Empty Closet, Dec 2014-Jan 2015

The Empty Closet

Gay Alliance Red Ball 2015 Puttin’ on the glitz

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NUMBER 485

A PUBLICATION OF THE GAY ALLIANCE

DEC-JAN 2015

LGBT Giving Circle awards $23,250 in grants, reaches $50,000 milestone Circle are extremely pleased to increase our philanthropic impact and our visibility in the community. This round we have awarded grants to a broad mix of social service and arts organizations that are either LGBTfocused or serve the community at large but are LGBT inclusive,” said Angela Bonazinga, co-chair of the Giving Circle.

The Giving Circle’s mission is to help make a real difference (LGBT continues page 6)

PHOTO: LORRAINE WOERNER-MCGOWAN

The LGBT Giving Circle awarded $23,250 in grants from its LGBT Fund for Greater Rochester to 13 nonprofit organizations, bringing the total of grants awarded in three years to $50,000.

Giving Circle members, guests and grantees attended a celebration on November 17 at Rochester Contemporary Art Center, where the new grants were formally announced.

“Members of the Giving

LGBT GIVING CIRCLE: The Gay Alliance received a grant to make Shoulders To Stand On documentary screenings available to local libraries. Above: Gay Alliance ED Scott Fearing, Evelyn Bailey of Shoulders To Stand On, Lauren Frank of the LGBT Giving Circle and Gay Alliance Board President David Zona.

THE GAY ALLIANCE APPRECIATES THE CONTINUING PARTNERSHIP OF BUSINESSES WITHIN OUR COMMUNITY WHO SUPPORT OUR MISSION AND VISION. OUR PLATINUM LEVEL PARTNERS ARE:

(PARTNERSHIPS CONTINUE ON PAGE 2)

states such as Florida on Election Night. They won seats in seemingly safe Democratic states like Illinois and Maryland in what can be described as an utter rout.

In Illinois, embattled Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn lost his bid for re-election against Bruce Rauner. Despite the state’s Democratic lean, Quinn faced an uphill battle as an unpopular governor who alienated both sides of the aisle by raising taxes and fighting public employee unions. Quinn lost every country outside of Chicago in a surprising loss. However, Quinn can hold his head high in one regard. It’s rare that an incumbent governor in Illinois leaves office without wearing handcuffs.

Perhaps the biggest upset of the night was in deep-blue Maryland, where Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown lost a shocker to Republican Larry Hogan. Hogan, who had never held elected office, won by five points over Brown in what had been assumed to be a safe Democratic state. In fact, Hogan is only the third Republican governor in the past 50 years.

Other conservative winners included Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, Florida’s Rick Scott, Kansas’ Sam Brownback, and Maine’s Paul LaPage.

Congress: Victory for Louise The Republican Party regained the majority in the US Senate, now holding 52 seats.

Democrats have 44 seats, while two remain Independent and caucus with Democrats.

The Republicans in the House of Representatives now boast a 244 to 184 margin over Democrats, with several seats still undecided at press time.

Locally, 15-term incumbent Rep. Louise Slaughter found herself in the middle of the biggest political challenge of her congressional career. Gates Town Supervisor Mark Assini challenged her in the race for the 25th District in Monroe County and the count was still too close to call on Election Night. While election officials continued to count absentee ballots in the following weeks, Slaughter opened up a clear statistical advantage and declared victory. That became official on Nov. 12.

In New York, the state will have several new members in the House of Representatives. State Senator Lee Zeldin defeated incumbent Democrat Timothy Bishop in the 1st Congressional District on Long Island, and Syracuse-area Congressman Dan Maffei was defeated by Republican challenger John Katko in the 24th District. Republican Elise Stefanik defeated Aaron Woolf and Matt Funiciello to replace retiring Democrat Bill Owens in the 21st District.

Statewide NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli was reelected and was the top vote-getter in the state, earning more votes than both Governor Cuomo and Attorney General Schneiderman. The Attorney General was also reelected.

(Mid-term continues page 6)

Inside

Miss Gay Rochester Page 10

PHOTO: JILL FRIER

#PRIDEINROC: When the Gay Alliance did a Speak Out training for Pittsford middle school teachers on Nov. 10, six of them volunteered to do PrideInRoc selfies. See www.gayalliance.org

By Ove Overmyer Even though the 2014 midterm election resulted in some crucial wins for out officials, most notably policymakers on Capitol Hill, it was a brutal night to be a Democrat.

However, all six pro-LGBT members of Congress who were endorsed by the Victory Fund will hold onto their seats for the next term -- Rep. Mark Takano of California, Rep. Jared Polis of Colorado, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island, and Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin all came out victorious.

Out candidates also broke new ground in Massachusetts, where Maura Healey became the first openly LGBT attorney general candidate ever elected in the United States. As she prepares to take office, Victory “looks forward to watching Healey continue to build a strong record of advocacy for our community.”

Pro-LGBT successes were not limited to the Northeast.

Idaho’s John McCrostie won his race for the state’s 16th House District, making him the state’s only openly gay official and ensuring that our community has an elected voice fighting for us in all 50 states.

Although several states and cities raised the minimum wage, Election Day saw a nationwide wave for Republican candidates, as the party gained a larger majority in governorships and the House of Representatives and wrested control of the U.S. Senate for the first time since the party lost its majority in the 2006 election.

Reminding us that the path to a more progressive America is often a difficult one, the night saw losses for moderate and proLGBT candidates and big wins for Conservatives all across the nation. Mike Michaud came up short in his race for the governorship of Maine, a difficult outcome that followed one of the hardest fought races the nation has ever seen.

While political pundits continue to spin the results, here are some facts -- the real story of the mid-terms elections was not about which candidates or political Party won or lost — the real story was once again the same as it was last year and what happened in 2010 — voters stayed home. In Monroe County, unofficial data from the Board of Elections suggests that only 43 percent of registered voters actually went to the polls on Election Day. Governors’ races Republicans didn’t just win statewide elections in safe red states like Arkansas or with imperiled incumbents in swing

PHOTO: OVE OVERMYER

Mid-term elections bring big wins for conservatives, some victories for pro-LGBTQ candidates

Editorials....................................... 2 Interview: Andy Rau..................... 7 Making the Scene......................10 Health: Blood donor....................16 LGBTQ Living: Holidays...............17 Shoulders To Stand On ...........21 Columnists ................................22 Community ................................25 Entertainment: Cinderella........27 Gay Alliance: Winter Light........30 Calendar.....................................34 Classifieds..................................34 Comics................................ 34, 35 The Gay Alliance is publisher of The Empty Closet, New York State’s oldest LGBTQ newspaper.

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015

Perspectives The Empty Closet Editor SUSAN JORDAN

A look back at 2014 The past year has been a pretty good one for the LGBTQ community in the U.S. (global gay rights is another story).

Marriage equality has advanced dramatically here.

Now over 60 percent of LGBTQ Americans in 36 states have the right to marry legally and see their love and families recognized as “real”.

The Supreme Court may have to resolve this issue, since the 6th Circuit Court rejected the overturn of four states’ bans in November. Will the Supremes establish marriage equality, or will they rule that the Right’s “religious freedom” to discriminate trumps our freedom and our civil and human rights? Stay tuned.

There’s a lot more on our agenda than marriage, although that is a wedge issue.

Once you admit that gay people are human beings capable of love and commitment, you can’t easily continue to discriminate against and dehumanize them.

But many other issues are equally important. For instance, ENDA, the national workplace protection bill, has been so watered down with religion-based exemptions as to be meaningless. Even so, the GOPdominated Congress will never allow ENDA onto the floor for a vote, much less pass it.

So right now things don’t look good for LGBTQ workplace protections, or for equal

pay and equal rights for women – 100 years after suffrage.

Transgender people have no anti-discrimination protections in NYS, where the Republican Party has kept GENDA off the Senate floor for a vote for seven years now. Apparently the GOP still feels that demonizing gender-variant and gay people is a vote-winner. That may change before long!

That’s because LGB people are more accepted now, and trans people became much more visible in 2014. Our area saw a huge increase in visibility when Kimberly and Beck cracked their ugly “jokes” and suddenly found themselves out of a job, as the Rochester community, including major advertisers, made it clear that they don’t support transphobia. K and B are back on the air, on another station, but it will probably be a long time before they trash trans people again.

Nationally, Laverne Cox has made transgender a familiar concept to millions of Americans, with her TV show, Emmy nomination, Time cover and interviews, and her many projects to increase trans visibility. See page 11 for a photo of Laverne at U.R. in October.

Violence continues to be a threat to all LGBTQ people, especially to trans women of color. The climate of violence in our culture seems to get worse all the time, incited by people like the pastor who says Starbucks puts “sodomitical” sperm in its lattes, the pastor who says an Ebola plague here would be good because it would kill off the gays, and the irresponsible extremists urging white working class men to pick up their guns and “take back our country” from “the blacks, gays and libtards” – presumably in order to replace democracy with a Taliban-like theocracy/plutocracy/police state.

Now 2014 is drawing to a close and here we are again at the season of love and compassion. Happy Holidays – oops, I mean Merry Christmas! Please don’t shoot! ■

Gay Alliance Board of Trustees David Zona, President, Jessica Muratore, Vice-President, W. Bruce Gorman, Secretary, Peter Mohr, Treasurer, Jason Barnecut, Chris Hilderbrant, Emily Jones, Jeff Lambert, William Schaefer

Gay Alliance Executive Director SCOTT FEARING

Pride in Rochester The holidays and the new year provide a great opportunity to pause and reflect on our lives and what we value. This year the Gay Alliance is celebrating the LGBTQ communities’ pride in our identities and in Rochester.

I hope that you have seen our social media campaign to gather pictures of our community at #PrideInRoc. For 42 years we have called Rochester home, and we know how great Rochester is on LGBTQ issues. Is it perfect? Of course not. However, I want to emphasize how proud the Gay Alliance is to be a part of Rochester, NY. Rochester’s national reputation as a LGBTQ welcoming place is growing. In recent months a number of studies have come out that show that Rochester is on its way to being a safe and welcoming place for all of our community members, at all stages of their lives.

In October the University of Rochester followed the City of Rochester by offering transition related health care to trans-identified employees. This means that two of the largest employers in the area provide trans-related healthcare. That is just the beginning; many other local employers are now updating their policies to become inclusive of gender alignment medical services for their employees.

Workplace protections don’t stop there, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF)

Name

Corporate Equality Index ranks employers on a number of items.

Many of our local employers show up as leaders on LGBTQ inclusion. They are walking the walk to ensure equity for their employees.

In early November, we faced historically low voter turnout on election day (I like to believe that every LGBTQ person voted), but, the same week, we also learned that the City of Rochester scored 100 points in HRCF’s 2014 Municipal Equality Index. (See Local/State News). Compare that score to the scores of other upstate cities: Buffalo=73, Syracuse=85 and Albany=84 and your Rochester pride can shine brightly!

Credit must be given to the bold leadership of Council member Matt Haag, Mayor Warren and the entire city council who made certain that policies were passed to ensure that our hometown achieved this remarkable score.

The University of Rochester Medicine’s Strong Memorial and F.F. Thompson Hospitals were named 2014 Leaders in the Healthcare Equality Index also created by the HRCF. These are the only western New York hospitals to earn this distinction!

Among the reasons noted for the recognition were the hospitals’ inclusion of the terms “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in their non-discrimination policy, as well as the development of a web page specifically for LGBT patients and a policy to provide equal visitation rights to LGBT patients and their families.

Congratulations go to The City of Rochester, as well as all of the local employers and health care providers who scored high in the various indexes. But the real congratulations go to you.

Inclusive policies don’t happen on their own. They don’t happen just because it is the “right thing to do”; these changes happen when people are out, visible and advocating for themselves or their friends and family members. So congratulations to each of you. By being proud, out and visible you make change happen.

So much has already been accomplished, who knows what else is possible. ■ 12-01/15

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Benefits: 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.

Gay Alliance partnerships continued from page 1

THANK YOU GOLD LEVEL

City of Rochester Absolut/Malibu

SILVER LEVEL 3 Olives Baccardi

Barefoot Wine Hedonist Artisan Chocolate John’s Tex Mex

BRONZE LEVEL Ameriprise Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Corning Inc. Equal Grounds Coffee House Harter Secrest and Emery LLP ImageOut Jaegermeister Kittleberger Florist and Gifts Labor Federation Macy’s New York Life Out and Equal NY Finger Lakes Outlandish Sky Vodka St. John Fisher Tompkins Enterprises Victory Alliance Wegmans Woods Oviatt Gilman LLP

CHAMPION LEVEL Mass Mutual of Buffalo Park Avenue Merchants Association Pride @Work Third Presbyterian Church The Woolbright Group HCR Home Care

DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

NewsFronts LOCAL AND STATE

Trans activist and author Leslie Feinberg passes at 65 in Syracuse Leslie Feinberg, who identified as an anti-racist white, working-class, secular Jewish, transgender, lesbian, female, revolutionary communist, died on Nov. 15. She succumbed to complications from multiple tickborne co-infections, including Lyme disease, babeisiosis, and protomyxzoa rheumatica, after decades of illness.

She died at home in Syracuse with her partner and spouse of 22 years, Minnie Bruce Pratt, at her side. Her last words were: “Remember me as a revolutionary communist.”

Feinberg was the first theorist to advance a Marxist concept of “transgender liberation,” and her work impacted popular culture, academic research, and political organizing.

Her historical and theoretical writing has been widely anthologized and taught in the U.S. and international academic circles. Her impact on mass culture was primarily through her 1993 first novel, Stone Butch Blues, widely considered in and outside the U.S. as a groundbreaking work about the complexities of gender. Sold by the hundreds of thousands of copies and also passed from hand-tohand inside prisons, the novel has been translated into Chinese, Dutch, German, Italian, Slovenian, Turkish, and Hebrew (with her earnings from that edition going to ASWAT Palestinian Gay Women).

In a statement at the end of her life, she said she had “never been in search of a common umbrella identity, or even an umbrella term, that brings together people of oppressed sexes, gender expressions, and sexualities” and added that she believed in the right of selfdetermination of oppressed individuals, communities, groups, and nations.

She preferred to use the pronouns she/zie and her/hir for herself, but also said: “I care which pronoun is used, but people have been disrespectful to me with the wrong pronoun and respectful with the right one.

It matters whether someone is

using the pronoun as a bigot, or if they are trying to demonstrate respect.”

Feinberg was born September 1, 1949, in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in Buffalo in a working-class Jewish family.

At age 14, she began supporting herself by working in the display sign shop of a local department store, and eventually stopped going to her high school classes, though officially she received her diploma. It was during this time that she entered the social life of the Buffalo gay bars. She moved out of a biological family hostile to her sexuality and gender expression, and to the end of her life carried legal documents that made clear they were not her family.

Discrimination against her as a transgender person made it impossible for her to get steady work. She earned her living for most of her life through a series of low-wage temp jobs, including working in a PVC pipe factory and a book bindery, cleaning out ship cargo holds and washing dishes, serving as ASL interpreter, and doing medical data inputting.

In her early twenties Feinberg met Workers World Party at a demonstration for Palestinian land rights and self-determination. She soon joined WWP through its founding Buffalo branch.

After moving to New York City, she participated in numerous mass organizing campaigns by the Party over the years, including many anti-war, prolabor rallies. In 1983-1984 she embarked on a national tour about AIDS as a denied epidemic. She was a key organizer in the December 1974 March Against Racism in Boston, a campaign against white supremacist attacks on African-American adults and schoolchildren in the city. Feinberg led a group of 10 lesbian-identified people, including several from South Boston, on an all-night “paste up” of South Boston, covering every visible racist epithet.

Feinberg was one of the organizers of the 1988 mobilization in Atlanta that re-routed the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan as they tried to march down Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave., on MLK Day. When anti-abortion groups descended on Buffalo in

1992 and again in 1998-1999 with the murder there of Dr. Barnard Slepian, Feinberg returned to work with Buffalo United for Choice and its Rainbow Peacekeepers, which organized community self-defense for local LGBTQ+ bars and clubs as well as the women’s clinic.

A WW journalist since 1974, Feinberg was the editor of the Political Prisoners page of Workers World newspaper for 15 years, and became a managing editor in 1995. She was a member of the National Committee of the Party.

From 2004-2008 Feinberg’s writing on the links between socialism and LGBT history, “Lavender & Red,” ran as a 120part series in Workers World newspaper. Her most recent book, Rainbow Solidarity in Defense of Cuba, was an edited selection of that series.

Feinberg authored two other non-fiction books, Transgender Warriors: Making History and Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue, as well as a second novel, Drag King Dreams.

Feinberg was a member of the National Writers Union, Local 1981, and of Pride at Work, an AFL-CIO constituency group.

She received an honorary doctorate from the Starr King School for the Ministry for her transgender and social justice work, and was the recipient of numerous other awards, including the Lambda Literary Award and the American Library Association Gay and Lesbian Book Award.

During a period when diseases would not allow her to read, write, or talk, Feinberg continued to communicate through art. Picking up a camera for the first time, she posted thousands of pictures on Flickr, including “The Screened-In Series,” a disability-art class-conscious documentary of her Hawley-Green neighborhood photographed entirely from behind the windows of her apartment.

Diagnosed with Lyme and multiple tick-borne co-infections in 2008, Feinberg was infected first in the early 1970s when little was known about the diseases. She had received treatment for these only within the last six years. She said, “My experience in ILADS care offers great hope to desperately-ill people who are in earlier stages of tick-borne diseases.”

She attributed her catastrophic health crisis to “bigotry, prejudice and lack of science”— active prejudice toward her transgender identity that made access to health care exceedingly difficult, and lack of science in limits placed by mainstream medical authorities on information, treatment, and research about Lyme and its co-infections. She blogged online about these issues in “Casualty of an Undeclared War.” At the time of her death she was preparing a 20th anniversary edition of Stone Butch Blues.

She worked up to within a few days of her death to prepare the edition for free access, reading, and download from on-line. In addition to the text of the novel, the on-line edition will contain a slideshow, “This Is What Solidarity Looks Like,” documenting the breadth of the organizing campaign to free CeCe McDonald, a young Minneapolis (trans) woman organizer and activist sent to prison for defending herself against a white neo-Nazi

3 attacker. The new edition is dedicated to McDonald. (See p. 11) A devoted group of friends is continuing to work to post Feinberg’s final writing and art online at Lesliefeinberg.net.

- The Advocate The Advocate noted: Though we have often used “he” in reference to Feinberg at The Advocate, we recognize that this obituary was written by Feinberg’s wife, Minnie Bruce Pratt, while at the author’s bedside. Thus we are using her preferred pronouns here, despite our previous reporting.

Excellus gets perfect score on HRC Index Excellus BlueCross BlueShield received a perfect score of 100 percent on the 2015 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a national benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to workplace equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees, administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield joins the ranks of 366 major U.S. businesses which also earned top marks this year.

“We are proud to be recognized by the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index for our company’s progressiveness with respect to equal treatment of our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) employees and their families,” said Joseph Searles, corporate director of diversity and workforce inclusion, Excellus BCBS. “Our presence and support of the LGBTQ community overall also contributed to this achievement for which we are honored.”

The 2015 CEI rated 971 businesses in the report, which evaluates LGBT-related policies and practices including non-discrimination workplace protections, transgender-inclusive health care benefits, competency programs, and public engagement with the LGBT community.

Excellus BlueCross BlueShield’s efforts in satisfying all of the CEI’s criteria resulted in a 100 percent ranking and the designation as a Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality.

For more information on the 2015 Corporate Equality Index, or to download a free copy of the report, visit www.hrc.org/cei.

Pride at Work AFLCIO presents at NYSUT in Albany On Oct. 25 Pride at Work AFL-CIO Rochester Finger Lakes Chapter was invited to Albany by the New York State Union of Teachers (NYSUT) to present to an LGBTQ Educator Taskforce examining the workplace status and concerns of LGBTQ educators, school related staff and higher education professionals.

The teachers union task force will look at the status of members as to on-the-job openness and impediments to full and equal access to union services, benefits and protections. In order to promote recognition of these employees’ concerns the task force will produce a plan to educate, advocate and promulgate information within the union. This will include provid-

ing training at the union presidents’ level, as well as developing “new-member” union materials.

This taskforce will gather data, provide support to union Locals and make recommendations for further action to NYSUT statewide leadership in 2015.

Pride at Work AFL-CIO’s presentation focused on obstacles encountered in getting LGBTQ member involvement, owing to the unique challenges posed by hostile anti-gay environments which result in worker “closeting” on the job. The P@W chapter’s “organizing best practices” were shared as a successful roadmap to how the chapter became fully integrated and respected within the Rochester labor community. The topics of coming out, visibility and creating safe workplaces highlighted the discussion of full inclusion in the workplace for LGBTQ educators.

Shauna O’Toole talks about her journey to come out as transgender

By Eileen Fay On Nov. 1, Rochester kicked off Transgender Remembrance Month with a talk by local activist Shauna Marie O’Toole at Open Arms Metropolitan Community Church. A natural storyteller, Shauna related her own journey within the context of the trans* community’s struggle for equality and understanding across the nation.

Shauna vividly recalls the moment she entered the closet.

As a young child, she took her mother’s good dress and was sternly reprimanded for doing something very bad and very wrong. In the 1960s LGBTQ people were considered mentally ill by the medical establishment and portrayed as deranged or criminal by the media.

A trans woman at the time would have been diagnosed as a “homosexual with transvestite tendencies.” Still, throughout her life there were hints: a photography buff in high school, Shauna took a secret self-portrait as a girl. “There was a girl in that picture,” she affirms. She made a single print and destroyed it shortly afterwards.

Shauna nevertheless followed the conventional life plan and got married and had two children. Decades of silence ended on Halloween 2003, when Shauna decided to attend a costume party as a woman. “You can either go as passable,” she says, “or you can go as a parody.”

Shauna opted for the former.

After an hours-long session with a hairdresser friend, “I saw a woman staring back at me.” At the party, her wife took one look, walked out, and never looked back.

Shauna’s subsequent transition reflects the experiences of many trans* people across the country: rejection from church, alienation from family, loss of employment, a fall into poverty, and bouts of suicidal depression. In June 2006, Shauna and her wife separated and she started HRT, which sent her into “Puberty 2.0.” A high school science teacher in Sodus Point, Shauna was forcibly outed to the public when staff members from her school alerted the local news station, which sent a camera (Shauna continue page 6)

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015

NewsFronts

year on a technicality were to be reinstated. Some insiders suspect that Museveni orchestrated the overturn of the anti-gay legislation as the court’s ruling came just days before a Washington DC summit of African nations.

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL Supremes deny S.C. stay, court strikes down Montana marriage ban On Nov. 20 the U.S. Supreme Court denied South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson’s request for an emergency stay on the federal ruling striking down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

South Carolina NBC station WIS10 reports: …Seven of nine… justices denied the stay, but Justices Antonin Scalia and Justice Clarence Thomas said they would hear it.

Same-sex marriage applications began at noon Nov. 20 (even though at least one probate judge had jumped the gun and already begun marrying gay couples in the state.)

