vivian Bell (Helen Shaver) arrives in Reno to file for divorce, but winds up catching the eye of someone new, the younger free spirit Cay (Patricia Charbonneau), touching off a slow seduction that unfolds against the breathtaking desert landscape. With smoldering chemistry between its two leads, an evocative jukebox soundtrack, and vivid cinematography by Robert Elswit, “Desert Hearts” beautifully exudes a sense of tender yearning and emotional candor.
28 Best Bets April 26, 2019 TheGeorgiaVoice.com
THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID
Expensive Sweets Melissa Carter I have a sweet tooth. My biggest dietary issue is my addiction to sugar, and if it’s anywhere in my environment it won’t last long before it’s in my belly. But the last piece of candy I ate ended up being the most expensive I’ve ever purchased and has made me rethink what I put in my mouth. Recent tree pollen has left me a coughing mess these past few weeks. Normally I don’t suffer from allergies, but this year nature has sought revenge on my throat and I’ve had a constant intake of hot tea, cough drops, and gum to try and curb my colleague’s concerns about what I’m spreading around the office. In one of our conference rooms, there are bowls of hard candy, mainly peppermints. During one meeting I didn’t have my normal go-to’s and found I needed to grab a peppermint so as not to continue my annoying hacking calls in such an intimate environment. Surprisingly I found they worked better than cough drops, and seemed to last longer too. They also tasted better, so I began to grab handfuls throughout the day and sucked on them as needed.
30 Columnists April 26, 2019
and a new inlay created. What I hoped was a quick 5 minute check to find nothing turned into a 2-hour procedure with a halfnumb face. Did I mention inlays aren’t covered under insurance? I guess they think it’s cosmetic not to have a massive hole in your tooth. So when all was said and done, that piece of candy cost me $1,400.
When I was little, I had a bad habit of chewing ice. If I’m not paying attention, I do the same now to hard candy instead of letting it dissolve on its own or throwing it out. That habit reemerged with the peppermints, as I chowed down on them at my desk. Then I felt something hard between my teeth that didn’t have the give of the candy. Oh shit, I thought. I pulled out the sliver and honestly couldn’t tell if it was part of my tooth as I had feared, or a white part of the candy. Not to take any chances, I called my dentist’s office to have them take a look.
I’m sure I’m not unique in realizing things you’ve gotten away with your whole life start catching up to you in middle age, like the chewing and sugar intake. Reexamining your habits becomes a common exercise the older you get, and I’ve begun to rethink other tooth abusers like ice, nuts, and stickier candy.
Of all the teeth in my mouth, that peppermint knocked out a portion of a tooth that had an inlay, which meant the inlay had to come out, the tooth re-drilled,
One of the first out radio personalities in Atlanta, Melissa’s worked for B98.5 and Q100. Catch her daily on theProgressive Voices podcast “She Persisted.” Tweet her! @MelissaCarter
I still have my cough for awhile longer thanks to Atlanta’s Spring air, but those peppermints have stayed in their bowls at work. I’d like to keep my teeth, and my bank account, in better shape moving forward.
TheGeorgiaVoice.com
SOMETIMES ‘Y’
The Perilous Mirage of Monogamy Ryan Lee The last thing I wanted to be doing at five o’clock on a Monday morning was escorting a member of one of Atlanta’s royal couples out of my apartment. The bemusing scene became more unsettling a day later when I learned that at the exact hour of our encounter, someone else’s well-known husband was murdering his paramour in Dunwoody. Off and on for the past two years, I’ve rented a room to a friend of a friend who is a 20-something transplant attempting to establish and enjoy a life Atlanta. I’ve tried to accommodate for where I was at that age but became frustrated after he returned in January and moved his boyfriend in within the first month. We discussed that mishap, but my roommate “corrected” it by being dumped by his boyfriend (who was using him for housing), and replacing him with a daily parade of hook-ups and new besties. Explaining how I was tired of bumping into strangers every time I came home from work or took a piss, I asked for us to go a single week without having any guests. There had already been three visitors on the first day of our experiment when I was awoken by a commotion in my hallway. I furiously opened my bedroom door and my roommate cried in a panic, “It’s just me!” I flicked on the light and saw two men walking up the stairs behind him. I informed them our apartment was closed for the evening, had a brief conversation with the drunken relationship icon and encouraged him to go home to his husband, whom I consider a friend. My faith in my friend and their relationship lets me believe they have already talked about the parameters of their marriage, and so I was content with leaving the episode TheGeorgiaVoice.com
in my stairway. Hours later, sordid details emerged about a married, gay high school teacher killing his boyfriend before taking his own life while fleeing from police. I wondered if the teacher and his husband had that talk about their marriage, or whether cheating was something the widower was having to process on top of murder and the loss of his soulmate. That discussion wouldn’t lessen his suffering or bring back the innocent gay man who was slain, but the lack of it might compound the surviving spouse’s grief and confusion. The partners in any relationship are the only people entitled to private knowledge about their bond and any understandings reached between them. However, I’ve written before about sleeping with other people’s husbands and my hopes for gay men to explore a romantic ethic rooted in reality; and it’s worth considering any obligation gay couples have to a community that celebrates them as monogamous when they know they are not. Anytime I see folks admiring a heterosexual couple that has been married for 50 or 60 years, I yearn for the husband and wife to share how they stuck with their relationship after it was clear it wasn’t what society told them it should be, usually once he started fucking other people. That’s to say, the mirage of monogamy is not an exclusively gay dilemma, and part of the responsibility is on gay fans of LGBTQ power couples who layer their idols with their expectations of what makes a relationship successful.
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It’s fashionable for gay men to mock “newage open relationships” without recognizing that in the thousands of years of male-male sodomy, it is a monogamous marriage that is the radical ideal. Folks love to belittle their gay brothers for settling for what they consider fake companionship, without realizing their #baegoalz are seeking earlymorning threesomes and committing murder-suicides. April 26, 2019 Columnists 31