Losangelesblade.com, Volume 4, Issue 37, September 11, 2020

(Blade photo by Michael Key)

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Rosh Hashanah, Friday, September 18 & Saturday, September 19 Yom Kippur, Sunday, September 27 & Monday, September 28 For full service schedule and tickets, visit: kol-ami.org/hhd

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Plan to Celebrate with us today at kol-ami.org/hhd or by calling (323) 606-0996 Since our founding in 1992, Kol Ami has become an important leader in the Jewish, LGBTQ+, and West Hollywood communities. Our commitment to progressive spirituality, diversity, inclusion and social justice has been celebrated nationwide.

Kol Ami, West Hollywood’s premier Reform synagogue, has grown to be an award winning congregation by daring to be innovative while remaining rooted in Jewish tradition and practice. We hope to connect with you online as we celebrate the New Year together!

LOCAL

A California mountain community loses its heart Gay couple’s legacy vanishes in California’s great fires of 2020

By MIKE SILVERSTEIN they were respected and embraced and very much The Creek Fire racing through the Sierra National Historic Cressman’s, established in 1904, was located on California’s Hwy 168, six miles below the Fresno area’s beautiful Shaver Lake, an area devastated by at the center of this very conservative mountain Forest, fueled by dead trees and undergrowth has 2020’s massive fires. (Photo from Cressman’s Facebook, courtesy Mike Silverstein) community. I’ll never know how many hearts and consumed 143,000 acres so far and destroyed minds they opened by being themselves and setting an estimated 60 homes, but it also destroyed an an example. And, most important, how important institution, a legacy, and the heart of a mountain that example was to young people up there, community. Former ABC News Radio editor and especially those trying to figure out who they are and newswriter Mike Silverstein reports: whether there’s a place for them in the world.

PINE RIDGE — The Creek Fire continues to make When Vince hit the magic age, he was able to retire national headlines. Military chopper pilots and crews from his career as a high school teacher. Two years have rescued another 78 people who had been ago, the guys found a buyer for the general store. trapped on the mountain amid the flames. They have Ty and Tara were a local couple with two kids battled thick smoke and hellish terrain, often trying who loved Cressman’s and didn’t want to change a again and again to land safely. Some of those rescued thing. Nor did any of the neighbors. The sale went have sought safety wading into lakes and reservoirs. seamlessly, and Keith and Vince stuck around long There are still more waiting and praying for rescue. enough to make sure everything went right.

What’s happening is an enormous tragedy, worthy And it did, until the fire. of headline coverage, but within it are thousands of Ty stayed open this weekend as long as he could, personal and family tragedies. staying to provide gasoline and provisions for Our family had to evacuate our home yesterday. firefighters.

More on that later. I’m still trying to process the loss The store, the barn, and the other structures were of a little general store that’s been a part of the area consumed by the fire Monday night. Ty and Tara lost for more than a century, and means a lot to me their home as well. personally.

We haven’t heard from Keith and Vince, but they often spent Labor Day weekend on the We lost Cressman’s General Store to the fire last night. road in their RV, and we hope that’s the case.

Cressman’s was located in Pine Ridge, at the 4,000-foot level, midway from the bottom of The loss of Cressman’s was on the front of the Fresno Bee website this afternoon. Yet the four lane road to Shaver Lake. It had been there since 1904, back when logging was king. another terrible loss in this worst of all years.

Before Shaver and China Peak/Sierra Summit were resorts, and before PG&E built generating Cressman’s was the first thing my cousins told me about when I called them this morning. stuff at Shaver and Huntington and Edison Lakes, Cressman’s was there.

Even before their own situation.

Eight or 10 years ago, Cressman’s was under new ownership.

They had to evacuate our home yesterday afternoon.

“You’ve got to meet Keith and Vince,” my cousin Bobbi excitedly told me. “They are the nicest Even though there are 800 firefighters working out of a command center at Sierra High couple.”

School — practically across the street from our place, it was smoke that forced them out, not Keith Davis had been a buyer for the Gottschalk’s Department store chain, and, after the approaching fire. Al was starting to have trouble breathing and his complexion seemed to Gottschalk’s went belly-up in 2009, he and his partner Vince Wiggins — who was a local high be turning ashen. It was time to get out of Dodge. school teacher — decided to pursue their dream and they bought the little old general store Living in fire country, you always keep the valuable papers and family memorabilia together halfway up the mountain. and organized, just in case. They were able to gather what they needed and take it with them.

They lowered the price of gasoline, charging less than the station at the bottom of the Soon after they left, a mandatory evacuation order went into effect. mountain and less than the stations up in Shaver. They dramatically upgraded food choices The three daughters are in three different locations, the two youngest grandsons are staying and quality, offering local favorites like beerocks and breakfast burritos, as well as really good with their father 200 miles away. And the three college age grandkids are staying with friends pizza. You could buy pizza by the slice, by the whole pizza, or — most popular — as a takein Fresno. and-bake. And they also offered entrees for take-and-bake. And sandwiches. And coffee. And Al and Bobbi are at a hotel in Fresno. wonderful baked goods.

When they checked in late yesterday afternoon, they were told the hotel’s coffee shop and Families on their way to the lake or the ski resorts would stop and fill up and buy a pizza or dining area was closed due to COVID. And all the restaurants in the area were offering only entrees to bake — or to heat up at their vacation place. The little general store became a must outdoor dining and take-out due to COVID. But with all the smoke in the air, nobody was eating stop on the way to the mountaintop resorts. outside.

When Tom and I first met Keith and Vince, we were intrigued that an openly gay couple So they ordered take-out, went back to the hotel to eat, and turned on the portable air would buy a business halfway up the mountain, where folks were politically quite conservative, purifiers they brought from home. The hotel management was kind enough to bring them a to put it mildly. small refrigerator, so they could store snacks and beverages.

Keith, the former department store executive, said he knew the market and knew what the The Creek fire still has zero containment. And the winds are expected to change direction people wanted. And Vince, who grew up in the area, said he knew his neighbors. tomorrow and pick up speed heading toward Fresno and Clovis.

The combination of cheaper gasoline, really good food, fair prices, and friendly service Al and Bobbi don’t know if they’ll have a home to go back to. If the winds pick up as much as caught on in a hurry. Cressman’s became the social hub of the neighborhood. expected, chances are they won’t.

They fixed up the barn and opened it up to area artists. On Trade Days, my cousins would But everyone is safe for now. Everyone has shelter for now. We have our valuables. And we sell their pottery to tourists, while other artisans would sell paintings, woodworking, and other have insurance. objets d’art.

That makes us better off than many of our friends and neighbors.

The guys hired local folks to help cook, bake, and run the store.

(MIKE SILVERSTEIN is a former news editor and newswriter for ABC News Radio Washington Keith and Vince would take their RV and head off on vacations, and to visit friends. And their Bureau. He’s retired, and serves as an elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in local partners would run the store when the guys were gone.

Washington, D.C.) Everyone in the community knew that Keith and Vince were gay, and were a couple, but LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 • 03

LOCAL

One-quarter of adults between 18-24 considered suicide: study Trevor Project LA reports 100 percent increase since February

By BRODY LEVESQUE

A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study disclosed an alarming statistic that nearly 26 percent of adults between the ages of 18-24 considered suicide. Researchers determined that the coronavirus pandemic, which has negatively impacted daily routine throughout the United States, played a significant role in that number.

“Mental health conditions are disproportionately affecting specific populations, especially young adults,” according to Rashon Lane of the CDC COVID-19 Response Team Other groups with suicidal thoughts includes essential workers and unpaid caregivers.”

The survey, which was conducted between June 24– 30, 2020, canvassed 5,000 people. Researchers found that as communities faced mental health challenges related to COVID-19–associated morbidity, mortality, and mitigation activities, the abilities to keep up levels of optimism were greatly challenged.

According to the results of the CDC study,“The prevalence of symptoms of anxiety disorder was approximately three times those reported in the second quarter of 2019.”

Factors for the increase in suicidal thoughts occurring in 1 in 4 young adults includes job loss, grieving of those lost to COVID-19 and isolation.

While this data is critical, especially as the nation observes National Suicide month, not factored into the CDC data however, was micro-data on subgroups such as LGBTQ youth and young adults which has been a concern of LGBTQ advocacy groups.

At the end of last month, the Williams Institute at

UCLA School of Law published findings on suicide rates. Research shows that anti-LGBT discrimination and victimization contribute to an increase in the risk of suicidality and that LGBT people are at disproportionate risk of suicidal ideation, planning, and attempts.