Read more: http://www.towleroad. com/#ixzz3Jd0zIH5M Montana marriages begin Gay couples began marrying in Montana after a federal judge struck down the state’s gay marriage ban on Nov. 19. The first marriage license to a gay couple was issued in Cascade County to Tonya and Angie Rolando, one of four couples who were plaintiffs in the case challenging the ban.

The Missoulian reports that couples have begun marrying there as well: Leslie Burgess and Serena Early have wed in the Missoula County Courthouse…. Five minutes later, Ally Logan and Carolyn Jones became the second couple to wed. The two said they had waited 10 years for this day.

Read more: http://www.towleroad. com/#ixzz3Jd8hMwHM

2000 police guard 100 Montenegro Pride marchers

By Darren Wee on gaystarnews.com The second Podgorica Pride took place without incident on Nov. 3 in the capital of deeply conservative Montenegro despite fears of violence.

The 100 marchers were outnumbered 100 to one by 2,000 policemen, nearly half of the Balkan country’s force.

Activists walked past the government buildings in central Podgorica, waving banners reading “Traditionally Proud,” “Silence = Death” and “This is Just the Beginning.”

Human Rights Minister Suad Numanovic, Podgorica Mayor Slavoljub Stijepanovic and several EU ambassadors joined the march.

“I am the happiest man in the world today!” said organizer Daniel Kalezic, president of Queer Montenegro.

“This year we had better cooperation with the authorities.”

The first Podgorica Pride in June last year was attacked by 500 mostly football hooligans, hurling rocks and bottles.

Twenty policemen were injured and 60 protesters were detained….

“LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people in Montenegro still live in fear because of social resentment,” Kalezic told AFP. “I’m happy that today we were able to march for those who could not.”

- See more at: http://www. gaystarnews.com/article/policeoutnumber-marchers-montenegropride031114#sthash.5Yj6gHF8.dpuf

Uganda’s at it again: more hate laws on the way despite boycott Via the Guardian: The Ugandan government could introduce new wide-reaching anti-gay laws before the end of the year, which could see people jailed for up to seven years for “promoting homosexuality”, activists warned on Nov. 8.

The move comes nearly a year after Ugandan politicians passed legislation that could have imposed life sentences on gays. The bill was struck down by the constitutional court on a technicality.

According to a leaked copy of the new draft law, MPs have instead focused on outlawing the “promotion” of homosexuality – a potentially far more repressive and wide-reaching measure.

Frank Mugisha, leading gay-rights activist, said: “People don’t realize that the ‘promotion’ part of it will affect everybody. If newspapers report about homosexuality it could be seen as promotion. My Twitter account could be seen as promotion. All human rights groups that include LGBT rights defense in their activities could be accused of promotion.”

According to the draft, anyone convicted of “promoting” homosexuality would be liable to seven years in prison.

“We have confirmed that the draft comes from the cabinet. Their plan is to present it to parliament as soon as possible, before the end of the year,” Mugisha said.

Last month Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said that his nation risks a trade boycott by western corporations if the anti-gays laws struck down earlier this

level.”

Healey lives with her partner in Charlestown.

- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews. com/article/massachusetts-voters-electmaura-healey-first-openly-lesbian-attorney-general-us051114#sthash.ax4onsU4. dpuf

Supreme Court denies stay on Kansas marriages, but where does ruling apply?

Maura Healey

Massachusetts elects first lesbian (or gay) Attorney General

By Andrew Potts on gaystarnews.com Photo by Edahlpr Massachusetts Democrat Maura Healey made history (on Nov. 4), becoming the first gay or lesbian person in the United States to become an attorney general.

Healey was previously the state’s assistant attorney general to Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and in 2013 announced she would run to replace her boss in 2014.

Healey was successful in a Democratic primary contest to be her party’s candidate for the job, comfortably defeating former Democratic state senator Warren Tolman by a margin of 62.4 percent to 37.6 percent.

On Nov. 4 the voters of Massachusetts had their say about who should be their next attorney general and chose Healey over her Republican rival John Miller when they went to the polls.

Healey played a leading role in her state’s court challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act that banned federal recognition of same-sex relationships and lead the winning argument against the law.

“I’m so proud to be standing here as your next Attorney General. I will give it everything I’ve got every day,” Healey said, following her win. “As Attorney General I’m going to be your lawyer. I’m going to be your advocate.”

Healey’s win has been hailed by the group EMILY’s List, a political action committee that supports pro-choice Democratic women candidates. The group’s president Stephanie Schriock told the Huffington Post that the voters of Massachusetts had elected a “progressive champion.

“Maura has spent years fighting to expand rights and freedoms for women and families in Massachusetts. And now with the help of the EMILY’s List community – three million members strong – she can take that leadership to the next

Via the Associated Press: The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request on Nov. 12 from Kansas to prevent gay and lesbian couples from marrying while the state fights the issue in court.

Anti-gay Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says that the pro-marriage equality decision applies only in Douglas, a northeastern Kansas county, and Sedgwick, in south-central Kansas, where the court clerks are defendants. The American Civil Liberties Union contends the ruling applies in all 105 counties. On Nov. 18 the Kansas Supreme Court added Johnson County.

The legal situation in Kansas is complicated by another case before the Kansas Supreme Court, which Schmidt filed last month. He persuaded the Kansas court to block marriage licenses for same-sex couples, at least while his case is heard.

Marriage licenses in Kansas are issued by district court clerks’ offices after a mandatory three-day wait. In Johnson County, Court Clerk Sandra McCurdy said about 70 applications from same-sex couples are pending. “Until I hear something from the Kansas Supreme Court, I’m not issuing any marriage licenses,” McCurdy said.

Lyle Denniston writes at SCOTUSblog: The Court has issued a series of orders in same-sex marriage cases over the past eleven months, but the Kansas order marked the first time that members of the Court had recorded dissents. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas noted only that they would have granted the delay sought by the Kansas attorney general.

Kansas officials had attempted to show that their case was different from others that the Supreme Court had chosen to leave undisturbed, arguing that the federal judge’s order was an invalid attempt to second-guess a Kansas Supreme Court order delaying the issuance of same-sex marriages. The federal judge had rejected that claim, but it may have been the one that drew the implied support of Justices Scalia and Thomas. The state still has an appeal pending at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, but that has little promise, because that appeals court has struck down bans in two other states in its region — Oklahoma and Utah. The Supreme Court refused to review those Tenth Circuit rulings on Oct. 6. The Kansas ban is almost identi-

DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET cal to those in other states.

BACKGROUND: In a 38-page decision, U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree, an Obama appointee, issued on Nov. 4 a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of the Kansas law prohibiting of marriage rights for same-sex couples.

The injunction is warranted, Crabtree writes, because of legal precedent and because state officials defending the law haven’t made a sufficient case they would prevail in court.

“Because Kansas’ constitution and statutes indeed do what Kitchen forbids, the Court concludes that Kansas’ samesex marriage ban violates the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution,” Crabtree writes. “Accordingly, the Court grants plaintiffs’ request for preliminary relief and enters the injunction described at the end of this Order.”

The ruling was temporarily stayed until 5 p.m. CT on Nov. 11.

Philly to mark 50th anniversary of gay protest on July 4 A group from the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus performed on Nov. 6 at a press conference to announce the city’s plan to celebrate the 50th anniversary of an annual LGBT rights event that launched in 1965.

Via press release: With Independence Hall as the backdrop, plans were unveiled at a press conference for the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the LGBT civil rights movement at Independence Hall on July 4, 2015. The 50th Anniversary festivities from Thursday, July 2 to Sunday, July 5 include panels, LGBT history exhibits, parties, a festival and special events with the highlight the 50th Anniversary Celebration on a large stage in front of Independence Hall on Saturday, July 4.

Participating in the press conference were Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Equality Forum Executive Director Malcolm Lazin, Independence National Historical Park Superintendent Cynthia MacLeod, Visit Philly President Meryl Levitz, and subsets of the Los Angeles and Philadelphia Gay Men’s Choruses. Equality Forum is the organizing committee of

the 50th Anniversary Celebration. Independence National Historical Park has issued a permit for activities on Independence Mall on July 4, 2015, for the 50th Anniversary Celebration and will join the celebration on Independence Square.

The LGBT civil rights movement began when activists from New York, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia protested for equality each Fourth of July from 1965 to 1969 in front of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. It was the first time that activists from more than one city openly identified as gay and called for equality. The demonstrations, which were called “Annual Reminders,” were spearheaded by Washington’s Frank Kameny and Philadelphia’s Barbara Gittings. Kameny and Gittings are recognized as the father and mother of the LGBT civil rights movement.

for 60 per cent of the country’s 30 million people.

Under state Islamic laws, men dressing or acting as women is punishable by up to three years in jail. Some Malaysian states also outlaw cross-dressing by women.

Aston Paiva, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said the ruling could be used to challenge any arrest of transgender people throughout Malaysia. “It’s quite historic... This will be a precedent... This court binds all other high courts,” Paiva said.

Malaysia continues to criminalize homosexuality under laws that go back to its time as a British colony.

Philly approves hate crimes law; GOP keeps hate in the state

On Nov. 6 the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati became the first federal appellate court in over a year to rule against the freedom to marry.

The ruling overturned lower court decisions out of Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan, all of which found that denying marriage to gay couples is unconstitutional. The 6th Circuit’s decision is in conflict with favorable marriage rulings in virtually every court up until this point, including the 4th, 7th, 9th, and 10th circuits and a strong majority of the American people.

Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, released the following statement: “Today’s ruling is completely out of step with the Supreme Court’s clear signal last month, out of step with the constitutional command as recognized by nearly every state and federal court in the past year, and out of step with the majority of the American people. This anomalous ruling won’t stand the test of time or appeal. But with discrimination still burdening too many families, and now with this split in the circuits, Freedom to Marry calls on the Supreme Court to swiftly take these cases, affirm the freedom to marry, and bring national resolution once and for all. American couples and their families should no longer be forced to fight court by court, state by state, day by day for the freedom and dignity that our Constitution promises.”

Once the pro-marriage rulings from the 4th, 7th, 9th, and 10th Circuits are fully implemented, same-sex couples will have the freedom to marry in 35 states plus the District of Columbia, representing 64 percent of the American people.

And already, as of last month, a majority of Americans live in a freedom to marry state.

ACLU will ask Supreme Court to rule The ACLU has announced its plans to appeal the anti-equality Sixth Circuit ruling to the Supreme Court.

Said Chase Strangio, staff attorney in the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project [via statement]: “This decision is an outlier that’s incompatible with the 50 other rulings

Via the Philadelphia Inquirer: City Council unanimously approved a measure on Oct. 30 that would make it a crime to harm someone because of sexual orientation, gender identity, or disabilities.

The proposal was triggered by the Sept. 11 assault on a gay couple in Center City. In that case, police arrested three people but could not charge them with a hate crime because neither state law nor the city code makes it a crime to harm someone because of sexual orientation.

The measure approved Oct. 30, and expected to be signed into law by Mayor Nutter, calls for up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $2,000 for crimes committed against a person because of sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

A similar bill remains stalled in the state legislature due to GOP obstruction.

-JoeMyGod.com

Malaysian trans women see major victory Three Malaysian transgender women have won a landmark civil rights case. Via Agence France-Presse: A three-judge appeals court panel ruled that a state provision that bars Muslim men from dressing as women was unconstitutional, saying it “deprives the appellants of the right to live with dignity”.

“It has the effect of denying the appellants and other sufferers of GID (gender identify disorder) to move freely in public places... This is degrading, oppressive and inhuman,” judge Hishamudin Yunus said.

The verdict overturns a 2012 lower court ruling, which had dismissed the challenge by the three appellants -- Muslims who were born male but identify as women -- over their arrest four years ago under the law in southern Negri Sembilan state. Malaysia has a double track court system with state Islamic laws governing civil matters for Muslims, who account

6th Circuit Court rules against marriage equality; ACLU appeals to Supreme Court

5 that uphold fairness for all families, as well as with the Supreme Court’s decision to let marriage equality rulings stand in Indiana, Wisconsin, Utah, Oklahoma, and Virginia. It is shameful and wrong that John Arthur’s death certificate may have to be revised to list him as single and erase his husband’s name as his surviving spouse. We believe it’s wholly unconstitutional to deny same sex couples and their families access to the rights and respect that all other families receive. We will be filing for Supreme Court review right away and hope that through this deeply disappointing ruling we will be able to bring a uniform rule of equality to the entire country.”

Read more: http://www.towleroad. com/#ixzz3IOMveqFG NOTE: This means that the Supreme Court may in fact take up the marriage equality case, with a decision in June.

Detroit Free Press condemns ruling “If ever there were a sign that the U.S. Supreme Court needed to weigh in, forcefully, to tip the federal balance in favor of fairness and equality, this was it... In many ways, the Sixth Circuit ruling reads like a last gasp for historical bigotry and close-mindedness. The high court would be right to put Judges Jeffrey Sutton and Deborah Cook -- the opinion’s authors -in their place by saying so.

“The Sixth Circuit lamented the ‘prejudice’ gay people have experienced in this country, but incredibly concluded that same-sex marriage bans are disconnected to animus or hostility. The logic is tortured, wrong and sickening.

“The Supreme Court is the only remaining remedy for the Sixth Circuit’s indulgence of bigotry and elevation of inequality over justice.

“The sooner the court can act, the better.”

-The editorial board of the Detroit Free Press

Bangladesh trans women stage first Pride march on Nov. 10

By Darren Wee on gaystarnews.com Photo via Bandhu Social Welfare Society/Twitter More than 1,000 transgender women staged Bangladesh’s first ever pride parade Nov. 10 to mark one year since the government recognized them as a third gender.

The colorful hijras, as transgender women are known in the conservative Muslim country, brought the busy roads of Dhaka to a standstill with their singing and dancing.

They unfurled a huge Bangladeshi flag and carried banners, one of which read, “The days of stigma, discrimination and fear are over.”

“I never dreamt that I would see this day in my life,” Sonali, 25, told AFP. “We are stigmatized everywhere. We are discriminated against. We are laughed at just because we do not feel like a man or woman. But today is different. We feel (Bangladesh continues page 13)

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PAGE ONE (Mid-term from page 1) Governor Andrew Cuomo won his reelection bid, collecting 53 percent of the vote. Republican candidate Rob Astorino collected nearly 40 percent of the vote, while Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins received almost five percent. Again, turnout was extraordinarily low across the state. Cuomo could become the first Governor to win an election with less than two million votes since Franklin Delano Roosevelt was reelected in 1930.

In Monroe County, Astorino beat Cuomo by just less than two points, 48.2 percent to 46.6 percent.

State Senate Republicans gained sole control of the State Senate. In the Hudson Valley, Dr. Terrence Murphy defeated Justin Wagner to win the seat held by Republican Senator Greg Ball, who did not seek reelection.

In western New York, Rob Ortt defeated Johnny Destino to replace retiring Senator George Maziarz.

Three incumbent upstate Democrats were also defeated. Sue Serino defeated incumbent Terry Gipson in the Hudson Valley, George Amedore defeated incumbent Cecilia Tkaczyk in the Capital Region-Hudson Valley, and Rich Funke defeated incumbent Ted O’Brien in Rochester.

The sole loss for Republicans came in Buffalo, where Senator Mark Grisanti finished third in the race for the 60th Senate District after losing to Kevin Stocker in the Republican Primary. Grisanti was running on the Independence Party line.

Democrat Marc Panepinto won the election.

Republicans now hold 32 seats in the chamber. It is not yet known whether Democrat Simcha Felder, who has caucused with the Republicans for the past two years, will continue to do so. Also unknown is the fate of the five-member Independent Democratic Conference.

State Assembly: Bronson victory The Democratic majority in the State Assembly grew to at least 104 of the chamber’s 150 seats, with a few races still too close to call. Rochester area Assembly member Harry Bronson easily won his third term in office for the 138th District, holding off his challenger by almost 13 percentage points.

See Newsfronts, page 13 for more on national elections. ■

(LGBT from page 1) in the quality of life across the Rochester region, for LGBT individuals and for the community at large.

The 13 organizations receiving grants that were approved by the Circle membership were Alternatives for Battered Women: To increase awareness of LGBT intimate partner violence (IPV) and of ABW as a Safe Zone to support IPV victims through the development of print materials, website, and social media presence. $1,800.

Center for Dispute Settlement: To recruit volunteer mediators from the LGBT community in Monroe, Ontario, Wayne, Livingston, Seneca, and Yates counties to participate in the agency core training principles of mediation. $2,000.

Center for the Finger Lakes: To expand a youth program, piloted in 2013 in the Geneva schools, that incorporates administrative, teacher, and staff training, as well as technical support for students who want to start a Gay-Straight Alliance in three schools. Culminates with school climate surveys. $2,000.

Center for Teen Empowerment: To support the June 2015 Youth Peace Initiative in southwest Rochester that will engage LGBT youth among the 500 participants. $2,000.

Chances and Changes of Livingston County’s Coalition of Sexual Health: To

THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015 establish a monthly youth Gay-Straight Alliance support group that will provide professional speakers and experts and work towards acceptance by the broader community. $1,800.

Gandhi Institute: To work with seventh- and eighth-grade students at the Rochester City School District’s Northwest College Prep to provide them with tools related to internal and interpersonal applications of nonviolence and increase skills for managing conflict. $2,000.

Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley: To increase knowledge of regional LGBT history and issues by promoting and screening the Shoulders to Stand On documentary and holding a panel discussion or other interpretive programming at a public library in Monroe County and at one regional location. $1,000.

Gay Alliance Executive Director Scott Fearing said, “It is so helpful to have a dedicated group of individuals in Rochester who set a standard of philanthropy within the LGBT community. This grant from the LGBT Giving Circle will allow us to complete important outreach and education that without this support, we would not be able to accomplish.”

Geva Theatre Center: To diversify the social offerings available to members of LGBTQ organizations through “Out at GEVA” events that encourage communication and cooperation among organizations. $2,000.

HCR Cares: To develop materials, conduct, and document “Can We Talk” train-the-trainer workshops that will improve the awareness of and empathy for LGBT persons among health care professionals and lead to better health outcomes. $2,000.

ImageOut: To help support film rentals for the 2015 festival. $2,000.

Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus: To support the development of an original musical composition based on LGBT experiences, which would be performed in 2015. $2,000.

Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender and Women’s Studies: To support “Out at Work,” a new day-long initiative that will address issues faced by LGBTQI undergraduates and graduate students when choosing, applying to, and attending graduate school and those in the community who work in professional jobs. $1,500.

21st Century Fund: To support Rochester Area Community Foundation’s anti-poverty efforts to increase awareness of the concentration of poverty and its impact on the community at large. $1,150 The LGBT Giving Circle, established in October 2011 at Rochester Area Community Foundation, has 60 member households. Annual membership contributions are evenly split between grantmaking for the upcoming year and an endowment to meet future needs.

For more information on the LGBT Giving Circle, visit www.racf.org/LGBT.

LOCAL AND STATE (Shauna from page 3) crew to interview students. Her daughter found out from her friends.

“Murphy was an optimist,” Shauna observes dryly. She was informed by the school district that they were under no obligation to support her and was eventually placed on an impossible teacher improvement plan. She resigned in 2011.

On the bright side, Shauna has high praise for her current employer, Wegmans, where she works in the Sub Shop.

Before she started, Wegmans went out of its way to ensure that proper diversity protocols were in place, as she was their first trans* employee. Originally a parttime side job, it sustained her through a period where she was surviving on $10 of food per week. She started out behind the scenes but today works at the front counter and notes that she is the first openly trans* person many customers have ever met.

Though Shauna’s story has a happy ending – she recovered financially, remarried, and is now studying to become a counselor for LGBTQ teens – many in the trans* community are not so lucky.

In 2007 a report – statistically valid and heavily footnoted – was released by the National Transgender Discrimination Survey.

Aptly entitled “Injustice at Every Turn,” the document (available online) is a veritable litany of oppression and inequality. 78 percent of transgender teens report bullying and harassment at the hands of both peers and school personnel, while 90 percent of trans* adults report harassment on the job. The “combination of anti-transgender bias and persistent, structural racism [is] especially devastating,” with transgender African-Americans consistently faring the worst in just about every area. Trans* people in general are four times more likely to have a household income under $10,000 and 55 percent of those who are homeless reported harassment at the hands of shelter staff and fellow residents. 41 percent of the trans* community has attempted suicide, compared to only 1.6 percent of the general population.

Although Rochester, Buffalo, New York City, and Albany have legal protections in place, discrimination against trans* folk remains legal at the state level and indeed throughout most of the country. The Gender Expression NonDiscrimination Act – the gender-based counterpart of SONDA – has passed the New York State Assembly seven times yet the State Senate refuses to hear it.

For Shauna, the fall in social status from that of an affluent, educated white male to the “mud that the social ladder is built upon” has been a staggering blow, yet also a powerful motivation for her current activism.

In fact, she recently announced plans to run for the 55th NYS senate seat in 2016.

HCR Home Care is a leader in LGBT healthcare equality

On Oct. 16, HCR Home Care announced that it has been recognized as a leader in LGBT healthcare equality by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation.

The HRC Foundation recognized HCR in its Healthcare Equality Index 2014, an annual survey that encourages equal care for LGBT Americans and recognizes healthcare institutions doing the best work.

HCR Home Care earned top marks in meeting non-discrimination and training criteria that demonstrate its commitment to equitable, inclusive care for LGBT patients and their families, who can face significant challenges in securing the quality health care and respect they deserve.

“HCR is proud to be named as a leader in LGBT healthcare equality,” said HCR Home Care President Elizabeth Zicari.

“The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s recognition is a testament to our company’s commitment to the LGBT community and to the outstanding work of our clinicians and staff to care for all patients equally.”

To achieve this recognition, HCR Home Care met key criteria, including patient and employee non-discrimination policies that specifically mention sexual orientation and gender identity, a guarantee of equal visitation for same-sex partners and parents, and LGBT health education for key staff members.

“Leaders in LGBT Healthcare Equality change the lives of LGBT patients and their families for the better each and every day,” said Chad Griffin, HRC president.

“LGBT people should be treated equally in all aspects of our lives, and HRC celebrates HCR Home Care for its tireless work to create an inclusive and welcoming environment for all patients.”

For more information about the

Healthcare Equality Index 2014, or to download a free copy of the report, visit hrc.org/hei.

Rochester scores high points on HRC city Equality Index The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights organization, on Nov. 12 released its third annual report assessing LGBT equality in 353 cities across the nation, including seven in New York. Rochester, along with New York City, achieved the highest possible score – 100 points.

The 2014 Municipal Equality Index (MEI), the only nationwide rating system of LGBT inclusion in municipal law and policy, shows that cities across the country, including in New York, continue to take the lead in supporting LGBT people and workers, even when states and the federal government have not.

The average score for cities in New York is 85 out of 100 points, which falls above the national average of 59. Albany: 84, Buffalo: 73, New York: 100, Northwest Harbor: 65, Rochester: 100 (the highest possible score), Syracuse: 85, Yonkers: 87.

