The Advocate February/March 2017

TRAVEL: AEGEAN CRUISE, HAWAII FOR FAMILIES, ADVENTURE IN GREENLAND

SINCE 1967

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 ISSUE 1089

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E IM

C I N A P TO

A ND N E E S S RN ON G A H TE M A S S E PH S D F IGH T K JO GHT, AN R A M , FLI R A FE

YOU MATTER AND SO DOES YOUR HEALTH That’s why starting and staying on HIV-1 treatment is so important.

What is DESCOVY ?

What are the other possible side effects of DESCOVY?

DESCOVY is a prescription medicine that is used together with other HIV-1 medicines to treat HIV-1 in people 12 years and older. DESCOVY is not for use to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection. DESCOVY combines 2 medicines into 1 pill taken once a day. Because DESCOVY by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1, it must be used together with other HIV-1 medicines.

Serious side effects of DESCOVY may also include:

®

DESCOVY does not cure HIV-1 infection or AIDS. To control HIV-1 infection and decrease HIV-related illnesses, you must keep taking DESCOVY. Ask your healthcare provider if you have questions about how to reduce the risk of passing HIV-1 to others. Always practice safer sex and use condoms to lower the chance of sexual contact with body fluids. Never reuse or share needles or other items that have body fluids on them.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION What is the most important information I should know about DESCOVY? DESCOVY may cause serious side effects: •

Buildup of an acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency. Symptoms of lactic acidosis include feeling very weak or tired, unusual muscle pain, trouble breathing, stomach pain with nausea or vomiting, feeling cold (especially in your arms and legs), feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or a fast or irregular heartbeat.

•

Serious liver problems. The liver may become large and fatty. Symptoms of liver problems include your skin or the white part of your eyes turning yellow (jaundice); dark “tea-colored” urine; light-colored bowel movements (stools); loss of appetite; nausea; and/or pain, aching, or tenderness on the right side of your stomach area.

•

You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or serious liver problems if you are female, very overweight, or have been taking DESCOVY for a long time. In some cases, lactic acidosis and serious liver problems have led to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any symptoms of these conditions.

•

Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. DESCOVY is not approved to treat HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV and stop taking DESCOVY, your HBV may suddenly get worse. Do not stop taking DESCOVY without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to monitor your health.

•

Changes in body fat, which can happen in people taking HIV-1 medicines.

•

Changes in your immune system. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fight infections. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any new symptoms after you start taking DESCOVY.

•

Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys. Your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking DESCOVY if you develop new or worse kidney problems.

•

Bone problems, such as bone pain, softening, or thinning, which may lead to fractures. Your healthcare provider may do tests to check your bones.

The most common side effect of DESCOVY is nausea.

Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or don’t go away.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking DESCOVY? •

All your health problems. Be sure to tell your healthcare provider if you have or have had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis virus infection.

•

All the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Other medicines may affect how DESCOVY works. Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist. Ask your healthcare provider if it is safe to take DESCOVY with all of your other medicines.

•

If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if DESCOVY can harm your unborn baby.

Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking DESCOVY.

•

If you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed.

Do not breastfeed. HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/ medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Please see Important Facts about DESCOVY, including important warnings, on the following page.

Ask your healthcare provider if an HIV-1 treatment that contains DESCOVY® is right for you.

IMPORTANT FACTS (des-KOH-vee)

This is only a brief summary of important information about DESCOVY® and does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your condition and your treatment.

MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT DESCOVY

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF DESCOVY

DESCOVY may cause serious side effects, including:

DESCOVY can cause serious side effects, including:

• Buildup of lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency that can lead to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms: feeling very weak or tired, unusual muscle pain, trouble breathing, stomach pain with nausea or vomiting, feeling cold (especially in your arms and legs), feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or a fast or irregular heartbeat.

• Severe liver problems, which in some cases can lead to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms: your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow (jaundice); dark “tea-colored” urine; loss of appetite; light-colored bowel movements (stools); nausea; and/or pain, aching, or tenderness on the right side of your stomach area.

• Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. DESCOVY is not approved to treat HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking DESCOVY. Do not stop taking DESCOVY without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months.

You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or severe liver problems if you are female, very overweight, or have been taking DESCOVY or a similar medicine for a long time.

ABOUT DESCOVY • DESCOVY is a prescription medicine that is used together with other HIV-1 medicines to treat HIV-1 in people 12 years of age and older. DESCOVY is not for use to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection.

• DESCOVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. Ask your healthcare provider about how to prevent passing HIV-1 to others.

• Those in the “Most Important Information About DESCOVY” section.

• Changes in body fat.

• Changes in your immune system.

• New or worse kidney problems, including kidney failure.

• Bone problems.

The most common side effect of DESCOVY is nausea.

These are not all the possible side effects of DESCOVY. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking DESCOVY. Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with DESCOVY.

BEFORE TAKING DESCOVY Tell your healthcare provider if you: • Have or had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis infection.

• Have any other medical condition.

• Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.

• Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed.

Do not breastfeed if you have HIV-1 because of the risk of passing HIV-1 to your baby.

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take: • Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-thecounter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist.

• Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist about medicines that should not be taken with DESCOVY.

GET MORE INFORMATION HOW TO TAKE DESCOVY • DESCOVY is a one pill, once a day HIV-1 medicine that is taken with other HIV-1 medicines.

• Take DESCOVY with or without food.

• This is only a brief summary of important information about DESCOVY. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more.

• Go to DESCOVY.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5 • If you need help paying for your medicine, visit DESCOVY.com for program information.

DESCOVY, the DESCOVY Logo, GILEAD, the GILEAD Logo, and LOVE WHAT’S INSIDE are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. All other marks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners. © 2016 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. GILC0265 10/16

Contents

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: VISIT GREENLAND/ MADS PIHL; AP PHOTO/JAE C. HONG (TRUMP); COURTESY OF BRAND G VACATIONS (ROYAL CLIPPER)

38

50

46 features

38 Time to Panic What should we do when America—the standard-bearer of freedom—elects an antiLGBT demagogue? Panic, yes.

Then fight like hell.

By Masha Gessen

TR AV EL

46 Aegean Odyssey Istanbul to Athens, and the islands in between.

By Matthew Breen

50 Adventures in Greenland

A journey to the island at the edge of the earth.

By Christopher Lisotta

54 Hawaii for Families ON THE COVER Illustration by

John Ritter

42 Surviving Trump’s America Six things we must do.

By Mark Joseph Stern

56 Queering Islam LGBT people are not welcome in Islam? Think again, say these three out imams.

By Samra Habib

Disney’s Aulani Resort takes the stress out of the LGBT family travel.

By Bryan van Gorder

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 THE ADVOCATE 3

Contents

60

64 20

12

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: BRIAN BOWEN SMITH (JOVOVICH); ©WENDY ALLISON(MERCURY); PAIGE OFOSU(GOBA)

ADVANCE 12 The Homosexuals In 1966, 40 million Americans tuned in to watch network television’s first documentary on homosexuality. Fifty years later, one man tells his story.

By Bob Connelly

17 Study Guide Are straight men really who they tell themselves they are?

A new study challenges notions of identity and attraction.

By Brenden Shucart

20 Letter from Zimbabwe

Moud Goba helps fellow LGBTI+ refugees find safe shelter in the United Kingdom.

By Kay Cairns

22 HPV: The Health Crisis We’re Not Talking About

The top cause of penile, cervical, and anal cancer can’t be prevented with condoms, and the LGBT community is particularly at risk.

By Berlin Sylvestre

SPECTATOR 37 Trans Rights at the High Court

Gavin Grimm, a trans high school student from Virginia, stays hopeful while he waits for the Supreme Court to decide which bathroom he can use.

By Trudy Ring

28 By the Numbers: China 30 Exit, Left.

Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s longserving senior advisor, talks about her years in the White House, her bond with the president, and the challenges of setting out a progressive agenda in the face of fearsome resistance.

By Aaron Hicklin

DAILY DOSE

60 Somebody to Love

The life and death of Freddie Mercury and the history of HIV, all wrapped up in one fascinating new rock biography.

By Diane Anderson-Minshall

62 Between the Lines Bookish lesbians found one another in the queer bookstores of an earlier era—and they also discovered community there.

By June Thomas

27 Dear Gay Men: An

Open Letter

64 A List: Milla Jovovich The Soviet-born beauty and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter star on Alice, androgyny, and kicking ass.

By Tyler Curry

By Brandon Voss

The same fear that made coming out as gay so difficult, keeps our HIV+ friends in the closet.

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 THE ADVOCATE 5

CONTRIBUTORS

editor in chief

svp , publisher

Matthew Breen

advertising

print editorial

svp , publishing , integr ated parnerships Greg Brossia senior director , integr ated partnerships Stuart Brockington directors , integr ated partnerships Laurie Kaman, Noreen Murray, Paige Popdan east coast music manager Mitch Herskowitz senior director , ad oper ations Stewart Nacht ad oper ations manager Tiffany Kesden

Meg Thomann editor at l arge Diane Anderson-Minshall assistant editors Dennis Hinzmann, Jesse Steinbach copy editor Joseph McCombs contributing editors Chadwick Moore, Brandon Voss contributing writers Kay Cairns, Bob Connelly, Tyler Curry, Masha Gessen, Samra Habib, Christopher Lisotta, Brenden Shucart, Mark Joseph Stern, Berlin Sylvestre, June Thomas, Bryan van Gorder editorial director Aaron Hicklin managing editor

Masha Gessen is a RussianAmerican journalist and the author of The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, among other books. She lives in New York with her wife, ex-wife, their three children, two dogs, and a cat. @mashagessen

integr ated ad sales and marketing coorindator

director , integr ated marketing

John McCourt

Rena Ohashi consulting design director David Gray consulting photo research Olga Bas

managers , integr ated marketing

executive editor

Greta Libbey, Jamie Tredwell art director , integr ated marketing Peter Olson coordinator , integr ated marketing Ryan Weaver integr ated marketing intern Teddy Schaffer

plus editor in chief

consumer marketing

digital editorial

svp , editorial director

Lucas Grindley Neal Broverman copy chief Trudy Ring news editor Yezmin Villarreal

vp , marketing

Robert Hebert Levi Chambers editor , social media Daniel Reynolds

Diane Anderson-Minshall pride editor in chief Levi Chambers deput y editor , pride Tracy Gilchrist associate editor Raffy Ermac

director of social media

inter active art director

circul ation

Christopher Harrity

senior fulfillment manager

Michael Luong

oper ations

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oper ations director

online video producer

vice president, development

Heidi Medina

Eric Bui

finance /accounting Anthony Evangelista, Miki Onuma, Betsy Skidmore, Dale Von Seggern, Geraldine Wong, Lorelie Yu here media

Stephen P. Jarchow Paul Colichman cfo / coo Tony Shyngle executive vice presidents Joe Landry, Bernard Rook senior vice presidents Greg Brossia, Christin Dennis, Lucas Grindley, John Mongiardo, Joe Valentino vice presidents Eric Bui, Steven Capone, Robert Hebert chairman ceo

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THE ADVOCATE FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

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Samra Habib is a Toronto-based activist and writer who moved to Canada with her family as a refugee.

She is the founder, editor, and photographer of “Just Me and Allah: a Queer Muslim Photo Project” and her written work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, and Vice. @TheRealSamSam

Casey Noble

integr ated marketing

art design director

Bob Connelly is a professorial lecturer at American University. He began teaching gay and lesbian film theory and history in the school’s Department of Film and Media Arts in 2001 before joining the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program in 2006 to develop courses on LGBT history and culture. @boco1384

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fa x

Truly enlightened.

Key West is home to historic architecture, a vibrant art scene, and an eclectic assortment of poets, pirates and musicians. So there’s always something to pique your interests, even in your down time. fla-keys.com/gaykeywest 305.294.4603

Editor’s Letter

A

now, as you’ve read it all before. But the consequences to our movement going forward cannot be understated, and Masha Gessen’s and Mark Joseph Stern’s essays detail the disaster that awaits us if we are not vigilant and willing to do battle.

Just prior to the election, one of our community’s toughest and sagest pioneers, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, who was at the Stonewall riots, who served time in prison, for sex work, and who now advocates for trans women in prison told me: “The biggest idiot God ever made could rule the United States? I first thought, Well, child, if he gets in I’m going to Canada. But then I thought, Miss Thing, you thought the same shit in ’62 when the war started. And I ain’t moved to Canada yet. Fuck it, I’m just going to stay here and fight. That’s all I know to do.”

I’m leaving this title but won’t be going far, and I’m taking my que from Miss Major. The Advocate was excellent training—in advocacy, journalism, and truthtelling—for the battles ahead. I’m just going to stay here and fight. That’s all I know to do.

Matthew Breen, editor in chief

GREG ENDRIES

ll good—and challenging, maddening, inspiring, and joyful—things must come to an end. This is my final issue at The Advocate. All goodbyes are difficult, so I made them where I could with longtime colleagues, and ghosted the proverbial party knowing there were many others I’d see again soon.

The permanence of a farewell—not to mention the speechifying—is a thing I don’t do very well.

Nevertheless, here we go: It’s been my honor and privilege to oversee The Advocate, the world’s oldest and longestrunning LGBT publication, these past six years, and into its 50th-anniversary year. For their personal and professional support, I have mentors, predecessors, colleagues, publishers, and friends and family to thank—and that I’ll do in person. To the subscribers and regular readers who’ve kept the publication alive long after others have predicted its demise, The Advocate owes you enormous thanks.

We’re still here because of you.

At various times The Advocate has been a lifeline, a beacon, and a resource to LGBT people. Historically it’s been a thorn in the side of police, antagonistic and foot-dragging politicians, fundamentalists, and medical gatekeepers. It’s never been a cakewalk—even with members of our own community who, at times, thought the magazine was too strident, too sexy, too radical, or too ____ (pick any of the letters in the acronyms), but your comments kept us vigilant. And we tried to have some fun along the way.

My first issue as editor featured Chaz Bono, then the most famous transgender person in the world, in a May 2011 profile assigned by my predecessor Jon Barrett.

Since taking the helm I have always endeavored to bring a diversity of voices and rigorous journalism to our pages.

We’ve done some remarkable covers that told the stories of individuals (Beth Ditto, DeRay Mckessen, Caitlyn Jenner, Larry Kramer) and delved deep into the issues of our times, including “don’t ask, don’t tell,” our racial divide, the changing nature of HIV/AIDS as a disease and cultural force, the threat to LGBT people by Russian President Vladimir Putin (and other vile and despotic forces), and struggle for the marriage-equality.

Following the Supreme Court ruling in June 2015, many people even questioned the need for queer media in the wake of that peak achievement. Our current cover should lay that question to rest: We need it. No one else is going to adequately tell our stories for us, and in the hands of a demagogue as president, a Republican Congress, and a far-right Supreme Court, our rights are absolutely imperiled. We must always be our own best champions.

This cover is absolutely not the one I’d hoped would be my last. I won’t offer up lamentation over the election here

8 THE ADVOCATE FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

Location: Biscuit Paint Wall, Montrose. Photo Credit: Spenser Harrison.

Our Houston is vibrant.

Learn more about Dennis, Shawn and Alan and find your Houston at MyGayHouston.com/discover

Chatter

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THE ADVOCATE FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

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ADVANCE

50 YEARS AFTER THE HOMOSEXUALS

Decades after the airing of an antigay documentary that shocked the nation, one man tells his story.

BY BOB CONNELLY

O

n March 7, 1967, 40 million Americans tuned in to watch CBS Reports: The Homosexuals, network television’s first documentary on homosexuality. Near the top of the program, host and interviewer Mike Wallace calls homosexuals “the most despised minority in the United States.” The hour that follows is filled with salacious location footage, sermonizing therapists, and shadowed interviews with distraught homosexuals.

But The Homosexuals is not with12

THE ADVOCATE FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

out virtue. Wallace interviews Warren Adkins, an untroubled 28-year-old homosexual who capably breaks the 1960s gay stereotype with an attitude of positive self-reflection. Adkins talks about his “warm and understanding family” and addresses Wallace’s implicit natureversus-nurture question by saying, “I never would imagine that if I had blond hair that I would worry what genes or chromosomes caused my blond hair… My homosexuality to me is very much in the

same category.”

Unbeknownst to Mike Wallace and the producers of The Homosexuals, Warren Adkins’s real name was Jack Nichols, and he would continue his fight for LGBT equality for the rest of his life. In 2003, a couple of years before he died, I interviewed Jack from his home in Florida about his appearance on The Homosexuals, his co-founding of the Mattachine Society, an early gay rights organization, and his friendships with Randy Wicker,

ADVANCE

another prominent gay activist, and Frank Kameny, who petitioned the Supreme Court in 1961 after he was fired from his government job for being a homosexual.

Tell me a bit about your family.

I was brought up on Oliver Street in Chevy Chase, Md., in a nice atmosphere. My mother has been a great friend to me all my life. She has never once said anything negative about my being gay to me. She said, “The important thing to me is, I want you to be happy.” My grandmother was a sweetheart, too. My first lover…we’d park and neck in front of the house, and she’d go and flick the front light off and on from the house, and then she’d tell us when we’d come through the door later, “Now, listen, boys, that’s your signal to come in. And if you don’t come in I’m going to call the FBI!” How did you come to know Frank Kameny?

I’ve known him since 1960, when we met at a party…

I heard him talk about Donald Webster Cory [author of The Homosexual in America, 1951], about our rights. I pointed out to him that I thought ideas were great, but not so hot if you didn’t do something about them. And he said, “I feel the same way. I’m doing something about mine. I’ve got a case going before the Supreme Court.”

