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GEORGIANEWS
IRS revokes YouthPride’s tax-exempt status LGBT nonprofit has been mired in controversy for nearly five years
TIMELINE
By DYANA BAGBY YouthPride, an organization that at one time served hundreds of LGBT youth in metro Atlanta but has been mired in controversy for the past several years, has had its IRS tax-exempt status revoked. A review of online IRS tax records shows the IRS automatically revoked the organization’s tax-exempt status on Feb. 15; the status change was posted on the IRS website on May 11. The IRS automatically revokes an organization’s tax-exempt status for failure to file a Form 990 return or notice for three consecutive years. A nonprofit can reapply for tax-exempt status. According to GuideStar, a website that tracks nonprofit organizations’ 990s, the last 990 YouthPride filed was in 2011. GuideStar also notes that YouthPride has lost its tax-exempt status: “This organization’s exempt status was automatically revoked by the IRS for failure to file a Form 990, 990-EZ, 990-N, or 990PF for 3 consecutive years. Further investigation and due diligence are warranted.” However, on YouthPride’s website at www.youthpride.org, there are links for donations, and YouthPride claims the donations are all tax-deductible. The Georgia Secretary of State’s office had YouthPride in good standing as of March 2, 2015, when it filed its official paperwork as a nonprofit corporation and paid the $85 fee. The official documents filed with the Secretary of State, however, also list YouthPride’s official address as 72 Broad Street. YouthPride was evicted from that location on May 22, 2014. The documents filed on March 2, 2015, with the Georgia Secretary of State’s office list Terence McPhaul, the controversial executive director, as the person who filled out the forms. In 2013, McPhaul listed incorrect board
Terence McPhaul, who became executive director for YouthPride in 2009, declined to comment about the IRS revoking the LGBT nonprofit’s tax-exempt status earlier this year. (File photo)
members with the Secretary of State’s office. According to Georgia law, it is a misdemeanor to intentionally lie on a form with the Secretary of State’s office, as stated in the fifth paragraph of the form cited below. Calls to the Secretary of State’s office for comment have gone unanswered. Listed as officers with the Secretary of State are McPhaul as CEO, Brandon Dykes as secretary and Theresa Willis as CFO. However, in August 2014, Willis told the Georgia Voice she was no longer a board member of YouthPride. A voicemail left with Willis seeking comment about YouthPride has not yet been returned. A voicemail seeking comment was also left at YouthPride’s number as listed on its website that also not been returned. Emails to McPhaul and YouthPride have also not been answered.
Dykes, a young HIV activist who is apparently working in Nashville, was reached by phone Thursday, and when asked what he could say about YouthPride, he said, “Well, there’s not a whole lot I can tell you, so I’m not sure.” When asked where YouthPride was meeting, Dykes disconnected the call and did not answer when called again. Dykes then issued an email statement: “Hi Dyana, out of courtesy I’m responding. You have personality attacked the organization that has help me accomplish so much in life on numerous occasions. Despite anything you tell me or publish I will never stop fighting for YouthPride. As proud alumni of YouthPride I know its all about providing a safe space for youth just like me. I have no further statement to provide on any issues concerning with YouthPride.”
n YouthPride’s troubles began in December 2011, when the organization put out a public call via Facebook that it needed to raise $40,000 by the end of the year or its doors would close. n Soon after news of YouthPride’s dire financial straits made headlines, it was also learned the organization, founded in 1995, had no viable board of directors. n In June 2012, YouthPride was forced to move from its home at Inman Park United Methodist Church after the church sued the organization for more than $50,000 in back rent. n In June 2013, YouthPride was officially evicted by Fulton County marshals from its location at 955 Washington Place SW in the Ashview Heights neighborhood after nonpayment of rent for one year. n The leadership troubles also led Fulton County, in August 2013, to take legal action to recover more than $18,000 of a $40,000 grant awarded to the organization for 2011-2012 for failing to provide mental health and counseling services as mandated by the grant. n Later in August 2013, the federal AmeriCorps VISTA program pulled the funding and volunteers it had provided to YouthPride because, “YouthPride is still in the process of recruiting to fill all their agency board of directors.” n In February 2014, criminal warrants were issued for the arrest of Terence McPhaul for writing bad checks in the name of YouthPride. To date, McPhaul has not been arrested. n On May 22, 2014, YouthPride was evicted from 72 Broad St., again for nonpayment of rent. n On Feb. 12, 2015, the IRS revoked YouthPride’s tax-exempt status.
4 News May 29, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com
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NEWSBRIEFS Gov. Deal backpedals on ‘religious freedom’ bill anti-discrimination demand Gov. Nathan Deal is backpedaling on a vow to include anti-discrimination language in any so-called “religious freedom” bill proposed in Georgia. In a May 20 interview with WABE, Deal said that such language “may not be necessary” according to a transcript provided by the station. He went on to indicate he would support a bill that mirrors the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act passed in 1993, saying, “It has not been necessary in the original federal version of the statute, so hopefully if we have something that’s a replication of the federal statute, that language may not be necessary.” Following the bill’s failure in the legislature this year, Deal immediately did a series of interviews in which he vowed to take the reins on the issue, and said he would push for a bill that included the anti-discrimination clause. It marked a line in the sand between Deal and Sen. Josh McKoon (R-Columbus), SB 129’s sponsor, who is on a mission to keep anti-discrimination language out of his bill. At the state GOP convention on May 16, delegates voted in favor of a “religious freedom” bill without the anti-discrimination clause, despite the emergence of a group called Georgia Republicans for the Future, which ran ads in favor of the clause. Court finds city in contempt for not implementing police trainings mandated after Eagle raid A federal judge has found the city of Atlanta in contempt of court and imposed numerous sanctions for the city’s failure to properly train police officers as mandated in a lawsuit settlement following the unconstitutional raid on the Atlanta Eagle in 2009. The sanctions include paying nearly $50,000 in attorney fees to the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Dan Grossman, Gerald Weber of the Southern Center for Human Rights, Greg Nevins and Beth Littrell of Lambda Legal and Albert Wan. “Making sure that APD is trusted and accountable should be a top priority for the City, not something that judges are forced to twist arms to make happen. These reforms make law enforcement better,” said Weber in a prepared statement. In 2010, the city settled with patrons of the Atlanta Eagle, a Midtown gay bar, for $1 million. As part of that settlement, the city promised to properly train officers on such
A federal judge ruled that Lambda Legal has the right to file an amicus brief on behalf of the city of Atlanta in its motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by anti-gay fire chief Kelvin Cochran. (Photo via Alliance Defending Freedom)
procedures as the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable search and seizures; wearing visible name tags at all times; prohibiting officers from interfering with the public’s right to photograph, videotape and make audio recordings of police activity; documenting warrantless detentions, frisks, and searches; and requiring the APD to rule on citizen complaints of police misconduct within 180 days. Judge rules Lambda Legal can file brief on behalf of city in anti-gay Atlanta fire chief lawsuit A federal judge ruled Monday that Lambda Legal has the right to file an amicus brief on behalf of the city of Atlanta in its motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed by anti-gay fire chief Kelvin Cochran, who claims he was fired for his religious beliefs. U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May stated the brief Lambda Legal filed on April 3 is valid, despite attorneys for Cochran taking issue with Lambda Legal calling Cochran a misogynist. In its amicus brief, Lambda Legal says the government is allowed to fire employees, including supervisors, who publicly humiliate a group of people. Attorneys for Cochran argued, in their own April 17 brief, against allowing Lambda Legal to file its brief, stating, among other things, that Lambda Legal should not be able to file the brief because the LGBT legal advocacy group stated Cochran is a “misogynist.” Mayor Kasim Reed fired Cochran on Jan. 6 after a 30-day suspension. Reed said Cochran did not follow city policy when he
wrote and published a book titled, “Who Told You That You Were Naked?” In return, Cochran is suing the city and Mayor Reed, saying his constitutional right to free speech was violated when he was fired. Georgia GOP elects openly gay party leader at convention Georgia Republicans elected an openly gay man to their leadership team for the first time, and his nomination came courtesy of the author of a so-called “religious freedom” bill. The election occurred at the party’s statewide convention on May 16 in Athens. State Sen. Josh McKoon (R-Columbus), author of SB 129, the “religious freedom” bill that failed in this year’s legislative session, nominated openly gay tax attorney Mansell McCord as treasurer of the state Republican Party. “You need a man of unimpeachable integrity. You need someone who understands the complexity of campaign finance law,” McKoon told delegates, according to the AJC. “And you need someone who has been dedicated to the conservative movement for decades.” McCord is a longtime GOP activist, has served as the executive director of Republican Leadership for Georgia for the past six years and is a former chairman of the Georgia Log Cabin Republicans. But it’s unclear if many of the 770 delegates who voted for McCord realized they were electing a gay man, with many reportedly assuming that Debbie McCord, who was on the ballot and was elected second vice-chairman, was Mr. McCord’s wife. There is no relation.