Rochester rates perfect in non-discrimination laws; relationship recognition; law enforcement and relationship with LGBT community. On municipal employment, Rochester rates 26 out of 29 and in municipal services 11 out of 15.

“From Mississippi to Idaho, midsize cities and small towns have become the single greatest engine of progress for LGBT equality--changing countless lives for the better,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “In just three years, the number of municipalities earning top marks for their treatment of LGBT citizens has more than tripled. Simply put, in this country there is an ongoing race to the top to treat all people, including LGBT people, fairly under the law, and it’s time our state and federal laws caught up.”

“In many municipalities, local leaders are taking important steps to provide LGBT people with the protections and security not available at the state or federal level. And because of this leadership, many cities and counties are emerging as welcoming communities where LGBT people are treated with the dignity and respect they’ve always deserved,” said Rebecca Issacs, Executive Director of Equality Federation. “Municipal victories are fueling the movement for equality in states across this nation. The Municipal Equality Index is a terrific tool to help spur those victories along and celebrate the cities who have worked so hard to get us to this point.”

“We’re so proud to live in a state that leads the way on LGBT inclusivity and often serves as a beacon whose light shines on the rest of the country, and helps drive social change more globally,” said Empire State Pride Agenda Executive Director Nathan M. Schaefer. “For all the progress we’ve made, though, much work remains, especially when it comes to securing basic civil rights for transgender New Yorkers. We’re committed to fighting until all LGBT New Yorkers and our families have full equality and justice under the law.”

Key findings contained in the MEI, issued in partnership with the Equality Federation, provide a revealing snapshot of LGBT equality in 353 municipalities of varying sizes, and from every state in the nation. The cities researched for the 2014 MEI include the 50 state capitals, the 200 most populous cities in the country, the four largest cities in every state, the city home to each state’s largest public university, and an equal mix of 75 of the nation’s large, mid-size and small municipalities with the highest proportion of same-sex couples.

Thirty-eight cities earned perfect 100point scores, up from 25 in 2013 and 11 in 2012, the first year of the MEI. New York City and Rochester earned a 100point score, helping to set a standard (Rochester continues page 12)

DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

Interview The “eyes and ears” of Rochester’s LGBT community in City government: Liaison Andreas Rau

By Adam Young As Executive Assistant and LGBT Liaison to the mayor, Andreas Rau’s main role is to keep issues of the LGBT community on the radar of city government.

Acting as the “eyes and ears” of LGBT Rochesterians, issues brought to light in city government include AIDS awareness, causes of the Empire State Pride Agenda, and even the cultural awareness of the ImageOut Film Festival, Rau said.

According to Rau, the ultimate goal is “real equality” for all citizens. Rau wants the public to “not even think twice” when they see gay people walking down the street holding hands. Although efforts to achieve equality can always be improved, Rau attributed much of the recent prog-

ress to Mayor Lovely Warren, including insurance coverage for transgender city employees. Rau noted that Mayor Warren is the one who wanted the position of LGBT liaison filled to represent the interests of the LGBT community. “Rochester is a progressive city. She wants everyone to be whole… not just isolated segments.

[LGBT people are] just like everyone else,” Rau said.

According to the city’s website at www. cityofrochester.gov, insurance coverage for transgender city employees will include medical and psychological counseling, and hormone therapy, as well as cosmetic and reconstructive surgeries for employees enrolled in the “enhanced” option. The coverage will go into effect on January 1, 2015.

Rau stated there have been “very few real complaints” in response to the new coverage. Any issues that were raised in proposing the coverage were related to details of the plan itself, not the indi-

7 viduals the plan is intended to cover. Rau noted that Rochester is generally very gayfriendly compared to other cities, even within New York state. “Rochester has been a leader in the LGBT community for 40 years,” Rau said.

In terms of future direction, Rau simply asked for concerned citizens to keep him in the loop about any issues affecting the LGBT community that the city should address. He noted that the MOCHA Center recently approached him to brainstorm about what could be done to extend efforts to provide more avenues for HIV testing for the African American community. Rau said he brought the issue to Mayor Warren’s attention immediately.

“Keep in touch. That’s what I’m here for,” Rau said.

For more information about services provided by the city, visit http://www. cityofrochester.gov/services.aspx. To contact City Hall, dial 311 within city limits, or call (585) 428-5990. ■

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015

DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015

Making the Scene

The Trans Halloween Dance, “Eerie Promenade,” took place at Open Arms MCC on Oct. 26. The dance was sponsored by TAGR (Trans Alliance of Greater Rochester). Photos: Jill Frier

TAGR hosts first Trans dance: the Eerie Promenade

MISS GAY ROCHESTER 2015: Tasha Brooks is crowned at Harro East on Nov. 9. Assisting are, from left, Samantha Vega (hidden), Mercedes Sulay, Miss Gay Rochester 2014, V’ita and organizer Wayne Esposito (hidden). Photos: Jill Frier

MC Aggy Dune.

By Laine DeLaney and JoAnne Metzler Back in February, during the Red Ball, Laine DeLaney, the soon-to-be-elected President of the Trans Alliance of Greater Rochester (TAGR), bought up the idea of having a Trans dance.

She said, “I don’t care if it’s only four people in the corner drinking Kool Aid, we need to have our own dance.”

Well, as you can see by the pictures a lot more than four people came to the firstever annual Trans Dance: the “Eerie Promenade”.

Over the next few months of planning we heard comments like, “There aren’t enough Trans people to make this worthwhile” and “If you do somehow manage to make this happen no one would even show up.” We found out the truth at Open

Raquel is ready to loot and pillage.

Arms MCC who so generously offered both of their spaces to us to be decorated for a Halloween dance. They even rented a dance floor for the event! On the evening of Oct. 25, we found the truth when over 50 people

showed up, almost every one dressed in wonderfully creative costumes.

We found out the truth that night that we could have a dance of our own, a dance for and by the Greater Rochester Trans community with our families, friends and allies. We found out the truth that there are enough of us to have a dance, a social event that was all ours, and uniquely ours!

There are so many people to thank for the huge success of this first Trans dance: first Jeff Myers, the Executive Director of Open Arms MCC and the whole congregation of Open Arms MCC for being so welcoming and accepting of the members of TAGR (as well as for contributing the dance floor)!

Thanks to Cath and Liz who offered JoAnne Metzler rides to home improvement stores, back and forth to Open Arms, a grocery store, and to her home.

Thank you also to Raquel for using an eclectic collection of

Keke Velasquez

Linda Wilson won the Rosie’s mural photo at the LICK Rosie’s Throwback Sunday Party at the Bug Jar on Nov. 16. Photos: Bess Watts Alisha

Kasha Davis

ROSIE’S THROWBACK: The second LICK Sunday party took place at the Bug Jar, formerly Rosie’s women’s bar. Around 100 people attended. The December party at ONE Nightclub is for everyone and there will be a guys’ January Sunday party at Abilene – a Tara throwback! (See Calendar Page 34).

Wanda Martinez & Dawn Johncox

DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET discarded material so creatively to add just the right touch of disturbing ambiance to the walls in our dance hall. Also thank you to anyone and everyone who came Friday night to decorate, and thank you to everyone who stayed after the dance to take everything down, pack it up, get it out and clean up both the Sanctuary and Community Center so they would be ready for services the next morning! Thanks to you, cleanup took less than an hour!

Thanks to Brae Adams, for the massive donation of food and glowsticks! We’d also like to give a special thanks to everyone who showed up – without you this grand event would not have happened. You are a source of pride to us all!

Afterward we began hearing things again, only this time they were comments like, “Had a really great time!”, “So much fun!”, “Can’t wait for next year’s!”, “We had a fantastic time!” (quotes directly from Facebook). Brae reported hearing someone say that this was the first time that they were proud of being Trans! Mission accomplished!

We already are planning another TAGR Trans Dance first. We have reserved the Roundhouse Shelter at Genesee Valley Park on Friday, June 5 for our first ever Trans Dinner Dance. As yet another first, we will have an award ceremony as part of this event! So mark your calendars and plan to celebrate the beginning of summer with the Trans Alliance of Greater Rochester and our families, friends and allies! ■

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My Own Private Rochester: Darryl Tardy and Derek Cummings

CECE IN BUFFALO: At the Pride Center of WNY Trans Health Conference, Oct. 24 in Buffalo, keynote speaker and Trans activist CeCe McDonald addressed racism, transphobia, and discrimination faced by transgender women of color. CeCe McDonald was a political prisoner incarcerated for 17 months for defending herself against a racist, transphobic assault in 2010. Today she is a leader in the fight for LGBTQ liberation, prison abolition, and racial justice.

Photo: Marilyn Traver

LAVERNE AT UR: Jeannie Gainsburg of the Gay Alliance with Laverne Cox. The trans star appeared at University of Rochester’s Meliora event in October. Photo courtesy U.R.

By Susan Jordan Darryl Tardy is president of the Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus board and works in marketing for real estate agents. His partner Derek Cummings, a technician at Highland Hospital, helps Darryl with fundraising for RGMC. The two live in the 19th ward with their pit/lab/boxer mix Sadie. Their shared hobbies are travel, socializing with friends and working in their flower garden. Darryl was born in Bergen, while Derek is a Rochesterian.

Without a doubt RGMC is their favorite local organization.

Darryl says, “I went to college with (RGMC) Artistic Director Rob Straus. He pushed me for years to join (I’m a second tenor) and I finally agreed. I got on the board and then after one year they asked me to take the president position, which I did last June.”

Darryl is also involved with Open Arms MCC, and the two are supporters of NYS Assembly member Harry Bronson.

Their favorite places include Equal=Grounds and Mt. Hope Cemetery, where they walk Sadie, and in summer they love going to the drive-in in Avon.

They take Sadie along and she watches the movies too. Darryl adds, “We love theatre – Downstairs Cabaret, the Auditorium Theatre/RBTL and Geva.”

Derek names the Jazz Festival as one of their favorite Roch-

Derek Cummings and Darryl Tardy. Photo: Susan Jordan

Sadie.

ester events. “We look forward to that,” he said, “and ImageOut.” Darryl marches with the Chorus in the Pride Parade and especially likes the Picnic.

Naturally they both count the RGMC Spa-gay-ti Dinner fundraiser as one of their favorite events. Darryl noted, “I’m working on changing the fundraising dinner for next year. We had standing room only at this year’s dinner for a while. Derek and his

mom and our neighbors had to wait to get a table!”

On an ideal Saturday night, they might eat out at Pixley’s Diner in Gates or the Depot in Leroy. But their real favorite thing to do is “sit at home and watch a movie with neighbors and friends.”

They approve of some of the recent changes in our city.

Darryl commented, “I like that they’ve turned St. Paul, part of Clinton and other downtown streets to two-way. Everybody downtown seems to have gotten the hang of it and it will attract people back downtown. Now people will find places to go and will be able to park too.

“It’s great that Rochester is such a progressive city. Derek and I can walk down the street holding hands. We’re open and accepting here.”

The Chorus’s holiday concert “There’s Something About Mary” is coming up on Dec. 12 and 13.

See page 27 for details.

Martha M. Howden, LCSW, CASAC Anxiety • Depression Alcohol • Stress • Grief Relationship • Family Plan Rectification Work Holotropic Breathwork • Specializing in work with individuals and families in the Coming Out process Martha M. Howden, lcsw, casac 945 E. Henrietta Road, Suite A6 Rochester, New York 14623 Phone: 585 272-1760 Fax: 585 272-8986 Most Insurances Accepted

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LOCAL AND STATE (Rochester from page 3) of LGBT inclusiveness with exemplary policies ranging from non-discrimination laws and equal employee benefits, to cutting edge city services.

Other findings contained in the 2014 MEI: Cities in all regions of the country earned excellent scores, demonstrating that commitment to LGBT equality is not confined to parts of the country many people assume are most LGBT friendly.

38 cities received perfect scores, even with this year’s more demanding criteria; that’s up from 11 in 2012, and 25 in 2013. Cities continue to excel even without depending on state law: of cities that scored a perfect 100, 15 are in states that don’t have comprehensive relationship recognition or a statewide non-discrimination law; that’s up from eight cities last year, and just two in 2012.

32 million people now live in cities that have more comprehensive, transgender inclusive non-discrimination laws than their state or the federal government; The average city score was 59 points, with half of the cities researched scoring over 61 points. Eleven percent scored 100 points; 25 percent scored over 80 points; 25 percent scored under 44 points; and four percent scored fewer than 10 points Cities with a higher proportion of same-sex couples tended, not surprisingly, to score better, and the presence of openly-LGBT city officials and LGBT police liaisons also were correlated with higher scores.

The MEI rates cities based on 47 criteria falling under six broad categories: Non-discrimination laws; Relationship recognition; Municipality’s employment policies, including transgender-inclusive insurance coverage, contracting non-discrimination requirements, and other policies relating to equal treatment of LGBT

THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015 city employees; Inclusiveness of city services; Law enforcement; Municipal leadership on matters of equality.

The full report, including detailed scorecards for every city, as well as a searchable database, is available online at www.hrc.org/mei.

Rochester hosts Meeting of the Groups IV

By JoAnne Metzler On Oct. 25 trans people from Leroy, Buffalo, Naples, Syracuse (and of course Rochester) came to Rochester to be part of the “Meeting of Groups IV: Return to Rochester”. This is the fourth time that trans groups all over upstate New York have come together to reconnect with each other and find out what has been happening with the various groups since the last meeting in May of last year in Syracuse About 25 people were informed and entertained by four speakers. The first was attorney Julia Saenz of the LGBT Rights Project which she runs. She has been a huge resource, ally and friend to our local trans communities. She talked about how the project came to be and some of her experiences in protecting the rights of Trans people not just here in Rochester; she has had trans discrimination cases throughout upstate New York.

Then Anya/Andrew Turnquist, a former leader of the Rochester Transgender Group, and a recent sociology major graduate of Nazareth College, talked about the research project zir did as student and the report based on that research titled “Employer Attitudes Toward Transgender Applicants” and discussed the implications the research produced.

Next we had Ben Eshleman, an Illustration student at the Rochester Institute of Technology who is self described as “professionally queer”. Ben talked about the Trans* Oral History Project that he has been conducting as part of indepen-

dent study in public history at RIT. He also let us actually hear the voices of some of the people he had recorded, which added a whole new dimension to his presentation.

We ended that part of the meeting with Megan C. Lytle-Flint who is currently a Senior Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center. She discussed her current research focused on LGBT suicide prevention as well as her work on promoting LGBT strengths and well-being.

We then had representatives from the various Trans groups give a brief talk about what has been going on with their groups since the last “Meeting of the Groups”. We learned, contrary to the rumor that Spectrum in Buffalo was no longer in existence, in fact it has revitalized itself and is doing better than ever and has created a brochure for the group.

The Trans Alliance of Central New York, located in Syracuse, is working on some major things, among them elimination of the trans discriminatory exclusion in New York State’s Medicaid policy.

Maur of GV2, Genesee Valley Gender Variants, talked about the almost overwhelming success of this social group that meets every Thursday at Equal Grounds, where sometimes they take over half the place!

Rochesternygrrlz, represented by Cath, told us about the success her group is also having and that they have had joint get togethers with Syracuse over the summer.

We ended with a discussion on plans for our Trans future and when someone asked, “Where should we have the next Meeting of the Groups?”, one response was “The Southern Tier”!

GLSEN report: NYS schools are still unsafe for LGBT students On Nov. 13, GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network)

released state-level data from its biennial National School Climate Survey report that show that schools remain unsafe for the majority of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.

The latest edition of GLSEN’s National School Climate Survey, which first began in 1999 and remains one of the few studies to examine the middle and high school experiences of LGBT youth nationally, includes four major findings: schools nationwide are hostile environments for a distressing number of LGBT students; a hostile school climate affects students’ academic success and mental health; students with LGBT-related resources and supports report better school experiences and academic success; and school climate for LGBT students has improved somewhat over the years, but remains quite hostile for many.

Specifically in New York state, the survey found that almost all LGBT students (90 percent) heard “gay” used in a negative way (e.g., “that’s so gay”), and more than eight in 10 (83 percent) heard other homophobic remarks at school regularly.

The majority experienced verbal harassment: 70 percent based on their sexual orientation and 53 percent based on the way they expressed their gender.

Students also reported high levels of other types of harassment at school: 58 percent were sexually harassed while 51 percent experienced “cyberbullying”.

Only 30 percent were taught positive representations of LGBT people, history and events, and nearly half (49 percent) could not access information about LGBT communities on school Internet.

“The survey bears out what we frequently hear from students, parents and educators,” said Mary Jane Karger, CoChair of GLSEN Hudson Valley. “In Westchester County, students report that they hear anti-LGBT comments not only from peers but also from school staff. In addition, students do not regularly report the harassment to school staff, believing that the interventions will be ineffective.”

DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET “There is no excuse for a hostile school climate. We all have a responsibility to ensure that our schools have the necessary resources, supports and training to create a safe and affirming environment for all students,” said Nicole Burjetka, Co-Chair of GLSEN New York Capital Region.

“Schools are supposed to be where our children can grow academically and as individuals,” said Jared Fox, Chair of GLSEN New York City. “That cannot happen in a hostile environment. The good news is we know what works, including school personnel that are supportive of LGBT youth, student-led Gay-Straight Alliances and a curriculum that includes accurate and positive information about LGBT people, history and events.”

Brain-injured Brooklyn trans woman leaves hospital; no arrests Kimball “Kimy” Hartman, the braininjured survivor of the Oct. 12 hate crime in Bushwick, Brooklyn, left the Bellevue Hospital Traumatic Brain Injury Rehabilitation Unit on Nov. 3.

Still suffering brain damage, Kimy will require 24-hour supervision at home, as well as 10 medications per day, intensive outpatient brain rehab, and additional neurosurgery to replace the missing portion of skull. An online fundraiser has been set up to pay Kimy’s expenses, particularly expenses related to her car, which was towed while she was in the hospital.

The fundraiser can be accessed at http:// www.gofundme.com/gky85k.

Kimy and a gay male friend were walking down the street in Bushwick, Brooklyn at approximately 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12 when they were approached by four men who asked what they were doing on the block. When Kimy responded, they could tell by her voice that she was a transgender woman, and they proceeded to call her and her friend “faggots” and other anti-gay slurs.

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The attack then escalated to violence, and Kimy was punched, kicked, and hit in the head with a plexiglass board. She suffered a severe traumatic brain injury and was taken to Elmhurst Hospital in critical condition. She was later transferred to Bellevue for specialized treatment.

Although surveillance footage of the attack has been made public, no arrests have been made in this case. The NYPD’S Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating. ■

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL (Bangladesh from page 5) like we’re normal human beings.”

Bangladesh recognized hijras as a third gender in November last year, securing their rights and enabling them to identify their gender as ‘hijra’ on all government documents, including passports.

The government says there are around 15,000 hijras in the country but LGBTI rights groups put the number closer to 500,000.

The march was the culmination of the nine-day Hijra Pride, organized by Bandhu Social Welfare Society (BSWS), the Ministry of Social Welfare and UNAIDS – “the first of its kind in the country at central and divisional level.”

The aim of the march was “to appreciate and acknowledge the decision of the government of Bangladesh on recognizing hijra as third gender... create social awareness on the respect of gender diversity [and] to sensitize policy makers on the need for social justice and dignity [for the] hijra community for a better future,” BSWS said in a statement.

“With opportunities, [the] hijra community can add value to the society and its growth with dignity and honor.”

Other events included a seminar on hijra rights and a talent show to identify the best dancers and singers. A hijra beau-

The Bangladesh Trans Pride March.

ty contest was be held later that month.

In January 2014, the country’s first LGBTI magazine was launched with hardly any protests.

The publication organized a diversity parade in April but said it was not a pride march.

Although hijras are recognized in Bangladesh, there are still laws against gay sex that the government has no plans to repeal.

- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews. com/article/trans-women-stage-first-bangladesh-pride111114#sthash.iTf5qtJl.dpuf

Republicans take the Senate, LGBT House members keep seats Republicans, the declared enemies of LGBTQ Americans, have taken control of the Senate and now control both houses of Congress.

Democrats’ night on Nov. 4 got off to a rocky start with Alison Lundergan Grimes losing in Kentucky to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. From there, Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) lost in Colorado while Jeanne Shaheen managed to squeak out a victory against carpet-bagger Scott Brown. Mary Landrieu meanwhile will face a runoff against Republican challenger Bill Cassidy.

In Kansas, Republican Pat Roberts defeated Independent challenger Greg Orman. Republicans also saw victory in Georgia, with David Perdue winning his bid for one of the state’s two U.S. senate seats.

In Clinton country (a.k.a. Arkansas), Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor lost his Senate seat to Republican newcomer Tom Cotton.

NBC News has called Iowa’s Senate race for Joni Ernst, further guaranteeing Republicans control of the Senate.

(Republicans continue page 14)

2015 , 5 1 L I R P A DUE

14 (Republicans from page 13) Ernst, a virulent rightwing extremist, won former Democratic Senator Tom Harkin’s seat that was vacated when he announced he would not seek reelection.

UPDATE: The New York Times reports that the GOP has picked up at least seven seats in the U.S. Senate, held on to hotly contested governors’ mansions, and increased their lead in the House of Representatives by at least 10 seats: Propelled by economic dissatisfaction and racist anger toward the president, Republicans grabbed Democratic Senate seats in North Carolina, Colorado, Iowa, West Virginia, Arkansas, Montana and South Dakota to gain their first Senate majority since 2006. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a shrewd Republican tactician, cruised to re-election and stood poised to achieve a goal he has pursued for years — Senate majority leader.

An election that started as trench warfare, state by state and district by district, crested into a sweeping Republican victory. Contests that were expected to be close were not, and races expected to go Democratic broke narrowly for the Republicans. The uneven character of the economic recovery added to a sense of anxiety, leaving voters in a punishing mood, particularly for Democrats in Southern states and the Mountain West, where political polarization deepened.

The biggest surprises of the night came in North Carolina, where the Republican, Thom Tillis, came from behind to beat Senator Kay Hagan, and in Virginia. There, Senator Mark Warner, a former Democratic governor of the state, was thought to be one of the safest incumbents in his party, and instead found himself clinging to the narrowest of leads against a former Republican Party chairman, Ed Gillespie.

LGBT House members retain seats The 2014 midterms were not a total disaster, at least for the six openly LGBT members of the US House.

Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA), Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), Rep Mark Pocan (D-WI), Rep David Cicilline (D-RI), and Rep. Kysten Sinema (D-AZ) all retained their seats.

Openly gay US House candidates who lost their bids include Oklahoma state Sen. Al McCaffrey, Texas military veteran Louie Minor, North Carolina American Idol finalist Clay Aiken, former Massachusetts GOP legislator Richard Tisei, and New York investment banker Sean Eldridge, the husband of Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes.

For local and state election news, see page one.

Survey: 90 percent of countries studied have become more accepting of gays, lesbians Residents in 90 percent of all surveyed countries have become more accepting of homosexuality over the past 20 years, according to a study released

by NORC at the University of Chicago and the Williams Institute.

