Empty Closet, March 2016

The Empty Closet

Jonathan Hoose of Q<40… page 17

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NUMBER 498

A PUBLICATION OF THE GAY ALLIANCE

Trillium plans events for LGBT Health Month

By Susan Jordan March is LGBT Health Month in Rochester and Trillium is planning numerous events in collaboration with local groups and agencies as community partners.

Community Health Initiative representative Susanna Speed told The Empty Closet, “We know for a fact that LGBT people suffer disproportionate health risks, such as higher risk for smoking, alcoholism and obesity. So we recognize it’s important to talk not only about physical health but emotional and spiritual health as well.”

LGBTQ people often find barriers of prejudice or simple misunderstanding when they try to access healthcare. Dr. Bill Valenti of Trillium said, “We try to break down those barriers. Every month is Health Month, but this gives us a chance to zero in on all aspects of health – it will be broader than what goes on at the ends of my stethoscope.”

Trillium will be collaborating with Yoga Vibe, Unity, CNY Fertility, Victory Alliance, The MOCHA Center and Strong, among others, to produce the events. For instance, two programs will address creating LGBTQ families on March 24: Queer Women and Fertility, and Creating Families.

On March 12, a PrEP Rally will take place at Trillium from 7 to 9 p.m. It will be a Talk Show and Poetry Slam, hosted by two surprise local celebrities, and will include information about insurance issues.

On March 3, The MOCHA Center will host Club MOCHA,

Gov. Andrew Cuomo

NYS bans mental health insurance payments for youth conversion therapy

By Susan Jordan On Feb. 6, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that New York State will install regulations to ban insurance payments for so-called conversion therapy and forbid state mental health facilities from using it on minors.

Cuomo stated, “Conversion therapy is a hateful and fundamentally flawed practice that is counter to everything this state stands for. New York has been at

(See back cover)

189 Water St., a free night of music and dancing from 8-11 p.m., with free HIV and STD testing available to all. Jason Roberts commented, “Since the MOCHA/Trillium partnership, we can work together on the threat HIV poses to young people of color.”

Transgender community members are invited to Trillium on March 1 for Transforming Employment, a panel and workshops on job hunting and retaining employment.

LGBTQ Deaf and Hard of Hearing people can be tested for HIV at no charge on March 29. Interpreters will be available on site.

For a full listing of the Trillium events, see the ad on the back cover.

Jason Roberts said, “The importance of LGBT health care isn’t always appreciated even by members of our community.” ■

the forefront of acceptance and equality for the LGBT community for decades – and today we are continuing that legacy and leading by example.”

Scott Fearing, Gay Alliance ED, commented, “This doesn’t ban conversion therapy itself, but rather insurance payments for it. California actually bans conversion therapy itself. So it’s a half step – but it’s a step.”

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) praised the decision, stating that Cuomo is the first Governor to use his executive authority to protect LGBTQ youth from the widely denounced practice; under his direction, three state agencies will take separate actions.

The news came as HRC was set to honor Gov. Cuomo at the 2016 HRC Greater New York Gala with the National Equality Award for his leadership in advancing LGBT equality in the Empire State.

“Governor Cuomo continues to cement his role as one of the LGBT community’s strongest allies by taking this enormous (NYS bans continues page 3)

Rob Strauss of RGMC… page 27

MARCH 2016

Join the Quest for better health; Gay Alliance offers eight-week program for those over 50

By Susan Jordan Today’s elders represent the very first post-Stonewall generation – the first time in history that a generation of LGBTQ people has grown up and matured in a world where being gay, lesbian, bi, or gender variant is visible and increasingly accepted by society.

This now-aging generation has support and options that previous generations never had access to. The Gay Alliance, in collaboration with SAGE Rochester and the Greater Rochester Health Foundation, will offer “LGBTQ Senior Health Quest, eight weeks of health and wellness support,” beginning March 7.

Health Quest is a peer support program for those over 50, and offers a professionally reviewed curriculum and guest presenters. The Quest will provide the latest health research, demonstrations of healthy cooking (Asian, Mediterranean, and plant-based) and physical activities at each individual’s comfort level, including yoga, resistance bands, line dancing and more.

(See page 7 for an interview with yoga teacher Tom Somerville.)

The program model is not one of “deprivation,” diets and guilt. The emphasis will be on adding positives to one’s daily routine – exercise, additional fruits and vegetables, etc. Participants will support each other as they quest together toward a healthier, happier and more active old age.

Sessions will take place on Mondays, from 5:30-7:30 p.m., at the LGBTQ Resource Center, 100 College Ave. The Quest is free, and donations are welcomed.

Organizer Anne Tischer said, “The idea for Health Quest started in irony last year.

The table discussion at one of the SAGE potlucks I attended turned to health and it happened that four people at the table were diabetics. It was a wake up call –

notably because not a single vegetable dish had been brought to that particular potluck. Almost all of SAGE programming was centered around food then.

“Over the next months SAGE members and leadership had some intense discussions about health and wellness and we committed to be mindful about health as we go forward.

We recently integrated vegan options into our Tuesday catered lunch program at the LGBTQ Resource Center. And we are looking for a donor to buy a ping pong table for SAGE to encourage people to be more active.

The LGBTQ Senior Health Quest program was designed to help older adults 50+ get a good start at improving the way they eat, as well as improving their activity levels.

“Health Quest is a pilot program we created here in Rochester. We looked at the latest health research and copied ideas from the most effective health programs. Of course we also got help from the health and wellness experts we have right in our

Pets and Their Gays… page 17

midst. The program has been partially funded by a grant from the Greater Rochester Community Foundation, which gave us the funds to purchase the special equipment we wanted for healthy cooking demonstrations – like a convection oven for roasting vegetables, electric wok for stir fries and Ninja blender for smoothies.

“One thing was obvious in our discussions: people generally wanted to be healthier and knew a lot about what they should do. But they felt unsupported and repeatedly told us that they could not stick with healthy eating because it was too difficult to cook, too expensive and worst of all they did not know how to make ‘healthy foods’ taste good.

“One guy said, ‘Sure I like vegetables… anything with cheese sauce.’ As a Paula Deaninspired, butter and sour cream cook myself, I related. My efforts at plant-based cooking resulted in expensive trips to Lori’s Natural Foods or Abundance Co-op with the resulting tofu (Quest continues page 3)

Inside

Editorials....................................... 2 Interview: Tom Somerville............ 7 Making the Scene.......................... 10 Opinion: Trans rights...................15 Health ..........................................16 LGBTQ Living: Pets ...................17 Shoulders To Stand On ...........21 Columnists ................................22 Community ................................25 Entertainment: RGMC......................27 Gay Alliance: Creating Change .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 498 • MARCH 2016

Perspectives The Empty Closet Editor SUSAN JORDAN

Housecleaning We’ve been in our new Resource Center over three months now and are settling in nicely. The space is working really well as a community center, much more so than our former Auditorium Center space up the block, with its various rooms scattered around the huge building. People seem very positive and happy about the new Center.

All this editor really misses about our old office are the touring Broadway shows passing through, and the panoramic view of exotic Irondequoit from the fifth floor windows.

But the new space’s openevery-day library and the constant flow of people, meetings and events make the new space a real community center.

So you know all about that.

But did you know: You don’t have to wait for the print EC to come out every month? You can access the Empty Closet news page on our website five days a week for the latest local, state, national and international news. Just go to www.gayalliance.org and click (or double click) on the Empty Closet key. Don’t scroll down! Clicking is the only way to get to the news blog.

But if you DO scroll down, you’ll be able to see that month’s issue of the EC in its

entirety, with each page reproduced as is.

And did you know: the EC is available for free at over 60 area sites? As this page has noted in the past, though, selfappointed censors sometimes cover the papers with other publications. So you may have to do some excavating to find the ECs. Scroll down under Empty Closet on the Alliance homepage to find a list of EC distribution sites.

Also, you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter at Empty Closet News. Not everything in the print version makes it online, or vice versa. In fact not all Facebook posts and Tweets make it onto the website. So check out the EC in every way.

And did you know: Rochester was named by The Advocate as the 11th queerest city in the U.S.? This was in the February issue, and if you saw the article you may recall that the number one queerest city (outside the usual big city LGBTQ communities) was Hartford, Ct. Who knew? The Advocate had some strange criteria for judging (how many Carly Rae Jepson tours passed through? really?), but we’re happy to be # 11 on their scale.

Last year we saw that Rochester also has the highest poverty level of U.S. cities of our size. Not such a nice distinction; in fact, it’s grim and reveals how much needs to change here. The Gay Alliance strives to be part of the solution, and has provided information to the Monroe County Anti-Poverty Initiative, headed

by United Way. But did you also know that some organization (whose name slips my mind) declared a few months ago that Rochester is the happiest city in the U.S.A.?

So it seems lots of Rochestarians are poor, but lots of us are queer and lots of us are rumored to be happy. Just in case you were wondering. ■

Gay Alliance Board of Trustees David Zona, President W. Bruce Gorman, Secretary Jason Barnecut-Kearns, Paul Birkby, Kim Braithwaite, Jeff Lambert, Jennifer Matthews, Shira May, Colleen Raimond

Gay Alliance Executive Director SCOTT FEARING

Perspectives The LGBTQ resources in the Rochester area can provide so many different things to so many different people that it can be overwhelming sometimes.

The same can be said of the new LGBTQ Resource Center.

One of the great outcomes of the new LGBTQ Resource Center is that we have become a tourist destination for LGBTQ and allied individuals who are visiting Rochester. It is not uncommon to have someone walk in who is visiting Rochester on business, vacation, or a college visit and wanted to know about the LGBTQ communities of Rochester.

Wrapped in our greeting is an answer that includes a powerful review of the amazing wealth of resources that Rochester provides its LGBTQ population. Depending on the person and their questions, the answer can go and on.

The guests are both impressed and at times overwhelmed.

Interestingly, at the same time we often get calls from LGBTQ people who live in Rochester who call to ask, “what does Rochester have to offer?” They seem unimpressed and underwhelmed by the LGBTQ communities of Rochester.

This abundance/poverty dichotomy has become increasing clear as we have been bringing programming into the new LGBTQ Resource Center. We

Name

are trying new things and offering new resources. We want our venue to be a big tent that can accommodate many different activities.

Like any life situation, the LGBTQ activities in Rochester that appeal to you are all about what you are willing to invest your time and energy in. It is easy to complain that something doesn’t exist. But it can also be easy to help bring something into existence.

Shortly after we opened we had a visitor come to the Center who was visiting Rochester for work. He lives in rural Oklahoma and explained that there are few resources in his home state outside of Tulsa and Oklahoma City. And he was hours away from each. The lists we provided of organizations, activities, welcoming businesses and churches overwhelmed him.

I recently met with a man who wanted to meet with other Gay identified men who were raising children. He and his partner saw nothing like that in Rochester. So he started a new Gay Fathers group. I can only imagine that parenting children and a new social organization have some similar challenges and rewards.

When he came to see the new LGBTQ Resource Center, I was able to share with him how we could help. Is it everything? Certainly not. Is it something? Most certainly. (By the way, that same week we got a call from a young woman saying that she wanted to start a group for Lesbians raising young children -- talk about synergy.)

Rochester has a lot to offer and the new LGBTQ Resource Center is working to be a home that anyone can turn to when they want to be “in community.” But ultimately, if you want LGBTQ Resources to exist, it does require a few things: supporting community efforts with your time, money, talent and energy. ■

03/16

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MARCH 2016– • NUMBER 498 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

PAGE ONE (Quest from page 1) and whole grain dishes being soundly rejected by my spouse Bess. I tried to find a comprehensive plant-based culinary cooking program and learned that Toronto was the closest program available and very costly.

“The obvious solution was to create a peer-inspired program to learn healthy, appetizing cooking from each other, local chefs and food experts. It can’t help but be fun. We will test new ingredients and products we would never buy otherwise.

“The same approach will be used to motivate participants to become more active. As adults we have forgotten how to play.

Parents send kids out to ‘play,’ not ‘exercise’. Similarly as adults we have to make physical activity appealing – hitting balls in a batting cage, line dancing or feeding the chickadees while walking in Mendon Ponds sound much more appealing than doing 30 minutes on a stair climber every day.

“There are common elements in the Plant-based Diet promoted by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, the American Diabetes Association Diet, the Mediterranean Diet and authentic Chinese and Asian cooking styles that research shows are health-enhancing and reduce obesity and related illnesses. These different eating styles all focus on whole eating, minimizing meat and dairy in favor of fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes. We will discuss the studies as we help people wean themselves off the American high-fat diet one baby step at a time.”

What exactly can partici(Quest continues page 16)

(NYS bans from page 1) step to end a practice that is tantamount to child abuse,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “No young person should be coerced or subjected to this dangerous so-called therapy, which has been linked to youth substance abuse, depression, homelessness, and even suicide.

“With leaders like Governor Cuomo, we’re on our way to putting an end to this horrible practice.”

Under Gov. Cuomo’s leadership, the New York State Department of Financial Services will issue regulations prohibiting insurance providers from covering conversion therapy on patients under the age of 18. The New York State Office of Mental Health will prohibit mental health providers from using conversion therapy on youth under the age of 18, and violations of these important protections will result in revocation of licenses. The New York State Department of Health will also take separate action to declare the abusive practice is not covered by the New York State Medicaid plan since it is never medically necessary care.

Claims by practitioners of socalled conversion therapy -- that they can change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression -- have been soundly rejected by every major medical and mental health association, including the American

Medical Association and American Psychological Association.

Last April, the White House called for an end to the practice, and in May, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D-CA) introduced the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act – federal legislation that would prohibit the practice of conversion therapy on any person in exchange for monetary compensation. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) also released a report definitively denouncing “conversion therapy” last October.

Last fall, Gov. Cuomo used the authority of his office to take a historic step by extending crucial non-discrimination protections to transgender New Yorkers and visitors to the state in employment, housing, and public services and spaces. Building upon state and federal case law, Governor Cuomo’s administration issued regulations clarifying that gender identity is included in the definitions of sex and disability, which are protected under current state non-discrimination law.

Six other jurisdictions have taken action to end this dangerous practice on minors. Laws banning conversion therapy have been passed in California, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, Oregon, Illinois, and the city of Cincinnati, Ohio.

HRC and the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) have partnered with state equality groups across the nation to pass state legislation protecting youth from conversion therapy. The organizations have also released first-of-its-kind sample legislation for state legislators and equality advocates that draws from best practices in the jurisdictions that have passed successful laws, the more than 20 states that have introduced similar bills, the Therapeutic Fraud Prevention Act, and the experience of legal experts working on this vitally important issue.

NCLR applauds decision “We could not be more grateful to Governor Cuomo for standing up to the conversion therapy industry today and protecting LGBTQ New Yorkers from these dangerous and discredited practices,” said National Center for Lesbian Rights #BornPerfect Campaign Coordinator and Staff Attorney Samantha Ames. “The regulations announced today are historic, not only representing the first time a governor has taken executive action to protect youth from conversion therapy, but also ensuring that protection doesn’t stop when they turn 18. Thanks to the tireless advocacy of survivors, mental health professionals, faith leaders, and youth advocates in New York, we are one step closer to finally closing this cruel chapter of our history. We look forward to other states following Governor Cuomo’s leadership and working together toward the day all LGBTQ children know they were born perfect.

“NCLR has been at the forefront of the fight to end conversion therapy and works closely with legislators and state leaders across the country to introduce bills protecting youth from these dangerous practices, which are associated with extreme depression, substance abuse, and suicide.” ■

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NewsFronts LOCAL AND STATE

Charles Blow to speak at U.R. on March 14 Charles M. Blow, NY Times columnist and CNN commentator, will speak at U.R.’s Rush Rhees Library on March 14.

Blow is the author of “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” a memoir of his youth and search for sexual identity. The book was reviewed in the February Empty Closet.

The talk is set for 5 p.m. in the Hawkins-Carlson Room at the Library. It is free and open to the public, and is sponsored by the Frederick Douglass Institute for African and African-American Studies, the Susan B. Anthony Center, the David T. Kearns Center for Leadership and Diversity in Arts, the Intercultural Center and the Office for Faculty Development and Diversity.

For more information, contact 311 Morey Hall, 276-5477 or fdi@ rochester.edu.

LGBT homeless youth shelter raises $200,000 in two weeks to buy former hate church Less than two weeks after the ATLAH church, home of virulently anti-LGBT Rev. James David Manning, announced it had been foreclosed and was being put up for auction, the Ali Forney Center launched the #harlemnohate campaign and has raised $200,000 as an initial goal towards buying the building to provide housing for LGBT homeless youth in Harlem.

“It has been an extraordinary two weeks,” said Carl Siciliano, Executive Director and Founder of the Ali Forney Center. “We have been overwhelmed with support and encouragement and now have the opportunity to turn a place that has promoted hatred and violence into a safe space for LGBT homeless youth,” continued Siciliano.

“Ali Forney, who inspired the founding of the organization, was murdered in Harlem in 1997, only 12 blocks from ATLAH. In 2013 Islan Nettles was beaten to death in Harlem only one mile from ATLAH. Could there be a more just outcome to the ATLAH foreclosure than that the young LGBT people most endangered by the hatred and contempt Manning promotes would take over his building?” said Siciliano.

“AFC’s acquiring the beautiful and historic building that now stands as a symbol of hate would be extraordinary, but the bottom line is this:

the Ali Forney Center has 200 youths per night on the waiting list for our beds. As an organization, we have no obligation more urgent than to increase our capacity to provide housing to these vulnerable youth. With the support of the Harlem community, those who have contributed and many others offering to help, we approach the April auction with confidence and hope. Given the real estate market in Harlem we anticipate the bidding will go significantly higher than the $1.02M owed and we are in discussion with potential developers and investors to acquire the building and we anticipate having a partner by the time of the auction. We will continue fundraising through the #HarlemNoHate campaign and make every effort to be in as strong a position as possible to acquire the building,” concluded Siciliano.

To contribute to the campaign, supporters can go to http://harlemnohate.org

McFadden gets 15 days for trans assault last summer Dysheika McFadden was sentenced on Jan. 26 to 15 days in jail for his assault on trans woman Nicole Clark last July on Monroe Ave. The records of the case, which was tried in Judge Johnson’s court, have been sealed, possibly at the request of the victim, and no further information was forthcoming from the DA’s office.

CRCDS to screen “Gen Silent” as part of Christian Faith and LGBT Experience series Since the 1990s, a collaboration among area churches and Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School has planned and sponsored a series of free lectures entitled Christian Faith and LGBT Experience.

Two lectures are offered each year, one delivered by a local speaker and one by a national speaker. For the last few years, the lectures have been included within the two lecture weeks hosted by CRCDS. This reality enhances the visibility of the lecture topics and speakers.

The 2016 CRCDS Spring Lecture theme is: “Wisdom is found among the aged” Job 12:12. Come and seek WISDOM”. The series, free and open to the public, begins Monday, March 28 and ends Thursday, March 31.

The national Christian Faith and LGBT Experience lecture will be held on March 30 at 7 p.m. at the Cinema Theatre.

The award-winning documentary “Gen Silent” (Stu Maddox, 2010) focusing on LGBT aging experiences, will be shown and followed by a panel discussion of local leaders.

To register for this or any other Lecture Series event, please see: http://www.crcds.edu/ spring-lecture-week/

Trans activists tell NYS Senate GOP Majority Leader: Bring GENDA to the floor for a vote More than six dozen transgender advocate and ally organizations and leaders on Feb. 2 delivered a letter calling on New York State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan to bring GENDA, the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, to the floor of the Senate for a long overdue vote.

The letter, which contains signatures from 70 organizations and individuals from across the state, including the Anti-Defamation League, Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, GLAAD, GLSEN, Housing Works, Lambda Legal, the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York, NARAL, NYCLU, PFLAG, Planned Parenthood, TLDEF, and many others, is in response to comments made

by Senator Flanagan on Governor Cuomo’s executive action to introduce regulations through the New York State Human Rights Law that bans harassment and discrimination against transgender people.

In the letter, advocates calling on Senator Flanagan to act, stating, “You have publicly stated that the legislature is the proper place for action – and so in your second year of leadership in the Senate, we call on you to act. We ask that you move forward with the necessary deliberation of this lifesaving legislation for the extremely marginalized and vulnerable community you referenced in your response to the Governor in November.

Don’t allow this untenable situation to stand under your watch.

The Senate and New York can(GENDA continues page 6)

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 498 • MARCH 2016

NewsFronts

Kayden Clarke

Arizona police shoot trans man in his home Cleis Abeni posted on The Advocate: Two as yet unnamed Arizona police officers shot to death a 24-year-old transgender man in his own home on Thursday, Feb. 4 according to a report from ABC 15 Arizona.

Kayden Clarke of Mesa, Arizona, is now the second trans person to have been killed this year. Monica Loera was the first.

Even after discovering that Clarke was a trans man, local news accounts still repeatedly misgendered Clarke, identifying him as a “woman,” using his former female name, and referring to him with female pronouns.

Clarke suffered from Asperger syndrome, a form of autism in which otherwise intelligent people may lack social skills and suffer from a range of atypical behavior. According to videos on YouTube and posts on Facebook from friends that have since been deleted or marked private, Clarke also allegedly suffered a history of physical and sexual abuse as a child that left him with post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal ideation.

On Feb. 4, Heather Allen, the founder of HALO Animal Rescue, an organization in Phoenix where Jacobs had volunteered since the age of 13, called the police, and asked them to perform a wellness check on Clarke. Allen believed that Clarke was in danger of killing himself.

When police arrived at Clarke’s home,

despite “carrying stun guns,” as ABC 15 reported, officers open fired with their service weapons on Clarke.

A police spokesperson, Mesa Detective Esteban Flores, said that Clarke lunged at the officers with a 12-inch kitchen knife and the officers felt so “threatened” that they chose to shoot Clarke to death instead of subduing him with their stun guns. Police have not disclosed how many shots were fired.

ABC 15 reports that, even though the incident was not diffused in a nonlethal manner, one officer had “training in crisis intervention to deal with such situations.” Both officers have been placed on desk duty pending an investigation. Mesa police did not respond to queries about the incident by press time.

Read the entire story on TheAdvocate. com

ACLU combats Va. trans student bathroom policy The American Civil Liberties Union appeared before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Jan. 27 to argue that a policy in Gloucester, Virginia segregating transgender students from their peers by requiring them to use “alternative, private” restroom facilities violates federal non-discrimination laws and the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The ACLU and ACLU of Virginia brought the case challenging the discriminatory Gloucester County School Board

policy in June 2015 on behalf of transgender male student Gavin Grimm. Both the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice have since ruled that, under Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972, schools must allow transgender students to use the restrooms and locker rooms that are consistent with their gender identity.

This is the first time that a federal court of appeals has considered the issue.

“This argument comes at a critical time. The U.S. Department of Education, the DOJ and several other federal entities have recently recognized that in order to equally participate in school, work, and society, transgender people have to use the restrooms that correspond to their gender identity,” said Joshua Block, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Project. “We hope the federal courts join this consensus and make clear that Title IX protects transgender students from sex discrimination.”