6 News May 29, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com
FOLLOW THE MONEY
How Atlanta LGBT nonprofits are funded By DYANA BAGBY Reading over federal tax forms and asking leaders of local LGBT nonprofits on how and where they get the funding to fulfill their organizations’ missions can give the public a basic understanding of these organizations work to empower our community. The truth is, however, that studies show less than 4 percent of people who identify as LGBT actually donate to LGBT organizations. In 2014, a report named “Out in the South” by Funders for LGBTQ Issues stated of the estimated 8 million “out” LGBT adults in the U.S., nearly 2.7 million-or about one-third-of-them-live right here in the South. But according to a new report, the region receives only three to four percent of domestic LGBT funding, and local organizations are feeling the pinch. We sent out questionnaires to numerous Atlanta-based LGBT nonprofit organizations and asked some basic questions: what is your annual budget, how much does your executive director or CEO make, how many paid employees do you have on staff, and where do you get funding from. Most organizations voluntarily answered.
ATLANTA PRIDE www.atlantapride.org
2015 BUDGET: $812,400 STAFF: Two full-time and one part-time Funding comes from corporate sponsors, small business partners, individual donors, festival donations, revenue generated from the festival, fundraising events, and VIP Festival Pass sales. “Since we are in the process of hiring a new executive director, we decline to provide the requested information related to salaries,” said current Executive
Director Buck Cooke. However, a look at Atlanta Pride’s federal 990 tax form from 2013 shows Cooke made $67,500 that year. No other employee salaries are listed for 2013.
AID ATLANTA
The largest AIDS service organization in the Southeast www.aidaltanta.org Repeated requests for this information went unanswered. The information gathered is from federal tax forms and previous reporting. In 2014, Jose Diaz was hired as the new CEO with a salary of $155,000. He resigned earlier this year due to health issues, according to him and the organization’s board of directors. A new CEO is in place, James Hughey, but his salary is unknown at this time. The following numbers are from AID Atlanta’s 2013 tax records. 2013 BUDGET: $7.01 million SALARIES: n Interim CEO Cathy Woolard salary (she was in place for one year to help locate a new CEO) $151,000 n CFO William David Begley Jr. salary $70,582 plus $13,331 in other compensations n Interim CFO Xiomara Frias salary $61,050 plus $7,006 in other compensations
CHARIS CIRCLE
The nonprofit arm of Charis Books and More www.chariscircle.org
ANNUAL BUDGET: $90,000 EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S SALARY: Elizabeth Anderson makes $30,000 a year FUNDING: From Anderson: “We are 85 percent individually donor funded (which includes donations made by individuals at fundraisers). We do receive about 10-15 percent of our budget annually from public and private foundations, including the Ackerman Family Foundation and The Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs in 2014-2015. “We are a member of Georgia Shares, a federation of progressive nonprofits in Georgia,” Anderson added. Any other paid employees? How many? No. We have a 12-person board of directors. How much money goes to programming, development, etc.? From Anderson: $55,000 of the budget goes towards program expenses, $5,000 goes towards development in the form of concrete fundraising expenses, but we don’t have a development director or staff person. The executive director and board are responsible for development, so that is part of the executive director’s salary.
POSITIVE IMPACT HEALTH CENTERS
One of the largest and most comprehensive providers of HIV care in metro Atlanta www.positiveimpact-atl.org In January, Positive Impact and AID Gwinnett merged together to form Pos-
8 LGBT Non-Profits May 29, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com
Y
itive Impact Health Centers. These are the current numbers available from the new organization: ANNUAL BUDGET: $7.3 million CEO LARRY LEHMAN SALARY: $110,000 STAFF: Approximately 77 paid staff BUDGET BREAKDOWN: 87 percent from federal grants, 5 percent individual giving/donors, 4 percent state/ local grants, 3 percent programmatic revenue, 1 percent miscellaneous Fundraising expense works out to about $430,000 per audits. “That was pre-merger, but we have not added any positions at the moment in anything management/fundraising. If we take that figure and the new budget, it works out to 5.8 percent of the budget. Or, if you want to base it on pre-merger/ pre-Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration/SAMSHA grant in October 2014, it works out to 7.2 percent based on the audit figures of both founding agencies,” says Michael Baker, director of advancement. Development expense amounts to $142,610. Management amounts to $287,080. “The MISTER Center is part of the agency’s budget and not funded separately. It is marketed as a stand-alone in order to better reach its target audience and that strategy is working very well,” Baker added. “The MISTER Center has been named, by the CDC, the number one HIV testing site for young men of color in the nation two years in a row now. And, when we provide testing at Atlanta Pride, that is the single largest HIV testing event in the state. Period.”
GEORGIA EQUALITY
The state’s largest LGBT advocacy organization www.georgiaequality.org ANNUAL BUDGET: $900,000 — a significant increase from an approximate $300,000 budget in 2014. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JEFF GRAHAM SALARY: $85,000 (however, Graham pays for www.thegeorgiavoice.com
his own health care and retirement) PERCENTAGE OF BUDGET THAT GOES TO SALARIES: 37 percent “According to last year’s audit, our administrative overhead was 15 percent—with the increase in funding for the Georgia United Against Discrimination Campaign [to defeat the “religious freedom” bill],” Graham explained. “We are projecting that the administrative overhead will drop to 10 percent or more in the current fiscal year.” FUNDING BY SOURCE: Grants: 64 percent Individual gifts: 15 percent Events: 12 percent Corporate support: 2 percent Earned income: 7 percent “We have seen that having the resources to run a robust advocacy campaign such as Georgia Unites Against Discrimination can make a huge difference in our ability to advance LGBT issues in Georgia,” Graham said. “We also need to elect more fair-minded people to all levels of government in Georgia and those dollars can only come from individual donors. While our educational efforts have grown with the support of grants, our political budget has not experienced the same growth.”
THE HEALTH INITIATIVE
Dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of Georgia’s LGBTQ community thehealthinitiative.org ANNUAL BUDGET: According to 2014 audit, The Health Initiative’s annual budget is $490,000 and the Rush Center makes up slightly more than a third of that, said Linda Ellis, executive director of The Health Initiative. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LINDA ELLIS’ SALARY: $70,000 80 percent of the salary is programming, 20 percent is fundraising/management STAFF: The Health Initiative currently has 3 full-time and 2 part-time staff. “Forty-five percent of our budget goes to salary, but that number alone could be misleading, because we are so program driven,” explained Ellis. “The Health Initiative is audited annuCONTINUES ON PAGE 10 May 29, 2015 LGBT Non-Profits 9
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 ally by an independent CPA. According to our 2014 audit, 88 percent of our budget is dedicated to programming. The remaining 12 percent is made up of fundraising/management,” she said. The Health Initiative and Georgia Equality manage the Phillip Rush Center. “The Rush Center income is made up of leases and one-time rent, supplemented by grant funding. The Health Initiative funding is broken down by contracts/grants, individual donations and special event fundraising,” Ellis said.