The study, which examines the responses to 2,000 survey questions asked in hundreds of surveys between 1981 and the present, was released in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 11 at a meeting about LGBT rights, global stigma and economic growth. Each survey involved asking questions about attitudes regarding lesbians and gay men in 10 to 52 countries.

“Available research on global public acceptance of lesbians and gay men is limited,” said Andrew Park, Director of International Programs at the Williams Institute. “This study shows a clear trend toward increasing acceptance across the globe.”

Key findings include: Women are on average more than one and a half times more likely to be accepting of lesbian

THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015 and gay people than men. In 98 percent of the countries, those under 30 are more likely to say that same-gender sex is not wrong at all, compared to those aged 65 and older. The average gap in supportiveness between these age groups is 23.4 percent. The study indicates that people remain supportive as they grow older.

In Latin America, acceptance of homosexuality ranges from a high of 34 percent in Uruguay to a low of two percent in Ecuador. On the legal recognition for marriages for same-sex couples, Uruguay has the highest level of support at 57 percent while Guatemala has the lowest level of support at 12 percent.

In Africa, acceptance of homosexuality ranges from a high of 38 percent in South Africa to a low of two percent in Ghana. However, most countries in Africa are ranked in the bottom third of all countries in the world in their level of acceptance of lesbian and gay people.

91 percent of European countries have become more accepting over the past 20 years. The most accepting are those in Northern Europe while those in Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States have the lowest levels of acceptance. The level of acceptance across all surveyed countries has increased an average of 0.9 percentage points per year.

Countries in Northwestern Europe are the most accepting, followed by the following clusters of countries: Australia/Canada/New Zealand/United States, Southern European countries, Latin American countries, former Soviet Union/Eastern & Central Europe, Asian countries, African countries, and majority Muslim countries.

The study, “Public Attitudes toward Homosexuality and Gay Rights across Time and Countries,” is authored by Tom W. Smith, NORC at the University of Chicago; Jaesok Son, NORC at the University of Chicago and Jibum Kim, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea.

Smithsonian expands LGBT collection, including original Trans Pride flag Over the summer, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, in Washington, D.C., announced the expansion of its LGBT collection.

“As cultural sensitivities and politics have changed,” curator Katherine Ott says, “now seemed like an opportune time to more aggressively, directly, and openly collect LGBT materials.”

Dating back to the 19th century, the archive includes historical treasures across several disciplines, including medicine and science, political history, culture and the arts, and the armed forces. Standout items include a tennis racket from transgender pioneer Renée Richards, who famously won a New York Supreme Court case against the United States Tennis Association, ensuring that she and other trans players would be allowed to compete as their reassigned sex; protest signs from activist Frank Kameny, the co-founder, in 1961, of D.C.’s Mattachine Society, a gay advocacy group; the original transgender pride flag, designed by trans woman Monica Helms in 1999; a tennis dress worn by Grand Slam superstar Billie Jean King; and memorabilia from the set of Will and Grace, the groundbreaking TV show that helped bring gay awareness to households across the nation.

The collection also contains darker memories of LGBT history: documents from the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” era, HIV- and AIDS-related medical equipment and medications, even a copy of The Anita Bryant Story: The Survival of Our Nation’s Families and the Threat of Militant Homosexuality and ephemera from the virulent homophobe’s antigay campaign.

“The grand mission of the Smith-

employer being able to claim religious exemption were the Employee NonDiscrimination Act to be made into law.

“This year’s survey reinforces what we are seeing in companies, government agencies and businesses around the country - even around the world-- that more and more business leaders are supporting workplace equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees,” said Out & Equal CEO Selisse Berry. “While this is good news we still have work to do to protect employees who can still be fired in 29 U.S. states for being LGBT and in 32 if one is transgender.”

Over two-thirds of participants in the poll said that they believed that protection against workplace discrimination should include gender identity as well as sexual orientation. While a majority of those polled were in support for blanket protections for LGBT people, 33 percent reported feeling that churches and houses or worship were within their rights to claim an exemption. Similarly, 30 percent said that they thought privately held businesses should be able to claim exemptions.

Judges say marriages must begin in Missouri; ban unconstitutional

The first Trans Pride flag

sonian is the increase and diffusion of knowledge,” Ott explains, noting that the LGBT collection reflects that objective. “Pick any topic in our nation’s past and there’s a gender and sexuality aspect to it, so these materials enable us to create a more accurate and balanced history of the United States.”

It remains an open question, however, whether this noble precept will apply to controversial content. In 2010, the Smithsonian provoked the ire of queer activists when it kowtowed to conservative pressure to remove an exhibition clip of gay artist David Wojnarowicz’s “A Fire in My Belly,” in which ants briefly crawl over a crucifix. Whether Ott and her colleagues will exclude inflammatory historical artifacts under political duress remains to be seen, but it’s less likely four years later. “A lot has changed since then,” Ott muses, “so I hope it would play out differently today.

“As a historian,” she adds, “my professional responsibility is to document what people do and say, even if it makes me uncomfortable.”

Ott wouldn’t discuss works the museum is currently in talks to acquire, but shared her areas of interest: “It’s a combination of media events and personalities that we all know about: Stonewall, the Compton’s Cafeteria riot, Bowers v.

Hardwick, Liberace, Rock Hudson. Oh, yeah, and I want to collect John Waters’ mustache!”

NOTE: The Smithsonian collection includes Rochester’s Helping People With AIDS and Empty Closet archives.

Most adults say employers shouldn’t discriminate against gay workers on religious grounds According to Harris Interactive, a Nielsen-owned rolling research firm, the bulk of American adults feel that LGBT workers should not be discriminated against by their employers on religious grounds.

The poll, a joint effort between Harris and Out & Equal, found that 55 percent of respondents were opposed to any

Via the St. Louis Post Dispatch: Denying Missouri’s gay couples the opportunity to marry is unconstitutional, a judge ruled on Nov. 6. As a result, St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison said in his decision, marriage licenses can be issued.

“The Court finds and declares that any same sex couple that satisfies all the requirements for marriage under Missouri law, other than being of different sexes, is legally entitled to a marriage license,” Burlison wrote.

He said that the Missouri Constitution violates the Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Burlison’s ruling comes more than four months after four couples were married at St. Louis City Hall, even though there is a 10-year-old constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

On Nov. 7 U.S. District Judge Ortrie D. Smith ruled that denying marriage for same-sex couples in Missouri is unconstitutional. The ruling comes just two days after St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison also declared Missouri’s ban unconstitutional, and a month after a state ruling which found that Missouri must respect the legal marriages of same-sex couples performed elsewhere.

Marc Solomon, national campaign director of Freedom to Marry and Kansas City native, released the following statement: “Today’s victory in Missouri marks the third consecutive win in the ‘Show Me’ state in just over a month, with all three judges affirming that marriage discrimination is unconstitutional.

We encourage Attorney General Chris Koster not to appeal the ruling so that Missouri becomes the next state where loving and committed couples can share in the joy and dignity of marriage.

Today’s ruling adds to the powerful momentum of victories from a bipartisan array of federal and state judges as we work to secure the freedom to marry nationwide.”

As of October, a majority of Americans now live in a freedom to marry state. Once the pro-marriage rulings from the 4th, 7th, 9th, and 10th Circuits are fully implemented, same-sex couples will have the freedom to marry in 35 states plus the District of Columbia, representing nearly two-thirds of the American people.

The 6th Circuit Court ruling against marriage equality in Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky on Nov. 6 may bring the marriage issue to the Supreme Court, with a June ruling possible. ■

DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

Opinion

Michael Sam proves coming out gay in sport can still hurt your career

By Chris Morgan on gaystarnews.com In my last GSN column I asked if the NFL was being homophobic in its treatment of Michael Sam. This was directly after he had been cut from the St Louis Rams and was just about to be picked up by the Dallas Cowboys to be part of their practice squad.

At the time it was quite apparent that this was not a good position for Sam to find himself in, so for him now to have been cut from his second team in only a matter of weeks, leaves some serious questions to be answered.

To say this is damaging for his career is an understatement, as being dropped twice could be taken by other NFL franchises as a reflection of his inability to secure himself a place.

But hold on one minute here. This is a player who was one of the most talented defensive linesmen of his year in college football and only a few months ago was knocking down opponents as if they didn’t deserve to be on the same pitch.

I can’t help wondering if this is the NFL’s way of saying after that famous “gay kiss” on NFL Draft Day with his boyfriend that Michael Sam doesn’t deserve to be on the same pitch.

Sports history is littered with gay athletes who have been treated unfairly.

Many have suffered both in their careers and financially for being openly gay. The most prominent case in the UK was Justin Fashanu who courageously came out as bisexual in soccer and was then hounded by the tabloid press until he took his own life in 1998.

Justin’s story affected a whole generation of athletes, with LGBTI athletes not daring to come out due to the fear of similar treatment.

The financial impact of coming out as LGBTI has also been well learned by sportspeople. The highest profile casualties include Martina Navratilova, Billy Jean King and Greg Louganis.

Now Sam’s treatment at the hands of the NFL makes it clear why so many gay athletes still delay coming out until their competitive careers have come to an end.

Most recently we have seen Ian Thorpe, the five time Olympic Gold medalist confirm his sexuality after what has seemed an age of speculation and secrecy.

During his interview with the television presenter Michael Parkinson he said, “What happened was, I felt that the lie had become so big that I didn’t want people to question my integrity.”

The big question of course is why did Thorpe feel it necessary to lie in the first place? Was it the fear of losing commercial endorsement deals, or maybe fear of losing big money sponsorships due to his sexuality?

Throughout my own sports career there have been a number of times that I’ve missed out on sponsorship or endorsements because I’m an openly gay athlete.

At the time these rejections are painful and you are left wondering if your decision to be openly gay in your sport was a wise one. However, you then find a way to keep going and each time come back stronger after rejection.

I can remember one leading sports supplement company actually saying to me directly “We don’t think an openly gay athlete would fit well with our branding”.

At the time they sponsored a number of other international athletes who were at the same level as myself and were not part of a whole community of LGBTI fitness mad consumers, who are a prime target for their marketing.

Without doubt the issues around LGBTI sports have moved on, with a number of new athletes coming out in their sports and securing endorsement deals. Tom Daley, Matthew Mitcham, Nicola Adams and Casey Stoney are all showing progress has been made in individual sports and women’s soccer.

The way that Daley and Stoney came out over this last 12 months really has the power to inspire a whole generation of athletes with the message that being lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans or intersex is absolutely fine. However, for macho team sports like NFL the Michael Sam story illustrates there is still a long way to go before all athletes can come out without any fear of discrimination.

Undoubtedly the Michael Sam affair leaves more questions than answers, with him now left facing a difficult search for a third franchise in less than three months.

The most searching question that needs to be asked of the NFL is how they can allow someone with so much talent to potentially slip through their recruitment process because of the fact he is gay.

The NFL draft itself is designed to offer fairness each and every year, in par-

ticular to the teams that finish bottom of the championship system in the previous year. It is a system that effectively penalizes the team that wins the superbowl, as they get to pick from the new crop of college players last. So the system it appears is fair – that is of course unless you are openly gay.

The teams that have looked at Michael Sam already will of course argue that they gave him a chance and he didn’t make the grade. Sam, like always, has been gracious; replying thanking them for the opportunity that they offered and stating he will continue in his quest. For the moment all he can hope for is that a place becomes available on another practice squad soon.

I truly hope Michael will find himself another team, but I can’t help thinking that the NFL deck is completely stacked against him and I’m fearful that the Michael Sam saga has the potential of becoming a modern day Justin Fashanu style story which could have a negative impact on LGBTI athletes in team sports for a whole generation to come.

Chris Morgan is a seven time World Champion in Powerlifting and a Global Ambassador for the Federation of Gay Games. His news blog can be read at Chunky Muscle.

The next Gay Games will take place in Paris in 2018. For more information about the Gay Games visit Gay Games.com and Paris 2018.com.

- See more at: http://www.gaystarnews. com/article/michael-sam-proves-coming-out-gay-sport-can-still-hurt-yourcareer051114#sthash.2NxtfY6q.dpuf

Coming out of the closet as a Naturist

By R.M. Cook Even though our society is becoming more relaxed and less puritanical about nudity it’s difficult for some people who enjoy a nude life style to let friends and relatives know about their choice of a clothes-free life.

Nudity, nude sun bathing, and skinny dipping are widely accepted in Europe and Scandinavia. Communal nude bathing was universally practiced in the Roman Empire and is still accepted in Japan.

Perhaps the introduction of hot tubs and saunas in American society will loosen up some of the stiffness regarding the naked body. Meanwhile, there is still a dilemma for those who want to practice nudity and don’t want to hide the fact from friends and family.

Some have suggested that letting people know you are a naturist is the same process as coming out of the closet and telling society you’re gay. There may be some truth to that but it’s like comparing

15 an acorn to an oak tree. Similarities, yes.

Difference in magnitude, enormous. Too, living a naturist life style is a choice, being gay is not. Here are some thoughts to consider before making your big announcement.

First, accept yourself! Being nude is not immoral, naughty, sinful or “bad”.

The best evidence of this is that we are all born naked! Accept that being nude makes you happy, comfortable, and relaxed. Keep in mind there are many other people who enjoy a nude style of living. You’re not alone.

Second, be prepared for consequences when you come out of the closet as a nudist. It’s possible some people will be unaccepting of your nudism no matter what!

You may lose some friends after disclosing your secret naturist life. If friends cannot accept you as nudist, cannot accept what makes you happy, cannot accept you for who you are, they were probably not good friends to begin with. If you are not ready to deal with this judgmental estrangement, then you’re not ready to come out.

Delay it until you are ready.

Next, it’s best if you first disclose your clothes-free life to a friend who will be accepting of your choice. This will give you reinforcement and experience with having a dialog with others about clothesfree living. When coming out to parents, spouse, or your children it may not be best to come out to everyone at once, say at Christmas dinner!

Choose a family member you feel is open-minded or at least will not be judgmental. Ask them how they feel about naturists. Explain that Benjamin Franklin, John Quincy Adams, Mr. Rogers, and Walt Whitman, among many others, enjoyed skinny dipping and sunbathing in the nude. Once this person is on board and accepting, use him or her as an ally when coming out to other family members. It may take time for some to accept your choice. Give them time and space to mull it over. Many people have preconceived ideas about nudism and sexuality. Be prepared to explain what naturists actually do and why you enjoy clothes-free activities. Explain you are the same person you have always been. Let them know you have not changed, it’s just they know more about you now. Assure them you wanted to tell them face to face instead of having them find out from someone else.

Finally, the words “nude” and “nudist” carry negative baggage for some people. To many people “nude” equals “sex”.

Choosing the word “naturist” may imply “natural”, “tree hugging”, or the environment. Also, using the phrase “clothesfree” seems less loaded and easier for some people to accept.

Good luck… and use your sunscreen!

The author is a member of Romans, Rochester Male Naturists. Romans is a social naturist group for all gay and gay-friendly men ages 21 up. For more information about the group go to www.wnyromans. com or call the contact number 585-2814964. ■

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015

Health Changes may be in store for gay and bi men who want to donate blood

By Tristan Wright Red Cross blood drives are a common component of American life. We’re used to seeing volunteer workers set up shop for a day or two at farmers markets and festivals, libraries and local schools. For gay and bisexual men, blood drives aren’t just about getting a free cookie and juice box, they’re also reminders of 20th century homophobia.

Since 1983, the Red Cross has been prohibited by the Food & Drug Administration from accepting blood from men who have engaged in same-sex sexual activity since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in 1977. Decisions regarding the pool of potential blood donors are made by the Blood Products Advisory Council, which advises the FDA. The FDA website justifies the ban by contending that same-sex activity carries “increased risk for HIV, hepatitis B and certain other infections that can be transmitted by transfusion.”

Over the past decade, numerous organizations and legislative bodies have urged the FDA to allow gay and bisexual men to donate, including the city councils of New York and Washington, DC, as well as the American Medical Association which issued a statement in 2013 arguing that the “ban is discriminatory and not based on sound science.” Notably, the Red Cross itself doesn’t support the life-time ban: they, along with the AABB (the accreditation organization for blood banks) and America’s Blood Centers, all support changing the policy to a oneyear deferral instead, where bisexual and

gay men would be permitted to donate after one year of abstinence from samesex activity.

As citizens have become increasingly aware of the ban, LGBTQ advocacy organizations and activists have often organized boycotts in protest. Although they bring a brief bit of visibility to the issue, boycotts simply reduce the amount of blood available to patients who need it.

The agency responsible for the ban feels none of the impact, while health care professionals and patients bear the brunt of it.

To maintain visibility without potentially harming patients, a new kind of blood drive has recently entered the scene: The National Gay Blood Drive, where gay and bisexual men bring an ally or proxy to donate blood on their behalf.

Since starting in 2013, the National Gay Blood Drive has taken place in over 60 cities nationwide drawing more than a thousand participants. Rather protesting by withholding their blood from the Red Cross and thereby reducing the available supply, donors draw attention to the ban through the act of donating.

The FDA ban may be on its way out: on November 13 of this year, a Department of Health and Human Services panel heard testimony and examined data regarding the ban. The DHS panel voted in favor of the aforementioned one-year deferral supported by the Red Cross, AABB, and America’s Blood Centers. The panel has made its official recommendation to the FDA. Although the decision is not binding, the panel added data and perspectives that will likely impact further deliberations. The panel’s recommendation will be formally made and considered by the Blood Products Advisory Council in early December.

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Injectible PrEP studies are moving forward Studies focusing on injectible pre-exposure prophylaxis as a means of preventing the contraction of HIV are moving forward as researchers have seen higher rates of efficacy using certain drug combinations.

Currently Truvada, produced by Gilead Sciences, is one of the only commercially available forms of PrEP. The pill must be taken daily in order to be effective, and is actually a combination of the two antiretroviral drugs tenofovir and emtricitabine.

The results of testing trials presented earlier this year showed that the drug cabotegravir proved to be effective as remaining within the bloodstream and preventing HIV infection. Two doses of the drug, then known as GSK744LA, prevented all eight of the test subjects provided with doses from contracting HIV, while the control group not given the drug all became infected. Following the success of initial simian test groups, researchers are proceeding with human efficacy test trials.

The potential benefits to using integrase inhibitors like cabotegravir could be significant in the advancement of PrEP use. Unlike Truvada, cabotegavir proved to be effective being taken much less frequently. Opponents of Truvada often cite the need for a constant, regular dosage as a reason not to advertise the drug as the end all - be all protection from HIV infection. An 800mg dosage of the drug injected into the soft tissue remained in the bloodstream for up to 12 weeks, meaning that future iterations of PrEP would only need to be taken quarterly.

While cabotegavir has shown promise, rilpivirine, another HIV drug being tested that has been shown to have much lower side effects in those taking it, was shown to have lost its efficacy after about 18-21 days.

Read more: http://www.towleroad.com/#ixzz3IPH6oBvq ■

Interview: Dr. Thuc Huynh, Good MD

By Susan Jordan Dr. Thuc Huynh spoke with The Empty Closet about the benefits of her unique Membership Direct Care Practice for Individuals, Families and Companies, or Good MD, located in Village Gate, 274 N. Goodman St., second floor.

As a member of Good MD you receive unlimited visits; same day/next day appointments; no co-pays; unlimited communication (members receive the doctor’s cell number to call, text, etc.); discounted and transparent lab/procedure costs; no waiting; age-based, low monthly fees with family discounts. More information at www.good.md. No insurance is required or accepted. Optional Individual and Group (Employer) Plans may supplement or include membership in Dr. Huynh’s practice.

Dr. Huynh said, “My practice has been open since Sept. 1. It’s direct primary care, which is relatively new. It has been around for a decade but most people have never heard of it. It’s a direct relationship between doctor and patient, a practice model that removes insurance from the equation. There’s a monthly membership fee.

“It’s important to keep insurance in case of emergencies, For example, in a traditional practice you pay out of pocket co-pay in addition to your premium, if you have a co-pay plan. If you don’t have co-pay, but rather deductible, you pay out of pocket until you reach the deductible – which may be high in a traditional medical practice.”

In that kind of practice co-pay would usually amount to $150 for four visits.

With Good MD, it’s not billed per visit, but monthly, which offers unlimited office visits. The Good MD monthly fee is agebased. For patients under 21 it is $30 a month; between ages 21 and 64 it is $60 a month and for 65 and older, $90 a month.

Dr. Huynh said, “The difference is in the quality of care. The wait time with traditional practices is four weeks to get an appointment. Then at the office you

wait, and finally you have a rushed fiveminute visit. I spend 30 to 60 minutes or more with each patient, depending on their needs. My practice is same day or next day service with no wait, and unlimited visits without co-pay.”

What about her practice is especially relevant to the LGBTQ community? Dr. Huynh said, “I’m gay myself and open to serving the community here.”

Most people have difficulty getting through to speak directly to their physicians. Dr. Huynh said, “My monthly fee offers tele-medicine. You can reach me by phone, email or text messages. All scheduling is done online, so patients can see which blocks are open and they can make their own appointments. I don’t have any staff – my practice is me, myself and I. I want to be sure the communications with my patients are not garbled or misunderstood.”

She added, “I have an a la carte menu which includes services that may be free or that charge extra for house calls. Because of reimbursement, traditional physicians can’t make house calls, but I would love to.”

House calls during business hours cost $50, and outside business hours, $150.

Office visits outside business hours are $100.

The a la carte menu also includes procedures, points of care testing, vaccines and certain medications in the office.

“Some items are free, others cost a little to cover the cost,” she said. “The point is to provide savings to the patient.

“One example is, to have a mole removed would be $200-$300 in traditional medicine. In my practice it’s $20.

Another example: if a patient has an abcess that needs to be drained, in traditional medicine that would be $200$300. In Good MD it would be free.

Urine tests are free too.”

Dr. Huynh noted, “I want to focus on patient care and bring back the doctor/patient relationship that existed when doctors had more time. I want to do my due diligence and answer questions, and this model of care is most suitable because I can give more time to making sure we’re all in the right place.”

DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

LGBTQ Living fun, introduce people to each other and celebrate once a year with long and short time friends, ‘family’, business associates, political acquaintances, and just the people I know.

For me it has become my holiday ‘tradition’. I look forward to seeing people I have not seen in a long time, talking and catching up. We really do not take the time to be with each other in a fun relaxed way often enough. My holiday party gives me, and the people who come, permission to do just that! So happy holidays and give each other the gift of time!”

Laine DeLaney: Celebrating Yule and the solstice: “Maur and I like to celebrate multiple holidays in the Robby and the My Little Pony Tree at Outlandish. depths of the winter.

We celebrate Yule on Holiday traditions the Winter Solstice, with older European

By Susan Jordan Pagan traditions. We toast to the year past Do you have any special holiday/winand the year to come and to our loved ter solstice traditions? The following peoones and the things that we’ve accomple share some of their favorite customs, plished that we’re proud of. We decorate parties, decorations, food, gifts and gay like most households do, but with more of apparel. No Scrooges need apply. Deck an emphasis on green, living things. The the halls! green growth is a reminder that though Thomas Warfield: Homemade cards the world appears dead, life will return & mystery gift bags: “I almost always with the warmth and the spring. Even in make my holiday cards to send… which the darkest part of the year, life survives means I have to start by the end of Octoand thrives. ber usually, because I often send around “We love the process of choosing a tree 600 cards. But I don’t do it every year. for our home, and often take a while to One tradition I’ve had for about 12 years pick the right one. We celebrate its gift to is late on Christmas Eve (after midnight) us by honoring it and adorning it -- simiI go to my neighbors’ houses who live on lar to the traditions of many people at this my street and tie a holiday gift bag to their time of year, but with different meanings. doorknob, full of goodies.”