“Experiences of discrimination and bullying can lead to suicidal behavior in LGBT people,” said Ilan Meyer, Distinguished Senior Scholar of Public Policy at the Williams Institute. “Policies and interventions that effectively reduce stigma and discrimination while strengthening support networks and community connectedness could help reduce the risk of suicide for LGBT adults and youth.”

A spokesperson for the Williams Institute acknowledged that while its researchers haven’t specifically studied the effects of isolation and social distancing brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is collaborating data that backs up the CDC’s findings.

Calls to the helpline for The Trevor Project have nearly doubled since the pandemic began a spokesperson told the Los Angeles Blade. The sharp uptick also being credited to the coronavirus pandemic and the measures instituted to mitigate further spread increasing isolation of at risk LGBTQ young people.

(Editor’s note: If you are thinking about suicide or are feeling alone and need someone to talk to, please call the Trevor Lifeline at 1-866-488-7386 for immediate help. It’s free, confidential, and available 24/7.)

If you’re struggling, check out the resources above. They’re here to help.

(Photo American Foundation for Suicide Prevention)

Newsom provides some gig workers exemption from AB5

Correcting a complicated ‘solution’ posed by a poorly written law

By BRODY LEVESQUE

SACRAMENTO – California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation last week that provides exemptions for two-dozen more professions from the controversial labor law AB5, which took effect in January.

AB5 tightened the definition of “independent contractor” and requires employers doing business in the Golden State to minimize the amount of work that can be conducted by freelancers and contractors without being considered full-time employees and eligible for benefits.

Newsom signed AB 2257, which was authored by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) who had sponsored the bill and was lead sponsor of AB5.

The new measure, which took effect immediately, provides relief for workers in the state’s gig economy providing services such as freelance writers and still photographers, photojournalists and freelance editors and newspaper cartoonists, AB 2257 also exempts various artists and musicians, along with some involved in the insurance and real estate industries.

A spokesperson for Gonzalez told the Los Angeles Blade that safeguards to make sure companies are not replacing current

employees was provided for in the legislation. The spokesperson also noted that Gonzalez said that AB2257 “strikes a balance and continues to provide protections for workers against misclassification that had previously gone unchecked for decades under the old rules.”

AB5 which was primarily aimed at ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft, had inadvertently struck at other business sectors of the gig economy which opponents have labeled as permanently crippling the state’s economy by throttling traditional freelance employment that do not require a more traditional business model of employer-employee relationships. Numerous contractors told the Blade they were included in a legal definition that could end their livelihood.

The battle-lines were drawn a year ago when the California General Assembly passed AB5, which was drafted with the ride-sharing companies specifically targeted, that essentially implemented restrictions on how companies doing business in the state classified their workers. The law required that both Uber and Lyft reclassify their workforce of independent drivers as full employees, and further mandated that the companies

06 • SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

provide healthcare and benefits to all the drivers in their system and pay additional taxes.

A lawsuit California v. Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc., CGC20-584402, was launched by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and city attorneys from Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, to force Uber and Lyft into compliance. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ethan P. Schulman issued an injunction August 10 but put a stay in place allowing the companies a ten day period after which a state appeals court ruled the companies can keep their business models in place while challenging a judge’s order to comply with a state labor law.

There are new exemptions included also for musicians with single-engagement live performances, those persons involved with sound recordings or musical compositions, insurance inspectors, real estate appraisers and inspectors, manufactured housing salespersons, youth sports coaches, people engaged by an international exchange visitor program and competition judges. It also exempts those engaged in consulting services or animal services, along with landscape architects and professional foresters.

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LOCAL

After 37 years another WeHo nightclub will ‘Rage’ no more Third nightlife business casualty with rumors of more to come FROM STAFF REPORTS

WEST HOLLYWOOD – Another casualty of the coronavirus pandemic emerged Tuesday as social media and some blogs reported that Rage Nightclub, a beloved institution on the Santa Monica Boulevard strip in West Hollywood, would close permanently after 37 years.

The club was known for its DJ-fueled dance floor and drag shows for the Southland’s 18 and over crowd.

Rage was opened in 1983 by Robert Maghame and Saeed Sattari who were unable to negotiate a new lease with WeHo real estate investor magnate Monte Overstreet.

The current lease is set to expire in November.

The closure is yet another in a series for West Hollywood’s LGBTQ business community as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Last month, Flaming Saddles, a country-themed bar also on the Santa Monica strip, closed after its owners Jacqui Squatriglia and Chris Barnes were unable to negotiate back unpaid rent and other considerations with Overstreet.

In July, the GYM sports bar also closed its doors.

The financial losses and difficulties came as a result of the impact of restrictions imposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, which initially closed bars and all indoor nightspots.

The orders were later modified to allow limited reopening with certain restrictions, however most bars have remained closed.

On Facebook, Ron Madril, the former General manager for the Rage nightclub wrote: “My employment since May 1997. It’s almost a lifetime! The good times will always be cherished, as will the staff...past & present! It’s been a journey meeting sooooooo many AMAZING people! So many! Thanks for all the memories, friendships and love!”

Rage, a nightclub that played a key role in protests and events that shaped the WeHo gay community, has closed.

The folks commenting on the thread that followed Madril’s post universally expressed dismay and sadness over the loss of the beloved nightspot, some commenting that more closures are to come.

San Bernardino wildfire caused by gender reveal party Couple faces $100,000 fine

By BRODY LEVESQUE and more than $8.1 million in restitution with an initial A fire that originated in El Dorado Ranch Park payment of $100,000. in the foothills of the San Bernardino mountains “Cal Fire reminds the public that with the dry Sunday was caused by smoke-generating pyrotechnic conditions and critical fire weather, it doesn’t take device used in a ‘gender-reveal’ party according to a much to start a wildfire. Those responsible for starting California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection fires due to negligence or illegal activity can be held spokesperson. The blaze, which moved rapidly up the financially and criminally responsible,” Cal Fire officials Yucaipa Ridge into the San Bernardino National Forest said in an emailed statement. has already spread across nearly 8,000 acres.

A Cal-Fire spokesperson, Captain Richard Cordova Residents of several communities in the area were noted that the amount of acreage burned just within ordered to evacuate. the past 30 days would equal more than 10 New York The El Dorado fire is now yet another of more than Cities. “This is crazy. We haven’t even got into the two-dozen wildfires currently raging in California, which October and November fire season, and we’ve broken within the last month alone have burned more than 1.5 the all-time record,” Cordova said. million acres in California by upward of 900 wildfires.

Gender Reveal parties have been criticized by some Complicating the efforts of the firefighting crews are A scene from the El Dorado Ranch Park fire. (Screenshot ABC7) activists in the LGBTQ community. Rae Gray a trans the extraordinarily historic high heat in the region. activist who identifies as an Indian, queer, trans, nonGender reveal parties in recent years have been the binary woman, wrote an article criticizing the parties cause of other wildfire incidents. Dennis Dickey, 37, of approximately nine months after the Arizona blaze.

Tucson, Ariz., pleaded guilty to causing the Sawmill Fire, which torched swaths of Coronado “Gender-reveal parties are baloney. One’s sex has little bearing on one’s gender, but National Forest in April of 2017 that caused more than $8 million in damage, according to cisnormative society at large is still uncomfortable acknowledging this. Cis parents, in the U.S. Attorney’s office. general, are very uncomfortable acknowledging that there could be anything non-cis Dickey accidentally started the fire by shooting a target filled with a colored substance, about their children at all—that pink or blue isn’t the be-all and end-all of gendered human which would burst out in pink or blue, depending on the sex of his and his wife’s child NBC experience and the very real harms that can come from pretending that this is the case.”

News reported at the time. In pleading guilty, Dickey agreed to five years of probation 08 • SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

LOCAL

Montemayor reflects on his tenure as president of CSW/LA Pride Former official talks COVID, souring of relationship with WeHo

By TROY MASTERS 2019 summer board retreat that it was my plan to leave after the 50th anniversary. I thought that LOS ANGELES – By almost every measure, Estevan Jose Montemayor accomplished a great would be a great capstone to my time with CSW,” he added. deal during his two and a half year tenure as president of Christopher Street West/LA Pride.

