Empty Closet, June 2013

The Empty Closet

Pride 2013 Pullout Pages 17-20

local, state and national news , newsmaker interviews , opinion, entertainment, columnists , event calendars , and health resource listings

number 468

a publication of the gay alliance of the genesee valley

June 2013

Pride Agenda Spring Dinner draws over 500

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The Gay Alliance staff: Front: Scott Fearing, Jeanne Gainsburg, Susan Jordan. Back: Ashley Powers, Kat Wiggall, Kelly Clark.

Look who’s 40 and fabulous: The Gay Alliance staff!

In celebration of the Gay Alliance’s 40th year, Scott, Susan, Kelly, Jeanne, Kat and our wonderful intern, Ashley, wanted to create our own fundraising effort and to be a part of the Forty and Fabulous event!

For the month of June, we celebrate Kat Wiggall, our Database Administrator. Kat was very excited to hear that the staff had picked year 2013 as our year for the 40 & Fabulous campaign.

Kat started working at the Gay Alliance in 2013 after volunteering in 2012 in the office, on the Speaker’s Bureau and with the youth program.

“2013 is an exciting year for the LGBT community with so many exciting things happening for us. I’m proud to be a part of this campaign and would like to help the Gay Alliance continue to serve the LGBT community for another 40+ years!”

Gay alliance PARTNERSHIPS The Gay Alliance appreciates the continuing partnership of businesses within our community who support our mission and vision.

Silver Level

Empowering pride for 40 years

of the Genesee Valley

Kat graduated from Rochester Business Institute in 2007 and has spent most of her time raising her two children. When not busy at home, she has a lifelong history of volunteering for various local community agencies.

(Fabulous continues page 3)

By Ove Overmyer The Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA), arguably the most vocal and visible LGBT civil rights organization in New York State, held its annual Spring Dinner fundraiser at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center on May 18. Organizers estimate 540 people attended the event, while tens of thousands of dollars were raised to support necessary programs and services provided by the agency.

Highlights of the evening included a Community Service Award presentation to Out & Equal activist Ralph Carter, a dynamic keynote address by Rochester native and national trans activist Donna Rose and a live auction featuring lavish getaways and the best Broadway seats money can buy. There were several local auction donors again this year, including Hedonist Chocolate, Rochester Broadway Theatre League, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Wegmans, among others.

The Beekman Boys charm Rochester At the beginning of the program, ESPA Executive Director Nathan M. Schaefer was introduced by the Fabulous Beekman Boys who emceed the event. Primarily referred to as the “Beekman Boys,” Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Dr. Brent Ridge are best known for their first place finish on CBS’ multiple Emmy-winning hit show

Ralph Carter, Donna Rose and Pride Agenda ED Nathan Schaefer at the May 18 dinner. Photo: Ove Overmyer

The Amazing Race, and for their hit television reality show airing on the Cooking Channel where the duo put their stylized stamp on seasonal rural living. While on stage, the couple announced plans to wed, much to the delight of the audience.

Schaefer gracefully thanked guests for attending, and got right down to business. He told the crowd, “We are here to celebrate our collective success and to express gratitude.” He also thanked everyone for their loyalty and generosity.

He added, “I thank you Rochester for the warm welcome and your longstanding dedication to equality. You have truly created a name for yourself as a progressive, inclusive and forward thinking city. You set the stage for gender expression nondiscrimination by passing the

Activists rally for GENDA in Albany

By Ove Overmyer Albany, N.Y.- Over 700 LGBT New Yorkers and their allies travelled to Albany on April 30 for the Empire State Pride Agenda’s annual lobby day, billed this year as “Equality and Justice for Everyone Everywhere.”

As usual, Rochester had one of the largest contingents, with more than 60 activists attending the event.

Equality & Justice Day is New York’s largest statewide gathering of the LGBT movement. It features speeches from dignitaries, a rally at the Capitol, workshops, caucuses and lobby visits with elected representatives.

The top priority this year for activists was calling on

MJ Savastano in Ionesco at MuCCC Page 27

Advocating for GENDA. Photo: Ove Overmyer

the Senate to finally pass the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), the statewide transgender civil rights bill that would extend basic civil rights protections to

transgender and gender nonconforming people. It has now been passed six times by the Assembly, but Conservative Party opposition has kept it from the Senate floor.

Pro-equality New Yorkers also pushed elected officials to support the Child-Parent Security Act, which would provide more options for creating and protecting families in New York State, and urged lawmakers to fund programs for runaway and homeless youth and other vital organizations that provide health services to the LGBT community.

While activists were debriefing in the Convention Cen(Albany continues page 3)

state’s first such local ordinance in 2001. You elected the first openly gay New York State legislator outside of New York City (Hon. Harry Bronson). You put your police chief (Chief James Sheppard) front and center as a leading voice for transgender civil rights. You host this event each May, which has become a steadfast and exciting demonstration of upstate New York’s support of the LGBT community. And you gave me the best grocery store retail experience I’ve ever had… at Wegmans.”

Ralph Carter wins Community Service Award Local activist Ralph Carter, a Xerox employee, has been a tireless advocate for civil rights and equality in our community.

Ralph was born on a cattle farm in northwest Florida and found himself in Upstate New York facing two important questions right after college: “Could I integrate my spiritual life as a gay man and could I fully be myself at work?” He told the crowd, “The answer was a resounding yes.”

Ralph is the founding member of CREATE, the first ecumenical gay civil rights advocacy network in Upstate New York fighting for justice for gays and lesbians. While working at Xerox, it took Ralph 10 years to finally join GALAXe Pride at Work, the Xerox LGBT resource group. After coming out, Ralph began to tell his story, and helped organize roundtable discussions between senior executives and gay employees. Ralph is also the co-founder of Out & Equal NY Finger Lakes (OENYFL), and co-founder of the national LGBT Self-ID Community of (Pride Agenda continues page 3)

Contents

Editorials: .................................... 2 Local/State News........................ 3 National/International News..... 4 Interview: Mike Rosario-McCabe... 7 Making the Scene......................10 Pride Pull-out ......................17-20 Shoulders To Stand On ...........21 Columnists ................................22 Community ................................25 Entertainment: MJ Savastano...27 Gay Alliance News.....................30 Rainbow SAGE News................31 Calendar.....................................34 Classifieds..................................34 Proud Publisher of New York State’s Oldest Lgbt Newspaper

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the empty closet • the gay alliance of the genesee valley • number 468 • june 2013

Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley

Perspectives The Empty Closet Editor Susan Jordan

Changing the world In April Uruguay and France passed marriage equality. Fourteen countries worldwide now allow legal same sex marriage, while three others (Mexico, Brazil and the U.S.) allow legal marriage in several states.

In May it was the turn of Rhode Island, Delaware and Minnesota. There are now a dozen American states where LGBT people can legally share their lives with those they love and see their families acknowledged as “real.”

The recognition of LGBT marriages is about more than weddings and insurance benefits, important as those things are. It is also, most deeply, about seeing LGBT people as human beings.

The recent marriage news is heartening. But no matter how many states pass marriage equality bills, LGBT families are still not recognized on the federal level. DOMA must go.

The Defense of Marriage Act was created by homophobic conservatives determined that our families never be accepted by society. They have no rational reasons for this position, which is why one federal court after another has rejected DOMA as unconstitutional.

Prejudice, fear and hatred are subjective emotions, not acceptable reasons for denying basic rights to American citizens. Yet those emotions are currently controlling LGBT people’s lives, fuelled both by those who have

been taught that all gay people are monsters, and those who cynically exploit prejudice to win votes or financial contributions.

The Catholic and Mormon churches and rightwing political organizations like NOM have poured billions into their campaign to block marriage equality. Protestant evangelical groups have spread homophobic hatred and encouraged repression and murder around the globe, especially in the developing countries, for decades now. There is blood on their hands.

But the world is changing. People increasingly realize that they know and respect gay individuals, or have gay people in their families whom they love. More people understand that according human dignity and basic civil rights to gays will not harm society, or offend the Creator of gay humans.

Meanwhile, the professional bigots, those who get paychecks for spreading hate, claim that they are oppressed because their right to hate and dehumanize is under threat. They angrily reject the name “bigot,” but what else can you be called if you campaign to take away the rights of an entire category of people you despise?

Change takes time. The long struggles to end racism and woman-hating have not ended, and even the right to vote is being challenged by conservatives who want to do away with the Voting Rights Act, claiming it is no longer needed – even as they attempt to block access to the polls for people of color, working people and the poor.

The struggle to end homophobia will also take many more years. Nonetheless, the recent changes bode well for a future world influenced by reason and by compassionate spirituality – not out-of-control anger and prejudice disguised as “religious conviction.”

Once our love and families are acknowledged as real, we will be seen as human beings, not stereotypes and subhumans, because our ability to love is what makes us human. ■

The Gay Alliance: Forty years of advocating for the fair and equal treatment of all people, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

Join us for forty more!

Gay Alliance Board of Trustees W. Bruce Gorman, Co-President and Secretary Emily Jones, Co-President, David Zona, Treasurer, John Altieri, Chris Hilderbrant, Jeff Markarian, Peter Mohr, Jessica Muratore, Steve Santacroce, William Schaefer

Gay Alliance Executive Director Scott Fearing

It’s amazing “It’s amazing.”

That is my answer to the question that people keep asking me.

Since April 30, when it was announced that I would become the Acting Executive Director of the Gay Alliance, people keep asking me, “How does it feel to be the new Director?”

“It’s amazing,” seems like such a trite or flip response, but it is true. I feel I have been given an amazing opportunity at an amazing point in time with an amazing organization.

As I write this, the LGBT Communities and our allies anxiously await the decision from the US Supreme Court on two important cases. No matter the court’s decisions, positive, negative or some mix of the two, the status of the LGBT community will be different. Our identities, our lives and our families have become an issue for our national Court. So, whether we celebrate or commiserate, our lives will be different.

Beyond those two decisions, we find more and more states are acknowledging our love and our families, allowing for legal recognition. On May 16, I sat in an airport in Dallas, Texas staring at my iPhone as the Senators in my home state of Minnesota were debating marriage equality.

Between Facebook and Twitter my fingers were a blur. I was so relieved that the affirmative vote was announced seconds before

Name

the cabin door closed and I had to “turn off my phone.” Before we taxied to the runway, I was flying high with excitement.

Then there is the fact that this is the 40th anniversary of the Gay Alliance; to be handed the reins of such an august organization at such an important point is nothing short of, well, amazing.

Our organization, like many LGBT organizations, was the offspring of rebellion and the need for personal authenticity. At a time when forced institutionalization was still a possibility for LGBT people, brave and wise souls saw a different future. They bravely put forward a “radical” vision of a world where “gay” people could live open, honest and out lives.

No matter the court outcomes, the work is not over.

The LGBT communities must move from trying to survive as individuals to thriving as a community. History teaches that one must never take rights and liberty for granted; we must remain vigilant and most importantly connected.

So, as I step into my role of guiding the amazing Gay Alliance, I hope that you will show your support for the work that has been done, and the new work that exists. Please support your 40 year old community organization. We may be 40, but we are also Fabulous. Your financial support is more important than ever, so please make a donation, renew your membership, make an additional gift or give a gift membership to someone else, but every donation helps to ensure that we will be amazing into the future.

Be green, help to save postage and mailing when you donate to the special Fabulous and Forty Staff Fundraiser at: http://goo. gl/Fa5lH It really is amazing what we can accomplish when we work together. ■

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PARTNERSHIPS continued The Gay Alliance appreciates the continuing partnership of businesses within our community who support our mission and vision.

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Benefits include: Subscription to The Empty Closet mailed to home or work, plus privileges at each level. Phone: 585 244-8640 or mail to: Gay Alliance, 875 E. Main St., Suite 500, Rochester, NY 14605. Home delivery of the Empty Closet is free with your annual membership in the Gay Alliance.

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june 2013 • number 468 • gay alliance of the genesee valley • the empty closet

page one (Staff from page 1) Please help us support Kat in her June fundraising effort to ensure that the Gay Alliance will be alive and strong for another 40 years to come! You can go to this link to donate: http://www. firstgiving.com/fundraiser/GayAllianceStaff/fabulous-40-challenge Your support at ANY level is appreciated by so many.

Thank you! ■ (Pride Agenda from page 1) Practice. Ralph has strong ties to ESPA, organizing “Pride in the Pulpit” events at the Rochester Colgate Divinity School; 70 clergy from the region attended one event. He has also attended more Equality & Justice Days than he can count.

Ralph Carter is also a member of Council, Presbytery of Genesee Valley and the chair of the nominating committee.

He has served as trustee, elder and deacon for his congregation, the Third Presbyterian Church.

The overall successes of all these initiatives are largely due to his hard work and leadership capabilities.

Carter finished his acceptance speech by thanking the Rochester community for letting him tell his story. He added, “Let us continue our work together for equality, immigration and surrogacy reforms, overturning DOMA, and eliminating transgender discrimination which really needs our support. As MLK once said, the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. May it be so.”

Donna Rose wows the crowd Donna Rose is a nationally recognized author, speaker, athlete, parent and advocate for transgender issues. She is also a native Rochesterian. Rose served as the keynote speaker and got a rousing ovation from the enthusiastic and supportive crowd.

Donna Rose’s stellar reputation of living with “authentic integrity” is second to no one’s — and in the process she has arguably helped shape more inclusive workplaces in corporate America than any other activist working today. Rose has served on the Board of Directors of several high-profile national nonprofit organizations and has earned numerous awards and recognition for her advocacy work. She continues to be one of the most significant voices for transgender and transsexual persons.

Her message was direct and simple. She said, “People have a basic right to express themselves for who they authentically are.

The concept of personhood is an intimate thing — and it is a pure and healthy thing to be who you are. For that matter, I don’t see the world as LGBT, I see the world as us… I transitioned at a time (1980s) when the transgender community really needed a champion. I never asked to be that champion. I am a reluctant advocate -- a reluctant activist.

But until you can put a face on it, until you can get to know it on a personal level, nothing will change.”

Transgender issues are in the forefront in NYS due to

the struggle to pass GENDA, the bill which would give basic civil rights protections to trans New Yorkers. The Assembly has passed the bill six times but it cannot reach the Senate floor for a vote due to obstruction by The Conservative Party.

On May 22, New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and leaders from dozens of leading LGBT organizations joined transgender activists (including Rochester’s Pam Barres), community leaders and the Empire State Pride Agenda to call on Albany with one voice to pass the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act by the end of this legislative session.

Currently, transgender New Yorkers can be fired from their jobs or evicted from their homes just for being themselves. Sixteen other states and countless municipalities nationally protect their populations equally; transgender New Yorkers and their allies contend that it’s long overdue that New York extend equal protection and basic civil rights to all.

Participating organizations included Empire State Pride Agenda, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Freedom to Marry, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, NYTRO, SAGE, Housing Works, Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, New York Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal, the New York City LGBT Center and The Ali Forney Center. ■

(Albany from page 1) ter later in the afternoon, the NYS Assembly passed GENDA for the sixth time. As noted above, the bill remains stalled in the State Senate and has never been brought to the floor for a vote despite overwhelming popular support.

Equality & Justice Day kicked off with a morning welcome from an array of elected officials at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center, including Rochester area Assemblymember Harry Bronson, Assemblymember Richard Gottfried, State Senator Brad Hoylman, Assemblymember Amy Paulin, State Senator Daniel Squadron and Assemblymember Matt Titone.

Empire State Pride Agenda Executive Director Nathan M. Schaefer welcomed the assembled activists, saying, “We can accomplish so much together.

We’ve proven it over and over again, with victories on hate crimes, bullying, and, most recently, marriage equality across the Empire State. And yet, we have work to do. In many places across New York, people can be fired from their jobs, evicted from their homes, and experience discrimination that is not only unjust but life threatening.”

A 1 p.m. rally in the West Capitol Park featured author Terri Cook, parent and advocate for transgender youth.

Cook spoke passionately and lovingly about parenting, and brought some onlookers to tears. The rally also featured Lee Cutler, New York State United Teachers; Steven Krokoff, Chief of Police, Albany Police Department; Jeff Levin, MSW, Program Coordinator in Family Services at the Lesbian, (Albany continues page 12)

NewsFronts Local and State

Miss Stonewall 2013, Frostie Flakes, at the anti-violence protest organized by Queer Rising and the LGBT Anti-Violence Project.

Two of the NYC gay-bashing victims.

NYC rallies protest seven hate attacks in May, one fatal There were seven antigay attacks in Manhattan last month, one resulting in death.

Port Authority cops made two arrests May 12 after they came upon a group of five men attacking a gay couple outside a midtown PATH station.

The two victims, one of whom has required eye surgery, asked the police to release their photos in order to help find the other attackers.

Asllan Berisha and Brian Ramirez, both 21, were with at least three others when Port Authority Sgt. Michael Thomas spotted them beating two men outside the station entrance on W. 33rd St. and Ninth Ave. about 5 a.m., officials said.

Thomas and two other Port Authority lawmen, Dwight Clark and Matt Vogelman, darted toward the brawl and cuffed Berisha and Ramirez. The others got away.

One of the victims said the hate-filled attackers “came after us and fought us because we’re homosexual,” a source said. Berisha and Ramirez, who both live in Manhattan, were arraigned May 10 on charges of misdemeanor assault and harassment, a violation. Berisha was later released on $1,500 bail. It was unclear if Ramirez made bail.

Another assault took place

outside Madison Square Garden after a Knicks game. On May 16, Queer Rising and members of the public rallied outside Madison Square Garden demanding attention be paid to the protection of all New Yorkers on MSG property during games, and to denounce any violence against the LGBTQ community. Two days later a gay man was murdered (see below).

Another attack came in the West Village. A gay man was allegedly attacked outside a popular New York nightspot in what appears to be a spate of citywide assaults. ABC 7 reported that the victim, who was not identified, was coming out of Pieces, a gay bar in Manhattan’s West Village, when he was attacked by two men who were yelling gay slurs. He was not seriously hurt.

Mark Carson dies in hate attack The fatal attack came on May 18, when Mark Carson was murdered.

Elliot Morales was charged with murder as a hate crime and weapons charges after he allegedly volleyed antigay slurs at Mark Carson before shooting him once, point blank, in the head, police said.

Morales, who has a criminal history that includes several stints of incarceration, was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court and remanded to pris-

3 on. He wasn’t required to enter a plea. His court-appointed attorney couldn’t be reached for comment. Being charged with murder as hate crime means he could face a harsher sentence if convicted.

“It’s clear that the victim here was killed only because and just because he was thought to be gay,” New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said during a news conference on May 19. “There is no question about that. There were these derogatory remarks. The victim did nothing to antagonize or instigate the shooter in this case. It’s only done because the shooter believed him to be gay.”

Morales “laughed in hideous glee as he confessed,” the NYDN reports.

“Yeah, I shot him in the head,” sneered Morales, 33, while “laughing on the ground” when cops were handcuffing him for shooting Carson. Morales was held without bail on charges of second-degree murder as a hate crime, menacing and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, court records show.

He is accused of harassing Carson and a pal while they were walking on Sixth Avenue near West Eighth Street around midnight on May 18. “Look at these faggots,” said Morales, who was accompanied by two friends, according to police.

Judge Robert Stolz scheduled another hearing for May 23. Another anti-violence rally and march took place May 20, ending at the site of the murder on W. 8th St. and Sixth Avenue.

An estimated 1,500 took part.

VERY RELATED: Carson was killed with a Taurus sixshot .38 revolver. On its website, Taurus notes that such guns come with a “free one year NRA membership.” Dealers sell the weapon for $300.

New York City detectives report finding a second gun during a search of Morales’ home and described it as a “Serbian-made Zastava assault weapon.” Zastava sells numerous military-grade weapons, including machine guns, submachine guns, and “automatic grenade launchers.”

Two more attacks after May 20 ABC7 on May 21 took a look at anti-gay hate crimes in NYC after two more, one against a nightlife promoter in NYC’s East Village and one against a couple in Soho, were reported.

CBS2 spoke with nightlife promoter Dan Contarino about the attack that sent him to the hospital. Contarino’s attacker has been arrested.

In reaction to the continuing spree of anti-gay hate crimes, (Newsfronts continue page 12)

Community Watch: DOMA Day of Decision The Supreme Court’s DOMA Day of Decision date and outcome are uncertain... but those concerned about marriage equality can join Equality Rochester for a Community Response that day at Washington Square Park, 5:30 p.m.

Late June is a possibility!

See Equality Rochester on Facebook for details.

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the empty closet • the gay alliance of the genesee valley • number 468 • june 2013

NewsFronts national and international

Victory in Minnesota, the 12th state to pass marriage equality Just six months after voters in Minnesota voted to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, the state legislature on May 13 passed legislation providing equal access to civil marriages for gay and lesbian couples.

The vote was 37-30.

Once Gov. Mark Dayton had signed the bill into law, Minnesota became the 12th state with marriage equality and the third state in May to pass marriage equality legislation, following Rhode Island and Delaware. Weddings for same-sex couples will begin on Aug. 1.

“Minnesota is a perfect example of the progress we’ve made on marriage equality in America,” said Human Rights Campaign (HRC) president Chad Griffin.

“Voters in Minnesota brought anti-equality efforts to a screeching halt on Election Day, and today state leaders in St. Paul made it clear that all Minnesota families are equal in the eyes of the law.”

A strong majority of Americans supports marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples including 70 percent of those born after 1980, according to a recent Pew Poll. Earlier in May Rhode Island and Delaware became the 10th and 11th states with marriage equality and the first since a series of sweeping victories at the ballot box on Election Day 2012 in Maine, Maryland and Washington. Today over 56 million Americans – 18 percent of the population – live in states that allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. The state legislature in Illinois is also presently debating marriage equality legislation.

The passage of marriage equality in Minnesota comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hand down decisions on two marriage-related cases by the end

of June. Hollingsworth v. Perry challenges the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8, and United States v. Windsor challenges the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

The win for marriage marks a sharp turnaround, coming only six months after voters defeated a proposed constitutional amendment to exclude gay and lesbian couples from marriage.

Thalia Zepatos, Freedom to Marry’s director of public engagement and a strategic adviser to Minnesotans United for All Families, released the following statement: “After last week’s strong showing of support, legislators finished the job today, standing up for fairness and dignity for all Minnesota families. Coming on the heels of victories in Rhode Island and Delaware, this win for marriage shows that the freedom to marry is a value that Americans across the country stand behind. Freedom to Marry is proud to have helped create Minnesotans United for All Families, whose work to shore up legislative support – not to mention fending off an anti-gay amendment last fall – makes the whole movement proud.”

Openly gay Minnesota state Sen. Scott Dibble, sponsor of the marriage equality bill, said, “Minnesotans, when given a chance, understand that the values that unite us are stronger and so much more important than those that divide us. I am proud to be a Minnesotan today. Today good hard-working Minnesotans playing by the rules, trying to live a good life, contributing in so many ways to their communities will be treated fairly. For thousands of families, life will be better.

We will be removing the barriers that they have had to the full joys that life has to offer. In doing so, we strengthen ourselves and we strengthen our democracy. When this is over, we will have left Minnesota a better place. That is why we’re here.”

ABC/Washington Post poll finds majority acceptance of gays

By Gary Langer A new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds further public acceptance of gay rights in the United States, in areas ranging from the professional basketball court to the Boy Scouts, as well as the institution of marriage.

Nearly seven in 10 Americans support the decision by professional basketball player Jason Collins to disclose publicly that he’s gay, the survey finds. Most support the Boy Scouts of America’s plan to

admit gay scouts, while opposing its continued ban on gay adults. And 55 percent say gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry legally.

While partisan and ideological differences on each of these are large, centrist groups – e.g., independents and moderates – tilt the balance, the poll underscores a dramatic shift in favor of gay rights that’s accelerated in recent years.