The lights represent the Sacred Flame, the Robby Morris: My Little Pony Tree: bowl of water it uses for nourishment the “The excess and stress of the holiday season Sacred Well, and the tree itself represents can weigh on anyone’s nerves. After years the World Tree -- all important symbols of not feeling very jolly about this time of in our religious tradition. We also place year, I decided that being joyful was more seasonal things -- icicles and snowflakes -important than all of that other nonsense. as well as mementos of hearth, family and Hence the My Little Pony Tree. It is literhome on it while we have it in our house. ally a small tree I decorate with My Little We keep lights burning through the night Pony ornaments I created. Though it’s on the Solstice, the longest night of the hardly grand, it is colorful, makes people year, a reminder and symbol of hope that smile and was made with lots of love and the longer (and warmer) days will return.” good will. This year I set it up at work to Deborah Poretta Smola & Brian spread the cheer. It’s working.”

Doran: Fried Cardoons (Deborah): Evelyn Bailey: Annual Open House.

“The recipe is pretty simple. Clean and Every year I host an Annual Open House. rinse the raw cardoon. You may wish to cut down larger stalks to approximately The 200+ invitation list brings together six inches. Then parboil until they get people from all of the different areas of my soft. Let cool. Roll each individual stalk in life. It is truly a way to mix, mingle, have

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an egg batter, then Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. Meanwhile prepare your pan and a few tablespoons of olive oil over a hot flame. Drop the battered/breaded stalks in the oil and reduce heat to medium.

Turning over to cook well on both sides.

Place fried cardoon on paper towels to soak up excess oil. My mom would make these ahead of time and then warm up in the oven, putting cheese on top before serving... Enjoy!” Brian: “I clean them and remove any leaves from the outside of the stem, cut them into 6” lengths, boil them until they are soft. Let cool. Make a batter of four eggs, with a pinch of salt, a dash of milk, 1/2 cup of parm/romano cheese, two minced cloves of garlic, drag through seasoned Italian bread crumbs.

Pan fry in Wesson or your favorite oil... but not olive... until golden brown on each side and lay on top of paper towels to cool. Serve right away or refrigerate. Bet you can’t eat just one. They are currently $1.99/lb. at the East Ave. Wegmans.” ■

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Laine and Maur’s World Tree.

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015

DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015

The ANNUAL

HODGE PODGE LODGE Christmas Party Saturday, Dec. 13 2–6 pm Special Christmas Prices Music & Refreshments Special Visit from Santa & Mrs. Claus with gifts for the young ones.

571 Stone Road, Greece Phone: 585-621-5111

HODGE PODGE LODGE Remember... If We Don’t Have It, You Don’t Need It

DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

Shoulders to Stand On Trans* History ’90s to today

By Evelyn Bailey This month Shoulders To Stand On will complete its presentation of Transgender history.

The ‘90s began the journey of visibility for the Trans community in many arenas. 1991 saw transvestite comedian Eddie Izzard receive a nomination for the prestigious Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Festival, and FTM activist Jamison “James” Green transformed Lou Sullivan’s FTM newsletter into FTM International, Inc., the world’s largest information and networking group for female-to-male transgender people and transsexual men.

In 1993 Cheryl Chase founded the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) to build awareness and offer support to intersex people. In that same year FTM transgender youth Brandon Teena was raped and murdered in Humboldt, Nebraska. This hate crime became the subject of the award-winning film “Boys Don’t Cry”. Trans activist Leslie Feinberg published “Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman,” a who’s who of transgender people throughout world history that traces the roots of transgender oppression.

In 1998 trans visibility took a giant step forward. The Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, an American transgender graphic designer, columnist, and activist, to memorialize the murder of transgender woman Rita Hester in Massachusetts in 1998.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance is held every year on November 20 and now memorializes all those murdered due to transphobic hate and prejudice.

A Transgender Pride flag was created in 1999 by trans woman Monica Helms; the original is now in the Smithsonian LGBT collection. The flag was first shown at a pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona in 2000, and Jennifer Pellinen created an alternative design in 2002.

In 2009 the International Transgender Day of Visibility was founded by Rachel Crandall, also the founder of TransGender Michigan; it is an annual holiday occurring on March 31, dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide.

In 1999 a formal review of the US “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) military policy was ordered as a result of the death of Calpernia Addams, a transgender woman who began dating PFC Barry Winchell. Word of the relationship spread at Winchell’s Army base, where he was harassed by fellow soldiers and ultimately murdered. Winchell’s murder and the

subsequent trial resulted in widespread press coverage.

In 2002 Gwen Araujo, Gwen Amber Rose (17 years old), a transgender woman, was murdered in California by four men after they discovered she was transgender, which resulted in world wide outrage.

In 2008 Angie Zapata, a transgender woman, was murdered in Greeley, Colorado. Allen Andrade was convicted of first-degree murder and committing a bias-motivated crime, because he killed her after he learned that she was transgender. Andrade was the first person in the US to be convicted of a hate crime involving a transgender victim. Angie Zapata’s story and murder were featured on Univision’s “Aqui y Ahora” television show on November 1, 2009.

Transgender visibility in the LGBT community also gathered force in the 2000s. In 2002, Pete Chvany, Luigi Ferrer, James Green, Loraine Hutchins and Monica McLemore presented at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Health Summit, held in Boulder, Colorado, marking the first time transgender people, bisexual people, and intersex people were recognized as coequal partners on the national level rather than gay and lesbian “allies” or tokens.

In 2003 Reuben Zellman became the first openly transgender person accepted to the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where he was ordained in 2010. In 2005 transgender activist Pauline Park became the first openly transgender person chosen to be grand marshal of the New York City Pride March, the oldest and largest LGBT pride event in the United States. Elliot Kukla, who came out as transgender six months before his ordination in 2006, was the first openly transgender person to be ordained by the Hebrew Union CollegeJewish Institute of Religion. HUC-JIR is the oldest extant Jewish seminary in the Americas and the main seminary for training rabbis, cantors, educators, and communal workers in Reform Judaism.

Openly transgender people became involved in politics from 2000 on. In 2003 Theresa Sparks was the first openly transgender woman ever named “Woman of the Year” by the California State Assembly, and in 2007 she was elected president of the San Francisco Police Commission by a single vote, making her the first openly transgender person ever to be elected president of any San Francisco commission, as well as San Francisco’s highest ranking openly transgender official.

In 2008 Stu Rasmussen became the first openly transgender mayor in America (in Silverton, Oregon). In 2009 Diego Sanchez became the first openly transgender person to work on Capitol Hill, where he worked as a legislative assistant for Bar-

ney Frank. In 2009 Barbra “Babs” Siperstein was nominated and confirmed as the first openly transgender at-large member of the Democratic National Committee, and in 2012 she became the first elected openly transgender member of the DNC. In 2004, the first all-transgender performance of the Vagina Monologues was held. In the 2010s the entertainment industry saw Chaz Bono become a highly visible transgender celebrity on the US version of Dancing with the Stars in 2011.

“Becoming Chaz,” a documentary about Chaz’s gender transition, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. OWN (the Oprah Winfrey Network) acquired the rights to the documentary and debuted it on May 10, 2011. Most recently in 2014, Kristen Beck, former Navy Seal, has come out as a transgender woman. CNN did a documentary special on her journey this past year.

In 2011, the Veterans Health Administration issued a directive stipulating that all transgender and intersex veterans are entitled to the same level of care “without discrimination” as other veterans, consistent across all Veterans Administration healthcare facilities. In 2013, the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) was released. This edition eliminated the term “gender identity disorder,” which was considered stigmatizing, instead referring to “gender dysphoria,” which focuses attention only on those who feel distressed by their supposed gender identity.

Three groups -- the Girl Scouts, the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance, and the Episcopal Church in the United States -- announced their acceptance of transgender people in this decade.

The transgender and gender variant community has become more visible over the past 15 years. This has helped achieve many successes in the transgender community’s struggle for equality and justice in many areas: marriage and parenting, identity documentation and status issues, employment, health, education, housing, and violent crimes.

Having said this, there is much work that remains to be done. The accomplishments and contributions of the trans and gender variant community needs to be documented, remembered and taught.

GENDA, a NYS bill to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, is today’s struggle. We must recommit ourselves to working for trans protections passage on the federal as well as the state level.

Shoulders To Stand On will continue to document and preserve the history of the transgender, intersex, gender queer and gender variant community through oral interviews, accepting record collec-

21 tions for preservation in a permanent repositories, and research. Shoulders will need your help to do this.

Over the past six months, Shoulders has presented a history of the transgender and gender variant community from 1503 BCE to the current day. It is by no means a “complete” record. Shoulders To Stand On hopes this historical timeline will provide a sense of pride, a sense of rootedness, and a greater understanding of the transgender and gender variant Rochester community. Already other “historians” have begun to work on a Rochester Trans and Gender Variant history. Shoulders could not be more happy at this outcrop of interest and academic research.

Shoulders To Stand On is proud to recognize the visible and the invisible members of the Rochester Trans and Gender Variant Community (including The Trans Alliance of Greater Rochester and Genesee Valley Gender Variants) for their contributions and risk taking in the struggle for equality and justice. Thank you for your courage and perseverance to be who you are!

History Corner A Monthly Newspaper of The Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley 713 Monroe Avenue, Room 4, Rochester, NY l4607 (716) 244-8640 DECEMBER 1974 No. 43 IN THIS ISSUE: Gays protest Media Bias pg.1; GAYS Gay over Nov. Election pg.1; NYSCGO Rep. Aldrich Tours NY pg.1; U of R GLF Reports Activities – Put Empty Closet in Time Capsule pg.2; FORUM Auction proceeds Now Total over $800 pg. 2; JUDGE: Killing Gay OK pg.2; SENATOR’S Sodomy Position Unclear pg.2; New Gay Church Formed pg.3; Gays As Foster parents pg.4; Homosexuals entitled to Justice pg.8; Henry Misinger Embraces the World, pg. 9; Bulletin Board pg 10.

Do you want to read this issue of the Empty Closet?

Here is the link: http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=4800.

On that page click on Browse the Empty Closet issues. Go to 1974 – December Calendar of Events Gay Brotherhood of Rochester Meeting Schedule SUN: 1 DEC: Business Meeting/0pen Forum SUN: 8 DEC: Discussion Topic to be announced SUN: 15 DEC; Coffee House/ Film “The Homosexuals” A TV documentary SUN: 22 DEC: Center Open (No Meeting).

TUE: 24 DEC: Gay Brotherhood ‘Family’ Party SAT: 28 DEC: Empty Closet Newspaper Distribution SUN: 29 DEC: Gay Resolutions Discussion on personal and community goals for ’75.

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015

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 IS THIS THE END?

By Eric Bellmann I wrote my first Empty Closet article in the fall of 1986. I’ve missed one month during the years that followed. That adds up to 204 columns.

The first one was a memorial to an old friend whose death from AIDS I learned about after the fact. In the article I reminisced about our wild teenage years and what Rochester was like when we were kids. The then-editor asked me to submit more articles about what it was like.... growing up. Hence, the column title.

I don’t know if I’m revving up or winding down. Either way I’ve been thinking about stopping the column. A major birthday is nearing. It will be old news when you read this. I’ve been toying with the idea of a bucket list. On it is a lot of down sizing. Maybe more travel, which I once did with abandon but now freeze at the prospect of going to an airport. And getting a cat. Maybe.

Reinvention appeals to me. I used to sell art work in street fairs and eventually I decided to stop that. I did not want to be the oldest living artist peddling his wares in Cornhill or at Clothesline. I also wanted to stop making commercial work and focus more on male imagery (which is not so easy to merchandize). I’m thinking about a renewed period of reinvention.

Feedback about the columns has been varied. Once at an Image Out gala a handsome man came up to me (I was wearing a name tag) and said that when he was not yet out and read my columns, it changed his life.

Another time, while sitting at my art display in Cornhill, a passerby saw my name, came over, said he liked my writing and wanted to take me out to dinner.

The next day he did. I imagined God had heard my weak pleas for a boyfriend. Perhaps things were brightening up. It did not turn out well.

I’ve written about my travels overseas and my times in New York. I’ve written about family and friends. I’ve written about heartache and recovery. It has been a remarkable opportunity to examine my life and the times I’ve lived through. I have had the continued support of the EC’s thoughtful editor, Susan Jordan.

The column has not been without its downsides. I have offended some people, which was inadvertent. I sometimes wonder if by using my own name I have incurred unknown costs. Andrew Holleran, the celebrated novelist, elected to use a pseudonym to spare his family his, at times, transgressive exploits. When we met I was stunned to realize his name was also Eric. Did people here avoid me, perhaps not include me in activities, out of concern they might end up in print? I’ll never know.

At times I imagined I was making a contribution to my community. A number of straight people read the column. I get more feedback from them. That has been encouraging. No writer is ever 100 percent honest although that is the goal.

One strives for truth, of course. I didn’t want to use the column to settle scores even when I felt abandoned or angry. Did I slant things in search of sympathy or recognition? Maybe.

I thought of inserting a sentence at some point (have you read this far? Email

me or Susan and say you need the column to continue) in hope of soliciting support but that felt too Sally Field (OK, kids, when Fields won her second Oscar, she blurted out, “you really like me, you really like me!”). And look, I just snuck it in. Shameless. Or perhaps I have nothing more to say, have become irrelevant. In the final analysis, a writer writes for himself. Some months I feel weary and anxious. What will I write about?

Lately I have felt a little neglected.

Probably that’s just part of getting older.

On one hand, I’ve come to appreciate the increased invisibility true of older people, which is, I think, more common in gay society. At least in New York I can wander with less concern about my cruiseworthiness. That turns out to be a relief. A writer is, after all, an observer, a critic and I can do that now with more ease, more focus. On the other hand, I don’t want to be forgotten.

I’ve made up my mind. Or I think I have.

Email: ericlbellmann@gmail.com

Cleaning My Closet STATUS REPORT

By Meredith Elizabeth Reiniger During my yearly physical, my doctor, verifying his notes, confirmed: “So you’re alone now.” My autopilot response: yes. My amended response: with my dog Vegas.

My conscious response: well, actually, how I see it... I live with my Self.

“Great,” big smile included, “I like that. You should write about that in your column.”

A column idea. From my doctor. Now there’s a full-service medical practitioner.

I love my doctor. Not in the heartpalpitating way. Not “give him an artistmade silk and mohair sweater” which a relative felt was an appropriate tip for her doctor. Not “give him an elegant lavender, designer tie” because, my loving friend felt, her surgeon was an extraordinarily kind doctor. More the “admiration” variety of love. For many reasons.

Always, when I have problems, my highly regarded doctor opts for leastinvasive levels of remedy. He does not rush through my question-and-answer sessions. He returns calls. He (also my allergy specialist) kindly sent me a handwritten, doctor-scrawl thank-you note for sending him a copy of my poem, “A Moth Bit Me”. He is a doctor with class.

Anyway, back to November. Leafing through his hand-written notes of yore, he congratulated me for maintaining my body-mass approved weight. (Well, there had been that chubby span when my Additional-Fifty-Pounds Self, depressed, had self-medicated with whole 14 inch pies and daily BLT sandwiches with a side order of a # of B leftovers. Currently, it’s upper-body-exercise that seems to be missing. Maybe I will carry 24 pounds of dachshund around the house.)

Of course, I call him “Doctor Lastname.” Never Roger. Remnants of my upbringing, when doctors were gods on foot. A time when professionals and “bosses” were shown respect by addressing them politely . . . Mr. White, the principal who hired me; department head Mrs. Burns who scrutinized my lesson plans... and attire. (I should have replied YES! SIR! ENES! the day she proclaimed

“Your dress is cunning, but too short, and I never want to see it again because, you need to remember, teenage boys have other things on their minds.” Circa 1966.)

Obedient, I bestowed my cunning dress on my stylish mother.

I digress. (A common path for my thoughts... actually quite a flabbergasting jaunt.) But neither I nor my dog are concerned or confused by my meandering mind. We both can follow my way of thinking. Of being.

Yes, I am on my own, doctor. Living with one’s self is not an unusual arrangement. Some Solitary Selves have chosen the peace of one. No compromises required. I turn on my 15 watt bulb or light candles. Every night I open the windows (snow or rain or sleet) one inch or one foot (truth be told, the older my bones, the fewer the inches). I read in bed until my eyelids shutter; ten hours later my body, not a jarring alarm, raises me into my new day.

I eat when I desire and what (melted peanut butter and butter slathered on a toasted English muffin) and where (OK, I confess: that particular gourmet menu item is more easily consumed while standing over the sink; so sorry, mother, who employed cloth napkins, glass glasses, tables, and such fancinesses).

Some Live-with-My-Selfers embrace the benefits of one, luxuriating in a flowing schedule, sailing calmly. Such a serene pace invites me to notice details, not just background. To be aware of Every Day Miracles… in the birdbath, four feet from my chair, an Eastern Kingbird vigorously splashes, perches on the edge, preens, turns away from me, and then fully spreads glorious, black, pointed wings and her long black tail feathers ending in a white band. Oh my.

Simply single, I have many more hours available to play with words. Last count, I still have twenty-seven more poems to write for my sister. My printer is surrounded by drafts, drafts, drafts of poems-under-revision. I, with Wiki and G and Roget, toss around modifications... my daily exercise-routine for synapse agility.

Some Solo Selves are artists in need of floor space to allow their art projects to wait while drying, to wait for line-up in a trial sequence. My studio is festooned with my hand-painted, tissue-paper sheets and tiny too-good-to-discard scraps. I sit in the midst of this exploded party, selecting pieces for the next layer of my funky collage. My invigorating challenge: illustrate my currently-finalized forty-three poems. Without a doubt, play is a quality of life opportunity.

Other projects call. On top of my high work-table, one of my four dining room chairs, restlessly seated, pining for its make-over, daydreams about my painting squiggles, swirls, curves, and flowers. With steady hands, I will, with deep, uninterrupted concentration, add the final embellishment of uniform, evenly-spaced rows of tiny dots (my signature motif). Dots every place I can imagine.

After the fourth coat of varnish, when my creation is obviously fabulous, fireworks will burst from my head.

Vegas? Under my re-purposed firehouse table, he naps in his bed during the whole process, curled around piles of disfigured and otherwise amended toys. I am sure that, in his head, he is cheering. I believe I hear his pom-poms shake.

My autonomy means I always have options. When one person only lives in her whole house, togetherness can be invited inside regardless of time and distance. The speed and ease of technology-enabled communication is a gift.

Regularly my StorySysters (my sister Leslie, cousins Lanie and Kathy, niece Jodi, and four family-by-choice friends) share detailed stories that link our hearts.

Whenever I want face-to-face companionship, I can turn to ready-set-send invitations. Last week, fingers fumbling, I wrote: You and your insulated underwear are invited to my return-to-wild backyard for a lovely fire in my fire-dish thingy; bocce ball, weather (or whether) permit-

ting; chili dinner; and other not-lonely activities. Even regrets make me smile: “Wah!!! I wish I could be there. My insulated underwear is equally disappointed, as it is not accustomed to receiving invitations personally.”

Another point, esteemed doctor... any time I desire company, I look in my mirror and see my mother. meredithreiniger@gmail.com

Faith Matters TURKEY FLIP-FLOPS WITH LGBTQI POPULATION

By Rev. Irene Monroe Turkey is a country conflicted when it comes to its LGBTQ population.

On one hand, Turkey is the first country in the Muslim world to hold a LGBTQI pride march. Eleven years later, 2014 Istanbul Pride is lauded as the largest pride event held in the country. It surpassed last year’s LGBTQI pride attendance that drew nearly 100,000 revelers and onlookers.

Turkey is the “go-to” country LGBTQI Muslims from other Islamic countries flee to for their safety.

Pro-gay measures like Turkey’s Supreme Court acknowledging this past July that calling its LGBTQ citizens “perverts” is hate speech, and its 2013 landmark ruling stating that selling DVDs depicting graphic as well as pornographic LGBTQI group sex is “natural,” and “that an individual’s sexual orientation should be respected” would suggest that Turkey’s a country that embraces tolerance and acceptance. But the hate crimes rate against its LGBTQI population is the highest among European countries with its trans population the hardest hit. No pun intended.

Since 1858 same-sex relations in private between consenting adults have been legal in Turkey.

On the other hand, LGBTQI sexual orientations and gender identities are excluded from the country’s legal and civil rights systems of justice.

Michelle Demishevich has become the international face of the country’s struggle with its transgender population. Michelle was fired in September from her job as a reporter at Turkey’s IMC TV. Reason for her termination: “I was getting warnings about my clothes and the color of my hair,” Demishevich told Bianet. “Even my use of red lipstick started to be a problem.”

According to the 2011 World Values Survey, 84 percent of Turkey’s population doesn’t want LGBTQI residents in their neighborhood. And those who unfortunately live in those unwelcoming neighborhoods hide from their heterosexual neighbors.

“I can’t send my picture or show you my face because as you know Turkey’s an Islamic country. I live in an area where there are radical Islamists groups and I’m concerned about life safety issues.

I’ll send some of my friends’ pictures taken at Istanbul Pride 2014,” the activist Bordanacı wrote.

Housing discrimination can be added to the laundry list of other discriminations—health care, education, public accommodations and employment, to name a few.

“If you’re fired from work for your sexual orientation you can not receive compensation from the workplace. They can tell your family by phone,” Burçin shared.

In 2010 the Minister for Women and Family Affairs depicted homosexuality as “a biological disorder, a disease,” and earlier this year Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said homosexuality is “contrary” to Islam.

Because so many Muslims view homosexuality as Erdogan does, this prejudice has unfortunately turned many LGBTQI

DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET Muslims away from their faith.

“I don’t Salat, but I’m Muslim. My family is Muslim, too. My family doesn’t know about my sexual orientation. If they learn about my sexual orientation they will marry me off. I do pray to God everyday about LGBTI people, and also for me,” Bordanacı shared with me.

As Turkey’s government flip-flops on LGBTQI civil rights – like in 2013 promising to provide constitutional protection against discrimination, to then let the draft proposal die — its LGBTQ population isn’t standing idly by. As a matter of fact, Turkey’s LGBTQ population is fighting back by organizing.

And Bordanacı is among them.

“I’m doing activism via Internet. I speak on Skype at an underground Turk gay club.”

Turkey LGBTQ Union is a new activist website just months old that Bordanaci is promoting. Based in the country’s capital, Ankara, Turkey LGBTQ Union is a new umbrella organization combating both homophobia and transphobia by using the Internet. It aims to bring together all of the country’s LGBTQI groups and organizations.