I visited him on Columbia Road, right below 18th Street, when he was still living in great poverty, eating hot dogs and a potato each day. He had a bathtub, it was in the living room…it was not a nice place, frankly. We became close friends then, and the very first thing that we ever did [before co-founding the Mattachine Society] was to go to all the various newsstands in downtown Washington, D.C., to see if they carried the only two [gay] publications in the country at that time, One Magazine and The Mattachine Review. They carried it down at 14th Street and Pennsylvania [at] a big newsstand there, right next to a Peoples Drug store. Later when we published with the Mattachine Society of Washington, when we published our The Homosexual Citizen, which was a little mimeographed publication, we were able to put it there, too.

And it was the following year when you and Frank established the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C. Yeah, at the end of ’61. There’s a couple of things I’m proud of in my history. I was the first person in the movement to insist that we take a public stand [in 1963] against the psychiatric establishment’s sickness theory. And I did initiate the first picket in front of the White House [in 1965]… The other one that Randy did in the year before was really done by a straight organization, mainly, called the Sexual Freedom League. But nobody was there to see it.

After the interview was over, [Mike Wallace] turned on me. He said, “You seem to be able to answer all my questions very nicely, but I don’t believe that in your heart you actually believe what you’ve been saying.”

You were a spokesperson for the well-adjusted homosexual in CBS Reports: The Homosexuals.

How did that come about?

I don’t remember anybody else that had my verbal facilities who would have been willing to [go on camera]… except for Frank, of course. Prior to going on, I remember Frank coaching me on, for example, “What caused your homosexuality?” And I replied, “I would never imagine that I would ask what genes or what chromosomes caused my blond hair or my dark eyes.” That was a Kameny-esque reply that I was repeating.

After the interview was over, [Mike Wallace] turned on me. He said, “You seem to be able to answer all my questions very nicely, but I don’t believe that in your heart you actually believe what you’ve been saying.” And then when I related that to one of the historians, they went to him about it, and he admitted to having been prejudiced in those days, as everybody else was, and said, “Yes, I may very well have said that.” Well, he did say it!

I was working at the International Inn at Thomas Circle. It was a big new hotel in those days, and I was sales manager, and they fired me the next morning.

In the program you’re introduced as “Warren Adkins.” Where does that name come from?

Warren Adkins is the hillbilly fantasy boy that I met on a Florida beach while I was on vacation in 1961. I would have used my own name, but my father was a special agent for the FBI, and I was a junior. He begged me—because of fear of losing his job, not mine—to use a pseudonym until he retired, and I figured, well, that’s a reasonable request.

Wasn’t he supportive of you, like your mother?

He threatened my life with a gun right after the picket lines. And that was the last time I ever saw him. I was not brought up by my father.

After the documentary aired and you were fired from your job, what did you do?

It was 1967, the summer of love, and I went up to New York and I got a job with Randy Wicker, who was the button king of America, slogan buttons: “More Deviation, Less Population,” “Let’s Get Naked and Smoke”… I sold buttons up and down the east coast of America.

Opposite page, stills from The Homosexuals, clockwise from top left: Host Mike Wallace, Jack Nichols, Protesters at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1966, Gore Vidal, Rev. Robert Bruce Pierce, a group of gay men who “lead quiet, unexceptionable lives.”

And when did you move to Florida?

Permanently, on Christmas Day, 1981. I live right on the ocean. And I love it here. The reward for me is feeling satisfied at this point. If I died tomorrow, I’d die satisfied and happy. Isn’t that a great feeling? ◆ Jack Nichols died from complications of cancer on May 2, 2005. Bob Connelly teaches “Gay and Lesbian Documentary” at American University.

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 THE ADVOCATE 13

What is TRUVADA for PrEP (Pre-exposure Prophylaxis)?

uYou may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or serious liver problems

TRUVADA is a prescription medicine that can be used for PrEP to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection when used together with safer sex practices. This use is only for adults who are at high risk of getting HIV-1 through sex. This includes HIV-negative men who have sex with men and who are at high risk of getting infected with HIV-1 through sex, and malefemale sex partners when one partner has HIV-1 infection and the other does not.

Ask your healthcare provider if you have questions about how to prevent getting HIV-1. Always practice safer sex and use condoms to lower the chance of sexual contact with body fluids. Never reuse or share needles or other items that have body fluids on them.

Who should not take TRUVADA for PrEP?

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION What is the most important information I should know about TRUVADA for PrEP? Before taking TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce your risk of getting HIV-1 infection: uYou must be HIV-negative. You must get tested to make sure that you do not already have HIV-1 infection. Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 unless you are confirmed to be HIV-negative. uMany HIV-1 tests can miss HIV-1 infection in a person who has recently become infected. If you have flu-like symptoms, you could have recently become infected with HIV-1. Tell your healthcare provider if you had a flu-like illness within the last month before starting TRUVADA for PrEP or at any time while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Symptoms of new HIV-1 infection include tiredness, fever, joint or muscle aches, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, night sweats, and/or enlarged lymph nodes in the neck or groin.

While taking TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce your risk of getting HIV-1 infection: uYou must continue using safer sex practices. Just taking TRUVADA for PrEP may not keep you from getting HIV-1. uYou must stay HIV-negative to keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP. uTo further help reduce your risk of getting HIV-1: • Know your HIV-1 status and the HIV-1 status of your partners.

• Get tested for HIV-1 at least every 3 months or when your healthcare provider tells you.

• Get tested for other sexually transmitted infections. Other infections make it easier for HIV-1 to infect you.

• Get information and support to help reduce risky sexual behavior.

• Have fewer sex partners.

• Do not miss any doses of TRUVADA. Missing doses may increase your risk of getting HIV-1 infection.

• If you think you were exposed to HIV-1, tell your healthcare provider right away. uIf you do become HIV-1 positive, you need more medicine than TRUVADA alone to treat HIV-1. TRUVADA by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time.

TRUVADA can cause serious side effects: uToo much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency. Symptoms of lactic acidosis include weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, nausea, vomiting, stomach-area pain, cold or blue hands and feet, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or fast or abnormal heartbeats. uSerious liver problems. Your liver may become large and tender, and you may develop fat in your liver. Symptoms of liver problems include your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, lightcolored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, and/or stomach-area pain.

if you are female, very overweight (obese), or have been taking TRUVADA for a long time. In some cases, these serious conditions have led to death.

Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any symptoms of these conditions. uWorsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. If you also have HBV and take TRUVADA, your hepatitis may become worse if you stop taking TRUVADA. Do not stop taking TRUVADA without first talking to your healthcare provider. If your healthcare provider tells you to stop taking TRUVADA, they will need to watch you closely for several months to monitor your health.

TRUVADA is not approved for the treatment of HBV.

Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP if you already have HIV-1 infection or if you do not know your HIV-1 status. If you are HIV-1 positive, you need to take other medicines with TRUVADA to treat HIV-1. TRUVADA by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time.

Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP if you also take lamivudine (Epivir-HBV) or adefovir (HEPSERA).

What are the other possible side effects of TRUVADA for PrEP? Serious side effects of TRUVADA may also include: uKidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider may do blood tests to check your kidneys before and during treatment with TRUVADA for PrEP. If you develop kidney problems, your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking TRUVADA for PrEP. uBone problems, including bone pain or bones getting soft or thin, may lead to fractures. Your healthcare provider may do tests to check your bones. uChanges in body fat, which can happen in people taking TRUVADA or medicines like TRUVADA. Common side effects in people taking TRUVADA for PrEP are stomacharea (abdomen) pain, headache, and decreased weight. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or do not go away.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking TRUVADA for PrEP? uAll your health problems. Be sure to tell your healthcare provider if you

have or have had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis virus infection. uIf you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if TRUVADA can harm your unborn baby. If you become pregnant while taking TRUVADA for PrEP, talk to your healthcare provider to decide if you should keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Pregnancy Registry: A pregnancy registry collects information about your health and the health of your baby. There is a pregnancy registry for women who take medicines to prevent HIV-1 during pregnancy. For more information about the registry and how it works, talk to your healthcare provider. uIf you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed.

The medicines in TRUVADA can pass to your baby in breast milk. If you become HIV-1 positive, HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk. uAll the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. TRUVADA may interact with other medicines. Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist when you get a new medicine. uIf you take certain other medicines with TRUVADA for PrEP, your healthcare provider may need to check you more often or change your dose. These medicines include ledipasvir with sofosbuvir (HARVONI).

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Please see Important Facts about TRUVADA for PrEP including important warnings on the following page.

Have you heard about

TRUVADA for PrEP ?

TM

The once-daily prescription medicine that can help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 when used with safer sex practices.

• TRUVADA for PrEP is only for adults who are at high risk of getting HIV through sex.

• You must be HIV-negative before you start taking TRUVADA. Ask your doctor about your risk of getting HIV-1 infection and if TRUVADA for PrEP may be right for you.

visit start.truvada.com

IMPORTANT FACTS (tru-VAH-dah)

This is only a brief summary of important information about taking TRUVADA for PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection. This does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your medicine.

MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT TRUVADA FOR PrEP

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF TRUVADA FOR PrEP

Before starting TRUVADA for PrEP to help reduce your risk of getting HIV-1 infection: • You must be HIV-1 negative. You must get tested to make sure that you do not already have HIV-1 infection. Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 unless you are confirmed to be HIV-1 negative.

• Many HIV-1 tests can miss HIV-1 infection in a person who has recently become infected. Symptoms of new HIV-1 infection include flu-like symptoms, tiredness, fever, joint or muscle aches, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, night sweats, and/or enlarged lymph nodes in the neck or groin. Tell your healthcare provider if you have had a flu-like illness within the last month before starting TRUVADA for PrEP.

TRUVADA can cause serious side effects, including: • Those in the “Most Important Information About TRUVADA for PrEP" section.

• New or worse kidney problems, including kidney failure.

• Bone problems.

• Changes in body fat.

While taking TRUVADA for PrEP to help reduce your risk of getting HIV-1 infection: • You must continue using safer sex practices. Just taking TRUVADA for PrEP may not keep you from getting HIV-1.

• You must stay HIV-1 negative to keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP. • Tell your healthcare provider if you have a flu-like illness while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. • If you think you were exposed to HIV-1, tell your healthcare provider right away.

• If you do become HIV-1 positive, you need more medicine than TRUVADA alone to treat HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time.

• See the “How to Further Reduce Your Risk” section for more information.

TRUVADA may cause serious side effects, including: • Buildup of lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency that can lead to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, nausea, vomiting, stomach-area pain, cold or blue hands and feet, feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or fast or abnormal heartbeats.

• Severe liver problems, which in some cases can lead to death.

Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms: your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, and/or stomach-area pain.

• Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. If you have HBV and take TRUVADA, your hepatitis may become worse if you stop taking TRUVADA. Do not stop taking TRUVADA without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months.

You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or severe liver problems if you are female, very overweight, or have been taking TRUVADA for a long time.

ABOUT TRUVADA FOR PrEP (PRE-EXPOSURE PROPHYLAXIS) TRUVADA is a prescription medicine used with safer sex practices for PrEP to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection in adults at high risk: • HIV-1 negative men who have sex with men and who are at high risk of getting infected with HIV-1 through sex.

• Male-female sex partners when one partner has HIV-1 infection and the other does not.

To help determine your risk, talk openly with your doctor about your sexual health.

Do NOT take TRUVADA for PrEP if you: • Already have HIV-1 infection or if you do not know your HIV-1 status.

• Take lamivudine (Epivir-HBV) or adefovir (HEPSERA).

TRUVADA, the TRUVADA Logo, TRUVADA FOR PREP, GILEAD, the GILEAD Logo, and HEPSERA are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies.

All other marks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.

Version date: April 2016 © 2016 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. TVDC0050 09/16

Common side effects in people taking TRUVADA for PrEP include stomach-area (abdomen) pain, headache, and decreased weight.

These are not all the possible side effects of TRUVADA. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with TRUVADA for PrEP.

BEFORE TAKING TRUVADA FOR PrEP Tell your healthcare provider if you: • Have or have had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis infection.

• Have any other medical conditions.

• Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.

• Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed if you become HIV-1 positive because of the risk of passing HIV-1 to your baby.

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take: • Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist.

• Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist about medicines that should not be taken with TRUVADA for PrEP.

HOW TO TAKE TRUVADA FOR PrEP • Take 1 tablet once a day, every day, not just when you think you have been exposed to HIV-1.

• Do not miss any doses. Missing doses may increase your risk of getting HIV-1 infection.

• You must practice safer sex by using condoms and you must stay HIV-1 negative.

HOW TO FURTHER REDUCE YOUR RISK • Know your HIV-1 status and the HIV-1 status of your partners.

• Get tested for HIV-1 at least every 3 months or when your healthcare provider tells you.

• Get tested for other sexually transmitted infections. Other infections make it easier for HIV-1 to infect you.

• Get information and support to help reduce risky sexual behavior.

• Have fewer sex partners.

• Do not share needles or personal items that can have blood or body fluids on them.

GET MORE INFORMATION • This is only a brief summary of important information about TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more, including how to prevent HIV-1 infection.

• Go to start.truvada.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5 • If you need help paying for your medicine, visit start.truvada.com for program information.

ADVANCE

STUDY GUIDE

ONE IN FIVE STRAIGHT MEN WATCHES GAY SEX Are straight men really who they tell themselves they are?

A new study of gay, bi, and straight men challenges notions of identity and attraction.

BY BRENDEN SHUCART

A

SHUTTERSTOCK

new study published in the Archives of Sexual Behaviour, which examined the porn-viewing habits of 821 gay, straight, and bisexual men from around the country, found a number of unexpected results. Among them: that 55% of gay men watch straight porn, and 21% of straight men watch gay porn.

So what gives? It’s no giant leap to hypothesize why gay men might enjoy watching straight porn: to watch straight guys. But when one out of five self-identified straight men reports watching gay porn, it prompts the further question: Are these men really straight, or are they down-

low/straight-identified bisexual men?

Dr. Martin J. Downing, the study’s lead researcher, had the same question.

When his team looked at the data, they confirmed that the straight men didn’t report having sex with men, and the gay men (outside of a very small fraction) didn’t report having sex with women.

Their sexual behavior and sexual identity seem to line up. Downing sees this “identity discrepant viewing” as “some level of evidence” of fluidity in sexual attraction, at least in terms of what people are watching.

Meanwhile, bisexual men displayed porn-viewing habits that were quite distinct from those of their homo and hetero peers. Bi men reported watching guy-onguy porn just as much as gay men do, and they consumed heterosexual porn (one male/one female) almost as much as heterosexual men. They also reported watching a significant amount of “bisexual porn” that has either two men and one woman or two women and one man. According to Downing, bisexual men aren’t “watered down gays or heterosexuals.” “[Bisexual men] are more like heterosexual men in some things, and more like gay men in other things, but that’s a reflection of their own unique attractions.

They’re not identical to either group in terms of their porn viewing, which I think is really interesting for understanding bisexuality.”

For instance, both bi and heterosexual men reported viewing solo masturbation

When one out of five self-identified straight men reports watching gay porn, it prompts the further question: Are these men really straight?

material (the report did not indicate the sex of the person depicted) at about the same rate—around 60%—while less than 50% of gay men did. Bisexual men were markedly less interested in viewing sexually explicit material involving bondage and kink (13.7%) than their straight (24.6%) or gay (27.9%) peers—unless that kink involved fisting, felching, or water sports, all activities gay men were far more likely to report watching.

It’s unfortunately quite rare for studies examining porn consumption in men to get this level of group comparison— heterosexual, gay, and bisexual men, and enough participants to look at each group separately. The science that has been done thus far tends to break down into two broad camps. The heterosexual porn literature tends to be really specific to violence against women, with the rest focused on the risks of contracting HIV, usually lumping gay and bisexual men together as “men who have sex with men.” That is how a lot of research is conducted, but in the light of this study’s data it seems to be clearly problematic.

There are a few takeaways from this study: Our porn consumption is more eclectic than previously suspected, and bisexual men are distinct from their straight and gay brothers in their pornographic habits and inclinations. Though not the study’s focus, this further suggests that bisexuality isn’t simply a way station on the road to being gay; bisexuals are bisexual. ◆ “Sexually Explicit Media Use by Sexual Identity: A Comparative Analysis of Gay, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Men in the United States”

By Martin J. Downing Jr., Eric W. Schrimshaw, Roberta Scheinmann, Nadav Antebi-Gruszka, Sabina Hirshfield in the Archives of Sexual Behaviour

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 THE ADVOCATE 17

Three decades positive, one positive outlook.

Let’s Grow Old Together See what life with HIV looks like from diagnosis through grandkids with a little help from Walgreens. Explore Gregg’s HIV journey at Walgreens.com/LetsGrowOldTogether.

©2017 Walgreen Co. All rights reserved.

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ADVANCE

Letter from...

ZIMBABWE

Moud Goba is a project manager at Micro Rainbow International.

Originally from Zimbabwe, she helps fellow LGBTI+ refugees find safe shelter in the United Kingdom. This is her story, as told to Kay Cairns.

Moud Goba

20

THE ADVOCATE

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

the United Kingdom. Many have regular nightmares of the abuse they’ve endured.

And living as an asylum seeker is incredibly difficult. We get £37 (about $46) a week and can’t work, so we live in poverty. The stigma is also difficult to bear. I told only my close friends that I was an asylum seeker, because I was ashamed. I used my time to volunteer for a number of organizations and set up my own—Gay Afrika—to help me find others like me living in the U.K. Finding accommodation is another massive issue. The Home Office often places LGBT refugees with others whose religion and culture are intolerant to their existence. A friend was recently attacked in a hostel after his roommate found out he was gay. He threatened to beat my friend up and told him he was going to hell. He had his phone stolen and the rest of his possessions thrown out of the room.

He didn’t report the attack out of concern that it might adversely impact his claim.

Another woman, from Bangladesh, was forced to leave her host family in the U.K. after they found out she was LGBT. She was an asylum seeker with no recourse to public funds and wasn’t allowed to work.