STRENGTH OF SENTIMENT – Backing is widest and deepest for Collins, with 68 percent of Americans saying they support the NBA center’s decision to announce his sexual orientation. Those who “strongly” support his step outnumber his strong critics by a 3-1 margin.

A substantial 63 percent in this poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates, also support the Boy Scouts’ plan to begin admitting gay scouts younger than 18, while 56 percent oppose its intention to continue to ban gay adults.

Again strength of sentiment favors gay rights, by 16- and 12-point margins, respectively. Both policies went to the vote of the group’s governing council, meeting the week of May 20 in Grapevine, Texas, when the BSA did in fact make those decisions.

Some of these views even overcome political sentiment to some degree. Majorities of Republicans and conservatives, 52 and 54 percent, respectively, support Collins’ step, and 53 percent of Republicans support admitting gay scouts. These groups are much less apt to support admitting gay scout leaders or legalizing gay marriage.

Support’s far higher in other groups.

Nearly three-quarters of moderates and independents support Collins, as do more than eight in 10 Democrats and liberals.

Than two-thirds or more in each of these groups favor admitting gay scouts, and six in 10 or more oppose continuing to ban gay adults from scouting.

Support for gay marriage, for its part, reaches six in 10 or more in each of these groups, far higher than its support among conservatives and Republicans, 33 percent in both groups.

There are other differences among groups. Gender differences are especially wide on one issue: While men divide about evenly on the question of gay scout leaders, women oppose their exclusion by nearly 2-1. There’s a customary age gap on each item, with support for gay rights higher among younger adults; most strikingly, 76 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds favor gay marriage, while just 39 percent of seniors agree. And on all issues except scout leaders there’s a gap among education groups, with more-educated adults more supportive of gay rights.

ABC/Post polls since 2003 have asked if people think it “should be legal or illegal for gay and lesbian couples to get married”; the number saying this should be legal rose from a low of 32 percent (among registered voters) in 2004 to 58 percent this March.

This poll asks people if they support or oppose “allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally.” Support is similar, 55 per-

cent, while strength of sentiment divides more closely.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on two gay marriage cases next month METHODOLOGY – This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by landline and cell phone May 1-5, 2013, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 1,008 adults.

Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 points. The survey was produced for ABC News by Langer Research Associates of New York, N.Y., with sampling, data collection and tabulation by SSRS/ Social Science Research Solutions of Media, Pa.

Brazil judiciary: government can’t reject gay marriages Brazil’s top judicial panel has authorized notaries to begin approving same-sex marriages nationwide, AFP reports: The National Council of Justice, which oversees the Brazilian judicial system and is headed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, said government offices that issue marriage licenses had no standing to reject gay couples.

The Supreme Court “affirmed that the expression of homosexuality and homosexual affection cannot serve as a basis for discriminatory treatment, which has no support in the Constitution,” said Chief Justice Joaquim Barbosa on the council’s website, referring to a 2011 ruling by the top court.

Barbosa also said there was no reason for the government’s marriage licensing offices to wait for the Brazilian Congress to pass a law authorizing same-sex marriage.

The Brazilian Conselho Nacional de Justiça (CNJ) decided by 14-1 vote that notary offices (where civil marriages are performed) in ALL 26 Brazilian states and the capital do Brasília have to officiate same sex marriages. Until the beginning of May, the decision was up for local jurisdictions: 12 states and the federal district had already started doing them. Notary offices can’t refuse to perform the unions, as it was happening in some places.

In 2011, the Brazilian Supreme Court had decided that gay unions were legal, but left the regulation of marriage to Congress, that has never acted on the matter. Civil unions were law nationwide for the past two years. Federal benefits, like pensions and immigration, have been the norm since 2001.

Delaware is 11th state to pass gay marriages Delaware Gov. Jack Markell signed a law legalizing marriage for same-sex couples on May 7. Markell signed the bill shortly after its passage by the state legislature.

Delaware is now the 11th state, in addition to the District of Columbia, to recognize marriage for same-sex couples.

june 2013 • number 468 • gay alliance of the genesee valley • the empty closet

Gov. Jack Markell sings the marriage bill.

It joins Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Washington, New York, Iowa, and as of the first week in May, Rhode Island.

Minnesota followed on May 13.

Same-sex couples can begin applying for marriage licenses July 1 of this year.

“Today marks a historic day for Delawareans who have shown their support and commitment to fairness and equality,” said Kathleen McRae, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware. “We are proud to have worked with so many dedicated partners to reach this moment.”

“The fight to achieve the freedom to marry for loving and committed couples across the country took another proud step forward today in Delaware,” said James Esseks, director of the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project.

“It is incredibly gratifying to see years of hard work paying off as more Americans embrace the idea that all families deserve the recognition and protection that only come with marriage.”

“As America waits for rulings from the Supreme Court on two historic marriage cases, Delaware today took decisive action and guaranteed equality for the thousands of gay and lesbian couples of that great state,” said Human Rights Campaign (HRC) president Chad Griffin. “Thanks to principled impatience from state leaders in Dover, the momentum for LGBT equality continues unabated.”

“In the years of hard work we have undertaken in Delaware, HRC has been an invaluable partner,” said Equality Delaware president Lisa Goodman. “Their expertise and financial contributions have been a huge part of getting us where we are today.”

Marc Solomon of Freedom to Marry released the following statement: “Today’s historic vote makes Delaware the eleventh state across the U.S. where loving and committed couples can share in the joy and protections that marriage brings. As happy couples and their loved ones celebrate and prepare for the first weddings in Delaware – following the win in Rhode Island just a few days ago – this milestone sends yet another message to the Supreme Court that it’s time for marriage for all Americans. Freedom to Marry is proud of its work with Equality Delaware to secure

this victory, and we look forward to surging forward and continuing the momentum in Illinois and Minnesota later this month.”

NYS Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman said, “Today, Delaware became the eleventh state to allow gay and lesbian couples to legally marry. This important civil rights victory only strengthens the case for the Supreme Court to overturn the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act. As my office has argued in the Supreme Court, DOMA undermines the efforts of states like New York, and now Delaware, to provide equal rights and protection under the law for same-sex couples.”

LGBT families are left out of immigration bill On May 21, in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman Patrick Leahy brought up an amendment to allow an American citizen’s foreign-born same-sex spouse the ability to become a citizen, just as straight couples are currently allowed to do, but after debate, the Chairman did not call for a vote on the measure.

An amendment to add LGBT couples to the Senate immigration reform bill was withdrawn in order to improve the bill’s chance of passage. Chris Geidner has the news at Buzzfeed: Sen. Patrick Leahy withdrew his proposed amendment to the comprehensive immigration reform bill that would have recognized the marriages of same-sex couples for immigration purposes on Tuesday night, after several Democratic members of the committee stated that they would not be supporting it. A little past 7 p.m., Leahy said, “It is with a heavy heart … I will withhold the Leahy Amendment 7 at this point.” Leahy offered the amendment a half-hour earlier, saying, “I don’t want to be the senator who asks Americans to choose between the love of their life and the love of their country.”

Anti-gay Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham: “If you redefine marriage for immigration purposes [by the amendment], the bill would fall apart because the coalition would fall apart. It would be a bridge too far.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen. Al Franken both reluctantly agreed that removing

the amendment to include gay couples was better than sinking the entire bill.

Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin released the following statement: “As we come together as a nation to tackle our broken immigration system, it is deplorable that a small number of Senators have been able to stand in the way of progress for lesbian and gay couples torn apart by discriminatory laws. Instead of working to achieve common-sense solutions, Senators Graham, Flake, McCain and Rubio threatened to derail the entire immigration bill to appease a small but vocal group of anti-gay social conservatives that will do anything to stop progress for lesbian and gay couples.

“We are extremely disappointed that our allies did not put their anti-LGBT colleagues on the spot and force a vote on the measure that remains popular with the American people. We will continue to work hard to include bi-national samesex couples as the bill moves to the floor and remain committed to the underlying principles of inclusive and comprehensive immigration reform.

“We owe it to the estimated 267,000 undocumented LGBT adults and estimated 24,700 LGBT bi-national couples living in the U.S. today to get the job done.”

Not everyone was eager to excuse Sen. Schumer. GetEQUAL -- a national LGBT social justice organization -- issued the following statement, attributable to Felipe Sousa-Rodriguez, Co-Director: “Let me be clear -- Senators Schumer, Feinstein, and Durbin caved today to the bullying of extreme right-wing Republicans, rather than standing up for the LGBT binational couples they claim to care so deeply about. Today it became clear that our so-called ‘friends’ don’t have the courage or the spine to stand up for what’s right, and are content to buy into the false choice that Republicans created -- holding a sorely-needed immigration bill hostage in order to cement inequality into law.

“I’m also outraged at Senator Dianne Feinstein’s unwarranted and ugly attacks against ending the arbitrary filing deadline for asylum that disproportionately impact LGBT asylum-seekers. Thankfully, Senator Feinstein’s attacks did not prevail, and that bar has been lifted in this bill.

“I hope that other leaders in the LGBT movement step up to publicly distance themselves from Senator Schumer for putting his political aspirations before the aspirations of same-sex binational couples across the country. As an undocumented gay man in a binational relationship, I mourn the lack of political courage that our elected leaders showed today -- but I still cling to the dream of passing a bill that upholds and uplifts the aspirations of the 267,000 LGBT undocumented immigrants currently living, working, and loving within this country’s borders. As we have from the earliest days of this bill, we will fight for a clear and direct pathway to citizenship, we will fight for asylum-seekers, we will fight against mandatory and

5 harsh employment requirements, and we will fight against cruel and unusual border enforcement.”

This statement can be attributed to the National Center for Lesbian Rights, GLAAD, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, United We Dream and Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project, Lambda Legal, Equality Federation and the National Center for Transgender Equality: “We remain steadfast in our commitment to passing compassionate, comprehensive immigration reform that will provide a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented men, women and children living in our country, including at least 267,000 LGBT undocumented immigrants.

“We are disappointed that certain senators threatened the entire immigration reform bill simply because it affords 28,500 same-sex binational couples equal immigration rights. At the same time, we thank Senator Leahy for standing up for these families. A majority of Americans—53 percent—believe that all consenting adults should have the right to get married and that gender should not play a role in who is considered family.

“It is unconscionable that lawmakers committed to equality and commonsense, humane immigration policy were forced to make a false choice between protecting the rights of same-sex binational couples and keeping a tenuous coalition together. This take-it-or-leave-it stance with regard to same-sex binational couples is not helpful when we all share the same goal of passing comprehensive immigration reform that provides a path to citizenship.

“Beyond the issue of same-sex binational couples, the bill addresses many issues that will particularly benefit LGBT people, such as eliminating the one-year bar on applying for asylum, providing protections for DREAMers, and improving conditions for people held in detention facilities. These include important protections limiting the use of solitary confinement and explicitly prohibiting the use of this practice based solely on a detainee’s sexual orientation or gender identity. We will continue to work to improve the legislation as we fight for its passage because this bill is a historic step forward for all immigrants and the LGBT community.

“Our primary goal is to pass a commonsense, compassionate immigration reform bill that puts our nation’s undocumented men, women and children on a pathway to citizenship.

“We desperately need to reform our broken immigration system immediately because it dehumanizes, scapegoats and vilifies all immigrants, including LGBT immigrants. We will continue to advocate and support changes to the bill that will create the most accessible pathway to citizenship possible and allow all undocumented immigrants the opportunity to become citizens, and we will continue to ardently oppose draconian amendments that would make immigrants permanent (Immigration continued page 12)

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the empty closet • the gay alliance of the genesee valley • number 468 • june 2013

Interview

ROC Pride Rocks Pride at Water Street Music Hall Randall Shreve and the Sideshow Monday, June 17

Doors Open 7pm • Show Starts 8pm Tickets: $13 at the door; $10 on sale at www.waterstreetmusic.com or Equal Grounds, Bachelor Forum & Parkleigh. (cash only)

“It’s a rock ‘n’ roll carnival caravan” “There really isn’t another band that I can compare to Randall Shreve and this is something that makes them a band to know.” - PopWreckoning.com Michael Rosario-McCabe. Photo: Susan Jordan

Michael Rosario-McCabe of HCR Home Care

By Susan Jordan It is a sad fact that over 40 percent of LGBT people do not come out to their primary care physician, for fear of prejudice against their sexual orientation or gender expression, and people who need home care are often afraid of letting a possibly homophobic person come into their homes on a regular basis.

HCR Home Care has provided home health care to upstate New Yorkers since 1978 and has now implemented a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Care Program, with help from the Gay Alliance.

This is the nation’s first home health care team to specifically support the needs of LGBT individuals.

Michael Rosario-McCabe, RN, is Director of Nursing for Monroe and Genesee-Orleans Counties for HCR. He is leader of a 10-person team, which received cultural competency training from Scott Fearing, Acting Executive Director of the Gay Alliance.

Mike said that the team consists of two registered nurses, a physical therapist with a doctorate, a speech therapist, an occupational therapist, a medical social worker and three home health aides who help patients with bathing and very light housework and cooking.

Mike said, “HCR is a privately owned company, started by Executive Chairman Louise Woerner. Individuals contact us, but usually referrals come from physicians or hospitals. For patients who are leaving hospital, we have discharge coordinators who get information for the office and set up an evaluation at home.”

He noted that the team is not made up entirely of LGBT individuals. “I am gay,” he said, “but we have a very strong group of allies. It’s a nice mix of Caucasian, Hispanic, Black – the team is diverse and well rounded. My goal for this program is to make sure patients can get on service and not have to worry about LGBT disclosure to their families. In some ways that fear is similar to the fear of disclosing HIV positive status.”

The needs of LGBT seniors -- who are often forced back into the closet in old

age for fear of homophobic rejection and/ or abuse by family members and caregivers – were the original impetus for the program, but of course it is not only the elderly who may need home care. Mike noted, “There are multiple issues for the different age groups.”

He said that he and his partner were married in 2004 in Provincetown, have been together for 27 years and have a 17-year-old son. He added, “We’re hoping people will feel that HCR is a safe zone, and they know that if they self-refer. We’re trying to get the information out to gay elders to let them know. We do rounds at AIDS Care and one of our home health aides is going to be at SAGE meetings at The Center (Mondays and Tuesdays from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.)

“Our physical therapist Dan Lewis will be there several times a month, and I hope to come frequently too.”

Mike has done a presentation for the GAGV Youth Group as well as for Rainbow SAGE. On March 14, the Gay Alliance, HCR Home Care, HCR Cares, AIDS Care, the Academy of Medicine and the Monroe County Medical Society co-sponsored the first symposium on “The Clinician’s Role in Welcoming and Affirming Health Care for LGBT Seniors.” The symposium, targeting physicians and healthcare professionals, took place at the Academy of Medicine. Dr. Joseph Kurnath, medical director for Rochester General Hospital, facilitated the panel discussion and said that a symposium will be held every year.

HCR has several cultural competency programs, including those for Russian, Somali, Hispanic and Mexican American constituencies. HCR’s LGBT cultural competency trainings – its newest program -- consisted of two eight-hour sessions given by Scott Fearing. Mike said that another train-the-trainers workshop will be coming up in the fall, for the LGBT community.

He said that LGBT elders who would like information can call him at the HCR number, 272-1930, or his direct line, 295-6474, and leave a message. Physicians and hospitals can call the HCR main number. ■

june 2013 • number 468 • gay alliance of the genesee valley • the empty closet

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the empty closet • the gay alliance of the genesee valley • number 468 • june 2013

june 2013 • number 468 • gay alliance of the genesee valley • the empty closet

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the empty closet • the gay alliance of the genesee valley • number 468 • june 2013

Making the Scene

ESPA SPRING DINNER took place May 18 at the Riverside Convention Center. (See article, page 1.) Above: Nathan M. Schaefer, Hon. Matt Haag, Hon. Harry Bronson, Scott Fearing and Ralph Carter. Photos: Ove Overmyer.

City Councilwoman Elaine Spaull with Rochester Mayor Tom Richards.

Felicia Garcia-Hartstein with Jarrett Felton.

Hedonist Chocolate’s Zahra Langford and Jennifer Posey.

The Beekman Boys kick off the program at ESPA Spring Dinner.

Paul Allen with Jonathan Lang.

Jason Roberts in the sunken garden behind the “castle” on Mt. Hope Ave. Photos: Susan Jordan

My Own Private Rochester: Jason Roberts

By Susan Jordan Jason Roberts is Community Education and Recruitment Director for the Rochester Victory Alliance at the University of Rochester, which conducts trials of potential HIV vaccines. He grew up in Elmira and the Finger Lakes area, and now lives in the North Winton neighborhood with his partner and their pit bull mix Gracie.

However, the couple is hoping to move this year to the Highland Park area. Jason loves Highland Park and is a fan of architect Claude Bragdon, who, among other things, built several of the homes in the Mt. Hope/Highland Park area.

Jason volunteers for the Landmark Society. He said, “I’m chairperson of the annual House and Gardens tour. I select houses that are aesthetically fit for the tours and work with homeowners. I’m a preservationist. Homeowners can

consult me about issues and sharing resources, cost effective ways of being a homeowner, etc.

I have a Facebook page, Good Home Steward, and am currently building a website that will be a resource for all things preservationist.”

Jason’s favorite restaurant is Rocco’s on Monroe Ave., which he calls “delicious and authentic – a foodie sort of place.” He and his partner like the restaurant and bar at Good Luck near Village Gate and the Bachelor Forum on University Ave. Jason says that the Corn Hill Festival is his favorite Rochester event. He works on the Victory Alliance presence at Pride, so Pride is not a recreational event for him. He said, “I’m a big Rochester proponent and very Rochester-centric, but I do like to get away. I have a lot of friends in Provincetown and try to get there on Memorial Day, in July, on Columbus Day and at the New Year.”

If he were showing out of town friends around Rochester, Jason says, “I’d tell them about Highland Park, especially the sunken garden behind the ‘castle’ on Mt. Hope. I’d take them to visit some of our neighborhoods. I’m a big Claude Brag-

Kevin Weekly, Jeanne Langless and Vaughn Langless.

Jason likes these Claude Bragdon houses near Mt. Hope Ave.

don fan – he was a very prolific architect, artist and musician, and he worked with George Eastman. Then he had a falling-out with Eastman – I think it was over the color of a ceiling in the Chamber of Commerce.

Eastman denounced him in front of their contemporaries and Bragdon left Rochester and moved to NYC.” On an ideal Saturday night,

Jason would be at a dinner party. He said, “There’s nothing I love more than a dinner party surrounded by friends. That’s what Rochester is all about – getting together at home with a close circle of friends. I like really good wine and really good food. When spring and summer hit, I love a good French rosé, and eating outside on a warm spring evening.” ■

june 2013 • number 468 • gay alliance of the genesee valley • the empty closet

Equality & Justice Day: Pride Agenda ED Nathan Schaefer with Albany Chief of Police Steven Krokoff.

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Rochester trans activist Pamela Barres and NYS Assemblymember Harry Bronson. Over 700 rallied for LGBT rights in Albany on April 30. Photos: Ove Overmyer

Kristy Funderburk and Robin Angevine.

Wedding announcement: Angevine-Funderburk

At ArtAwake, organized by UR students last month on Main St. downtown. Photo: Khoury Humphrey.

Khoury Humphrey with his artwork at the ArtAwake exhibit.

Photo: Adrian Hebing

Robin E. Angevine and Kristine (Kristy) K. Funderburk are delighted to announce their engagement and forthcoming marriage.

Robin is the daughter of Richard E. Angevine and Diane Anderson. She will be attended by James McPhall, David Anderson, Gary Duquette-Hess, and Laura Hargrove-Wise.

Kristy is the daughter of David McIntosh and Kay Brock. She will be attended by Katie Funderburk, Barrett Funderburk, Cody Lee, Mary Reynolds, Sara Loftus, and Sarah Rimerez.

The private wedding will be held at Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion State Historic Park, Canandaigua, on July 13, 2013. The couple plans to reside in LeRoy. ■

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page one (Albany continued from page 3) Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center; Kemar Mcintosh, Hetrick Martin Institute youth advocate; and Janet Mock, writer, speaker and advocate for transgender rights.

Rochester ESPA organizer Courtney Michie told The Empty Closet, “This day of action gives LGBT New Yorkers and their allies a chance to tell their stories directly to legislators and advocate for fair and equal treatment under the law. It was a very good day — I believe our presence in the halls of the Capitol is necessary and I’m pleased with what happened today.”

Pro equality New Yorkers also took the opportunity to thank supportive Assemblymembers and to put pressure on the Senate to take up the GENDA bill.

Earlier in April, the Pride Agenda kicked off an aggressive quarter-million dollar paid advocacy campaign including print, radio and digital advertising – all aimed at educating New Yorkers on trans issues and calling them to action in support of GENDA. The measure already enjoys popular support across the state, with polling showing 78 percent of New Yorkers approve of it.

Currently 16 states, including Iowa, Colorado and Nevada, are ahead of New York in passing similar legislation.

Countless municipalities and counties, including towns and cities in Kentucky, Idaho and Missouri, have already passed local legislation protecting their residents on the basis of gender identity and expression. ■

the empty closet • the gay alliance of the genesee valley • number 468 • june 2013

local and state (Local news continued from page 3) the NYPD has announced that they have increased patrols in the West Village, Chelsea, and Hell’s Kitchen.

Bike for MS Finger Lakes Challenge set for July Bike MS Finger Lakes Challenge, July 20 and 21, is a ride for all cyclists.

Route options on Saturday include a gentle 30-mile option, a metric century (67 miles), or a challenging 100 mile route.

The scenery is fabulous − Keuka Lake, and on the century ride, the picturesque lakes Waneta and Lamoka.

Sunday offers a 25 and 50 mile option past well maintained Mennonite farms with great views of the muck farms and rolling hills. The Bike MS ride is known for the friendliness of the cyclists.

Riders are committed to raising funds for research to end the devastating disease, multiple sclerosis, and to provide programs and services to more than 12,800 people living with MS in Upstate New York and their families. The riders challenge themselves through the ride and fundraising, and acknowledge the challenges people with MS face every day. It costs $50 to register, and each person commits to raising $250.

Starting at Keuka College, cyclists get a rousing send off from volunteers. Rest stops provide snacks, water and port-ajohns along the way. Support vehicles monitor the route and ride leaders patrol to assist anyone with a problem. Among those participating in Bike MS are first-time riders, and veteran cyclists who have been doing Bike MS for more than 20 years.

You can form a team (a team consists of at least four people riding or volunteering), join an existing team, or ride as an individual. You will meet some interesting people, have a good time and help a great cause.

national and international (Immigration from page 5) second-class citizens and create undue hardships along a pathway to citizenship.

“Every day we fail to reform our system, 1,100 families are torn apart. As a nation, we pride ourselves on keeping families united, and our immigration policies should reflect our commitment to keep families together—all families.

“We stand firmly that the following principles must be included if we are to truly have comprehensive immigration reform legislation: “Provide a pathway to citizenship; Ensure that family unity is at the heart of immigration law and policy; End unjust detentions and deportations; Uphold labor and employment standards, and ensure that the enforcement of immigration law does not undermine labor and employment rights; Promote a dignified quality of life for border communities by ensuring border agencies uphold basic civil and human rights protections and ensure immigrant members of our community are not relegated to second-class status with fewer rights and benefits.”

Immigration Equality reacts: “Despite the leadership of Chairman Leahy, Judiciary Committee Democrats have caved to bullying by their Republican colleagues,” said Rachel B. Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality Action Fund. “There should be shame on both sides of the political aisle today for lawmakers who worked to deny LGBT immigrant families a vote. Despite widespread support from business, labor, faith, Latino and Asian-American advocates, Senators abandoned LGBT families without a vote.”