“Because Turkey is an Islamic country, although not in the same league as Saudi Arabia, Syria and Iraq in its vehemently anti-LGBTI stance, there is need for togetherness and solidarity among LGBTI groups to counter the homophobia and transphobia that exist in Turkey today,” Bordanacı told GayAsiaNews.com by email.

Turkey LGBTQ Union is founded by gay activist Nikopol who in 2006 also helped form the Turk Gay Club to create community, safety, and anonymity.

Anonymity via Internet has been the way Bordanacı and I have communicated.

I have no idea what he looks like.

I applaud his activism but I’m worried. Especially remembering the suspected first anti- gay “honor killing” of college student Ahmet Yildiz. In 2008 Yildiz represented Turkey at a gay international gathering in San Francisco. He was fatally shot outside a café near the Bosphorus strait. Yildiz’s friends accused his father.

So with each email exchange I had with Bordanacı I always ended mine by saying: Be safe!

A Few Bricks Short A HOLLY JOLLY BOOB TUBE

By David Hull Ever since I was a little kid, whenever the holiday season rolls around, I’ve always been fascinated by which television shows get special Christmas episodes and which

ones don’t.

I mean, we all know the Brady, Walton, Simpson and Flintstone families got their own Christmas episodes, as well as The Golden Girls, Frazier, Mary Tyler

Moore Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, All in the Family, Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, Taxi, Will & Grace, The Honeymooners, M.A.S.H. and I Love Lucy.

They all got to celebrate.

Many of the animated TV characters got to spread Christmas cheer: Bugs Bunny, Fat Albert, Yogi Bear, Sponge Bob, Tom & Jerry; even He-Man & SheRa got to hang their stockings with care.

Christmas has been celebrated in a variety of TV settings, from the shores of Gilligan’s Island to the Ponderosa ranch on Bonanza; from James Buchanan High School on Welcome Back, Kotter to the Scranton headquarters of Dunder-Mifflin on The Office.

But what about all those beloved television characters who never got to share the season with us? Don’t you ever wonder what was going on there?

I guess I can understand why they never had a Christmas tree in the prisoner barracks of Stalag 13 on Hogan’s Heroes; after all, they were in a German concentration camp during WW2, so there probably wasn’t a lot of holiday celebrating going on.

Lassie got a Christmas special – but not Flipper! What the heck? They’re basically the same thing – an extremely intelligent mammal who helps people in trouble – Flipper’s just wetter. That’s no reason to miss out on Christmas!

Why did Bewitched get Christmas episodes, but not I Dream of Jeannie?

Jeannie could have decorated the whole house, wrapped all the gifts and prepared the holiday feast in three easy blinks – don’t tell me she didn’t have time!

The future certainly doesn’t seem to bode well for the Yuletide. The Jetsons had a Christmas special, but no one ever celebrated the birth of Christ on Lost in Space. And what would have happened if we ever had a Christmas episode of Star Trek? I bet Mr. Spock would have told Doctor McCoy something like: “For a human to purchase an item without a gift receipt would be most illogical.”

And why did the superheroes never get Christmas? There’s no reason Alfred the butler couldn’t have cooked a turkey with all the trimmings at stately Wayne Manor for Batman and Robin, especially if they invited the Green Hornet and Kato over for Christmas Eve. However, I suppose things would not have worked out so well for an Incredible Hulk Christmas episode; if just one rude shopper had pushed ahead of Bill Bixby while he was shopping on Black Friday, then Lou Ferrigno would have spent the rest of the episode trashing the shopping mall. “Hulk smash Christmas!”

Was there ever a Christmas celebration on Fantasy Island? I don’t think so. I would remember little Tattoo calling out: “The plane! The plane!” Then Mister Roarke would interrupt him and explain: “No, Tattoo, that’s not the plane. That’s Santa in his sleigh!”

Okay, three things are very clear.

First, I watch way too much TV. Second, I have to be brave enough during the holiday season to accept the fact that I will probably never know how Herman and Lily decorate their haunted mansion on The Munsters or how Marshall, Will and Holly celebrate the Yuletide in The Land of the Lost.

Third, and most important, my husband keeps warning me, be careful what you wish for. The way television is going, I never know when I could see Rhoda’s Hanukkah Reunion or The Jefferson’s Kwanzaa Special.

I guess we should all just try to have a Merry Christmas anyway.

Contact David at davidhull59@aol. com

Trans*missions THE GREATEST GIFT YOU CAN GIVE

By Laine DeLaney The holiday season can be rough for us.

When many people are reaching out to family and embracing them, people in the TBLG community and especially the trans* community often feel even more separate.

The families that we have been raised with often turn their backs on us and cast us out, leaving us to fend for ourselves.

That’s where your chosen family steps in. The people who fit all of the qualifications of family other than being physically related to you (and everyone is related anyway, right?). The people who have been with you through thick and thin, always remember your name and give you a hug when you see them.

For people who are so apt to lose their families to bigotry and ignorance it is important to both cultivate and be open to the idea of chosen family. I don’t know where I’d be without mine.

Chosen family can be found in a lot of ways and places: the people that you know at the coffee shop, your church, your apartment building. Even your workplace can provide the sorts of interaction that form chosen family.

I judge if someone has become family by a few factors. First off, have we been there for each other in rough times? Have we at least listened as they’ve bared their soul? Have we faced some of the same challenges, and faced them together or at least commiserated about them? Have we given each other reasons to be happy to be alive? There’s something of an ineffable quality to it, also, an indescribable feeling, a bond that doesn’t go away when you get angry with the person or fight with them. If you still care about them even when you are angry and yelling, then you might just be family.

23 I’m lucky – out of all of my blood relatives, I have one supportive person.

My older sister Julie supports my gender identity and took it completely in stride when I came out to her this September.

She even used the right pronouns and name for me before we talked – someone must have let her know something.

She’s made me cry multiple times since I came out: when she apologized for telling me to act more like a boy when I was little, when she talked to me, unprompted, about the falseness of the gender binary, when she apologized for all of the time that we missed as sisters.

I’m grateful to have her.

Some people don’t have as much as one member of their biological or adoptive families who love and support them. Some people don’t have anyone but the people that they know from other places. Biological family may be important, but chosen family is no less meaningful, powerful or valuable. Biological family members can’t help but be related to you – chosen family is there by choice.

So if you see someone this holiday season who is alone, or struggling, someone who you know has nowhere to go on any of the holidays other than back to their own apartment (or shelter) to be alone, let them know that you care. Reach out to them. Give them the warmth of hearth, friendship, food, drink, and company. Give them a place at your table.

You never know – they may end up being family, and as close and supportive as any other, and you may end up saving their holiday season or even their lives. If there is no other gift you can give this season, let it be that – companionship for someone who has to spend the icy winter months alone. They won’t forget the experience, and neither will you.

What’s Bothering Brandon?

STROLLING AMONGST GILT GREATNESS

By Brandon W. Brooks December has come, only to be replaced by January, with everdropping mercury.

I have taken out my winter clothing from its sweet, summertime slumber, a frown or two curling my mouth downward amongst the wools and cable-knits.

How I hate this time of year. But I shan’t complain (too much), especially being a Rochesterian by birth; I know there is much worse to come our way.

As I bring out the heavy garments of this season, replacing lighter twills and muslins with tears, I begin to recall my trip to New York this past summer (that

24 word again). Whenever I visit I always set aside a day to wander the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I love meandering through its grand halls, getting small whiffs of the Egyptian department as I enter, and glancing into the ancient Greek-Roman gallery to see some marble torsos. Those boys make it look so easy.

But no matter what exhibition is currently on display, I always save the best for last: The Wrightsman and AnnieLaurie Aikens Galleries. For anyone who reads my column regularly, or for anyone who knows me personally, you will know that these two expansive galleries are where I keep my heart.

They consist of both French and English stately period rooms, whose walls, floors, ceilings, fixtures, fittings and furniture all come from their original homes in palaces and grand chateaux.

It always astounds me to think that the very planks of wood that I stand upon in these galleries were once stood upon by members of the peerage, nobility and even some members of former royal houses. It astounds and amazes me that these rooms, every nail and every piece of furniture, every object within them, were slowly taken apart and shipped across the Atlantic, and then reassembled painstakingly for our enjoyment (and the rooms’ preservation). They even have one of Marie Antoinette’s cushions from her withdrawing cabinet room!

Some of the rooms are on loan to the MET from European palaces (imagine moving an entire room across seas); however a majority are permanent installations purchased by power families (industrialists) from the turn of the last century, and later bequeathed to the museum. These rooms and their extraordinary contents would have been lost to the ages, rotting away in a waterlogged manor, never to be seen and enjoyed again. They are rooms that are no longer made; they are rooms that, in

THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015 some instances, cannot be made again due to their sheer financial and ecological cost.

Some rooms are entirely gilt, from their hand-carved paneled walls, to the ten foot mirrors and girandoles. Other rooms are more subdued, with walls covered in a more modest Wedgwood blue silk. Yes, that is modest for a room of this level of splendor.

One cannot, of course, touch anything in these rooms, as this would most likely result in landing in a debtors’ prison somewhere, languishing for the rest of one’s now-penniless life. Just walking through their finery should suffice I’d say.

Compared to the big box stores and the particleboard McMansions of suburban tract-housing, these rooms seem heavenly if not entirely divine. They are full of good taste, when such a thing still existed, without a single Kardashian, Bieber or Cyrus in sight. Oh no – only Nymphenburg porcelains will do in places like these.

I must admit, it is difficult for me to leave The Wrightsman and Annie-Laurie Aikens Galleries when the time sadly comes. I often imagine ways that I could hide in the rooms, only to reemerge when the visitors and docents are gone.

I would be able to saunter around each room, pretending it’s mine, pretending I live there, pretending it was made for me and only me to enjoy and savor.

These thoughts keep me warm during these cold and grey months. If you find yourself in New York, and enjoy the MET as opposed to “clubbing” as they say, be sure to make a stop in The Wrightsman and Annie-Laurie Aikens Galleries. While you’re there, say “hi” for me.

Questions, comments or critique?

Please feel free to e-mail the author at: brandonb@gayalliance.org ■

Legal name change?

Birth certificate amendment?

You’ll need those forms notarized!

Our Notary can help!

Schedule a free appointment today!

Call 585 244-8640 or email: info@gayalliance.org

DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

25

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

DIGNITY-INTEGRITY D-I Rochester meets weekly at 5pm at St. Luke’s and St. Simon’s Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh Street, corner of Broad St. We have the following services and activities for the months of December 2014 and January 2015.

1st Sunday: Episcopal Mass/Healing Service, with music 2nd Sunday: Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Word, with music 3rd Sunday: Episcopal Mass, quiet 4th Sunday: Evening Prayer, followed by a Potluck Dinner!

Our fourth Sunday Potluck theme for December is “Holiday Food Re-gifted”.

Let’s see, what did you have for Christmas that you’d love to serve again? Think about it and bring it along to share.

Then, in January, Sunday’s potluck is close to the Chinese New Year, so we’ll get the celebration started. Bring your favorite Asian-themed dish. No time to cook? Don’t worry, there is always plenty to share so invite a friend or two and join us for a great meal!

REMEMBER to join us on Sunday, Dec. 21 at 5 p.m. We’re having our annual Christmas Carol Sing with Tim Schramm, in place of the regular service that evening. Sit back, relax and sing the songs of the season! Cookies and punch follow in the parish hall.

SAVE THE DATES: Saturday, February 21: Winter Cabin Party will be held at Buckland Lodge in Brighton. We’ll start at 5 p.m. and eat a potluck dinner at about 6 p.m. \Bring a dish to pass and a favorite game or two. \ It is a great way to beat the winter chill!

2015 -- Our 40th Anniversary! Still no date has been set, but someone suggested having a 40th Reunion… you know, kind of like a high school reunion only FABULOUS! There are so many of you folks out there who have been a part of the life of Dignity Integrity. It would be fantastic to see or hear from as many former members of DI as possible. Send us your current contact information via our email, info@ di-rochester.org, so we can be sure to send you an invitation!

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

EMPIRE BEARS December is going to be busy. The Bears will be at a lacrosse game, the RGMC concert at Hochstein, a Big Wigs show at Golden Ponds, the movies, brunch, dinner, and around town.

You might run into us at the Cinema, the Forum, Equal Grounds, or 140 Alex.

There’s Bears everywhere.

Have you noticed that we’re all getting older, maybe putting on a few pounds, and hair is sprouting in new places? As we age, we all seem to be turning into bears.

If you’re looking for some friends to hang with, get to know the Empire Bears. We have supper every Wednesday at 6; third Wednesdays at Carrabba’s and fourth Wednesdays at the Winfield Grill.

Other upcoming events that Empire Bears will be at are the Jones Pond reunion in Buffalo and Drenched Fur in Erie. Our members get together to play games, camp, travel, and share laughs. Join us.

OPEN ARMS MCC Open Arms MCC is Beyond Opening and Affirming…Beyond Welcoming….A Place for ALL...

Our Sunday Morning Celebration Services begin at 10:30 a.m. offering a vibrant, inclusive Progressive Worship experience, blending elements of tradi-

tional and contemporary worship styles.

Depending on the Sunday, worship may include hymns, prayer, scripture, audio visual, special music and our own Open Arms ensemble.

Communion is served each Sunday in both of our services. Brae Adams always delivers a message that is both scriptural and socially relevant. During our Celebration Service, children are invited to participate in our Children’s Moment before heading off to our Rainbow Rangers (ages 5-12) and Rainbow Sprouts (newborn to five years old) Sunday School Program. Following the service join us in our Community Center for some social time.

Our Contemporary Praise and Worship Service is held each Sunday at 5:30 p.m. Be assured that you will be accepted, honored and loved. This contemporary service features our live Open Arms Praise Band and Sara Campbell will be leading your worship experience in this electrifying service.

Our monthly Agape Supper is held the second Sunday of each month at 5:30 p.m. In this service you experience worship while sharing a meal in fellowship with others. Please bring a dish to share in this intimate worship experience.

Our Social Justice team continues working to support Dwayne’s House in Jamaica. Dwayne’s house is an organization that provides clothing and gives monetary assistance to the homeless LGBTQ youths in Jamaica. Our work continues in Eastern Europe as we fund travel expenses for our pastor emeritus Rev. Jim Mulcahy through our bottle and can collection ministry. Rev. Jim is building churches and teaching our LGBT brothers and sisters in Eastern Europe about God’s unconditional love.

Food donations can be made in our Community Center on Tuesdays or Sundays for our Open Arms Food Bank which provides food for those in need.

Cash donations for our DUO fund (do unto others) are used to assist the people in the Rochester community with urgent housing or medical needs.

Sara Campbell will be conducting a Queer Theology Bible Study. This will be held at Equal Grounds at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday nights.

Every other Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. is Our Soup and Book Study with Brae Adams.

AFTY, Adult Families with Trans Youth, meets the first Tuesday from 5:306:30 p.m. in the Community Center.

This is a group for parents and other family members who want to support and understand what struggles and difficulties their trans child may be having and learn ways to best treat their child in a loving and accepting way.

Saturday, Dec. 6 at 5:30 p.m. we will start our celebration of the holiday with Cocoa, Cookies and Carols. We will be singing Christmas Carols around the piano while exchanging cookies and enjoying some hot cocoa.

We are now collecting donations for our Angel Tree ministry which provides gifts for children in the Rochester community who may not be receiving gifts for Christmas. Please stop by our Community Center and select an angel off our Angel Tree.

Our Christmas Eve service will be on Wednesday, Dec. 24 at 4:30 p.m. This will be a combined service of our traditional and contemporary worship styles.

Our Open Arms Choir will be performing during this special family service.

On Tuesday and Thursday mornings Rainbow Sage gets together with Tom Somerville for Yoga from 10:30-11:30 a.m., and there is a $5 fee. Thursday evenings at 6 p.m. there is also Yoga with

Tom Somerville, this is a mixed level class that welcomes all including beginners.

BTW BYO mat (if possible). Cost is $15 per class.

Open Arms MCC is committed to building bridges and changing lives and we are the only accepting church in Rochester. We are located at 707 East Main S.t almost right across from Delta Sonic. There is plenty of free parking in front and to the side of our building. For updated information on these and other exciting upcoming events check out our website at: openarmsmcc.org. Brae Adams has office hours on Tuesdays from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. You can reach us by phone at (585) 271-8478.

ROCHESTER WOMEN’S COMMUNITY CHORUS ‘Tis the holiday season and the Women’s Chorus invites you to our concert “Simple Gifts” on Saturday December 6, at 8 p.m. at the Downtown United Presbyterian Church (DUPC), 121 N. Fitzhugh St. If you are interested in singing with the chorus, our new season starts on Jan. 6. We rehearse on the second floor at DUPC on Tuesdays from 6:30-8:45 p.m. with a short break for refreshments and announcements. New singers are encouraged to arrive at their first rehearsal between 6 and 6:15 for voice placement with the music director. We will be accepting new singers for the first three weeks of the season.

Please remember that you are welcomed and encouraged to sing with us regardless of any prior musical training or experience. We also have numerous opportunities for people of all genders to join us with non-singing tasks such as concert production, publicity, etc.

For our spring concert we’ll be celebrating women composers.

RWCC will also be participating in the bi-annual prism-style concert “A Taste of Song” on Feb. 8, at 4 p.m. at the Eastman Theater. The free concert is organized by the Greater Rochester Choral Consortium and will feature 16 various community choruses.

For information on the Rochester Women’s Community Chorus and its upcoming concerts, please visit our website, www.therwcc.org. You can email us at RWCCSings@gmail.com or call and leave a message at (585) 234-4441. You can also find us on Facebook.

ROMANS Holiday Greetings to everyone!

Whether it’s snowing outside or the area is hit by a polar vortex with freezing temperature, ROMANS members continue to crank up the heat inside a member’s home to get naked and be cozy.

What’s more welcoming than seeing some smiling faces and hugging some nice warm bodies during this holiday season?

We are glad to share that at one meeting we had a “virgin cocktails” hour serving non-alcoholic drinks with very special names and at another meeting we celebrated the 23rd anniversary of the club with a birthday cake and some exciting games.

ROMANS is a gay all-male nude group based in Rochester. We are affiliated with other nude groups in Western New York: Naturist Rochester, In-theBuff of Buffalo, Syracuse Naked Men. If you are interested in joining us to enjoy nudism in a gay friendly environment, you can call ROMANS’ message phone line at 585-281-4964 or write to us by E-mail wnyromans@yahoo.com or via regular mail at PO Box 92293, Rochester, NY 14692.

ROMANS is a social club for gay male

nudists (or naturists) over 21. For more information and our activities calendar, please check out our website at www.wnyromans.com.

TAGR (TRANS ALLIANCE OF GREATER ROCHESTER) Open Arms MCC, who graciously allows us to use their Community Center for our gatherings, needs donations for their ongoing food cupboard. Therefore we are asking TAGR attendees to please bring at least one non-perishable food item for donation to our upcoming meetings as a thank you for allowing us to use their space.

We have decided in order to have the time to plan a successful Open House we are postponing having it until early next year. On Saturday, Dec. 13, 3-5 p.m. we will have our regular scheduled planning meeting, so please come with ideas for what we want to be doing next year and the year after that and after that...

Our LAST Saturday of the month meeting is Dec. 27, 3-5:30 p.m. and we will have our third Annual Year End Party with a “dessertluck,” so bring a dessert to pass around!

Also as part of this event we are having a clothing exchange and drive. Go through your closet and boxes and bring any gently used clothing to the party and whatever is left over will be going to St. Joseph’s House of Hospitality.

Saturday, Jan. 10, 3-5 p.m. is our second Saturday of month Planning Group meeting. Please come with your thoughts and ideas and hear what’s being planned for the next few months and into next year!

Our LAST Saturday of the month meeting is Jan. 31, 3-5:30 p.m. and is our support group meeting. We know just how hard it is to ask for help with what you might be going through. Our support meetings provide a safe and caring atmosphere so that you can feel free to talk about whatever is going on with you.

Our members have all had many of the same questions and fears you may have.

Together we can learn how to not just survive as a Trans person, we can learn from each other how to live a rich full life as a Trans person! Yes, it can and is being done. Come to a meeting and find out how you can do it too, As always our family, friends and allies are welcomed and encouraged to join us.

All our meetings take place at the Open Arms Community Center at 707 East Main St., almost across the street from Delta Sonic and there is plenty of parking in front and side of the Open Arms building.

There will be refreshments and we will be asking for at least a $1 donation towards supporting TAGR and the work we need and want to do!

“Trans... invisible and silent no longer... invisible and silent no more!”

Website: www.rnytg.org rnytg. org facebook.com/rnytg info@rnytg. org twitter: @rochestertrans Our phone number is 585-432-0456.

TORONTO SKI AND SNOWBOARD CLUB Toronto Gay Ski and Snowboard Club will have their annual Super Ball at Bristol Mountain. It occurs Super Bowl Weekend: Jan. 30 – Feb. 1, 2015.

More information is available at: Toronto Gay Ski & Snowboarding Club TorontoGaySkiSnowboardingClub @GaySkiSnowboard ■

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015

The Avenue Pub 39 Year Landmark in the Gay Community

Updates are posted daily with drink specials & events

The Avenue Pub 522 Monroe Avenue 585-244-4960

DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

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Arts & Entertainment

Paige Faure, Beth Glover, Ashley Park and Aymee Garcia in the National Tour of Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella. Photo © Carol Rosegg.

Beth Glover of Cinderella loves those strong power-hungry gals Beth Glover plays the Wicked Stepmother in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, at the Auditorium Theatre Dec. 9-14. Tickets are on sale at ticketmaster.com, 800-745-3000, the Auditorium box office and rbtl.org.

She has appeared in national tours: All Shook Up; Promises, Promises; Dirty Blonde; Anything Goes. Off-B’way: Take Me Along, Counsellor at Law, many more. World premieres: Analog & Vinyl, The Good Girl Is Gone, Book of Candy, Body Shop.

Awards and noms: SFBACC Best Actress for Grey Gardens; 9 to 5; Good News; Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. BethGloverActress.com.

Beth Glover spoke with The Empty Closet about Cinderella and her stage career, and her fondness for “strong power-hungry gals”.

Where is your hometown and why did you decide to go into show business?

Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the heart of the Southern Central part of the state, just two hours northeast of New Orleans, the city that showed me instantly I belonged elsewhere.

My Dad ran the Little Theatre in Hattiesburg, so I grew up in a theatrical community -- wonderful gay and straight men and women creating sets and costumes and partying at my parents’ house. My earliest memory of performing was sashaying into my parents’ living room with all of the Little Theatre Folk present, speaking in my four-year-old Mae West voice, saying, “Hello Big Boy. Why don’t you come over and see me sometime. All I’ve got on is the television.” Of course, I had no idea what I was saying, but a star was born with the regaling laughter.

Is Cinderella primarily for kids or will adults enjoy it too?

How would you describe the show?

It truly is for everyone. Douglas Carter Beane (DCB) has really put a modern spin on the classic fairy tale. If you know his plays (As Bees In Honey Drown -- I played the lead regionally; The Little Dog Laughed etc.), they are witty and acerbic. He

Beth Glover offstage.

has marvelously combined his voice with the Cinderella story, adding great heart and a beautiful message.