Montemayor reflected on the job noting, “It’s both an exciting and tiring job. This is a volunteer He hired the organization’s first full-time executive director, Madonna Cacciatore, and was gig that is truly a full-time job. All the people before me and all those involved now are volunteers. able to add experienced staffing for fundraising and operations. That team attracted record When it comes to the board presidency and the board at large, these are incredible people who breaking corporate donations in 2019. He expanded the board with a mind toward all aspects have full-time jobs and dedicate an enormous amount of time to our community.” of diversity, changes he feels led to 2019 enjoying the largest windfall of financial success in Asked if the stress and strife filled final months of his tenure had seriously negatively impacted the event’s history. Montemayor and Cacciatore together worked to expand the offerings of the his life he responded: “Yes, here’s what I would say about that - I was exhausted. There have festival and parade, adding a large, free component to the festival with “Pride on the Boulevard.” always been ups and downs with this organization. We would spend 20, 30, 40 hours a week They launched a major bid to bring World Pride to Los Angeles in 2025. LA Pride was broadcast doing the work and it was exhausting. To get a little bit personal, March was a very difficult for the first time on a major local TV station, ABC 7, a program so successful that it led to a time because I was sick with COVID-19 for a little over multiyear TV contract deal for CSW/LA Pride, a deal that a month, staying at home, and not working in my fullwent forward successfully in 2020 as a televised Virtual time job in the City of Los Angeles took an emotional toll Pride Special. And, of course, there’s more. Much more. on me as well. It was very difficult.”

The now former president of Christopher Street West/ As the coronavirus pandemic worsened and the LA Pride spoke to the Blade this week by phone after CSW/LA Pride board came to realize that the 50th he departed the organization. Estevan Montemayor anniversary celebrations weren’t going to occur as currently serves as the deputy chief of staff for Los previously planned, the stay-at-home restrictions also Angeles Councilmember David Ryu, who represents increased his stress.

Council District 4.

“It was very difficult. And to be very honest, I had Montemayor stepped down Tuesday, Sept. 1. His to deal with a lot of depression and anxiety. That’s successor is Sharon Franklin-Brown who is currently something that I have dealt with for many years. But like serving as the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s director a lot of people, being locked down, then getting sick, not of human resources. Brown took the reins as CSW/ being able to see my loved ones, and not being able to LA Pride Board president on Sept. 2. She is the first work...it really made it worse. I took a lot of time during Black trans woman to be elected to the top leadership the summer to deal with my depression and anxiety. position at LA Pride and the first in the nation to lead a It’s not something I’m ashamed of, it’s something we major Pride organization. should all speak more openly about especially in our CSW/LA Pride, like every event, faced enormous community.” hurdles in 2020 — a massive 50th year celebration Montemayor came under intense criticism after had been planned, but was canceled due to COVID-19 some Black Lives Matter activists felt LA Pride was restrictions that canceled all in-person live events ESTEVAN MONTEMAYOR (Photo Courtesy LA Pride) attempting to appropriate the movement. When asked nationwide. how LA Pride can better manage situations like their failure to gain support during intersectional It also faced challenges in an effort to show solidarity with the emerging Black Lives Matter moments, he stresses, “CSW must listen before it acts. Having an honorable intention isn’t good movement, ultimately ceding those efforts to All Black Lives Matter, an effort led by an advisory enough. The organization needs to reflect on what went wrong and ensure it never happens board of Black LGBTQI+ activists and community leaders. More than 100,000 citizens joined the again.”

All Black Lives Matter march, winding from Hollywood Boulevard to Santa Monica Boulevard and Asked about the decision by CSW’s board to leave the City of West Hollywood, Montemayor San Vicente. said that he understood that decision was going to present a significant challenge for his After the June 14 All Black Lives Matter march, West Hollywood Councilmembers John Duran successor and the board, but feels confident that going forward, things would work. and John D’Amico surprised many when they openly discussed the possibility of soliciting other “The relationship between CSW and the City of West Hollywood had soured long before I and event organizers to bid against Christopher Street West, despite their having been organizers for my colleagues joined the board. The relationship had been tense for a long time. I knew that nearly half a century. walking in. I thought I could help bridge the gap that existed between CSW and the city because CSW/LA Pride stunned the community when it responded with a letter to the City of West I knew and worked with a lot of decision makers in my capacity as a public safety commissioner Hollywood that the organization would relocate the event to an unspecified location in Los and in my capacity in the City of Los Angeles. I truly thought I could make things better.”

Angeles. “As our non-profit organization continues to evolve and grow, we want to inform you of Perhaps complicating his relationship as board president, as he was taking the reins of LA our intention to move the LA Pride Parade and Festival out of West Hollywood in 2021.”

Pride Montemayor protested then-Mayor John Duran’s alleged inappropriate sexual behaviors West Hollywood City Council in turn declared it would likely hold a new event, West Hollywood that had been widely reported, demanding Duran be removed as mayor of the City of West Pride.

Hollywood. Montemayor even led a protest during one WeHo City Council meeting and spoke Speaking with the Los Angeles Blade for an exit interview, Montemayor noted; “Well, first of before the Council, urging his removal. Asked if he felt those actions exacerbated the existing all, I’m really excited about Sharon Brown becoming the next president. I have nothing but great tensions between CSW and WeHo he answered, “No, I don’t. Frankly I’m shocked that more people things to say about her. She is the right type of leader for this moment. And anyone who knows haven’t spoken out against his actions. The issues that surfaced with the Gay Men’s Chorus were Sharon knows she is an exceptional leader. She’ll lead with compassion, empathy, and grace. I disturbing but sadly just another example of John’s inappropriate behavior. We can’t forget that have no doubt she’s going to be great at the job,” he said. the City Council formally censured him due to the allegations of sexual misconduct. At the end Asked if the events playing out the way they did affected his decision on his departure he told of the day John Duran is responsible for his own words and actions and the voters will have the the Blade, “I always had a plan to step down after the 50th anniversary, but the 50th anniversary opportunity to hold him accountable in November.” was a little different than we all expected because of COVID-19.”

“My goal was to leave after the 50th anniversary. I had thought about staying another year because of our World Pride bid, which would have been next year. But I communicated at our CONTINUES AT LOSANGELESBLADE.COM LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 • 09

NATIONAL

Trump admin: It’s OK for Catholic school to fire gay teacher The Trump administration on Tuesday filed a legal brief with the Indiana Supreme Court, formally making the case a Catholic school has a First Amendment right to fire a teacher for entering into a same-sex marriage.

The 36-page brief, signed by U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler for the Southern District of Indiana, asserts the Archdiocese of Indianapolis had a constitutional right to terminate Joshua PayneElliott from his job as a world language and social studies teacher at Cathedral High School, despite contractual obligations he had with the school.

Although a trial court in Indiana in May 2020 rejected a request from the Archdiocese of Indianapolis to throw out the lawsuit, saying the First Amendment only applies to the “highest authority” of jobs within a church on certain issues, the litigation is now before the Indiana Supreme Court because the archdiocese has since appealed.

Minkler makes his case based on legal principles under the First Amendment — the churchautonomy doctrine, the archdiocese’s right to expressive association and the ministerial exception — which he says prevent a former Catholic high school teacher from suing the archdiocese over his termination. “[T]he First Amendment right of expressive association protects the Archdiocese’s right not to associate with Cathedral, whose forced presence within the Archdiocese’s associational umbrella if it continued to employ Payne-Elliott as a teacher would interfere with the Archdiocese’s public expression of Church doctrine regarding marriage,” Minkler writes.

Much of the legal precedent on which Minkler bases his brief is the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru. Although the ruling stopped short of defining the ministerial exemption under the First Amendment, it did assert a variety of factors can determine whether it applies to a Catholic school employee.

Minkler argues the Our Lady decision — which sided with Catholic schools asserting a First Amendment exception in lawsuits filed by teachers asserting wrongful termination — applies to the Payne-Elliott case because the plaintiffs in both cases are teachers at schools that “entrusts a teacher with the responsibility of educating and forming students in the faith.”

“Although, Payne-Elliott, like the teachers in Our Lady, lacked a special ministerial title differentiating him from other teachers at the school, the Archdiocese designates all teachers as responsible for its ministry of training students in the faith, titling their expectations document for teachers as ‘Ministry Description[:] Teacher’, and Cathedral specifies that teaching is a ‘vocation,” Minkler writes.

Minkler also cites in the legal brief guidance from former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in October 2017 urging federal departments to accommodate in their policy and actions religious freedom, which critics at the time said would essentially green light antiLGBTQ discrimination.

Eric Dreiband, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, hailed the legal brief in a statement as an example of the Trump administration’s commitment to religious liberty.