Senator Chuck Schumer, an architect of the immigration bill, had long promised LGBT constituents that the package would include their families. “From the

beginning we told Senator Schumer that it would only get harder to add LGBT families to the bill,” said Tiven. “We are disappointed that Senator Schumer and his ‘Gang of 8’ colleagues accepted a false choice between LGBT families and immigration reform, when the truth is that including LGBT families from the outset would have strengthened the bill.”

U.N. campaigns for LGBT human rights A striking new campaign video from the United Nations human rights office speaks directly about the oppression of LGBT people and features messages from Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

Says Pillay: “Every nation is obligated by international human rights law to protect all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination and violence.”

Adds Ban and a chorus of voices: “The United Nations has one simple message to the millions of LGBT people around the world...You are not alone. LGBT rights are human rights. Together we will build a world that is free and equal,” Read more: http://www.towleroad. com/#ixzz2TI9WefIP

Western evangelicals push death penalty for Ethiopian gays Will Ethiopia consider imposing the death penalty for homosexuality? Bikya News seems to think so: An anti-gay organization that held a recent workshop on LGBT issues in Ethiopia is reporting that the death penalty against gay people in Ethiopia may be on the horizon.

The workshop reportedly looked at the social “evils” and “disastrous” effects of homosexuality in Ethiopia, and was led by

june 2013 • number 468 • gay alliance of the genesee valley • the empty closet United for Life Ethiopia, a Western Evangelical Christian organization with local representation.

Government officials, religious leaders, leading heath professionals, charities and members of the public attended the event at the Bethel Teaching Hospital in Addis Ababa in late April. In the workshop police alleged “homosexual family members and neighbors” have sexually abused 117 boys last year. It comes on the heels of much antagonism toward the LGBT community in Ethiopia.

GSN adds: At the conclusion of the workshop, the EICAH representative stated that the council is “making progress” in convincing the government to be stricter on homosexuality and introduce the death penalty to punish “such acts”.

The ECIAH representative added that prospects for capital punishment being legislated against gays “seems promising”.

The United for Life Ethiopia (ULE), led by Dr Seyoum Antonios, sponsored the event as well as ECIAH. ULE is a Western Evangelical organization that receives funding in the UK and US and offers to “cure” homosexuality, as well as campaigning aggressively against LGBT people in the country.

Read more: http://www.towleroad. com/#ixzz2SA0RCQ3z

Parents sue S.C. for unapproved genital surgery on their child The adoptive parents of an intersex child are suing the state of South Carolina for performing genital removal surgery in violation of the child’s constitutional rights.

Mark and Pam Crawford say that their child, identified as M.C., is now eight years old and chooses to identify as a boy, despite doctors deciding that M.C. should be a girl at 16 months old. The couple says that they chose to adopt M.C., who was

in state custody at the time of adoption, knowing about the intersex condition.

“The first thought that I had was, let’s make sure they don’t do the surgery,” Pam Crawford said in an audio recording posted to YouTube. Crawford said the surgery happened about three months before the adoption.

The lawsuit was filed by the SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center). An intersex support group has issued a statement of support.

Intersex conditions can occur across a broad spectrum. The Intersex Society of North America has posted a listing of categories and how frequently they are believed to occur.

Three black transwomen were killed in April The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) is deeply concerned about three unsolved homicides of transgender women of color that occurred during the month of April 2013, which continues a trend of murders of transgender and gender non-conforming women and people of color in the past few years.

On April 3, Kelly Young, a 29-yearold black transgender woman, was found shot to death inside a home in Baltimore, Md. Then on April 4, 30-year-old Ashley Sinclair, a black transgender woman, was found shot to death in a wooded area in the Oak Ridge section of Orange County, Fla. Another young black transgender woman, Cemia Dove, also known as Ci Ci, was found on April 17 in a retention pond in Olmsted Township, Ohio. Dove, a 20-year-old woman, had multiple stab wounds, was tied to a concrete block, and was found naked from the waist down.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer referred to her as “it.”

As of mid-May, all three of these homicides remained unsolved.

“Each year, NCAVP tracks the homicides of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,

and queer (LGBTQ) people in the U.S. in which an anti-LGBTQ motive is known.

However for many LGBTQ homicide victims, especially transgender women and people of color who are disproportionally affected by anti-LGBTQ violence, a motive is never determined,” said Chai Jindasurat, NCAVP Coordinator at the New York City Anti-Violence Project. “It is imperative to call attention to these incidents so that the lives of these individuals are not forgotten or overlooked and so that we can bring all resources to bear to discover what happened to them, when that is possible.”

NCAVP has seen an increase in the severity of anti-LGBTQ hate violence incidents in the US. NCAVP’s most recent report on Hate Violence documented 30 anti-LGBTQ homicides in 2011, the highest number ever recorded by the coalition.

Transgender women made up 40 percent of the 30 reported hate murders in 2011, while representing only 10 percent of total hate violence survivors and victims. Of the 30 reported hate murder victims in 2011, 87 percent were LGBTQ people of color.

NCAVP is collaborating with the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) and local NCAVP member organizations BRAVO and Sunserve Services to raise awareness of these unsolved homicides and to support the local communities affected by this violence.

The Buckeye Region Anti-Violence Organization (BRAVO), an NCAVP member organization that works to end LGBTQ-related violence and homicide, issued a press release about Dove’s murder, but media failed to pick up the story.

“BRAVO is saddened to learn of the most recent hate crime murder, and outraged at the media’s flagrant disregard for human dignity,” said Gloria McCauley, Executive Director of BRAVO, “Every homicide deserves to be investigated and all possible leads followed so that we can understand what the cause of the homicide was. This is particularly true when the homicide involves a community that

13 we know is at a higher risk of bias-related homicides such as transgender women of color.”

“Enough is enough. Three unsolved homicides within one month should elicit a national outcry,” said Sharon LettmanHicks, Executive Director and CEO at NBJC. “We need to hold our law enforcement officials accountable at every level – from local police departments that need to work tirelessly to find these killers and bring them to justice, to federal agencies such as the Department of Justice that should create a national task force to address the serial killings of Black trans women in this nation. How many more lives must be lost before we take serious action to stop this madness?”

NCAVP is a resource for anyone who experiences violence. For more information contact the group at info@ncavp.org.

Russian gay man murdered; gays fear more violence Russian police have confirmed that a gay man was beaten to death in Volgograd on May 9 after he came out to men he’d been drinking with.

A spokeswoman for the Volgograd office of the Investigative Committee said on May 12 that the battered body of the unidentified victim was found on the morning of May 10. Two men, aged 22 and 27, have been arrested in connection with the attack. According to investigators, the 23-year-old victim had been drinking with the two men to celebrate Victory Day on May 9 when he told them he was gay. The two men then allegedly beat him, sodomized him with a beer bottle, and smashed in his skull with a stone. The story has caused outrage throughout Russia.

More from Reuters: It is rare for law enforcement authorities in Russia to specify suspicions that homophobia was the motive in an attack, (Newsfronts continue page 14)

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national and international (Newsfronts from page 13) and activists say many attacks against gays are not treated or described as such by the police.

Prominent gay rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev said a bill to outlaw spreading “homosexual propaganda” among minors, given preliminary approval by parliament in January, would make Russians less likely to fear consequences for attacking gays.

“This monstrous incident in Volgograd demonstrates the fruits of the homophobic policy that is being conducted in this country, including the initiative to ban homosexual propaganda,” Interfax news agency quoted Alexeyev as saying.

The act has inspired fears of more violence, and the government looks to be giving the public permission to commit such acts with its policies, Reuters reports: The victim’s 22-year-old friend and a former convict aged 27 were detained for the attack, which gay rights activists say is a brutal example of rising violence against homosexuals in the year since President Vladimir Putin latched on to family values to shore up support in Russia’s largely conservative society.

Along with a planned new law banning the spread of gay “propaganda” among minors, Putin has also overseen a religious revival that aims to give the Orthodox Church, whose leader has suggested that homosexuality is one of the main threats to Russia, a more public role as a moral authority.

Nikolai Alexeyev said the draft law, which could be passed this month, and Putin’s criticism of gays for failing to help Russia’s population decline, amounted to “a call to action for the scum who committed this crime”.

“It essentially gives these people carte blanche to commit such crimes,” he said of the law, a local version of which is already in place in Russia’s second city of St Petersburg.

Alexeyev told Interfax that he will press for a hate crime law: “Such crimes will increase in number from year to year unless this policy is changed. We are planning to press for hatred of sexual minorities to be qualified as an aggravating circumstance if it is a motive for a crime,” Alexeyev told Interfax.

“At the moment, hatred for sexual minorities is practically disregarded as a motive, and most likely that [Volgograd] crime will be investigated as one caused by a trivial row and the homophobic motives will gradually disappear from all the documents,” he said.

Read more: http://www.towleroad. com/#ixzz2TB6EFMfh

Rhode Island is 10th state to pass marriage bill; into effect Aug. 1 On May 2 the Rhode Island state House passed marriage equality legislation, making the Ocean State the 10th state in America where gay and lesbian couples can legally marry. (On May 7, Delaware became the 11th state to legalize marriage equality and on May 13 the Minnesota legislature passed marriage equality, making Minnesota the 12th state; see articles in this section.)

The legislation, which passed with bipartisan support, including the entire Republican state caucus, was signed into law by Gov. Lincoln Chafee later on May 2 in a historic ceremony on the steps of the Rhode Island State House.

“The unprecedented momentum for marriage across the country continues, with Rhode Island becoming the first state of 2013 to say yes to marriage equality,” said Human Rights Campaign (HRC) president Chad Griffin. “As the Supreme Court deliberates the fundamental right to marry the person you love, these historic and bipartisan victories keep mounting and prove the country is ready for marriage equality.”

the empty closet • the gay alliance of the genesee valley • number 468 • june 2013 The House passed a modified version of legislation it had previously passed in January, which was then amended and passed by the Senate. Same-sex couples in Rhode Island can begin applying for marriage licenses Aug. 1, 2013.

Rhode Island joined all other New England states – Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Maine – as well as Maryland, Washington, New York, and Iowa. “Today is a great day for freedom and equality in Rhode Island,” said Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island. “I am very proud to see our state join the rest of New England by passing this momentous law.”

Marc Solomon, national campaign director of Freedom to Marry, issued the following statement: “Today Rhode Island -- and now all of New England -- has embraced the freedom to marry and lived up to our American promise of liberty and justice for all. That the entire Rhode Island Senate GOP caucus joined with a vast majority of Democratic lawmakers to live up to the state’s values in voting for marriage will inspire more momentum in more states. It is time now for the Supreme Court to uphold these American values for all loving and committed couples.”

Over 100 Pa. lawmakers back anti-discrimination bills on housing, work Over 100 Pennsylvania legislators have cosponsored bills that will extend housing and workplace anti-discrimination protections to LGBT citizens. The bills have 77 sponsors in the House and 25 in the Senate.

The bills will end the last vestige of legal discrimination in Pennsylvania, “discrimination based on an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression,” said Rep. Dan Frankel, a Pittsburgh-area Democrat. “I’m pleased to announce that, for the first time, these bills will be introduced at the same time with prime sponsors from both parties,” he said.

One hundred members of the General Assembly, a record number that represents all corners of the state, sponsored the bills, Frankel said. The widespread support stems from the fact that ending discrimination based on sexual orientation is not a partisan issue, according to Rep. Chris Ross, R-Chester.

Openly gay state Rep. Brian Sims spoke at a press conference announcing the legislation: “On days like today — with the type of equality advocates, activists and warriors that I am joined by on stage — we show once again that the American spirit, the American dream and, most importantly, the American values demand that we as a commonwealth finally evolve.” (Via Towleroad)

Over 50,000 march for LGBT rights in Chile Michael Lavers had the story at Washington Blade: An LGBT rights march in the Chilean capital on May 11 drew more than 50,000 people.

Chilean folk singer Camila Moreno, presidential candidates Andrés Velasco, Tomás Jocelyn-Holt, Marco EnríquezOminami and Marcel Claude, and Rafael Dochao, the European Union’s ambassador to Chile, took part in the Santiago event that also commemorated the International Day Against Homophobia.

Former President Michelle Bachelet, who is also a candidate to succeed President Sebastián Piñera in this November’s presidential elections, endorsed the march in a letter.

Lavers notes that Piñera has promised a civil unions bill, but has yet to formally introduce it.

Fla. school board finally permits GSA club Just one day after 14-year-old Bayli Silberstein filed suit against the Lake County

School Board to enforce her constitutionally protected right to establish a GayStraight Alliance at her school, on May 2 the School Board ended months of delay and efforts to block the GSA, and said it will allow the club to meet.

The consent decree entered in federal court allowing Silberstein to finally establish the GSA settles a lawsuit filed May 1, which was the result of months of the school board repeatedly delaying and thwarting the establishment of the GSA. “I’m just so happy that our club is finally going to be allowed to meet,” stated Silberstein, an 8th-grader at Carver Middle School. “There’s only about a month left of school, but that’s still a month we can use to start doing the work to make this school a safer and more welcoming place.”

GSAs are student organizations made up of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students and their straight allies that advocate for an end to bullying, harassment, and discrimination against all students. LGBT students in schools with a GSA are significantly less likely to experience victimization related to their sexual orientation and gender expression than students without a GSA. Silberstein has been working to establish a GSA at her school since the 2011-2012 school year, but faced multiple delays from school administrators. Frustrated by the inaction, Silberstein and her mother reached out to the ACLU of Florida for assistance in January of 2013.

The ACLU of Florida sent a letter to the school board on Jan. 23 explaining the legal right of the club to form as well as explaining the value of a GSA in “[c]reating an atmosphere in which bullying and violence are not tolerated and everyone is valued and respected [to] help make all students better citizens.”

What followed from the school board was months of delay and machinations to stop the GSA from being established – including a proposed ban on all nonacademic clubs at middle schools – culminating with the school board voting 4-1 on April 22 to table a proposed club policy, effectively leaving the ban on the GSA in place through the remainder of the school year.

As a result of the April 22 vote, and having exhausted all other options to help Bayli establish the club, the ACLU of Florida filed a lawsuit on May 1, contending that the School Board, Superintendent of the School District, and Principal of Carver Middle School violated Silberstein’s rights under the federal Equal Access Act and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Then on May 2, faced with having to spend taxpayer money to argue against the right of one of its students to form the GSA – a right which federal courts have routinely upheld – the school board relented. The parties in the case have entered into a consent decree in which Silberstein will be allowed to form the club for the remainder of the school year. The club will be officially recognized and can meet on the same terms as any other club.

“We are very pleased that the school board has recognized the value in complying with clearly established federal law,” stated Daniel Tilley, staff attorney for the ACLU of Florida. “It’s unfortunate that it took months of delay, hundreds of concerned parents and neighbors crowding into school board meetings, tens of thousands of petition signers, nationwide media scrutiny, and a federal lawsuit for the school board to do right by their students, but we are nevertheless gratified that Bayli will get to form her club. I imagine that Lake County taxpayers are

grateful, too.”

Bayli’s mother, Erica Silberstein, echoed these sentiments. “It’s great that Bayli finally gets to have this club that she’s worked so hard for. All she ever wanted was to make her school a better place. I’m proud of her for fighting so hard, and I hope her story is a lesson that even if things seem tough, you can make things better.”

A copy of the consent decree is available: aclufl.org/resources/consent-decree-silberstein-lake-county/

Gillibrand re-introduces override of state gay adoption bans On May 8 Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) re-introduced the Every Child Deserves A Family Act, which would attempt to override state-level bans on gay adoptions by restricting federal funding “for states employing discriminatory practices in adoption and foster care placements based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status or the sexual orientation or gender identity of the foster youth involved.”

Seven states currently ban a person in a same-sex couple from adopting his or her partner’s children, and gay couples face legal restrictions when petitioning for joint adoption in five states. In all, according to the Family Equality Council, LGBT people face barriers to adopting or fostering children in 39 states. (There is no legal restriction that would prevent abuse by heterosexual adoptive parents.)

In the past, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and former Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) have taken the lead on the legislation. But now that Stark is no longer in Congress, the bill has the backing of a bipartisan duo in the House: Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.). Gillibrand is still the lead sponsor in the Senate.

Labour Party lends support for UK marriage bill attacked by Tories The UK’s marriage equality bill, under threat by Tory conservatives who rebelled against their leader Prime Minister David Cameron and tried to get marriage replaced with civil unions, was saved by a deal with the Labour party, the Guardian reports: The government’s gay marriage bill was saved after David Cameron was forced to rely on Labour’s Ed Miliband to defeat an attempt by his own Tory MPs to derail the measure by trying to extend civil partnerships to heterosexual couples.

An 11th-hour plea to the Labour leadership by the Tory chief whip Sir George Young, who warned that the government was in danger of losing the vote, prompted a change of heart by Miliband, who had been planning to abstain on the amendment.

The Labour move meant that the amendment, tabled by the Tory and former children’s minister Tim Loughton, was defeated by 375 to 70 votes, a majority of 305.

The decision by the Labour leadership, which has gone from supporting the amendment on civil partnerships to rejecting it within the space of 24 hours, means that the marriage (same-sex couples) bill will now experience a safer journey through parliament. It now heads to the House of Lords.

Read more: http://www.towleroad. com/#ixzz2Tvu3VvEF ■

june 2013 • number 468 • gay alliance of the genesee valley • the empty closet

From Our Readers

ly conservative job setting. It was clearly a discrimination case, but he had signed away his rights in a settlement rather than fight the system in isolation. He found P@W too late. The Empty Closet can help P@W get the word out to other workers that we can offer guidance to any members of the LGBT community who are experiencing workplace discrimination.

Pride at Work AFL-CIO is the official LGBT constituency group of AFL-CIO and is the only organization that supports gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender union members. We work directly with labor organizations at state and federal levels and locally have a seat on the Executive Board of Rochester Labor Council. We are familiar with union structure, culture and the nuances of contract negotiations.

In the absence of full legal protections for LGBT workers, a well-negotiated union contract can offer benefit equity and broad workplace protections. For instance P@W is spearheading the effort to train contract

15 negotiators to include language on “gender expression and identity” to protect Transgender workers while state and federal legislation remains stalled.

Pride at Work also leverages their intentionally cultivated union relationships to pass LGBT legislation. In December 2011 the Rochester Chapter of Pride at Work AFL-CIO was the recipient of the “Mother Jones Award” given by the Rochester Labor Council in recognition of the work P@W did to educate and mobilize the local labor community to support NY Marriage Equality. P@W continues to work in collaboration with many organizations to advance legislation of importance to LGBT people.

The support of the labor community by this newspaper and the Gay Alliance has been outstanding over the years and we wish to express our on-going gratitude.

Thank you.

Bess Watts, President RFL Pride at Work AFL-CIO ■

Pride at Work at the 2012 Pride Parade. Photo: Bess Watts

ESPA did NOT start Pride at Work To The Editor: As President of the Rochester Finger Lakes Chapter of Pride at Work AFL-CIO I wish to correct a significant misconception about Pride at Work AFLCIO, while simultaneously thanking you for your excellent article highlighting local labor icon and LGBT ally Jim Bertolone, President of the Rochester Labor Council, AFL-CIO. The origins of Pride at Work AFLCIO (P@W) were mistakenly ascribed in the article to the Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA). It is a common error, but ESPA focuses almost exclusively on legislation, while P@W offers resources and

“hands-on” support for LGBT workers personally facing bias or harassment on the job or within their unions.

Unfortunately this confusion has had some significant consequences. Resources and recognition meant for P@W have sometimes been diverted to ESPA, but the more important consequence is that LGBT union workers who need immediate support when they are facing active discrimination do not realize that there is an organization dedicated to their survival on the job. P@W regularly encounters LGBT workers who have quit jobs because of harassment, overwhelmed by the prospect of fighting alone for their rights.

Recently we were approached by a gentleman fired after a dozen years of good reviews because he was “outed” in a high-

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the empty closet • the gay alliance of the genesee valley • number 468 • june 2013

Opinion

Zach Wahls, left, with RIT President Destler and Frank Selvaggi at the LGBT Conference. Photo: Joyce Kasab

LGBT leaders advocate for underrepresented in their community

By Nadia Pierre-Louis, RIT Future LGBT leaders on college campuses are learning the importance of standing up for the rights of their community.

These rights not only apply to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender identified individuals, but also to the entire spectrum of the gay community. This includes those of lesser-known identities, such as intersex and genderqueer, that sometimes get pushed to the sides in the fight for equal rights.

In November of 2012, Tammy Baldwin, from Wisconsin, became the first open lesbian to be elected as a senator in the history of the United States.

Barack Obama was also the first president to openly affirm that same-sex couples should have the right to marriage in his 2013 inaugural address.

“Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law,” said Obama in his monumental speech.

Despite these recent victories in the gay rights movement and a growth in gay rights activism, there are other issues besides gay marriage and visibility that are important. Leaders are now working on advocating for the rights of the minority groups within the LGBT community, including those that are intersex and pansexual, among many others.

Some people are unaware that these identities even exist. This is why confused parents of intersex children jump into

allowing sex-change surgeries to happen on their infants. A film called “Intersexion,” including Rochester intersex native Jim Costich, shows the battles many intersex children go through at young ages that continue throughout their lives. Costich believes that if we had more advocates aware and fighting for this cause, the lives of many intersex individuals could change.

Advocacy for intersex people, among many other identities, was brought up at this year’s North East LGBT Conference.

The conference was held at the Rochester Institute of Technology from April 12-14.

The event allowed hundreds of college students to come together and attend a number of different workshops that focused on issues relating to the LGBT community.

This year’s theme was “The Ally is You.” The theme referred to the importance of allies to the underrepresented in the gay community. Lesser known identities don’t receive as much support and recognition because they often don’t fit into the LGBT category. This was a topic brought up numerous times throughout the conference.

David Yipp, a graduate student at RIT, has been attending the conference for three years now and has even presented a few workshops on various LGBT topics.

Yipp described the conference as a large group of LGBT college students, professors and advisors in the community who put together social gatherings and volunteer to hold workshops. The workshops ranged from topics that teach about leadership in the community, advocacy for LGBT rights, career opportunities

and other issues surrounding the LGBT community.

“Essentially the conference is an absolutely wonderful leadership and community opportunity,” said Yipp.

College is the time for students to learn about themselves and mold the person they want to be. For LGBT youth, this starts with learning how to be a leader for a minority group and how to stand up for themselves and their allies.

Zach Wahls, a speaker at the conference and advocate for gay rights, recognized “diversity within diversity” in the gay community. The gay community is diverse in terms of gender identity, sexuality and race. And recognizing that some in the community have less visibility than others is a start to being an advocate.

“Fear of labels is bad,” said Wahls.

“Courtesy and respect are good.”

People fear what is unknown to them, and for a long time many were unfamiliar with homosexuality. Now that it’s a commonly discussed topic, it’s up to those that are more aware of the diversity of the LGBT community to advocate for the identities that are unknown to many.

For Sarah Funke, a fourth year RIT student, it was her first time attending the NELGBT conference. She thought the theme this year of being an ally within your own minority was effective in pointing out an issue in the gay community that people don’t typically think of.

Advocacy is needed in order for change to happen.

“It’s sometimes overlooked and I think there are a lot of misconceptions that you have to identify with a community in order fully to understand it,” said Funke.

One workshop called “ Expanding the Conversation” had a panel of people identifying as lesser-known queer identities. This included genderqueer, pansexual and intersex. While some know about these identities, their ideas are often filled with stereotypes and misconceptions. The panel led an open discussion about the importance of being an ally to these lesser-known identities in the community so they won’t feel left out, and will know that they do have a role in the gay rights movement.

Jim Costich described the trauma many intersex people have to face. Genital reconstructive surgery is many times forced upon parents because they’re ignorant about what being intersex really means. If there were more advocates for the intersex population, many individuals wouldn’t have to deal with this suffering.

Jillian Strobeck, a volunteer at the conference and fourth year RIT student, believes that although there have been certain victories for the entire LGBT community, there is still progress to be made.

