Los Angeles Blade, Volume 07, Issue 15, April 14, 2023

First they came for the abortion pill. Is PrEP next? PAGE 10

Calif. announces emergency stockpile of abortion medication

Governor Newsom announced Monday that California has secured an emergency stockpile of up to 2 million pills of Misoprostol, a safe and effective medication abortion drug, in the wake of U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling seeking to block Mifepristone, a critical abortion pill.

California shared the negotiated terms of its Misoprostol purchase agreement to assist other states in securing Misoprostol, at low cost.

“In response to this extremist ban on a medication abortion drug, our state has secured a stockpile of an alternative medication abortion drug to ensure that Californians continue to have access to safe reproductive health treatments. We will not cave to extremists who are trying to outlaw these critical abortion services. Medication abortion remains legal in California,” said Governor Newsom.

California officials still believe Mifepristone is central to the preferred regimen for medication abortion, the State negotiated and purchased an emergency stockpile of Misoprostol in anticipation of Friday’s ruling by far-right federal judge Kacsmaryk to ensure that California remains a safe haven for safe, affordable, and accessible reproductive care.

More than 250,000 pills have already arrived in California, and the State has negotiated the ability to purchase up to 2 million Misoprostol pills as needed through CalRx. To support other states in securing Misoprostol at a low cost, California has shared the negotiated terms of the purchase agreement with all states in the Reproductive Freedom Alliance.

For decades, medication abortion has been a reliable, affordable, and accessible way for people to get abortion care. Mifepristone, which the FDA first approved in 2000, is taken in combination with Misoprostol. This regimen has been used in more than half of abortions nationwide and is widely considered the standard of care.

California announced that it has taken the following actions:

• Purchasing Misoprostol, through CalRx, to ensure Cal-

ifornia providers can continue to provide medication abortions without disruption. Pharmacies facing shortages can go to Abortion.CA.GOV to find out how to access the stockpile.

• Informing Medi-Cal providers about continued reimbursement for medication abortion using a Misoprostol-only treatment regimen.

• Reminding health plans of California statute that requires the coverage of all other types of abortion and abortion-related services with no cost-sharing or utilization management, including misoprostol.

• Updating Abortion.CA.GOV, California’s abortion resource website, to address questions regarding the Texas court decision and its potential impact on their access to medication abortion.

• Proactively working with other states through the Reproductive Freedom Alliance to protect access in advance of Friday’s decision.

In reaction, state Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis said in a statement: “Today’s announcement reaffirms California’s commitment to lead the fight against extremist attempts to take away the fundamental right to reproductive care. I applaud Governor Newsom’s swift action to ensure that Californians and those who seek care here can continue to access safe abortions.”

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon stated: “I applaud this effort by Governor Newsom to ensure that critical abortion medication is available for every woman in need, even while other states fight to strip away that right to bodily autonomy. With the legal future of mifepristone uncertain, taking early action to make sure we are well-supplied with misoprostol will mean continued access to reproductive healthcare for Californians across the state.”

In September 2022, Newsom signed into law a budget and legislative package that invested more than $200 million in new funds to protect and expand access to sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion care. Of this, $40 million is to cover provider costs for people who cannot afford care (known as uncompensated care), and $20 million is for an “Abortion Practical Support Fund” to help cover the costs associated with abortion care, including travel and lodging both for people in California and people forced to come to California due to restrictions in their home state. These investments will make it easier for people experiencing barriers to care to access critical health care services.

Newsom recently led 21 governors in creating the Reproductive Freedom Alliance – a first-of-its-kind nonpartisan coalition to protect and expand access to reproductive health care, including abortion. The Alliance facilitates proactive and swift coordination across reproductive freedom states so that they can put up effective firewalls to protect and expand access to reproductive care.

BRODY LEVESQUE

Padilla, Alcaraz headed to run-off for council seat

The top two candidates in the field of seven candidates in the special election held April 4 to fill the Los Angeles City Council seat vacated by Nury Martinez appear to be headed to a run-off.

Martinez had resigned in disgrace after the leak of an audio recording last October on which she and fellow council members Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo were heard making racist and homophobic comments.

According to updated election results released Friday by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office, showed that Imelda Padilla, had a total of 3,421 votes, or 25.69%, of the ballots counted in the District 6 race. Marissa Alcaraz was second with 2,812 votes, or 21.12%.

Marco Santana was third with 2,515 votes, or 18.89%. Rose Grigoryan was fourth, with 1,980 votes, or 14.87%. The Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office noted that there are only 99 vote-by-mail ballots left to be tallied from the special election, along with any additional mail ballots that are received by next Tuesday.

With no candidate scoring a majority of votes, the top two,

Padilla and Alcaraz will advance to a June 27 runoff.

Constituents in District 6 are being provided services by a non-voting caretaker, the city of LA’s chief legislative analyst, Sharon Tso. A non-voting caretaker does not hold a seat on the council, but oversees the council office to make sure the district provides constituent services and other basic functions. BRODY

LAPD investigating hate crime against Islamic Center of SoCal

Detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Olympic Division are investigating hate-filled graffiti left on columns in the front of the Islamic Center of Southern California (ICSC) early Sunday morning.

The LAPD said that around 12:40 a.m. Sunday, a white or Hispanic man around 40 to 50 years old, 5 feet 9 inches tall and 180 pounds wearing a black jacket, a black shirt with an

unknown type of design, black pants, black shoes and a black beanie, used a permanent marker to scrawl hate-filled messages on three of the columns.

The LAPD requests anyone with information about the incident is asked to call LAPD Detective Guzman at 213-382-9440.

The Islamic Center of Southern California (ICSC) released a statement decrying the hate-filled attack on the center:

“We are deeply saddened and disturbed to announce that a hate crime against the Muslim Community at the Islamic Center of Southern California occurred early yesterday morning on Easter Sunday in Los Angeles,” read the statement. “This is an appalling act of vandalism targeting the center where innocent individuals gather for their daily religious observances.”

BRODY LEVESQUE

Dr. MARK GHALY, Secretary of the California Health and Human Services & Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM (Photo courtesy Office of the Governor)

IMELDA PADILLA and MARISSA ALCARAZ (Los Angeles Blade photo montage)

Easter Drag march, rally in WeHo had all eyes upon it

2,500 gathered to protest Tennessee’s criminalization of drag

By TROY MASTERS

WEST HOLLYWOOD – It may have been Easter Sunday but in West Hollywood park today there was something akin to revolution in the air. The spirit of activism has awakened, bringing together a very diverse crowd of more than 2500 people for a rally and march to protest the national political tsunami brought on by Tennessee’s laws restricting Drag performers (a law that was today delayed by a Federal judge), in opposition to laws prohibiting gender affirming care for trans youth in several states, and Florida’s ever expanding “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

“They are policing our right to exist! They’re trying to define the contours of our freedoms, restrict our bodily autonomy. And guess what? They’ve tried this before and they lost,” said Joe Hollendoner, CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, setting the stage for the rally ahead of what organizers had billed as a Drag March.

“They are going to lose,” he thundered. “Again! Because we are going to win.”

“This year alone,” he explained, “more than 400 pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation has been introduced and passed throughout the United States. These bills directly target transgender people by denying them access to gender affirming care and criminalizing their free gender expression. They seek to ban books that include LGBTQ people, erase us from history lessons and want to force us back into the closet,” he said.

Hollendoner said the bills were part of a carefully orchestrated effort to label the LGBTQ community as a threat to the public.

“We will not allow it,” he asserted and reminded the crowd that the tactic is not new.

“We’ve seen this tactic before. From its very beginning our movement has fought back from a society that used anti-crossdressing laws and accusations of public lewdness to justify police brutality and overreach. From Stonewall in New York, to Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco and the Black Cat Tavern, anti-LGBTQ legislation has long been used by police to target queer spaces and violate our rights,” Hollendoner proclaimed, adding that the fight was really about the next generation.