“Our ancestors arrived on our shores to establish a country where the people would be secure to practice their faiths and to gather freely with their religious communities,” Dreiband said. “To that end, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right of religious institutions and people to decide what their beliefs are, to associate with others who share their beliefs, and to determine who will teach the faithful in their religious schools. Let there be no doubt: The Department of Justice will continue to defend the First Amendment rights to believe, worship and associate in a manner that respects the dignity and choice of all individuals.”

According to the filing, the Cathedral High School where Payne-Elliott taught had initially declined to obey the directive from the archdiocese to terminate him after he entered into a same-sex marriage. However, after the archdiocese informed the school it must either fire Payne-Elliott or disassociate with the Catholic Church, the school in June 2019 decided to terminate him, informing the Cathedral family the decision was an “agonizing decision, made after 22 months of earnest discussion.”

The Trump administration’s participation in the case isn’t new. When the case was before the trial court, the Justice Department last year filed a statement of interest siding with the Archdiocese of Indiana based on similar arguments.

Although the case is before the Indiana Supreme Court, it may soon reach the U.S. Supreme Court because of the federal questions involved in the case.

CHRIS JOHNSON 10 • SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

The Justice Department under President DONALD TRUMP has filed a legal brief siding with a school that fired a teacher for being gay. (Screen capture via C-SPAN)

Tony McDade case leaves unanswered questions TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Activists in Florida’s capital city say the case of a Black transgender man who was shot to death by a police officer earlier this year has left many unanswered questions.

The police officer, who remains unidentified, shot McDade in the Leon Arms apartment complex in Tallahassee’s south side on May 27. The Tallahassee Democrat newspaper reported witnesses said the police officer who killed McDade is white.

A Tallahassee Police Department press release notes McDade “made a move consistent with using the firearm against the officer, who fired their handgun, fatally striking” him. The press release and a police report use McDade’s birth name and describe him as a “female.”

The police officer shot McDade less than an hour after he allegedly stabbed Malik Jackson, 21, to death a few blocks away from the apartment complex.

Jackson’s mother was reportedly dating McDade, who lived next door to her. Jackson and a group of other men on May 26 reportedly attacked McDade after he assaulted his mother in her home.

McDade subsequently threatened his attackers in a Facebook Live video he made.

Janel Diaz, a Black trans woman who is a member of the Tallahassee Mayor’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Council, on July 31 spoke with the Blade about the McDade case during an interview at her office.

Diaz noted McDade struggled with mental health issues and had previously been incarcerated.

The Florida Department of Corrections’ website notes McDade was incarcerated from Feb. 21, 2009, to April 23, 2009, after his sentencing on charges that included armed robbery and burglary. The Tallahassee Democrat reported McDade reportedly pleaded with a judge for mental health treatment after his arrest on a probation violation.

The newspaper reported a federal grand jury later indicted McDade on a gun charge, and he served a 10-year sentence at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. The Federal Bureau of Prisons’ website notes McDade was released on Jan. 17, 2020.

“This is sadness — period — for our community because we lost lives,” said Diaz.

Equality Florida Public Policy Director Jon Harris Maurer agreed.

“There are multiple tragedies there because there are two folks in the community who would still be alive today if things played out differently,” he told the Blade on July 31 during an interview in the conference room of his law firm’s office that is a few blocks from the Florida Capitol. “We see where the system really failed Tony. There were mental health needs that went unmet and that’s compounded with the trans community’s vulnerability to violence already and a lack of security.”

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

NATIONAL

Philippines president pardons Grenell snaps when asked about decriminalizing homosexuality U.S. Marine in trans killing The president of the Philippines on Monday pardoned a U.S. Marine who was convicted of killing a transgender woman.

The Philippine Star newspaper reported prosecutors’ attempts to block Lance Cpl. Joseph Pemberton’s early release from prison prompted Rodrigo Duterte to pardon him.

Prosecutors contend Pemberton in October 2014 murdered Jennifer Laude in a motel room in Olongapo City on the Philippines’ main island of Luzon after he discovered she was trans. The murder took place after Pemberton met Laude at a Philippine President RODRIGO DUTERTE local nightclub while his ship was (Photo public domain by Ryan Lim of Malacañang Photo Bureau) docked at the Subic Bay Freeport.

Laude’s death sparked outrage among Philippine activists. The case also highlighted opposition to the U.S. military presence in the country A court on Dec. 1, 2015, sentenced Pemberton to 6-12 years in prison, but he received credit for the time he spent in custody before his trial. A judge in 2016 reduced Pemberton’s sentence.

Gender and Development Advocates (GANDA) and more than 30 other Philippine LGBTQ advocacy groups on Monday issued a joint statement in which they sharply criticized the pardon.

“We strongly condemn the absolute pardon granted by President Rodrigo Duterte to Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton, the U.S. Marine convicted for killing Filipino trans woman Jennifer Laude in Olongapo City in 2014,” reads the statement.

The statement criticizes Duterte’s human rights record that includes his government’s antidrug crackdown that has left thousands of people dead. The groups also say Pemberton’s pardon confirms “how his government has been using the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to promote and kowtow to foreign interests which have caused profound suffering, indignity, and injustice to the Filipino people.”

“President Duterte’s pardon of Pemberton sends out a loud and clear message that a Filipino trans woman’s life does not matter, that it is open season for discrimination and violence against transgender people, and that American soldiers will continue to get away with murder in Philippine soil,” reads the statement.

GANDA Executive Director Naomi Fontanos in a separate statement she sent to the Washington Blade described the pardon as “absolutely unacceptable, unconscionable and unforgivable.”

“This proves that President Duterte is not a friend or ally of the LGBTQIA+ Filipinos and that he has just been using our community to promote his populist image in spite of the fact that he is misogynistic and homo/bi/transphobic,” said Fontanos.

“It is an injustice not only to Jennifer Laude and her family but to the Filipino people,” added Fontanos. “This pardon calls into question his understanding of LGBTQIA+ people’s needs, issues and concerns and calls into question his assertion that he is not an American lackey much like the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos whom he idolizes.”

Dindi Tan — a trans woman and activist who Duterte late last year appointed as the Philippines’ Department of Agrarian Reform — also questioned the pardon.

While I cringed at the thought of Pemberton being scotch-free, I am definitely sure there must be a far deeper reason as to why the president decided in this direction,” wrote Tan in a Facebook post.

“I am a part of the administration and I am committed to furthering PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte)’s agenda for the people no matter what,” she added. “Like in all relationships, I would like to treat this as a ‘heartbreak’ that can be mended. And, like in many relationships, this too, shall heal.”

The State Department has yet to publicly comment on the pardon.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS 12 • SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

Richard Grenell, the former acting director of national intelligence who’s now the face of the Trump campaign’s LGBTQ outreach, rebuked a reporter Friday at the White House briefing for asking him about the global initiative he led to decriminalize homosexuality.

In response to a question from the New York Post’s Steven Nelson, Grenell, who was speaking at the White House to announce a Serbia-Kosovo agreement the Trump administration facilitated, RICHARD GRENELL snapped at a reporter who insisted questions should be asked about the global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality. (Screenshot via CSPAN) focused on the deal.

“I’m going to just talk about Kosovo and Serbia,” Grenell said. “I don’t know if you can find it on a map, but this is atrocious.

I have to tell you guys. You might be too young to understand what this issue is about. Maybe the older journalists should step and say, ‘This is a big deal. This is a big issue.’”

Grenell wouldn’t let up in his tirade, declining to say anything about the global initiative he once praised as a cornerstone of Trump’s LGBTQ record.

“I’m astounded at what happens in Washington D.C., especially in this room,” Grenell said.

“I got to tell you: Get substantive. Maybe it’s too complicated of an issue for you all.”

Touting the agreement before the questioning began — which President Trump, Kosovo Prime Minster Avdullah Hoti, and Serbia President Aleksandar Vučić signed moments before in the Oval Office — Grenell said the Serbia-Kosovo deal he helped negotiate came about after a more than 20-year long stalemate in negotiations.

The Trump administration shook things up, Grenell said, by making economics, not politics, the priority in talks. Tariffs were the “political sticking point” of why the parties wouldn’t come together, which he said was addressed in the deal.

Coming to Nelson’s defense were other reporters in the White House press corps. NBC News’ Peter Alexander pointed out “this is the first time we’ve had the opportunity to speak with these individuals.” Grenell replied, “OK, but today’s on Kosovo and Serbia.”