JERUSALEM HOUSE
2015 BUDGET: $4.3 million Provides permanent supportive housing designated for Atlanta’s homeless and low-income population with HIV/AIDS. www.jerusalemhouse.org From Jerusalem House’s 2013 federal 990 form EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR CHARLIE FREW’S SALARY: $110,343 PROGRAM DIRECTOR JANICE HARRIS CORRY SALARY: $83,200 DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR JON SANTOS SALARY: $75,000 STAFF: 26 full-time 1 part-time 10 contract 2014 BUDGET BREAKDOWN: 71 percent from government funding 13 percent from foundation/ business funding 3 percent from individual donors 4 percent from events 9 percent from other
LOST-N-FOUND YOUTH
Dedicated to helping LGBT homeless youth www.lnfy.org 2015 BUDGET “This year we budgeted $1 million per year of revenue, which includes capital
expenditures. Operating expenses are estimated to be $750,000,” said Rick Westbrook, a founder and executive director. WESTBROOK’S SALARY AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: $50,000—this is the first year the organization is paying an ED’s salary after it was founded three years and has been a volunteer organization for all of that time. NUMBER OF PAID STAFF: 19 people on payroll; not all are full time equivalents: 2 admin people, 3 who work in the house where youth live, 3 work in the drop-in center, 11 work in the thrift store PERCENTAGE OF BUDGET THAT GOES TO SALARY: 34 percent WHERE FUNDING COMES FROM: 40 percent earned at the nonprofit’s thrift store 10 percent from grants 50 percent fundraising “This organization still depends on the work tremendously on volunteer support. We still depend on community funding to make all the things we do for the youth happen,” Westbrook said.
OUT ON FILM
Atlanta’s LGBT Film Festival outonfilm.org ANNUAL BUDGET: $50,000 operating budget with additional $20,000 in-kind assistance, which includes artist accommodations, travel, hospitality and marketing materials.
CEOs making money from most to least AID Atlanta (from 2014) Jose Diaz—$166,000 No longer on staff Requests for current info not returned Jerusalem House Charlie Frew—$110,343 Positive Impact Health Center Larry Lehman—$110,000 Georgia Equality Jeff Graham—$85,000 The Health Initiative Linda Ellis—$70,000 NAESM Adolph Arromand—$63,000 Atlanta Pride (from 2013) Buck Cooke—$67,000 Lost-N-Found Youth Rick Westbrook—$50,000 Charis Circle Elizabeth Anderson—$30,000 Out on Film Jim Farmer—$15,000 er, director of the film fest and a columnist for Georgia Voice. “One of our biggest challenges is that Georgia traditionally ranks last in the nation for arts funding. And even for organizations that offer funding, an LGBT film festival—even one that is nationally respected and recognized— can be looked at as having less local community impact than a mainstream event,” he said.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR SALARY AND PAID STAFF: OOF operates as a volunteer organization. While the fest has no staff, it contracts for the professional services of Jim Farmer as festival director for approximately $15,000
NAESM
FUNDING: 60 percent of funding comes from corporate giving (includes cash and in-kind giving), individual donors, and grants (both government and private); the remaining 40 percent comes from ticket sales and from submission fees. “We are hopeful of starting an annual fundraiser in 2016,” says Jim Farm-
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ADOLPH ARROMAND SALARY: $63,000 100 percent of the ED’s salary is from fundraising, said Arromand
An organization dedicated to serving black gay men naesm.org ANNUAL BUDGET: From 2013 tax form: $224,000
2014 BUDGET BREAKDOWN: 35 percent from fundraising 65 percent from grants and foundations
10 LGBT Non-Profits May 29, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com
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“Today I’m thinking of all those young people over the years who were bullied and committed suicide because of their sexuality. This vote was for them, too. This is different from other countries because it was the people who gave it to us, not a legislature.”
“If you think about it, we are at the water’s edge of the argument that mainstream Christian teaching is hate speech. Because today we’ve reached the point in our society where if you do not support same-sex marriage you are labeled a homophobe and a hater.”
It’ place Yo ing w I work give u ahead I Sund buzzi out t wildl rels t feede drive that fl
— Florida senator and Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio. —Nick O’Connell, while celebrating in a Dublin bar Ireland’s historic (May 26, Christian Broadcast Network; vote as the first country to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote. T Photo by by Patrick Saunders) Deep (May 23, The New York Times; Photo via Creative Commons) AID ed a reach “If a girl is recognized by her family, school and lanta his c community as a girl and lives culturally as a girl, came Girl Scouts is an organization that can serve her in a destin I setting that is both emotionally and physically safe. ect a Inclusion of transgender girls is handled at a council when few y level on a case by case basis, with the welfare and the O best interests of all members as a top priority.” I had —Andrea Bastiani Archibald, Girl Scouts USA’s chief girl expert, in a Love cours blog post on the Girl Scouts website. (May 14; Photo via Creative Commons) that I tator. www.thegeorgiavoice.com
OUT IN THE WILD
By Simon Williamson
At home in rural Georgia Simon Williamson lives with his federally-recognized spouse in the wild yonder of Newton County. Follow him on Twitter at @simonwillo. It’s about time we get to enjoy our own places. You know, for all its drawbacks, I like living where I do. I drive interminable distances to get to work, often feeling like Moses: wanting to give up, but knowing the Promised Land lies ahead (there’s a Delia’s near my office). I also have to deal with Saturday and Sunday afternoons of listening to gunshots, buzzing dirt bikes and firecrackers, throughout the year, day and night. A plethora of wildlife lives in my yard, including fat squirrels that satisfy their gluttony at my bird feeders, snakes that sun themselves in the driveway, and on one occasion, a stray bat that flew in through the chimney and taught
“I learned a lot about myself and it shaped my worldview considerably. My commitment to community building and cultural restoration has always been tied to my vision for social change.” This is how I often begin the story: The Deeper Love Project was founded in 1997 at AID Atlanta by Craig Washington. He needed a name for the program, which would reach African-American gay men across Atlanta. As he thought about it while driving his car, Aretha Franklin’s “A Deeper Love” came on the radio. And that was it: it was destiny. The program was born. I started out with the Deeper Love Project as a volunteer. This was around 2003, when the program had been around for a few years. I had been reading Pedagogy of the Oppressed and the work of Eric Rofes. I had also just attended one of the Deeper Love workshops. And sometime during the course of this workshop, I became convinced that I could do it too; that I could be a facilitator. I was further inspired by the possibility www.thegeorgiavoice.com
my husband and me who the man of the house is (hint: I was hiding downstairs behind a small beagle, armed with a Swiffer). When we go into Covington or Jackson (in Butts County—giggle!) or Monticello or any other nearby town, we know to keep our hands apart, to holster our lexicographic ability to find sexual innuendo in just about anything, and to restrain assumption that we are as welcome in businesses as everyone else. On multiple occasions I have been told that life would be easier if we moved from near-Middle Georgia. Friends in Midtown and Decatur have tried to get us to move back into town. My mother, in South Africa, wishes we would move to a liberal state like Massachusetts. We have thought about go-
ing north or west to get the potential gay hatred out of our lives and live in places that are liberal or libertarian or cosmopolitan enough to not give a shit about us being there. This point of view is tempting when our neighbors celebrate Confederate flag day or we see the bumper sticker on our electric guy’s truck that says “I hated Obama before it was cool,” or Sen. Josh McKoon and his band of merry men wage their annual fight against things they don’t like under the guise of religious freedom legislation. But that point of view is more wrong than Beck out-Grammying Beyoncé. It is as misguided as the one-way streets of Downtown (did they design them with spaghetti?). And I reject it like a four-inch penis.