In September 2015, the district court ruled against Gavin and dismissed his Title IX claim, despite a brief filed by the U.S. Department of Justice stating that, “there is public interest in ensuring that transgender students have the opportunity to learn in an environment free of sex discrimination.”

Its ruling kept the policy in place and prevented Gavin from starting his junior year with access to the boys’ restroom, even though he has been living as a boy and taking hormone therapy as part of his recommended treatment for gender dysphoria. The ACLU filed its appeal with the 4th Circuit in October 2015.

“Ever since this battle with the school board began more than a year ago, I’ve been forced to confront ridicule and public insult from people who refuse to see me as a human, male student worthy of respect and equal treatment,” said Gavin. “But in spite of the humiliation I feel every time I’m forced to use the bathroom, I will continue to stand up for myself and other transgender students who shouldn’t be treated differently simply because of who they are.”

Federal appeals arguments in the Gloucester case come on the heels of a landmark ruling by the U.S. Department of Education in a similar case brought by the ACLU of Illinois. In that case, the DOE held that a suburban Chicago school had violated federal law by denying a transgender female student access to gender-appropriate locker room facilities.

To date, the DOE, DOJ, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Department of Labor and Office of Personnel Management have agreed that transgender people should be able to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

More information about this case is available at: https://www.aclu.org/cases/gg-v-gloucester-county-school-board

Cruz tied to pastors who want gay executions, claim God sent Hitler, gays will cause apocalypse Nick Duffy posted on pinknews.co.uk on Feb. 10: Presidential hopeful Ted Cruz is “proud” to be nominated by a pastor who claims gays will cause the apocalypse.

Senator Cruz is currently in the running for the Republican Presidential nomination, topping the field in Iowa… though crashing to third place in New Hampshire.

The candidate, who is popular with evangelicals, has faced repeated questions about his links to controversial far-right Christian groups – but has repeatedly declined to condemn “death to gays” pastor Kevin Swanson, with whom he has ties.

Cruz has now touted an endorsement by an anti-gay figure – this time from “International House of Prayer” pastor Mike Bickle…. (who said about marriage equality) “This is a unique signal of the End Times and the forbidding of marriage is an escalator of the darkness of the End Times as well...” …Bickle previously claimed that God “raised up” Adolf Hitler to hunt Jews for not believing in Jesus….

Writing on his campaign website, Cruz said: “I am grateful for Mike’s dedication to call a generation of young people to prayer and spiritual commitment.

Heidi and I are grateful to have his prayers and support….”

Read the entire story at pinknews. co.uk

ACLU: state legislatures continue to attack LGBT rights, especially trans The ACLU said on Feb. 5 that efforts to impose and enable discrimination against LGBT people continue to advance in state legislatures. The bills that they are monitoring for movement form a mixed bag of tactics to undermine LGBT equality.

In particular, the ACLU said it is eyeing movement on proposed legislation that would subject transgender people – singling out transgender students – to discriminatory treatment, and a bill that would protect an organization or individual’s ability to discriminate based specifically on religious beliefs about marriage, sexual relations, and gender identity in South Dakota. Additionally, the threat of broad, sweeping RFRA bills still looms in states like Georgia and West Virginia, while Indiana last month failed to update its civil rights law to protect LGBT Hoosiers from the persistent threat of discrimination.

South Dakota: HB 1008, a discriminatory law forcing only trans students to use separate restrooms and locker rooms from everyone

MARCH 2016– • NUMBER 498 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET else, has been assigned to the Senate Education Committee.

HB 1112, another bill targeting transgender students, may move to the Senate soon. This bill targets student athletes, and would void the High School Activities Association’s existing transgender policy.

HB 1107 would protect organizations and individuals who discriminated based on their religious beliefs about (a) marriage, (b) sexual relations outside of marriage, or (c) gender identity from a vast range of government actions. This could mean that homeless shelters that refused to accept single mothers or gay children would still be entitled to a government contract. It could mean that licensed counselors can condemn their clients but still be entitled to practice the profession.

West Virginia: HB 4012 is a RFRA. We have heard rumors that this is a priority for the House Speaker. There is a broad business coalition called Opportunity West Virginia that has been vocal in its opposition.

gender Archives and an array of partners including the Texas Chapter of the National Organization for Women and the Transgender Foundation of America, the project emphasizes on reasoned discussion informed by historical evidence, as highlighted in its name. These conversations are furthered in the project’s community group, its quarterly journal, and its voluminous resources.

Those resources include a helpful glossary, suggested readings, a historical timeline, and detailed guidelines for how to integrate the project’s findings into the curriculum of academic programs. The venture will also include a book-length collection of collaborative essays. Already appearing in installments on the project’s website, these essays are authored by Stoltenberg and the project’s founder and principal researcher, Cristan Williams, a trans historian who is the editor in chief of TransAdvocate.com….

To read the entire story, go to TheAdvocate.com

Guide to colleges for LGBTQ students is available online

New online history project reveals radical feminism’s transaffirming roots Cleis Abeni posted on The Advocate on Feb. 3: A fresh wave of compassionate, insightful feminist discussion debuted Jan. 1 with the launch of the Conversations Project, housed on a special section of trans author Cristan Williams’s TransAdvocate blog.

The groundbreaking online history venture, found at Radfem.TransAdvocate. com, unearths extensive proof that radical feminism has always welcomed transgender people. By doing so, it flies in the face of a contemporary narrative pushed by a few particularly outspoken self-proclaimed radical feminists who argue that transgender women are not women and are in fact dangerous to the broader feminist cause….

The Conversations Project includes extensive interviews with pioneering radical feminists like Catharine A. MacKinnon, John Stoltenberg, Judith Butler, Frances “Poppy” Northcutt, and Janice Walworth.

Supported by the Houston Trans-

Affordable Colleges Online has recently updated its guide to campus and community resources for LGBTQ students.

Information is available here: http:// www.affordablecollegesonline.org/lgbtqcollege-student-guide/ Key updates to the guide include a list of the most LGBTQ-friendly colleges for 2016; extensive tips for searching for a LGBTQ-friendly school; updated information about various LGBTQ student organizations that have a presence at most colleges and universities and additional online resources for LGBTQ students.

The goal in creating this guidebook was to show LGBTQ students the various on-campus and online resources they can use to make their college experience more welcoming and supportive. This extends to LGBTQ teens, especially those preparing to make the transition from high school to college.

Twitter forms advisory board to tackle hate speech on platform Nick Duffy posted on pinknews.co.uk on Feb. 10: Twitter has created a new “safety” board of organizations intended to tackle the problem of hate speech on the platform.

The social media giant has long been candid about its issues dealing with anonymous abuse, with many complaining it has become a breeding ground for racist, misogynistic and homophobic trolls.

(Twitter has) unveiled a new advisory board on the issue as it marks Safer Internet Day 2016 – following pressure to improve reporting tools on the platform to tackle trolls, and flag up people in danger.

The new council, which will provide

input on Twitter’s safety policy, includes LGBT media organization GLAAD, as part of a wide range of charities and NGOs – from the Samaritans to the Jewish Anti-Defamation League.

Patricia Cartes, Twitter’s Head of Global Policy Outreach, explained: “On Twitter, every voice has the power to shape the world. We see this power every day, from activists who use Twitter to mobilize citizens to content creators who use Twitter to shape opinion.

“To ensure people can continue to express themselves freely and safely on Twitter, we must provide more tools and policies.

“With hundreds of millions of Tweets sent per day, the volume of content on Twitter is massive, which makes it extraordinarily complex to strike the right balance between fighting abuse and speaking truth to power.

“It requires a multi-layered approach where each of our 320 million users has a part to play, as do the community of experts working for safety and free expression.”

She added: “That’s why we are announcing the formation of the Twitter Trust & Safety Council, a new and foundational part of our strategy to ensure that people feel safe expressing themselves on Twitter.

“As we develop products, policies, and programs, our Trust & Safety Council will help us tap into the expertise and input of organizations at the intersection of these issues more efficiently and quickly.

“In developing the Council, we are taking a global and inclusive approach so that we can hear a diversity of voices from organizations.”

Brendan Davis of GLAAD added: “As a member of the Trust & Safety Council, GLAAD will help Twitter tap into the issues that our constituents care about, like accelerating acceptance for LGBT people.”

Center for American Progress says “religious freedom” laws will cost hate-states billions A column released Feb. 4 by the Center for American Progress demonstrates that Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, or RFRAs, have significant financial and business impacts on the states that implement, or even attempt to implement, them.

Portrayed as an attempt to combat the nonexistent threat to religious freedom that proponents claim recent Supreme Court decisions create, these laws are designed to legalize and sanction discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

“When a state debates or implements a law designed to sanction discrimination against LGBT citizens they put more than their state’s reputation in danger. They also risk losing jobs, revenue, and benefits

5 for communities still struggling to recover from the economic recession,” said Sarah McBride, Campaigns and Communications Manager for LGBT Progress at the Center for American Progress and author of the column. “The lesson from states such as Indiana, which put at risk more than $250 million in economic activity when it passed its RFRA last year, is that the best way to grow your economy is to make clear that it includes all people.

While estimates of negative economic consequences vary, one thing is clear: Overly broad RFRAs are not only discriminatory, but they are also bad for business.”

Indiana is not the only place where negative economic impacts would come from an RFRA. Two leading business groups in Georgia estimate that passage of current state legislation could cost the Atlanta region between $1 billion to $2 billion in lost economic activity. National and international companies such as Apple, Target, Amazon, Walmart, Facebook, and General Electric are among the major companies—and a growing bevy of small businesses—that have been vocal opponents of RFRAs and are adopting inclusive nondiscrimination policies within their own companies.

The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan research and educational institute dedicated to promoting a strong, just and free America that ensures opportunity for all. It states, “We believe that Americans are bound together by a common commitment to these values and we aspire to ensure that our national policies reflect these values. We work to find progressive and pragmatic solutions to significant domestic and international problems and develop policy proposals that foster a government that is ‘of the people, by the people, and for the people.’”

Russian man fined for not being homophobic Nick Duffy wrote on pinknews.co.uk on Feb. 4: A Russian man has been hit with a steep fine – because he said something about gays that was “non-negative”.

Sergei Alekseenko is the latest person to be charged under the country’s “gay propaganda” law, which bans the “promotion of non-traditional relationships” to minors.

The activist served as the director of Maximum – a Murmansk LGBT rights group providing support and legal help for people struggling with their sexuality or gender identity -- before it was forcibly “de-registered” by the government in October 2015.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Leninsky District Court in Murmansk found that the group’s website violates the country’s law – which was signed into law by Putin in 2013.

Alekseenko was convicted of “the dissemination of positive information about LGBT relationships to children” and fined 100,000 rubles (£900) for the socalled violation.

(Russian continues page 6)

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LOCAL AND STATE (GENDA from page 3) not afford to fall behind on this critical human rights issue. We need you to work with your colleagues to make sure that GENDA passes in 2016.”

Senator Flanagan criticized the executive action as overreach, and went on to say “I have a very, very strong fundamental belief that the Legislature can and should be included all of these types of deliberations, regardless of the outcome. …we have a very extensive budget process and a hearing process and all of these issues should be vetted with the Legislature.”

Transgender activists have been fighting for passage of the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA), which would expand the existing human rights law to include gender identity and expression, for over 13 years. The New York State Assembly has passed the bill for eight consecutive years, but the State Senate has buried the bill in committee each year. Governor Cuomo has publicly supported the bill and, given the Senate leadership’s intransigence, has settled for use of his executive power to support transgender equality.

THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 498 • MARCH 2016 The full letter is available at: https:// www.facebook.com/groups/litac/

Coalition protests brutal attack on NYC trans leader Jennifer Lopez On Feb. 12 the NY SGL LGBTQ Coalition held at protest at the D-Train Station at West 125th St. and St. Nicholas Ave. to draw attention to the fact that Transgender Community leader, NYC SGL/LGBTQ Coalition member, and founder and director of Everything Transgender in New York City, Jennifer Louise Lopez, was attacked on the MTA uptown D-Train around 10 p.m. on Jan. 30.

She was subjected to transphobic slurs and severely beaten. Jennifer suffered multiple injuries, including the shattering of her glasses, which caused her to require emergency eye surgery.

A video of the incident can be seen at etnyc.org.

There is concern about the length of time it has taken to apprehend the assailant, and The Coalition is calling for an increase in money awarded to anyone who helps in this. Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS. The current reward is $2,000. ■

NYC Mayor DeBlasio to march with gay group in St. Patrick’s Day Parade Irish Central reports: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio will, for the first time ever, march in this year’s New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade, the Irish Voice has learned. The mayor, who refused to take part in the parade in prior years due to the exclusion of gay Irish groups walking behind an identifying banner, will likely march up Fifth Avenue twice on March 17.

He will join a group that has yet to be determined at the front of the march –

traditionally, the mayor has marched with the NYPD — and return later in the day to support the Irish gay group Lavender and Green Alliance which will march in the parade for the first time at approximately 4 p.m.

The New York City Council is also expected to have a large contingent marching behind its banner in 2016.

For the past two years the council has declined to take part in the parade in an official capacity at the direction of City Council Speaker Melissa Mark Viverito, also because Irish gay groups were barred from marching.

-Read the entire story on JoeMyGod.com

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NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL (Russian from page 5) Tanya Cooper of Human Rights Watch said: “Russian authorities use the ‘gay propaganda’ law to harass and intimidate LGBT activists into silence….”

To read the entire article, go to pinknews.co.uk

NCTE urges South Dakota governor to veto bill targeting trans students On Feb. 16, South Dakota’s State Senate passed a bill that will force transgender students to either use restrooms that do not match their genders or to be segregated to single-user restrooms. This worsens the harm that transgender students already face on a daily basis. The bill had previously passed the State House of Representatives.

This bill is completely unprecedented, as the first piece of legislation that attacks transgender people to ever pass out of a state legislature. However, it is only one of several anti-transgender bills that the South Dakota legislature is voting on this month.

In light of this bill’s passage, NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling said: “This bill hurts transgender students, takes away control from local schools, and doesn’t solve any problems. In fact, it does more harm than good to both trans kids and South Dakota’s reputation.”

Beyond being cruel to transgender students, enforcing this bill would also be expensive and invasive. The bill would require that bathroom use be “determined by a person’s chromosomes and anatomy as identified at birth.” Chromosomal testing to determine which restroom someone should use is an unrealistic burden on schools and South Dakotan students, as well as a threat to students’ privacy.

NCTE urged Gov. Daugaard to veto this harmful bill in order to avoid setting a dangerous precedent that could have repercussions for vulnerable transgender students around the nation.

Michigan removes gay sex ban reference from animal abuse bill The Michigan senate recently passed a bill that reaffirms the unconstitutional state ban on anal sex.

The legislation came as part of an animal protection bill, aimed at banning animal abusers from adopting pets.

However, many have called for part of the bill to be amended, due to its various comparisons between bestiality and sodomy – or gay sex.

“A person who commits the abominable and detestable crime against nature with mankind or with any animal is

guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for no more than 15 years,” it states.

If the defendant is already a sex offender, violations are punishable by up to life.

A Republican senator claimed removing the words banning sodomy would jeopardize the whole bill – even though a ban on gay sex cannot be made legal, after the Supreme Court’s ruling that gay sex should be legal in every state.

Read the whole article at pinknews. co.uk UPDATE: The part of the bill relating to homosexuality has now been removed.

India to reconsider 2013 ruling criminalizing gay sex The BBC reports: India’s Supreme Court has agreed to revisit a previous judgment that upheld a law criminalizing gay sex. Three senior judges said the 2013 ruling would be reexamined by a larger bench of judges, in a move that has been welcomed by activists.

The judges said that the issue was a “matter of constitutional importance”.

According to Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), a 155-year-old colonial-era law, a same-sex relationship is an “unnatural offence”. In deeply conservative India, homosexuality is a taboo and many people still regard same-sex relationships as illegitimate.

There has been a very vocal campaign to decriminalize homosexuality in India.

Last month, the court heard a “curative petition” – meant to “cure” an earlier court order perceived as a “miscarriage of justice”. The court said the five-judge bench would be headed by the chief justice of India.

No date for the hearing has been set.

–JoeMyGod.com AP Photo of protest: Tsering Topgyal

Pride at Work: TPP undermines LGBT equality and the fight against HIV On Feb. 3 in Auckland, New Zealand, US Trade Representative Michael Froman, along with his counterparts from other Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) countries, signed the secretly negotiated trade deal, despite what Pride at Work calls numerous flaws, significant opposi(Pride at Work continues page 11)

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MARCH 2016– • NUMBER 498 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

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Tom Somerville, yoga teacher

By Susan Jordan LGBTQ Senior Health Quest starts March 7 at the Gay Alliance LGBTQ Resource Center. It’s an eight-week program of supervised, peer supported health improvement, and is sponsored by a grant from the Greater Rochester Health Foundation.

Every week for the following eight weeks participants will gain resources and incentives to help them improve their fitness and nutrition. This isn’t about “deprivation” – the program includes demonstrations of Mediterranean, Asian and plant-based cuisine, which may be healthy but are also delicious.

Then there’s the exercise component, including yoga with Tom Somerville, artist, certified yoga instructor and personal trainer.

Tom has been giving yoga classes for SAGE for several years. He told The Empty Closet, “I have special certification for teaching yoga to elders, the disabled and those with other kinds of physical problems.

The certifications are issued by the California-based Yoga Alliance. There are levels of yoga for everyone from someone with a broken back (which I once had) to Cirque de Soleil. To me, that’s the beauty of it.”

Tom explained, “The word ‘yoga’ comes from ancient Sanskrit and means ‘yoke’ – linking two things together. One theory is it links breath and movement.

Many people say it links the mind and body. The slow deep breathing involved changes brain chemistry and reduces stress chemicals in the brain, like adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline comes from short-term stress, and that’s the sympathetic system – part of our central nervous system. Cortisol comes from long-term stress – such as

a stressful job or just trying to live in our modern world.

“An example is when your car slides on ice. Your heart rate goes up, your shoulders tighten and you clutch the steering wheel, because you’ve just released a bunch of adrenaline. So you’re all tight—and then you realize you’re OK and there’s a sigh of relief. Your shoulders drop and your heart rate begins to slow down. That’s your brain kicking in the parasympathetic system.

This releases chemicals to counteract the stress chemicals. Yoga breathing is a long, slow inhale and long, slow exhale.”

Tom said that the extreme physical positions many associate with yoga are not necessary. He said, “I try to encourage people to listen to what their bodies tell them and do what feels good. Yoga is the opposite of ‘no pain no gain’. Do the stretches that feel good and skip the ones that hurt.

You’ll still gain.

“I tell people to err on the conservative side. Because tomorrow you may be able to stretch more – it’s about slow progress. It’s yoga PRACTICE.” Tom said he will be giving brief yoga lessons for Health Quest, probably every other week. He encourages people to practice at home and not just leave it to a few minutes with him. “I tell people to remember the poses that made them feel good – so at the end of eight weeks they’ll have maybe eight things. You should focus on the things that make you feel good.”

Physical health and mental/emotional health are connected. Tom said, “In the Vedic scriptures, that are 5,000 years old and date to before Hinduism, yoga was how you prepared for meditation. We end each class with meditation, although I prefer to call it ‘relaxation’ because some people are prejudiced against the word meditation, maybe for religious reasons, or

PHOTO: SUSAN JORDAN

Interview

Anne Tischer and Tom Somerville work on plans for Health Quest.

because they’re uncomfortable with facing their own thoughts.”

A first step in meditation is to observe how one’s mind skips from one trivial thought to another – what is called “monkey mind”. What will I have for dinner… what my boss said last week that made me upset… how can I afford a new car, etc.

Tom said, “To get past ‘monkey mind’ focus on breath. So now we’re back to breath and the physical. You can focus on that rather than watching your mind skip around from one daily concern to another. I think it’s like a snow globe being shaken up. The snow swirls, like a blizzard of thought. Meditation makes those thoughts slow down, and you can observe more objectively what your monkey-mind is doing.

“Brain waves are electro-magnetic currents and can be measured and are classified in five categories. To go from conscious brain to sleep, we have to pass through a meditative state -- so we all meditate. We just don’t realize it. Yoga teaches you to

meditate on purpose and to slow down that snow in the snow globe.”

Tom feels that Health Quest will be helpful to older LGBT people. He said, “Thinking about ‘the graying of gay America’ – we have a post-Stonewall senior generation for the first time in history. And this is true around the world, not only in America. It’s the first time there has ever been an aging ‘out’ LGBT population.

So we’re trying to put together a program for SAGE to support LGBTQ elders. I’m working on the exercise function.

“Yoga isn’t just for elders, of course.

Younger people can benefit from advanced levels. But elders should get exercise in whatever form they can. I’m also a certified personal trainer. I can come to people’s houses if they can’t go out.

“We’ll be doing mini-physical evaluations as part of Health Quest. And we could put together a more physically demanding class for younger people and for more physically active elders.” ■

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 498 • MARCH 2016

MARCH 2016– • NUMBER 498 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 498 • MARCH 2016

Making the Scene

Photo: Lorraine Woerner-McGowan

Photo: Lorraine Woerner-McGowan

Photo: Lorraine Woerner-McGowan

Photo: Lorraine Woerner-McGowan

TOGETHER/APART: Gallery Q at the LGBTQ Resource Center opened its first show on Feb. 5. See page 27 for an interview with contributing artist Scott McCarney.

PHOTOS: SUSAN JORDAN

PARIS J’ADORE: The Valentine’s Dance on Feb. 13 at the LGBTQ Resource Center was a big success, despite single-digit temps! Photos: Bess Watts

MARCH 2016– • NUMBER 498 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL (Pride at Work continued from page 6) tion, and an unclear path for passage in the US Congress.

Pride at Work Executive Director Jerame Davis issued the following statement in response: “Though the Administration and Ambassador Froman, in particular, have tried to spin this trade deal as ‘progressive’ we fail to see how throwing LGBTQ people and those living with HIV/AIDS under the bus can possibly meet that standard. There is nothing progressive about giving countries like Brunei and Malaysia, where LGBTQ people are beaten, jailed, and in some cases killed, preferential access to our economy.

Of course, it’s also hard to find anything progressive in extending patents for lifesaving drugs – unless you’re referring to the rising costs of HIV/AIDS therapy.

“We are extremely dismayed that our repeated attempts to address this with the Administration went unanswered, but there is still hope. TPP must still be approved by Congress and there is a great deal of reticence among lawmakers of conscience about the myriad problems with this ill-conceived trade agreement.

“Trade is not inherently bad. Done right, it can create well-paying jobs, drive innovation, and improve the quality of life for trading partners. The TPP will do none of this. Why are we sacrificing our commitment to equality and, potentially, the lives of countless people living with HIV/AIDS for a deal that will ship jobs overseas, further harm the environment, unravel our privacy rights, and increase the amount of uninspected, tainted food in our food supply? Are we really so singlemindedly focused on the profits of multinational corporations and wealthy CEOs that nothing else matters?