“We will raise our voices and we will fight and we will march forward side by side until we achieve the equality that we not only deserve but that we are entitled to,” he declared.

Hollendoner said his team organized more than 40 community partners to host Drag March and rally and told the Los Angeles Blade that corporate partners must also be part of the solution.

The Blade asked Hollendoner, noting that some important LGBTQ allied corporations had canceled drag shows at their venues in Tennessee, what could be done to prevent supporters from walking away from the LGBTQ community at this time of great peril.

“We need our corporate partners by our side 365 and not just at Pride. They need to defend our rights and protect our rights and always stand up for what is right for our community,” he responded.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath ad-

dressed what it means to be Christian:

“This community is about love. They try to tell us that we are an abomination, being here together in support of one another. Well, I am here to say that it is an abomination to allow young people to die by gun violence in our schools because they refused to take action,” she declared and taking aim at Tennessee expulsion of two Black representatives who led protests over that state’s inaction on gun control after a school shooting in Nashville killed 6.

them know that will not stand for hate no matter what. We need to let people know that there are a lot more of us who believe what they are doing is wrong,” the supervisor responded.

My message to you, for all of us, is to “understand our power,” TransLatin@ Coalition CEO Bamby Salcedo said to the crowd when taking the stage at a rally that preceded Drag March. “Do we have power?” she asked the colorful, drag-bedecked, crowd of more than 2,500 people gathered in WeHo Park. The crowd roared and responded “Yes” to which Salcedo exclaimed “Do we fucking have power?” and eliciting an ever more passionate response.

“We need to understand that we DO have power individually and collectively. And we need to understand that our power puts elected officials into office. And our power is the power that’s going to get those mother fuckers out. They want to devalue and diminish our existence,” she said.

“So, I want to say, FUCK THEM. Let’s say it together: FUCK THEM.” And the crowd roared with a defiant, yet jubilant chorus of “FUCK THEM.”

“To wear our colors is scary sometimes,” said Mariana Marroquin, program manager of LA’s Trans Wellness Center. Marroquin, who fled the murderous anti-LGBTQ brutality of Guatemala in 1998, worries where all this legislation is headed. “Just to walk out of my home and into the streets is scary sometimes, but I keep doing it. Because, I’m not going back. I am not going back,” she said, admonishing the crowd to commit to the young people. “I keep doing my work and I’m going to think about all of you.”

“It is an abomination against our API community and against our Jewish community. It is an abomination to see how the LGBTQ community is constantly targeted.” “And they,” she said of the legislative hate activists, “know they’re wrong. We are the majority and we will continue to rise up.”

Tennessee has become the new front in the battle for the future of Democracy in the US after Republicans expelled two Black lawmakers from the state legislature for their part in a protest urging passage of common-sense gun controls in the open carry state. Their protest come after a school shooting resulted in the deaths of 3 ten-year olds and 4 adults, including the death of a shooter who may have identified as non-binary. The shooter’s identity has been used in political discourse in the Tennessee blogosphere, some rightwing media and some legislators to further demonize the LGBTQ local community and buttress anti-lgbtq legislation, a strategy that at first diverted any discussion of a firearms crisis in the state until a protest on the floor of the Tennessee Assembly led to the expulsion of two Black legislators.

Before the rally, Horvath said the county “will stand strong and firm” on behalf of the LGBTQ community and when asked what the county might do in response to Tennessee’s government, said “We have to do all that we can to communicate to the legislators in Tennessee and let

West Hollywood Mayor Sepi Shyne also addressed the rally: “We are facing the take away of our rights and our democracy. It’s important that we uplift our rights and keep coming out and fighting because if we stop doing that they will win and we will lose our rights. We don’t want to fall backwards. That also means fighting for all other intersectional communities that are under attack,” she said.

The mayor also spoke passionately about the parallels to other communities and issues, saying “Women’s rights and the rights of Black and Brown people and Asian Americans and all BIPOC folks- if we come together we will win.”

“We’re going to have to keep coming out and fighting,” she added with emotion, “maybe for the rest of our lives. But they can never take away from us our authenticity.”

Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang said the we have to protect LGBTQ youth from the growing backlash, even in solid blue California.

“We are tired of watching right-wing extremists attack our rights and our humanity — and attack trans folks and LGBTQ+ youth in particular,” he said.

“Over 400 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in Capitols across across state legislatures — with one of those being introduced here in California, AB 1314, a forced outing bill that would require school staff to notify parents within three days after learning a student is identifying as a gender that doesn’t align with official records or their birth certificate.”

CONTINUES ON PAGE 06

Drag Queens in West Hollywood for the Easter drag rally & march (Photo by Troy Masters)

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 04

WeHo Easter march targets Tennessee drag ban

Hoang said there have been reports of some schools enacting the tactic of the bill even though it is not likely to advance. “I promise you this,” he said, “we will kill that bill!”

“And when we do,” he added “we’ll send a message to trans kids everywhere.”

Lambda Legal Western Regional Director Los Angeles Shedrick O. Davis III and his partner Barry Ward were among the many notables attending the rally and likely the only ones donning beautiful blue Easter bonnets. Davis expressed concern that although Disney was fighting back in Florida against the “Don’t Say Gay” bills;

“Our corporate allies are perhaps more skittish but we have to push back on that and give them the backbone and spine to continue to do what’s right by their employees, their customers and our community as a whole. Because financial power can translate into political power. Many state’s that could care less about our individual rights do care about the dollar,” he said.

Davis gave the example of the corporate backlash in North Carolina to the bathroom bills. “Oddly enough, it was the right who wanted corporations to be considered individuals who should be able to contribute as much money (to politics and causes) as they want, they are people too, suggesting that if our allied corporations resist the bills it would present problems for politics. If they want to come out in support of the LGBTQ community,

they certainly have the right to do that.”

Barry Ward said his chief reason for attending today, aside from supporting his partner’s work, is his concern that the right wants to make our community second class citizens. “What’s happened in our politics in the last number years is that it’s been ok to be intolerant. We have a younger generation who aren’t going to go back into the closet,” he said. “We have to make sure that LGBTQ kids in schools and the gay/straight alliances and tolerant churches are preserved to support them.”

Jazzmun Nichcala Crayton, Associate Director of the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team, focused on the spirituality of drag, reading a poem she wrote for today’s event. Here’s a portion:

“I am desiring radical change and curiosity in the hearts and minds of folks who don’t believe in Drag Queen Magic.

“I am here to remind you to stay committed to practicing non-judgment, compassion, service, authenticity and kindness, ALL with the intention of blessing the world through your loving demonstration. This was told to me by the Inspire Spiritual Community.

“Drag Queen

Rejoice in knowing that every time and everywhere you show up, you bring a sense of humor, wonder and excitement. You remind us all of how important it is to be like a child at play.

“Drag Queen

You are the true representation of all that’s Holy and good in this world.

Love is a religion, so let your performances be your ministry, your lip syncing be the anointing and stay baptized and fully immersed in all the glitter, rhinestones and feathers you can glue onto your costumes.”

Kerri Colby, a prominent LA-based Ru Paul’s Drag Race contestant, took to the stage to Beyoncé’s ‘Listen,’ a song about asserting yourself when you are being pushed around.

Prior to the event, Colby told the Blade that anti-LGBTQ bills are simply “a bullying method to attack diversity because it opens minds, brings new perspectives, changes people,” she said.

“This legislation is completely unconstitutional but I also feel that this is going to be the best and most important time for the community, every letter, every color, every creed, to let people know that we have a voice. We have a story and we deserve to be listened to. You can’t mute us and drown us out. You can’t ruin our businesses on which we have worked so hard, you can’t take us off the runway or run us off the road,” she said referring to the Blade’s recent reporting on Marriott and Hard Rock cafe’s initial decision to cancel drag shows at their Tennessee venues.