“I absolutely refuse to move to one of the cold states and let my current neighbors live near people who are not me. I like the heat and the space and the sun and the lake and the quiet.” I absolutely refuse to move to one of the cold states and let my current neighbors live near people who are not me. I like the heat and the space and the sun and the lake and the quiet. Having lived in Chicago, where my balls drew up into my abdomen in December and only started to hang again in June, I know what it is like to subject our bodies to such an awful climate, and I do not wish to be buried in snow, die of hypothermia or become a reallife ice sculpture in order to be able to call my husband my husband. I love the South. I love Georgia. We’re here, and we’re queer, and we’re staying. We’re staying until where we want to live accepts us, and a broad scope of gay rights is at least as celebrated as Confederate flag day.
THE ICONOCLAST
By Charles Stephens
On the Deeper Love Project Charles Stephens is the Director of Counter Narrative and co-editor of ‘Black Gay Genius: Answering Joseph Beam’s Call.’ of being able to talk to black gay men about sexual health and social justice. I reached out to Malik Williams, the program coordinator at the time, and asked if I could facilitate Deeper Love. He agreed, just like that. At this time, Malik was in leadership at Second Sunday, ran Deeper Love, and was a part of The Adodi Muse: A Gay Negro Ensemble. These are the shoulders I stood upon. Why Malik accepted my assistance, I don’t know. It’s one of the great mysteries of my life. It seemed like he was taking a risk, since until then my facilitation experience was limited. But he believed in me, and that was the beginning of my relationship with the program and in many ways a defining experience in my work as an activist and organizer.
A year or so later I was hired as an outreach worker at AID Atlanta in the Young African-American Gay Outreach (YAAGO) program. We called our office the Dreadlock Dynasty; both Naheema and Malik wore them, as did Allen Land, the outreach worker in the program before me. I never wore them myself, but they let me work there anyway. A year or two later I became the program coordinator for Deeper Love, the fifth in its history after Craig, then Anthony McWilliams, then Malik, then Nasheeda Bynes. I often say, reverently, that it’s important to stress a sense of lineage and legacy. Clinton Jolliffi is the current program coordinator. One of my favorite memories of my time at Deeper Love is an early one, but it had implications for much that followed. Malik and Nasheeda, two of the former program
coordinators, came back to participate in our first Deeper Love retreat. That was something I did a lot, bringing in former program coordinators back into the program. Also, Nasheeda and Malik were such amazing facilitators. Even to this day, they are some of the best I’ve ever seen, anywhere. But again, that’s the quality of leadership Deeper Love possessed. We believed in what we did. I worked in that role for about 4 years. I learned a lot about myself and it shaped my worldview considerably. My commitment to community building and cultural restoration has always been tied to my vision for social change. As the clinical approach to HIV prevention continues to inform the landscape, we must not lessen our commitment to community building and place making for black gay men. May 29, 2015 Outspoken 13
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CATCHING UP WITH …
Donna Narducci Former Atlanta Pride director reflects on the record attendance, the thrills—and all that rain By PATRICK SAUNDERS All nonprofits experience good years and bad. One year’s record-high fundraising could be followed by a major dip the next. Events that took countless hours and effort to put together can fall apart through circumstances out of anyone’s hands, yet a stranger’s kind words can lift you back up and remind you why you keep doing it. No one knows that better than Donna Narducci, the executive director of Atlanta Pride from 1996 to 2008. The 56-year-old Doraville resident has traded wrangling a few hundred thousand LGBT people for wrangling pets as co-owner of Roxie and Donnie’s Pet Sitting Service, which she runs with her partner Roxanne Succi. She took some time with us to reflect on her tenure at the helm of Atlanta Pride. You were on the board of directors at Atlanta Pride and then became executive director as this huge surge in attendance happened in the mid-1990s. How did you adjust? It was difficult to keep up with the pace of attendance. We were a small organization back then. It was a board of 12 people, an operations committee which plans the festival so that’s another dozen people, then me, the only paid staff person. We also knew the Olympics were coming and wanted to capitalize on that. We had always done well, being in the Southeast with the surrounding states, but that year with the Olympics right around the corner from the festival? It helped us bump those numbers up. The bombing of the Otherside Lounge in February 1997 cast a heavy shadow over that year’s Pride. How did that affect your planning as far as security goes? It completely changed the way we would conduct the festival from that point on. We www.thegeorgiavoice.com
“You just knew we were making a difference in people’s lives and that was what was most important to me.” worked with the Atlanta Police Department to help us formulate a plan. We held trainings for our committee members and volunteers, namely how to identify a suspicious package and how to find one. There were plainclothes security, there were bomb sweeps of the stage, an increase in uniformed police. Were there any threats or close calls? There were several suspicious packages and they all turned out to be nothing. Every time that happened we’d have to make people back up and bring the police and bomb-sniffing dogs. You just feel like you’re a sitting duck out there and don’t know when some wacko is going to do something. It forever changed how we did things. In addition to protestors, you had another equally unwelcome, and frequent, visitor—rain. How trying was that? Weather was always fickle. That time of the year those thunderstorms, they seemed to always happen right as the parade was kicking off. The scary thing about that is you cannot stop the parade, you have to keep going. There were two or three times when we had to close down the event. You plan for the event, you do everything you can and the one thing you do not have control over is the weather. So it kicked us in the pants a few times. On the flip side of that coin, a major drought in 2008 led to the city kicking
Donna Narducci now runs Roxie and Donnie’s Pet Sitting Service with her partner Roxanne Succi. (Courtesy photo)
all large festivals out of Piedmont Park. The move to the Atlanta Civic Center for 4th of July weekend, along with another bout with the rain, led to very low attendance and severe financial losses. Do you have any regrets about how you handled that situation? What happened with that was, how do you take a festival the magnitude of what Atlanta Pride is and relocate it? And when you’re given less than six months to make that happen, it really eliminated a lot of possibilities for us. And about the most viable option we came up with was the Civic Center. There were no dates available in June because of graduation ceremonies. Then we latched onto the July 4th weekend because we thought that would be something unique. We were looking for something that made lemonade out of lemons. Everything started falling into place. Do I regret it? Honestly I don’t because I think given what we had to work with, we made the best choice possible. There was a lot of feedback from the community that we shouldn’t have had it on the July 4th weekend and in a parking lot and I get that. It’s
not fun to walk around and see the low numbers of people. But we thought the indoor part would be a nice break from the heat that everyone was always talking about. And that was nice but it sort of created two different festivals. The whole thing just didn’t work and unfortunately the organization lost a ton of money. It was a hell of a year to go out on, that’s all I have to say. So when you look back over your time with Atlanta Pride, what stands out for you the most? There were some really great standouts at the festival for me. We used to be located on Oak Hill. People would just pour over the hill for hours and hours and it would make the hair on my neck stand out. People from small towns in Alabama and elsewhere coming up and thanking us for allowing them to have a place to be out when they had to go back on Monday to work and be in the closet. Holding onto that got me through a lot of tough times, like when the weather was crappy or you were arguing with the city. You just knew we were making a difference in people’s lives and that was what was most important to me. May 29, 2015 Community 15
EAST POINT
POSSUMS
BY THE NUMBERS 18TH YEAR of “doing good work through bad drag” as organizers put it
$25,000 Amount raised for Lost-NFound Youth last year
$25,001 The minimum they hope to raise at this year’s event
31 PERFORMERS/ ACTS
that will take the stage for this year’s event
The annual drag extravaganza is back to benefit Lost-N-Found Youth By PATRICK SAUNDERS There are numerous events scheduled for Atlanta Pride’s Stonewall Month of activities, but perhaps none are larger and more eagerly anticipated than the East Point Possums show. Spectators will pack the Commons in Downtown East Point on Saturday, June 13, for what many call “The Southeast's Largest Drag Extravaganza.” DJ Diablo Rojo will provide the
beats before and after the event, and the good people at Southern Comfort will provide the vital ingredient for the world famous “Possum Punch.” And while it’s definitely a party atmosphere, there’s a larger message in mind— helping homeless LGBT youth by supporting Lost-N-Found Youth. So while it’s free to enter, all tips and drink sales go towards the group. And if you want to keep it going after the show’s end, head to the East Point Corner Tavern for the after party.