She resorted to seeking shelter in an abandoned warehouse—taking multiple buses in several different directions at night to stay safe.

The asylum-seeking process takes a long time. My claim took two years. That was two years of living in poverty and proving my sexuality—with support letters from people who knew me, ex-partners, and various organizations I’d volun-

The Home Office often places LGBT refugees with others whose religion and culture are intolerant to their existence.

A friend was recently attacked in a hostel after his roommate found out he was gay. He threatened to beat my friend up and told him he was going to hell.

teered with. I was pretty lucky, being an activist, and having had girlfriends, that I had a lot of “proof.”

To other LGBT people seeking asylum, I say, don’t suffer alone. Seek out help from the likes of Micro Rainbow International and the U.K. Lesbian and Gay Immigration Group who will help you find a solicitor and support from other asylum seekers and refugees. Please remember, there is no shame in seeking safety and wanting to preserve your life. ◆

PAIGE OFOSU

A

s an ambitious young lesbian I knew there was no way I would be able to live openly in Zimbabwe. When my family discovered my sexuality, they took me to church and tried to “exorcise my demons and bad spirits.” Forced to conform, I tried to hide who I was and live a heteronormative life, living with secrets and shame, for fear of abuse, harassment, and persecution.

It was because of this uncertainty that I left my country. Our president, Robert Mugabe, calls us worse than pigs and dogs, and it’s illegal to be LGBT. I got a student visa to live in the United Kingdom as soon as I could, and when that ran out I knew I’d have to find a way to stay.

I remember walking up to the Home Office in London with such hope—ready to tell my story, be listened to, and get protection. My experience couldn’t have been further from that. I remember the Home Office asking me again and again if I was sure I was a lesbian. I was 17 weeks pregnant—something the officer seemed to think was impossible for a lesbian. I knew from that moment it was going to be a hard road to asylum.

Others I work with have been targeted for corrective rape in their home countries, attacked by mobs for having been found with a same-sex partner, or tricked into visiting family only to be beaten, locked up, and forced into an arranged marriage. Many women also lose custody of their children upon discovery of their sexuality. Families or their husbands forbid them to see or talk to their children.

The horror doesn’t end once you’re in

we stay Sure HIV treatment = Prevention #PlaySure

BE Sure, Play Sure, Stay Sure.

If you’re HIV positive, starting and staying on treatment can keep your viral load undetectable. Treatment keeps you healthy and makes it nearly impossible to pass HIV to your partner. Condoms offer additional protection against HIV and other STIs.

STAY SURE: Call 311 or visit nyc.gov/health/staysure to learn more about services that can help you get and stay on treatment.

ADVANCE

Certain factors in LGBT populations increase our risk of some serious health outcomes, including cancer.

HPV: THE HEALTH CRISIS WE’RE NOT TALKING ABOUT The top cause of penile, cervical, and anal cancer can’t be prevented with condoms, and the LGBT community is particularly at risk.

BY BERLIN SYLVESTRE

SHUTTERSTOCK

A

recent and unscientific polling of some LGBTs about human papillomavirus (HPV) ventured some guesses: “Isn’t that the name of the warts people get on their junk?”; “That’s what women get that causes cervical cancer.”; “Doesn’t it give lesbians throat cancer?”

The depth of our common knowledge about HPV isn’t substantial, which is to say it’s kind of like everyone else’s understanding of it. But certain factors in LGBT populations increase our risk of some serious health outcomes, including cancer.

“Pretty much everyone is infected with HPV at some point in their life,” says physician Judith Shlay, interim director of Denver Public Health and director of immunization at the health department’s travel clinic. “It’s been around a long, long time.”

The virus is spread through vaginal, oral, and anal sex. The issue with HPV is that it often hides; not everyone infected will exhibit genital warts. And condoms— the prophylactic mainstay in the prevention of so many other STIs, including HIV/AIDS—don’t completely protect

against the virus, as HPV resides on the skin on and around the carrier’s head, mouth, throat, vulva, cervix, vagina, penis, and anus.

There are more than 100 strains of HPV, and most are—relatively speaking—harmless. In the majority of infections, the immune system takes care of HPV on its own. But roughly 40 strains may cause genital warts, and strains number 6 and number 11 have a 90% chance of causing an unsightly outbreak down below.

“High-risk types of HPV can cause precancerous changes not only on the cervix—which is what’s most commonly considered with HPV—but also on the penis, in the anus, and in the throat,” Shlay says.

HPV strains 16 and 18 are the particularly nasty ones most linked to cervical and anal cancer, while 31 and 33 have been associated with cancer of the throat and penis. The LGBT community is about 44% more likely than straight adults to smoke cigarettes, and those infected run 2.5 times the risk of getting oral cancer as nonsmokers who are infected; heavy drinkers with HPV are three times as likely to develop

oral cancer as non-drinkers with HPV. Cancer Network estimates that 93% of HIV-positive gay and bisexual men have anal HPV infections, compared with 50% or less of heterosexual men. Because of the increased suppression of the immune system due to HIV/AIDS, the likelihood of anal and genital warts that are frequent, aggressive, and of abnormal composition needs to be minded. Regular screenings are recommended for those who are affected by both viruses.

Currently, there’s no cure, which is why Shlay stresses urgency in getting vaccinated. “People in the U.S. have done well with cervical prevention because we have a pap smear test—it picks up anything abnormal, then we address it before it progresses,” she says. Additionally, abnormalities of the penis are more noticeable, “but with the throat or anus, you can’t always see them. We try to vaccinate younger people before they become sexually active—only the vaccine can prevent you from getting [HPV].”

Abstinence is recommended, but for most, that’s a no-go. Condoms can assist somewhat, but again, there’s no guarantee.

Sex toys can be infected by either you or your last partner, so they must be properly cleaned or even replaced after use with each partner.

Shlay wants parents and young adults to shirk the notion that protection against HPV is a “girl’s vaccine.” “By reducing the burden of the virus in girls, you reduce the burden of the virus in boys,” she adds.

Those between the ages of 11 and 26 have two options for a vaccine: Gardasil (for both males and females) and Cervarix (for cisgender females and trans males).

For cisgender women and trans men, regular pap tests are your best bet for awareness of what’s going on inside you.

There are anal pap smear cancer-screening tests for men who have sex with men, but often they must be requested, as physicians don’t use them routinely. ◆ FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 THE ADVOCATE 23

WHAT IS ODEFSEY®?

What are the other possible side effects of ODEFSEY?

ODEFSEY is a 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in people 12 years and older. It can either be used in people who are starting HIV-1 treatment, have never taken HIV-1 medicines before, and have an amount of HIV-1 in their blood (“viral load”) that is no more than 100,000 copies/mL; or in people who are replacing their current HIV-1 medicines and whose healthcare provider determines they meet certain requirements. These include having an undetectable viral load (less than 50 copies/mL) for 6 months or more on their current HIV-1 treatment. ODEFSEY combines 3 medicines into 1 pill taken once a day with a meal. ODEFSEY is a complete HIV-1 treatment and should not be used with other HIV-1 medicines.

Serious side effects of ODEFSEY may also include: • Severe skin rash and allergic reactions. Skin rash is a common side effect of ODEFSEY. Call your healthcare provider right away if you get a rash, as some rashes and allergic reactions may need to be treated in a hospital.

Stop taking ODEFSEY and get medical help right away if you get a rash with any of the following symptoms: fever, skin blisters, mouth sores, redness or swelling of the eyes (conjunctivitis), swelling of the face, lips, mouth, or throat, trouble breathing or swallowing, pain on the right side of the stomach (abdominal) area, and/or dark “tea-colored” urine.

• Depression or mood changes. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you: feel sad or hopeless, feel anxious or restless, have thoughts of hurting yourself (suicide) or have tried to hurt yourself.

• Changes in liver enzymes. People who have had hepatitis B or C or who have certain liver enzyme changes may have a higher risk for new or worse liver problems while taking ODEFSEY. Liver problems can also happen in people who have not had liver disease. Your healthcare provider may do tests to check your liver enzymes before and during treatment with ODEFSEY. • Changes in body fat, which can happen in people taking HIV-1 medicines.

• Changes in your immune system. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fight infections. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any new symptoms after you start taking ODEFSEY. • Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys. Your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking ODEFSEY if you develop new or worse kidney problems.

• Bone problems, such as bone pain, softening, or thinning, which may lead to fractures. Your healthcare provider may do tests to check your bones.

ODEFSEY does not cure HIV-1 infection or AIDS. To control HIV-1 infection and decrease HIV-related illnesses, you must keep taking ODEFSEY. Ask your healthcare provider if you have questions about how to reduce the risk of passing HIV-1 to others. Always practice safer sex and use condoms to lower the chance of sexual contact with body fluids. Never reuse or share needles or other items that have body fluids on them.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION What is the most important information I should know about ODEFSEY? ODEFSEY may cause serious side effects: • Buildup of an acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency. Symptoms of lactic acidosis include feeling very weak or tired, unusual muscle pain, trouble breathing, stomach pain with nausea or vomiting, feeling cold (especially in your arms and legs), feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or a fast or irregular heartbeat.

• Serious liver problems. The liver may become large and fatty. Symptoms of liver problems include your skin or the white part of your eyes turning yellow (jaundice); dark “tea-colored” urine; loss of appetite; light-colored bowel movements (stools); nausea; and/or pain, aching, or tenderness on the right side of your stomach area.

• You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or serious liver problems if you are female, very overweight, or have been taking ODEFSEY or a similar medicine for a long time. In some cases, lactic acidosis and serious liver problems have led to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any symptoms of these conditions.

• Worsening of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. ODEFSEY

is not approved to treat HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV and stop taking ODEFSEY, your HBV may suddenly get worse.

Do not stop taking ODEFSEY without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to monitor your health.

Who should not take ODEFSEY? Do not take ODEFSEY if you take: • Certain prescription medicines for other conditions. It is important to ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist about medicines that should not be taken with ODEFSEY. Do not start a new medicine without telling your healthcare provider.

• The herbal supplement St. John’s wort.

• Any other medicines to treat HIV-1 infection.

The most common side effects of rilpivirine, one of the medicines in ODEFSEY, are depression, trouble sleeping (insomnia), and headache.

The most common side effect of emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide, two of the medicines in ODEFSEY, is nausea.

Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or do not go away.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking ODEFSEY? • All your health problems. Be sure to tell your healthcare

provider if you have or have had any kidney, bone, mental health (depression or suicidal thoughts), or liver problems, including hepatitis virus infection.

• All the medicines you take, including prescription and overthe-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements.

Other medicines may affect how ODEFSEY works. Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist. Ask your healthcare provider if it is safe to take ODEFSEY with all of your other medicines.

• If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if ODEFSEY can harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking ODEFSEY. • If you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk.

Ask your healthcare provider if ODEFSEY is right for you, and visit ODEFSEY.com to learn more.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Please see Important Facts about ODEFSEY including important warnings on the following page.

ODEFSEY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS.

SHOW YOUR

RADIANCE ODEFSEY is a complete, 1-pill, once-a-day HIV-1 treatment for people 12 years and older who are either new to treatment and have less than 100,000 copies/mL of virus in their blood or people whose healthcare provider determines they can replace their current HIV-1 medicines with ODEFSEY.

IMPORTANT FACTS This is only a brief summary of important information about ODEFSEY® and does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your condition and your treatment.

(oh-DEF-see) MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT ODEFSEY

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF ODEFSEY

ODEFSEY may cause serious side effects, including:

ODEFSEY can cause serious side effects, including:

•

•

•

Buildup of lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency that can lead to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms: feeling very weak or tired, unusual muscle pain, trouble breathing, stomach pain with nausea or vomiting, feeling cold (especially in your arms and legs), feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or a fast or irregular heartbeat.

•

Severe liver problems, which in some cases can lead to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms: your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow (jaundice); dark “tea-colored” urine; loss of appetite; light-colored bowel movements (stools); nausea; and/ or pain, aching, or tenderness on the right side of your stomach area.

•

Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. ODEFSEY is not approved to treat HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking ODEFSEY. Do not stop taking ODEFSEY without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months.

You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or severe liver problems if you are female, very overweight, or have been taking ODEFSEY or a similar medicine for a long time.

• • • •

• •

Those in the “Most Important Information About ODEFSEY” section.

Severe skin rash and allergic reactions.

Depression or mood changes.

Changes in liver enzymes.

Changes in body fat.

Changes in your immune system.

New or worse kidney problems, including kidney failure.

Bone problems.

The most common side effects of rilpivirine, one of the medicines in ODEFSEY, are depression, trouble sleeping (insomnia), and headache.

The most common side effect of emtricitabine and tenofovir alafenamide, two of the medicines in ODEFSEY, is nausea.

These are not all the possible side effects of ODEFSEY. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking ODEFSEY. Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with ODEFSEY.

BEFORE TAKING ODEFSEY ABOUT ODEFSEY •

ODEFSEY is a prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in people 12 years of age and older who have never taken HIV-1 medicines before and who have an amount of HIV-1 in their blood (“viral load”) that is no more than 100,000 copies/mL. ODEFSEY can also be used to replace current HIV-1 medicines for some people who have an undetectable viral load (less than 50 copies/ mL), have been on the same HIV-1 medicines for at least 6 months, have never failed HIV-1 treatment, and whose healthcare provider determines that they meet certain other requirements.

•

ODEFSEY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. Ask your healthcare provider about how to prevent passing HIV-1 to others.

Do NOT take ODEFSEY if you: • Take a medicine that contains: carbamazepine (Carbatrol®, Epitol®, Equetro®, Tegretol®, Tegretol-XR®, Teril®), dexamethasone (Ozurdex®, Maxidex®, Decadron®, Baycadron™), dexlansoprazole (Dexilant®), esomeprazole (Nexium®, Vimovo®), lansoprazole (Prevacid®), omeprazole (Prilosec®, Zegerid®), oxcarbazepine (Trileptal®), pantoprazole sodium (Protonix®), phenobarbital (Luminal®), phenytoin (Dilantin®, Dilantin-125®, Phenytek®), rabeprazole (Aciphex®), rifampin (Rifadin®, Rifamate®, Rifater®, Rimactane®), or rifapentine (Priftin®).

•

Take the herbal supplement St. John’s wort.

•

Take any other HIV-1 medicines at the same time.

Tell your healthcare provider if you: • Have or have had any kidney, bone, mental health (depression or suicidal thoughts), or liver problems, including hepatitis infection.

• Have any other medical condition.

• Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.

• Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed if you have HIV-1 because of the risk of passing HIV-1 to your baby.

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take: • Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist.

• Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist about medicines that should not be taken with ODEFSEY.

HOW TO TAKE ODEFSEY • •

ODEFSEY is a complete 1-pill, once-a-day HIV-1 medicine.

Take ODEFSEY with a meal.

GET MORE INFORMATION •

• •

This is only a brief summary of important information about ODEFSEY. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more.

Go to ODEFSEY.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5 If you need help paying for your medicine, visit ODEFSEY.com for program information.

ODEFSEY, the ODEFSEY Logo, GILEAD, and the GILEAD Logo are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. All other marks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners. Version date: March 2016 © 2016 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. ODEC0026 06/16

HIV

ADVANCE

DAILY DOSE

DEAR GAY MEN, AN OPEN LETTER The same kind of fear that keeps us from coming out as gay keeps many of us from coming out as HIV-positive.

BY TYLER CURRY

AP PHOTO/LEE JIN-MAN

B

efore I sprouted out of the closet as a little gay sapling, my my hesitation, he was immediately overcome with unquestionmother had never met a single homosexual person in her able support and complete remorse. And just as happens with life. And in the suffocating southern Christian confines anyone who made a judgment before getting to know someone, of Texas, her limited perception was open to the most horrific his benign HIV stigma has become undetectable. creative interpretation. The nightmares of evil drag queens and Although most days I do feel like a rainbow unicorn, my story insidious perverts quickly faded away, however, once her son and my status are nothing unique. If you are a gay man, or any told her that he liked boys. other person who knows more than a handful of gays, then you The majority of gay men know how it feels to secretly live in the know a person with HIV. Instead of trying to figure out who it presence of someone who is blindly afraid of you, yet that blind could be, think about how you would feel if one of your closest fear is exactly what we inflict on HIV-positive men. It is because friends were judged, rejected, and ridiculed for his status. of this that I write an open letter to gay men young and old.

Or worse: How do you feel if one of your friends is remaining Your friend is living with HIV. silent because he feels you might judge and reject him as well?

It doesn’t matter who you are or where you hail from; if you are HIV isn’t exclusive to the LGBT community, but it is the backa man who kisses other men, someone you know is HIV-positive. bone of its legacy of tragedy and strength. Today, HIV doesn’t Hopefully, this is already yesterday’s news because you live in a have to rob a person of anything in their life, but only if they are collective space where your friends are not afraid to discuss their surrounded by an educated and loving community that underlove and sex lives, regardless of status. But if you care to argue that stands a disease is not a characteristic or a flaw. It’s just another this is a false narrative, then you may be creating barriers for your thing to overcome, and the LGBT community overcomes its HIV-positive friends without even knowing it. This isn’t just a struggles together. hindrance to their mental health; it is also a risk to your own HIVBe a part of that community. Be a friend, a lover, and an ally to negative status. If you don’t acknowledge the reality that your people with HIV. ◆ friends may be living with HIV, you probably think that you’ve Students in Seoul, South Korea make a formation in the shape of the AIDS ribbon, never slept with an HIV-positive as they release balloons during an event to mark World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. person either.

In the first six months after my diagnosis, I was petrified to tell my best friend about my status. As much as I knew he wouldn’t judge me or toss our friendship aside, something he had previously said kept ringing in my ears: “I would never date someone with HIV. I just don’t think I could get over it.”