This progress includes awareness, acceptance and advocacy.

“As a community we need to focus on issues more than marriage and spend more time giving people their basic human rights,” said Strobeck. ■

There’s No Place Like Pride

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Pride: A Family Reunion

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New Parade route leads to Manhattan Square Park, a.k.a. Emerald City

By Susan Jordan The Pride Parade on Saturday, July 20 will start at the usual place – Park Ave. at Argyle (and a block north) – but this year it will head to Manhattan Square Park downtown for the Festival!

Line-up is 2 p.m. on July 20, and the Parade, with a Wizard of Oz theme, will proceed down Park to Alexander St. at 3 p.m. Marchers will take a right on Alexander and then a left on East Ave. until entering Pitkin St. Floats and units will continue on Pitkin and wind up behind the Strong Museum, where they can park. Marchers however will go from Pitkin to Broad St. and end up at Manhattan Square Park for the Pride Festival.

The Veterans Administration Canandaigua VA Medical Center (VAMC) and the Rochester VA Outpatient Clinic will be marching out in the Rochester Pride Parade for the fourth year. The VA wants to make it known that it is here to serve all who have served. This year the Canandaigua VAMC Color Guard will be leading the Parade. All Veterans and Service Members are invited to walk with the VA contingent in the parade.

The Festival will run until 9 p.m., featuring local live bands, drag performances and a headliner TBA. A cash bar will be available. There will also be a History Pavilion in the former Canopies restaurant, along with a Rainbow SAGE Lounge (see article in this section). This area will be air-conditioned and will be open all day.

Family Time Pride 2013 will emphasize Family Time. The History Pavilion will be open free of charge from noon until 3:30 p.m. There will also be games, face painting and arts & crafts for kids in Manhattan Square Park.

When the Parade winds up at the Festival site around 3:30 p.m. an admission charge at the gate will include access to the History Pavilion as well as the Festival.

Rainbow Flag Raising The Flag Raising on Friday, July 19 will also be at the new location in Manhattan Square Park. The Rainbow Riders will lead off the ceremony. That evening a VIP reception will take place at the History Pavilion for “Ruby Pass” holders and Pride sponsors. And from 7-9 p.m. the colorful Youth Pageant will be held onstage, to select the Pride Queen and King and Gender Bender who will be featured in Saturday’s Parade.

Pride Games Another new and exciting feature this year is the Pride Games. A gay ice hockey tournament will run for (New continues page 20)

Roc Pride Games to feature ice hockey tournament, roller derby bouts

By Susan Jordan For the first time, Rochester Pride will include a sports event: the exciting new Roc Pride Games. This year the Games consist of a gay ice hockey tournament and roller derby bouts.

The hockey tournament will feature players from NYC and Long Island at Bill Gray’s Regional Iceplex, 2700 Brighton Henrietta Townline Rd., starting Friday evening, and continuing until 3:30 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. (See Calendar on page 19, www.gayalliance.org and July EC for details).

This innovative event is the brainchild of Chris Woodworth, Director of Programming and Marketing at the Iceplex. He brought his idea to the Gay Alliance and then to the Monroe County Sports Commission, which gave it the stamp of approval.

Chris told The Empty Closet, “The concept initially started as running a hockey tournament during Pride weekend, which would allow us to enhance the players’ experience by incorporating pride events into the tournament. Once we sat down to Games continue page 20)

By Jeanne Gainsburg, Gay Alliance Outreach Coordinator (This article will also be published in Pride Magazine 2013) My first Pride ever was in 2004 and I was definitely not “family.” I was a newbie to the LGBT community, a relatively clueless cisgender, straight person just beginning to understand how much needed to be done and what I could contribute to the fight for LGBT equality.

I pulled my seven-year-old daughter in a wagon in the Rochester Pride Parade, surprised that the only thing I found offensive was the protesters, who targeted me as the parent of a young child and screamed some ungodly things through their bullhorns.

I was thankful that my daughter was too young to understand the meaning of “sodomize the children.” When the parade was over, I watched the festival from outside the gate, not sure if my daughter and I would be welcome.

Fast-forward to 2007. I am now employed as the Outreach Coordinator at the Gay Alliance. One day I am out at a work lunch with a transman and two lesbians. At the restaurant we spot a Gay Alliance board member and we invite him to join us, but he excuses himself, stating that he is having lunch with his wife.

“His wife?” one of the lesbians says. “I thought he was family.” I remember being shocked and angered by the comment.

A dedicated Gay Alliance board member and ally was not considered family? What this meant, of course, was that despite my three years of work fighting for LGBT equality, I was not family either.

Today the Gay Alliance and the Rochester Pride Picnic are 40 years old! It is our Ruby Anniversary and the Rochester Pride Theme is “There’s No Place Like Pride,” inspired by the fabulous film The Wizard of Oz. For many years now I have been the Gay Alliance Volunteer Coordinator, so I will be there, no doubt dressed up like the wicked witch or a flying monkey, running around and feeling very much a part of this amazing community.

I look back at my decade-long journey from outsider looking in to becoming an integral part of the adventure, and I realize that Pride has never been about exclusion or individual identities. It’s about our commonality, our strengths, our unity and our vision for the future. Somehow, without even realizing when it happened, I have become family.

Like Dorothy, I had the power within me all along.

Please come and join us for our Ruby Anniversary Rochester Pride celebration and be a part of our family. You can see the Rainbow Riders kick off our opening Flag Raising ceremony, cheer at the ROC Pride Games Gay Hockey tournament, watch the Pride Parade march down Park Avenue, join us for our all day Pride Festival, and help us celebrate the 40th Rochester Pride Picnic! So grab your ruby slippers, tap your heels together three times and say, “There’s no place like Pride!” ■

Pride History Pavilion to display “Forging Alliances: Rochester’s LGBT Story”

By Susan Jordan Tara Winner and Gerry Szymanski of the Gay Alliance Library and Archives team say that there will be an opportunity to travel back in time at the Pride Festival next month.

The Festival will be held after the Pride Parade in Manhattan Square Park, and the History Pavilion, with its display of Rochester LGBT community history going back for decades, will be open starting at noon in the former Canopies restaurant, along with the Rainbow SAGE Lounge.

Gerry said, “The space was just remodeled and looks really nice. It will be air-conditioned.

It’s spacious and won’t be crowded. We were blown away by how large it is.”

Tara added, “It’s going to be large enough to allow a sizable crowd to come through.”

The exhibit, “Forging Alliances: Rochester’s LGBT Story,” will include photos, texts, images from The Empty Closet and catalogues of historical photo files.

There will also be artifacts on display – Gerry noted, “We have a LOT of buttons!” The display will include early magazines, t-shirts and much more, as well as a historical map of the gay bars in 1970s Rochester.

The catalogues were created

by Library & Archive team members Jamie Allen (George Eastman House photo curator) and Alice Carver-Kubik (RIT archivist). Panels from the Tretter gay history collection at U. of Minnesota will be on loan, and the GAGV team is creating the display on local Rochester LGBT history. The team also includes Bruce Woolley, Jeff Fowler, Evelyn Bailey and Michael Dauteuil.

Another feature is the video display. The trailer for the Shoulders To Stand On film (which will premiere at ImageOut next fall) and the video made a decade ago for the GAGV’s 30th anniversary will run on a video loop; the entire sequence will take approximately 15 minutes.

Tara Winner said, “We will be there all day. People with kids, for instance, can come early, and get (History continued page 20)

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There’s No Place Like Pride

FRIDAY JULY 19 Rainbow Flag Raising

Manhattan Square Park, 6-7pm, FREE Pride Community Mixer 7-10pm. Get your Mixer coupons at the Flag Raising for specials.

VIP and Sponsor Pre-Pride Reception: 7-9pm. Ruby Pass holders and Pride Sponsors admitted to preview of the LGBT History Pavilion at Manhattan Square Park.

ROC Pride Games

Bill Gray’s Iceplex Ice Hockey Tournament: Noon-8pm, FREE Roller Derby: 7-9pm, $5.-$20. Bill Gray’s Iceplex

roc pride 2013

SATURDAY, July 20 SUNDAY, JULY 21 Pride Festival

Manhattan Square Park Family Time: Noon-3:30pm, FREE Pride Celebration: 3:30pm-9pm, $10 in advance; $15 at the gate

Pride Parade

Park Avenue - Line up 2pm, Step-off 3pm Parade starts at Argyle Street, travels along Park Avenue to Alexander Street to East Avenue to Pitkin to Broad Street.

ROC Pride Games

Bill Gray’s Iceplex Ice Hockey: 10am-1pm, FREE Roller Derby: 6-9pm, $5-$20 Bill Gray’s Iceplex

Pride Picnic Fundraiser

Genesee Valley Park, 1pm-7pm Admission $10 advance, $15 gate Admission PLUS 3 beers $15 advance, $20 gate Admission PLUS 3 beers PLUS food, $20 advance, $25 gate Children under 12 free admission, food $5

ROC Pride Games Bill Gray’s Iceplex Ice Hockey: 9am-1pm, FREE

Thanks to photographers Gerry Szymanski, Garnetta Ely, Ove Overmyer, Jeff Mills, and Jill Frier.

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There’s No Place Like Pride

He said that the response to the JCC’s Holocaust Memorial exhibit on Nazi oppression of gays last year was impressive.

“It was well-attended,” he said, “and there was a lot of interest. I think this will be the same. For us to have all those ‘firsts’ in the ‘70s is amazing.”

Tara said, “And to have preserved (our history) and now be using it is amazing.”

Gerry said, “This is the first time we’ve had a comprehensive, really thought-out plan for a history exhibit.” Tara added, “Our collection has grown, and the Shoulders To Stand On film is coming to fruition, and with the Gay Alliance and The Empty Closet reaching their 40th anniversaries, it’s a great time to reflect on everything we’ve accomplished up to this point.”

Gerry agreed that, with the presentation of the Helping People with AIDS and

(Roc Pride Games from page 17) discuss this with the Sports Commission, we quickly came up with the idea of adding additional sports and the creation of a pride specific sports invitational – the Roc Pride Games.

“We came up with this idea a little late in the game for it to draw large numbers in its first year,” he continued. “That will play in our favor because we want to make sure we do things correctly, and if it were to get too large too quick, it might jeopardize the participant’s experience.

We expect this year to be a smaller event,

and possibly just a gay hockey tournament with four to eight teams competing.

All of the games will be scheduled around the key Pride events so that all players will be able to participate in them.

“We have a great working relationship with the Sports Commission, so I was not shocked at all of their support. They are experts at these types of events and know a good concept when they see one. The fact that they are willing to back this to the level they are shows the true potential of what the Pride Games can become.

“NYC has a large gay hockey league and many other large cities in the Northeast do also. Hockey is unique when compared to other sports because it is played all around the world. The European view of homosexuality is more liberal than that of North Americans – although our society is quickly coming around. There are no openly gay hockey players at this point, but with the recent coming out of a player in the NBA, I would bet money that a hockey player comes out of the closet within the next year.

“I see the Pride Games growing very quickly and eventually having numerous sporting events during Pride weekend.

There does not seem to be any other city doing something like this as a part of their Pride, so that makes this unique. We are in the geographic center of the Northeast, so it is easy for people to travel here and we have a large gay population. I feel that this event will become a core part of Rochester Pride, adding a new family friendly layer that will potentially bring thousands of visitors into Rochester, all of whom will be able to see our great city and participate in the Pride festivities.”

Roc City Roller Derby Roc City Roller Derby will be part of the Pride Games, starting on July 19. There will also be a July 20 bout, time TBA. All bouts take place at Bill Gray’s Iceplex.

Roc City Roller Derby (501c3 nonprofit athletic organization) was formed in 2008, started bouting in public in 2009, and became members of Women’s Flat Track Derby Association in the fall of 2011. There are two Travel Teams: the Roc Stars and the B-Sides, who bout against teams from Leagues in other cities in spring and summer, and three Home Teams: the Rottenchesters, the Midtown Maulers, and the 5-H8-5s, who bout against each other in the fall.

The Roc Stars placed second in a tournament of NYS Leagues in Long Island over Labor Day Weekend 2012. There are 111 League members.

Getting involved: There’s something for everyone in RCRD. Go to rocderby. com and click on the “Contact” link at the bottom of the page: www.rocderby.com/ ContactUs.htm ■ ter Pr i d

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(Pride History from page 17) in for free.” After the Parade, the admission charge for the Festival will include the History Pavilion.

Why is tracing our queer history important? Many young LGBT people – and some not so young – have little knowledge even of today’s Gay Alliance or the LGBT community, much less of the past 40-plus years. Will they be interested?

Tara said, “The Gay Alliance was the hub of the LGBT community. It’s a testament to the strength of the organization that 30-year-olds don’t know about it – they just accept that things have always been this way.”

Gerry added, “It’s integrated into the community. But we need to acknowledge all the people who have worked so hard over the years.”

Empty Closet archives to the Smithsonian Institution last summer, “We’re part of the national record.”

The Minnesota’s Tretter collection will be sending seven-foot-tall history panels.

Tretter Director Lisa Vecoli said, “The Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies was created over several decades by founder Jean-Nickolaus Tretter and donated to the University of Minnesota Libraries in 2001.

It has grown to encompass tens of thousands of items including books, periodicals, manuscripts, organizational records, personal papers, textiles, music, movies, posters and ephemera….

“Long before shifting his collection to the University, Jean-Nickolaus Tretter would take advantage of the Twin Cities Pride celebration to increase public and community awareness of GLBT history.

He would bring displays from his collection to Pride, in the early years, displaying items in a tent. Later the Pride Committee installed the display in the History Pavilion in the park that hosts the festival. In 2012, in honor of Jean’s retirement, the Pride Committee renamed the pavilion the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter History Pavilion and we welcomed over 2,000 visitors during Pride weekend.

“Over the years, the display has grown…. The full exhibit is two dozen panels, each of which covers an element of GLBT history…. Each panel provides a glimpse into GLBT past and important moments that shape events today. Some people who see the panels may want to explore the archives to dig deeper. Others may leave happy with the knowledge that the vibrant and dynamic history of the GLBT community is being preserved for future generations. Hopefully everyone will take away an appreciation for those who have come before and fought for equality and civil rights.”

Gerry Szymanski said the Library and Archive team is not sure exactly how many panels from Minnesota will be a part of the exhibit. “It will depend on the budget. The exhibit is two things –the Tretter display and our own homegrown exhibit,” Gerry said. “We’re trying to create an evergreen display on our Rochester history that can travel in future to colleges, churches, other community centers, etc.”

Check out the July Pride Guide supplement and www.gayalliance.org for more information on the History Pavilion and our Pride journey back in time to honor Rochester’s LGBT community. ■

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(New Parade Route from page 17) the three days of Pride at Bill Gray’s Regional Iceplex, 2700 Brighton Henrietta Townline Rd., and a roller derby is also scheduled – for more information, see the article in this pullout section. The hockey tournament starts Friday evening and runs on Saturday until 2 p.m. It resumes on Sunday morning and winds up at 1 p.m.

Pride Picnic On Sunday, July 21, the annual Gay Alliance Pride Picnic fundraiser happens at Genesee Valley Park by the river from 1-7 p.m.; gay folks have been picnicking there since the late ‘60s, but the GAGV picnics officially began in the ‘70s. This year, Picnic organizers say they are taking us back to that decade with a “Retro” theme. Picnic site-decorating contestants, take note!

A much bigger Bounce House this year will be available for kids of all ages, in addition to volleyball and DJ dancing in the Roundhouse.

There will be no food vendors this year, except for KP’s Kettle Korn and Abbott’s Ice Cream. Instead, the Picnic itself will be offering hamburgers, hots, veggie burgers and more. Ticket prices reflect the change: for food and beer, tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the gate. For food but no bar access, tickets will be $15 in advance and $20 at the gate. For admission only (bring your own goodies) the tickets will be $10 in advance and $15 at the gate. Kids under 12 get in free, and a Kiddy Plate is $5.

More details and updates will be available on page 21 in this issue, online at www.gayalliance.org, and in the July Empty Closet and Pride Guide supplement. Get those ruby slippers out of the closet! ■

Roch

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june 2013 • number 468 • gay alliance of the genesee valley • the empty closet

21

Shoulders to Stand On

The LGBT Rochester Community Looking Forward

By Evelyn Bailey The last article in the Empty Closet series on LGBT Rochester history, written in 1990, looks toward the future, through and past the Gay ‘90s.

Jeff Lehigh notes that the cover story of the March 12, 1990 issue of Newsweek was “The Future of Gay America.”

One of the questions raised by the article was, how should gays live once out of the closet?

The magazine asked, ‘’Should gays pursue their own countercultural lifestyle in such urban ghettos as San Francisco’s Castro District, or assimilate into the dominant straight culture?” The answer to this question was much debated.

Many historical figures who were gay assimilated with the predominant straight society in order to survive, but there are very few role models of gays in our past who remained themselves and stood up for their beliefs. The question of assimilation or becoming our authentic selves is a personal choice, much like coming out of the closet.

A 1990s look at the local scene saw many changes in the University-Atlantic Ave. neighborhood, with the Bachelor Forum newly located at 670 University Ave. Wild Seeds Bookstore and Cafe at 704 University Ave., a now-defunct women’s bookstore, celebrated their first anniversary in April, 1990.

Another anniversary that took place in April 1990 was that of Rochester Custom Leathers, which opened April 1989 at Village Gate. In May 1990 the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley moved to a new home at the comer of Elton Street and Atlantic Ave. All these changes gave the community a reason to celebrate. For the GAGV the move to Atlantic Avenue gave the community and the many LGBT groups in Rochester a place to call home. Our presence in the Elton/University neighborhood improved the neighborhood. The move to Elton Street represented an emergence from the back alley “closet” of the Genesee Coop.

Jeff Lehigh states in his article, “Although AIDS is still a major issue for both the gay and straight community, and will be throughout the ‘90s, the issue of gay rights in New York State should not be ignored or put on the back burner.

We need to keep fighting for our civil and human rights, including legal gay marriages (or ‘unions’ as they are called) as well as health benefits, a bias-related crimes bill, taking the sodomy laws off the books in New York State, and much more.”

In 1990 some gay and lesbian couples who were hopeful that gay marriage would be legalized in the ‘90s, but then the question remained, is this part of assimilating ourselves to straight society?

And should gay and lesbian couples as well as single gays and lesbians assimilate into mainstream, middle class America?

Perhaps that is a question best left up to each individual, for not everyone in the gay community is an activist, and no one should be ashamed of who they are.

However, it remains true that the more visible we become, the more accepted and the more powerful we will be. Jeff states in his article, “Remaining closeted is not in our best long-term interests.”

Over the past 20 years (1970–1990), the LGB (and now T) community has been an increasingly visible force in the United States and has been recognized as such, with a corresponding increase

in our rights. The Empty Closet article ended by recognizing the improvements made from 1970 to the present, with the hope of more changes in the decade ahead.

So let’s see! Change is the hallmark of the Rochester LGBT community today.

In 2004 the Gay Alliance moved again to the Auditorium Center at 875 East Main St. AIDS is now a managed disease, and AIDS Rochester and Community Health Network have merged into AIDS Care, with more change coming in the near future.

New York State’s sodomy law was officially removed from state law on June 22, 2000. Gov. George Pataki signed New York State’s new hate-crime law July 10, 2000, 10 years after a version first passed the Assembly. The Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA) became law on December 17, 2002.

In June, 2011, after 40 years of hope and effort, the LGBT community of New York celebrated the passage of marriage equality in New York.

NY’s next horizon: passage of Genda The issue of assimilation continues to be one of individual choice. We take a great risk in losing our uniqueness as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender men and women by “blending in”. In “assimilating” we also risk losing facets of our culture which in the past have defined who we are.

The labels of queer, queen, dyke, butch, femme, faerie, lesbian, gay, bi, trans, genderqueer, intersex, bear and many more, as well as our varied ethnicities and backgrounds, give the Rochester LGBT community its diversity of cultures and subcultures that maintain our unique identity. We may be repulsed by some of the labels, such as the derogatory “faggot,” “tranny,” etc., which have mostly been used by anti-gay heterosexuals, or sometimes by insensitive gay people. But these too are part of our history.

Our brothers and sisters who identify themselves with one or more of these labels raise the level of visibility and help to create an environment in which all LGBT people and our allies can be more open and welcoming of ourselves and each other. With visibility comes an awareness of different communities and “neighborhoods” within the community, and as Jeff Lehigh implied in 1990, we become a force to be reckoned with!

What will the next decade bring? The future is in our hands to create. Shoulders To Stand On invites everyone to participate in creating the next decade of gay history.

Shoulders To Stand On is proud of the historical overview offered by The Empty Closet, and by all those who document and preserve our history. Shoulders To

Stand On looks forward to celebrating WITH YOU our 40 years of pride-filled history at the 40 Year History Exhibit at Rochester Pride 2013 on Saturday, July 20 at the Festival’s History Pavilion at Manhattan Square Park. DON’T MISS IT! ■

History Corner A monthly newsletter of the University of Rochester Gay Liberation Front: May, 1973.

SUN 3 JUNE: “GUEST-PERT” We are trying to obtain an outside speaker for this meeting. Watch for details.

MON 11 JUNE: “Sensory Relaxation” SUN 17 JUNE: “A Gay Look At Sexism” SUN 24 JUNE: “CHRISTOPHER STREET WEST” A meeting to commemorate the Christopher St. Rebellion on June, 1970, which popularized the gay movement. Todd Union Music Lounge, U of R River Campus, 7:30 pm. This will be the last meeting on the U of R Campus. It is open to non-students.

TOWN GROUP SELECTS NAME As announced in the last Empty Closet, the non-student members of the Gay Liberation Front are forming a new gay organization, designed to serve the needs of the gay community not attending the University of Rochester. The new organization has selected the name “Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley”.

The name was selected to imply a wider service area than just the city of Rochester. We felt “Gay” had to be the first word for ease in telephone listings.

The student group on the U of R campus will retain the name “Gay Liberation Front”. The GLF will be an all-student organization concerned exclusively with student interests. ■

Pride Picnic News: Save money! Buy a food ticket or a beer AND food ticket!

At this year’s “old fashioned picnic,” for $15 in advance you can eat a hot dog, hamburger, cheeseburger, veggie burger, pasta salad (vegetarian or non), baked beans (vegetarian or non), chips, soda, and watermelon. You will be able to purchase this “Picnic Meal” without a food ticket at a greater cost.

Children under 12 do not pay an entrance fee, but will have to pay $5 for a “Picnic Meal”. If you want to buy food, you can only choose from the “Picnic Meal” menu. You can also save money on beer by purchasing a Food & Beer ticket in advance for $20. You will be able to purchase beer without a Food & Beer ticket at an increased cost.

There will be two food vendors at the picnic not included in the price of a Food or Food & Beer Ticket: Abbotts, who will be selling ice cream and will give picnic goers a free puppy cup for their four-legged friend, and KP’s Kettle Corn, providing popcorn, cotton candy, candy apples, snow cones and pretzels. There will be no other food vendors.

Save more -- buy your tickets in advance. Ticket prices at the gate will increase by $5. Gate prices at the picnic will be $15 for Entrance Ticket, $20 for Food Ticket, and $25 for Food & Beer Ticket.

At the Gate, you need to decide whether you want to buy a Food Ticket, Food & Beer Ticket or Admission Only, and get into the appropriate line.

This will make getting wrist banded for entrance and being ID’d for alcohol go more smoothly. You will keep your Food Ticket or your Food & Beer Ticket to give to the “Picnic Meal” vendor at Canalside. ■

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the empty closet • the gay alliance of the genesee valley • number 468 • june 2013

Columnists The opinions of columnists, editorial writers and other contributing writers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the collective attitude of the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley or The Empty Closet.