“Just look at the coalition Ambassador Froman and the Administration are cob-

11

bling together to support this deal. Wall Street, the Chamber of Commerce, and some of the worst opponents of progressive values are supporting this deal while pretty much the entire progressive coalition has lined up against it: labor unions, environmental groups, food safety groups, privacy groups, and faith leaders, as well as LGBTQ and other civil rights organizations.

“There is nothing good for working people in this deal, LGBTQ or otherwise.

Today’s signing isn’t the end of the fight.

Opposition continues to grow in Congress and the President’s own party is lining up against the deal. Pride at Work will continue to be vigilant and vocal in our opposition to this disastrous trade agreement.”

Pride At Work is a nonprofit organization and an officially recognized constituency group of the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations.) It organizes mutual support between the organized Labor Movement and the LGBT Community for social and economic justice. In addition to national Pride at Work, more than 20 Chapters organize at the state and local level around the country.

Greenland same sex marriages will become legal on April 1 Following unanimous approval in both the Greenlandic and Danish Parliaments, the same-sex marriage and adoption bill was given the ceremonial Royal Assent on Feb. 3.

The island’s new Civil Code will become gender-neutral and couples will begin marrying the day the law comes into force on April 1. Greenland’s Bishop had been looking forward to couples being allowed to marry in the local Church since the bill was first proposed in 2014.

The bill also repeals the registered (Greenland continues page 12)

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NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL (Greenland continued from page 11) partnership law adopted from Denmark in 1996 and expands full adoption rights to all couples. Previously, only stepchild adoption was allowed since 2009. The joint adoption clause will go into effect in July.

To read the entire article, go to JoeMyGod.com

Fla. senate votes down sexual orientation, gender identity antidiscrimination bill On Feb. 9 the Senate Judiciary Committee voted down the Florida Competitive Workforce Act (SB 120), a bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing state nondiscrimination laws.

Equality Florida CEO Nadine Smith stated, “Today five Senators killed a bill that would have provided basic protections for Floridians regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

“The tie vote in yesterday’s committee left hope that today’s hearing provided one last opportunity to move the legislation forward. We are especially disappointed in Senators Brandes and Benaquisto who led the charge to kill the legislation despite the overwhelming public support, the backing of the state’s top business leaders, and the fact that local protections cover 55% of our state’s population.

“Brandes’ opposition is particularly disappointing considering he lives in a county that has had these basic protections for years. Yet he couched his opposition in phony hypotheticals and irrational fears that served to dehumanize transgender people in particular. We strongly condemn

THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 498 • MARCH 2016 the five senators who defeated the bill by using the same scare tactics and dehumanizing rhetoric so often used by anti-gay extremists.

“Currently, no state law provides critical protections for LGBT people in employment, housing and public accommodations. Passage of such basic legal protections by the country’s third-largest state may seem an obvious step, but the legislature has once again shirked its responsibility to ensure fairness for LGBT Floridians.

“Our work is far from over. We will continue to work at the state and local level to end the current patchwork quilt of protections.

“We are grateful to the legislators who have been willing to work with us to advance this long overdue legislation.

Thank you to Senator Abruzzo and Representative Raschein for their heroic efforts in pushing for this bill, and thank you to the bipartisan group of over 40 legislators in the House and Senate who have signed on as co-sponsors of this bill.

“We urge the House to do the right thing and move forward the Florida Competitive Workforce Act.” During discussion of the bill, Senators defeated a dangerous sweeping religious exemption amendment by Senator Kelli Stargel.

Supporters from all over the state were present to speak in favor of the bill, including business leaders from TechData, AT&T, HSN and Disney; civil rights advocates and faith leaders.

-Equality Florida Institute

Jerusalem’s Zion Square renamed Tolerance Square to honor teenage girl murdered at Pride James Mcdonald posted on The Advocate: Last summer, Jerusalem’s embattled Gay Pride Parade—the constant target of religious groups who would like to see the cel-

ebration banned—was rocked by violence.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish extremist, Yishai Shlissel, stabbed six participants in an attack made all the more harrowing given the fact that, just a decade prior, he had stabbed three people at the very same event.

This time, however, just three weeks after his release from prison for attempted murder at the 2005 parade, his rampage left a 16-year-old girl, Shira Banki, dead.

Condemnation was swift, and it came from across the political spectrum. The event shook Israel’s LGBT community and allies. The tensions within a country internationally celebrated for its tolerance to the queer community were laid bare, and debates and discussions were waged in order to determine the best way to extend acceptance and prevent such an attack from being repeated….

From the time of British colonial rule, Zion Square has served as a site for political demonstrations and rallies. Given its importance in this most recent national debate, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has announced that the public space will undergo a complete renovation and be renamed Tolerance Square in honor of the late Banki. Banki’s mother will serve

as a member of the panel that will decide on the final architectural design of the space….

Read the entire story at TheAdvocate. com

Indiana Senate rejects anti–LGBT bill; Lambda Legal rejects transexcluding alternatives On Jan. 27, Joe Jervis posted on JoeMyGod.com: “Great news from Freedom Indiana: “The Senate Rules Committee just decided to not advance SB66, the “Super RFRA” bill! That means this heinous bill is almost certainly dead for this legislative session “Today at 4 p.m., lawmakers have a chance to begin righting that wrong as the Senate Judiciary Committee considers SB100 and SB344. As written, these two bills are unacceptable and fall WAY short of protecting LGBT Hoosiers, especially transgender people…..”

UPDATE, Jan. 27: Lambda Legal issued the following statement:

MARCH 2016– • NUMBER 498 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET SB 100 fails to adequately protect transgender people from discrimination and SB 344 fails to protect transgender people altogether. Without equality for transgender Hoosiers, no bill is acceptable.

SB 100 invites businesses and employers to discriminate against LGBT people, by allowing them to create separate dress codes and restroom rules for their LGBT employees. SB 100 would allow businesses to force transgender people to use a restroom or wear clothing that doesn’t match their gender. By completely excluding transgender people from the bill, SB 344 leaves transgender people entirely vulnerable. Both bills are a big step backwards for all LGBT Hoosiers, but particularly transgender people.

SB 100 and SB 344 would permit publicly funded discrimination by social service agencies. Adoption agencies and others receiving taxpayer funding to serve the public should not be permitted to exclude people from services or benefits based on who they are. SB 100 and SB 344 would permit businesses to refuse to serve same-sex couples celebrating a wedding or anniversary.

UPDATE: Feb. 3: Both bills were killed before even being addressed.

Two black trans women killed within 48 hours in Philly, Austin Cleis Abeni posted on The Advocate on Feb. 23: Philadelphia Police officers have confirmed that the body of a 25-year-old black transgender woman found at 11:50 p.m. Saturday belonged to Mya Young (pictured above at left), according to Philadelphia news station WPVI-TV. Young was reportedly stabbed to death in the Frankford neighborhood of Northeast Philadelphia near the 4800 block of Penn Street, the local station reported. Police rushed Young to the nearby Aria Health hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 12:21 a.m. on Sunday.

No further information has been released about the homicide.

The day before Young was killed, another black transgender woman named Veronica Banks Cano (pictured above, right) was found dead at 9:00 a.m., fully clothed, in a bathtub at the EL Mio Motel on the 3500 block of Roosevelt Ave. on the south side of San Antonio, Texas, according to KABB-TV News. Although no additional information about a possible suspect, motive, or cause of death has been released, police say they did question individuals who were in the hotel room.

With Young and Cano’s fatalities, the number of violent deaths of transgender Americans rises to four this year. Another Texas trans woman of color, Monica Loera, a 43-year-old transgender Latina, was fatally shot on her doorstep on January 22. The Austin Police Department arrested and charged 29-year-old JonCasey Rowell for the murder.

Read the entire story at TheAdvocate. com. ■

Conversations in the Community SAGE Rochester Receives Grant from SAGEWorks for classes beginning mid-May

By Todd Plank SAGE (Services & Advocacy for GLBT Elders) Rochester is a program of the Gay Alliance. Through the efforts of SAGE leadership committee member Anne Tischer, SAGE Rochester was able to obtain a grant to offer an intensive two week boot camp to help LGBT people ages 40 and older expand their job hunting skills and career options.

Rochester will be the first mid-size city to receive a grant to launch SAGEWorks.

I spoke with Michele D’Amato, Program Manager of SAGEWorks to learn more about this exciting national employment support program for middle age-to-older adults seeking to return to the workforce.

Todd Plank: Hi Michele, The Gay Alliance is thrilled to be the sixth city selected to host the SAGEWorks’ 2-week boot camp program. What served as the catalyst for the creation of the SAGEWorks Bootcamp Program?

Michele D’Amato: We hired a consultant to do an assessment of our SAGEWorks program. They determined that participants in the program likely require a more rigorous and comprehensive approach to workforce readiness when taking into account the multiple challenges many faced with searching for employment. The high percentage of long-term unemployed individuals accessing SAGEWorks indicated that participants needed more guided assistance than the former SAGEWorks menu of services provided.

TP: How long has this program been in existence?

MD: In the wake of the Great Recession and given the need for workforce supports for LGBT older adults age 40 and over, SAGE launched the SAGEWorks program in 2010. SAGEWorks provides hands on workshops, technology training, and personal coaching at various sites around the country. The SAGEWorks Employment Boot Camp was launched as a pilot program in NYC in September 2014.

TP: How would you describe the essential components of SAGEWorks Bootcamp?

MD: It is a two-week long, five days per week, 4.50 hours per day class where participants learn relevant, cutting-edge job search skills in an LGBT-friendly environment. We were lucky enough to recruit Dr. Howard Leifman, a nation-

Michele D’Amato

ally renowned human resource/training consultant and career executive coach, to deliver the curriulum. The course covers the following topics: Realities of today’s job market; Resume and interview instruction; Conducting a modern job search; Social media and networking; Stress and anger management; Communication skills and selling yourself.

TP: Can you describe the ideal candidates for this free, intensive two-week intensive training course ?

MD: Applicants must have basic computer skills and be willing to commit to the two-week, 4.5 hours/day, five days/ week program schedule. The best candidates will be those who are most moti-

13 vated to find a job.

TP: What else do you think that members and friends of Rochester’s LGBTQ communities need to know about this groundbreaking program?

MD: It’s probably best to read a recent testimonial (January 14, 2016) written by one of our recent boot camp grads on our evaluation form: “The strategic job searching techniques taught in this seminar covered all aspects of job searching, networking, informational interviews of potential employers, resources for researching companies, skills on how best to present yourself as a candidate through LinkedIn, a one minute elevator speech, how to create an overview of professional qualifications, how to categorize your experience on your resume, how to write a personal marketing proposal, interviewing techniques, and following up after with perspective employers. All of these will be incorporated in my approach to my job hunting.”

---David, 52 years-old.” (Check out this link to a video blog of three SAGEWorks boot camp graduates at: http:// blog.sageusa.org/blog/sageworks/ ) If you are seriously interested in attending the SAGEWorks boot camp scheduled for the weeks of May 16 and May 23 and are prepared to make a commitment to be present for all 10 days of the SAGEWorks program, you can register using the following link: http://bit. ly/SWBootCamp or contact Todd Plank at tplank@gayalliance.org or by calling the Gay Alliance at 585.244.8640 X23.

A hard copy of the application can be picked up at the Gay Aliances new location (100 College St., 14607) or mailed out to individuals who do not have access to a computer. Seats are limited, so people are encouraged to register early to ensure themselves a seat. Once all seats are filled, a waitlist will be created in the event that any slots open up prior to the workshop.

Questions can be directed to Todd Plank using the contact information above. ■

ON GARD The Gay Alliance on-line Resource Directory The online community tool – providing local, state and national resources... twenty-four, seven! www.gayalliance.org

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 498 • MARCH 2016

HOME SWEET HOME

JUST GOT SWEETER THANKS TO YOU Peter Mohr • Ray Sauke • Susie Rawleigh-Rowe • Avenue Pub • Peter Barnard Farash Foundation • Barilla America • Open Arms, MCC • Jeff Myers Daisy Marquis Jones Foundation • Carolyn Abare • Jason Barnecut-Kearns Harry Bronson • Emily Jones • Jim Bridges • Network For Good • ImageOUT Bachelors Forum • Pat Cloonen • Evelyn Bailey • Lumiere Photography Kens Neat Moving • Paul D Birkby • Shirley E. Bowen • Gallery R Kim Braithwaite • Robert O. Day • Bill DeStevens • Jerry Elman • Pete J. Fedele Merrie Franklin • Roy Gainsburg • Robert R. Galloway • PrintROC • DataFlo NOTABA • Judy Glaubinger • W Bruce Gorman • Howard Green Robert E. Green • Rochester Mens Health & Fitness Club, Inc • A. Scott Hecker Chris Hildebrant • Kimberly L Hourigan • Richard A. Jackman Steven A Jarose • Bruce Jewell • Pebble M Kranz • Matt Krueger Jeff Lambert • Judith Lawrence • Wilfred LeBlanc • Jennifer L Mathews 140 Alex • Ronald J Matter • Shira May • Thomas J Menzel • Daniel M Meyers Bud Minard • James R Moran • William J O’Connor • Thomas Ophardt Claire E Parker • William Pelino • Rita M Pelusio • Thomas M Privitere Colleen Raimond • Logan Rath • John Ricks • Marvin Ritzenthaler Susan Schiefelbein • Mark A Smith • Joseph E. Termotto • Amanda Tierson Marilyn Traver • Jamie Whitbeck • Sally Whitbeck • Tristan Wright Sara Zacharias • David Zimmerman • Alicia Zona • David A Zona

The New Rochester LGBTQ Resource Center 100 College Ave. • Rochester, NY 14607 • 585 244-8640 • www.GayAlliance.org • facebook.com/gayalliance

MARCH 2016– • NUMBER 498 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

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Opinion Permanent protections or a temporary tease?

Senate moving to repeal these same protections.

We may have won a battle thanks to Governor Cuomo, but the war is far from over.

The hardest days in our struggle to hold on to our liberties may yet lie ahead.

By Shauna O’Toole I awoke on January 21 with a feeling I had not experienced in years. It put a spring into my step and a smile on my face. Everyone I spoke with that day knew that something special had happened, and I was more than happy to share the good news!

I was Free!

On January 21, 2016, Governor Cuomo changed the meaning of the word “sex” in New York State’s Human Rights Laws. Now, the word “Sex” is to include “Gender Identity and Gender Expression.”

With that redefinition, we, the Transgender / Gender Expansive Community, are now protected across the state.

With the restoration of these protections, upwards of two hundred thousand New Yorkers regained our Freedom.

Granted. These protections are not as encompassing as GENDA. However, given the present composition of the New York State Senate, GENDA is not going to pass.

This is especially true in an election year.

This is a hard fact that we need to face.

Since these protections granting us our freedom were given to us by an executive order, some future governor could just as easily take these rights away. During these next few months, we need to find a way to codify them. If not, we run the serious risk of again being relegated to fourth class disposable hominid status.

I suggest that we approach it from a Human Rights perspective. Maybe something like HEAL. HEAL – Human rights Equality for All Legislation. All people within the borders of New York State will have full protection under the law regardless of Race, Gender, Age, Identity, National Origin, Beliefs, and Abilities.

Yes, this might be too broad a paintbrush. However, if such legislation were to pass, it would, in essence, codify our protections. Just as importantly, it would codify protections for everyone. Given the phobic diatribes uttered by several Presidential candidates, we need to make sure that all are protected here within the Empire State.

The New York State Assembly has voted many times that we, the Transgender/Gender Expansive Community, should be protected by law. The State Senate has repeatedly resorted to transmisogynistic fear mongering to keep us from our rights. The Governor correctly used his executive power to give us most of the protections we would have had under GENDA. Already there are forces in the State

Anti-LGBT bills defeated, but South Dakota, others show love has not won

By Molly Griffard, Out For Freedom Campaign Strategist, ACLU It’s official: We’re seeing a pattern of extremes emerge in the first legislative session following the national recognition of marriage equality.

The 2016 legislative session is well underway and the most-ever anti-LGBT bills have been introduced in states across the country. Dozens of bills in half the states threaten the livelihood of LGBT people. In many states, vulnerable transgender young people are singled out for discrimination.

The measures range from allowing someone to be turned away in the name of religion because they’re a same-sex couple, to singling out transgender individuals and forcing them to use separate facilities, or else subjecting them to invasive examinations just to use the bathroom.

We’ll give you the good news first.

In the first full month of state legislative sessions, we’re seeing many of these bills defeated.

In the past two weeks alone, the voices of LGBT people and our allies have helped to squash harmful measures in Indiana, Washington, Virginia, to name a few. Our collective voice is louder than ever, and, the majority of the country is with us on our right to marry and to live free from discrimination.

The bad news is that there are plenty more scary measures that may continue to advance in the chambers. Just today, a senate committee in South Dakota passed HB 1008, a bill that would single out transgender students and make them use separate restrooms and locker rooms from everyone else. This just days after a South Dakota Senator said of the bill and transgender young people: “I’m sorry if you’re so twisted you don’t know who you are — a lot of people are — and I’m telling you right now, it’s about protecting the kids.”

South Dakota legislators should learn from their counterparts in Virginia and Washington State. Earlier this week, both states considered similar legislation

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to South Dakota’s HB 1008. There, legislators listened to their constituents and heard the stories of transgender people who would be impacted by the legislation.

And, in both states, bipartisan majorities voted against bills targeting the transgender community.

There should be no debate when it comes to what we know to be true.

Attacks on LGBT people are attacks on everyone. Not only does discrimination against LGBT people harm us all socially and fiscally, many of these bills would open the floodgates to discrimination against others.

For example, another bill in Tennessee that would allow counselors to turn patients away if they didn’t agree with their beliefs just passed with a strong majority in committee and may move on to the Senate floor. Not only would this allow counselors to turn LGBT people away, it opens the door to their turning anyone away –a pregnant teen, an unwed couple, a single mom. And more bad measures loom in Georgia, Florida, West Virginia and elsewhere.

Efforts to chip away at our hard-earned freedoms are far from over. In fact, we’re likely to see many more attacks on our right to equal access to housing, employment, and public accommodations. We’re likely to see the increasingly out of touch voices of fear and ignorance speak up even louder to try to defend their turf. If we continue to stand together, though, and make enough noise, we will win.

The cost of not winning is too great for the most vulnerable among us.

As the great Pastor Jean Marrow from Spirit of Peace United Church of Christ in South Dakota said of that state’s targeting of transgender young people, “The same babies we baptize with great hope are the kids we bury because of horrendous discrimination.” https://www.aclu.org/blog/speak-freely/anti-lgbt-bills-defeated-south-dakotaothers-show-love-has-not-won

Religious Liberty and the Anti-LGBT Right By the Southern Poverty Law Center In recent years, the LGBT rights movement has witnessed a sea change in American attitudes toward the gay community and, along with it, a series of dramatic policy and legal victories — most notably marriage equality — that would have seemed unthinkable just a decade ago.

Yet, while the majority of Americans support LGBT rights, these gains have produced a strong backlash.

The hardline religious-right groups that have long relied on the use of demonizing falsehoods to justify discrimination against LGBT people have not simply folded their tents and walked away.

Rather, they have used their large megaphone to create a dangerous new narrative that portrays Christians who object to homosexuality on biblical grounds as victims of religious persecution. This idea is particularly compelling to millions of evangelicals who see themselves and their values as being under siege in a rapidly changing society.

Across the country, these opponents of LGBT equality are working to persuade state legislatures to pass laws known as Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRAs) — statutes that ostensibly allow individuals to deny goods and services to LGBT people on the basis of their religious beliefs.

They are named and loosely modeled after the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. But that law was intended as a shield to protect religious liberty. These new laws, such as the one enacted and then modified under intense public pressure in Indiana last year, are intended as a sword to promote discrimination against the LGBT community in the public sphere.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby added a powerful tailwind to the RFRA movement. The 5-4 ruling allowed a large, family-owned corporation to opt out of a requirement under the Affordable Care Act to provide its employees with insurance coverage for contraceptives because of the owners’ religious beliefs.

The new RFRAs are being championed by extreme religious-right groups that — as these profiles reveal — want to reverse the recent progress toward equal protection under the law for the LGBT community. If they had their way, the country would return to the era when gay people remained in the closet and the government claimed the right to say what could go on between consenting adults in their bedrooms.

These groups are clever — and cynical. They know that, as Americans have grown more accepting of LGBT people, they can no longer rely on discredited stereotypes to stymie the march toward full equality. So they have wrapped their bigotry in the cloak of religious freedom.

The public should not be fooled. Religious liberty is a cherished constitutional value, enshrined in the First Amendment.

But, as earlier efforts to offer biblical justification for slavery and Jim Crow segregation have taught us, religious liberty should not be used as an excuse to discriminate.

The danger of these laws goes far beyond the way in which courts may ultimately balance them with statutory and constitutional protections against discrimination. The peril also lies in the atmosphere of bigotry and discrimination that will be created by legitimizing the very idea that LGBT rights threaten religious liberty.

The reality is that few cases of discrimination will ever find the ear of a sympathetic lawyer, and even fewer will find their way into a courtroom. Most people who face discrimination on a daily basis have nowhere to turn. That’s why we must push back against these laws and this false narrative.

It’s why we must expose them for what they are — excuses to discriminate against other Americans for who they are and who they love.

And, it’s why we must expose the groups behind these laws as extremists that despise the LGBT community.

To read the entire report, go to https://www.splcenter.org/.../splc_religious_liberty_and...the anti-lgbt_right ■

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 498 • MARCH 2016

Health (Quest from page 1) pants expect and what will they learn?

Anne said, “The daily routine is fairly simple. We encourage participants to take a few minutes each morning to stretch and then to plan the healthy food or physical activity choices they will aim for that day. We provide pedometers so people can track their steps each day. Participants are encouraged to step up activity in simple ways and to step down their calorie intake – not by rigidly counting calories but instead by making simple choices like adding five vegetables and fruits to the day’s plan, perhaps opting for one percent milk over whole milk that day, or using a smaller plate, etc. It is essential that this not become a failure experience… just daily experiments with new behaviors, some of which might become lifetime habits for that individual.

“Over eight weeks we will take an interactive approach to inspire participants to make better choices. Weekly facilitators may vary, though a strong presence will be Kathy Hart RN and Tom Somerville, certified personal trainer and yoga master. Curriculum will be reviewed by registered dietician Reba Silterra and other wellness experts.”

Why is it so vital for LGBTQ elders in particular to maintain health and fitness? Anne notes, “More than two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese and our community is at even higher risk in some areas because of the health disparities that result from bias and discrimination. This is significant because 70 percent of chronic diseases are caused by lifestyle choices – largely diet and exercise. According to a 2011 national study on LGBT older adults, high percentages of LGBT older people struggle with health conditions such as obesity, high blood pressure, cholesterol, arthritis, cataracts, asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and more.

Nineteen percent of LGBT elders reported having had at least one type of cancer.

Stigma and fear of rejection result in over 20 percent of LGBTQ people not being out to their health providers. Plus many older LGBTQ adults avoid health or social group venues that are not specifically LGBTQ affirming.