The 2015 East Point Possums Show Saturday, June 13 from 7 to 11 p.m. The Commons in Downtown East Point www.eastpointpossums.com
50 GALLONS of Possum Punch that will be consumed this year
2000 Number of people at last year’s event
3000 Number of people expected this year
16 Community May 29, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com
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OPERATIC OVATIONS Out composer Jake Heggie gets personal with ‘Three Decembers’ By JIM FARMER Every work by out composer and pianist Jake Heggie is meaningful to him, but his chamber opera, ‘Three Decembers,’ is especially personal. It bows this weekend in the ATL, closing out The Atlanta Opera’s 2014-2015 season. Based on an unpublished play by Terrence McNally with a libretto by Gene Scheer, it takes place in the month of December in the years 1986, 1996 and 2006. At the center is an actress struggling with family issues. The opera started off as an opportunity for Heggie to work again with McNally. “He was my collaborator on my ‘Dead Man Walking,’” he says. “He wrote the libretto for it. He has won four Tony Awards and is nominated again this year. I think he’s a great collaborator, a wonderful man. Just after we finished ‘Dead Man Walking’ I asked if he had any other stories, anything original. He handed me a script he had written for an AIDS benefit in 1999 at Carnegie Hall that starred Julie Harris, Cherry Jones and Victor Garber.” CONTINUES ON PAGE 20 www.thegeorgiavoice.com
May 29, 2015 A&E 19
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19 Heggie read the script and was “wowed and moved” by it. He knew he wanted to use it as the basis for his new chamber opera. “I knew it needed to be longer than 14 pages to be an opera, though,” he says. Scheer agreed to write the libretto and it became the opera it is today. “It started with the idea of working with Terrence, but I also loved the storyline—a famous Broadway actress and her two adult children, who have become estranged over the years. It dealt with the AIDS crisis, a theater life, mental illness, all different kinds of issues. Gene managed to change that into a story, a full-length opera.” The first performance of “Three Decembers” was in Houston in 2008. Since then, it has been performed all over the world. This, however, will be the Southeast premiere. The son in the show, Charlie, is gay and lives in San Francisco with his partner, who is dealing with AIDS. Heggie felt it was important to write about AIDS. “I had been asked many times to deal with the AIDS crisis in one of my pieces. So many young people today don’t know what it was, what that time was like. Growing up in the ’80s and
Details ‘Three Decembers’
May 29–31 Alliance Theatre 1280 Peachtree St. NE Atlanta, GA 30309 www.atlantaopera.org ’90s, it is something we have to remember.” At the heart of “Three Decembers” is a secret involving the father, yet everyone has problems. The daughter is dealing with addiction and spousal infidelity, while the son’s coping with his partner’s demise. “A lot is going on!,” Heggie laughs. He had to deal with the loss of his own father growing up. “We dealt with the emotional shrapnel and wreckage of it,” he says. He and his mother both live in San Francisco and are very close. McNally has been a frequent collaborator and Heggie would love to continue that. “He is a brilliant man of the stage. His insight into character and how it all works is unparalleled. He also has a great love of the opera and the human voice, so it was natural to eventually write a libretto. Gene Scheer has those same qualities, too.”
PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY
Heggie is proud to be in an era that boasts something of an opera renaissance. “It is an amazing time, but I don’t know that it is a renaissance. I don’t know that American opera ever had a rush like this. All of a sudden in the last 15 years it’s grown from a handful of new works a year to dozens and dozens, from every size company—large, medium and small, all over. What young composers are finding is that not only is it a viable art form for today but a way of having social and political conversations. It’s very exciting. When I wrote ‘Dead Man Walking,’ it was one of only three or four new operas around.” He estimates there are around two dozen new operas this year. His works share a common theme—a transformative quest for identity. “(People asking) where do I belong? What is my place on the planet, in the order of things? Why?,” asks Heggie. A typical opera project generally lasts three to four years, from the initial concept to the opening night. He says it’s usual to tweak a little bit after an initial run. “The scary thing about opera is, you don’t get previews. You are basically shot out of a cannon at the audience. The only time opera exists is
in performance. We try to do as much on the front end such as workshops, but you really don’t know what it is until it’s up on stage”. “Decembers” went through an extensive rewrite after its premiere. Heggie says he grew up loving musical theater— thinking he would write for the genre—as well as movie musicals and TV variety shows of the 1960s and 1970s. “I also loved solo singers, particularly the female ones. I liked singers that had a story to tell.” That evolved into learning about the operatic voice until the opportunity came to write his first opera, “Dead Man Walking,” which premiered in San Francisco in 2000. He later worked on “Moby-Dick,” based on the Herman Melville novel. He has lived in San Francisco for more than 20 years and his husband Curt Branom is a performer. They were officially married in 2008 and have a 19-year-old son. Although he’s hard at work on two new stage works—“Great Scott” for The Dallas Opera later this year and an opera based on “It’s A Wonderful Life” for the Houston Grand Opera in 2016—he is looking forward to attending the May 29 Atlanta opening night.
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20 A&E May 29, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com
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By Terri Schlichenmeyer
‘Dangerous When Wet’ not the worst, nor the best
REVIE W Mother knows best. Long before you were old enough to complain, for instance, she knew when you were uncomfortable or ailing and she fixed it. She told you to ignore detractors. She helped you follow your heart. She reminded you to take a sweater. Mom always knew best–except, as in the new memoir “Dangerous When Wet” by Jamie Brickhouse, when her counsel could derail your life. Jamie Brickhouse “had no business being a child.” Then again, he never was a child, really. Starting at age five (an age his mother wished she could freeze him, Peter-Pan-style), he was his Mama Jean’s sounding board, fashion advisor, and cheering squad. He recalls the fascination of seeing her put on make-up; his days were spent watching her sew and going to downtown Beaumont, Texas, to shop and visit the beauty parlor. He also dimly recalls his first drink at age five. Though his mother warned him that others would never love him like she did, his first grade teacher came close. Brickhouse adored that woman who shared school gossip with him and invited him into her home. Later, after a playground friend became his “first boyfriend,” that same teacher warned Brickhouse that the boy was a “sissy.” By junior high, he realized that he was, too, but since Mama Jean had had a fit when Brickhouse’s older gay brother came out and had offered a psychiatrist to Brickhouse if he was “like that,” Brickhouse denied his sexuality. Years later, he also denied his HIV status to her, just like he denied his alcoholism. From the time he was a toddler, Brickhouse had had an obsession with sex. His love of drink also came early and the two intersected when he went to college. Even after he found the love of his life, he couldn’t let go of either vice: many nights after work as a book publicist, he drank until he could barely function and often woke up in the arms and homes of strangers. His boyfriend knew what was going on. Brickhouse hoped Mama Jean never would… www.thegavoice.com
AUTHOR PROGRAMS Robert Beachy Gay Berlin Thursday, June 25, 2015 J 8:00 pm An unprecedented examination of the ways in which the uninhibited urban sexuality, sexual experimentation, and medical advances of pre-Weimar Berlin created and molded our modern understanding of sexual orientation and gay identity. This book signing is held in conjunction with the Filming the Camps – John Ford, Samuel Fuller, George Stevens: From Hollywood to Nuremberg exhibition.