The adult humor is most present in my character (the Wicked Stepmother), Madame and the Prince’s Lord Protector, Sebastian played by Broadway veteran Blake Hammond. When I read the book for the first time, I fell in love with ALL of it. It surprised me.

What excites me is that DCB has empowered Cinderella. She gets great help from the Fairy Godmother (FG) of course, but she digs deep to find out who she is and what she wants. She even challenges the Prince to find what he wants for himself and his kingdom. And the best part: SHE’S in control. Audiences gasp at the end of Act One when they see how this Cinderella handles losing her iconic glass slipper. Our Cinderella is simply a fantastic modern retelling of the story that, I think, inspires the entire audience.

What appeals to you most about your role, and what is the biggest challenge?

It’s pretty fabulous being a power hungry woman on stage!

We’re not supposed to be mean in real life. I’ve been given a license to let ‘er rip in the show.

My biggest challenge is finding her humanity -- yes she’s flawed and has anger issues, but who is she really deep down? That has to come through. I’ve worked hard to find all of her humor, while still telling the story. I want her to be wicked and wickedly funny.

I like to think of her as Margot Channing crossed with Madeline Kahn.

How did you begin your career? What stands out as the highlight so far?

The day I graduated from The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (Madeline Kahn spoke at my graduation! along with Garson Kanin), the oldest

conservatory of acting in our fair land, I was cast in the first national tour of The Taffetas.

We opened for Ray Charles.

So far, the height of my professional and artistic career has been playing The Edies in Grey Gardens in the first regional production of the show (San Francisco Bay Area Best Actress Award) and playing Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Who are your most-admired performers and how did they influence you?

Early on it was Julie Kavner in “Rhoda” and Agnes Moorehead in “Bewitched”. Later it was/is Kathy Bates, Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, Margo Martindale, Bette Midler, Robin Wright, Jennifer Lawrence, Jennifer Carpenter, and yes, Meryl Streep. What all these women have in common, for me, is a fierce sense of self and presence on screen and off. They seem fearless; forging their own unique paths. And they’re all talented as hell.

If you could play any role, what would it be?

Right now, I’m obsessed with playing Amanda in The Glass Menagerie. I’m also very driven in terms of creating new roles.

Just played Satan, yes Satan, in a World Premiere called Analog & Vinyl -- talk about the freedom to explore and be. Hello divine manipulation!

It’s obvious I enjoy playing some strong power hungry gals.

That’s just one of the things that makes Cinderella a great time for me!

Pippin actor Callan Bergman is an upstate native Pippin is back on Broadway for the first time since it thrilled audiences 40 years ago, and now the re-created show is coming to the Auditorium Theatre Jan. 13-18.

With a beloved score by Tony nominee Stephen Schwartz

Callan Bergman

(Wicked), Pippin tells the story of a young prince on a death-defying journey to find meaning in his existence.

Will he choose a happy but simple life? Or will he risk everything for a singular flash of glory? This new production is directed by Tony winner Diane Paulus (Hair and The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess). It features choreography by Tony Award nominee Chet Walker in the style of Bob Fosse and circus creation of breathtaking acrobatics

by Gypsy Snider of the Montreal-based circus company Les 7 doigts de la main (also known as 7 Fingers) the creative force behind the nationwide sensation Traces.

Pippin is noted for many Broadway standards including “Corner of the Sky,” “Magic To Do,” “Glory,” “No Time at All,” “Morning Glow,” and “Love Song.”

Callan Bergmann (Lewis, u/s Pippin) recently spoke with The Empty Closet. His credits include Broadway: Cinderella.

Off-Broadway/Tour: Mary Poppins, Silence! The Musical, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Encores!), Lucky Guy. Film/TV: “Smash,” “Lovestruck The Musical,” “Late Show with David Letterman.”

Proud graduate of Point Park University.

Callan said, “Our production of Pippin is indeed a show within a show. We are a traveling circus troupe that is putting on a production called ‘Pippin’.

The biggest difference between this revival production and the original is the circus element.

Our ‘Pippin’ is a perfect blend of

traditional Broadway style and Cirque du Soleil spectacle.”

Is Callan an actor, singer, or dancer first? He said, “I actually consider myself a singer/ actor/dancer/tumbler OR a quadruple threat. Haha. And I love Pippin because I get to show off all of these talents. (Thanks Mom and Dad for driving me all over Western NY to all my classes and lessons!) I grew up doing gymnastics and singing in choirs. I got my start doing theatre in junior high and high school at Gowanda Central School and fell in love with it.

From there I went on to study musical theatre and dance at Point Park University.”

Callan, also an understudy for Pippin, hasn’t gone on as the star of the show yet. He notes, “Understudying Pippin is very exciting for me because it is a part that I’ve wanted to play since seeing a local high school production when I was younger.

I haven’t gotten to go on yet, but I’m seriously looking forward to it when I do!

“The biggest highlight for me is getting to travel the country spreading the joy of live theatre.

It sounds cheesy, but I LOVE what I do and it means so much to me to talk to fans after every show and see the impact we have on their lives. Another highlight is getting to show off all my skills (like I said before). The creative team really catered my version of Lewis to do just that.

One of the biggest challenges about touring is staying healthy.

We have a very intense schedule and it’s really important to take good care of ourselves both physically and mentally. Luckily, we have a wonderful cast and crew that all supports and cares for each other. Another challenge with our intense schedule is not getting to go home for holidays. With two nieces (and a third on the way!) I wish I got to go home much more than our schedule allows. Thank goodness for picture messaging, video messaging, and FaceTime!”

Callan talked about the performers who have inspired him the most. “David Elder is a Broadway song and dance man that I had the honor of working with while doing summer stock (Pippin continues page 28)

RGMC, RWCC plan holiday concerts

By Susan Jordan The Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus and Rochester Women’s Community Chorus will both present their annual holiday concerts this month.

The RGMC concert theme is “There’s Something About Mary”. The concerts take place Dec. 12 and 13, at 8 p.m. at Hochstein Performance Hall, 50 N. Plymouth Ave. RGMC says, “You know it’s not all serious when the concert is titled There’s Something About Mary.” The Chorus aims to have the audience laugh and cry as they listen to songs ranging from “Mary Had a Baby” to “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”.

The Rochettes will supply the dancing, the Chorus of the Genesee will lend its barbershop harmonies, and The Flower City Pride Band will provide music to get you in the mood.

RGMC’s holiday concert in 2013.

Advance tickets can be purchased online at Parkleigh, Outlandish, Equal=Grounds or the RGMC website for $17 ($20 at the door), $6 for children, and $14 for students/seniors ($17 at the door). For more information go to www.thergmc.org or call 585-423-0650.

RWCC will sing about “Simple Gifts” on Dec. 6 at 8 p.m., at

Downtown United Presbyterian Church, 121 N. Fitzhugh St. Admission is $10 adults, $8 seniors/students, $5 children (babies in arms are free). Tickets are available from Chorus members and at the door. The concert is ASL interpreted and handicap accessible. For more information call 234-4441 or see www.therwcc.org. ■

28 ( Pippin continued from page 27) in college. He has had a long, wonderful, and still flourishing career and I hope for my career to go down a similar path. I’m also a huge fan of Hugh Jackman. He is so ridiculously talented and I love that he continuously returns to the theatre world.”

Show business is one of the most challenging careers around. Callan said to young aspiring performers, “Keep training HARD. We can never stop improving, so keep taking class even when you reach the ‘professional’ level. Also, be YOU and be CONFIDENT! Embrace what makes you unique.”

Save the date: Red Ball 2015 is set for Feb. 7 Get ready for glitz! The Gay Alliance will host its annual Red Ball Community Valentines Dance, a celebration of love, community and friendship, on Saturday, Feb. 7.

This year we are “Puttin’ on the Glitz” and attendees are encouraged to dress in Roaring ‘20s attire evoking “Great Gatsby” elegance, or the speakeasy chic of “flappers and gangsters”.

The dance will run from 7 to 11 p.m., at the Diplomat Banquet Center, 1956 Lyell Ave. All are invited to a glamorous evening featuring gift basket raffles, a photo booth with vintage props, prizes for best outfits, complimentary hors d’oeuvres and desserts and a cash bar. Youth group members are working on fabulous flapper headbands for sale – or you can bring your own. Spend the night next door at the La Quinta Inn for $69 if booked before 1/7/15. Call (585) 254-1000.

Music will be provided by DJ Chuck Argento.

Tickets are $20 in advance, $30 at the door and are available online at www. gayalliance.org or at Equal Grounds, OUTlandish (cash only), Parkleigh and Hedonist Artisan Chocolates.

Melissa Etheridge is out there rocking about M.E.

By Merle Exit A musical rocking good time is expected as singer Melissa Etheridge begins the tour to debut her new album, entitled “This is M.E.” with 11 brand new songs.

At present her hit single is called “A Little Bit of Me” and it’s simply a coincidence.

I interviewed Melissa getting some inside details.

“It’s funny, I didn’t put that together until after I was calling it ‘This Is M.E.’

Quilt panels, concert mark World AIDS Day To observe World AIDS Day (Dec. 1), Equal=Grounds Coffee House is hosting AIDS Quilt Panels 2328, 2476, 3702 and 4113, from Dec. 1-7.

They can be viewed at www.aidsquilt. org.

Equal=Grounds is open to financial donations as the project costs approxi-

THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015 (regarding the single). Then we decided to use the photos of my fans as the album cover. If you look closely you can see that my portrait is a makeup of digital photos of thousands of fans.”

“A Little Bit of Me” keeps repeating, “There’s a little bit of me, in a little bit of you”. Melissa points out, “There is an activist part of me that believes that we realize that our diversity and uniqueness come together in one beautiful family.” In the case of the photo, it is also a little bit of the fans in a little bit of her.

“I just finished my solo tour and it was a blast,” Melissa said. “Now, I’m going out with my full band in support of this record.”

Melissa continued, “My brand new tour is full of insanely moving music. I will be doing 10 of the 11 songs since they have gotten such great reactions from my fans saying things like ‘This could be my possibly favorite album of yours.’ These fans go back 20 years and give me confidence to perform them.”

Asked if she wrote all of the songs on the album, Melissa said that she collaborated somewhat with the musicians but wrote all of the lyrics except for “Do It Again” and “Ain’t That Bad,” co-writing with Angela Hunte, a hip-hop artist. “’Ain’t That Bad’ is more of a hip-hoprock tune,” Melissa remarked.

For the song “Take My Number”, the original single, she said that she was trying to think which song should first be released before the album itself. “Feedback was that it sounded more like an older song of mine that I would have done in the ‘90s. A comfort song. It’s a sweet song with a story that I solo with my acoustic guitar. It’s a grown up ‘call me, baby’ song of how we’re going to date after a divorce.”

What is behind each song that she composes? “It starts with an inspiration, whether musical or an event going on, giving me that feel of ‘I want to sing about this’. Each song on this album was driven by my own personal idea. ‘Who Are You Waiting For’, the only ballad on the record, was written for my wife, Linda, for our wedding. I actually sang that to her during our vows. It was a wonderful moment. She is an amazing woman and we both cried.”

Melissa also commented on her health being “just fine”. She is celebrating “Ten years this October of being cancer free” and feeling that her food regiment is what keeps it that way.

Melissa Etheridge started the tour at Town Hall in Manhattan on Nov. 5.

Check out her website for further tour information: www.melissaetheridge.com

mately $700 annually, but the event is free and open to the public.

WAD Concert is Dec. 1 Doing The [Positive] Thing presents Rochester’s 14th annual World AIDS Day Benefit Concert on Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. at Third Presbyterian Church at 4 Meigs St. (at East Ave.) It will feature performances by Dangerous Signs, Bakari Poet, Thomas Warfield, Scotty Ginett, Jimmie Highsmith and others.

The event will be sign language interpreted and is sponsored by Third Presbyterian Church, and PrintRoc. This year, the concert is in benefit of Trillium Health.

Trillium Health has been providing education, HIV/AIDS testing and preventative services in the community for 26 years, under the names of AIDS Rochester, AIDS Community Health Center and Community Health Network.

Regular admission is $15. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/ doingthepositivething or email Director/ Producer Scotty Ginett at doingthepositivething@yahoo.com. ■

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DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

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GAY ALLIANCE NEWS FOR DEC-JAN 2015

THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015

Volunteers of the Month: Cille Haley and Gabrielle Hermosa We are pleased to announce a mother-daughter pair of Volunteers of the Month for December and January: Cille Haley and Gabrielle Hermosa.

On January 16, 2014, after forty-four long years of struggle, Gabrielle came out to her mother, Cille, as a transwoman. Determined to support her daughter in the best way she could, Cille became an Office Volunteer at the Gay Alliance in that spring. Gabrielle completed our SpeakOUT training and joined the Speakers Bureau, in addition to table-sitting on behalf of the agency sever-

W I N T E R

L I G H T

A CELEBRATION OF THE GAY ALLIANCE LIBRARY & ARCHIVES

OPEN HOUSE SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015, 10AM–1PM Join us for books to borrow, books to buy, authors to meet and food to eat!

“Winter Light” at Gay Alliance Library highlights local authors and publishers, features book give-away On Jan. 10, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the GAGV Library & Archives will once again host “Winter Light,” an event that highlights well-known and up and coming local authors and publishers.

There are three main components to this event: An author “meet and greet,” with books available for purchase; A Library “Open House,” meet the library staff and get a personal tour of the collection; and a massive book give-a-way, as in FREE! Hundreds of books from our collection that must go include Gay & Lesbian Fiction, NonFiction and Young Adult titles.

Light refreshments will be served.

Join us for this special event at 875 E. Main Street, Rochester, first floor. We’ll see you there!

Authors: Georgia Beers is a Lambda and Goldie award-winning author of lesbian fiction. Born and raised in Rochester, New York, she still lives there with her partner of twenty years, their two dogs and a cat. When not writing, she watches too much TV, reads voraciously, and invents new reasons not to work out. She is currently hard at work on her next book. You can visit her and find out more at www.georgiabeers.com.

Lyndsey D’Arcangelo is a freelance writer and an award-winning author from Buffalo. She graduated from Randolph-Macon College in 2000 with a BA in Creative Writing and English, and has been a high school sports reporter, columnist, journalist, blogger, author, copywriter and web writer. D’Arcangelo’s work

has appeared both nationally and regionally in The Advocate, Curve Magazine, The Gay and Lesbian Times, The Buffalo News, Buffalo Magazine, Buffalo Brides Magazine, Gay Parent Magazine, Outcome Buffalo and Loop Magazine. Her novels are written for young adults and include The Trouble with Emily Dickinson, The Crabapple Tree, and The Education of Queenie McBride. http://www.lyndseydarcangelo. com/ Steven Farrington grew up in Hilton, NY and attended SUNY Brockport and Bowling Green State University in Ohio where he studied French and Spanish.

He has studied in France, Spain and Mexico, and teaches foreign languages at MCC. He has taken many writing workshops over the years at Writers and Books, and this helped him to write his historical-fiction novel, Rodrigo’s Land.

Shauna Marie O’Toole has written several books. Her memoir, You Can’t Shave In A Minimart Bathroom, is a more humorous view of transitioning to your true self. Her novel, Recycled, is a political/action story that takes a dark look at a slightly futuristic United States.

She has several novellas out as well. O’Toole has degrees in the physical sciences and is working on her next masters, this time in Social Work. She is considering a run for political office within the next few years. You can follow her adventures at www. shaunaotoole.com.

C. Todd White, Ph.D., is a social anthropologist who specializes in the history of LGBT rights. He is author of PreGay L.A.: A Social History of

the Movement for Homosexual Rights and Director of the Los Angeles-based Homosexual Information Center, a non-profit corporation established in 1965.

He was a coeditor of Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historic Context and a recent contributor to Gay Press, Gay Power and the International Encyclopedia of Human Sexuality. White splits his time between Rochester, NY, Los Angeles, CA, and Trenton, NJ. He serves as Editor for Tangents magazine and Book Review Editor for Out In Jersey. He is an adjunct Associate Professor at Mercer County Community College and also teaches courses in anthropology for RIT and queer theory for Nazareth College.

Serial Publications FTM : Transculture Magazine, Jason Robert Ballard.

FTM: Transculture Magazine is a hard-copy, positive reflection of the female to male transgender community and is the “first ‘mainstream’ lifestyle magazine for trans men.” Launched in April 2014 by Jason Robert Ballard, co-founder of SelfMade Men, FTM has well over 400 subscribers internationally.

Available in both print and digital versions, Ballard and his staff aim to revolutionize the cultural landscape using trans male visibility in various mediums.

ImageOutWrite. Like its counterpart in the visual sphere, ImageART, ImageOUTWrite functions as the literary branch of Rochester’s LGBT film and video festival. Now in its third year of publication, this annual collection of prose and poetry shows off the best writing of the community. ■

al times. The contributions of these two wonderful women are indispensable to the work of the Gay Alliance.

Cille may be one of the newer members of the Office Volunteer team, but she brings a wealth of experience and skills to the job. In addition to the day-to-day office tasks, Cille is our volunteer notary, offering her services to the LGBTQ community for free. She has also been instrumental in the creation of our two new support groups, Adult Families of Trans Youth (AFTY) and Families & Friends of Trans Adults (F2TA), helping with planning, supporting the facilitators, and providing insight based on her own on-going experiences. When she’s not working in the office, Cille is also a wife, mother, grandmother and gym rat; Zumba is her favorite activity at the Y. She’s involved in a book club, does some church volunteering and regularly checksin on her 97-year-old Dad in Brockport.

After Gabrielle came out, it seemed she had finally found her voice: in 2014 alone she’s spoken on 35 occasions, including LGBTQ & trans panels, SafeZone trainings, cultural diversity panels, and outreach programs. Her passion and life goal is to work as a professional motivational speaker, mentor and counselor. We asked Jeanne Gainsburg, Education Director, about working with Gabrielle, and she said: “She has such a welcoming and loving energy and message that participants often flock to her following our presentations. She has taken countless hours off from work in order to assist us wherever and whenever we need her.

Gabrielle is a gem!” In addition to her time spent volunteering her voice and story with our education program, Gabrielle works for a small company in Brighton as the Imaging Production Manager and process automation specialist.

It is an honor to have such talented and dedicated women as part of the Gay Alliance. Congratulations, Cille and Gabrielle!

Kinky Bucks!

The Gay Alliance has created a fundraising page to help support the Rochester Kink Society (RKS).

This past summer, someone broke into their space and stole a large quantity of equipment, which RKS is having difficul-

ty replacing due to budgetary restrictions. RKS has been wonderfully supportive of the Gay Alliance and the LGBTQ community for many years.

They have financially supported us with many donations to our events, being an official sponsor of Ride For Pride, participating in Rochester Pride, volunteering and using 100 percent of their advertising budget to advertise in the Empty Closet.

Last year, they literally put their backsides on the line with a spankathon fundraiser for Ride For Pride 5! RKS has also hosted multiple SafeZone Trainings at their site for their members, in an effort to make their organization LGBTQ friendly and welcoming.

Funds raised will be used for the purchase of a new AED (defibrulator) machine, which costs upwards of $1,000. Please consider giving something back to this organization that has given so much to us! To donate, simply go to the Gay Alliance home page at www.gayalliance. org and click on the gray “Kinky Bucks” slide.

The Gay Alliance and the Rochester Kink Society appreciate your support!

Registration now open for winter, spring SafeZone Train-the-Trainer Certification Programs The winter and spring sessions of the Gay Alliance SafeZone Train-the-Trainer Certification Program will take place on Friday, Jan. 23, and Friday, March 20, from 9 a.m.5 p.m. (check in at 8:30 a.m.) at the Rochester Red Cross. We can also bring this program to your campus or workplace.

The SafeZone Train-theTrainer Certification Program is an interactive eight-hour course, which includes activities, small group discussions and opportunities for practicing

JEWISH BOOK FESTIVAL: Scott Fearing, Judith Frank and Lori Harter, Director of the Jewish Book Festival, at the Community Read held at JCC in November. Judith Frank is author of “All I Love and Know,” a novel that explores gay love and family issues.

DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

GAY ALLIANCE NEWS FOR DEC-JAN 2015

skills as educators.

During this course, participants will be coached in running SafeZone trainings and offered opportunities to ask and answer questions in a supportive environment using the teaching skills that they acquire. Each participant will receive a SafeZone Training manual that will provide a complete course guide for running SafeZone Trainings, recommended exercises and activities, resources and suggested readings to extend knowledge, handouts to use in future SafeZone Trainings, a Gay Alliance SafeZone sticker and a cer-

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tificate of course completion.

Ongoing support will be available to all participants through the Gay Alliance following the presentation, to offer assistance and suggestions for keeping programs fresh and upto-date. Our October train-thetrainer session filled six weeks prior to the workshop date, so please register early!

To register go to the Gay Alliance home page at www. gayalliance.org and click on the SAFEZONE slide.

For questions, please contact Jeanne at jeanneg@gayalliance. org or 585-244-8640 ext. 14 ■

Speaking Engagements and Presentations for October 2014 • Being Trans, Being Healthy, Being Aware at Open Arms Community Center • Shoulders To Stand On Film and Discussion at SUNY Brockport • Shoulders To Stand On Film and Discussion at Rush Henrietta High School • SafeZone Training at Corning Community College • Transgender Panel at the University of Rochester • SafeZone Train-the-Trainer Certification Program at the Gay Alliance • Safe and Inclusive Schools at Pittsford Central School District (2 workshops) • SafeZone Training at Nazareth College • Transgender Issues in Healthcare at URMC Laboratories/ Phlebotomy Dept • Transgender Issues in Healthcare at University of Rochester School of Nursing • Cultural Competency Panel at the Rochester Women’s Network Fall Business Women’s Summit • St. John Fisher Health and Wellness Fair • SafeZone Training at Penfield High School • Safe and Inclusive Schools at Young Women’s College Prep Charter School • SafeZone Training at Nazareth College • LGBTQ 101 at West Irondequoit GSA • A Night of Comedy at Spectra in Corning • Transgender Issues in Healthcare at Bath VA Medical Center • Communicating Respectfully with LGBTQ People at Harter, Secrest & Emery, LLP • LGBTQ 101 at Monroe County Dept of Social Services • Transgender Health Conference, Buffalo • SafeZone Train-the-Trainer Certification Program at Ventura County Behavioral Health (California) • The Penguin Tango Talkback at the Red House Arts Center, Syracuse • Sex and Chocolate Health Fair at the University of Rochester • LGBTQ Youth Issues at the NY Chapter of the Society of Adolescent Health and Medicine • SafeZone Train-the-Trainer Certification Program at Volunteer State Community College (Tennessee) Feedback from evaluations in Oct. • “This was the most useful 1-day training I think I’ve ever been to! Thank you! The entire process was excellent. Varying activities, pure learning, videos, etc. made the day fly by. Just fantastic. This day could change my life and hopefully allow me to help others.”

• “Superb! Compelling! Pushed me to want to know/learn more!