“Let’s take a little time and talk about this 21-year issue here,” Grenell said. “I mean, 21 years. We’re getting the same questions that are all politics. You guys don’t understand what’s happening outside of Washington, D.C. People aren’t listening to you anymore. It’s really a crisis in journalism. And I think it’s because people are too young to understand issues like Kosovo and Serbia.”

Jeff Mason, White House reporter for Reuters and former president of the White House Correspondents Association, also told Grenell his response was unacceptable.

“I don’t think any of us came here for a lecture about our questioning,” Mason said.

Grenell replied: “I didn’t come here to talk about anything other than Kosovo and Serbia.”

A look at the Serbia-Kosovo deal, as put out on Twitter by Klan Kosova CEO Adriatik Kelmendi, reveals the global initiative was, in fact, part of the agreement. One of the bullet points states “both parties will work with the 69 countries that criminalize homosexuality to push for decriminalization.”

The Washington Blade has placed a request with the White House seeking comment on why support for the global initiative was included as part of the deal.

Despite Grenell’s insistence the briefing be focused on the Serbia-Kosovo deal, reporters said the content wasn’t known to them at the time of the briefing. When Grenell asked indignantly whether reporters had read the agreement, Bloomberg News’s Justin Sink pointed out it wasn’t yet made available to them. “It’s out,” Grenell insisted.

CHRIS JOHNSON

THE CITY OF WEST HOLLYWOOD IS WORKING TO ACHIEVE A COMPLETE CENSUS COUNT IN CENSUS 2020.

It’s important that we’re all counted in order to ensure our community’s fair share of federal funding for vital services and to determine California’s accurate apportionment in Congress.

AN INITIATIVE OF THE CITY OF WEST HOLLYWOOD IN SUPPORT OF THE CENSUS 2020

Learn more at weho.org/census2020

VOLUME 04 ISSUE 37

Kevin Naff is editor of the Washington Blade.

Reach him at knaff@washblade.com.

Vote for Biden (duh)

He will restore sanity, compassion, and stability to the gov’t and world

By KEVIN NAFF The list of Donald Trump’s affronts is long. The unlikely evangelical darling operated casinos, paid off porn stars, bragged of grabbing women by the “pussy,” mocked a disabled reporter, praised white supremacists, insulted a Gold Star family, attacked a revered POW, flirted with his own daughter, tweeted support for a murderer, and bullied foreign leaders into helping him steal the election.

And those are just some of the most infamous of Trump’s transgressions.

There’s no reason for any informed American voter to grant Trump another four years. There’s even less reason for LGBTQ voters to support him, no matter what the hypocrites at Log Cabin tell you.

His botched COVID response has needlessly cost tens of thousands of lives. Rather than model commonsense mask use, Trump mocked those like Joe Biden for wearing them. Rather than level with the American people back in February and March about the severity of what was coming our way, he downplayed coronavirus, called it a “hoax” and ridiculously said it would “go away like a miracle.” Even as we watched heartbreaking and frightening YouTube clips of Italians suffering in quarantine as bodies piled up in morgues, Trump held firm that it was not a threat to us. He was dead wrong. When we sought answers and comfort from leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci — well known to the gay community from his days fighting AIDS in the 1980s — Trump turned on him too, unleashing opposition research to undermine his credibility.

The resulting chaos has left nearly 200,000 Americans dead and the economy in shambles. When everyday Americans and small business owners needed another relief package, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House responded swiftly with a bill and passed it, while Senate Majority Leader and Trump loyalist Mitch McConnell let his colleagues go home for an August vacation.

I don’t know any small business owners who took a vacation this summer; we are all struggling to stay afloat without any communication or direction from the federal government.

This sad performance alone on coronavirus should be enough reason to vote Trump out in November, but, of course, there is more.

The parallel crisis of police brutality against Black Americans has reminded us yet again of the stubborn entrenchment of systemic racism. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Jacob

Blake joined the unending list of Black victims of police abuse.

As protests flared around the country, Trump gassed peaceful demonstrators at the White House so he could stage a clumsy photo op with an upside-down Bible, a book he has never read and cares nothing about. When 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, armed with an AR-15, shot and killed two protesters in Kenosha, Wis., Trump defended him. Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway later admitted what the rest of us already knew: that Trump believes violence in American cities benefits his campaign. He’s encouraging his armed supporters to show up at Black Lives Matter protests to intimidate and taunt peaceful demonstrators. It’s unconscionable and people are dead as a result. More blood on Trump’s hands and his Republican enablers in Congress, on state propaganda Fox News, and online invoke inane conspiracy theories to justify his reckless assault on our democracy.

Make no mistake that this election will determine whether the great American experiment continues or it unravels.

Trump’s admiration for dictators like the murderers Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un; his attacks on our allies like Germany, France, and the Kurds; and his backing out of the Paris climate accord and rolling back myriad environmental protections in deference to his corporate golfing buddies further illustrate just how unfit Trump is for office. Make no mistake that all of this chaos is by design — the plan all along was to gut and cripple the federal government. We’ve seen it agency by agency, from the Education Department’s efforts to promote the privatization of public schools through vouchers, to the Interior Department being coopted to host Trump campaign events on federal lands, to even the Postal Service being undermined to thwart mail-in voting, no agency has been unaffected. Let’s not forget Trump was impeached for his efforts to undermine our democracy and he presided over the longest U.S. government shutdown in our history.

What about Trump’s record on LGBTQ issues? It’s the disaster many of us predicted it would be. In a 2016 endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president, I wrote: “the Republicans have turned their party over to a racist, sexist bully with zero experience in elected office. … The LGBT community cannot risk a Trump presidency.” I was right. From Trump’s very first day in office, when LGBTQ issues were deleted from the White House website, right up to today, when his State Department is denying citizenship to children of same-sex couples born via

14 • SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

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“Today, by affirming that sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination are surrogacy overseas, the attacks have been constant and sometimes cruel. prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Supreme Court has confirmed the Trump’s tweet banning transgender patriots from serving their country in the military simple but profoundly American idea that every human being should be treated with “in any capacity” is perhaps the most egregious and blatant of those attacks, but there respect and dignity.” Biden said. “That everyone should be able to live openly, proudly, as are countless others. The blame for a nationwide dramatic rise in hate crimes, which their true selves without fear.” disproportionately impact the LGBTQ community, lies at Trump’s feet. Previously, In other words, Biden will use the bully pulpit for good and to inspire others, rather than Americans who held bigoted views felt at least some pressure to keep those opinions to to foment division and hurl juvenile insults. themselves. But under Trump, those views are validated and encouraged, motivating scores Biden endorsed marriage equality in 2012, beating his boss President Obama to the of “deplorables” to come out and express their hatred openly, as we saw in Charlottesville, punch. Make no mistake that the bully pulpit is powerful; when the president of the and sometimes violently as seen in the FBI’s report noting that attacks motivated by United States speaks, the world listens. When Biden and days later Obama endorsed bias or prejudice reached a 16-year high in 2018. The Trump administration has allowed marriage equality, the floodgates were opened discrimination under the guise of “religious and a slew of celebrities, politicians, and everyday freedom” across the board, from adoption agencies JOE BIDEN will restore decency to the White House if elected.

Americans followed, eventually aiding the Supreme to faith-based schools. This administration has Court’s 2015 marriage equality ruling. Imagine a worked overtime to render us invisible, removing president using that awesome power again for “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” from the good rather than for exacting petty revenge on real list of categories the Education Department tracks and imagined enemies. in compiling data on bullying and canceling plans Trump and his toadies like Ric Grenell — who likes to include us in the Census. The administration has to boast of being the first gay Cabinet member, even filed a long series of court briefs attacking LGBTQ though he was not Senate confirmed and lacked rights, from seeking to block workplace protections qualifications for the job — have foolishly tried to for trans workers to allowing discrimination against paint Biden as anti-gay, citing 1970s era comments same-sex couples seeking to foster children. about gay federal workers. If Trump wants to talk Attacks on the trans community are particularly about the 70s, let’s do that. At that time, Trump’s acute and nasty, including allowing homeless mentor was Roy Cohn, the notorious closet case shelters to discriminate against transgender people who died alone of AIDS after devoting his career to and rescinding Obama-era guidance that allowed ridding the federal government of gay employees trans students to use facilities that correspond to in the Lavender Scare era. Also in the 1970s, Trump their gender identity. was investigated for discriminating against Black He opposes the Equality Act, despite originally renters seeking to live in his apartment buildings. supporting it. He named notorious homophobe The Justice Department filed a civil rights case Mike Pence as his vice president, who famously against the Trump firm, accusing the company of signed a bill as Indiana governor allowing businesses violating the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The case was to discriminate against LGBTQ customers. He has eventually settled after a protracted court battle. named scores of judges hostile to LGBTQ equality Trump should be careful about re-litigating the to the federal bench, jeopardizing our community’s 1970s with Biden. gains for years to come. He surrounds himself with And if you needed more reason to vote for Biden, think of the Supreme Court. Trump bigots and homophobes, like Tony Perkins, Gini Thomas, Brent Bozell, Franklin Graham has already had two conservative picks, but in a second term he could get at least two and Jerry Falwell, Jr. more. Ruth Bader Ginsberg is 87 years old with recent health scares, and Justice Stephen I could go on for pages, but you get the point. The Blade’s archives over the last four Breyer is 82. That’s two of the court’s remaining four liberal justices in their 80s. A second years are filled with reasons for queer voters to reject Trump.