A world where my best buddy would reject someone just like me was a world I could live without. Yet I tucked it inside and hid something from my friend to avoid any stigma from someone I loved. When I did tell him my status and the reason for FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 THE ADVOCATE 27

ADVANCE

NUMBER CRUNCH:

QUEER CHINA

January 28 ushered in the year of the rooster in Chinese astrology. While the Chinese honor their deities and ancestors during the Spring Festival, we take a look at LGBTs in China, now and in the imperial past.

10 OUT OF 13

35 Percentage of Chinese gay men who said in a 2008 survey that they’d contemplated suicide

(;)

12/19/2014 Date of a ruling in a landmark LGBT rights case in which a Beijing court told a Chinese clinic to pay compensation to Yang Teng, a gay man who sued over electroshock conversion therapy

Emperors in the Western Han dynasty (206 B.C.–A.D. 23) who took male lovers in addition to their wives and concubines. Contemporary historian Sima Qian wrote that the male lovers were often more admired for their skills in war, administration, or cultural pursuits than for their beauty.

6 B.C.–A.D. 1.

Reign of the young Emperor Ai, who, according to the Han historian Ban Gu, wanted to rise, but his sleeping lover Dong Xian had fallen asleep on the emperor’s sleeve. Ai cut off his sleeve and appeared in public with his mutilated garment, and thereafter his courtiers cut their garments similarly (duanxiu, “breaking the sleeve”) to celebrate the love affair.

3% OF MEN 6% OF WOMEN

Years when homosexuality was decriminalized in China and then declassified as a mental illness

28

THE ADVOCATE

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

2012 estimate of the total population of homosexual men and women in China

The 12th and final ruler of the Qing dynasty and the Last Emperor of China, Puyi (1906–1967), was widely rumored to be gay.

Percentage of gay and lesbian Chinese who described themselves as completely out. 18% of the men said they were out to their families, and nearly 80% were not because of family pressure. Half the men and three quarters of the women were out to friends.

1997 & 2001

40 MILLION

70 Estimated percentage of gay men in China who marry straight women in an effort to fulfill social and familial obligations

57 Percentage of Chinese who said in 2013 that homosexuality should not be accepted by society

2015 Year when film regulators approved the theatrical release of China’s first openly gay love story, Seek McCartney, helmed by noted director Wang Chao

3rd The century in which homosexuality was as common as heterosexuality, according to writings from the Liu Song dynasty: “All the gentlemen and officials esteemed it. All men in the realm followed this fashion to the extent that husbands and wives were estranged.”

ADVANCE

EXIT, LEFT For the president’s longtime senior advisor—and LGBT ally—Valerie Jarrett, the end (and future) is in sight.

BY AARON HICKLIN

30

THE ADVOCATE FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

says, and we pause until the sound dies away again. Jarrett recalls the climax of the day on June 26, 2015, returning to the White House in that same helicopter after Obama’s historic speech in Charleston, as the sun set and the White House lit up in the colors of the rainbow flag. “It was an iconic image that will go down in history as symbolic of what this White House is all about,” she says. “To be able to have that rainbow on this White House sends a message—not just to the LGBT community but to all people around this country—about what’s possible.”

Aaron Hicklin: You’ve been at the White House for eight tumultuous years. Did you anticipate that much opposition from Congress?

Valerie Jarrett: No. I will say that change is always difficult. There are entrenched forces in maintaining the status quo, and in this town those sources are wellfunded, so we knew that it would be challenging. Where I underestimated the opposition was how willing Republicans in Congress would be to put their shortterm political interests ahead of what they knew was good for their country. That was extremely disappointing.

AH: You’ve known the president for 25 years. Do you remember the first time you had a conversation about LGBT rights?

VJ: It’s something that, in a sense, I took for granted because we share values about our country—that everyone should be treated equally, and that “everyone” means everyone. His commitment coming into office was to ensure that we did everything within our power to provide that pressure toward justice and ensuring

LGBT citizens were treated the same as everyone else. It’s reflected in one of the earliest pieces of legislation he signed, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd hatecrimes bill. It’s stunning to me that we didn’t have that piece of legislation on the books already, but he was very proud to sign that right away.

AH: On marriage equality, the president has talked about his evolution on the issue. Did you have to evolve in the same direction?

VJ: My view has always been that marriage means love, and an excellent way of describing your love for another person is to make that permanent commitment. So it’s something I always embraced. I think the president was very influenced not only by his friends but by his children as they described the parents of their friends and couldn’t understand why they would have been treated differently. What influenced me was growing up in a neighborhood like Hyde Park in Chicago, where my closest friends in elementary school and high school represented every income stratum, every sexual orientation, every faith and religion.

AH: You grew up in Iran. What influence did that have on your perspective?

VJ: I had this conversation with the president the first time I met him—me having been born in Iran and living there until I was 5, and the president having spent some of his formative years in Indonesia.

Both countries have cultures very different from our own. I think it taught us both a couple of things: one, that people are people and you can find something in common with people all over the world; and two, that the United States is the [CONTINUED ON PAGE 33]

COURTESY OF THE WHITE HOUSE

D

uring the eight tumultuous years of the Obama presidency, anyone would have killed to have a chair “in the room where it happens,” to quote one of the best numbers in the Broadway smash Hamilton. Among the very few people who can lay claim to that privilege is Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to President Obama.

Sitting in her office at the White House, a few months before the Administration would vacate 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Jarrett spoke to The Advocate with undimmed pleasure of the moment she heard word of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges, which made same-sex marriage the law of the land.

That morning, the president was preparing a eulogy to be delivered in Charleston for the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney (a victim of the mass shooting at Emanuel AME Church), so, in many ways, the day would encapsulate three dominant themes of his time in office: LGBT rights, gun violence, and the well-being of black communities confronted with trigger-happy cops and homegrown terrorists like Dylann Roof.

“It was a Friday, and we were sitting in the chief of staff’s office in our morning meeting, and my assistant came in with a note that said, ‘Marriage equality came down today, five to four,’ ” Jarrett recalls. “We jump up and everyone’s screaming, and I go running down to the Oval Office to tell the president, and he’s not there, so I go wandering back to Denis’s [McDonough, chief of staff ] office, and Denis goes, ‘Well, did you call him?’

So I call him, and I say, ‘Sir,’ and he says, ‘What?’ and I could tell from his voice that he was busy, and I said, ‘Sorry to interrupt you, but the marriage equality decision came down, five to four.’ And there was a pause, and he said, ‘Who won?’ And I said, ‘We did!’ and he said, ‘Well, then it’s a really good day—I’ll be right down.’ ” As Jarrett is talking, the telltale whir of blades is slicing through the air outside as a helicopter takes off from the lawn. “Sorry, my boss is leaving,” Jarrett

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COURTESY OF THE WHITE HOUSE

ADVANCE

[CONTINUED FROM PAGE 30] greatest country on Earth, but it’s not the only country on Earth, and you can still learn a great deal from other countries and cultures. So we both have a certain openness to learn and to be intellectually and emotionally curious, which comes from having lived outside the United States and seen it from afar.

AH: Being part of such an inclusive administration, how have you felt about the upsurge in hateful rhetoric?

VJ: What technology has afforded us is an opportunity to see, very visually, some of the feelings and beliefs that were there all along. So consider, for example, that we’ve captured on video the tragic deaths of many African-American youths—that’s not actually surprising in the AfricanAmerican community, but to the broader community, that’s quite stunning. Fortunately, we’ve seen an outpouring of support for change from a diverse racial body, and I think that’s very healthy and good. And the fact that African Americans are having the conversation they have to have with their children is something that was kept quite private before. So I think that’s a good education for people to understand—that African Americans are used to having to be much more cautious, particularly African-American men, in their interactions with the police. Even though the vast majority of people who are in law enforcement are doing their very best, you’re still afraid of that exception to the rule that could have devastating consequences. A good example of the president’s leadership is that remarkable speech he gave in Charleston, and being able to educate the public about the black church and what it stands for, and how its door is open, always, despite a history of attack. I think it reflects the progress that we’ve made as a country that he was elected not once but twice. Change is very messy and painful, but what he has taught so many of us is how to stay true to our values, take the long view, absorb a lot of pain along the way, and keep trying to move our country forward. And that we’re in this together.

AH: You talked about the conversation that many African-American families have to have with their children. Is that a conversation your parents had to have with you?

VJ: They didn’t have the conversation with me because it’s normally directed at African-American men, but I did have an experience in my life when I was about 10 or 11. My mom and I were driving together through our neighborhood, and

“‘Sorry to interrupt you, but the marriage equality decision came down, five to four.’ And there was a pause, and he said, ‘Who won?’

And I said, ‘We did!’ and he said, ‘Well, then it’s a really good day— I’ll be right down.’ ” we observed a police car that had pulled over a couple of our neighbors, and my mom stopped the car, and she said, “I have to go over and talk to that policeman and let him know they live in this neighborhood.” And I said, “Why?” And she said, “Because I don’t know what might happen to them if I don’t.” I was stunned because I didn’t have any appreciation for why she felt that way, and she went over and introduced herself, and the police were harassing them for not having IDs. When she got back in the car, she said, “That’s my responsibility as a parent in this neighborhood—to ensure that all of our children are safe.” So she validated them, and they needed that. That was my awakening into this disparity that exists in communities of color.

AH: You worked for Mayor Daley in Chicago. What was your takeaway from that experience?

VJ: I joined city government from a big

law firm when Harold Washington was mayor. He was the first African-American mayor of Chicago, who came in with a progressive and unifying agenda, and he was met with an enormous amount of resistance in his first term because he didn’t have a majority in the city council. I joined at the beginning of his second term because I wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself and to give back to the city I loved. Three months after I joined, he died, but I decided my life was far more rewarding in the public sector than it had been in the law firm. So I stayed through Mayor Sawyer and then Mayor Daley, and that’s actually where I met Michelle Obama.

AH: One of the criticisms leveled at Mayor Daley has been excessive use of force by the police department.

VJ: That’s something that predates Mayor Daley, I can assure you—that’s a part of the challenging legacy of Chicago.

AH: You’ve also been a strong advocate for greater gun control.

VJ: There’s a strong body of evidence that shows that the more diligent we are in ensuring that guns are in the appropriate hands, the safer our communities will be.

One of our largest disappointments over the last eight years has been the inability to move the Republicans in Congress to take those very sensible steps, so it’s forced the president to do by executive order what he can do within his authority.

Particularly in the face of Newtown, the fact that the Republicans simply failed to act and let the NRA continue that stranglehold is impossible to understand.

AH: Let’s return to the day your mother got out of the car and walked over to the police. In what way are you your parents’ daughter?

VJ: Just about every way, I’m proud to say. I was very lucky—I grew up with two parents who loved each other and gave me unconditional love. They set high expectations for me, and they gave me an infinite amount of support. So I stand on their shoulders; I follow their example in every way. I take such pride in being part of this historic presidency, and I’m going through the painful stages of grief right now that it’s coming to an end. But what still motivates us all is knowing that tomorrow we still have the opportunity to be here, so we’re maximizing everything we do with the remaining time, and, as the president says, important things happen right before the buzzer rings in the fourth quarter. We’re looking forward to crossing the finishing line at 180 miles an hour. ◆ FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 THE ADVOCATE 33

APP

Out Magazine

Trans Rights at the High Court

Gavin Grimm would have preferred that the Supreme Court let a lower court’s pro-trans ruling stand, but he’s not discouraged or afraid.

AP PHOTO/STEVE HELBER

THE U.S. SUPREME COURT announced in

October that it will hear a school board’s appeal of a lower court decision affirming transgender students’ access to facilities appropriate for their gender identity— and if it lets that decision stand, it will be a major victory for trans students.

Gavin Grimm, a transgender boy who attends Gloucester High School in Virginia, and his legal team would have preferred that the initial ruling by the U.S. court of appeals for the fourth circuit had gone into effect, allowing Grimm to have immediate access to the boys’ restrooms. Currently, Grimm is restricted to using single-occupancy restrooms, forcing the high school senior to plan his day around their locations. Grimm told reporters on a conference call he was disappointed, but added, “I’m not afraid and I’m not discouraged.”

The fourth circuit ruling does stand and remains precedential for the entire circuit, which consists of Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and South Caro-

lina. But a favorable ruling by the Supreme Court would affect the whole nation.

The national ACLU and its Virginia affiliate sued the Gloucester County School Board in 2015 because of a policy requiring trans students to use only single-stall restrooms. The board adopted the policy in December 2014, when Grimm was in 10th grade. The ACLU argued that the policy violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972, a federal law prohibiting sex discrimination by schools.

A U.S. district court dismissed Grimm’s suit, but in April a three-judge panel of the U.S. court of appeals for the fourth circuit ruled in Grimm’s favor. In May the 15 judges of the court declined the school board’s request that the full court reconsider the case. So the school board appealed to the Supreme Court, which in August put the appellate ruling on hold. The high court has just eight members now; if its ruling is a 4–4

tie, the lower court ruling stands.

Grimm has stressed that he did not seek public attention and just wanted to get his education while having his basic needs accommodated. “Now that I am visible,” Grimm wrote in a commentary published in The Washington Post in October, “I want to use my position to help the country see transgender people like me as real people just living our lives.”

Even though this was not his goal, Grimm has become famous—and honored. Time magazine named him to its 2016 list of the 30 most influential teens. —TRUDY RING

Gavin Grimm at home in Gloucester, Va.

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 THE ADVOCATE 37

TIME TO PANIC THE ELECTION OF A DEMAGOGUE IMPERILS MANY HOMEGROWN ADVANCEMENTS IN LGBT RIGHTS. IT ALSO DEGRADES THE GLOBAL PROGRESS WHEN THE STANDARD-BEARER—AMERICA—IS SHOWN TO BE SO VULNERABLE.

BY MASHA GESSEN

JOHN RITTER(TEXTURE)

C

y 15-year-old daughter cried all night after the election. Larry Kramer said this was a good first line. Larry had asked me to come over because he was in despair. I wanted to see Larry because I think that of all the people I have ever seen, he knows how to turn despair into action.

Larry is old, and this deepens his despair. “I am 82, and I feel it,” he says.

“I almost died twice.” He does not have the strength to do what he did 35 years ago, when he screamed and wrote and screamed more about AIDS, until people listened, and then screamed again until they acted. Larry has a book to finish, the second volume of his novel The American People, and only so many hours of the day when he can work.

He has a home health aide, and this, too, deepens his despair.

The aide is a young man from Colombia. When he was a teenager, his parents paid someone to smuggle the boy into the United States. The smuggler took the money, raped the boy, and abandoned him. Before the boy got back to Colombia, he was interned in Mexico. Then he tried again, was conned by another smuggler, but in the end waded across the Rio Grande, holding his clothes aloft over his head. This was a while ago. The young man has a green card now, an American husband, and a job with Larry, who adores him and encourages him to pursue his studies to be a fashion designer. Larry, who has a good record for spotting talent, says the young man has it. He will probably be all right—probably—but what breaks Larry’s heart is the understanding that there are so many young people like him who may not have their green cards or may not even have gotten to the United States yet.

That is what breaks my heart too. I have come to the United States as a refugee twice—once, 35 years ago, as a teenager, escaping Soviet anti-Semitism with my parents, and the second time, just three years ago, with my partner and children, escaping Vladimir Putin’s antigay campaign. The American passport I got the first time around carried my family over the water the second time. Most people who have come to this country seeking refuge from homophobia aren’t so lucky. They come here and ask for asylum. Most will probably be successful, but the process is long and confusing. Many people come to a big city like New York, where they can get free legal help and underthe-table work doing something like washing dishes, or washing floors, for the year—at least—that will elapse before they get their temporary work authorization (the wait for asylum status itself is usually a couple of years or more). Many of them are stiffed by their employers, who are certain of their impunity; some end up homeless. These are the lucky people. The less lucky wind up isolated in a city where there is neither work nor legal or community resources. The really unlucky land in immigration detention facilities, places that are difficult for anyone, very difficult for gays and lesbians, and pure hell for trans people.

Immigration Equality, an LGBT organization, is currently working to try to help dozens of LGBT people who are in immi-

gration detention facilities—and those are just the people who have been able to find this legal help for themselves. Immigration Equality also has roughly 500 pending asylum claims from LGBT people. Most of these come from Jamaica, with Russia in second place, Latin American countries including Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala in third, and African countries including Nigeria and Uganda in fourth. Even though Immigration Equality has dozens of attorneys donating their time, waiting periods for an initial interview for new arrivals reach into months. And those, again, are just the people who have been able to find Immigration Equality. LGBT people currently in the United States who are at various stages in the immigration process number in the tens of thousands. Many of them are now in a state of panic. Aaron Morris, executive director of Immigration Equality, told me that the organization is swamped with calls from people who want to rush to file their claims before a crackdown comes, and he added that there is also a second group: those who are so frightened that they want to go into hiding and not let the government know that they exist until it’s over.

That’s likely a terrible idea, especially because there is no telling whether or when “it” will be over, but the panic is wellfounded. If there is one theme that ran through Trump’s entire campaign, one opinion on which he never wavered, it was his hatred of immigrants. He never actually uttered the word “asylum”—it may not be a part of his vocabulary—but he attacked refugees and immigrants, and he promised deportations and the wall. The fact that in the days after the election he softened his stance on the wall slightly is no comfort: Whether the entire thing is built of brick and mortar, some of it is chicken wire, or in fact Trump limits himself to a symbolic gesture toward America’s already heavily fortified border with Mexico, he has made it clear that he will unleash a war on immigrants.

He has the tools to make this a brutal war: The executive branch has control of immigration. Trump has promised to reverse President Obama’s executive order creating DACA—an acronym for “deferred action for childhood arrivals.” He can do that with the stroke of a pen, instantly placing people who have lived in the United States most of their lives outside the law; they will then be subject to deportation. Trump’s apparent pick for attorney general, Jeff Sessions, is known for his racist and homophobic views. Trump will also be able to fill roughly 85 federal-judge vacancies. Finally, Trump is inheriting a system that is already profoundly hostile to immigrants. The Obama administration deported more people than any administration in history: more than 400,000 in 2015 alone. Now Trump wants to deport many more.