“Add to this the fact that LGBTQ elders have a much reduced support network as we age, often ending up single and without family and it seems obvious why we need to prioritize healthy living.

SAGE and the Gay Alliance are committed to helping our community be the best it can be… and one step at a time that is happening.”

A second series will be available in May for those unable to attend now. If you have an interest in being a participant in the cost-free Health Quest session starting March 7 or the session starting May 2, please contact Anne Tischer at annet@ gayalliance.org or (585) 244-8640 x23.

Expanding access for HIV/AIDS services in the Finger Lakes

By Camille Figueroa, Care Coordination/Program Supervisor, Catholic Charities Community Services An HIV/AIDS diagnosis no longer means that you have to live in an urban community to get the help you need. Easy access to critical services has grown in the rural communities of the Greater Fingerlakes Region in the last five years, thanks in part to the expansion of HIV/AIDS services offered by Catholic Charities Community Services (CCCS).

CCCS provides advocacy and referrals to relevant programs such as housing

assistance, transportation employment, (DSS) benefits application assistance, and more to anyone who is HIV positive living in the Finger Lakes and surrounding counties.

Transportation has been a huge barrier. There are few HIV/AIDS health care providers outside Rochester and often, clients have to travel a significant distance to see their doctor. CCCS has a transportation program that can provide transportation to support groups, legal services, DSS, housing, pharmacies and other critical services to allow HIV+ individuals to address their health and well-being.

The face of HIV and AIDS has changed drastically since the early 1980s.

With advanced medical treatment, individuals with HIV/AIDS are able to live healthy and active lives. One major factor that even the best doctors in the world cannot eliminate is the stigma, fear and isolation faced by individuals with HIV/ AIDS. This is even more prevalent in small towns and rural areas.

CCCS’s services are designed to meet individual needs and maintaining confidentiality. The transportation program provides gas cards, bus passes, taxi level service, parking passes and CCCS direct transport, utilizing the agency van. Other supportive services are also available. No one living with HIV/AIDS should live in isolation when there is an array of services available.

Through community advocacy and partnerships in the community, linkages between primary health care providers and HIV/AIDS treatment specialists exist.

Pharmacies have necessary medications available while education, advocacy and call for sensitive and confidential services have increased. CCCS offers health education groups and works with individuals who are HIV positive on a one to one base to ensure understanding of their HIV treatment.

Governor Cuomo has made this a priority across the state and issued a call to end the epidemic by 2020, which is to reduce the number of new HIV infections from 3,000 to 750 in New York State. To accomplish this, it is imperative that we create an open and welcoming environment for all those living with HIV/AIDS and those not yet identified to come forward and receive the help they need.

It only takes one phone call to Catholic Charities Community Services to find compassionate and confidential care. Our message is clear; no one should feel they are alone. Rochester office: 339-9800.

Researchers say hormone therapy helps trans people Transgender individuals may experience significant improvement in psychological functioning after as little as three to six months of hormone therapy, with improved quality of life reported within 12 months of initiating therapy by both female-to-male and male-to-female transgender individuals, according to an article published in Transgender Health, a new peer-reviewed open access journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

The article is available open access on the Transgender Health website.

Jaclyn White Hughto and Sari Reisner, Fenway Health, Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Boston, MA), and Yale School of Public Health (New Haven, CT), reviewed the evidence from published studies of transgender adults treated with hormone therapy for gender identity disorder. The researchers report the changes in mental health status — including depression and anxiety — and quality of life outcomes after 3three to six months and 12

Johns Hopkins to do transplants with HIV positive donors, recipients The Washington Post reports: Johns Hopkins announced last month that it had received approval from the nation’s organ-sharing authority to become the first hospital in the United States to conduct transplants involving HIV-positive donors and HIV-positive recipients.

“This is an unbelievably exciting day for our hospital and our team, but more importantly for patients living with HIV and end-stage organ disease. For these individuals, this means a new chance at life,” Dorry L. Segev, an associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a statement.

The rules governing organ procurement, patient eligibility, ranking of wait lists and accreditation of hospitals that can perform transplants are extremely complex in the United States, and until recently the use of organs from HIV-positive individuals had been illegal.

That changed with the passage of the HIV Organ Policy Equity Act or HOPE Act, which was signed into law in late 2013. In lobbying for the bill, experts had emphasized that approximately 122,000 people are on the transplant list at any given point in time and thousands die each year while still waiting.

South Africa has been performing such transplants for several years with good results.

– JoeMyGod.com

months of hormone treatment compared to baseline measures. They present the study design and results in “A Systematic Review of the Effects of Hormone Therapy on Psychological Functioning and Quality of Life in Transgender Individuals.”

“Reviews of the existing literature of this nature are hugely helpful in moving the field of transgender health forward,” says Editor-in-Chief Robert Garofalo MD, MPH, Professor of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and Director, Center for Gender, Sexuality and HIV Prevention, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

“This work highlights a healthcare disparity affecting transgender people—depression and anxiety—and offers a potential therapeutic option to help eliminate or reduce it: access to hormone therapy. It sets the bar for future research to be conducted in this area, which is sorely needed and may help some clinicians caring for transgender people.”

The Sex Drive: Using the car ride to talk to your kids about sex

By Kate Ott, Public Health Educator, Ontario County Public Health Sex is an important topic and American parents (including LGBTQ parents) have a hard time talking to their kids about it. In fact, LGBTQ parents may have topics to discuss that heterosexual/ cisgender parents don’t, such as explaining the bullying and discrimination their kids may experience due to their parents’ sexualities or gender identities. These parents too may find it hard to talk to their children about sex.

This is not new. Many of our grandparents began their adult lives with very limited information.

Our parents may have fared better, but if yours were like mine, they had trouble passing their knowledge along to us.

Many of us got THE TALK -- a surprise

encounter away from the prying eyes (and ears) of siblings. After hearing about the mechanics of intercourse, we were asked if we had questions. The ensuing silence let our parents know we were now experts and they never had to talk to us about it again.

We need to break this cycle. Humans are sexual and kids are exposed to sexual messages every day. American media is awash in sexual content but messages about respect, honesty and safety are lacking. It is not surprising unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and partner violence impact our youth.

If parents are not well informed and approachable, kids will continue to receive incomplete and often incorrect information from media and friends. Armed with misinformation, they will continue to experiment, take unnecessary risks and suffer life-long consequences.

Kids are curious and looking for information about sex and sexuality well before their teens. Most youth report they would like this information to come from their parents. The car is a great place to have conversations about changing bodies, relationships and sex. It is private, time is limited and best of all, no eye contact is required. By using every day, teachable moments like the ride to school or practice, parents can normalize the topic of sex and deliver messages in small age-appropriate doses. Short talks with kids in the car build trust, comfort and confidence and set the stage for more meaningful conversations later, as children navigate adolescence.

Worried about what to say or how to get started? The Finger Lakes Sexual Health Coalition can help. Beginning in March, information and conversation starters will be shared via our Facebook page and Twitter (FLXSexualHealth).

Check in with us each week for topics for Your Sex Drive.

Your kids are learning about sex: let it be from you.

-The Finger Lakes Sexual Health Coalition ■

MARCH 2016– • NUMBER 498 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

LGBTQ Living

Athena with Christopher (left) and Michael. Photo: Susan Jordan

Pets and Their Gays: Athena lives with Christopher Hennelly and Michael Lill

By Susan Jordan How old are you and how would you describe yourself?

I’m just six years old, I’m an American Bull Dog (the taller, with longer legs kind) with a splash of cowgirl in me. The cowgirl comes from being able to rope my human Dads into doing anything I want. Sheesh you should see what I get away with. I’m dictating this while sitting on the lovely green sofa couch.

What are your favorite things to do (and eat)?

Well anything but chocolates, grapes and raisins, as they are dangerous for my species. But I love my Royal Cain Bull Dog Food. Shssh come closer … no, closer… well the whole bull dog breed can be, how shall we say, “gassy”. My Dads try and keep the methane factory to a minimum. Girlfriend there’s nothing like the way a lady American Bull Dog can clear a room, so I follow the rules. I love me some peanut butter in a bone though for a treat now and then.

I love taking walks at Durand Eastman with my Dad Michael. He loads me into his Honda CRV7 (he picked this car so I would have the ultimate comfort). We get to the beach and I get to run in and out of the water. I usually end up needing a bath, as I’m a white haired lady with brown cow spots.

I love making my way to my office.

You see I’m a working girl and my Dads Michael and Christopher have a Tax Practice on South Avenue called the Christopher Group. They have a spot for me with an extra bed in the front window. I provide petting therapy for the clients. I can tell a lot about people from how they approach me. There are many folks who are fearful of big girls like me. I just really want to them to know I’m pretty and approachable.

I get ecstatic playing with Tennis Balls and Thick Ropes with knots on them, and I have an addiction to Rubber Pigs that squeak. In fact I lose my proverbial mind.

I think it’s the only thing my Dad Michael goes to Walmart for. No one else seems to carry them. But when I hear that squeak I become possessed, dance, prance, tango and any other gyration a girl pup can do.

One of my big joys is playing with the little people. Michael’s nieces Kaitlin and Samantha are 5 and 11 and they love to play with me. It’s like we form a Girl Scout troop together. They even put down their IPads to play with me. My other favorites are tug of war with Mike’s Mom and Dad.

Athena

I get to go for a ride out to the countryside of Parma-Hilton. I know exactly where they hide my treat can.

What do you really, really dislike?

I’m more into the liking everything, but lordy lord I hate it when I see a wet paper towel coming my way. It’s either a facial, ‘cause my mascara runs and my eyes get all gunky, or when my ears need a cleaning. As soon as I hear the tear of a paper towel I run to my bed where I think they can’t catch me… umm never seems to work though, as they get me eventually. Oh yeah we like to drool, so they run around trying to catch me after I drink a lot of water. It’s kinda funny when I race back to my bed to do wipe down.

What is most outstanding about American Bull Dogs in general?

American Bull Dogs are very protective of the family. When my Dad Christopher has a seizure I usually just sit on his feet or jump on his bed and lay my head on his chest until it passes. Folks mostly think of us for our physical strength, but it’s our gentleness that gets overlooked.

Are Michael and Christopher perfect or could they improve their human behavior?

Michael and Christopher get suckered by my charm, sweetness and good looks, so sometimes they need to know I’ve persuaded aka whined my way to extra treats when the other doesn’t know I got one.

I have to keep my figure so I don’t carry extra weight.

What would you say to young dogs about how to train their humans?

The important thing I need to have done everyday is to be walked and meet other pups and their families. The more exercise we can get the better you and I will feel. Your human needs to learn this.

Anything to add?

Yes I want folks to know that if you give us a treat (after you asked one of my Dads) use an open palm to feed us. Many times folks forget we have a short nose so we don’t see the distance as clearly as, say, a Golden Retriever with a longer snout.

Some folks do the snap and run with their feeding hand. Also let us smell you -- it’s how we get to know folks, so lower your hand down so we can smell the back side of your hand.

17

Pets and Their Gays: Tunaman lives with Beth Bloom and Pat UleskeyPosner

By Susan Jordan How old are you and how would you describe yourself?

I am a very young 17 years old. I was born a poor orange child in the South Wedge to a human that was overwhelmed with children, feline and human. It’s remarkable that I have been able to overcome my humble beginnings.

I am the senior cat in a household of four other cats and -- I hesitate to call them humans, and two rather inept humans at that.

What are your favorite things?

I like to get six to eight naps a day. I prefer those to be while lying on one of the humans but they come and go as they please. So, I have to improvise. The couch is nice and the bed is OK but the other cats sometimes crowd me. I am ever so fond of tuna and catnip. I love to lie on the windowsill on a nice day and watch the world.

I like to get up on the dining room table because it makes the humans just nuts.

What do you really, really dislike?

There are so many things I hardly know where to start: The other cats, except for Tom, he is my nephew.

Cold and rainy weather, my old bones can’t take it much anymore.

I don’t get much fan mail.

I wish I could go outside and play in the grass. (I am an indoor cat) I don’t like to share the humans but I do. (loud sigh) Are Beth and Patricia adequate humans for you? How might they improve?

No, they are not adequate humans but they are what I have. If they really cared they would stay home with me and be at my beck and call. More food, more pets, open the window, move the cats. The list is endless, but as humans go, they will do.

What makes cats superior to dogs?

Beth writes: Tunaman feels anything having to do with dogs is below him and chooses not to answer.

How would you advise a cat to train its humans well? What common error do inexperienced cats make?

Humans are so very overly enthusiastic about everything, especially kittens.

Kittens are too young to properly train a human. Every kitten needs a feline superior for guidance. I am the feline superior

Tunaman with Beth (right) and Pat

Tunaman with his nephew Tom

at my house.

Humans are never quick enough to get down the stairs when I am starving to death at 5:30 in the morning. Humans never supply the proper food. The kind of food eaten yesterday is not the kind of food I want today. Tuna is the preferred meal but humans only supply it when they want to. How wrong is that!

Can you believe the humans won’t leave the bathroom sink running ever so slightly 24/7 so that I can get a fresh, cool, refreshing beverage at my leisure?

Humans insist on trimming my claws.

Humans DO NOT supply enough treats often enough.

Humans sometimes step on my tail or foot. How rude.

Humans are not at all feline. Humans make dogs look elegant. Dogs are not at all elegant.

Anything to add?

Thank you so kindly, Susan Jordan, for choosing me as the Perfect (Purrrfect?)

Cat. That is what you are calling this piece, The Perfect Cat. (Beth notes: I didn’t tell him anything.) As there are no other cats that can possibly be compared to me. ■

Tunaman goes wild

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 498 • MARCH 2016

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MARCH 2016– • NUMBER 498 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

Shoulders to Stand On A Community’s Response To AIDS – Ronald Reagan Speaks About the AIDS Epidemic, the First Report on AIDS and Research Beginnings at UR

By Evelyn Bailey In January, 1986 Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), stated in the New York Times that one million Americans had already been infected with the virus and that this number would jump to at least three million within five to 10 years.

AZT Phase II testing of AZT began in February with 300 patients at Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana and Bellevue Hospital, New York University Medical Center, NYC. A placebo control group was used initially, but was dropped quickly when 16 on the placebo died as opposed to only one on AZT. The clinical trial was stopped in September 1986 because it was thought to be unethical to deny patients in the placebo group a better chance of survival.

In March the local anonymous testing program reports it is testing 40 people a week, and approximately 10 percent test positively. In 1986 NIAID establishes ‘Division of AIDS’. In September, the University of Rochester is designated by the National Institute of Health (NIH) as an AIDS Drug Treatment and Research Center. In December, Strong Memorial Hospital becomes a designated AIDS Center and receives funding from the AIDS Institute. During 1986, the use of condoms is shown to prevent sexual transmission of AIDS, and the World health Organization recommends needle exchange. Locally here in Rochester there is much controversy over this before it is passed by New York in 1992.

After Rock Hudson died in October 1985, in February of 1986 President Ronald Reagan instructed his Surgeon General C. Everett Koop to prepare a report on AIDS. (Koop was excluded from the Executive Task Force on AIDS established in 1983 by his immediate superior, Assistant Secretary of Health Edward Brandt.)

Without allowing Reagan’s domestic policy advisers to review the report, Koop released the report at a press conference on October 22, 1986.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), according to the New York Times, February 6, 1986, states Reagan’s pronouncement is “outrageous” because Reagan’s budget, made public February 6, included reductions in spending for AIDS research.

Earlier in 1985, Reagan refused to advocate safer sex and condom use, choosing instead to press for a ban on HIVpositive immigrants entering the country, then later sexual abstinence as the keys to preventing the epidemic. Twenty million copies were eventually distributed to the public. In plain language the 36-page report discussed the nature of AIDS, its modes of transmission, risk factors for contracting the disease, and ways in which people could protect themselves, including use of condoms. It projected that in 1991, 270,000 cases of AIDS would have occurred.

The prediction was too pessimistic, as the total reported cases of AIDS in the U.S. through 1991 turned out to be 206,000, a measure of the effectiveness of Koop’s AIDS education campaign. In his remarks Koop emphasized that since education was the best and only strategy of prevention against AIDS, and since AIDS was spread primarily through sex, school children from grade three onward should receive sex education. Over the next two years Koop emphasized that the best protection against the disease was provided by sexual abstinence and monogamy.

The first national coordinated AIDS education campaign was finally launched in May, 1988 when 107 million brochures entitled “Understanding AIDS” were mailed to every household across the country. By this point, nearly 83,000 cases of AIDS had been identified in the USA, and over 45,000 people had died.

Six other nations had set up leaflet campaigns before the USA chose to do so.

In April 1986 the Rochester Area Task Force on AIDS (RATFA) convenes working groups on community education, long term care and legislative issues.

Susan Messenger serves as co-chair with Dr. William Valenti. In September a report is presented to RATFA entitled, “AIDS Impact on the Minority Community”. Discussion and planning began to expand representation on the Task Force.

In December RATFA forms the “Minority Committee”. Seventeen agencies are invited to attend a special meeting to begin addressing education and service needs of the Rochester minority population.

In February 1986 Ryan White, because of his HIV diagnosis, is banned from attending his seventh grade classes by Circuit Court Judge R Alan Brubaker in Howard County, Indiana after returning to school for one day following a 15-month absence. The decision was overturned on November 25, when an Indiana Department of Education officer ruled that the school must follow the Indiana Board of Health guidelines and that White must be allowed to attend school. In August 1990, four months after White’s death, Congress enacted The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act (often known simply as the Ryan White Care Act), in his honor. The act is the United States’ largest federally funded program for people living with HIV/AIDS. The Ryan White Care Act funds programs to improve availability of care for low-income, uninsured and under-insured victims of AIDS and their families.

In April, 1986 attorney Geoffrey Bowers, litigation associate at Baker & McKenzie, an international law firm, was diagnosed with Kaposi’s sarcoma and AIDS. Lesions began to appear on his face. In May 1986 the law firm’s partners gave Bowers a satisfactory evaluation. Two months later, in July, they voted to dismiss him, without following normal termination processes, including consulting with his supervisor or asking for a list of his clients and billable hours. His supervisors objected to the decision, delaying its implementation. However, in October, 12 of the 15 partners again voted to dismiss him. He left the company on December 5, 1986. The firm maintained he was fired purely for his performance.

Geoffrey sued the firm in one of the first AIDS discrimination cases to go to a public hearing. On July 14, 1987, the New York State Division of Human Rights held the first hearings in the case. Six years later the case was finally resolved. Geoffrey died in September, 1987 and his partner died one year later.

Geoffrey’s family continued the lawsuit, and in December 1993 the agency awarded its largest sum for any complaint to that date: $500,000 in compensatory damages and the back pay he would have earned had he remained employed. Baker & McKenzie appealed but subsequently withdrew the appeal in 1995 after they negotiated a confidential settlement with Bowers’ family, forbidding parties from

21

ever discussing the case or the terms of the agreement. These events were the inspiration for the 1993 film “Philadelphia”.

Over the course of 1986, the tide was beginning to turn. Shoulders To Stand On is proud of the contributions made

by C. Everett Koop, the University of Rochester, Strong Memorial Hospital, and the Rochester Area Task Force on AIDS in making AIDS visible, in making research possible and in providing the Rochester community with cutting edge information and access to care. Shoulders To Stand On also applauds the courage shown by Ryan White, Geoffrey Bowers and their families in confronting the prejudice and injustice shown to those infected.

Next month - the story of early treatments, research trials and celebrities.

History Corner: March 1977 A Monthly Publication By and For the Gay Community of Rochester, March, 1977, No. 70.

Focus: This month’s issue focuses on the problems of gay people in prison, problems that are only becoming more severe in light of the recent decision by Norman Carlson, director of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, to ban all gay publications from the federal penitentiary system. In our feature article Tim Denesha explores many aspects of life in prison, including behavioral modification techniques, as these apply to gays.

The Empty Closet, being a non-profit paper put together by volunteers, cannot hope to compete with larger gay papers which are published more frequently. Our news digest articles present a hint of what is happening world-wide in the gay civil rights movement. Yet we see our most important achievement as being the presentation of local news and opinion that

one will not find in the big-time papers.

This issue contains news of the Gay Brotherhood and of the U. of R. Gay Liberation Front, plus a return of the Lesbian Lines column, now authored by Marg Hall. Don/Sheila reports on the local social scene, and Renee shares with us the world of a transsexual. And there is an article on what Rochester’s own Midge Costanza is trying to do for gay people in her new post as special interest advisor to the president. There is also an article on the gay rights controversy in Miami which shows, homophobes like Anita Bryant notwithstanding, that gay people can really make a difference if only we are well organized. And, on the local front the N.Y. State Coalition of Gay Organizations and the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley have called for a gay lobbying day in Albany on March 8. We hope that you enjoy reading about our struggle for civil rights as much as we enjoy putting together this paper for you!

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

Here is Link: http://www.library.rochester.edu/rbscp/EmptyCloset On that page click on: Browse the Empty Closet issues. Go to 1977 – March GAY BROTHERHOOD MEETINGS Meets every Sunday at 7:30pm, 713 Monroe Ave. Call 244-8640.

3/6 Potluck and BINGO 3/8 Rochester Gay Lobby Day in Albany 3/13 Human rights 3/20 Men’s Rap Night 3/27 Peer Counselling LESBIAN RESOURCE CENTER 3/16 “Lesbian Oppression and Anger” 4/6 General Meeting U. of R. GAY LIBERATION FRONT – Meets every Thursday, 7:30pm GAY ALLIANCE - March 26 – Vinnie Vickie Cup Benefit Dinner – Bachelor Forum ■

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 498 • MARCH 2016

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 MEMOIR: WHAT NO ONE KNOWS

By Eric Bellmann I had a shot at being in an Andy Warhol movie.

I worked at a small college in Pennsylvania in the late ‘60s . The College Cultural Council arranged for a presentation of Warhol’s experimental films. Warhol, his “superstar” Viva and Paul Morrissey, his associate, were scheduled to attend. The faculty went nuts.

This was a controversial event. Some faculty jockeyed to host a reception, other folks made sure they were otherwise occupied. Electing to avoid the turmoil I opted to go to the laundromat. But curiosity got the best of me and I pulled into a parking lot after the event was underway. I walked into the auditorium, stood in back and watched for as long as I could stand the choppy, goofy clips. I exited to the foyer.

Behind me I heard a door open and close.

I turned to find myself face to face with Andy Warhol. No one else around.

Suddenly star struck, I was not about to pass on this moment. I blurted, “I like your films”. What else was said escapes me but I told him I would be studying at Pratt Graphic Center the coming summer. He told me that branch of Pratt was only a few blocks from The Factory, his studio at Union Square. I asked if I could I visit? “Sure, I’m in the phone book, just call.” (He was in the phone book!)

Could I be in a movie? And he stopped me cold asking, “What can you do?” I could go for coffee was my anemic, hopefully witty reply.

In May 1968 in New York, I contemplated my movie career and tried to muster courage and calculate the ideal time to make my move. Memorial Day weekend.