Trump term could mean a solid 7-2 conservative majority for years to come. In that case, So, why vote for Joe Biden and not just against Trump? Again, the list is long.

Roe v. Wade, Obergefell and Bostock would all be in jeopardy. That’s not hyperbole.

Biden has vowed to make the Equality Act his top legislative priority in his first 100 Challenges to those rulings continue and will only intensify under a second Trump term. days. This is an important step, as the historic Bostock ruling can be undermined by Last year, nine states passed bills restricting abortion rights. Undermining and overturning other lawsuits seeking “religious freedom” carveouts to legalize discrimination and by Roe remains the #1 goal of the right, and marriage equality is next on their target list. interpreting the ruling narrowly to allow discrimination in other areas outside of the Whatever you think of Biden’s policies, there’s no disputing he is a decent man, an workplace. honorable father and husband who has dedicated his life to public service. His first big Back in March, Biden unveiled a comprehensive plan to advance LGBTQ rights. In decision as the presumptive nominee was to pick Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate, addition to the Equality Act, he pledges to support international LGBTQ human rights a historic and stellar choice. The California senator is a longtime LGBTQ ally who will work and to ban harmful, discredited conversion therapy nationwide. He vows to reappoint with Biden to reverse Trump’s attacks on our community and to advance an equality a special envoy to advance international LGBTQ rights, form a coalition of countries to agenda. advance international LGBTQ rights and guide the GLOBE Act into passage, as the Blade Joe Biden will work to advance LGBTQ equality. He will restore America’s reputation reported. Further, Biden will work to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2025 and expand around the world as an ally in the struggle to protect and expand human rights. His PEPFAR. administration will look like America and we could finally see an openly LGBTQ Cabinet “As president, Biden will stand with the LGBTQ+ community to ensure America finally member and a roster of senior government officials that showcases our great diversity. lives up to the promise on which it was founded: equality for all,” the plan says. “He will Once again, it will take a Democratic president and Congress to fix the economic mess provide the moral leadership to champion equal rights for all LGBTQ+ people, fight to created by the outgoing Republican administration. Biden will ensure that science wins ensure our laws and institutions protect and enforce their rights, and advance LGBTQ+ the day and procure and distribute a coronavirus vaccine that is proven safe and effective. equality globally.”

He will embrace an overdue dialogue on race and enact new policies to address systemic The 17-page plan is detailed and thoughtful and offers a clear vision of how he will work racism. He will stand up to our enemies like Putin and aid our allies. And he will use the for LGBTQ equality. bully pulpit to inspire all Americans to achieve their full potential.

Biden praised the historic June Supreme Court ruling in Bostock that the U.S. Civil Rights There is only one rational choice for president this year. Joe Biden has the experience, Act of 1964 includes LGBT people in its prohibition on employment discrimination based the wisdom, and the compassion to restore sanity to government and stability to the world. on gender or sex.

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 • 15

HANS JOHNSON has advised LGBT organizations and ballot measure campaigns in nearly every state. A longtime Washingtonian and former Blade columnist, he now lives in Los Angeles.

LGBTQ: The letters Republicans didn’t utter Convention silence a testament to Trump’s cowardice

By HANS JOHNSON Call it the convention that dared not speak our name. LGBTQ people earned not a single mention during Republicans’ pageant in red, through four nights of televised speeches last month.

This refusal to acknowledge the existence of more than 15 million LGBTQ people, 5 percent of the populace and residents of every ZIP code in America, shows a paralyzing hypocrisy.

The Republican Party depends on anti-gay intolerance to rev up its base at election time but has to feign tolerance when the broader public is watching, knowing bigotry turns off a key slice of getable voters.

The GOP platform, held over from 2016, embraces the brutal practice of reparative therapy to coerce youth to renounce their emotions and identity. Most Republican candidates oppose and even seek to nullify existing protections in law that protect the safety of LGBTQ people, including in medical settings, marriage and the adoption process. Still, the party covets the support of donors who cringe at overt homophobia. Stuck in this dilemma of the party’s own making, silence can be as good as it gets.

The run-up to the GOP convention included two anti-LGBTQ slurs that were anything but quiet. In Kansas City, the baseball play-by-play announcer of the Cincinnati Reds, Thom W. Brennaman, was caught on a microphone talking about “a fag capital of the world.” During the game, and despite apologies, Brennaman, who happens to be a past donor to the Republican Party and candidates, was suspended and banished from the broadcast booth.

Several commercial sponsors and professional sports have at long last put anti-gay slurs on a par with other forms of bigotry as disqualifiers. Conservative politics have not caught up. Witness U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc in New Hampshire, who last month labeled his opponents as “liberal, socialist pansies,” a dated anti-gay epithet.

The silence observed at the GOP convention is familiar to those of us who contended for years with Republican parents and relatives. No mention was a concession or, as perhaps they let us know later, an indulgence of our presence at the dinner table or the reunion.

But times are changing. By disappearing any mention of gay people, the GOP convention reflects a state of denial that is itself disappearing.

16 • SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

More than 75 percent of Americans claim an openly LGBTQ friend, coworker or family member (and where exactly are the outliers hiding?). Polling in 2019 at the outset of the first-ever serious campaign for president by an “out” candidate, Pete Buttigieg, showed that 68 percent of Americans were comfortable or enthusiastic about a bid like his for the nation’s highest office.

That message of inclusion and pride was both shown and told at the Democratic convention the week before. Buttigieg, a military veteran, spoke plainly about coming out and getting married. Lori Lightfoot, the lesbian mayor of Chicago, Danica Roem, the transgender state delegate from Virginia and Robert Garcia, the gay mayor of Long Beach, all had significant moments on camera. So did Judy and Dennis Shepard, parents of gay hate crime victim Matthew Shepard, in Wyoming.

The late conservative commentator Marvin Liebman argued that homophobia was a glue that held the Republican Party together. A gay man who came out late in life, he gave many conservative operatives their first jobs and lived long enough to make them reckon with the inconvenient fact of his sexuality, repressed for decades but expressed without shame in the seven years before his death in 1997.

Coming out still takes courage, as many a teenager can testify. The policies of the Trump administration, whether to take away anti-bias protections in health care, to deny transgender students access to restrooms of the gender they identify with or to ban transgender people from the military, perpetuate stigma and make the path of openness no easier.

At Republicans’ convention in Cleveland in 2016, one month after the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, this president showed he could say “LGBT.” But in his quest for re-election, while flouting laws against using federal installations as props and staging areas during four nights on television, the large and diverse community of LGBTQ Americans never got named a single time. That refusal to value the lives and votes of one in 20 Americans—and those who love us unconditionally—is another testament to the cowardice of this presidency and the party that made it possible.

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For Norman Lear, being an ally is a calling Equality California to honor iconic producer this weekend

By JOHN PAUL KING

NORMAN LEAR is set to receive Equality California’s Ally Leadership award on Sunday.

(Photo by Louise Palanker via Wikimedia Commons)

18 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

There aren’t a lot of 97-year-olds who are as actively engaged with the world-atlarge as Norman Lear.