He has said that he will focus on the undocumented and those with criminal records, but that’s just for starters—and hardly defines a clear category of people. “Undocumented” is not a legal term; it could apply to people who came to this country without permission, but it could also be interpreted to apply to those who have overstayed a visa or fallen “out of status”—say, came on a student visa but dropped out of their study program—and even to those who have filed an application for asylum. Morris describes the status of someone who has FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 THE ADVOCATE 39

filed an application as “better than nothing,” but that’s flimsy protection. People who have already received asylum but have not yet become citizens are vulnerable too: Their status is not hard to revoke. Green cards offer no lifetime guarantee either: Breaking the law can make you subject to deportation even if you have permanent-resident status. Specifically, “crimes of moral turpitude” can get you deported. This category of crime has no clear definition and is not related to the severity of the transgression—a misdemeanor can be seen as a “crime of moral turpitude” if the judge concludes that it was committed with intent to deceive. Are you thinking fraud? Think riding the subway without paying your fare.

Which brings me to Trump’s promise to remove only the “criminals.” When you are an asylum seeker who has no legal right to work, when you run a high risk of going hungry and sleeping in a homeless shelter, you are also likely to jump the turnstile in the New York City subway. And then you are a criminal. Other grounds for deportation for legal permanent residents include going on public assistance for reasons that did not arise after arrival in the United States (think disability), or failure to inform the immigration authorities, in writing, of a change of address within 10 days of moving.

Queer people have been seeking refuge in the United States for decades, but in the past few years this migration has taken on a new urgency and a new quality, as countries such as Russia, Turkey, El Salvador, and Uganda—to name a few—have launched or intensified attacks on LGBT people while the United States proclaimed that gay rights are human rights. Marriage clinched the deal: even though the United States was roughly the 20th country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, it was gaining marriage rights in America that seemed to mean that progress was irreversible. Now, with a sworn foe of marriage equality as the vice president–elect, many people are asking if marriage equality can be reversed. The answer is probably not,

THE FAIRY-TALE STORY OF IRREVERSIBLE PROGRESS IN LGBT RIGHTS IS A VERY WHITE AMERICAN STORY. AMERICANS OF COLOR HAVE LONG KNOWN THAT PROGRESS IS NOT LINEAR. 40

THE ADVOCATE

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017

but it’s the wrong question.

Reversing marriage equality is not impossible, but it would require at least one more vacancy on the Supreme Court, from the pro-marriage-equality side. What is not only possible but likely, though, is that we will begin to think about marriage differently under Trump. Seeking marriage equality was a brilliant legal and civil-right strategy: It worked so fast and applied so broadly that for many people it served as a shortcut to full citizenship. But the right to get married does not equal full citizenship. It is entirely possible to be married and still be systemically discriminated against.

Getting the right to marry felt like a watershed moment in part because it was accompanied by such swift change in public opinion that many—though by no means all—LGBT people experienced that we were being treated differently. In the past two decades, and especially in the past few years, many— though by no means all—of us have felt safer looking, acting, and speaking differently from the straight gender-conforming majority. But marriage did not provide these protections; a shift in cultural norms did. These norms are not backed up by law.

In most states in the country, it is legal to discriminate against people on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in both employment and housing. There are very few bans on discrimination in public accommodation. And “religious freedom” laws such as the one passed in Mike Pence’s Indiana can allow many institutions, such as hospitals, to discriminate legally. So you could be married and fired from your job for bringing your spouse to an office party, married and turned away from housing because you are married to a person of the same sex, married and refused entry to a restaurant for the same reason, and married and denied hospital visitation—one of the cornerstone rights in the argument for marriage equality.

The fairy-tale story of irreversible progress in LGBT rights is a very white American story. Americans of color have long known that progress is not linear. LGBT people from countries like Russia, Hungary, and Turkey, among others, can tell you what it feels like when attitudes make a U-turn. The laws in these countries are benign compared to the many places in the world where homosexual behavior is punishable by imprisonment or even death, but that is cold comfort for people who find themselves exposed to prosecution and persecution, without a closet to hide in. As the global culture war in this area heated up over the past few years, as Pride parades in various parts of the world turned into battlegrounds, LGBT people have looked to America for comfort, protection, and small doses of human dignity.

During the Obama years American international-aid agencies began helping LGBT organizations. The amount used for this purpose is not huge by international-aid standards—about $7 million a year—but for many foreign groups it is a lifeline.

Not only is this funding likely to be cut, but there is the risk of renewed “faith-based” restrictions placed on aid to other groups, as was done during the George W. Bush years, to devastating effect. Then there was the help from individual American diplomats, who marched in contested Pride parades, offering very real protection simply by being there (the local police were then compelled to do their job and protect the marchers), or who invited LGBT activists to the Fourth of July party at the embassy, symbolically elevating them to the level of major political players among people who didn’t normally even view them as human. American diplomats have also been on the front lines of the culture war in the United Nations, where a slow, plodding bureaucratic battle for recognition of the rights and dignity of LGBT people has been waged.

JOHN RITTER

But more than anything else, the United States has served as a beacon of hope for LGBT people around the world. When my kids heard homophobic slurs in school every day, when those same slurs and worse were on Russian television every night, I could tell my kids that this was not normal; the American way was. They knew that we could come here and be safe—and we did, as did so many of our friends. I think this was why my daughter cried so hard all night after the election.

Of course, Trump is said to have gay friends. He has sounded out the letters L-G-B-T-Q and has draped himself in a rainbow flag. There was even the rumor that he might pick Richard Grenell, who is gay, as his ambassador to the United Nations (instead, he picked Nikki Haley, a governor with no international experience and a sworn foe of marriage equality; that probably spells the end of massive behind-the-scenes work that American diplomats have been doing to hold back the Russialed “traditional values coalition” in the U.N.). So some people are saying that there is no reason to panic; after all, Trump is from New York City and progress is irreversible. They think that LGBT people are exempt from the wave of hate enabled by Trump’s election. They are wrong.

That is one of the reasons I went to see Larry. I remembered how, in the 1980s, he insisted precisely on panicking. He wrote hysterical articles for the New York Native, a gay paper. He used words like “genocide” and “Holocaust.” Now we sit in the living room of his Greenwich Village apartment, where Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the first AIDS support group (before “AIDS” was

a word) was founded in 1981. Two years later Larry got kicked out of GMHC—for panicking.

“People said, ‘It’s just 40, or 50, or 60 people—no reason to stop having sex.’ I said, ‘We have to cool it.’ They said, ‘But what if it doesn’t turn out to be a virus?’ I said, ‘Then you don’t have to cool it, but for now, do it!’ And I was saying we have to go after the mayor, who we knew was gay—and he wouldn’t let his health commissioner put out recommendations. I got thrown out—that hurt.”

How did he keep going? He just did. “Things people said about my panicking didn’t frighten me. They made me angry.

I didn’t know I had this anger in me…. So I wrote about it, I spoke whenever I was asked, I was a pariah, people crossed to the other side of the street when I was coming. It’s not that it didn’t bother me, it’s that I found it all fascinating—I guess it’s the writer in me. It took me from ’83–’84, when I got thrown out of GMHC, till ’88 to get people to support this kind of effort”— meaning ACT UP, a mass angry direct-action movement.

In AIDS mythology, it looks different: Larry gave a speech at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center one day, and ACT UP was born. Even in my recollection, the amount of time it took for Larry’s panic to be translated into mass action had collapsed to maybe a year or two. But in fact it took five years. We don’t have five years now. We don’t even have a year or two.

“It’s the early days of AIDS all over again,” says Larry. “I didn’t think that would ever happen.

“It makes you want to cry sometimes.” ◆ FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 THE ADVOCATE 41

SIX THINGS WE MUST DO TO SURVIVE TRUMP’S AMERICA The way forward for LGBT policy under a Trump administration, a GOP Congress, and a conservative Supreme Court seems bleak at best. But we can hold some hard-fought ground if we take lessons from these successful strategies.

AP PHOTO/ EVAN VUCCI

BY MARK JOSEPH STERN

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T

he election of Donald Trump as president of the United States is a disaster for LGBT people throughout the nation. There can be no doubt that the Trump administration, together with a Republicandominated Congress, will roll back hard-fought victories and stall the push for ever greater equality. Bleak as the situation may be, however, it is not hopeless—and it is not at all inevitable that Trump and his allies will irreversibly alter the ascendancy of LGBT rights.

Trump will take office at a moment when LGBT people enjoy historically high tolerance and support from the American public.

His presidency will not change that, at least not immediately.

The supermajority of Americans will still support marriage equality; trans people will continue to gain greater visibility, and thus acceptance; and despite distractions about “religious liberty” and discrimination, most people will still believe that nobody should be fired because they’re LGBT. “Don’t ask, don’t tell” will not be revived. The Supreme Court, even one stacked

by Trump, will feel immense institutional pressure to respect the precedent of marriage equality. We will elect more openly LGBT people to statehouses across the country.

But challenges remain—and there are suddenly so many more than almost anyone expected. If Hillary Clinton were assuming office after Obama, the path forward would be clear and manageable. It will now be tortuous and grueling. Yet there is a path nonetheless, and the LGBT movement has triumphed over more seemingly hopeless situations than this one. Here are six suggestions as to how the movement can protect and even expand its rights over the next four years.

1. Remember: Trump may not be a virulent homophobe, but he is a threat.

When LGBT people express anxiety about Trump’s presidency, Republicans often counter that Trump himself does not appear to be outwardly homophobic or transphobic. In a very narrow sense, they are correct: Trump clearly has no active desire to demean or disadvantage LGBT people under the law in the way that George W. Bush did. But Trump is both impressionable and opportunistic—a toxic combination in a head of state—and he plans to delegate much of his power to advisers, allies, and cronies.

Trump’s impressionability is especially dangerous in light of the nefarious sycophants whom he plans to keep in the White House. Reince Priebus, a typically anti-LGBT Republican apparatchik, will serve as chief of staff. More alarmingly, Steve Bannon will be Trump’s “chief strategist and senior counselor,” a Karl Rove–like position of immense influence. Bannon

previously ran Breitbart, a vile hate site that ran articles with headlines like “Kids Raised By Same-Sex Couples Twice as Likely to Be Depressed, Fat Adults” and “World Health Organization Report: Trannies 49 Xs Higher HIV Rate.” The latter story featured a photo of then-15-year-old transgender activist Jazz Jennings.

Even if Trump holds no personal animosity toward LGBT people, he will believe Bannon when the Breitbart mastermind insists that he needs to vilify the vulnerable to solidify support.

In order to shore up evangelical votes, Trump has already declared that the Supreme Court’s marriage-equality decision should be overturned, that states should be allowed to deny transgender people access to public bathrooms, and that President Obama’s executive orders protecting LGBT people should be rescinded. As president, he will surely continue to throw LGBT people under the bus when Bannon—who has stated his desire to “turn on the hate”—thinks it’s convenient.

2. Keep the focus on Pence.

Dangerous as Trump may be, his vice president is significantly more threatening to LGBT people’s safety and well-being.

Unlike Trump, Pence is a true believer, a culture warrior who vigorously opposes marriage equality (a “deterioration of marriage and family”) and open military service for gays (“social experimentation”). As governor of Indiana, he signed a law designed to let businesses refuse service to same-sex couples and then lied on national TV about its purpose. As a congressional candidate in 2000, Pence supported redirecting federal funds for AIDS treatment away from “organizations that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviors that facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus”—and toward ex-gay conversion “therapy” programs. Naturally, Pence objects to LGBT employment nondiscrimination measures, calling them a “war on freedom and religion in the workplace.”

It is too early to surmise the extent to which Pence’s unrepentant, unrelenting homophobia will influence the Trump administration. But his bigotry dovetails neatly with Bannon’s strategy of sadistic vilification under the guise of morality and nationalism. After eight years of hearing Obama praise and champion our equal dignity, LGBT Americans must brace for four years of dehumanizing rhetoric and nasty legislation. Trump’s brand of ethno-nationalist pseudopopulism, as refined by Bannon and Pence, includes a hefty dose of moralism—the type that labels LGBT people immoral degenerates. With Pence’s help, the Trump administration will likely see a reversal of LGBT tolerance as a key component of making America great again.

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Vice President-elect Mike Pence

3. Watch out for cabinet cronies and “religious liberty.”

Steve Bannon Reince Priebus

4. Focus on state politics and the community.

There are two ways to cement LGBT workplace protection laws in every state. One is for Congress to pass the Equality Act, which would formally extend federal civil rights laws to LGBT 44

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Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy

AP PHOTO/CHARLIE NEIBERGALL (PENCE); AP PHOTO/EVAN VUCCI (BANNON); AP PHOTO/MATT ROURKE (PRIEBUS); AP PHOTO/MANUEL BALCE CENETA (KENNEDY)

If Pence masterminds the new administration’s assault on LGBT rights, Trump’s cabinet secretaries will be the ones to carry out the attack. By nominating far-right hard-liners to head powerful federal agencies, Trump can easily void many gains Obama has secured for LGBT people through agency rule-making. Obama’s appointees have interpreted bans on “sex discrimination” in existing civil rights law to include sexual orientation and gender identity; as a result, they have granted LGBT people new protections in housing, credit, education, and employment. Trump’s appointees will quietly reverse these interpretations, stripping LGBTs of vital federal protections.

These reversals should be met with public protests. Americans are accustomed to debating the merit of new rights for LGBT people; the revocation of existing rights is more troubling, and it has proved to be politically unpopular. When North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed HB2, repealing LGBT nondiscrimination ordinances in several cities, his actions spurred a nationwide outcry and a crippling boycott that ultimately cost him re-election. The Trump administration’s inevitable rollback of rules protecting transgender schoolchildren and gay employees should provoke a similar backlash—if the country pays attention.

LGBT advocates should also prepare for a drawn-out brawl over bills designed to legalize discrimination in the guise of “religious liberty.” Pence’s “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” allowed “religious belief” to supercede nondiscrimination ordinances in certain circumstances; congressional Republicans appear poised to offer Trump an even more extreme variation on this genre. Their “First Amendment Defense Act” would broadly legalize any antiLGBT discrimination ostensibly required by one’s “religious belief or moral conviction.” Under FADA, federal grantees, like drug treatment programs and homeless shelters, could turn away gay people; businesses could refuse to let gay employees care for a sick spouse; and the government would be barred from revoking a university’s tax exemption for firing LGBT employees. Even low-level government workers could refuse to process same-sex couples’ tax returns, visa applications, or Social Security checks.

FADA is, predictably, popular among Republicans.

Conservative hard-liners still perturbed about marriage equality view it as a legislative priority. Democrats can likely stop it in the Senate with a filibuster or a few crossover votes.

But Republicans won’t risk bucking the commands of their leadership unless they feel the heat of a boiling, coast-to-coast outrage. Liberals should devote an abundance of resources to thwarting FADA; defeating the bill might temper Republicans’ interest in future anti-LGBT measures.

WILL NOT RETREAT; WE WILL NOT BECOME INVISIBLE; WE WILL NOT STOP DEMANDING THE FULL ARRAY OF RIGHTS THAT ARE OWED TO US UNDER THE LAW. people. The second is for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to decide that these laws already extend to LGBT people, in the form of “sex discrimination” bans—and for the Supreme Court to affirm that interpretation. Neither path is currently plausible: Republicans will not pass the Equality Act; Trump’s appointments to the EEOC will be anti-LGBT; and the Supreme Court will remain at least one vote away from a broad interpretation of sex discrimination.

Instead of wasting energy on the federal level, then, LGBT advocates should find room for improvement in the states. North Carolina once again provides a good example. When McCrory overreached, progressive groups launched a brilliant campaign to replace him with a progressive, Attorney General Roy Cooper.

McCrory’s anti-LGBT crusade was an albatross around his neck; Cooper’s pro-LGBT bona fides lifted him to the governor’s mansion, where he can work to undo McCrory’s damage.

Democrats, whose authority at the state level has been collapsing since 2010, should follow that model during the Trump years. In 2017, Democrats must strive to hold the Virginia governorship and replace New Jersey’s Chris Christie with a liberal. In 2018, Democrats have a real opportunity to elect progressive governors in Florida, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Wisconsin. These governors can work to expand LGBT protections—and veto gerrymanders that would permanently entrench an anti-LGBT Republican majority in the statehouse.

Meanwhile, every supporter of LGBT rights should get involved with their communities to protect the most vulnerable among us. Young queer people will soon face a barrage of hate, which starts at the top and trickles down into the classroom and home. LGBT youth homelessness will remain a persistent problem. Same-sex couples seeking to adopt may face new barriers put up by resistant states and sanctioned by Trumpstacked courts. National advocacy groups remain important, but LGBT-focused charities and legal aid funds need our support now more than ever.

5. Change the legal strategy.

For years, LGBT legal advocates have been on the offense.

After knocking down same-sex-marriage bans, advocates began pursuing new arguments to guide the law toward greater equality. Specifically, they argued that anti-trans laws constitute sex discrimination in violation of the Equal Protection Clause, and that state laws like North Carolina’s, which repeal local LGBT nondiscrimination ordinances, are motivated by unconstitutional animus.

I would not be so presumptuous as to advise trans advocates that they should stop defending their rights in court. But I fear that the current strategy may lead to disaster. With Trump sure to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia with a rock-ribbed conservative, we will once again rely on Justice Anthony Kennedy to come through on every LGBT-rights case. But Kennedy is not especially progressive on sex-discrimination issues and will be hesitant to grant broad equal-protection

rights to trans people. A blockbuster trans case that ends in defeat will enshrine into law a terrible precedent that may not be overturned for decades.