Activities, facilitator guidance was exceptional!”

• “Brilliant, extremely pragmatic information the entire day.

Brilliantly helpful – I am far more confident to do my first training now. The presenters modeled very welcoming demeanor, very professional balanced with very approachable. I can’t think of a thing to improve and I can always find something! Thank you!”

SAGE members at Denny’s.

SAGE DECEMBER CALENDAR Thursday 12/4:...... 11:30-2pm. Brown bag & beverage, games.

Saturday 12/6:....... 6:30 p.m. Movie night at the Cinema, your Host Roza. Meet in lobby for coffee after at Crossroads café.

Tuesday 12/9:........ 11:30-12:30 Brown bag & beverage.

Thursday 12/11:.... 10:30-12:30 SAGE will meet at Dennys 2890 West Ridge Road for breakfast. RSVP to 287-2958 by 12/10.

Thursday 12/18:.... Noon: we will be meeting at Nick’s Seabreeze Inn, 4581 Culver Road. PLEASE RSVP to 585-287-2958 by 12/11.

Tuesday 12/23:...... 11:30. Brown bag and beverage lunch, game.

Thursday 12/25:.... NO YOGA OR PROGRAM TODAY. Merry Christmas Rainbow SAGE, For LBGTQ People 50 and over, meets at Open Arms Metropolitan Community Center of Western New York (707 East Main St., Rochester 14605. Yoga is from 10:30 TO 11:30 $5 Per Person. Tuesday and Thursday. All programs are subject to change and Rainbow SAGE members are responsible for setting up there own transportation to and from any program. All programs are open to the community and the Gay Alliance welcomes all to participate to enhance the quality of diverse, memberdriven programming.

Youth

Our 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!

Fabulous Fridays: 7-9pm. (Ages 13-20) Gender Identity Support Group: Tuesdays: 5:30-6:30pm. (Ages 13-18) More info: youth@gayalliance.org The Gay Alliance 875 E. Main Street, (5th Floor) Auditorium Center, Rochester, NY 14605 Phone: 585-244-8640 • Web: gayalliance.org

Library & Archives Hours: Every Monday & Wednesday: 6-8pm 875 E. Main Street 1st Floor, (off Prince Street lobby) Rochester, New York 14605 Phone: 585 244-8640 Web: GayAlliance.org

The Gay Alliance is a non-profit agency, dedicated to cultivating a healthy, inclusive environment where Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) people are safe, thriving, and enjoying equal rights. We are a coalition of individuals and groups working to empower LGBTQ people to affirm their identities and create an atmosphere where the diversity can thrive both collectively and separately. We educate and advocate for civil rights for all and for the eradication of homophobia.

The Gay Alliance, 875 East Main Street, Rochester, New York 14605 • Phone: (585) 244-8640 Fax: (585) 244-8246 Website: www.gayalliance.org E-mail: Info@gayalliance.org Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 am-5 pm • Board President: David Zona Board Vice President: Jessica Muratore Executive Director: Scott Fearing Education Director: Jeanne Gainsburg Database: Kat Wiggall Bookkeeper: Christopher Hennelly Office Administrator: Tristan Wright The Empty Closet: Editor: Susan Jordan E-mail: susanj@gayalliance.org Phone: (585) 244-9030 Designer: Jim Anderson Fax: (585) 244-8246 Advertising: (585) 244-9030 Ad Sales: Brandon W. Brooks E-mail: brandonb@gayalliance.org

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Resources BISEXUALITY RESOURCES AMBI Los Angeles; American Institute of Bisexuality (Journal of Bisexuality); Bay Area Bisexual Network; ; BiNet USA; Bisexual Organizing Project (BOP); Biversity Boston; Boston Bisexual Women’s Network; ComBIne - Columbus, Ohio; Fenway Health’s Bi Health Program; Los Angeles Bi Task Force; New York Area Bisexual Network; Robyn Ochs’s site; 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 Open Arms Community Center Availabel for parties, events, meetings. 707 E. Main St. Parking. Accepting and welcoming of all.

271-8478.

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 Many monthly get togethers, some at Open Arms MCC 707 E. Main St. 244-8640; SAGE@gayalliance.org

FAMILY Open Arms Community Center Open Arms Community Center available for parties, events and meetings; 707 East Main St. Plenty of parking. We are inclusive, actively accepting, welcoming of all people. 271-8478 openarmsmcc.org 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; 607-724-4308; 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. rochesterepflag@gmail. com; 585-813-5081.

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. Deaf or hearing impaired people should call (585) 4238021 (TDD.) Available from NY Dept. of Health: HIV and STD resource testing site. Rapid testing in only 10 minutes. STD testing provided by Bullshead Clinic, 855 W. Main St., Rochester. Contact: Narissa @ Rochester hotline.

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.

THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015

Trillium Health Trillium Health 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. Satellite offices in Geneva and Bath. Trillium Health is also a leader in providing services and education to members of the LGBT community. Contact Information: Website: www.trilliumhealthny.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): 585-275-5151; Fax: 585244-6456. Finger Lakes Office: 605 W. Washington St., Geneva, NY 14456, 315-781-6303.

Southern Tier Office: 122 Liberty St. Box 624, Bath, NY 14810 607-776-9166. The Health Outreach Project: 416 Central Ave., Rochester, NY 14605; 585-454-5556.

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 W. 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.

The MOCHA Center of Rochester Our mission is to improve health and wellness in communities of color. Youth drop-in center, HIV testing, peer education, support groups, computer lab, referral services and more. 189 N. Water St. (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. Hours: M-W 8:30-5:30; R: 8:30-11 am; F 7:30-2:30.

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 1 800 962-5063.

Action Front Center (Action for a Better Community.) Provides HIV, STD, viral hepatitis prevention counseling, risk reduction counseling. Tailored programs available to incarcerated, ex-offender individuals. Services for people living with HIV; case management, peer support groups, United Colors support group for MSM of color, educational groups, peer educator training and leadership development, multicultural, bilingual staff. 33 Chestnut St., 2nd floor, Rochester 14604. Office hours M-F 8:30 am-5 pm. 585-262-4330.

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 2448640 or visit: www.gayalliance.org. Gay Alliance Youth Group info: pages 30-31.

Anthony L. Jordan Health Center, Prevention and Primary Care.

HIV walk-in testing Tues. & Fri.; Hep C walk-inn treating Weds. & Fri; Meet clinician by appointment. 82 Holland St., Rochester 14605. 585-4232879; fax 585-423-2876. www,jordanhealth.org 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 1 W. Main St., Suites 200 & 300. 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.

Westside Health Services Brown Square Health Center, 175 Lyell Ave. (2546480); Woodward health Center, 480 Genesee St. (436-3040). HIV/AIDS services, support, more.

McCree McCuller Wellness Center at Unity Health’s Connection Clinic (585) 368-3506, 89 Genesee St., Bishop Kearney Bldg., 3rd floor. Full range of services, regardless of ability to pay. Caring, confidential and convenient.

Geneva Community Health 601 W. Washington St., Geneva. Provides HIV testing, HIV specialty and primary care for residents of Ontario and surrounding counties. M, W, R, F 8am-8pm. 315-781-8448.

LGBT HEALTH Trillium Health See www.trilliumhealthny.org, www.everybodysgood.com LGBT Healthy Living Veterans support. Second, fourth Tuesdays, 10-11am Canandaigua VA, bldg. 9 room 8. 585 463-2731, 585 205-3360.

HCR Home Care We provide a full multidisciplinary team consisting of nursing, social work, physical, occupational, and speech therapies as well as home health aides who have completed the eight-hour cultural competency program provided by the Gay Alliance. For more information, contact us at 585272-1930 or visit us online at HCRhealth.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 Youth Group Bi-Polar Support.

Second Monday of every month. 315-428-9366.

TRANSGENDER Trans Alliance of Greater Rochester Support/educational group for gender variant people and allies. Last Saturday, 3-5:30pm, Open Arms MCC, 707 E. Main St. Empire Justice Center Julia A. Sáenz, Esq. Hanna S. Cohn Equal Justice Fellow, Empire Justice Center, LGBT Rights Project, Telesca Center for Justice, 1 West Main Street, Suite 200, Rochester, NY 14614. (585) 295-5721 Fax (585) 454-2518, jsaenz@empirejustice.org, www.empirejustice.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 lowincome clients include family law issues, bankruptcy, unemployment insurance hearings, wills and advance directive documents for clients with serious illnesses.

Gay Alliance Youth Gender Identity Support Group Tuesdays 5:30-6:30 Gay Alliance office, 5th floor.

875 E. Main St., Ages 13-18. 244-8640 Genesee Valley Gender Variants Thurs. 7-9pm, Equal Grounds, 750 South Ave. GVGenderVariants@yahoogroups.com Guys Night Out Social group for transmen. Second Saturdays, 1pm, Equal Grounds, 750 South Ave. tguysnightout@gmail.com

WOMEN Highland Hospital Breast Imaging Center 500 Red Creek Drive, Rochester 14623; 585487-3341. 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.

Center for Community Health (585) 224-3050. 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) Breast: 866-891-2392; Ovarian: 866-537-4273.

Alternatives for Battered Women 232-7353; TTY 232-1741. Shelter (women only), counseling. Lesbians, gay men welcome.

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.

Planned Parenthood of the Rochester/ Syracuse Region 114 University Ave., Rochester, NY 14605; Toll-free 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 Shelter YWCA, 175 N. Clinton Ave. 546-5820. ■

DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

Ongoing Calendar DAILY Free HIV Testing 9am-7pm. Trillium Health, 259 Monroe Ave. David Bohnett Cyber Center Gay Alliance 5th floor lounge, Mon.-Thurs. 11am3pm, Fri. 11am-1pm, 875 E. Main St. 244-8640; www.gayalliance.org

MONDAYS L.O.R.A. Coffee Social Weekly on Monday Nights, 7 pm. Equal=Grounds, 750 South Ave. Rochester. Family, Friends & Allies Welcome! Contact Person: Cathie Timian. More info: www.loragroup.org. Events: https://www. facebook.com/groups/L.O.R.A.14464/. Email: info@loragroup.org LORA Late Bloomers Coming Out Group for Women 2nd & 4th Mondays of the Month. 7 pm, Private Location. Call for info! Contact Person: Wanda Martinez. Email: sanlorenzena@yahoo.com.

Phone: 585.414.9164. More info: www.loragroup. org. Events: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ L.O.R.A.14464/ Rochester Historical Bowling Society 7pm. Clover Lanes Gay Alliance Library & Archives, Every Mon./Wed. 6-8pm. David Bohnett Cyber Center, 5:30-7:30pm, 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.

HIV Positive Men’s Support group Every Monday, 5pm, Trillium Health 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.

TUESDAYS The Social Grind 10am-12noon and again 7:30-9pm at Equal Grounds, 750 South Ave. Email: DHutch457@aol. com for information Adult Families of Trans Youth (AFTY) First Tuesdays, 5:30-6:30, Open Arms MCC Community Center, 707 E. Main St. LGBT Healthy Living Veterans support. Second, fourth Tuesdays, 10-11am Canandaigua VA, bldg. 9, room 8, Library conference room. 585 463-2731, 585 205-3360.

Free syphilis testing Trillium Health, 259 Monroe Ave., 5-8pm.

442-2220.

Women’s Community Chorus Rehearsals each Tuesday, 6:30-9pm, Downtown United Pres. Church, 121 N. Fitzhugh Street. 2344441, www.therwcc.org LORA Knitters Group 1st & 3rd Tuesdays of the Month. 7pm-9:30pm, Crossroads Coffee House, 752 S. Goodman St. Rochester. Contact Person: Kerry Cater Email: dressyfemme@aol.com. More Info: www.loragroup.org Events: https://www.facebook.com/ groups/L.O.R.A.14464/

Gay Alliance Trans* Youth Support Group 5:30-6:30 pm, GAGV office, 5th floor, 875 E. Main St. Ages 13-18. 244-8640.

WEDNESDAYS 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 Brighton-Henrietta Townline Rd. 14623). The goal of the group is to provide a safe space to discuss identity issues, share personal experiences and increase selfesteem. The group is facilitated by Delaina Fico.

LMSW. For more information, please contact Delaina Fico at dfico@arcmonroe.org or 585271-0661 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.

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, woody14619@yahoo.com.

Rochester Rams General Meeting 2nd Wednesdays, 7:30pm, Bachelor Forum, 670 University Ave. www.rochesterrams.com HIV+ Mixed Men’s Group Wednesdays, 11:30 am-12:30 pm.

Trillium Health, 259 Monroe Ave. Frontrunners/Frontwalkers 6pm, Eastman House parking lot. www.rochesterfrontrunners.org.

Gay Alliance Library & Archives, Every Mon./Wed. 6-8pm. David Bohnett Cyber Center, 5:30-7:30pm, First floor, 875 E. Main St. 244-8640 Empire Bears Every Wednesday. 6pm dinner at various venues. www.empirebears.com

THURSDAYS Presbyterians for Lesbian and Gay Concerns 6:30pm, first Thursday. Ralph, 271-7649 Pride at Work & AFL CIO First Thursdays, 5:30pm. 1354 Buffalo Road, Rochester 14624, 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 Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus Downtown United Presbyterian Church, 121 N. Fitzhugh St. 6:30-9pm, 423-0650 Free confidential walk-in HIV testing M, W, R, F 9 am-7 pm; T 9a,-5pm., Trillium Health, 259 Monroe Ave. 442-2220 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

LORA - Buffalo Women’s Coffee Social Weekly on Thursday Nights, 6pm. Spot Coffee, 765 Elmwood, Buffalo. Contact Person: Barb Henderson Email: Morningstar5588@yahoo.com More Info: www.loragroup.org. Events: https:// www.facebook.com/groups/buffaloles/

FRIDAYS Gay Men’s AA meeting Fridays, 7:30-8:30pm, Closed meeting. Emmanuel Baptist Church, 815 Park Ave. Gay Alliance Youth Fridays, 7-9pm, Gay Alliance, 5th floor, 875 E. Main St., 244-8640; youth@gayalliance.org GLBTQI Motorcycle Group Second Fridays, 5:30pm, Various locations.

RochesterGLBTIQbikers@yahoo.com; 467-6456; bmdaniels@frontiernet.net.

LORA GaYmes Night Meets 4th Friday of the Month, 7-10pm, Equal Grounds Coffee House, 750 South Ave. Rochester. Contact Person: Christine O’Reilly. Email: irishfemmerochester@yahoo.com. Phone: 585.943.1320. More Info: www.loragroup.org.

Events: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ L.O.R.A.14464/ Monthly LBTQ Womyns Bingo Night Third Fridays, 7 pm, at Empire Bingo. Contact: Christine, IrishFemmeRochester@yahoo.com; 585-943-1320 text/talk.

SATURDAYS Rochester Rams Bar Night Third Saturdays, 8pm-2am, Bachelor Forum, 670 University Ave. 271-6930 Trans Alliance of Greater Rochester Support/educational group for gender-variant people, allies. Last Saturdays, 3-5:30pm, Open Arms MCC, 707 E. Main St. Frontrunners/Frontwalkers 9am, George Eastman House parking lot.www. rochesterfrontrunners.org.

Rochesternygrrlz Girls’ night out and social time at the Gay Alliance, 875 E. Main St., third Saturday of the month, 4-6 p.m., 5th floor conference room.

Guys Night Out GNO, social group for transmen, now meets on the second Saturday of the month, @ 1pm @ Equal Grounds, 750 South Ave. 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, third Saturdays, 25 Bernie Lane, 6:30 pm.

Men’s Cooking Group Third, fourth Saturdays. 585-355-7664; mcgofrochester@aol.com.

SUNDAYS PFLAG (Parents Families & Friends of Lesbians And Gays) 585 813-5081; rochesterpflag@gmail.com.

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 707 E. Main St. Rochester, Services at: 10:30 am and 5:30 pm. 271-8478.

Gay Men’s Alcoholics Anonymous St. Luke’s/St. Simon Cyrene Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh St. 8pm, 232-6720, Weekly.

Closed meeting LORA Sunday Brunch 1st & 3rd Sunday of the Month, 11:30am 1:30pm. Jays Diner, 2612 W. Henrietta Rd., Rochester. Contact Person: Cathie Timian. More info: www.loragroup.org. Events: https://www.facebook.com/groups/L.O.R.A.14464/. Email: info@ loragroup.org Gutter Gals - Bowling 2nd & 4th Sundays, 6:30pm - 9:30pm. Bowl A Roll, 1560 Jefferson Rd. $5.70 for 2 games & $2.50 for shoes. For more info: http://www. facebook.com/groups/guttergals/Contact Person: Cathie: Email: ctimian@l-o-r-a.com; Phone: 585.313.3037 ■

33

ROCHESTER AA/NA MEETINGS Every week there are four regularly scheduled GLBTI AA and two inclusive NA meetings in Rochester.

ROCHESTER TUESDAYS

AA/NA MEETINGS

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.

onARD

G

Gay Alliance on-line Resource Directory

GARD: the online community tool providing local, state and national resources, twenty-four, seven at: www.gayalliance.org

34

THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015

Dec-Jan 2015 MONDAY 1

World AIDS Day. Concert 7 pm, Third Presbyterian Church, 4 Meigs St. Performances by Dangerous Signs, Bakari Poet, Thomas Warfield, Scotty Ginett, Jimmie Highsmith and others. Regular admission $15. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/doingthepositivething AIDS Quilt panels at Equal=Grounds through Dec. 7.

FRIDAY 5

Metro Justice Alternative Fair. 5-9 pm. Also Dec. 6, 10 am-2 pm. Fair Trade & hand crafted goods. First Unitarian Church 220, S. Winton Rd.

SATURDAY 6

Open Arms MCC Cocoa, Cookies and Carols, 5:30 pm. 707 E. Main St. Rochester Women’s Chorus holiday concert, “Simple Gifts.” 8 pm at the Downtown United Presbyterian Church (DUPC), 121 N. Fitzhugh St. Admission $10 adults, $8 seniors/students, $5 children (babies in arms free). Tickets available from Chorus members, at the door. ASL interpreted, handicap accessible. 234-4441 or www.therwcc.org.

SUNDAY 7

Dignity Integrity. Episcopal Mass/ Healing Service, with music. 5 pm at St. Luke’s and St. Simon’s Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh St.

FRIDAY 12

Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus holiday concert, “There’s Something About Mary”. Also Dec. 13. 8 pm at Hochstein Performance Hall, 50 N. Plymouth Ave. Advance tickets can be purchased online, at Parkleigh, Outlandish, Equal=Grounds or the RGMC website for $17 ($20 at the door), $6 for children, and $14 for students/seniors ($17 at the door). www. thergmc.org or call 585-423-0650.

SATURDAY 13

TAGR planning meeting, 3-5 pm.

Open Arms MCC, 707 E. Main St.

Films by women of color: Unity Fellowship Church of Rochester partners with the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project to present the December film screenings: Heart and Hearth, a focus on family. The MOCHA Center, 189 Water St. Doors open 6:30 pm —films start at 7 pm. Free and open to the public. Donations encouraged.

SUNDAY 14

Dignity Integrity. Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Word, with music. 5 pm at St. Luke’s and St. Simon’s Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh St. LICK Sunday Day Party. ONE Nightclub, 1 Ryan Alley. For all LGBTQ folks and friends. 1-6 pm. DJ Reign, 2-6 pm. Food and drink specials, $2 Mimosas 1-3 pm. Big screen football. $3 at door.

SATURDAY 20

Winter Solstice. Sacred tree: Silver fir.

SUNDAY 21

Dignity Integrity. 5 pm at St. Luke’s and St. Simon’s Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh St. Annual Christmas Carol Sing with Tim Schramm. Cookies and punch follow in the parish hall.

WEDNESDAY 24

Open Arms MCC Christmas Eve service. 4:30 pm. 707 E. Main St.

SATURDAY 27

TAGR Year End Party, “dessert-luck”.

Open Arms MCC, 707 E. Main St.

SUNDAY 28

Dignity Integrity. Evening Prayer, followed by a Potluck Dinner: “Holiday Food Re-gifted”. 5 pm at St. Luke’s and St. Simon’s Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh St.

JANUARY SATURDAY 10

TAGR Second Saturday Planning Meeting. 3-5:30 pm. Open Arms MCC, 707 E. Main St. Winter Light. Gay Alliance Library event, featuring local authors and publish-

Classifieds

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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.

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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 10:30 am, 707 E. Main St. info@ openarmsmcc.org; (585) 271-8478.

SERVICES

Rochester’s Best Man to Man Rubdown. Unwind with this degreed, employed, fit, friendly, healthy, Italian GWM. Middle aged, 5’8”, 165 lbs., 32” waist, nonsmoker, d & d free, HIV negative. My 10-plus years experience guarantees your relaxation and satisfaction.

Hotel visit, in call in my home or out call in your residence. Reasonable rates. Discretion appreciated and practiced. Don’t delay, call me today at 585-773-2410 (cell) or 585-235-6688 (home).

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.

Martin Ippolito master electrician.

Electrical work, telephone jacks, cable TV, burglar alarm systems, paddle fans.

585-266-6337.

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 spring or fall. 585-576-5042. Email dale.furlong@yahoo.com.

Wedding Space and clergy services available. Celebrate your special day at Open Arms Metropolitan Community Church, 707 E. Main St. info@ openarmsmcc.org (585) 271-8478. ■.

ers, open house and book give-away. Light refreshments. 10 am-1 pm, GAGV Library & Archive, first floor, 875 E. Main St.

SUNDAY 11

LICK Sunday Party – Tara’s piano bar throwback. For gay men and their friends.

Abilene, Liberty Pole Way. 1-6 pm.

THURSDAY 15

Empty Closet deadline for February.

244-9030; susanj@gayalliance.org.

FRIDAY 23

SafeZone training. 9am-5pm (check in at 8:30am) at Rochester Red Cross.

Register at www.gayalliance.org and click on the SAFEZONE slide. For questions, please contact Jeanne at jeanneg@gayalliance.org or 585-244-8640 ext. 14.

SATURDAY 31

TAGR Support group meeting.

3-5:30pm, Open Arms MCC, 707 E. Main St. ■

Learn the history of the LGBT community in Rochester... ...from the people who made that history.

The Gay Alliance invites you to celebrate 40 years of LGBT history in Rochester with your very own DVD/BluRay of this powerful film.

Shoulders To Stand On Evelyn Bailey, Executive Producer Kevin Indovino, Producer/Director/Writer Standard DVD $25 / BluRay DVD $30 Order at: www.GayAlliance.org

DEC-JAN 2015 • NUMBER 485 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

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The Empty Closet is published by the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley 875 E. Main Street, Suite 500 Rochester, New York 14605 © 2014, All rights reserved.

Editor-in-Chief: Susan Jordan Staff Reporter: Ove Overmyer Graphic Design: Jim Anderson Ad Sales: Brandon Brooks (brandonb@gayalliance.org 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. 244-9030, susanj@gayalliance.org 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.

JASON KLAUM, STYLIST 585.732.7676 90 Canal Street, Suite 308 Rochester 14608

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 485 • DEC-JAN 2015