“We’re never going to go down without a fight,” she said, adding “This is definitely giving some Stonewall energy- in the name of Marsha P. Johnson.”

MARIANA MARROQUIN (left) with JOE HOLLENDONER, CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center

(Middle) (Photo by Troy Masters)

Los Angeles County Supervisor LINDSEY HORVATH (Photo by Troy Masters)

Suspect who escaped standoff in WeHo shooting identified

WEST HOLLYWOOD – Joshua Findley, a 31-year-old Hispanic man with tattoos on his face, neck, arms, and legs, has been identified as the suspect who allegedly shot his neighbor through a wall in The Dylan luxury apartment complex on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. He is a convicted felon who escaped a 7-hour long standoff after police believed he had barricaded himself in his apartment.

Deputy Miguel Meza, the Public Information Officer for Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, told reporters that the West Hollywood Sheriff’s station received a call of gunshots fired at approximately 8:50 a.m. on Friday in the 7000 block of Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. Five shots were fired and a woman in her 50s was shot twice, once in the upper torso and once in her lower body. The shots came from her adjacent apartment, reports Meca. She was rushed to a nearby hospital. Her injuries are not life threatening at this time.

A Los Angeles Sheriff’s helicopter landed on La Brea Avenue near Lexington Avenue. LASD put up caution tape and

barricaded the area during the investigation from La Brea Avenue to Formosa Avenue.

Joshua Findley has a criminal history. Crescenta Valley

News reported on November 2020, that Findley was arrested and booked for suspicion of robbery, ID theft, and for being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm. He was stopped for an expired registration and tinted windows when police found a large amount of cash, methamphetamine, a methamphetamine pipe, approximately 40 credit cards in various names and gift cards along with driver’s licenses in other people’s names and a loaded unregistered handgun. He was on probation for identity theft during the arrest.

Findley lives at The Dylan. He is considered armed and dangerous with two outstanding warrants for his arrest. He remains at large as of the posting of this piece. Anyone who has seen Findley is asked to avoid approaching him and to dial 911 immediately.

Anyone with additional information can contact Det. Cusiter at 310-855-8850 or Det. Martinez at 213-420-7738. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or submitted online at lacrimestoppers.org.

PAUL MURILLO/WEHO TIMES

bi youths have trouble sleeping: study

A study published last month by the National Library of Medicine and online LGBT Health magazine revealed that sexual minority status may be linked to sleep disturbance in early adolescence.

The study sample was 8,563 adolescents 10- to 14-yearsold, of which 4.4% identified as sexual minority individuals. Sexual minority status was associated with self-reported trouble falling or staying asleep with 35.1% or 1 in 3 self-reported trouble falling or staying asleep. The purpose of the study was to examine associations between sexual minority status (e.g., gay, lesbian, or bisexual) and sleep problems in a demographically diverse, national sample of U.S. early adolescents.

In the overall study only 13.5% of straight-identifying adolescents self-reported trouble falling or staying asleep.

30.8% of questioning youths — those who answered “maybe” to being gay, lesbian or bisexual — reported problems with getting a full night’s rest.

“Sleep is incredibly important for a teenager’s health,” said lead author Jason M. Nagata, a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco to NBC News. “There’s growth spurts and hormonal changes that help you develop normally.”

Nagata and the research team noted that the association between sexual minority status and trouble falling or staying asleep was partially mediated by greater depressive problems, more family conflict, and less parental monitoring, whereas the association between sexual minority status and caregiver-reported sleep disturbance was partially mediated by greater depressive problems, higher stress, and greater family conflict.

The research teams also reported that future research could test interventions to promote family and caregiver acceptance and mental health support for sexual minority

youth to improve their sleep and other health outcomes.

Nagata’s team which included Christopher M. Lee, Joanne H. Yang, Orsolya Kiss, Kyle T. Ganson, Alexander Testa, Dylan B. Jackson, Abubakr A.A. Al-shoaibi, and Fiona C. Baker utilized data from the 2018-2020 Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, with focus on LGB youth.

Existing research already points to increased sleep issues among sexual minorities, but Nagata told NBC News he believes this is the first time gay, lesbian and bisexual youths have been the focus.

“This is such a volatile period, both physically and mentally,” he said. “Teens are particularly vulnerable to the opinions of their peers, so it’s a high-risk group for mental health problems and suicide.”

Further research could illuminate other factors fueling sleep disorders among queer youths, he said.

“LGB kids experience more substance use than their peers, for example, which can alter sleep cycles and impair sleep,” he said.

Co-author Kyle T. Ganson, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, pointed out that parents can also help by being actively involved in their children’s lives and supportive of their identities and any feelings they may be exploring.

“Adolescent development is a challenging time for many given the social pressures and physical, psychological and emotional changes that occur,” Ganson told NBC News in a statement. “Understanding this process and being present to support it is crucial for positive health outcomes.”

A 2018 study of adults, published in the journal Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, covered a sample of about 15,000 participants, most of whom were straight, with 2.1 percent identifying as gay and 1.3 percent identifying as bisexual. The survey had two questions fo-

Among respondents, it was LGB people who reported more troubles both falling asleep and staying asleep. Much like other sleep studies, women also reported a higher instance of sleep issues than men.

Likewise, LGB respondents reported higher levels of stress in their lives, in particular stress caused by familial rejection, the Journal reports.

The study suggests that treating insomnia for LGB people may be a useful step in improving health, but does recommend further study.

Proper rest is one of the keys to health and well-being. It is recommended that those between the ages of 18-64 get seven-nine hours of sleep per night.

FROM

STAFF REPORTS

cused on insomnia, with additional questions focused on the stresses the individuals faced.

1 in 3 gay, lesbian,

JOSHUA FINDLEY (Photo montage: WeHo Times)

RAOUL CASEY (Photo by Harrison J. Bahe)

40 athletes urge Congress to drop proposed trans sports ban

A group of 40 prominent athletes including soccer player Megan Rapinoe and boxer Patricio Manuel signed a letter Monday urging lawmakers to drop a proposal introduced by House Republicans to ban transgender and intersex women and girls from playing on school sports teams.

The letter was issued by Athlete Ally, a nonprofit group that works towards creating more LGBTQ-inclusive athletic environments, just as momentum seems to be building for a federal proposal modeled after statewide bans

that exclude trans and intersex women and girls from competing.

“Right now, transgender and intersex human rights are under attack,” the letter states, “with politicians in Washington, D.C., pushing forward H.R. 734, the so-called ‘Protection of Girls and Women in Sports Act,’ which would stipulate that Title IX compliance requires banning transgender and intersex girls and women from participating in sports.”

“If this bill passes, transgender and intersex girls and women throughout

the country will be forced to sit on the sidelines, away from their peers and their communities,” the letter continues. “Furthermore, the policing of who can and cannot play school sports will very likely lead to the policing of the bodies of all girls, including cisgender girls.”

The legislation was introduced in February by U.S. Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.). A markup session was held in March, and on April 6, the House Rules Committee announced it may meet during the week of April 17 to provide for floor consideration of the proposal.

According to the Movement Advancement Project, 20 U.S. states now have laws barring trans students from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity.

Florida lawmaker calls trans people ‘mutants’

During testimony Monday in front of the Florida House Commerce Committee, state Rep. Webster Barnaby (R-Deltona) unleashed a transphobic rant at transgender Floridians who traveled from across the state to testify in a committee hearing on the trans bathroom ban bill (House Bill 1521), and other members of the audience in the hearing room.

Barnaby addressed those present in the hearing room stating that trans people as “mutants, demons and imps.”

“I’m looking at society today and it’s like I’m watching an X-Men movie with people that when you watch the X-Men movies or Marvel Comics — it’s like we mutants living among us on planet Earth. And, you know, some people

don’t like that, but that’s a fact. We have people that live among us today on planet Earth that are happy to display themselves as if they were mutants from another planet.