Growing Up Anita O’Day

By Eric Bellmann When I’m bored playing solitaire on the computer, I surf YouTube. Heaven forgive me, I had to see the Harlem Shake videos. I quit once I found the Nebraska Gymnastics Team doing it. Nothing could beat them!

YouTube is a new-to-me adventure.

I started to think, who do I remember, who do I love. Let’s look at vintage Tina Turner when she was still with Ike and the Ikettes. I loved the Ikettes. I saw them perform in Central Park a long time ago.

Tina wore an orange vinyl mini dress with a diamond cutout at her midsection.

The Ikettes tore up the stage. Then it was a stretch with Marlene Dietrich, not a great singer but we share a birth date, plus she’s German and those two facts, when I was young, helped me come to terms with my German roots. Much later I learned that she drank like a fish and screwed like a rabbit, which, alas, only added to my identification with her.

I spent a fair amount of time with Eartha Kitt and if you like, find her singing “All By Myself”. Seven minutes long. She talks a lot and cries. You’ll know more about life, longing and survival once you watch it. Or Barbara Cook singing “Losing My Mind”. That song is me in a nutshell.

Then there was Anita O’Day. As it happens, movie lover that I am, I happened to see Bert Stern’s documentary “Jazz on a Summer’s Day,” filmed at the first Newport Jazz Festival, when it was first released. It’s a good documentary, but then midway through the film, a sleek lady in a black cocktail dress and an outrageous picture hat trimmed in feathers takes the stage and sings “Sweet Georgia Brown.” To say I was mesmerized is an understatement. Look for the clip on YouTube, see what I mean.

Eartha and Barbara Cook express one part of me, the passionate, suffering kid who loses at love. They sing from a broken heart. O’Day is another matter entirely. It’s almost as if she has no heart.

She’s tough, in charge. She sings from her brain. I mean that as a compliment.

When I became a fan I researched her, found bits of biography. She had a messy, messy life. And she made unique Art. My kind of icon.

Chicago Irish, years and years of heroin addiction, many abortions, tumultuous failed relationships. She was a jazz singer whose real attention was not so much for her audience but more for her peers, other jazz artists, and often she was criticized for turning her back on her audience and facing the players who backed her. No matter to me.

What interested me was that she had a damaged instrument. She couldn’t sing the way other singers performed. Something wrong with her vocal cords. So she created her own style, mostly rhythm, singing off beat, a kind of syncopation, I guess.

Often she seems remote yet always in control. Perhaps that’s what I aspired to, buffeted as I was by life’s adventures. Get me to some remove, not quite out of here, but safe. She seemed to have satisfaction in just being herself. I wanted to be that way, I wanted that toughness. I found it classy.

A few years ago there was a fine documentary chronicling her career. Ups and downs, all of it. Once, in California, to escape some peril she climbed out of the window of the cottage she was renting and wasn’t seen for six years! Oh that I could, oh, that I had.

At the end of the film, when thoughtful friends have found her in a long term nursing home recovering from a broken arm, mostly forgotten, she declares she wants to sing again, to record. And she does. Goes to bat again. She looks like hell, gaunt, just plain old. And she sings.

She really does.

Newish friends, when I inquire about the music they like, tell me about The Grateful Dead and Bob Dylan. One I’ve never listened to, the other sounds like a dog dying.

After you’ve listened to “Georgia Brown” try to find O’Day singing “Tea for Two”. She does it double time and any other rendition you come across will pale in comparison.

Later in life, after another reemergence, she appears on a talk show and the host asks her, probably probing as delicately as possible, what she had learned in life, she replies, with a genuine smile, “To be a good loser”.

Amen to that.

Email: elbcad@rit.edu

Faith Matters Anti-Keynesian economics’ homophobe Niall Ferguson

By Rev. Irene Monroe There are a lot of sound reasons to critique Keynesian economics, but a reason that its creator was gay shouldn’t be one of them.

Niall Ferguson, the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, has sadly, in 2013, just found that out.

Ferguson’s speech to investors and financial analysts at the Tenth Annual Altegris Conference in Carlsbad, Calif. should have awed his audience; instead it shocked and offended them.

And with what some say were characteristically Fergusonian statements —contrarian, provocative and offensive — the Harvard economic historian hinted that John Maynard Keynes (one of the most influential economists of the Twentieth Century) long-term economic theories were misguided, at best, and flawed, at worst, because he was childless and gay.

“Keynes was a homosexual and had no intention of having children. We are not dead in the long run … our children are our progeny. It is the economic ideals of Keynes that have gotten us into the problems of today.”

In a moment that should have highlighted Ferguson’s erudition on economic history, during the questionand-answer session when asked to speak on Keynes’ philosophy of self-interest versus Edmund Burke’s philosophy of a free market system, Ferguson, some would also say, stuck his foot in his mouth.

“He was married to a ballerina, with whom he likely talked of ‘poetry’ rather than procreated.”

Now, Ferguson, like all high profiled homophobes, must publicly do damage control to avoid potentially jeopardizing job security as well the reputation of

institutions affiliated with him. Ferguson’s mea culpa, “An unqualified apology” can easily be accessed from his website.

“My disagreements with Keynes’s economic philosophy have never had anything to do with his sexual orientation.

It is simply false to suggest, as I did, that his approach to economic policy was inspired by any aspect of his personal life.

As those who know me and my work are well aware, I detest all prejudice, sexual or otherwise.”

If these words aren’t contrite or authentic enough, let’s remember that every bigot has at least one good friend to bail him or her out. And to Ferguson’s rescue comes renowned gay author and editor of the blog “The Dish,” Andrew Sullivan.

“If he really believed gay men had no interest in future generations, why would he have asked me, a gay man with HIV, to be the godfather to one of his sons? And why would I have accepted?”

Good query Andrew.

Perhaps the answer is embedded somewhere in the fact that Ferguson and Sullivan, back in the day, were college cronies at Magdalen College, Oxford. Both colleagues, then as now, share a near zealous affinity for right-wing politics.

Among conservatives like Ferguson, Keynesian economics since its inception has confronted a barrage of criticism.

While some of the critiques are, without doubt, substantive, sadly an overwhelming number of them have been ad hominem attacks on Keynes, the man, beginning with his contemporary and arch rival Joseph Schumpeter.

“He was childless and his philosophy of life was essentially a short-run philosophy,” Schumpeter cuttingly wrote his 1946 “American Economic Review” obituary for Keynes.

Critics of Keynes who downplay Schumpeter’s and Ferguson’s gay-bashing spin these homophobic remarks not as ad hominems but rather as important and insight tidbits about the man. Some will go so far as to appropriate the feminist creed “The personal is political and the political is personal” to obfuscate their malign intent.

“To ignore elements of Keynes’s private life, however, as does his first major biographer, Roy Harrod — particularly Keynes’s homosexuality, despite its featuring in nearly two decades of passionate and poignant correspondence from the early 1890s — is to underplay the importance of Keynes’s associations outside official college and government circles, in particular with members of the Cambridge Apostles male secret society and the iconoclastic Bloomsbury group of London intellectuals and aesthetes,” Benn Steil, Council on Foreign Relations director of international economics, wrote in his February released book “The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and the Making of a New World Order.”

To Keynes’ credit, critics of his sexual orientation didn’t force him to live a closeted life. In his early years Keynes openly

had many same-sex relations, and kept a diary of his exploits.

The fluidity of Keynes’ sexuality became evident in his later years when he fell in love with the renowned Russian ballerina, Lydia Lopokova. While many bi-phobics would suspect that Keynes became a “down low” philanderer, historical records inarguably state that Keynes and Lopokova lived a life of marital bliss.

While Ferguson’s gay-bashing of Keynesian economics was meant to discredit Keynes and his entire body of work, it has rather done the reverse -brought renewed international attention to a renowned economist and to another one of our LGBTQ unsung forebearers.

A Few Bricks Short The Rocky Life

By David Hull I can still hear myself saying: “Hey, that’s a wonderful idea” to my husband, Bernie, a couple weeks ago.

What a fool I was.

You see, a year and a half ago we had two gigantic trees cut down, one in the front yard, one in the side yard. We didn’t cut the trees down by choice; they were actually falling down on their own, limb by limb. So, before anything fell on our house – or on one of us – we decided that rather than having the trees taken down one piece at a time by the wind, we’d just have the trees taken completely down by a professional. And we did.

That transformed our cozy shadecovered cottage into “little house on the prairie” – hot all summer long in the blazing sun, no longer sheltered from those cold, winter winds. I didn’t have to spend hours in October raking leaves, but still I was not a happy little Laura Ingalls if you know what I mean. I missed those trees.

So, we decided to replace them – one sugar maple in the front yard, one red maple in the side yard. It was a little expensive and a bit of work, but at the end of the hot, hot summer, we decided it was worth it.

And since we were planting new trees, why not enlarge those circular flower gardens surrounding them? We’d always talked about doing that. My nephews helped with shoveling soil, spreading mulch and planting perennials and eventually, even though it didn’t go as easily or quickly as it always seems to on the Home & Garden Network, our tree and flower gardens were complete.

Except for one thing – the old wooden borders we had around the old, smaller gardens no longer fit around the new gardens. No matter how I arranged or re-arranged them, it was like a geometry math problem, I just couldn’t get the wooden borders to fit around the garden circle without leaving a gap somewhere.

“Well,” said Bernie, observing my frustration. “Why don’t you get rid of

june 2013 • number 468 • gay alliance of the genesee valley • the empty closet those old wooden borders, they’re all rotten on the bottom anyway, and replace them with a rock border like you always wanted?”

That’s when I said it. “Hey, that’s a wonderful idea!”

I mean, I’d seen numerous articles in Martha Stewart’s Living Magazine about creating rock borders and it always looked fun and easy. In the magazine photos, Martha would be standing in her sunny garden, smiling, her hands clad in designer work gloves while she motioned to where the last two rocks have just fit together to create a lovely circular pattern.

I had always wanted to do that. It was a wonderful idea.

Well, it was a wonderful idea until the Friday afternoon when the dump truck pulled to the edge of the road in front of our house and began pouring an avalanche of rocks over the freshly mowed lawn.

It was then that I realized that, although Martha talked about creating visual interest and warm, natural edges, she had never once mentioned anything about lifting or moving or stacking all those rocks.

She never mentioned annoying neighbors either.

“Got some rocks, huh?” said the guy from down the street as he rode slowly past on his bicycle.

I looked him in the eye and replied: “No, why do you ask?”

So, the next morning, I got up early and headed out to the rock pile. Slowly, carefully, I moved the rocks around the garden areas. And after a while, they did start to fit together. Now I’m not going to tell you that I was as happy and smiling as Martha had been in her magazine photos, but I wasn’t miserable either. My arms got tired, my back ached a bit and I did have to stop for frequent breaks, but every time I stopped and looked, I could see my rock border gradually forming around the garden.

It may have been the effect of all that physical labor or perhaps I got a bit dehydrated, but as I worked I began to get somewhat philosophical and I could see how dealing with rocks is a bit like life.

Rocks, like life, are rarely uniform or equal. Some rocks can be heavy and you really have to struggle and be sure you have a good grip to deal with them. Other rocks fit well together, everything all stacking up just as you planned. Once in a while, nothing seems to fit at all and you have to move the rocks around to make them work. Don’t disregard a rock just because it’s chipped or cracked – sometimes those are the most interesting rocks of all. And dealing with rocks, much like dealing with life, you can’t know for sure exactly how it’s going to end up, but that’s kind of what makes it interesting enough to keep you going.

Well, I don’t think I’ll ever start a new career as a philosopher, but at least I can tell you one thing for sure, I’ve got lovely rock borders around both gardens that I think Martha would be proud of. Just look at the visual interest and warm, natural edges I’d created!

Later, Bernie strolled over from where he was working to admire the rocks.

“The borders look great,” he said.

“How about going out for pizza tonight to celebrate a job well done?”

Once again I said those words: “Hey, that’s a wonderful idea!” But this time, I was sure it really was wonderful!

Contact David at davidhull59@aol.com

Cleaning My Closet Want Ads: SWF

By Meredith Elizabeth Reiniger I have a recurring nightmare.

I am in an empty room. Pressed into a corner. Catatonic. Bits of Truth, hunks of Lies are scattered at my feet.

The Ghost of Wedding Past seeps out of

the empty closet. Jams a pen between my quaking fingers. Flings divorce papers at me. Demands: ‘Use the backs. Write a Personal Ad.’ Okay, I will write an honest ad, just like all Personal ads. I consider a frank offer: Seeking tenderness. Fifth-hand, elderly senior citizen available. Able to situp without assistance. Can walk, take sustenance, and bathe regularly. Has most of her original teeth and two costly implants.

Not needy. Call me.

I am a divorced woman who does not sleep alone. Every night Anxiety slips into bed next to me, yanks up my eyelids, and turns my heart beat to full skitter speed.

I turn on the light, grab another book off the stack, and creep into the oblivion of diversionary words. When the book falls out of my hands the third time, I close it and my eyes. Then exhaustion knocks me out.

Maybe the ad will work better if I use the blunt approach: Interested in being used as a transition? Rebound girlfriend needed. No engagement ring, no house hunting, no wedding. Will receive a pink slip and two weeks’ severance pain. Text me.

Mornings continue to arrive. There are those first sweet minutes when life feels good. But, as it turns out, nightmares easily morph into daymares. My eyes are barely open when my tranquility is demolished by memories of cruel lies.

Blurry eyed, I write Woe-Is-Me emails to my lovingly patient, philosophical sister.

Then I trudge down the stairs, feed my property-settlement dog, and pretend to eat breakfast.

Still crammed in that corner of my dream, I try another draft for my Personal Ad, one that mimics those catchy used-car commercials: HUGE! Huge. A chance to snatch up this great deal from the Junk Yard. All original parts [well, actually the appendix and those two replacement teeth, but a Little White Lie goes with the territory]. Never in an accident. [Unless you count those five failed relationships].

Original body [well, significally modified by sixty-nine years of wear and tear, but, hey, a good wax job and a few dabs of touch-up gloss and this trade-in will give you a smooth ride]. This bucket of bolts will make a good second choice for bad weather. Stop by for a test drive.

I survive afternoon hours by inserting fascinating errands that require long drives with my elongated dog lolling in the back window. In case of an emergency panic attack, movies help drown out painful images of my adulterated life.

What about the perfect ad? A better idea comes to mind. A professional’s Personal Ad. After all, I am a doctor: Vacancy. Unique opportunity. Submit resume and vita. Provide three referrals. Interview required.

Evening starts at five, when dog and I stand in the kitchen and consume something dropped into our bowls. We quickly retire to bed and blankets. Alas, peacefulness is elusive. Accumulated distress pollutes my brain with the who, what, when, where details I wish I had never been told.

Accumulated distress vomits toxic words I wish I had never heard.... Another. Not. Magnet. Sorry.

As the sky darkens, I return to bed.

I scoot the dog off my pillow, lean over, grab the current Oblivion by Literature.

Soon the nightmare. The cycle continues.

Unless I stop it.

There it was. I cannot do this anymore.

It was time to move out of the bad dreams. Time to exorcise the Ghost.

Thwart its scheme.

I accepted kindness from friends. I accepted their gentle encouragement: ‘Gather the serenity to accept the things you cannot change. ‘This too will pass.’

‘Celebrate your courage to change the things you can.’

Change I did. Big deals, little things.

Switched the cell phone to my own account. Stopped mowing the backyard to create a wildlife shelter. Designated a different health care proxy. Renamed my dog; now he is Vegas Sebastian Reiniger.

Daily I altered my lifescape. Hanging pictures in new arrangements, different rooms, different heights… anything to renovate the Empty Nest of the Just Divorced.

Dumped the accumulated trash of a shattered marriage. Got rid of a useless cat. Sold two worthless gold wedding bands.

‘Balance,’ said my therapist. ‘Hold up your hands, palms facing upward. One hand holds the bad. One hand holds the good. Now inhale deeply. Exhale.’

And I did.

And I finally I found the words for my truthful Personal Ad: Looking for peace, respect, and joy. Never mind, found it by opening my arms to friends who offer me that kind of love. Seeking a happy, healthy relationship. Never mind, I found it by valuing my Self.

Just to be on the safe side, I have posted a NO TRESSPASSING sign on the fence around my yard. And posted one around my heart.

MeredithReiniger@gmail.com

What’s Bothering Brandon?

I am not a Belieber

By Brandon W. Brooks Every now and again something will shock me out of my own little world, and drag me into the harsh light of the media surrounding all of us.

My own little world, as I call it, is full of polite and informed individuals who are actively kind and accommodating with one another. I like to think of this world as coming straight from the woven toile, white and light blue, hanging from my windows. It’s a pastoral world with light breezes, endless sunshine, and no perspiration. There may also be some French panniers involved.

But, as I mentioned above, these small interludes of peace are often ended by something from outside the toile, ripping its way through to me. For the past six or seven years I, like many of us, have been plagued by an annoying and altogether obnoxious voice from the already pathetic airwaves (excluding WBER, WITR and 91.5 of course).

This little abomination has created a fan-base so strong (and shrill), that even the staunchest character has been seen to succumb to his effortlessly side-swept bangs. Am I talking about Satan, you may ask yourself. No, I am talking about the agency of all the evil in the world: Justin Bieber.

This little brat (let’s call him Most Annoying One or MAO for short) has been the thorn in my side for some time now, and only last month I was finally given the glorious opportunity to scorn him permanently and irrevocably. This opportunity presented itself after MAO reportedly visited the Anne Frank House, museum and testament to Anne Frank, the now renowned Jewish diarist and victim of the Holocaust. Now, if hearing MAO’s so-called music on the radio gets my blood boiling, you can image what seething anger has now arisen after MAO’s little visit to The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

During this visitation, MAO (who was flanked by guards) took the opportunity as the tween idol/icon and pop “musician” that he is to log his visit in the museum’s visitors’ book. Instead of writing something in reference to Anne Frank, or at the very least something respectful, inspiring or relevant, MAO took this opportunity to do what he and his team of preeners do best; self-publicize. MAO wrote how he hopes that, “…she [Anne Frank] would have been a Belieber.”

A “Belieber”, for those of you who are thankfully without this knowledge, is someone who identifies as a fan of MAO. What’s more, MAO reported on Twitter

23 that his trip to The Anne Frank House was overall, “a chill day.”

Now, before heads start rolling, I must warn you it gets worse. Much worse.

Soon after this statement was made, MAO received much well-deserved criticism and derision from the world and many social-media outlets. A vast majority of these criticisms came from the adult populations of the world, Jewish and otherwise. Honestly, MAO couldn’t be criticized or cross-analyzed enough in my opinion for these ridiculously thoughtless and insensitive (not to mention completely self-serving) statements in regard to Anne Frank.

But what truly disturbed me was the reaction MAO received from his fanbase, which is mostly made up of young tweens and adolescent (and sometimes middle-aged) females. Soon after this insulting visit, pictures began to circulate the internet that showcased MAO and Anne Frank, arm and arm, smiling as if they were the closest of bosom-buddies.

Despite the image most obviously being photo-shopped, it was instead taken seriously by MAO’s fan-base, with shouts of jealousy echoing through the internet universe: “Who is Anne Frank?!”

“Why didn’t Justin come to MY house?!”

“WHO IS ANNE FRANK?!”

The moment my eyes had fallen upon these images, and more importantly, their offensively naïve comments stating a complete ignorance of Anne Frank, I knew something was terribly awry. Somehow, our children (well, not my children) have forgotten or have no idea who Anne Frank is. This represents not only a dramatic failing in the education of our children, but also presents a situation where something like the Holocaust can happen again. If someone as popular and known worldwide as Justin Bieber can make such an incomprehensibly narcissist remark as stating that he hopes Anne Frank would have been one of his fans, and this is the response, something is very wrong with our youth population.

It’s moments like these that tend to pit me against myself. On one hand, I would like to stay within my own little toile paradise where everyone is well informed and good intentioned, lounging amongst the twisted and knotty Japanese cherry blossoms. On the other hand, I realize this Eden à la toile might be a method of ignoring the harsh and deafeningly disappointing state of our current media, society, and youth generation. And sometimes (well, most of the time) it’s better and more useful to face this harsh light of day, and respond to its agonizing complacence with action and powerful words.

Whether or not our own little Edens are purely mental states, or actual physical locations of peace, it is important for us to part the toile tapestries and look out into what is there for the viewing, taking, believing, or even (I’m trying to keep my lunch down as I type this) beliebing.

It is important for us to realize what lies beyond the toile, and respond to it. Just invest in a good pair of tinted shades first.

Questions, comments or critique?

Please feel free to e-mail the author at brandonbrooks@mail.adelphi.edu

Inspiritual U is for Uncomfortable

By Rev. Dr. Sharon Jacobson Merriam and Webster’s dictionary defines uncomfortable as “causing or feeling slight pain or physical discomfort.”

Some people, when thinking about what makes them uncomfortable, think about things they wear.

Things, such as shoes, may feel comfortable when first put them on, however by the end of the day you can be so ready to slide your feet out of them and slip into something far more comfortable.

Sometimes after eating a filling meal, the (Columnists continue on page 24)

24 (Columnists continued from page 23) waistband on your clothes can make you wish you were wearing something stretchable because it is beginning to feel a little uncomfortable. My female friends will tell you that one of the most uncomfortable things they wear is a bra and many cannot wait to get home and take that off as soon as possible.

Being uncomfortable is not always physical pain or discomfort. Sometimes it is emotional, mental, and spiritual. A simple misunderstanding or a difference of opinion can create an environment in which people feel uncomfortable.

For example, for the longest time it was uncomfortable for me to talk to my brother because we had a difference of opinion. He thought Rush Limbaugh should be president and I had a very different opinion, and still do, of him. Over time, however, my brother and I have been able to find a way of interacting with each other in a way that is comfortable for both of us. This happened because he changed his views on Rush Limbaugh and in part, because I changed my ability to deal with being in uncomfortable situations.

Being uncomfortable can cause us to want to avoid people, groups, situations, or clothing apparel that are just not comfortable. Sometimes that is possible. Sometimes it just isn’t. If you have a pair of shoes that hurt your feet and are uncomfortable to wear, the solution is simple – stop wearing them. On the other hand, when we are faced with an uncomfortable social situation, we have to make a conscious choice about how we respond to the discomfort.

Is the discomfort so stressful that at this point in one’s journey, it is best to avoid the situation? Is it uncomfortable, but one in which you are able to create a way of being in the situation without it being emotionally, mentally, or spiritually damaging? For example, someone I know has an uncomfortable situation with her brother. It is not a situation she can avoid.

However, she has created a way of spending time with him in the outdoors, which energizes her and makes the time with him less uncomfortable.

Sometimes, finding ourselves in an uncomfortable situation is one Spirit has called us to embrace and to allow ourselves to be uncomfortable. What is the lesson we are to be learning about ourselves? How will it assist us in our spiritual journey and evolution? What is the discomfort challenging us to work on within ourselves?

Recently, I was talking with a Christian friend of mine about the Pentecost because for me it is a great example of how people dealt with being uncomfortable. For those unfamiliar with Christian beliefs, Pentecost is a Christian holy day that celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit 40 days after Easter. In retrospect, Biblical scholars know quite a bit about this. However, for the 120 people who were asked to all go to this one room and stay there until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit, it was not. The problem

the empty closet • the gay alliance of the genesee valley • number 468 • june 2013 was they had no sense of how long they were going to be there.

So there they were, 120 people locked in one room for what turned out to be 10 days. We are all members of constructed communities, like churches, companies, etc. However, we are not locked in a room with each other, so we have the freedom to choose not to work on reconciling our relationships with each other or with God. So what do you think would happen if all the churches in Rochester closed down and gathered at the Blue Cross Arena, or whatever the biggest space in Rochester is, for two weeks with nobody being the pastor, no liturgy, no rituals, no order, and nobody in charge but God? How do you think the people would respond? Would they huddle off in their little corners by themselves being cliquey while they waited on God, or would they be wandering around introducing themselves to all these other believers and focusing on their relationships with others?