Admission is $5 for members; $10 for nonmembers. Reservations required for all lectures. Call 404.814.4150 or visit online.
AtlantaHistoryCenter.com/Lectures
Details ‘Dangerous When Wet: A Memoir’ By Jamie Brickhouse, St. Martin’s Press, 2015 $15.99 288 pages
For some reason, I’ve been awash in mother-and-gay-son memoirs lately. “Dangerous When Wet” is the newest one, and only a little different than the others. Don’t get me wrong: this wasn’t a bad book, but it doesn’t really stand out a lot. Author Jamie Brickhouse is a funny guy, but I would say that charm is more prevalent in this book than are laughs. That may be, perhaps, because his thumb-sucking, profane, force-to-be-reckoned-with Mama Jean is ultimately like so many other moms: an exasperating reason for eye-rolls to their children, but adorable to others. The small bit of humor lies with her antics, at any rate. The alcoholism, the blackouts, the promiscuity: not so much. I do think this book is worth a try. I enjoyed it enough, but if you’re drowning in similar memoirs, too, you could just as easily skip it. “Dangerous When Wet” isn’t the worst book of this genre, but it’s not the best, either. May 29, 2015 A&E 21
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Our Guide to the Best LGBT Events in Atlanta for May 29-June 11
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SATURDAY, MAY 30
Freddie Ashley, artistic director of Actor’s Express, returns to the stage to star in ‘The Whale,’ about an overweight, dying gay man trying to reconcile with his daughter, 8 p.m., with a run through June 14, Actor’s Express, www.actorsexpress.com (Publicity photo)
FRIDAY, MAY 29 – SATURDAY, MAY 30
Back Side of the Tent, Atlanta’s only aerial dance circus troupe, presents the interactive “Prelude to Too” tonight at 8 p.m. and tomorrow at 6 and 9 p.m., with artists Elena Day, John Welker, Meaghan Muller and Whittney Millsap, The Rhodes Theatre in Midtown, www.backsideofthetent.com
FRIDAY, MAY 29 – SUNDAY, MAY 31
EVENT SPOTLIGHT SATURDAY, MAY 30
Lisa Lampanelli, known as Comedy’s Lovable Queen of Mean, cracks jokes at 8 p.m. at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, www.cobbenergycentre.com (Publicity photo)
22 Best Bets May 29, 2015
The Atlanta Opera presents “Three Decembers” at the Alliance Theatre, with music by out Jake Heggie, libretto by Gene Scheer and based on an original play by Terrence McNally, 8 p.m. May 29 and 30 and 6 p.m. May 31, www.atlantaopera.org
FRIDAY, MAY 29
Out director Brian Clowdus opens his new “The Secret Garden” with an 11 a.m. matinee, running through
Aug. 2, Serenbe Playhouse, www.serenbeplayhouse.com G’s Midtown hosts its Friday night dance party, 10 p.m., www.communitashospitality. com/gs-midtown/ My Sister’s Room hosts Traxx Girls and Blue Diamond Ent. Ladies Lounge 2.0 with a dance party and shows until 3 a.m, www.mysistersroom.com
SATURDAY, MAY 30
Join Atlanta Pride for Sips-N-Strokes Family Paint, a morning of family-friendly painting and giveaways. Bring snacks and drinks of your choice. Please register by contacting Sips-N-Strokes directly at 404/901-1099. Cost: $35.00/person, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m., 3019 North Druid Hills Rd, Atlanta, GA 30329 “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 Michelle Malone holds a CD release with special guest Wyatt Espalin, 9:30 p.m., Eddie’s Attic, www.eddiesattic.com Tony Moran works the party crowd, along with special guest Debby Holiday, 10:30 p.m., Jungle Atlanta, www.jungleatl.com
SUNDAY, MAY 31
DJ David Knapp spins for the late night revelers at Xion, 3 a.m., www.xionatlanta.com Sinners Sundays offers friendly company and $2 Budweisers, 4 p.m. – midnight, Atlanta Eagle, www.facebook.com/ atlantaeagle
MONDAY, JUNE 1
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
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 latex are strongly encouraged. $5 early bird and $10 after 10 p.m., 9 p.m. – 3 a.m., Heretic, www.hereticatlanta.com
more, 9 p.m., Friends on Ponce, www.friendsonponce-atl.com
Edie Cheezburger presents “The Other Show,” the most unique drag show in Atlanta. Admission is $5, Jungle, 10 p.m., www.jungleatl.com
Since Mondays tend to drag on anyway, why not make the most of it? MAX’s Wine Dive, the Midtown restaurant and wine bar known for pairing casual fare with fine wines, has teamed up with Atlanta’s best drag queens for “Monday’s a Drag” — a viewing party from 6 – 10 p.m. each Monday featuring a classic drag movie or TV show. MAX’s is offering campy drinks and food specials. Who doesn’t enjoy a $5 glass of wine or an $8 Mixed Berry Sangria? Ten percent of all food and drink sales from each week’s event will be donated to Lost-n-Found Youth. www.maxswinedive. com/atlanta-12th-street/.