“This is the planet Earth, where God created men male and women female. I’m a proud Christian, conservative, Republican. I’m not on the fence. There is so much darkness in our world today, so much evil in our world today, and so many people who are free to address the evil, the dysphoria, the dysfunction. I’m not afraid to address the dysphoria or the dysfunction.

“The Lord rebuke you Satan, and all of your demons and all of your imps who come and parade before us. That’s right, I called you demons and imps who come and parade before us and pretend that you are part of this world. So I’m saying my righteous indignation is stirred. I’m sick and tired of this.

“I’m not going to put up with this. You can test me and try and take me on, but I promise you I’ll win every time. Let’s all vote up on this bill, thank you.”

Texting with the Washington Blade Monday evening, Brandon Wolf, the press secretary for Equality Florida, said: “We have people placing calls to his office demanding

he resign, but let’s face it: He’s just saying the quiet part out loud. This transphobic vitriol is what’s at the core of all these policies. And the DeSantis agenda is designed to empower and embolden the bigotry.”

In a statement issued earlier, Equality Florida pointed out the Republican Committee Chair Bob Rommel allowed the tirade to continue without challenge, sitting silently as Barnaby unleashed his abuse on those in the hearing room.

“Today, parents and children, many of whom traveled hours to share their stories, had to listen to GOP state Rep. Barnaby slander the transgender community from the dais. And Republican leadership in the room refused to put a stop to it. This hideous bigotry has always been at the root of the wave of anti-LGBTQ hysteria sweeping our state. The agenda of DeSantis and his legislative cronies has always been aimed at empowering this brand of bigotry and dehumanizing the LGBTQ community. Shame on Rep. Barnaby for spewing his transphobic vitriol. And shame on Chair Rommel for sitting idly by and allowing it to happen.”

BRODY LEVESQUE

Kansas Republicans override guv’s veto of anti-trans bill

The Republican majority Kansas Legislature was able to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill banning transgender girls and women from girls and women’s sports at public schools and colleges.

The state Senate with a 28-12 vote on April 5 passed through Senate Bill 160 known as the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act. The House of Representatives had previously voted 84-40. Both reached the two-thirds majority needed for an override. Last year an effort to ban trans athletes from women’s sports failed after the House fell short on an attempt to override Kelly’s veto.

“The Fairness in Women’s Sports act protects the rights of female athletes in the state by requiring that female student athletic teams only include members who are biologically female,” House Speaker Dan Hawkins said in a statement after overriding the veto. “House Republicans are united in our commitment to defending the intention of Title IX.”

In an interview with KCUR, the governor said, “It breaks

my heart. I’m sorry that they distracted themselves with this really awful bill.”

The override by Republicans caps a 3-year battle to try to enact the ban.

Kelly has vetoed similar legislation in the last two years. Kansas News Service reporters Dylan Lysen, Blaise Mesa, Samantha Horton reported that the newly enacted law will not lead to a widespread change in Kansas.

Jeremy Holaday, a spokesperson for the Kansas State High School Activities Association, said of the 106,000 students participating in the organization’s sports and activities, only three are trans girls.

Two of those trans girls are set to graduate this spring. That means only one of the students currently participating in Kansas high school activities will be impacted when the law goes into effect in July.

KSHSAA uses a policy that allows schools to consider each case of trans youth participating in gender-specific activi-

ties on an individual basis. The student’s school ultimately makes the decision.

“We believe it has worked for our member schools,” Holaday said. “If the state legislature gives us new direction, then we will adjust accordingly.”

Democratic state Rep. Jerry Stogsdill of Wichita warned the bill may lead to businesses and sporting events — like the NCAA’s national tournaments — shunning the state.

“We have put targets on the backs of some of our most vulnerable citizens,” Stogsdill said. “As a proud Kansan, I’m ashamed.”

The bill is one of several measures the Republican-dominated Kansas Legislature is pursuing that limits trans rights.

Lawmakers also approved a bill known as the Women’s Bill of Rights that bars trans women from bathrooms, shelters and other spaces designated for women. Kelly is expected to veto that bill too.

CHRISTOPHER KANE

U.S. Rep. MARK POCAN (D-Wis.) speaks at the U.S. Capitol for a March 8 rally opposing a federal sports ban. (Blade photo by Michael Key)

Florida state Rep. WEBSTER BARNABY (R-Deltona) (YouTube screenshot)

Judge’s nationwide abortion pill ban ‘could open the floodgates’

Medicines for gay, bi, and trans

White House Press Secretary Karine JeanPierre told reporters on Monday that last week’s decision by a Texas court to ban the nationwide sale and distribution of the abortion pill mifepristone “could open the fl oodgates for other medications to be targeted and denied to people who need them.”

Following that ruling by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, American Medical Association President Jack Resneck raised similar concerns in a statement warning that “upending longstanding drug regulatory decisions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)” would position “other drugs at risk of being subject to similar eff orts.”

“You’re not talking about just mifepristone,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday. “You’re talking about every kind of drug. You’re talking about our vaccines. You’re talking about insulin. You’re talking about the new Alzheimer’s drugs that may come on.”

Americans could be

By CHRISTOPHER KANE | ckane@washblade.com

next

stone.

The case in Washington was brought by attorneys general from 17 states and the District of Columbia in anticipation of Kacsmaryk’s ruling, and the split decision means the matter is likely to be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Some legal observers have speculated that the Biden administration may be pushing for this outcome, hedging that even with its 6-3 conservative supermajority the justices are likely to reject Kacsmaryk’s analysis of the relevant facts on substantive or procedural grounds.

Still, and notwithstanding the fate of other medications or vaccines in the hands of Kacsmaryk or his ideological allies on the federal bench, the Texas court’s ruling raises other major questions.

Likewise, in an interview on Pod Save America that aired Tuesday, law professor Leah Litman agreed drugs like HIV medications, along with vaccines like those targeting HPV and COVID, or birth control pills, could be next.

Medicines for trans youth and adults, in some cases, have been targeted with legislation passed by conservative states to restrict access to guideline directed medically necessary interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria.

And last year, another Texas court ruled that employers can deny health coverage for PrEP, a medication used to prevent the transmission of HIV.

Ruling in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, Kacsmaryk had issued a stay on the Food and Drug Administration’s conclusion that mifepristone is safe and eff ective, a fi nding the agency reached in 2000 that has since been buttressed by more than two decades of clinical evidence.

It was roundly denounced as unscientifi c, the product of the judge’s longstanding and well documented ideological opposition to abortion.

The Biden administration was prepared for Kacsmaryk’s decision, Jean-Pierre said: Attorney General Merrick Garland immediately pledged the Justice Department to appeal and seek a stay (of Kacsmaryk’s ruling) pending the outcome of additional litigation. And then on Monday the Department asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to halt implementation of the ruling.

Other powerful legal actors had also been on notice. On Monday, New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of state attorneys general in challenging Kacsmaryk’s ruling with an amici brief fi led to the 5th Circuit.

Casting additional uncertainty into the mix was a separate ruling, just hours after Kacsmaryk’s, by Judge Thomas Rice of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, who ordered the FDA to make no changes to the availability of mifepri-

For example, can a federal judge circumvent the congressionally ordained power of America’s federal administrative agencies? If so, under which circumstances? How about the practice of forum shopping, by which litigants deliberately move to have their cases adjudicated by judges they expect will be most sympathetic? And what will all of this uncertainty mean for the global biopharmaceutical industry and the future of drug discovery in America?

One solution that was proposed by at least two Democratic members of Congress, Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) and Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.): the Biden administration should simply ignore Kacsmaryk’s ruling.

“I believe the Food and Drug Administration has the authority to ignore this ruling, which is why I’m again calling on President Biden and the FDA to do just that,” Wyden said in a statement Friday.

“If they don’t,” warned the senator, “the consequences of banning the most common method of abortion in every single state will be devastating.”