What I said to my friend was that on one level, it seems as if it would be so cool because after all they all believe in Jesus, right. On the other hand, for some of them it would be scary. What power dynamics might break out? Who might wind up struggling with what or whom?

Who would be the Gentiles in the mix?

Whom would they need to forgive? If we were part of that gathering, who would we need to forgive us? Would we be able to work beyond the socially constructed boundaries of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sex, sexuality, ability? Would we be able to dismantle the systems of racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, ageism, ableism, and all the other isms in the world?

Being in that uncomfortable situation for an unknown period of time, eventually led to people stepping out of their little corners and building relationships with each other and creating an inclusive community here on earth. It happened when the people realized that the Infinite is love and that love is for everyone and began acting on it. The most powerful manifestations of the Divine I have seen in my life have happened when people have formed alliances with each other, loving each other unconditionally and working through the uncomfortable moments together to do justice in this world.

Sometimes we find ourselves in uncomfortable situations so that we can grow and evolve and remember the Infinite loves each of us. We all need to hear that God is love and that God’s love is for everyone. So just for today, be uncomfortable and let’s be intentional about working on ourselves and our relationships with the Divine and learn to recognize the Divine in those we are locked in the room with at the moment. Sometimes being uncomfortable is a blessing.

Rev Dr Sharon Jacobson is the founder of Inspiritual, a space for spiritual evolution and transformation. To learn more about her or the services provided visit their website at http://inspiritual.biz ■

The Avenue Pub 38 Year Landmark in the Gay Community

The Avenue Pub 522 Monroe Avenue 585-244-4960

june 2013 • number 468 • gay alliance of the genesee valley • the empty closet

Community Find the friends, fun, and common interests you’re looking for through the various groups listed here.

Butch Femme Connection The Rochester Butch Femme Connection supper club will have two events in June 2013.

On Saturday, June 8 we will meet at Moe’s Mexican Restaurant in Tops Jefferson Plaza in Henrietta at 7 p.m.

On Saturday, June 22 we will meet at Peppermints Restaurant on West Henrietta Rd (Rte. 15) in Henrietta at 7 p.m.

For further information on the Connection, call Kerry/Max at 585-2887208, email DressyFemme@aol.com or check out our Facebook page at www. facebook.com/bfconnection.

Dignity-Integrity D-I Rochester meets weekly at 5 p.m. at St. Luke’s and St. Simon’s Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh St., corner of Broad St. We have the following services and activities for the month of June 2013.

1st Sunday: Episcopal Mass/Healing Service, with music.

2nd Sunday: Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Word, with music.

3rd Sunday: Quiet Episcopal Mass in the Chapel.

4th Sunday: Evening Prayer, followed by a Potluck Dinner!

5th Sunday: Slide Presentation: Trip to Egypt and the Holy Land.

Our Potluck theme for June is “Summer Salads”. It is just barely the beginning of summer and we’re already thinking of cool things to eat! No time to cook? Just ask a friend or two and join us for food and fun!

June 28 and 29 is our Annual Garage Sale, back up nearer the city this year.

We can accept donations up through June 21, so contact us through the Hotline if you have something that you’d like to donate. We can help with pickup if necessary.

On Sunday, June 30, a friend of the community has offered to share his slides taken during his trip to Egypt and the Holy Land. Come and hear a personal perspective of this area of the Middle East that gets so much national news coverage!

Save the date of Sunday, July 7 to join us when we welcome the Reverend Michael Nicosia as our celebrant and homilist! He’ll be in Rochester for his high school reunion, and he offered to celebrate a Mass for us. This will be a great time to congratulate Fr. Michael on his ordination in the Ecumenical Catholic tradition!

You can call the Hotline at 585-2345092 or check our website for updates on services and activities.

Equality Rochester Equality Rochester currently meets at 7 p.m. on Tuesday evenings at Equal Grounds Coffee House at 750 South Ave., Rochester.

The group is currently focusing on New York Senate Bill 195, The Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA). This bill if passed into law would make it illegal in the state of New York to discriminate against people based on their gender identity/expression in employment, housing, education and credit. GENDA has passed in the NY State Assembly for the last six years in a row and the goal is to get the bill to the NY State Senate floor for a vote.

Equality Rochester is dedicated to raising both awareness and support for this life changing legislation.

Equality Rochester is also closely following the DOMA decision from the Supreme Court and is currently organizing a response to the justices’ decision that will be announced in June.

Information on the response rally can be found on Equality Rochester’s Facebook page. The Facebook page will have up-to-date information regarding the DOMA decision and other events that Equality Rochester will be organizing in the near future. Like our page to receive updates on current events.

Equality Rochester is always looking for volunteers! Feel free to stop by a meeting and find out how you can participate in this dynamic and exciting group.

Rochester Trans Group On Saturday, May 18 we had the “Meeting of the Groups III”, held in Syracuse this time. The Transgender Alliance of CNY opened their doors and huge balcony and 51 people from Elmira, Erie, Pa., Buffalo, Rochester and as far away as Poughkeepsie showed up.

We reconnected w it h each other and gave brief presentations on what each group had been doing since the last “Meeting of Groups” in Buffalo last September. Syracuse has a beautiful meeting space and they gave us a tour of the building.

One thing we talked about was everyone going to Buffalo to march in their Pride Parade, Sunday, June 2, with step

PFLAG meets the 3rd Sunday of each month Meetings are at Open Arms Metropolitan Community Church, 740 Marshall Road, Rochester, NY 14624 from 1 to 3pm. Questions? Call: 585-244-8640 and leave a message, or e-mail: pflag@gayalliance.org - Join us!

off at 1 p.m. If you can go please leave a message in our website and say if you can drive or if you need a ride. There is a free festival afterwards and everyone who went last year had a great time!

There’s nothing like having thousands of people cheering you!

And on Tuesday, April 30, around 700 people showed up in Albany to talk to our state legislators about our issues -- especially getting GENDA passed this year!

Our next RTG meeting is on Saturday, June 29 from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

This will be an open discussion support group. Open ended questions may be asked by co-facilitators to encourage discussion. People will be encouraged to talk about their trans-related personal issues while the rest of the group offers a sympathetic ear and possibly advice on their situation.

Spring is finally here, so com’on come to a meeting! You are not the only one and you are NOT alone!

We meet in the Gay Alliance’s Community Center located in the Audito-

25 rium Theatre, 875 E. Main St. on the last Saturday of each month between 3–5:30 p.m. Parking is available in the back of the theatre off Prince St. and College Ave. Note: if there is a guard at the booth, just say you’re here for the Gay Alliance and they have instructions to let you in without paying the parking fee. Also if you’re coming by bus get off at the Prince St. stop, walk up the sidewalk to the first set of doors (they have the number 875 in large letters over them). Once you’re in the lobby head toward the elevator and just to the right there is a hall; go down that hall and there will be a door with a RTG Meeting sign and just come on in!

Our website is: www.rnytg.org or on Facebook at: https://www.facebook. com/RochesterTransGroup.

Rochester Rams M.C.

Join us for Ink & Metal Bar Night on Saturday, June 15. Come down to show off your Ink and Piercings, or (Community continues on page 26)

Group of the Month: Out & Equal

By Darren W. Plunkett Out & Equal Finger Lakes hosted their monthly Second Thursday Social Networking event May 9 at Tapas 177 on St. Paul St. This monthly networking event brings up to 90 businesspeople together to socialize and discuss current workplace issues.

The group meets on the second Thursday of each month at alternating locations.

Out & Equal is a national notfor-profit agency dedicated to the advancement of the LGBT community and its allies within the corporate structure. The local Finger Lakes branch is celebrating its fifth year.

In addition to the social networking, Out & Equal’s primary goal is to provide education and empower organizations, human resource professionals, Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and individual employees through programs and services that result in equal policies, opportunities, practices, and benefits in the workplace regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, expression, or characteristics.

According to Council Member Ralph Carter, the group has a quarterly leadership forum and many educational events. “We deal with human resource matters and workplace issues,” Ralph commented.

On July 17, Nixon Peabody is hosting the event “From the Clos-

et to the Corner Office.” Keynote speakers include Michael Feldman and Lori Fox. Out & Equal is represented by every major employer in the Rochester area including U of R, Xerox, Kodak, Corning, Wegmans, AIDS Care, Nixon Peabody and Ernst & Young, just to name a few.

Carter is proud of the work being done within our community. “We are already the second largest chapter in the country,” he said. There are currently over 600 members.

One of the major developments of the local chapter is the Corporate Quality Index. This index has been developed for corporations to follow to insure fair workplace treatment for its LGBT employees.

Some of the largest employers in the area are health care providers.

This has lead to the Health Care Quality Index, which insures nondiscriminatory practices within the health facilities.

Marriage Equality’s impact on businesses will be discussed at the quarterly leadership meeting this fall.

In addition, OENYFL has begun training college graduates on the procedures of interviewing and when to come out to an employer and provides a resume link for employers to seek out LGBT candidates for employment.

For more information about OENYFL, go to https://oenyfingerlakes.groupsite.com.

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Community (Community continued from page 25) come down to admire the erotic work that will be on display.

Remember this is barnight; leather, denim and boots never go out of style.

All of our regular barnight features, like boot shine, coat check, and wall-to-wall hot men, will be available at this fullservice event.

The Rams Run 2013 is coming Aug., 23-25; this will be our 40th Anniversary Run, and not to be missed. Information and applications will be available on our website. The run fee is $150 before July 20 or $165 by August 14. Space is limited so apply early. This single run fee gains you entrance to the event and includes all meals and beverages, round-the-clock snacks and sandwiches, a motorcycle tour of western NY’s beautiful lake country, clothing optional pool and campsite, fetish oriented parties and plenty of brotherhood and good times.

The Rochester Rams M.C. is Rochester New York’s foremost gay motorcycle and leather club as well as being one of the oldest clubs of its type in the country.

Our home bar is the Bachelor Forum, 670 University Ave., where we hold Bar Nights on the third Saturday of each month. We hold general meetings (open to the public) the Wednesday before each Bar Night at 7:30 p.m. at the Forum. For more info, visit our website: www.rochesterrams.com.

ROMANS Rochester Male Naturists (ROMANS) is planning for an exciting summer.

There will be nude outdoor swimming at members’ homes in June and

the empty closet • the gay alliance of the genesee valley • number 468 • june 2013 July. Plans are being made to attend the Toronto Pride parade with a visit to the nude beach. Arrangements are in the works for a trip to Empire Haven nude campground in Moravia, NY. Some members will go to Jones Pond campground for their annual BBQ. And of course in August, many ROMANS will enjoy a clothes free weeklong celebration at the Gay Naturists International (GNI) annual gathering in the Poconos.

ROMANS is a social club for gay and gay-friendly male nudists over 21. For more information, check out our website at www.wnyromans.com. You can also contact us by phone at 585281-4964, E-mail wnyromans@yahoo. com or via regular mail at PO Box 92293, Rochester, NY 14692. ■

june 2013 • number 468 • gay alliance of the genesee valley • the empty closet

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Arts & Entertainment

MJ Savastano.

MJ Savastano plays a “hopelessly dim student” in Ionesco’s “The Lesson” at MuCCC

By Susan Jordan MJ Savastano has been cast as the student in “The Lesson,” which is being staged by John W. Borek Presents as part of the Eugene Ionesco double bill, playing at MuCCC June 19–29.

MJ (a.k.a. Marcy) has appeared in many of Rochester’s finest theatres: Geva and Geva’s Next Stage, Method Machine, Out of Pocket Productions, Blackfriars and The Shakespeare Players. She is a teaching artist at Geva and co-founder of Method Machine, playing Harper in last year’s production of Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America.”

“The Lesson” is Ionesco’s second play, following “The Bald Soprano,” and he described it as an “anti-play” which, like its better-known predecessor, takes language and meaning as its starting point.

The characters are the hopelessly dim student, a mild mannered but increasingly demented professor and a maid who strives unsuccessfully to keep the professor under control and who cleans up after him. But this is Theatre of the Absurd and they are not characters in the conventional theatrical sense but rather abstractions, representations of the bourgeois world, which Ionesco despised. Their inability to communicate (and the increasing futility, anger and, eventually, violence which this provokes) is the real subject of the play.

Marcy spoke with The Empty Closet about the play and her role. This is not her first

“trousers” role – she also played a young boy in Michael Steck’s hilarious “Lipstick Massacre.”

“It’s something I like to do,” she said. “I like to mess around.

I’m really fond of smashing gender roles; I’m a big advocate of that, and I think it brings something new to the role (which was originally written for a female; we thought that had misogynistic elements).”

For those unfamiliar with Theatre of the Absurd, Marcy points out that the play can simply be enjoyed for its comedy. She said, “It stems out of Ionesco playing with the idea of communication and how ineffective it can be.

There’s a lot of talking without effective communication. That’s one of his points. Everything centers around communication. All three characters end up lonely and isolated. There’s comedy with a dark turn at the end.

“I’m not going to tell you what it is! Part of our goal is planting seeds through the play and fore-shadowing that dark end.”

Marcy’s biggest challenge as the “hopelessly dim student” is that, she says, “there is a lot of listening. One character is a professor who lectures and I pretend to be listening through his long monologue.

“The characters are not individuals – they are each symbols of a societal characteristic rather than being real people. Ionesco’s political content is subtle rather than explicit. People can go just for the comedy and enjoy that aspect.”

Like many performers and writers, Marcy finds comedy much harder than drama. “I prefer drama because it’s easier than comedy,” she said. “There’s so much technique involved in comedy. It requires time and timing and focus. I give the great

comic actors a lot of credit!”

Marcy’s favorite comedies include “30 Rock” and the British TV shows “Office” (the original version) and “Slings and Arrows.”

Marcy will soon be codirecting a musical based on the music of Vanessa Carlton, for a group called Dream Vision Create. “We’re working on the script and casting now,” she said.

“Dream Vision Create started at Wilson High and evolved into a community company. We operate out of MuCCC – we get great support from them.” The musical is called “More Than This” and will be staged in July at MuCCC. She will also do a show for the Fringe Festival next fall, collaborating with David Henderson, who is her partner in Method Machine, and with Heather Fox. “Shakes Blood” is based on Shakespearean texts, especially his death scenes. Marcy loves Shakespeare and says, “I’d love to do every Shakespeare play – I’ve always wanted to play Brutus!”

She would also like to do a Paula Vogel play, especially “How I Learned to Drive,” and a one-woman show called “The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead”. The sole character is a woman – but she plays two male characters.

Another trousers role!

Performance schedule for “The Lesson”: June 19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29 @7:30; June 23 @2 p.m. Advance sale tickets: $10. At door: $20. General Admission $15/Seniors/ Students. MuCCC is located at 142 Atlantic Ave. (www.muccc. org or 585-234-1254) ■

Portrait of Danny Allen. Photo: Eva Weiss.

New book remembers Rochester artist Danny Allen

By Susan Jordan Artist and author Bill Whiting gave a reading from his book An Early Work Late in Life at the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery on May 16, as part of a series of museum activities planned for that evening. Whiting’s book is about the late Rochester artist Danny Allen, whose painting “Sunny Ducks” was on display in the Memorial Art Gallery’s spring exhibit titled “It Came From the Vault”.

Whiting, Danny’s partner, had entered the painting in the Finger Lakes exhibition after Danny’s death in November 1974. The exhibition was juried by the late Pop-realist painter Lowell Nesbit, who selected the painting for the exhibition, and then it was donated to the MAG’s permanent collection in Danny’s memory.

An Early Work Late in Life is the true story of this exceptionally talented young artist, and how the mysterious little jewellike painting was rediscovered in the vault of the Memorial Art

“Sunny Ducks” – the cover of “An Early Work Late in Life.”

Gallery nearly four decades after his death. The book’s design and layout is by Denison Creative, and it was printed at PixelPreserve in Rochester. It can be ordered online through PixelPreserve’s digital store: http:// www.pixelpreserve.net/bookstore/ or at the museum shop at the Memorial Art Gallery.

Told through the lens of a lover’s older eyes, An Early Work Late in Life takes place in the late 1960s and early 1970s when the sexual revolution, feminism, gay ( New book continues page 28)

The Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus.

RGMC celebrates 30th anniversary of singing proud The Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus (RGMC), under the direction of Dr. Robert Strauss, will celebrate its 30th anniversary on Saturday, June 15 at 8 p.m. in the Hochstein School of Music & Dance Performance Hall, with a concert titled “The Rainbow Connection.”

RGMC will be joined onstage by three choruses: The Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus, the Syracuse Gay and Lesbian Chorus, and the Ithaca Gay Men’s Chorus, all of whom were inspired by the RGMC to start their own choral groups.

RGMC says, “In May 1983, the Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus took the stage for the very

RWCC performs “Music of the Night” June 8 Let the RWCC sing you through the night! Following their sun-drenched winter concert, The Rochester Women’s Community Chorus returns this

first time, and now this history-making group will celebrate its 30th anniversary in true RGMC fashion, by not only showing that ‘It’ gets better, but that it has, and so have we! June is LGBT Pride month and as we sing songs of pride, empowerment, and celebration, we honor the LGBT victories that have taken place during our existence.”

The Rainbow Connection will feature old favorites like “Michael’s Letter to Mama,” familiar tunes like “True Colors,” “Lean on Me,” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” and many other songs about Rainbows and what’s on the other side.

For more information and history about the RGMC, visit The Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus website at www.theRGMC.org.

spring to perform “Music of the Night” on Saturday, June 8 at 7:30 p.m. in St. Anne Church (1600 Mt. Hope Ave.) The concert will open with songs of evening, including West Side Story’s “Tonight” and Eric Whitacre’s “Seal Lullaby.” From there, the audience will be taken on a musical journey into the

night and straight on through to dawn with familiar standards such as “It’s Only a Paper Moon” and “Walkin’ After Midnight” as well as some lesser known tunes that are sure to become favorites, including a fun lesbian date night song by Holly Near, poems by Emily Dickinson and ( RWCC continues page 29)

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the empty closet • the gay alliance of the genesee valley • number 468 • june 2013

Jerry Scott.

A Special Remembrance of Jerry Scott Jerry Scott, the extraordinary Manhattan entertainer whose stellar renditions of every genre of music, from show tunes to standards to pop to operetta to ragtime, fired up audiences in Manhattan, died peacefully at 1 a.m. on April 4, after a valiant struggle with cancer. He was 67 years old.

A little bit about Jerry: After attending The Eastman School of Music here, Jerry settled in New York City. For over 40 years, he performed in many venues including Harrah’s Marina Hotel and

Casino in Atlantic City, various ports in the Caribbean, Europe, and Russia and countless NYC locations.

He performed for Hillary Clinton at a fundraiser, and was then invited to perform for President Clinton two weeks later. He has received multiple OBIEs (off Broadway’s highest honor), MAC (Manhattan Association of Cabarets) and the Backstage Bistro Award. He has also received the Critics’ Choice Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in PianoBar performance and released five albums.

One of Jerry’s biggest accomplishments, for his many Rochester friends, has to be his appearances at the Avenue Pub.

(New book from page 27) liberation and anti-Vietnam War protests made everyday life exciting and unpredictable. It also describes the youthful, vibrant circle of friends who surrounded Danny, including photographer Eva Weiss, videotape maker Nancy Rosin and the late artist Ramon Martinez.

Sometimes raucous and funny, sometimes disturbing and heartbreaking, this memoir is a tribute to a wonderful, quirky, gentle young man who might have been a little too good for this world -- and who believed he could exit this life and move on to a better one all on his own.

Danny was beloved and admired by his many friends, but inside he was deeply anguished and suicidal. Psychiatric help was not enough. His suicide in November 1974, by leaping off the Driving Park Bridge, was a terrible shock for those who had loved him and whose own lives were now forever changed.

Bill Whiting spoke with The Empty Closet about the process of writing about Danny and recalling their life together so long ago. He said that writing the book had been helpful to him.

“It was helpful because I don’t think there’s ever been a day in my life that I haven’t thought about him,” Bill said. “My emotions were never properly resolved. I was going through some difficulties of my own before (the painting in the vault was re-discovered).

“I wrote the book while I was in psychotherapy,” he continued. “I wrote sections and put them online in my blog. I put it out there so Danny’s friends and family could comment on it, because others had insights and memories.

“As for helping me… I think this book has helped a lot of people. A circle of friends re-united over Danny. A lot of people had different insights. I never felt free to talk about it at the time. I felt talking about him would be a betrayal, but now I don’t think that’s the case.”

Danny’s sister Christine Wheat commented, “Danny passed away when I was

10 years old so I didn’t know him well at all. I have very few memories. He was 18 when I was born and by the time I was 10 he was gone. People didn’t talk about it.

So this book introduced me to him.”

Bill said that friends are discussing an exhibition of Danny’s work. He said, “Some of his friends in New York and I have talked about it. I think it would be important to have it here in Rochester. We’ll have to wait and see. I would love it.”

The book gives a portrait of Rochester as well – the beautiful Victorian houses with bat-filled belfries, and the piles of snow. Danny and Bill at various times encountered Rochester legends like the Sibley Watsons, Louise Brooks and Margaret Strong. What if anything did Rochester mean to Danny?

Bill said, “He did live for a while in San Francisco, and was very much a free spirit. Danny loved people and had a tremendous sense of loyalty – Nancy Rosin was like an additional sister.

“We knew he had troubles but still we were blindsided when he took his life.

We didn’t have the maturity to read his signals…. The thing about Danny is that he seemed very confident but that wasn’t the case. The secret stuff with Danny was troubled and insecure.”

Danny would probably have been astonished to see the book and his painting in the “Vault” show. Bill said, “Danny didn’t believe in himself as much as we believed in him. As an artist I was in awe of him and the creative aptitude he had that I don’t have. He’d just put some ink on a brush and throw it and it would become something. A lot of his work is small but he was capable of doing anything he wanted to do. I don’t think he realized how good he was – but at the same time he did.

“In my opinion Danny was a troubled genius – tremendously intelligent and articulate. To see him deteriorate at the end was very painful.”

june 2013 • number 468 • gay alliance of the genesee valley • the empty closet

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(RWCC from page 27) Langston Hughes set to music, and a Japanese children’s song about fireflies.

Finally, as dawn approaches (figuratively speaking!), the concert will close with an awesome African sunrise piece.

Tickets can be purchased from any chorus member or at the door: $10 for adults, $8 for students and seniors, $5 for kids and infants are free. There will also be a silent auction starting at 7 p.m. and continuing during intermission. If you’d like more information about this RWCC concert or about the chorus itself (including how to join) please visit the RWCC website at: http://www.therwcc.org/

Tickets are available for Bill Maher on July 13 Comedian Bill Maher brings his latest comedy tour to the Auditorium Theatre on Saturday, July 13 at 8 p.m. Audiences can expect hard-hitting, no-holds-barred, topical comedy on the most important issues of the day.

Tickets, priced at $38, $48, $58 and $78 (includes $3 facility fee), are available at Ticketmaster outlets, online at Ticketmaster.com and Auditorium Theatre Box Office. Visit RBTL.org.

Bill Maher “Making Back My Million” tour is his largest to date. The title is, of course, a tongue in cheek reference to the million-dollar donation Bill made last year to Obama’s re-election effort.

For the last 20 years, Bill Maher has

Bill Maher. Photo: Albert Tolot

set the boundaries of where funny, political talk can go on American television.

First on “Politically Incorrect” (Comedy Central, ABC, 1993-2002), and for the last nine years on HBO’s “Real Time,” Maher’s combination of unflinching honesty and big laughs have garnered him 29 Emmy nominations. In October of 2008, this same combination was on display in Maher’s uproarious and unprecedented swipe at organized religion, “Religulous,” directed by Larry Charles (“Borat”). The documentary has gone on to become the eighth-highest-grossing documentary ever.