SATURDAY, JUNE 6
THURSDAY, JUNE 4
Newly married Barry Manilow returns to town, this time to perform at the Arena at the Gwinnett Center, 7:30 p.m., www.gwinnettcenter.com (Publicity photo) Come to Mary’s to watch “Rupaul’s Drag Race” with local contestant Violet Chachki at 9 p.m., www.marysatlanta.com
TUESDAY, JUNE 2
Grab a team and come out to Trivia at Atlanta Hideaway with Jason Walker, 8:30 p.m., www.atlantahideaway.com Get ready for your Katy Perry moment – Angelica D’Paige hosts Drageoke, 10:30 p.m., Burkhart’s, www.burkharts.com
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3
Bitchy Bingo Wednesdays at Lips Atlanta, with Monica Van Pelt, Violet Chackhi and Bubba D. Licious, has numbers popping and attitude flying, www.lipsatl.com My Sister’s Room presents karaoke night with no cover and $5 Smirnoff drinks, $5.99 wing baskets and $2 tacos, 8 p.m., www.mysistersroom.com BJ Roosters’ new Amateur Night is every Wednesday night at 9 p.m. with a $100 cash prize, 2043 Cheshire Bridge Road, Atlanta, GA 30324
www.thegeorgiavoice.com
THURSDAY, JUNE 4
It’s Movie Night at Cowtippers, 8 p.m., www.cowtippersatlanta.com Faces Lounge in Marietta’s new All Star Cabaret is every Thursday at 10:30 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. with the likes of Heather Daniels and Coco Chanelle, 138 Powers Ferry Road, Marietta, GA 30060
FRIDAY, JUNE 5 – SATURDAY, JUNE 6
Atlanta Women’s Chorus present Good Girls Gone Bad Friday night at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. at Druid Hills Presbyterian Church, 1026 Ponce De Leon Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30306
FRIDAY, JUNE 5
Oink Oink, y’all. Your favorite little piggies are back to bring you another hot and sweaty night of dancing and drag as Legendary Children hosts Hogtied ft. Nark (Bottom Forty/Seattle). Dust off those dog masks and get ready to celebrate ATL nightlife in style. Featuring Nark, Vicki Powell, King Atlas, Violet Chachki, Brigitte Bidet, Cayenne Rouge, Ella/ saurus/REX, Hydrangea Heath, Kryean Kally, Lavonia Elberton and Modest Volgare. Bondage, leather and
Join Atlanta Pride for the Sylvia Rivera Day of Service. Rivera was an American bisexual transgender activist and trans woman who was a founding member of both the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance and helped found Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries (STAR), a group dedicated to helping homeless young street drag queens and trans women, with her friend Marsha P. Johnson. Atlanta Pride will host a day of service for Lost-N-Found Youth Atlanta thrift store in Sylvia’s honor. 1 – 4 p.m. To participate, please email laura@atlantapride. org for location details. It’s two parties in one. DJ Rob Reum spins inside while DJ Daryl Cox turns up the music outside at TEN Atlanta, tenatlanta.com/
MONDAY, JUNE 8
Trans and Friends: a Project of the Feminist Outlawz is a youth focused group for trans people, people questioning their own gender, and aspiring allies. This event is co-sponsored by Charis Circle’s
CONTINUES ON PAGE 24
Dig out those disco pants – My Sister’s Room presents the Represent Your Decade Costume Party, as Jen-Chase Daniels turns 40, www.mysistersroom.com Divas Monica Van Pelt and Shawnna Brooks present Synergy, 11 p.m. at Burkhart’s, www.burkharts.com DJ Caprice works the crowd at Bulldogs, 893 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30308
SUNDAY, JUNE 7
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 The 25th anniversary celebration of Pets Are Loving Support (P.A.L.S.) is today from 2 – 5 p.m., Park Tavern, www.parktavern.com Regina Simms emcees the New Faces event with singers, dancers, musicians, drag kings and queens and
EVENT SPOTLIGHT SATURDAY, JUNE 6
Christopher Durang’s Tony Awardwinning “Masha and Sonia and Masha and Spike” has a lead gay character, running tonight at 8:30 p.m., through June 28, Horizon Theatre, www.horizontheatre.com (Publicity photo)
May 29, 2015 Best Bets 23
TUESDAY, JUNE 9
As part of Stonewall Month activities, Out On Film and Atlanta Pride host a free screening of the acclaimed, Golden Globe nominated “Pride,” 7:30 p.m., Midtown Art Cinema, www.outonfilm.org
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23 Strong Families, Whole Children Program. There is no suggested donation. 7 – 8:30 p.m., Charis Books, www.charisbooksandmore.com
TUESDAY, JUNE 9
Angelica D’Paige is the emcee for Drageoke at Burkhart’s at 10:30 p.m., www.burkharts.com
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10
Join Atlanta Pride at Turner Field tonight for the fifth annual LGBT night at the ballpark. Meet up with friends at the pregame patio from 6 – 7 p.m. to redeem your free drink ticket before heading to your seats to watch the Atlanta Braves take on the San Diego Padres at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 and up. Five dollars of every LGBT night ticket sold will go to Lost-n-Found Youth, whose mission is to take homeless LGBT youth off the street. Stay after the game for a free postgame concert with Charli XCX, http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/ atl/ticketing/ticket_specials.jsp?loc=lgbt The Icarus Project Atlanta, a local sup-
24 Best Bets May 29, 2015
port network and media project by and for people who experience the world in ways that are often diagnosed as mental illness, holds its monthly meeting tonight. This group seeks to advance social justice by fostering mutual aid practices that reconnect healing and collective liberation. This event is sponsored by Charis Circle’s Urban Sustainability and Wellness Program. The suggested donation is $5, 7 – 8:30 p.m., www.charisbooksandmore.com
UPCOMING
Ruby Redd’s Birdcage Bingo starts at 8:30 p.m., with $3 well drinks all night, The Hideaway, www.atlantahideaway.com
The Atlanta Radical Faeries will be holding their fifth annual Midsummer’s Night event today. This year’s theme is “A Midsummer’s Wet Dream.” The event will be held at the Arts Exchange in Grant Park; the festivities will go on from noon to morning.
Voyeur Wednesdays with Blake’s hot go-go guys starts at 10 p.m., www.blakesontheparkatlanta.com
THURSDAY, JUNE 11
SAGE Atlanta hosts a social hour with games at 10 a.m. and a general meeting/ potluck luncheon at 11 a.m., Phillip Rush Center Annex, www.rushcenteratl.com Phoenix spearheads Dance Floor Divas starting at 11:30 p.m. at Burkharts, www.burkharts.com
SATURDAY, JUNE 13
The East Point Possums Shows is the Southeast’s largest drag extravaganza, with free admissions, 20+ acts, food, drinks and fun, 7 – 11 p.m., the Commons in Downtown East Point, 2727 East Point Street East Point, GA 30344, www.eastpointpossums.com
SATURDAY, JUNE 20
Celebrating Georgia Equality’s 20th year, Evening for Equality is expected to draw some 300 of Georgia’s most important community leaders tonight for Georgia Equality’s Equality Awards. Guests will gather for a dinner reception to celebrate the successes of the past year and contributions of several leaders in the movement to advance fairness, safety and opportunity for Georgia’s LGBT and allied communities. The VIP Recep-
tion begins at 6 p.m. and the event begins at 7:30 p.m., Intercontinental Buckhead, www.intercontinentalatlanta.com Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen join forces for an unscripted, uncensored and unforgettable night of conversation. 8 p.m., Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, www.cobbenergycentre.com Bianca Del Rio’s Rolodex of Hate Comedy Special is tonight at 8 p.m., with meet and greet tickets available, Center Stage Theater, www.centerstage-atlanta.com
SATURDAY, JUNE 27
Much beloved LGBT singer-songwriters Deidre McCalla, Dianne Davidson, and Jamie Anderson bring women’s music back to Atlanta with an in-theround evening of songs, stories and sarcasm. Called “We Aren’t Dead Yet!,”showtime is 8 p.m. at the First Existentialist Congregation, 470 Candler Park Drive NE, Atlanta. Tickets ($25 adv/ $30 door) are available online at wady.brownpapertickets.com
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OUTSIDE THE BOX By BILL KAELIN
Downtown living I was recently homeless. My bedroom was being remodeled and my entire home was full of dust and workers covered in dust. At the same time, the air-conditioning was broken at my boyfriend’s home and we only had a mattress on the floor to sleep on, since we sold everything while preparing to finally move in together. We were in a strange transition between homes, and on top of it all, I was having one of my busiest weeks ever. I couldn’t focus, and being hot while sitting on a floor trying to work was making me boil with frustration. I was so stressed out that I had to move out. Fortunately, I was able to move right into The Westin Peachtree Plaza. Flying solo without my boyfriend for a few days, I settled into my gorgeous room on the 50th floor, which has floor-toceiling windows overlooking the skyscrapers of Downtown. The view was stunning, and it immediately made me start humming the words to the 1964 Petula Clark song, “Downtown:” “When you’re alone and life is making you lonely You can always go downtown. When you’ve got worries, all the noise and the hurry Seems to help, I know, downtown.” Downtown Atlanta gets a bad rap. For years, all that seemed to exist in the heart of our city was crime and Underground Atlanta, but so much of that has changed due to the massive growth of Georgia State University, the development around Centennial Olympic Park and the brand-new Atlanta Streetcar. Thanks to $5 UberX rides, it is now easier than ever to come to Downtown and enjoy amazing arts, music and dining, and there is no better place to start your adventure than at the Peachtree Plaza, home to the iconic Sun Dial restaurant and lounge. Hands down, there is no better 360-degree view of the city than on the 73rd floor. Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride on the rotating floor that allows you to see everything from Stone Mountain to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. This summer, my client the W Atlanta Downtown is hosting a wide variety of public events every weekend at Wetbar, its stunning www.thegeorgiavoice.com