“The courts rely on the legitimacy of their rulings, and what they are currently doing is engaging in an unprecedented erosion of their legitimacy,” Ocasio-Cortez told Anderson Cooper during an interview on CNN Friday.

On Monday, the White House circulated an open industry letter signed by more than 200 pharmaceutical industry executives, which echoed criticisms of Kacsmaryk’s ruling that noted his lack of formal education or training in science or medicine.

The executives’ letter also argued the decision presents systemic risks to the drug discovery pipeline.

“As an industry we count on the FDA’s autonomy and authority to bring new medicines to patients under a reliable regulatory process for drug evaluation and approval,” the group wrote.

“Adding regulatory uncertainty to the already inherently risky work of discovering and developing new medicines will likely have the eff ect of reducing incentives for investment, endangering the innovation that characterizes our ind ustry.”

Judge MATTHEW KACSMARYKO’s ruling would ban the nationwide sale and distribution of the abortion pill mifepristone. (Screen capture via YouTube)

Gay TikTok couple arrested in Russia

A young gay couple has been arrested with one facing deportation back to his native China after running afoul of Russia’s “gay propaganda” law signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin last December, for their videos on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Gela Gogishvili, 23, a Russian national and his boyfriend, Chinese national Haoyang Xu, 21, live in Kazan, the fifth largest city in Russia located on the banks of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in southwest Russia. The young couple had been documenting their everyday lives with their 740,000 followers on TikTok and 64,900 subscribers on YouTube.

The couple was arrested this past Thursday and although Gogishvili was released, Xu remains being held in a Russian detention center for migrants before being deported in seven days.

In an interview with Newsweek’s Shannon Power “We were very scared … it became a living hell because the impossible happened,” Gogishvili said.

According to Moscow-based LGBTQ group, DELO LGBT+ a local citizen tipped off police to Gogishvili and Xu’s social media content.

“The ‘gay propaganda’ law falls under the Administrative Code, but the Kazan police’s criminal investigation department has been looking for these guys … and they are treated like they are dangerous criminal offenders,” Vladimir Komov, senior partner and a spokesperson for the organization said.

In a court hearing Friday, Xu who had moved to Russia to

study Russian at university, was found guilty of violating the enhanced “gay propaganda” law and sentenced to a week in the detention center for migrants before being deported. The couple’s attorneys are appealing that decision.

According to Newsweek Police stopped the couple in the street after they had attended a museum with friends and demanded Xu present his papers, such as passport and student visa, but he couldn’t because he did not carry them on him. The officers then escorted them to get his documentation and took them in a police car to the Yapeyeva police station.

But once they got there, police informed the men they were being charged under Article 6.21 of Russia’s Administrative Offenses Code, otherwise known as the “gay propaganda” law.

“The policeman told us that it’s not that Haoyang didn’t have his papers on him but we will be prosecuted for ‘gay propaganda’ and … Haoyang could be deported,” Gogishvili said.

DELO LGBT+‘s Komov said that he could not understand why the couple had been arrested because they were “quite popular” on their social media platforms and their content was “not erotic” by any standard.

“They do TikToks about their everyday life as a gay couple, how they do chores, how they wash the dishes, how they communicate and only share a few romantic moments such as kissing … and some cuddling,” Komov said.

“How did the police informer and the Kazan police deem there was LGBT+ ‘propaganda’ on their social media? These guys just posted videos in which they kiss, hug and show their

favorite sleeping poses.

“All this was considered an inappropriate demonstration of ‘homosexual intimacy’.”

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin issued a decree last December that directs the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, abbreviated as Roskomnadzor, to ban any websites that contain information about LGBTQ identities without a court order.

As a part of the stepped up enhancements of the law, “Information propagating non-traditional sexual relations and (or) preferences” now serves as grounds for blacklisting any website in Russia and more recently used as a tool by Russian police and prosecutors against those posting prohibited material on their personal social media platforms.

Rwanda recognizes LGBTQ relationships in new book

The Rwandan government has recognized same-sex relationships in a newly launched book for adolescents and young people who are under 24-years-old.

The Comprehensive Sexuality Education Toolkit titled “Amahitamo Yanjye” (“My Choice”) in the country’s Kinyarwanda language seeking to curb teenage pregnancies recognizes and promotes education about homosexuality and other sexual orientations.

The book is largely written in Kinyarwanda with limited English translations and states that there is no relationship between gender and sex in exploring gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation, among other topics.

To recognize the existence of gay and lesbian relationships, the toolkit uses the “Genderbread Person” tool to educate young people.

The out-of-school book is a product of Plan International Rwanda, a non-governmental organization, in collaboration with Rwanda’s Ministry of Health and Rwanda Biomedical Center.

Mireille Batamuliza, Rwanda’s Permanent Secretary in the Gender and Family Promotion Ministry who presided over the launch of the sexuality toolkit on March 31, acknowledged it as a solution to address teenage pregnancy through sensitization.

“The kit provides lessons for adolescents especially those out of school, parents, teachers, and health works for additional knowledge,” Batamuliza said.

Plan International Rwanda Country Director William Mutero noted that the sexuality toolkit brings hope to increase collaboration with various stakeholders in sharing knowledge.

However, the government’s involvement in the book that also promotes homosexuality sparked criticism from the public and praise from the LGBTQ community and its rights defenders.

The Triangle Organization, an NGO that supports LGBTQ

communities to access services lauded the recognition of the queer community and the explanation of the “genderbread person” in Rwanda’s local language, welcomed the book.

The public outcry prompted the Rwandan government’s spokesperson to state that the toolkit belongs to Plan International Rwanda and denied any state institution having “validated, endorsed or adopted” it. The book’s cover, however, bears the logos of the Health Ministry, the Rwanda Biomedical Center and Plan International Rwanda.

The toolkit is also forwarded by the Rwanda Biomedical Center, a state agency whose officials, led by Adolescent Health Officer Elphaze Karamage, attended the launch.

“Sexual orientation and gender identity are private matters, and the health and well-being of all Rwandans are protected without discrimination under the existing law and policy,” the government spokesperson said.

There is no restriction on the discussion or promotion of LGBTQ issues in Rwanda, despite the fact the country’s 2003 constitution does not recognize homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

Rwanda is the only East African nation that treats sexual orientation as a private matter free from government interference through legislation to restrict certain sexual practices. Homosexuality remains criminalized in neighboring Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

The Kenyan government, for example, this year started cracking down on foreign teenage books with LGBTQ content. MPs also passed a resolution that bans public discussion, reporting and distribution of LGBTQ-specific material.

Kenya’s Education Ministry and the church have also formed a Chaplains Committee chaired by Kenya’s Anglican Church Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit to counter the infiltration of

LGBTQ in schools. The committee’s mandates include counseling students who identify as LGBTQ.

Rwanda in 2010 voted in support of re-introducing sexual orientation as a category in a U.N. resolution on “extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions” after the reference had been removed in the previous year. This move led to the decriminalization of homosexuality in Rwanda.

Rwanda in 2011 joined four other African countries in signing a U.N. joint statement “Ending Acts of Violence and Related Human Rights Violations Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.”

Although Rwanda is seen as a haven for the LGBTQ community in the region and serving a refuge for gays under attack in hostile neighboring countries like Uganda, the community still faces discrimination and abuse from local authorities.

Various queer activists and civil society groups last year petitioned the government to also collect data about the LGBTQ community in the August 2022 national census for consideration in planning, but their request was ignored.

The LGBTQ community has complained about some of its members being fired from work or denied jobs and health services, kicked out of rental houses, excommunicated from churches, and shunned by family members for disclosing their sexual orientation. Activists have also called for marriage equality, a non-discrimination law, recognition of LGBTQ people as a distinct group to enjoy equal rights and other policies that protect them.