Wait until after the holiday, then wait a little longer. June 5th, Robert Kennedy shot in L.A. Wait a few days longer. Then on June 8th Valerie Solanas, a disgruntled poet and semi-Super Star, walked into The Factory and pumped Andy full of lead. He spent the rest of the summer recovering in the Lenox Hill hospital. So long stardom.

That summer was tumultuous. Judy died June 22nd. The Stonewall riot erupted days later and “The Boys in The Band” hit Broadway. The play had opened in winter, moved to Broadway in April. I saw it early in June.

There had never been a play like this.

An apartment full of gay men at a birthday party. Our secret lives on display.

No one could have appreciated it but this single play was the beginning of gay life going mainstream. The documentary “Making The Boys in The Band” is terrific. By the time I saw the play the original cast was intact save for the actor who played Hank. I recognized him one night at the trucks (yes, those trucks). We connected, so to speak. I don’t remember his name. Those were the days. That was a summer to remember. Soon enough those days would be gone for good. The horror would come later.

Late one August night the next summer I wandered away from the trucks parked under the West Side Highway.

Again those trucks: they were the center of gay social life back then. One night I saw Tony Perkins ride by on a bike, going nowhere.

I walked down to the Hudson River.

The night was warm, the river calm, soothing, a respite from the New York life, secretive and exciting, that obsessed me.

From the shadows next to a building nearby a man emerged, not in jeans or leather but wearing a tie and sport coat, and he said to me, “You’re a Capricorn.” I am.

And for nothing more than that we went home together. He said his name was Jack Smith. I knew who he was.

Jack Smith was an early maker of weird “underground” films. Smith’s work actually predated Warhol, a fact that caused him jealousy and resentment. Susan Sontag in “Against Interpretation: Notes on Camp” devotes a chapter to Smith. His film “Flaming Creatures” was banned in New York State as pornographic. He was a sweetheart as best I could tell, not so easy since he was continually stoned. We had a two-week affair the end of August.

Jack lived in Soho on Greene Street.

This was the old Soho of factories and artists’ lofts. To get access to Jack’s apartment I had to shout loudly from the street and then he would toss down the keys in a sock weighted with a rock. I’d climb up four rickety flights past rolls of stamped out shoe leather. Those were the days.

Jack and I would climb on to the roof and he’d get high. The sex was pointless although charming; he was very stoned all the time. September I headed off to a new job and that was the end of all that. Jack died in 1989 of AIDS-related pneumonia.

He had no executor and his estate, such as it was, was in shambles. Things got ironed in recent years. Now he’s collectable, appreciated as an innovator, the subject of a documentary. I remember him fondly.

I should have been more attuned to the rhythm of New York. The evidence was everywhere but not comprehended.

Everything changes while you’re just staring at the river. A bar opens, a bar closes.

A actor friend goes on tour. You never see him again. (I learned years later he moved to the Netherlands and there, convinced his disease was gone, stopped his medication and died.)

Another friend finds an apartment 80 blocks away and you see one another hardly ever. One park is cruisey, another one goes dead. I couldn’t handle it anymore. It was time to leave and that is what I did. I didn’t go back to New York for another decade. That was my good luck.

All anybody really wants is someone to witness their life. I have lots of stories.

You could have asked but nobody seems to care.

Email: EricLBellmann@gmail.com

Cleaning My Closet TRAVEL GUIDE

By Meredith Elizabeth Reiniger Tampa. Twentyfirst century. And YOU are there.

Sparkle Puppy at the wheel. Glitter Bee, very busy, maintaining constant communication with Sergeant Major Floribraska housed at MapWTF-where-are-we. Sparkle Ducky at attention, eyes probing all drain ditches, ponds and puddles, poised to announce, piercingly, the presence of prowling or possibility pouncing, predatory Roadside Alligators.

Thus begins Tales of the Unholy Tripping Trinity. Unexpurgated.

We did encounter seventeen inches of

alligator (in the hands of Young Mr. Animal Handler). Its alarming green, eerie eyes sizing-up our available body parts.

The two Sparkles maintained an as-faraway-as-possible distance while Glitter risked life and limb for an up-close interview with Young Handler who announced that, yes, that scaly reptile had once bitten his finger.

At which point, (coincidence? power of suggestion?) Alligator mississipiensis wriggled and squirmed until it managed to turn, to threateningly stare at three tasty, albeit rather large, entrees. (The Two Sparkles withdrew a few more steps.)

There was no comfort in learning that typical meals for their show-and-tell A. mississipiensis were defrosted, albino rats shipped from gourmetrodents.com.

Visiting that reptile (which will grow every year of its 35-50 years of life, reaching 700-1000 pounds) had not been in our plans when we headed across trafficclogged highways to reach Weeki Wachee Springs. (Seminole for little spring.)

Actually, we three (one elder and two pre-seniors) were in search of mermaids.

We found five… three long-tresses-floating lovelies; one dark-haired-of-course, evil water-witchness; one blonde (of course) bi land-or-sea, love-seeking mermaid. Plus one attractive, land-locked but good swimmer, Prince Charming.

Their show is a marvel of aquatic ballets, diaphanous flouncing fins, plus bountiful, beautiful, bouncing bubbles produced when mermaids ‘dance’ their hand-held hoses of free-flowing-air.

We three grown-ups (a circumstance of age) were glee-full (an affirmation of wonder). Mesmerized. When water-witch sea-woman let loose with an ominous shriek, we were startled into unmitigated scream-responses. And silly-happy: we had made the pilgrimage to the ‘Since 1949 Newton Perry Mermaid Show’ to fulfill Glitter Bee’s long-held (since her Miami childhood), make-a-wish to see mermaids. It’s never too late to share delight with friends.

Another joy . . . the Tampa power station. No, we were not experiencing ecstasy from engineering. (I did have a minor elation over electricity production from small solar panels perched on poles lining the path. Yes, solar trees. Yes, I chanted, we humans can make our planet a better place, one solar tree at a time. (As we go to press, I am in our Upstate New York Black North: 29 mph winds, roaring snow-nadoes. Visibility .8 miles. Windchill -28 degrees. Correction: “One solar tree at a time where Sun Shine abides.”)

Should one experience global-warming concerns when on vacation?

Anyway, our power-station euphoria . . . our !JOY! . . . MANATEES! Hundreds of huge (1300-1800 pounds) yet cute, cuddly, sea cows cozily crammed into the safety of a bay of warmed-water from outflows’ discharge. (When chilled, manatees become stressed and die.)

Fascinated, I watched… crinkly snouts rising above the surface (every twenty minutes for air-gulps)… massive manatees managing to make barrel rolls, highjumps, and head-first, flying-tail-flapping dives… mothers nursing their little (80 pound) calves (for 12-18 months)… and crowds of lovable, intelligent Florida Trichechus manatus latirostris gently floating, dining on underwater vegetation.

Lots and lots and multitudes of those wrinkly-skinned, grey, sea cows were simply dozing as those mammals spend 50 percent of their time sleeping. (I think I might be a manatee).

As we left, we pondered: was the power company providing this well-accoutered gazing park out of the goodness of their tiny business hearts? Or were they camouflaging their daily adulteration of the environment, milking the adoring crowd?

I chose to believe in Good Deeds. (Should one become philosophical during leisurely tourist-ing?)

Of course we had to eat. Vacation dining-out, only at local restaurants, is a challenge. Multimillion-dollar chains are, one square foot at a time, devouring uniqueness, swallowing mom-and-pop

handmade food. We chose Taco Bus. Alas a chain. Good food and attitude: “We speak broken English perfectly.”

Went to Mary’s Hamburger in Y Bor. Gaily arrived. Discovered throngs with reservations (RESERVATIONS?! For a hamburger place??) Well, it was Drag Queen Bingo Night. (Four times a week, proceeds to a different charity each night; awesome; Rochester totally needs Drag Queen Bingo.)

Big burger and Beautiful Drag Queen Amy were delicious. Between sassy observations, her primary interjection was “get it o-o-o-n, bi…t’ches.” Even without mind-altering liquid or puff-able drugs, we laughed at her well-honed, drag-queen, biting-banter.

Another meal: elegant South American castle, Columbia, a fine-dining RESTAURANT. At the door, a tuxedoed-male who is paid to say “welcome.” Tuxedo-wearing Lorena (fine-looking Lorena) made our salad table-side (her black hair pulled tightly, her long, swaying cascade gleaming). Lorena, who gently brushed our tablecloth with her diminutive, crumbs-away table-broom. (She smiled.)

As she served our coconut ice cream on the half-husk, Lorena winked at me. The food was delectable too.

Get this: Columbia had two special wines, their Enzi and their Rusty. Each bottle’s label has a picture of those beloved dogs. How can you not love a restaurant owned by people who memorialize their pets.

We did pass one not-chain diner. Its menu was painted on the building: Tamales, Beer, cigarette, egg roll. It was out of business.

In addition to glorious birds, green grass, blooming flowers, my Florida trip was enhanced by noting local language. I am a collector of words . . .

Shrimp Wrecked Restaurant. Mattress firm. Landscape service: Blades of Green.

Sinkholeguy.com. Dinosaurs never went to the vets . . . look where that got them.

All in all, our shared get-away was restful, entertaining, and educational. I do confess that dinosaur I had challenges. I, on accident, not on purpose, while walking across the parking lot, tripped on a speed bump. I, leaving a store, looking where I was going (yes, mother) flung myself off the doorstep; yes, labeled STEP DOWN, but way down at its edge. In addition, I developed a sty and cloudy, smeary vision, OMG my eyesight is impaired. Never mind, I had, on accident, not on purpose, worn my close-up crayoning/computer glasses. I, on accident, not on purpose, peed on my very long, shirt-tail.

Best of all, nothing clouded our enjoyment. We just donned three layers of tops, two layers of pants, plus wind breakers, for our walk on Clearwater Beach.

Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here. Love, we two Sparkles and a Glitter.

MeredithReiniger@gmail.com

Faith Matters FRANCIS “POPE-’SPLAINING” CATHOLIC CHURCH’S HOMOPHOBIA

By Rev. Irene Monroe Italy is one of the major European countries that don’t recognize marriage equality for its LGBTQ denizens in spite of the fact that the majority of Italians do, according to a 2014 poll.

In January 2015 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Italy was in violation of human rights by not recognizing either civil partnership or same-sex marriage.

In February, to the cheers and adulation of supporters of LGBTQ civil rights, it was announced that a debate will be presented in the senate pushing finally for its legalization.

MARCH 2016– • NUMBER 498 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET The one person you least expect in opposition to the debate is Pope Francis. And in anticipation of the upcoming debate the pontiff made his position abundantly clear.

“There can be no confusion between the family God wants and any other type of union,” the pontiff told Vatican Judges.

“The family, founded on indissoluble matrimony that unites and allows procreation, is part of God’s dream and that of his Church for the salvation of humanity.”

The country, however, has a more expansive embrace of Pope Francis theological concept of today’s lived reality of “the family of God. ” In January 2013, for example, the court granted sole custody of a child to a lesbian mother in spite of the father’s claim that the mother’s sexual orientation “would be dangerous for the child.” And in July 2013, to the shock and awe of its citizens, the Court of Bologna chose a gay couple to be foster parents of a three year old.

I recall Pope Francis’s remarks when flying home after a weeklong visit to Brazil in 2013 (which set off global shock waves) where the pontiff was queried about the much talked about “gay lobby” in the Vatican.

“When I meet a gay person, I have to distinguish between their being gay and being part of a lobby. If they accept the Lord and have good will, who am I to judge them?”

This public statement is the most LGBTQ affirmative remark the world has ever heard from the Catholic Church.

In 2013 The Advocate, a nationally renowned and respected ‘zine, named Pope Francis their “Person of the Year.”

Pope Francis continues to send seismic shock waves across the globe with his liberal-leaning pronouncements, but the pontiff is complicated, if not confusing, to the LGBTQ community. On the surface Francis displays a pastoral countenance to his papacy that extends to all of our community.

Sadly, his welcoming tone to us and

the church’s unwelcoming policies he upholds don’t match -- especially when it comes to “the family of God” Last year the Meeting of Families in Philadelphia included only one workshop on LGBTQ issues —a panel with a celibate gay Catholic and his mother, and no workshop on LGBTQ families. But his point about LGBTQ families and marriages got across loud and clear during his talk to Congress with his subtle jab at gay marriage: “I cannot hide my concern for the family, which is threatened, perhaps as never before, from within and without. Fundamental relationships are being called into question, as is the very basis of marriage and the family.“ While it might be argued that the Pope Francis’s understanding about human sexual orientation, especially LGBTQ, is expanding, and his concern for the dignity and humanity of LGBTQ people is genuinely shown, the pontiff is still a doctrinal conservative, one who holds largely to the Catholic Church’s universal catechism on homosexuality.

His views on gay priests, while not quite in lockstep with its Catholic LGBTQ parishioners and allies, have, nonetheless, moved the farthest of any pontiff in history.

Supporters and activists of the “gay lobby” in the Curia emphatically state that this brave and visible group is essential to the running of the Vatican, as well as protecting themselves from the church’s hypocrisy in scapegoating them for many of the social ills of the church.

This pope, like the previous one, is using his papal authority to hold back the tides against modernity, but with a more friendly and pastoral facade. And the early signs were there long before Francis became pope.

Case-in-point, although Francis springs from the first Latin American country (Argentina) to legalize same-sex marriage, his unsuccessful opposition to the legislation in 2010 left him spewing these remarks:

“Let’s not be naïve, we’re not talking about a simple political battle; it is a destructive pretension against the plan of God. We are not talking about a mere bill, but rather a machination of the Father of Lies that seeks to confuse and deceive the children of God.” The Pontiff aptly stated in a December 2013 interview with 16 Jesuit magazines that “the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards” should the Catholic Church, in this 21st Century, continue on it’s anti-modernity trek like his predecessor, Pope Benedict XV. It’s not enough for Francis to say he embraces our community. He must also do it.

A Few Bricks Short IT’S CULTURAL

By David Hull For Christmas this past year, along with the usual socks, underwear and gift cards, I received an ethnicity test kit. It was a small assessment set that includes all the tools needed to submit a sample of DNA to be researched in order to analyze your ancestral background. So simple, so easy – I just had to spit in a test tube, mail it in the padded envelope to the testing company, register an account online and in a few weeks they revealed my ethnic history.

I told my friend Ronisha about my test and she was hoping they’d find some black in my heritage – making us more “sisters” than ever – but with my pale, Casper-like skin tone (I practically get sun-burned under florescent light, for goodness sake!), I knew any variation that diverse was highly unlikely.

And now, after weeks of waiting, the historical genetic truth has been revealed – I’m English, Irish and German. No surprise there; just what my parents had always told me – my Mom’s parents, Henry and Gertrude, were English, my Dad’s father, Horace was Irish and his mother, Wilhelmina was German; she was even first-generation American.

But wait – at the bottom of the report – there was an asterisk! I was 99% European, but there was another ethnic group involved.

OMG – I am 1% Asian!

Me – Asian?

Whitey McWhite, the mayor of Whiteville is Asian?

Who knew?

Now it makes sense that every time, over the years, whenever my husband, Bernie has asked: Do you want to make dinner or do you want to just order out Chinese? – every single time, I choose to order out Chinese. I always thought I chose that because I was lazy. Now I understand, I’m just hungry for the food of my ancestors – it’s cultural.

I now comprehend my fascination with Asian characters on television when

23 I was going up back in the 1960s.

I always wanted to be Hop-Sing, the Ponderosa’s cook on Bonanza. I always thought it was just because I wanted to be surrounded by all those hot, hungry cowboys – Little Joe and Hoss and Adam and Candy. But now I realize, you can’t accuse me of being a sleazy cowgirl; I obviously felt an Asian link to Hop-Sing – it’s cultural.

On weekly episodes of The Green Hornet, I always dreamed of taking Bruce Lee’s role as Kato, the Green Hornet’s side kick. I always thought it was because I really wanted to partner up with the gorgeously handsome Van Williams, who played the Green Hornet, but now I understand; as an Asian, I felt an association to Kato – it’s cultural.

In recent years, I blamed my childhood crush on Star Trek’s helmsman, Mr. Sulu, on my gaydar. Now I know, I had an Asian bond with George Takei – it’s cultural.

And my inexplicable affection for those ridiculous Godzilla movies is no longer inexplicable; Godzilla vs. Mothra, Godzilla vs. Ghidorah, Godzilla vs.

King Kong, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster, the only one missing is Godzilla vs. Donald Trump (which would look more fake: a guy in a rubber monster suit or Donald’s hair?). I can explain my enchantment for those cinematic classics; I felt kinship to all those hysterical Asian people fleeing in terror – it’s cultural.

As usual, Bernie is being as supportive as ever; he says I may be 1% Asian, but as far as he’s concerned, I’m 100% “Gaysan”.

I accuse him of being racist.

Contact David at davidhull59@aol.com

What’s Bothering Brandon?

GAY IDOLS AND ICONS

By Brandon W. Brooks There was a time in my late adolescence when I held the strong belief that I had no gay icons to admire.

Being born in the late 1980s, I was too young for shows like Are You Being Served? to make much sense to me when it mattered most, and too old for shows like Glee to appeal to my rather hardened sensibilities.

Amidst the bitter angst of the 1990s, it seemed as if all I had at my disposal were Will Truman and Jack McFarland from Will & Grace, and boy were they a crock. Having (hopefully) matured and developed my own personal taste, I can now play catch-up with gay cultural icons and idols.

As a child I remember seeing the show Dark Shadows syndicated on the thencalled SciFi channel. I was mesmerized by this Gothic and moody soap opera, no doubt due in part to its spooky atmo-

24 sphere, but also because of the character of Mr. Roger Collins.

Roger Collins, played by the actually gay Louis Edmonds, was not depicted as homosexual per se, nor was his sexuality ever mentioned or implied. He was the brother of matriarch Elizabeth CollinsStoddard, and the father of the disturbed boy David. Roger may have been a father, but in my own mind, he had all the hallmarks of a gentleman of certain tastes. He was well-dressed, quick to respond with a witty retort, and always in some sort of contrary mood – a man after my own heart. His slight transatlantic drawl just curdled me.

As the years crept by and my own sense of humor ripened, I re-discovered the mysterious appeal of Are You Being Served? What was utterly lost on me as a child now stuck out plainly, and hilariously. The onslaught of double entendres alone had me on the floor, most of them delivered by the charmingly and almost outright gay Mr. Humphries.

Gap-toothed and mincing, Mr. Humphries was the second-in-command in the men’s clothing department of Grace Brothers Department Store. Played by the late John Inman, Mr. Humphries was one of the true stars of the show, unashamedly. His high-pitched catch-phrase, “I’m free!” still makes me laugh. One is amazed with how much the producers and writers of the show got away with, considering this show premiered in the late 1970s.

Some pro-LGBT groups of that time lambasted his character, stating it was too stereotypical or that he was actually doing a disservice to the gay community. This sentiment quickly died down due to Mr. Humphries’ sheer likability, and his refusal to be anything but himself, which was flamboyant and gay. That’s quality British television for you – the wit outweighs (or disguises) the controversy.

Moving forward to today, in our world of LGBT-friendly television and film, it would seem that we as gay people have a larger and more realistic representation throughout the media. I tend to disagree, or at least, qualitatively. I find shows like Glee homogenize gay people as being all likeable, slightly timid, squeaky clean teens who dream of show-tunes. I must admit, however, that the idea of watching teens sing polished and glossed-over versions of hit songs is revolting to me.

I find it painfully sweet, good-natured, and gilded.

Overall, I think I prefer the old gay icons to the new. The joy these older characters took in playing their parts seemed to come from a rebellion against oppression, whereas today’s TV and film gays so obviously lack that. They relished broadcasting a personality that was underappreciated and criminalized. Today’s TV gays want to be Beyoncé, and have eyebrows on fleek.

Questions, comment or critique? Please feel-free to e-mail the author at: brandonbrooks@mail.adelphi.edu

THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 498 • MARCH 2016

Both Sides Now LESSONS IN LOVE, LOSS AND LETTING GO

By Cora Treoir Duncan Like many transgender women and men, my early transition was marked by loss: loss of my life partner, loss of being part of a financial unit, loss of my dog, loss of my physical home, loss of friends and more. My losses did NOT include my job, my biological family, nor my larger musical community.

I was extremely fortunate compared to many of my trans sisters and brothers who often lose so much.

Perhaps the deepest loss I experienced was that of my spouse. We had found each other 20 years after first meeting and watched life orbits cross but never converge until a year before our marriage. It seemed like this was love, destiny, kismet and very romantic. Each of us felt that pull and excitement. We both had been married twice and figured the third time would be the charm, and it would be until death. We believed we had both learned our lessons from the first two unions; we would not repeat those mistakes.

I know now I was repeating the same routine I had used with my previous marriages. I had one major flaw (of many) that I brought to the relationship. I didn’t know what love was. Not. A. Clue.

I THOUGHT I did, but what I practiced was based on NEED. All my relationships were shams. If I had been capable of being honest, the first thing I would have asked would have been “Will you take care of me?” Instead I did everything to satisfy, distract and emulate what I thought love was, to guarantee my partners would let me stay around them. It was a house of cards that would eventually fall. Without a doubt, my gender confusion was complicit as was my ADHD, as I now understand. However I lay the majority of blame on my distorted, ill-informed and delusional perception of love. All my relationships were doomed to crash; the timeline for each was the only difference. I hadn’t taken lovers; I had taken hostages.

It may have been the best thing, considering where I’ve ended up. However, the universe was not about to let me escape the lesson it had in store for me.

My Ex and I dissolved our 12-year union six months after our mutual agreement to part and five months after my diagnosis of Gender Dysphoria. Not a week after the divorce became final, I met a young trans woman at a local support group. I was 63, she was 23. Despite the age gap, I was totally smitten and all my default mechanisms of romancing, entrapment and capture ignited to full effect. Such arrogance! I was sure my life

experience, received wisdom and welldeveloped personality would operate as they always did to acquire the prize!

Imagine my dismay, frustration and fear when my practiced routine was dismissed despite my obvious enthusiasm for her.

About this time I started HRT. Eight weeks later the hormones hit blood saturation level and I felt like I was riding a cyclone, dripping with every feeling and emotion possible. In the midst of my emotional Ground Zero, I realized that I had reached my limit with my young friend. I was NOT doing myself any favors by succumbing to my obsession and neither was my over protective approach winning any plaudits from her.

I wrote a five page letter I didn’t send, then ended up reading it to her on the phone. I was done. I told her that my expectations were that our relationship would proceed and exist with a certain protocol or it would cease. Three days later we unexpectedly ran into each other and she pulled me aside privately and said she didn’t want to lose me and agreed much of what I said was true. She was willing to come halfway. I told her what I expected.

Her reply made my heart stop, and would prove to be a life changing turning point for me. When I told her my “rules” she countered by saying “Oh, you mean your love has conditions.” Suddenly I knew... I KNEW what I had been doing wrong all my adult life. For all my wisdom, this 23-year-old proved to be the wiser soul. She cut me to the quick.