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30

Gay alliance news for june 2013

the empty closet • the gay alliance of the genesee valley • number 468 • june 2013

Audet Price.

Volunteer of the Month: Audet Price

By Jeanne Gainsburg Congratulations to Audet Price for being chosen as the Gay Alliance Volunteer-of-the-Month for June 2013.

Audet has been a dedicated volunteer with the Gay Alliance for five years. He has generously volunteered his time at the Red Ball, Rochester Pride and the Holocaust Exhibit at the JCC, and he is currently an integral part of assisting with the Rainbow SAGE program. His hard work and dedication are much appreci-

The RIT Color Run.

ated, as his help allows programming to run with ease.

Audet, now retired, used to be the Food and Nutrition Director at Westgate Skilled Nursing Home. Attendees of the Senior Center, SAGE potlucks and the SAGE picnic have most likely benefitted from Audet’s food talents. He often generously supplies delicious goodies for events and sometimes just for the heck of it! Gay Alliance staff members are not likely to forget Santa Claus (Audet) arriving at the Gay Alliance office last December and handing out goodies to all of us, whether we had been naughty or not! What a wonderful holiday surprise and mid-winter pick-me-up!

Audet’s volunteering does not stop at the Gay Alliance. He also volunteers at the Rochester Broadway Theater League, JCC, and the Veterans clinic. When he is not volunteering, Audet enjoys playing cards and games, attending men’s coffee groups, cooking, gardening, traveling and helping out friends.

Audet’s willingness to put others first and help out in any way he can is what landed him the spot as the Volunteer-ofthe-Month. We are beyond grateful for his dedication and on behalf of the staff and board at the Gay Alliance we thank him for all of his help over the years.

Color Run at RIT is a huge success!

By Jeanne Gainsburg, Gay Alliance Outreach Coordinator Sunday, May 5 was a beautiful day in Rochester and RIT was a happening place to be! It was the Second Annual 5K Color Run, a fundraiser and LGBT awarenessbuilding event.

Over 400 runners donned their new white tees and ran around the RIT campus, getting sprayed with a different color every kilometer. RIT student volunteers stationed themselves around the course offering high fives and cheers of encouragement to the runners.

I ran the route with my best friend, Pam Polashenski (co-founder of Ride For Pride) and her 18-year-old daughter, Ana, who stated at the finish line that she hates running and will never do that again… unless it will help the Gay Alliance. I LOVE that woman! The Color Run raised over $4,500, which RIT will donate to the Trevor Project and to the

RIT organizers.

Gay Alliance.

Thank you so very much to the all the volunteers, the runners and especially the following people for coordinating this amazing event: Erika Heffernan, Guerin Gagliastri, Stephen Jones, AJ Brown, Marc Goldman, Ethel DiGiugno, Brittany Ambeau, Brittany Remington, Sarah Duman, Sarah Piejko, Samantha Shupe, and Adam Kroll. Thank you also to the Ride For Pride bikers who supported this event. We had a dozen riders present!

Ride For Pride 4 is ready to go on June 15

By Jeanne Gainsburg On June 15, 40 riders will set out from Fairport to embark on the fourth annual Ride For Pride bike ride fundraiser for the Gay Alliance.

Riders will bike a 50-mile loop ride through Newark and back to Fairport. Last year Ride For Pride raised over $12,000 for the Gay Alliance! This year, our goal is $15,000.

Won’t you please support our riders who are doing so much to support us?

You might win a chocolate-almond turtle tart if you donate to Rider Ed. You might be able to pick the color that Rider Pam dyes her hair!

Please take a look at all of our dedicated riders at: http://www.gayalliance.org/events/ rideforpride.html and choose a rider to support this year. Your support at any level is appreciated by so many!

Roc Pride needs your help!

Please volunteer!

THANK YOU TOM SOMERVILLE: Artist and yoga instructor Tom Somerville generously donated this powerful painting to Empty Closet Editor Susan Jordan in May; it will hang in the GAGV Center. The painting shows Tom after he was gaybashed a decade ago. Photo: Kelly Clark

4 of the Genesee Valley

Empowering pride for 40 years

THANKS TO JOHN’S TEX MEX: The Gay Alliance thanks John’s Tex Mex on South Ave. for their generous Cinco de Mayo donation of over $2000!

By Jeanne Gainsburg The Rochester Pride theme this year is “There’s No Place Like Pride,” inspired by the fabulous classic film The Wizard of Oz! What fun!

We have several big events taking place from July 19-21, and we will need tons of help! We need individual volunteers and we need groups of people.

Might a group of your friends and/ or coworkers be interested in working together to be marshals in the Pride Parade, perhaps dressed as flying mon-

keys? Or maybe help guard the entrances to the Emerald City (aka: the Pride Festival site at Manhattan Square Park)?

We have lots of opportunities and we love to keep our volunteers happy by letting friends or groups work together!

Without you wonderful people, Rochester Pride would not exist. If you are interested in volunteering for Roc Pride, please register at: http://www.gayalliance.org/pride/ volunteer/ If you’re part of a group that would like to work together, please mention that in the comments section. Thank you so much for your support of the Gay Alliance and of Rochester Pride.

The Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley: is a non-profit agency, dedicated to cultivating a healthy, inclusive environment where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are safe, thriving and enjoying equal rights. We are a coalition of individuals and groups working to empower LGBT people, to affirm their identities, and to create an atmosphere where the diversity of our community can thrive both collectively and separately.

We educate and advocate for civil rights for all and for the eradication of homophobia. 875 East Main Street, Rochester, New York 14605 Phone: (585) 244-8640 Fax: (585) 244-8246 Web: www.gayalliance.org E-mail: Info@gayalliance.org Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 am-5 pm Board Co-Presidents: Emily Jones, Bruce Gorman Acting Executive Director: Scott Fearing Business Manager: Joanne Giuffrida Director of Intergenerational Programs: Kelly Clark Outreach: Jeanne Gainsburg The Empty Closet: Editor: Susan Jordan Graphic Designer: Jim Anderson E-mail: susanj@gayalliance.org Phone: (585) 244-9030 Fax: (585) 244-8246 Advertising: (585) 244-9030

june 2013 • number 468 • gay alliance of the genesee valley • the empty closet

31

Gay alliance news for june 2013

SAGE PAGE Youth Program Partner

Please sign up in the Center for a dish to pass or by calling Ashley at 585-244-8641 x31. See you there!

Gay Alliance Youth Program

You asked for it, we listened!

The Gay Alliance Youth program empowers today’s teens to meet today’s challenges! It provides a safe space to explore their identity, make friends, build community, gain life skills, become a leader and have fun!

We are aware many of the 50+ crowd are still employed and unable to make our open hours at The Center on Mondays and Tuesdays, so, we will be having some evening meet-ups and events.

While at the moment they are tentative, when they are confirmed you can find them by visiting our Facebook page (Rainbow SAGE) or checking the calendar on the website.

Wed./Thurs.: 3:30-7:30pm Fridays: 7-9pm Coming Out/Being Out Support Group Thursdays 6:30-7:30pm (13-18 yrs old)

Let’s give a round of applause…

Gender Identity Support Group Thursdays 6:30-7:30pm (13-18 yrs old) Gay Alliance Community Center Auditorium Theater Bldg, 875 E. Main Street, 1st Floor Rochester, New York 14605 Phone: 585 244-8640 Check out our weekly programs descriptions and special events: www.gayalliance.org/events/youth

on

D GAR

The Gay Alliance On-Line Resource Directory (GARD)

The online community tool providing local, statewide and national resources, 24/7 at: www.GayAlliance.org

Roza E. and other SAGE members potted flowers in May. Photo: Ashley Powers

“Living better with Arthritis... a multifaceted approach...”

Are you or is someone you know living with arthritis? Chances are the answer is yes, as arthritis affects nearly 50 million Americans.

It does not just affect the elderly either; two-thirds of people living with arthritis are under the age of 65. Arthritis is a complex family of musculoskeletal disorders consisting of more than 100 different diseases or conditions that can affect people of all ages, races and genders.

On Tuesday, June 11 at 1 p.m. we will have a presenter from the Arthritis Foundation speaking on the different types of arthritis and how to improve the quality of life while living with the disease.

Please join us for this informational presentation and if you know someone who may benefit from this feel free to bring them along.

All are welcomed!

International Picnic Day

The Gay Alliance Library & Archives Hours: Every Wednesday: 6-8pm Mondays & Tuesdays: 1-3pm 875 E. Main Street, First Floor 585-244-8640

What better way to spend a summer day than outdoors with family, friends, fun and food! So that’s what we are doing June 17 at 11:30 a.m.…we’re having a picnic! Pack the basket and grab a friend as we head to Cobbs Hill

Park for a day of fun in the sun.

With that being said bring the sunscreen, perhaps a game or two and sign up to bring a dish to pass.

We will provide the meat.

International picnic day is actually June 18 and picnicking dates back to the Victorian Era when picnics were very important social occasions. They offered the rare opportunity for young men and women to spend time together in the great outdoors. They were also quite elaborate. A picnic for 20 people might feature cold salmon, lamb, veal, chicken, ham, pigeon pie, sandwiches, fruit, a selection of cheeses, and a variety of baked goods! The modern-day picnic is much less complicated.

In fact, the phrase “it’s a picnic” means “it’s easy.”

As we go into our third month of having the puzzle “challenge” available for you, it has dawned on me something has been forgotten…. recognition of our winners!

So let me take the time to congratulate Pete F., our March winner and Scott B., our April winner!

Keep those submissions coming so you too can be entered to win!

Nothing says spring has sprung like beautiful flowers! Roza E. and others gathered in The Center May 7 to plant some seeds that will hopefully grow into beautiful creations! ■

Puzzle of the month

It’s been fun seeing everyone’s submissions and listening as each of you tries to crack the clues! Well, this month it’s only one “brain teaser,” but I think you will find it tricky but fun once it’s solved.

If you throw me from the window, I will leave a grieving wife.

Bring me back, but in the door, and You’ll see someone giving life!

What am I? Name: Answer:

Rainbow SAGE at The Center

June Calendar

The Center is open for adults 50+ Mondays and Tuesdays 11:30am-3pm.

Hot lunch $3. Internet access, billiards. Library open 1-3pm.

June June June June June June June June

3: 4: 10: 11: 17: 18: 24: 25:

Movie Day.................................................................. 1pm Games Day................................................................. 1pm Pride Planning............................................................. 1pm Arthritis Foundation Presentation.................................. 1pm Picnic at Cobbs Hill Park................................ 11:30am-3pm Conversation: Favorite Summer Memory....................... 1pm Games Day OACC “Party Decorations”........................................... 1pm

32

Resources Check our monthly and ongoing calendar as well as the community section for more groups and events. For further information, call the Gay Alliance at 244-8640 or visit: www.gayalliance.org. And send us your information.

BISEXUALITY resources

AMBI Los Angeles; American Institute of Bisexuality (Journal of Bisexuality); Bay Area Bisexual Network; Bi Café; Bi Definition: Milwaukee; BiNet USA; Bisexual Organizing Project (BOP); Biversity Boston; Boston Bisexual Women’s Network; ComBIne - Columbus, Ohio; Dallas/ Fort Worth Bi Net; Fenway Health’s Bi Health Program; Los Angeles Bi Task Force; New York Area Bisexual Network; Robyn Ochs’s site; Seattle Bisexual Women’s Network; The Bi Writers Association; The Bisexual Resource Center (email brc@biresource.net)

CULTURAL

Rochester Women’s Community Chorus 234-4441. (See Ongoing calendar).

Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus www.thergmc.org

deaf services

Advocacy for Abused Deaf Victims Mailing address: c/o ASADV, P.O. Box 20023, Rochester, NY 14602. 24-Hour Hotline: ASADVhope@gmail.com; VP: 866-936-8976; TTY/ FAX : 585-232-2854.

Lilac Rainbow Alliance for the Deaf (LRAD) Meets second Saturdays, 6-9pm. For location, information: rcoaster@rochester.rr.com Spectrum LGBTIQ & Straight Alliance RIT/NTID student group. <SpectrumComment@groups.facebook.com

Elders

Gay Alliance Rainbow Sage Senior Center Mon/Tues 11am-3pm, 875 E. Main St. first floor, 244-8640; kellyc@ gayalliance.org

family

CNY Fertility Center Integrative Fertility Care. Support meetings, webinars, workshops. Information: cbriel@cnyfertility.com; www.cnyhealingarts.com Rochester Gay Moms’ Group Support group for lesbian mommies and wannabe mommies in Rochester and surrounding areas. Subscribe: RochesterGayMoms-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Lesbian & Gay Family Building Project Headquartered in Binghamton and with a presence throughout Upstate NY, the Project is dedicated to helping LGBTQ people achieve their goals of building and sustaining healthy families. Claudia Stallman, Project Director, 124 Front St., Binghamton, NY 13905; 607-7244308; e-mail: LesGayFamBldg@aol.com. Web: www.PrideAndJoyFamilies.org.

Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) PFLAG’s threefold mission: supporting parents and family members in coming out process; educating the community; advocating on behalf of LGBT family members. Regular meetings: Third Sunday of the month, Open Arms MCC, 740 Marshall Rd. 14624. 1-3pm. PFLAG@ gagv.us; 585-244-8640 x27.

Adoptive Parent Support Group Monthly potluck lunches. For information, location, call Shari, 350-2529.

Angel Food Ministry Box of fresh/frozen food for $30 in advance.

Menu changes monthly. For information and distribution sites, call 585 861-4815.

HIV/AIDS Free testing for HIV exposure is available from New York State Department of Health: call Rochester Area Regional Hotline at (585) 423-8081, or 1 800 962-5063 for pay phones or calls outside Rochester. Deaf or hearing impaired people should call (585) 4238120 (TDD.) New Rapid HIV Testing now available in 30-40 minutes! Statewide information can be obtained by calling 1 800 541-AIDS. Other organizations which provide AIDS-related services are as follows:

the empty closet • the gay alliance of the genesee valley • number 468 • june 2013 Volunteer Legal Services Project (585) 232-3051; www.vlsprochester.org. 1 West Main St., Suite 500 Rochester, NY 14614. Free legal services for low-income HIV positive clients. No criminal cases. Appointments are scheduled at area medical provider locations or by calling 295-5708.

AIDS Care AIDS Care is the leading provider of HIV/AIDS services in Rochester and the Finger Lakes.

On-site services include HIV testing and limited STD screenings, Primary and HIV Specialty Medical Care, Pharmacy, and many more. AIDS Care satellite offices in Geneva and Bath. AIDS Care is also a leader in providing services and education to members of the LGBT community.

Contact Information: Website: www.acRochester.org. Main Office: 259 Monroe Ave., Rochester, NY 14607; Main Phone: 585-545-7200, Health Services After Hours: 585-258-3363; Case Management After Hours (Lifeline): 585275-5151; Fax: 585-244-6456. Finger Lakes Office: 605 W. Washington St., Geneva, NY 14456, 315-781-6303. Southern Tier Office: 122 Liberty St. Box 624, Bath, NY 14810 607776-9166. The Health Outreach Project: 416 Central Ave., Rochester, NY 14605; 585-4545556.

Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley Referrals to physicians and service agencies.

(585) 244-8640; www.gayalliance.org.

Victory Alliance University of Rochester Medical Center. One of several research sites worldwide that comprise the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. Rochester site conducts research vaccine studies sponsored

by National Institutes of Health (NIH). 585-7562329; www.vaccineunit.org.

Threshold At The Community Place, 145 Parsells Ave., third floor, 585-454-7530. Provides confidential HIV, STD testing and General Health Care, ages 12-25. Sliding fee scale, no one denied, most insurances accepted. Mon., Wed., Fri. 9am-5pm; Tues., Thurs., 9am-7pm; Sat. 10am-2pm. www.ThresholdCenter.org Center for Health and Behavioral Training of Monroe County 853 Main St., Rochester 14611. Collaboration of Monroe County Health Department and U.R. Provides year-round training in prevention and management of STDs, HIV, TB and related issues, such as domestic violence and case management. (585)753-5382 v/tty.

Planned Parenthood of the Rochester/ Syracuse Region 114 University Ave., Rochester, NY 14605; Tollfree Helpline: 1 866 600-6886. Offers confidential HIV testing and information. When you make your appointment, be sure to ask about our sliding scale fees. No one is turned away for lack of ability to pay.

Rochester Area Task Force on AIDS A collection of agencies providing a multiplicity of resources and services to the upstate New York community. Their offices are located through the Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency, which also provides medical literature and newspaper clippings, as well as demographic and statistical data for use in developing health care services. (585) 461-3520.

MOCHA Center of Rochester Our mission is to improve health and wellness in communities of color through intervention and service, with emphasis on LGBTQ programming. Youth drop-in center, HIV testing, peer education, support groups, computer lab, referral services and more. 107 Liberty Pole Way (corner of Pleasant). (585) 420-1400.

Monroe County Health Department at 855 W. Main St., offers testing and counseling for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. (585) 753-5481.

Strong Memorial Hospital provides a complete range of HIV medical care, including access to experimental treatment protocols, and HIV testing. Also provides individual and group psychotherapy. Training of health care professionals also available. Infectious Disease Clinic, (585) 275-0526. Department of Psychiatry, (585) 275-3379. AIDS Training Project, (585) 275-5693.

Planned Parenthood of Rochester and Genesee Valley Offers testing and information (585) 546 2595.

Rural HIV testing Anonymous and confidential, in Allegany, Livingston, Ontario, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Wayne or Yates Counties, call 1 800 9625063.

Action Front Center (Action for a Better Community.) Provides HIV prevention education and case management services. Training and technical assistance to service providers. Resource library open to

public. All services free and confidential. Multicultural and bilingual staff. 33 Chestnut St., second floor. Hours 8:30-5pm, Monday-Friday.

262-4330; fax 262-4572. Free anonymous HIV testing on walk-in basis, Tuesdays, Wednesdays 1-4pm, provided through NYSDOH. Thursdays 1-4pm at Aenon Baptist Church, 175 Genesee St. Anthony L. Jordan Health Center, Prevention and Primary Care.

Provides Medical Case Management, Mental Health, Primary Care, HIV Counseling and Testing (using rapid testing) Hepatitis C rapid testing and services, Educational Presentations, and access to other Jordan Services. Prevention and Primary Care is a walk-in program; no appointment necessary. Office Hours are Monday thru Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information call (585) 423-2872; fax (585) 423-2876. Website www.jordanhealth.org. For more information, call the Program Manager Charlie Lytle,(585) 423-2872.

CDC National STD and AIDS Hotline 1-800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636) 24 hours a day. TTY service: 1-888-232-6348. E-mail address: cdcinfo@cdc.gov.

Fair Housing Enforcement Project of Monroe County 585-325-2500; 1-800-669-9777. Deals with housing discrimination on basis of race, orientation, HIV status, etc.

Public Interest Law Office of Rochester 80 St. Paul St., Suite 701. Free legal services to HIV positive persons, families. Spanish bilingual advocates available. All civil cases except divorce; no criminal cases. Ask to speak to someone in PILOR. 454-4060.

Evergreen Health Services, Buffalo Primary care, HIV and family care, HIV testing and counseling. (716) 847-0328 Westside Health Services Brown Square Health Center, 175 Lyell Ave. (254-6480); Woodward health Center, 480 Genesee St. (436-3040). HIV/AIDS services, support, more.

McCree McCuller Wellness Center at Unity Health’s Connection Clinic (585) 368-3200, 89 Genesee St., Bishop Kearney Bldg., 3rd floor. Full range of services, regardless of ability to pay. Caring, confidential and convenient.

Catholic Charities AIDS Services A multicultural and bi-lingual staff providing services to a diversity of people infected and affected with HIV. Coordinates HOPWA (Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS) short term emergency assistance with rent/mortgage/utility payments and limited subsidized housing. 1945 E. Ridge Rd., Suite 24, Rochester NY 14622. (585) 339-9800.

Huther Doyle 360 East Ave., Rochester 14604. Offers drug, alcohol prevention, education, treatment. Risk Reduction Plus Team offers services to HIV positive and those at risk through substance use. Programs include outreach, transitional case management, free cconfidential testing (OraQuick Rapid Testing). NYS Dep’t. of Health offers free on-site confidential and anonymous testing. (585)325-5100, M-F 8am-9pm, www. hutherdoyle.com.

Geneva Community Health 601 W. Washington St., Geneva. Provides HIV testing, HIV specialty and primary care for residents of Ontario and surrounding counties.

Mon.-Thurs. 9am-5pm; Fridays 9am-noon.

315-781-8448.

lgbt health

For a list of LGBT-friendly and competent health and human service providers in the Rochester and Finger Lakes area, visit the resource directory page(s) at www.everybodysgood.com.

Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley See www.gayalliance.org Resource Directory under “Health” for Gay Alliance referrals to physicians and service agencies.

CNY Depression Bi-Polar Support The Depression Bi-Polar Support Alliance of Central New York Support Group Adult Group meets the third Thursday of every month from 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m. at SAGE Upstate, 431 E. Fayette St, Syracuse, NY 13202. The Youth Group meets the second Monday of every month from 5 p.m.-6:30 p.m. at Transitions Living Services, 420 E. Genesee St., Syracuse, NY 13202.

TRANSGENDER

Rochester Trans Group Social/educational group for gender variant people and friends. Last Saturday, 3-5pm, GAGV Youth Center, first floor, 875 E. Main St. 244-8640. www.rnytg.org

Volunteer Legal Services Project (585) 232-3051; www.vlsprochester.org.1 West Main St. Suite 500, Rochester, NY 14614. Free legal services for low-income clients seeking a name change. Other legal services for low-income clients include family law issues, bankruptcy, unemployment insurance hearings, wills and advance directive documents for clients with serious illnesses.

Gay Alliance Youth Gender Identity Thursdays, 6:30-7:30pm, Gay Alliance Community Center, 875 E. Main St. first floor.

Ages 13-18. 244-8640; kellyc@gayalliance.org Genesee Valley Gender Variants Thurs. 7-9pm, Equal Grounds, 750 South Ave. GVGenderVariants@yahoogroups.com Transgender online: Transenough.com; www.endtransdiscrimination.org; genderfork.com; www.transgendercare.com; International Foundation for Gender Education Gender Education and Advocacy http://www.gender.org/; FTM Information Network http://www.ftminfo.net/; Transgender at Work http://www.tgender.net; PFLAG Transgender Network http://community.pflag.org/ page.aspx?pid=380; TransActive http://www. transactiveonline.org; The Transitional Male http://www.thetransitionalmale.com/; National Center for Transgender Equality http://transequality.org/; New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy http://www.nyagra.com/; Transgender Aging Network http://forge-forward.org/aging/; Transgender Law Center http://transgenderlawcenter.org; Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund http://transgenderlegal.org/; The Self Made Men http:// theselfmademen.webs.com/ (please send us your favorite sites/groups) Guys Night Out Social group for transmen. Third Saturdays, 1pm, Equal Grounds, 750 South Ave. tguysnightout@gmail.com

Women’s health

Highland Hospital Breast Imaging Center 500 Red Creek Drive, Rochester 14623; 585487-3300. Specializing in breast health, diagnostic breast imaging and treatment and mammography outreach and education.

Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester 840 University Ave.; 585-473-8177; www. bccr.org; email: info@bccr.org. Breast Cancer Coalition provides support services that include programs designed to help those coping with a recent breast cancer diagnosis and those coping with an advanced breast cancer diagnosis, such as the Advanced Breast Cancer Support Group to support women living with metastatic breast cancer. Information about breast cancer, lending library, a monthly educational program.

All BCCR programs, support services free.

Monroe County Women’s Health Partnership 111 Westfall Rd., Rochester NY 14692; (585) 274-6978. Comprehensive breast cancer screening services for uninsured and underinsured women.