Roberta Kaplan, the attorney who toppled the federal Defense of Marriage Act as well as Mississippi’s same-sexadoption ban, thinks activists should shift their focus to blatantly hateful and extreme laws that explicitly license religious-based discrimination. Last summer, Kaplan persuaded a judge to block Mississippi’s HB 1523, which would have legalized anti-LGBT discrimination in housing, employment, education, adoption, medical treatment, public accommodations, and marriage licensing. Kaplan focused on the Equal Protection Clause’s synergy with the Establishment Clause, which prevents the state from favoring one religion over another. A federal judge cited her theory in halting the law, ruling that it “establishes an official preference for certain religious beliefs…at the expense of other citizens”—namely, LGBT people. Kaplan thinks Kennedy will agree with that decision.

“A lot of lawyers argue these as equal-protection cases,” Kaplan told me. “But they’re going to have to become wellversed in the Establishment Clause, too—if they want to win.”

6. Don’t lose hope, and don’t back down.

The past eight years have marked a new era of openness in the United States. As I spoke to LGBT friends following the election, the concern I heard most often is that this sexual glasnost will be replaced with repression and fear. I understand this anxiety, but I doubt LGBT Americans will suddenly feel more compelled to remain in or re-enter the closet, muffle their self-expression, or cede their right to equal dignity. Marriage equality marked a point of no return, and we are still just beginning to experience the benefits that will flow from that decision. We will not retreat; we will not become invisible; we will not stop demanding the full array of rights that are owed to us under the law.

I asked Evan Wolfson, the architect of marriage equality in America, how he thought the LGBT community could best protect its rights in the era of Trump.

“We must continue to bring the marriage conversation, with all the visibility and empathy it fosters for gay and trans people and our loved ones, to more parts of the country—and world,” he told me. Marriage equality didn’t solve everything, but its “aspirational power,” he said, can be used to mitigate homophobia and encourage more-humane LGBT laws.

Wolfson doesn’t see the 2016 election as a sign that LGBT advocates pushed too far, too fast. He sees it as an incongruity, a temporary setback. We will, he believes, resume our march toward progressivism in 2020—so long as we resist the temptation to lose hope.

“We must muster hope, clarity, and tenacity to build on what we have won,” Wolfson said, “marshal the allies and assets that these anomalous results did not magically erase, and get America back on track.” ◆ FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 THE ADVOCATE 45

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OUR OW N O DY S S E Y W H I L E I T ’ S N O T E X A C T LY H O W O DY S S E U S D I D I T, H E C O U L D H AV E L E A R N E D A T H I N G O R T W O ON THIS AEGEAN JOURNEY F R O M I S T A N B U L T O AT H E N S .

BY MATTHEW BREEN

O

SHUTTERSTOCK

View on Skiathos town and Tsugriaki islet from above, Skiathos island, Sporades archipelago, Greece

The Parthenon, Athens

n an early September evening in the Aegean, somewhere between the Greek island of Lemnos and the mainland, seven gay men and everyone’s new bestie, singer Abigail Zsiga, are literally hanging out over the bow of a gorgeous clipper ship. We are tanned from the day and tipsy on mai tais, laughing and taking pictures as we zip over the deep blue toward the horizon under fiery slashes of an orange and pink sunset. We’re hanging on tightly to our smartphones, as there’s no going back for anything that falls through the thick rope net that holds us up over the flashing sea 30 feet below.

This moment is exactly the kind I’d hoped the trip would offer. I didn’t think twice when offered the chance to board that dramatic SPV Royal Clipper again—it had provided immeasurable relief to my polar-vortex doldrums in the Caribbean in 2014—and this time it was for a Brand G cruise from Istanbul to Athens, with Turkish and Greek ports, on the mainland and islands, for an entire week.

The trip featured a ton of upsides: an all-LGBT cruise (nearly all gay men, one lesbian couple), a truly romantic tall ship (based on the Preussen, a famous German five-mast windjammer, circa 1902), ports of call including some significant sites of antiquity, a relatively small passenger manifest ( just 227 at maximum), and ports that the big cruise ships don’t have access to, making the experience more about sailing and the destinations, and less about cruising.

But not all can be perfect. There’s inherent risk in traveling, and sometimes world events get in the way of even the best-laid plans: Between the booking and setting sail, a shocking coup d’état was attempted in Turkey, against state institutions and the repressive government of President Recep Tayyip Erdog˘ an, organized by a faction of the Turkish Armed Forces. The faction attempted to seize control of key cites in Ankara, Istanbul, and elsewhere, ultimately failing, but not before 300 people were killed and more than 2,000 were injured. Since the coup, 40,000 people have been detained, including soldiers, judges, and teachers. I had to think hard about my own safety but also the safety of any LGBT visitor to whom The Advocate might recommend a destination. And Turkey was not currently an uncomplicated destination. Istanbul is a vibrant cosmopolitan metropolis, and Turkey is a secular state, but a coup is a coup, and the shift toward religious extremism tinged the coup and Erdog˘ an’s response.

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Skiathos, Greece

Royal Clipper excursions

Brand G, the gay-travel company chartering the ship, was quick to inform and protect the welfare of the passengers. “We are working closely with our land providers and port security to minimize risks in Turkey,” Jeff Gundvaldson, owner and operator of Brand G, told me a month before departure. “We plan to break up our [pre-departure] Istanbul tours into smaller groups to avoid drawing too much attention. Our ground operators will also implement other security measures to help keep our guests safe. For those who wish to avoid spending time in Istanbul, we have made it easy for them to go directly to the ship for boarding.”

Ultimately there were no incidents, on a large or small scale, and no one was harassed or troubled in Istanbul. But because of decreased tourism from the West, I experienced something I never thought I would feel, at least not in any major city in the 21st century: the sensation of being the only Westerner in a place. (Obviously I wasn’t, but nevertheless I could imagine myself traveling in a pre-globalization Turkey.) My husband and I visited the most famous tourist destinations—the labyrinthine Grand Bazaar, the intricate Blue Mosque, the sprawling Topkapi Palace, the Basilica Cistern with its inscrutable Medusa heads, and the Hagia Sophia—but never lined up for tickets or fought crowds to see the sights. And walking down I˙stiklal Caddesi, Istanbul’s famed high street down from Taksim, I saw Turks and visitors from Arab states but no obvious North Americans or Europeans. We ate mountains of fresh seafood and classical Turkish cuisine, got a scrub in a 15th-century hammam, and as we left the Istanbul port at night following a passenger meet and greet, the glowing minarets and domes receded in the darkness.

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That first evening Abigail, a singer best known for her EDM anthem “Let the Joy Rise,” performed a set of stripped-down songs on piano with guitar accompaniment by her husband, Andrew Zsigmond. I plopped down on a deck chair next to the musicians on deck later, and we became fast friends, drinking and geeking out on the Milky Way, so clearly visible far from the lights of land.

The next morning we arrived at the Turkish port of Çanakkale, and though the sky was calm, the seas were rough, prohibiting most ship-to-shore trips. On board, Evan Wolfson of Freedom to Marry gave a talk and answered questions from passengers about the state of LGBT rights and marriage equality internationally. We stayed on board, reading and soaking in the sun until the dance party in the Tropical Bar that evening.

At about 9 a.m. the next morning, September 5, we approached the port of Myrina on the Greek island of Lemnos.

On shore, we hiked the ruins of the fortress overlooking the port; it was built in the 13th century on the site of 12th-century Byzantine fortifications and even earlier ancient ramparts (built by the apocryphal Amazon women of Lemnos?). After a walk through the alleys of shops and a coffee on the other side of the island, we had lunch at a quiet outdoor taverna with rickety tables next to the port’s small Manos beach. It was one of the simplest and best meals I can remember, of Greek salad, tender octopus, sardines, and a jug of dry “Moshato” white wine.

The feta, seafood, produce, wine, and olive oil were all locally sourced, and so fresh I could taste the sunshine in the food.

The island of Skiathos, which we visited the following day, was more heavily trafficked, and the waterfront was covered

SHUTTERSTOCK(BASILICA CISTERN, SUPER PARADISE BEACH, AND THE BLUE MOSQUE); COURTESY OF BRAND G VACATIONS(SKIATHOS, AND ROYAL CLIPPER EXCURSIONS); COURTESY OF ZSIGA(ZSIGA)

Basilica Cistern, Istanbul

Super Paradise Beach, Mykonos

Abigail Zsiga

CRUISING THE DANUBE A week’s grand tour down Europe’s bluest highway.

COURTESY OF BRAND G VACATIONS(MS AMADEUS SILVER)

The Blue Mosque, Istanbul

end to end with populated cafés, their chairs and couches facing the water for optimal sun and views of incoming ships.

Alleyways and narrow roads led up the steep hills to tavernas, little bars (they would open later in the evening), and thousands of picturesque whitewashed houses. A mile-long walk over the top of one hilltop and down led to an especially narrow beach, where we rented chaises, swam, and nursed a beer as the sun sank and the tide rose. Later we found a taverna and ordered the most delicious moussaka and a bottle of red wine suggested by our waitress. The elderly English couple at the next table confessed they were envious of our ride, the impressive five-masted clipper they’d noticed coming into the harbor.

That night, Toronto-based drag artist Miss Conception (a.k.a.

Kevin Levesque) performed her Hollywood-inspired quickchange act: For each musical number, a layer of sequined costuming was shed in a flash to zip between The Sound of Music’s Maria, the Cowardly Lion, and Little Orphan Annie.

That next night onboard, after a day of stand-up paddleboarding and kayaking on a little beach near Poros, Abigail added an impromptu performance to the schedule. She sang some of her club hits for a tea dance on the top deck as the sun set. The White Party that followed was the last of the dance parties on the ship, and the diehards and those who had skipped most of the dancing so far came out for a last hurrah.

We arrived in Mykonos about 1 p.m. on September 8 and made our way by taxi to Super Paradise Beach, a gay-popular beach on which three or four beach clubs offer chaises and umbrellas for rent (or you can sit on the pebbly sand free of charge). At the far end of the beach, go-go dancers on elevated

Brand G takes travelers to all parts of the world, including tours through the Amazon and river cruises in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar (all in 2017), but its Danube River Cruise has long been a staple, and some guests return year after year. It’s been described as a “gateway drug” for those into cruising, or who’ve never done a cruise before, or who aren’t quite certain they’re Mekong River–ready, or for gay men who’ve graduated from party cruises.

This summer’s trip (August 11–20) begins in Prague, a beautiful and preserved old-world city characterized by labyrinthine cobblestone alleys, Bohemian art, Gothic cathedrals, and the best beer in Europe. From there, the cruise travels down the Danube to Passau, Germany, followed by several days in the Austrian cities of Linz, Melk (site of Benedictine Abbey), Weissenkirchen, and the stately former

imperial capital, Vienna. Out-oftime Bratislava, Slovakia, and dramatic Budapest, Hungary, end the trip, underscoring Brand G’s focus on history, dining, music, and the cultural offerings of each locale—on an allLGBT charter.

The ship, the MS Amadeus Silver (12 suites, 78 staterooms), includes spacious public areas, an outdoor glass-shielded terrace for great views in any weather, lounges, a bar, a fitness room, a salon, and a massage treatment room. And, unlike almost any cruise, the wine and beer are included, as are airport transfers and complimentary bicycles. Add-ons include additional hotel nights (pre– and post-cruise), Salzburg’s Sound of Music tour, and biking tours.

boxes shimmied to dance music while an emcee hosted a wet T-shirt contest, or drinking contest, or some other competition in which being drunk and wet was an advantage. We opted for the other end of the beach, for a slightly more sedate experience (no emcee, no club bangers), though there wasn’t a spot on Super Paradise that wasn’t a scene of one kind or another.

In small groups, tanned men (and some women) chatted and showed off their physiques in fitted brief-cut swimsuits, some smoking or drinking from bottles of beer. Some even swam. I didn’t get a lot of reading done; there was plenty to watch without cracking open my book.

A few of us from the cruise took a taxi to Elysium, a gay hotel set in the hillside above the port—the ideal spot for a sunset cocktail; from ocean liners to yachts of the mega-wealthy, all the ships’ lights went up as the sun went down. We walked down the hill to the town, through the twists and turns of the alleyways crammed with shops, restaurants, bars, and vacationers all enjoying the warmth of a late summer night, and made a pub crawl out of several of the gay bars on the island (favorites were Jackie O’ and Porta Bar).

Very early on the morning of September 10 we disembarked at the port of Athens, having sailed a total of 693 nautical miles. We settled our bar tab, collected our luggage and passports, and joined the ship’s tour of the spectacular Acropolis and museum. A final cocktail party atop the Electra Palace hotel capped off the trip. We had sparkling wine and grappa and took pictures and swapped email addresses with new friends against an amazing backdrop, the Parthenon atop its mesa, lit up at night. ◆ FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 THE ADVOCATE 49

Greenland: Singular, Spectacular, Surprising Exploring the island at edge of the earth by helipcopter, dogsled, and skiis.

A hiker in Ilulissat, Greenland gazes at the northern lights.

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VISIT GREENLAND / PAUL ZIZKA

BY CHRISTOPHER LISOTTA

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Flightseeing with Air Zafari near Iluliartoq, Greenland

via jet—Air Greenland from Copenhagen, a four-and-a-half-hour journey.

Patti Smith’s memoir M Train was my travel read for my flight to Kangerlussuaq (pronounced Ganger-slush-shark).

As we descended, Smith revealed to me her interest in Alfred Wegener, the father of plate-tectonics theory, who died on the Greenland ice sheet in 1930. Smith belonged to the Continental Drift Club, a 27-member fraternity of scientists and mathematicians—plus the rock icon—that honored Wegener. I was surprised to read that Smith hadn’t made it to Greenland just as our final approach revealed the massive U.S.-built airstrip that sat at the end of a fjord. The water was a bright blue, seemingly more Caribbean than Arctic, and contrasted the silver-gray silt interlaced with the craggy rock that formed the landscape around the handful of buildings clustered near the runway.

Kangerlussuaq’s terrain has more in common with California’s high desert than anything I imagined I’d see in the Arctic. One of the driest parts of Greenland, the airstrip was a smart location choice for World War II–era military

planners because its 300-plus days of sunshine meant easy landings. While its neighbor to the east, Iceland, defined by its sharp black rock, is geologically new, Greenland is billions of years old, its rolling hills shades of gray, brown, and red, although the locals noted that six weeks before I arrived, the hills were a mossy green. There are no native trees.

On my second day I climbed aboard a Sikorsky helicopter and flew out to the ice sheet. We landed on a moraine, a massive pile of gravel that had been pushed forward over the centuries by the ebbing and flowing wall of ice. The bedrock was striated with tiger-like stripes of dark and light gray, while nearby the ice sheet soared above. Huge blocks of ancient blue ice sat crumbled in front of us. The experience was spectacular.

For U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Rufus Gifford, who married his husband while serving in Copenhagen, Greenland is a destination for LGBT travelers for the exact same reason it is for everyone else.

“This is not the place where you spend the day at a hotel,” Gifford said, noting that Greenland is the ultimate adventure-

VISIT GREENLAND / MADS PIHL

“GREENLAND HAS ICE, and Iceland is green.” So said everyone who knew I was Greenland-bound. They all admitted the factoid was something they learned in fourth grade, but that’s where their knowledge of the world’s largest island stopped, as if it were the edge of some unfathomable glacial cliff.

My knowledge wasn’t much better. I thought Greenland was part of Denmark (it’s an independent country with strong ties to Denmark) and volcanic (it’s not; that’s Iceland). But as one of 40 people attending Location Greenland 2.0, a seminar hosted by the country’s film and tourism boards to promote Greenland as a destination for production, my knowledge would be increasing exponentially.

For most transatlantic travelers, Greenland is a flyover. From a jetliner, the shock of vast white initially appears to be a low cloud bank, but it’s Greenland’s ice sheet, nearly 700,000 square miles and almost two miles thick. Unlike its neighbor Iceland, which is easily accessible from dozens of cities in North America and Europe, there’s just one way to Greenland on a regularly scheduled flight

travel destination. “For you to fully experience the magnificence of the place, you need to get on a helicopter, or in a kayak, or on a dogsled. You need to put on your hiking boots and maybe even spend the night in a tent.”

Gifford didn’t know what to expect on his first trip, either. Flying from Kangerlussuaq to a smaller outpost, he was stunned by the countless icebergs floating off the coast. “My colleague and I were pointing and taking pictures,” he recalled. “The Greenlanders on the plane were laughing at us…. As if they were saying ‘Just you wait.’ And yes, it only got better—glaciers, icebergs, whales…everywhere you look is awe-inspiring.”

Gifford’s most memorable trip was accompanying a Danish military unit that patrols Greenland’s eastern coast on dogsled and cross-country skis. It was February, and after five hours of dogsledding, Gifford ended up on the ice sheet. It was –36 degrees. “The most uncomfortable I have ever been,” he admitted. As moisture from his breathing froze in his beard, a member of the patrol got Gifford out of his tent to see the northern lights. “The locals believe that they represent the spirits of their ancestors, and I could see why,” he explained.

“Then the dogs started howling. And the moon lit up the snow and ice. I laughed and felt so grateful that I have been able to see this part of the world.”

Despite being a remote place dominated by a traditional indigenous culture (an Inuit dialect

A dogsled team near Ilulissat, Greenland

Greenland’s capital, Nuuk, may not be in league with Amsterdam or Sydney, but the city of 17,000 hosts an annual Pride.

Nuka Bisgaard, 26, is the brainchild behind the now five-years-running event.

Growing up in Nuuk, Bisgaard knew she was part of the LGBT community at 13; she came out as gay at 17 and transgender at 23. Coming out wasn’t easy for Bisgaard, but “what makes it special here in Greenland is that everyone knows each other,” she explained. “So if one knows it, everybody knows it. It is much better to live as an LGBT person in Greenland right now at the moment than it was around 10 years ago. We are a diverse community and have become more tolerant of the unknown.”