Downtown Atlanta gets a bad wrap. For years all that seemed to exist in the heart of our city was crime and Underground Atlanta, but so much of that has changed thankfully to the massive growth of Georgia State, the development around Centennial Olympic Park and the brand new Atlanta Street Car. penthouse pool bar. The Saturday event, appropriately called PLAY, encourages locals to experience urban life under the sun, and will feature a community Crosley record player with a slew of new and vintage vinyl records for guests to listen to at their leisure while lounging poolside. Finally, if food is what you’re looking for, the Sweet Auburn Market has a little bit of everything. This unique Downtown curbside shopping center has been around since 1924, long before the trendy times of Krog or Ponce City Markets. It is super cool, and houses locally owned vendors like the original Grindhouse Burger, Bell Street Burritos, the Sweet Auburn Bakery, and insane butchers like the Porky Pig, where you can buy everything from hooves to hormone-free chickens and Georgia grown produce. I am embarrassed to admit I had never visited Sweet Auburn Municipal Market until my recent stay Downtown, but I fell in love with it and stopped by every day. Downtown is quickly becoming one of my favorite Atlanta destinations. The announcement of the recent purchase of Underground has only made the excitement and buzz grow, so now is really the time you should go visit. “Things will be great when you’re Downtown. Don’t wait a minute more, Downtown! Everything is waiting for you.” Bill Kaelin is the owner of Bill Kaelin Marketing Events and Consulting Agency in Atlanta, Ga. www.BillKaelin.com May 29, 2015 COLUMNISTS 25
THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID By MELISSA CARTER
Organ donor 101 This is the first year Mr. Carter is making the trek with me to Turner Field, as I emcee the Kidney Walk this weekend. I’ve been involved with the Kidney Foundation event since my transplant 13 years ago, and that I have a son to bring with me this year proves the continuous miracle of organ donation. Without my cousin’s gift of life, he wouldn’t be here. But the Kidney Walk also reminds me of the thousands of patients on the emotional rollercoaster ride that is searching for a donor. One of these people is Matt Schneider, who has returned to dialysis after his third kidney failure and is on the national transplant waiting list. But with more than 100,000 people in the United States alone looking for a kidney, it will likely be years before a suitable match is found for Matt. I think part of the reason for the lack of available organs is people’s misunderstanding of what organ donation is and what it can do. So Matt laid out for me these five organ donor facts: n Organ recipients are selected based primarily on medical need, location and compatibility. Wealthy people or celebrities cannot move up the list. n Doctors will try to save your life even if you are an organ donor! The first priority of a medical professional is to save lives when sick or injured people come to the hospital. Organ and tissue donation isn’t even considered or discussed until after death is declared. n A healthy person can become a ‘living donor’ by donating a kidney, or a part of the liver, lung, intestine, blood or bone marrow and more than 6,000 living donations occur each year. n A donor or their family will not be charged for donating organs. Costs associated with recovering and processing organs and tissues for transplant are never passed on to the donor family. The family may be expected to pay for medical expenses incurred before death is declared and for expenses involving funeral arrangements. n Most major religions support organ and tissue donation. Typically, religions view organ and tissue donation as acts of charity and goodwill.
I’ve been involved with the Kidney Foundation event since my transplant 13 years ago, and the ability to now bring my son with me proves the continuous miracle of organ donation. I’ve been told one of the reasons it’s been hard to get more people to sign up as an organ donor, or to contribute to charities that support kidney research, is because it’s not a “sexy” disease. One example of such a cause is breast cancer, which has attracted worldwide attention through its pink ribbon campaign. Charities such as this one, whose efforts are somehow woven into pop culture, also garner far more money than organ donation or kidney disease have. There are celebrities who have suffered from kidney disease. They include George Lopez, Neil Simon, Tracy Morgan, and Stephen Spielberg, but none have made it their mission to create much awareness about the illness. Of course, I have never been comfortable with the idea of charities competing with one another, since no one cause is more important than another. However, when you are diagnosed with a disease, it can be the loneliest period of your life and you can become desperate enough to want an answer, to get a cure, immediately. Whatever it takes. Such is the case for Matt and me, and for all the 26 million Americans with kidney disease, not to mention the 73 million at risk. So until someone comes up with a way to make kidneys the “in” thing, we’ll take to Turner Field and walk our way to a solution. 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
26 Columnists May 29, 2015 www.thegeorgiavoice.com
SOMETIMES ‘Y’ By RYAN LEE
The fog of marriage wars It’s beginning to feel a lot like a culture war, and news from the front lines has been downright gay for those fighting for LGBT equality. The Queer Brigade has captured Ireland with minimal opposition, as almost two-thirds of voters approved same-sex marriage last weekend. Major fighting now returns to the United States, where resistance promises to be fiercer. The news from Ireland adds symbolic momentum to dispatches on the home-front: same-sex marriage legalized by voter referendum in Maine, Maryland and Washington, enacted legislatively in Hawaii and Illinois, and deemed inalienable by courts in Oklahoma, West Virginia, Alabama and dozens of other unlikely states. As we await the high court’s ruling, now seems to be a safe time to try to digest some of the forgotten developments in samesex marriage wars of the past two decades. MTV and the Origins of Gay Marriage MTV’s contribution to the debate about LGBT matrimony should not be understated, as a generation of young people were introduced to the entire concept of gay marriage during a 1994 plotline on “Real World: San Francisco.” The “Real World” nuptials came two years before the first marriage equality court ruling (and subsequent federal Defense of Marriage Act), meaning Pedro Zamora and Sean Sasser exchanged vows before most people had any idea that such a union was, or should be, illegal. The Bittersweet Fate of Vermont It’s unfortunate that the state that pioneered recognition of same-sex couples in the U.S. will also be cursed by a shameful legacy of our nation’s debate over same-sex marriage. In late 1999, the Vermont Supreme Court deemed it unconstitutional for the state to deny gay and lesbian couples the rights of marriage—a landmark victory that offered the first signs of hope for LGBT Americans in the post-DOMA landscape. Unwilling to allow LGBT Vermonters www.thegeorgiavoice.com
“The news from Ireland adds symbolic momentum to dispatches on the home-front.” total victory and access to marriage, state lawmakers created the phenomenon of “civil unions” to satisfy the court’s order. Once considered a progressive, even radical, alternative to marriage, civil unions are relics of the separate-but-equal compromise LGBT Americans were expected to accept.
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HRC Charlatans The year 2004 will forever be a turning point in the marriage equality narrative, as LGBT Americans endured a more intense barrage of anti-gay marriage laws than at any other time. While local organizations tried to fend off constitutional amendments in 11 states, the Human Rights Campaign contributed almost nothing to those efforts, instead channeling its resources into trying to lift John Kerry over George W. Bush in the presidential contest. HRC failed miserably during one of the darkest hours for our movement. In fact, in the entire timeline of marriage equality, there is not a single milestone for which HRC deserves credit—although that hasn’t stopped the organization from trying to claim it. The organization has not been involved in any of the lawsuits that have brought us to the brink of nationwide marriage equality. It has had minimal involvement in the overwhelming majority of state-level battles over this issue, and yet HRC has successfully marketed itself to the media and donors as the driving force in this civil rights battle. Shamefully, HRC’s latest disingenuous marketing trick refers to the lead plaintiff in the case before the Supreme Court, Jim Obergefell, as an “HRC member”—without noting that anyone who has contributed 5 cents or signed up for an email list qualifies as an “HRC member.” May 29, 2015 Columnists 27
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