Elizabeth Wende Breast Clinic 170 Sawgrass Drive. 442-8432. Dr. Wende Logan-Young and an all-woman staff provide mammograms.

Self Help for Women with Breast or Ovarian Cancer (SHARE) 1-866-53SHARE or 1-866-537-4273.

Alternatives for Battered Women 232-7353; TTY 232-1741. Shelter (women only), counseling. Lesbians, gay men welcome.

GAGV Anti Violence Referrals 585-244-8640 ext 19. For women and men.

Victim Resource Center of Wayne County Newark N.Y. Hotline 800-456-1172; office (315)331-1171; fax (315)331-1189.

Mary Magdalene House Women’s outreach center for HIV positive women and women at risk. 291 Lyell Ave. Open Mon-Fri. 6:30-9:30pm 458-5728.

Planned Parenthood of the Rochester/ Syracuse Region 114 University Ave., Rochester, NY 14605; Tollfree Helpline: 1-866-600-6886. Planned Parenthood has led the way in providing high quality, affordable reproductive health care since 1916. All services are confidential. Accept most insurances; including Medicaid. You may qualify for low- to no-cost family planning services. When you make your appointment, ask about our sliding scale fees. No one turned away for lack of ability to pay.

Women’s Resource Center YWCA, 175 N. Clinton Ave. 546-7740.

june 2013 • number 468 • gay alliance of the genesee valley • the empty closet

Ongoing Calendar Monday

L.O.R.A. – Late Bloomers Group Meets Weekly on Mondays 7pm – 9:30pm.

Coming out group for women of all ages and backgrounds. Meets weekly on Mondays at 7pm at private location!.Group Facilitators: Cathie Timian & Wanda Martinez. For more information and meeting location contact Cathie at ctimian@l-o-r-a-.com or call 585.313.3037 For more information on L.O.R.A. (Lesbians of Rochester & Allies) visit: www.l-o-r-a.com

Gay Alliance Library & Archives David Bohnett Cyber Center. Every Monday 6-8pm. First floor, 875 E. Main St. 244-8640

Born That Way Formerly 3rd Presbyterian LGBT Support Group.

First, 3rd Mondays, 7:30-9:30pm, 34 Meigs St. Carol, 482-3832 or Kaara, 654-7516.

Lilac Squares Gay Square Dance Group, Mondays, 7pm, 140 Alex Bar. To reserve space: 467-6456; bdaniels@frontiernet.net.

Free syphilis testing AIDS Care, 259 Monroe Ave., 5-8pm. 4422220.

Rochester Historical Bowling Society 7:15pm, Mondays. Clover Lanes, 2750 Monroe Ave. (Group is full.)

HIV Positive Men’s Support group Every Monday, 5pm, AIDS Care Center for Positive Living, 259 Monroe Ave. Frontrunners/Frontwalkers Mondays, 6pm, George Eastman House parking lot. www.rochesterfrontrunners.org.

Steps Beyond Stems Crack Support Group, Mondays, 7-8pm, 289 Monroe Ave. Equality Rochester 2nd Mondays, 7-8:30 pm, Equal=Grounds.

426-0862; annetischer1@gmail.com

Tuesday

L.O.R.A. – Knitters Group Everyone Welcome! 3rd Tuesday of the Month.

7pm – 10pm. FREE. Cross Roads Coffeehouse, 752 South Goodman St. Contact Person: Cathie: 585.313.3037; Email:ctimian @l-o-r-a.com; Website: www.l-o-r-a.com

Gay Alliance Library & Archives, David Bohnett Cyber Center Every Tuesday. 1-3pm; First floor, 875 E. Main St. 244-8640.

Charlie’s Group 2nd Tuesdays. Monthly peer-facilitated support group for married men who have sex with men.

Confidential, free. For time, place: email: charlie@gayalliance.org.

Rainbow SAGE Senior Center, 11am-3pm, Gay Alliance Center, 875 E. Main St., 1st floor.

MOCHA Youth Drop-In Tues.-Fri., 1-9pm, MOCHA Center, 107 Liberty Pole Way, 420-1400; 244-8640 MOCHA Hepatitis Clinic Free Hepatitis A & B vaccinations, third Tuesdays, 5:30-7pm, 107 Liberty Pole Way, 4201400 Women’s Community Chorus Rehearsals each Tuesday, 6:30-9pm, Downtown United Pres. Church, 121 N. Fitzhugh Street. 234-4441, www.therwcc.org Free HIV Testing 9am-7pm. AIDS Care, 259 Monroe Ave.

Wednesday U.R. Pride Network 7:30pm, Gamble Room in Rush Rhees Library. urpride@gmail.com

Rainbow SAGE Ruby Slippers Wednesdays, 5:45 pm, Callan-Harris Physical Therapy, 1328 Universty Ave. Identity Group The Identity Group is for LGBT identified individuals who have a developmental disability diagnosis. The group meets Wednesdays 3-4 pm at ARC Health Services (2060 BrightonHenrietta Townline Rd. 14623). The goal of the group is to provide a safe space to discuss identity issues, share personal experiences and increase self-esteem. The group is facilitated

by Delaina Fico. LMSW. For more information, please contact Delaina Fico at dfico@arcmonroe.org or 585-271-0661 ext. 1552.

Gay Alliance Board of Directors Meets Third Wednesdays, 6pm, 875 E. Main St. 244-8640 New Freedom New Happiness AA Gay meeting, 7pm, Unitarian Church, 220 Winton Rd. Men and women. Open.

FRIDAY

Gay Men's AA meeting Fridays, 7:30-8:30pm, Closed meeting.

Emmanuel Baptist Church, 815 Park Ave. GLBTQI Motorcycle Group Second Fridays, 5:30pm, Various locations.

RochesterGLBTIQbikers@yahoo.com; 4676456; bmdaniels@frontiernet.net.

Support Group for Parents who have lost Children First, 3rd Wednesdays, 11am-12:30pm, Third Presbyterian Church, 4 Meigs St. Genesee Region Home Care. Free. 325-1880 COAP Come Out and Play. Wednesday game nights.

8-11 pm. Equal=Grounds, 750 South Ave. 7pm, paulkaseman@gmail.com.

Rochester Rams General Meeting 2nd Wednesdays, 7:30pm, Bachelor Forum, 670 University Ave. www.rochesterrams.com Brothers Keeper Support group for men over 30. Third Wednesdays, 5:30-7:30pm, MOCHA Center, 107 Liberty Pole Way. 420-1400 HIV+ Mixed Men’s Group Wednesdays, 11:30 am-12:30 pm.

AIDS Care, 259 Monroe Ave. Gay Alliance Youth Wednesdays, 3:30-7pm, Gay Alliance Youth Center, 875 E. Main St. Prince St. entrance, first floor. 244-8640 x 13.

SATURDAY

Frontrunners/Frontwalkers 6pm, Eastman House parking lot. www.rochesterfrontrunners.org.

Gay Alliance Library & Archives, David Bohnett Cyber Center Every Wednesday. 6-8pm. First floor, 875 E. Main St. 244-8640.

Empire Bears Every Wednesday. 6pm dinner at The Wintonaire. www.empirebears.com

Saturday Night Special Gay AA 7pm, Unitarian Church, 220 Winton Rd., S. Men and women. Open meeting.

Lilac Rainbow Alliance for the Deaf (LRAD) 2nd Saturdays, 6-9pm. rcoaster@rochester.rr.com Sophia’s Supper Club First and third Saturdays. http://www.inspiritual.biz/online-spiritual-evolution-gro/

Thursday

Parents Families & Friends of Lesbians And Gays (PFLAG) Third Sundays, 1-3 pm, Community Center at the Gay Alliance, first floor, 857 E. Main St. 244-8460; pflag@gayalliance.org.

Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns 6:30pm, first Thursday. Ralph, 271-7649 Queer Radical Reading Group First and third Thursdays, 7pm, Equal=Grounds, 750 South Ave. Pride at Work First Thursdays, 5:30pm. 167 Flanders St. off Thurston Rd. 426-0862.

GLOB&L (Gays & Lesbians of Bausch & Lomb).

Meets every third Thursday in Area 67 conference room at the Optic Center. Voice mail: 338-8977 Gay Alliance Youth Thursdays, 3:30-7pm, Gay Alliance Youth Center, 875 E. Main St. Prince St. entrance, first floor. 244-8640 x 13.

Coming Out Being Out Youth Support Group 6:30-7:30pm; ages 13-18 Gay Alliance Youth Center, 875 E. Main St. Prince St. entrance, first floor. 244-8640 x 13.

Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus Downtown United Presbyterian Church, 121 N. Fitzhugh St. 6:30-9pm, 423-0650 Free confidential walk-in HIV testing Every Thursday night, 5-8pm, AIDS Care, 259 Monroe Ave. 442-2220 Gay Alliance Youth Gender Identity Thursdays, 6:30-7pm, Ages 13-18, Gay Alliance Youth Center, 875 E. Main St., 1st floor (Prince St. entrance). 244-8640 ext 13.

Out & Equal Second Thursdays Social/business networking, 5:30-7:30pm.

Changing venues. E-mail: fingerlakes@outandequal.org Genesee Valley Gender Variants 7-9pm, Equal=Grounds, 750 South Ave. GV GenderVariants@yahoogroups.com

Rochester Rams Bar Night Third Saturdays, 8pm-2am, Bachelor Forum, 670 University Ave. 271-6930

Rochester Trans Group Social/educational group for gender-variant people, friends. Last Saturdays, 3-5 pm, GAGV Youth Center, first floor, 875 E. Main St. Frontrunners/Frontwalkers 9am, George Eastman House parking lot.www. rochesterfrontrunners.org.

Empire Bears Potluck 2nd Saturdays, Youth Center, 875 E. Main, 1st floor, Prince St. entrance. 6:30pm greet; 7pm dinner. Bring dish to pass. www.empirebears.org.

Cross Dresser Support Group First Saturdays, 6-9pm, call for location: 251-2132; RCDNET@hotmail.com Guys Night Out GNO, social group for transmen, now meets on the second Saturday of the month, @ 1pm @ Equal Grounds, 750 South Ave.

Sunday

Gay Alliance Library & Archives Sunday hours ended.

Rochester General Assembly Sundays, Flying Squirrel Community Center, 285 Clarissa St. Unity Fellowship Church Sundays, 1:30 pm, Lutheran Church of Peace, 125 Caroline St., 14620. 520-6188.

Dignity-Integrity 1st Sunday: 5pm Episcopal Eucharist with music; 2nd Sunday: 5pm Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Word with music; 3rd Sunday: 5pm Episcopal Eucharist (quiet); 4th Sunday: 5pm Prayers to start the week, followed by potluck supper.

Open Arms Metropolitan Community Church 740 Marshall Rd., Chili, 10:30am, 271-8478

Gay Men’s Alcoholics Anonymous St. Luke’s/St. Simon Cyrene Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh St. 8:30pm, 232-6720, Weekly.

Closed meeting Men’s Cooking Group Third or fourth Sundays, 355-7664.

Civil Rights Front Every Tuesday, 5pm, Equal=Grounds, 750 South Ave. http://www.civilrightsfront.wordpress.com

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Rochester AA/NA Meetings Every week there are four regularly scheduled GLBTI AA and two inclusive NA meetings in Rochester.

Tuesdays

Narcotics Anonymous 6-7:30pm. AIDS and Recovery 1124 Culver Road (Covenant United Methodist Church) This is an NA meeting that is open to all addicts who have a desire to stop using. Although it is not specifically a gay-oriented meeting, it is welcoming to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, as well as to anyone who is affected by HIV and AIDS.

Wednesdays

New Freedom/New Happiness Group 7pm. First Unitarian Church, 220 S. Winton Rd. Bus riders: Take the last #18 University bus to 12 Corners. Use the stop just past the top of the hill at Hillside Ave. and before Highland Ave. Or take the #1 Park Ave. to the corner of East and Winton, then walk five minutes south (uphill) on Winton. This is an open discussion meeting. All issues – as they relate to our alcoholism/addiction and recovery – are fair game.

Fridays Gay Men’s 7:30pm. Immanuel Baptist Church, 815 Park Ave. • Closed meeting, restricted to alcoholics and addicts • Men’s meeting • Handicapped accessible This is a round-robin discussion meeting. If you are shy about meeting people or speaking up in a group, you will find this meeting particularly warm and inviting because everyone gets their turn to speak (or pass). As a result, this meeting often runs long, so plan on more than the usual hour.

Saturdays Saturday Night Special 7pm. First Unitarian Church, 220 S. Winton Rd. Bus riders: The #18 University Ave. bus does not go by the church on weekend evenings.

Take the #1 Park Ave. bus to the corner of East and Winton, then walk five minutes south (uphill) on Winton.

• Open meeting, all are welcome, “straight friendly” • Mixed men and women • Handicapped accessible, take elevator to basement Meeting begins with a speaker, followed by open discussion.

Sundays Step in the Right Direction 7:30-9pm. 1275 Spencerport Road (Trinity Alliance Church) This is an NA meeting that is open to all addicts who have a desire to stop using. Although it is not specifically a gay-oriented meeting, it is welcoming to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Each week features a reading from NA literature, followed by discussion.

Rochester Gay Men 8pm. St. Luke/St. Simon’s Episcopal Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh Street. Bus riders use the Fitzhugh Street stop on Main Street at the County Office Building and walk south one block.

• Closed meeting, restricted to alcoholics and addicts • Men’s meeting • NOT handicapped accessible Meeting begins with a speaker, followed by open discussion.

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June SATURDAY 1

Big Gay Prom. Theme: Alice in Wonderland. LGBT youth and allies ages 13-20. 7:30 pm, Cathedral Ballroom, Auditorium Center, 875 E. Main St. Information: 244-8640 ext 19.

Buffalo Dyke March, Allen Street Festival. Information at www.buffalopridefestival.com.

SUNDAY 2

Dignity Integrity. Episcopal Mass/ Healing Service, with music. 5 pm, St. Luke’s and St. Simon’s Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh St. Buffalo Pride Parade, Festival at Canalside. Information at www.buffalopridefestival.com.

friDAY 7

UnHappy Hour. Supporting passage of GENDA. 6-8pm, 140 Alex Bar & Grill. Trivia, live entertainment, prizes, drink specials.

SATURDAY 8

Rochester Butch Femme Connection supper club. Moe’s Mexican Restaurant in Tops Jefferson Plaza, Henrietta at 7 pm. Call 585-288-7208, email DressyFemme@aol.com or Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bfconnection.

Rochester Women’s Community Chorus concert. “Music of the Night.”

7:30 pm, St. Anne Church, 1600 Mt. Hope Ave. $10 adults, $8 students and seniors, $5 kids; infants free. Silent auction starting at 7 pm.

SUNDAY 9

Dignity Integrity. Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Word, with music. 5 pm, St. Luke’s and St. Simon’s Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh St.

the empty closet • the gay alliance of the genesee valley • number 468 • june 2013

THURSDAY 13

Out & Equal Second Thursdays Networking. 5:30-7:30 pm, Temple Bar & Grill, 109 East Ave.

FRIDAY 14

Empty Closet deadline for July issue, Pride Guide supplement. 244-9030; susanj@gayalliance.org.

SATURDAY 15

Ride for Pride. 50-mile loop road ride from Fairport to Newark and back, benefitting the Gay Alliance. See our dedicated riders at http://www.gayalliance. org/events/rideforpride.html and choose a rider to support this year.

Syracuse Pride Parade, Festival.

Noon-5 pm, Inner Harbor Waterfront Park. www.CNYPride.com Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus concert. “The Rainbow Connection.” Celebrating RGMC’s 30th anniversary. 8 pm, Hochstein. RGMC will be joined onstage by the Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus, Syracuse Gay and Lesbian Chorus, and Ithaca Gay Men’s Chorus, all of which were inspired by the RGMC. Rochester Rams bar night. Ink and Metal Night. 9 pm-2 am, Bachelor Forum, 670 University Ave.

SUNDAY 16

Dignity Integrity. Quiet Episcopal Mass in the Chapel. 5 pm, St. Luke’s and St. Simon’s Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh St.

MONDAY 17

Water Street Music Hall benefit for GAGV. Randall Shreve and the Sideshow perform benefit concert for Gay Alliance.

Doors open 7 pm; show starts 8 pm. Tickets $10 on sale at http://www.waterstreetmusic.com or Equal Grounds (cash only).

“It’s a rock ‘n’ roll carnival caravan.” -ArkTimes “There really isn’t another band that I can compare to Randall Shreve and this is something that makes them a band to know.” -PopWreckoning.com

FRIDAY 21

Summer solstice

Classifieds Classified ads are $5 for the first 30 words; each additional 10 words is another $1. We do not bill for classifieds, so please send or bring ad and payment to: The Empty Closet, 875 E. Main Street, Suite 500, Rochester, New York 14605.

Paying by check: checks must be made out to Gay Alliance. The deadline is the 15th of the month, for the following month’s issue. We cannot accept ads over the phone. Pay when you place your ad. We will accept only ads accompanied by name and phone number. Neither will be published, but we must be able to confirm placement.

The Empty Closet is not responsible for financial loss or physical injury that may result from any contact with an advertiser. Advertisers must use their own box number, voice mail, e-mail or personal address/phone number.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Children’s Ministry thriving at Open Arms Metropolitan Community Church for toddlers to ‘tweens. Join us for vibrant, inclusive, progressive worship on Sundays at 10:30am. 740 Marshall Road off Chili Avenue. info@openarmsmcc.org (585) 271-8478

PERSONALS

Single GWM adult seeks friendship with other adult-aged males. Please call 585-732-7840 any time 24/7. Let’s talk.

Male partner wanted. I like chess, golf, zombie movies, horror movies. I am 34 years old, clean-shaven and handsome.

Serious replies only. Write to: Cedarwood Towers, 2052 E. Main St., Apt. 610, Rochester NY 14609.

SERVICES

Man to Man Rubdown. Relax with this experienced, fit, healthy. middle-aged, non-smoking GWM. Central location.

Private home. Incalls/outcalls. Reasonable

rates. cell#585-773-2410 or home#585235-6688 or email:magichands@rochester.rr.com Wedding Space and clergy services available. Celebrate your special day at Open Arms Metropolitan Community Church 740 Marshall Rd. off Chili Ave. info@openarmsmcc.org (585) 271-8478 Handyman: Simple repairs or full renovations, no job is too large or small.

Carpentry, Plumbing, Electrical, Interior & Exterior. 35 years experience. Call Alan & Bill 585-204-0632 or cell 304517-6832.

Hate to paint or clean gutters? I have tall ladders! Dale’s Pleasure Painting and Gutter Cleaning has very reasonable rates for painting year-round and gutter cleaning in the spring or fall. 585-576-5042.

Email dale.furlong@yahoo.com.

Martin Ippolito master electrician.

Electrical work, telephone jacks, cable TV, burglar alarm systems, paddle fans.

585-266-6337.

SATURDAY 22

Rochester Butch Femme Connection supper club. Peppermints Restaurant on West Henrietta Rd (Rte. 15) in Henrietta at 7 pm. Call 585-288-7208, email DressyFemme@aol.com or Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bfconnection.

SUNDAY 23

Dignity Integrity. Evening Prayer, followed by a potluck dinner: “Summer salads.” 5 pm, St. Luke’s and St. Simon’s Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh St.

FRIDAY 28

Dignity Integrity Garage Sale. Also June 29. Call the Hotline at 585-2345092 if you have items to donate. See website for location.

NYC Pride Rally. Info at www. nycpride.org.

Toronto Trans March. Info at www. pridetoronto.com.

SATURDAY 29

Rochest Trans Group. 3-5:30pm, GAGV Center, First floor, 875 E. Main St. www.rnytg.org NYC Pride VIP Rooftop Party, Rapture on the River. Info at www.nycpride. org.

Toronto Dyke March. Info at www. pridetoronto.com.

SUNDAY 30

Dignity Integrity. Slide Presentation: Trip to Egypt and the Holy Land. 5 pm, St. Luke’s and St. Simon’s Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh St. Toronto Pride March. Info at www. pridetoronto.com.

NYC Pride Parade, Pride Festival, Dance on the Pier. Info at www. nycpride.org.

june 2013 • number 468 • gay alliance of the genesee valley • the empty closet

The Empty Closet is published by the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley 875 E. Main Street, Suite 500 Rochester, New York 14605 © 2013, All rights reserved.

Editor-in-Chief: Susan Jordan Staff Reporter: Ove Overmyer Graphic Design: Jim Anderson Advertising policy: The Empty Closet does not print advertisements that contain nude drawings or photographs, nor does it print advertising that states that the person pictured in the ad is for sale, or that you will “get” that particular person if you patronize the establishment advertised. Advertisements that are explicitly racist, sexist, ageist, ableist or homophobic will be refused; advertisements from organizations that are sexist, racist, ageist, ableist or anti-gay will also be refused. All political advertisements must contain information about who placed them and a method of contact.

Additionally, The Empty Closet does not print negative or “attack” advertisements, whether they relate to a product or politics and no matter in whose interest the ad is being produced. A negative advertisement is defined as one that focuses upon a rival product, or in the political area, a rival election candidate or party, in order to point out supposed flaws and to persuade the public not to buy it (or vote for him or her). The Empty Closet maintains, within legal boundaries, neutrality regarding products, political candidates and parties. However, “attack” ads that fail to provide undisputable evidence that the information in the ad is true do not further in any way the objectives and policies of the Gay Alliance or The Empty Closet, including the primary tenet that The Empty Closet’s purpose is to inform the Rochester gay community and to provide an impartial forum for ideas.

Submissions: For publication, submit news items, ads, photos, letters, stories, poetry, ads, photographs or art by mail or in person to The Empty Closet office by the 15th of the month.

Design services for non-camera ready ads are available for a fee. (www.emptycloset@gagv.us) Publication Information: The Empty Closet is published 11 times a year (December and January combined) by The Empty Closet Press for the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley, Inc. Approximately 5000 copies of each issue are distributed during the first week of the month, some by mail in a plain sealed envelope. The publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles is not an indication of the sexual or affectional orientation of that person or the members of that organization. For further information, please write to The Empty Closet, 875 E. Main St., Rochester NY. 14605, call (585) 244-9030 or e-mail emptycloset@gagv.us.

The Empty Closet is the official publication of the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley, Inc., as stated in the bylaws of that organization. Its purpose is to inform the Rochester gay community about local and national gayrelated news and events; to provide a forum for ideas and creative work from the local gay community; to help promote leadership within the community, and to be a part of a national network of lesbian and gay publications that exchange ideas and seek to educate.

Part of our purpose is to maintain a middle position with respect to the entire community. We must be careful to present all viewpoints in a way that takes into consideration the views of all – women, men, people of color, young and old, and those from various walks of life.

The opinions of columnists, editorial writers and other contributing writers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the collective attitude of the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley or The Empty Closet. The Empty Closet shall not be liable for any loss or expense that results from the publication (whether correctly or incorrectly) or omission of an ad. In the event of non-payment, your account may be assigned to a collection agency or an attorney, and will be liable for the charges paid by us to such collection agency or attorney.

Letters to the editor: The opinions of columnists, editorial writers and other contributing writers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the collective attitude of the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley or The Empty Closet. We will print letters at the editor’s discretion and on a space available basis. Only one letter by the same writer in a six-month period is allowed.

We will not print personal attacks on individuals, nor will we be a forum for ongoing disputes between individuals. We reserve the right to edit for space and clarity. We will print anonymous letters if the name and phone number are provided to the Editor; confidentiality will be respected.

Submissions are due by the 15th of the month at: The Empty Closet, 875 E. Main Street, Suite 500, Rochester, NY 14605; e-mail: emptycloset@gagv.us. The online edition of EC is available at www.gayalliance.org.

Bed & Breakfast

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the empty closet • the gay alliance of the genesee valley • number 468 • june 2013