Bisgaard launched Nuuk Pride after being frustrated by online dating sites,

native who leads an LGBT group in Nuuk. “How are the state of LGBT rights there? You don’t have to make those considerations going here.”

Bisgaard noted that travel to the most remote parts of Greenland wouldn’t be an issue for gay and lesbian visitors.

“You will notice a different atmosphere,” she admitted. “But I would not say it is negative, because it may well be they have never seen a person like you before.

They’re just curious. So it’s all about ‘just to be open.’ ” That curiosity and acceptance has actually made community-organizing difficult for Rosing. “We don’t really have a need to meet up as LGBT people,” she said. “I think people are perfectly more or less happy out in their communities.

We don’t have a space we go and meet

“Then the dogs started howling. And the moon lit up the snow and ice.” is one of three widely spoken languages, along with Danish and English), much of Greenland is Scandinavian in attitude when it comes to LGBT issues: Marriage equality was unanimously approved by the parliament in 2015. “I never have encountered any resistance to my sexuality in any of my trips there,” Gifford noted.

where 80% of Greenlandic posters didn’t have “a profile picture or anything that hinted they were a living person.”

Bisgaard nervously anticipated the reaction from her community, but the initial response went beyond her wildest expectations. The first year Nuuk Pride attracted 1,500 attendees, quickly becoming Greenland’s second-largest demonstration ever.

“When I think of going to travel to other countries that aren’t Nordic, I think, Will it be safe for us to be there?” explained Ivalu Rosing, 29, a Greenland

up, which I think probably translates as weird because it’s so established in other places.”

For Rosing, Greenland is unique in providing everyone with a similar yet singular experience. “You come here and you realize how big the world is,” she explained. “If I walk 20 minutes out from my house, there are no streetlights and there’s northern lights and stars.

It’s more an existential experience than any other thing. You’re stripped away of all the different filters you’re seen as by other people.” ◆ FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 THE ADVOCATE 53

HAWAII FOR FAMILY

Disney Aulani Waikolohe Valley

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CREDIT TK

A WELCOMING HAWAIIAN SPIRIT FREES LGBT FAMILIES TO SET ASIDE ANXIETIES AND TAKE IN ALL THE SENSES. BY BRYAN VAN GORDER

AULANI, DISNEY RESORT AND SPA

IF EVERY MOVIE OR TELEVISION SHOW

set in Hawaii is to be believed, a visit to the Aloha State begins with a lei being put around your neck the moment you touch ground. Indeed, no sooner had we stepped out of the car in the porte cochere of the Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa on the island of Oahu than we were each greeted by a pair of outstretched arms bearing one of the traditional floral necklaces. What my cynical mind assumed was a contrivance meant solely to delight tourists, in fact, symbolized so much more. Leis are given to visitors as a sign of affection and respect, a gesture that says, “Welcome to our ‘ohana—welcome to our family.”

For many Hawaiians, the idea of ‘ohana is something strongly felt. It includes not only blood relatives but also an extended family of in-laws, friends, and neighbors whom they often lovingly refer to as aunty, uncle, cuz, sista, or brah. And, for the duration of our stay at Aulani, we were certainly made to feel as though we were ‘ohana.

For LGBT travelers, the feeling that you are welcome—let alone family—can be elusive in many parts of the world, and even in many parts of the United States, for that matter. And since I had brought a member of my own family with me on this trip, this gesture of reassurance did not go unnoticed. In a 2014 survey, the Census Bureau counted more than 780,000 same-sex households in the United States (an increase of nearly 25% from 2010). Of those homes, 17% reported having children, and that number is growing. That means there will be more and more LGBT families traveling together in the very near future, and those families will undoubtedly seek out destinations where the adults can relax, the kids can keep busy, and everyone will feel like ‘ohana.

Set on more than 20 oceanfront acres, Aulani offers guests of every age the opportunity to immerse themselves in Hawaiian history and culture against the backdrop of a thoughtfully conceived lush, tropical paradise. And, although it’s hard to escape the fact that this is Hawaii as seen through a Disney lens—there’s a character breakfast each morning—its particular brand of magic feels much less overt than at any one of Disney’s theme parks. In fact, Disney wanted to honor the traditions of Hawaiian architecture and respect for the land and worked

Disney Aulani Rainbow Reef

closely with local advisers to ensure they offered as authentic an experience as possible.

Aulani owns one of the world’s largest private collections of contemporary Hawaiian art, with more than 50 pieces on display at the hotel. Guests can brush up on the correct pronunciation of humuhumunukunukuapua‘a (the name of the state fish) or learn other useful phrases while sipping tropical cocktails ¯ lelo Room lounge, where all of at the ‘O the bartenders are fluent in Hawaiian.

Ukulele lessons are offered in the Pau Hana community room, and Uncle brings local lore to life through his storytelling sessions at the Mo‘olelo fire pit.

The seven-acre water playground, with its many pools, waterslides, the Waikolohe Stream lazy river, and the Rainbow Reef snorkel experience, are the focal points of the property and are sure to keep any adventurous member of the family busy.

When it comes time for the adults to enjoy some time to themselves—enjoying the outdoor hydrotherapy garden at the on-property Laniwai Spa, for instance— they can drop off the kids (ages 3 to 12) at Aunty’s Beach House for supervised play.

The Aulani certainly offers enough activities to keep a family occupied for a number of days. However, there are plenty of places to explore within a short

drive of the resort too. For these, a rental car is recommended, as taxis and rideshare services like Uber can be pricey.

For a bit of a cosmopolitan adventure, head into Waikiki, Honolulu’s beachfront neighborhood, synonymous with surfing and home to many of the island’s luxury shops, nightclubs, and restaurants.

Alternatively, spend a morning strolling through the beautiful grounds of Waimea Valley (WaimeaValley.net) that lead up to its grand waterfall. For centuries, Oahu’s high priests lived in and protected this sacred place, now a sanctuary for the hundreds of indigenous and endangered species of plants and animals not found anywhere else in the world.

On the way back, stop by Haleiwa Village for a bit of shopping and lunch at Fatboy’s (FatboysHawaii.com), a plate-lunch joint that serves up generous helpings of poké and loco moco (a dish consisting of rice, a hamburger patty, fried eggs, and gravy). For dessert, get in line at nearby Matsumoto’s (MatsumotoShaveIce.com), where they have been delighting visitors and locals alike with shaved ice in dozens of delicious combinations since 1951. ◆ For more information on Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa, visit Resorts.

Disney.Go.com/Aulani-Hawaii-Resort.

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SAMRA HABIB

El-Farouk Khaki

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QUEERING ISLAM Three out imams are upending the idea that LGBT people are not welcome in Islam, while offering comfort and self-acceptance to congregations that seek a welcoming faith.

BY SAMRA HABIB

S

omething groundbreaking happened after the Orlando shooting at Pulse nightclub in June of this year, the deadliest mass shooting in the history of the United States. Days after Omar Mateen opened fire at the gay and Latino nightclub, leaving 49 dead and 53 wounded, there was a noticeable presence of queer Muslim voices in the media—a media that hasn’t always been kind to Muslims.

In previous years, after tragic events occurred in which the perpetrator had a relationship with Islam, Muslim voices were largely absent from the press. What usually ensued was a lot of finger-pointing and painting of Islam as a breeding ground for terrorists who were mostly anti-American.

In 2014, Bill Maher stated on his HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher that “vast numbers of Muslims...believe...that humans deserve to die for merely holding a different idea” and that they share “too much in common with ISIS.” There were no Muslims invited to be on the panel to speak about their lived experiences.

On another occasion, TV host Jeanine Pirro issued a sevenminute dialogue on Fox News, urging the United States to send death squads throughout the Muslim world to kill Islamists.

According to Media Tenor, a research institute that analyzes media coverage, from 2007 to 2013, more than 80% of the media coverage on NBC and CBS about Muslims was negative. Stories that dominated airtime ranged from international terrorism to regional conflicts. The study also concluded that in most cases, Muslims were not included in mainstream media as experts on Islam.

That changed a bit after the Orlando shootings. Perhaps in

an effort to avoid the us-versus-them narrative, media offered many queer Muslims a platform to share how they too were in mourning and how they often felt doubly ostracized. Voices addressed the need to dismantle Islamophobia and homophobia and the notion that Islam is a monolithic religion. The unifying sentiment echoed among the wide range of queer Muslim voices was the need to include the experiences of queer Muslims in the dialogue around LGBT equality in America.

Faisal Alam of the Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity told MSNBC’s Brian Williams “We do have to work on homophobia and Islamophobia at the same time. And our communities need to work together to build more harmony, interfaith dialogue, and more understanding on diverse sexualities and genders that exist in this country.”

He added of the Pulse victims, “It could’ve been any one of us within the LGBT community, including myself.”

Queer Muslims’ willingness to boldly align themselves with the LGBT community in an open way hasn’t always been the case. No doubt social media has had a huge role to play in nudging queer Muslims toward self-acceptance despite the backlash many feel at home or in traditional mosque spaces.

The emergence of LGBT-friendly mosque spaces, founded by LGBT Muslim activists who often felt alienated in traditional mosques and queer spaces, have become incubators for selfacceptance for many who have been told that there was no place for them in Islam. For the most part, queer imams across North America are advocating for personal interpretations of the Koran for followers who don’t want to denounce the religion. Not only FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 THE ADVOCATE 57

are they validating the experiences of queer Muslims by creating inclusive spaces, they’re reimagining the role the mosque should play in the 21st century for all Muslims.

IT’S THE FIRST COOL DAY of fall in Toronto,

but the sudden chill in the air and torrential rain are not enough to stop the gathering of Kelly Wentworth Muslims at Unity mosque. It’s a makeshift prayer space at a women’s medical center attended by queer Muslim refugees seeking asylum, young LGBT Canadian Muslims, new converts, and straight allies. For many, the weekly gathering is the only community they have after having been rejected in their native countries for being queer or not connecting with the LGBT community in Canada.

After the prayer, everyone shares what they would like to pray for that day as people sit in a circle, warming their hands with hot cups of Daayiee Abdullah caffeine-free tea that is served after the prayer.

This is also an opportunity for the attendees to share topics for which they need support: ailing loved ones, refugee trials, or passing university exams. The central figure in this gathering is El-Farouk Khaki, who helped start Unity mosque in 2009. After most of the congregation gets up to leave the room, three 20-something queer Muslims crowd around the openly gay human rights lawyer and imam.

It’s easy to see El-Farouk Khaki as a comforting father figure to whom young queer Muslims gravitate. Instead of reciting a list of dos and don’ts in his Friday sermon, he talks about healing and self-care, topics that are welcomed by mosque attendees who have been traumatized during their upbringing through experiencing rejection by family and mainstream mosques.

One of the three 20-somethings is boasting about using a newly launched halal nail polish on her fingers. Brands like Orly have launched a breathable nail polish as a response to many Muslim women’s concern that wearing nail polish prevents water from permeating the nails, making ablution—the ritual cleansing that must take place before prayer—less than optimal.

Khaki wonders about the need for the product: “Aren’t your nails already clean before you apply nail polish? You’re probably not applying nail polish to dirty fingernails,” he remarks as the trio smirks.

Unlike at traditional mosques, everything is open for debate and dialogue at Unity mosque. Congregants are encouraged to speak about their individual experiences with the religion. It makes sense that Khaki would launch the mosque to create a safe space for everyone who feels unsafe in society. Growing up in Tanzania, where he was one of the few brown-skinned 58

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people in black Africa, and then moving to Canada with his family, he always felt like a minority. Although his parents grew up in the Shia community, they later started identifying as Sunnis when Khaki was a child, and he felt out of place in both sects. He tried being Sunni in his 20s but realized that sectarianism didn’t reflect his relationship with Islam.

“I think that’s something that a lot of people are realizing, especially new converts who are entering Islam,” explains Khaki, referring to how pledging allegiance to sects is losing its appeal. “Prophet Muhammad was neither Sunni nor Shia. So I gave that sectarianism away because it doesn’t mean anything to me.”

Khaki is also wary of following strict rituals—like reciting the Koran or praying— that are prescribed by mainstream mosques, without exploring the intention behind them.

Also unique to Unity mosque is the approach to prayer: Though men and women are separated at traditional mosques, everyone prays side by side at Unity mosque.

Noticeable too is that people at Unity are dressed in manners as diverse as the experiences they represent. Some femaleidentifying Muslims wear the hijab, while others are covered in tattoos and piercings and pray without a head covering.

“To relegate an entire spiritual identity of a person into a religious cloth doesn’t make someone a good imam,” Khaki says.

“The most important role I play is soul care—because the other stuff is ritual, which has no meaning in itself. As a religious leader, is instilling fear really enough for your congregation?

What about wholeness and love? That is the role of a religious community.”

Perhaps it is the focus on community health and spiritual wellbeing that attracts the straight allies who identify more with a mosque where all are made to feel welcome.

“The mosque has to take on that role because the world is not providing it. It’s not enough to say that Islam means peace.

That’s complacent. If it meant peace, then the 1.5 billion Muslims in the world should have transformed the planet. And they haven’t,” says Khaki.

The need for introspection and thinking about how mosques are serving a congregation’s needs was top of mind for Khaki and many other LGBT Muslims who did press interviews around the clock in the exhausting weeks following the Orlando shootings.

But the imam happily welcomes that shift.

“I don’t want to be the only one,” he says, referring to the historic lack of LGBT Muslim experts in mainstream media. “It’s good to show that there are actually millions of us.”

“

AN UNEXPECTED TURN OF EVENTS led 38-year-old Kelly

Wentworth to become an imam in Atlanta. After attending Tennessee Technological University, the software engineer was suddenly exposed to engineering students from India, Pakistan, and the Middle East who were Hindu and Muslim, which was a refreshing change from her progressive Baptist upbringing.

“At the time, I honestly didn’t know the difference between Islam and Hinduism,” she admits. “When 9/11 happened, I didn’t know that my Hindu friends at the university were not Muslim.

Catholics were exotic to me.”

In 2003, Wentworth went to an event organized by the Islamic community on campus. There were different types of Muslims from all over the world on campus in the small town; Sufis, Sunnis, and Shias practiced Islam under the same roof.

Wentworth says the community welcomed her curiosity and didn’t push a rigid way of practicing Islam onto her.

Around the same time, Progressive Muslims: On Justice, Gender, and Pluralism, a book edited by Omid Safi, the director of the Islamic Studies Center at Duke University, came out and deeply shaped Wentworth’s burgeoning relationship with Islam. The book includes opinions of 14 Muslim thinkers about the role Islam plays post-9/11 in the modern world. Shortly before graduating, Wentworth traveled to Yemen with her then-partner, and upon her return to Atlanta, she decided that she was going to practice Islam. After finding no communities that accepted LGBT members, Wentworth decided to launch a chapter of Muslims for Progressive Values in Atlanta. MPV is a Los Angeles–based organization that is recognized by the United Nations as an official NGO. It has international chapters and works on advocacy to implement progressive Muslim values as a way to combat radicalization in Islam.

Initially, Wentworth and her then-partner, who together launched the inclusive Muslim space, got a lot of pushback from the Atlanta Islamic community.

“We created a community in Atlanta out of our desire to find something that didn’t segregate men and women and welcomed LGBT Muslims. So we pushed back on the idea that being LGBT is a sin. We believe that not only can people of different genders pray in the same room, they can pray side by side,” Wentworth explains.

The Orlando tragedy drew to the Atlanta Unity mosque a lot of new queer Muslim attendees who needed a place to heal and collectively mourn the lives that were lost.

“There are a lot of struggles that go on with people who have multiple identities, so it’s nice to have a conversation and not shy away from it,” says Wentworth.

SIXTY-TWO-YEAR-OLD DAAYIEE ABDULLAH wasn’t

planning on becoming an imam. But he felt like he had no choice when a Muslim man died from HIV and no one would wash

WE PUSHED BACK ON THE IDEA THAT BEING LGBT IS A SIN. WE BELIEVE THAT NOT ONLY CAN PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT GENDERS PRAY IN THE SAME ROOM, THEY CAN PRAY SIDE BY SIDE.” —KELLY WENTWORTH him, a requirement before a Muslim funeral can take place.

“A guy called me and said [the man] had been at the morgue for a week and asked if I would come wash him and perform his funeral, and I said sure,” he says. “I took the role out of necessity, not desire, because I was interested in dealing with sexual diversity with a Koranic framework.”

Growing up in Detroit exposed Abdullah to people from all over the world who had traveled to the city to work in the auto industry. He grew up going to a Southern Baptist church and told his parents he was gay right after Stonewall. After becoming bored at his job as a court stenographer for the IRS, Abdullah left the United States to study in China, where he was introduced to a softer, kinder, and more loving Islam at Beijing University that he fell in love with.

“I attended a Saudi mosque in Taiwan after leaving China, and I could see the difference right away. In China, they had gay emperors and scholars, so it was not unusual for someone to identify as gay. But being in the Saudi mosque, I understood that it’s Muslim cultures that promote homophobia, not the religion,” he explains.

In order to address the needs of Muslims who are looking for imams who advocate an inclusive version of Islam, Abdullah recently launched the Mecca Institute. The two-year chaplaincy program trains future imams in inclusive Islamic theology.

“My role is to spread progressive Islamic theology around LGBT issues and create alternative voices,” says Abdullah, adding that the program will equip imams to deal with extremism in their communities, which in return will help advocate a more tolerant Islam and, one would hope, create more inclusive spaces that will embrace LGBT Muslims. ◆ FEBRUARY / MARCH 2017 THE ADVOCATE 59

Spectator that theory has been proved wrong in recent years. Instead, the authors of Somebody to Love go back to 1908, the year that the virus that became HIV crossed from chimps to hunters.