Some LGBTQ people have been accepted by the Church of God in Africa in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, where they are respected and treated equally, even though Rwandan society remains largely homophobic.

SAM KISIKA

HAOYANG XU and GELA GOGISHVILI, gay couple and TikTok stars in Russia. (YouTube screenshot)

Keshet Deutschland, A Wider Bridge, Keshet Sefarad, Rainbow Jews, Magen David Keshet Italia, the World Congress of GLBT Jews, Guimel and Gaavah are major LGBTQ Jewish groups from the U.K., Brazil, the U.S., Mexico, Spain, Germany and Italy that signed a joint statement calling on the Israeli government not to lend a hand to legal changes that would harm Israel’s status as a safe home for them.

Keep Israel a safe home for us

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Government’s proposals could irrevocably harm LGBTQ people

By A WIDER BRIDGE ET AL

We are leaders and activists of the Jewish LGBTQ+ communities all over the world. We urgently call to halt the legislation processes that are tearing up Israeli society and support the efforts and protests being held in that vein.

As Jewish people in the diaspora, Israel has always been a second home and a refuge for many. As LGBTQ+ people, Israel’s values as a pluralistic free and open democracy founded on the principles of the Declaration of Independence and Jewish values have made Israel a safe haven — until today.

We are deeply concerned with the current government proposals in Israel. The hasty process, the one-sided nature and the determined opposition from experts against the legislative reform, combined with the demands for further repressive measures reflected in the coalition’s agreements together with the homophobic declarations made by some ministers, and the ignorance towards the tens of thousands of Israelis and many in the diaspora demonstrating in opposition to the current developments, make us fear that Israel will risk no longer being a home for LGBTQ+ people. The situation must

be resolved by peaceful and agreeable means. This is the only Jewish way: “Love peace and hate dissension … A house in which dissension will ultimately be destroyed” (Derech Eretz Zutta tractate, chapter 9.) This dissention is threatening to destroy this house.

Outside of Israel, the Jewish Diaspora lives as a minority that can only flourish under a strong democracy with checks, balances and powerful protections to civil and human rights.

In the current climate of rising anti-Semitism and hatred towards LGBTQ+ people around the world, we are reminded of the necessity of a Jewish homeland, the Land of the Jews as envisioned by Herzl. We fear a world that holds no place for us.

We ask the leaders of Jewish communities in the diaspora to hear our plea and speak up against the danger to our place in Israel’s future, and we ask the Israeli government to stop and change course so that Israel will continue to stay safe for LGBTQ+ people.

“You shall not follow the majority for evil.”

CHRISTOPHER JACKSON, 562-826-6602

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LGBTQI activists participate in a protest against proposed reforms to Israel’s judiciary. (Photo courtesy of George Avni)

DAVID J. KRAMER

is executive director of the George W. Bush Institute and a leading expert on Russia and Ukraine.

DEBORAH L. BIRX , M.D.,

Senior Fellow, George W. Bush Institute, has spent her career serving the United States, first as an Army Colonel and later, running some of the most high-profile programs at the U.S. CDC.

Uganda’s president should reject anti-gay legislation Measure reflects growing pattern in sub-Saharan Africa to target LGBTQ community

Uganda is on the verge of imposing draconian penalties on anyone who identifies as gay and requiring their friends and family members to report anyone in a same-sex relationship.

The Ugandan parliament passed legislation last month that would prohibit “advocacy for LGBTQ rights and mandate people to report the community to law enforcement.” It awaits the signature of President Yoweri Museveni, who has supported past anti-LGBTQ legislation and made disparaging remarks in the past about those who are LGBTQ.

The measure reflects a growing pattern in parts of Africa to target members of the LGBTQ community. In fact, same-sex intercourse is illegal in 32 countries in Africa, including Uganda.

to enact a similar law in 2014, the United States held direct funding to the Government but not to nongovernmental partners. Effective national level policies that promote health access for everyone are critical to responding effectively to pandemics including the HIV/ AIDS pandemic. We should consider doing the same thing this time if this discriminatory and punitive law is enacted. Any steps we take should focus on those responsible for the legislation, not the people of Uganda.

The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), launched 20 years ago by President George W. Bush, has saved more than 25 million lives in Africa and around the world, including many Ugandans. The United States has invested over $5 billion in Uganda through PEPFAR for HIV prevention, care, and treatment services and must continue to ensure these resources support effective and impactful programs that improve the outcomes of all Ugandans and don’t marginalize communities or violate human rights.

PEPFAR’s impact has been possible due to deep partnerships with both communities and governments that provide everyone with access to prevention and treatment services – everyone. The program has the responsibility to ensure U.S. taxpayer dollars are used to fund effective programs with clear outcomes and impact. PEPFAR must guarantee those most at risk for acquiring HIV are seen, heard, and have access to essential services not driven into the shadows out of fear. It must also continue to use data so that all people are reached, that Government policies support comprehensive programming, and that gaps are addressed. This approach has not only saved lives but changed the very course of the HIV pandemic.

President Museveni historically has done an admirable job in leading his country through the HIV/AIDS pandemic, but there are already worrying signs beginning to emerge in Uganda. The last comprehensive community survey, in 2020-2021, showed increasing evidence those at greatest risk for HIV – marginalized populations and young men and young women—are falling through the cracks when it comes to testing and treatment. Nearly 20% of Ugandan adults don’t know their HIV status.

President Museveni shouldn’t sign this violation of the universal human rights of expression and association. It singles out a minority population – the LGBTQ community. While it should be opposed on that basis alone, it also could be exploited to go after any critics or opponents of the government by accusing them of engaging in what would be illegal behavior in their personal lives. Equally jarring, it would exacerbate Uganda’s HIV/AIDS situation by furthering the stigma and discrimination of an already victimized segment of the Ugandan population. Marginalizing any population vulnerable to acquiring HIV will ensure Uganda does not reach the critical Sustainable Development 2030 Health Goals President Museveni and governments across the globe committed to in 2015.

Uganda has previously tried to implement similar legislation, but the country’s courts rejected it, albeit for procedural reasons, not on the merits of the case. When Uganda tried

Progress in reaching underserved groups has been minimal over the past five years, and the Ugandan government and communities must come together to address this gap. This anti-gay legislation threatens to further divide them instead: For example, young people afraid that people will assume that they’re participating in this criminalized behavior could be frightened away from HIV testing sites.

The last thing we need is to further stigmatize an already victimized segment of the Ugandan population and exacerbate the problem of HIV/AIDS by driving same-sex activity further underground and discouraging and creating clear barriers to critical prevention services, HIV testing, and treatment for the virus.

The proposed law would violate the concept of treating individuals with equality, respect, and dignity; target and discriminate against even more those in the LGBTQ community; and aggravate Uganda’s HIV/AIDS situation. President Museveni should do the right thing and listen to those urging him not to sign the legislation.

Renowned historian Martin Duberman reflects on a full life in ‘Reaching Ninety’

New memoir looks back at Stonewall, efforts to ‘cure’ homosexuality

By KATHI WOLFE

Renowned queer historian, playwright, author and LGBTQ activist Martin Duberman, 93, began writing stories when he was four. “They still exist,” Duberman, Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at City University of New York (CUNY), told the Blade in a telephone interview. “They’re with my papers at the New York Public Library.”

Duberman doesn’t understand what drove him to create.

“I’d write these moralistic tales,” he said, “hand-sewn inside covers. About how Alice learned to do what her mother told her to do.”

Duberman who has written some two dozen books as well as plays, hasn’t stopped writing.

Name most anything or anyone and he’s written about it: from the Stonewall Uprising to actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson. His memoir “Cures” recounts how mental health professionals tried to “cure” him of his “homosexuality.”

When he was 70, he wrote “Haymarket,” a novel set in 1886 in Chicago during protests by labor activists.