The television icon, who is set to receive Equality California’s Ally Leadership award at the first-ever Golden State Equality Awards in a virtual presentation on Sunday, still has his finger in a lot of pies at an age when most people are long retired. He has a first look deal with Sony Pictures Television (under his production banner, ACT III), and serves as executive producer for the critically acclaimed reimagining of his own classic “One Day At A Time,” a show embraced by critics for recasting of the original’s white central family as Cuban-Americans, and for its inclusion of a lesbian character whose coming-out journey is a prominent story arc. He also served as executive producer (and co-host!) for the Emmy- and Critics’ Choice-winning “Jimmy Kimmel, LIVE In Front of a Studio Audience…,” a two-part special recreating episodes of his own classic shows that earned record ratings for ABC in December of 2019.

His busy schedule might have something to do with momentum; for more than six decades, Lear has been one of the most prolific names in Hollywood. An early career in PR led him quickly into show business, where he was soon writing sketches for the likes of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis; he created his first series (“The Deputy,” a Western starring Henry Fonda) in 1959, and went on to dabble in filmmaking during the 1960s.

But it was with a string of hit sitcoms in the ‘70s that Lear found his stride.

“All in the Family,” “Sanford and Son,” “Maude,” “The Jeffersons,” “One Day at a Time,” “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman” – all these shows and more were created, developed, written, and/or produced by Lear during those years; it was a peak period that would have been enough to cement his place as one of the medium’s most successful pioneers, even had he not gone on to a still-enduring career that has garnered him five Primetime Emmys and a Golden Globe to date.

It was, of course, with the first of these sitcoms that he built what we would now call his “brand.” “All in the Family” survived a low-rated first season to become one of the era’s most influential programs, challenging audiences even as it made them laugh. Using its central characters – the working-class Bunker family, polarized by the political divisions between blue-collar patriarch Archie and ultra-liberal son-in-law Mike – to explore topics rarely discussed on primetime TV, the series broke ground by addressing everything from sensitive personal issues like marital infidelity, breast cancer, menopause, and impotence, to controversial cultural hotbuttons like racism and other forms of bigotry, religion, rape, abortion, women’s lib, and the Vietnam War. Among these remarkable, conversation-starting episodes are two milestones that cast a long shadow. “All in the Family” became the first American TV show to feature an openly gay character, in its very first season, when bigoted, blue-collar Archie discovers that his old friend Steve – who is also a former NFL linebacker – is queer. The episode, seen through modern eyes, thankfully plays as dated, a reminder of how far we’ve come in 45 years; in 1971, it was a bold stereotypeshattering step toward putting the subject of LGBTQ equality directly in front of mainstream American eyes.

‘Hot L Baltimore’ featured the first gay couple to be included as regular characters in a TV show in 1975.

“Family” didn’t stop there; four years later, the show introduced a character named Beverly LaSalle, a female impersonator (played by openly gay real-life drag performer Lori Shannon) who appeared in three episodes as a friend of Edith Bunker’s. In the third, he is murdered by muggers who discover he is a man in women’s clothing, leading to a crisis of faith for Edith, who questions how a God could exist that would allow such an act of violence against a person simply for being “different.” Suddenly, a character clearly identified as queer was no longer the butt of a joke, but a human being whose life mattered, and whose senseless and violent death left a hole in the lives of someone who loved them; moreover, in a time when few within mainstream culture had a clear understanding of gender identities that veered outside the binary “norm,” a storyline depicting the murder of a male presenting as female eerily evoked the subject of anti-trans violence decades before most Americans even knew the difference between a trans person and a drag queen.

For many queer viewers, these unequivocally sympathetic portrayals were watershed moments; millions of gay, trans, or otherwise non-heteronormative individuals suddenly felt seen and validated in a way they had never experienced from the pop culture that had always been a refuge for them. Just as important, it opened up a conversation in the households of countless straight Americans about a subject that would previously have been shrouded behind an unbreakable taboo.

During the same period, another Lear sitcom (“Hot L Baltimore”) featured the first gay couple to be included as regular characters in a TV show; and besides breaking ground in the area of LGBTQ representation, he proved with shows like “Sanford and Son” and “The Jeffersons” that programs featuring mostly black characters could be a hit with white audiences, too.

If Lear’s contributions had ended in the ‘70s, that would still be enough to warrant the honor being bestowed upon him by Equality California; but away from the camera, he has built a monumental reputation for himself as an advocate for social justice and equity. He put his career on hold in 1980 when his concern over the rise of the so-called “Moral Majority” prompted him to found People For The American Way, an organization of more than one million members and activists that still continues to fight right-wing extremism while defending constitutional values like free expression, religious liberty, equal justice under the law, and the right to meaningfully participate in our democracy. Even before that, he was part of an informal group of wealthy Jewish businessmen (dubbed the “Malibu Mafia” by the press) that donated money to liberal and progressive causes and politicians from the 1960s to the 1990s. These, and other powerful efforts to aid the

progressive cause, may not have all been centered around LGBTQ equality, but have provided immeasurable aid to that struggle, just the same.

Now, at nearly 100 years old, Lear is still a warrior. His tirelessness may simply be due to the fact that he loves his work, but his own words, explaining the meaning of his bumper sticker (it reads, “Just another version of you”) in a 2015 Variety interview, speak volumes about the core beliefs that keep him going.

“I’m very proud of that,” he told the magazine. “It says it all. We’ve become a culture or a nation that takes itself far too seriously. We believe we’re God’s chosen.

Well, God’s chosen is the entire human species and every other species.

“We are simply versions of each other.”

It’s that kind of empathy that arguably defines what being an ally truly means, and it makes Equality California’s recognition of Lear arguably the most welldeserved award of his career.

Norman Lear created many iconic TV shows, including ‘All in the Family,’ the first American TV shows to feature an openly gay character.

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 • 19

BOOKS

Trans musician celebrated in new biography Wendy Carlos a pioneer who changed music

By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER

It ain’t none of your beeswax.

None of your business, so just keep your nose out of things. You’re on a need-to-know basis, and you don’t need to know. It’s being taken care of, never you mind, it isn’t your concern. In “Wendy Carlos: A Biography” by Amanda Sewell, some things just aren’t discussed.

No one who knew Wendy Carlos as a child should’ve been surprised that she became the musician she did: Carlos’ mother’s family loved to sing and dance, and Carlos’ parents wanted to make sure she continued the tradition.

They gave her piano lessons but they couldn’t afford a piano, so Carlos’ father drew piano keys on a piece of paper so she could practice.

Though she was “assigned the male sex at birth,” Carlos knew early in her life that she was a girl, and was baffled that others couldn’t see that. It grew to greatly affect her: somewhat of a prodigy in music and early computing, Carlos won awards and accolades for her studies but her gender identity left her feeling awkward and alone, Sewell says. This was a time when transgender people were largely held up as “freaks.”

So Carlos kept her gender identity private, only revealing her truth to one friend with similar passions for music experimentation. Enjoying a spirited mutual challenge, she and Rachel Elkind played with new sounds until the day Elkind became intrigued by Carlos’ rendition of a Bach composition reproduced with a Moog synthesizer. As it happened, Carlos needed money to continue her work and with Elkind’s help, that composition became an entire album they called “Switched-On Bach.”

It did the trick: Carlos indeed made money from the million-selling album. But it also made her famous, which led to requests for interviews and intrusions about her gender identity, a subject that she felt unnecessarily superseded her musical career.

And that was something she absolutely did not want.

Over the past 40 years, Wendy Carlos has denied most requests to be interviewed, including an offer extended by author Amanda Sewell for this book. No problem; Sewell used an abundance of other sources to craft this biography, indicating that Carlos’ refusals were likely due to her ire at reporters who’ve continued to focus on her gender, rather than on her work. The irony is that a good portion of “Wendy Carlos: A Biography” deals with Carlos’ gender identity and her transitioning.

And yet – how could it not? Sewell shows how Carlos’ giftedness and her pioneering use of then-new technology changed music, as a whole; in a way, her respectful reporting on Carlos’ transition, relative to 1960s social perceptions and to LGBTQ history, both occurring at roughly the same time, also shows another aspect to Carlos’ personality and her dogged reach for what was then rather new.

Still, one can sympathize with Carlos’ wishes, which makes reading “Wendy Carlos: A Biography” feel sometimes voyeuristic.

‘Wendy Carlos: A Biography’

By Amanda Sewell c.2020, Oxford University Press $34.95/264 pages

20 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

FILM

FROM THE VAULTS: Straight, but not narrow Outstanding films you might have missed in theaters

By BRIAN T. CARNEY While the Blade’s media coverage generally focuses on movies and television shows with LGBTQ content or creators, our Top Ten and Year in Review lists do include outstanding mainstream films. As fall nights start to get longer, here are some “straight but not narrow” movies to keep you busy while sheltering in place.