Just coincidentally, that’s the year of birth of Freddie Mercury’s father, a Persian who immigrated from Iran to India in order to escape persecution by Muslims.

“Freddie Mercury was one of the first high-profile stars to die from the disease, and his story and the story of AIDS are, to some extent, inextricably linked,” Langthorne says. “It was important to us to use the format of a biography to tell the story of the disease, and who better than Freddie Mercury?” This is a biography unlike others, with Mercury’s story of growing up in an Indian boarding school, a Parsee kid insecure about his overbite and in love with music, alongside contemporaneous scientific information about HIV. The volume will surprise readers expecting a simple fan-focused, photofilled celebrity biography. Langthorne Freddie Mercury Backstage, Queen ‘Breakthru’ says that was the point: “A fan of his Video Shoot, Nene Valley, 1989 would never pick up a book about HIV and AIDS, so we wanted to weave MUSIC / DIANE ANDERSON-MINSHALL the two together, and so it became in itself an opportunity to inform people who wouldn’t necessarily know about this terrible disease and the struggle people lived through.”

Had he not died in 1991 of AIDS-related pneumonia, Mercury would now be 70 years old. But 25 years after his death, The life and death of Freddie Mercury and the history the Mercury bio seems as relevant as ever, obsessed as we are of HIV are all wrapped up in one fascinating new with sexual orientation and public identity, health care and rock biography. resilience, stigma and strength.

Mercury was a curious man, a flamboyant personality long before he was aware of his own same-sex attractions. He devels the singer lay in what would become his deathbed, oped a relationship in his youth with a woman, Mary Austin, his beloved boyfriend was down the hall, the woman whom he would call the love of his life (even while in a longhe called the love of his life was across the pond, and term relationship with a man) and to whom he left nearly medication coursed through his veins, introduced into his his entire estate and his ashes to secretly distribute. While he bloodstream via an expensive Hickman catheter implanted in was with Austin, Mercury began having sex with other men. his neck. The medication, and a faithful servant, would stave Reportedly when Mercury told Austin he was bisexual, she off pain and nausea so he could enjoy his elaborate Japanese said, “No, Freddie, you’re gay.” gardens and lovingly curated London home a bit longer. By The authors of Somebody to Love do their best to dissect this, the time he decided to go off of AZT, a gaggle of paparazzi why Mercury loved other men but put Austin above all others. and celebrity-watchers were stationed outside his home, each Perhaps it was gay shame, Mercury’s internalized homophobia trying to get a glimpse of the much-loved man as he withered echoing society’s belief that gay relationships weren’t “real” away. It seemed that even at the hour of his death, everyone relationships. But, I kept wondering upon reading, could he wanted a piece of Freddie Mercury. really have just been bisexual, in a world that flirted with the In Somebody to Love: The Life, Death and Legacy of Freddie notion but didn’t—and still doesn’t—understand bisexual idenMercury (Weldon Owen), authors Matt Richards and Mark tity, especially in men? In a world where any man who has sex Langthorne offer the first bio of the famous musician and lead with men is automatically considered gay no matter how much singer of Queen to be juxtaposed with the anthropological his- he professes a love of women, could Mercury truly have felt tory of HIV. It is not the history most know, the one that cites torn between these two sides of himself? the “Patient Zero” theory in which a sexually voracious flight It’s an open question, even for the authors, how Mercury attendant introduced it to male lovers across the globe. Indeed, would have identified were he alive today. “I would like to

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© RICHARD YOUNG (MERCURY)

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©WENDY ALLISON (MERCURY&STRAKER)

S PE C TAT OR

think that by now Freddie would have come out of the closet,” Langthorne says. “The world has changed so much. He was a recording artist in the ’70s and ’80s, two decades when the level of homophobia is difficult for anyone born after 1980 to fully comprehend. In particular, Britain and the U.S.A. were scary places for gay people, and the onset of AIDS gave license to the religious fulminators and right-wing zealots.” In fact, Langthorne says he hopes the book “sheds light on the darkest times that so many lived and died through.”

Langthorne himself is a lifelong fan of Queen, in part because the earliest iteration of the band (as Smile) recorded one of their first demos in the bathroom of his stepfather’s cinema, the Regal, in Wadebridge, Cornwall. There was also an apocryphal story that the band played a concert at the village hall in the small town where Langthorne grew up, a fact that was finally proved in research for this book. The author says he saw Queen at Wembley Stadium in 1986 on the Magic tour, their final tour with the original lineup, a concert that will live with him forever.

Richards says he and Langthorne felt the 25th anniversary of Mercury’s death was the right time to re-evaluate the musician’s life. And Somebody to Love is a worthy and moving read, with new information unknown to even ardent fans. It’s the first book to look in detail at Mercury’s battle with HIV, not just his struggle to keep his illness a secret (he announced he had AIDS only a day before he died) but also his sexual awakening, his relationships, and the aftermath of his death, which was rife with homophobia. The book details that cultural homophobia and the way it affected Mercury’s decisions around treatment and his public persona, even influencing his decision to stop appearing in public. At his last public engagement, he was gaunt, with no mustache, and sporting an oversize suit; his only words were “thank you.” The book even narrows down the window of time in which Mercury may have been infected with HIV: “It was during the U.S. leg of the tour that Freddie pursued his desire for gay sex in New York and on September 25th, while appearing on Saturday Night Live, he began exhibiting some symptoms associated with someone recently infected with HIV. In fact, he had secretly seen a doctor in the city some weeks earlier suffering from a white lesion on his tongue (likely to be hairy leukoplakia, one of the first signs of HIV infection) and this points to the period between 26th July and 13th August 1982 when Freddie contracted HIV during a break in the tour in New York.”

While the language is occasionally clunky and outdated at times (some readers will cringe at reading “homosexual” in non-scientific literature), there are also some interesting analyses that queerstudies students could debate for days.

One of them is over the song “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which some have suggested is Mercury’s coming-out opus.

Langthorne and Richards couldn’t get the surviving members of Queen to Diane Andersoncomment anew upon it. “Freddie never Minshall is an confirmed that ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ editor-at-large for The was his coming-out song,” Langthorne Advocate, editor-in-chief admits. “And the other members of of Plus magazine, and Queen who have spoken on the subco-author of the memoir Queerly Beloved. ject have refused to be drawn on the matter.”

But, he says, many interpretations of the song “point to it being a confessional and an illustration of his emotional setting during that period. At the time of writing, he was already embroiled in an affair with David Minns despite living with Mary Austin.” It was Mercury’s first affair with a man; he had been living with Austin for seven years at the time. Music scholar Sheila Whiteley (co-editor of Queering the Popular Pitch) suggested the lyric “Mama, I killed a man” could be his confession that the straight Mercury is gone, and that “Mama Mia, let me go” may be a literal plea to Mary Austin to understand he has to leave.

A six-minute operatic rock bonanza, “Bohemian Rhapsody” has been covered by everyone from Elton John and Axl Rose to Panic! at the Disco and Jennifer Nettles, and among its many awards and placements on “greatest songs of all time” lists, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004.

Queen’s manager at the time, John Reid, spoke to Richards and Langthorne for the first time about the subtext of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” “There’s been so much analysis of the song, but I subscribe to the theory, and I never discussed it with him [Freddie], that it was his coming-out song,” says Reid.

Langthorne says that Mercury considered “Bohemian Rhapsody” to be his greatest accomplishment. Whether or not it was an autobiographical testimony to his homosexuality, the tragic narrative of the song’s text would take on an even greater meaning after his death.

Pairing the musician’s personal history with the medical and cultural environment in which he lived and died, the book is a reminder of how far we’ve come, what we have to lose, and— especially in terms of HIV, our understanding of bisexuality, and sex with men—exactly how far we have yet to go. ◆ Freddie Mercury with clsoe friend and West End star, Peter Straker, at Wessex Studio

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Between the Lines Bookish lesbians found one another in the queer bookstores of an earlier era—and they also discovered community there.

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efore the Internet existed, feminist bookstores were my Google, my Craigslist, my OKCupid—and, of course, my Amazon. When I moved to Madrid in 1989, my first stop was the Librería Mujeres. Sure, I wanted something to read, but I also needed a place to live and to get the scoop on the social scene. I’d spent the previous few years working at Lammas in Washington, D.C., and I was betting that the Spanish store would have its own equivalent of the thick binders of flyers about groups, meetings, and gathering places that women came to Lammas to consult. Sure enough, although the books on its shelves were different, and it had no softball team, the Librería Mujeres provided the connections I couldn’t have found anywhere else. A few days later, I moved into an apartment I found advertised on the shop’s notice board—and that straight roommate introduced me to almost all the queer friends I made that year.

Three decades later, the bookstore scene is very different.

All but a dozen or so of the more than 140 feminist bookstores

that operated in the mid-1990s have closed, and only a handful of LGBT bookshops survive. Still, their legacy remains strong.

In 1967, when Craig Rodwell opened New York’s Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop, and in 1973, when feminist bookstores had been established in at least eight cities across the United States, these locations were much more than retail establishments. They welcomed people of all ages and were free of the risk of exposure that accompanied a trip to a gay bar even into the 1970s. A feminist or queer bookstore was the first explicitly gay-friendly space many young people visited—and for word nerds, they were nirvana. As writer Edmund White once said of Giovanni’s Room, the Philadelphia institution Ed Hermance operated between 1973 and 2014, “The gay bookstore is so important. It’s a non-alcoholic place for cruising.… I think people who are looking for bookworms are not immediately obvious in bars.”

The women’s and LGBT movements for civil rights were driven by injustice, but they were fueled by books. It’s no coincidence that Mo, the central character in Alison Bechdel’s long-running comic strip “Dykes to Watch Out For,” which appeared between 1983 and 2008, spent most of those years working at Madwimmin Books. It was the perfect vantage point from which to chronicle the feminist debates of the era, which played out in books and magazines—and to poke gentle fun at the titles everyone was talking about. In our own era, when people associate “gay culture” with movies and TV shows more than novels, and when Twitter wars have replaced the vigorous debate that often accompanied new nonfiction

Characters from Alison Bechdel’s “Dykes to Watch Out For” lament the closing of the fictional Madwimmin bookstore.

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COURTESY OF BECHDEL

BOOKS / JUNE THOMAS

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“I would not be a writer today if it weren’t for the feminist bookstores that nurtured the publication of books by and about serious, passionate, smart, and often eccentric women, books that fed my young idealist self.” —Lucy Jane Bledsoe

COURTESY OF BLUESTOCKINGS

Bluestockings in New York City

releases, I wonder if readers would even catch the references would not be a writer today if it weren’t for the feminist bookin the satirical book covers—like Boots of Rubber, Isotoners of stores that nurtured the publication of books by and about Gold—Bechdel sprinkled throughout her strips. serious, passionate, smart, and often eccentric women, books In her 2016 novel A Thin Bright Line, Lucy Jane Bledsoe that fed my young idealist self.” recounts a lightly fictionalized version of her lesbian aunt’s In the mid-1990s feminist bookstores pushed the American biography, and many of the key moments in the characters’ Booksellers Association to sue publishers and wholesale dislives coincide with reading books—pulp novels, poetry collec- tributors over the illegal practice of offering larger discounts tions, paradigm-shifting works of nonfiction—that were passed to chain bookstores. By then, though, the end was already in from woman to woman. One 1958 lesbian constantly carries “a sight. Soon, the chains were themselves disrupted by online miniature homosexual library, always stuffed with pamphlets, stores like Amazon—which, let’s remember, used lesbiannewspaper clippings, and books” in her purse. Bledsoe told me baiting tactics when contesting a trademark-infringement she wanted to show that “books were so important to queer lawsuit brought by Minneapolis’s long-established feminist women of that time, the primary way information about the Amazon Bookstore Collective in 1999. Running a successful possibility of queer lives could be shared and learned about.” brick-and-mortar bookstore, which requires heavy investProselytizing for feminist literature was a political cause as ment in inventory, has always been a challenge, but online much as, if not more than, a business venture. Working in a competition, the recent embrace of e-books, and the rising bookstore provided women with essential lessons in working cost of urban real estate put many feminist, LGBT, and other independently and cooperatively and forced them to face the independent bookstores out of business. Gay bookstores also challenges of running an explicitly feminist, anti-racist, queer- had to contend with the increased availability of free online friendly workplace. As well as a source of books and music, porn. In the 1980s, when Lammas was kept afloat by sales of the bookstore was a place of employment, an income stream sappy lesbian romance novels, the gay bookstore my roomfor the craftswomen and jewelers whose work they sold, a mate worked at stayed in business thanks to a back room resource center, a place to buy concert tickets, and a venue to stocked with skin mags. meet other bookish women at hosted readings.

Most of the stores that remain are kept alive by courseIt would be wrong to think of feminist booksellers as book sales for nearby colleges or sidelines like art, jewelry, and women who were passively engaged in distributing products crafts. By the time fictional Madwimmin Books closed in 2002, others created. As Kristen Hogan chronicles in her 2016 book most of its income came from sex toys and the “library o’ lubriThe Feminist Bookstore Movement: Lesbian Antiracism and cants” that had taken over several feet of shelf space.

Feminist Accountability, staffers took the initiative to comBooks still matter, though. In New York, the small but magpile and distribute book lists and worked hard to nificently curated inventory at the Bureau of Genbuild robust sections featuring books by women eral Services—Queer Division, which operates out of color, texts about domestic violence and the of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender effects of sexual abuse, and nonsexist children’s Community Center, is filled with lifesaving and stories, among other subjects. Feminist bookselllife-changing volumes. And these days, physiers quickly realized that their combined buying cal spaces are more precious than ever. Recently, power gave them leverage with publishers. As piowhile bemoaning the lack of women’s spaces even neer bookwoman Carol Seajay wrote in the movein Manhattan, a young queer woman told me that June Thomas writes ment’s bible, Feminist Bookstore News, in the late Bluestockings, the radical bookstore on the Lower about culture for Slate 1970s, 80 stores each selling 50 copies of a new East Side, is a rare spot where women can meet in and edits Outward, book represented half of the 8,000 books publishperson. Bluestockings is a community center, hostthe magazine’s LGBTQ ers believed they needed to sell to make a profit. ing book clubs, yoga classes, and sober poly mixers. section. A native of Armed with this knowledge, feminist booksellers It’s the kind of eclectic, activist space where the Manchester, England, she lives in Brooklyn. pushed reluctant corporations to publish or reispioneers of feminist and LGBT bookselling would sue several important works. Bledsoe told me, “I feel right at home. ◆

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I could always look like a boy very easily, which the fashion industry loved to play up, and there’s something incredibly magical about being mysterious. I just did a photo shoot where I look like I could be Lucky Blue’s brother! I was also attracted to relatable characters that seemed more subversive or rebellious, and I was rebelling against everyone who thought a model should only play the femme fatale or some guy’s pretty girlfriend. I wanted to show that women could do something different and be successful.

You began modeling at a very young age. Was that your first exposure to gay people?

A LIST / BRANDON VOSS

Heroine Chic Milla Jovovich is back again to battle zombies in Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, the sixth and, yes, final installment of the video-game-inspired film series, out January 27. But to her LGBT fans, the Soviet-born beauty has always kicked ass.

You’ve played apocalyptic protagonist Alice since the first Resident Evil film, in 2002. Has she become a part of you?

It’s funny, but Alice has become the best part of me, in a way, especially when I need to be brave or strong. If I’m scared or not feeling good about myself, sometimes I think, What would Alice do?

It’s no wonder the character resonated with queer audiences.

So many action films are led by men, so she’s not your typical hero. Alice goes against the grain. The franchise starts with her not knowing who she is, and she has to find herself and do incredible things on her own. There’s an appeal there for a community that’s been made to feel marginalized.

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Yeah, my upbringing was in the fashion world, working with the most amazing stylists, makeup people, and talented photographers like Herb Ritts and Bruce Weber. I’ve been so inspired by artists who are gay, but I never really thought about it. The first time I saw two boys kiss at a club, it just felt normal to me. Gay people have a sensibility nurtured by the fact that they’re rebels against what was once considered the norm, and I feel you’re always more inspired when you’ve been persecuted or when you’ve had to deal with difficulties in life. So the most creative people I met in the industry were gay guys. To be honest, it was rare to see a straight hairdresser or photographer.

I’d be like, “Do you actually know what you’re doing?”

You’ve spoken at the GLAAD

Media Awards and performed at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Why is it important for you to support the community?

We’re talking about my friends, my colleagues, my mentors, people I’ve known for years, and people I work with every day. So I’ve never thought twice about supporting LGBT rights. I’ve always been attracted to gay people wherever I go, and we’ve had a lot of fun together over the years. You can always count on a good time with your gusband.

Your gusband?

Gay husband! Chris and I met at a very pivotal point in my life. I’d just turned 15, I was making music, and he’s an incredible musician. Instantly, we both just clicked, and we were inseparable. My father was incarcerated at the time, so I was left without a father figure.

Chris was 26, quite a bit older, and he protected me.

He was my buddy but also my voice of reason. And he had a car. He’s always been a big brother to me, and now he’s a fairy godfather to my daughters. I feel really bad for women who don’t have a gusband. Every woman needs that camaraderie with a male without the pressure of physical attraction.

Evan Rachel Wood made headlines a couple of years ago when she revealed her crush on you. Who’s your girl crush?

There was actually someone recently where I was like, “Wow, she’s really hot”: Elizabeth Banks.

I thought you were about to say Ruby Rose, your genderfluid Final Chapter costar.

No, Ruby Rose is a little too boyish for me. If I’m going that way, I’m more of a lipstick lesbian. ◆

BRIAN BOWEN SMITH

As with Alice, there’s an androgynous spirit to many of your most memorable roles, in films like The Fifth Element, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, and Zoolander. What draws you to that androgyny?

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