His newest book “Reaching Ninety,” is a memoir. In it, Duberman recalls the people, events and work of his life – from coming out to his student years – to his relationships to his beloved puppy Emma (named after iconic feminist and anarchist icon Emma Goldman) to aging.

In “Reaching Ninety,” Duberman quotes the dictum “aging is not for sissies.”

But, “The trouble is that I am one,” he adds, “It’s part of my cultural heritage.”

There’s a thread running through his work, Duberman, who founded CLAGS: CUNY’s Center for LGBTQ Studies, the first university-based LGBTQ research center in the United States, said. “I’ve been trying to reinvent historical writing.”

It’s essential if you’re an historian and you’re presenting an account of past events, to remain true to the known evidence, Duberman said. “But you have to be clear,” he added, “the evidence that has come down to us is partial and skewed.”

At the beginning of his career as an historian, Duberman wrote with a more traditional view of history: that history could be known and chronicled objectively. As if the historian’s background had no impact on how they wrote history.

Duberman’s early work was well-received. His 1961 biography “Charles Francis Adams, 1807-1886” won the prestigious Bancroft Prize.

But, as he matured personally and professionally, Duberman began to question the pretense of objectivity. He came to see that subjectivity is an essential part of writing history.

“The historian – with their own background – in their own

time – is always present in the history they write,” said Duberman, who earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1957.

Historians must adhere to the evidence, Duberman emphasized. “But, they need to decide to come clean about who they are even, in part, to write in the first person. To explain their reaction to evidence.”

Historians’ reactions to the evidence they uncover about the past could impact how they write history, he noted.

Historians don’t always know the full extent of how their backgrounds contribute to their interpretations of history. But they should take it for granted that at least some of their eras and views are present, Duberman said.

“To me, the choice comes down to how explicit I should be,” he said, “and how am I going to make it known.”

This was a new way of thinking and writing about history. Take Duberman’s 1972 book “Black Mountain: an Exploration in Community.”

In the 20th century, Black Mountain College was a community for artists. But it was, as per the times, homophobic. A faculty member of Black Mountain was arrested for having sex in a car with a minor, Duberman writes in “Reaching Ninety.” He was let off with a suspended sentence. He became an “instant pariah,” resigned immediately and no one from the community at the college offered any help, Duberman writes.

When writing his Black Mountain book, Duberman felt compelled to come out as gay. To be, as an historian, transparent about how his biography impacted his view of history.

“It’s hard to think well of a place that could cooperate as fully as Black Mountain did in an individual’s self-destruction,” Duberman wrote in his Black Mountain book about how the college treated the gay teacher, “indeed to have assumed it as foreclosed.”

“But perhaps I exaggerate, a function of my own indignation as a homosexual, a potential victim,” he added.

In 1972, when the book was published, Duberman’s coming out in his reaction to an incident in the history of Black Mountain College received mixed reviews.

He was denounced in historical journals. “The New York Times reviewer dismissed my coming out as a vaguely unclean bit of business,” Duberman writes in “Reaching Ninety.”

“Other people were well-disposed toward the book,” Duberman said, “they were academics, not historians.”

Historians are a conservative group of people, Duberman said. “They devote their lives to preserving — underline it — the past,” he said, “They’re not likely to be interested in any combined format that merges the past with the present.”

Duberman doesn’t have a clue as to what got him hooked on history. “It was inescapably an unconscious decision,” he said. “I was torn between literature and wanting to be a writer. To find out more about the past and how come we’re at the point of time that we are.”

When Duberman was a freshman at Yale University, the man who taught his history class was only five years older than he. “At his very first class we took to each other,” Duberman said, “and became friendly. He became a role model for me.”

“He just died at 99,” Duberman added, “we never talked openly about homosexuality. But I got the strong impression that he, too, was gay.”

Duberman, who was born in New York, wasn’t out in college or graduate school. Though, he checked out the two gay bars in Boston when he was at Harvard.

Coming out wasn’t an option for people in Duberman’s generation who came of age in the 1940s and 1950s. You could be arrested, expelled from school, kicked out of your apartment or fired from your job if you were open about who you were. People warned him “against coming out to any degree,” Duberman said.

Duberman and his older sister were raised in a secular Jewish household. His father, as a young man, escaped from working in a beet plantation in Russia to Germany and then to New York. His mother went to high school at night while working as a secretary.

From childhood on, Duberman was bitten by a love of theater. He went to theater camp and performed in high school plays.

As a student at the (then) boys prep school Horace Mann, he played female as well as male roles. One night, his friend Bob’s girlfriend noticed that Duberman was the “actress” who portrayed a “stewardess” in a play that evening, Duberman recalls in “Reaching Ninety.” “‘But you can’t be,’ she gasped, ‘you have such beautiful legs!’” Duberman remembers her telling him.

Duberman, a polymath, would grow up to become a privileged insider while remaining an observant, critical outsider.

His many honors include: the Vernon Rice/Drama Desk Award, three Lambda Literary Awards, a special award from the National Academy of Arts and Letters for his contributions to literature and the 2007 lifetime achievement award from the American Historical Association. He’s been a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist.

He and his life-partner, Eli, a psychoanalyst, have just celebrated their 35th anniversary. He’s revered for his pioneering work in queer history.

Yet, even though he’s white, cisgender, and privileged, Duberman hasn’t ever been complacent or content. He still remembers how horrified he was back in the 1960s when he taught at Princeton. “I taught about slavery,” Duberman said, “I was thunderstruck! The white, privileged undergrads were on the verge of defending slavery.”

“It shocked me,” he said, “I shouldn’t have been surprised. But I was.”

The more he taught, the more discontented Duberman got with, what he saw, as the authoritarian system of education at universities. “I didn’t see the teacher as an authority figure,” he said, “but as a fellow learner.”

Though he had tenure, Duberman resigned from Princeton because of this. Also, he dared to move from Princeton to New York. “Then, people at Princeton thought: How could you leave the loveliest town in the world,” Duberman said.

Duberman deplores Trump and anti-queer right-wingers. But he also has been a long-term critic of the LGBTQ rights movement. Queers should be less concerned about marriage equality and more concerned about issues of race, class, and economic justice, he believes.

“There’s resistance to Trump’s lies,” Duberman said, “and it’s appearing in the mainstream – in The New Yorker – even The New York Times.”

The electorate is the greatest roadblock to social change, Duberman said. “The LGBTQ community, like a lot of the country, is conservative,” he added.

Duberman isn’t feeling terribly optimistic at this moment. But, “I keep hoping that one of the upcoming generations will turn out to be different,” he said.

‘Reaching Ninety’ is a memoir in which MARTIN DUBERMAN quotes the dictum, ‘aging is not for sissies.’

‘Sylvia’ summons queer horror comedy at its comedic best

Something refreshing while we wait for summer movie season to arrive

By JOHN PAUL KING

There was a time when the words “straight-to-video” carried an unspoken implication of mediocrity, at best – but that was before a massive shift in the film industry, accelerated but perhaps not solely driven by the pandemic and the need it created for “watch at home” options – changed the game when it comes to judging a movie by its viewing format.

Consider “Summoning Sylvia,” a campy horror comedy that made its VOD premiere on April 7, in which all but one of the characters (two if you count dead people) are queer. It’s safe to say that it’s definitely a “niche” film, and despite being granted a brief-and-perfunctory theatrical run – presumably, like most non-mainstream movies of similar ilk, for the purposes of awards consideration – it’s not the kind of thing that might have gotten a wide big screen release at any point in the history of the American film industry. At first assessment, it might seem like a rollicking, raunchy and VERY gay piece of fluff; it’s all those things, but it has a lot more imagination and ambition behind it than meets the eye from scrolling past the trailer on social media.