During this last year I watched as my obsession diminished to a loving, respectful friendship. I ceased expecting her to meet my emotional needs as I was beginning to see how important it was for me to do it for myself, as a part of Self Care and Self Love. In therapy I focused on addressing this every week until it had begun to truly be a part of my life. I still cared about her, but now I could see and accept the obvious age factor AND my unrealistic demands. I also began to see her flaws that, as usual, I had minimized and realized that I could love her anyway – UNCONDITIONALLY. Within months, our relationship was a friendship, which has only strengthened as I let go.

I also began seeing my friendship with another trans woman evolve. We both had struggled with virtually the same situation with different details.

We began to actively support each other emotionally, commiserating, sharing wisdom and spending time together exploring our new world. Our relationship is based on strong respect for each other.

We are closer in age. She has joined me in getting out and visible, matching me in ferocity and fearlessness.

We have found we enjoy time shared, that each has interests that the other enjoys and are cognizant of our fundamental differences. What has happened is that we have quietly moved in a relationship, though neither of us is eager to name it as such. Perhaps it is too early to

spend time worrying about this. We do agree that it doesn’t matter that we call each other anything but girlfriends at present. In many respects, we are avoiding cliched labeling that would pin possessive descriptions to us. We are friends that unconditionally love each other and like each other’s company. Isn’t that enough?

So I believe I have arrived at the door to a new understanding of Love. I would be foolish to state that all my questions, presuppositions, malingering habits and idealistic fantasies are dispelled. Hardly; but the urgency of Insatiable Need no longer dominates my every waking hour and colors my emotional life. It has allowed me to say “ I don’t care; it doesn’t matter” and mean it. THAT goes a long way to give me peace of mind when it comes to Loss, Love and Letting Go.

Being Well SENIOR MOMENTS

By John M. Aceto, LMHC When I was younger, I rarely took the time to reflect on what life would be like in my twilight years.

I was too busy with work, graduate school, thinking about what I was going to do for the weekend. And dating, of course.

As I inch towards those twilight years, I’ve started thinking about some crucial life issues. Like the majority of LGBT people, I have no children. And in many cultures it usually falls to the children to care for their elderly parents.

Can I count on the generosity of friends and neighbors for help when needed? As my social circle starts to shrink due to people moving away or dying, how will my social needs be met?

Recent studies and news articles have looked at the issue of what it’s like to be elderly in the LGBT community.

The findings reported paint a rather unusual bleak outlook. To summarize, elderly LGBT people may experience increased depression, diminished social supports, and isolation. And for reasons I’m not entirely sure about, but greater significant health disparities compared with our straight counterparts. There are also some implications of increased discrimination and a decrease in financial resources.

The issue I see as primary is, of course, mental health. As I prepared for this article I read study after study citing that LGBT seniors have two to three times more incidents of reported depression, anxiety, loneliness and isolation compared with other groups. This includes suicidal thoughts and actions.

This was quite an eye-opener for me.

Getting old is difficult enough without adding further stressors.

So how do you plan ahead to avoid some of these potential pitfalls of elder life? I think for starters it’s important to have solid health care providers, including a therapist. And I’m not just saying this because I am one. Many of us spend a ton of money on superfluous things, and very little on our own emotional wellbeing.

I think it’s also important to foster solid, genuine relationships with friends and family. Not only for our well being, but for practical reasons as well, like who can help us shovel our driveway when it becomes difficult to do so. It also makes sense to be financially prepared. Things to consider not only for your future self, but your present self as well.

MARCH 2016– • NUMBER 498 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

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

DIGNITY-INTEGRITY Since March, 1975, Dignity-Integrity Rochester has been welcoming all who come through our doors, worshiping every week at 5 p.m. at St. Luke’s and St. Simon’s Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh Street, at the corner of Broad St. We have the following services and activities for the month of March, 2016.

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: Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Word to celebrate Easter, followed by special potluck.

Our potluck in March falls on Easter Sunday, and will be held offsite at a member’s home. Get details at the service, or call the Hotline to let us know you’re planning to join us. Tradition has it that when we aren’t cooking up a Potluck supper on the fourth Sunday, we’re gathering for fellowship around a tasty coffee hour and going out to a local restaurant for dinner each Sunday. Join us anytime!

We’ve been holding a Lenten Movie night on select Friday evenings in February and March. Call the hotline to find out where and when the next movie is being shown.

Remember that you can always call the Hotline at 585-234-5092 or check our website at www.di-rochester.org/ for updates on services and activities.

EMPIRE BEARS It finally got cold in February, so the BEARS stayed in. Warm and cozy in our dens; cards and games with friends. Slip out for dinner or a movie, then right back under the covers.

In March, we’ll be out for supper every Wednesday. Meet at 6:00. 3/2 we’ll be at JB Quimby’s, 3/9 at King and I, 3/16 at Carrabba’s, 3/23 at Winfield Grill, 3/30 at Texas Road House. On Saturday 3/12, we’ll host a potluck at the GAGV. Everyone is welcome. Just bring a

dish to pass. Meet at 6:30 and eat at 7:00.

We often play cards and games after.

Other than that, you’ll find the BEARS bowling at Empire Lanes in the Friends and Family League, catching a movie at the Cinema and the Little, singing with the RGMC. Their concert is Saturday, 3/19. We’ll be there, and head out for food after. Hope you can join us.

OPEN ARMS MCC Join us on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. for a vibrant and exciting blended worship experience that includes contemporary and traditional hymns, inclusive language, and a useful and timely message.

We engage the living word of God as it speaks to us as citizens of the modern world. We celebrate an open communion table - that means that you don’t have to be a part of our church, or any church at all to participate. When the service ends, join us for coffee, fellowship and a snack in the Community Center.

Open Arms -- beyond open, beyond affirming, beyond welcoming -- where you will find acceptance and the love of Christ in everything we do.

Here’s what’s happening at Open Arms: Our Easter Service will be on Sunday, March 27 at 10:30 a.m.

Also in March we will have an “Escape the Winter Blues” pajama party and movie night. Check our Facebook page for the date, time.

We will once again partner with the Rochester Red Wings and we will be there for the 4:05 p.m. OPENING DAY on April 9, working the Pop/Hot Dog stand and throughout the baseball season through August! Lots of volunteers are needed, so contact Open Arms if you’d like to participate in this FUNdraiser!

The TRANSformative Ministry Team has been exploring what it means to be trans and we now have crafted both our vision statement, which is: “We are a faith community that supports and respects people of all gender identities and gender expressions.” And our mission state-

ment, “We create ties by linking people of diverse gender identities and/or expressions, and allies, through stewardship, education, and social justice.”

We will accomplish these through worship, prayer, education, outreach, inreach and activism. All are welcome to join us on our journey toward a fuller understanding, support and inclusion of our trans friends and family members in the life of our church.

We continue hosting a number of community groups in our Community Center: AFTY (Adult Families with Trans Youth) meets the first Tuesday of each month from 5:30-6:30 p.m. PFLAG (Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians, Gays, Trans, and Questioning) meets on the third Sunday of each month at 1 p.m.

TAGR, Trans Alliance of Greater Rochester meets on the third Saturday of each month from 3-5:30 p.m. The Cobbs Hill Drumming Circle meets at 6:30 p.m. in the sanctuary on the first Mondays each month.

We have a bin in the Community Center for recycling items like empty ink cartridges, empty toner cartridges, cell phones, chargers, batteries, cords. You can also drop off your scrap metal to be recycled at Metalico Rochester and you will earn money for Open Arms. Days will be arranged for drop off at church as well. Let your neighbors and friends know they can drop off recyclable metal, too. Just mention that it is for the Open Arms MCC account and the proceeds of the recyclables will come to us.

The cold weather is here and we have a supply of non-perishable items in stock for when our neighbors stop in looking for emergency supplies. If you are out shopping and can pick up one or two items it would be greatly appreciated. Some ideas for contributions are toiletries, including toothpaste, soap, paper towels, toilet paper, tampons, sanitary pads, and baby wipes. Non-perishable food items that require little preparation including pasta meals, canned meat/tuna, vegetables, and beans, also dry food items such as cereal, pasta and mixes. Pop-top cans are also appreciated, as many homeless persons do not have access to can openers. Pet food is also needed. We also have some clothing available -- socks, shoes, sneakers and shirts.

Our facilities are available for rental by any community groups or individuals needing a safe and flexible meeting space.

You can see our ad with pictures and rental fees on Craigslist.

Open Arms MCC is committed to Building Bridges and Changing Lives.

You are welcome, regardless of your sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression, or religious beliefs. We are located at 707 East Main St., across from the Delta Sonic. There is plenty of free parking in front and to the side of our building. For updated information on coming events and to view our facilities, check our website: openarmsmcc.org.

Our lay pastoral leader, Brae Adams, has office hours on Wednesdays, from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. and by appointment. (Please call first to make sure she’s available.) We are also open Thursdays and Fridays from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Our phone number is (585) 271-8478.

ROMANS Rochester Male Naturists (ROMANS) is an all male nude group based in the Greater Rochester area. We’re a very diversified group with men from the 20s to 70s with a variety of body types, many different ethnicities and various social background.

ROMANS welcomes all gay and gay friendly males over 21 years of age.

During the winter months, ROMANS members continue to meet monthly in a member’s home to enjoy good conversation and nude comradeship; many members have a hot tub at home for cozy and relaxing soaks.

As an example of our diversity, our February meeting was hosted by an Asian member to celebrate the Chinese New

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Year. Looking ahead, we are putting together some theme parties for the next few months and a list of nude outdoor activities for the warmer months. We are also working on making our activity calendar more accessible for everyone online.

You can find out more about the ROMANS on our website at www.wnyromans.com. If you are interested in becoming a member, contact us via email at wnyromans@yahoo.com, by regular mail at PO Box 92293, Rochester, NY 14692 or call us at our message line 585281-4964. ROMANS is a social club for gay and gay-friendly male nudists over 21.

TEAM ROCHESTER: Upcoming gay sports gatherings 2016: North American OutGames will be held in St. Louis, Mo., May 28- June 4.

Over 3000 participants expected. Twenty sports include tennis, golf, 5K, 10K, bowling, volleyball, swimming, track & field.

For information, list of sports and registration: www.naoutgames2016.org 2017: World OutGames to be held in Miami Beach, Fla. May 26- June 4. 30 Sports. For information: www.outgames. org 2018: International Gay Games in Paris, France! Aug. 4-12. 35+ Sports with Cultural Festival. 15,000 participants expected. Most venues will be located around the Eiffel Tower. For information: www.paris2018.com. Check out YouTube for several short films taken at previous Gay Games, also a four-minute presentation from Paris.

Be part of Team Rochester! Already, the committee is organizing for participation at the Paris Games. Get your bowling teams together. Volleyball teams will enjoy fierce competition. Swimmers, runners, billiard players, dart throwers, dancers… check out the websites. Most sports have various levels of competition and age groups, so IT IS possible to win a medal in your division.

Funny story from the Gay Games 2014 in Cleveland: One runner, Randy from North Carolina, thought it might be fun to run the Steeple Chase, even though he had never done it before. He registered the day before the race and found he was only the fourth participant in his age division. However, when he arrived the next day for the race, he discovered one runner had dropped out. He won a Bronze medal and proudly wore that medal around the city and in the Parade of Athletes during the Closing Ceremonies. For more information about Team Rochester, contact thomaso510@mac.com

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 498 • MARCH 2016

e t a n g i Des f l e s r u for yo r u o y d an ! y t i n u comm e c n a i l l A y a G The y a W d Unite : s i r e b num 1135 : SEFA s e e y o l p m For state e employees: For federal 0 CGC: #9391

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

MARCH 2016– • NUMBER 498 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

Arts & Entertainment

Social activists who sing: Inside the Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus

Rob Strauss

By Stephanie Nawrocki In 1982, five men “determined to use music to create an acceptance of social diversity” gathered together to form the Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus. Their mission was simple — the striving for social change through the power of choral music.

Thirty-three years later, Dr. Robert Strauss leads the charge as the artistic director of the chorus. Mr. Strauss earned his doctorate in vocal performance at West Virginia University and now teaches voice at the School of Music at SUNY Fredonia.

When asked what his single greatest privilege as the artistic director of the chorus is, he proudly proclaims, “The honor to feel and experience the audience’s reaction to the numbers that are performed.

The audience connects with the members of the chorus in ways that are not possible outside of the influence of music.”

Dr. Strauss also places a strong emphasis on the pride that he takes with the members of the chorus themselves. He says, “The chorus has a wide range of musical experience. There are members who know how to read music and members who have never seen a note written before — despite each individual having a unique level of experience, everyone comes together at performance time. Seeing everyone work together and overcome challenges—while united in their passion and love of music is the greatest privilege as the artistic director.”

The Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus sings for many charitable causes. Last December, the group performed outside a local Tops Market during a food drive.

They have performed for a diverse number of causes, hoping to help combat domestic violence, poverty, and discrimination of any kind. The group itself is a family bonded by music instead of blood.

Many of the members find a home within

the group — from recently divorced men to young adults looking for acceptance.

For those that are interested in contributing their talents to the chorus, the process of joining is easy! Information on joining can be found at www.thergmc.org/joinus. html.

The next major performance for the chorus is on Saturday, March 19 at the Hochstein Performance Hall. The concert begins at 8 p.m. and is titled “I’m the Greatest Star: The Fabulous Female Singers.”

It is a tribute to the female singers who had the courage to break free and succeed in a society that discriminated against them. The LGBTQ community connected with these women, longing for the same freedoms that they longed for. Come see the wonderful Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus perform songs by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand and many more.

Mann/Cynthia Weil. The show opened on Broadway at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre in January 2014, where it has since broken all box office records and recently became the highest grossing production in the Theatre’s history.

The Original Broadway Cast Recording of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical (Ghostlight Records), won the 2015 Grammy© Award for Best Musical Theater Album and is available on CD, digitally, and on vinyl. Beautiful opened in London at the Aldwych Theatre in February 2015 and launched its first national tour in September 2015.

Dashaun Young told The Empty Closet, “I was born in Buffalo, New York. I got into theater because at the time I was living with just my mom who had multiple jobs to support us. So she signed me up for a local recreation center after school, where I got my first taste of being on stage by playing the Dormouse in Alice In Wonderland. I soon after asked to audition for Performing Arts high school as an acting major and somehow was accepted.

The first musical we did was Gypsy and I was hooked.”

What does he appreciate most about Carole King’s music? Dashaun said, “I love that her music crosses so many barriers. It’s not written for a specific demographic. It’s just good music that everyone can take something away from. The fact that she was pumping out such hits as ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,’ ‘Some Kind Of Wonderful,’ ‘Locomotion’ at such a young age is crazy. She has a great talent and even at 16 had the drive to make sure her musical voice was heard.”

The show is not just an evening of performance. Dashaun said, “The audience can definitely expect a story plot.

In fact the music is of course amazing, but the story of Carole King is what actually sucks you in. The show begins with a 16-year-old Carole going down to Times Square to get her song ‘It Might As Well Rain Until September’ recorded. She impresses ‘the man with the golden ear,’ Donny Kirshner, and begins working in the fast paced world of music. Life begins to throw her some pretty intense curve balls. She begins to juggle songwriting,

Dashaun Young sings Carole King songs in “Beautiful” at RBTL Producers Paul Blake and Sony/ ATV Music Publishing announce that the Tony© & Grammy© Award-winning Broadway hit Beautiful—The Carole King Musical, about the early life and career of the legendary and groundbreaking singer/songwriter, will make its Rochester premiere at RBTL’s Auditorium Theatre for one week, March 8-13.

The show features Dashaun Young.

His credits include “Simba” in The Lion King (Broadway, West End, National Tour), Motown(Broadway), Sister Act (1st National Tour), Hairspray (1st National Tour), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Paper Mill Playhouse), Legends(NYC premiere) Film: Sex and the City 2.

Tickets are available at ticketmaster. com, 800-745-3000 and the Box Office.

Group orders may be placed by calling 585-277-3325.

“Carole King might be a native New Yorker, but her story of struggle and triumph is as universal as they come – and her music is loved the world over,” producer Paul Blake said. “We know that audiences throughout the country will embrace this show just as Broadway and London audiences have.”

For more information and a video sneak peek, visit www.BeautifulOnBroadway.com.

With a book by Tony® and Academy® Award-nominee Douglas McGrath, direction by Marc Bruni and choreography by Josh Prince, Beautiful features a stunning array of beloved songs written

by Gerry Goffin/Carole King and Barry

Scott McCarney: Art inspirations from Iceland to Mexico

By Susan Jordan Scott McCarney is a distinguished book artist from Rochester whose work is shown all over the world. He also takes inspiration from many global cultures and traditions.

Scott’s work is in the show “Together/ Apart,” at the Gay Alliance’s Gallery Q through March 15. Part of the work on display is “saga,” a book of photocollages made by Scott and his close friend Skú ta Helgason in July 2014, during Scott’s first trip to Iceland, Skúta’s homeland.

Scott and Skúta first met at Rochester’s Visual Studies Workshop in 1980 where, as grad students, they shared an apartment. Skúta has since lived in Washington D.C. and Berlin and now lives in NYC, where he is an artist and creative director at Artbook/D.A.P., distributors and publishers of art books. “He is responsible for the art bookstores operated

by Artbook – there’s one at MoMA PS1, and they do pop-up stores at the NY Art Book Fair, the Armory show and many art fairs – he curates the art book exhibits,”

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Dashaun Young

motherhood and having a husband who at times seems to want to be anywhere else.

“We watch Carole quickly grow from a young eager songwriter into a smart confident SINGER-songwriter. Even when down, Carole still manages to portray a message of hope -- for example, her song ‘Beautiful’. She says, ‘You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face and show the world all the love in your heart and people are going to treat you better your going to find yes you will, that you’re as beautiful as you feel.’”

He added, “I’ve been influenced by many performers growing up. Stevie Wonder is one of my all time favorites.

My father is a pastor so I grew up listening to a lot of gospel music as well. I didn’t know then but Carole’s music reached me even as a child. One song I remember loving was Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack’s version of ‘You’ve Got A Friend’.

I didn’t know until many years later, but that was in fact a Carole King song.

“We are so excited to get to bring this story around the country. It really is a beautiful show. You will laugh, cry, and have an absolute blast. You don’t want to miss it! Looking forward to seeing you soon, Rochester!” ■

Scott said. “I’m godfather to his daughter, and he’s sort of like my brother.”

About their collaboration, Scott said, “The overall pattern in my photo collages comes from the mirrored ceiling of the Harpa music hall in Reykjavik designed

by Olafur Eliasson.

“Skúta was reticent about going into the building, because it was planned just before the 2008 global economic crash.

The building was way over planned and over budget and he connected that with the economic collapse. To him it represented the hubris of the bankers who caused the crash. (I believe Iceland is the only country where bankers went to prison.)

“I got Skúta to go into the building and it was nice. The overall idea of the collages explore our individual relationships to Iceland and to each other. Skúta is a native but only gets to visit once or twice a year. So he’s not as connected and can feel like a tourist in his own country.

“I was well grounded for my first visit, having heard stories of Iceland for 30 years and previously meeting Skúta’s family and friends who visit the States. I was (Scott continues page 28)

Scott McCarney. Photo: Susan Jordan

28 a tourist but treated as family due to our relationship. We photographed separately and together, pooling all the images we made and used them to create our own collages for the book. We’ll be having a book launch and show in Amsterdam with both our collaged photographs on display.”

What is Scott working on now? He said, “My partner Keith and I have been going to Oaxaca, Mexico, for some time, and I’m just now feeling like I have enough knowledge to do some work. I’m working with murals that I photographed in Oaxaca. The street art is so intense and very political. I’m starting to make prints – I’m not sure how they’ll be resolved.

Right now they’re just documents. I have a real interest in “papel picado” the traditional Mexican art of cutting paper.

They’re generally hung on strings like Tibetan prayer flags, only more decorative and for festivals.

“I’ve been making my own drawings patterned after the traditional Mexican paper cuts using the iconography from the narco trade – like guns and bullets – as well as the traditional skulls and skeletons. I’ll try cutting these images into the Oaxaca street art photographs but that’s just an idea. It’s hard to talk about visual projects that are in process!”

CURRENT EXHIBITS Reading with the Senses. Roberts Gallery, Lesley University College of Art and Design, 1801 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge Mass., March 10 - April 17, 2016. The exhibition includes 54 international contemporary artists’ books and is guest-curated by Ruth R. Rogers, Curator of Special Collections at Wellesley College.

Page by Page, Center for Photography at Woodstock, 59 Tinker Street, Woodstock NY. February 20 - April 10, 2016 Artists’ books curated by Hannah Frieser, Executive Director.

Ink and Paper: A Collaborative Exhibition of Artist Books and Letterpress Prints, Main Street Arts, 20 W Main St, Clifton Springs, NY. HYPERLINK “http://www. mainstreetartsgallery.com” \t “_blank” www.mainstreetartsgallery.com February 20–March 25, 2016. An exhibition featuring artist books and letterpress prints from across New York state. Main Street Arts selected the participating organizations and art centers and they in turn, selected the artists/artwork to be included. Scott is showing a copy of “Alphabook 10,” completed during a residency at the Electronic Arts Institute last June.

Between the Covers: Altered Books in Contemporary Art, Everhart Museum, 1901 Mulberry St, Scranton, Pa. February 5 - June 6, 2016 “In reshaping both subject and material, the artists repackage our personal attachment to the written text as a catalyst for memory and the imagination while rekindling our sensorial response to the book’s physicality.”

A group exhibition of guest curated by Sarah Tanguy.

Together/Apart, GAGV Gallery Q, 100 College Avenue, Rochester NY. February 5 - March 15, 2016 The Gay Alliance of Genesee Valley opens its new Gallery Q with this exhibition of works addressing companionship, loss and relationships.

Scott is showing a suite of photo collage prints created for “saga,” a book collaboration with skúta published by the Journal of Artist Books last summer and a collection of altered book valentines Scott has made for Keith over the years. This is the first time showing of all this work (!). Curated by Alice Carver-Kubik.

THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 498 • MARCH 2016

Downtown Ithaca Alliance calls for banner art, Art in the Heart submissions “Calling all artists... we want to see your art in the air!” The Downtown Ithaca Alliance has embarked on a sponsored seasonal banner program to add color, variety, and beauty to the newly renovated Ithaca Commons pedestrian mall.

The Alliance says, “Banners with vibrant explosions of confetti commemorated the official reopening of the Commons, and a herd of charming reindeer took over for the holiday shopping season.

For Summer 2016, we want to try something new: we’re asking community artists of all walks of life to submit their own designs for a chance to see them printed on the banners.”

There’s no fee to submit, the theme is open, and there’s no limit to the media you can use. Painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, and digital art are just some of the options. It’s time to get creative! The only rules are that the content must be appropriate for all public audiences and that the compositions must adhere to the banners’ 1:2.5 vertical aspect ratio.

The Downtown Alliance is asking that artists submit a preliminary sketch or file

by April 18, 2016. This image must be constrained to a 1:2.5 vertical aspect ratio but need not be submitted at print-ready resolution. E.g., a 3” x 7.5” drawing on a regular sheet of paper or a 400x1000px digital image would suffice. Just email the image, along with your contact info, to info@downtownithaca.com. Or, mail or drop it off at: 171 E. State St., Ste. 136, Ithaca, NY 14850.