One of the most progressive and thought-provoking movies of 2014 was “Belle,” a beautifully filmed movie about a mixed-race heiress being raised by her aristocratic uncle in eighteenth-century England. Director Amma Asante and a knockout ensemble cast led

by Gugu Mbatha-Raw tackled complex themes of race, class and gender and tell a moving story that combines intimate details and epic historical sweep.

In 2018, the delightful “Stan and Ollie” unfortunately got lost in the holiday release shuffle and did not get the box office or the reviews it deserved. In this heart-warming movie, the famous comedy duo of Stan Laurel (Steve Coogan) and Oliver Hardy (John C. Reilly) are well past their prime but embark on a grueling tour of post-war England and environs while they wait for their Robin Hood movie to be greenlighted. The movie is a pitch-perfect portrait of two aging comedians and their exasperated but devoted wives (great performances by Nina Arianda and Shirley Henderson).

Writer/director Jordan Peele made the Top Ten Lists in both 2017 and 2019. Using the traditional elements of the classic horror movie in exciting new ways, “Get Out” is a searing indictment of American racism. Daniel Kaluuya gives a breakout performance as Chris Washington, a young Black photographer who goes to visit his white girlfriend’s parents for the weekend.

Peele won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for “Get Out;” he was the first African-American man to win in that category. The movie was also nominated for Best Picture and Peele was nominated for Best Director.

Peele’s next movie, “Us,” is a terrifying nightmare vision of the American Dream. Lupita Nyong’o stars as Adelaide Wilson. Despite haunting memories of a childhood visit to the boardwalk, Adelaide reluctantly takes her family on a Santa Cruz beach vacation. Her fears become reality when they encounter a mysterious family outside their house and are forced to fight for their lives.

Nyong’o turns in an amazing performance as Adelaide (and her nightmare double).

Winston Duke adds some much-needed humor as her husband Gabe; Shahadi Wright Joseph and Evan Alex are terrific as their kids and Elisabeth Moss is haunting as Adelaide’s vain friend Kitty.

In 2015, Australian director Jocelyn Moorhouse topped the Year In Review list with “The Dressmaker,” her delightful feminist take on the spaghetti Western. Kate Winslet starred as Tilly Dunnage, a glamorous designer who returns to a small town in rural Australia to wreak revenge on the townspeople who abused her and her mother (Judy Davis). Liam Hemsworth plays the rugby star who helps Tilly figure out the family secret and Hugo Weaving plays a cross-dressing police sergeant with a flair for couture.

Finally, in “The Death of Stalin (2017),” writer/director Armando Iannucci (HBO’s “Vice”) turns his focus from contemporary Washington to Cold War-era Moscow in this biting satire about the pomp, pageantry and power plays following the death of the Soviet dictator.

With caustic wit, Iannucci examines the humanity of his characters and the absurdity of their behavior with both passion and precision.

Steve Buscemi is excellent as the scheming Nikita Khrushchev; he effortlessly combines a sardonic sense of humor, finely honed survival skills and an appreciation for both the theatricality of power and the power of theatricality. Simon Russell Beale is completely engaging as the gleeful and ruthless Beria, head of the secret police, and Jeffrey Tambor and Michael Palin are delightful as clueless members of the Council of Ministers with its ineffectual but deadly bureaucracy.

Andrea Riseborough brings a welcome sense of humanity to the proceedings as Stalin’s daughter Svetlana; over-the-top military preening is provided by Rupert Friend as Stalin’s ineffectual son and Jason Isaacs as Field Marshal Zhukov.

22 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • SEPTEMBER 11, 2020

GUGU MBATHA-RAW in ‘Belle.’

(Photo by David Appleby for Fox)

GOSSIP

PEPPERMINT self-identifies as a trans female.

We should accept everyone’s preferred pronouns and descriptors. (Photo courtesy Capital Pride)

Forget labels and accept people as they are

What happens when your descriptor of choice isn’t deemed acceptable?

By BILLY MASTERS “You love who you love. I’ve evolved. Look, my best friend, Tommy Borden, he’s been married to his husband, Jimmy, for the last 17 years. I couldn’t even make two marriages work past six years. Who am I to be judging anybody?” - Sherri Shepherd clarifies her position on gay marriage. And, being a friend of Billy’s proves she’s VERY tolerant!

People love labels. This was a theme on last week’s episodes of “Billy Masters LIVE.” What labels are currently in vogue? What labels do people prefer? What happens when your label of choice isn’t what the masses deem acceptable? I got some interesting answers. The word “transgender” is used for most people who have had sex changes or believe they are in the wrong biological body. Buck Angel prefers “transsexual,” an older term, but one he feels is more accurate. When it comes to drag, it gets even more complicated. Peppermint is a “trans female.” But Miss Richfield 1981 is a “drag performer.” Rather than label people, why not just accept the label they prefer? It’s their body, and their body’s nobody’s business but their own (extra points if you got that).

I have absolutely no idea how Niecy Nash identifies herself. But she just married a woman.

She’s also married two different men. Unlike your beloved Billy, she did them one at a time. Do you call her bisexual? Is she a lesbian? However you label her, she’s fabulous just the way she is. Congrats, Niecy.

I prefer the label “omnipotent”, which is someone with unlimited power. I told you months ago that Sara Haines would return to “The View.” Now it’s official. When the show begins season 24 this week, Haines will be there. As to Meghan McCain, her baby is due in November. But she’d like to work up until the election. I predict a very special episode of “The View” during which Meghan will give birth on the air assisted by her doula, Joy Behar!

Nobody predicted that Anna Faris would leave “Mom.” Long eclipsed in Allison Janney’s shadow, Faris is not only leaving, but actually broke her contract. “The past seven years on ‘Mom’ have been some of the most fulfilling and rewarding of my career. I’m so thankful to Chuck, the writers, and my amazing castmates for creating a truly wonderful work experience. While my journey as Christy has come to an end, allowing me to pursue other opportunities, I’ll be watching next season and rooting for my TV family.” Note that she doesn’t mention her muchlauded co-star. Here’s my question - what “other opportunities”? “The House Bunny 2”?

One of the biggest Broadway hits of 2018 was the 50th anniversary production

of “The Boys in the Band.” Ryan Murphy’s film adaptation is coming to Netflix on Sept. 30, and it is already generating quite a bit of buzz. The trailer shows that he’s made the material far more cinematic. Why, we even get to watch the lovely Charlie Carver sucking on a...well, you can see it on BillyMasters.com.

Between the pandemic and my life-threatening surgery, I gained what is referred to as the “COVID 19.” Yes, exactly 19 pounds, which on my slight frame was quite significant. I didn’t notice it for months - likely because I was recuperating in elastic waist pants (as usual, I went through tops at an alarming rate). Once I discovered this unwelcomed mass living inside of me, I started daily road work and watched my carb intake. I’ve lost 15 of those pesky pounds, but I didn’t end up looking like Peter Facinelli - who inexplicably dropped 30 pounds from his toned torso. Unlike moi - who usually shows off in select groups no more than a baker’s dozen - Facinelli posted his results on Instagram, while promoting Prostate Cancer Awareness Month.

Once you see what he looks like on our website, I’m sure you’d let him to do whatever he’d like to your prostate.

Our “Ask Billy” question really stumped me. Trent in Los Angeles asked, “What do you know about the Hortoneda Twins? Are they really twins? Posing like that?”

I’m almost embarrassed to tell you that my quick answers are: no, I don’t know, and I don’t know. But, if anyone can get to the bottom of homoerotic twins, it’s Billy Masters. I made some calls, made good use of my foreign tongue, and learned that Cesar and Juan Hortoneda are indeed Italian twins, although I find their names somewhat un-Italian. They have modeled for photographers like Bruce Weber and Mario Testino and they haven’t filed any charges. In most of their pics, they appear to be doused in all of the olive oil in Calabria. But since it helps show off their ripped physiques, I’m OK with it. Check them out on BillyMasters.com.

When the only extra virgin in sight is the olive oil, it’s definitely time to end yet another column. Have I mentioned that the fall is approaching? With the ever-creeping chill in the air, I urge you to check out www.BillyMasters.com - the site that keeps things hot every day of the year. If you need my personal attention, drop a note to Billy@BillyMasters.com, and I promise to get back to you before I find out what you label me! So, until next time, remember, one man’s filth is another man’s bible.

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • SEPTEMBER 11, 2020 • 23