Written and directed by Wesley Taylor and Alex Wyse, it’s an absurdly farcical yet genuinely hair-raising adventure in which Larry (Travis Coles), on the eve of being “gay-married,” is kidnapped by his groomsmen (Frankie Grande, Troy Iwata, and Noah J. Ricketts) for a bachelor party weekend at a country house in upstate New York, reputedly haunted by the ghost of a woman (the titular Sylvia, played by Veanne Cox) who murdered her own son (Camden Garcia) before being killed herself by an angry mob 100 years ago. Naturally, the queer quartet tries to unravel this century-old mystery by holding a séance, but the unforeseen addition to the mix of future brother-in-law Harrison (Nicholas Logan) – an ex-soldier with clearly antisocial and possibly homophobic personality issues – turns their tongue-in-cheek party game into a terrifying-yet-hilarious battle with the dark forces that seemingly rule over their fashionably rustic Airbnb.

It’s all very silly, of course, and anyone hoping for hardcore horror featuring malevolent ghosts and demonic possession are likely to be sorely disappointed; what’s surprising is how often it manages to supersede its silliness to deliver more than just the occasional cheap jump scare, and how well it frames its madcap scenario through a perspective that, incredibly, makes everything feel a lot weightier – or at least, more meaningful – than its campy comedic tone invites us to expect.

Some background on the film’s creators quickly offers a possible explanation for why that might be so. Taylor and Wyse, Broadway stalwarts both onstage and off, come at their material from a theatrical tradition that includes such absurdist queer playwrights as Joe Orton, Christopher Durang, Paul Rudnick, and others whose work use pointedly nonsensical contrivances to poke fun at socially relevant themes that might otherwise not be so amusing. Their film is rife with that same surrealist spirit, while still evoking the old-fashioned pleasures of such humorously macabre classics as “Blithe Spirit” or “Arsenic and Old Lace” – a good-natured blending of styles that goes a long way toward opening audiences up to its familiar premise. To put it more simply, if a bit poetically, there is an unmistakable method to the madness.

If references to 20th-century absurdist theater don’t ring a bell for you, it might be more appropriate to draw parallels from a cinematic angle; it’s impossible not to notice how strongly “Summoning Sylvia” evokes the non-stop, throw-it-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks comedic milieu of filmmakers like Mel Brooks, whose anything-for-a-laugh style never got in the way of a respectful and proficient cinematic style nor precluded the possibility for scathingly candid cultural commentary, or even the self-aware “meta” sensibilities of someone like Guillermo Del Toro, whose understanding of horror is deeply intertwined with an recognition of the genre’s potential for underscoring fear with a humanistic streak that makes it a vehicle for transcendence as well as for terror.

Still, such comparisons don’t quite capture the exact nature of this unabashedly nonsensical movie’s charms – it’s neither as anarchic as a Mel Brooks film nor as melancholy as a Del Toro – but they approximate the space in which it stakes its claim; it should be obvious to any seasoned film buff that “Summoning Sylvia” carefully aligns its supposedly otherworldly sense of menace with an all-too-realistic fear of violent homophobia, and that its insinuation of an apparently angry straight man with seemingly toxic views about sexuality and gender as a potential existential threat to its queer band of determined-but-daffy protagonists has a lot more significance than a mere plot device. To put it simply, it’s a movie that never tries too hard to drive home its allegorical story arc, which it highlights as much by sending up as by serious contemplation, but it also never tries to pretend that it doesn’t have one, and in serving both ends at once it succeeds in proving that a film can be purely entertaining and still have the kind of substance that keeps it from being simply a guilty pleasure.

It should go without saying that much of its success comes from the ability of its cast to walk the thin line required of them by the material. Though the film’s most recognizable star is arguably out Tony-winning actor Michael Urie, who delivers little more than a cameo performance – albeit a solid and likable one – as Larry’s husband-to-be, it’s up to the rest of the cast to do the heavy lifting; they’re more than capable, with Coles standing out as a strong lead in a diverse ensemble of players, and Grande surpassing expectation with a show-stealing turn as the fiercely femme and unapologetically over-the-top Nico, whose self-proclaimed witchiness and unrestrained libido play a big part in making Larry’s bachelor party a weekend to be remembered, for better or for worse. Even Sean Grandillo, whose short appearance as an unexpected interloper into the weekend’s events adds a memorable dash of winking, trope-twisting humor to the program, makes an impression on the strength of his sheer, joyful goofiness alone.

All of this is not to say that “Summoning Sylvia” is the kind of cinematic masterpiece that makes a whole industry stand up and take notice; while its unpretentiousness allows us to absorb its higher points without heavy-handed obviousness, its messaging is hardly anything new. Even so, any movie that addresses the specter of homophobia – especially in an age when even the comparatively innocent phenomenon of drag, given suitably elevated status by Taylor and Wyse in a highly entertaining climactic sequence, is under attack from bigots desperate to turn the tide of growing queer acceptance – is a welcome addition to our must-see list, and this one manages to do so without sacrificing its sense of humor or its commitment to entertaining us.

It may not change your life, but it’s sure to provide a fun 75 minutes’ worth of viewing pleasure – and that’s more than enough to earn our recommendation for any queer movie fan looking for something new and refreshing while we wait for the summer movie season to arrive.

TRAVIS COLES, FRANKIE GRANDE, NOAH J. RICKETTS, and TROY IWATA

(Image courtesy of Diamond Dog Entertainment)

New book traces an icon’s journey into clothes, clubs, couture

‘Pat in the City’ tells story of SATC costumer Patricia Field

By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER

The shirt’s just a little too big.

But that’s no problem; you’d rather your shirts be looser anyhow. Pants, they’re another matter; they need to be snug all over. You have your own sense of style, and you wear it fabulously. In the new book “Pat in the City” by Patricia Field, read about an icon’s journey into clothes, clubs, and couture.

Almost from the time she was born, little Patricia Haig (later, Field) knew that clothing made a statement. She knew it while wearing her cowgirl outfit to play, when she clothes-shopped with her aunts, and when recalling her father, who was “handsome, sweet, and mild” and who died when she was small. Adoption later changed her surname, but not her love of clothing.

Working in her mother’s dry-cleaning “shop” as a kid, Field learned all about fabrics; her aunts’ forays into fashion taught her even more. She “always had beautiful clothes,” although a pair of men’s-style pants discovered in a small boutique in the mid-1950s was life-changing.

Field entered college and landed dual degrees in philosophy and political science, though she says “style came easy to me.” By then, she’d turned away from ‘50s femininity, preferring an androgynous look. She also learned that she preferred women as partners.

By Patricia Field

Field sold inventive, trendy, “nouveau glamour” outfits to clubbers who made Studio 54 the “high-octane” place it was then. Field dressed a lot of celebrity clubbers, too, which led her to the ballroom scene, where she became a House “Father” and a part of vogueing history. And then someone suggested to someone else that Field would make a great costumer for an upcoming movie.

If you could somehow take two books by a good author and smash them together to make one, that’s what you’d have with “Pat in the City.” This book is divided almost clean in two, and almost with separate reader-audiences.

In the first part, author Patricia Field shares her biography, her childhood, her formative years, and the awakening of her personal sense of style. Fashionistas won’t be able to put those pages aside, nor will anyone who attended any New York City club with any regularity back in the day. This half of Field’s book drips with disco lights and ballroom “reads.”

c.2023,

One of them was a partner in Field’s first business, a small shop near NYU in Manhattan that opened in 1966. In 1971, they opened a larger store, calling it “Patricia Field.” Partly due to her contacts with designers,

Celebrities stretch into the second half, as Field writes about being the costumer for “Sex And the City,” the friendships she struck up with its cast, and how the iconic opening scene came to be. This part of the book – likewise glittering with big names and big productions – is for younger readers and Hollywood watchers.

Reading this book is like time-travel to the ‘70s, and a backstage peek at your favorite show. If you love clothes and people who love fashion, then get “Pat in the City.” It fits.

‘Pat in the City: My Life of Fashion, Style, and Breaking All the Rules’

Dey Street Books | $35 | 272 pages

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