Then what happens? After all submissions are received, the DIA will convene an advisory jury of art lovers to review and score the submissions. The twelve (12) highest-scored artists will then be invited to submit a final image, which must be clearly reproducible at 1872x4680px.

These images will be printed on vinyl banners to be installed in time for the Art in the Heart opening reception and tour on July 1, 2016. The banners will remain on display through November and will be auctioned off during Ice Fest to support expanded public art programs in 2017.

As a thank-you, all participating artists will receive a print of their design on a smaller vinyl banner suitable for indoor display. Artists will also be acknowledged in our print, online, and mobile Art in the Heart/Art in the Air guides.

Some boring legalese: Submissions will be accepted from any individual or group.

Youth, students, minorities, individuals

with disabilities, and elders are all strongly encouraged to apply. Artists will retain copyright to all submitted designs with the caveat that they will be reproduced and shared by the DIA and partnering agencies for promotional and documentary purposes. Any artists who submit hardcopy artwork to the DIA will be able to pick their pieces back up after imaging although we cannot arrange for return mailing.

Selected artists will receive no cash compensation and will agree to relinquish all ownership and droit de suite-type rights to the final vinyl banners, which will remain the property of the DIA until sold at a benefit auction at the close of the exhibition. Banner designs will be selected, and may be subsequently moved or removed, at the sole discretion of the DIA, which independently manages the seasonal banner program as per its MOU with the City of Ithaca; the community jury will rank the submissions “blind” (without name or title appended) but will operate in an advisory capacity for this iteration of the banner program only.

Art in the Heart 2016 The Downtown Ithaca Alliance (DIA) (downtownithaca.com) is now soliciting portfolios from sculptors, muralists, painters, and digital artists interested in being considered for Art in the Heart 2016. Now in its 17th year, Art in the Heart is an outdoor public art exhibition running from June to November. It is an eclectic and engaging showcase of local, regional, and national talent designed to enhance the community’s walkable urban core and to engage our large and diverse population of residents and visitors in inspection, interaction, and conversation.

Art in the Heart is supported in part by the Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County as well as numerous individual and corporate donors.

Format: Art in the Heart has employed several different themes and formats over the years. This season, the central component of Art in the Heart will be an invitational that will bring to downtown Ithaca three impressive new works: a compelling, large-scale sculpture or suite of sculptural works for temporary display (June to November) on a to-be-specified outdoor publically-owned site within the downtown Ithaca district; a suite of large painted panels or other moveable twodimensional works for temporary display (June to November) on a to-be-specified outdoor publically- or privately-owned wall within the downtown Ithaca district; a large mural or other expansive twodimensional site-based work for semipermanent display (beyond November, at the discretion of the owner) on a to-bespecified privately-owned wall within the downtown Ithaca district.

Either of the latter two works could involve interactive and/or multimedia elements.

Selection Process: Artists interested in being considered as invited exhibitors are invited to email a portfolio to the DIA via an internationally distributed call. The DIA will convene an Art in the Heart Advisory Committee including noted community artists, art professionals, and representatives from the City of Ithaca, the Public Arts Commission, the Community Arts Partnership, and other partnering organizations. This group will review submitted portfolios and other materials and produce a priority list of recommended candidates in each of the desired categories (sculpture, panels, mural). DIA staff will work from this list to identify and collaborate with three artists who are able to produce pieces of optimal scale, durability, and visual impact. The DIA and the selected artists will consult with appropriate stakeholders (e.g. property owners and relevant municipal agencies).

Compensation: Participating artists will receive a stipend of $1,250.00 (panels and mural) or $2,500.00 (sculpture). This stipend is meant to offset costs of fabrication, transport, installation, and de-installation. Sculpture and panel artists may list their work for sale; the DIA will retain a

15 percent commission for all sales during or immediately following the exhibition.

Unless waived, artwork will be insured by the City of Ithaca.

Timeline: Portfolios due: March 11. Advisory Committee meets: March 15-March 19. Preliminary sketches/renderings due from selected artists: April 22. Installation: June 5-June 15. Opening reception and tour: July 1. De-installation: November 5-November 15.

Instructions: If you would like to be considered as an invited exhibitor for Art in the Heart 2016, please email a portfolio (including a bio/artist statement, exhibition history and several representative images in one or more of the requested categories) to info@downtownithaca. com by 5 p.m. on March 11, 2016. Note: please do not send a proposal for a specific project; at this juncture, we are only reviewing artists’ overall oeuvre and exhibition experience.

Inquiries: Please email info@downtownithaca.com with any questions or comments in advance of the portfolio deadline.

Travel Inside Cuba: It’s complicated

By R.M. Cook Smith, Day, Stevens, and Cook is not the name of a law firm. These are the names of four Rochester locals who joined 260 other members of the LGBTQ community for a pioneering “first gay cruise” to the country of Cuba. The cruise, organized by Aquafest, sailed out of Montego Bay, Jamaica and visited several ports in Cuba.

Our plan for Monday night in Havana, our only night on shore, was to explore the Havana gay scene. However, the timing of our visit couldn’t have been worse.

We were visiting on the Monday night after New Year’s weekend. There was no gay scene that night.

Additionally, the rainy, windy evening prevented us from walking along the Malecon (the harbor front walk famous as a gathering place for gays and straights).

The waves were coming up over the sea wall and crashing onto the roadway due to the high winds. We stayed on board our ship and consumed daiquiris and enjoyed Cristals and Bucaneros, two fine Cuban beers.

So, our plans to explore gay Havana were dashed. It is not illegal to be gay in Cuba. However, as one taxi driver told some friends of ours from the ship, “… it’s complicated.” So much of Cuba can be summed up in the words of our ship orientation leader, “it depends.” Change is happening so fast not everyone is up to speed. One day the rules are this, the next they are that, it depends on who you talk to. It’s complicated.

We did see a few young men dressed in bright pink skinny jeans and pink tops, walking the walk that in the US might identify them as “gay boys”, or they may just have been fashionable; and we saw few who may well have been for rent. It depends, it’s complicated!

Monday morning, our first morning in Havana, had begun as sunny but the weather soon turned to a warm drizzle.

However, we soldiered on with our guided walking tour of Old Havana. As with any guest to someone’s home we were shown the beautiful things they chose to show us, the things and places they are most proud of. Parts of the old city have been restored and its cobblestone streets are lined with privately owned restaurants, shops, and tourist destinations.

There is a multitude of plazas, parks, cathedrals, statues of Cuban heroes, memorials, green spaces, flea markets, and book markets. Crowds of tourists made access to some sites difficult. We were unable to try the daiquiris at La Bodeguita del Medio, an old Hemingway watering hole; because it was so crowded with tourists we couldn’t get in the door. Since President Obama

MARCH 2016– • NUMBER 498 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

L-R: J. Stevens, S. Smith, R.M. Cook, Guide, R. Day.

late last year loosened travel requirements to Cuba, legal tourism from the US has increased 77 percent.

Afternoon was spent on a bus tour around Havana, which included a stop where our group could buy Cuban cigars and rum and watch an elderly gentleman making cigars. US visitors can bring back limited quantities of cigars and rum. As to exact quantities or amounts, well, it’s complicated. It depends.

In addition we saw the Gran Teatro de Habana, home of the Cuban National Ballet and a complex visual treat due to its architecture and decoration. A stop was made at the US embassy to take photographs.

The embassy is a drab affair lacking character and distinction. A brief stop at the National Hotel, former vacationing spot for US mobsters, allowed us to enter the 1930s hotel. The weather in the afternoon worsened with rain and high winds, which made it feel cold.

Tuesday morning dawned as a sweet, sunny day, filled with promise in Havana.

We were met by a private tour guide we had engaged who is a member of the LGBTQ community. This walking tour also took us into Old Havana but we were able to see areas not on the usual tour, including some schoolboys playing soccer in a school yard using a dilapidated, partially deflated basketball. Nearby we saw our only tiny rainbow flag.

Near the Capitol building we came upon several vintage convertibles which are for hire. After haggling over price, and settling on 40 Cuban CUCs (about $40 USD), the five of us climbed into a lime green 1951 Chevy convertible for a street tour of the city. These cars, while gorgeous on the outside, are rather cobbled up on the inside. These “antiques” are considered national treasures and are not allowed to go out of the country at this time. At the end of our tour we stopped in at La Floridita, another bar that was a hangout for Ernest Hemingway, and had mojitos and plantain chips. Recommended!

Our private guide gave us insight into some of the realities of life in Cuba. Several times as we walked along the streets he asked us to lag behind and he would walk ahead of us, as there were police ahead. If Cubans are seen approaching tourists they can be stopped by the police and ordered

to show their papers and subjected to other hassles including arrests. Why is this? It depends, it’s complicated.

Simply put most likely it is to prevent tourists from being pestered by natives and to suppress prostitution. When we went to pay our free-lance guide we had to step inside a store and give him our money. It’s truly complicated. We also gifted him with a tee shirt from the US and a pair of name brand, green striped bikini underwear from the US. Gifts from the US are highly treasured. Surely he will remember us for a long time!

Ship’s tenders (small boats) ferried us to shore at our next stop, Maria La Gorda, as the water was too shallow for even a small cruise ship like ours. Maria La Gorda is known world-wide as a snorkeling and SCUBA diving destination due to its magnificent coral reefs. There is very little in the way of infrastructure at Maria La Gorda. There is a small store, an even smaller restaurant, and some minimal rooming houses for divers. Since none of us are divers we spent the afternoon lounging on the white, sandy beach eating barbecue chicken with black beans and rice, drinking Cristal beer, under palm trees as a gentle breeze came in off the crystal clear, turquoise ocean. There was no iPhone access and no television.

Some people might think that was Heaven. It was.

Our final day in Cuba was spent in the city of Cienfuegos. A typical city a few hundred years of age, Cienfuegos runs the gamut from now very poor to once very rich. In the city’s cathedral square much restoration has been done for the tourist trade and several vintage Chevys and Fords cruise the streets. Our tour took us to another graphics print shop. Tourism, cigars, rum, and original works of art are of huge importance to the Cuban economy and the Cuban people.

The selling of original works of art is a vital stream of income for Cubans. Tourists need to know the regulations when buying expensive art as they will need proper permits and documents at Customs to remove the pieces from Cuba. It’s complicated. Cienfuegos lacks the white sand, serene, palm lined beach of Maria La Gorda and lacks the energy and excitement of Havana.

Email comments or questions to blueskye96@yahoo.com ■

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GAY ALLIANCE NEWS FOR MARCH 2016

THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 498 • MARCH 2016

Barbara Smith, second from left.

Gay Alliance’s LGBTQ Academy takes on Creating Change

By Rowan Collins, Education Coordinator Every year, thousands of LGBTQIA+ identified people converge on a metropolis somewhere in the United States for the biggest, most colorful queerrelated conference in the country: Creating Change. This year that city was the Windy City itself and we took over the South Loop of Chicago in style.

Creating Change bills itself as the “largest annual gathering of activists, organizers, and leaders in the LGBTQ movement”. Jeanne Gainsburg, our illustrious Education Director, and I were fortunate enough to both attend this year – her third time and my first – and we were blown away by the programming, conversations, and diversity not only in workshops but in our fellow attendees. Seeing people of all ages, sizes, genders, socio-economic statuses, abilities, orientations, political affiliations, races, religions, ethnicities, and more was aweinspiring in and of itself.

We arrived late Tuesday in the bone-chilling cold that only Chicago can offer and were up bright and early Wednesday morning to take on our first day-long workshop: the Racial Justice Institute. From the start, it was clear the aim of this conference was to situate itself at the intersection of our many layered, complex identities. “You can’t fix what you can’t face” was shared with us first thing and it echoed throughout the four days we were there. We need to take an honest look at our movement and the ways we are leaving each other behind and where we need to reach back and support one another as we move forward.

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday offered us an overwhelming variety of workshops and programs to attend and Jeanne and I split up to take in the most information we possibly could. A small smattering of some of the rich, interactive ses-

thanks to our many volunteers, but there is still much work to be done. One volunteer noted the continued importance of LGBTQ advocacy through the Gay Alliance, stating a desire to “get younger generations more involved.”

The Gay Alliance values volunteerism and seeks volunteers of all ages and all identities to contribute to its various programs.

Potential volunteers can register at: http://www.gayalliance. org/get-involved/ or contact Jeff Myers, Volunteer Coordinator, at 585-244-8640 or jeffreym@ gayalliance.org for current volunteering opportunities.

Trevor G. Gates is an Assistant Professor of Social Work at the Greater Rochester Collaborative MSW program at the College at Brockport, State University of New York.

the country) to share space and stories is something for which I am especially grateful. To meet and reaffirm commitment to the hard work of creating a more inclusive movement that centers the voices of minority experiences across our myriad identities and acknowledges our shortcomings while still celebrating our history and the progress that we have made.

Attending Creating Change was an incredibly invigorating experience that left me ready to take on the world and keep the momentum of our programs here at the Gay Alliance thriving. Bring it on! sions we attended include: Innovating Grassroots Approaches to SafeZones, Hack the Law: FedWatch, Queer-Inclusive Sexuality Education, Debunking Anti-LGBT Myths, Lies & Misinformation, The Burning Now: Leadership and Strategies for a Post-Marriage Movement, Building Trans Advocacy, Transforming School Culture, Disrupting Heteronormativity, and Navigating the Human Barrier – Overcoming Biases.

Sessions were filled with people ready to learn, grow, change, and teach together, and to lift each other up. I will admit that I cried during my Friday afternoon session, overwhelmed by the energy and the truth and the commitment being shared in the room around me.

A particularly sweet moment for me, personally, was watching Barbara Smith receive the Susan J. Hyde Award for Longevity in the Movement on Saturday.

Barbara Smith is a Black lesbian feminist who has been working in the movement for over 40 years and has been directly involved in the creation of the Combahee River Collective and Kitchen Table: Women of Color press amongst innumerable seminal writings on race, sexuality, and social justice, and teaching at colleges and universities throughout her career.

I grew up knowing Barbara in my home city of Albany, and only had the context of her as a Common Council member who I campaigned for in my middle school years as well as a friend of my mother and a board member of our local feminist organization. Upon entering undergrad I began to realize her immense impact and the love and grit she has poured into the movement throughout her life. It was truly a special moment to see a grand ballroom rise to their feet to honor her legacy and the work she continues to do every single day.

The chance to be there, in that hotel sheltered from the cold wind and the superstorm that hit the East Coast while we worked, surrounded by people who had made the trip (whether around the corner or across

PHOTO: MANUEL PENA

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Volunteers stay connected to the cause

By Trevor G. Gates Volunteerism continues to be important in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/ questioning (LGBTQ) advocacy work in Rochester. Gay Alliance volunteers are most motivated by a genuine concern for LGBTQ causes and by staying socially connected to others within the community.

These are among the findings of an Internet pilot survey of 35 Gay Alliance volunteers, recently published in the Journal of Gay and Lesbian Social Services. The research team also found that doing something for a cause that is important, and feeling compassion for people in need is among the strongest reported motivators for volunteerism.

Volunteerism at LGBTQ advocacy organizations became more widespread in the United States during the last 100 years as a response to discrimination, heterosexism, HIV/ AIDS, and other issues affecting LGBTQ individuals and communities. Organizations like Mattachine Society, Daughters of Bilitis, AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), Gay Men’s Health Crisis, and the Gay Liberation Front historically relied heavily on volunteers to meet their organization’s mission. Volunteers have, since 1973, remained an important part of the Gay Alliance’s work.

The LGBTQ communities have enjoyed considerable progress over the last century in the way of relationship recognition and other human rights issues,

Youth Gender Identity Support Group moves to LGBTQ Resource Center The Gay Alliance Youth Gender Identity Support Group has moved their monthly (5:30 p.m., first Tuesdays) meetings to the Alliance’s LGBTQ Resource Center, 100 College Ave. The group is now less about “support” and more about “socializing”. If someone shows they need support, the group facilitator can help to provide that and also offer other resources.

Under consideration: a movie night this month; see www.gayalliance.org.

Meet the Board: Colleen Raimond I am a native Rochestarian and an attorney at Nixon Peabody LLP. At work, I am the national co-chair of our LGBT Resource Group, and I focus my pro bono work on assisting transgender individuals to legally change their names.

I currently live in East Rochester with my partner Dr. Lisa Cunningham (incoming CoChair of the Women and Gender Studies Program at St. John Fisher College), and two hand-

some little furless dogs, Mr. Biff and The Captain. I absolutely love what I do and where I live.

I was introduced to the Gay Alliance by my colleague, mentor, and friend, Libby Ford. I decided to join the Board because I believe in the mission of the Gay Alliance. This is an organization that provides much-needed resources and services to LGBTQ folks from all walks of life and in every age group (to name a few – youth, through our youth program, college students through our forthcoming reinvigoration of CampusOut, adults through our workplace education program, and seniors through our SAGE program). This is a truly inclusive organization, and I am honored to serve on the Board.

As a member of the Board and the Chair of the Development Committee, my goal is to spread the word about the amazing work done by Scott Fearing and his team and help to raise funds so that we can be in a position to continue our programming and come up with even better ways to serve the community.

My vision for the future of the Alliance is that the organization will be central in creating a true community among all of the amazing people that we serve. This vision includes a focus on embracing and learning about each other. I believe that the Alliance will be a place for trans, bi-sexual, lesbian, gay, queer, gender non-conforming, and folks that remain undefined of all different races, ethnicities, and religions to come together.

The education and programming efforts of the Alliance will help us truly strengthen our community through understanding each other, celebrating each other, and helping each other.

I would tell someone looking to volunteer for the Alliance to do it! It is extremely rewarding to help the terrific people that we serve. It is also incredible to be able to make a difference in people’s lives. The Board, Scott, and the whole team are so grateful for the help of our volunteers. We would not be able to do the amazing things we do in the community without our volunteers. Everyone at the Alliance is kind and approachable.

They will work with you to find a place for you to volunteer that fits your skills and desires.

Volunteers of the Month: Valentine’s Dance volunteers

By Jeff Myers, Volunteer Coordinator Our “Volunteer of the Month” for March is going out to the team of incredible people who made our 2016 Paris J’Adore Community Valentines Dance a huge success.

A big thank you is owed to

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.

Board President: David Zona • Executive Director: Scott Fearing • Education Director: Jeanne Gainsburg Education Coordinator: Rowan Collins • Database: Kat Wiggall Bookkeeper: Christopher Hennelly 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; jennieb@gayalliance.org.

The Gay Alliance, 100 College Avenue, Rochester, New York 14607 • Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 am-5 pm Phone: (585) 244-8640 • Fax: (585) 244-8246 • Website: www.gayalliance.org • E-mail: Info@gayalliance.org

MARCH 2016– • NUMBER 498 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

GAY ALLIANCE NEWS FOR MARCH 2016

this fabulous team of volunteers who stepped up at the last minute to insure that there was a Valentine’s Dance, even though the agency move meant no traditional Red Ball was possible.

Dawn Johncox-Martinez headed the committee with support from Deb Truebatch, Anne Tischer, Myranda Gillow, Kristina Lucero, Gretchen Jacobs, Julia Carmen Acosta, Kriss Sniffen, Beth Wood, Tiffiany Karski and Terrie Gill. Thank you all. Your hard work and dedication proved that we can host other community dances at the new Gay Alliance site.

Awesome decorations made it feel as though you were strolling down the Avenue de Suffren on a star-lit night.

We would be remiss not to thank our donors for the evening: Swiftwater Brewing Company, Blue Toad Hard Cider, Sue’s Little Pizza Shop, Cheesy Eddie’s, Shawn O Photo, Outlandish, Equal Grounds and the Bachelor Forum.

I would like to personally thank everyone who participated in making this Valentine’s Dance such a success! Our volunteers rock!

GSA advisors: please contact the GSA Consortium at The Gay Alliance Attention all advisors of GSA clubs! We need your contact information for the upcoming GSA Summit!

The Gay Alliance announces the creation of the GSA Con-

sortium at the Gay Alliance LGBTQ Resource Center. The primary goal of the GSA Consortium is to offer support, resources, training and opportunities to network for GSA advisors.

The first GSA Summit will be held at the Center on April 7, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. and the Alliance hopes all GSA advisors will attend. Participants will engage in SafeZone learning activities, have time to network and take a tour of the new space on College Avenue.

If you are an advisor of a GSA, please send your name and email address to the GSA Consortium co-facilitators: Paul Birkby – PBirkby@penfield.edu or Jeanne Strazzabosco - Jeannestrazzabosco@gmail.com

Share your story: Speakers Bureau seeks non-binary members The LGBTQ Academy at the Gay Alliance is seeking individuals who identify as nonbinary, asexual, bisexual, pansexual, intersex, polyamorous, agender, androgyne, pangender and/or same-gender loving, who would like to become members of our Speakers Bureau.

If you are interested in training to become a speaker and going out into the community to share your stories and educate people on LGBTQ identities and inclusion, please contact Jeanne at education@ gayalliance.org or call 585-2448640. ■

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS January 2016 • Understanding Transgender Identities at Integrated Arts & Technology High School (10 classroom presentations) • LGBTQ 101 at Greece Arcadia High School Mosaics Class • Creating LGBTQ Inclusive Services at the Salvation Army of Greater Rochester • Creating LGBTQ Inclusive Schools at West Irondequoit High School • LGBTQ 101 at Pittsford Mendon High School Health Class (5 classroom presentations) • Creating LGBTQ Inclusive Schools at Holley Elementary School • LGBTQ 101 at Real World Geneseo • Meeting the Needs of LGBTQ Older Adults at Monroe Community Hospital • Communicating Respectfully with LGBTQ Individuals for the Greater Rochester Professional School Communicators • SafeZone Train-the-Trainer Certification Program at the LGBTQ Academy • LGBTQ Themed Book Discussion at Macedon Public Library

Feedback from our January Presentations:

• “Informative. Eye-opening. In the trainings that I have taken these presenters are by far the two best I have had. Great presentation.

• “OUTSTANDING stories – Thank you for being you!

HOLY SMOKE! YOU GUYS WERE GREAT!” • “Informative, fun, inviting, engaging. Both presenters: 1) are very likeable. 2) very knowledgeable on topics covered. 3) made audience want to engage. 4) are fun people, and funny! 5) Are great presenters. Definitely the best training/conference I have been to.”

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SAGE MARCH 2016

Fun at SAGE Bingo. Photo: Anne Tischer

LGBTQ Health Quest: Mondays, March 7 to April 25, 5:30-7:30pm, a “userfriendly” 8-week health & wellness support program encouraging better eating habits and increased physical activity. There is no cost but you must pre-register at sage@gayalliance.org or (585) 244-8640 x23 Tuesday, March 1 10:30-11:30am Yoga with Tom; 11:30am-2pm “Cake Day”: Celebrate March birthdays with catered lunch and cake, $3 donation, games & conversation. Hosted by Jessie, Gay Alliance LGBTQ Resource Center.

Thursday, March 3 10:30-11:30am Yoga with Tom in LGBTQ Resource Center, 5pm: SAGE Leadership Council meets.

Friday, March 4 7-9pm, SAGE Coffee Hour: Pick up a Cup! Gilda’s Club Comedy Show starts at 8pm. Equal=Grounds Coffee House, 750 South Ave. Hosted by Roza Tuesday, March 8 10:30-11:30 Yoga with Tom; 11:30am-2pm, Catered lunch & crafts with Terry Kelly: scrapbooking SAGE photos. We will also have a visit from Excellus friends. $3 donation. Hosted by Anne, LGBTQ Resource Center.

Thursday, March 10 No Yoga. 10am-noon, Breakfast Club at Denny’s (911 Jefferson Rd, Henrietta). RSVP to Audet at (585) 287-2958 no later than March 7.

Saturday, March 12 8:45am-3:30pm, AARP Driver Safety Course for the LGBTQ community, taught by Scott Fearing. Ask your car insurance company about the discount they provide upon completion of this course. Class is open to any NY licensed driver (of any age). You must pre-register at www.gayalliance.org or call 244-8640. Cost is $20 for AARP members and $25 for others, payable by check on the day of the class.

Sunday, March 13 2-5pm, Euchre Sunday Social at the Center. Euchre is easy to learn, fun to play and a great way to meet new people. All are welcome – new card players especially! $3 donation towards snacks & beverages. Donations of munchies & baked goods are appreciated!

Tuesday, March 15 10:30-11:30am Yoga with Tom; 11:30am – 2pm: Catered lunch for St. Patrick’s Day, Irish tales & sing-along with Christopher Hennelly, $3 donation. LGBTQ Resource Center.

Thursday, March 17 10:30-11:30am Yoga with Tom, LGBTQ Resource Center.

Saturday, March 19 5-8pm Saturday Night “Bunny” Bingo - a community potluck and Bingo for token prizes, All are welcome – so bring friends and family to this fun event celebrating Spring. $3 donation. All potluck dishes welcome - salads, veggies, casseroles, etc. LGBTQ Resource Center.

Tuesday, March 22 10:30-11:30am Yoga with Tom; 11:30am-2pm Catered lunch and presentation by Andy Rau from the Mayor’s office on SNAP food eligibility for Seniors. $3 donation, LGBTQ Resource Center.

Thursday, March 24 10:30-11:30am Yoga with Tom, LGBTQ Resource Center.

Friday, March 25 5-6:30pm SAGE Fabulous Fish Fry at Antonetta’s, 1160 Jay St. Please RSVP to Jim at (585) 354-8009 or by email at Jimz7875@aol.com by March 22.

Sunday, March 27 Happy Easter – no Euchre Tuesday, March 29 10:30-11:30am Yoga with Tom; 11:30am-2pm Catered lunch and Hidden LGBTQ History: Frank Kameny & Barbara Gittings. $3 donation, hosted by Anne Tischer, LGBTQ Resource Center.

Wednesday, March 30 –Special Evening 5:30-6:30pm Community Potluck co-hosted

by SAGE & Third Presbyterian Church More Light Committee at 4 Meigs St. This will be followed by a free 7pm showing of “Gen Silent” at the Cinema Theater, 957 S. Clinton Ave. A speakers panel will follow. Offered as part of the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School Spring lecture series. RSVP to sage@gayalliance.org SAGE Rochester is a program of the Gay Alliance designed for LGBTQI people over 50. SAGE operates out of the Gay Alliance LGBTQ Resource Center, 100 College Avenue 14607. All programs are open to the public and all are welcome.

Yoga is $5 per person and is offered every Tuesday and Thursday unless specified in calendar. All programs are subject to change and all members are responsible for their own transportation and meals. Donations help defray our costs but we understand if flexibility is needed -- please contact Anne Tischer. Become a SAGE member or get information at sage@gayalliance.org or 585-244-8640 x23. We are also on Facebook as “SAGE Rochester a program of the Gay Alliance”.

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 498 • MARCH 2016

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 Available for parties, events, meetings. 707 E. Main St. Parking. Accepting and welcoming of all.

271-8478.

DEAF SERVICES Deaf Rainbow Network of Rochester See Facebook.

Spectrum LGBTIQ & Straight Alliance RIT/NTID student group. <SpectrumComment@ groups.facebook.com

ELDERS Gay Alliance SAGE Rochester Many monthly get togethers, LGBTQ Resource Center, 100 College Ave. 244-8640; SAGE@gayalliance.org. See page 31.

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.

Catholic Charities Community Services 1099 Jay Street, Building J (585) 339-9800, www.ccsrochester.org . Offers: Families in Transition services for HIV positive parents with small children, short term/long term housing assistance, employment services, supportive case management, health education and behavioral health education and peer navigation for substance abuse linkages.

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; 585-993-3297.

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.

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: Buell St. Box 624, Bath, NY 14810 607-776-9166. The Health Outreach Project: 416 Central Ave., Rochester, NY 14605; 585454-5556.

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., lower level. (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 244-8640 or visit: www.gayalliance.org. More SAGE and 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 Huther Doyle Healthcare, chemical dependency treatment.

585-325-5100; www.hutherdoyle.com Trillium Health See www.trilliumhealthny.org, www.everybodysgood.com LGBT Healthy Living: Veterans Canandaigua VA, second and fourth Tuesdays, 10-11am, Building One, 2nd floor, room 245. Matt Cokely 585-393-7115.

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.

Q UNDER 40 Q<40 Special Events for LGBTQ people and friends over 20 and under 40. Info at GayAlliance.org

TRANSGENDER Trans Alliance of Greater Rochester (TAGR) Support/educational group for gender variant people and allies. Last Saturday, 3-5:30pm, Open Arms MCC, 707 E. Main St. Adult Families of Trans Youth (AFTY) First Tuesdays, 5:30-6:30pm, Open Arms MCC, 707 E. Main St. Trans Lifeline Hotline for transgender people experiencing crisis. Staffed by transgender people for transgender people. Trans Lifeline volunteers are ready to respond to whatever support needs callers might have. The Trans Lifeline number is (877) 5658860. Additional info is available at www.translifeline.org.

Empire Justice Center Milo Primeaux, 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, mprimeaux@ 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 First Tuesdays 5:30-6:30 100 College Ave. Ages 13-18. 244-8640 Genesee Valley Gender Variants Thurs. 7-9pm, Equal Grounds, 750 South Ave. GVGenderVariants@yahoogroups.com Guys’ Night Out Trans* group, 1pm second Saturdays at Equal=Grounds, 750 South Ave. Transmen and those identifying with trans-masculine experience (including questioning individuals) welcome. Conversations range from topics regarding family life, personal experiences with regard to medically/ socially transitioning and how life is going in general. Contact Adrian at abartholomeo@gmail.com.

WOMEN L.O.R.A Late Bloomers Group E-mail info@loragroup.org Website: www.loragroup.org; L.O.R.A (Lesbians of Rochester & 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 1048 University Ave., Rochester NY 14607 585-473-8177; www.bccr.org; info@bccr.org Programs and services for those diagnosed with breast or GYN cancer. Programs include support and networking groups, Healing Arts classes, book club, writing workshop, monthly evening seminars and a group for those living with metastatic breast cancer. Comprehensive lending library at our office. Community speakers available! All programs and 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. Mammograms.

Self Help for Women with Breast or Ovarian Cancer (SHARE) Breast: 866-891-2392; Ovarian: 866-537-4273.

Willow Domestic Violence Center 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.

YOUTH Gay Alliance Youth Group Monthly Special Events 100 College Ave. 2448640; Ages 13-20. www.gayalliance.org. Check Facebook.com/GayAllianceYouth Gay Alliance Youth Gender Identity Social/Support Group First Tuesdays 5:30-6:30 LGBTQ Resource Center, 100 College Ave., Ages 13-18. 244-8640 Trevor Project The Trevor Project offers 24/7 Lifeline with trained counselors, 1-866-488-7386; Trevor Chat, instant messaging; TrevorSpace online where youth can talk to each other, and Trevor Text, now in development, with text trained counselors for support and crisis intervention.

CNY Youth Group Bi-Polar Support.

Second Monday of every month.

315-428-9366. ■

MARCH 2016– • NUMBER 498 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

Ongoing Calendar DAILY Free confidential walk-in HIV testing M/W 9am-5pm, T/Th 9am-7pm, F 9am-12:30pm Trillium Health 259 Monroe Ave. 585-545-7200 Gay Alliance Library & Archives 9am -5pm. Wed. 6-8pm 100 College Ave.

MONDAYS Women’s Coffee Social Equal Grounds Coffee House 750 South Ave. Monday evenings. 7 pm. Contact: Regina Altizer: reginaaltizer@gmail.com Crystal Meth Anonymous Meeting Every Monday 12-1pm. Huther Doyle, 360 East Ave., Rochester. Starting Monday Oct. 5.

Rochester Historical Bowling Society 7pm. Empire Lanes 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.

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. 2nd, 4th Tuesdays, 10-11am Canandaigua VA, bldg. 9, room 8, Library conference room. 585 463-2731, 585 205-3360.

Testing Tuesdays at Trillium Health FREE HIV Testing for everyone, STI/STD testing FREE for women and MSM. Trillium Health, 259 Monroe Ave, 5-8 pm. 585-545-7200 Women’s Community Chorus Rehearsals each Tuesday, 6:30-9pm, Downtown United Pres. Church, 121 N. Fitzhugh Street. 2344441, www.therwcc.org Gay Alliance Youth Gender Identity Support Group 5:30-6:30pm, LGBTQ Resource Center, 100 College Ave. Ages 13-20. 244-8640.

SAGE Rochester 50+ Tuesdays and Thursdays, usually 10:30am at venues including LGBTQ Resource Center, 100 College Ave. 244-8640. (See page 31) LORA Coffee Social Equal=Grounds Coffee House, 750 South Ave., Tuesdays 6:30 pm. The LORA Women’s Group is open to everyone, all races, sexualities, and genders. For more info visit www.loragroup.org

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.

LORA Knitting Group 6:00pm, Equal Grounds Coffee House, 750 South Ave. L.O.R.A. Knitting group meets the 1st & 3rd Wednesdays of the month from Equal Grounds Coffee House. Join Us! Bring your supplies and a sense of adventure! For more info visit www.loragroup.org or Contact Kerry Cater: dressyfemme@ aol.com or email us at info@loragroup.org Lifetime Care LGBT Bereavement Support Group For loss associated with any type of relationship.

Meets 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of every month from 5:30-7pm at Center for Compassion and Healing (3111 Winton Rd S). No fee. Please call 475-8800 for more details.

Gay Alliance Board of Directors Meets Third Wednesdays, 6pm, 100 College Ave., 244-8640

New Freedom New Happiness AA Gay meeting, 7pm, Unitarian Church, 220 Winton Rd. Men and women. Open.

COAP Come Out and Play Wednesday game nights. 7-10pm.

Equal=Grounds, 750 South Ave. coap.rochester@ gmail.com Rochester Rams General Meeting 2nd Wednesdays, 7:30pm, Bachelor Forum, 670 University Ave. www.rochesterrams.com Positive Warriors Wednesdays, 11:30am-12:30pm. Trillium Health, 259 Monroe Ave. Positive Divas Wednesdays, 11:30am-12:30pm. Trillium Health, 259 Monroe Ave. Frontrunners/Frontwalkers 6pm, Eastman House parking lot. www.rochesterfrontrunners.org.

Gay Alliance Library & Archives 100 College Ave. 6-8pm.

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 NLIST Transgenger Support Group 5-6:15pm, Trillium Health. Must pre-register.

LORA Late Bloomers Group 4th/Last Thursday of the month. Coming out group for lesbian, bisexual, and transgender women of all ages and backgrounds! Last Thursday of each month in a safe private location. For more info visit: www.loragroup.org or contact Jessica Cohen at LGBTHealth@trilliumhealth.org or email us at info@loragroup.org 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 SAGE Rochester 50+ Tuesdays and Thursdays, usually 10:30am at venues including LGBTQ Resource Center, 100 College Ave, 244-8640. (See page 31)

FRIDAYS Gay Men’s AA meeting Fridays, 7:30-8:30pm, Closed meeting. Emmanuel Baptist Church, 815 Park Ave.

Gay Alliance Youth Monthly Special Event, LGBTQ Resource Center, 100 College Ave., 244-8640; Ages 13-20. youth@gayalliance.org. Check Facebook.com/ GayAllianceYouth GLBTQI Motorcycle Group Second Fridays, 5:30pm, Various locations.

RochesterGLBTIQbikers@yahoo.com; 467-6456; bmdaniels@frontiernet.net.

Boyz Night Out Drag king revue. First Fridays, The Firehouse Saloon, 814 S. Clinton Ave. 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 Sapphic Singles – Professional Women’s Group http://www.meetup.com/Sapphic-Singles-Rochester/. Contact: Patty: Email: pattyrdn11@gmail. com. Phone: 585.223.6743. 3rd Saturday of each month. Monthly Dinner Socials for single professional women at various locations in and around Rochester NY area! Join us!

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.

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.

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) 585 993-3297; 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 ■

Gay Alliance Library is Open Daily!

The Library & Archives of the Gay Alliance is now open at its new location at 100 College Avenue, 9am-5pm and on Wednesday evenings, 6-8pm.

Check out our ten thousand-volume library, along with the Bohnett Cyber Center.

Please contact the Library with questions at library@gayalliance.org or at 585-244-8640.

GAY ALLIANCE LIBRARY & ARCHIVES

585 244-8640 • GayAlliance.org

33

ROCHESTER AA/NA MEETINGS

Every week there are four regularly scheduled GLBTI AA and two inclusive NA meetings in Rochester.

TUESDAYS Narcotics Anonymous 6-7:30pm. AIDS and Recovery 1124 Culver Road (Covenant United Methodist Church) This is an NA meeting that is open to all addicts who have a desire to stop using. Although it is not specifically a gay-oriented meeting, it is welcoming to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, as well as to anyone who is affected by HIV and AIDS.

WEDNESDAYS New Freedom/New Happiness Group 7pm. First Unitarian Church, 220 S. Winton Rd. Bus riders: Take the last #18 University bus to 12 Corners. Use the stop just past the top of the hill at Hillside Ave. and before Highland Ave. Or take the #1 Park Ave. to the corner of East and Winton, then walk five minutes south (uphill) on Winton. This is an open discussion meeting. All issues – as they relate to our alcoholism/addiction and recovery – are fair game.

FRIDAYS Gay Men’s 7:30pm. Immanuel Baptist Church, 815 Park Ave. • Closed meeting, restricted to alcoholics and addicts • Men’s meeting • Handicapped accessible This is a round-robin discussion meeting. If you are shy about meeting people or speaking up in a group, you will find this meeting particularly warm and inviting because everyone gets their turn to speak (or pass). As a result, this meeting often runs long, so plan on more than the usual hour.

SATURDAYS Saturday Night Special 7pm. First Unitarian Church, 220 S. Winton Rd. Bus riders: The #18 University Ave. bus does not go by the church on weekend evenings. Take the #1 Park Ave. bus to the corner of East and Winton, then walk five minutes south (uphill) on Winton.

• Open meeting, all are welcome, “straight friendly” • Mixed men and women • Handicapped accessible, take elevator to basement Meeting begins with a speaker, followed by open discussion.

SUNDAYS Step in the Right Direction 7:30-9pm. 1275 Spencerport Road (Trinity Alliance Church) This is an NA meeting that is open to all addicts who have a desire to stop using.

Although it is not specifically a gay-oriented meeting, it is welcoming to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Each week features a reading from NA literature, followed by discussion.

Rochester Gay Men 8pm. St. Luke/St. Simon’s Episcopal Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh Street. Bus riders use the Fitzhugh Street stop on Main Street at the County Office Building and walk south one block.

• Closed meeting, restricted to alcoholics and addicts • Men’s meeting • NOT handicapped accessible Meeting begins with a speaker, followed by open discussion. ■

34

THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 498 • MARCH 2016

March 2016 TUESDAY 1

Transforming Employment. For trans community members. Panel, workshops on seeking and keeping jobs. Trillium Adult Day Health. 5:30-7:30 pm. A Health Month event.

FRIDAY 4

Club MOCHA. 8-11pm, The MOCHA Center, 189 Water St. Music, dancing, free HIV & STD testing. A Health Month event.

SUNDAY 6

Dignity Integrity. Episcopal Mass/ Healing Service, with music. 5pm at St. Luke’s and St. Simon’s Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh St.

MONDAY 7

LGBTQ Senior Health Quest.

Eight-week health and fitness program for those over 50. Offered by SAGE Rochester, the Gay Alliance and the Greater Rochester Health Foundation. Sessions on Mondays, from 5:30-7:30 pm, at the LGBTQ Resource Center, 100 College Ave. The Quest is free, and donations are welcomed. Anne Tischer at annet@gayalliance.org or (585) 244-8640 x23

THURSDAY 10

Out & Equal Second Thursdays Networking. Monthly networking-mixer at Rochester LGBTQ Resource Center, 100 College Ave. Food and beverages provided by Madeline’s Catering of Artisan Works. 5:30-7:30 pm. 50/50 raffle will support the new Resource Center and the many programs of the Gay Alliance. To be added to the Out & Equal email list visit: https://outandequal.force.com/community/login

FRIDAY 11

Ambush at the Bachelor Forum. 5:3010 pm. Queer women’s social. Trillium Health will have information table.

SATURDAY 12

AARP Driver Safety Program curriculum. LGBTQ Resource Center, 100 College Ave. 8:45 am-3:30 pm. Open to NY licensed drivers of any age. Most insurance companies will provide a discount to drivers who complete this course.

Training lead by Scott Fearing and John Stevens. $20 for AARP members, $25 for non-members. Register your attendance here: https://www.trailblz.info/gayalliance/Eventdirectory.aspx PrEP Rally. 7-9 pm, Trillium Health, 259 Monroe Ave. Talk show and poetry slam hosted by two surprise local celebrities. A Health Month event.

SUNDAY 13

Dignity Integrity. Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Word, with music. 5pm at St. Luke’s and St. Simon’s Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh St.

MONDAY 14

NY Times columnist and author Charles M. Blow speaks at Rush Rhees Library’s Hawkins-Carlson Room, 5 pm.

Free and open to public. Information: 276-5477; fdi@rochester.edu

TUESDAY 15

Empty Closet deadline for April issue. 244-9030; susanj@gayalliance.org Drag 101. LGBTQ Youth Health Month event. 6-7:30 pm, Trillium Health Lower Conference Room. Samantha Vega, Kyla Minx give tutorial about drag performance. Bring your own makeup!

FRIDAY 18

Weekend Conference, Pride & Joy Families Lesbian and Gay Family Building Project. Through March 20, Binghamton. Prideandjoyfamilies.org

SATURDAY 19

Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus concert, “I’m the Greatest Star: The Fabulous Female Singers”. 8 pm, Hochstein Performance Hall.

Classified Ads Classified ads are $5 for the first 30 words; each additional 10 words is another $1. We do not bill for classifieds, so please send or bring ad and payment to: The Empty Closet, 100 College Ave., Rochester, New York 14607.

Paying by check: checks must be made out to Gay Alliance. The deadline is the 15th of the month, for the following month’s issue. We cannot accept ads over the phone. Pay when you place your ad. We will accept only ads accompanied by name and phone number. Neither will be published, but we must be able to confirm placement.

The Empty Closet is not responsible for financial loss or physical injury that may result from any contact with an advertiser. Advertisers must use their own box number, voice mail, e-mail or phone number. No personal home addresses or names allowed. Classified ads are not published on The Empty Closet page of our website. However, each issue of the paper is reproduced online in its entirety.

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.

HELP WANTED

Sell ads for The Empty Closet. Must be energetic and reliable. 30 percent commission. 244-9030.

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.

TL’s Home Repair Service. Electric, plumbing, home remodeling. Cell: 585224-6279; office: 585-473-7205.

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.

SUNDAY 20

Dignity Integrity. Episcopal Mass, quiet. 5pm at St. Luke’s and St. Simon’s Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh St.

THURSDAY 24

Queer Women & Fertility: Creating LGBTQ Families Part One. 5:30-6:30 pm, Trillium Health, Lower Conference Room. A Health Month event.

Creating LGBTQ Families Part II. 7-8 pm, Trillium Health Lower Conference Room.

SATURDAY 26

An Afternoon with the Box Trolls.

2-4 pm. LGBTQ parents and kids; movies, popcorn & p.j.s. Social support for LGBTQ families. Trillium Adult Day Health. A Health Month event.

SUNDAY 27

Dignity Integrity. Roman Catholic Liturgy of the Word to celebrate Easter, followed by special potluck. 5pm at St. Luke’s and St. Simon’s Church, 17 S. Fitzhugh St. Hotline at 585-234-5092 or check our website at www.di-rochester. org/ Easter Sunday service at Open Arms MCC. 10:30 am. 107 E. Main St. LGBTQ Deaf/Hard of Hearing HIV/STD testing. Free. 5-7 pm, Trillium Health. A Health Month event.

WEDNESDAY 30

ROC Roundtable. 5:30-7 pm, Trillium Adult Day Health. Discussion of “Body Image in the LGBTQ Commu-

nity”. A Health Month event.

SAGE screening of “Gen Silent”.

5:30-6:30 community potluck at Third Presbyterian Church, 4 Meigs St. followed by showing at 7 pm of “Gen Silent” at The Cinema, 957 S. Clinton Ave. Speakers panel. Offered as part of Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School Spring lecture series. RSVP to sage@gayalliance.org

MARCH 2016– • NUMBER 498 • THE GAY ALLIANCE • THE EMPTY CLOSET

The Empty Closet is published by the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley 100 College Avenue Rochester, New York 14607 © 2016, All rights reserved.

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Bed & Breakfast

Editor-in-Chief: Susan Jordan Graphic Design: Jim Anderson Ad Sales: Jennie Bowker (jennieb@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, 100 College Avenue, 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 gay-related 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, 100 College Avenue, Rochester, NY 14607; e-mail: emptycloset@gagv.us. The online edition of EC is available at www. gayalliance.org.

SCHOEN PLACE AUTO is now SCHOEN AUTO! We recently changed our name for many reasons including the fact we have not been located on Schoen Place for many years. Our staff, hearts, and way we do business remain the same.

Our customers come from all walks of life. They include women, men, LGBTQ, students, young adults, couples, singles, families, single parents, and seniors. Additionally, Domestic, European or Asian, old or new, your car can be as individual as you are and if you choose to place it in our care, we will never let you down.

An honest, caring approach to auto repair 319 East Chestnut Street • East Rochester 14445 585 381-1970 • www.schoenplaceauto.com

“Imagine Car Repair With People Who Truly Care!” Please call today to schedule an appointment: 585 381-1970

At SCHOEN AUTO our focus is making a positive, caring difference in the lives of car owners and their car repair needs.

Our business is all about outstanding customer service.

Our work is fixing cars right the first time.

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THE EMPTY CLOSET • THE GAY ALLIANCE • NUMBER 498 • MARCH 2016